Disclaimer: I own neither Glee nor any part thereof. No money is being made off of this story and is intended only for entertainment purposes; therefore it falls within the parameters of "Fair Use"

A/N: A thousand profuse apologies for the delay in publishing. I made a mad dash for the finish line on my other story and have now finished it, then there was the matter of my daughter's birthday that took up a great deal of my time and attention, and I was sort of struggling with this chapter. Part of it retreads a lot of what has come before which was necessary to set up the rest of the chapter but I was trying very hard to make it feel like it wasn't entirely redundant. Updates should be much more punctual now that I'm just working on one story. As always thanks to those that review, and now on with the show…

Chapter 14

Dinner With Judy

"Are you sure you don't want a few days to prepare yourself for dinner with my mother?" Quinn asked nervously. Quinn was dreading this meeting. Despite what Artie had said last night on the phone she was still concerned that her mother would say something horrible and drive him off or what was possibly worse, that she'd be nice to him to his face and say something terrible to her afterwards and then she'd be the one stuck choosing to deal with her being two-faced whenever he was around or making excuses for them to never be at her house. Any of those three outcomes would be a mountain of stress on a brand new relationship, and for as reluctant as Quinn had been to label them as such, now that they had she was determined to make them work.

"I think what you mean to ask," Artie said, "is don't I want to give you a few days to stress yourself out about things that are entirely beyond your control, and the answer is, of course, no. You need to relax, Quinn. I am an incredibly charming guy… especially in comparison to Finn."

Quinn suddenly broke out laughing so loud that Artie had to hold the phone away from his ear. "Oh my God, right?" she cackled.

"What's so funny, Quinn?"

Quinn took a deep breath to calm herself slightly, or at least to get her laughing fit under control. "I'm sorry. I've just been so stressed about this and then I suddenly remembered the last time I brought a boy home for dinner with my family was when Finn got me kicked out, and how could tonight possibly go any worse than that?"

"So you're laughing about the night you got thrown out of your house pregnant?" Artie asked.

"No, I don't think that will ever be funny. I'm laughing at myself for being so stupid for stressing over this when I shouldn't be. Mom's not going to throw me out or stop speaking to me for dating a guy in a wheelchair. Next to that, I'm pretty sure I can handle anything."

"Good attitude," Artie said.

"Just don't start singing at the dinner table. She might have a stroke or a panic attack," Quinn said.

"Did he really sing 'You're Having My Baby'?" Artie asked.

"He really did," Quinn confirmed.

"What did you ever see in him?" Artie asked teasingly.

"A Prom King," Quinn said with a bit of shame in her voice.

"Hey," Artie said, "don't do that. Don't drown yourself in guilt. That was Old Quinn. You aren't her anymore." Quinn sighed into the phone. "Talk to me, woman," Artie said.

"How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"How do you read my mind like that?"

"I can't read your mind, but I know that for all the work you've done on finding your new self, you still carry a lot of guilt over the things that Old Quinn did, and using that guilt to spur you on and make yourself a better person is good, but don't let the guilt get the best of you, because you aren't that person anymore. You are a better person," Artie reassured her.

Artie heard Quinn sniff. "Thank you, Artie. You always know just what to say."

"I keep trying to tell you," Artie said, "I'm a charming guy."

Quinn sighed, wistfully this time, "Yes, you are. Sadly, my prince, I have to let you go. I have to go and make myself beautiful for you now."

"Whatever, woman, you're beautiful when you roll out of bed in the morning, I know, I've seen you. Also, prince?"

"Yeah, you know, charming, prince, Prince Charming. That's you."

Artie smiled, "I like it. Now I have to come up with a pet name for you."

"Okay," Quinn said dismissively, "you get to work on that. I'm going to hit the shower."

"Mmmm, Quinn in the shower," said Artie.

"Oh my God, hanging up now. Bye," Quinn responded.

"Bye, Quinn."

X X X X X

While Artie had done a great deal to relieve her stress over the situation, Quinn was still extremely curious about how the night was going to play out. Her mom was genuinely trying to be New Judy ever since she had moved back in over a year ago, but it was obviously an effort for her. Quinn supposed it was too many years as Old Judy. It had taken Quinn months to fully break out of her Old Quinn ways and she'd only been Old Quinn for a little less than three years. Her mom had been Old Judy for more than two decades. The previous night's conversation about their first official date had gone well enough...

"Quinn, honey, I'm home!" Judy called as she walked into the house. Quinn could hear her trudging up the stairs with heavy bags in hand. Quinn went to assist meeting her mom at the top of the stairs, taking one bag wordlessly.

"How was your trip?" Quinn asked.

"Endless, and boring, all work stuff. How was your weekend?" Judy switched to the topic of her interest. Quinn smiled unconsciously just at the thought of her date with Artie which she knew was the part of her weekend her mom most wanted to know about. "That good, huh?" Judy asked. Quinn blushed and nodded her head.

"Have you lost the ability to speak?" Judy asked.

"No, Mom."

"Then tell me about your date. It must have been something to put this big grin on your face."

"Where do I even start?" Quinn wondered aloud.

"You can start with this boy. I believe you said his name is Arthur?"

"It is," Quinn replied, "but everyone calls him Artie. Artie Abrams." Quinn felt silly for it but she grinned even wider just thinking about him and saying his name.

"Okay, Artie. Describe this Artie to me so I have a clear mental picture."

"Describe him? Mom, you are aware that this is the 21st century right? I can just show you a picture of him right here on my phone." Quinn tapped on the screen of her phone a couple of times and then turned it around to show her mother a picture of herself and Artie faces side by side.

"Well, isn't he handsome? I like his eyes; they're very striking. The two of you make a very cute couple. That is to say if you are a couple. I know you kids these days have a dozen classifications for relationships. Are you guys 'seeing each other' or 'just talking' I think was one of them?"

Quinn was silently chuckling watching her mother try to navigate the specifics of teenage nomenclature before taking mercy on her, saying, "Artie's my boyfriend. We are a couple, and I agree with you, we are very cute together."

"You got him to commit to being your boyfriend after only one date? Good for you, Quinn," Judy said examining the picture again. "Is he… terribly short or just sitting down? Because from here he would appear to be shorter than you."

"Actually, he got me to be his girlfriend in one date, we've been…" Quinn huffed as she trailed off. Judy looked at her questioningly but didn't say anything. "Okay, so there's quite a bit I've left out. Artie and I have spent a lot of time together this summer, as friends up until Friday night. My friend Lexi that I told you about staying with, she's Artie's eight year old little sister. I've been spending many nights at his house." Judy moved to interrupt but Quinn quickly added, "His parents are there, they're happy to have me, and I sleep in Lexi's room with her. She's a great kid." Quinn flipped through her phone and brought up a picture of the girl in question.

"She's adorable, she looks just like her brother," said Judy.

"Actually, they both look just like their mother," Quinn brought up Amy's image, "but back to your questions. Artie and I started out as friends, great friends, actually, and it just kind of slowly grew into more, but I was reluctant to put a label on it until Friday he just completely swept me off of my feet, after that I couldn't deny him any longer. For your second question, he is sitting down in that picture of us because he's always sitting. Artie's a paraplegic. His legs don't work."

"He's in a wheelchair?" Judy asked. Quinn nodded in confirmation. "That must be very hard for him."

"I'm sure he struggles with it from time to time, but he's seriously the most optimistic, happy-go-lucky person I've ever met. In the two years that we've been in Glee Club together, I think I've only ever seen it get him down once."

"I'd like to meet him," Judy said. "Can you invite him to dinner tomorrow night? If that's not good for him, we can reschedule for sometime this week. Just let me know."

Her tone after the big reveal of the wheelchair had been fairly inscrutable. Quinn was certain she had no clue where her mother's head was on this topic. Quinn was decidedly less certain on why she was concerned about it except that she wanted her mother to accept Artie, especially since the Abrams family had so readily and fully embraced her. It seemed only fair that he be as welcome in their home as she was in his.

An hour after she got out of the shower Quinn left her mother working in the kitchen to go pick up Artie, and she's amazed at the synchronicity of their relationship already. Neither Quinn nor Artie had said anything about her picking him up or even when, but oddly enough when Quinn showed up at the Abrams house, Artie was just finishing up getting ready. As she waited on him, Alexis regaled her with everything that had happened since the last time she saw Quinn, a little over 48 hours ago.

When they arrived back at the Fabray mansion, Quinn caught her mother staring out the front window at them. As much as she could, Quinn tried to put herself between Artie and her mother, not to block her mother's view but to try to keep Artie from noticing the stares. She'd never known Artie to be self-conscious about the chair but then she'd never seen him around anyone as judgmental as her mother had the potential to be. By the time they were making their way up the front walk, Judy had disappeared from the window, whether to tend to dinner or just to avoid being caught staring who could say. Quinn opened the front door and helped Artie over the threshold. Once they were both inside she said, "Mom, we're here."

As if those words were some kind of magical incantation, Judy rounded the corner into the foyer almost as soon as the sound escaped her daughter's lips. "Welcome home, dear," Judy said.

"Mom," Quinn said, "this is Artie Abrams," she looked at him and smiled, "my boyfriend." He smiled back at her and the seeming ease at her use of the word that she'd been reluctant to apply, but now seemingly embraced wholeheartedly. "Artie," she continued as Artie quickly shed one of his gloves, "this is my mother, Judy Fabray."

Artie quickly offered up his right hand, "A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Fabray."

She took his hand and shook it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, as well, Artie, but please call me Judy. Dinner should be ready just any minute now. What can we get you to drink Artie? We have Diet Coke, tea, milk, and water, of course. I could make coffee, if you like."

"Water's fine, thank you," Artie said.

"Alright, Quinn would you show our guest to the dining room and I'll be right in with beverages?" Quinn did as she was asked. When she ushered Artie into the dining room, she did her best not to think about the last time one of her boyfriends had been in here. This was not that situation… not remotely, and yet Quinn was almost as anxious as she had been that night. Quinn took a deep calming breath and reminded herself that her mother was not her father; in fact her mother wasn't even the same person as her mother had been that night she'd been kicked out. The worst she was likely to get was some passive-aggressive comments that she could happily ignore.

The next few minutes were a flurry of activity with Judy bringing drinks and then a salad and dinner rolls and finally the main course, pepper-crusted chicken with baked asparagus. Quinn and Artie offered to help but Judy insisted that Artie was a guest and that Quinn was to keep their guest company. Dinner conversation was polite. Judy inquired about Artie's parents and he explained about his mother's job at the hotel and his dad's job as a music professor at OSU-Lima. He told her about his little brother and sister. He talked about his love of music and movies. Judy listened to all of it, but both he and Quinn could tell that there was something else on her mind. Eventually, as they were all nearing the end of the meals, Artie said, "Judy, if there's something on your mind, you can ask. I mean, I appreciate your desire to maintain decorum, but if you have questions or concerns about me or my dating Quinn, I'd be happy to address them."

Judy appeared to be fighting her nature whether or not to broach the subject. "Would you… this is alarmingly impertinent of me, and I apologize in advance, but could I ask you to tell me about your… your injury?"

Quinn's eyes went wide at the thought which Artie noticed. He put a hand on hers and spoke, "It's not a problem, Judy. What would you like to know?"

"What type of injury is it?"

"The medical terminology is an L5 Complete. In practical terms, that means that my legs don't work. I still have sensation, though not much muscle control, in my hips, and forgive the impolitic of discussing this at the dinner table, but I have full control of my faculties and…" Artie paused, not sure whether to add the next part considering the history between the two women, "eventually, years from now when I'm ready, I can still have children if I want to" Artie tried to qualify the statement as best he could to make sure it didn't come across like he was eager to have them.

"And your general health?" Judy prompted.

"Really good," Quinn interjected a little too eagerly, feeling like she needed to contribute something to the conversation.

Artie smiled at Quinn's protectiveness and slipped his hand into hers, interlocking their fingers. "Quinn's right. My health is very good. I mean, I get sick like anyone else. I catch cold a couple of times a year, I usually get the flu in the fall, and I have seasonal allergies, nothing serious. If I don't shift my legs often enough, I can get pressure sores that can lead to serious issues if they aren't treated properly, but I do treat them, so they're fine and I don't get them very often anymore. I take my care regimen very seriously. "

"That's very good to hear, Artie," Judy said, visibly relaxing. "I'll explain why I was so concerned about this. In college, I had a friend named Camille who got married Junior Year to man named Douglas. On their honeymoon, they went skiing in Aspen and Douglas had an accident and wound up in a wheelchair and I don't know the specifics of his injury but I know they have children, so his injury must be at least somewhat similar to yours. Afterwards, Camille's whole life became about taking care of Douglas. We almost never saw each other unless I went to their house and even then she spent almost every moment taking care of Douglas. He was seemingly always sick and needed tending to, almost as if he was an invalid. And I try not to say this with any sort of judgment, but I basically lost her as a friend because she ceased to exist as anything other than his caretaker. After getting to know you, Artie, I think you can understand why I wouldn't want that life for Quinn, right?"

"Absolutely," Artie affirmed quickly. "I wouldn't want that for Quinn or for anyone else, either. That's why I always try to be as self-sufficient as possible."

"And he is," Quinn said looking at him, "sometimes frustratingly so." She stuck the tip of her tongue out at him, he smiled at her gentle teasing, and Judy smiled at the adoration for one another in their faces.

"Situations like you describe can and do happen," Artie said, "some people have somewhat deficient immune systems and just get sick all the time. It's possible that Douglas doesn't take care of himself like he should or it's possible that the accident left Camille with an overabundance of guilt and that turned her into a Mother Hen-type. I don't know, but I do know that if Quinn and I work out in the long term, that won't happen to us. I take care of myself specifically so that I don't end up like that. I still don't know what I want to do with my life, but I want to do something, not just take up space."

"That's good to hear. Thank you, Artie," Judy said. "Now if you could just explain why my daughter felt the need to dye her hair pink."

"Mom," Quinn huffed in annoyance.

"You know, I'm just teasing dear. Now, I just picked up a carton of Oreo ice cream, would anyone like…" Both of their hands were in the air before Judy could finish asking the question. "Very well, Quinn stay put I'll be right back."

When she was gone, Quinn looked at Artie and said, "I was right. You are Prince Charming."