Rachel was beginning to worry, well actually that wasn't quite right, she'd started worrying when Quinn had hit her head in the doctor's office. Now she was rapidly growing more and more worried as the minutes passed by with no input from the wide-eyed blonde. The rest of the appointment had gone smoothly so far as the pregnancy was concerned, the Doc had given her plenty of information to read up on concerning multiple birth pregnancies. After a brief check-up it was determined that Quinn was definitely fine (although she had said little else for the rest of their allotted time) and they were sent on their way with an appointment card for follow up scans. Throughout the whole thing, the pilot had nodded or shaken her head in all the appropriate places and occasionally grunted but otherwise kept her peace. Rachel had insisted on driving, as she was concerned about Quinn's bump to the head despite the Doc's reassurance, sighing heavily she glanced sideways.

"Quinn…sweetheart, could you please say something, right now anything would do!"

Blinking several times as if waking from a deep sleep, Quinn glanced over to Rachel and then abruptly away again as guilt flooded her. She knew she should have been paying more attention after she woke up but…

"Triplets…we're having triplets?"

She was surprised to note that her voice had apparently decided to rise several octaves, at the little diva's half shocked, half worried look she cleared her throat and tried again.

"I…sorry it's just, I'm sort of…I mean triplets!"

Rachel rolled her eyes and tried not to let the exasperation she was feeling seep into her tone.

"No matter how many times you say it, the number won't decrease you know, yes Quinn Fabray we are having triplets, why is that so hard to believe!"

Hazel eyes wide grew wide again and running her hands through her hair in agitation, Quinn gestured to the diva's belly.

"Because…well, because it's just weird! There is no history of it in my family or yours and then BAM, triplets!"

Trying to keep her patience, Rachel flexed her hands on the steering wheel and ran through her relaxation techniques from yoga class.

"I really think you need to get a hold of yourself before we get to your mother's house Quinn, and in case you had forgotten there are two of us involved in this pregnancy, it would be nice of you if you could get over the shock so we can start planning."

Although her tone remained calm, her words were sharp and precise and cut worse because of it. Wincing in recognition of the fact that her support had been less than sterling, the pilot reached up and rubbed her jaw before sighing.

"I'm sorry Rae, you're right baby, I'm being an ass…again, geez I kinda suck at being the supportive husband huh?"

She smiled weakly, it grew however when Rachel turned to smile at her, a proper smile not the strained one of several moments ago.

"Who says you're the husband Fabray?"

Trying not to grin, the pilot just shrugged a shoulder.

"Well the fact I got the co pilot and you're carrying the babies is a pretty good sign, that and you're more feminine than me…I guess."

Rachel arched an eyebrow in imitation of her girlfriend and snorted a laugh as she turned her eyes back to the road.

"Just because you have a cock does not make you less feminine…especially with your curves. Nor does the ability to spill food down yourself every single time you eat make you less feminine, it just makes you a klutz."

Slapping a hand to her chest, Quinn grimaced.

"Ouch, hit me where it hurts Rae…and the food jumps by the way, it's not me dropping it, it just has this uncanny ability of avoiding my mouth."

Trying hard not to smirk, Rachel bit her lip and chewed on it for a long moment before murmuring.

"Thank god I don't have the same problem with your co pilot."

Quinn turned a wonderful shade of crimson as Rachel started laughing uncontrollably.

"Oh…that is so not funny! I can't believe you're being so crude…is that any way to talk in front of our children?"

Rachel couldn't stop laughing and had to wipe her eyes clear of tears with the back of one hand as the pilot spluttered her way through that sentence, the next thing she did however, caused the diva's laughter to transform into a fond smile. Leaning down, Quinn spoke to roughly where the diva's belly button was.

"Don't listen to her little guys, or girls…hmm, okay for now you're just the peanuts gang, but yeah, don't listen to your mama when she uses bad words."

Unable to help herself (especially now the shock had worn off), Quinn leant forwards a little bit more and placed three kisses on the diva's belly before sitting back up. After a moments awkward silence, she glanced at Rachel who was smiling gently and rolled her eyes.

"Oh…hush you! We're having a baby and we're meant to be hormonal, well babies actually…oh crap does that mean you're gonna get like triple cravings and triple horniness, because the combination of being used for sex and fetching ice cream and artichokes or whatever at three in the morning may just kill me!"

The diva grinned evilly at that and Quinn swallowed nervously before sinking in her seat and murmuring a prayer. Internally, Rachel was still giggling to herself and wondering how far she could push Quinn under the guise of hormones. As they pulled up to the house, Judy was busy unpacking groceries from the back of the car and shaking her head slightly, Quinn leapt out of the jeep and headed to help her.

"Mom, you knew we were on the way, you could have just waited you know!"

Pulling the bags from her mom, she loaded them into her own arms and shot a glare at the diva when she reached forward to pick one up.

"And you should know better in your condition…I'll do this, you go on in with mom and I'll see to the groceries."

Judy had her mouth open to protest when Rachel just shook her head and linked arms with the older woman, smiling wryly.

"Trust me, it will just be easier to go make the drinks and talk to her when she's finished being all macho."

Smiling bemusedly, Judy allowed Rachel to steer her inside, taking the high road, Quinn just blew a raspberry as she passed them both, arms full of groceries. Fifteen minutes later, the groceries were put away and the three women were sat around the table, Judy with a coffee, Rachel with herbal tea and Quinn was on her third soda despite Rachel's disapproving look. Judy even glared slightly when her daughter belched loudly, lowering her eyes, Quinn flushed guiltily and decided to slow down, rolling her eyes, the elder Fabray spoke.

"Well what was it you wanted to talk about then girls?"

Rachel tucked some hair behind her ear nervously and looked to Quinn who took a deep breath in and suddenly felt less than ready for this conversation…especially the part that Rachel wasn't expecting either. Rubbing the back of her neck, the pilot fidgeted for a long moment then cleared her throat.

"Okay…here's the thing…the thing is…well, it's like this…um…mom, Rach and I we're, sort of expecting a lot of babies, and also…I'm talking to dead people."

Two set's of eyes widened and locked onto her at the same time, rubbing the back of her neck so hard she was surprised smoke wasn't rising, Quinn sighed wishing she could have found a slightly…clearer way of explaining. Judy was the first to regain her voice, she even fiddled with the new hearing aid she had in case it was acting up before asking for clarification.

"Quinn honey…I probably misheard you but did you say a lot of babies?"

Before she could answer, Rachel interrupted.

"Three isn't a lot of babies it's just more than normal…and what did you mean you're talking to dead people?"

Slumping down in her chair, the pilot double face palmed with a slight groan and after dragging her hands roughly down her face looked between the two of them.

"Okay, mom Rachel and I are having triplets, because I got a little careless with my co pilot, well we both did to be accurate but anyway, yeah we're having babies."

Looking between her daughter and the little diva, Judy saw the truth of that statement and confusion gave way to tentative joy as she pulled Rachel into a hug.

"Wow, I don't know if this is appropriate or not but, congratulations?"

Rachel smiled shyly and laughed as one hand slid down to the barely there bump of her stomach.

"Thank you Judy…I have to say it wasn't planned but I'm really happy, worried about having to give birth three times admittedly but…definitely happy."

Kissing the brunette on the forehead, Judy turned to her daughter and had to fight a chuckle as she took in the dazed expression she remembered only too well. In that moment, Quinn was the spitting image of her father as he had been when she had informed him that she was pregnant with Quinn. Reaching out, she took the blonde's hand and squeezed it, instantly knowing what was on her daughter's mind.

"You'll do fine kiddo, these babies are going to be spoilt rotten between Hiram, Leroy, Steven, myself and you two…not to mention Santana, Brittany and the rest!"

Quinn's tentative smile grew into a grin, ducking her head slightly; she rubbed the back of her neck again.

"If I'd known I was that fertile I would have been wearing three condoms instead of just one…not that I was but still!"

She trailed off as her mother assumed the ever popular 'I told you so' expression, sighing internally, Quinn decided to head off the lecture before it could start.

"And before you even think about lecturing me, we need to talk about a certain legacy that you neglected to inform me of."

At that, Rachel's ears also pricked up and she glanced sharply between mother and daughter, she was half expecting Judy to tell Quinn she was being silly and that the pressure of the pregnancy was getting to her. She was therefore shocked when the elder woman just nodded with a small smile and flicked her gaze to the diva before asking.

"Does Rachel know anything about this yet?"

Quinn shook her head as she sank lower in her seat again, letting her chin rest on the collar of her polo shirt tiredly.

"No, I wanted to talk about it with you and Rachel so she would know I wasn't nuts! I mean no offence mom but I'm still not exactly one hundred percent certain that I'm not just going round the bend!"

Nodding sagely, Judy picked her mug up with one hand and then turned to the two girls with a resigned and slightly sad smile.

"Okay, we should go up to the attic, there are some things you need to see that will help you understand."

She started walking that way, knowing they would follow her. Reaching out, Quinn took Rachel's hand in hers and squeezed reassuringly as they started to walk after Judy.

"Quinn…are you really talking to dead people?"

Rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand and squinting in thought, the pilot nodded and spoke quietly.

"Remember the morning at the diner? When it looked like I was talking to thin air in the booth?"

Waiting for the diva's puzzled nod, Quinn smiled encouragingly and carried on with her explanation.

"Well it wasn't thin air…that morning Gaby appeared in my bathroom when I was taking a leak and, well once she convinced me she was really there and that I wasn't going insane I passed out…hence the bump on the head when I arrived for breakfast."

Reaching up, she tapped at the now healed cut that was nothing but a thin pink line now that new skin had started to grow over it. Nodding slightly, the diva still looked sceptical and to be honest Quinn couldn't blame her, hell even she was still sceptical!

"So in the diner you were talking to Gaby…your um, dead best friend?"

Squinting in thought again, the pilot nodded as she lightly swung their joined hands.

"Yeah I know, when you say it out loud like that it sounds kinda hinky, like maybe I am really losing it which I guess wouldn't be such a stupid idea given the attack, delayed shock maybe? But…the thing is, it's pretty damn convincing, even to me and if I can do what she says I can then, then I can do something worthwhile you know? Help people that no one else can and that has to be a good thing doesn't it?"

Pausing at the foot of the stairs, Rachel lay a gentle hand on the side of Quinn's face and manoeuvred it until they were looking at each other.

"When you put it like that it actually makes perfect sense, there has always been something a bit special about you Quinn and I don't just mean your co pilot. If anyone was going to be given the ability to help people finally rest in peace it's you."

Half smiling, the blonde turned so she could kiss the palm that had been cupping her face.

"You, Rachel Berry are one hell of a woman…especially if you can wrap your head around this without freaking out and having me committed!"

Snorting inelegantly with wry amusement, Rachel merely gestured to the top of the stairs where they could see Judy pulling down the attic ladder.

"If your mom had reacted with worry or shock or anything even remotely like that then maybe right now we would be trying to check you into a rubber room. But she didn't, she just looked oddly resigned which leads me to believe that as unlikely as it seems you're telling the truth."

Smiling happily, Quinn just squeezed the hand in hers briefly and led the way up the stairs towards the attic ladder. She had always wondered what was in the attic as she was never usually allowed to go up there and when she was it was usually a rush job with no time to search. At first it just seemed the same as usual, piles of cardboard boxes labelled with either her, Judy or her dad's name on them, neatly stacked. Old Christmas, Halloween and 4th of July decorations lined up neatly along the walls and then…there was something else, something she had never noticed before. At the back of the attic was a wall hanging, some flag her dad said he and his buddies had made in grade school and he ended up with it, but Judy had pushed that aside and behind it was a door, Quinn watched with wide eyes as her mom produced a key from the bunch she had in her jeans pocket. Unlocking the door, she turned to the two girls and gestured with a nod of her head for them to follow her. Quinn was so eager she literally tripped over her own feet, only saved from an embarrassing fall (for the second time that day, thank you very much!) by Rachel's quick reflexes. Murmuring an awkward apology, the blonde dusted herself off and hurried into the room…only to stop so abruptly that Rachel literally ploughed into her back.

Unlike the rest of the attic no dust appeared to mar this room, the walls were lined with pictures of women that were obviously her descendants, she recognised some but not many. Rachel gasped as she picked up one of a young woman who looked just like Quinn, only with two six guns and a Stetson. There was a table against one wall and the other two held bookshelves full to bursting with leather backed journals. Quinn watched as her mom walked to the desk and opening the draw pulled out an identical journal, this one brand new. With a solemn smile she passed it to her daughter, the blonde nodded and didn't ask why she was given it, she already knew, she wasn't sure how but she knew it was for her to write down her own cases in. running a hand through her hair, Judy took a seat at the desk and gestured to two armchairs that were arranged in front of one of the sets of bookshelves.

"Well, as you can see, you certainly aren't insane Quinn…this is your legacy, I never needed to take up the mantle, nor did my mother or grandmother. But now we…or should I say you are needed."

Quinn opened her mouth to ask a question, well, to ask the question but Rachel beat her to it.

"So what is it that Quinn is expected to do, I mean speaking to the dead is one thing but what does this legacy do exactly?"

Judy glanced at her daughter who smiled crookedly and just waved a hand in the diva's general direction.

"What she said."

Chuckling slightly, Judy relaxed into the chair and crossing her legs mulled over the best way to explain years of duty and responsibility in a short conversation.

"Okay, well some of this Quinn will already have heard so I apologise if it gets boring for you sweetheart but Rachel is going to need to understand all of this as she is going to need to be your rock in a very literal sense sometimes."

The pilot frowned and debated interrupting to ask why but decided to wait until she had at least given her mom a chance to explain it.

"The Fabray's have always had a talent to be able to see across the divide that separates the living from the dead. It's often times been more of a curse than a blessing, especially during the witch hunts but we have always done our duty when called. Despite the claims of many religious factions that the world is falling into disrepute and that we are headed for the end of days, I can assure you we are not…as long as the bloodline continues that is!"

Brown eyes opened wide and Rachel swivelled to face Quinn, the blonde was just as shocked at this news and managed to utter a garbled noise and shake her head to reassure Rachel that no, she wasn't aware of how important this role actually was. Clearing her throat, Quinn tried to formulate the emotions and impulses she had running around in her head into some kind of question.

"Mom just…hold up a second, when Gaby explained this, she just sort of said it was my job to help people pass from the Tween world cos it was getting crowded?"

Tilting her head to the side for a moment in a gesture very reminiscent of her daughter, Judy pursed her lips and then nodded.

"Essentially that is correct, but what you do is…a little more complicated than that. There is a balance that has to be kept between the light and the dark, good and evil and you're the one that has to see that it's kept. The Tween fills up because people do not want to go on to whatever's next, whether it's up or down, heaven or hell or…something else altogether. That isn't your choice, what you do is help them overcome whatever thing is keeping them tied to the Tween, whether they want you to or not."

Shifting forward in her seat, Quinn linked her hands together loosely and let them hang between her knees as she frowned.

"The bit about whether they want me to or not…what exactly do you mean by that? I mean don't most of them want to pass on?"

Judy fidgeted slightly and glanced at the books around her, if she had thought seriously that Quinn would be chosen to assume the mantle then she would have introduced her to these books a long time ago. As it was she would keep her explanation as simple as she could and encourage her to spend time in this library learning more.

"Well yes, most of them want to have their murder solved or their long lost child found or whatever it is so they can pass on properly. But there are of course the others, the ones who know that what they will be passing on to is…unpalatable, those ones do not want to pass on but if the balance is not kept then chaos will find a way in."

Swallowing slightly, the pilot ran her hands through her hair and started to pace.

"So…not only do I have to solve murders and missing persons cases and all that jazz, I now have to work with spirits that won't want me to help them pass on and will most likely do their best to stop me, is that about the gist of it?"

Judy sighed but nodded before smiling slightly.

"Quinn if I thought you would have to do this I would have explained this much earlier, these books will help you learn what to expect. All I can do is give you these and be here for you when you need me baby, the spirits you help all need to pass on whether they are good or bad, you are just their guide and have no input in their fate."

Sitting back down with a thump, Quinn closed her eyes and blew out an exasperated breath.

"I'll do what I'm destined to do mom, it's not like I can run from it the spirits can pop up anywhere and Gaby sure does. And I'm all for balance in the world you know that but…I'm worried about Rachel, I mean we're trying to start a family here in the midst of all this."

She turned to the diva, eyes full of apology.

"Rae sweetheart…can we do this? I mean triplets are going to be exhausting and it isn't like this spirit shit is going to pay so I'll still have to work normal jobs on top of it! Which means I'll never know if I'm going to make scans or check up's or…"

Leaning forward, Rachel reached out and laid a hand on Quinn's lips to stop the babbling, which was growing in both pitch and volume.

"Hey…like you said this isn't a job, it's a destiny, and quite an important one from what I can make out, so we'll handle it. This wouldn't have happened to us if we couldn't handle it Froot Loop, so trust me and more importantly trust yourself."

Smiling bemusedly, Quinn shook her head lightly.

"Gaby said you would take it better than I thought, I guess I half expected you to, I don't know, leave me and have me committed somewhere."

Shoving lightly at the pilot's shoulders, Rachel chuckled.

"Oh no! You aren't getting out of this pregnancy that easy Fabray, you put these babies in here and you will do your share of middle of the night feeds, diaper duty, and vomit cleaning."

Quinn looked to her mother pleadingly, Judy immediately held both hands up in a sign of surrender and grinned.

"Don't look at me kiddo, she has a point, you did the crime you do the time…so to speak."

Glad the topic of conversation had moved from her destiny and onto the somewhat lighter conversation surrounding the babies, Quinn just groaned dramatically and fell back in her seat.

"Well if it helps I didn't put them in there on purpose?"

Two very stony expressions were her only answer and swallowing slightly, she calculated her chances of getting past both of them and down the stairs on one move. She calculated incorrectly and mid flight to the door ended up flat on her belly trying to curl around her ticklish side as Rachel fully utilised the fact that she knew Quinn wouldn't fight back because of the babies. Between laughter and cries for mercy, the pilot managed to sputter out a sentence.

"I'm…sorry! I'll do my…share of the feeds…oh please stop tickling me I need to pee Rach!"

Leaping off of the blonde abruptly, Rachel grinned happily as she allowed her girlfriend to skitter off towards the bathroom. Judy looked at her and smiling put an arm round her shoulders, gently stopping her for a moment before she could go after Quinn. Looking up quizzically, the elder Fabray let out a small breath and then spoke quietly but carefully.

"She's going to need you and the babies to bring her back sometimes, from the edge, the place it's dark. What she has to take on would weigh on anyone even someone as light hearted as Quinn but you two are meant to be together, you can read each other even over a phone line. And as for the pregnancy, I think you know you will have more help than you will know what to do with!"

Smiling back gratefully, Rachel hugged Judy, as supportive and loving as her fathers were she found that sometimes it was Judy she needed advice from, and in the case of a pregnancy she would definitely prove more knowledgeable than her dads.

"I'm going to hold you to that Judy, something tells me as lovable as Quinn is she is going to be a nightmare when it comes to handling me when pregnant…I'm not even sure what to expect myself yet, thank god for the reference section of the bookshop."

Keeping her arm round the little diva's shoulders, Judy led the way back downstairs where they could hear rummaging in the kitchen cupboards. Obviously, Quinn was finished in the bathroom and was now raiding her mom's snack supplies.

"Don't worry we'll work it out together sweetie…so long as we keep Quinn away from shiny distracting things."

They were still laughing when they walked into the kitchen, the pilot frowned but decided it was better to see them laughing together than not and went back to working on the turkey leg she'd found in the refrigerator.

Another week or so went by fairly peacefully, Rachel was now entering the last week of her show and becoming despondent about what if anything she would be doing in the near future. Quinn had gone for her interview with and subsequently gotten the job at the police station's garage where she had rapidly become indispensable. Especially when the uniformed officers worked out that she knew how to handle Detective Lopez's moods! At home, Rachel and Quinn had been thinking hard about what would have to change to accommodate three babies and first and foremost was a change of address because a one bedroom flat would have been difficult with one baby, with three it became impossible. Quinn had checked her savings and with both her income and what was left from the money her father left her, she worked out they could just stretch to a three bed house…but it would have to be at the lower end of the market.

So their evenings were spent poring over either the property papers or the literature they had collected on multiple pregnancy births. Quinn wasn't sure which one made her wince more, the prices of houses in safe neighbourhoods or the knowledge of what child birth actually entailed. She learnt quickly however that pointing out all the potential problems and painful problems wasn't actually helpful in calming Rachel down. Well, actually she hadn't learnt that quickly, it had taken the diva bursting into tears and storming off (and a quick phone call to Brittany) to work out it was wiser to keep her worries to herself. She was beyond glad that she had people like Santana and Steven watching her back for her, the Latina's recommendation had gone a long way towards getting her the job in the garage and Steven had gotten her a permanent flying job on Saturday's taking up the skydivers with the occasional option to work on show days for the display team as well.

Which is why despite it being nearly eleven o' clock on a Tuesday evening, Quinn was still elbow deep in the engine of a Ford Taurus wondering how it was possible to completely strip a gear box while on a routine pursuit. So far most of the work she had was run of the mill maintenance, with the occasional dent needing to be popped out sanded over and filled. But this was Santana's car, and it was the third time the pilot had, had to work on it in a single week. Firstly, the fiery Latina had managed to get two tyres shot out plus the windscreen shattered, then it was the engine overheating. But this, this was a whole new ball game and the blonde scowled heavily as she set about removing the gearbox, accompanied by language that would have curled Rachel's toes if she had been within hearing distance of it. Realising that she had the place pretty much to herself, Quinn wiped her hands on the 'used to be beige' coveralls and leapt out of the pit. It was time to get her groove on without the risk of anyone walking in, at least not without her hearing the large roller door rattling upwards anyway.

Wiping her forehead on her sleeve, the blonde unzipped the top half of the coveralls and used the sleeves to secure it around her waist. Smirking slightly at the white vest she was wearing with the cartoon T Rex on its's nose and the legend 'T Rex hates push ups', it had cracked her up in the shop so Rachel had insisted on buying it for her and she wore it as often as possible. It still made her smirk even now, just like whenever she heard someone say the word wiener, guaranteed to make her giggle every time. Re-securing the bandana round her head, she cycled through the albums on her i Pod deciding on something up-beat, she pressed play and headed back into the pit. She didn't have to be back home till tomorrow really, Rachel was on a late show then spending the night with Kurt and Blaine. Quinn had been invited but with three kids on the way she decided the over time was more useful. Grinning to herself, the blonde picked up her spanner and started back to work singing along cheerily to the lyrics of Erasure's 'Stop' and throwing in the odd twirl or shuffle step when she needed to exchange tools. On one particularly energetic beat, she twirled and tossed the spanner into the air, intending to catch it with her other hand before setting it back into the toolbox, that however was before Gaby made one of her impromptu appearances. Instead of smoothly catching the ratchet, Quinn yelped and leapt about six foot in the air before swearing when the heavy tool came back down and landed on her foot with a crunch.

"Fuck a fucking duck Gaby, what did I say about letting me know before you pop in like this…shit my foot hurts!"

Limping and scowling, the blonde pilot moved to the edge of the pit and pulled herself out while her mostly amused and only slightly apologetic- looking best friend looked on. Once out of the pit, Quinn silenced the speaker dock and with a wince sat down at the battered desk glaring. Rolling her eyes, Gaby sighed and motioned to herself helplessly.

"Well what am I expected to do Quinn? I can't exactly ring or bleep you can I?"

Sighing, Quinn unlaced her old track shoe and slid it off to inspect the damage, nothing looked broken but the toe nail of her big toe had gone purple and she grimaced.

"Great…and no I suppose you can't just bleep me but, I mean appearing out of nowhere is scary as fuck, maybe you could have like, appeared up here and cleared your throat or something to get my attention?"

Crossing her arms and sighing slightly, the redhead shrugged.

"Fine, next time I will go for the subtle approach, it's just that I left you a little longer than I should have done and time has become somewhat of an issue for this particular case."

Narrowing her eyes suspiciously, Quinn slid her sneaker back on.

"When you say time is 'somewhat' of an issue what exactly do you mean Gaby? How much time is there and why is it an issue…"

Clearing her throat, the red head flushed guiltily and glanced everywhere but directly at her best friend before murmuring something that Quinn only just heard, or thought she heard anyway because surely that couldn't be right!

"Okay, I'm going to ask you to repeat that because I could have sworn you said noon…as in tomorrow and that's not a time constraint, that's an impossibility!"

Wringing her hands together, Gabrielle grimaced slightly and began to pace while she explained.

"It wasn't meant to be such a tight time line but I felt bad for you, I mean you have had a lot to cope with in a short time and I know how hard you've been working yourself to get the money together for the babies, you need to watch your blood pressure by the way Fabray, so I put it off and then…well, then time caught up with me."

Trailing off with another grimace, the ghost shrugged a shoulder helplessly and watched as Quinn face palmed with a growl…and then another voice, an upper class and over educated voice piped up.

"Are you telling me I have to rely on this…this grease monkey to solve my case?"

For the second time that evening, Quinn jumped and dropped something on her foot, this time it was the can of hardly sipped Mountain Dew she had halfway to her mouth. Cursing vociferously, the blonde grabbed a roll of kitchen towel from the bench and started mopping up the spill even as she mourned the loss of the heavily caffeinated beverage. Glancing up, she took in the rather petite and stick thin form of a woman in her early twenties who, by the look of it, had also come direct from the twenties as she looked every inch the typical flapper girl. Straightening up, Quinn glanced between Gaby who was staring at the woman slightly perturbed and the spirit who looked disdainful of her supposed rescuer.

"Great, now they're all just letting themselves into my life without any introduction…Gaby you told me they wouldn't be able to do that! And why would I want to help her she's rude, and kinda stuck up!"

Hiking a thumb over her shoulder at the flapper girl, the pilot limped over to the fridge in the corner and snagged another can of soda triumphantly. When she turned back around both spirits were looking at her, Gaby looked uncomfortable but resigned and the flapper girl…actually looked slightly apologetic. Rolling her eyes, Quinn slumped down into the seat by the desk again and gestured for Gaby to continue.

"Quinn this is Millicent Boggs."

Mountain Dew promptly sprayed from the blondes nose as she snorted a laugh and Gaby rolled her eyes whilst Millicent looked suitably annoyed and exasperated before turning to face her fellow spectre.

"Seriously…this is the person that's meant to be able to help me and others like me?"

Gaby spread her hands wide with a calming smile, meanwhile Quinn wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and had the good grace to blush.

"I'm sorry, it's just been a tough few weeks and any chance to laugh is one I'm gonna take, but…you're right it was completely unprofessional, I'm all ears now however."

Millicent huffed and patted her immaculate black hair before gesturing disdainfully.

"Fine, but you look like a dockworker dressed like that and you have oil practically everywhere, it makes it difficult to confide ones problems in someone who looks like the help instead of someone capable of help."

Gritting her teeth, Quinn shot a glare at Gaby who was beginning to look more and more uncomfortable, nevertheless the pilot managed to crank out a suitable smile.

"Well as this is the real world and I need to earn some actual money on top of this dead people gig, I'd suggest you deal with it! Now can we get to what I need to do and why the hell I only have until noon tomorrow to get it done?"

Before Millicent and Quinn could lock horns again, Gaby leapt into the conversation gratefully.

"Indeed, but try not to flip out or anything Sherlock because it sounds worse than it is…kinda?"

Forgetting the oil on her hands, Quinn used one of them to massage her temples and calm the already growing headache as she forced herself to talk calmly.

"Putting a proviso in front of an explanation does not calm me Gabs as you well know, if anything it makes me think the worst so how about you just spit it out?"

Millicent rolled her eyes and examined her immaculate manicure as if she had all the time in the world and was bored; Gaby cracked her knuckles nervously then spoke in a rush.

"Right well, Millicent has been here since 1923, she was caught in the crossfire outside a club, some bust up between a bunch of bootleggers and the cops. The matter of who killed her isn't the one that needs to be solved as he took a bullet less than fifty seconds after she did. However, she comes from a particularly prominent family, Boggs is her married name…"

Quinn interrupted at that point as she raised an eyebrow and turned to gaze at the spectre in disbelief.

"You seriously married someone called Boggs and took their name, what was your name beforehand, Crapper?"

Unseen by either Quinn or Millicent, Gaby face palmed muttering under her breath, the flapper girl straightened and narrowed her eyes as she glared at the pilot snootily.

"If you must know, and I suppose you must, my maiden name was Deveraux."

The dark brown eyes of the spectre shone with triumph as the blonde's jaw dropped, she looked between her best friend and the flapper girl in disbelief.

"Holy shit…as in THE Deveraux's, the ones that owned like fifty percent of Manhattan at one point…those Deveraux's?"

Gaby nodded and then wrung her hands together as realisation began to creep into the pilot's hazel eyes. Millicent tugged at the edges of her elbow length gloves and sighed impatiently as she waved one hand airily.

"Yes, so now you see why I changed my name! That name was like a curse in many ways, having to live up to the expectations that my parents had set. Don't get me wrong, I loved them and they loved me but it was so tiring having to maintain a certain image, all I wanted was the life of a normal young woman, admittedly the illegal drinking was risky but I never suspected it would end the way it did."

The ghost trailed off mournfully and as the sadness set in the majority of her superior attitude leached away. Quinn had a hand half raised to pat Millicent's shoulder comfortingly before realising she couldn't touch her, instead she ran it over the bandana and turned to Gaby who leapt back into the conversation hurriedly.

"Millie needs to cross over as her time in the Tween is rapidly reaching it's expiration date, you know now the family she came from, everyone has heard of the Deveraux's and how they rose to become one of the most influential families of the century. And I'm also sure you remember how their fall from grace happened as well?"

Rubbing her jaw thoughtfully, the blonde searched her memory, if truth be told, she had always been a little in love with that particular era but not so much the social scene. However when it came to the criminal enterprises of the likes of Capone and Dillinger to name just a couple, she was a literal font of knowledge. But…the name Deveraux was ringing bells when it came to criminal enterprises, she just couldn't put her finger on why.

"I remember there was some kind of scandal involving one of their…oh! One of their daughters, that was you right?"

She glanced to Millie who nodded reluctantly before gesturing for Gaby to explain it properly; it was obviously a sore issue that she would rather not discuss herself. Quinn's gaze switched to her best friend and she raised an eyebrow expectantly, Gaby rolled her eyes and with a swift glance to check that Millicent was still with them she huffed a breath and started to explain.

"Millicent was in fact just an innocent bystander, well okay, she was in the club drinking but she certainly was not part of the raid that she was connected to."

Fishing a roll of cherry life savers from her pocket, Quinn palmed one and gestured for the red head to continue.

"The gang of bootleggers that were hitting up the club were after the smuggled booze that had come in. Basically if the good stuff was coming in at an affordable price then the bootleggers had no market, as you are only too aware of Quinn, due to your love of gangsters. So they raided the supplies of the good stuff, watered it down and sold it at profit along with the bootleg liquor. This particular gang had someone in the know inside the club which is how they always knew when to hit it…the way the raid went down that day left the finger of blame pointing squarely at Millicent."

At that, the ghost in question snorted and rolled her eyes muttering under her breath.

"As if I would lower myself to work with a bunch of thugs and convicts!"

That rankled Quinn, as she was strictly speaking an ex-convict herself, before she could speak up and start another argument, Gaby hurried on.

"The upshot was, the Deveraux's lost nearly everything, as their reputation crumbled so did their empire, until the only thing left were their stocks and shares and the big house in Manhattan. For years, the family tried to prove that Millicent was innocent of any complicity with the gang but they could never disprove the story of Eileen Merchant."

Millicent's face soured at the name and she grimaced as though smelling some particularly vile mixture of garbage and fish guts.

"That utter and complete witch! I hope she choked on the fortune she made from her so called expose of 'The reality behind High Society's Deveraux Family' it was nothing but lies, exaggeration and speculation but it was still enough to destroy the years of work and goodwill my parents had built up!"

Finishing her candy, Quinn offered a small but genuine smile.

"I'm sorry…I know what it's like to feel like you're dragging your family name through the mud, difference is you didn't actually do anything. So, you need me to clear your name, I get that but how exactly and why the deadline of noon tomorrow?"

Millicent interrupted Gaby then to take over the telling of the story, apparently while she didn't want to discuss her own death or her family's fall from grace, she was all too happy to discuss the 'evil witch Eileen Merchant'.

"Eileen was supposed to be my best friend and for some reason I never distrusted her! Looking back I could kick myself, it was her that knew where the speakeasy's were, her that knew exactly what cocktails to order and what they contained…I'm ashamed to say I looked up to her. My parents were smarter, they warned me that she wasn't all she appeared to be but I thought they were being old fashioned, that they didn't like her because she liked to party and wasn't afraid to talk a walk on the wild side. I argued with them constantly and snuck out when they tried to keep me in and instead I chose to believe in her. I believed in Eileen and in doing so, I gave her everything she needed to bring my family to it's knees, I can't cross over, I can't face them until I can clear my name…restore my family's reputation."

She was close to tears by the time she finished and Quinn's eyes softened as she took in the ghost who seemed somehow smaller now that her attitude had dissipated completely. Smiling slightly, she stood up and wiping her hands on the cloth she had in her back pocket, spoke to both of them.

"Okay, I get what we have to do and I'm all in…so now you just need to tell me how we prove your innocence?"

Millicent stood taller at that and patted her hair again in what Quinn was rapidly starting to recognise as a habitual gesture.

"Ely always kept a journal, or to be more accurate she kept two journals, one that was for public consumption and one that was her true journal. She used the fictional one as the basis for her so called tell- all book, it was filled with everything we did but it was reversed. I was the one painted as the out of control party girl with her as the easily led astray innocent country girl. Sadly the fights I had, had with my parents regarding my spending time with her were publicly documented. Several of them had taken place in restaurants or parks where we had been overheard which made her tales all the more believable. On the day of the shootout outside the club, she had told the gang where and when to hit to grab the booze…and then when the police turned up out of nowhere she slipped her 'little black book' into my purse. When I was killed and my effects taken in as evidence, the police found the book which listed names and numbers for some of the most notorious bootleggers in New York. My parents denied all knowledge of course but Ely tearfully confessed that I was always taking her to clubs and meeting with shady gentlemen and making phone calls from public call boxes. I know however that if we found her true journals then the truth would come out…the Deveraux's would be vindicated."

With her speech done, the flapper girl smiled ever so slightly, Quinn spoke as she shrugged out of her coverall's and headed to the bank of lockers in her jeans and vest, speaking as she went.

"So…we get the journals and hand them to a reporter, who I'm guessing would run a 'tell all' of their own that finally reveals the truth, sounds easy enough to me, where are the journals?"

She continued to wash her hands and face in the dingy sink that stood next to the main workbench, there was a proper locker room and showers but if time was a factor then a rough scrub up would do. It was only as she was towelling her face dry that she realised there was no answer forthcoming regarding the whereabouts of the journal, turning, she saw the two spectres shifting uncomfortably. Grinding her teeth slightly, the blonde slid off the bandana and finger-combed the mussed locks before grabbing her jacket and growling.

"If this is where you tell me I have to do some kind of Relic Hunter, Indiana Jones style treasure hunt through caves and booby traps then I'm going to demand a fedora and bullwhip before I even start!"

She was only half serious but the pregnant silence was starting to worry her, Gaby's eyes widened comically and she shook her head swiftly.

"No treasure hunts or booby traps I promise, we know exactly where the journals are because Millie saw her hide them once when she was over…it's just that where they are is, well it's not exactly public."

Shoving her hands into her jeans pockets, Quinn took a deep breath in and forced herself to ask.

"Okay…just tell me where it is."

Millicent just looked over at Gaby who rolled her eyes but realised that it was her that was going to have to break the news to the pilot.

"Well it's in the building that used to be her house, I mean it's still a house it's just not that family's house anymore. They moved on to bigger and better things a long time since, the journal is in the attic behind a loose brick just under the round window."

The blonde shrugged, frowning in confusion she glanced between the two ghosts.

"That sounds simple enough, we knock on the door, say that we're distant relatives of someone that used to live there and we wanted to check on a myth about hidden stuff in the attic…easy!"

Millicent smirked slightly and Gaby shot her a mild glare before clearing her throat.

"Yeah…except um, well we can't exactly do that?"

Narrowing her eyes again, Quinn ran her now clean hands through her hair.

"What now Gaby, come on just tell me already so we can get this done, I kinda want to be home by morning to surprise Rachel."

Millicent's eyebrow rose curiously but Quinn ignored it and looked hard at her friend until the red head caved.

"It's a museum now, it houses art and curios from the twenties, it's not armed with an alarm system as it's more for local artists and unknowns than masterpieces but there is one old security guard and his dog…and you kinda need to break in."

Hazel eyes widened and swung from the flapper girl to her guiltily shuffling friend, after a few moments of heavy silence, Quinn burst.

"What the ever loving fuck Gaby! I have to break into a museum which is patrolled, sneak up to the attic and basically steal the damn diaries!"

Chewing on her lower lip, the ghost held her hands out calmingly.

"I know it sounds difficult but if they don't know about the journals then technically it can't be stealing can it? I mean you can't steal something that isn't theirs in the first place."

Pacing, the pilot threw her hands around in agitation as she growled.

"Oh, that's a great defence, I'll be sure to use that when my ass get's thrown in jail again!"

Wincing, the redhead sighed and hastily explained.

"That's only if you get caught and with us there you won't! We can keep watch and he'll never even know, it's a big house, twelve bedrooms so there's plenty of places to hide even if he does start getting close."

Rubbing her hands roughly down her face, the pilot heaved a resigned sigh.

"So, there's no other way of doing it then, like waiting till it opens tomorrow and then sneaking off to the attic on a tour?"

Gaby shook her head.

"During the day there are stewards posted all around the museum, mainly to answer questions but also to keep people out of the area's of the house not on the tour…including the attic."

Quinn rolled her eyes grumbling.

"Of course, shit…fine let's just get this done then, but if I get caught then I'm going to find a ghost buster to kick both your asses, clear!"

Both spectres nodded, Gaby looking at her with a mixture of relief and amusement and Millicent mostly just looking grateful. Shaking her head and muttering under her breath, the pilot made her way to the garage and the bike, sliding onto it, she slipped her crash helmet on. Sadly she had been unable to resurrect the Indian after the crash Jesse had caused, so to console herself she had bought one of the original Ducatti Monster Black's and stripped it down before rebuilding it again. Pausing for a moment to almost caress the custom paintwork on the engine housing, she spoke swiftly.

"Give me the address and I'll meet you there."

Once she had the address, she mapped the route in her head and thanked god that one of her part time jobs during college had been sick cover for a Taxi firm, it had only been manning the desk but it had given her an extensive knowledge of New York's boroughs. She stopped a street away, partly because it was mostly businesses that were long since closed up for the night and quiet, and partly because she wanted to check in with Rachel who by now would be at Kurt and Blaine's. Sliding out her phone, she hit Rachel's contact photo and waited, the diva answered on the third ring sounding exhausted but happy and instantly Quinn relaxed, her crooked smile growing.

"What's up Froot Loop, you miss me?"

Chuckling, Quinn rubbed the back of her neck as she spoke, wishing it was Rachel's hand that was easing the tension she could feel creeping up on her.

"Always, just wanted to make sure the rainbow coalition were looking after my beautiful girlfriend and babies, how are the peanuts?"

Rachel giggled and the blonde felt the familiar warmth in her stomach at the wonderful sound.

"We are all fine, although I'm not sure if I can get used to people wanting to touch my belly or kiss it…except you of course, you have full belly touching and kissing privileges."

Raising an eyebrow at the very thought she might not have access, Quinn spoke smoothly.

"I should think so too, because tomorrow afternoon after a long lie in, I intend to come collect you, head out for brunch and then spend the rest of the day in bed making you scream my name."

There was a gasp on the other end of the phone and the pilot grinned as she imagined the light blush she knew would be dusting the brunette's cheeks at that very moment. After a stunned second, Rachel cleared her throat.

"Well, in that case don't be late picking me up, I wouldn't want to set those plans back…how's work going baby?"

Wincing at the fact she wasn't at work and was in fact about to break into a museum and steal/not steal a bunch of inflammatory diaries, Quinn rubbed the back of her neck.

"Um, the usual you know? I think Santana deliberately rags the shi…uh heck out of her cars just to annoy me you know!"

At that Rachel gave a full- bodied laugh before agreeing.

"Knowing her I can believe it! Anyway I better go the boys and I are watching the movie version of Hairspray and Kurt's pouting because we paused it just before Zac Efron's rendition of Ladies Choice."

The pilot snorted and rolled her eyes reflexively even though she knew the little diva wouldn't be able to see it.

"Okay, heaven forbid I interrupt their drool fest."

Rachel made a sound of surprise and again without being able to see, Quinn knew the diva would be trying her best to emulate the arched eyebrow of doom as she drawled out.

"So say's the person who goes moon eyed over Amanda Bynes every time she watches the very same movie."

Sighing dramatically, the pilot acknowledged the hit.

"Fair point, well presented, I concede the hit, now let me go with at least some of my dignity in tact Cheerio."

Rachel snorted another laugh at that.

"I think you lost the last of your dignity in senior year when my dad's came home early and found us screwing on the kitchen table amidst the remains of their anniversary dinner!"

Groaning, Quinn face palmed loudly enough for Rachel to hear it on the other end of the phone.

"Aw Rach did you have to remind me of that! I only just managed to wipe that memory from my mind. I'm not sure which was worse, Leroy crying about the ruined dinner, which by the way we didn't know about so totally not our fault that we ate it, or Hiram chasing me round the house screaming about how he was going to skin me alive for defiling you!"

As usual all Rachel could do was laugh uproariously at the memory of Quinn running around the house trying to dress herself while Hiram chased after her red-faced. It was funny in retrospect as both their memories insisted on playing it back like some Carry on Film (in Quinn's case complete with music) but at the time it had been terrifying.

"And on that note, I shall leave you to finish repairing Santana's car, see you tomorrow baby, and be careful, me and the peanut's love you!"

Smiling sappily, the blonde rubbed the back of her neck.

"Love you too gorgeous, see you in the morning."

Seconds later, she slipped the phone back into her jacket pocket and taking her helmet off hung it off the handlebars of the bike. She kept the gloves on just in case, not that her fingerprints should still be on file as her record was meant to be expunged but you could never be too careful when it came to breaking and entering. Rolling her eyes at that thought, Quinn started to walk towards the darkened house, which looked more like a mansion in her opinion, and ducked down behind the hedgerow where she saw Millicent and Gaby standing. They of course had no need to duck down, the red head grinned and winked at her reassuringly. At the gesture, Quinn was instantly transported back more than a decade as she remembered the various misadventures the two of them had managed to get themselves into. Every single one of which had started with that cheeky grin of Gaby's, the memories filled her with the same foolhardy confidence she had, had at thirteen and she winked back before glancing to the floodlit building.

"Right…Gaby you go inside and work out the best way for me to get in un-noticed, Millicent you go see where the guard is and follow him for a bit, see if you can get an idea of his route."

Sniffing slightly at being ordered around, the flapper girl nevertheless huffed and disappeared, Gaby however nodded eagerly, obviously feeling the same mix of nostalgia and bravado that Quinn was. They both took off and Quinn just settled down to wait hoping there weren't any locks that needed picking. Not because she couldn't, but because she only had a few paperclips in her pockets rather than the lock pick kit Angelina had gifted her, ten minutes later Gaby was back smiling in relief.

"Okay the good news is that there's a window unlocked that leads down into the basement, bad news of course being we then have to make our way up through all four levels."

Hazel eyes gleamed slightly with mischief and Quinn found she was actually looking forward to this in a perverse way. It wasn't that she was the type of person that looked for trouble but…she would be lying if she didn't admit that the adrenaline rush was awesome!

"Well then we're just going to have to be bloody careful aren't we Watson?"

Nudging the pilot's shoulder with her own, Gaby grinned back.

"Indubitably Sherlock!"

They were still giggling when Millicent reappeared; she huffed impatiently at the two of them as they gathered themselves together. Once the sniggering had stopped, the flapper girl folded her arms petulantly.

"If you two have quite finished messing around, I would like to get this problem solved before time runs out…now, the guard starts at the main entrance, does the ground floor, first floor, second floor et cetera all the way up to the attic. Then takes the fire exit back down to start over again and, every three circuits, he stops for a twenty minute break."

Quinn raised an impressed eyebrow.

"You learnt all that in twenty minutes?"

Shrugging slightly, the young ghost half smiled and confessed.

"I snuck into his office and checked the routine on the clipboard then followed him long enough to work out that he stuck to it. A word of warning though, while he looks like he should have retired a decade ago, the dog is very big, very young and can definitely sense us."

She waved a finger between herself and Gaby to indicate that as rumour suggested, dogs were indeed nature's best ghost hunters. Quinn furrowed her brow worriedly at that news; they were going to have to time this perfectly to avoid any encounters. Running the information the two spectres had gathered through her mind, she swiftly cobbled together a plan.

"Okay…here's the plan, our point of entry is the window into the basement that much we know for sure. Millie if you head up to the second floor, wait for him to start his round there and then let me know, at that point I'll get into the basement. Hopefully I can make it through there and the first floor before he starts making his way back down. Gaby you need to stay on the first floor and when he reaches there you find me and I'll hide up before he makes his rounds of that one. Once he gets all the way down to the basement we head upstairs, with any luck I can get up there and find the journals before he returns."

Gaby considered the plan and then nodded.

"Well that's great for getting in but what about getting out?"

Quinn opened her mouth then paused and closed it again as she frowned heavily, after a moment, she shrugged one shoulder before grinning.

"I'm sure we can work it out, it will involve some more hiding but if we trail him down then I figure once he passes the entrance to the basement to finish his tour of the ground floor, I can nip down there and be out before he even enters."

The ghosts looked at each other in trepidation for a moment, Gaby glanced sidelong at Quinn and regained her grin, shrugging, she nodded to Millicent.

"Let's go for it, Millie, you head up to the second floor, Q and I will make our way round to the basement window."

The flapper girl disappeared and the two old friends started to commando crawl alongside the hedgerow to rest opposite the basement window, luckily there were no buildings that overlooked the museum, or at least no buildings that were currently occupied. Quinn glanced over at Gaby and smirked.

"Why are you commando crawling with me Watson, you can't be seen remember?"

The red head shrugged.

"Why not it's more fun this way, especially as I'm not getting covered in mud unlike you…good luck explaining the grass stains to Rachel."

The ghost smirked as Quinn scowled and then grimaced at the mud and grass stains now marking her jeans and vest. She ignored Gaby's laughter and couldn't help but start slightly when Millicent appeared in front of them abruptly.

"Okay you're clear to go, he's just starting the tour of the second floor so I predict you will have at least twenty minutes to get in and up to the ground floor…plus of course find somewhere decent to hide yourself so the dog won't find you."

Nodding, Quinn swiftly made her way to the basement window, as Gaby had said it pulled open easily enough and without a sound. Slithering on her belly, the pilot managed to squeeze through the gap and into the basement with no issues, she slid onto the floor and paused for a moment as she let the window close gently behind her. There was no barking or hurried footsteps so letting her breath out in relief, she made her way up the basement stairs and lightly pushed the door open far enough to slip out. The building was much larger than it looked from the outside and she waited patiently for Gaby to appear as she made her way through the corridors. The red head appeared at the end of one corridor and gestured for Quinn to join her, swiftly the pilot made her way over.

"Sherlock have you got something with you to pick locks?"

Frowning, Quinn dug in her pockets and pulled out a few paper clips raising an eyebrow, Gaby gestured to the locked door she was standing in front of.

"The café is behind this door, it's small but as it's locked he never checks inside it, it's the perfect place to hide until he goes down to the basement, if you can get into it in under ten minutes that is?"

She worded it as a challenge knowing that the blonde would react to that better than she would a question. Sure enough, Quinn grinned and swiftly straightened out two of the paperclips turning the end of one over carefully before bending down in front of the lock.

"This is an easy lock, should take me less than three minutes, even without the proper kit."

Gaby shook her head with a fond smile as she watched her friend work swiftly and confidently.

"Where on earth did you learn all this stuff Sherlock, I know you used to practice when you were a kid in preparation for your detective agency but…I never realised you got this good at it."

Smirking slightly, Quinn spoke in a whisper even as she kept her eyes and ears on the lock she was working on.

"Well there wasn't a lot else to talk about in Juvie other than why we were in there and swap stories and techniques. I passed on some of the self- defence my dad taught me and in return I learnt how to pick locks, boost cars and break a guy's nose with one punch."

The lock turned over with a quiet click and Quinn glanced up at Gaby, waggling her eyebrows, the red head grinned but rolled her eyes as she followed the pilot inside. Quinn's eyes of course lit up at the candy lining the counter and reached out to snag a 3 Musketeers bar, only to stop with a pout when Gaby slapped her hand away.

"Nuh uh Sherlock, no way, that would be stealing!"

Sighing, the blonde nonetheless nodded in agreement and ducked down behind the counter waiting for Millicent to give the all clear so she could make her way up to the basement, five minutes later the ghost appeared and motioning to Quinn and Gaby led the way up to the first floor. From there it was easy enough to find their way up to the attic, although Quinn almost yelled in fright when she practically walked into a suit of Samurai armour. It was only Gaby's quick thinking and ability to touch Quinn that saved the pilot's skin as she slapped a hand over her mouth before any sound could leak out. Once she felt her heart beat return to normal, the blonde nodded and Gaby removed her hand, soon after that they were in the attic and Quinn was watching closely as Millie examined the wall under the small window carefully, searching for the loose brick she remembered from so many years before. After pacing back and forth in front of it for a while, she paused and tapped, or rather gestured at, a particular brick. Moving forwards swiftly, Quinn examined the cement around the red brick looking for cracks, frowning, she fished the straightened paperclips from her pocket and began to scrape at the cement surrounding the brick, murmuring under her breath as she worked.

"You sure this is the one?"

The flapper girl narrowed her eyes and scowled grumpily as she hissed her answer out.

"Of course I'm sure! My family's reputation is riding on me getting this right so when I say that it is behind that brick, I mean it is definitely behind that brick."

Quinn rolled her eyes and kept working on the cement with the edge of the paper clips.

"Alright keep your wig on Boggs, shouldn't you be watching out again right now anyway? Because if we get caught then your family name stays dirty."

Muttering under her breath, Millicent disappeared again, next to Quinn, Gaby sighed and chuckled slightly.

"You really are a sweet talker aren't you Sherlock?"

Snorting dismissively, the pilot paused to wipe sweat off of her forehead with her sleeve.

"Yeah well, she doesn't exactly win any prizes for being Miss Congeniality either you know? I only react to how people act with me and…wait, I think I got it!"

Chewing lightly on her lip in concentration, Quinn managed to get her fingers into the groove she had created and wriggled the brick around, biting down on a yell of triumph as it started to slide easily from the wall. Once it was free, the blonde peered into the gap but couldn't see much, grimacing and trying not to think about spiders and bugs too closely slid her arm into the opening and felt around gingerly. After a few moments of blindly groping around, her hand encountered a bag of some sort, getting a good hold of it, she started to ease her arm out gently, trying not to jog the parcel. When she finally pulled it free, it was a slim and somewhat moth eaten silk bag, raising an eyebrow she quickly peered inside it. Sure enough there were at least ten slim leather bound journals and a small velvet bag, happy that it was indeed what they had come for, she tucked it into her jacket and zipped it closed. Seconds later Millicent reappeared and gestured with a hand to indicate that the guard was now making his way back upstairs, Quinn glanced across to Gaby who nodded and started to lead the way back down, they were only just stepping onto the second floor when they heard the familiar pad of canine feet heading towards them, the guard's voice sounded out of breath as he called for his dog, freezing, Quinn stared wide-eyed at the other two.

"What the fuck do we do now!"

Millicent looked guiltily at them both and tucked her hands under her arms.

"I think I spooked him when I went down earlier, just…hide, find somewhere to hide and we can try and distract him again, at least long enough to enable you to escape!"

Nodding frantically, the blonde started to run lightly but swiftly towards one of the rooms at the end that she vaguely remembered as being a bedroom. Skidding inside, she fell to her stomach and started wriggling under the bed hastily, not hastily enough as it turned out and she heard the snarl of the dog seconds before it sank it's teeth…right into her left butt cheek. Luckily, Gaby appeared just in time and slapped her hand over Quinn's mouth again, hurriedly helping to pull her under the bed. The dog however wasn't eager to give up his prize and the pilot vowed that whatever pet they ended up with, it wouldn't be a bloody Alsatian! Hazel eyes widened as she heard Millicent calling to the dog, distracting him, before she remembered that no one else would be able to hear the spirit, certainly not the guard. Finally free of the dog's teeth, she watched with one eye from under the bed as he started barking at the corner Millie was stood in. the guard arrived shortly afterwards to see his dog apparently barking at thin air, grumbling under his breath about mad dogs and phantom burglars, he dragged the still whining Alsatian back out and up towards the attic. Letting her head thump lightly down onto the carpet, Quinn let out a breath of relief before sliding herself out from under the bed, reaching round she winced when she touched her ripped jeans.

"Well that's just brilliant, how the hell am I gonna explain this to Rachel when she asks what happened?"

Shrugging slightly, Gaby looked around anxiously before replying.

"I think that right now we need to be more concerned with getting out of here…and possibly getting you a tetanus shot."

Narrowing her eyes at the mild joke, the pilot limped after the spirits as they led the way, on the alert for the possibility of more canine distraction techniques needing to be used. Luckily, they managed to get out without any further incident, though by that point Quinn was in a certain amount of discomfort and the seat of her pants was damp from the bleeding. It hadn't bled much just enough to make the light wind that was blowing highly unpleasant, sitting on the bike however was a whole other kind of unpleasant hell and she was dreading the ride home. She glanced between the two ghosts who looked relieved, happy and apologetic about the dog bite. Sighing and relieved to be seated despite the throbbing in her buttocks, Quinn ran her hands through her hair tiredly, stifling a yawn.

"So who am I taking these journals too and can it wait till morning?"

Gaby and Millicent glanced at each other and the red head shrugged apologetically before turning back to Quinn, who by this point looked exhausted and mildly pissed off.

"Unfortunately, we need to get them delivered to the newspaper tonight, but at least you don't like have to break in or anything?"

The latter half of the sentence was offered with a half smile in an attempt to lighten the mood; the pilot however refused to accept the conversational olive branch and replied in a sickeningly sweet voice.

"Gosh that's a shame, cos I was hoping to get my other ass cheek gnawed on!"

Wincing at the pointed criticism disguised as a comment, Gaby could only nod sympathetically and try not to look at the body part in question for fear of further angering her old friend.

"I'm sorry about this, there's this whole thing about dogs and the radius we can be in when near them and…I guess we miscalculated the distance and set him off, it won't happen again, I promise."

One blonde eyebrow rose so sharply that Gaby half expected a comic style exclamation mark to appear above the pilot's head. She spoke hastily in order to head off whatever tirade it was that Quinn was gearing up to unleash.

"All you need to do is put the journals in an envelope and drop them off at the offices of the Herald for the Attention of Tina Chang, she's their society reporter and she'll love this, plus she could prove useful in the future and it , never hurts to have a reporter on our side. Put your card in with it along with a note saying you found them in a box at a jumble sale or something…it's not like anyone can trace them because the only people that knew about them are dead. That way she can contact you before they go to press to confirm they're genuine, once the paper comes out, your job on this one is done!"

Half of Quinn was ecstatic at having gotten through her first case as a spirit wrangler unharmed (well, relatively unharmed anyway), the other half was tired, sore and just wanted to get the journals sorted out so she could go home and crash…and of course think up a decent excuse for Rachel to explain the dog bite. Mustering a smile nonetheless, she was about to talk when the voice of the flapper girl interrupted her softly.

"I…would like to thank you for this, it may seem silly, to need to do this before I finally pass over but…I owe it to my parents. They were good people who worked hard to make the city a better place, it was the least I could do…and I couldn't have done it without you so um, thanks."

Letting her expression relax into it's more usual and natural grin, Quinn shrugged a shoulder and shifted on the seat of the bike.

"Yeah well…it's kinda what I do apparently, and I suppose that you aren't that bad really…for a spoiled society girl."

For a moment, Gaby stiffened expecting another face off…she was surprised therefore when Millicent threw her head back and laughed in genuine amusement. Relaxing the red head rolled her eyes at the pilot who just shrugged good naturedly at her best friend's exasperation. The flapper girl's laughter eased after a moment and she flashed Quinn a genuine smile that softened her whole face, eyes sparkling with merriment, she replied just as nonchalantly.

"And you did a competent job…for a dock working grease monkey."

Quinn was the one laughing now and she nodded in acknowledgement of the hit before slipping her crash helmet on.

"Well I need to go find a seven eleven and get an envelope to post these journals, I guess I'll see you…at some point, Boggs, take care of yourself."

Nodding and smiling one more time, the ghost disappeared leaving the blonde alone with Gaby, the red head turned to Quinn and lay a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"You did good Sherlock, real good…I'll meet you back at your place, someone needs to look at that bite on your ass and with wifey having a sleepover, I suppose it's me…the things I do for you Fabray."

Narrowing her eyes in a mock glare, the pilot fastened her crash helmet and gunned the bikes engine.

"Don't even start with me Armaro, I'll see you back at the flat."

The ghost smirked and wiggling her fingers in a goodbye gesture, disappeared; Quinn rolled her eyes and took off. Just as she suspected the rumble of the Ducatti really, really exacerbated the bite and for the first time in her life, she wished she had listened to Rachel and got a car instead of another bike. Luckily it didn't take more than an hour to finish up the tasks she had left to do, she easily found somewhere to buy an envelope and marker pen. She had labelled, posted the journals to one Tina Chang and made it home within the hour, sighing gratefully, she hung the crash helmet and coat up (Rachel had managed to instil some sense of neatness into her) before gingerly unfastening her jeans and letting them drop to the floor. Trudging into the lounge, she saw Gaby was already sat on the sofa and had the small first aid kit from the bathroom in her lap…along with a nurse's cap, she smirked as Quinn walked in and rolled her eyes.

"Funny, real cute…now can we get this over with, there's just something extremely weird about having the ghost of my dead best friend clean up the dog bite on my ass! Then again I get the feeling that weird is quickly going to become run-of-the-mill doing this job."

Grinning unrepentantly, Gaby straightened her nurse's cap and gestured for Quinn to lie on the sofa and spoke cheerily.

"You got that right Fabray, now drop those shorts and stop whining, it's not like I haven't seen it all before or have you already forgotten cheerleading camp in sophomore year?"

Smirking slightly, the blonde kicked her now ruined Superman boxers off and lay face down on the sofa with a tired sigh.

"Like I could ever forget, you had a massive crush on that boy from McKinley who turned out to be gay! You dragged me round that damn camp non stop ogling him, I still can't believe you didn't realise he was gay, his name's Kurt by the way and he's really nice, that's where Rae is tonight, with him and his boyfriend."

She smirked as she emphasised the last word, a smirk that soon turned into a grimace and yelp of discomfort as Gaby splashed the iodine onto the wound liberally.

"Oops, it must have spilled."

Not fooled for a moment, the blonde subsided with a grumble and a glare over her shoulder at the innocently smiling ghost.

"Yeah, yeah of course it did…is it bad?"

She tried to look over her shoulder until the red head tutted and forcefully shoved her head back down onto her folded arms.

"Quit wriggling Fabray! If you don't hold still the steri-strips won't hold and I'll have to start all over again, or do you actually want another dose of iodine, is it like one of your weird kinks or something?"

Snorting into her folded arms, Quinn could only hear the sound of her own voice and Gaby's chuckling as she replied.

"No, of all the weird kinks I do have, I can honestly say that having my best friend pour antibacterial liquid into a dog bite on my ass that I received whilst in the commission of a 'robbery that wasn't really a robbery' is not one of them!"

Gaby made a strangled sort of noise in the back of her throat and the pilot lifted her head from her folded arms…only for her eyes to widen dramatically as she took in the sight of Rachel (who had obviously heard her last statement) staring at her with a mix of bewilderment and worry. Glancing up at Gaby, the ghost muttered apologetically.

"I did try telling you but you were in mid rant!"

Smiling weakly, the only comment Quinn could come up with was the always lame…

"This really isn't what it looks like!"

Whew this turned into a bit of a monster! But I wanted to write them telling Judy at least so she could reveal a little bit more information about the legacy that runs in the Fabray family. Then of course I intended to end this part before they actually did the 'robbery not robbery' but…I couldn't stop! I therefore apologise to you lovely people for delaying this chapter so I could finish it and hope you continue to enjoy it, please let me know what works and doesn't work so I can fine tune it for you! Anyway I shall be AWOL for a few days as I immerse myself in Mass Effect 3 but the next update will be thin ice I think, as always you have my love and thanks for your taking the time to read and or comment, you rule! xxx