A/N I'll try to keep this brief for you.
1. Sorry this update took so long, life got in the way but I'm working on it!
2. I am also updating chapter 10. But the only changes I made to it are some grammar things and- as it was brought to my attention thanks to Ghostwriter6647 and a guest Emma was a nurse in an earlier chapter and a lawyer in chapter 10 so the lawyer has been changed to Sue and there is a short added scene in ch 10 you can check out if you want.
3. Enjoy! Thanks for your reviews :)
"Dibs!" Quinn yelled, her chopsticks turning lethally towards the newly opened container of food.
"You can't call 'dibs' on lo mein! It's dibs exempt."
"Nothing is dibs exempt!" the blonde triumphantly wrestled the food from Cassie's python grip.
"You're lucky that we got two of those, otherwise we would have an issue, Yale!" Cassandra sent a threatening look Quinn's way while getting a tighter hold on the last carton of noodles.
"Don't call me 'Yale'!"
Quinn, Rachel, Cassandra, and Sue had spent the better part of the afternoon and most of the evening in Sue's law office preparing for a lawsuit that didn't even exist yet. Well Rachel, Cassie, and Sue had been preparing, Quinn had spent the night alternating between raiding all of the food Sue had stockpiled and attempting to distract Rachel.
The first goal had been pretty successful as the blonde had transformed a stash of granola bars, energy drinks, and protein gummies into a pile of wrappers and cans. The second goal, however, was severely impeded. Quinn was so happy that she and Rachel were together again she could scarcely keep her hands to herself. But Rachel was having none of it.
She continually headed off her girlfriend's advances by in siting that she wanted to do their relationship 'right' and was intent on dating Quinn properly again. It also didn't help that every time Quinn tried something, she would receive disproving glares and clucks from Cassie and Sue.
"Go over it one more time for me." Rachel interrupted. She had been playing the mediator for much of the night, settling disputes between Cassie and Sue, keeping Quinn in check, she had suggested ordering their chinese food to get everyone's minds off their latest obstacle in planning; where did Quinn's contract fit in?
"We've been over it five times!" Sue sighed.
"Well maybe this time we'll find something we missed before!"
"Fine." the lawyer set down her own carton of sesame chicken and picked up her legal pad, squinting at the notes she had taken, Sue began to explain, "Your contract says that you are not allowed to make any relationship public without the theater company's approval first."
"Which she didn't!" Quinn interrupted with a smile- she was bubbly when she was sleep deprived.
"Right. Cassandra made public the stipulation in your contract that says that AND pointed out that it has been used in the past to silence gay actors. The press put the two together and came up with their own conclusion that was completely unfounded until blondie over there," the lawyer nodded her head at where Quinn was attaching all of Sue's paperclips into a large chain, "went ahead and confirmed their suspicions by jumping you in the middle of the protest."
Rachel nodded. For the last forty five minutes they had been trying to figure out if there was any way they could argue that Rachel hadn't violated the contract. Unfortunately it was pretty clear she had, so instead they were back to the argument that the whole contract was oppressive and illegal.
The whole group sat for a moment in silence, each one lost in their own thoughts until Cassandra spoke up, "This is completely ridiculous. Everyone loves Rachel, there's no way she can't win if this goes to trial. It's just common sense."
Sue's head snapped up at that, "Wait! Say that again."
"There's no way she can lose?" Cassie asked, staring at Sue like she had two heads.
"No, the last part."
"It's just common sense?"
Sue jumped up, her eyes bright, "Not sense my dear Cassandra, cents!"
"Cents?" Cassie just thought for a moment, just staring blankly. But then recognition flashed across her face, "Cents!"
Quinn and Rachel shared confused looks, "Cents?" they asked at the same time.
"CENTS!" Sue and Cassie simultaneously yelled, high-fiving and setting about grabbing documents and highlighters.
"Does someone want to tell us what's going on?" Rachel asked after watching the two older women scramble for a bit.
"Don't you worry your pretty little heads about it." Cassie dismissed them with a wave.
"Why don't you take blondie and get some sleep? We have a meeting with Schue bright and early tomorrow." Sue said, checking her watch, "Or should I say bright and early today."
Rachel was too befuddled by tiredness to even try to argue. She went over to where Quinn was sitting on the ground with her paperclip chain and gently pulled her to her feet and out of the office with a final 'goodbye' to the other two women.
For most of the walk back to Quinn's apartment the blonde was blissfully out of it. Too tired to register much, and once they arrived she practically fell into bed and was out like a light. Rachel, however, was on overdrive. Her head was going a million miles a minute and she felt so physically alert, she was sure she could run a marathon. The meeting with Schue was weighing heavily on her mind and in the interest of not trekking all the way across town she invited herself to sleep on Quinn and Santana's couch.
Try as she might the brunette didn't fall asleep until over an hour later because her mind was running through worst case scenarios for the meeting with Schue, all of which ended with her having no job and no career so she would become a hobo in New York trying to panhandle to survive. Her outlook was bleak.
The morning came and brought with it an uneasy and uncomfortable silence as Quinn and Rachel moved through their morning routines not talking. They didn't know how to breach the topic of their newly restarted relationship. But clearly Quinn's happy bubbly attitude had faded over night.
Rachel was the one to crack first. She was getting herself a granola bar from Santana's supply while Quinn was making herself some tea and the brunette could no longer take the silence. Rachel really isn't one to beat around the bush so she dove right in.
"We're dating again?" it was more a question than a statement of fact but Quinn hummed in confirmation which prompted Rachel to continue.
"So I think we need to do this right since we get another shot at it."
Quinn didn't look up from where she was mixing honey into her tea but she responded with words this time, "What do you mean 'do it right'?"
"You know the whole dating thing." Rachel clarified, "I want do take you out and get to know you better and just try again."
"Oh." Quinn nodded, processing what Rachel had said while the brunette waited tensely for a reply, "I would like that very much."
Rachel let out a sigh of relief, dropped her granola bar, and ran to Quinn, engulfing her in a tight surprise hug. She stood on her tiptoes to whisper in the taller woman's ear, "Thank you!"
Quinn smiled into Rachel's hair and just basked in the warmth of her presence. More than anything else, just being close to Rachel was the one thing she missed most, but now with the brunette by her side she thought she could do anything.
Sue and Cassandra were waiting in the hallway outside of the conference room of the law firm that was representing Schuester and the theater company. Sue kept checking her watch and then shooting dark glares down the hallway. When the clock struck ten minutes past the meeting time Cassie started pacing.
"That girl... I swear... never late for anything except for important things... that girl!" the manager muttered to herself.
Finally the elevator at the end of the hall dinged and Rachel and Quinn stepped out hand in hand. Carrying on some conversation they had been having before. Cassie stopped her pacing dead to glare at the happy pair.
Sue was quick to intervene before Cassie could verbally harass the two, "What took you two so long!? We are twelve minutes late! That does not make a good impression. Now lets go!"
The four walked though the double doors of the conference room first Sue then Cassie followed by Rachel and Quinn bringing up the rear. They sat down opposite the theater company's team; a tall imposing red headed lawyer whom Quinn supposed to be in charge, two men with black hair who looked identical and wore identical suits with complimentary ties- Quinn knew they were the two brothers who owned the theater- and Schue on the end.
They were situated in such a way that both the lawyers were across from each other, Cassie and Rachel were across from the twiddle-dumb twins, and Quinn was across from Schue. She tried to avoid eye contact but couldn't help sneaking glances at him every so often.
His stubble was long and unshaven and he had bags under his eyes. When Quinn tried to get a more direct look at him she noticed that he was glaring at her. He had malice in his eyes and he was staring her down like she was the reason for this whole disaster. He made her skin crawl.
Rachel must have noticed because she grabbed Quinn's hand under the table and squeezed it reassuringly. The gesture grounded the blonde and she landed in reality, noticing that the meeting had already started. The redheaded woman was droning on about contract violations.
Sue was just sitting there nodding, why is she not doing anything? Sue finally interrupted, "Yes, I understand just how wrong it was that Rachel knowingly breeched her contract and she is clearly in the wrong. So lets talk logistics."
She turned to Cassie who handed her a manilla folder. Sue pulled out various documents she handed to the other lawyer, "I have taken the liberty of calculating exactly what it would cost the theater to engage in this law suit."
The redheaded woman scanned the paper quickly and her eyes got large as they landed on the number at the bottom of the page, "This cannot be right."
"Oh I assure you it is," Sue said with a smirk, "And this is all if you win, see if you include cost of hiring lawyers, experts to testify, hiring a new lead because inevitably Rachel will be fired," the mentioned brunette flinched at that statement, "so then you would have to include the lost revenue that having Rachel Berry's name attached to a production would bring, and the money from the LGBT community because you can be sure they will continue to boycott. And that's only the beginning."
Cassie smiled at this, it was her favorite part, "If you then add the cost that would come from additional lawsuits as more of your actors step forward to oppose their oppressive contracts. So if you flip to the second page that is the grand total if only one tenth of your employees sue."
The other lawyer tried to interject again but Sue kept steamrolling on, "Now that's only one tenth, I have a feeling it may be a bit more than that. But keeping with that number if we flip to the third page, we took the revenue from last year minus the expected loss and we have the theater's expected profits by the end of all of this."
The lawyer looked at the number and then passed the packet down her row to the twiddle-dumb twins and finally to Schue. The smirk on Cassie's face could not be larger, "That's a pretty big negative." She jeered.
Schue pushed it back down the table to the lawyer.
Sue smiled at the redhead, "So, shall we proceed with this lawsuit?"
The other woman turned to the theater owners, "I think I need a moment to discuss with my clients."
"By all means, take all the time you need." Sue replied.
The opposing four got up and left the conference room. They created a small huddle in the hall outside and closed the door, cutting themselves off from the four women.
"Well that went better than expected." Cassie said excitedly to the group.
Sue nodded, her confident persona was gone and now the worry was evident on her face. She was concerned about the meeting and it showed now.
A terse silence fell while everyone was stuck in their own thoughts. Soon enough the others reentered the room, "We aren't suing." The red head said, "So what do you want?"
This was the part where things got hairy. Sue and Cassie had spent over an hour last night trying to figure out just how much they could get away with demanding.
Sue handed over another piece of paper, it had only a few things listed at the top of it.
The redhead only briefly glanced at this list before handing it off to the theater owners. This time, though, they did not pass it off to Schue instead tweedle-dee read off the items on it, "Number one-New contracts for ALL of the employees that do not have the silencing stipulation. Number two- a formal apology to Ms. Berry and Ms. Fabray. Number three- guaranteed retirement packages for ALL employees of the theater. Number four- Schuester will be fired. A new director will be instated for the end of this production and he will not be hired again by this company. Number five- a restraining order will be taken out agains Schuester for the protection of Ms. Berry, Ms. Fabray, and the theater building itself."
The two owners whispered to themselves for a moment while Schue looked on with an impassive face. He seemed so confident that the company would be on his side that when they replied, "We can agree to all of those terms." He was out of his chair in a flash.
"What is wrong with you! No you cannot agree to those terms!" His face was red and he was livid. He was practically shouting at the two men. But he quickly rounded on the two women across the table from him.
"This is completely your fault!" He punctuated each word with a stab in the air with his finger and Rachel and Quinn recoiled together. The brunette slipped a protective arm around Quinn while Schue continued, "If you two little-"
Before he could finish whatever insult he was about to hurl Cassie and Sue were on him. They each grabbed an arm and dragged him backwards so he hit a wall.
"Did you want to finish that sentence Will?" Cassie asked threateningly.
"No." He gasped out.
"Good choice." Sue replied, Cassie and her retained their firm grip on his arms and pulled him out of the room and shoved him into the hallway, "those restraining orders will be going into effect immediately so don't do anything stupid."
They slammed the doors shut after him, "Should we call security?" Cassie asked.
The redhead snapped out of her shock and nodded, "Yeah that would be a good idea." She grabbed her cell phone and called the building's security.
Quinn distinctly heard the words 'disgruntled', 'ragged-looking', and 'possibly under the influence'. And she smiled to herself, Rachel still hadn't removed her arm from around Quinn's shoulders and the gesture put her at ease.
"So you can make all of these things happen?" Sue asked, getting the meeting back on track.
Tweedle-dumb responded this time, "Yes we can. The theater has always prized itself on having Ms. Berry with us and we would be willing to do whatever it takes to keep her with us."
With that everyone got up and shook hands. The law suit was behind them and the deal was made. Sue and the redhead would have to iron out the details later but the main issues were already taken care of. Rachel and Quinn could go back to work, and things could return to normal. Whatever that was.
Rachel stood in the hall outside of Quinn's apartment nervously fixing her already perfect hair and trying to find the courage to ring the bell. She should not be this nervous, but this was her second chance and she couldn't mess it up.
Finally she set her shoulders straight and knocked three times on the door and stepped back to wait. It was Santana who opened the door wearing a smirk.
"Well doesn't somebody look all dressed up for her dinner date with my rookie." the Latina took in Rachel's nervous toying with her fingers and the flowers she had brought for Quinn.
Rachel smoothed down her dress and returned Santana's smirk, "Jealous Santana?"
"Psh as if. I have a smokin hot girlfriend of my own. Thank you very much."
"What? Who? Since when?"
"Brittany. I actually have you to thank for that. If you hadn't fallen through the rabbit hole earlier this year I would never have met her." Santana plopped down on her couch and started playing with the TV remote.
"OK I didn't fall down a 'rabbit hole' but that's awesome! I'm glad you two are happy."
"Oh we're more than happy." Santana responded with a suggestive smirk which was wiped off her face quickly when Quinn came into the room and smacked her on the back of her head.
"What have I told you about trying to scare off my dates?" the blonde asked.
Santana responded rote like a parrot, "Stay out of your love life or you'll make mine a nightmare."
"Exactly." she turned to take in Rachel and the flowers she was holding in front of her like a shield. The flowers were an exotic assortment of purples, oranges, and yellows.
"I picked these up on the way over." the brunette said, holding the bouquet out to Quinn who took it with a smile.
"It's beautiful, I'll just go put them in some water." Once Quinn had left to the kitchen, Santana shot the singer a smirk and thumbs up before retiring back to the small bedroom.
"Ready to go?" the blonde asked when she reemerged.
Rachel nodded, she could not tear her eyes away from Quinn. The blonde was breathtaking in a dark blue dress. Her hair was straightened and her makeup was subtle and highlighted her naturally good bone structure.
"Thank you for those flowers, they are gorgeous."
"Almost as gorgeous as you." she replied easily and followed Quinn out of the apartment.
The restaurant Rachel had chosen was a small Italian place right in the heart of the city, not too far from Quinn's apartment. It was romantically lit and decorated so you could actually lose yourself in the Tuscan countryside. Sure it was slightly cliche but it was one of Rachel's favorite's. The brunette and the owner went way back and she had easily secured them a table in the far back, away from prying eyes. Sine the rally, even Quinn found herself being stopped in the streets by strangers. A lot of things had changed since then.
Conversation flowed easily between the couple, both choosing to stay away from heavy topics and discussing instead gossip from the theater, thoughts on the show, it was like they were catching up for time lost during their fight.
The date went so well and neither girl wanted it to end so Rachel offered to walk Quinn home rather than take a cab. The weather was mild and it was still relatively light out. For the first few blocks they were just walking close to each other and carrying on their conversation from the restaurant. Their shoulders would occasionally brush against each other and Rachel felt like she was back in highschool, trying to screw up the courage to reach out and clasp her hand with Quinn's.
Her mind wandered from the conversation and became solely focused on how Quinn's hand would swing back just as hers went forwards and finally she threw caution to the winds and caught Quinn's hand in a backswing. To her relief, Quinn gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and they shared a shy smile.
Shortly thereafter they arrived at Quinn's apartment and Rachel walked her all the way to her door. There was a beat of silence where Rachel took both of Quinn's hands in her own and the blonde decided to voice her mind, "Where do we go from here, Rachel?"
The brunette thought for a moment, her thumbs running over the backs of Quinn's palms, "Well like I said before, I want to do this right and date you like you deserve. So I guess I'll see you at the theater tomorrow for our first day back and we can talk about a second date then?"
Quinn smiled, Rachel was so adorable when she was trying to be respectful like third. It was such a change of pace from the flirty sarcastic Rachel she first met, it gave the blonde whiplash, but she knew it was just temporary because of their previous issues.
"Sounds good." she conceded.
"Great!" Rachel's face brightened, "So I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, tomorrow." They stood in awkward silence, neither one wanting to be the first to break away. Once again, Rachel was the one to muster up her courage and she rocked forward to give Quinn a chaste kiss on the cheek.
Before she could pull away completely, Quinn cupped Rachel's face in her hands and gave her a proper kiss square on the kips. When they broke apart Rachel's eyes were open wide in surprise and she couldn't find anything to say.
Quinn smirked and tucked some of Rachel's hair behind her ear, "See you tomorrow."
"Bye," Rachel said, breathlessly. She turned and left down the hall, giving the blonde one last wave over her shoulder before stepping into the elevator.
Quinn pulled her keys out of her purse and quickly unlocked the door, she heard scrambling on the other side and when she swung the door open seconds later she was greeted with the sight of Santana and Brittany in a jumbled pile on the couch, slightly out of breath and trying to look nonchalant.
Brittany offered the first greeting, "Hey Quinn! How was the hot date?"
Quinn quirked an eyebrow at the two, "It was good. How was your guys's night?"
"Oh you know, it was good. Movie and pizza is always a winner." Santana said from where she was squished under Brittany.
"Mhm. Was that it then?" Quinn was ready for bed, she had a big day tomorrow going back to work for the first time since the protest.
"Well I also made twenty bucks!" Brittany said triumphantly, accidentally jabbing Santana in the stomach with her elbow.
"How did that happen Britt?"
Santana was quick to try to interrupt, "You don't need to tell her that B."
"Santana and I had a little bet." the Latina tried to quiet Brittany but she just continued with a shit eating grin, "She didn't think that Rachel would have the guts to kiss you. I bet that the night would have a happy ending!"
"You two are unbelievable, were you listening at the door the entire time?"
"Indeed we were ma'am! And San even tried to peek under the door but the gap wasn't big enough to see anything." Brittany scooted over to the side so her and Santana could comfortably situate themselves on the couch, they must have ended up in the awkward heap from running away from the door when they heard Quinn coming in.
"Well it's good to know you have faith in me Britt. I'm going to bed, you two wear me out." she gave them a tired wave and retired to the small bedroom, falling asleep right after her head hit the pillow.
The next morning when Quinn walked into the theater she was greeted with the sight of a half dozen men on the stage holding up a large piece of the set with Tina standing before them directing them to get it centered, a comically large drill hung from the stage manager's hand.
"Hudson, bring your edge up a little bit and to the right." He did as instructed and Tina sprung forward to secure the piece in place.
"Thanks boys! You can go back and help with the lighting now, good work." It was odd being back as though nothing had happened. Everyone was working a double pace to try to make up for the delay. Opening night was only in a couple weeks after all.
Quinn went and joined Tina on the stage, "Looks nice Tina." she said, gesturing at the set, it was nearly done and everything looked amazing with the fresh paint and theater magic.
"Thanks! It's good to have you back here so we can get back to normal."
Before Quinn could respond, the two brothers who owned the company entered the theater with Cassandra in tow. Quinn had gotten to know them pretty well over the past few days and actually liked them, outside of their bad contracts they were good people.
Everyone on the stage and out in the front of the theater turned to stare blankly at the men while Cassie made a bee-line for Mike, the choreographer, who was sitting on the edge of the stage writing in a binder.
"Good morning everyone! Can we get the whole cast and crew out on stage for a moment? We have a short announcement we would like to make." One of the brothers announced, clasping his hands together and rubbing them excitedly.
While people streamed out of the wings Quinn turned and whispered to Tina, "What do you think it's about?"
"Probably the new director. We can't exactly have a show without one."
"Oh yeah, who do you think it will be?" Quinn was distracted when she saw Rachel's head bob out of the wings but it was quickly swallowed in the crows.
"Some annoying politician most likely. Then I'll end up having to do most of the work anyways. Oh goody."
Quinn nodded vaguely and craned her neck, looking for the brunette but the owners began their announcement before she could locate the singer.
"In light of recent events it has become painfully obvious that we need to make some changes in order to provide the best working conditions for our employees, beginning with the leadership. As you all know William Schuester has been let go so to replace him we are bringing in two new directors who will work together to help restore this company to the prestige it used to hold."
Tina was right, they were bringing in new people.
The other brother took over now, he was not quite as good a speaker and was awkward trying to make eye contact, "The first director will be mainly in charge of helping the actors and dancers. To do this job we have brought in the acclaimed and renowned Cassandra July." Cassie vaguely waved at the applause the cast gave her, continuing her conversation with Mike.
"To assist with the technical aspect of this show we have chosen an inside woman to take up the responsibility of co-director. Miss Tina Cohen Chang!"
Everyone clapped for Tina and there were multiple whistles from the crew. Tina, for her part, was stunned silent. Her jaw hung open and her eyes were wide, but she recovered quickly and called out a 'Thank you' to the brothers.
During the applause a pair of arms wrapped around Quinn's waist and she was wrapped in a tight hug from behind while a familiar voice whispered in her ear, "She deserves it."
Quinn smiled and turned her head to give Rachel a quick peck on the cheek, "She really does."
"Now back to work, we have a show to put on in two weeks!" The owners left with quick waves.
Tina and Cassandra were quick to step into their roles, Cassandra barking at the dancers to warm up and Tina telling the crew to continue on in what they were doing and asking to have a word with Quinn.
"Remember what I told you when you first started working here?" Tina asked.
Rachel was still holding Quinn's waist and listened to the conversation with interest, "Don't fall off the cats because you don't want to deal with the paperwork?" the blonde guessed.
"No, I said I would promote you if I could but then you would have my job. Well now it would appear as though there is an opening for a new main stage manager. What do you say?"
Quinn's smile grew and she accepted the offer without a second thought.
"Great! Good luck Quinn." Tina went back to help with the next piece of stage being brought out and secured in place.
"Looks like I'm dating a big shot now miss main stage manager." Rachel purred into Quinn's ear.
"What did I just agree to?" The magnitude of how important her job now was hit Quinn and she began having doubts as to if she could do it, "How am I supposed to do this in two weeks? This is the first show I've ever worked on! Rachel my life is going to be hell!"
The brunette spun her around and placed her hands on Quinn's shoulders, "You are brilliant, talented, beautiful, and you can do anything ok? I have complete confidence in you. Besides, your hell doesn't hold a candle to mine! Cassie is in charge of me again, it's going to be like I'm back at NYADA and she's the big bad teacher and I'm the poor little freshman!"
At that moment Cassie solidified Rachel's point by yelling out at her, "Schwimmer! Just because Schue's not here any more doesn't mean you don't have to work hard. Stop groping your girlfriend and start stretching!"
Rachel sighed, gave Quinn a quick kiss on forehead and a look that said 'told you', before beginning to meander over to her old teacher.
"For the love of god Schwim, move it!" Cassie had taken off her black sweats and was standing at the front of the stage in dark booty shorts and a halter top. She, herself, was already stretching and Quinn had to admit the woman was intimidating. It was no wonder everyone at NYADA was afraid of her.
There was a loud crash from the back of the stage that drew Quinn out of her thoughts as she swung around to see a few members of the crew who had dropped the piece of painted ply wood they were trying to haul into place and not Finn was trapped under it. The blonde transformed instantly into her new role of main stage manager and began directing the men, "What the hell?! Comeon let's go get this off him!" Never one to stand on the sidelines Quinn squatted down to help them lift it.
Rachel stood center stage with the dancers who were watching, mildly entertained. "Does that girl really think she can lift that thing?" One of the dancers asked. She was the red head that had gotten into it with Quinn before, and she was clearly trying to get a rise out of Rachel.
"Yeah she does, and she will." The brunette was not taking the bait.
"I dunno Rachel, she looks like she's struggling." The dancer was right, Quinn's arms were quivering while Finn shimmied out from under the giant piece of wood.
Ryder, a male dancer who was log time friends with Rachel, jumped in to diffuse the tension, "Well, even if she is struggling nobody can deny her ass looks great in those jeans! Nice job Rachel, I still think she's too good for you."
Rachel smacked his arm, "Don't stare at her ass! But yeah she is too good for me."
"And she can totally hear you all!" Quinn yelled from where she had successfully lifted the wood and was now helping hold it in place with the men while Finn brushed himself off and another crew member secured it in place.
Rachel and Ryder both blushed and laughed at the blondes comment but the red headed dancer just glared.
Cassie was less amused, "Quinn if you keep distracting my dancers I'm going to make you go live in a convent until opening night!" She hollered.
"Wouldn't help." Ryder offered,subtly scooting out of arms reach from Rachel, "Quinn would be super hot in a wimple.
"Ryder!" Quinn and Rachel yelled at the same time as Cassandra reached over and smacked him on the back of the head.
"Get to work! I swear with you people I feel more like a babysitter than a director." Cassie trailed off muttering something about early retirement while the dancers finally began stretching. The rest of the day continued as normal, actors were doing final run throughs and the crew was busy putting the finishing touches on the stage. Soon they would begin run throughs going through the entire show multiple times a day to ensure there would be no issues.
And that basically summed up the next week at the theater. Tina and Quinn were trying to get the crew running smoothly with only minor prop mishaps- one time a bench had collapsed beneath the actress playing Galinda, another time, one of the monkey's wings had fallen off and two other monkeys tripped over it causing a pile up- casualties remained minimal.
Cassie was trying to find the balance between babysitter and dance instructor from hell to get the actors in top shape- she had resorted to her tried and true methods of name calling, extreme cardio routines, and motivational demoralizing. One day she came in with a headache and red eyes, one of the dancers had the audacity to suggest she was hung over. She, in turn, decided the actors and dancers weren't in good enough shape. As a result, every time the crew was doing a set change, when somebody messed up, or if someone looked at looked at the director wrong, she would order the cast to the ground. They would drop into planks or flutter kicks or whatever exercise Cassie commanded them until they were reduced to quivering masses of tired muscle.
The crew found the whole situation hilarious and made sure to take their sweet time moving things on and offstage.
As for Quinn and Rachel, things returned to relatively normal as they had been before Rachel's visit to Ohio. They would flirt in the theater and go out to lunch or dinner everyday, holding hands and not giving a care in the world as to who saw. For a while they were the hot scoop and photographers would detail their every move, but the circus died down. That is, until about a week before opening night.
Rachel was invited onto a popular talk show to do some promoting for the musical. The whole cast had already done the whole publicity thing; magazines, interviews, photo shoot, but now the leads were being singled out for more in depth coverage.
The host, Blaine Anderson, also invited Quinn to tag along and gave her an all access backstage pass as well as one for a guest. She was planning on taking Santana, but as the day came nearer Kurt had begged her to go non-stop for hours so there they were, back stage with Rachel minutes before she was due on the air.
"I still don't know about this dress. It's a bit short, and I don't know how I'm supposed to sit down and cross my legs without flashing the whole audience!" Rachel always freaked out before live appearances, though she was a talk show veteran.
Kurt had been there with her for most of her talk show gigs and he was experienced in the art of Rachel calming, "Listen hon, I'm sure everything will be just amazing! Last time you went on this show the host asked you out for drinks afterward and everyone loved you. Quinn and I will be right out in the audience so you can look at us if you get nervous. Okay?"
Rachel nodded slowly, but kept playing with the hem of her skirt. Quinn stilled her movements by grabbing her hands gently, "Hey! They're going to love you just like I do. So just breath and be yourself!"
The two locked eyes and Rachel found herself agreeing, how did I get so lucky to have Quinn on my side? She asked herself as one of the backstage assistants told her she had three minutes before they went live.
Kurt gave her a quick hug and a good luck peck on the cheek and Quinn did the same with an extra 'love you!' whispered in her ear before they went out to join the rest of the studio audience. Before they knew it the theme music played and the host went on a bit with welcomes and a couple of one-liners, and he was welcoming the "Lovely and talented Rachel Berry!"
When the singer came out on stage the audience went wild, cheering and whooping. She quickly spotted Quinn and Kurt in the center of the crowd and winked at the two of them. As she took her seat and shared pleasantries with the host Quinn noticed, with a smile, that Rachel kept her hands protectively over the middle of her thighs where her skirt stopped.
The interview went great, Rachel and Blaine were able to joke easily and she shared the story of falling through the hole in the stage. Towards the end, the host brought up Quinn.
"So Rachel, we have all have seen you in the news a lot lately. Mainly in contraction with another beautiful girl, Quinn Fabray. Tell us, what exactly is going on with the two of you?"
Rachel's stomach fluttered, her and Quinn had been getting on great ever since they started dating again but they had never figured out what 'exactly' was 'going on'. "Well Quinn and I have been dating again. The whole protest put a hold on our relationship but now that things have sort of gone back to normal so has our relationship! I can't speak for Quinn, but I love spending time with her and love that we are able to date openly now!"
Quinn beamed from her seat and maintained eye contact with Rachel throughout the answer to the question, she couldn't have said it better. The crowd shared a collective 'aww'.
The host called Quinn out in the audience, "You two are so cute! And Quinn is here with us today, isn't she Rachel? Where is she sitting?"
Rachel pointed to the center of the crowd and a camera zoomed in on the blonde in her favorite yellow dress and white cardigan which she had worn for luck. She shyly smiled and waved as the crowd gave her polite applause, "There she is!" Rachel said, "Love you babe."
Quinn beamed at her and blew her a kiss.
"Young love!" Blaine declared, bringing the attention back to the main stage, "Tell us Rachel, was it love at first sight?"
"I can honestly say that she swept me off my feet the first time I met her," Rachel said and her, Quinn, and Kurt all shared a secretive laugh.
"I get the sense you are holding out on us Rachel!" the host pestered.
"Ha yeah. We met on Quinn's first day at the theater. I was doing my morning stretches and one minute I'm touching my toes, the next minute I'm on the ground underneath her! She was so determined to find the lighting storeroom she walked right into me and I knew two things from the first moment that I talked to her." Quinn arched and eyebrow, she wasn't quite sure where Rachel was going with the story, "The first was that I was crazy in love with her."
"And the second?" Blaine prompted.
"The second was that she had insanely bony hips." The crowd laughed and Quinn blushed a deep red, she would get revenge on Rachel for that later. Shortly after, the theme music began to play and Rachel and the host waved while the camera men counted them down until they would be off air.
Once they were Quinn and Kurt went to meet her backstage and found her still talking to the host. He was delighted to meet Quinn and greeted Kurt with a suspiciously long hug. Quinn and Rachel had a silent conversation consisting of raised eyebrows and mouthed words before the two men went off somewhere to talk.
"Those two go back." Rachel explained once they were relatively alone backstage, "They used to hook up when Kurt was at NYADA and that's why he was so set on getting your extra ticket here today."
"Wait. So I was used so Kurt could have a booty call?" Quinn asked.
"Don't feel bad. I've been there done that, but pretty much yeah."
"Brilliant."
Rachel took Quinn's hand and began leading her out of the building so they could hail a cab, "We might as well get back to the theater. Opening night is in a week and nobody will see Kurt for at least twenty four hours." the brunette was always the voice of reason. At the moment though, she was mainly trying to avoid Cassie's wrath by being late to rehearsal. The director didn't even accept a talk show appearance as an excuse to be delayed.
Once they hit the ground level and stepped out onto the sidewalk Quinn's phone rang, as she fished it out of her bag she stopped dead, pulling Rachel to a halt too by the hand she was holding. But she didn't answer the phone. She just stared at it with wide eyes, her face frozen in a mask of shocked horror.
"Are you going to get that call, Quinn?"
When the blonde didn't answer Rachel stepped closer, "Quinn, who is calling you?"
"It's my mom." She whispered.
"Are you going to answer it?"
"No. I can't."
"Why?" Rachel knew Quinn's relationship with her mother was strained but she didn't know why she wouldn't answer her call.
"Because I never told her."
Rachel just gave the blonde a blank look, she really wasn't making any sense. "Told her what?"
Quinn didn't seem to hear her, she was still staring blankly at her phone, and when it stopped ringing she started off on her own little monologue, "I never told her and you just told the world and I was there. Of course she saw it, she loves day time talk shows. She probably never heard about the protest, doesn't pay attention to stuff like that." Quinn's eye suddenly widened, "But Dad does. He must have seen it. Probably just ignored it, said it was a different Quinn Fabray but there's no way they could pretend this wasn't me."
As if on cue Quinn's phone started ringing again, Rachel could see the caller ID say it was Quinn's mother.
"You're going to have to talk to her eventually, Quinn."
The blonde nodded and took a deep steadying breath before accepting the call, "Hi Mom."
Ok, Quick super big mega thanks to LionAgron, Sarah, Nekary, LaurenKnight13, Weasleyswan, ShadowCub, SweetDream6, gllover22, ghostperfect, immablackstar, RVFlorida, soxylady27, Ghostwriter6647, Nina1400, , UltimateSk8erXD, Whisper21 for all of your warm reviews!
Keep 'em coming and tell me what you think of this chapter, Sue as the lawyer, Schue's payback, and how you think Momma Fabray will react to Rachel and Quinn's relationship.
Oh and I'm taking a quick poll for the next chapter so I need your input!
1. Where should Quinn's parents live?
2. What random character- can be glee or not- should I include in the next chapter? I just need a small character and can't think of who to use for it.
Thank you so much for reading and reviewing!
-Ms. Informed13