A/N: On an unrelated note, and because y'all have been asking, there is a What Matters Most update on the way.


"Lucy! Come on! Let's go!"

Rachel is pulling at Quinn's arms as the little girl tries to put all her school supplies in her little white backpack. She was so excited she kept jumping and pulling at her friend, without realizing she was making it almost impossible for the other kid to put all her things away.

"Come on, Lucy, my dads are here!"

"Wait, Rach, I need to put all my colors in the pencil case, my mom will get mad if I lose any. Stop pulling at my arm for a minute, please."

Rachel did let go but kept jumping on her toes, she had never really had a friend over to her house and Quinn's dad had given her permission to spend that afternoon with he so she had been a little ball of excited energy all day long.

"Are you ready? Lucy, are you ready?"

Quinn didn't answer and Rachel worried, for a moment, that she was making her friend angry but she was able to see her smiling and felt better.

"Okay, I'm ready."

Rachel squealed and pulled Quinn from her elbow all the way to her dad, who was already waiting for them, she only let go of her friend's arm to jump into her dad's arms.

"Daddy!"

"Hi, sunshine! How was school?"

Rachel received a large and noisy kiss on the cheek that made her giggle, and Quinn looked down to her feet, as if her light blue shoes were the most interesting thing at the moment.

"It was really good, but I'm glad it's finally over."

The tall man put Rachel down and looked to Quinn's direction.

"Honey? Are you going to introduce your friend?"

He gestured with is hand and Rachel gasped, shocked at her own lack of manners.

"Yes. I'm sorry, daddy. I just got really excited to see you. This is my friend Lucy."

Quinn straightened up, as much as her short height allowed her, squared her shoulders, lifted her chin and extended a perfectly firm arm towards the Berry man.

"Hello, sir. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Thank you for inviting me into your home."

Rachel's dad lifted an eyebrow in surprise at the politeness from the little girl in front of him, he squatted to be able to be at the same height and extended his arm in return and stretched Quinn's little hand.

"It's very nice to meet you, Lucy. Please, call me Hiram."

Quinn smiled, her most perfect (and maybe a little practiced) smile and, in a very polite way said:

"My father says it's not polite to call people who are older than me by their first name, but thank you, Mr. Berry."

Before Hiram could say anything, Rachel had already reached her friend and, as she guided her to the car, she told Quinn that it was okay for her to call her daddy but his first name.

"He's not really that old anyway."

Hiram opened the back door for both of them and made sure they had fastened their seatbelts before taking his place in the driver's seat.

"So, Lucy, I would like to know more about your family, what do your parents do?"

"Oh! No, daddy. Lucy only lets me call her by that name, you can call her Quinn though, that's okay."

It was said so nonchalantly that it seemed as it was not important, and even though Hiram thought it to be unusual he decided not to press the issue, maybe he'd just ask Quinn's parents about it.

"Okay then, Quinn, what do your parents do?"

Quinn bit her lower lip and wiggled her feet a little before answering.

"My father works at an office, I'm not sure what he does, he doesn't really tell us but mom says he's an important person, and my mom stays at home and makes really good pies."

"That's really nice, Quinn, maybe one day we'll all be able to try one of your mom's pies."

Quinn smiled, for real this time, and Rachel clapped in excitement.

"Yes, Lucy! I love pie!"

"Really? What's your favorite?"

"Cherry! Yours?"

"I like blue berry pie, but my father says I can't have that because I'll just stain the dresses he worked so hard for."

Hiram was observing the exchange from the rearview mirror and although he felt happy for his daughter, that she finally seemed to have made a good friend, he was a little concerned about the little girl besides her, it seemed to him that, maybe, she wasn't being allowed to fully be herself.

15 minutes later they finally made it to Rachel's house, in what, according to her:

"Took an eternity."

Rachel all but dragged Quinn upstairs to her bedroom, both girls giggling and skipping through the steps all the way to Rachel's room.

"Rachel, honey, remember to leave your door open so that you can hear when I call you both down for lunch, okay?"

"Yes, daddy!"

Both girls played happily for two hours until Hiram called to let them know lunch was ready.

"Are you girls having fun?"

Quinn smiled and nodded while Hiram served them spaghetti.

"Yes, daddy! I've already introduced Lucy to all my toys, and I showed her my favorite movies and she told me hers, and we played with my coffee set, and actually we were about to have some cookies when you called us."

The man laughed as he sat down at the table too.

"Well, I'm glad you girls are enjoying yourself, and I hope you like lunch. I'm not as good at cooking as LeRoy…"

"My dad."

"But I have never received any complaints about my pasta making skills."

Quinn carefully twirled her fork in the pasta and took a perfectly sized portion, chewed slowly and repeated; Hiram looked at her and then at his daughter and even though Rachel had amazing table manners but a small, and energetic, kid like her, he did notice how Quinn's manners seemed too rehearsed, like what he imagined High Estate dinners are with royals.

About 20 minutes into lunch, and 4 different stories Rachel half told Quinn – because she kept getting distracted –, they heard a car parking outside and then the door opening.

"Dad!"

Rachel jumped out of her chair and ran to the front door, followed closely by Hiram and then Quinn who walked out of the kitchen just in time to see a black man walk into the door and Rachel jumping into his arms and then being twirled around.

"Hey, baby girl! I missed you."

He gave her a kiss on the forehead and put her down.

"Hey, darling."

Hiram gave Rachel's dad a tight embrace and Quinn shifted a little bit in her place, which Hiram noticed and he stepped away a little bit from his husband and pointed at Quinn.

"We have a visitor today."

"Oh, do we? Who is this lovely young girl?"

He walked up to girl and bent over to be almost at her height.

"Hello, sir. My name is Quinn."

He also was greeted with a hand shake and a polite smile.

"It's very nice to meet you, Quinn. You can call me LeRoy, though."

"No, dad. Lucy's father says it's not polite to call older people by their first name, even though I told her you are not that old."

Rachel shrugged and Quinn seemed a little bit embarrassed.

"Is it, dad?"

"Is it what, honey?"

"Is it not polite to do that? Because I only not call my teachers by their first name and I don't want to not be polite."

LeRoy smiled warmly at his daughter and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I'll explain all about it later, okay?"

Rachel was about to ask why but LeRoy beat her at speaking.

"I'm so hungry! I haven't eaten since breakfast and it smells like daddy's famous pasta. Why don't you girls go ahead and daddy and I will be there in a moment?"

"Okay."

Both girls walked back to the kitchen and resumed their eating; they were later joined by Rachel's dads and finished lunch while LeRoy told Hiram about his day at work.

"Thank you, Mr. Berry. The food was delicious."

"I'm glad you liked it, Quinn. Please, just leave your plates there and we will pick them up, you can go upstairs to play a little bit more."

Quinn was unsure, she hesitated with her plate in her hand and both Berry men noticed it.

"It's Hiram's turn to wash the dishes, it's okay."

Quinn nodded and left her plates on the kitchen table, almost dropping them because Rachel was pulling at her arm so they could go back to her room. When they were almost out the door, Hiram called Quinn.

"Hey, Quinn, before you girls run up to play, I just realized we don't know your parents' name."

"Yes, sir. I'm sorry. My parents are Judy and Russel Fabray."

Both men tried their best to remain unfazed but something caused an impact; LeRoy was the one who spoke again.

"Oh. Your father is Russel Fabray?"

Quinn nodded and straightened up a little.

"Why do you ask, daddy? Do you, or dad, know him?"

"No, honey, we've just heard the name. He's a, uhm… a renowned lawyer."

Quinn smiled a little at the compliment and both girls left.

"That explains some things, doesn't it?"

Hiram nodded at his husband with a sad look upon his face.

"Poor kid, let's just hope…"

"Yeah."

"So, Lucy, have you ever seen a musical?"

"No, not really. My father says musicals are a waste of time."

Rachel gasped in shock, a completely honest gasp that had her taking one hand to her chest and the other one to her mouth.

"No way!"

Quinn shrugged and looked at her feet, Rachel started then to realize that whenever Quinn felt out of place, or judged, or just in a situation she wasn't used to, she would always look down to her feet.

"Well, would you like to see one?"

The little blonde girl nodded her head slowly without looking up.

"Perfect!"

Rachel clapped her hands before grabbing Quinn by the hand and pulling her to her bed.

"I have a lot of them, but since you haven't seen any, I say we begin with a classic."

The girl put Mary Poppins inside de DVD player and sat in her bed, next to a bashfully smiling Quinn.

Two and a half hours later, Rachel was turning off the TV and DVD player and looked ready to ask Quinn a billion questions about it.

"Rachel! Quinn's parents are here!"

Quinn's smile fell and her posture slouched.

"I don't wanna go home, I like it here."

Rachel felt sad too, but decided not to show it so that Quinn wouldn't get sadder.

"Don't worry, you can come every day! There are a lot of musicals to see! We can keep it a secret."

Quinn smiled, a little, and nodded, she didn't seem too convinced if anyone asked Rachel though.

"Let's go down stairs before my father gets upset."

Rachel grabbed Quinn's hand and as they went downstairs, Quinn heard her mom's voice and stiffened a little.

"You have a lovely home."

They arrived downstairs just in time to see both pair of parents standing in front of each other, but really far away too.

"Thank you, Mrs. Fabray."

Russell turned to look at Quinn's and Rachel's hands joined together, and then at Rachel's parents.

"Father, these are Mr. and Mr. Berry, Rachel's dad."

Russell nodded, slowly, his lips pursed tightly and his left eyebrow raised.

"I see."

Quinn let go of Rachel's hand and put her hands behind her back, straightening her back.

"Mr. and Mr. Berry, this is my father, Russell, and my mother, Judy."

Both Berry men took a moment before Hiram extended his arm to Quinn's father.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Fabray."

Quinn saw as her father looked at Hiram's extended hand without taking it, she felt worried, she knew the look on her father's face from Christmas parties when he had to greet her mother's brothers whom he didn't like, and she really wanted him to like the Berry men so that she could go there often. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Russell shook Hiram's hand, very, very briefly and then let go.

"Quinn, say goodbye and get your things."

"Yes, father."

"Now."

The Fabray's went out the door without saying another word and left the door open for Quinn, who was very aware that the Berry family was looking at her, so she straightened up and smiled, a large grateful smile.

"Thank you for a lovely evening. I'll see you at school, Rach."

Hiram gave her backpack, put his hand on her shoulder and kneeled to be at her same height.

"It has been lovely meeting you, we loved having you here, you can come whenever you want. Okay?"

Quinn nodded and thanked them again before she turned around, she felt Rachel hugging her and she felt a little bit better.

"Bye, Lucy. I'll see you at school."

Quinn smiled and nodded, and then walked out the door and into her father's car, she had barely closed the door when her father spoke.

"You are not coming back to this house."

Quinn frowned, they had been really nice to her and even her mother had liked their house.

"But…"

"No buts, Quinn. This is final."

Quinn said okay and looked out her window, and saw a smiling Rachel waving at her as they drove away.