A/N- Sorry this update took a little bit. That being said, Thanks for sticking with it and coming back to read this chapter! Your reviews have been so encouraging and this story would not be what it is without all of your input. Read, Review, Rhyme!
Since I haven't said it in a while, I don't own Glee, Macy's, the Rockettes, or pretty much anything unfortunately.
From the second the curtain went up, the show was flawless. The audience was completely entranced by the drama that played out before them, the actors were all vibrating with excited energy that served to fuel the fire backstage, and everything was running like a well oiled machine. They had rehearsed the musical so many times that the performance was practically muscle memory. Purely out of habit, when the time came for the melting scene, Quinn gripped her pen a little tighter and felt her heart speed up until she heard confirmation over her headset that Rachel made it down safely. She didn't relax until the diva reassuringly brushed a hand across her lower back on her way to retake her place in the wings for the final scene.
The audience completely loved it. The standing ovation was the longest and most enthusiastic Rachel and the cast had ever seen.
Once the final curtain fell and the last actors had fallen into fits of congratulatory hugs and the biggest smiles Quinn had ever seen, Tina and Cassandra came out to address the cast and crew, "Congratulations! I'm so extremely proud of all of you!" Tina began.
But she was quickly interrupted by Cassie, "There were a lot of things that went well, and a lot of things that we still have to work on." the blonde said, "Now, I want all of you to get home as early as you can tonight, we have an afternoon matinee show tomorrow so don't make any stupid choices. We'll go over feedback and some quick spot checks before the show."
The cast grumbled weak words of protest and called the blonde a 'kill joy' but complied anyway, each one retiring to change into their street clothes. They all knew better than to provoke the blonde, Rachel's bruise had taught them that, and none of them would do anything to jeopardize the show.
"Rachel, Quinn, I need to talk to you for a minute before you leave." As the rest of the cast dragged their feet and made their way off stage the couple went to talk to Cassie.
"Sue and I had a little talk, under no circumstances are either of you to go within five hundred feet of Russell Fabray without giving Sue and I prior knowledge. Rachel if you are interested in pressing charges you need to let me know as soon as possible and we need to get pictures taken before the bruises fade."
Both women's jaws dropped as they processed what the director was saying, she had put restraining orders on the man. On the down low.
"Ok." Rachel got out, she didn't want to press charges against her girlfriends father, it just seemed wrong. But she wasn't about to tell Cassie that.
"Let me know." Cassandra said and she walked off stage into the wings to leave for the night.
"I for one am happy." Quinn volunteered once they were alone on the stage, Rachel didn't seem to know what to say so she broke the silence, "It really was necessary and as long as it doesn't come back down on you in a bad way I think it was a wise decision for Cassandra to make."
Rachel nodded in agreement and took Quinn's hand tp led her back to the diva's dressing room so she could change before meeting Kurt to remove her makeup. The brunette didn't think the moment could not get any more awkward until second the door to the room swung open. Sitting with his feet propped up on Rachel's coffee table, was Jesse St. James.
"Now that was an amazing performance Rachel, simply stellar. You do have an outstanding voice!" He said, putting down the magazine he had been reading back in its place on the coffee table, the cover featured a picture of Rachel and her Glinda co-star.
Although he seemed genuine in his praise, Rachel scowled at him, "Thanks. What are you doing here?"
"What I can't visit my ex- girl friend? We have history Rach, I just wanted to congratulate you on a great opening night." he said defensively.
"How kind of you." the brunette said, moving to her vanity to begin digging through her bag for her clothes, "You know where the door is."
She expected him to let himself out, and he eventually did with a wave over his shoulder, the annoying smirk never once fell from his face, "I'll be back in a second." Quinn said, leaving Rachel to change and following Jesse where he had retreated down the hallway,
"St. James, wait a minute." she yelled, going back to her highschool cheerleader captain habits of calling people by their last names. This was going to be a tough conversation for her to have, and her defenses slid into place as naturally as a second skin.
The man stopped and turned around in the dimly lit, shabby hallway, waiting for Quinn to catch up, "Just as a fair warning, I've seen pictures of Rachel's cheek and if you plan on doing the same to me know that I don't have issues hitting girls."
Quinn ground her teeth together, so something was going on with that sleazy reporter who was always following the diva around, and this conversation was going to be harder than the blonde anticipated, "Just shut up for like two seconds alright?" Jesse's eyes widened at the request but he compiled and didn't say anything.
"Thank you." She put one hand on her hip and drew herself up to her full height, "Listen Jesse, I just wanted to say thank you."
He cocked an eyebrow as if to ask 'for what?' but he didn't say the question aloud, for fear of earning a slap from the blonde.
"For everything you've done for Rachel. I know she can be a handful, and I guess I wasn't much better but while you were with Rachel because of Schue you helped her. You looked out for her with reporters, and you were there for her in Ohio when her Dad had surgery and I couldn't be there."
Jesse's smile turned into a smirk and he chanced speaking, "Well, well, well. I never thought this day would come. But your welcome. I didn't expect to ever be more than just the annoying guy getting paid to date Rachel, but I guess I grew to appreciate her insane stubbornness. Reminds me of myself. How could I not stick up for the midget?"
Quinn laughed, he reminded her of Santana, "Yeah, I guess her stubbornness got to me too." she said with a fond smile.
"You two really do love each other don't you?" he could see the adoration in Quinn's eyes and was by no means blind to how much happier Rachel was now that she had Quinn.
"Yeah. I guess we do."
"You better go then, looks like she's ready to leave." he said, nodding over Quinn's shoulder to where Rachel was standing in her doorway, watching their exchange but too far away to hear what they were saying. She was waiting patiently for Quinn to do what she needed to.
"Yeah. Well, thanks Jesse." She said one final time, sticking her hand out to shake his as a gesture of finality and that she no longer despised him - as much. The man took it and they shared an awkward handshake before he turned to leave without a backwards glance and Quinn went to meet Rachel.
"What was that all about?" the brunette asked when Quinn snaked an arm around Rachel's waist to lead her in the opposite direction down the hallway to Kurt's makeup studio.
"I was thanking him for everything he's done for me." she said non-comitally.
Rachel gave her a sideways look, "And what on earth could Jesse St. James possibly do for you?"
"Believe it or not, but he's done a lot more than I originally knew. I've only recently realize what a big hand he's had in my recent happiness but I don't know where I would be right now without him." Quinn got a faraway look and avoided looking directly at Rachel, she knew that if she made eye contact with the diva she wouldn't be able to think straight.
"You can be so cryptic." the diva whined playfully as they slowed to a stop just outside the makeup room. Even though she had yet to get a straight answer on what Quinn had talked to Jesse about, Rachel decided to save investigating that conversation for a future date.
"You love it!" Quinn said, placing a kiss to Rachel's pouting lips. The diva tried to deepen the connection, threading her hands into Quinn's blonde hair she grounded the taller woman on an equal height. Rachel still had her green makeup on and when they broke apart for air, she was sidetracked by Quinn's face. There were splotches of green on the blonde's lips and cheeks.
Rachel broke down into a laughing fit.
"What?" Quinn was completely oblivious.
"Would you two stop being disgustingly adorable and get your asses in here so I can leave?" Kurt yelled through the cracked open door of his studio. Rachel just grabbed the blushing Quinn's hand and led her inside, a couple of Kurt's assistants were cleaning up the room and smiled when they saw the blonde's red and green face.
"Oh honey." the stylist said, shaking his head, "That green isn't supposed to rub off that easily." Quinn finally caught sight of her face in one of the mirrors and blushed an even deeper red. Kurt handed her a makeup remover pad and turned his full attention back to taking off Rachel's stage makeup, "Has Cassie talked to you yet?" he asked.
"About what?" the diva was instantly concerned.
"Macy's of course."
"Oh. Not recently, she just said that she was waiting to hear and we would have a decision soon."
Quinn gave the two a puzzled look through the mirror she was using to remove the green that had transferred to her cheek, "What's going on with Macy's?"
Rachel immediately launched into an explanation with a large smile splitting her face, "You've heard of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade right?" she asked, hardly pausing to wait for Quinn to nod in confirmation, "Well every year they feature the hottest musical on Broadway as one of the acts in the middle of the parade. Well they have multiple shows perform but the big thing is that last spot just after the Rockettes. Last year 'Funny Girl' got it. It was an amazing opportunity, and a lot of fun! This year, 'Wicked' is in the running but we don't figure out the decision until the end of the week."
"You mean we aren't supposed to hear the decision until the end of the week." Kurt said, scrubbing a persistent green splotch behind Rachel's ear, "But, yours truly knows someone who is help organizing the parade and they might have let slip that there is no way the other shows can beat us as long as we had a good opening night! After tonight, there is now way we won't be picked!"
"Really!?" the diva's eye sparkled in excitement.
When Kurt nodded in affirmation the girl jumped up and hugged him, "This is amazing! I love doing the parade! Oh god, we need to start practicing, Thanksgiving is not that far away. There's no way we are going to be ready by then." she began rambling on and Kurt just pushed her back into the chair and rolled his eyes to Quinn who gave him a sympathetic smile. When Rachel got to rambling it took a lot to stop her.
The brunette continued on her rant, eventually coming to the conclusion that as long as the cast slept for only two nights until the performance they would be ready in time, until Kurt finally decided that he had sufficiently removed the green makeup from her face and neck, "Ok, you're good to go. Get some sleep tonight and don't worry about the parade, Cassie knows what she's doing."
"Thanks Kurt." the brunette said, jumping up and grabbing Quinn's hands again so they could leave for the night. They walked in silence, each lost in their own thoughts until they neared the exit of the theater. The blonde didn't even think twice that they were headed to the main doors, but the fact was brought to her attention as a kind police officer who provided security for the theater most nights approached the two of them.
"Will you be needing an escort to your car tonight Ms. Berry?" he asked.
"Are the barricades up?" she asked nonchalantly.
"Yes, and there is theater security along the way."
"Then I think we will be fine. Thank you."
"Of course."
Rachel went to leave, pulling Quinn along with her. But the blonde's arm pulled her back, "Why are there barricades outside and why would we need an escort to your car?" her face was a little more pale than normal and her eyes had poorly disguised worry. Rachel knew she was imagining the worst and probably flashing back to the protest.
"Don't worry Babe." she brought her hands up to Quinn's shoulders comfortingly, "It's just the fans. After shows a lot of them wait outside the theater for the actors to exit and they ask for autographs and pictures. Are you alright with going out through that?"
Quinn swallowed thickly, she really did hate crowds, but at the same time she knew how important the fans were to the brunette and she loved watching Rachel in her element so she nodded and squared her shoulders for whatever lay waiting outside.
"Great!" Rachel pushed through the doors and immediately the two were overwhelmed by the noise of cheering fans of all ages and the flash of cameras. Quinn was stunned still but felt Rachel pulling her over to the edge of one of the barricades where some young girls were brandishing play bills and sharpie markers.
"You were amazing Rachel!" one of them gushed as the brunette released Quinn's hand to sign her playbill.
"Thank you so much for your support!" Rachel replied and happily smiled as another fan snapped a photo. The brunette was at home talking to the fans and spent nearly an hour signing every piece of paper thrust at her and answering every question hurled forth. She knew the importance of keeping her fans happy and really did appreciate the support they gave her.
Quinn just stood back and watched with fascination as Rachel moved down the small fence with practiced ease, occasionally along the barricade there would be an officer or a security guard with the theater. About half way through, Rachel was asked to sign a bald man's head, which she happily did, and Quinn disbelievingly began talking with a young police officer nearby, "It really is incredible isn't it?" she asked.
The officer laughed, "That it is. I did a few nights of crowd control during 'Funny Girl' and let me tell you, she wasn't always this eloquent with the fans."
"Really?" the blonde asked, she was always trying to learn as much about the diva's past as she could to get closer to her in any way.
"Yeah, I remember she would clam up and she just tried to move through as fast as possible. Somewhere along the way she learnt how to deal and now she seems like a natural out there." the officer said smiling fondly at the singer.
"Quinn, come over here." Rachel called a second later, waving the blonde over to the edge of the barricade where a fan was standing with an iPhone raised to take a picture. Quinn arrived at her side and put an instinctive arm around the shorter woman's waist.
"What do you need hon?" the fans awed at the cute nickname and Quinn just blushed. She still wasn't used to her every move being under the microscope, she was just glad that Rachel's fans seemed to be more approving and supportive than the other people Quinn had to put up with.
"They want a picture of us." Rachel gestured at the young girls on the other side of the fence with their phones up.
"With me in it?"
The fans laughed and the one who seemed to be the leader of the small group responded, "Of course with you in it! Broadway's new power couple! You two are so cute together."
Quinn blushed even deeper and felt Rachel pull her closer as the brunette posed for the picture and Quinn just smiled with adoration in her eyes. She felt so lucky to just be a part of Rachel's life. When the diva stood on her tiptoes to give Quinn a peck on the cheek and whisper 'thank you' in her ear the fans all cheered and even more pictures were taken. From then on, Quinn stayed at Rachel's side and occasionally paused for pictures.
Finally, they reached the end of the line where Rachel's car sat waiting, one of the ushers had brought it around for her. Rachel gave one last wave over her shoulder and climbed into the drivers seat and Quinn hopped in the passenger's side. Once they pulled away from the theater and began the drive to Rachel's apartment, the brunette grabbed Quinn's hand and held it in between their seats.
At the first stoplight, Quinn leaned across the center console and captured Rachel's lips in a kiss so passionate that the brunette didn't realize the light had changed and the car behind them beeped, causing the two women to jump away from each other and Rachel glue her eyes back on the road, "What was that for?" she asked breathlessly.
"You are amazing." Quinn replied simply.
Rachel laughed, "You're pretty amazing yourself."
The next day before the first show, Kurt's gossip was confirmed when Cassie announced to the whole cast and crew that they had been selected to perform at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade with the Rockettes and a litany of other skilled groups. Everyone was excited and took in stride that they were going to have a very long two weeks juggling both their scheduled shows and the preparations for the parade. The only solace they had was that after the parade they had a two day break so they could spend the holiday with family before they geared up for performing non-stop through December.
Everyone fell into a familiar schedule of performances a few times a day and rehearsal for the parade whenever time allowed. Rachel and Quinn were closer than ever, everyday they spent as much time as possible together, but it was difficult as their schedules seemed in constant conflict. Most days they only saw each other at night when they would collapse tiredly onto one of their beds- more often than not they spent the night at Rachel's apartment, they were practically living together without anything official. They both knew where the other hid a spare key, and when they weren't together at night their beds felt cold and empty.
A few days into the hectic schedule of performance and practice, Rachel dragged her feet to her dressing room after she had done her duty with greeting her fans and signing whatever they thrust at her. She had some time before her next show and all she wanted to do was take a nap with Quinn, but the blonde was talking to Tina after the show about plans for the parade so Rachel was still waiting for her when she arrived at her dressing room. When she got to her dressing room and pushed inside, the sight greeting her made her reconsider having only an old key lock on the door instead of something more solid. Twice in one week she had gotten unpleasant surprises sitting in her room.
Lounging on her loveseat with her feet up and a magazine in front of her face, was none other than Spencer, Rachel's most recent, and most serious ex- girlfriend.
Seeing spencer sitting there on her love seat with all the confidence in the world made Rachel think back to when they had met. Spencer hadn't noticed Rachel's appearance so the diva propped her head to the side and saw the night they first met played before her eyes. One of Rachel's friends from NYADA had convinced her to go to a party at Columbia. It was during Funny Girl and with a few shows already under her belt, Rachel was a bit of a celebrity- especially with the nerdy cultured students at such a prestigious school.
From the moment she walked in, Rachel was inexplicably drawn to a tall brunette locked in conversation with a boy wearing a 'Cornell' shirt. Rachel didn't know what it was, but she had to know what they were talking about that made the other woman's eyes light up excitedly and talk with her hands in elegant gestures. She got herself a drink and subtly joined a small group close enough that she could catch some of what the woman was saying but far enough that she could watch her without being creepy. The brunette was tall and lanky with a classic runner's build but she obviously had strong muscles that were just hinted at beneath her form fitting shirt. Her eyes were deep emerald green and flashed with intensity at the conversation she was having.
The bits of conversation that floated over to her only seemed to endear her more to the mysterious woman. She seemed to be in a spirited debate about women's roles in African tribal communities and how that was stunting the advancement of women in their governments. The diva was never one for political science but nonetheless listening to the brunette go on made Rachel believe it was the most important topic in the world at that moment.
Rachel internally shook her head. She also wasn't normally the one to go after people discussing their latest PolySci lecture at parties but something about the confident way the brunette woman held herself, the easy grace with which she sipped the beer she was holding, the classic beauty in her sloping neck and sharp jaw made her different. She made Rachel nervous in a way she never had been before, normally Rachel knew she could get just about anyone at a party with minimal effort but this girl was special, she was a challenge. So she took one last sip of liquid courage and once the 'Cornell' shirt guy left to rejoin his apparent group of guys in another room, Rachel made her move.
Running a hand through her hair, Rachel walked over to the brunette, "Hi, I'm Rachel." She said, no cheesy pick up lines, no gimmicks, she already knew they wouldn't work on this girl.
"Yeah I know who you are." The woman said smoothly, somehow from her lips it didn't sound odd or irregular at all. It sounded as if it was exactly as it should be- Rachel later learned that Spencer was good at making things sound exactly as they should. But for now they were just hardly meeting, "You're in the revival of Funny Girl right? A friend and I went and saw a show a couple of nights ago."
Rachel blushed a bit but nodded in confirmation. She didn't know if she would ever get used to people recognizing her, "Yes that was me. I go to NYADA." She said, trying to draw some attention away from the musical. For weeks it had been all she had been able to talk about, with the cast, with the crew, during interviews, on the phone to her parents. She just wanted to be able to talk about something else, anything else.
The woman smiled, she saw what Rachel was doing and let her do it anyway, she was incredibly perceptive and that was probably one of the reasons her relationship with Rachel lasted as long as it did, "NYADA is pretty impressive." She took a quick sip of her beer and Rachel marveled at how she could possibly make that mundane action seem so perfect, "I go to Columbia."
"Columbia is pretty impressive too. What are you studying?"
The woman pulled her brown hair behind an ear and just kept smiling at Rachel as though she knew exactly how this conversation would go and she knew exactly how and where the night would end. And she did. "I'm in my first year of law school."
"Wow, so you are studying law at one of the most prestigious schools in the country and you still have time to come to a silly frat party?"
"One of my friends dragged me out of the library kicking and screaming." she joked, "You seem pretty busy yourself, attending NYADA and leading a broadway musical and you came tonight."
"I was dragged from the theater against my will." the other woman was so enchanting Rachel couldn't get her smile out of her head, "You never did tell me your name."
"Spencer." Their relationship began explosively as their night ended in Spencer's dorm room and Rachel's walk of shame back to NYADA the next day. From the beginning they challenged each other, physically, mentally, and emotionally. She was the first woman that Rachel brought home to meet her parents and the first woman who broke her heart. Despite their painful breakup they had remained friends, you can't date someone for nearly a year without molding your life into theirs and they still talked regularly, Spencer was one of Rachel's most trusted confidants.
But sitting in Rachel's dressing room after a show was not how she expected to next encounter Spencer. When the diva landed back in reality Spencer was sitting up on the love seat with an amused expression at Rachel's apparent zoning out, "Earth to Rach?" she asked jokingly.
"Spencer, what an unexpected surprise." she said, fully entering her dressing room and moving to give the taller woman a hug. Spencer smelled familiar, like going home after a long trip, she still used the same shampoo that made her hair smell like cucumbers and melon. Their bodies fit together just as perfectly as they always had, two halves of a whole, but now when they hugged there was no pretense. Just two friends greeting each other after a long time apart.
"How could I not come and see your show? Plus I always knew you were a witch so this was just sort of confirming what I've been thinking for the past year." she said playfully, earning her a gentle punch from the diva, "You were amazing by the way."
"Thanks. You should have let me know you were coming, I could have gotten you seats way better than whatever you can afford with your sad law student budget." Rachel took a seat next to Spencer on the love seat, it had been a while since they last talked, but it was like they had never been apart. Their lives always did seem to meld effortlessly together.
"Hey, my sad law student salary is just fine! I just got an internship with the Sylvester law firm downtown. It's perfect with the civil rights work they do I feel like I can actually make difference, even if all I do right now is get people coffee and help organize old files." They spent the next fifteen minutes catching up. Spencer had been in a couple of relationships since her and Rachel had broken up, nothing serious until she met a med student who was also at Columbia and they instantly hit it off, Spencer and the girl- Arizona - had been together for a few months and they were very happy. With her feet comfortable thrown up into Spencer's lap, Rachel told her all about the protest and the law suit, most of which Spencer already knew - they had even studied the lawsuit in one of her contract seminars- but she gladly listened to Rachel's point of view and she gasped in concern when Rachel told her about her father's surgery.
"Is Hiram alright? I remember he makes the best vegan lemon meringue pies!" Indeed Rachel had brought Spencer back to Ohio the previous Thanksgiving and her fathers had instantly warmed to her, loving her easy intellect and the way she seemed to ground Rachel. Though they both new in the back of their minds that Spencer and Rachel would not last, they shared a hope that she would have enough fire in her to make Rachel see how much easier her life would be if she were dating a man. They knew that the two brunettes weren't in love so they weren't really concerned for Rachel.
"He's doing fine. He was out of the hospital in record time and out and about against doctors orders before Dad could stop him." Rachel laughed. She had only briefly met Spencer's parents when they came to visit her at Columbia, they traveled a lot and Rachel always seemed to have a show when they were in town. They seems like decent enough people, workaholics maybe, but they cared for their daughter.
"That's good to hear." they were silent for a moment, both lost in their own thoughts, while Spencer idly played with the laces of Rachel's shoes in her lap. "So you and Quinn."
"Me and Quinn." Rachel echoed. She really didn't know where to begin, her relationship with the blonde was still such an enigma she never knew how to describe it other than am incredible experience she felt blessed by daily.
"She's good for you." that was about the last thing she expected Spencer to say, and the other brunette must have been able to tell by Rachel's raised eyebrow and she elaborated with out prompting, "When we were together you seemed so reserved, like you were afraid to let go completely because you could get hurt. With her you don't look like that anymore. You aren't afraid. It's good to see."
Rachel knew Spencer was right. She always was, "I really do love her."
"I know." Silence fell again. That was in the end how their relationship ended up failing, they didn't love each other, and they were better off as friends.
Spencer kept playing with the diva's shoes, "Has she met your parents yet?"
"No. Hopefully she will soon, we just haven't found the time. Between the show and now the parade life has been crazy."
"What about Thanksgiving? The Berry family Thanksgiving was the best that I've had in years." Last year while they were dating, Rachel had taken Spencer back to Lima for the holiday. Though she absolutely despised the small town, she had made the vacation memorable for Rachel.
"That's a good idea. Daddy had said that he expected me home during the break, it would be the perfect opportunity for them to meet Quinn."
"I'm sure she'll love it. Meeting the Berry men is always quite the experience."
Rachel's face suddenly drained of color, "Oh shit. She's going to meet my parents." Her mind and mouth began running a million miles an hour, "They're going to interrogate her and scare her off, and if they don't they're going to drag up everything they can about her past. This is going to be a disaster."
Spencer just laughed and grabbed one of the diva's flying hands, "It's going to be fine Rach! She's a strong girl." she rubbed one hand reassuringly on Rachel's knee to try to calm her down.
"They almost scared you off Spenc! And you deal with jeckles in court all the time!" her other hand was still flying about to give life to what she was saying. Her eyes were large and her voice was steadily getting higher.
"You are so adorable when you're freaked out Rach!"They heard the door of Rachel's dressing room open and Quinn came in, her hair was ruffled and she looked visibly tired.
"Quinn!" Rachel shot up off the love seat, removing her hand from Spencer's and untangling her legs. She was upon the blonde before she knew it and excitedly threw her arms around the taller woman in a bone crushing hug, "I missed you."
Quinn smiled into Rachel's soft hair, "I missed you too. You know in the whole half hour since I've seen you last."
Rachel let go of her but kept an arm around Quinn's waist and led her over to a large armchair next to the love seat, "Quinn, this is Spencer. Spencer, Quinn." she made the introductions as Spencer stood up to shake Quinn's hand.
"It's great to finally meet the infamous Quinn Fabray." She said shaking the blonde's hand.
"And you." Quinn gracefully perched on the edge of the armchair, but was soon pushed back as Rachel curled herself up into the blonde's lap.
Quinn had heard from Kurt about how torn up Rachel had been after her break up with Spencer and from talking to other people she had heard that the brunette was studying law at Columbia and she and Rachel had dated for nearly a year. Rachel and Quinn had briefly done the ex's talk but for the most part, Spencer was still a mystery to the blonde.
"Spencer saw the show this morning." Rachel said playing with the silver ring on Quinn's finger, "Quinn is the main stage manager." she informed Spencer.
"Congratulations! You seem to be holding up well, I remember Tina seemed ready to pull her hair out every time I saw her during Funny Girl." Spencer had spent her fair share of time backstage when she was dating Rachel and she had grown fond of Tina.
Having Rachel so close to her put Quinn at ease, and she laughed in the bubbly way that made the diva smile, "With such an amazing cast and crew it's easy to get the job done." she said self-effacatingly.
"You're so modest!" Rachel said endearingly, "She is amazing, half the time I don't know how she keeps from slapping some of the people she has to deal with. She's always running around making things happen." the way she was looking at Quinn made the blonde blush.
Spencer smiled, the two of them were so cute and she knew they were perfect for each other, "I have to get going, Arizona and I are going to get lunch before her next lecture. Good luck on your next shows and the parade Rachel, it was great meeting you Quinn." she said, grabbing her coat from the coffee table and heading toward the door.
The couple in the armchair echoed 'goodbyes' as she was leaving. Once the door clicked shut behind Spencer, Quinn pulled Rachel down into a passionate, deep kiss. She tangled one hand into Rachel's hair and the other spent no time in waiting to sneak under the hem of her shirt, brushing along the soft skin of her lower back. The kiss was full of clashing teeth and tongues. When she dragged her nails gently across Rachel's abs, the brunette moaned and pulled away from her insistent mouth.
Looking through her heavily lidded eyes at Quinn she reluctantly had to slow down the blonde, "What's gotten into you Quinnie?"
The blonde pouted and tried to recapture Rachel's lips, but she was having none of it. She shot Quinn a raised eyebrow look, and she just ducked her head and began playing with Rachel's fingers. Soon enough though Rachel figured out what it was, "You're jealous of Spencer."
When Quinn didn't respond Rachel knew she was right. She found it both adorable and entertaining at the same time, she hadn't expected Quinn to be the jealous type, "You know you have nothing to worry about, right honey?"
"I know." Quinn finally met Rachel's eyes again, "I don't know what I was thinking. I just know how close the two of you are and it puts me a little on edge."
"Well don't be too worried, I love you more than anything."
"I love you too." Quinn said with a smile, it was the first time that they had said it to each other aloud and it made everything seem somehow more solid, more important, more permanent.
Rachel leaned down and kissed Quinn again, this time it was slower and full of emotion, not pretense, "Do you and your mom have plans for Thanksgiving?" she asked.
"No. She's going to spend the holiday with her sister and her family."
"Then you are officially invited to the twenty- sixth annual Berry family Thanksgiving!" she said happily, "I mean I figured it was about time that you meet my parents, if that's ok with you I mean. I don't want to pressure you into anything." Rachel began her nervous rambling again, "So, just if you want to..."
"I would love to come to Thanksgiving with you." Quinn said silencing the brunette's rambling.
"Great! I'll get us tickets!" She moved to get off of Quinn's lap and find tickets on her laptop- getting plane tickets during the holidays was always an ordeal and she figured the sooner she could get it taken care of the better, and the better seats she could get them instead of the ones they had when they had gone to help Quinn's mom. But before she could get up, Quinn had pulled her back into another kiss, "I can get them later."
Two days later Quinn was spending yet another night at Rachel's apartment, it was nearly two in the morning when Quinn's cell phone rang, waking her and Rachel up. She looked at it with squinted eyes and growled lowly when she saw that it was Santana, if it had been anyone else she would have hung up and thrown the phone across the room but she would do anything for Santana so she went out into the hallway to answer it.
"What's up San?"
"It's Brittany. She came over tonight and I don't know what I did but she got all mad at me and stormed out. Quinn we've never had a fight before."
"What day is it today?"
"It's November twentieth. Why?"
"When did you and Brittany start dating?"
The Latina was silent for a second, "Damn it. You're a life-saver Quinn!"
"Goodness, you should get your anniversary tattooed on your arm for all the good your memory is."
"Goodnight Q."
"Goodnight San."
When Quinn went back into Rachel's apartment the brunette was sitting up in bed staring determinedly at her closet. Quinn crawled into bed and kissed her lightly on the shoulder, "What are you looking at babe?"
"You only have three pairs of pants here and five shirts. That means only fifteen outfits. And not all of your pants go with all of your shirts so that's even less, and that's if you do laundry between each few days. So you can only stay here for like ten days in a row." Rachel seemed close to tears but all that Quinn could do was choke back a laugh.
"Yeah that sounds about right hon."
"I don't want you to leave after ten days, I want you to stay here forever."
Now Quinn did laugh, Rachel half asleep was almost as funny as Rachel drunk, "Don't worry about it. I'll always come back, now go to sleep."
"Quinn, you should move in with me!" the brunette said excitedly.
"Although you're math skills while you're practically asleep on your feet are impressive, I think I'd prefer if you asked me that in the light of day."
Rachel sighed and snuggled back into the crook of Quinn's neck, "Fine, but the question will be the same Fabray."
When they woke up the next morning Quinn remembered their conversation, Rachel didn't. Quinn didn't bring it up and Rachel didn't notice the slight falter in Quinn's smile when she asked if the blonde had to run back to her apartment to get clothes for the coming week. Quinn pushed aside the disappointment and told herself that if it was meant to be and if it was really what Rachel wanted, it would happen eventually.
"Final costume checks, everyone mic-ed up, everyone ready to go?" Quinn asked walking around the group of dancers gathered in the staging area just to the side of the main entrance of Macy's. It was Thanksgiving day and the parade was in full swing. The cast of Wicked was set to perform next, the Rockettes had already gone and another musical was on the square performing while a reporter was interviewing Rachel.
The brunette was fully in costume, green and all, and had one of the biggest 'Rachel Berry' smiles that Quinn had ever seen on her face. After her second check of the entire cast performing, Quinn was confident that the dancers were ready and she stood off to the side to talk with Tina. Before she knew it, a couple of the Rockettes came over and started talking to the two women, "We just wanted to congratulate the two of you on the show. We know a good tech crew when we see one and without you two this show wouldn't be what it is."
Tina smiled indulgently, she had interacted with these dancers before and once she had even been sought out to transfer to work as the stage manager for their show, but she was always entertained by the women, "Thanks, congratulations to you all too."
The group all talked for a while longer until one of them singled Quinn out, turning so she was isolated from Tina and the other dancers, but Quinn didn't really mind. The woman seemed nice enough, "You went to Yale right?"
"Yeah I did. I graduated last year." she said.
"I thought you looked familiar, I graduated two years ago. You lived in Trumbull right?"
"All four years." Quinn, like many other Yale-ies was extremely proud of her residential college, "Wait, I remember you!"
The dancer smiled, "Still singing obnoxiously loudly in the shower?"
Quinn shook her head, "I never would have guessed that Jen, the control freak RA who was majoring in bio-chem would have gone on to become a Rockette!"
"Hey this is just one of my many jobs. I'm nearly through med school and have an internship lined up at the Mercy Grace Hospital already for when I graduate, and I'm working part time at a lab downtown between classes and rehearsals." Jen said.
"Congratulations!"
"Thanks. And how about you? Little spiteful freshman Quinn is working for the biggest musical on Broadway! It's amazing." Jen put a light hand on Quinn's shoulder, in her Rockette heels she was a decent couple of inches taller than the blonde and it resulted in her looking down into Quinn's hazel eyes.
"I was not spiteful!" she said defensively.
"Hate to break it to ya hon, but you kind of were."
A small pair of hands snaked around Quinn's waist and a green face appeared over her shoulder, "Hey babe." Rachel pressed a gentle kiss into Quinn's neck, ever since her first show, the brunette had been careful to not get more green paint on her girlfriend.
"Rach, this is Jen. She was my RA at Yale." she said, flashing back to a few days before when she had met Spencer, and though she had never dated Jen she could feel sense Rachel's slight jealousy as she retained a firm grip with one arm around Quinn's waist but politely shook Jen's hand.
"It's an honor to meet you Rachel." Jen said, she really was a big fan of Rachel and she couldn't believe the quiet blonde that had been in her hall three years ago was really dating one of the hottest stars on Broadway.
"Ladies, we're on in five. Rachel we need you on the square ready to go." Tina said, rounding up the dancers.
Rachel said a quick goodbye and Quinn gave her a good luck kiss before she went to take her place, "You'll be great babe."
"She's way too good for you." Jen said once Rachel had taken her spot to the side of the makeshift stage in front of the store.
"So I've been told."
Thank you for reading and sticking with this story for 14 whole chapters! It's still incredible to me to think about. Up next will be meeting the Berrys, I promise that chapter will be up sooner than these recent updates, I'm on Spring Break so lots of writing will be done!
I'm making a list of things I need to include before I finish this story so if there's any story lines you don't want left hanging or characters I need to bring back let me know so I can plan accordingly!
Special thanks to kestralgirl1, CharmedTheVampireSlayer, MaryLC, , Nina1400, ichigo111981, ShadowCub, Ghostwriter6647, gllover22, Guest, Weasleyswan, and Dee for your reviews!
Last thing, I'm looking for a beta who would be willing to help me read over future chapters and past chapters for continuity and grammar and just general awesomeness, so if you are interested message me!