Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or its characters.
Spoilers: None
Rating: T for language.
Reply to reviews: (chapter 26)
Boris Yeltsin: Thank you for the review. Kurt & Mercedes will eventually come around, but they will be the Diva Twins for a while longer.
Chloe2007: Thank you! The "very important character" may not actually be "important" but it is one that I am most excited to introduce! I think you guys will really like this character. :)
Gwennie49: Thank you for the review! Kurt & Mercedes will come around but first, they are going to be your average teenager - always thinking they are right, and being judgmental little assholes. It won't be easy for Kurt to just automatically switch from being snarky, to understanding the full extent of what the UT & Rachel have been through, and Mercedes may be influenced by that a little more than we'd like. But eventually they will come around. And Tina will be mentioned more, as well! :)
Thank you to the others who reviewed, and welcome to my new followers (favoriter), Karyn Cartwright III (favoriter), and Percbeth 4 life (favoriter), and my new favoriters RosaDiazBabesx and Empreintes Fauves.
Thank you for the reviews! We're steadily making our way to 150, and soon we'll be at 200 (only 65 more to go!). I decided to go ahead and update. Next one will be in a few days, and as soon as I have #29 finished, that will be the update for Feb. 17.
Notes: Angst warning. Pezberry. Rachel learns something very important, and… tells Santana what it is.
Thursday, November 12th, 2009
*Berry Residence*
Rachel stands there, stunned.
After nearly a week of having the photograph and not asking about it, she finally did so. And she demanded to know just what they meant by no matter what happens, everything will be fine.
She is… shocked, to say the least.
After several attempts at speaking, opening and shutting her mouth, making movements, and… she finally is able to speak…
"She's my fucking cousin?!" Her dads let the cussing go this time. It's understandable. "You're telling me, that not only am I fucking related to Abigale and Becca and–… and Quinn, but that Judy and that–… that fucking asshole is my fucking uncle?!"
She's lucky the girls are having a movie marathon down in the basement because otherwise the whole 'don't tell Quinn any of this' thing would be pointless right about now.
David sighs. He figured she would be upset and rightfully so; this is something major that they had kept from her for her entire life.
It changes everything.
"Yes, that is exactly what we are saying," Josiah finally tells her. "We're–… We are sorry that we kept this from you."
"It's not fair!" Rachel shouts again. "It–… You should have told me! This changes everything. I–… I grew up thinking she was nothing more than my… my best friend. And she's not! She's my cousin! They all were!"
She shakes her head, pacing, and mumbling, and lets out a harsh breath before asking, "Does Jake know?"
David and Josiah share a look, and Rachel is almost pissed off all over again, but then they say, "No. Not that we know of. Only we and your grandparents know."
She nods, takes a minute to breathe deeply, and decides… it's best if she has a minute alone because if she doesn't then… she will probably end up saying something she regrets, or something that really will get her in trouble.
She tells them this, and, of course, they understand. So, Rachel turns to leave the kitchen and almost runs directly into Santana.
"Rachel…" The Latina looks… shaken, and for a minute, she is worried something happened with Quinn, but then Santana is asking, "What the hell is going on?"
She heard what Rachel said there at the end – I grew up thinking she was nothing more than my best friend. She's not; she's my cousin!
The Diva sighs, knowing that now, she can't just take a breather and then go back to the basement as she had hoped. She has to tell Santana what is going on.
"Come with me, Santana," She turns, going down the hallway, to the stairs, and up to her bedroom. Once the two are in there, she shuts the door.
Santana gets deja vu at this. A sense of dread fills her as she watches Rachel shut the door, then walk across the room, seeming to have no destination in mind, until she reaches her desk.
"Do you ever wonder what might happen to Quinn?" She is asking, turning just so, to look at Santana, but with her body still facing away. "After all of this is over with, I mean?"
Santana says nothing, swallowing roughly.
"Do you know what happens to a child… when their parents' custody is terminated?"
"They are sent to live with the next relative, or put into Foster Care," Santana answers, her voice barely above a whisper, and slightly raspy.
"They would look for a relative living here in Ohio," Rachel says. "If there were none, the next step would be to contact Becca, her sister. If Becca was unable to take her in, then Quinn would be sent to live with her grandparents, either on her mother's side, or her father's side of the family."
Santana realizes something – "Rachel,… She has no grandparents on her mom's side." And then, "No," because, why would Rachel be talking about that now? Of all times, why now?
"Rachel," She can feel herself breaking, but she tries to hold onto that one sliver of hope. That one part of her that is screaming at her to look at the Diva, to realize…
She does not look particularly upset… or scared… or…
Rachel is moving now, her hands are doing something in front of her that Santana cannot see and then… then she is turning around. And she is coming over to Santana, who has sat down on the bed, her legs giving out from under her.
She hands the Latina a photograph, then starts pacing around the room.
"Look at it," She says. "Recognize anyone?"
Santana does just that. It takes her no time to recognize every person in the photo. Rachel's daddy, Josiah, her grandparents, Lydia and Malachi… Quinn's…
Quinn's older sister, Abigale. Just 2 years old.
Her parents, her…
"Look at the back. Read what it says."
There they are. Those words that have haunted Rachel since she read them three days ago.
Rebecca Annabelle Fabray; July 12th, 1982.
But before Santana can question it…
"Fall of 1959," She is saying. "Do you know what happened? My grandparents, – you know them as Nana Lydia and Papa Kai, – had a daughter."
"Rachel…" Santana doesn't understand. Why is that relevant now?
Rachel ignores her.
"Two years later, they had a son. Do you know what that baby boy's name was, 'Tana?" She doesn't wait for an answer, "Josiah Matthew Brown."
Rachel turns to her, "And do you know… do you know… what the little girl's name was?"
She gets a headshake in response.
"Judith Lynn Brown."
… Some part of her, some part in the back of Santana's mind is screaming – this is important! Figure it out!
But she just… can't. She just does not… understand.
Rachel is continuing before she can question the girl's sanity.
"Josiah grew up, discovered he loved boys, not girls, and eventually married a man named David Lee Berry."
Rachel stops pacing. She stands directly in front of Santana, and she says the words that…
Will crush the girl and repair her at the same time…
"Judith grew up, did what every woman is supposed to do. She met a man. She married that man. She had three daughters. They were the perfect American, Christian family…"
There's that voice again – it's important, Santana! Figure it out!
"Or so everyone thought," Rachel gives a harsh, humorless laugh, and it chills Santana. "She became… She became Judith Lynn Fabray."
Santana sees it happen a split-second before Rachel properly processes it. She's up, and then… they are falling, half on the bed, and half on the floor.
"She's my cousin, T." Rachel chokes out between sobs. And it hurts. It hurts deep inside of her. Her heart aches and she tries her best to soothe the girl in her arms.
"Oh, Estrella," She breathes out, trying to process everything. Trying to… to just figure this all out.
They're fucking related.
Josiah Berry and Judith Fabray are fucking brother and sister.
Goddamn it. This changes everything.
"All this time," Rachel rasps out… "All this time, I thought… she was just a little girl I met. I can't breathe every time she's hurt or… or upset… I… She was just supposed to be a little girl, T. Just my best friend. She…"
"Shh…" Finally, Santana is able to get a grip, and shushes her, just to… to let her give herself a moment. "It's… God, Rach. I don't know what to say."
"Lucy told me her… her grandparents died."
Yes, Santana is aware of this. It was what she and Britt were told, as well.
"She saw them, Santana."
This is what hurts the most.
Quinn was told her grandparents on Judy's side died. That her homophobic, strict, asshole grandfather and grandmother on her… on Russell's side of the family were the only grandparents she had.
But…
She grew up with them. She grew up with Lydia and Malachi. She didn't know them just as "Rachel's grandparents".
The others even fucking called them Papa Kai & Nana Lydia.
They were right there and… she had no fucking clue.
Rachel shifts, burying her face in her best friend's neck, and Santana's tightens her grip. They sit there, in silence… trying to process this. Trying to make sense of this… this world of fucking grown-up problems that they have all been thrust into.
It's quiet for several minutes, except for Rachel's sniffling. It's a wonder Q or Britt haven't come to find them yet.
Suddenly, it dawns on her…
"Rachel," She says it with urgency, because now… now she has to know.
"Rachel, you said… you said that they would try to find some family, here, in Lima, before they… Rachel…"
The Diva understands perfectly, because she sniffling, half laughing, and saying, "When–… When J-Judy signed the papers, terminating her rights, they–… It was–… It was transferred. Legal Guardianship of Quinn Fabray was transferred over to-to David and Josiah Berry."
Santana suddenly feels like she can't breathe because it sure seems like Rachel is saying… "That means…"
Rachel gives a tiny, miniscule smile. "She's ours, T." She looks up. "We've got her. We have her, and we are never letting go. She's… She is going to be ok."
Whatever happens now…
Whatever shit the police, or the courts put them through, whatever happens at Russell and Judy Fabray's trial…
Santana knows.
She knows that everything is going to be… just fine.
Now if only they had a good explanation for the way they look, because they are certainly unprepared to hear the words…
"What the hell is going on in here?" Come from the very girl whom they were just speaking about.
Well… that happened. I hope you liked it, and that this is what you all wanted – Quinn is with family, real family, who will love her and protect her unconditionally. She is home; she will not be going anywhere.
Next you all find out something super important! And a heads up that I am not going to be introducing the new character in chapter 29 after all. I had a moment of inpiration and completely rewrote that chapter, so now I am going to introduce the OC in #31 or #32.
Please review and let me know what you thought! :)
