Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Glee or any of its characters. I don't have a beta so all mistakes are mine.
Chapter 26
Winter Break:
The next morning after breakfast they headed off to Cheerios a little early to insure that everyone got their uniforms turned in and got their new gear ok.
"I need to go to the copier and make copies of the turn in check list. I forgot to last night." She says pulling out a thumb drive. She takes the girls hands and pulls them laughing into the room. After making the copies and stealing a few kisses they head to the locker room finding coach checking each locker with the list from yesterday to ensure they are correct.
Coach looks up as they come in. "Your early, good, we need a system that will not take forever to get this all done so we can get to training."
Rachel hands her the stack of checklists. "Already on it coach. I figured we could have Brittany hang by the door and direct them to line up at the storeroom before going to their lockers. There we will be waiting in four stations with a checklist to make sure that have turned everything in and they sign off on it. This way if they have forgotten anything we have the list with their name on it with the missing items for them to bring tomorrow."
"You make my life easier Streisand. I may keep you around for a while." She says causing them all to laugh.
The girls move to the store room and Rachel goes through the checklist with San and Quinn to get their stuff turned in. They sign off and set up four areas for them to get the others squared away too. The whole process takes less than an hour since Rachel had given the girls detail list of what and how to bring the items to be turned in. Since they dressed at home they finish straightening the store room with plenty of time to beat the others to the gym for training.
Training lasted four hours. The first half working on the big stunt and the second half working on the other smaller stunts. Practice was very successful. The Cheerios have all started showing Rachel more respect. They never spoke out against her before, too scared of coach's wrath to do so, but she could tell they weren't happy about it. By the Thursday before school let out they were finally really seeing what she was accomplishing with them in just a few days. After practice today most of them spoke to her even if it was just a see you tomorrow. Sam and Marsha hung back like always to make sure she didn't have any last minute instructions for them. She had been using them a lot for help working with the others.
With Santana, Quinn, and Britt in tow she approached them. "Great practice today ladies. Thank you for all your help." She said when she got within hearing distance.
Sam just waves her off. "Sure, no problem Rach. Glad to do it." She says as Marsha nods her agreement.
"Ok. I have something I wanted to talk to you two about, not Cheerios related, if you have a moment." Rachel motions to the bleachers for everyone to sit. They nod and head over. "Ok. Britt told me that she spoke to the two of you about what happened in glee before the break."
Marsh cuts in. "Yea, which was crap. Do you want us to rein slushy hell on Wheezy when were back?" She says forcefully. She was not happy with the way their leader was treated. Sam nodding along ready to retaliate.
Rachel lets out a small chuckle under her breath. "No, but thank you for the offer. There will be a lot of changes with Glee that she will not be happy with that will more than piss her off. I think that is retaliation enough." She says sincerely, touched that the other girls were angry on her behalf. "Mr. Shue has been suspended as our coach for the next two months. Coach Sylvester is taking his place until they can find a good coach to take his place. If he chooses to come back he will essentially be the assistant coach. I am still captain, San and Quinn will be my seconds. We also lost a member…"
She was interrupted by Sam. "Yea, Britt told us about that. If anything like that happens again you know I don't live far and I have my dad who makes Finn look like a midget. I told him and he said he would be happy to come help."
"Thank you, and thank Simon for me as well. Anyway, Britt told us that you both had beautiful voices and we would like to know if you would like to join glee club."
They both look excited for a moment than their faces fall. "We would love to but coach said we are not allowed." Marsha says sadly.
Rachel just smiles. "But that's the best part. Coach lifted the ban and said we could recruit Cheerios if we wanted." She said bouncing a little.
The two looked at each other smiling brightly then looked back to the others. "We'd love too!" They say in unison causing them all to laugh.
Rachel claps excitedly. "That is wonderful. We have our first meeting with coach in the choir room the first day back right after school. If you want you can meet us at my locker and we will all walk their together." They nod vigorously agreeing with that plan. "Ok. Let's go shower, then we are headed to the Thai restaurant after if you want to join us for lunch." They all agree and head off to get cleaned up.
Once cleaned up and all in their Cheerios sweats they head out to eat. They talk about Glee and Cheerios regionals coming up in a few months and what they all did for Christmas. After lunch Rachel invited them over for a movie night and they accepted. Sam and Marsha texted to ask permission than ran home get clothes saying they would pick up some snacks on the way. Britt did the same. The girls headed home to wait for their friends and get the media room set up.
Britt arrived first while they were getting the popcorn machine started. Rachel went over to one of the closets and started pulling out extra pillows. "Hey angel? Bear? Do you think we should tell them about us? Do you think we can trust them? I know that we don't exactly keep our hands to ourselves at home and I don't want to out us if it's going to be a problem." She said separating the pillows between the two couches.
Britt was the one to answer first. "I don't think they will care. Sam is gay too, and Marsha is her best friend and she knows." She says with a shrug. "They like you and I don't think they would tell anyone. It'll be ok. If not I will sick lord Tubbington on them."
San looked up from her popcorn duties chuckling a little. "I agree with Britt. I don't think they will care, and I don't mind them knowing. They are becoming pretty good friends."
Quinn grabbed the throw blankets, helping Rachel arrange the couches. "I'm ok with it if you two are. I agree with San and Britt. I think we can trust them."
Rachel looks between them for a moment. "Ok. I would like to tell them. I'm afraid if we don't we will out ourselves at some point anyway. I would rather tell them than get caught. I want to be able to be ourselves at home." They all nod and go about finishing getting the room ready. When the doorbell rings San heads down to let the girls in.
As they enter the room Marsha is in a state of awe. "Oh my good Rach this place is amazing. Your house is awesome."
Santana and Quinn laugh. "You have no idea. The house has everything, and we haven't even seen it all yet." San says still chuckling.
Rachel looks to her girls. "Wait, I haven't shown you all of the house?" She says thinking back. "Oh my god, I'm sorry. I didn't even think about it. I've only shown you the parts I use the most. I will give you a full tour later." She says grabbing each of their hands appalled with herself.
They just smile. "It's ok querida. It's not a problem you can show us later. It's not a big deal." She says tucking her hair behind her ear.
Quinn just smiles sweetly to her. "No worries sweetie."
San looks back at the new comers. "Ok. We just want to get this out of the way." She says taking a deep breath. "We are a couple. We are not advertising it at the moment but you guys are becoming pretty good friends and we wanted you to know."
Marsha looked shocked and Sam just clapped her hands. "You and Rachel are dating? That is so awesome, congrats."
Quinn just shakes her head. "Not exactly. The three of us are dating. Each other." she said hoping for the same reaction.
Marsha looks at Britt. "Like your aunt's?" Britt nods. "I met them at your BBQ last summer. That's cool, but I'm a little confused." She looks to San. "I thought you and Britt were a thing."
San chuckles. "Yea, for some reason a lot of people assumed that. We are just best friends. We were never an item."
Marsha shrugs. "Ok. That's cool. Do the Gleeks know?"
Rachel shakes her head. "Some of them, not all. Noah, Matt, and Mike know. That's it and we want to keep it that way for a while longer. We have enough drama about to unfold, we don't need to add this to it. I just want to enjoy my girlfriends without all the crap for a bit longer."
Sam grabs her hand. "That's understandable Rach. We won't tell anyone, but thanks for trusting us with this. We like that we are all becoming good friends." Marsha nods agreeing with her.
"OK," San says "now that the mushy stuff is out of the way let's get to it. I needs to gets my munchies, movies and cuddles on." They all laugh and go over to pick out movies.
They decide on a Harry Potter marathon and settle on the couches to watch. Rachel, San, and, Quinn wrapped up in each other on one. Britt, Sam, and Marsha snuggled on the other with Britt in the middle leaning into Sam because some of it scares her a little. After the Prisoner of Azkaban they are all hungry again. The decided to order pizza and headed down to eat in the kitchen, taking a break from the projector screen.
They start digging in and Samantha starts the conversation. "So, what do you guys think the rest of the glee club is going to do with coach in charge, Rachel and you two having more control, and two new Cheerios in their midst?" She says with a chuckle. "Because really, sometimes they were meaner to you then the rest of the school."
Rachel just shakes her head. "I know they were, but singing is my life so I just put up with it. As far as their reaction to coach? I really don't know, but some of them may just have a heart palpitations." She said with a giggle. "But bringing in you two will either raise their blood pressure or relieve them that we have enough members to compete. Some of them don't know that Finn won't be back. They may blame me for all of it. You never know. I don't care as long as we win Regionals, and Shue is off my back." She says with a sigh.
Quinn reaches over to rub her back. "Your right sweetheart. We don't know how they will react, but we do know that you have five of us that have your back completely. Six including Puck." She kisses her temple and they all nod their agreement.
San cups her face kissing her nose. "You actually have seven. Coach has your back in a big way. You are nuestra estrella, we got this querida. Regionals is ours for the taking with the set list we have and the singers for it. The Gleeks will fall in line or get put out." She kisses her nose again and goes back to eating.
Quinn looks at the newest Gleeks. "So, you guys need to come up with an audition piece. Either a duet or solos. Old rules were everyone gets in, but I don't know if coach is going to stay with that rule."
They look at each other, Sam speaks for them. "Don't know. We really hadn't thought of that. What do you think Rach?"
Rachel takes a drink thinking. "Well I really don't know. I haven't heard you sing yet to make a suggestion. We can go down to the studio after dinner and hear you sing and see what we can come up with."
Marsha cuts in. "Hold up. You have a studio?"
Rachel chuckles. "What can I say, I was very spoiled by my daddy. Yes I have a fully functional recording studio and performance room that were just upgraded yesterday with the help of my ladies here."
Marsha is still in shock. "Ok, wow. Well that sounds good if you guys don't mind helping us."
San scoffs, "please, Rachel is ready to coach and vocally train anyone at the drop of a hat." She teases earning herself a slap on the arm and a shoulder shove as they all laugh.
"We don't mind, and I'll get to play with my new toys." Rachel clapped excitedly.
After dinner all the girls grabbed their IPods or IPads and headed to the studio. Marsha and Sam just stood there with their jaws on the floor. "Rach, you're like a rock star. Oh my god look at these guitars, there's at least fifteen here." Marsha said hovering her hand above them afraid to touch.
Rachel giggled. "There's seventeen with the new one I got for my birthday." She said amused at the dumbfounded look on their faces. "Ok, pick any song in your playlist that you can sing well and we will set it up with the instrumental version for you to sing if you don't already have it. This is just to give me an idea of where your voice is. We can do some vocal warm ups if you like."
Marsha handed Santana her IPod. "I already have the instrumental version cued up just hit play when we're ready." She says turning to Rachel. "Let's do some warm ups it's kind of a big song don't want to blow my voice."
Rachel nodded ran the girls through their normal vocal warm up they used for glee. She could hear Britt and her girls in the background following along. "Ok Marsha, go to the mic in the center and nod to San when you're ready. If you want to talk to her you have to speak into the mic. The sound booth is sound proof." Rachel said as she went into the sound booth with San and Quinn leaving Britt and Sam with Marsha. Britt just settled onto the couch to the side ready to just listen and chill. "San, record it for play back so I can play with my toys later." San just chuckled waiting for her cue from Marsha.
Marsha nodded and San turned on the music. She gave a beautiful rendition of Already Gone by Kelly Clarkson. The girls were impressed.
Sam came in to the booth next with her IPod. "It's ready with the instrumental." She said walking back out going to the mic. She nodded to San and she cued the music. Sam's rendition of Jewel's Hands was hauntingly beautiful and Rachel was getting excited at the prospect of more amazing voices in the club.
Rachel pressed the intercom button. "Hey come in here and we will play back the songs with your voices." She said as the girls rushed into the booth.
They played Sam's first. "Hey that sounds so much better than on my karaoke machine." They all laughed.
Marsha's was next. "Oh my god, that's cool."
Rachel nodded her agreement. "You guys are awesome. You will have no problem with an audition. Do you want to hear the duet for Regional's? We recorded it or we could sing it if you want."
Marsha clapped excitedly. "Oh sing it please."
Rachel started to walk out of the booth. "You can stay in here and listen or come out." She turned to Quinn. "Go ahead and record it so we have it with the new equipment." She said with a wink.
They opted to stay in the booth just to see Quinn working the equipment as San and Rach got set up. Marsha watched her unhook Sam's IPod but not hook another up. "Are you not going to hook up the instrumental?" She asked.
Quinn just smiles brightly. "Nope my angel is going to play the piano." She said with pride.
Marsha and Sam just watched in awe as the girls started. They were blown away by the performance. When it was over Marsha looked to Quinn. "I knew she could sing but that was… oh my god she's good, and add San into it. That was outstanding. No wonder Coach picked it for Regionals, it gave me chills." Sam just nodded dumbfounded.
Quinn chuckled. "That's my star. They are amazing together. They won the duets competition with that song." She said as the girls came back into the booth.
Rachel walked over and kissed her cheek. "Can you play it back baby, I want to hear it with the new equipment?" Quinn says sure and plays it back. "So much better with my new toys." She says when it ends. San and Quinn agreeing with her.
Sam walks up to Rach. "Hey Rach. Can you download that to my IPod? I have an app for non-ITunes music. That is too good not to have."
Marsha nods vigorously. "Me too please. I love it."
Rachel just stares shocked. "Uh… yea sure." She's absolutely amazed that the girls liked it enough to download it. After it's downloaded she turns back to the girls. "Ok. I love the songs you sang so you have options. You can sing those songs or I think I know one that's a duet that would be perfect for both of you."
Marsha and Sam just shrug at each other. "Let's hear the one you're thinking of and we'll see." Rachel hooks up her IPad and cues up the song.
As they listen the girl's smiles take over their faces. "I think its perfect Rach. What do you think Marsh?" Sam asks
"I'm all for it. I love that song, and this way we audition together and get it out of the way." Marsha looks to Rachel. "Do you have the instrumental?" Rachel nods and they get to work.
They spent the next hour in the studio perfecting the song and their harmonies. San downloaded a version for each to their IPods that did not have their own voice just the other girl's, so they could practice on their own. They also downloaded the instrumental so they could practice together. They shut down the studio and headed back upstairs to watch the rest of their Harry Potter marathon and settle down for the rest of the night. They were all asleep by the end of the Goblet of Fire.
The next morning all the girls got ready and headed to Cheerios practice. Training went very well, the stunt was getting better every day. Rachel is think that they may be able to forgo Saturday practice when school starts back if they keep up the progress they've been making. After practice they all split off and everyone goes to their own homes. Rachel, San, and Quinn decide to use the vouchers they won and go to Breadsticks for lunch. They then head home for a night alone. They work on choreography for the glee routine for a while and watch TV until dinner. After dinner they go up and settle early in bed just talking and spending time together, falling asleep in each other's arms.
Saturday is much the same. Practice goes well and they head off for home alone. They have no visitors and spend the day pretty much like the day before just enjoying being together.
Sunday is New Year's Eve. They sleep in since there is no Cheerios today. They get up around 10:00 and have breakfast together. The day is like any other until Rachel receives a text.
Noah-Rachel: Hello my Jewish American Princess. Just a reminder of my New Year's Eve party. Starts at 9 don't be late.
Rachel stares at her phone so long with a look of panic on her face that San and Quinn start to worry. "Querida? Hey, what's wrong amor?"
Rachel doesn't answer just stares at her phone. Quinn scoots toward her gently taking the phone to looking at it. She then lifts Rachel head by her chin to look in her eyes. "Sweetie, what's wrong? Why does this text scare you?" She hands the phone to San.
"I didn't think we were going to this. What's wrong carino?" She asks rubbing Rachel's back.
This statement gets her attention and she looks at San. "We're not?" She says so softly they almost didn't hear it.
San shakes her head. "Of course not. We didn't think you would want to be anywhere near that party, and we certainly don't want you there. Too many people."
Quinn turns her back to look at her. "Yea we thought that we would break into the game closet. Play games and goof off until the ball drops, kiss each other senseless at midnight and go to bed. I even bought sparkling cider and noise makers." She says kissing her lightly.
Rachel looks at her hopefully. "Really? We can stay in? You don't mind? I mean you two can go if you really want, I will be ok here. I don't want to take the fun out of the night for you. I ju…"
Quinn cuts her off with another light kiss. "We want to stay with you here. We never planned on going." She says gently but firmly.
San kisses her shoulder. "We would rather be here to kiss you at midnight then at some party watching the idiots from school get drunk. We won't be away from you at midnight querida. I want to kiss both my girls to ring in the New Year. Game night with my girls sounds like so much more fun than Pucks puke fest." Rachel has lost most of the tension in her body so San pulls her into her lap. Rachel melts into her.
Quinn kneels in front of them wrapping her arms around them. "It's our first New Year's little star. We just want to be home with you."
Rachel leans up and kisses them both tenderly but thoroughly. "Ok. Thank you. That sounds like heaven to me."
Quinn eases her hold and grabs her phone.
Quinn-Puck: We are not coming to the party tonight.
Puck-Quinn: Why not?
Quinn-Puck: Cause Rachel doesn't need to be around a bunch of drunk grabby handed people. She doesn't want to come. Think about it Puck.
Puck-Quinn: Oh shit Q. I wasn't thinking. Tell Rach I love her and I will come by tomorrow to see her.
Quinn-Puck: Will do, see you then.
Putting her phone up, she turns to her girls. "Ok. All set. Puck says he is coming by tomorrow and he sends his love." She says kissing them both. "Crap, I need to let Britt know that we are not going tonight. Sam and Marsha too." she says pulling her phone back out.
Quinn-Brittany: Hey Britt we are staying in tonight. Rachel not up to a big crowd.
Quinn-Samantha & Marsha: We are staying in tonight. Can you please see if Brittany wants to ride with you to the party and keep an eye on her? We won't be there to keep her safe. You know how she gets when she's drunk.
Brittany-Quinn: O l8r then.
Samantha-Quinn: Will do. We will take care of her.
Marsha-Quinn: No prob, we got this.
Quinn- Samantha & Marsha: Thanks guys see you later.
Quinn-Brittany: See you later ducky.
Quinn turned her attention back to her girls. "Ok. Now that all that's out of the way we need to go to the grocery store. When I made breakfast I noticed we are almost out of everything. If we want to eat tonight or tomorrow we need to go shopping. The store will be closed tomorrow." She kissed them both soundly and got up, helping Rachel off San's lap then went to get her purse and keys. Quinn wanted to get Rachel's mind off which ever hell of hers it went to when she saw that text. Shopping always perked up their little star and she needed a distraction.
They headed off to the grocery store and to the girl's relief the trip had calmed their diva the rest of the way down. The haunted look in her eyes was gone and replaced with mirth at their antics. While picking out produce they played their own veggie tales adventure causing a fit of laughter. After almost getting kicked out, laughing they finished their shopping, checked out and headed for home.
Once put away the groceries Rachel turned to her girls. "Hey, why don't I give you the grand tour of the house? There are only a few places you haven't really seen yet."
They clapped and said in unison. "Yes." They were excited to see what other treasures the house held.
Rachel giggled at their excitement. "Ok let's start down here." She led them out of the kitchen thru the living room to the den. "I'm sure you've seen the den but we haven't come in here." They followed her to the middle of the room. "This was our family play room. There's the pool table and that table over there we used for board games and it also converts into a poker table." She walked over to a wall. It was similar to the wall in the media room that hid the movies.
She rolled it up and reveled three arcade style standing video games. "Here we have Pac-man, Frogger, and Donkey Kong." She walked over to a piece of furniture kind of like a hutch and opened the doors. "This TV is hooked up to video games too, but down here they are the old one. There is an original Nintendo and a Super Nintendo. As well as an Atari." She points to a door. "That is the game closet I told you about, and this open area over here is for twister or charades or whatever game we played that needed space." She was a little subdued while showing them everything.
Quinn and San were in awe of the room but noticed the way she was acting. Quinn walked behind her and wrapped her arms around her. "Does it bother you to be in here sweetie?"
Rachel leaned back into her, shaking her head. "No, just a lot of memories. I haven't been in here since I moved back. I love this room I just didn't have a reason to come in here until now. I promise, I'm ok. I just miss my dads." San walked over to them and placed herself in front of them wrapping her arms around both of them.
Rachel leaned forward and kissed her lightly, turned her head and did the same to Quinn. "I think we should make this our room for the night for our game night and we have the TV to watch the ball drop."
San kissed her temple. "Are you sure querida?"
Rachel just smiled at her. "Of course. I'd hate to see this room go to waste." She pulled out of their embrace grabbed their hands and led them out of the room.
She led them down the hall and into an office. "This was dad's office/library. The only thing in the filing cabinets now is my personal records and all of my papers, deeds, titles for the cars, and other important papers." She walked over to the computer on the desk. "He cleared all of his business stuff from the computer too. Now it just has personal banking, old pictures and a few games saved to it. I usually only come in here once a month to make sure the payment for the bills go through the bank and balance my checkbook." She walked over to the built in book shelves. "He did leave most of the books though. I use to come in here with him pick a book and read on the couch while he did his business." She didn't say anymore, taking their hands again and led them back out.
They didn't talk to her this time, sensing she didn't want to discuss it. They just followed her to where she led next. This time she led them to the dining room. "This is the formal dining room. The hutch over there has my great grandmother china in it. It was supposed to be given to me after I married." She walked them over taking out a piece of china to look at. "It's beautiful. I love it."
Quinn ran her fingers over the plate. "Baby, they're gorgeous." San nodded her head in agreement.
Rachel just smiled and put the plate back. The dining room had a table for eight, the china hutch and an old style butler with a silver service setting on it. "The drawers in the hutch house her silver as well. I have the full set. There's not a piece missing." She opened a drawer for them to look into. "This is one of the things that makes my aunt so crazy. She hates that it was passed to me."
She closed the drawer and led them back out and headed up the stairs. "You've seen about half of the second floor. My room, Pucks room, and the guest room you keep your things in." She walk down the hall to the right past her room and the guest room and opened the door at the end of the hall. "This is the Master. I am planning on moving in here soon I just hadn't gotten around to it yet. I have already repainted the walls and had new furniture brought in. I had all of my father's things packed and they are stored in the attic storage space for now. I just need to move my things in."
She showed them the two walk in closets, one larger than the other, and the master bath with a Jacuzzi big enough for four people, and the huge walk in shower with multiple shower heads. The vanity sinks were the odd ball thing in the room. There were three sinks and three sitting areas next to them. "Dad said the sinks were this way when we moved in. The previous owners had triplets and when they were little they shared this room. There are only two closets because one was a boy and had his own and the other two were girls and shared the larger one. My dads just never changed it."
Santana and Quinn were in love with the room. San hugged Rachel from behind. "Is there a reason you haven't moved into it yet carino?"
Rachel shook her head. "No. I just finished the painting at the end of November and the new furniture was brought in the week before sectionals. I have just had other things on my mind."
Quinn hugged them from the front. "Well, if you want we can help you move your stuff tomorrow. Help you get the space set up." San nodded her head in agreement.
Rachel kissed her nose. "That would be wonderful, thank you." She leaned back against San and pulled Quinn closer. "There's plenty of room in the closets for your things so you don't have to keep going to the guest room for stuff all the time if you want. The vanity is big enough for all of our things, a space for each of us?" She asked hopefully.
They nodded their heads vigorously. "That would be great estrella. Would make it easier." San says nuzzling her neck and Quinn agreed.
Rachel just smiled. "We need to go to the mall and get some new linens for the bed. It's a California king and the stuff I have doesn't fit it. I only have one fitted sheet that fits because dad bought it for the bed in the media room not realizing it was the wrong kind and never returned it."
San tightened her hold a little. "Ok, than tomorrow we move all our stuff and Tuesday we go shopping for sheets and stuff." The other girls agreed and Rachel pulled them out of the room to finish the tour.
They went to the other end of the hall. "This is the guest room without an attached bathroom." They moved on "This is the separate guest bath." It was a pretty large bathroom.
She started walking toward the stairs to the media room and led them up. "The only thing on this floor is the media room and attic storage. Behind the pull down projector screen is a door to the attic." She moved over and pressed a button that lifted the screen and opened the door and went through. The room was plain and just had a lot of boxes and stuff stacked about.
They closed up the attic, lowered the screen back down and headed down stairs. Rachel led them through the house grabbing jackets and into the garage. "You have seen the garage. Along that far wall is some of dad's tools." She said walking through to go out a side door. "This leads to the garage out building." The go out and follow a path to another building. Once in Rachel shows them the cars they hadn't seen yet. It's a mechanics paradise in there. Half of the garage is set up for rebuilding and restoring cars. "There are duplicates of all the tools in the main garage in here as well as specialty tools. Daddy collected the cars, dad restored and maintained them."
She led them to a set of stair. "Ok. This next space was daddy's pride and joy. Dad was the mechanic type. Daddy was the artistic type." She said with a soft smile. "Bear, this will probably be your favorite place on the property. You are welcome in here anytime and are welcome to use any of the equipment." She told her, then opened the door to a photographers dream.
Quinn gasped. The room was filled with vintage cameras and work space. "Daddy collected cameras too. They are all in working order accept for one of the 1800's plate cameras. The other has been restored but daddy wanted this one to stay just like it is. There is a storage tote labeled for each camera with film and other accessories for that camera. The book shelves have photography books galore. Every photo on the walls in the house was taken by daddy, and not just the portraits. There is also a fully stocked dark room through that door." She points to the door. Quinn is in awe just turning in slow circles taking everything in. She hasn't said a word for a solid five minutes overwhelmed by it all.
San chuckles grabbing Rachel to hold her. "I think you broke her querida." They both laugh watching their girlfriend.
The laughing causes Quinn to turn and look at them. "Oh my god Rach. This place is… I just… there are no words. There has to be thirty cameras in here." She just looks around again. "Are you sure you wouldn't mind me in this space? It's your daddy's baby."
Rachel walks over to her. "Yes it was, but it is going to waste. I want you here instead of it not getting used." She cups Quinn's face kissing her lightly. "I trust you to use and appreciate this space for what it is. No one else I know would understand his passion the way you do. Please use it and enjoy it."
Quinn buries her tear stained face into her neck. "Thank you baby." She says in a whisper.
Rachel holds her for a second then lifts her face wiping the tears. "By the way there are thirty-two cameras in here ranging from plate to digital. Now, do you want to see the last room on our tour?"
Both girls nod and follow her to the next room. When they enter they see an art space. "This was daddy's art room. All the paintings in the house and laying around this room were done by him." She walks over to a finished painting of herself holding a microphone singing that was still on the stand. "He finished this two days before he passed. He was letting it dry and set before he put it in the performance room." Her voices was so soft they almost didn't hear her, but they heard the tears in it. They walked over and wrapped her in their arms. She snuggled in. "You can use this space too. It has a sky light and lots of windows with coverings so you can manipulate the lighting to paint."
Quinn looked up shocked. "How did you know I painted too?"
Rachel giggled "I saw a painting in the art room last year that you did. It was amazing."
The girls left the room and headed back to the house. San spoke up once they entered the kitchen. "I have to say carińo, your house is awesome. It has everything."
"Yea, like I said, spoiled." She just smiles sadly. "Ok that's the tour, feel free to use any of the amenities here." They all chuckled. "But now it's time to make dinner and have our game night."
They went about making dinner just talking about this and that. After dinner was cleaned up they moved into the game room. They decided on Monopoly first and were setting it up when the doorbell rang. Wary of who it could be San went to answer it with Rach and Quinn holding back a bit.
When she opened the door she was shocked. "Hey," Britt says bouncing up and down with Sam and Marsha smiling behind her. "We wanted to spend New Year's with you guys. So if it's ok we came to spend time here instead of going to the party."
Sam stepped forward, "Yea, it wouldn't be any fun without you guys."
Rachel and Quinn came to stand by San as she let them in. Rachel clapped excitedly. "Of course it's ok. We were just about to play some games and goof off until the ball drops."
Marsha handed one of the bags she was holding to Rachel. "We brought noise makers, hats, and junk food."
They made their way back to the game room and showed the girls all the toys. They played games all night just having fun together. They played poker for pretzels, Marsha cleaned them out. They split into teams of three and played Pictionary, San, Rach and Quinn won. They played multiple rounds of twister, Britt winning all but one that Sam won.
They played Monopoly in teams of two, Rachel and San bankrupted them all. They played around with the arcade games for a while trading partner off and on. They turned on some music and danced and goofed off for a while. At 11:00 they had cleaned up and settled on the couch and floor to watch New Year's Rockin' Eve wearing their hats and waiting with their noise makers.
At midnight San, Rach, and Quinn shared a group kiss then kissed each other thoroughly. They then turned to the others and all of them shared kisses on the cheek telling each other Happy New Year making tons of noise. They turned off the TV and headed up to the media room and put on a movie. All of them settling down for the night.
The next morning they all got up and had breakfast. The girls had to leave at noon to get Sam and Britt home. San, Rachel, and Quinn spent the rest of the day moving in to the master bed room. Each closet had a sets of hanging bars along each of the three walls. A wall for each of them. They arranged the closets with their Cheerios stuff in the smaller one and the other had everyday clothes. They set up the bathroom vanities with all their stuff, putting Rachel in the middle. They transferred all of the things to the new dresser from the old and set up Rachel's computer and desk stuff on the new one.
After they finished they went down and started dinner. They were just finishing up when the doorbell rang. San went to answer it while Rach and Quinn started gathering dishes thinking one of the girls forgot something. San called to Rachel from the door. Rachel and Quinn went out to see who it was.
When they got to the door they saw a woman they had never seen before. Quinn thought she looked familiar but wasn't sure. Rachel stepped forward. "Can I help you?"
The woman just smiled a little shyly seemed apprehensive. "Yes Rachel. You don't know me but I have been looking for you for 10 years."
Rachel just looked confused. "Ooookay."
The woman took a deep breath and continued. "My name is Shelby Corcoran." She paused taking another breath. "I'm your mother."
A/N: Next the girls reactions to Shelby and the explanation of why she is there. Sorry I didn't get this chapter in sooner. Life happens lol.