-Chapter 11-
Puck came to get Elizabeth right on schedule at eight o'clock Friday morning. Quinn was already at the furniture store with Chuck when Rachel called to let her know Puck had been there. The hours dragged by for Quinn. She swore the clock wasn't working around three because even though it felt like an hour had passed it was only five minutes. She would only have two hours to get ready for the date since she worked until five. She already had her outfit picked out, the same yellow dress from the glee girls' mash-up. It wasn't too dressy but not too casual either, she decided. She had no idea what Rachel was wearing but she didn't really care.
Finally, Chuck locked the front doors and flipped the sign to "closed" and they started turning off all of the lights. Quinn practically ran to the car when they were finished, she scowled when Chuck took his time locking the back door and getting to the car.
"Tonight's the night, hm?" Chuck said when they pulled out onto the street.
"Yeah."
"I expect you'll be respectable and lady-like."
"Of course."
"If this goes well we're not going to be too keen on you and Rachel sneaking into each others rooms in the middle of the night."
Quinn choked and spit out the drink of water she had just taken and sputtered. She grabbed tissues from the center console and started cleaning up the dashboard and windshield.
"We're not oblivious, Quinn. And if we thought there was anything inappropriate going on we would've said something already."
"There hasn't been, I assure you."
"I know, Rachel told me."
The rest of the ride was spent in silence. It seemed like forever before they were finally in front of the Berry house. Quinn had to restrain herself from running to the front door. She walked briskly but once the front door was open she barely said "hi" to Jim before tearing up the stairs to her room to get ready. She heard Rachel go from the bathroom to her bedroom and Quinn waited before occupying the bathroom.
Quinn paced the bedroom floor until her alarm clock went off. She shut off the alarm and grabbed the red rose she had bought on her lunch break then quickly took the few steps to Rachel's room. The blonde took a deep breath and knocked on the door, Rachel whipped it open and gave Quinn a death glare.
"You're late!" Rachel growled.
"It's six fifty-five!"
"Seven ten!"
"Your clock is fifteen minutes fast, Rachel. Do I have to call time and temp to prove it to you again?"
Rachel straightened herself up. "Fine."
Quinn and Rachel both broke out in a fit of laughter when they took their first good look at what they were wearing. Rachel had also chosen her yellow dress from the mash-up to wear. Quinn gave her the rose and Rachel smiled. She placed it on her desk and grabbed her purse.
"Shall we?" Rachel said, holding out her arm.
Quinn smiled and linked her arm in Rachel's and the two descended the stairs to the living room. Chuck handed Quinn the keys to the SUV and the girls hugged the two men then headed outside. Quinn got in the drivers side of the SUV and adjusted her seat. She looked over at the passenger side to see Rachel still standing outside of the vehicle.
"Are you serious?" Quinn asked. Rachel smiled.
Quinn groaned and got out and walked around to the passenger side. "Am I going to have to pull your chair out at dinner, too?" Quinn opened the door and Rachel hopped into the seat.
"It would be the lady-like thing to do."
"You sound just like your dad. I'm requesting a booth."
Rachel beamed and Quinn shut the door. She resumed her position in the driver's seat and carefully backed out of the driveway. The ride was silent until Rachel plugged her iPod in and the two sang along to the mix Rachel had made consisting of all of the songs the glee club had sang over the previous year.
Quinn sighed when the hostess told them all of the booths were full so she reluctantly agreed to sit at a table. She pulled Rachel's chair out for her and Rachel grinned and thanked the blonde. They both ordered their favorites, General Tsao's hot chicken for Rachel, beef with broccoli for Quinn.
"So…Chuck says no more bed sharing if things go well tonight," Quinn said while they were waiting for dessert.
"I know."
"You don't seem too disappointed."
Rachel smiled mischievously. "Don't worry about it."
"What have you got up your sleeve Rachel Berry?"
"Nothing." Rachel was still smiling. "I think we need to talk to Noah again about acceptable activities for Elizabeth. He called me this afternoon asking if it was okay for him to take her to his fight club tomorrow night."
Quinn rolled her eyes. "I doubt his mom would let him out of the house with her at that hour anyways. And why does he think that if he asks you that you'll say yes?"
"I have no idea. He knows that the only outings I find acceptable are those that will groom her for stardom. I told him to take her to the community theater production of Annie instead."
"I thought you boycotted the community theater when they turned you down for Wicked?"
"I believe their outright failure of the show was punishment enough."
Quinn laughed and the two continued chattering through dessert about what they hoped to sing in glee club in the coming school year. On the drive to the movie theater Rachel's phone started blaring "Defying Gravity" and Quinn was startled and almost ran off the road.
"It's Noah…" Rachel said, looking at the screen.
"Well answer it!"
"Noah? What's going on?" Rachel was silent for a while and Quinn pulled into an empty parking lot. "Well did you sing to her?...What did you sing?...Noah, I don't think Metallica…How warm?...Is your mother there?...What do you mean she's gone for the weekend?!"
Quinn ripped the phone away from Rachel.
"Puck what the hell is going on?!"
"She won't stop crying and I think she feels warmer than she usually does and I just don't know what to do!"
"Why didn't you call me?! And where is your mother?"
"I did call, like six times! And I sent you texts! Mom is in Cleveland for some business thing. I thought I could handle Liz by myself but I don't know what to do!"
"Have you taken her temperature?" Quinn asked while going through her purse. She pulled out her phone and found it was switched to silent mode. She had four texts, six missed calls and four voicemails.
"She won't close her mouth around the thermometer."
"There is an ear thermometer in her diaper bag, you idiot!"
"Oh…oh yeah, okay! Sis, get me the bag!...Okay, how do I work this thing?"
"Push the green button until there's a beep. Put it in her ear until it beeps again and then tell me what the number is."
"Okay…okay there's something blinking on the screen…Okay it says…holy shit it says it's a hundred point seven. That's like, high, right?!"
"We'll be there in a few minutes just try to stay calm."
Quinn closed Rachel's phone and tossed it at the brunette. "She's got a fever of a hundred point seven," Quinn said shakily. She slammed the SUV into gear and sped out of the parking lot.
Rachel wrapped her fingers around Quinn's wrist and the blonde let go of the steering wheel and she laced her fingers with Rachel's.
"I'm sure it'll be fine," Rachel said softly. Quinn only focused on the road.
They made it to Puck's house in record time and they could hear Elizabeth crying before they even got up to the front door. Quinn burst into the living room and Puck immediately handed her off to Quinn.
"What's wrong with her? Is she sick? Should we take her to the hospital?" Puck asked.
"I don't know, we just got here! Give me the thermometer."
Puck rummaged around in the diaper bag and pulled out the thermometer. Rachel took it from him and took Elizabeth's temperature again while Quinn tried to settle her down.
"Quinn, it's gone up to almost hundred and two," Rachel said, looking at the digital numbers.
"Puck, get the car seat out of your truck and put it in the SUV, we're taking her to the hospital."
Puck ran out of the house followed by his sister and Quinn and Rachel followed. Quinn got Elizabeth settled in her car seat and crawled in the back seat with her and Rachel. Puck took the driver's seat and his little sister hopped in front with him.
"Hold on," Puck said when he threw the SUV in gear.
"Get us there alive, please Noah."
