Your reviews have all been amazing and much appreciated. To those who are wondering when Rachel will be singing, well she'll be singing when she has a reason to, it's all planned out. It'll be there so don't worry. This is longer chapter for you all, since I know you all prefer longer chapters. Hope you enjoy the update.
P.S. Thank you to those of you who review constantly and those who added this as a favourite and have alerted it.
Chains of Love
Chapter Twelve – The Spring Awakening
When Quinn walked down the steps that led to the natural hot spring underneath the Fabray house, Puck was just laying the extremely weather worn and weakened brunette on one of the many cushioned benches that surround the edge of the steaming water.
This was one of those times where Quinn was glad to have a long family line of strong minded woman, if it wasn't for one of her ancestors wives and her want of a private bath; which didn't exist back then, then Rachel's condition would have gotten too bad while waiting for water to be heated.
"Thank you Puck, that'll be all. Don't let anyone down here that includes my mother and father." Quinn ordered the worried young man; her eyes of course never left that of her pet's prone body. She really hoped she got Rachel in time.
Listening for the door at the top of the steps to close, signalling Puckerman's retreat, Quinn waited. As soon as the faint bang of the door closing was heard, she moved immediately over to her brunette and carefully started to remove the girl's sodden clothes.
It was hard to undress the girl when she was unable to really be of any assistance, luckily Rachel had chosen one of her many new wraps that was safely clipped together by a silver badge that held the Fabray family crest; a gift from Quinn.
With Rachel finally stripped from her drenched clothes, Quinn had to make quite an effort to lift the small girl into her arms. She then walked herself to the water's edge, walking down the submerged steps, Quinn glided smoothly into the heated water, her arms keeping Rachel aloft just so her head didn't go under.
"Come on Rachel." Quinn whispered as she walked deeper into the water, stopping when only Rachel's pale face was above the water. Moving her arms, she held Rachel with one arm underneath, whilst she used the other to scoop up some water to wash her pet's face, soothing away the biting cold with its warmth.
A sigh of relief left Quinn's lips as she saw Rachel's skin start to develop a flushed pink tint to it, which she knew meant her little pet was coming back around.
Then it was like a chain reaction, when colour started coming back into Rachel's skin, small fluttering under her eyelids started and then quiet whimpers were followed by twitchy movements every now and then.
Quinn didn't know how long she went without blinking, she was so transfixed on watching her brunette come back to the world that she just forgot, not wanting to miss a thing of her awakening.
"That's it come on, just open your eyes Rachel." Quinn encouraged, she was trying to contain her excitement so she didn't jostle the girl in her arms too much. She had never been so eager to see the swirling chocolate iris that her slave bore.
The fluttering of Rachel's lids increased, Quinn held her breath just waiting for that pivotal moment where she would once again look into the brown eyes, filled with life and weakly veiled passion.
Gradually the eyes started to come to life, opening and closing repeatedly before they stayed open looking tiredly into streaming hazel eyes, a thankful smile took over the blondes face as she tried to regulate her erratic breathing. Her sobbing hadn't helped her any.
Leaning down slowly Quinn pressed her lips against the damp skin of her pet's forehead, even when she pulled back Quinn let her open lips just rest against Rachel's head as she cried, letting the intense emotional pain melt out of her in her hot tears.
"Quinn?" Rachel whispered, making her mistress pull back to look at her girl.
The brunette noticed that her mistress's usually fierce hazel were looking down on her with more emotion and power than she had ever seen, the truth behind the eyes was so forceful due to the brimming tears that Rachel couldn't look away like she normally would have.
"I'm so sorry Rachel; I won't let you go through that ever again I swear." Quinn mumbled she was quiet as she put her forehead to her girl's, making the brown eyes flicker shut again content with the physical closeness of her mistress.
As soon as Rachel's skin had started to prune, Quinn walked back towards the steps of the hot spring, thankfully she wasn't going to have to struggle up the steps with Rachel in her arms, as the girl was able to navigate herself, with just a little help from Quinn.
Setting the shivering girl on a cushioned bench, Quinn quickly walked over to the far wall, where a number of bath clothes lay folded on a wooden chest. With one thick white sheet in hand Quinn rushed back over to Rachel and wrapped it around her prickled bare body. She rubbed the girl's shoulders quickly generating some heat through the cloth, which got small smile out of the girl.
Knowing Rachel was going to get cold again as soon as the cloth soaked up the moisture from her body, Quinn hurried them along as quickly as Rachel was able to go. She had asked Puck to carry her again, but Rachel had flushed red and had insisted through chattering teeth that she was perfectly capable of walking.
The halls of the house were quiet and darkening along with the descending sun, it seemed to take longer to reach Quinn's quarters now that they needed to get there quickly. Time always slowed to a crawl whenever pain was involved, as Rachel was quickly finding out. The past months felt like years, although it hadn't been all that bad with her mistress.
Once close enough, Quinn ushered Rachel across her room and unwrapped the now soaked sheet that she had wrapped around the girl for warmth, she left Rachel bare for only a moment, before she came back with thick woollen blankets, she wrapped the first tightly around Rachel's chest and draped the other over her shoulders. She then led the girl over to her large bed and helped the wrapped up bundle under the thin sheet.
With Rachel somewhat taken care of, Quinn walked over to her dresser and stripped herself of her own sodden dress. Before today she would never have imagined sacrificing one of her favourite pieces of clothing for someone else's sake, but it hadn't even crossed her mind when she entered the water with Rachel.
Grabbing a night sheath, she threw it on and quickly returned to her bed, where she got under the thin sheet and wrapped herself around Rachel, cuddling the shivering girl to her chest, hoping her body heat would work through the blankets and aid in heating her pet.
"I'm sorry." Quinn whispered again as she closed her eyes and tightened her hold on her girl. Rachel didn't answer, she honestly didn't have the strength, physically nor emotionally, instead she pushed herself further into her mistress's embrace and snuggled down, letting her exhaustion take her away.
The next morning when Rachel woke up she was alone, her blankets had fallen away from her, leaving her body bare, but she still had the thin sheet keeping some heat in. She no longer shivered involuntarily against thin air, though her chest and throat ached, making it painful to swallow.
Just as she was about to get up and get dressed, her mistress walked in with a wooden tray and steaming bowl situated on top of it, Rachel could just see the wooden spoon pocking out of the bowl.
Shyly Rachel pulled the thin sheet up holding it to her chest whilst she blushed under Quinn's intense eyes. Seeing that her mistress wasn't moving, apparently off in another world completely, the brunette cleared her sore throat gentle and winced as the pain vibrated into her chest.
The sudden harsh coughing fit that erupted through her pet, knocked Quinn out of her breast filled fantasy.
"Don't move." Quinn ordered, rushing to her bed, setting the tray on the wooden stool that she had some scrolls balanced, without a thought she knocked the scrolls off for the tray that held the bowl of soup, that she hoped would assist the girl back to health.
Though it was early morning she had already had gotten into a verbal altercation with her mother, her father had tried but she had been able to silence him with a look of extreme fury and he merely turned back to his scrolls. Her mother on the other hand wasn't and wouldn't back down from the glare or the fire spitting from her daughters mouth.
Her mother hadn't appreciated Quinn undermining her authority when it came to the new slaves punishment yesterday, with of course had Quinn reply that Rachel was her slave to punish and relieve of punishment as she saw fit. And then Quinn's babying of Rachel came into the argument and the blonde had become defensive and shouted at her mother in very un-lady like way, that Rachel was person who needed care, just like she herself did. That appeared to quieten Lady Judy down enough for the young blonde to escape with the soup and leave for her pet, which is what led her to this moment.
Catering to her pet was certainly not the norm in a master and slave relationship. Quinn wasn't naive in her treatment of Rachel, she knew what it meant. She had started thinking that maybe she wasn't the only slave owner to ever feel like this for their slave, maybe it was abnormal because everyone had kept their business to themselves, just as she intended to do.
She liked her pet and she wasn't going to let society dictate what was normal to her, she was Quinn Cornelia Fabray, if she wanted to nurse her slave back to health then she damn well would, besides how was Rachel supposed to serve to the best of her ability if she wasn't at her best? Her logic was sound.
"Is that for me?" Rachel asked hopefully, her stomach grumbled as the smell of the fresh vegetable soup drifted towards her nose from the steaming bowl.
Quinn watched in awe as her pets slick pink tongue sneaked out between two plump lips and gawped as it swiftly swept across Rachel's lower lip, slicking it to a glossy shine. Clenching her teeth Quinn forced herself to look away, so she was able to breath and calm down just enough to ensure that she wasn't about to inappropriately molest her troublesome pet.
"It is yes." Quinn replied coughing slightly into her hand, a gently blush enveloping her cheeks.
The blonde waited patiently whilst her pet get herself situated in a upright position, Quinn assisted in moving the luxury feather stuffed pillows for her girl to rest upon, what she hadn't expected was the hiss of pain that was breathed against her ear as Rachel leant backwards.
She pulled back shocked, she saw the brunette's face clench in agony and relax as she finally settled against the pillows, pulling the sheet tight around her chest, tucking it under her arms to hold it up.
"What hurts?" Quinn asked, her hands hovering over the petite girl as she didn't know where to put them, especially since touching her naked pet was something completely foreign to her, not to mention the devilish temptation that poured from Rachel's very being.
"My shoulders are a little sore." Rachel replied quietly, she didn't want to make herself look weak. She may have said they were only a little sore, but in actual fact, now that she was taking notice of her body's pain, her shoulders were throbbing due to the strain of the soaked wooden plank yesterday.
"Oh of course, I'll rub some aloe oil on your shoulders and back later. That should help it." Quinn said simply. She twisted her body slightly and slid the tray off of the side and turned back to her brunette. She placed the tray on the girl's lap and then moved to the side of the bed that wasn't occupied by her slave.
They remained in silence, whilst Rachel ate the soup offered her, the only sound in the room being the odd slurp of soup, which was always followed by a blush and a sheepish grin. Quinn found the whole thing to be completely endearing.
Quinn would never have imagined that she'd find watching someone eat soup to be so arousing, though she suspected that it was only having such a strong effect on her because it was actually her naive and innocent little pet gulping down the hot liquid.
The meal didn't take long at all, which Quinn found rather unfortunate, she had been enjoying herself...maybe just a little too much actually.
With her stomach full, Rachel let out a content sigh, which was unexpected followed by a sly burp. As soon as it had happened, a dainty shot up to cover her offending mouth. Wide eyed, Rachel looked over at her mistress, only to find Quinn was smiling in a way that showed she was holding back her amusement.
"Excuse me." Rachel mumbled from behind her hand, her cheeks flushed again, though thankfully her naturally caramel tainted skin turned it in to a health pink glow instead of the full on bright red blushing that tended to happen to her mistress, more often than not as of late.
"Okay, I'm going to go and find the right oils and things, so by the time I get back, I expect you to be on your stomach with your back bare. Understood?" Quinn asked, looking straight into the brown eyes of her pet. As soon as Rachel made a small noise of acknowledgement, she was off the bed and out of the room, leaving the small girl to do as told.
When Quinn came back, she was pleased to see that her pet was exactly how she had ordered her to be, though she was quite sure that she hadn't said anything about falling asleep, but she'd let the girl off this time, since she was pretty sure sleeping would heal the brunette faster than any of the medicine some quack would suggest.
She decided against waking the slumbering girl and instead went about working on the now visibly tender shoulders of her pet, the once flawless tan skin, was now red raw and some skin had peeled thanks to the chaffing of the wood on her partially bare shoulders.
Hoisting up the bottom of her dress, the blonde moved so she was kneeling on the bed, she then slowly lifted her leg and manoeuvred herself so that she was straddling the slender hips of her injured pet.
She waited to see if she had accidently managed to jostle to the young girl into reality, but after hearing an adorable little grunt she knew she hadn't. So steadily she lowered herself, just so that she was putting the bare minimum of her weight on the girl's rump.
Again she waited for signs of life before continuing.
Since her girl was still apparently dead to the world, Quinn went about cleaning the delicate area as gently as possible with the damp cotton cloth she had swiped from the spring. Once she felt the injured area was clean enough, she poured a sizable pool of oil aloe oil into the palm of her hand, before rubbing them together.
Taking a deep calming breathe Quinn moved her hands to touch the sore skin of her pet's shoulders. She stopped moving when her fingers touched searing hot skin, as tingles shot up her arm like lightening, air was sucked from her lungs and her heart beat rapidly.
This was the first time Quinn was going to be really touching her pet in a non-reprimanding way. The smacks on the nose could hardly be counted at touching; there was nothing pleasant about those physical interactions, though Quinn did enjoy the brunette's dramatic reaction to it.
Gathering herself she moved on so that her fingertips moved upwards leaving her oiled palm to softly caress the tender flesh. This went on until Quinn felt the muscles beneath the tan skin melt into her massaging hands.
So peacefully content with the task at hand Quinn was startled by the audible moan that originated from the form that lay beneath her. Her hands stopped their rubbing and froze along with the rest of the blonde's body.
"Don't stop." Rachel's words were muffled, due to the pillow covering half of her mouth, but Quinn was so tuned into the girl, that she heard every last breath that was released from between those supple lips.
Automatically those fine hands continued to master the skin beneath once again, this time when a sultry moan assaulted the silence of the room, the hands continued and pulled louder, and deeper moans from the body they played.
One particularly deep pleasurable groan caused Quinn's hips to buck involuntarily into the rump she straddled. A choking noise ruptured in the blonde's throat as a wave of electric struck her rapidly heating centre.
Not understanding her body's actions and her reactions to those actions, Quinn jumped up from her spot and stared down at her pet after she jumped from the bed.
Rachel felt herself be violently jostled as her mistress bolted from the bed, she held back her sighs of disappointment, since she knew her mistress wasn't going to continue anytime soon, she had already guessed what Quinn was in the middle of doing; running away.
Sure enough the blonde was gone in seconds, leaving Rachel alone in the room yet again. With a huff she dropped her head heavily into the ridiculously comfy pillow. When she had woken up to the sensations of Quinn's wondrous hands, she had tried to remain as sleep-like as possible, but after a certain soft spot was hit perfectly on her lower back, the moan was out before she could even think of containing it. And after that one, it was like all control was lost to the feeling of her mistress's hands easing her muscles into happy mush.
Her lower stomach had tightened when Quinn had thrust into her, but before she could really figure out what was happening her blonde mistress had bolted like a wild hare. If it wasn't for the fact that she knew her mistress was unaware of her actions, she might have thought the older girl was trying to seduce her, but Rachel had an idea that people who are trying to seduce others into sinful business wouldn't run away when they were possible close to succeeding...not that Rachel had any experience with seducers, Portia didn't count after all since she was only playful in her attempts.
She did hope her mistress returned soon though, she had been instructed not to move after all and since Quinn hadn't lifted that order, the little brunette was stuck on her mistress's bed, with only a thin sheet to cover her nakedness. May the gods help her should Lady Judy or one of the many slaves that run around the house of Fabray, return before her mistress. No excuse in the world would be acceptable enough to explain as to why a female slave lay naked in her mistress's bed.
Well none that Rachel would be willing to explain to her blonde's mother.