A/N: Thank you all again for the favs, follows and reviews. There will be some progression after this chapter.
Quinn p.o.v.
The magazine hits stands in two weeks, Ashley tells her in a text this warm morning. It is the middle of June and it has been a while, but ever since that meeting last week, Quinn feels ready to go back to work. Ashley tells her to stop in to meet with the producers again later on today.
Quinn gets up, showers and gets dressed. She checks in on Sarah but she is still sound asleep. She goes to look in Rachel's room but doesn't find her in there. She thinks she would have left her a note or something if she would be going out today. She goes downstairs to look for her there after looking out of her bedroom window to check the backyard. She gets downstairs and checks the kitchen, both living rooms, and some of the other rooms down there. She makes a mental note to call the maid later on today. Finally, it dawns on her, she must be down in the basement.
As Quinn descends the basement stairwell, she hears loud pop music playing. Rachel is in the dance studio practicing what looks like choreography, possibly from her tv show. Quinn smiles and looks on as she moves closer and closer to the dance studio through the gym. Rachel does a sloppy spin move and almost jumps out of her skin when she sees Quinn watching at her.
"Quinn! You scared the hell out of me!" Rachel yells, slightly out of breath.
"Sorry, I was looking for you, but I didn't want to disturb you. Is that from the show?"
"Yes, I was told to work on my dancing since it isn't my strong suit. I haven't really had any time since I got here to practice, but I made some time today."
"Oh I'm sorry, you've been busy with Sarah. If you need any pointers I'll be glad to help you out." Quinn is sincere in her offer. She really feels bad about keeping Rachel from taking time for herself to prepare.
"Really Quinn, are you sure? I have been having trouble with the smoothness of my body rolls." Quinn mentally chastises herself again. It just had to be a sexy dance move that was giving Rachel trouble.
"Oh-okay…I believe I still know enough to teach you how to do it. Um, can you show me a little of the choreo leading up to the body roll?" Quinn asks.
Rachel shows her a few steps and then attempts the body roll. Quinn can see where she has it wrong, she isn't being smooth on the follow through. Quinn repeats the steps that Rachel just showed her and ended with a smooth body roll. She then repeated the body roll a little slower to show her what she was doing wrong.
"So did I get that right?" Quinn looks over at Rachel and follows her line of sight down to her own hips. Rachel's head snaps up and she clears her throat as Quinn raises an eyebrow in question.
"Yes, yes you are so… right, um yes, those were the correct moves. Um, can you show me the body roll again?" Quinn cannot help the smirk that appears on her face. She shows Rachel again and she seems to be paying attention this time.
"So you think you have it now?" Quinn asks.
"I don't know, let me try it again." Rachel says with a giggle. Quinn steps back and watches her. She is still a little stiff, so Quinn puts her hands on Rachel's hips to guide her.
"I'm going to guide you through it okay?" Quinn gets a silent nod in response. A new slower song starts to play on the stereo and Quinn contemplates running over there and turning it off. Rachel begins to move before she got a chance to do it. She guides Rachel so that she can see them both in the mirror at the same time. Then she begins to move with Rachel while holding onto her hips.
They begin a little awkwardly, but then Rachel starts to get the hang of it. Quinn gets a whiff of Rachel's hair and pulls her a little closer while continuing to grind. She realizes what she just had done and removes her hands from Rachel's waist. Quinn is mortified. She feels like such a creep, sniffing Rachel's hair like that without her knowing it.
"Hey, why'd you stop?" Rachel asks, turning around and looking at her. Quinn swallows thickly and thinks of something fast.
"Um, it looks like you've got it." She says with a reassuring nod. "Do you need help with anything else?" She asks with her eyes cast downward.
"No, not today, I'm really tired. I'll be up in a minute after I clean up down here. Thank you, Quinn. I would have never gotten it if you hadn't shown me." Quinn nods while still looking at the ground.
"No problem. I'll go start breakfast. Do you want anything specific?"
"No, whatever's fine. As long as it isn't bacon." Rachel says playfully.
Quinn laughs as she goes back upstairs. That was both sexually tense but awkward at the same time. She is so embarrassed of herself, behaving that way with Rachel. It was almost as if touching Rachel caused her to lose control of herself. Well, that settles it, she will just have to keep her hands to herself around Rachel from now on.
She starts making breakfast, a sweet treat of vegan-friendly French toasts with strawberry preserves and powdered sugar. She thinks about it and decides to cut up some extra fruit for a healthy side. She bends down in the refrigerator to get some kiwi fruit when someone grabs her sides causing her to let out a yelp.
"Jesus, Rachel! You scared the hell out of me!" Rachel hops onto a bar stool laughing incredibly hard. Quinn frowns at her. She just began her vow to avoid contact with Rachel and now this.
"Hey, don't look at me like that. It was only payback for earlier." Rachel says. Quinn remembers scaring Rachel when she was in the dance studio and begins laughing at herself.
"Well I guess that makes us even then." Quinn hears tiny footsteps approaching the kitchen. Sarah. She closes the fridge and picks her up.
"I'm hungry momma." Sarah says, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"Okay, the French toast is almost done. Let's go wash up first okay. Rachel can you watch those toasts while I go upstairs?"
"Sure." Rachel says as she jumps up and goes over to the cook top.
They talk over breakfast and Quinn decides that this is as good a time as any to break the news about her filming to Rachel as well as Sarah.
"So," she begins.
"I think that I may be going back to work really soon." Rachel looks surprised, yet happy, so Quinn continues. "I already auditioned for the part but nothing's written in stone just yet. The thing is, half of the movie will be filmed here in L.A. but the other half will be filmed in Thailand."
"When are you going to start?" Rachel asks looking concerned.
"Well the L.A. filming starts in a week, around the 25th and the trip to Thailand will be in October because of the weather out there. I have already arranged with Timothy and his mother to look after Sarah when it's time for me to leave."
"What do you mean, Quinn? Does this mean I-I'm fired?" Quinn cannot help but laugh a little. Rachel has always been inclined to jump to conclusions.
"No silly, you're still hired to watch Sarah up until you land that part on that show. So by the time October rolls around, you'll surely be too busy to babysit." She explains.
Rachel's face grows serious after Quinn finishes explaining her reasoning behind her actions. Quinn notices Rachel's sadness as she helps Sarah clean up after eating. Quinn tries to convince herself that it is only because Rachel has grown so attached to Sarah over these last few months.
"Well in that case, congratulations Quinn. You're going to do great. I only hope things will work out for me on that show. I kind of miss performing, you know."
"Yeah, I understand completely." Quinn cannot help but feel like this is leading up to a sad goodbye somewhere near in the future. She decides to change the subject. "So, you're going to have to keep Sarah while I go to another meeting today with the producers. Is that okay?"
"Sure Quinn, it is my job you know. It just sometimes feels like a little more than that." Little does Rachel know, but Quinn knows exactly how she feels.
