Rachel groaned at the heavy pounding on her door, it was past the time that she usually went to bed, and she had just wanted to sleep. She had an early morning rehearsal. She grabs her robe and slips it on, if it was Quinn, she was going to have a few choice words for her. She wasn't supposed to be drinking, she wasn't supposed to be doing anything that even remotely resembled fun.
She yanks her door open, ready to snap at Quinn, but instead of Quinn standing there slightly inebriated, she is forced to look up at Finn. Immediately her heart stops, "She's supposed to be on bedrest."
"Huh? Who is?" Finn asks before realizing who Rachel was talking about. "Quinn's fine. She got permission to go to New Orleans on a mission with Sam so she's there right now."
Rachel stared at Finn, her mouth slightly agape, Quinn hadn't mentioned that at all. "Did she send you to inform me because she knows that I wouldn't approve of that?" She finally manages to respond, noting the ice in her tone.
Finn flinches, "I didn't want her to go either, but you know how Quinn is," he said with a shrug.
"Yes, I know, she always gets what she wants," Rachel said her voice filled with bitterness. She closes her eyes and sighs after a moment as she opens them. "I'm sorry, I just simply get worried about her. She can be incredibly reckless and selfish sometimes, making us worry about her. But why are you here Finn? It's late."
Finn shrugged, "I didn't know who to talk to, and you're not in the Templars, and you're Quinn's best friend." He sighs, and decides to simply spit it out. "I think that Quinn is cheating on me."
For the second time that night, Rachel's heart stops, "What? With who?"
"It probably, sounds stupid. Maybe I'm just jealous, but I don't feel comfortable with her and Sam going off to New Orleans. I think she's dating Sam."
Rachel stared at Finn, he looked so earnest and worried she felt bad for this, "You're worried about Sam? Isn't he your roommate and best friend?"
"He was the only one that would room with me," Finn said with a sigh. "We haven't really been friends, I think he's mad that the Seneschal didn't promote him, even though I asked him to." Finn shrugged. "He's not like me and Quinn, he wasn't born into this."
"So, he's not Templar enough for you?" Rachel said taking a step back and letting Finn enter the apartment.
"That's not what I said," Finn said shaking his head. "I mean Quinn comes from one of the older Templar families, her grandparents, were Templars, her aunts and uncles are Templars, they've been Templars since the first crusades, I think. My family is the same, we're a legacy."
Rachel blinked, she knew that Quinn's family was an old Templar family but she had no idea that they were basically royalty if Finn was to be believed. "Is that the only reason you want to marry Quinn?"
"No, but these things matter Rachel. I love Quinn, we've been together since we were teenagers. I just think she's getting bored of me, we should have been married by now, but Quinn keeps putting it off and I don't understand why. I thought that this is what women wanted."
Rachel snorted at the last statement, she managed to turn her face away to ignore Finn's slightly scandalized expression. "I'm sorry but I don't think that's what Quinn wants, at least not right now. She's told me stories of her Aunt Cassandra—" Finn blanched at this statement, but Rachel pushed on. "She doesn't want to be like her mother, she wants to surpass her father's rank and marrying you right now, might not make her happy."
"But I'm her boyfriend, I'm supposed to make her happy." It came out as a childish pout but he didn't care.
Rachel sighs, this was not how she had wanted to spend tonight. "Finn, I know that Quinn isn't cheating on you with Sam," Rachel said patting him on the back awkwardly.
"But she doesn't want to work with me anymore—"
"Space is good for a relationship, I know you might not think it now, but you should be happy. I could never date another Broadway star, I don't think my ego could take it, and I've seen how intense Quinn gets. I think she'd be annoyed with you all the time if you weren't just as intense as she was, or always as serious as she can be."
"But we were going to be like this awesome husband and wife team. She isn't supposed to work with any other guys," Finn said. "Not Sam or anyone."
"Finn, I know you may not think it right now but if you act like you own Quinn, it'll only drive her away. This is your insecurity talking, and I promise you that she's not sleeping with Sam. You need to trust her and if you don't, then I'm sorry to say that you have to break up with her," Rachel said crossing her arms over her chest.
Finn slumped slightly, "My gut is telling me that she's cheating on me, but if you're certain it's not with Sam—"
"It's not," Rachel said firmly.
Finn nodded, he trusted Rachel enough to believe her. "You're probably right I've been feeling this way for a while. She hasn't been as affectionate lately and maybe I'm worried we're drifting apart. I mean she didn't want to move in with me. She wanted to live alone, I mean those are red flags, right?"
"Maybe for other people, but as you know, Quinn—"
"Always does what she wants," Finn finished with her, he flashes Rachel a small smile and gets up. "Thanks."
"I'm glad to have been able to help Finn." Rachel replied, forcing a smile onto his face. She needed an Academy Award for this performance because he seems to believe every word that comes out of her mouth. She couldn't—wouldn't keep doing this. She was going to tell Quinn whenever she came back that they were done. Finn was nice enough, for someone, not Quinn, and she needed to let him go so he could have a happy life.
Quinn snuck a cut carrot, and popped it into her mouth as she leaned against the counter watching her mother fussing over dinner. Her mother took great care in being the perfect wife, it was almost hard to believe that once upon a time she'd been a Templar. "You know I can help right—"
"No, you're supposed to be resting. Don't think I haven't been aware that you've been going to work, or jetting off to New Orleans on a whim."
"It wasn't a whim, it was for a case—"
"That you weren't a part of."
"All we were doing was buying drugs from dealers, and sending them to be tested. Since I'm injured drug dealers were willing to sell to us. We made a note of everything we've gotten and who we got it from including pictures. Everything's at the lab, it was not the most glamorous job, but it needed to be done."
Judy huffed, "Templar funds going into the hands of drug dealers, I hope you catch them. Your father has been on a tear about it, I think the powers that be are annoyed by the state of affairs. The fact that this case hasn't been solved and there was another death in California. I talked your Aunt Cassandra, she's on a bit of a tear."
"When isn't Aunt Cassandra on a tear?" Quinn smirked when her mother scowled at her. She held up her hands, "It's a fair question."
"So is asking when you and Finn are going to settle down," Judy said with an irritated sniff. Carol Hudson had been bringing it up in conversation and sending her awful floral arrangements. It simply wasn't befitting of a Fabray.
Quinn's body went rigid for a moment and she popped another carrot in her mouth, "What if I don't want to get married to Finn?"
Judy turned to look at Quinn a sharp expression on her face for a moment before she smiles, "Is there any reason why? Have you two been fighting again?"
"Finn and I don't fight—I mean I figured that since his family was an established family, that it only made sense." She looks up at her mother, and frowned she couldn't get a read on where this was going. She hated when her mom did that, it almost felt like a trap. "But I recently learned—"
"The Hudson family is the trailer trash of the Templars?"
"Mom." Quinn stressed. "I thought Carol was your friend?"
"Carol was never a Templar, she was some poor girl Christopher Hudson convinced to marry. There is nothing wrong with that of course, but it's not like she came from cultured stock either."
"Why don't you tell me how you really feel," Quinn said crossing her arms over her chest.
"If you don't want to marry him, then don't Quinn. We raised you to make your own life choices even if that means earning your father's disapproval. But it's your life, and as someone who earned my father's disapproval many a times, I can tell you it's not the end of the world."
"Grandpa Lawrence, really? What did you do? Kill someone?" Quinn wrinkled her nose.
At this statement Judy rolled her eyes, "He's your grandfather, he feels it is his duty to spoil you—rotten. I assure you growing up he was worse than your father," When Quinn raises a brow, she rolls her eyes again, "Perhaps not as bad as your father, but I assure you I did disappoint him, and he did question my life choices."
"Like what?"
"Marrying me." Russell said from where he was standing at the entrance to the spacious kitchen.
The atmosphere in the room immediately becomes tense at his presence and Quinn notes how her mother immediately turns her back to her father, and how his shoulders slouch. He looks exhausted and she immediately straightens up, pulling herself off the counter and standing at attention. "Dad—"
"Your shoulder?" Russell grunts changing the subject.
Quinn frowns and looks at her shoulder, it ached and she didn't have her full range of movement back yet. "I start physiotherapy in a few days," she said slowly. "But it feels good."
"New Orleans?"
"Fruitful, we bought drugs from nearly every drug dealer we could find, I've detailed everything in the report. We did manage to get our hands on a new drug. I put Sam Evan's name for commendation."
Russell grunts and looks at Judy who hadn't said a word to him. "When is dinner going to be ready?"
"Soon."
Quinn looked between both her parents for a moment. The tension in the air between them was palpable. "I don't think I want to marry Finn," she blurts out causing Russell to turn to her.
"Why?"
"I—" Quinn swallows, she hadn't meant to tell him like this, and she doubted he wanted to hear about how she didn't love Finn. "It wouldn't be beneficial to the Fabray name."
Russell grunts at this, "Do as you wish," he stated after a moment, when he catches Judy looking at him. They had discussed this in one of the few moments that they had talked. With that he turned around. "I'll be in my study, call me when dinner is ready."
Quinn stared at where her father had been and turns to her mother, "What was that?"
"Your father and I have been having some marital problems, it's nothing new. He's made decisions that I haven't agreed with, and he's tried to hide things from me. As for why he doesn't care? He was young once too, and once upon a time he managed to charm me into marrying him and giving up being a Templar." Judy said in a clipped tone.
"Is the only reason you made me come for dinner so I can fill the silence between the two of you?" She's met with a sharp look from her mother and she clears her throat. "Sorry, I'll go set the table," she mumbles under her breath pulling away. Now she needed a way to break it to Finn gently. She still couldn't be out with Rachel but she was making progress. Slowly but surely. Now if she could get through this dinner without it blowing up into a full-blown fight, she'd be eternally grateful.
