A/N: Thanks to the new reviews, follows, and favorites. No big time jump, we're staying with this era for a bit. Might be a vision or two. I own nothing. And I may reference loosely a famous Regency-era novel, see if you can guess which one. ;)
Chapter Twenty-Three
Rachel had a hard time sleeping that night, she kept thinking about the dream she'd had on the way home from taking care of the unfinished business. She knew that Santana, Quinn, and Brittany had been in her past lives, and that she and Jesse had been married in her earliest incarnation. She was wondering why this memory of a life she'd lived two centuries ago was important. It had seemed pretty mundane to her, like some blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene from some old Colin Firth movie.
A small part of her felt guilty for never allowing her son to meet his father and she knew that when he was old enough, Antonio would probably resent her for that. She was prepared for that. It was to be expected, after all. Rachel only hoped that she and Quinn were enough for him and that the influence of his Uncle Mike and his three godfathers would make him turn into a better man than his father had been. She sighed, cuddling up to Quinn and laying her head on her wife's chest.
Quinn mumbled in her sleep and kissed the top of Rachel's head. "I know you're not sleeping," she said, opening one eye. "What's on your mind, baby?" she asked.
Rachel bit her lip, kissing Quinn's chin. "I hate that you can read me so well sometimes," she said. "I had another vision when we were driving back from...the thing."
Quinn stroked her back. "Puck said something about you calling him Nicholas," she said, nodding.
"Well, that was his name," Rachel said. "We were brother and sister, and there were more of us. I think the other three were Jesse, Blaine, and Santana."
"That sounds pretty normal," Quinn said. "Were Britt and I there too?"
Rachel shook her head. "No, but it was a short vision," she said. "I'm sure there's more where that came from, just like the Rowan visions."
"Did they mention your name?" Quinn asked, thinking of the Book of Shadows she kept in their house and the other one that would undoubtedly be at their mothers' house. She was sure that they could find answers in either one.
"Rebecca," Rachel said.
"We'll have to look into that later," Quinn said, kissing her softly. "You need rest, Rach."
Rachel nodded. "Are Tony and the girls okay?" she asked.
Quinn smirked. "Do you see them in the room with us now?" she asked.
Rachel chuckled. "Guess that answers my question," she said.
"Will you try and get some sleep now?" Quinn asked.
Rachel sighed again and nodded, kissing Quinn's chest before falling asleep. Quinn held her close and slowly drifted back to sleep.
Quentin Frost had seen the three young men and two young women enter the concert hall, catching the eye of the youngest man and tipping his hat. Quentin was accompanying his own sister, Betsy, to the concert on the orders of his parents. His sister had just made her debut and it was her season, so they were in Boston until the season was over. It was his duty to find a suitable match for her and see her married well before he would return to Cleveland and the family business. He was already betrothed back home and would be married that following winter.
Quentin watched the small group as they filled in seats in the box beside his. He helped Betsy to her seat and removed his hat, placing it beside his chair. The two young women smiled at him, each fluttering their fans absently.
"Brother, what are you doing?" Betsy asked from beside him.
"Being friendly as you asked, sister dearest," Quentin said, patting her hand.
"Those are the Ambroses," Betsy said, indicating the group. " Sarah and Rebecca were both presented at the spring cotillion. Highly unusual, if you ask me."
"Which one is Sarah?" Quentin asked, raising his eyebrow.
"The one wearing the torn gloves," Betsy said.
Quentin looked down at the two ladies' hands and up to meet Sarah's eyes. Sarah looked away shyly.
"Challenge accepted," Quentin said, smirking.
Betsy swatted at him with her fan. "You are spoken for," she said in a harsh whisper. "You cannot claim one of them for your own and ruin them. Father will not have it."
Quentin gave her a mock pout. " You take all the fun out of life," he said.
"I most certainly do not," Betsy said indignantly.
"Besides, who is to say whether their three guardians will let me near them," Quentin said, looking at the three Ambrose men.
"I have it on good authority that they will not," Betsy said, smiling at the youngest one whom she knew was called Byron.
"Maybe they will if we make an even exchange," Quentin said, noticing the way the dark haired man was acknowledging Betsy.
"I will not be a party to one of your little games, Quentin," Betsy said firmly.
"This is not a game," Quentin said. "You need a wealthy suitor and I need to make Sarah blush for more reasons than one. Ergo, we should arrange a meeting between the two groups."
"Then you'll have to ask Nicholas or John Ambrose," Betsy said. "No one speaks to the sisters or the youngest brother without going through them first."
Quentin looked at the two older men. "Very well, then," he said. "I've seen them at my gentleman's club plenty of times. I'm certain at the next encounter I can make the meeting happen."
"Then you need to send word to Father that you no longer wish to marry Laura," Betsy said as the orchestra began tuning up and the gaslights were turned down low.
"I plan on doing that very thing," Quentin said, still staring after Sarah. His thoughts were not for the faint of heart and he knew his sister would die of embarrassment if she knew half of what he wanted to do to that young woman.
Meanwhile, in the other box, Sarah was finding it very hard to keep her eyes on the stage and away from the young blonde man.
"Sarah," Nicholas whispered harshly. "You cannot look at him that way. That is Quentin Frost and he is completely beneath you!"
Sarah smirked at her brother's words. If only he knew what her friends would make of that remark. She bit back what she was thinking.
"His companion is very pretty," Rebecca said. "And she seems to have eyes for our Byron."
Byron blushed. "We have not been properly introduced," he insisted.
"I am certain they will be at the next ball," Rebecca said, patting her younger brother's arm. "And that she will be on your dance card."
Byron nodded. "Perhaps," he said.
"Unless, of course, you would much rather join the priesthood, like Uncle Silas," Sarah said, nudging her brother in the ribs.
Byron winced. "No," he said. "I would much rather have a family."
Rebecca patted his arm and kissed his cheek. "We still have to get those two married off," she whispered conspiratorially.
"I heard that," John said, looking at his youngest brother and sister.
"Mother and Father want you married as well, John," Rebecca said sweetly.
"Mother and Father want quite a few things, sister dear," John said, trying to hide his disgust. "My marriage is not necessarily the most advantageous thing at present."
Rebecca nodded, knowing that marrying off a daughter was a higher priority for their parents than gaining a daughter-in-law. She smiled back at the young man in the box next to them and noticed that he was looking at her sister and not her. Rebecca wasn't the jealous type and was happy that her sister was getting attention. She looked over at the box on the other side of theirs and smiled at the older man seated there by himself. Rebecca could hear Nicholas audibly growling beside her and she turned to him, giving him a questioning look.
"Daniel Martinson," Nicholas said through gritted teeth. "Yet another man who doesn't know his place."
"He's quite handsome as well," Rebecca said.
"He's almost as old as Father," Nicholas replied.
"Nicholas, stop," Rebecca said. "That was uncalled for."
"I do not like the way he looks at you," Nicholas said.
"I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, you know," Rebecca said.
"I know," Nicholas said. "He will not win myself or John over as easily as he seems to be trying to win you over."
"Nicholas," Rebecca said. "Do not make a scene."
"Forgive me," Nicholas said, kissing her temple.
"Do I not always?" Rebecca said, smiling.
"Really, you two," Sarah said.
Rachel and Quinn were awakened by the sun peeking into their window and a knock on their door.
"Come in," Rachel said, sitting up in the bed with her wife and snuggling close.
"Mama," Antonio said, peeking around the door. "I had a bad dream."
"Aww," Rachel said, looking at her son, who at that moment seemed so much younger than his eleven years. "Come on, sweetie." She patted the bed beside her and he padded over to the bed and climbed up next to Rachel, snuggling into her side. "What was this dream about?" she asked, stroking his hair.
"A bad man came and tried to take me away from you and Mommy," Antonio said, sticking his thumb in his mouth.
Rachel noticed that and kissed his forehead. "You should know better than to think any bad men would take you away," she said. "Mommy and I wouldn't let them. And they'd have to go through your army of aunties and uncles to get to us anyway."
Quinn looked to her wife and son. "Did the bad man say anything to you, Tony?" she asked.
"He said he was my daddy," Antonio said, frowning. "But I told him he was wrong. I didn't come from a daddy, I came from you and Mama."
Rachel looked to Quinn and bit her lip. "Did he say anything else?" she asked.
"Just that he forgives you, Mama," Antonio said. "What does he mean?"
"You'll understand when you're older, buddy," Quinn said quickly.
"And then I had a dream where he was my Daddy and I was wearing funny clothes that itched," Antonio said.
"Oh really?" Rachel said, tickling him.
Antonio giggled and nodded. "Really," he said. "And you and him called me Andrew. But he didn't call you Rachel and you were wearing long dresses all the time, like that movie you and Mommy love so much. The one with the five sisters."
Quinn thought for a moment. "Pride and Prejudice?" she asked.
"Yeah, that's the one!" Antonio said.
Quinn looked at Rachel again. "I had a dream like that last night," she said.
"I think we all had phases of the same dream," Rachel said.
"I didn't like that dream, either," Antonio said.
"Why not, Bug?" Quinn asked, using his nickname from when he was really small.
"You and Mama weren't together," Antonio said. "And then Mama wasn't there one day and the one who said he was my daddy took me somewhere and they were not nice to me. They cut me with knives and were saying things that scared me."
"Well, you're here now," Quinn said, reaching over to stroke his back. "And we won't let you go away so soon."
"Never," Rachel reassured him, kissing his forehead.
"Never ever?" Antonio asked.
"Well, maybe when you're old like us and married with babies of your own," Quinn said, winking.
Antonio giggled. "So in a million zillion years from now," he said.
"Not even Grammy and Nana are that old," Rachel pointed out, laughing.
"Well, okay, but me and Jade will be the last ones to leave you," Antonio said.
"Most likely," Quinn said, nodding.
Jade knocked on the door and peeked around the corner. "Did Tony tell you his dream?" she asked.
Quinn patted the other side of the bed for her youngest daughter. "Yes, he did," she said. "Did you have one too?"
Jade nodded, climbing up to cuddle beside Quinn. "But I didn't see the bad stuff he was talking about," she said. "Just the bad man."
"Because the bad man took me away from you," Antonio said to his sister.
Jade nodded. "And I tried to find him, Mommy," she said to Quinn.
"I knew you would have," Quinn said, kissing her cheek.
"I want you two to keep journals of these dreams," Rachel said, looking at her youngest children.
"Why?" Antonio asked.
"Because you might need that story some day," Quinn said.
"Do you have those kinds of dreams all the time?" Antonio asked his mothers.
Rachel and Quinn both nodded.
"And the big girls do too," Jade said.
"Can we make them stop?" Antonio asked.
"Afraid not, sweetie," Rachel said. "But you can always come and tell us what happened."
Antonio nodded. "I remember his name, though," he said.
"What was his name?" Rachel asked.
"People were calling him Daniel Martinson," Antonio said.
Quinn and Rachel looked at each other, both knowing they would have to tell the others about the visions. Rachel was wondering if it was David's way of trying to prove to her that she would never be free from him.
A/N: So I'm thinking of making a spin-off series or two for this story. Review and let me know what you think! :) Happy reading!