Chapter 25

SORRY this is late. Don't hate me. This chapter was finished on Saturday morning and long story short, my computer charger more or less melted so I was without a laptop for 3 days and JUST now got it back. I have a new charger that hopefully won't electrocute me. Onward we go with our Faberry love.

"Ella!" Quinn hit her fist on the door of the teenager's room for the fourth time this morning. "You have 5 minutes to eat and then we are leaving." The door swung open right before Quinn could say anything else and Ella stood before her.

"Sorry, had to skype with Jessica," the girl said walking past her mother.

"At 7:30 in the morning?" Rachel asked with a raised eyebrow from the stove. She spooned out some scrambled eggs onto a plate that already had a bagel on it and handed it to Ella as she walked by.

"Yeah, I mean we are both getting ready for school. Had to…coordinate outfits," Ella said. After she finished her sentence she shook her head at herself, almost in confusion as to what she had just said.

"But we wear uniforms. The outfits are all the same," Lily said from behind her bowl of cereal. "Ow! Why did you just kick me?" Ella rolled her eyes at Lily and quickly ate her food before Quinn ushered the girls out of the apartment.

"Have a good day honey," Quinn said as she threw her phone, wallet and other miscellaneous items in her purse. She reached over the kitchen island and gave Rachel a kiss.

"Love you," Rachel replied after the kiss she made herself some tofu scramble for breakfast.

"What time will you be home?" Quinn called from the front door. Rachel glanced down at the sticky note by her computer.

"No later than 8. I have something to do with Kurt tonight."

"Bye!" The front door shut and Rachel finished making her breakfast and eating it while watching The Today Show.

Kurt arrived later in the morning and brought by Rachel's favorite cup of coffee.

"Good morning Ms Berry, ready for your return?"

"Oh hush," Rachel said brushing him aside as she took her coffee and sipped it thoroughly.

"Have you told Quinn yet?" Kurt asked, sipping his own drink. Rachel shook her head. "Rachel!"

"I know, I know, I just couldn't find an appropriate time." Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Well start thinking babe, she needs to know eventually."

"I know, I know."

Kurt stuck around with Rachel for the entire afternoon, preparing the girl for her audition.

. . . .

Lunchtime at Brentwood Academy was the only time that the upper and lower school were combined. The school had one large multipurpose room that served as the cafeteria in the middle of the campus. It was also the time of day Lily was able to see both of her sisters, and she honestly enjoyed that. She made her way to her usual table with her classmates and sat down, beginning to eat the tuna salad sandwich her mom had made her. She looked to her right and saw Abby sitting with Trevor. The two were giggling about something, like always. Abby looked up and caught Lily's eye. She immediately jumped out of her seat and began to run towards Lily's table.

"Abigail no running please," a lunch aid said gently grabbing the little girl by the shoulders. Abby stopped and dramatically slowed down her steps until she reached Lily.

"Hi," Lily said as Abby walked up to her at the table. "Where's your lunch?"

"I dunno," Abby shrugged. Lily furrowed her brows.

"What do you mean?" Abby shrugged again.

"I had it this morning when I was playing outside with Trev before school and then I went into class and I couldn't find it at snack time so I went back outside and it was gone. I think the birds took it." The girl was very nonchalant about the misplacement of her lunch.

"Well… do you want some of mine?" Lily turned back to the bag of her lunch on the table. She realized she only had some snap peas and half a sandwich. She had eaten the rest of it during her own snack time. Abby looked into the bag and scrunched her nose in disgust.

"Eww tuna. No way Jose," she said shaking her head. "Anyway Trevor gave me some of his cookies! And Lily they were real cookies, not mommy's icky vegan ones." Lily laughed and glanced up at the upper school portion of the cafeteria that was up a large flight of stairs.

"Do you want to go see if Ella has some food?" Lily asked. Abby shrugged but Lily took it as a 'yes' and grabbed Abby's hand, leading her up the trek to the upper school cafeteria. Everyone seemed so much bigger in the upper school. And Lily felt even smaller than her normal self. She spotted the group of people she had periodically seen Ella hang out with before and after school and approached them.

"Hi Lily," Sasha said, noticing the girl walking timidly to the table.

"Hi," Lily said quietly. She looked around, trying to find the familiar face she knew. "Um, do you know where my sister is?" Sasha glanced to Chelsea and the girl shrugged.

"Yeah she's not here. She left school after first block with a few people."

"But she's not supposed to do that," Abby said.

"It's called playing hooky, munchkin," Chelsea said patting Abby on the head. Abby almost pulled away from the girls touch and tightened her grip on Lily's hand.

"When is she coming back?" Lily asked. Sasha shrugged.

"Probably before 6th block." Lily politely thanked the girl before dragging Abby back down the stairs.

"Lily we should tell a teacher," Abby said as they returned to her table. Lily pondered for a moment. Ella had broken the rules and Lily knew that the right thing to do would be to tell someone. What is she was in trouble but nobody knew? Lily sighed and walked her and Abby over to the lunch aid.

"Miss Margaret?" The young teachers aid looked down at Lily with kind eyes.

"Yes Lily?" Lily took a deep breath. What if Ella was in danger, and nobody knew? She hadn't any clue where she was. And she wasn't allowed to be in the city alone…if she was even in the city.

"My sister Ella, she's in 9th grade, she left school. She's not here." Margaret's eyes became wide and she set a hand on Lily's shoulder.

"Thank you Lily. Go on and finish your lunch now." She smiled at the girl and Abby's eyes darted back and forth between Margaret and Lily before Lily nodded and dragged Abby back to the table.

"Hey Jenny are you going to eat your pretzels?" Lily asked. The girl shook her head and handed the bag to Lily who handed it to Abby.

"Go back to Trevor, I'll see you after school." Abby smiled with a food she actually liked in her possession and skipped back to the table where Trevor sat. Lily sat back down at the table and finished her sandwich, wondering if she had done the right thing.

. . . .

"This was such a good idea," Jessica said as she sipped on her iced caramel drink from Starbucks. Ella was curled into the large lounge chair in the coffee shop flipping through an Us Weekly magazine. She looked up at her friend and nodded with a grin. The two had just enjoyed a lunch and done a little shopping downtown and were now cooling off from the sunny day with a cold drink.

"You still want to get back before 6th? My brother can just give us a ride home." Ella shook her head.

"I have to go to home with my mom so she doesn't suspect anything," Ella said.

"What would she suspect?" The familiar voice caused Ella to momentarily stop breathing and slowly lift her head.

"Auntie San….hi…."

"Ella, why aren't you in school?" Santana asked, her arms crossed across her chest. Ella frantically searched around her making sure her mom hadn't accompanied her aunt on this midday coffee run.

"I… we were just…" Santana raised an eyebrow at the girl as dug out her phone. "Please no. Please!" Ella raised her voice and she stood up to her aunt's level. "I can't get in trouble again. I just got off getting grounded for going over my texting limit and mom isn't happy with me right now," Ella began to plead with her aunt. "Come on. Didn't you play hooky once in high school? Break the rules a little bit?" Santana grabbed the drink the barista set and looked back to the girl.

"Of course I did," Santana admitted sheepishly. Ella silently pleaded with her. "Alright, alright fine. I won't call her if you promise me you'll go back to school right now." Ella nodded and looked down at Jessica who also nodded. "Good." She kissed Ella on the forehead. "Be a good girl." Ella smiled and grabbed her purse and other items she had bought before exiting the coffee shop with Erin.

. . . .

Rachel took a deep breath and walked onto the stage, the lights blinding her. She couldn't remember the last time she had auditioned, to be quite honest. She had been giving Lily audition advice for years, and she was wondering why none of it was resonating with her. She was nervous. Kurt was standing backstage anxiously tapping his toe and pacing.

"Is this the triumphant return to the stage, Ms. Berry?" Rachel smiled at the casting director.

"Let's hope," Rachel muttered, loud enough for him to hear. He smiled and leaned back in his chair.

"Whenever you're ready." Rachel took a deep breath as the music began. Something happened to Rachel in that moment. She was taken back to her first night of "Funny Girl"—the happiest moment of her life. She loved being a wife and she loved being a mother. There was a completely different kind of love, however, when she was on stage; the heat of the lights hitting her face and the acoustics of the room absorbing her pure, rich voice. As she finished the last note of "Think Of Me", she opened her eyes and watched the director wipe a tear from her eye. She always made them cry. She was just that good.

. . . .

"Ella how was school?" Quinn asked. Ella chewed her broccoli slowly. She met her mothers' eyes and faked a smile.

"It was good!" Quinn returned the smile and continued her questioning.

"Was it? That's good. Tell me something you learned." Ella swallowed. She had texted Santana and asked if she had told and Santana had promised she hadn't. Attendance was only taken in the first class, which Ella had attended so as far as school was concerned, she was there the whole day.

"I learned not to leave your lunch outside or else the birds will eat it," Abby chimed in as she dove in to eat her mashed potatoes.

"Did you not eat lunch honey?" Quinn asked, suddenly changing the topic of discussion to Abby.

"No I had some of Trevor's food."

"Well you know I always pack Ella a big lunch so if you ever need some you can always go get it from her."

"Yeah but she wasn't there today." Lily froze at Abby's words and her eyes shifted to meet Abby who was too preoccupied in her dinner to notice the mistake she had made. Ella's head also turned quickly to Abby at those words. How did she know where she wasn't there?

"She wasn't?" Quinn asked, surprised. She looked up at Ella. "Where was she?"

"Playing hockey," Abby replied. Lily stayed silent for once, her eyes going back and forth between her mother and Ella.

"Hockey huh? Field hockey?" Quinn said. Ella nodded.

"Some of the girls want to start up a team," Ella added.

"And how much bigger is this lie going to get Ella?" Quinn asked setting down her fork. Ella swallowed the lump in her throat. Busted.

"It's hooky not hockey stupid," Lily whispered to Abby.

"Don't call me stupid!"

"I…I can explain," Ella began.

"You don't need to really. The school called me at work around lunch and said you were gone. I was just waiting to see how long it took you to tell the truth." Ella let out a deep breath.

"May I please be excused?" Ella asked, scooting away from the table.

"Yes, please leave your laptop, phone and iPod outside your door and work on your homework. I'll talk to you when your mom gets home." Ella left the table quickly and Quinn heard the door to her bedroom slam. She turned back to Lily and Abby who were staring at the kitchen at that Ella had just stormed out of.

"Girls finish your dinner please," Quinn said returning to her own plate of food.

"Momma," Lily started after the three sat for a few moments in silence.

"Yes baby?"

"Its my fault… I was the one who told Miss Margaret that Ella wasn't there." Quinn broke a small smile out at the girl.

"You didn't do anything wrong honey," Quinn said. She reached across the table and grabbed Lily's hand. "Okay?" Lily looked up and nodded.

"I just…don't want her to get mad at me for getting her in trouble." Quinn nodded in understanding.

"She won't, okay? If she does you let me know." Lily nodded and let go of Quinn's hand, as she finished her dinner. The girls took their dishes to the table and went to wind down for the evening, bathe and do their homework while Quinn was doing the dishes. Rachel had said she was going to be home by 8 and it was just about 9:00. Quinn put Abby and Lily to bed and walked by Ella's room to see what she was doing. The girl was passed out with her history textbook in her lap. Quinn gently removed the book and threw a blanket over the girl before retreating to the living room. Even if Ella was pretending to be asleep just to get out being lectured by her mom, it didn't matter because She was quietly invested into the television until she heard keys jingling in the front hallway. She stood up and greeted her wife in the front hall.

"Hey," she whispered. "They all just fell asleep." Rachel looked up after locking the door and pulled Quinn into a hug. Their bodies became slightly apart and Rachel grabbed Quinn's face and smashed her lips onto hers.

"I have something to talk to you about," Rachel whispered.

"Me too," Quinn replied. "Our daughter played hooky from school today."

"I know," Rachel said taking off her coat. "Santana called me and told me she saw her at Starbucks. I also saw the credit card charge from H&M." Quinn sighed. "Are you…upset with her?"

"Yeah, but I mean we both did it when we were her age. I made her sacrifice her electronics for the evening but I'm not sure how far that will really resonate with her." Rachel nodded. "We can talk to her at breakfast. Scare her about creeps on the streets of New York. Tell her that story of the time you almost got mugged." Rachel shivered.

"I'd rather not revisit that day, too frightening." Quinn gave a soft smile.

"Then it'll be perfect." Quinn smirked. "Now what was it you wanted to tell me?"

. . . .

After Rachel made herself a small salad and changed into some comfier clothes the two were snuggled up onto bed, watching 30 Rock. When the commercial came on Quinn turned the TV onto mute.

"So where were you tonight? What were you doing with Kurt?" Rachel wiped her mouth with a napkin and began to meticulously fold it, knowing she had to tell her now because the truth was going to come out eventually.

"I was at an audition," Rachel began.

"For what?" Quinn replied, taking a sip of her water.

"Evita."

Quinn nearly choked on her water.

"WHAT? RACHEL! That's like, your dream role! Why didn't you tell me?" Rachel began tearing at the napkin in her hand, trying to calm her shaking hands and completely missing her wife's utter excitement.

"I didn't want you to be upset and think that I was being selfish in wanting to go back."

"What?" Quinn exclaimed, snatching the crumbling napkin out of Rachel's hand. "Rach! That is so exciting! How did it go?" Rachel looked up in a small amount of fear.

"You're not… upset?" she asked. Quinn's mouth opened.

"UPSET! Baby I'm thrilled!" Quinn bounced a little, moving towards Rachel causing the bed to shake slightly. Tears welled up in Rachel's eyes.

"Really?" Quinn nodded rapidly and the two simultaneously leaned into each other, kissing. "Now how was it? Tell me everything!"

"It was good…really good, actually. I have a callback for it the day after tomorrow."

"YES!" Quinn cheered. "Oh honey this is so wonderful. I'm so, so happy for you!"

"But Quinn," Rachel started. "What about the girls?"

"What about them?"

"We'll be so busy," Rachel said. Quinn shook her head.

"Shh, we'll handle it. We're a family and everyone gets their time to shine. You know they are just going to be over the MOON for you!" Rachel felt Quinn's genuine support in this and for the first time in a long time, she let some tears of joy spill out of her eyes.

"I love you," Rachel said, collapsing her body onto Quinn's. Quinn wrapped her arms around the smaller woman and kissed the top of her head before Rachel lifted her head up and enveloped Quinn's lips in a kiss.

Love it? Hate it? Let me know your thoughts, please review :)