Beauty and the Beast

Chapter 12

I OWN NOTHING!

"We're not going to let them succeed." Rachel told Quinn much later that night.

Santana and Brittany were in their room, undoubtedly cuddling as Brittany reassured Santana that Artie wasn't going to win. Tina and Mike were settled into a guest room. Puck was supposed to be in his room, but knowing her cousin he was probably stalking around the curtain wall looking for weak points in the dark. She and Quinn were in the library.

"How? We're five people against who knows how many!" Quinn snarled. "I can't order the servants to fight Rachel, they aren't meant for that. I'm not even certain that it's a possibility."

"It's not, you're right about that. And we're six people, because pregnant or not Brittany is going to insist upon fighting." Rachel told her.

"I could send them away." Quinn was muttering to herself now. "Puck can take you all at least as far as the capital if not all the way into Feroz. Santana's no longer cursed so it-"

She was cut off as Rachel kissed her. Stunned, she didn't do anything even after Rachel released her.

"Don't be foolish Lucy Quinn Fabray!" Rachel did her own version of a snarl. "We are not, I am not, abandoning you here!"

Quinn shook herself. "I'm just a beast Rachel. I can give them something to fight and give you more time to get away and be safe." Her cheek stung sharply from Rachel's slap.

"You are not a beast Quinn! I never would have fallen in love with a beast and I've known several in my lifetime." Rachel shook, with anger or tears she wasn't entirely sure. "I'm in love with you idiot and I don't abandon the people I love!"

"You love me?" How had they even gotten on this topic?

"Of course I do, if the last several weeks since the garden have been any indication." Rachel snapped out. "So stop being so godsdamn stubborn and accept it!"

Rachel was yanked into Quinn's chest as the lion-woman hugged her. Rachel grasped onto her and cried.

"I love you Rachel, that's why I want to send you away. I don't want you to get hurt." Quinn told her.

"I'm not leaving you." Rachel told her. "I'm no more a useless damsel then you are. You might be my hero, but that doesn't mean I'm leaving you to fight on your own." She hugged the other woman tighter. "You're stuck with me Quinn, just accept it. You can't argue with me."

Quinn chuckled. "I guess I have to then, don't I?"

Her body suddenly jerked and Quinn snarled in pain as she let go of Rachel. She tried to turn but fell to the floor as her body continued to spasm. She thought she heard Rachel crying out, but the pain quickly overwhelmed her and she passed out.

"Quinn! Quinn!" Someone was shaking her.

Groaning, Quinn rolled herself onto her side and wrenched open her eyes. "Rachel?"

"I'm right here," Rachel gently touched her face. "Oh Quinn…I was right you know. You are a stunningly beautiful woman."

"What?" Quinn asked in confusion.

"Here," Rachel reached over and took one of Quinn's hands in her own and brought it into Quinn's line of sight. "See?"

"I'm…I'm human?" Quinn scrambled to sit up. Rachel caught her when she slipped in her hurry.

"You've always been human Quinn," Rachel told her.

"I…I want to see Rachel. I need to see it, to know this isn't some kind of wishful dream." Quinn told her, hazel eyes looking at Rachel pleadingly.

Smiling, Rachel nodded. "Of course," she leaned forward and kissed the blonde woman. "Come on."

She helped Quinn to her feet. It took a few moments for Quinn to steady herself. It had been nearly a decade since she'd been in a completely human form. Her body and mind had both become accustomed to moving more like a lion than a human. With Rachel's help so Quinn didn't go sprawling to the floor, they made their way to the nearest full length mirror.

Quinn unashamedly gazed at herself. She'd honestly avoided mirrors as much as she possibly could while growing up. Even when she had been Lucy she had avoided mirrors. Now, glancing at Rachel's beaming reflection, she was beginning to see what others had seen when she was a child and what Rachel had seen since they had first met.

"Was this what you saw every time you looked at me?" She asked softly, a bit surprised at her voice. It was more human now, without the growling undertones of her beast-self.

"More or less," Rachel replied. "It's in your eyes Quinn."

"Rachel…" Quinn leaned down and kissed her. Rachel wasted no time at all in kissing back.

The moment was broken when Puck's voice came echoing down the hallway.

"Hey! Get away from my cousin!"

Quinn sidestepped him, bringing Rachel with her. "Really Puckerman, is that how you treat your employer?"

"Wha-? Quinn?" Puck got back to his feet to stare at her. "The spell broke."

"Clearly," Quinn deadpanned. She yelped when Puck swung her about in a hug. "Put me down!" She demanded.

"Noah! Stop manhandling my lady!" Rachel demanded. She quickly snatched Quinn back to her side once Puck had stopped.

"Sorry, but this is great!" Puck was smiling. "Now I can give you the 'hurt my cousin and die speech'."

"Noah! You will do no such thing!" Rachel admonished.

"What is going on? Do you idiots have any idea how much noise you're making?" Santana snarled, coming down the hallway. "Who is…Q?"

"Yes Santana, it's me." Quinn grunted as Santana hugged her in a rare show of affection.

"This is great Q," Santana told her. "Although you're shorter now."

"We're the same height!" Quinn protested.

Rachel laughed at them. She was enjoying just how easily Quinn was slipping back into being human. She was enjoying just how much Quinn wasn't different. With or without the fur, Quinn was still Quinn.

"So we're really going to do this?" Tina asked several days later. They'd had to wait for the excitement of Quinn's change to calm down before they could get any serious planning done.

"Yes," Quinn replied. Rachel was sitting on her lap, leaning against her with her right hand wrapped around Quinn's left. "This is my home, our home," She smiled at Rachel. "We're going to defend it."

"With six people?" Mike asked. In the short time he'd know Quinn and Santana he'd found that he liked them. He wanted them all to survive so he could get to know them better.

"For now," Quinn replied. "Puck's already sent one of his birds to the Godmother, my grandparents, my mother, and Santana's family as well as their aunt, Brittany's family, and Rachel's fathers'."

"And do you think any of them will be willing to help or get here in time to do so?" Tina asked.

"My family won't be able to," Santana told them. "They're too far away." She smiled at Brittany beside her. "We still had to invite them to the wedding though." She didn't want Brittany to fight, but the other woman wasn't going to let Santana fight without her.

"The Godmother will help if she can," Quinn informed them. "As it is, I want us to plan on how to fight with just the six of us."

"Noah and I are already setting up traps around the curtain wall," Rachel informed them. "My fathers' may or may not send help. Like Santana' however, I did need to send them an invite to the wedding."

"If we survive this," Puck muttered softly to himself as he watched the two, well four really, most important girls in his life. He was bound and determined that they, at least, would survive. Louder, he added in that the traps he and the gypsies had laid in the forest would slow down whatever group was headed their way.

"I have a question," Brittany told them. "We're preparing for an army, but just how many of the villagers are actually going to want to come to the 'cursed castle'?"

"With enough money paid out, I'd imagine quite a few." Mike replied. "Hudson may not be very smart, but he is charismatic when he wants to be." He paused. "I think it also depends on how many men Lord Artie can get from his own holding."

Rachel sighed. "It's a pity that we can't just hire enough servants to put on a show. They'd look pretty stupid to show up here expecting a fight with a beast only to be received by the lady of the castle, her betrothed," she smiled widely at Quinn, "and their friends."

"Actually, I rather like that idea." Quinn told her. "I just don't see how we could pull it off."

"We'll come up with something," Rachel assured her. "If nothing else, we trap them all and we send them packing with their tails between their legs."