This is a pretty light chapter. Just my favorite group of people having a calm day before the stuff starts happening.
As usual, it always begins and ends in McKinley. Our Gleeks are back, our favorite fathers of all time are back, but most importantly, our Unholy Duo gets a taste of what being with Rachel Berry really entails.
Such fun.
Anyway, mistakes are mine.
Love you all,
TM
Sue stood in front of the mirror. Her hair fell in wet strands obscuring most of her face, but if one looked close enough, they could easily see the black shadows that crept along her cheekbones and jawline, edging towards the corner of her lips where she scowled. Her thoughts echoed around the empty space, the sound of Emma singing along to some song in the bedroom barely drowned out the regret and guilt and anger that permeated the mist from the shower.
But the regret wasn't for the murder. It was for not doing it sooner.
And that's where the guilt came in. Should she feel happy about having her ex-husband murdered? Shouldn't she feel some sort of sadness at the fact his life was over?
And that's where the anger came in. Why should she feel sad for a man who caused others so much pain and harm that it was physically impossible for her to care about him in any sense other than as a past mistake, a past lesson, a past-
Everything.
Sue sighed and dropped her chin to her chest. She gripped the counter and rolled her neck around, trying to relieve some of the tension in her shoulders, but soft hands did the job for her. She looked up and saw Emma standing behind her, looking at her through the glass. Nothing was said, but it just reminded Sue of why John needed to go. She had something she was working towards, a different type of happiness that most people her age already had or never find.
"I would say you'll get wrinkles frowning like that, but you already have them."
Sue pouted and said, "I am not that old."
"I never said you were old. I said you had wrinkles. Wrinkles are not indicative of age. They're more representative of the experience," Emma responded.
"Well, that doesn't make me feel any better."
"Why are you upset?"
Sue chewed on her bottom lip as she thought about the way she needed to respond. She would tell Emma, naturally, but she couldn't tell her at that moment. She turned around and cupped Emma's face, kissing her on the forehead. "Sweetheart, I need you to trust me when I say that when the time is right, I will tell you the truth," she said.
"I would hope so. You can't go around lying to your spouse. What kind of example would that set for our kid?"
Emma pulled away quickly with a small smile and Sue scrunched her face. There was so much to unpack in that one sentence that it took her a moment to realize what Emma was saying.
"Wait! Did you say our kid?" Sue exclaimed, poking her head into the bedroom.
Emma rolled her eyes and looked at her watch. "It took you five minutes to ask me that. You're slipping, Sylvester," she said.
"I- huh?"
Emma pursed her lips and counted down from five. By the time she got to three, Sue was spinning her around the room. After a minute, Emma patted her shoulder and told her she was going to paint the room with her breakfast if she didn't put her down.
"Thanks for adding to my morning sickness," Emma huffed.
"Morning sickness?" Sue repeated. "But, that means-
"I've been pregnant for a while now. With everything that's been going on, I just didn't know how to tell you," Emma said hesitantly.
"Oh. Oh, boy," Sue said weakly.
"Not necessarily. We don't know the sex yet."
Sue glared at Emma for the comment and said, "Not funny."
"I wasn't joking."
"Emma!"
"What?"
"Stop it."
"Stop what?"
"Seriously?"
"I'm not doing anything!"
Sue saw the small smile on Emma's face and flicked her future wife on the nose. "Thank you," she said.
"For what? I didn't do anything."
"For being you, for loving me, and for taking this next step with me."
Emma teared up and smacked Sue on the chest. "Don't talk like that. You know that always gets me," she said.
"I'm serious. I know these last few weeks have been hard, but for you to take this step with me means so much and I love you more than I thought was possible. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, and when this baby comes, you'll both be the light of my world and –
Emma clamped her hand over Sue's mouth and inhaled deeply. She was fully crying, and her eyes shined from the afternoon sun. "You did that on purpose," she whispered.
Sue winked at Emma and moved Emma's hand from her mouth. "Sort of. I meant it regardless. Now, come on, let me get dressed and we'll wake up the monsters downstairs," she said.
"You mean the monsters that have been listening to this entire conversation?" Emma said wryly, pointing to the door.
Sue's head snapped to the side and she saw shadows disappear from beneath the doorframe. She looked back at Emma in confusion and the redhead laughed.
"They've been there probably since I screamed when you picked me up off the ground. If I know them well enough, it was Quinn, Santana, and LJ. Puck and Tori wouldn't care enough to stay and eavesdrop. Plus, I told Rachel last night," she said.
Sue inclined her head at that and stomped into her closet, throwing on some clothes. She came back out and yanked open the door.
"Don't kill them!" Emma shouted as Sue closed the door behind her.
Rachel drank from her coffee as Quinn and Santana came into the kitchen.
"You got caught, didn't you?" she asked.
Quinn and Santana had their backs to the living room as they made their own cups of coffee.
"Nope."
"Nah."
Rachel saw Sue come down the stairs and smirked. "Yes, you did," she said.
They turned in unison and saw Sue heading their way. Quinn glanced at Santana, who glanced at Quinn, and Rachel continued to drink her coffee as if nothing was wrong. She had a book laying page down on the counter and went back to reading it as Sue came into the room.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't have you two doing laps tomorrow morning?"
"Because you aren't that person anymore?" Santana said.
"Or because we're not even on the squad anymore," Quinn scoffed.
Santana added, "Oh, yeah, so you can't make us run laps anymore."
"Says who? I'm still your teacher, remember?"
Quinn and Santana paused for a moment.
"What do you mean?" Quinn asked.
Rachel flipped the page and sighed to herself. "I forgot you two have been blessed by being a Cheerio for so long that you forgot what us regular kids have to deal with. Due to Sue being the Cheerio coach and the P.E. coach, she is well within her rights to still make you run laps. Because you two are no longer Cheerios, you are no longer exempt from P.E. related activities. Therefore, she can still make you run laps during class," she said.
"You didn't need to sound so smug," Santana muttered.
"Didn't I, though? You're the one doing laps tomorrow, not me."
"We're in the same class though," Quinn pointed out.
"Yes, but I have an excuse."
"What excuse?!" Santana exclaimed.
"Now that, my love, is none of your business," Rachel quipped.
"That's bullshit, Berry!"
"What was that?" Rachel said, cocking her eyebrow at Santana.
"Nothing," Santana grumbled, folding her arms against her chest.
"Un-huh," Rachel said.
After the interaction, Quinn saw Rachel wink at Sue, and she narrowed her eyes.
"Wait a minute. What's going on?" Quinn asked.
"What makes you think something's going on?" Rachel said.
Quinn put her hands on the counter and looked Rachel in the eyes. "Because you're exceptionally calm at the moment and you're reading a book –
"Are you saying I don't read books?" Rachel interrupted.
"I'm saying you only read those fantasy books where the princess gets rescued by the rogue outlaw much to the displeasure of her father. Not the slutty romance novels with the shirtless men on the front grabbing the ass of the woman in their arms. Especially not the ones about jocks and high school."
"Is that all?"
Quinn looked down and her eyebrow twitched. "Your outfit," she said.
"What about my outfit?" Rachel asked.
"You're wearing a pair of really short shorts and a tank top. You only wear that when you're going to dance class or gymnastics, neither of which you have today because it's Sunday and Sunday is piano lessons."
Rachel cocked her head and closed the book. She rose from her chair and poured her coffee down the sink. Santana made a sound, but Rachel ignored her. She walked up to Quinn and got close enough their noses touched. Santana made another sound and Rachel glanced at her.
"Are you okay?"
Santana nodded slowly and Rachel gave her a funny look before she went back to Quinn.
"Let me make something clear to you, Quinn Fabray. You might think you know every little thing about me, but you don't. You know enough and from what you know, I only let you think you know more than that. Now, I'm reading that book because I happen to like the author and I love how she portrays the characters in this novel. It goes beyond the stereotype plus it's about a girl who falls in love with two jocks. I relate to the story if you can believe it. Second, I'm wearing this outfit because I'm going for a run. It's finally nice outside and I wanted to exercise before my piano lessons. With the information I have just given you, are you still under the impression that something is going on or are you man enough to admit that you were wrong and apologize?"
The kitchen was so tense and so quiet that Rachel could hear the grinding of Quinn's teeth. She rose slightly on her toes and pressed her lips against Quinn's ear.
"I am not the type to submit so easily. You're going to have to work for it and earn it," she whispered.
Rachel lowered herself and backed away from Quinn, who was red in the face. Rachel smiled and grabbed her phone off the counter.
"Puck! Come on! I want to be back before it gets too late!" she shouted.
Rachel stretched, causing her shirt to rise, and Santana made that sound once again. When Puck came into the kitchen, Rachel opened the back door and glanced at Santana.
"You should probably get that checked out, San. It sounds like you might be coming down with something."
Rachel winked and blew them a kiss before she and Puck left the house.
After the door closed, Quinn exhaled and fell into the counter.
"You alright there, Quinnie?" Sue teased.
"What the fuck was that?" she wheezed.
"What the fuck was what?" LJ asked as he and Tori came into the room.
"Quinn was just introduced to that side of Rachel," Sue said.
LJ and Tori took a moment, but then they caught on.
"Oh. Yeah. How do you know about that side?" Tori asked.
"I saw it in her eyes when Quinn and Santana would do or say something stupid. Guess she got tired of holding back," Sue said.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's that supposed to mean?" Santana asked.
"Rachel likes to be on top," Tori said with a shrug. "Don't ask me why I know that, but I just do. These are things sisters discover about each other after too many drinks and close quarters when we have respective partners over."
LJ nudged Tori in the side and she hissed at him.
"Respective partners?" Quinn repeated.
"Did you really think Rachel was a celibate during her time in Seattle?" Tori teased. "Aw. Cute, but no. She was always out looking for a blonde or a brunette, sometimes both."
"At the same time?" Santana asked.
LJ and Tori said nothing as they walked out of the room.
"Was that a yes or no!" Santana called out after them.
"I came down here to get on you all about eavesdropping, but this was way better than anything I had planned. Anyway, clean up down here and when you're finished, I'll take you to the hospital. Deal?"
Quinn and Santana gave short, distracted nods, and Sue laughed at them as she left the room.
"Do you think they were just teasing us about Rachel having sex with two people at once?" Santana whispered.
"Nope."
"Are we screwed?"
"Yep."