Warnings and disclaimers in Chapter 1. Enjoy.
"Did I do something wrong?" Beth asked fearfully, looking up to Shelby. She was scared when Quinn started shaking and thought reaching out and grabbing her hand would help, but then Quinn went completely stiff.
"No baby," Shelby told her, pulling her a few paces away from the bed so Dr. Mathison would have some room to work.
"We told you this might happen," Judy said, coming up to the pair. Beth nodded. She remembered them telling her something like this, but she didn't understand until now.
"What happened?" she asked, staring at the now sleeping form. The doctor had finished his checks and was apparently satisfied with what he found. He stepped away, smiling as he retreated to the hallway. As soon as he was gone, Tobey jumped up on the bed. He watched her carefully as he laid out beside her, his nose inches away from her face. "Tobey really likes her," Beth commented while she watched the dog. The comment caused the two older women to turn and watch, each with a smile on their face. Tobey inched even closer and licked Quinn's face, but when that didn't prompt any reaction he simply laid his head on her chest and watched her as she slept. Once he had settled she turned back to her mom. "What happened?" she asked again.
"Remember when I said she couldn't remember anything after her accident?" Judy prompted. Beth nodded. "When she met you she wanted to remember you so badly that she made herself sick."
"She wanted to remember me?" Beth whispered. Judy nodded.
"She knows you're important to her, even if she can't remember why. And her mind knows the information is there, she just can't access it, so she's stuck between two warring sides. Wanting the memories so badly and not being able to get to them." Beth frowned so Shelby jumped in.
"Kinda like when you laugh so hard your sides start to hurt." Beth nodded at that. "Laughing feels so good so you don't want to stop, but then your sides hurt so you do want to stop, but that just makes you laugh harder." Beth nodded enthusiastically at that. She loved laughing until her sides hurt, and even past that.
"Does that mean she remembers me?" Judy sighed.
"I really wish it did," she admitted, "because I know she wants to remember you. But she has no control over this. Either her memories will return or they won't. We have no idea which one it will be." Beth thought hard about that before puffing her lower lip in a pout.
"That's not fair," she decided. "I just want to get to know my mom."
"It's not," Judy said, "but you can do what we've been doing. Getting to know her all over again. Making new memories that she does remember." Beth smiled at that.
"I like that idea." She thought for a minute. "Can I tell her I'm her daughter?" Judy shook her head.
"Not yet," she told her. "You saw how she reacted to just meeting you. I'm afraid of what will happen if she finds out you're her daughter before she's ready." Beth thought this over for a minute then smiled big.
"So, she's not old enough to understand," she smirked.
"Something like that," Shelby smiled. "You don't want to hurt her, do you?"
"Nope," Beth said immediately, "but we can still be friends, right?"
"Friends," Shelby told her, "is a wonderful idea." She glanced at her watch. "C'mon. Let's go home. You still have homework you need to finish."
"But I wanna stay here," she whined. Shelby shook her head.
"No. You both need some time to process this. Quinn especially needs time. You don't want to hurt her, do you?"
"No," Beth said sadly. "I can still come visit, right?"
"Yep," Judy told her. "Just give it a few days, okay?" Beth nodded slowly.
"Can I say goodnight?" she asked, looking back toward the bed. Shelby nodded so Beth slowly walked over to her.
"Goodnight Tobey." Tobey lifted his head when he heard his name and turned to her. She petted him for several minutes before turning Quinn. "Goodnight mommy Quinn." She stretched up and gave a quick kiss to Quinn's cheek. Beth waited for a minute, hoping for some reaction, but the young adult continued to sleep.
"C'mon." Shelby held out her hand and Beth reluctantly took it, letting her mother lead her out of the room. Judy followed them out, unsurprised to find Dr. Mathison waiting for them in the hallway. She watched the two of them walk down the hallway before turning to the doctor.
"How bad was it?"
"It was a pretty bad attack," he admitted, "but she didn't pass out which is good. Of course, she was well on her way to passing out if we hadn't been ready with the sedative. We'll just have to wait and see what she remembers when she wakes up." He turned serious. "I'd like to hook her up to an EEG for the night. Maybe if we can see what that brain of hers is doing it will help us understand."
"What is that?" Judy asked.
"A series of electrodes placed on her scalp," he explained. "They measure and record brain activity. They won't hurt her and we'll take them off as soon as she wakes up tomorrow." Judy nodded and he quickly paged a nurse to bring the necessary equipment. Twenty minutes later they left the room. "You can go sit with her," the doctor said as he passed, giving her a brief squeeze on her arm. Judy nodded and went in.
Her first reaction at seeing all the wires around Quinn's head was disbelief. Her mind flashed back to the medical chart she had seen regarding the accident. She easily imagined Quinn's broken body lying in that bed, wires and tubes coming out from everywhere, and felt tears forming in her eyes. She wondered how Russel had managed to survive that experience on his own. She doubted she could have done the same. Granted, she wouldn't have called him first, but she would have called somebody. Shaking her head to banish those thoughts, she moved the chair closer to her bed. She reached out to hold her daughter's hand, which was thankfully warm. Tobey raised his head and looked at her before resting his head on their joined hands. She absently scratched behind his ears with her free hand, while her thumb made comforting circles on Quinn's skin. She was determined not to move until her daughter woke, which was just under three hours.
"Mom?" Quinn called out quietly, her eyes struggling to open. Judy squeezed her hand tightly.
"I'm right here," she called out, watching as Quinn's hazel eyes finally opened. "How do you feel?"
"Tired. Thirsty. Tobey."
"What is it with that dog?" Judy mumbled good naturedly as she poured some water into a waiting cup. "Tobey. Down." He whined unsuccessfully before jumping down. Judy took a second to raise the head of Quinn's bed to reclining position before holding the water in front of her. "Straw." Quinn obediently opened her mouth so Judy could angle in the straw. She took a few sips before falling back, exhausted.
"Where did the girl go?" Quinn asked, her ears not finding any extra sounds in the room.
"Do you remember her?" Judy asked hopefully. Quinn nodded, but frowned at the same time.
"Not from before," she clarified, "but she's special."
"Yes, she is," Judy agreed as she watched Quinn struggling to keep her eyes open. There was still quite a bit of sedative running through her system after all. "Are you tired?" Quinn nodded weakly. "Then you should get some sleep. I'll come by in the morning and we can talk. Okay?"
"Kay," Quinn mumbled as she stopped trying to keep her eyes open. After a few minutes, Judy lowered the bed again so it was level again. She kissed her daughter before grabbing Tobey's leash and leading him from the room.
"Okay," Finn said as he re-entered the kitchen, looking down at a piece of paper in his hand. "Everything on the list is done. Even the crazy stuff like making sure the floors aren't to shiny."
"Polished Finn," Rachel said absently as she thrust another paper into his hands. "Polished means slippery and slippery floors mean more chances of Quinn falling and hurting herself."
"But she's in a chair," Finn looked confused, only to stop at Rachel's angry glare. "Right. Dirty floors. Check." Rachel's glare softened and he smiled, only to sigh when he looked at the paper she just gave him. "Another list?" She was about to respond when Santana burst into the room.
"Oh hell no Berry," she screamed, flinging the list at Rachel. "There is no way I am scheduling my personal intercourse with Brit on your spreadsheet."
"What?" Finn asked in alarm as he took the paper and skimmed it. "What's this?" Rachel ignored him.
"Quinn is coming to live with us," she said quickly, picking up the paper and forcing it back into Santana's hands. "And while we might not mind you two going at it like cats in heat each and every night, Quinn certainly won't understand. So, unless you want to have 'The Talk' with your best friend, extracurricular bedroom activities are a thing of the past." The two girls glared at each other, causing Kurt to laugh quietly.
"I'm so glad we are leaving," he said to his boyfriend, which made Rachel throw her glare at him. "Not that we won't be back every day and help," he quickly backpedaled.
"You know we love Quinn, right?" Blaine asked, trying to get the Diva's glare off his boyfriend. "If we had known she would show up again, we would have never signed those papers."
"I know," she sighed, lowering her glare finally. "But if you didn't sign those papers than there wouldn't be enough room for Judy and Quinn. I'll just miss you guys so much."
"We're just a few blocks away," Kurt reminded her, moving over to give her a hug. "And we'll come by so much you'll want to kick us out."
"Promise?" Rachel asked gloomily. Kurt nodded. Rachel smiled up at him before turning back to Santana. "You don't have a problem having quiet nights whenever Beth sleeps over."
"That's cause she's a kid," Santana argued.
"In many ways, Quinn is too." They all were quiet while they absorbed that. "If it makes you feel better, Finn and I will adhere to this schedule as well."
"What?" Finn gulped as he really read the paper now. "Oh man. I am never getting lucky again." They all laughed as Brittany came into the room.
"I would like to reserve eight to midnight, every day, for the rest of our lives." She turned to Santana. "See San. No problem. We can still have our sweet lady kisses." Everybody laughed again, even Santana, until Rachel reached for another piece of paper she printed out.
"Rachel," they all groaned at the same time. Rachel looked up in shock.
"What? Is it too much?"
"Rachel," Shelby said, coming to her side and grabbing the paper out of her hand. "I know what you're doing."
"What am I doing?" she challenged. Shelby looked at her compassionately.
"Do you think I didn't make lists when I was pregnant with you?" she asked kindly. "I did. Everything I could possibly need and then some. I did, even though I knew I was going to give you to your dads and never look back. And then, when I brought Beth home, that was the first thing I did. It was such an impromptu decision that I was never really ready, practicality wise. Thankfully I was financially secure enough to get ready quickly, but it wasn't until I held her in my arms that first night that it started to sink in. And I started to panic. And the lists started coming out. Then you know what happened?"
"What?" Rachel whispered. Shelby smiled.
"I didn't have something on one of my lists. I can't even remember what it was anymore, but I didn't have it and life still went on. And we were fine." She looked Rachel deep in the eye. "You don't need a list to tell you how to take care of Quinn. Just follow your heart and everything will work out." She looked down at the paper and smirked. "And while a list of her medication and times might be worth having around, the list of approved bedroom activities might have to go."
"You're right," Rachel admitted, slumping slightly. "I just don't want to mess anything up."
"Life is messy Rachel," Blaine said, "but we all love you. And we all love Quinn. It will work itself out."
"Thanks," Rachel said, uncharacteristically quiet since she essentially lost this argument. "Is this a good time to talk about age appropriate movies and television shows?" Santana threw up her arms as she and Brittany headed back to their room, while Kurt and Blaine got off on a tangent about the new movie they wanted to go see while they packed up their belongings.
As soon as Judy officially accepted their offer to live with them, the apartment had been a constant flurry of movement. Kurt and Blaine were already moving, but they were planning on slowly moving everything from one apartment to the next once the new apartment was ready. Now, they were trying to pack as much as they could beforehand. The apartment manager had helped them out, letting them store their packed belongings in an apartment that was currently being renovated and thus unused. His only stipulation was that their stuff was gone by the time the place was ready to put on the market again. They only had to wait two more weeks for their new place to be ready, so they assured him their stuff would be moved soon.
Santana and Brittany were moving too, but they would just be taking Kurt and Blaine's room so Judy could have theirs. That would put her closest to Quinn. The kitchen and living room needed to be rearranged and for a while everything was a mess in that apartment. But slowly things started coming together. And it couldn't have come at a better time. The case worker assigned to Quinn had come for a surprise home inspection. She had been slightly skeptical when she took in the chaos around her, but once Rachel calmly explained what was going on, the case worker was firmly on their side. Anyone who would uproot their lives that much just to make a home life easier was okay in her books. She rescheduled the visit for next week, giving them more than enough time to get everything in order before she came again.
"Ta da," Blaine sang in triumph, showing the group the empty lower cupboards that were earmarked for Quinn's personal use. Kurt had been packing up the last of the kitchen items that would be moving with them. That gave them much more space since Kurt was the main chef of the group.
"That's great and all," Finn said, "but where's the pans and stuff?" Kurt rolled his eyes.
"Pans and stuff?" he scoffed. "You really need to learn how to cook Finn." Blaine interjected on behalf of his boyfriend.
"We left you some basic cookware," he told them, "but we had to move them to a higher shelf. I don't remember Quinn being particularly domestic, but even if she liked to cook it will probably be a bad idea for her to cook now. At least in the beginning."
"I will make up some labels tonight," Kurt added. "They will tell you where everything you possibly need will be."
"And probably everything we don't," Santana said, carrying a box from their room to Kurt's. She joined them in the kitchen as soon as she dropped the box. "Are you channeling Berry now Lady Hummel? Do we need to worry about lists sprouting from your hands as well?"
"Not at all Satan. I am not that obsessive. But I feel the need to remind you what Megan said. Quinn will learn her new home best if everything is in its rightful place from the beginning. Since I am the only one to consistently put things away," he threw a dirty look to his boyfriend, "I am the most qualified to decide where everything goes."
"Right. Anything for Q," Santana agreed, before mumbling under her breath. "We'll just change it up as soon as you leave."
"You'll do no such thing," Kurt objected, ready to read her the riot act when suddenly the door opened. Judy marched into the apartment, slamming the door behind her. The fight was instantly forgotten as they all gathered around her. "Are you okay hon?" Judy shook her head, flinging the brown paper bag onto the table in front of her.
"I'm going to kill that man," she said, throwing her purse on the table with enough force to almost push the bag to the ground. Finn rescued it just in time, looking in to see various pill bottles. Quinn's medication. Judy went to pick it up before she visited her daughter. One step closer to being home.
"What happened?" Finn asked. He took his role as man of the house very seriously, even though he knew they could all take care of themselves. Judy looked at them, forcing herself to calm down.
"Russel." They all gasped, in various states of anger. "He showed up at the hospital today, demanding to talk to Quinn."
"And they let him?" Santana asked, paling slightly at the thought.
"He is her father," Judy answered, "and he showed up with his high-priced attorney by his side. And we don't have a restraining order yet."
"What did he say to her?" Shelby asked, as worried as Judy was. Judy shook her head.
"I don't know," she admitted. "She wouldn't talk to me. She wouldn't even look at me. She pulled away when I tried to comfort her. I could see the tears on her face, but she wouldn't even let me hold her. And it's all because of him."
"We should go," Brittany said, breaking everyone out of their shock. They all stood as one, reaching for their coats before Judy called them back.
"No. Nathan's there. So is Tobey." Santana scowled.
"He's Russel's boy. I don't trust him."
"But I do," Judy said in no uncertain terms. "He's been there for her when we haven't. And its true Russel might have hired him, but he doesn't control him. He has done so much for Quinn, most of it behind Russel's back. He knows her better than any of us right now, and he knows what to expect from her after Russel's visits. He's the best person to help her right now." Santana backed down, but was clearly pissed by the situation.
"So how can we help?" Rachel asked. Judy sighed.
"Finish getting the apartment ready. The social worker comes by tomorrow for the final inspection. There can't be any problems or Russel's attorney will tear us apart."
"When is the court date?" Shelby asked as they once again worked on getting the apartment in shape.
"Two weeks," Judy said she passed the group and made her way to Quinn's bathroom. She and Quinn were sharing the guest bathroom, while the rest were going to be sharing the master bath. She gestured for the bag Finn held and began putting the medication away.
"Here," he said, handing her the latest list Rachel had made. It was her medication schedule, complete with check boxes so they could mark that her medication had in fact been taken.
"Thank you," she said as she examined the paper closely. He passed her some tape and she taped it to the backside of the mirror.
"Thank Rachel," Finn said. "She's the one doing all these crazy things."
"Like the age appropriate music list?" Judy asked, pulling out another list Rachel made. "You know she's not a baby." Rachel blushed.
"But Barney is appropriate for all age groups." Everybody groaned.
"No it's not," Shelby deadpanned. "It makes you want to shoot yourself if you hear it too much. The only antidote is having a two-year-old glued to the TV, watching and singing and dancing along."
"And since that shit ain't happening, I'm vetoing any dinosaur related music in the future." Brittany frowned and Santana quickly amended her statement. "Unless Brit wants to hear it. Or Quinn." Everybody agreed to that and soon they had established a rhythm again, which wasn't broken until Shelby had to leave to go pick Beth up from school. By the time they came back, everything was pretty much done. Only Rachel was still going from room to room, making sure everything was perfect. They decided to order pizza, so they didn't disrupt their perfect kitchen too much, and soon everyone was gathered in the living room, watching a movie Beth picked. It was the perfect day.