May, 2023
"Oookay Sophia," Quinn said with an infectious smile. "Ready to go visit Daddy?" She unbuckled the six month-old from her car seat and carefully lifted her out. With a diaper bag—doubling for a purse—on her left shoulder and her daughter held to her right hip, Quinn closed and locked up her Jetta and walked up to the Lake View High School main office. She was only showing one house that day, and with that out of the way, she and Sophia had the rest of the day to do as they pleased. So she decided to surprise her fiancée with a little visit at work.
When Quinn entered the office with Sophia, the secretary at the desk, initially gave a dull look but she blinked a double-take and brightened up at the sight o Sophia. She had been the most bubbly baby on the planet and almost always won everyone over in an instant. She had inherited her mother's large green eyes while maintaining speckles of her father's brown hues; her hair had also darkened to a deep bronze color as it grew to long, silky smooth strands.
"Well isn't she precious?" said the elder woman behind the desk. She couldn't take her eyes off of Sophia, who seemed to deliberately beam a charming, toothless smile at the woman.
Quinn pressed a kiss to her daughter's plump cheek and smiled an equally charming smile, "We actually came by to visit her daddy. Can I have a visitor's pass?"
"Yes you may," the woman said in a falsetto, baby-talk tone. When she realized that she had directed this to Quinn however, she cleared her throat and collected her professional self again. "Just sign that clipboard."
Quinn's gaze lingered judgmentally at the woman before lowering her eyes to the clipboard; in turn, the woman blushed furiously and rushed to ask, "Who's her daddy by the way?"
"Finn Hudson? The glee coach."
"Ohh yes, Mr. Hudson! The kids seem to really like him. So you must be Ms. Fabray." The woman extended a hand out and Quinn shook it with a faintly flattered smile.
"Your fiancée talks about you and your daughter often—though it's not hard to see why. I should've recognized you both from the pictures he shows us in his wallet."
Quinn's smile grew with the extensive flattery, "Thank you."
"It was nice to meet you, little lady!" she crooned to Sophia.
The little girl stared at the secretary for a long time, much like her mother had done a moment ago. Quinn's friendly smile returned until she left the office with her daughter. Sophia squealed a little babble to her mom and Quinn responded, "Yeah I think Daddy's trying to start a 'Mommy and Sophia' fan club at work too." A very feminine chuckle left her as she walked, knowing the right way to the glee club's rehearsal space.
The classroom door was open as Quinn neared it. She heard a group of high school students harmonizing an a'capella cover of Ingrid Michaelson's "The Way I Am" while the other students snapped and clapped the repetitive beat. Quinn peeked inside and saw her fiancée seated on a stool with an acoustic guitar in his lap, playing right along with his students. One petite girl with dark brown hair sat in the center of the cluster of students, swaying back and forth as she sang. Another student—a blonde in a red dress with a pony tail was sitting directly behind the brunette, snapping her fingers while shooting daggers at the back of the other girl's head. Another smile broke across Quinn's face—different from the ones before. She was quickly reminded of her own days in Glee club, particularly the early days.
She huffed a soft chuckle, lowered her gaze to the floor; when the song ended, as though on cue, Sophia made their presence known with another nonsensical babble.
Finn's head whipped around while the students all looked to the door. Quinn stood, still clad in her grey pencil skirt and royal blue blouse. Sophia, dressed in a powder pink Strawberry Shortcake dress, had her tiny legs hitched to her mother's side but her eyes were stuck on her dad.
"Quinn!" Finn popped up quickly, making his way to the door in a few long strides.
"That was beautiful, said Quinn as she smiled up at him. "The song. Are you guys using it for one of your Nationals numbers?"
"Maybe. I don't know yet."
"Shame. You should really consider it."
Finn cast one of his goofy smiles at her—his cheeks turning slightly pink from his future wife's compliment.
"Uh…Mr. H?" spoke one of his students-the brunette. "Not to interrupt but, is this your fiancée and your daughter?"
Quinn smiled again as Finn turned back to his class, "Uh, yeah! Sorry guys—everyone, this is my fiancée, Quinn and my little girl, Sophia."
All of the girls sighed a unanimous, "Awww," at Sophia while the guys were all gawking at Quinn. One had the sense to nudge his fiend so that he could pick up his jaw, but it didn't matter much; Quinn could feel all their eyes on her but she ignored it and focused on Sophia instead.
Their little girl had taken to babbling and was making motor noises with her lips. Everyone was laughing or giggling at her cuteness. Finn stole here from Quinn's arms while asking, "What are you doing here?"
"I got done early, so I thought Sophia and I might come surprise you."
Bringing his smile back, Finn looked to Sophia, "You succeeded—hi Sophie!" His tone was always eager when it came to his daughter. He certainly could not help himself, and it never mattered what he was doing. Whether it be feeding her, holding her, or changing her diapers, he always exclaimed his words.
Sophia tried to grip the side of her daddy's sandpaper-friendly cheek while he said, "Hey! Guys, I've told you before that my fiancée and I were in glee club together when we were in high school. She knows how this goes so…what do you say we show her one of the numbers that we're definitely performing for Nationals?"
"Which one?" asked the blonde, "The one where the diva gets to sing the whole song while the rest of us dance behind her?"
Quinn tucked her lips in to keep from smiling. This is way too freaky, she thought to herself.
"Excuse me, but just because Mr. Hudson recognizes talent when he hears it, doesn't mean you should be bitter."
"Girls!" Finn hissed in a scolding tone. "Enough, alright? Just get in your places and let's put on the best rehearsal performance."
The two girls begrudgingly joined the others in their place, and soon the group of twelve was performing to Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean". One boy carried the soulful pop vocals, not unlike Artie's. Quinn stepped back, out of their way looking mesmerized the entire time. Some feelings of nostalgia were mixed in but for the most part she was in awe of the performance and the likeness some of them had to her fellow New Directions alums.
Finn offered her a stool to sit in and she sat there until they had finished. It didn't take more than half a second for her to start clapping for them at the end.
"Well?" Finn asked, preparing to give Sophia another kiss on the cheek.
"That was…" Quinn's smile grew, "Amazing. Really, you guys are so talented and it would be a really cool song to open with."
The blonde cast a look at Quinn as if she were a lifesaver, "That's what I said to Mr. H last week but—"
"But it's more of a middle number. Our opening number needs to pack a punch," argued the brunette.
Soon the two girls had begun arguing again; Finn turned to his fiancée and held Sophia out to her, "Youuu better take her. I gotta handle this before it gets ugly again."
"Again?" Quinn held their daughter close but Finn didn't hear her. He strode quickly to his students to break up the impending fight.
"You two seriously need to quit all this bickering. It's getting ridiculous, "Finn told them, standing in between with a palm up to each of them.
"Finn?"
He and his students returned their gazes to Quinn as she stepped forward. "Can I say something to them for a moment?"
Staring at her in confusion, he lowered his hands to his sides, "Uh...yeah, sure."
Quinn's charming smile returned, "Thanks." She looked back to the students, "You know…a few of you remind me of my friends and I when we were in glee club. And I know saying that's going to make me sound old but…I just wanted to give you guys some advice from someone who's been where you are. Don't waste time being bitter and ugly towards each other. A good friend of mine once told me, 'Hold on to sixteen for as long as you can.' What he meant by that was—"
"To never grow up? Because I've always wanted to be like Peter Pan," one student shamelessly confessed.
He's like a male Brittany, Quinn thought to herself. "No, that's not quite what he meant. The way I took it was to enjoy your youth while you have it. Don't waste your time you have now, because one day, you're going to have to say goodbye to it—you're going to have to grow up and move on. Now when that happens, do you want to look back and remember all the time you spent bickering and being harsh towards one another? Or do you want these years to be full of great memories and friendships?"
None of the students said anything. She felt Finn's eyes on her but she continued staring from one student to the next. Her gaze frequently returned to the blonde and brunette girls however. "I'm sure Mr. Hudson's told you guys about some of our friends who were in the glee club with us. And sure a lot of them have gone on to do amazing things with their lives, but our abilities to hold onto our friendships and appreciate the good times as a team and a family? Those are the things that allowed us to remain good friends now, 10 years later. I just hope that, if you only remember one thing I've said to you, it's that: Hold on to sixteen for as long as you can. And remember that you guys are a family."
Some of the students looked moved and inspired by Quinn's words. A few masked their thoughts behind a stony, dead-eyed expression while the two bantering girls looked incredibly guilty.
"Anyway, I didn't come to lecture you guys. I'm sure you get enough of that in your classes," she smiled faintly at some of the agreeing faces that met her words and concluded by telling them, "But I wish you all the best in New York."
Please leave reviews! This portion will be continued in the next chapter, in Finn's POV.