December 2015, New York City
8th Ave & 31st St, aka Penn Station
With finals, mash-up manufacturing, secret ring buying, silent dread over going home, Kurt being back, the end of the Brittany drama, the start of Brittany's new fling and the accompanying interest, Santana and Quinn didn't have time to remember that they were about to be spending a week apart from each other. It wasn't until the night before that they really realized that this was going to be the longest they'd been apart since their relationship began nearly a year ago.
Everyone else thought they were acting a little melodramatic when they were continuously telling each other how much they were going to miss each other as they waited for a Long Island Railroad train to be announced.
Due to everyone's similar schedules, Santana, Quinn, Brittany, Dez, Berto and Georgia had coincidentally all arranged transportation home for the same day. Well, some coincidentally, some on purpose. They made a plan to all meet at Penn Station so that they could see each other off before their holiday migration. Some of them might have had to wait a little longer than others, but it was worth it to say goodbye to their friends.
The first ones that needed to depart: Quinn, Brittany and Dez. They had flights out of JFK and in order to get to the airport that was located in Queens they needed to take a train to Jamaica then the Airtrain to JFK. It was a long process that they needed to start early in order to make their flights.
Cue Quinn and Santana's melodrama.
"I'm gonna miss you so much," Santana pouted and kissed Quinn.
"I'm gonna miss you, too," Quinn said wrapping her arms around Santana's waist a little tighter and kissing her.
"Oh my god!" Rachel, who wasn't leaving the city and was just there to say goodbye scoffed at them, "It's a friggin' week!"
"That's a long time!" Santana snapped back.
"No it isn't," Berto sided with Rachel.
"Oh shut up, B! Your girlfriend is going with you!"
"I think it's cute," Georgia took Santana and Quinn's side.
"Have I ever told you how much I like you more than him?" Santana smiled.
"Every time I see you," Georgia smiled back.
"Umm..." Dez broke into the conversation, "I know that we can like, get on any one of these trains, but we should probably be on the next one they announce so we can make the right Airtrain."
The next train was going to be announced within minutes and if they were going to find seats together, they were going to have to join the massive flood of Long Islanders to the track.
"It's gonna be okay, babe," Quinn whispered and kissed Santana's forehead, "We're going to talk every day and we'll FaceTime and then before you know it, you'll be back and then the next day you'll be picking me up at the airport."
"Right," Santana held her forehead to Quinn's.
"Christ!"
"Uh... Rachel?" Brittany scrunched her face and got her attention, "You're Jewish."
Everyone laughed at Brittany's perfectly timed call out. The laughter reminded them why they were all at the train station in the first place. They took their time saying goodbyes, especially Quinn and Santana. When they were done, they all looked up at the big board listing all of the trains and their departure times. Quinn and Dez grabbed the handles of their suitcases and Brittany bent down bent down and wrapped her hand around her duffle bag's handles, all preparing for the announcement.
"Now boarding on Track 18, the 9:37AM to Huntington..."
"I love you!" Quinn turned to Santana and gave her a quick peck.
"I love you, too!" Santana held onto her hand gave her another kiss.
"Come on, Q!" Brittany insisted as she and Dez pushed forward in the flood.
"I'll call you when I'm at JFK!" Quinn said as she rushed to catch up to her travel buddies.
"I love you!" Santana called out.
"I love you, too!" Quinn yelled causing a decent amount of people to look at her.
Santana watched the track entrance until she couldn't see Quinn anymore, then she grabbed her suitcase and turned around. Rachel, Berto and Georgia were all staring at her.
"What? We're in love," while that was true, she said it in a sarcastic fashion knowing that if she'd said it for real, her friends would never let her live it down.
"Shall we wait upstairs?" Georgia asked as she prepped her bag for movement.
"Can we get coffee first? I need something comforting," Santana said as she started walking towards Starbucks without waiting for a reply.
"Coffee is comforting for you?" Georgia asked as everyone followed behind Santana.
"When it's made right, yeah," Santana answered and immediately thought of how Quinn made her coffee.
This was going to be a long seven days.
...}{...
The 9:37 AM LIRR to Huntington
As Quinn watched Manhattan move slowly away from her through the window, she tried not to think about her girlfriend. Everyone was right, it was just a week and they were going to talk so much it was going to be like they never left each other. Unfortunately, she could keep telling herself that until her brain fell out of her head and she wasn't going to stop thinking about how much she already missed her.
She took her gaze from the window and looked at Dez and Brittany in the seats across from her. Because it was so early on a weekday, they were able to get the seats in the middle of the car that are three and three facing each other. It was much easier to fit themselves and their stuff that way. She watched them being a flirty and cute for a second before she got an idea... and could feel jealous that that they were together and Santana was still at Penn.
"So, you're from Pittsburgh?" Quinn asked Dez, hoping that talking about something very far removed from Santana would keep her from thinking about her.
"Yup, lived there all my life. Well, except for now of course," Dez laughed a little and Quinn caught Brittany looking with her lip in between her teeth. Dez didn't see it because Brittany was next to her, she should have felt it though.
"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" as many questions as Quinn could think of, she was going to ask.
"Jeez, Quinn, twenty questions much?" Brittany broke her stare at Dez and looked to Quinn.
"Well, I already know enough about you," Quinn tapped Brittany's shin with the toe of her shoe.
"It's okay," Dez said softly to Brittany.
Quinn was starting to realize why people always said that she and Santana were gross. Brittany and Dez were so cute it was disgusting.
"I have two brothers. My older brother's name is Sebastian and my little brother's name is Demetrius. Demetrius is actually my twin brother, but he's ten minutes younger than I am so I call him my little brother. It's funny because he's nearly a foot taller than me," Dez released the punch line and Quinn and Brittany fell for it, laughing at the joke.
"Is he in school, too?"
"Yeah. He attends the University of Michigan on a full football scholarship. He's one of their starting tight ends," Dez said as if it was nothing.
"Holy shit!" Quinn gaped.
"No. The real 'holy shit' thing about it is that he was being scouted all season and he wants to finish school, so he doesn't want to enter the draft until next year," Quinn continued to gape at Dez, "He said that he doesn't want all that other hard work to go to waste. I get it. I'm the same way. We all are. Our parents taught us to finish things that we start."
"The parents that named you all after Shakespeare characters," Brittany teased and nudged into Dez.
"Hey, my parents are amazing. So they gave their kids weird names? Desdemona isn't as bad as, I don't know, Princess," Dez gave Brittany that inside joke look as she said the name and Brittany instantly started laughing.
Of course Quinn wanted to know what was so funny, "I definitely missed something."
Through her slowly dying laughter, Brittany responded, "There's this girl in the company, her name is Princess. Like, legitimately, that is her name. I know we shouldn't laugh because that's her name, but like, seriously? Princess?"
"I mean, that's really setting expectations high really early isn't it?" Dez made a 'really?' face.
"Yeah, that's pretty ridiculous," Quinn laughed along and then moved on to her next question as a lull settled over the group, "Shakespeare characters?"
"My parents met in an Intro to Shakespeare class at Brown in their sophomore year and it's been smooth ever since, despite what the Bard said," Dez smiled.
"He said a lot of things about love. I think he might have been a little bipolar to be completely honest. Love him, but he had to be a little wishy washy to come up with all of that," Quinn gritted her teeth and contorted her lips a little.
"Or he was a few people. Who knows?" Dez shrugged.
"It's interesting that your Ivy League parents produced two super athletic children. I don't mean that negatively or anything," Quinn shook her head a little and tried to back track when she realized she might be sounding a little snobby.
Dez just smiled though, "It's funny, my parents say that, too. Although in high school, my mom was this huge track star and my dad played club soccer."
Quinn just gaped at her again.
"Dez is pretty smart, too! Isn't your GPA in all of your Fordham classes like, a 3.8?"
Brittany smiled big and squeezed Dez's knee.
"Stupid C in Spanish 4," Dez mumbled.
"Lemme guess? Your brother has a super high GPA too even though he probably only needs a like a 2.5 to keep his scholarship," Quinn gaped some more.
Dez nodded and then laughed, "And Sebastian went to Penn State."
"I can't deal with this anymore, your family's too perfect. I bet everyone is like super gorgeous, too," Quinn huffed, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Show her that picture on your phone," Brittany insisted.
"How about after we get off here and onto the other train?" Dez said getting up and gathering her stuff.
"Oh shit!" Quinn gasped and followed Dez's lead. They all clambered off of the train and made their way to the escalator, then the Airtrain platform where the train was already there waiting.
Once their bags were above their heads and they were settled in seats, Dez pulled out her phone, tapped and swiped at the screen then handed it Quinn.
"Oh my god!" Quinn gasped as soon as she looked at the picture. Sitting in the middle were a man and a woman that Quinn assumed were Dez's parents. She zoomed in to get a better look at the unbelievably attractive family. Her father had blonde hair, green eyes, a perfect smile and skin that looked a lot like Brittany's. Her mother however, had hair just as curly and long as Dez's, eyes that were light brown, skin just a little darker than her children and her own perfect smile. The kids were standing behind their parents, all with matching perfect smiles. Dez was the only one to have gotten her dad's green eyes, but they'd all received a complexion that had clearly come from both of their parents.
"Demetrius is the tall, super built one," Dez explained as Quinn continued to gape at her family.
If Dez hadn't told her, Quinn never would have guessed that they were twins. She actually would have guessed that her other brother was her twin. He was only a few inches taller than her and had the exact same nose as her and their father. Demetrius was a giant compared to his brother and sister and had tattoos on both of his huge biceps. He wasn't as big as Berto, but it was obvious that he played football. His hair was pretty long for a guy and just as curly as Dez and their mom. Sebastian's hair was cut too short for Quinn to be able to tell if his hair was the same.
"Yup, all gorgeous," Quinn said as she handed Dez her phone back.
"Thanks, but we aren't perfect," Dez said through a kind of sad smile.
"Oh please," Quinn jested.
"No really, a lot of our family doesn't talk to us," Dez kind of shrugged.
"Oh..." Quinn suddenly felt pretty guilty, but even more empathetic.
Dez gave that sad smile again and began speaking, "When my Dad brought my Mom home to meet his family, they told him that he needed to break it off with her or he wouldn't be part of the family anymore. Instead, he married her and said goodbye to a lot of his family members. And he has a big family."
"Why?" Quinn had a feeling what the reason was, but she really didn't want it to be true.
"Because my Dad's family is so racist that even being half black was too much," Dez said, this time with a hint of anger.
"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Brittany said quietly to Dez and kissed her cheek.
'Ew.'
"No, it's cool," Dez gave Brittany one of those smiles that tells the recipient just how much they care about them.
"Okay," Brittany must have known what was coming next.
Dez took a breath and continued, "When my older brother was born, my Dad called his family and told them they had a grandson. He did the same when Demetrius and I were born. They didn't want to talk to him about us, but they wanted to be somewhat involved in our lives, which they must have thought was 'big' of them," she rolled her eyes, "but it's really childish. My Dad wanted us to have our grandparents in our lives so we obliged. Fast forward to when Demetrius and I were juniors in high school. Sebastian was already at Penn State and the grandparents were of course super proud. They were proud of Demetrius and how he was a football star. They were proud of me and all the awards I won at both school and dance. They weren't so proud when they found out that I had a girlfriend and that my parents and my brothers were alright with it. Cue the exit of our grandparents from our lives."
"I'm sorry," Quinn said because it was like a reflex.
"There's really no need to be. They weren't very good grandparents," Dez shrugged, "I'm just glad that my Dad isn't anything like them. Both of my parents love us no matter what we do. And my Mom's family is great, too."
"Oh! Tell her about your grandparents!" Brittany jumped up in her seat.
Dez laughed at Brittany, rolled her eyes playfully and then began a story, "My grandfather is South African. A white South African. He came to the United States on a student visa to go to Carnegie Mellon, which, I've always thought was random, but whatever. Every Thursday night, he'd go to this place not far from campus and ask to sit in the same waitress's section. Every week he'd flirt with her and he told his friends that he was going to marry her. All of his friends thought he was crazy, especially since he was from South Africa where segregation was worse than the United States. My grandmother's black, if you hadn't figured that out already," Dez laughed a little, "She thought that my grandfather was the most charming, idiotic man she'd ever met, but she agreed to go on a date with him and then another, and another until they got married in 1967. Clearly he never went back to South Africa."
"Isn't that the cutest story?" Brittany smiled bright.
"My Grampa tells it better. He has that weird South African accent that makes the story," Dez said looking up and shaking her head.
"I'd love to meet your family. All the stuff you've told me about them sounds so great," Brittany said to Dez as if it were nothing.
"Really?" Dez smiled shyly.
"Yeah," Brittany answered, breathily, probably realizing the brevity of what she had just suggested.
"I'd love to meet yours, too," Dez said in the same shy tone as before.
"Ugh, another gorgeous family!" Quinn huffed and decided that she couldn't wait for the airport to text Santana.
... }{...
Penn Station
Very few trains go to Springfield, Massachusetts from New York. There are two that go directly. One is called the Vermonter and it only has one departure from Penn Station a day at 11:33 AM. The other is the Northeast Regional. Most of the time, that line goes between Washington, D.C. and Boston and they depart like, every hour all day and night, but during the holidays, it has two that go directly to Springfield. Unfortunately, those were at 7 and 9 PM. Santana's other options were to get on a train to New Haven, Connecticut and then transfer onto a train to Springfield. No thank you.
11:33 AM it was.
Even with a train that early in the day, she was still the last one left at the station. Berto had about six million options for trains to Philly and he picked one that left at 10:36 AM. Once he and Georgia were gone, Santana and Rachel were left to wait for another hour.
Up until this moment, she'd been doing a really good job at not texting Quinn or thinking about how much she already missed her.
Then her pocket vibrated.
I wish I was going with you instead of going to Hell.
"Aww..."
"Shut up," Rachel mumbled.
Santana just rolled her eyes and went back to her phone.
It's going to be fine. Just spend a lot of time with Britt and her family. Maybe some time with your Mom. Very little with Russell.
"Stop telling her how much you miss her!" Rachel said slouching down in her seat.
"I'm not! I'm telling her that home isn't going to be that bad," Santana scoffed back.
How about no time with Russell?
"Hopefully she has to spend very minimal time with Russell," Rachel said knowing just as much as everyone else how awful he was.
"She'd prefer no time."
"Well, we all know that's impossible," Rachel stated the obvious.
It'll be over before you know it. The whole trip home will quick and then you'll be back in the apartment with me ;)
That's not my home. You are.
Santana felt all of the air rush from her lungs when she read those words. Her heart started pounding and she could feel all of the blood in her body moving. Quinn wasn't even near her and she made her feel like this.
"Hey, are you okay?" Rachel leaned into Santana and read the messages on her screen, "Wow, I think I just fell in love with your girlfriend."
"Back off, Yentl," Santana pulled her phone away so she couldn't see it anymore.
"You know I'm joking," Rachel rolled her eyes and went back to slouching in her seat.
"I know, I just wanted to call you Yentl," Santana laughed and watched Rachel roll her eyes again.
I want you to know that last message actually took my breath away. I love you so much.
I love you.
"Ech, you guys are getting gross again."
"Stop reading my text messages!" Santana sat up and whipped her head to Rachel.
"Fine!" Rachel huffed.
Santana put her phone back into her pocket and sighed, "So, are you excited that your dads are coming?"
"Oh, you want to talk about me now?" Rachel snarked.
Santana just gave her a glare.
"I haven't seen them since April, of course I'm excited to see them," Rachel said with all of the forlorn feelings she had, "I'm really excited for them to see the show."
"They must be the proudest dads in the history of dads," Santana said with a genuine smile.
Rachel just blushed a little and then jumped up in her seat, "Ooo! They said that they want an invitation to the wedding!"
"You told them?"
"Of course I did! You know they love that stuff and that they live vicariously through us young folk!" Rachel said with all of her annoying excitement that Santana actually loved.
Just not now, "Ugh! Stop telling everyone! I don't want to jinx it!"
"What? That's ridiculous-"
"Quinn still hasn't told her mother! If she doesn't do that: no proposal on New Year's," Santana reminded Rachel of the one real hitch in her plan.
"That's just a little hurdle that you need to get over," Rachel said waving it off.
"A hurdle? Rach, this is a huge tree lying across the road! You can jump over a hurdle by yourself, but you need other people to get rid of the tree," Santana said in an analogy that she realized was really weird once she was done saying it.
"Okay...? Well, did you like, plant some ideas in her head?" Rachel asked ignoring the weird analogy.
"She didn't want to hear it when I mentioned it last month," Santana shrugged.
"So... what? You just expect that she's going to have this epiphany and decide that she should come out to her mom while she's home?" Rachel questioned Santana's lack of following her own tree example.
"No, I may or may not have asked Brittany to say something to her about it..." Santana smiled awkwardly.
"No. You. Did. Not!"
"I think she can do it, okay?" Santana defended herself.
"If you say so," Rachel appeased.
Santana shook her head and went to sit back in her chair, when she looked at the screen displaying the arriving trains.
"Hey, my train's here," she pointed to the screen showing that it was at Track 9, "I should probably get in line so I can have a window seat and first dibs on the outlet."
"Aw. I'm gonna miss you!" Rachel teased as they got up and walked towards the exit of the Amtrak waiting area.
"That's not very nice because I was actually going to say that to you," Santana said and pursed her lips.
"Sorry..."
"It's okay," Santana smiled and gave Rachel a hug, "Happy Hanukkah, Rachel."
"Merry Christmas, Santana," Rachel squeezed her back.
"Tell your dads I said 'hi' and of course they're invited to the wedding," Santana said as she backed away towards Track 9.
"I will! And call me! Especially if she tells her!" Rachel called out.
Santana just laughed and rolled her eyes as she turned around to get in line.
A/N: Why, hello there! I know this is later than I said it would be, but I had somethings to take care of this afternoon. Like a company softball game, then searching high and low for five years worth of W2s for a new job, then fighting with my scanner, then taking care of animals that aren't mine and then remembering that I hadn't eaten all day. And that's the end of my journal entry for the day.
A/N 2: I know this is really just like, filler, but now you all know a little about Dez... even if some of you didn't want it. *shrug* I came up with all of that information when I originally created her and I figured I should do something with it and Quinn needed a distraction. Anywhoodles, have a wonderful evening/Glee Day and feel free to leave me some fun messages.
