Chapter - 10
"What was that all about, Rachel?" Lux casually asks when Lucy finally goes home.
The brunette gets the pizza box and carries it to the trash can. "What was?"
"You know... when you sent me upstairs. What was that?"
"Oh, nothing." She shrugs. "What was all of those questions about my love life and the banter with Lucy?"
"Banter? What banter? I was saying I haven't seen you date anyone and I just was curious. Lucy said I was nosy and I should mind my own business."
"That was that?"
Lux nods confidently. "Pretty much."
"I haven't dated anyone because I haven't found anyone I'd like to date." She shrugs. "Broadway is full of arrogant people. And the odd rest who are not, there was no attraction, no chemistry... you know." Lux starts getting uncomfortable. "But I haven't been a nun either. I went out, kept things casual, tried to find a stable relationship, my staff made it so it never reached the press, you know? It was all casual... it never made it too far."
"I get it, I get it." She stops her. "And you haven't been interested in anyone since you came back to Lima?" She tries.
"I..." She furrows her eyebrows. "I've just been hanging around old friends."
"You hooked up with Finn and Puck in high school..."
"That was so, so long ago..." She waves her hand.
"So nobody? You're not attracted to anybody right now?"
"I'm not saying that either. There's more to it. For starts there has to be mutual attraction..."
"Anybody would be attracted to you, you're pretty, sexy and intelligent."
"Thanks. But it's not that easy." The brunette worries a little bit. "Maybe I'm not their type."
"What do you mean?" This is getting interesting for Lux.
"I have a very strong personality that may come pretty harsh to some people..." She huffs. "Plus, if you try to flirt with a woman in Lima and it turns out she isn't gay, things might turn really weird. More so if you want to keep some sort of friendship with said woman." She's tired of getting around it. Also, she trusts Lux won't tell.
Lux chuckles. "I think if that woman doesn't understand, she isn't worth your friendship." She nods. "And by the way, I don't know how many hot women are in your life, but I'm pretty sure that if she is Lucy, she'll be very open about it all."
Rachel gives her a quizzical look, but Lux just smirks. "You were just waiting for me to say it, right?"
"Pretty much." She chuckles and Rachel gives her an annoyed and looks at the clock.
"Look how late it is. We should go to bed." She stands up and rushes Lux. "Come on, get upstairs and in your pajamas."
She goes up her room and starts changing. She looks at the photos hanging in her wall amidst some poster from her favorites bands. One of them features Tasha and her. Tasha has an arm over her shoulder and they are both laughing at something she doesn't even remember. It's a really nice picture and her heart aches for having her best friend so far.
"Hey. Are you ok?" Rachel appears at the feet of her bed. She's been staring at that picture for quite a while.
Suddenly, it struck Lux. "You were talking about Tasha, right?" Rachel keeps quiet and maintains a perfect poker face, but walks around the bed and sits by Lux's side. "It's not that bad, really. There is this group at Riverside that thinks they rule the place. You just have to get out of their way, although sometimes it's not that easy. That's why she had a bruise today."
Rachel gasps involuntarily and Lux chuckles. "She didn't tell you, did she?"
"She didn't go into all those details..." She defends herself. "How can they let it happen?"
Lux shrugs. "Most of the time they look the other way. They are... just accidents."
Rachel huffs. There's nothing she can do about it right now, so she slides her hands around Lux and gives her a little squeeze. Yes, that seems to make it better.
Rachel leaves Lux's room, picks up the cordless phone, walks to her bedroom and dials the number.
"Hey. You miss me already? I only left ten minutes ago." Lucy speaks in the other side.
"What can I say? I'm just realizing how addicting your friendship is." She chuckles and swears she can hear Lucy laughing too, but far away. "Can you talk for a bit?"
"Yes, of course. I just thought you'd be fed up of talking to me already." There's a plopping sound as if a door was closing. "Okay. I checked how my mom was doing."
"Is she ok?"
"Yeah, fine. The reunions are helping." She pauses. "I changed and now I'm all set and comfortable on my bed. So... shoot."
"I had a talk with Lux."
There's only silence on the other side and Rachel worries Lucy might have hanged up or.. fallen asleep.
"...what about?"
"Well... many things, in fact." She just says and when she's met with only silence, she chuckles and continues. "We ended up talking about Tasha."
There's a sigh and Rachel has to contain her laughter. She loves this teasing, but she's sure scared as hell of taking it up and been shot down.
"Did you tell her I was worried or something?"
"I didn't say anything about your talk with the social services. She just figured out that if we talked about something serious, it had to be that."
"Huh..."
"And I was wondering if you would mind me talking to Lauren too."
"No, not at all. You might have a greater chance to be granted her custody and I just want her out of there and into a safe place. Although..." She pauses and starts giggling.
"This is a safe place, Lucy." She jumps in and makes Lucy laugh harder.
"Only a crazy woman would pout to the phone." The blonde says when there's only silence in the other end. Rachel huffs and Lucy starts laughing again. After a while, she calms down. "You know I'm just teasing, right?"
"Yeah..." She just says.
"You are really wonderful, Rachel." Lucy says with finality, ending Rachel's doubts and painting a really absurd smile on her smile that she's glad nobody can see right now. "Anyway, I really hope they place her with one of us. But... are you really sure? You got yourself one teenager not so long ago, are you ready for number two?"
"Yeah, I think so. I'm pretty confident I'd be able to make it work."
"I bet there weren't any teenagers in these year's plan."
"Not at all." She huffs. "But I also wasn't expecting moving back to Lima any time soon and for now, it's working for the best." They both smile, content.
After a second in silence, Rachel yawns, and although she tries to hide it, Lucy seems to hear it.
"Hey. Why don't you go to sleep? I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Okay..." She says begrudgingly when finally she is able to close her mouth. "Goodnight.
"Night."
"Good morning, Lauren."
"Hey Rachel. It's good to see you. It's been a while." They shake hands. "Everything ok with Lux, I hope."
"Yeah, everything is perfect. Both of us have found our groove and I think she's dealing well with all the changes."
Lauren nods. "I was a little worried about that."
"Worried? You were pretty freaked out." Rachel chuckles.
"Well, I needed to talk to Lux to assess if jumping all that feelings load into her was a good idea. Turns out she is tougher than she seems."
"Yeah. She's great."
"And I think you are very much like her. A perfect match. If one of you was to fall down, the other one would carry both of you to the finish line."
"I can't deny we have a connection. It's kind of amazing, really. It was there in an instant."
Lauren smiles and guides them to her office. They sit at her desk and Lauren cuts right to the chase.
"Not that I don't appreciate your visit, but if this isn't about Lux, what is this about?"
"I'm sure you know."
"Well, I recently had a visit from a Lucy Scott, who wanted Tasha, Lux's best friends, to be in her care. And after a back check of this Lucy, turns out that she's Lux's birth mother. Am I on the right path?"
"Yeah, that's pretty much it." Rachel sits straighter on her chair. "I know Lucy's chances aren't that great for getting Tasha put under her care. We talked about it, actually. And I've come to the decision that I want to take care of her too, if the judge won't allow Lucy. You see, Tasha is such a good girl and it's such a pity that she's all alone in that girls home. Her best friend is with me all the way in Lima. I think it would be beneficial for her and also for Lux that she came to live with one of us."
Lauren grabs a file that's on her desk and starts passing pages as Rachel continues rambling.
"So you'll want to take care of yet another teenager. Most people would say you are crazy."
"I don't think it's a bad idea. Everybody will have to put in something on their part to make it work, but I'm confident we'll make it work."
Lauren nods. "Just a practical question... Tasha will need her personal space and I've been to your house already, where is she going to sleep?"
Rachel prepares herself, excited on the edge of her seat. "I've actually been thinking about getting a new house." She explains. "I don't know what I was thinking when I got this one. Maybe I thought Lima wouldn't convince me and would end up moving again back to New York in no time. But now, my perspective has really changed. I want Lima to be a long term stay and I want to look for a big house that will hold my family. A family that, of course, will hold Lux and Tasha as part of that family for as long as they want to be with me."
Lauren has left her folder forgotten and is looking at Rachel with an undecipherable look.
Rachel stops her rant and stares at her in silence. After a few seconds, she bits her lip, nervously, and continues talking.
"And... you know, in the meantime, I think I could make the garage into a really nice room for Tasha. I usually just park my car in the driveway, so it's not like I'm using it or anything."
Lauren nods silently. "Okay. I'll take everything you told me into consideration in my inform and I'll see what I can do." Lauren smiles finally and Rachel sighs in relief.
"By the way..." Rachel starts standing up. "We haven't spoken to Tasha nor Lux about this at all because we didn't want to get their hopes up."
Lauren frowns in thought. "I'm not sure it's a good idea keeping it from them. They are not like any other kids. They have been forced to mature in some aspects but they still have some childish feelings that they are unable to control." Rachel bits her lip. "It can also play in your favor. Tasha is now a certain age, so that what she wants can be taken into consideration."
"I was a little concerned about that too. I'll talk to them."
Seth and Lux walk through the cafeteria after physics class. "Any idea how are we going to manage to do this project right?"
"I don't know... We should meet up. This is going to take us hours to figure it out."
"Yeah, I guess. Where do we meet?" Seth slides his tray on the table besides Anna. "Do they lock up the school library on weekends?"
"Probably?" Lux chuckles. "Maybe we could meet at my house?"
Anna hears it. "Woah, we are going to discover what's behind school-Lux?"
Lux chuckles. "You are going to meet my guardian." She says distractedly. "Although you already know her."
"We do?" Seth and Anna share a look.
"Yeah." She nods and sees her friends leaning towards her. "I live with Rachel."
"Rachel... Mrs. Berry?" Anna gasps when Lux nods. "That's so cool!" She exclaims.
"But she's a teacher." Seth says, a lot more disgusted.
"She's not so bad." Lux shrugs.
"So are you two related or something?" Anna tries to find a similarity between both of them.
"No, not at all. Though she actually knows my birth parents and introduced me to them... It's all kind of a long story." She shuts Anna when she seems she's going to jump into an interrogation mode.
"Another time, then?" Seth asks.
"If you want..." Lux is surprised they are interested in her whole story.
"Yeah." Anna looks at Seth and they both nod. "It'd be cool."
She chuckles. "Okay. But after we've finished this project, otherwise we won't get anything done."
"Tomorrow after school?"
"Deal."
"Hello."
"Hey, it's me." Rachel says happily.
"I know. I've got caller ID and a personal ringtone just for you." Lucy chuckles.
"You gave me my own ringtone? What is it?"
"Wouldn't you like to know..." She muses. "How did things went?"
"I'll get to know sooner or later." Still on the ringtone thing.
"Let it be later, then." She teases.
"Huh." Rachel huffs. "Anyway, things went well with Tasha's social worker. She seems to think it'll be viable. But..."
"What?" Lucy snaps.
"She believes it'll be better if we prepare Lux and Tasha for the news. She thinks it'll be easier to explain to Lux before hand and that Tasha's wish to stay with one of us may bend the judge hand in our favor." She swallows. "I think it would be a good idea too."
"So we are telling them now."
"You are nervous." She doesn't ask, she just affirms.
"Yeah. I had more or less figured out how the conversation would go, but it's just... sooner than I expected."
"Are you freaking out?"
"Yeah..."
"If it makes you feel better, I can be there when you explain it to them."
Lucy pauses. "That... actually... Yeah, that would be better."
"Okay then." Rachel keeps musing. "I'm thinking we should explain it to them separately? Lux first. We should sit down and tell her."
"Okay." Lucy says quietly, otherwise she's totally silent, processing.
"Lauren is pulling strings and will meet with the judge next week to give her evaluation. We should speak with Lux as soon as possible, so she has time to process things and has her mind made up before speaking to Tasha."
"Okay..."
"So... tonight? Do you want to come over for dinner?" Rachel asks gently.
Lucy gives a quiet chuckle. "Okay."
"It will be fine. I promise."
"Thank you for saying that." Lucy finds herself with a smile, although she knows is a false sense of security. "See you tonight."
"Hey, Rach." The brunette stares at Lux. "I mean... Mrs. Berry? Could I speak with you for a minute?"
She chuckles. "I thought you didn't want anyone to know. It would make you uncool or something."
"I've kind of already told a couple of friends here."
"Seth and Anna?" Lux nods. "I've seen you eating with them at the cafeteria. They're good kids. Anna is very dedicated in my class. Seth is a really nice guy."
"O... kay? Seth and I have to do this physics project and I said he could come over tomorrow. Is that ok?"
"Yeah, of course. I would help you out, but it's been too long since I took physics and I truth is I've never been good at physics."
"That's it?"
Rachel goes back and reviews things. "Yeah?" She simply says. "It's your house too, Lux. You can have friends over. Just tell me, so I can tidy up or something or I'm not in my underwear and that's it."
"You wear pajamas." Lux points out.
"You get what I'm saying."
Lux looks at the ground and nods. It's still a strange feeling to have a place to invite friends over.
"Lucy is coming for dinner tonight. Is it ok?"
"Sure. I wear pajamas too." Rachel chuckles. "Anything in particular? Should I keep myself busy upstairs with my homework?"
She ponders. "We just need to talk to you about something. We need to know your opinion about something."
Lux worries her lip. "O... kay?"
Rachel nods and turns away. "See you later."
"Hey." Rachel smiles as she opens the door.
"Hey." A nervous Lucy says back. She enters the house and follows Rachel, though her eyes linger in the slightly open stairs to Lux's room.
"She's supposed to be doing her homework. I'm guessing she's actually talking to Bug..." Rachel keeps walking to the living room. "I like you. No, I like you. I like you more. No, I like you more." She starts, giving them different voices.
Lucy can't help but chuckle. "I don't peg Lux for one of those girls." She chuckles harder. "I can't imagine Bug like that either."
That makes Rachel full on laugh. "Oh my god. I didn't picture that part." Lucy joins her.
Suddenly, the stairs open a little bit more and a head appears upside down. "What's going on?"
Blonde hair falls and Lucy can't help but to keep laughing. Lux huffs and hides, then pushes the stairs all the way to the floor and walks down.
"Just... just a funny and totally out of character thought I had." Rachel stops laughing and asks seriously. "How's Bug doing?"
"He's fine. Just had a long shift at work."
Rachel looks at Lucy, both trying to stifle their laugh and they look back at Lux.
"You are crazy." She turns around and goes to the kitchen, snatching an olive from the salad. "So... are you telling me whatever you're going to tell me already? I'm kind of hungry."
"Why don't we sit down on the sofa?" Lux sits down as Rachel is going to do so too, but she pulls away. "Maybe it'll be better if Lucy and I sit down in front of you."
"Dramatic much?" Lucy finally intervenes.
"Hey, you are freaking out, so shut up about dramatrics." Rachel sticks out her tongue in Lucy's direction.
Lux looks at both of them, crosses her arms over her chest and looks at them with an eyebrow raised. Lucy looks at her daughter and then at Rachel. "You two spent too much time together." Lux huffs.
"Anyway, I don't think it's so big. We'd just like to know your opinion about something."
"Then just shoot it." The younger blonde sits down.
Rachel and Lucy follow. The older blonde doesn't know where to start and looks everywhere for inspiration. The brunette walks to her side and grabs Lucy's hand, trying to calm her and pulling the attention on herself.
Lux follows their linked hands as Rachel speaks. "Last weekend, when you visited Tasha?" The brunette bites her lip.
"You finally hooked up that night?" Lux blurts. "Why didn't you tell me before?"
Rachel and Lucy tense instantly and feel the other one tense too. The room fills with awkward silence. Rachel and Lucy avoid looking at each other but still keep their hands linked.
"N... no." Rachel speaks. "That's not at all what we were going to tell you..." Lucy looks wearily to the brunette. "I mean... not that she isn't..." She feels too much words coming out of her mouth and tries to filter them. "S...She's beautiful! I... or anyone... would be lucky..."
Lux chuckles. She's bad, she knows, putting them in that position, but she can't help it. They are oblivious to no end. She wonders how was it in high school for them. She's heard their relationship wasn't good at first, but why? She keeps looking at them feeling helpless and feels a pang of guilt.
"So... what was it then?"
"Remember the conversation we had later...?" Lux raises her eyebrow. They talked about Rachel and Lucy that night. "...about Tasha?"
"Oh no." Lux intervenes and Lucy sits straighter in her seat. "You can't report it. It won't do any good." She turns to the blonde. "You didn't, did you?" She turns again to Rachel. "Why did you tell her?"
"She didn't." Lucy speaks up, pulling all the attention on herself. "And I didn't either." She shakes her head and focus on her daughter's eyes. "I figured out what happened with just one look. And I do know how it looks." She adds. "I talked with her social worker, but I did not report what happened."
"You talked to Lauren?"
"Yeah. I... I asked her about chances of me becoming her guardian, so she can be safe and she can be closer to you." She swallows and she looks down before starting again. "I really only want to do it because of those two reasons. I want you to understand that." She finishes looking directly into her daughter's brown eyes.
Lux looks completely taken aback, she doesn't know how to react, how to feel.
"Lux..." Rachel commands her attention. "She's not trying to replace you or anything like that. Given the situation, I also talked with Lauren. I could easily take care of her, if you agree. She could come live with us... or she can live in a rented apartment." She ponders. "I think this way your relationship with Lucy and me wouldn't change, because things would still be essentially the same... just with Tasha around."
After her dialogue, she keeps silence and watches as Lux tries to assimilate everything. Lucy is looking at her too. The brunette knows she is dying to go on talking to her daughter by the way she bites her lip, but she follows her example and keeps quiet.
Lux doesn't really know what to do and she hates it. She hates the uncertainty of not knowing what path to follow.
Tasha is her best friend, they've been inseparable since they were about six years old. Through everything they've lived, they always could count on the other one to escape from her foster home and be there for them. So yes, of course, she is concerned about how she's living at Riverside and wishes to have her close.
On the other hand, she might seem selfish, but this is just so new. She found a family in Ohio. A family in Rachel, Lucy and Puck. Something so new and fragile that she's scared to death that it's all going to fall apart. That something weird comes up between them and she'd be rejected once again. She really feels guilty, because Tasha and Bug have been her only family since... forever.
So... what is she supposed to do in this situation? She looks between Lucy and Rachel, both awaiting some sort of acknowledgment from her part. In theory, it all sounds ideal, basically merging her two families in one. If everything could stay the same, just with Tasha around... but things change too easily.
"How about... we start with dinner?" Rachel suggests, seeing that Lux is still figuring everything out. The blondes nod almost imperceptibly and start having what is the most awkward dinner ever.