I am so sorry about the long wait for this chapter. I got my review about a week ago so it should have gone up then, but I decided to wait a couple of days, and lo and behold, my internet cut out for days because of the drunk weather we've been having here. Everything seems to be back to normal (for now) so hopefully updates will resume as per usual. Also, I now have up to chapter 40 written for this, and my beta is currently looking over 41. I hope to have up to 45 by the end of next week, so you can look forward to fairly constant updates for a while so long as internet and weather hold out.
This, my friends, is the chapter that I'm sure many of you have been waiting for. Quinn's parents are about to find out Quinn is pregnant. And yes, Finn is still an idiot. I hope you all enjoy, and I also hope that I manage to convey the emotion in this scene.
Chapter 36: Worst Dinner Party Ever
(Season 1, Episode 10: Ballad)
Sunday- Quinn's House
"How's the chicken, Finn?" Judy asked.
"It's delicious Mrs. Fabray." Finn responded, smiling in Judy's direction. Finn had been at Quinn's house for just over half an hour. He and Scott were seated on one side of the dining room table, across from Quinn and Mariah respectively. Russell and Judy were seated at opposite sides of the table. Russell had been livid when he found out that Scott had invited Mariah, but Scott and Quinn had calmed him down quickly. Both knew there was a conversation impending following Finn and Mariah's departure that was almost guaranteed to be heated. While Quinn and Mariah (who had been informed of Quinn and Scott's fears when Scott had invited her) were slowly relaxing, Scott was still keeping a close eye on Finn.
"There's no beating Judy's cooking." Russell praised.
"I do cure all of my own meets." Judy said. Finn and Quinn exchanged a hesitant smile across the table. Russell soon tapped his fork against the side of his glass.
"I'd like to propose a toast."
"Daddy, no." Quinn said, trying to keep the man silent.
"Russell and his famous toasts." Judy commented, wiping her mouth off with her napkin. Despite Quinn's protests, Russell stood and held up his glass.
"The Fabrays are a tight-knit family." He began. "I have been blessed with a loving wife, two remarkable daughters; my first married a wonderful Christian man who owns his own chain of UPS stores; my second daughter, little Quinnie. We're just so proud of her. Captain of the Cheerios much like her mother and older sister before her, president of the celibacy club, and I'm certain she's a shoe in for Princess of the Chastity Ball. I'm also blessed with an extraordinary nephew." Russell indicated Scott, who nodded, but remained quiet, just as he had since they had sat down. He and Quinn both knew he was only putting on a show for their guests. "And now I would like to welcome Quinn's boyfriend, quarterback of the-" Finn stood up, interrupting the man's speech.
"I apologize sir, but I need to go to the bathroom." Finn said.
"It's right through the kitchen, Finn." Quinn said, pointing to the aforementioned room. Finn nodded and hurried into the kitchen.
"He wears a helmet when he plays, right?" Russell asked.
"He's just intimidated by you, daddy."
"Oh, yes, well, I suppose that should be expected, him meeting a man of my success and stature."
"Yeah, that's what it is." Scott mumbled.
"What was that, Scott?"
"Nothing, sir. Just clearing my throat." The family and Mariah went back to eating as they waited for Finn to return. Five minutes later he came back with Judy's radio in his hand.
"That's my kitchen radio." Judy observed.
"Yeah, I need to borrow it." Finn said, placing the stereo on the table. Scott and Mariah exchanged frantic glances, both knowing exactly what was about to happen.
"Finn, what are you-" Quinn began questioningly. Mariah leaned over and whispered in her ear.
"He's about to out you. We need to stop him." Mariah whispered. Quinn's eyes grew wide.
"We have this assignment in glee club to sing a ballad." Finn explained. "They're all about expressing the things you can't find any other way to say."
"Oh god, Finn. Don't. Please, don't." Quinn said out loud, trying to stop the boy.
"This is by far the worst idea you've ever had, Finn." Scott spoke up as well. "Do not press that play button." Scott braced himself against the edge of the table, ready to stand up and tackle the boy to prevent him from singing if need be.
"No, I need to do this. For both of us." Finn said.
"Not like this!" Mariah exclaimed. "Please don't, Finn. Think this through!" Finn shook his head and all three of them went frigid as Finn pressed the play button and a familiar tune began playing from the stereo.
You're having my baby.
Oh, what a lovely way of
Saying how much you love me
You're having my baby
Oh, what a lovely way of
Saying what you're thinking of me
The three teens still seated at the table began shifting uncomfortably as the song went on. Scott had his fists clenched, doing everything in his power to stop himself from standing up and slugging the singing boy. Mariah was looking back and forth between Russell and Judy nervously, watching as realization dawned on their faces. Quinn simply sat and smiled sadly at Finn, knowing that any chance of keeping the baby a secret was now gone.
I can see it
Your face is glowing
I can see it in your eyes
I'm happy, you know it
That you're having my baby
You're the woman I love
And I love what it's doing to ya
You're having my baby
You're a woman in love
And I love what's going through ya
The need inside you
I see it showing
Whoa the seed inside you baby-
Finn stopped singing when Russell pressed the stop button on the stereo and stood up.
"Living Room. Now." Russell said, pointing to the door. Scott, Mariah, Quinn, and Judy stood up. Mariah walked Quinn into the other room while Scott had to literally shove Finn towards the door from where he was frozen. Russell and Judy followed after them. Quinn and Finn sat in the love seat across from the two armchairs Quinn's parents sat in. Mariah sat off to the side in another armchair but remained on the edge of the seat, while Scott sat on the arm of the loveseat.
"There must be some mistake here." Judy said after ten minutes of Russell shifting his glare from Finn to Quinn to Scott and then back in complete silence. "Quinnie, we raised you right." Quinn felt Scott tense against the arm of the loveseat next to her.
"You did." Finn cut in. "We didn't even have se…ex." Finn faltered when everyone in the room glared at him.
"Can we just stop with the lying please?" Judy asked.
"You were about five years old. I took you and your sister down to an Indians game. All the other dads brought their sons, but my two girls were enough for me."
"Daddy…" Quinn tried to speak, but unshed tears and a dry throat made her voice barely come out as a whisper.
"Your sister made it through the whole game, but you fell asleep in my lap. I kept hoping nothing exciting would happen, because I didn't want the crowd to get too loud and wake you up. It didn't matter. You stayed asleep in my arms until the game ended."
"Daddy, I'm so sorry." Russell sighed and placed his hands on the chair arms next to him. He turned his gaze first to Mariah, then to Finn.
"You two need to leave."
"Please, daddy, can we talk about this?" Quinn had finally found the voice to speak. "Finn is a good guy. He loves me."
"You, too." Russell added. Everyone stared wide eyed at Russell. "Get out of my house."
"Wait, you don't have to do this! Mrs. Fabray, please, do something." Finn pleaded.
"Don't bother, Finn." Scott spoke. "If she wanted to do something she would've when she found out Quinn was pregnant." Judy glanced over to Scott like a deer in the headlights, who in turn was glaring at her with a fire no one had ever seen in his eyes.
"You knew?" Russell asked.
"No. She didn't tell me anything." Judy defended.
"But you knew, didn't you?" Scott cut her off. "She needed you. Now, more than ever, Quinn needed her mom. And you were so scared of what he would do if he found out that you just pushed it aside like every bad feeling in this house. Hell, in this entire fucking family. My parents are no better than either of you are. If we don't talk about it, it doesn't exist. That's how it works, right?"
"DO NOT TURN THIS ON US!" Russell shouted, standing up from his chair. Scott did the same, standing his ground against the slightly shorter man. Quinn had never been so happy for the boy's height. Russell visibly flinched slightly when they came toe to toe, but quickly recovered. "YOU ARE BOTH DISAPPOINTMENTS! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO CAUSED THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE, YOU WITH YOUR…SATANIC WAYS!"
"Why?" Quinn asked, trying to keep the tears from spilling out, but having no luck. "Why are we disappointments? Because I'm not a little girl anymore? Because I made a mistake? Because Scott chooses not to share your beliefs?"
"Who are you?" Russell asked, staring blankly at Quinn. "I don't recognize you at all."
"I'm your daughter, who loves you. I know this must be hard for you, but I just need my daddy to hold me and tell me that it's gonna be okay. Please…" Russell shook his head and walked to the doorway leading into the foyer.
"You have thirty minutes. I'm setting the timer on the microwave in the kitchen for thirty minutes. By the time it goes off I want you out of this house. All four of you."
"Where do you expect them to go?!" Mariah stood and shouted. "They're two sixteen year old kids!"
"Don't bother, Mariah." Scott said. "It isn't worth it. Finn, you two take her upstairs. Her room is the second door on the right. Get as much packed as you can. I'll talk to Russell."
"Scott, don't." Quinn tried to reach out and grab the boy's arm, but he pulled it out of her reach.
"No, Quinn. You aren't stopping me from doing this. Just go." Finn wrapped his arms around Quinn and guided her upstairs, Mariah following close behind they reached the door Scott had stated was Quinn's. Mariah rummaged through one of the hall closets and pulled out a small box of trash bags.
"These will have to do." Mariah said somberly. She ripped open the box and handed a trash bag to Finn, who began gathering books from her bookshelf that he knew she would want to take with her. Mariah began with her chest of drawers starting at the top, Quinn's undergarments. Quinn simply sat on her bad, crying into a stuffed sheep that she was currently cuddled with. After several minutes they all heard a crash sound from downstairs. Finn moved to go investigate, but Mariah stopped him. "Keep packing. I'll go see what's going on." Mariah left Quinn and Finn alone in the room and rushed downstairs. Judy Fabray was standing over a currently grounded Russell Fabray, who had a badly bloodied nose. Scott was holding his right fist, which was also covered in blood and appeared to be swelling slightly, in his left hand and admiring his handiwork. He looked up at Mariah and smirked.
"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that." Scott's face then turned serious. "Do me a favor and call Rachel. Tell her what happened, but let her know that we haven things under control. She can meet us at the Northridge Apartment Complex." Mariah nodded and walked out the front door to get away from the bloody mess that was Russell Fabray's face while she made the call. Ten minutes and a phone call to an extremely panicked diva later, Mariah came back inside to find Scott with a newly forming black eye and Russell Fabray in the feeble position on the ground, holding his nose in bloody hands and groaning in pain.
"People are going to have a field day with those at school tomorrow. You know that, right?"
"Chances are neither Quinn nor I will be going to school for at least the next couple of days. I doubt Quinn could handle it and I won't be able to prevent myself from wanting to punch every person who will undoubtedly stare at us unless I have a little cool off time."
"Still, no way those are healing in two days."
"Maybe not, but I'll be less likely to punch anyone who asks. How's packing coming?"
"I think we've got as much as we can get." Finn answered as he came downstairs with four full trash bags in his hands. Quinn was following close behind with two more. "There are six more up there."
"We'll get them." Scott said. He and Mariah went upstairs and picked up the last of the bags. Scott made a visual sweep of the room and picked up three more things Finn had failed to pack that he knew Quinn would want. Charlie, the stuffed sheep he had given Quinn for her birthday, four notebooks Quinn kept on top of her bookshelf that held multiple sketches in them, and the camera that Rachel had bought her. They all ended up in the least full bag and Scott and Mariah joined Finn and Quinn downstairs. "Alright, we're done here. Let's move out." Quinn, Finn, and Mariah followed Scott dutifully out of the house. They placed all of the trash bags in the back of Finn's truck.
"Don't you need to get anything?" Mariah asked. Scott shook his head.
"I'll come back and grab some things later."
"How can-" Finn started, but Scott cut him off.
"Quinn isn't the only one in this family who can pick locks. Now, let's go."
"I'll call ahead and ask my mom to make up the spare room. Quinn can stay in the basement with me and you can stay there, Scott." Scott turned a heated glare at the taller boy, causing him to flinch back.
"Like hell I'm letting her stay at your house. I've got an apartment set aside in case this ended up happening. Quinn will be staying there with me."
"But-" Finn's attempts to argue were cut off.
"I don't want to hear any sort of argument coming from you, Hudson. It's you and your big mouth that put us in this situation in the first place. Quinn chose to trust you enough to have a daughter with you, and in return you tell her parents about it in the middle of dinner, through a song. A fucking song, Finn! So you'll excuse me if I don't exactly trust you to take care of her right now." Scott turned to Mariah. "Are you okay getting home?"
"Yeah, I'll call my mom to take me home. She got off about five minutes ago." Scott nodded.
"I'm really sorry things didn't work out very well tonight." Mariah smiled and gave the boy a chaste kiss.
"It's alright. It was actually kind of exciting. I feel sorry for you and Quinn getting kicked out, and I hate Quinn's parents for it, but it beats sitting at home with nothing to do while my mom's at work and Chris is out either hunting or drinking. I'm glad you both at least had a fallback plan."
"Yeah. Neither of us were big fans of her parents, anyway. Quinn and her dad haven't been close since she was ten, and Judy's always been sort of distant. Like she never really wanted anything to do with her." Scott turned and watched as Quinn and Finn hugged in the middle of the driveway, the blonde sobbing into the quarterback's shoulder. "She'll be okay after a few days. She's more in shock than anything else right now. Neither of us expected her parents to find out so soon. Anyway, we should probably get going before Russell calls the police for us trespassing or some nonsense like that. I'll call you later?" Mariah nodded. The two hugged one more time before Mariah walked away down the street, phone out as she typed in her mom's number. Scott turned back to the other two teens and saw that they had parted and Quinn was walking over to join him next to his car.
"Can I ride with you? Finn said he'd follow behind us in his truck."
"Yeah, sure. Hop in." Quinn complied and the three were soon off down the road on their way towards the apartment complex Scott had scouted out weeks earlier.
There isn't really much else for me to say that hasn't already been said. The next chapter will introduce everyone to Scott and Quinn's new temporary pad, but other than that it's mostly filler for future events. I hope everyone enjoyed, and see you all next time!