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CHAPTER 36

Leroy Berry looked up from the waffle iron he was manning as Rachel and Quinn padded barefoot into the kitchen. He smiled warmly at his daughter and her girlfriend, who both looked surprisingly alert for how late they had gotten back from their outing with Noah Puckerman. He had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at the hickey on the side of the blonde's neck that wasn't completely covered by her make-up and attempted to cover his amusement by tilting his head at the nearly full coffee pot that was on the counter to his left. "Coffee?"

"Yes," Quinn sighed, smiling thankfully at Rachel's father.

"I got it," Rachel said, brushing past Quinn and heading for the machine. "You just sit down, baby."

"You like waffles, Quinn?" Leroy asked, as he set a perfectly golden brown waffle on top of another one on a plate.

"Oh yeah," Quinn said, grinning as the tall black man turned and brought the plate over to her. "Thanks. This looks delicious."

Rachel set the cup of coffee she'd prepared with the exactly right amounts of milk and sugar for Quinn down in front of the blonde and leveled a serious look at her father. "Are they vegan?"

"No. I put all this effort into making brunch and purposefully used the waffle batter that you wouldn't eat," Leroy scoffed. "Of course they're vegan."

"Mmm," Quinn hummed as she lifted a butter and syrup covered bite to her mouth. "I think I love you for this, Leroy," she said, moaning indecently as she chewed. Even Rachel's vegan butter didn't detract from the flavor – they were amazing.

Leroy grinned. "So does this mean you're taking me to the Globes next year?"

"Don't push it, dad," Rachel warned.

"I dunno Rach," Quinn teased, setting her fork down and picking up her coffee. "I may have the wrong Berry. I mean, yeah, you know how I like my coffee and everything, but that one cooks!"

Leroy laughed and fist-pumped as he turned back to his waffle machine. "Oh yeah."

"Dad! Quinn!" Rachel pouted, stomping her foot dramatically.

Quinn arched a brow and laughed at the brunette's antics. "Really, Rach? A foot stomp? You going to pull a diva storm-out next?"

"Ooh, yes please!" Leroy laughed, glancing over his shoulder look at his daughter. He only laughed louder when he saw that she had her arms crossed over her chest and her lower lip jutted out in an adorable pout. "Will you, Rach? I haven't seen one of those in years!"

Quinn smiled and reached out for Rachel, who she could see was fighting a smile and who didn't pull away when she hooked a finger in the pocket of her shorts and pulled her closer. "You won't leave me, will you?" she asked, her hazel eyes twinkling playfully as she scooted her chair back from the table so she could pull the Broadway star onto her lap.

"I dunno," Rachel retorted, even as she looped her arms around Quinn's neck. "I mean, I have no desire to stay where I'm not appreciated…"

Quinn chuckled and brushed a kiss over the brunette's cheek en route to her ear. "Sweetie, I don't think you want me appreciating you on the kitchen table right now – your dad is still in the room."

Rachel let out a bark of laughter as she blushed and buried her flaming face in the crook of the blonde's neck. "That was bad, Fabray."

"Mmm, but now you're thinking about it, aren't you," Quinn husked, tickling the brunette's sides and causing the smaller woman to squirm on her lap.

"Stop! Stop it!" Rachel laughed, slapping at Quinn's tickling fingers. "Quinn!"

Quinn sighed dramatically and relented, sliding her hands down to Rachel's hips and just holding the brunette in place. "I'm sorry."

"No, you're not," Rachel argued, smiling as she leaned in to kiss Quinn softly. Her smile grew bigger when she heard the blonde moan at the caress and she had to fight back a similar moan when she felt the former Cheerio's tongue trace slowly across her lips.

"Well, I see everybody is finally up and at 'em," Hiram said loudly, as he entered the room.

"We are," Rachel said, pulling back with a grin and holding onto Quinn, who she felt stiffen under her.

"Good morning, Quinn," Hiram said, smirking at the blonde's deer-in-the-headlights expression and the badly concealed hickey on her neck.

"Relax," Rachel murmured, massaging the back of the blonde's neck reassuringly. "What were you up to this morning daddy?"

Hiram shrugged and walked across the kitchen to see how the waffles were coming. "Nothing much. Your dad and I went on our walk, and then when he started making brunch he kicked me out of the kitchen so I went into the den and did my crossword puzzle."

"I kicked you out," Leroy laughed. "Please. You kicked yourself out after the last time you almost set the stove on fire. Here-" he handed his husband a plate "-take this to your daughter and stop making me look like an ass."

Quinn bit her lip to keep from laughing as Rachel giggled and slipped off her lap to sit on the chair beside her. "Dad, you do realize that that was like ten years ago, right?"

"Doesn't matter," Leroy retorted, as he ladled more batter into the waffle iron.

Hiram rolled his eyes and set Rachel's plate down in front of her. "Any plans for the day?"

"Nope. Just hanging out with you guys," Rachel said, beaming at her father as she scooped fresh strawberries onto her breakfast. "I was thinking we could introduce Quinn to the Very Berry Sunday."

"Good idea," Hiram said, smiling at his daughter. "Leroy, you in?"

"I'm the hat," Leroy answered.

Quinn gave Rachel a confused look. "What?"

"Monopoly and movies," Rachel explained, spearing a piece of strawberry with her fork and holding it out to the blonde. "Dad always has to be the hat."

Quinn nodded as she let Rachel feed her the bite of fruit. "M'kay," she said, after she'd swallowed. "What movie? Please tell me no musicals."

Rachel pouted. "You don't want to watch Funny Girl?"

"Not really," Quinn answered, smiling as she picked up her knife and fork and fixed herself another bite of waffle. "These waffles are amazing, Leroy. Really. I'm going to need your recipe."

"You got it, Quinn," Leroy said, flashing the blonde a grin over his shoulder.

"Quinn," Rachel whined.

Quinn sighed and smiled at the brunette. "That's cheating," she said, waving her fork at the adorable pout Rachel was giving her. "You know I can't say no to that face."

"I can," Hiram said, smiling at the blonde and clearly making an effort to play nice and really get to know the woman who had stolen his baby girl's heart. "Besides, we thought it might be fun for all of us to sit down and watch Stolen Thunder. That's the movie you were nominated for the Oscar for, right Quinn?"

"It is!" Rachel answered for the blonde. "That's a great idea, daddy! I still haven't seen it!"

Quinn did a mental facepalm at the idea of sitting through Thunder with Rachel's fathers. Her birthday suit wasn't exactly a side of herself that she had been planning on showing the men that weekend. "Yeah. Great."

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Quinn knew she was a competitive person, but the Berrys took competitiveness to a whole other level when it came to Monopoly. She was honestly relieved that a lack of funds had forced her to quit the game three-hours in, because the game was now going onto the four-hour mark and it was down to Rachel and Hiram, and things were getting vicious.

"Oh yeah!" Rachel yelled, jumping up from her spot on the couch beside Quinn to do a ridiculously cute booty-shake celebration dance. "Two thousand bucks! Pay up!" she demanded, holding her hand out, palm up, and wiggling her fingers at her father who had just rolled an eight to land on her hoteled Boardwalk.

Hiram scowled at his daughter before turning to Leroy, who had also been knocked out of the game but who was manning the bank and said, "I need to sell the hotels I have on Marvin Gardens and Atlantic."

Leroy grinned, snatched the indicated properties off the board, and handed his husband the funds from their 'sale'. "Here you go honey, but if you hit any more of her squares, you're toast."

Hiram nodded and looked at the board. Rachel was sitting safely on the Water Works square that she owned. "If I can get her to land on Pennsylvania Avenue I'll be okay," he said.

"Wishful thinking old man," Rachel taunted as she dropped into Quinn's lap.

Quinn smiled and wrapped her arms around Rachel's waist. "You know," she murmured, nuzzling the brunette's cheek, "I find this competitive entrepreneurial side of you slightly scary, sweetheart."

Rachel laughed and leaned back into the blonde. "Really?"

"Mmm," Quinn hummed. "Completely. Although," she murmured, as she moved her mouth right next to the brunette's ear, "I also think that it's ridiculously sexy."

Rachel smiled and rolled her eyes at the blonde's comment. "I bet you do," she retorted, as she scooped up the dice and gave them a toss. She rolled a five and whooped as she hit the Community Chest instead of Pennsylvania Avenue. She laughed as she scanned the card before reading it aloud. "Grand Opera Night – collect $50 from every player for opening night seats."

"Oddly appropriate," Quinn chuckled, as she watched Hiram cash out a hundred for two fifties and hand one over to Rachel.

"I know, right?" Rachel said, turning around and smiling at the blonde.

Hiram shook his head and picked up the dice. He shook them between his hands for a few seconds before letting them fly and groaned when they totaled six. That put him on Reading Railroad, which was another one of Rachel's holdings. "I'm out," he said, picking up his meager pile of multi-colored money and chucking it playfully at his daughter. "You win. Again."

Quinn just smiled as Rachel jumped up off her lap to do a victory booty-shake dance around the family room, replete with a chorus of 'uh-huhs' and 'oh-yeahs' that would have been annoying had they not been used to emphasize the brunette's overdramatic hip thrusts. She forced herself to look away from her gyrating lover and instead cast a disbelieving look at the woman's fathers. "Is she like this every time she wins?"

Leroy grinned and nodded. "Every. Single. Time."

"And you still play with her?" Quinn chuckled, shaking her head. "I think I'd find a new game."

Hiram shrugged. "It makes her happy. And we don't throw the game anymore, so it's not like we have to put up with this every time we play."

Rachel froze midway around the room and stared at her parents. "You used to throw the game?"

Leroy smacked Hiram in the arm. "No, sweetheart. Of course not."

"Daddy?" Rachel asked.

Hiram shrugged again. "What? Every parent throws the game so their kid can win."

"Mine never did," Quinn said.

Rachel gave the blonde a look that quite clearly said what she thought of the blonde's parents and instead leveled a serious glare on her fathers. "Be that as it may, I find it highly disturbing that you and daddy would purposefully delude me into believing that I had won the game when I, in fact, had not."

"It's a board game, Rach," Quinn said, rolling her eyes. "Who cares?"

Leroy could see that Rachel was gearing up for a long-winded rant and quickly changed the topic to something less likely to provoke an argument. "Who wants popcorn with the movie?"

"I do!" Quinn said, smiling her thanks at the man for changing the subject as she jumped up off of the couch. "I'll help you make it."

Leroy winked at the blonde and looked over at Rachel who was scowling. "Rachel, why don't you and Quinn go make the popcorn and your father and I will clean this all up."

Rachel nodded tersely and stomped out of the room. Quinn rolled her eyes and gave the brunette's fathers an amused smirk as she made to follow the brunette.

Leroy groaned and rubbed a hand over his head before he smacked his husband again for good measure. "I can't believe you told her we used to throw the games!"

Quinn laughed at the men who were now busy sorting the colored bills into their appropriate sections in the box and made her way down the hall into the kitchen. "You're not going to throw anything at me, are you?" she drawled, as she entered the kitchen and leaned against the counter in front of the sink.

"No," Rachel said, as she pulled the popcorn machine out of the cupboards and set it onto the counter. "I may have to challenge them to a rematch to prove my superiority though."

Quinn groaned. "Just, please not this weekend? I'm Monopoly-ed out, baby."

Rachel smiled. "Of course. Anything for you, my love," she said, purposefully brushing against Quinn and trailing her hand across the blonde's waist as she went to get the popcorn kernels from the pantry.

"I'll remember that," Quinn assured the brunette, as the phone in her pocket started playing Puck's ringtone. "Wonder what's up with him?" she said as she pulled it out of her pocket. "'Sup, Puck?"

"Hey baby mama. Think you can swing by the hospital and give me a ride home?"

Quinn frowned and pushed herself up off of the counter. "Why are you at the hospital?"

"Noah's at the hospital?" Rachel asked, turning from the pantry to look at Quinn.

"I went into work this morning and Cap made me go get my hand checked because it was all swollen and bruised and it hurt like a son of a bitch. The guys are all out assisting with a fire down in Cridersville and the docs here won't let me drive myself home because they gave me a shot of the really good painkillers and I'm a little loopy. I'd call my mom, but she's out of town in Cincinnati on a girls' weekend with my aunt and-"

"I'll be right there," Quinn interrupted him. "You know I'll always help if I can. Give me half an hour to get down there and I'll take you home."

"Sweet. You rock, Q."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Just sit tight, Noah. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"What happened?" Rachel asked, setting the container of popcorn kernels onto the counter beside the machine and looking worriedly at her girlfriend. "Why is Puck at the hospital?"

"He broke his hand punching Russell," Quinn said, distractedly slipping her phone into her pocket. "I need to go sign him out and get him home because he's on painkillers and the docs won't let him drive."

"Of course. Do you want me to go with you?"

"It's okay," Quinn said, pulling Rachel into her arms. "You stay here and hang out with your dads. I'm sure they'd love some time alone with you. I'm just going to go pick him up, run him by the pharmacy to pick up whatever prescription they wrote him, and take him home."

"He is more than welcome to come back here," Rachel said, wrapping her arms around the blonde's neck. "Please tell him that?"

Quinn smiled and dropped a lingering kiss to the brunette's forehead. "I will. I just need to go get some shoes and the car keys."

Rachel nodded and lifted herself up onto her toes so she could capture Quinn's lips in a sweet, lingering kiss. "I'll miss you. Hurry back to me."

"There's nowhere else I'd rather be," Quinn said, smiling at the brunette as she dipped her head and kissed her l again softly. "I love you."

"Love you too," Rachel said, backing out of the blonde's embrace and tilting her head at the hallway. "Go get what you need. I'll walk you out."

"Thanks," Quinn said. "I'll be right back," she said, hurrying out of the kitchen for the stairs to their bedroom.

Rachel groaned and ran a hand through her hair as she dug in the drawer for a measuring cup. She scooped two-thirds of a cup of popcorn kernels were scooped into the machine and had just finished drizzling vegetable oil over it all when she heard Quinn come back down the stairs. She wiped her hands off on a towel as she abandoned the food prep and hurried out to meet Quinn in the foyer.

"Everything okay?" Leroy asked as the girls passed the family room.

"Um, yeah," Quinn said, turning and smiling awkwardly at Rachel's fathers. "I just need to go pick up Puck from the hospital."

"What happened? Is he okay?" Hiram asked.

"He's fine," Quinn assured them. "He just broke his hand and was given an injection of pain medication so the doctors won't let him drive himself home."

"How in the world did he break his hand?" Leroy asked.

Quinn licked her lips. "He broke it when he punched my father in the face last night." Both men gaped at her explanation and she sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. "It's a long story that Rachel knows, so maybe-" she turned and gave her lover an imploring look "-she can explain it all while I go get him?"

Rachel nodded. "I can do that," she said. She didn't really want to, but she knew that her fathers would demand to know what had happened the night before and that Quinn really did need to get to the hospital. "Dad, daddy, I'm just going to walk Quinn out to the car, okay?"

"Of course," Leroy said, holding a hand out to stop Quinn before she could leave the foyer. "Please, if Noah doesn't have anybody at home, let him know that he is more than welcome here."

Quinn smiled. "I'll let him know. Shouldn't be too long," she said, spinning the key ring on her finger and pulling her aviator sunglasses down over her eyes.

Rachel gave her fathers a reassuring smile as she followed Quinn down the front walk to where their rental car was still parked in the driveway. "How much do you want me to tell them?"

Quinn shrugged. "Honestly, babe? Whatever you think they need to know. It's not like I can control what Russell does any more now that I could when I was a kid, so whatever you think they should know, just tell them."

"I don't want to betray your confidences," Rachel said, reaching out and pulling on Quinn's arm so that the blonde actually looked at her.

Quinn smiled sadly and pushed her sunglasses up onto her head. "I know, sweetheart. And I love you for that. But it's all water under the bridge now and I really don't care if they know. It's not something I want out there publicly, for obvious reasons, but these are your fathers and they have a right to know because you are with me."

Rachel sighed and nodded, as she reached up to cradle Quinn's face in her hand. She smoothed her thumb over the blonde's cheek and felt her heart skip a beat when the taller woman relaxed into the touch. "Okay. Call me if you need me?"

"I always need you," Quinn said, smiling as she leaned in and kissed the brunette softly. "But if something should happen besides me just picking him up and taking him home or here, I'll give you a call. Okay?"

"Okay," Rachel sighed. "Drive safe."

"Always," Quinn replied, smiling reassuringly at the brunette as she unlocked the car and climbed behind the wheel. "Love you," she said, as she pulled the car door shut.

Rachel smiled and blew Quinn a kiss as the Mini's engine turned over, and stood in the driveway watching as the blonde drove away. She took a deep breath and held it for a moment before letting it go with a quite whoosh. "Great," she mumbled, turning on her heel and walking back up to the house.

She found her fathers in the kitchen, each of them leaning against the counter with a bottle of water in their hand. She gave the men a tight smile as she crossed to the fridge and got herself a drink, and sighed as she sat down on one of the barstools at the island, giving them a look that said she was ready for their questions.

"Honey, where did you three go last night?" Leroy asked.

"A gentleman's club in Dublin called Felicity," Rachel answered, unscrewing the top to her bottled water and taking a long drink as she let those words sink-in. She knew it was completely out-of-character for her to enter such an establishment and that her fathers would need a moment to wrap their heads around the idea that she had gone to a strip-club. Deciding she needed to say something more to try and explain away their obvious confusion, she added, "It's something that Quinn and Noah do together whenever she's in town and, because she and I are dating, he wanted to include me as well. It was his way of welcoming me to the boy's club, so to speak."

"Oh," Hiram said. He'd heard them all talking about a club the night before, but he'd figured it'd been a dance club. "Well. Okay. I must say that I am surprised, but you are an adult, after all, and I can't very well forbid you from going to such places. But how did Noah Puckerman break his hand?"

Rachel huffed a sigh and folded her hands around her water bottle. "Dad, daddy… Quinn didn't have the best childhood. I mean, I know you guys know about her getting pregnant in high school and that her parents had given her thirty-minutes to pack her bags before they threw her out of the house, never mind all the completely predictable teenage drama that the pregnancy kicked up; but even before then, she… her home life wasn't the best."

"Wasn't the best, how?" Leroy asked hesitantly.

Rachel sighed and massaged the back of her neck thoughtfully. Quinn had said for her to share whatever was needed, but she still felt weird doing so. "You both know that her family was almost fanatically religious, right?" she asked, and waited until she saw both her fathers nod. "Right, well, Quinn's father wholeheartedly accepted the doctrine of 'spare the rod and spoil the child'," she said, nodding slowly as she watched understanding dawn on her fathers' faces. "How often it happened, I don't know. She didn't say and I didn't have the heart to press for more details, but she did tell me that he used to hit her."

"Oh god," Leroy mumbled.

"That poor girl," Hiram said softly. "And I all but attacked her when she walked into the house yesterday. I… sweetie, why didn't you tell us this so we would have known better?"

Rachel shrugged and toyed with the paper label on her water. "It isn't something that affects her everyday life, so we don't really talk about it. I was admittedly afraid that we'd run into him when we were here, but she didn't seem to be. She comes back a couple times a year to see Beth and, so far as I know, this is the first time since she came out to him that she'd seen him again."

Hiram took his glasses off and ran his hand over his face. He felt like a colossal ass for the way he behaved the day before, but there was nothing he could do to take those stinging questions back. "She must have been terrified of me."

Rachel sighed. "Really, daddy, she wasn't. Not any more than somebody who was meeting their lover's parents for the first time would be. She expected your questions. She knows that we didn't have the best history going into this relationship and she's more than willing to try and make amends for that. I wish you hadn't been so harsh with her, and I'm sorry I didn't make you stop, but I didn't because I also happen to know that she desperately wants your approval for her to love me. Because she does love me. She loves me so much that I can't even begin to explain it to you."

Both men nodded, each making a silent promise to themselves to make sure they let Quinn know exactly how much they approved of the girls' relationship before the couple left the next morning.

"What happened with Russell Fabray?" Leroy asked.

"We were leaving the club and kind of ran into him in the parking lot. He called Quinn some incredibly mean, hurtful names, and when he got too close Noah punched him."

"Good," Leroy muttered, as Hiram nodded his agreement beside him.

Rachel nodded. "I know. I wish I were bigger so I could have protected her that way, but I am glad that he was there to do it for her since I couldn't. Anyway, that's how he broke his hand."

"Why didn't he go to the hospital last night?" Hiram asked.

Rachel shrugged. "He didn't seem to think it was broken then."

"Do you think he'll come back here with Quinn?" Leroy asked. "Because I'd sincerely like to shake his hand – the one that isn't broken, I mean – for the way he protected you girls."

"He protected Quinn," Rachel corrected.

"No, Rachel," Leroy said, smiling sadly at his daughter. "From what you just told us about Quinn's relationship with her father, he protected both of you. Because if Russell Fabray had no qualms beating his own child, he certainly wouldn't have given a second thought to hitting you as well."

"Call Quinn and tell her to bring him to the house, Rachel," Hiram said. "We'll barbeque some burgers, veggie for you, and he can at least get a good meal in his stomach for his pain medication. It's not much, but it's all we can do to say thanks and we would like the opportunity to do so."

Rachel could see the seriousness in her fathers' expressions, so she nodded. "Okay. Can we push the movie back until later?"

"Of course, baby girl," Leroy said gently. "We'll run out to the store to get stuff for dinner. You stay here, call Quinn, and wait for them to get back."

Rachel smiled sadly and nodded. "Okay. I'll call her," she said.

Hiram and Leroy both hugged Rachel a little longer and a little harder than usual before they left, and she knew it was because they couldn't understand why a man would treat his daughter the way Russell had with Quinn. Once the garage door had closed after them, she went upstairs in search of her phone and laid down on her bed as it rang through to her girlfriend.

"Everything okay, Rachel?" Quinn asked, sounding worried. She hadn't expected the brunette to call her.

"Everything's fine, sweetheart," Rachel assured her gently. "Dad and daddy have all but demanded you bring Noah back to the house for dinner though. They want to thank him for protecting you."

"He protected both of us, baby. But he's right here, so hold on," Quinn said.

Rachel smiled as she listened to the blonde say, "Puckmeister, you up for some free grub?"

"When aren't I?" Puck replied, and Rachel had to laugh at the truth in the statement. For as long as she had known Puck, and it was quite a while considering they went to temple every weekend growing up, the boy had never turned down a free meal, no matter what it was.

"Good," Quinn said, still obviously talking to Noah. "Because the Berrys want you to come over for dinner."

"Sweet. Tell my fellow Jew that I'll be there."

"You get all that, baby?" Quinn asked, her smile evident in her tone.

"I did," Rachel assured her. "Drive safe, and come back to me soon. I miss you already."

"D'aww, I miss you too, honey. We'll be there in ten- fifteen-minutes tops."

...