Beauty and the Beast
Chapter 10
I OWN NOTHING!
Two days later found Quinn and Rachel once again taking a walk around the inside garden. Rachel had taken the chance to wrap one of Quinn's arms around her shoulders and snuggle into her side. She'd taken to being as hands on with Quinn as the other woman would allow her to be. She needed Quinn to make a move to change their relationship now even if it was just a small, tiny thing.
Rachel had never felt this way about anyone. When she had first seen Quinn, she had, admittedly, been a little bit frightened. Then she had gotten a look into Quinn's eyes. While the rest of her was some combination of lion and woman, her eyes were completely human. Rachel couldn't be scared of someone with eyes like that. So her fear had quickly given into curiosity and then Rachel realized that she was beginning to fall in love with the aloof woman. The more Quinn didn't resist Rachel's attempts to get closer, the more Rachel realized she had already fallen.
"Quinn?"
"Yes Rachel?"
Quinn was enjoying this. It had begun to dawn on her that she trusted Rachel. More than that, she wanted the smaller woman to be hers in all ways possible. What Quinn did not trust was her own feelings. What if she was misinterpreting Rachel's actions? Even worse, what if Rachel didn't love her but just wanted to be friends? They did spend most of their time together after all. Maybe Quinn was just feeling like this because of that.
"Would you be upset with me if I wanted to ask how…" Rachel trailed off, looking down. Normally, she would have already bombarded Quinn with the questions she wanted to ask. Actually, before Brittany she would have just assumed that Quinn herself had done something that deserved her being cursed.
"How I became like this?" Quinn asked her, stopping their progress around the path.
"Yes." Rachel said firmly. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to. I know that it's undoubtedly privet for you and what if you couldn't talk about it? Then it would be really cruel of me to ask. It's kind of cruel anyway, isn't it? You probably don't want to talk about-"
Quinn had placed a finger against her lips to silence her. "It's fine Rachel. You can ask. I…don't mind." Thinking about it as Rachel fell into silence, she found she really didn't. Santana knew, after all.
"How did you become like this?" Rachel finally spoke again. "You hardly seem like the kind of person who would be cursed this way."
Quinn chuckled darkly. "I wasn't as a ten year old child. Who knows if that would still be true if I had remained under my father's influence?" Quinn shrugged but didn't remove her arms around from Rachel's shoulders. "I was cursed by the godmother on accident."
"How does a godmother curse someone on accident?" Rachel asked, appalled.
"She was trying to curse my father," Quinn explained. "He is by no means a…nice man or a kind one. He's hated me ever since I was born because I was born…different."
"You were born with a penis," Rachel told her frankly, "just as Santana was. That I already knew Quinn."
"What? How?" Quinn looked down at her in surprise. Rachel was blushing.
"Well…I know about Santana because Brittany told me. I grew up with two dads and Noah was my constant companion as a child Quinn." Rachel explained. "I…well…I know that's not a ruler in your pocket every time I hug you." She really hoped her face couldn't get any redder then in already was.
"Oh…" Quinn trailed off, blushing beneath her fur. "I see…it doesn't bother you?"
"No, why would it?" Rachel asked her. "You're still Quinn, with or without male genitalia or fur." She stroked the fur on the paw she had in hand for emphases.
"I…it's not normal Rachel. I'm not normal." Quinn replied, trying to pull away.
"Nonsense," Rachel kept a firm hold on Quinn's paw. "Normal is vastly overrated anyway. I'm a mage and a performer. I happen to find normal incredibly boring."
Quinn couldn't help it. She laughed. "I shall keep that in mind."
"Good. Now, you were telling me about the day you were accidentally cursed?"
Sighing, Quinn nodded. "Yes. My father is cruel but not stupid. He, and undoubtedly my baby brother by now, is magically protected from magical attacks. Curses fall under that heading. It bounced, for lack of a better term, off of him and unto me. He disowned me in that moment."
"He sounds horrid." Rachel replied. "He sent you here?"
"No," Quinn shook her head. "That was my mother and Godmother Gracie, the Gray Fairy," she explained. "Father would have left me to rot in the dungeons until I died. He would have killed me the day I was born if mother and my maternal grandparents, the Lord and Lady of Frost Lake, hadn't forbidden him from doing so."
"He is horrid." Rachel said fiercely. "He had no right to treat you like that Quinn. It's his fault that you're like this instead of the undoubtedly beautiful woman you are beneath the fur."
Quinn smiled at Rachel's defense of her. It boosted her confidence that even though Rachel had never seen her as a human, the brunette was certain she was beautiful.
"I've been here ever since." The blonde continued. "The Godmother ensured I had tutors for anything I wanted or needed and my grandparents swore them to secrecy. It was my mother who thought of the invisible servants and my grandmother who arranged for the mage to cast the spell and teach me to use them. When Santana was cursed, the Godmother brought her here to be my companion as well as for her own safety."
"I'm glad you weren't completely alone." Rachel told her.
"It helped that I was naturally a shy child before the curse," Quinn hurried to tell her, wanting to get Rachel's smile back as soon as she could. "When I was cursed and told I was being sent here, I told the Godmother that I wanted to be the brave knight rescuing the lady, not the lady needing to be rescued."
Rachel laughed. "Quinn, somehow, even like this, I don't think you need to be rescued. I think you're perfectly capable of rescuing ladies in distress."
"Oh, and how do you know that?" Quinn challenged.
"Because you rescued me," Rachel told her.
Quinn stopped them again. "How did I rescue you Rachel?" If anything, it was the other way around.
"Before I came here and met you, I was certain that I would either end up alone or marrying whatever person my fathers' found for me that wasn't completely unsatisfactory." Rachel explained. "I wasn't the most popular child in Berry Fields, mostly because I am amazingly talented in both magic and performing and I wasn't afraid to show it."
"Why else?" Quinn wanted to rip apart the people who put that idea into her Rachel's head.
"My fathers' aren't exactly the most…attentive parents. Once I was old enough, they just seemed to lose all interest in me. So long as I wasn't causing trouble or putting unwanted demands on their time, they pretty much ignored me." Rachel sighed. "My mother was a little different. For the longest time I thought it was sheer coincidence that my music teacher and I looked so much alike and then I found out she was my mother. Our relationship was…strained after I found out. She died shortly before I was sent to Aunt Sue."
"Do you miss them?" Quinn asked gently, carefully wiping away Rachel's tears.
"I love all three of three of them," Rachel began, "but for the most part no, I don't miss them. Out of all the adults in my life, Aunt Sue has been the closest thing Noah and I have ever had to an actual parent. The same with Brittany."
"I miss my mother," Quinn admitted softly. "My older sister wanted very little to do with her 'freak of a little sister' and I've never actually met my baby brother. I'd rather forget that I actually have a father that still lives."
"You aren't a freak Quinn," Rachel reached up and wiped Quinn's tears away. "You are special, incredibly so. You are highly intelligent, one of the best swordswomen I have ever seen, a wicked chess player, and a fine dancing partner."
"Rachel…" Quinn swallowed, "have you been…flirting with me the entire time you've been here?"
"I was wondering when you would realize that." Rachel told her, smiling. "Not the entire time. At first I just wanted to be your friend…but Quinn, the more time I spent with you the more I realized that I wanted to be able to call you mine. I want what Brittany and Santana have…well, not exactly what they have but my own version of that. I want it with you."
"Even if I remain like this forever?" Quinn asked her.
"The sex would certainly be interesting," Rachel commented, drawing shocked laughter from the blonde, "but yes Quinn, beast or human I want you."
"I…want you as well Rachel." Quinn admitted shyly, letting her old self through a little bit. "Would you allow me to court you?"
"Of course, I would be honored," Rachel accepted.
"Then would you join me for dinner tonight in the library?" Quinn asked her.
"Yes," Rachel leaned up and kissed Quinn's cheek since her muzzle didn't really allow her to kiss where she wished to.