Posted: 31/7/11
Meeting
"Good morning Mrs Davis, I have your morning coffee and the changes for your schedule today" Mellissa informed her boss.
Quinn looked up from her computer screen and took off her glasses (she wore them when reading or using the computer) "Thank you Mellissa" she sighed, took her glasses of and pinched the bridge of her nose, before pulling her hand away and blinking her eyes awake.
"Are you okay?" her secretary asked while settling the coffee down with the schedule next to it. "You sound tired"
"I'm fine, I was just up all night, Logan has an ear infection so he kept waking up in the night moaning from the ear ache" she suppressed a yawn before sliding her glasses back on
"Oh I'm sorry I hope he's better soon, how is his sister, she's in 2nd grade now right? How's that going?" the assistant tried to keep the small talk going
"She's fine. School is 'boring' and her teachers are 'mean'. Her words not mine" she chuckled "she was awful this morning because of all the attention her little brother was getting, I had to make sure the nanny got to ours earlier to look after him, so I could take Alyssa to school"
"At least you have Daniel, he's a great guy" the assistant felt it was her job to always sound positive for her boss's sake.
"Hmmm, sure… anyway, what changes were made to my schedule?" she moved away from any negative thoughts, she didn't want to discuss that part of her life with her secretary. Quinn picked up the piece of paper
"You're 3.30 was moved to 4, which works well because your 4.15 meeting was cancelled" see, again she was trying to sound positive, distracting Quinn from the face one of her appointments cancelled
"That's good, I might be able to get home early today, are you meeting with your replacement today?" she asked, Melissa was good at her job, so Quinn wasn't particularly looking forward to having a replacement who'd need time to get used to Quinn's routine.
"Yes she's coming in at 10 for me to go through everything with her then she starts Monday…" she paused as she prepared the right words in her head. She didn't want her boss to be in a bad mood, and shorten her long 'vacation' time "I'd like to thank you for this time off and for trusting me to find my replacement independently"
"Well you've done a great job so far and helped me sort out the mess some of these accounts were left in so I think you deserve it. As for hiring your replacement, who would know better when hiring for your job" she took a sip from the coffee, nodding in approval to the other woman "I have a meeting with a client at 9.30 so I won't be here when she gets here, but I'll most likely meet her when I get back, okay?"
"Yeah that's fine… did you want to see her letter of recommendation or anything… to make sure I made the right choice" she was just being thorough.
"No, I completely trust you, thanks for the coffee" she held the cup up then nodded her head towards the door letting her assistant know she could leave.
…
Rachel walked through the glass door and up to Mellissa's desk, Mellissa looked up "Hi Rachel, right on time, I must say now before I forget, your letter of recommendation was what won this for you, it was really close between you and another woman but that was one amazing letter"
"Thank you" Rachel wasn't sure if this was actually a compliment, but she reminded herself to thank Kurt when she saw him later. Maybe buy him a cookie... that he wouldn't eat, only complain about the effect it would have on his strict diet.
"Okay, let's get started, I'm just going to run through a typical day for Mrs Davis then show you how we handle the accounts"
…
Less than an hour later they were now talking about individual accounts. Rachel was sitting on the chair at the desk with Mellissa leaning over her shoulder telling her what to click
"This file is for the account she's trying to land at the moment, it's a huge one and they're currently with a rival company. She has a really important meeting with them coming up, so she'll be needing your assistance for it"
"Of course it's in the job description" she chuckled
"Mellissa could you get me a coffee and a water, that meeting was hell" Quinn walked into the office without looking in her assistant's direction
"Of course, um Mrs Davis this is my temporary replacement, Rachel Bryant" Rachel looked up and her eyes widened when she realised who it was
Quinn turned and looked straight at her, but her expression didn't change "Nice to meet you, seeing as you're here you could get my coffee and water; I have just a plain black filter coffee, and still water. We'll use this as a trial run" she smiled but it was one of her fake bitchy smiles like the time she and Finn approached Rachel about help with Mercedes for the glee clubs 'night of neglect'
Rachel's mouth was now open slightly in shock as she continued to stare at the familiar blonde woman. "Is something wrong?" the blonde asked, with a curious, yet scary, raised eyebrow
"…Um no nothing" did Quinn seriously not recognise her. Well some time had passed and things had changed... she didn't think she'd changed that much. She realised she was still staring "Sorry" she dropped her gaze "I thought I'd met you before but obviously not, I'll just get your drinks" she dismissed herself, needing to leave before she suffocated.
"Okay" Quinn stepped into her office and closed the door, leaving Rachel biting her lip and furrowing her brow, had that really just happened, did Quinn really not know it was her… that was definitely Quinn, she was still beautiful… and bossy
"She doesn't drink the stuff in the staff room, you'll have to go to the coffee place across the street" Mellissa sighed
Rachel bought herself back from her thoughts "Oh right, thanks for letting me know"
The rest of the morning went smoothly with Mellissa and she didn't see much of Quinn again, only when she brought he her coffee and water. But all that was running through her head the entire time was: I can't work here!
…
"So, what do you think?" Mellissa asked her boss
"I think she has potential" Quinn gestured to the empty coffee cup "She seems nice, where did you get her from?"
"She's been employed as Kurt Hummel's assistant for the past 7 years"
"Hummel?" she'd kept tabs on a few names from high school "As in the fashion designer"
"Yes, that's the one" the assistant replied
"Wow" Quinn muttered, she was impressed with the boy she used to know and amazed one of his staff would be working for her "wonder what made her want to work in insurance instead"
"When I asked her she said; she wanted a change of scene" Rachel couldn't let her interviewer know that Kurt was her closest friend, that would make her think the letter of recommendation was biased
"I knew him in high school" The boss wasn't sure why she was saying it, it just sort of slipped from her mouth.
"Really?" she nodded "Were you like best friends"
"No" she answered with a hint of sadness and regret in her voice "I made his life hell… and a few others" but really there was only one other who she was that horrible to.
…
"No Way!" Kurt smirked with disbelief "Your new boss is Quinn Fabray"
"Quinn freakin' Fabray" she repeated shaking her head "Although she's Davis now" she added as correction
"And she doesn't even recognise you?" she'd already told him this, he just wanted to hear it again for sure.
"Nope" she popped the p as she answered simply
He laughed "This is hilarious, fantastic even"
"No it's not, I can't work for her" she chuckled nervously "Don't you remember, she made both our lives a living hell in high school"
"Exactly" she looked at his confused "but she doesn't know it's you"
She wasn't sure she was following "Okay… but I don't feel comfortable working for her"
"Don't you see?" his eyes smiling
"See what?" she asked with an irritated sigh
He grinned mischievously "you could use this to get our revenge"
"How exactly?" she laughed at his juvenile behaviour
"Well… she's married obviously, you could…seduce her, ruin her life now like she wrecked ours in the past" he explained with a devious glint in his eye
The intrigued smile that had formed as he spoke suddenly dropped from her face "No, no way, not going there. I couldn't do that, it wouldn't be right, it wouldn't mean anything"
"It's not supposed to" he said looking across the table inquisitively at her "since when have you cared about it meaning anything, do you realise how many one night stands you've had?" he asked rhetorically... obviously
"Kurt, Shhhh" she hushed "thanks for making me feel like a slut" she whispered harshly, looking at people around them to see if they'd heard him
He eyed her curiously "Unless… oh god Rach you don't" she looked down shyly giving him an answer "you do, you still have a crush on her"
"N-no, don't be stupid Kurt" she stuttered out, still looking down at her coffee cup
"You do!" he accused
She groaned and held her face in her hands "it was more than a crush" she said but it was muffled by her hands
"Oh Rach" he hesitantly patted her on the shoulder "... How though, she was awful to both of us"
She peeled her hands away from her embarrassed flushed face "We had moments when I saw the real her. Like when they pulled that prank and you won prom queen I followed her into the bath room, she had a break down… and when she helped me with the original songs idea even if it was because she thought I wanted to get closer to Finn... when really I just wanted to get closer to her"
"And ironically you did spend more time with her then…" eh then remembered something "I know you told Finn what corsage to get her for that prom by the way, Finn told me"
She just smiled "I can't do that, seduce her" she went back to the original conversation
"Ohhh" he moaned "Why not… because of feelings?" he hated feelings, feelings were stupid
"Yes, exactly" she sighed
He huffed too, annoyed he wasn't getting his own way in this game "Think about it Rach, really, even if you don't do anything. You could just make her feel uncomfortable, or get her all hot and bothered. And I have no doubt in my mind you can do that, even if she's straight because I've seen you pick up any women, gay, bi or straight, left right and centre-"
"You're not helping yourself by saying stuff like that, out loud, in a public place" she warned him
"If you can get her all hot and bothered" he continued "Wouldn't that be enough payback for you, for all those feelings you had… and still might have, that you could never act on" she looked at him still unconvinced "and think how guilty she'd feel just for having thoughts about you, when she's married"
Rachel bit her lip and started to smile "okay" getting close to Quinn might not be such a bad thing, especially if she didn't recognise her as loser Berry from high school... it could be interesting just to see how she'd react... unless she got fired
"Okay?"
"I'll do it, but if I get fired-"
"You just come back to me, your desk will be waiting" he assured her with that childish grin
Any thoughts?