Summary : Rachel lost her husband and never once thought about love. She was busy with her four kids and lived with memory of her love, until she bumps into Santana. Santana is a self-made billionaire who'd been unlucky in love until she met Rachel.
Kurt was already at his desk when they arrived. He was sitting at his post busy answering the phone and writing down messages. He looked up and saw Rachel and Santna walk in. Rachel smiled at him and Santana waived back. He was a little surprised to see Rachel come back to the office and more surprised that his boss actually took someone to lunch that was not on her calendar. He let it go, being a romantic himself an watching his boss go through her up and downs for the past 10 years was a roller coaster even for him.
But he loved working for Santana, she was flexible with his schedules, she also very generous with his salary increases and profit sharing bonuses. Santana liked him as well. He was descreet and was able to handle even her bad days. He was the only assistant that was able to do that.
She had gone though at least a dozen assistants before Kurt. She was relieved to have found someone who was competent and who knew how to mind his own business and keep things in the office place where they belong. With the others, there was always some kind of rumor going around Santana or about the company that was far from the truth or was distorted after being past from one person to another. She trusted Kurt, sometimes she even told him about her problems and those conversations much to her surprise remained between the two of them.
She'd even invited Kurt and his family over for dinner or to her parties. To her, he was part of her family and she was part of him. That was how close they became. So, he knew better than to speculate her relationship with Rachel. She would let him know when she wanted him to know.
Santana opened the door for Rachel and avoided looking at Kurt. She didn't feel like explaining Rachel to him yet. She was not sure yet how she fetl, but she knew whatever she was feeling was very strong. Rachel walked slowly to retrive her bags and jacket.
"Thank you for lunch," she reached out her hand for a handshake. "It was wonderful." Santana didn't want to shake her hands because she knew that if she touched her, she would not want to let go anytime soon. She did anyway and a sharp pain surged through her heart when she let go. Rachel felt it too and she didn't understand why she was feeling the way she was.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it," was all she could say. She felt a lump in her throat and she hated not being able to express herself fullt. She could not understand why her emotions were so extreme around Rachel. She was at a lost for words.
"I'd better pick up my kids and get these developed and turned into Quinn before 5 today." She wanted to just run out of there. She was turning emotional again and her insides were turning into mush. "I hope they turn out the way you want it." She turned around and walked out the door so that she wouldn't see all the emotions that she knew were apparent in her eyes. She was used to hiding her emotions especially from her family, but it seems she's losing the battle today. Santana made her so vulnerable it amazed even herself.
Sanatana just felt her heart drop as she walked out of her door. She had to see her again, there was no way this was the end of their relationship even before anything started. Rachel waived at Kurt but averted her eyes so he couldn't see what she was feeling. She never wore her heart on her sleeves when it came to other things besides her pride and joy for her kids. that was the first time for her. She was full of surprises to herself today. She had to focus! FOCUS!
Rachel tried to go back into her routine after leaving Santana's office. That was difficult, but was able to focus herself after a few hours. She picked up the twins from school and went home. Alyxandra and Tony had their swimming and basketball practices so she wasn't expecting them until later.
She could always count on the twins to averty her attention from herself to them. She gave them their snacks and sat down to cuddle with them for about a few minutes before they started on their homework. They did not have soccer practice. That gave her time to develop the pictures before her deadline. She would make proofs and then print what she thought was appropriate for the article. She was dreading having to develop the pictures of Santana. Seeing his picture might throw her back into the emotional couster she was going through all the time she was with him. But she had to do her job. She sent the twins to do their homework and off she went to her darkroom.
She had converted the downstairs bathroom into her darkroom when she needed it, which had been most of the time for past few months. Quinn had been giving her a lot of assignments lately. She wondered about that. She pushed the thought aside and just thought of it as Quinn had told her due to lack of Staffing. She was complaining about losing three photographers in the last month or so. But rumor was, she'd been firing them because of lack of confidentiality and some were fired due to indecent pictures.
She had the reputation of the magazine to think about and having those photographers tied to him and what she called her "baby" was unthinkable. She'd been editor of Santana's magazine when it first started and since Santana did not really know much about magazine editing, she let Quinn run it the way she saw fit.
In a sense every success of the magazine due to Quinn, Santana was thankful for that. She was in no position to see things through after she first started the publication of 'The Bay.' She took care of the marketing, but Quinn did the rest. Santana was very lucky indeed to have people such as Quinn and Kurt working for her otherwise she would have been lost.
The other part of her business kept her too preoccupied for the magazine, Quinn was a God send for her. Quinn was a good friend to Santana and had always been a great friend to Rachel. They had known each other since she worked at the local newspaper as a researcher and she was co-editor. They kept in touch after Quinn left to begin new career with 'The Bay', and she has always known what a great photographer Rachel was by the pictures she was taking out of hobby. So when she heard of her husband's death, she immediately posed the position for her to become a freelance photographer for her.
Quinn knew that Rachel needed the extra cash, and even though she never really took on other projects other than those Quinn gave her, she had been getting rave reviews on her photographs. All her assigments had to be local because there was no way she was going to leave her kids behind without a parent. She wanted to provide them with security as well as her physical presence. So far, she'd been doing a great job. Her kids were growing with confidence. They were intelligent and were very focused, except maybe for the twins. They were still a little young.
The proofs were ready. Rachel brought her magnifying glass out to view them clearly. She had other pictures on the roll of film from another assignment. She went through those quickly and picked out a picture that she thought would be good for the article. Then she got to Santana's pictures.
She had at least a dozen pictures to look at. How was she going to get through this? FOCUS! The first few were fine, it was when Santana was walking to her desk. Then she got to the one where she was smiling. That was it. She was disarmed once again. She had to put the proofs down for a moment. She knew that was the one she wanted to blow up.
She was pondering whether she wanted to keep one for herself. She decided she'd better not. She was a professional and she had to give up the pictures and the negatives. It had been a stipulation in her contract. All the pictures she took would be a property of 'The Bay' magazine, however, they would provide her with copies for her portfolio upon her request. She didn't see it fit to request for a picture of Santana. Quinn would see right through her. She went back into the dark room and blew up that picture of Santana and the one of the homeless alley. She hurried so that she could put it in an envelope and not have to look at it anymore. there was a knock on the door.
"Give me two more minutes," she said. Everyone in the household knew how the darkroom worked, they could not rush the process.
"Okay, I need help with my homework mommy," responded Kay. "So does Jay." Rachel smiled to herself at her twins adorable little voices.
"Okay, sit on the couch and wait for me. The pictures are just about done. I just need to dry them up okay."
"Okay," the two answered simultaneously. They walked to the couch and started playing. Ally and Tony walked in the house and the twins ran to give them both a hug.
"Where's mom?" Ally asked.
"In the black room," answered Jay. They liked to refer to her dark room as the black room because that was what it was painted with. Just then Rachel walked out with the pictures in hand.
"Hi guys," she said. "How was practice?"
"Good," answered Tony. "I think we have a chance at the championship."
"That's great!" she replied as she was placing the pictures, proofs and negatives into their respective envelopes. Tony noticed Santana's picture. He ran to take a look at it.
"Hey, mom. Who is it?" he asked as he practically grabbed the picture from Rachel's hands. "She's a hottie. You must have enjoyed this assignment huh?" Rachel blushed, but her kids did not notice.
"Tony, you think everyone was a hottie," answered Ally. Ally showed Tony the picture. "I guess she's alright, if you're a boy." She dismissed it.
"That's the owner of The Bay," Rachel explained. "Can I have them back now, we have to drop them off no later than 5:30, then we'll go have dinner. I didn't have time to cook today."
"She's young though," Tony said, "I pictured an old man with a bald spot and white hair."
"That goes to show you young man never assume anything. Why don't you and Ally change while I help the twins with their homework, and at least start on your homework. You can finish them after dinner." Tony gave her the picture back and went upstairs.
They were very good at listening to their mother. Tony and ally were a little older when their father died and were both old enough to understand the sacrifices she had to make to raise them on her own. Their Uncle Blaine was a lot of help and so were their grandparents, but they recognized how many things their mother had given up for them.
Tony and ally were old enough to remember when their mother's work as a researcher took her to a many places, sometimes when they didn't have school, they went with her. But when she was gone for a few days, they always had their dad and Rachel was comfortable with that. She didn't like the idea, but the bay area was an expensive place to live so even on Charlie's salary as a doctor she still needed to work in order to live the life they wanted and supplied their kids what they needed.
Rachel helped the twins out with their homework, sometimes they just pretended they didn't know how to do their homework because they just wanted their mom near them. They liked to spend as much time as they can with her. She was the only parent they knew and they loved her very much.
She enjoyed helping them, even when she knew they were just pretending they didn't know what they were doing. She wanted them to be independent and they were when Rachel was not around, and they knew when Rachel was busy not to disturb her. They were aware of the rules and they knew how much they could push their mom before she just sent them to their room. Even she had her limits.
"Come on guys, let's go." Even if Tony was old enough to stay home by himself, she still took him with her. As far as she was concerned, he was still a minor until he turned eighteen. "Ally, Tony come on. Oh, one of you do me a favor and write your uncle a note to meet us for dinner if he has no plans. Where do you guys want to eat?"
"Can we have Chinese food?" screamed the twins. They were fond of chow mien and pot stickers, but of all they loved reading the fortune in the fortune cookies. They all agreed. Tony liked all types of food and Ally did too with the exception of spicy food.
Quinn was waiting for Rachel at the door. She knew Rachel would be on time that was why she didn't bother calling her cell phone when it was 10 minutes past five. She was sure she would have called if she couldn't complete her assignmet. She also knew she was pushing her hard the last couple of months, but she knew she was trustworthy and reliable.
She couldn't afford hiring someone new to the business and new to the demands of a magazine deadline. This was a bi-weekly magazine and usually everything was due yesterday. She saw them drive up and waived. The city waas horrible with parking spaces, so she just walked over to their van when she pulled into the loading zone.
"Hi, Quinn. We got caught in traffic."
"Don't worry about it Rach. I'm just glad you were able to finish them. You were able to finish them right?" she asked a little worried.
"Of course Quinn. Ally would you please hand your godmother her pictures."
"Thank you sweetheart, you know you're mom is the best right."
"Aunty Quinn, you trying to sweet talk mom into something aren't you?" Ally was wise to her ways. They've known her too long. Quinn even shared Christmas and Thanksgiving when she didn't visit her family back in Lima.
They even welcomed her partner with open arms. They were there for her during her low times and she was in turn were there for them. She was beautiful, with long wavy blonde hair. no one would ever guess she was gay until they start talking to her. But she was a very good editor and very easy to work with. She was like a mentor for Rachel.
"Well, I do have a little assignment for you tomorrow, so if you could stop by after you drop off the twins at school."
"Quinn, you do know tomorrow is supposed to be a day off from you right?" Fridays are always used as catch up days for her writing; she has known that for as long as she's been writing.
"I know, but you know I am short staffed, please." She pleaded and gave her the sad puppy dogface. Rachel couldn't say no, she never could say no to her.
"Oh, alright you big baby. When are you going to hire some people so that you don't keep working me like a dog?" she joked.
"When I find someone I can trust!" he answered with disgust. She was pleased that Quinn could trust her, but then again she never gave her a reason for her not to.
"So, you want to come to dinner with us?"
"I'll have to take a rain check, sweetheart. Gotta have the boss' pictures placed correctly. You know this was the first time she's ever agreed to have her pictures posted on her own magazine. I'm so excited." Quinn said clapping her hands excitedly.
"So don't mess it up," Rachel joked.
"Oh, bite your tongue missy." Quinn answered making Rachel laughed at her.
"Okay, Quinn I'll see you tomorrow. Say bye to Quinn kids."
"Bye aunty Quinn," they responded in unison.
A/N : Okay, enjoy the update! And thank you for your kind reviews. Piece and Love, Signed out-