Disclaimer: Don't own Glee or any other references
Thanks to my awesome beta Dsachao for this!
Santana can feel the soft, bare skin under her palm before she really acknowledges that she's awake. She breathes in deeply and peeks out of one eye to find her vision completely obscured by blonde hair. Reluctant to move her hand away from Brittany's hip, Santana lifts her head and glances around, trying her best not to disturb Brittany's peaceful slumber. They're clearly in a hotel room, a large plasma TV attached on the wall in front of the bed, right above a sleek wooden cabinet. To the left is a thin white semi-see-through sheet covering the glass sliding door, obscuring the tops of trees in Central Park and the other buildings outside. Santana glances at the bed side table, eyes widening when she sees the time.
"Shit, shit, shit." Too hurried to be careful about Brittany, Santana flings back the covers and immediately begins to collect various items of clothing off the cream carpet floor, still chanting expletives.
"San?" Brittany rubs at her eyes, moving to sit in an upright position, "Where are you going?" Santana yanks on her three-quarter length jeans, hating them for being so tight and therefore impossible to get on.
"Go back to sleep, baby, I've just got to be in the operating theatre in forty fucking minutes. Mind if I borrow your friend's car?" Brittany hesitates but eventually shrugs.
"Yeah, it's not like she can do anything about it," in the rush to tie up her shoes, Santana misses Brittany's small chuckle.
"Awesome," Santana grabs Brittany's shirt that was discarded on the foot of the bed and pulls it on, buttoning up half of the top and rolling up the sleeves to cover her thin-strap top underneath that she had been wearing yesterday. "I'll see you later then babe," she quickly moves to beside the bed and kisses Brittany lightly and all but runs out of the door.
Closing the hotel door behind her, Santana realises that she has no recollection of how to get to the elevator or anything. Luckily, Brittany's room is at the very end of the corridor, next to a fire exit, so Santana goes straight down the corridor, turning corners and praying that she'll get to an elevator soon. After a few minutes of wrong turns and dead ends, Santana finally locates the thick golden elevator doors and she mashes the down button, as if by breaking that damn downward arrow, the elevator would get there quicker. As soon as the door 'dings' and a sliver of space emerges, Santana slides herself out (exclaiming a 'hallelujah! Praise the freaking lord!' that makes the elderly couple still inside give her even stranger looks than when she crushed the already-lit 'G').
Quinn is with her Ba at their restaurant below the apartment, sipping at her cup of milky and very sugary tea as she waits for Mike to show up. It's still early and the restaurant isn't open yet for once the place is quiet and peaceful as they chat idly at a circular table near the back.
"So how is Noah?" She shrugs at Ba's question, truth is she hasn't seen him in a while, too swept up about her case for the past few weeks.
"Fine I think, I haven't really spoken to him." Ma, who had been checking the register, comes over and sits on the other side of her husband.
"Why? Do you not like him anymore? Is there a third person?" Quinn smiles and shakes her head.
"No, nothing like that at all, I've just been busy and caught up in work." One of the chefs pops out from the door to the kitchen and gestures at Ba hurriedly. He smiles at Quinn before rising to meet the chef.
"Quinn, you need to spend more time with him. How about you invite him for dinner tonight at your apartment? Tell him I'll get the chefs to cook and bring the food up. I'll even tell them make pork in orange honey sauce."
Quinn laughs, the last time Puck had ate them, Santana had thrown down her chopsticks in disgust, claiming that Puck's orgasm face was putting her off her food. "Okay, I'll call him later."
Ma smiles. "And tell Santana to bring that girl she's been dating. Have you met her?"
Quinn nods. "Just once, she's really pretty. I don't know much about her though."
"But she makes your sister happy, yes?"
Quinn smiles fondly, Ma and Ba only care if the people they're all dating are good for them or not. "Very much so."
Ma nods approvingly. "Good. Michael needs to come too, your Ba and I want to meet all the people that my three, precious girls are seeing."
Quinn takes a sip from her cup, giving herself time to find a way to bring in a new related subject. "How would you feel if Mike and Tina split up?"
Ma looks taken aback. Quinn winces, that didn't come out quite so smooth and subtle-sounding as it did in her head.
"They are not together anymore? What happened?" Quinn places a hand on her Ma's shoulder to calm her before sliding it back to cup the mug.
"No! They are still… they're still what they always were," Quinn clears her throat, not quite capable of lying to her, "but I was just saying, hypothetically-speaking, if they were to break up and say um, in this hypothetical universe, Tina starts to date other people, what would you do? I mean, the hypothetical you."
Ma frowns and moves to occupy the vacant chair closer to Quinn that Ba had vacated.
"Well, I would be disappointed because Michael is a good boy, he suits Tina well and together, they can have the best in life. But forcing her with him isn't going to make her happy so I would understand."
Quinn nods quickly; this was going better than she thought.
"Okay, so say she wanted to date someone else then, say… I don't know someone completely random… like, Artie?"
Ma pauses a little, trying to remember who that was, before shaking her head vigorously.
"No that I cannot allow."
Quinn shuffles a little closer. "Now, be honest with me Ma, is it because he's handicapped?"
"No Quinn! How could you even think of me like that!"
Instantly, Quinn pats her Ma's hand lightly, feeling guilty about her obvious distress. "I don't! Of course I don't, you and Ba are the most open parents, and I know that."
Quinn never once took Ma and Ba's acceptance for granted; her own parents had disowned her during the last year of college when they found out about the girl that Quinn was dating at the time. Luckily, Tina's parents had all but adopted her, willingly funding her through the rest of the year and giving her a home and family, one she treasured more than her previous one.
"I was speaking hypothetically remember? It's just, well, you and Ba didn't seem to like him very much at that barbeque last year."
"It's not that he can't walk, but there is something off with him – your Ba and I just knew that he isn't a good person. Not only does he have no future and will only drag Tina down, he also has an awful personality."
Quinn raises an eyebrow.
"But he didn't even speak much that day, how would you know?"
Ma shakes her head.
"I just can Quinn. Given the chance to be with your sister, he'll take it, we could clearly see the way he looked at her. But believe me that relationship will end in nothing but tears and heartbreak for Tina. I could never allow myself to allow her to be with someone that will ultimately do her harm."
Quinn frowns, but just as she's about to speak again, she spots Mike running past the front window and flinging the door open. Quinn get to her feet and moves around the tables towards him as he catches his breath.
"Mike, what's wrong?"
"We have to go, there's been another victim."
Mike pulls up right beside the sectioned-off area, police tape blocking the crowd of nosy bystanders and journalists. The team who are working quickly on clearing the scene are deep within the alley behind a restaurant. They get out of the car, badges flashing to an officer, who nods and allows them under the tape. Quinn recognises the restaurant straight away: Golden Phoenix is a less than ten-minute walk away from the Columbia University Medical Centre – she comes here with Tina and Santana at least once every two months.
Mike leads Quinn down the gap down the side of the building before turning to a square-shaped area. Bins are pushed to the back and various people are milling around, some taking photos of the untouched body still on the ground, others swiping for any evidence. Quinn takes in the stunning dress, flowing hair and flawless make-up with a sinking feeling deep inside her chest. It is horrible to know that it's her fault they still haven't found Prince Charming. Another innocent woman is murdered, because of her. Quinn grabs at a person, dressed head to toe in white, who's taking photos.
"What time was she discovered?"
"Just over an hour ago, when one of the waiters came out for a smoke."
"And have you found anything?"
The man shakes his head. "Just the standard, ma'am."
Quinn sighs.
"The owner is in the kitchen if you want to talk to him."
She nods in thanks and releases the man back to his work.
Quinn dodges around the other people looming around with Mike right behind her and finally reaches the back door which already opened and the smell of grease is already filling the air. Ignoring it to her best ability, Quinn steps in and immediately sees the owner leaning against a huge fridge, reading the newspaper.
"Mr Li?" A middle aged man with a receding hairline peeks up from the broadsheet and smiles.
"Quinn! I haven't seen you or the other two in a while." As he folds the newspaper away, she moves closer and gives him a handshake, aware of Mike following her, pulling out his notebook and pen from his blazer.
"We've all been really busy lately and I'm sorry that we had to meet again in these circumstances."
Quinn notices his face drop briefly before a large fake grin appears on his face. "What do you mean? There's free publicity from all these news reporters outside."
Quinn smiles back politely.
"Would you like something to drink? Or eat? I can get someone to make you something if you haven't had breakfast yet."
"Thank you but I'm fine. I'm afraid I'm here to take down statements and ask a few questions. This is my partner, Agent Chang. Mike?" Mike does a half wave.
"Tina's cousin?"
"Not just a coincidence, my parents own that optical shop over in Manhattan."
Mr Li nods in understanding. "Oh my mistake, my wife always buys glasses at your folks' place – very good prices."
Mike laughs. Quinn clears her throat, an attempts to bring the atmosphere back to professional.
"So Mr Li, do you mind if we take a few questions? With you and the person who discovered the body?"
The restaurant owner sobers up and nods.
"Of course, come with me." Mr Li guides them through another door, leading into the main restaurant area where there was a group of waiters chatting around the table against the far wall. Quinn could see silhouettes of a mass of people outside the shop window which thankfully was covered by thick white curtains to keep away prying eyes.
"Nicholas!"
The head of a waiter snaps up. He looks fairly young, maybe 17 or 18 years old, with dyed light brown hair which flops rather adorably over his forehead.
"Yeah?" The boy rises to his feet, hands wringing together in front of him.
"This is Agent Fabray and Agent Chang, they need to talk to you."
He looks at them both silently and follows them over to a rectangular 4-seater table on the opposite side of the room, the group of waiters return to their conversations but now quieter and more subdued. Quinn takes a seat next to Mike, with the nervous-looking boy opposite her. Wasting no time, Quinn receives a nod from Mike before launching into it.
"So you were the one who found the body?" He nods.
"Yeah, man, I just went out for a smoke but there she was…" he blinks quickly a few times, trying to dispel the images burned into his brain.
"So before you, when was the last time anyone went out to the back?"
"Well I was supposed to take out the trash last night, but it was already like midnight and it was freezing outside so I left the garbage by the back door and was going to take out this morning."
Mr Li frowns with disapproval as Nicholas looks away sheepishly.
"So you didn't look out at the back or go outside at all then?"
"There's no window in the kitchen so I couldn't see outside."
Quinn nods and waits for Mike to finish scribbling down the notes before proceeding. Mr Li makes a shooing action, causing Nicholas to stand up, smiling but obviously relieved, and returning over to the other side of the room with the other waiters.
"So as far as I could see, the only way to get to the back is through the side of the restaurant, out onto this front street. Did anyone see anything out of place at all yesterday?"
"It was really busy all day." Mr Li gestures around the restaurant, "the entire place was fully packed, everyone was rushing around and working to have really paid attention to anything else."
"But it's a fairly busy road and there's parking spots right in front, could you have missed something?"
"Those spaces are for loading and unloading various things that we need. In fact, there's a large sign on the street light saying that people can't park here at anytime…"
Mr Li sits up straight suddenly, remembering something.
"How could I have forgotten – there's been a few burglaries in the neighbourhood lately, so I put up a little camera just outside."
Quinn perks up. "Where is the camera facing?"
Mr Li turns around to look at the front, but the crowd of silhouettes are still outside. "I would show you but I'm afraid that isn't possible. It's attached to the side of the front wall." Mr Li straightens his hand out over the table to represent the wall as he points along various places on his hand.
"The camera is right here in the corner and twisted to look back along the wall, so I should show you the front door and the alley entrance." Adrenaline races through Quinn – this could be the breakthrough to end the slow progress they had been making.
"And the tape? Where is it?"
"The camera is connected to this machine in the storage room, let me go get it." Mr Li rises and disappears off, leaving Mike to finish off writing and Quinn to try to suppress the urge to bounce around in her seat. Unable to fully contain herself, Quinn grabs Mike's arm and beams at him.
"This is it, Mikey, this is it. I can feel it, if someone walks down there and doesn't work here; it's got to be him. I'm absolutely positive we're going to catch the Prince."
I have an exam tomorrow but I thought I'd update today instead of revise =) So sorry there's little/practically no Brittana in this but after the next one the plot really starts laying in. Just three more chapters to go now so remember to spread the existence this fic ;) and comment! Thanks.
