WHOAAAA formatting disaster! To those who saw this chap the way it was posted on Thanksgiving day, apologies for the unreadable part- I don't know WHAT happened. For some reason the whole second half of the chap uploaded as italics with no spaces between the words! I have no idea why. But it's fixed now- so, um, yeah, enjoy!
Happy Thxgiving,
-JW
…...
Take Me As I Am
Season 3
Chapter 7: Tofurkey Wars
…...
"Rachel, you know I love you more than anything in the whole entire universe. But I am not eating tofu on Thanksgiving, so just deal with it."
"It's not tofu, Quinn, it's tofurkey! And you haven't even tried it. You're not going to have a very good time in New York if you refuse to try new things, you know."
"I try new things all the time!" Quinn huffed indignantly, wiping her hands off on her apron after cramming the last of the stuffing into the turkey. "But Thanksgiving is not a time for innovation, it's a time for tradition. And I'm not trying to convert you to eating meat, so stop trying to convert me to your freaking tofurkey, okay?"
"Well pardon me for trying to expand your horizons," Rachel sighed, rolling her eyes with an unwilling smirk curling the corner of her mouth.
"Oh, I think you've expanded my horizons plenty," Quinn hummed, scooting around the kitchen island and reaching for her girlfriend, who shrieked and jumped back.
"Quinn! Your hands were just inside the raw turkey!" Rachel squealed, her expression aghast. "I know you don't expect me to start off our holiday cheer with a little salmonella poisoning."
"Yes dear," Quinn sighed with a wry grin, clasping her hands behind her back and giving Rachel a soft kiss before running to wash her hands at the sink. "Okay, turkey's all ready to go in the oven. Will you go tell my mom she can come start the biscuits now?"
"Sure baby." Rachel beamed and pranced out of the Fabrays' kitchen, running a hand through Quinn's hair as she passed, making the blonde girl giggle and tilt her head to the side like an overexcited toddler.
"Goof!" she called after Rachel's retreating back.
When the dark-haired girl returned with her girlfriend's mom at her heels, Quinn was whisking the fragrant pumpkin pie filling in a large mixing bowl. "Tell me again how I'm not open to trying new things," the blonde girl said sarcastically, holding out a pumpkin-dripping finger for Rachel to taste.
"You honestly expect me to taste uncooked pumpkin pie filling? There are raw eggs in there," Rachel balked, shrinking back from Quinn's extended hand.
"Actually, there aren't," Quinn raised an eyebrow smugly. "We're having vegan pumpkin pie this year. I made it with silken tofu."
"You did?" Rachel stared at her smirking girlfriend in disbelief, then looked to the older Fabray for confirmation.
"Yes, she absolutely did," Judy nodded, smiling in amusement as she tied an apron around her waist and began pulling out ingredients for the biscuits. "We had quite a discussion over the question of vegan Thanksgiving items this year, you know. It'll be easy enough to put aside some of the potatoes and stuffing before milk and butter is added, and you already saw the little Tofurkey we got for you; but for dessert, Quinnie really wanted to try this vegan pumpkin pie recipe she found online. Apparently it's virtually impossible to tell it's not the real thing."
"That's what she said," Quinn muttered under her breath, a satisfied smirk on her face at Rachel's flabbergasted expression. The little starlet gave an undignified chortle, and sucked her girlfriend's extended finger into her mouth.
"Uhmm, that's amazing," Rachel sighed happily, licking her lips. "I haven't had pumpkin pie since I went vegan!"
"Who's the best girlfriend ever?" Quinn asked, beaming as she poured the filling into the waiting crust beside the stove.
"All you, baby," Rachel grinned back, kissing Quinn on the cheek.
…...
Once the pies were in the oven, Judy shooed the girls out of the kitchen to relax and enjoy the holiday (and perhaps to give her some peace in the kitchen, too). Quinn and Rachel put the time to good use by pulling out boxes and boxes of old Christmas decorations from the attic and adorning Quinn's room until it resembled a North Pole theme park. They spent over an hour untangling Christmas lights, hanging candy canes, and listening to holiday-themed music on Pandora, eventually ending up making out on the tinsel-covered bed before Rachel's dads arrived, and called them down to dinner.
"Do I have any lipstick on my teeth?" Rachel asked as she smoothed down her mussed hair and tucked her shirt back into her skirt.
"Let me see...nope." Quinn ducked down and stole another kiss, making Rachel squeal in protest as she was backed up against the door.
"Quinn, stop it! Our parents are downstairs waiting for us! What if they come up to find out what's taking so long?"
"Then we'll sit them down and explain that they're big enough boys and girls now to know where babies come from," Quinn murmured huskily against Rachel's throat. They were both giggling uncontrollably, hands wandering under shirts, when a sharp knock sounded on the door right up against Rachel's back. The little starlet gave an undignified squeak of alarm, practically body-slamming Quinn in her haste to get away from the door before it was opened.
"We were just fixing our makeup!" The dark-haired girl panted guiltily as her daddy's head poked around the bedroom door.
"Is that what we're calling it now?" Michael raised an eyebrow skeptically. Quinn covered her mouth to hide her self-satisfied smirk as the two of them shared a wry glance of acknowledgment. "I'm sorry, girls, but I didn't come up here to curb your recreational activities. Your friend Santana just arrived, and she's...well, I don't know what happened, but she's downstairs crying. I think you'd both better come down."
"Santana's crying?" Quinn's face was blank with shock. She tried to remember ever having seen Santana cry...but she couldn't. Not even the time she fell off the cheerleading pyramid and dislocated her shoulder. Hurriedly, she rushed past Rachel's father and ran down the stairs.
They found Santana sitting in the living room with Judy, sobbing unabashedly as Mrs. Fabray tried to comfort her. When Quinn and Rachel walked in, the older Fabray looked up with an expression of firm determination in her eyes.
"Quinn, honey, go set another place at the table. Santana's going to stay with us for a while."
"Of course," Quinn nodded dumbly; but instead of going to the kitchen for an extra plate, she sat down on Santana's other side, and hesitantly reached out to rub her back. "San? What happened?" The Latina girl snorted and wiped her eyes on a crumpled tissue.
"If you have to ask that, you obviously haven't had the TV on all day."
"No, we haven't," Rachel shook her head bemusedly, unable to understand what could've possibly happened on TV that would make Santana cry.
"Yeah, well, you'll see it soon enough. It's all Coach Sue's fault, her and her stupid congressional campaign. If she hadn't run, then her asshole opponent wouldn't be using my private life as fodder for his smear campaign."
"What?" Rachel gasped, mouth hanging open in frank astonishment.
"I just got outed on public freaking television!" Santana shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the Fabrays' TV though it wasn't even on. "My mom saw it while she was stuffing the turkey. She threw a can of cranberry sauce at my head! She was screaming about Santería and how the ancestors would weep if they saw my disgrace. Then she threw me out on my ass. On fucking Thanksgiving Day!" The sobbing girl caught herself up short then, wiping her eyes with a guilty look at Mrs. Fabray. "Um, sorry Mrs. F."
"Oh, sweetheart, it's all right. After what you've just been through, I think you're more than entitled to a bit of cursing." Judy squeezed Santana's shoulder, her smile full of compassion. "I'll talk to your mother, we'll all help your family adjust, I promise."
"Thank you," Santana whispered, smiling weakly.
"Does Britt know?" Quinn asked gently, pushing the kleenex box on the coffee table closer to her sniffling friend.
"No, she's in Akron at her grandparents'," Santana sighed, pulling out a fresh tissue and wiping roughly at her eyes and nose. "I don't want to ruin her Thanksgiving, there's nothing she can do right now anyway. I'll give her a heads' up tomorrow, but I doubt her family will care. They've never had a problem with our relationship." With a sniff, Santana looked up at her friends, and smiled weakly. "I'm really sorry for messing up your Thanksgiving, chicas."
"You don't have anything to be sorry for," Quinn said firmly, and Rachel nodded in staunch agreement.
"We're your friends, there will always be a place for you at our table."
"And your mother will come around, sweetheart," Judy said, tilting Santana's chin up and giving her a warm smile of encouragement. "I speak from experience. She's angry and confused right now...but soon she'll be missing you, and remembering what a wonderful daughter you've always been. And until then, you'll stay right here with us."
"Thank you," Santana sniffed sadly, throwing her arms around Judy's neck and hugging her fiercely. Quinn kissed the top of Santana's head, and went to rustle up an extra place setting for the Thanksgiving table. Behind her back, she heard Rachel offering to share her tofurkey, and Santana responding that she'd rather eat the burnt gristle off the bottom of the turkey pan. It was oddly comforting.
…...
It was a small table, even with the last-minute addition of Santana; just Quinn and Judy, Rachel and her dads. Quinn thought this was just as well, imagining how Santana would react to strangers right now in her current state of mind (though a tiny part of her did enjoy the idea of her acerbic friend tearing Rachel's obnoxious grandfather a new one if given the chance). The food was amazing, even Rachel's tofurkey (which Quinn eventually gave in and sampled, admitting that it was "not bad if you close your eyes"). They talked about college applications, and what neighborhoods they most wanted to live in once they all made it to New York. While they were all praising Quinn's surprisingly delicious vegan pumpkin pie, the phone rang- and, hoping that it might be Santana's parents, Judy answered.
"Honey, it's for you," Judy smiled, waving the phone at Quinn as she came back into the dining room.
"But we're in the middle of dinner," Quinn frowned, used to her mother refusing any phone calls during the dinner hour, especially a holiday dinner.
"This is a special case. Beth has something to say to you."
"Beth does?" Quinn's eyes lit up, and she jumped for the phone. "Hello?"
"Hi Quinn, it's Jack," Beth's daddy said over the phone. "Can you grab your laptop for a quick Skype? Bethy just said a new word, and we wanted you to be the first one after us to hear it."
"Of course!" Quinn squealed, dashing up the stairs to grab her laptop. Five minutes later, she was in the living room, surrounded by her excited family as the videochat session came up, and everyone could see eighteen-month-old Beth cooing and giggling with her dads on screen.
"Bethy, look! Who's what?" Rob pointed to the screen, and Beth's hazel eyes turned to look at Quinn through the camera.
"Mama!" she gurgled happily, her chubby little hands reaching out and patting the screen. Quinn's eyes immediately filled up with tears.
"Hi, baby girl," she said softly, a dazzling smile lighting up her whole face as the entire room beamed over her shoulder. "Oh my goodness, you're getting so big now! Are you having a big Thanksgiving feast with Daddy and Papa?"
"Mama, Mama," Beth trilled, and Quinn couldn't stop the tears from spilling over and streaking down her face.
"I swear we did not intend for this to happen," Jack said, waving over Beth's shoulder on the computer screen. "We were just showing her pictures of everyone in our extended family who couldn't come to Thanksgiving dinner...and then we showed her one of you...and she recognized you, obviously."
"She really knows who I am?" Quinn beamed, wiping the tears absently from her eyes so she wouldn't miss one second of Beth's gap-toothed smile.
"Apparently she does," Jack nodded. "We don't want to intrude on your family's holiday, but obviously we knew you'd want to see and hear it for yourself."
"Thank you, Jack. Thank you so much," Quinn gushed, wiping away more tears as Rachel gently rubbed her back. "Happy Thanksgiving."
"Happy Thanksgiving, Quinn." Jack waved, and then said to Beth, "Can you say bye-bye to Mama, Bethy?"
"Bye-bye," Beth waved, grinning. Then the screen went black.
"Oh, God..." Quinn sighed, shaking her head in dazed astonishment. Then she sniffled back a few more tears.
"Guess I'm not the only one using these today," Santana said wryly, pushing the box of kleenex across the coffee table to Quinn.
"Thanks, San," Quinn smiled weakly, leaning into Rachel's arm as she dabbed lightly at her red eyes.
"Well I don't know about anyone else, but I think this calls for a proper toast. Judy, I know you've got a few tasty vintage bottles squirreled away around here," Jacob said briskly, rubbing his hands together with a wink.
"Oh, yes, I certainly do," Judy nodded, beaming in a distinctly grandmotherly way. "Girls, you know I don't normally approve of underage drinking, but I think this is a special enough occasion to make an exception."
"Oh hell yeah," Santana exclaimed enthusiastically as the bottle came out, and six glasses were poured. "Maybe we should call up lovechild again tomorrow and see what else she has to say, eh?"
"Shut up, you're ruining my Hallmark moment," Quinn huffed, but she couldn't keep the smile off her face.
"To Beth," Jacob said, raising his glass. "May she always be blessed." With a clink, they all drank.
"You realize what this new living arrangement means," Rachel murmured under her breath, nodding to Santana, who was covertly pouring herself another glass of wine while the adults were all distracted. Quinn just raised an eyebrow. "It means we're never getting naked at your house again. Even money says she'll be waiting to ambush us with the video camera every chance she gets."
