The movement was what pulled Quinn's eyes from her computer as she squinted at the corner of the living room swearing she saw…something? Shrugging she looked down and refocused her attention.
A minute later her head whipped up, dislodging Elphie from her shoulder onto the couch and earning one hell of a pissed off hiss. Her eyes never shifted from the floor as she blindly set the computer on the table. "Elphie, did you see that? Please tell me you saw that. Great Quinn, talking to the fucking cat like she's going to answer you, good job. Fuck it. Elphie, sick em! Get it! Fetch? Maybe I'm losing my mind. I swear I saw something move, go look!" Elphie yawned in reply.
The ear piercing scream sent Rachel running in a panic, rounding the corner to Quinn. "Quinn? What's wrong? Are you hurt? What hap – why are you standing on the couch? And where did you get a bat from?"
"There's – I saw – there was - get up here before you get eaten!"
Rachel cocked her head and raised a brow, "Uhh, Quinn? I love you, don't get me wrong, but what the hell is going on? Have you lost your mind?"
"Rachel! Seriously! Up. Here. Now!"
"Not until you give me a reason. It's highly inappropriate to be standing on the furniture, Quinn. I see absolutely nothing that could cause me any sort of harm."
There was a scattering movement and Quinn squealed, swinging the bat in the air. "There's a mouse, Rachel! A fucking mouse and it's going to get you if you keep standing there!"
"A mouse? That's it? You're afraid of a mouse?"
"Yes, Rachel! A huge, horribly disgusting mouse!"
"You do realize you're at least 2,000 times the size of the average mouse, correct? They weigh about 20 grams and you weigh -"
"I get it, okay? Yes, I'm afraid of a fucking mouse. Happy now?"
Looking to where Quinn has the bat pointed, seeing nothing but a tiny and harmless field mouse, she rolled her eyes and walked out of the room.
"What?! Where are you going? Get back here! Don't leave me alone with it! Rachel, please!"
"I was getting a box to save you from the killer mouse. Calm down." Without an ounce of hesitation Rachel leaned over and coerced the mouse into the box within seconds. "Awww Quinn it's so cute! Come see!"
"Hell no! Get rid of that..thing!"
"It's called a field mouse, Quinn. I believe it's more specifically a white-footed mouse, or Peromyscus leucopus. They're harmless and are often found indoors searching for food or shelter. Oh! Can we keep it?"
"What? Are you kidding? Absolutely not!"
"First, please kindly step off the couch and use it appropriately, I have it contained and it will not escape. Second, why not? Think of the fun we can have with it? Oh! I know, we can have designated family time with us, Elphie, and Roquefort where we cuddle and watch movies. We'll get him a spacious cage and one of those little wheels so he can exercise. I think a maze would be fun, too. Did you know you could train them to do tricks?"
"Roquefort? Roquefort? It's been like a minute and you've already named it? You can't be serious!"
"Yes, Roquefort. After the mouse in The Aristocats of course. I mean granted we don't have that many cats, but Elphie could at the very least make a spectacular Marie." Rachel puts the lid on the box before setting it down as she begins to lightly sing, "Everybody wants to be a cat, because a cat's the only cat who knows where it's at," as she looks at the movie collection.
The box moves an inch across the floor causing Quinn to jump. "Oh for fucks sake, at least put that thing in a cage or something before it eats its way out of the box."
"He will not do such a thing that quickly Quinn. Ah ha! I knew it was here somewhere," Rachel gleams as she holds up a copy of The Aristocats. "We can start family movie night tonight with this in honor of our new member."
"I will not sleep in the same room as it. If you put it in our room, I swear, you'll be sleeping alone until it's gone. And absolutely no cuddle time unless I'm out of the house."
"You mean I get to keep him?" Rachel looks at Quinn with teary doe eyes.
She slumps down into the couch, "Like I could ever say no anyway."
"Thank you Quinn!" Rachel runs over and hugs her before grabbing the box and walking out of the room.
Quinn hears the front door open and then close before Rachel returns and tosses the now empty box next to the table.
"Wait. What the?"
"What, you didn't think I'd keep a wild mouse? Quinn, it could be diseased. No I think I'll just have to take a trip to the pet store."
Quinn looks at her horrified while Rachel smiles sweetly.
"Have you seen the cat? I know she was with you last."
"Don't know. Don't care."
"Quinn Fabray!"
"What? She wouldn't even go after it to save me from the monstrosity. She disappeared!"
"Well with you screaming like a banshee I can't really say I blame her or Roque for being terrified."
"Did you just compare me to a spirit that warns of impending death?"
"Well you did react as thought the sky was falling, Quinn."
"And now you're calling me Chicken Little. Great." She did her best to send Rachel a glare in her embarrassment.
"Yes, Quinn, I'm shaking with fear. Honestly, that glare is about a negative 2."
Quinn growled and switched to pouting instead, pulling out the "Rachel Berry Puppy Dog Eyes."
"Seriously? You're going to use my look against me? I perfected that look and am therefor immune to it." She walks over and sits next to Quinn, kissing her on the lips, and watching as the pout immediately faded. There was no way she was admitting she fell for it.
It was then that Elphie hopped onto the couch from out of nowhere. Quinn gave her a full death glare while she sat innocently licking her paw seemingly saying "What? Me? Did I miss something?" causing Quinn to mumble, "Stupid useless cat. Could have been killed and the cat don't give a shit. Put you outside with the damn mouse."
"What was that, dear? I know I couldn't have heard what I think."
"Nothing love. I didn't say a thing."
"Excellent. All kidding aside, do you want to talk about it?"
"My fear of mice?"
"No, about today with the whole Beth thing. Obviously we don't have to talk if you'd prefer not to, but I'm asking because I care and I want you to know that I'm here."
"I know you are, thank you." She looks at the floor and sighs "I'm not really sure what to say?"
"As much or as little as you would like."
"She's beautiful. She looks so much like me but also so much like Puck. I know I did the right thing by giving her to Shelby because I know there was no possible way Puck and I could raise a baby at 16, but I still wonder what if sometimes. Maybe we could have done it and kept her somehow. It wouldn't have been easy and we probably never would have made it out of Lima, but we could have tried?"
"Do you regret not trying to keep her?"
"No, as much as I wished we did, even with all the what ifs I still know it was the right choice. I'm afraid the thoughts will never go away. I love Puck in the sense that he's the father of my child, but I'm not in love with him and we wouldn't have worked together even if we tried. I could never have loved him in that way. I'm afraid Beth is going to hate me when she gets old enough to know. I mean, look at you and Shelby? Sorry. That was mean and a bad example."
"No, it's okay. But I don't hate Shelby, Quinn. As much as I might not entirely like her yet and might not ever fully, I can't hate her. If Beth is anything like you, she won't hate you either. I also know that you're not Shelby and you want to try to be in Beth's life. You're not going to just walk away from her one day or show up randomly when she's a teenager dangling a relationship in front of her and then taking it away. Mainly because that's just not who you are and also I would never let that happen. I know mine and Beth's situations are different, but I'm still interested in knowing Shelby even with everything. There's no reason that Beth shouldn't be either."
"She's not going to hate me?" Quinn looked at her like a frightened child.
"I honestly don't think so, baby. I think when she gets old enough to really understand she's going to be so grateful for what you did and how you put her first. She's gonna know you had her best interest at heart, fully and completely unselfishly. What you did was so incredibly brave, Quinn." Rachel reaches up, cupping Quinn's cheeks and wipes the falling tears with her thumbs. "You're so brave and so strong baby. One day this will get easier. The ache will always exist but it will lessen when you start to really see the effects of your choice and when Beth learns who you are and the circumstances."
"Please don't leave me, Rach. I know we're both so screwed up, but please don't leave me alone," Quinn sobs out.
Rachel places Quinn's hand against her chest, over her heart, "Feel that? I'm right here and I'm going to stay right here. Both of us are going to get through all of this crap in our lives and we're going to be so much better for it. We're going to learn from our past and use it to move forward and grow stronger together. I promise, Quinn, and you know I don't make promises I'm unable to keep."
"I looked into some adoption support groups."
"Oh? Are you going to go?"
"I don't know yet. I need to think about it some more first. If I decide to go? Will you come with me? If it's allowed I mean."
"Of course I will, sweetheart. Whatever you need from me."
Quinn nods and wipes her face off with her shirt. "Thank you, and same for you if there's something you need. I'm tired, but I feel better."
"Well, dinner should be done. I made some homemade vegetable soup and fresh bread so how about we go eat and then lay in bed with The Aristocats until we fall asleep? I'm sure school will be open tomorrow so we could use an early night after today."
"Sounds perfect to me. So were you really just messing with me the entire time? You were never going to keep the mouse?"
Rachel laughs, "No, I just felt like having a bit of fun when I noticed you were freaking out. I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I kind of enjoyed the teasing."
"I love you, Chicken Little."
"I love you too."
A/N: Hi! Yes I am still living and I can't even begin to say how bad I feel that's it's been roughly 2 years since I made a chapter. Life and school got in the way, but now that things have calmed down I'm able to write again. So hopefully you guys are all still with me and thank you for those of you who are.