Hey, I almost got this updated exactly a month later... Almost. Here it is, special for you all. Thanks to my beautiful beta who puts up with wayyy too much of my shit :) and thanks for all of you amazing readers who review and pm me and tell me to get off my butt and keep writing. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, it was a difficult one to write but I think it all came together in the end! Thanks for your continued support.
"He um, he hit Rachel." Quinn said quietly. She was afraid to meet Hiram's eyes but knew that she would have to so she held his gaze. Where her eyes were full of remorse and pain over the event, Hiram's were unreadable. But their natural stormy grey gave away the clouds brewing inside of him. There was a long silence, it probably only stretched out for a minute, but for Quinn, it felt like forever.
Finally he spoke, his voice was weary and it belonged to someone much older than he, "Your father struck Rachel?" It was more of a statement than a question, but Quinn felt the need to nod in affirmation. She knew there was no use in trying to explain the situation. It didn't matter. All he cared about was that his little girl was assaulted by the father of the woman sitting across from him at the moment, "How the hell could you have let that happen?" He was still speaking softly, but the weariness had been replaced by a quiet rage building to a slow boil inside of him.
"It was never supposed to happen like that. She tried to stand up to him-"
"So she tries to defend you and you let her get hurt! You took her to your house and you let that man hurt her!" Though he was definitely more forceful in his delivery, he was refraining from yelling. He stood up and moved behind his chair, his knuckles clenched the back tightly.
"That's not how it happened!" Quinn was in distress, but she kept from whining her answer.
"Really!?" Hiram's voice now rose, "How exactly did it happen then Quinn?" his knuckles blanched as they clutched the chair.
At that point, Rachel and LeRoy heard the commotion and came back from the kitchen to see Hiram's towering form pinning Quinn to her chair with just a look. "Dad, what's going on?" the singer asked hesitantly, she was across the table from her girlfriend and could see how clearly uncomfortable she was but she didn't dare cross the room with her father looking like that.
"Quinn here was just telling me about your little trip," he said, his gaze never wavered from the blonde.
Everything instantly clicked for Rachel and she quickly went to stand beside Quinn, "It wasn't that big of a deal! A little misunderstanding really."
"A misunderstanding that ended with you getting slapped!"
"Rachel can stand up for herself, dear. You raised her well, I mean she stuck it to him afterward with her pepperspray." LeRoy chimed in, trying to calm his husband.
"Yeah, I can take care of myself!"
"That's not the point Rachel!" Hiram ran a hand lightly over his face and seemed to sag slightly against the chair before quickly straightening again, "Wait, you knew about this, LeRoy?"
Both he and Rachel shared a look. "She called me after it happened. Don't you dare get mad!" He told his husband when he noticed Hiram tense up to begin again, "The only reason she didn't tell you was because you hadn't met Quinn yet and she knew you would go off like you just did!" Rachel nodded along from where she was beside the blonde's chair. She had felt horrible not telling her father yet - and fully intended to eventually - but she hadn't wanted to sour Hiram's impression of Quinn before he even met the girl.
"Quinn, Rachel, could you girls give us a minute?" Hiram requested, turning his full attention on LeRoy now.
Both of them knew that it would be easier to work through this just the two of them, and the women knew better than to question them so they quickly stood up and Rachel led the way to her room.
Once they were alone, LeRoy sat down and waited for Hiram to do the same. The taller man was first to speak, "What are we going to do with that girl?" Ever since Rachel had fallen off of her first bike, her father's had been trying to protect her from anything and they were now being faced with the obvious reality that they couldn't keep her safe from everything.
Meanwhile, Rachel was sitting on her bed as Quinn paced back and forth.
"Your parents are going to hate me. Actually no, your parents do hate me..." she was muttering half to herself, and half to Rachel.
The brunette just folded her legs indian style beneath her and watched Quinn wear tracks in the carpet from her pacing.
"They don't hate you. Daddy already knew, and Dad will come around it eventually."
"Eventually... The fathers of the woman I love hate me, this is just great!" Rachel just smiled, the blonde was unconsciously doing one of her many nervous habits where she talked with her hands. The pale appendages were flying about with a life of their own and served to accentuate each word that she stated with a grand flourish, "This is horrible, they hate me."
Finally, Rachel put Quinn out of her misery; she got up and grabbed the blonde's hands forcing her to stop in the pacing and meet Rachel's eyes. "Listen to me Quinn, I love you and that's not going to change. They know that I love you and eventually they will get over it and realize that your father hitting me is not a reflection on you. Alright?"
Quinn nodded, but the diva could tell she still needed to be distracted. She shifted their hands so that her right was intwined with Quinn's left and she put her over hand on the blonde's waist. The blonde knew what her girlfriend was trying to do and with her hand reluctantly on the diva's shoulder she tried to make her understand how serious the situation was, "Rachel! You aren't listening, this is a disaster."
She ignored the blonde's pleas and simply held her close, "Everything is going to be fine. I love you that's all that matters. Why are you so concerned?"
"Because I love you too, and this was supposed to be a good holiday and your parents have to like me." Quinn was so strung out and exasperated by the whole situation that she could hardly catch her breath long enough to get out her pathetic explanation.
"Why do they have to like you?" Rachel gently probed.
"Because!" Her hazel eyes shined brightly with tears Rachel knew she was seconds away from shedding. "If your Dad hates me and doesn't trust me there's no way he's going to trust me with you and give us his blessing and you're so close to them you couldn't just go against their wishes and keep dating me if they hate me!" She rushed out all in one breath. Quinn's head ducked down in despair and the tears she had been keeping in finally came out.
Rachel just hugged her tight so the tears rained down onto her shoulder as Quinn rested her head there. "Shh, there's no way that I would leave you Quinn." The brunette gently began swaying with Quinn following her lead.
As Rachel led in their slow dance, she began quietly singing, "Fly me to the moon. Let me play among the stars." Quinn's breathing calmed down gradually as she let Rachel's singing wash over her, "In other words, hold my hand. In other words, baby, kiss me."
Through the opening in the door, Hiram and LeRoy could see the couple dancing and hear Rachel's slow gentle singing.
"It's not up to us anymore, is it?" Hiram quietly asked.
"It never was." LeRoy was smiling at the tender moment, the girls were too caught up in eachother to notice they were being watched. "Rachel knows what she's doing. Quinn is the last person we need to worry about protecting her from."
Hiram nodded and took his husband's hand, leading them down the hall to their room and giving the girls some privacy.
"Fill my heart with song. And let me sing for ever more. You are all I long for. All I worship and adore." Rachel's voice was soft and warm against the shell of Quinn's ear. The brunette didn't know why, but Quinn always listened to 'Fly me to the moon' when she was upset and it seemed to help so Rachel figured it was the perfect song to sing her now, "In other words, please be true. In other words, I love you." with conviction she repeated, "There's no way I would leave you, Quinn."
Rachel hummed the the melody and kept leading Quinn in their delicate bedroom ballroom dance.
"How can you know that for sure?" Quinn's voice was raspy and quiet, barely more than a whisper and it almost got lost in Rachel's humming.
"Because I love you," the brunette replied simply.
"You're sure?" Rachel found the blonde's doubt adorable and it broke her heart at how much her father really had messed her up as a child that she still had such issues believing that others found her valuable. To prove her point beyond a shadow of a doubt, Rachel stopped their swaying and dropped down on one knee. Quinn's eyes widened comically, "Rachel, you're not-"
"Just listen," the singer intrrupted, "These last months dating you have been the best of my life. I just wish that I could have more time with you. So, Lucy Quinn Fabray, will you do me the honor," she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a small velvet box, "of moving in with me?" Rachel popped open the box to reveal a sparkly gold key.
"I cannot believe you!" Quinn said with a rush of an exhale and lightly smacked the brunette on the shoulder.
"Oh, you didn't think I was proposing did you?" she asked feigning innocence. One glare from Quinn was all it took for her smile to widen further, she got off her knee, "So what do you say?"
"Of course, I'll move in with you!" she said and was immediately engulfed in a massive hug from Rachel. "How long have you had the key?" Quinn asked once she was released from the brunette's death grip.
"The day after Santana and Brittany's anniversary. Remember when Santana called you in the middle of the night and I kind of blurted it out? Well, the next day I went and got this key made. I've just been looking for the right time to ask you." Quinn's smile split her face and Rachel knew it must hurt to smile that widely. "I was going to do it at the parade but, well, I got distracted."
"Right, distracted."
"Shut up and take the key." Rachel said handing her the box.
Quinn took it and examined they small piece of metal "Did you paint this gold?" Her eyes squinted and she could swear that she could identify the brunette's favorite gold nail polish on the key.
"Maybe…" she evaded.
"I love it." Quinn told her before drawing her in for a soft kiss.
When Rachel pulled back, she had the biggest smirk on her face, "You underestimate me, Fabray - proposing in a childhood bedroom? That's so unromantic."
"Of course. From you I would be expecting fireworks, a horse drawn carriage, and probably a choreographed dance number."
"Don't forget the live musical accompaniment."
"I would never."
Later that night once they had again folded themselves into Rachel's small bed, the brunette finally let herself relax. She pulled herself impossibly closer to Quinn and just allowed all the tension and pent up stress she had gotten since the argument flow out of her and she lost herself in how perfect that moment was, she almost didn't hear Quinn's whispered question.
"Have I ever told you why I like that song?"
Rachel shook her head then realized that the blonde couldn't see her: even though Quinn was taller, most of the time Rachel ended up being the big spoon and tonight was not an exception, "No, you haven't."
"When I was younger my parents, well they fought a lot." Quinn paused to collect her thoughts and the brunette pressed an encouraging kiss to her temple, "But whenever they would play that old song everything would go away. The drinking, the cheating, the lying, they would stop fighting and for just a few minutes everything would be alright again."
Rachel simply rubbed a hand comfortingly up and down Quinn's arm and waited to see if she would go into anymore detail.
"That was the only time I heard Russell tell my mom he loved her was when he would sing that song to her."
Quinn fell quiet, and Rachel filled for her, "When I was in highschool, I listened to 'Don't Rain on my Parade' religiously. That song got me through some tough times, between school and everything else sometimes it was all I could do to put it on and empty my mind." Rachel shuddered remembering those four years, "Hell it was almost the last song I ever heard."
Quinn desperately wanted to pry and ask what Rachel meant, but she heard the brunette's breathing even out and knew she was already drifting off to sleep.
Breakfast the next morning was filled with a quiet tension. Rachel had woken up early and she waited for Quinn before they went down so that they would be a united front. They walked down the stairs with Rachel in front, and found Hiram and LeRoy cooking breakfast in the kitchen.
"Good morning!" LeRoy said brightly, waving his spatula to indicated to the girls to sit down at the breakfast bar. "How did you two sleep?"
Rachel made the first move to take a seat and Quinn followed. The brunette was slightly surprised at her fathers completely ignoring what had happened last night, it wasn't like them to gloss over their problems without addressing them. Hiram hadn't looked up from where he was slicing fruit at the counter since the girls arrived.
"Pretty well." Rachel answered carefully, while Quinn played with the hem of one of Rachel's old William McKinley shirts that had been stolen from the tall wardrobe. She didn't think the blonde had worn her worn her own clothes the entire time they had been out in Ohio. "It's a bit tight with the two of us in the twin. Quinn is the biggest bed hog," she said playfully, pushing some of the blonde's hair behind an ear. It got a small smile from Quinn, but she still hadn't brought her eyes up.
"Trust me, that doesn't ever get better. No matter how large the bed is." LeRoy told them with a wink.
"Normally I can just shove her to the side, but I didn't want to push her out of the bed." Rachel hoped that talking about their life together in New York would put Quinn at ease just as much as show her fathers how serious they were.
"I like to cuddle..." Quinn defended lamely while slightly blushing.
Hiram turned to the breakfast bar and handed Quinn a mug of coffee just as he had done yesterday. But this time, he kept a grip on the cup until the blonde's eyes were forced to meet his own and in mere seconds, she read more forgiveness and regret in his eyes than he could have possibly communicated with words. A timid understanding fell between them that Hiram did not place the blame of the incident on Quinn. Rachel and LeRoy pretended to be oblivious to the interaction but when Quinn raised the cup to her lips and saw the brunette's face transformed by a wide smirk, she knew her girlfriend was privy to what had happened.
"Breakfast this morning will be a lovely vegetable and potato fry with sausage for our meat eating population and a beautiful fruit salad for our rabbit- I mean vegan." LeRoy pulled everyone from their thoughts and refocused them as he began dishing up the plates.
"I'm not a rabbit!" The brunette stated, feigning offense.
The meal passed quickly and after some idle chatter, Rachel found herself giving Brittany directions to the house. The blonde had visited numerous times before and was well liked by the Berry men, but she couldn't ever seem to remember how to get to their house.
LeRoy and Hiram both had to go in for work so they excused themselves from the house soon after with promises of a large dinner for Santana and Brittany when they arrived that evening. The other women weren't expected for another hour and a half at least, so Rachel decided to give Quinn the deluxe tour of Lima, Ohio: The Rachel Berry Story.
"Stop number one!" Rachel excitedly announced, pulling the car her parents had left them to use off to the side of the road and jumping out.
Quinn smiled at her eagerness and followed her onto the sidewalk. They were on a street corner just a few blocks from Rachel's house. Quinn couldn't find anything special about the site save for a disgusting mustard yellow house across the road, but it must be somewhere important because the brunette was wearing a megawatt smile staring at the lightpost above them.
"Halloween my first year of middle school." she began, setting the scene for the narrative of her life, "I dressed as Barbra Striesand, of course. My friends and I all went out for the first time without our parents. This boy I had a huge crush on, Tom, was dressed as Groucho Marx. He told me that he liked me too and I had my first ever real kiss right here under this street lamp."
Quinn couldn't help but fall just that much more in love with the brunette, she was too adorable. In response, she stepped forward and captured Rachel's lips in a quick, loving kiss. "Did you ever think you would come back here actually having been Fanny Brice and have another kiss?"
"Never in a million years."
"I am a better kisser than him right?" Quinn's eyes danced with a jovial light that warmed the brunette's heart.
"Hmm, I'm not sure about that. I think I'm going to need another kiss, just to be sure." With that, she rocked forwards, one hand on Quinn's shoulder and the other tangled in her blonde hair to pull her in closer. Never in a million years would sixth grade Rachel have believed that fourteen years later she would be kissing the girl she loved on a street corner in Lima, Ohio after starring in two Broadway musicals.
"Definitely a better kisser." Rachel confirmed when they broke apart. "On with the tour!" she announced, turning back to the car before she could be pulled into another one of Quinn's addictive kisses. The blonde reluctantly got back into the car and Rachel peeled away from the curb. She took them out of the neighborhood and down the main road a bit to a church with two basketball courts in its expansive parking lot where the brunette parked them in a far corner next to one of the hoops.
"Stop two!" She got out again, and again, Quinn followed. She fully expected to hear the story of how Rachel learned to play basketball, instead the brunette went to the hoop and bent down a bit to examine the pole. "This is where I learnt to drive," she explained. "Dad wanted me to practice backing up, but he wasn't exactly the best with handling me and high stress situations."
Rachel chuckled and beckoned the blonde over to her. "I backed right into this hoop."
Looking at where the brunette indicated, she could clearly see a black smear of paint the exact same color as the car they had been driving in. She could imagine the chaos that must have transpired in the car as Rachel got a dreamy expression remembering the incident.
"Just put it in reverse and go slowly. You just have to park once and we can be done for today." Hiram pushed the sunglasses up his nose slightly and redoubled his grip on the handle above the passenger door.
A fifteen year old Rachel smiled widely from the driver's seat. It was her second time ever driving since she had gotten her permit and she loved the responsibility and freedom that came with driving."Alright, I can do that!"
Rachel carefully shifted up to reverse and looked over her shoulder, there were no other cars in the parking lot so of course there was no traffic to be concerned about. She just had to try to get in between the lines.
"Slowly, Rachel." Hiram warned, he was turned nearly all the way around in his seat to try to watch behind them. The girl sucked her bottom lip between her teeth as she concentrated on her side mirror, carefully adjusting the wheel so she was perfectly aligned. "A bit more to the right, hon."
"I don't need to go right, Dad, I'm between the lines."
"Rachel, turn right."
"But I'm in the lines!" Rachel stubbornly insisted and continued forging ahead with her parking.
"Turn! It's not the lines I'm concerned about Rac-"
There was the loud scraping of metal on metal and Rachel slammed on the breaks propelling her forward into the wheel and Hiram into the dashboard, mainly out of surprise instead of from the actual force. Both of them were silent for a moment as Rachel put the car in park.
"It's not the lines. It's the basketball hoop." Hiram said with quiet disapproval.
"From then on Daddy was in charge of driving lessons." Rachel said smiling.
When they went to get back in the car this time, Quinn went around the long way and took note of the slightly different color tone in the rear bumper and the trunk of the car. A sure sign that the bumper had been replaced after Rachel's little accident.
When they got back into the car, they drove for a while longer. Rachel and Quinn sang along to old songs that reminded them of being young and in high school. They passed neighborhoods and eventually ended up in the closest thing Lima had to a city center. Rachel parked in a metered spot and dropped in a couple of coins. She knew that they would be long gone before the meter ran out, but she couldn't help it. LeRoy always put extra money into meters to 'make the next person's day'.
"Stop number three!" Rachel said turning to Quinn, "Well I guess this can be numbers three, four, and five."
First, she led them into a small coffee shop right near where they had parked. There was a smiling coffee bean decal on the front window which said 'The Lima Bean.' Quinn couldn't see Rachel frequenting a place like this, especially after she had seen how particular the singer was about her coffee whenever they stopped in the cafe near Rachel's apartment and got a cup before work - after having to remake Rachel's order three times, the barista just always had one ready for the diva in the mornings.
Rachel took a look around. "It hasn't changed a bit," she shook her head and took Quinn to stand in line. "This is where I got my first job as a barista my junior year of high school. It's also the place where I went on my first real date. And stop number five is across the road, I'll show you once I get some coffee. I have to make sure it still tastes as horrible as I remember."
They reached the front of the line quickly and an acne ridden teen asked them what they wanted. Rachel ordered for them both, asking for a 'Bean-spresso'. As they waited, Quinn looked around at the cafe. It was smaller on the inside it seemed it should be, cluttered with tables and chairs, Quinn felt like everywhere she turned she would be running into something.
A short balding man came out of the back, he was wearing a shirt and tie and carrying a clipboard: everything about him screamed underpaid manager. He examined one of the machines and checked a box on the paper on his clipboard before raising his eyes to look around at the shop. Aside from Rachel and Quinn there was only two other patrons in the cafe. The manager's beady eyes landed on Rachel and they widened in spite of himself, "Rachel?"
The brunette smiled politely, "Horace." She replied.
"My, my... I never would have expected to be graced with your presence again," he came out from behind the coffee bar to get a better look at the singer. "I heard you made it big in New York. What are you doing back here in Lima?"
"Thanksgiving. I came out to spend the holiday with my fathers. Now I'm just showing Quinn around." She snaked an arm around the blonde's waist to bring them closer together.
The manager was visibly displeased with the action. "Weren't you dating that Vincent boy when you worked here?" he asked.
"Yeah, back then I was. I'm dating Quinn now."
The interaction made Quinn bristle but Rachel seemed perfectly used to it as she smiled in the face of the manager's blatant disapproval. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like for the brunette to grow up in a place like this. Nobody could possibly flourish in a place filled with so much hatred. Quinn just prayed that their coffees would be ready soon so they could get out of there.
The manager nodded but didn't say anything as he went back behind the coffee bar and disappeared through the door to the back room.
"He seemed pleasant." The blonde said to her girlfriend.
"Compared to some people around here, he's a peach." Rachel responded bitterly. Her tone alluded to a darker past that made Quinn shiver.
Their coffees were ready and Rachel handed one to the blonde and took one for her own. Just before they left the cafe, however, Rachel shot a last look over her shoulder to check that the manager was watching them before she suddenly kissed Quinn deeply. Catching both the blonde and the manager off guard, Rachel pulled away just as suddenly and half dragged Quinn out the door. Once they hit the street, Rachel led her away from the shop and down the street.
"Not that I'm complaining, but what was that about?" Quinn asked once she could figure out how to speak again.
"He was always such an ass when I worked for him, always spouting some backwash conservative crap. I've always wanted to do that." Rachel had a determined smirk on her face and Quinn just took a sip of the coffee in her hand - it was even worse than the ones from a 7-11.
For what seemed like the dozenth time since they had arrived in Ohio, Quinn found herself wondering how Rachel had survived her childhood. Growing up with her parents she had enough difficulty, but they rarely attacked her and she was always popular in school. It was apparent that Rachel hadn't been quite as fortunate and she couldn't imagine how the brunette came so far from this place.
They walked for a bit before Rachel slowed to a stop in front of an old worn down warehouse looking building, "Stop number five. This is where I saw my first concert." Quinn was pretty sure that the building was condemned or at least infested with bugs and rodents. Rachel seemed to notice the question on the blonde's face, "It looked this bad back then too."
"And your parents let you come?" From what the blonde had learned of the Berry men, Quinn didn't think they would just allow their little girl to go to a concert downtown in a rundown warehouse without supervision.
"My parents let me go to a sleepover." Rachel smirked, "What they don't know doesn't hurt them. It was a rock concert that my best friend wanted to go to, surprisingly it was a lot of fun and they weren't checking IDs so this also marks the spot where I first got totally trashed."
Quinn thought a fully grown drunk Rachel was enough of a handful, she couldn't imagine what a teenaged one would be like to look after. After being approached by a few too many creepy hobos, Quinn made an executive decision and led them back to the car.
This time they drove for a little bit longer down the main road and after a couple of turns, the large monochromatic, brick facade of William McKinley High School came into view. It looked as institutional as possible, all hard angles and perfectly spaced, exact square windows. The only outstanding feature was large rusted metal letters reading 'William McKinley' on the outside, which made Quinn wonder just how long they had been hanging there.
Rachel stopped the car in the deserted parking lot and didn't say anything. She waited until Quinn joined her in the front of the car then, before taking the blonde's hand in her own and leading them down the side paved path to the football field.
Instead of climbing up the bleachers like Quinn expected the brunette to do, she skirted around to the back and slipped through a gap to navigate her way under the metal structure to a horizontal beam which she sat on. Quinn sat next to her and took in the cigarette butts littering the ground and the graffiti in sharpie on the metal. She never would have pegged the brunette for the type to hang out under bleachers but this had made it as one of the stops so it had to be significant.
Rachel's thumb traced letters carved into the metal with a pocketknife as she clued Quinn in, "This is where I first kissed a girl."
Quinn settled in for another story, she braced herself against another horizontal metal piece behind her and pulling one leg up to cross over, "She was a girl I sang next to in choir for years but was never really good friends with. Then my junior year the last week before summer we had a picnic for choir on the football field and some kids decided to play sardines."
"Sardines?" the blonde asked.
"Backwards hide and seek." Rachel told her as though it made perfect sense. She moved her hand from tracing letters on the meta to tracing swirling patterns on the back of Quinn's hand. It kept her grounded while her mind drifted away.
"Why do they always insist on playing this stupid thing?" Rachel whined as the choir kids began scattering to get the game started.
"It's beyond me." Her current best friend Taylor said sympathetically, they began wandering away from the center of the field with a group of girls. Five of them in total made their way to the back of the bleachers. "How about we just sit under here in the shade until everyone gives up?" Taylor suggested.
There was a general murmur of agreement and the girls slipped under the bleachers. Taylor and Rachel sat side by side on a horizontal metal beam and the other girls gathered around in a small circle, arranged haphazardly balancing on diagonal supports.
"Anybody have a sharpie?" Taylor looked around expectantly.
Another girl, Olivia, produced one from a pocket of her short jean shorts. Taylor scrawled on the bleachers, 'Choir Girls 2006.' Talk turned to fluffy gossip as it generally did with the choir and Rachel found herself zoning out again. She imagined what life would be like after high school, after she escaped Lima. Recently the brunette had been dreaming about getting out more and more, but as graduation loomed closer the whole thing just seemed like a far off pipedream.
She was jolted to reality when Taylor accidentally nudged her and almost sent her toppling off the beam, but a strong, quick hand grabbed her arm to prevent her from hitting the concrete.
It was Olivia, "Thanks." Rachel said breathlessly as she re-balanced herself.
"Don't mention it."
Olivia hopped back onto her own metal beam. While the gossiping continued around them, Rachel found her eyes falling more and more on Olivia next to her. She had admitted to herself - if no one else - earlier that year that she wasn't exactly the straightest girl. Sure she had continued to date guys like she was supposed to, but she knew that it wasn't who she was. Rachel was just biding her time until she would graduate and not have to worry about what anyone in small town Ohio thought. In the beginning it wasn't a big deal, but as the pressure increased, so did Rachel's nerves and she found it just about unbearable to continue on in her lies.
A couple of times, Rachel could have sworn that out of the corner of her eye she could see Olivia looking at her too. Rachel's eyes raked up and down Olivia, taking in her slightly summer tanned skin, her short blonde hair, and strikingly green eyes. Olivia was an athlete and she was strong in the kind way you wouldn't expect with lean muscle gracefully hidden. Her personality was one of the strongest in the choir and she often went toe to toe with the director, normally on Rachel's side.
Rachel got lost staring at the taller girl's lips and when she was caught looking, she gave her a sly smile and a wink. A blush rose on Olivia's cheeks but she smiled right back.
"We're done!" A boy yelled from the middle of the field, he could see the girls through the bleachers and knew that they were just waiting out the game. "You all lost!" He added when they began emerging to rejoin the choir.
Rachel, however, instead of trailing Taylor out from under the bleachers bent down to retie her shoe. She saw another pair of shoes that had not deserted the area and when she popped back up, she was not surprised to see that Olivia was still there as well.
"Hi." Rachel said lamely with a smile. She leaned against a vertical metal beam and didn't scoot away when Olivia subtly moved into her space. The brunette knew that she had the upper hand in this interaction.
"Hi." Olivia gave her a sly smile and openly ran her eyes up and down Rachel's body. THe brunette realized that this girl was probably one of the few at the school who could take the upper hand away from her, "Congratulations on making All State Choir again." Olivia offered, trying to dispel some of the awkwardness. The list came out a couple of days ago and they had both qualified.
"Thanks." she said, her smile widening, "You too." Olivia slowly reached out and pushed a piece of hair behind Rachel's ear.
When the brunette strands were secured, she didn't move to drop her hand. Instead Olivia boldly took a slight step forward and dropped the hand to Rachel's shoulder, "Thanks."
It was Rachel's move and she had made up her mind long ago, she looked up at the blonde through her eyelashes. She reached up and put a hand on Olivia's cheek, her head followed as she went forward on toes to bring herself to Olivia's height. The blonde leant down to make up the difference in a short, careful, kiss.
It was over seemingly before it began and they stepped back. Both of them had shy smiles on their faces, "That was the first time I ever - I've never - Before this, I've only-" Rachel tried to say, before Olivia intervened after enjoying the brunette's struggle.
"I know. That was my first time too."
Now watching Quinn's eyes and they way she was easily holding herself on the metal beneath the bleachers, the brunette was struck by how eerily similar Quinn was to Olivia. The blonde was smiling, she found it entertaining that Rachel could have ever been so innocent and shy. It was such a departure from how she acted now.
"Stop your smirking!" Rachel said, giving the blonde a smack on the shoulder. "There's just one more stop and it's the most serious so no more smiling and no laughing alright?"
"It's not where you lost your virginity is it? Oh God, is it under the bleachers!? Rachel I can't believe it-" Quinn's eyes were wide and she was looking around under the bleachers as though she would find evidence of the brunette's escapades.
"No! That's not it." Rachel interrupted. She pulled one of Quinn's arms around her waist. "See those houses over there?" She pointed at a row of houses on the main road that could be seen through a gap in the bleachers.
Quinn nodded, but didn't say anything. She could sense that the brunette just needed her silent support to get through the explanation.
"When I was in high school they were still being constructed. All four years they were just these huge wooden frames kids would climb in and get drunk for fun. One weekend junior year, a few kids were out there and one of them was so drunk he fell right out of the scaffolding. Nearly snapped his neck. The doctors all said if he hadn't landed on the raised hill next to the house, he would have died."
The blonde didn't know what to expect, but it sure as hell wasn't what Rachel said next. "I figured, as long as I was sober, I wouldn't make the same mistake." Quinn was careful to keep her expression neutral and her eyes trained forward, "It was a dark time that I'm not proud of. One night I was determined to do it." There was no need for Rachel to specify the 'it' that she was talking about, Quinn knew and would never forget. "I snuck out, wore my favorite dress, I even wrote letters to my fathers and a couple of other people." Quinn's hand tightened around the metal beam she was sitting on until her knuckles turned white, but she kept the arm around Rachel loose and comforting.
"I must have stood on top of the second floor framing for an hour. It was that house right there, the blue one," she just nodded her head at the house. "I kept thinking how easy it really was, just one step. Just like you do every other day, one foot in front of the other. But a harsh wind nearly blew me right off and it scared me to death. Right then I realized that it really wasn't what I wanted to do. I couldn't get down fast enough and I've never looked back. That damn house though haunted me for the next year and a half."
Rachel looked up at the blonde with concern in her eyes, "Quinn? Are you alright?"
"I'm just happy you're still here." It was all Quinn could think of to say. It killed her inside to imagine Rachel so unhappy when she was younger. But slowly, everything began to string together. From the horrible man she had worked for to her fathers' reaction to her coming out, everything Rachel had told Quinn made sense.
The blonde tightened her grip around Rachel's shoulders, bringing her other arm up to press Rachel firmly into her side as though she was afraid of her evaporating into thin air. Rachel just laid her head down and allowed Quinn to hang on, "We should get back to the house, Brittany and Santana will be there soon."
Rachel drove back and the car was absolutely silent save for some soft piano music playing through the speakers. Quinn was staring out the front window and occasionally she would sneak glances at the brunette, Rachel noticed and tried to comfort her by grabbing her hand and holding it over the gear shift. She knew from experience how protective the younger woman was and how easily concerned she was, Rachel only hoped that she would be able to calm her girlfriend enough before the other two showed up.
"It really was a dark time." Rachel offered as they pulled into the neighborhood. Quinn didn't respond and Rachel just couldn't stop herself, "I've come so far from that place."
Quinn nodded and held onto Rachel's hand like a lifeline as they pulled into the driveway. Brittany's car wasn't there yet, but Quinn didn't wait to get out and walk to the front door. Rachel met her and held the keys without unlocking it, "Quinn, look at me."
"What Rachel?" The blonde was somehow simultaneously irritated, concerned, pissed off, and scared. And each emotion was evident in her eyes.
"I just, I need you to know that I'm never going back there. I've got too much to live for right in front of me." She held both of Quinn's hands in her own.
"I know. It just scares the hell out of me that you ever thought of that. I wish I could have been there for you back then." Quinn pulled forward and quickly captured Rachel in a fierce, desperate kiss. "Don't scare me like that ever again."
The brunette smiled, "Yes Ma'am."
"PDA! PDA!" Someone yelled from the driveway, "Get a room Q!"
Quinn rolled her eyes, "Great to see you too Santana. Did you and Britt find the house alright?" The aforementioned blonde stepped out of the passenger side door that Santana held open for her.
"We found it just fine. I'm just not sure if I'm at the legendary Berry home or a frat party, I mean two girls making out on the porch?" She and Brittany approached the front door and Quinn moved over to give her a good slap on the shoulder.
Rachel unlocked the door and stood back to allow everyone to step past her into the house. Santana waltzed down the hall, stopping occasionally in front of pictures of Rachel as an adolescent with a sneaky smile on her face.
"Do any of you want anything to drink?" Rachel asked playing the good hostess.
"Do you have chocolate milk?" Brittany's eyes lit up in hope.
"Always for you B. Four glasses of chocolate milk coming right up!" Rachel headed off to the kitchen to make the beverage and Brittany accompanied her.
"How was staying with Britt's parents?" Quinn took a seat on the stairs and watched as the Latina continued studying the progression of smiling Rachel's affixed to the wall.
The Latina smiled, "It was actually really nice. They were extremely kind, her father is hilarious. How was meeting the parents on your side?"
"First it was great, Hiram and I totally hit it off and LeRoy was just amazing. Then it kind of came out that Russell hit Rachel when we went to meet my parents and I swear Hiram was two seconds from wringing my neck. Somehow he came around and now I think we are, sort of, alright." Quinn sighed, her friend just smiled wider.
"Trouble in paradise?"
The blonde glared, "Not funny. I've had a long enough day, I don't need your sarcasm added too."
"Sorry, it couldn't have been that bad though."
"Oh, it was worse."
"You are such a- What the hell is this?" Santana's eyes went wide and her perfectly manicured hand was pointed at a photo hung just down the hall from Quinn that the blonde hadn't seen before.
She jumped up and was at Santana's side in a flash, Quinn had to stifle a laugh as she saw the picture. It featured Rachel in her late teens, probably while she was still at NYADA, dressed in full Renaissance garb: long poofy sleeves, green tights, elaborate feathered hat, all completed with a large brown beard affixed to her chin. The brunette was glaring at the photographer like she was moments away from snatching the camera and there were people passing blurrily in the background.
"I have no idea."
"What are you looking at?" Brittany asked appearing behind Santana with two glasses of chocolate milk in her hands, one of them complete with a bendy straw. Rachel pulled Quinn to sit next to her on the steps and gave the blonde one of the glasses she carried.
"Ask Berry." Santana laughed taking the drink from the blonde.
"Ask me what?" The brunette asked from where she was leaning her head down on Quinn's shoulder. After the ending to the tour of Lima, Rachel was desperate for the affection she and Quinn normally shared.
"To explain why you have a picture of a Middle Eastern man dressed up for Halloween on your wall." Brittany supplied, staring confusedly at the photo.
Rachel instantly blushed and tried to stall by taking a deep sip of her chocolate milk. Santana prompted her to answer with a raised eyebrow and Rachel finally gave in, "It's not a Middle Eastern man. It was me in an off off broadway production when I first got to NYADA. Kurt was there on opening night and he took that picture, sent it to my parents, and always pulls it out when I need to be humbled a bit." She rushed out.
Simultaneously, Quinn and Santana burst into laughter and Brittany just kept looking a bit confused, "But how did you grow the beard?"
"It's just a prop. I played like five different parts, the last of which was an old man." Rachel tried to fold herself into Quinn's side to avoid the embarrassment of the situation.
"Oh."
"We're going to be having a long talk later about this and I'm going to need a comprehensive list of all of the parts you've held in every production you've been in." Quinn teased, throwing an arm around the brunette and kissing her lightly on the top of her head.
"That's going to be a really long talk."
"While your fans may love that disgustingly adorable couple crap you two do, to a sane person such as myself it's just plain disturbing." Santana complained with a grimace on her face.
"You're just a sourpuss because my parents made you sleep on the couch," the taller girl chastised while Quinn broke out laughing, "I think Rachel and Q are just so cute together!"
"Thanks Britt. Really Santana? You got stuck on the couch, I thought you said her parents were great." Quinn asked from behind her glass of chocolate milk.
"They are, they just aren't the most trusting of people and I may have made some poorly thought out comments when we first arrived that colored their impression of me."
Rachel was becoming more confident once again as the focus was brought off of her bearded photograph, "I can't believe it, Quinn has stayed in my room since we got here and my fathers have always been more strict than Britt's parents, they must really not trust you."
"Thanks for that Berry, you always do know how to make a girl feel special."
Rachel just smirked and finished her glass of milk. "Well you two have the guest room for tonight and then our plane home leaves at nine tomorrow morning."
"Nine is a good time, no planes ever crash at nine in the morning." Brittany said mainly to herself, just as Quinn was getting ready to question the other blonde's concerns about a plane crash, the front door swung open to reveal Hiram carrying grocery bags and LeRoy happily chattering on.
When he saw the two extra girls standing in the front hall, LeRoy smiled widely, "If it isn't my favorite dancer!" He rushed forwards to wrap Brittany in a warm hug.
"Berry senior!" She replied in her customary greeting to the man. Once they stepped back LeRoy turned to Santana with a critical eye.
The Latina squirmed under his gaze, "Hi, I'm Santana. It's a pleasure to meet you, after everything the hobbit- Rachel has told me about you."
Quinn smirked at the brunette's mistake, she really was horrible with parents.
A tense silence fell as the accidental nickname sank in. Santana really didn't call Rachel 'hobbit' that often, but the name must have slipped out in her nervousness at meeting her family for the first time.
"Hobbit?" LeRoy asked, his face was unreadable.
Hiram, on the other hand cracked up, "That's a good one, I like you Santana." His approval seemed to put her at ease and Santana mirrored his smile. The taller Berry man stepped into the house and locked the door behind him, "Brittany, always a pleasure," he addressed the blonde.
He made his way into the kitchen, followed by Quinn who had retrieved the chocolate milk glasses from the other girls. She placed the cups in the sink and began rinsing them out while Hiram started putting away the groceries he had been carrying, "Did you and Rachel have a nice time while we were out?"
"Yeah, she showed me around the town a bit." Not being able to read Hiram's face while they were talking simultaneously put Quinn on edge and at ease.
He hummed in approval and slid some kale into the vegetable crisper. For a moment they worked in amicable silence, each focused on their own duties and Quinn wondered just how much of the tour Hiram and LeRoy knew about.
"You really are good for her. Rachel I mean." Hiram offered, his face still in the fridge.
"Thank you."
She knew it was the closest to any sort of direct approval she would get from the man, but it didn't bother her. In fact it almost reminded the blonde of her own father and his hallmark stoic veil. The only difference was that underneath she knew that Hiram truly cared and his criticism was motivated by love, unlike her father whose steely mask went straight through to the core.