Chapter 4
Living in Quinnfamy
Got nothing to say anymore
There's nothing new
It's all been done before
Not looking to settle the score
So please let me be
Thought I'd be the one you'd adore
I always thought
I would be so much more
Want something that I can't afford
So please let me be
Please let me be
This is the end of a really sad story
But don't feel bad for me
I started out alone
And in the end that's where I'll be
Like the star of a really sad story
You don't live happily
I started out alone
And in the end that's where I'll be
"Sad Story" – Plain White T's
July 2011
Eventually Judy let go of her daughter and Quinn's body was able to have blood circulating normally after a couple of hours. They then spent the rest of the night in that motel in Canton planning the rest of their trip with New York set as their next destination. To Quinn, New York seemed like the only destination. She voiced her concern over money; she knew her mother's income as a real estate agent was not a lot considering the economy and the size of Lima. Judy had quickly waved off her daughter's worries saying that their summer road trip was being paid by Russell's divorce settlement. They both smirked at that thought that the bastard was paying for their mother/daughter trip.
They planned to leave first thing in the morning with her mom taking the first shift as driver. The weather appeared to have sensed their good moods because it was bright and sunny that morning. With the perfect summer forecast Quinn couldn't sleep and instead chose look out the window to watch the fields and trees blur by. The teen would occasionally turn the other way to find Judy smiling widely. After a few hours, the younger girl questioned her mom's constant grin.
"Mom, why are you still smiling?" To be honest Quinn was beginning to feel uncomfortable and was kind of worried that her mom's face was stuck like that.
"I'm just so proud of you honey! Oh my Quinnie's going to Columbia…" She replied, the smile never leaving her face.
Quinn rolled her eyes. "Mom I haven't even applied yet. I don't even know if I'd even get accepted!"
Her mother huffed. "Details, details. What school wouldn't want you? You're a shoe-in for Columbia! Why aren't you more excited? You're going to be a LION, Quinn!" Judy's exclamation nearly made her daughter jump with the scale of her enthusiasm.
"A what?" asked Quinn once her heart settled back down in her chest.
It was her mom's turn to roll her eyes this time. "Goodness Quinn, you don't even know your future school's mascot? GO LIONS! GO LION QUINN!"
Were all moms like this? So much positivity. Coming from someone else it would be almost endearing but from a mom? It was just annoying. Okay maybe it did boost the girl's ego but as a teen she had to put up some front.
"Jeez mom! Turn down the decibels please?" The infamous Quinn eyebrow raise made its appearance at her mom's exuberance but looked more questioning than condescending. "How do you know Columbia's mascot anyways?" As far as the teen knew, the woman never followed college sports.
"Quinn last night you said you wanted to go to Columbia. You don't think I wouldn't want to find out more about my daughter's future Ivy League college? I spent most of the night Googling and Wiki-ing that school." Her mom looked like a supernova about to explode from pride and Quinn's eyes softened.
The car remained silent until the younger girl whispered, "I love you mom."
Judy smiled wide again and Quinn could tell she was trying to hold in tears. Her mom reached out her hand and she held it tightly, feeling secure for the first time in months.
New York City was almost as incredible as the last time Quinn was there, although it seemed that the enthusiasm had dimmed a bit since then. She figured it was because she was there with her friends and that heightened the excitement. She sniggered at the memory of Berry buying tickets for Cats for her gleemates. Now that the future Broadway star was safe in Lima and in no danger of getting conned by creepy homeless people with butt cracks for credit card machines, the thought of her purchasing tickets for a musical that had been closed for years was more funny than worrisome.
Relaxing in their hotel, the teen thought that they were both lucky and unlucky when they reached the Sheraton and found there was a room available. Quinn gawked at how much the stay would cost them but her mom didn't flinch.
"Really Quinn, who's the mom here? Stop worrying so much and enjoy it!"
They had spent the rest of the late afternoon touring the area near the hotel, the hazel-eyed and hopeful girl finally letting herself enjoy the trip with her mom without worry. Taking the older woman's words to heart with renewed gusto she ended up dragging her around to all the spots she had seen when she was there with New Directions.
"We all sat around in Time Square for lunch and I swear Rachel looked like she already won her first Tony…" Quinn rambled on and actually felt like she was channeling Rachel. It was like word vomit though, she finally felt free to talk about anything and everything with her mom. Their conversation in the car tore down some of the walls the girl put up to protect herself if Judy ever decided that she didn't want a divorce and wanted Russell back. Or if she ever threw the teen out of the house again in disappointment. The pride in her mom's eyes when she said with so much confidence that Quinn was going to be a Columbia Lion made her feel strong enough be the daughter she used to be before…
She should of known it wouldn't last.
Their second day in New York was spent walking around the Columbia College campus and Quinn was in love. They took a tour and Judy had taken an abundant amount of pictures, which would have been embarrassing to her daughter had she noticed. But the girl was truly engulfed by the atmosphere. The schools in Ohio were pleasant enough but being in New York, this city just intensified everything. Quinn felt for the first time in her life that she could be free. She would be truly able to find herself without her past keeping her down.
When they returned to the hotel, the elder blonde surprised her daughter with tickets to the evening's Off-Broadway preview of RENT. That night it was Quinn's turn to hold a never-ending smile on her face. They both enjoyed the show; Judy was full of surprises thus far, rambling on about how much she loved Angel and Maureen. Considering the content would have made Russell Fabray send Quinn to a convent had he known and was still around, the fact that her mom took her to see it had her thinking of her mother in a new light.
The younger girl kept looking at the program when they got back to the hotel and couldn't help but think of the future Broadway star back in Lima. Would she be jealous if she knew? Did she already go to New York again to watch it? Would she want to talk about the show or compare it to the movie? She could almost see Berry's reactions and the thought made Quinn's lips quirk upwards before blowing up into a full-blown grin.
Gazing fondly at the child-like joy in her baby girl's eyes, Judy couldn't help but smile for what felt like the millionth time. She couldn't help it though. The woman hadn't seen her daughter look so happy since… since before Quinn became Quinn.
Lucy Fabray had disappeared years ago, but tiny glimpses would pop up once in a while. She hoped her daughter would be able to reconcile the past so she could move forward and she really felt that this trip was helping. She didn't want her baby to be like her, realizing too late what she wanted and who she wanted to be. The sudden loud sound of a ringtone interrupted both of the ladies' thoughts and the older woman got her phone to check the caller ID.
The teen saw her mom frown but before she could ask what was wrong, she had left the room. Curious about the woman's quick exit, she quietly (almost ninja-like if you asked Quinn) crept towards the door and pressed an ear to it in an effort to hear her mom.
" – you know we are on a road trip for Quinnie!"
Please don't let it be Russell.
"Frannie! How would I even get Quinn to agree to visi – "
There weren't many things that Quinn dreaded more than her father, but Frannie Thompson, née Fabray often topped the list. What the hell did her sister want now? She hadn't heard from her since she gave birth to a healthy baby boy months ago. Hell she hadn't even seen the poor boy that had the misfortune to be named Thomas 'Tommy' Thompson. Quinn would have guessed that Frannie needed someone else to suffer from silly alliterated names.
"- couldn't you wait another couple of weeks sweetheart? I see you guys every month anyways –"
Wait, what? Quinn sunk down to the floor. When did that happen? In the months since Tommy's birth, her mother never told her that she visited her sister monthly. Why didn't she ever tell her? How could she never tell her? Although she felt like she was punched in the gut, Quinn couldn't help but keep her ears to the door. Morbid curiosity she guessed.
"-ine! FINE! We'll the day after tomorrow, but you better be on your best behavior. Francine Fabray Thompson! I don't care if you're an old maid in a nursing home I am STILL your mother and I'm warning you right now. You're sister is fragile right now and doesn't need to be constantly reminded of Bet-"
So that was it, the teen thought. Finally having enough of listening to the one-sided mom did this all to prevent a breakdown? To keep her from flipping her shit again?
This whole trip was just a way to get out of sending her youngest daughter to therapy.
She couldn't believe she ate up her mom's bullshit. She didn't need pity. That's what this was all about wasn't it? It was never about her future, it was all about her being such a fuck-up. Looking out the window, Quinn couldn't see the stars. It was better that way.
Judy came back into the room feeling as if she just faced an angry bear. Her eldest daughter definitely took after her father sometimes. Always so stubborn. Maybe it was best that they went to visit. She had kept Quinn away from Frannie and Tommy because she was still feeling the effects from the previous year, from Beth. The teen mother didn't even deal with the loss, choosing the Fabray way of avoiding it at all costs. But it was costing her a lot and the elder blonde could see it.
She kept her distance at first in an effort to get Quinn to come to her. If she were more honest with herself she would admit to having been afraid to deal with it all, but going to the Lima Single-Parent Support Group had helped and she felt more confident in her own skills as a parent. That was why she suggested the trip in the first place. She hoped being stuck in a car for long hours would open up doors for communication and it was starting to work.
"You're sister wants us to go to Boston and I think we should make the trip, return the rental there and just take a plane back to Ohio. I mean you haven't even seen your nephew yet."
The younger of the two women just shrugged and turned over in her bed.
Okay the communication thing could use a little more work.
"Quinnie?"
"I've never met my nephew, mom? And whose fault is that?" The younger blonde sat up abruptly in anger, "I'm surprised you even told me where we were going next. I thought I was just too fragile to know anything! Too unstable to face my sister and her fricking BABY!" The bite in the younger blonde's tone was slightly reminiscent of her times as the Head Cheerio, but Judy was taken back having never seen that part of her.
Feeling as nervous as she did when she asked the younger girl to move back in with her just over a year ago, Judy tried to comfort her daughter but the walls around Fort Quinn rose up even higher than before.
The rest of their stay in New York was awkward and cold. Quinn refused to talk to her mother and when the times she was forced to, she never spoke more than two words. Judy had no idea what to do. She lied to her daughter and now the girl thought this whole thing was some sort of conspiracy. Teenagers…
Before leaving their hotel, the older blonde wordlessly gave her daughter a medium sized, wrapped box and headed out to the car. It wouldn't make up for everything, she wasn't naïve enough to believe that, but it was something. Something more than she would have done before everything went to hell.
Quinn thought about throwing the stupid thing away but curiosity got the better of her. Shaking slightly, she tore the wrapping paper and was dumbstruck by the amount of Columbia memorabilia inside the box. Keychains, Columbia Lion t-shirts, a hoodie; it actually amazed her how her mother fit everything inside one box. Taking out the final gift store purchase, Quinn saw it was a mug that said "My Daughter is a Columbia Lion, Hear her Roar." The girl let out a giggle while unshed tears filled her eyes.
Getting into the car, she gave the mug back to her mother. "It's kind of cheap to get a mug for your daughter only to expect it back later."
The woman in question sighed in relief and scoffed. "Believe me Quinnie, that stuff is anything but cheap. I feel like I paid your tuition with all that."
They both let a genuine laugh and drove to Boston in a more comfortable silence.
It wasn't until they reached the small mansion in the suburbs of Boston and pulled into the picture perfect driveway that their comfort disappeared and the nerves returned.
"Oh my goodness! Look at you Lucy Q!"
"You don't even look like you had a baby!"
"I mean I thought for sure the weight would go straight to that Lucy Caboosey of yours. That's what those silly kids used to call you right?"
"Oh those kids were so creative."
Ambushed. That was the only way for Quinn to describe this family reunion from hell. Frannie Thompson had welcomed her mother and younger sister with open arms but neglected to tell them of the other guests in the house. While, thankfully, their father Russell was on a "business trip" with his secretary in Europe, his Desperate Housewife sisters managed a visit to their favorite niece.
Looking at her mother, Quinn knew that she was just as shocked and overwhelmed by her former sister-in-laws' appearance. The youngest daughter saw the look of utter fear on her mom's face. The elder Fabray sisters could be more vicious than Santana and Coach Sylvester put together. Growing up around them had toughened the teen making her transformation into Quinn the HBIC so successful. But when she was Little Lucy Q, the young girl had no walls at all to protect her from the cutting insults about her weight and looks.
Lucy was definitely her mother's daughter. There was nothing that Judy could do right by the Fabray sisters. The turkey always tasted too dry, the living rooms never quite clean enough, the decorations too cheap to be considered lovely. Any excuse really, to put down the mother and daughter whenever they could. So Lucy turned into Quinn, the pride of the Fabray's and Judy turned to alcohol, large quantities of alcohol. Both methods were numbing and deadened them inside. The divorcee had quit drinking after Russell was kicked out but it looked like she would need it during their stay in Boston.
But the Fabray women, Felicia, Faith and Francine (the Elder) didn't pounce on their brother's ex-wife though; the former Head cheerleader and recent teen mom was better prey by far and it wasn't long before the subtle slights became full out bitchiness. Frannie, of course, couldn't help but join in.
"Oh Judy it must have been so hard for you. Russell must have been in such a place to ever consider giving up such a great woman like you." The eldest Felicia gave the other woman what Quinn thought was supposed to be a sympathetic hug, but the forced dramatics made it seem like a scene from one of those horrible reality shows.
It wasn't long between Faith joined in, "I know dearie, Russ would never have done so otherwise, if it weren't for some stressful event in his life."
So that's where they're going with this, thought Quinn. At least her mom was here with her, right?
"Daddy did say that everything was great until someone got pregnant out of wedlock." Frannie joined in with the spitting accusation.
Quinn turned to her mother, begging for something, anything. A way out. But the woman kept her gaze to the floor, still paralyzed with fear.
The sister closest in age to Russell, Francine Vansen aka Frannie the Elder, finally decided to put her two cents in and the teen braced herself.
"Well… I heard our dear Lucy Q's baby wasn't even her boyfriend's."
Francine's favorite namesake stepped up again, eyes lit up with malice, "I think I told you that Auntie Fran! It was–"
"It was his best friend, Noah Puckerman. I cheated on Finn with his best friend and got pregnant because he got me drunk and told me it was okay. I was stupid, I made a mistake, I learned from it. Can we please get over it now?"
Quinn was damned if she would ever let these vultures ever let her feel like Lucy Caboosey again and took pride in the astonished faces before her.
The small victory didn't last long as Aunt Francine recovered first. "Puckerman? Noah Puckerman? You got yourself pregnant by a Jewish boy? Oh if your father knew he would just die!"
The teen sat back down. It was going to be a very long couple of days.
The rest of the week consisted of what sounded like Puritan sermons from the three Fabray Furies, daily church attendance and even more nit-picking from Frannie. Quinn was beginning to think that if she didn't get out of that hellhole soon then somebody wasn't going to come out of this weekend alive.
Judy completely closed up, proving to of no help to the poor teen. Any progress they made before Boston completely erased and Quinn was thrown back to every Christmas/Thanksgiving/big Fabray family even in which everybody just ganged up on her.
Sitting in the guest room, her only salvation from the harping, she looked through the Columbia shirts and gifts she got from Judy. The support was nice when it lasted, and maybe soon she would never have to deal with these people again. The thought made her smile.
"What the heck is that Lucy Q?"
Quinn frowned and tried to hide the precious gifts but it was too late. Frannie grabbed a t-shirt holding the offending object under her scrutinizing gaze before huffing in disbelief.
"You think you're going to Columbia?"
The younger sister stood up in anger, "Why the hell do you even care Francine?"
"Oh no special reason just worried that you're aiming a little too high there Little Lucy."
"What?"
"I mean you're a disgrace. The Celibacy Club president who got pregnant with her boyfriend's best friend, the poor girl who lost Prom Queen to a fag, do I need to go on? Aren't you the least bit shameful? Because frankly I'm embarrassed of you and for you." The elder sister leaned back with that damned smirk still on her face.
Judy came in to see what the fuss was, catching the end of Frannie's tirade and arriving just in time to hold her youngest daughter back from attacking her sister. "Francine! You apologize to your sister right now."
"That crazy bitch just tried to attack me! Learning a little too much from Satan-a? She rubbing off on you a little?"
Quinn shrugged off her mother's arms, laughing, "That's what you come up with? All of a sudden I'm a lesbian now? What, are you going to slap me with the Bible while you're at it? That's just pathetic Fannie." Reverting back to childhood nicknames unhinged her sister.
"You're calling me pathetic? I'm married! I had a baby. I live in this beautiful house in the suburbs. I got out of Ohio and I'm happy. You? You broke up our family. Mom and Daddy don't even talk to each other anymore. You abandoned your baby just to go back to your selfish high school life and you couldn't even do that right." Frannie was fuming and the younger girl flinched at every accusation. She was finally getting at her… "Lucy, you think some Ivy League college is just going to accept you? You'll be nothing but a whore, a slut who will end up stuck in Lima, married to a loser like Puckerman who you know will never stay faithful to you and you will be miserable for the rest of your damn life. It's what you deserve, and you know it."
The whole room stayed quiet, Judy was shocked by hateful and vindictive her eldest daughter was. The younger girl's shoulder's slumped, her sister addressing every one of her fears, knowing it would hurt like hell. She couldn't help but think that maybe she was right. And maybe, just maybe, Quinn was tired of fighting it.
She gave her sister the most hateful glare she could muster, trying to channel a Coach Sue and was grateful that it worked. Frannie stepped back in fear and the Quinn used the opportunity to get out of the room.
Quinn had left the house, or prison as she would have called it, and hadn't returned for hours. When she came back, she holed herself in the guest room and she still hadn't come out. Judy was left to deal with the four women. Finally getting the backbone she didn't have before she ripped into every one of them. She just hoped it wasn't too late.
"You should be ashamed of yourselves! I don't care if you're older that just makes what you've been doing even more deplorable and just plain pathetic. That girl has been through more than any of you can think of and all you do is sit around and judge her? What gives you that right? Are you all just so miserable that you have to put down an eighteen-year-old girl just to make yourselves feel better?"
The ladies put up a show of shame, but nobody in the room believed it for a second.
"But m-mom I jus-"
"I don't care Francine! You don't know how disappointed I am right now in you."
Frannie stood up abruptly, angry with the woman treating her like a child. "You always take her side!"
"What is wrong with you Frannie? You and Quinn aren't little girls anymore! Stop acting like one! I love you both and you know that." Judy fixed a sad gaze on her older daughter, "I may not like you very much right now Francine, but I do still love you."
Frannie slumped back down in her seat, the other women immediately going to her side and Felicia spoke up, "Now see here Judy I don't-"
Everybody fell silent as a girl with bright pink hair and black clothes smoked a cigarette as she descended down the stairs.
"Quinnie?"
The girl answered with a puff of smoke and a nod. There was a honk outside and she made for the door.
"I bought a ticket back to Lima for tonight. It was such a nice stay but you know, I've got to go back to whore around and be a slut." Quinn's voice was low and gravelly and Judy flinched at the tone.
Quinn was halfway out the door before she turned and stalked up to her sister. She raised her hand quickly to Frannie's face, and the blonde woman flinched but was surprised when she was just lightly tapped. "Thanks for the invite 'Sis.' Oh and thank your husband for me too. He's got great taste in cigarettes. The stash was pretty easy to find though. Was he supposed to be hiding that from you?" With that the girl left the house and got into the cab.
Getting the final word was a hollow victory, but Quinn would take it. She was never going back to being Lucy the doormat but everybody made it clear that she couldn't be the Quinn she used to be. Why should she fight fate?
As the girl boarded the plane back to Ohio, she mentally noted that she was right. Somebody didn't come out alive by the end of the trip.
AN: Okay... that was intense! And I've got to say, Frannie makes for a good substitute villain. She's one crazy bitch... I chose her because I've read too many fanfics with Russell as Quinn's antagonist and I just wanted to bring in something fresh. There's a reason why she's the way she is and if you guys like the confrontation I'll probably be bringing that back later (much later).
I wanted Judy to be trying to be a good parent. She's only human so she was bound to get something wrong and Quinn just acted like any teenager would when she feels betrayed, whether it's an overreaction or a justified one. I hope you guys don't hate Mama Fabray too much, her daughters were fighting and she didn't know what to do...
My headcanon has Lucy and Judy being really close before she became Quinn, bonding over the Furies Fabray's attacks and such.
Also shout out to Judy bringing in the "Lion Quinn!" Reference.
Not a lot of Rachel mentioned in this (only bits and pieces) but the next chapter is going to be another Rachel-centric chapter (Yey!) and it will be a lot lighter. Just as a reminder, this story is connected to my other WIP fic "This Was Supposed to Be Our Year," which is a Brittana fic, so it will eventually run parallel. I'm aiming for a Faberritana friendship but that won't happen for a bit.