This is a shift day. There will be another upload this afternoon: Give of Yourself, chapter 6.

"Troika"

20. Deception

Two Weeks Later

With both of their injuries, they'd had to work out a delay in their plans. They knew they had to give it time either way. They needed to go as early as possible, but at the same time they didn't want it too close to the events of that night two weeks before. Though he didn't bring it up, he knew any time she had left at home was precious for Quinn, to spend time with her friends. He could tell how much she wished she could spend time with her family and everyone back in Ohio, but an impromptu visit so close to what they were about to do was going to raise some flags somewhere. So she stayed, and they waited.

Now though they had to take a big step. That night they were going out to Winger's. He had gotten his car back thanks to Santana, and he had been told about some of what had happened, but seeing the two of them walk in, Quinn still with her cast, Spencer still walking with pain in his back, it was more of a shock to him. He welcomed them with comfortable chairs, snacks, drinks, but they had to turn this down, and the seriousness in their faces alarmed the younger man.

"What's happening? They haven't taken anyone else, have they?" he asked, reaching for his car keys on reflex.

"No, it's fine," Quinn promised, scanning the walls for cameras. Winger understood this and stood straight. He reached under the counter, pulling out a keyboard.

"No audio, no visual," he vowed.

"We need your help. We need two new identities. Nothing temporary, this needs to be able to stick, do you understand?" Winger looked startled.

"Two new…" he looked to the two of them. "Wait, you're not actually…"

"You'll be the only one to know. No matter what happens, you can't tell anyone, especially Santana and Brittany."

"Wait, hold on…"

"And when they tell you we're dead, you have to react accordingly."

"Wait, wait!" he raised his voice, panicking. "Why are you doing this?"

"The less you know the better," Quinn assured him. "We wouldn't be doing it unless we had to." She paused. "Can you do this?" He hesitated.

"Hypothetically speaking, what would happen to me if I said no? You wouldn't… kill me, would you?"

"Are you saying no?" Quinn asked.

"No… I mean, no, I'm not saying no, I'm saying yes, I…"

"Well then I guess we'll never know," she nodded, and it took a moment for him to move, but he pulled out his laptop.

"Any preferences on names?" Quinn and Spencer looked to one another. They had discussed this one night, needing to own to the fact this was happening.

"Thomas Walker, Alexandra Archer," she spoke up, and the keyboard clattered. Dates of birth were added, hometowns. For Quinn, or Allie Archer at least, it was made to be Madison, Wisconsin, as he had called it home before moving to New York with Santana and Brittany. In Spencer and Tommy Walker's case though, it required a bit more complicated of a journey. His history would say he was born in New York but spent the better part of his life up to adolescence in Scotland. He could pull off the American accent, but a slip or two could be explained away in his backstory.

For a while they just stood there, waiting as Winger worked. When it came to pictures, Quinn had given instructions as to certain cosmetic changes, which Winger had introduced after the fact. He told them it would be a few days before he had everything ready.

"How are you going to pull this off? You're not dead, and they won't just…" Winger started. Quinn was standing at the window, looking at the city below.

"Someone owes me…"

X

One Week Later

The only reason this case had not hindered her moving to New York was that while her client was there, the target had not been. She'd kept the man's words, 'I owe you,' in her back pocket this whole time, and now she would cash in. The fact that he was the chief medical examiner promised her exactly what she needed, if he went along with it, which he did.

She didn't know what would be involved beyond her part, but he assured her it would hold up. There was just the matter of the identification. She knew her friends, knew they would need to see her to even accept that she was gone. They would take all necessary precautions to make it believable. They would lay bare under those sheets, made to appear wounded but cleaned up. And in the event that anyone should come right to the bodies, they had been injected, their heart rates slowed enough to pass for dead. As they had laid there, and the needle had gone into her arm, she felt as though this was it… She would die as Quinn Fabray and awaken as Allie Archer. There was one moment, as she was fading, when she wanted to stop, to change her mind. But it was too late. It was fear, of all the unknown…

It felt like part of her was still there, awake… She felt like she could hear an echo of something, of crying… Maybe it was just in her mind. The next thing she'd know, she was waking up, still lying on that table with a sheet over her. She was told to take it easy. She looked to the side, saw Spencer in the same stages of coming back to his senses.

Eventually she'd sat up, gathering the sheet around herself… It was done. She was dead. In the coming hours, days, they would all know, they would all grieve for her… Maybe she was grieving for herself, too, as tears overtook her. They rang hollow in that cold room.

When she felt his arms wrap around her, she hung on for dear life. She couldn't help it, everything had just happened… She would never see them again, all those people who had made her who she was. Now she had to start all over again, become Allie Archer. She hoped Spencer knew how much she loved him, too, knowing his own sacrifices, all for her…

When she'd calm, they would dress, meet Winger at the location they'd set, receive all their new documents, and the money he had gotten them, they would gather what they could, and they would leave New York.

TO BE CONCLUDED (TOMORROW)