Oh How the Years Go By

June 7th, 2018

"Are you ready?" Quinn asked.

"No. But we're going in anyway," Rachel told her, smiling slightly.

"It's going to be fine," Quinn said, holding the door to Starbucks open for her.

"Good morning girls," Leroy said as they walked over.

"Good morning," Quinn said. "I'm going to go order. Usual, Rachel?"

"Thanks," she said, nodding. She watched Quinn walk over to the counter, then turned back to her father. "How are you?"

"Tired today. But it's a lot better knowing I get to talk to you."

"I'm going to try to get through this without crying, but I make no promises."

"I probably won't make it past the first two sentences, so…." He smiled and shrugged.

"What happened?" Rachel finally asked after a few minutes of silence. "Why didn't…why didn't you even talk to me?"

Leroy looked down at his bottled water for a moment. "After you left…all the parents went a bit…"

"Psychotic?"

"That's a good way to put it, actually. We blamed each other—we blamed ourselves. And your dad and I…we started fighting. And then he started saying you abandoned the family. When you came back, I was starting to lose him. It wasn't your fault," he said, looking at her sternly. "We've had underlying…issues forever. We were able to put them aside when you came into our lives, and helping you reach your goals was what kept us focused. And we did love each other, in a way. But once you left, we couldn't direct our attention to anything else. Then I got sick."

"You never called," Rachel whispered. Quinn had come back by now with their teas, and Rachel was gripping her hand tightly.

"No…. I didn't have your number for a while. And then when I did…I didn't know what to say."

Tears run down Rachel's face, and she stands to hug him.

Quinn watches them, smiling and crying at once.


Santana turned to look at them as soon as they walked in. It was clear that she'd been pacing for the past hour.

Rachel smiled at her, then turned and pulled Quinn into a tight hug. "Thank you," she whispered. "I know that was probably agonizing for you."

"Yes and no," Quinn said, pulling away so Santana could hug them too. "I'm just really glad you have him back in your life."

"Me too."

Santana looks at both of them and makes an executive decision on the spot. "This morning was emotionally draining," she said, completely unnecessarily. "So…Q, hit the guest bedroom. Rachel, our bedroom. I'm going to make…." She glanced at the clock. "I guess this is what they call brunch…in the meantime, you two take a nap."

"Why are you separating us like five year olds?" Quinn asked, managing to smirk.

"Because this entire family can be shit at dealing with our emotions sometimes. Except Brittany."

"She's teaching today, right?" Rachel asked.

Santana nodded. "Anyway, you two need to have some alone time to think. So…nap, then we eat."

The blonde smiled over at Rachel, who shrugged. They both leaned in and kissed Santana.

"Aye, aye, captain," Quinn said with a wink.

The word "Captain" just reminds Santana to keep searching for the blonde's fantasy notebook. She watches her girls walk down the hall before heading to the kitchen to make vegan omelets.