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Posted: 10/1/12
Starlight
Quinn woke when she felt the body in her arms trying to creep away. She realised what was happening straight away and clamped her arms tighter round her girlfriend "No" she whined as she pulled Rachel back against her "Stay" she mumbled sleepily against Rachel neck
"Quinn" Rachel giggled "I have to get up"
"No" Quinn whined again, still not opening her eyes "What time is it?"
"6 a.m." Rachel murmured softly, letting herself relax in her girlfriend's arms for a few seconds longer
"Rachel" Quinn moaned in complaint "Just because you're Rachel Berry doesn't mean you have to still get up this early"
Rachel furrowed her brow for a moment, not sure if what Quinn had said even made sense. "I need to get everything ready" she tried to pull away again only for Quinn to keep her arms in a vice grip round Rachel's middle
"No you don't you need to stay here with me, forever" Quinn said as she nuzzled Rachel's neck
"As wonderful as that sounds" Rachel tried to move again only for Quinn to squeeze a little tighter "I have to get everything ready for today. I have equipment to set up, a coffee table to clean up, not to mention the other mess from that little impromptu party that they threw"
"Just stay" Quinn whispered. Rachel tried to use every ounce of her will power to just lay there but she couldn't. One day she would be able to do this, but not until Quinn was safe, not until they were all safe. She held onto Rachel so tightly the Brunette winced
"Qu-inn, you need to loosen your grip" her voice was strained
Quinn relaxed her arms just a little, allowing Rachel to breathe but not enough to let her leave her. "Sorry" she murmured "Even when I'm relaxed I don't know my own strength"
"I'm glad you are relaxed... otherwise you might have killed me" she chuckled again. "Please let me go now" she sighed, knowing the struggle wasn't over yet
"Nope not happening" Rachel just let a heavy sigh, knowing that if her goddess girlfriend, which still felt crazy to even think, had her arms round her she wasn't escaping anytime soon "What equipment?" Quinn suddenly asked sounding a little more awake
"I was going to set up some things, and test everyone this morning, their abilities and their limits. And then I want us to start training together so we can learn to use and work with each other in combat" she explained, wide awake in Quinn's arms. She was trying to relax but now she had too much on her mind
She felt Quinn chuckle behind her "They're all gonna be hung over, do you really think that is a good idea?"
"I'm going to be a drill sergeant, they're gonna hate me" Rachel chuckled in agreement
"Well" Quinn sighed "You are the brains of the team, everyone trusts you know best" she removed her arms from round Rachel and sat up as she stretched her body awake. She froze when she realised Rachel wasn't moving, she didn't need to be Brittany to know something was wrong. She looked back over her shoulder at her girlfriend and asked "What's wrong?"
Rachel slowly rolled over to meet Quinn's gaze "You're right... I'm just a brain... I'm not special like you, or the others" she sat up, swinging her legs round off the bed, so she was keeping her back to Quinn "All that makes me special is a suit" she added lowly as she hung her head
"Rach" Quinn sighed, wishing she hadn't opened her big mouth. She shuffled over on her knees, until she was right behind the brunette "You know you are so special, and not in the 'stop eating the paste' way" she saw Rachel's shoulders move, which let her know she'd got a silent chuckle from her. "You know that right. You saved me, you saved Beth, you saved Santana and Brittany... you saved Mike and Tina and Puck.
"No we all saved Mike, Tina, and Puck" Rachel tried to interject
"No, you did because you bought us all together" she then laughed lightly to herself "And I don't know if you've realised but that suit you built... it's amazing, like you" she leant it to rest her head on Rachel's shoulder and slip her arms round her girlfriend again too "And you have such a big heart"
"My hearts dead" Rachel muttered coldly
Quinn screwed her eyes shut tightly, if not she might squeeze Rachel to death instead "Stop being so damn negative" she whispered harshly to refrain from raising her voice. After all Beth was still slumbering in her crib on Quinn's side of the room "You care about everything, you care about me and Beth so much"
"Well of course I do, I love you, and Beth's your daughter how could I not care about her" Rachel rushed out her agreement to reassure her better half
"Exactly, you have me, you have our mutated friends. And you have a very real, very strong heart Rachel" she slipped a hand down next to the arc reactor, realising what her hand was close to but not letting it deter her "I'd know I felt it beating that night, and I feel it beating now"
"I never got to thank you properly for saving my life Quinn"
Quinn let out a shaky breath and shut her eyes to force back tears as the emotions from that night came back to her "Thank me by staying here for a little longer" she asked softly
Rachel let out a long sigh "I really want to, but I can't. I need to get everything ready for today we need to get some group training done. I already saw your limits yesterday so you can have an extra lie in" she turned in Quinn's arms slightly to look at her. Quinn was lucky she'd just managed to calm herself and those potential tears before Rachel saw, it would only make her worry.
"I hope the others don't think you're giving me preferential treatment" she joked trying to divert her own worry further
"No, they won't" Rachel told her "And if they do... they're right, I'm team leader and you're my girlfriend... if they don't like it... you can deal with them" she laughed again. "As for saving my life, I think I know of one small thing that can contribute to a thank you"
"Oh yeah?" Quinn's eyebrow arched in intrigue. She glanced down at Rachel's lips then back to those chocolate orbs
Rachel thought she knew what Quinn was thinking, but a kiss wouldn't even count for one, one hundredth of the thank you she'd need to produce. She was hoping a lifetime of support, love, and compassion might one day be adequate. It hadn't occurred yet to the self proclaimed genius that Quinn was a Goddess and most likely immortal
"I'd like to take you on a date" she told Quinn softly, Quinn who had been leaning just that little bit closer expecting a kiss
She blinked and pulled away just a little so she could actually look Rachel in the eye "Is that a question?" her lips hinted a smirk, as she tried to gain the upper hand again
"No, it's a statement. I said a couple of weeks ago, once I had it planned I wanted to take you on a date... so are you free tonight?" she asked hopeful as she looked back over her own shoulder
Quinn decided to tease instead "Hmm, I'll have to check my schedule"
"Well don't take too long, I need to negotiate some things with people and I'd rather you didn't stand me up, that would be-"
Quinn put a finger on Rachel's lips to softly silence her "Yes I'll go out with you" she then relaxed her arms letting Rachel free. Now Rachel had good reason to leave, if she had to set up things for a date.
Now free Rachel got up, turned and planted a quick kiss to Quinn's lips "I'll pick you up at 7" she murmured as she stayed close "Now get some more sleep, at least while Beth is" she glanced behind Quinn to the crib where Beth was still peaceful
"I could help you" Quinn offered with a small pout
"No" Rachel said softly as she pressed her lips to Quinn's again to kiss the pout away "Stay, rest, please"
"Okay" Quinn sighed sleepily. Rachel guided her back to make sure she did go back to bed, properly. She even pulled the sheet over the blonde despite the sarcastic remarks and insisting she was capable of doing that her self
"Sleep well" Rachel whispered before grabbing clean clothes and slipping out of the room, so she could change in the spare room or the bathroom... depending on whether anyone had passed out in the bath room or not.
"Not without you" Quinn whispered to herself before turning over to face Beth's crib
...
By the time Rachel got downstairs and saw the mess left form last night she wasn't sure why she was bothering... then she remembered, their lives might just depend on it. It sounded stupid but they needed to train, so Rachel would train them.
If they thought she was hell as co-captain of the glee club, they knew nothing yet.
In the end she spent two hours, even having to go out to procure a few items for her date tonight, getting everything ready. At precisely 8 am she was in the kitchen nearly ready to for the others to join her
"Fairchild, can you let our guests, minus Quinn and Beth know that they should assemble downstairs for breakfast"
"Yes miss"
Rachel concentrated her ears as she plated up her teams food. She faintly heard the echo of Fairchild's voice above her and then a variety of other noises, a few moans of complaint, one which sounded like Santana swearing and another that sounded like someone fell out of bed.
Rachel just smirked to herself, satisfied at how that had worked out.
...
"Wow, aren't you 5 a sight" Rachel chuckled as she placed down the last two plates in front of Santana and Brittany who were last to arrive after their wake up call.
She had the 5 teens sat in front of her in a line at the breakfast bar in the kitchen. Mike and Tina sat slumped against each other and Brittany was leaning on Santana who had her desk on the table top and at the opposite end to Mike was Puck... who just looked a normal type of sleepy.
Rachel felt now was as good as time as any "Now, while you're all here and Quinn is absent, I have a request"
Santana's words were muffled but still coherent "If you speak in shorter quieter sentences then you can have anything, even Brittany"
"San!" Brittany shrieked only to wince at her own noise, just like Santana did. Mike and Tina even flinched. Puck just seemed to spare them an amused glance while he ate.
"I'm joking Britt" Santana groaned as she raised her head. She then looked down at the plate in front of her and screwed her face up in disgust "Berry, what the hell is this?"
"Pancakes" Rachel said bluntly
"And they call me stupid" Brittany muttered, her head now in her hands instead of on Santana's shoulder
"Why the hell are you feeding us pancakes?" The Latina asked with bite in her tone
"Well if any of you still have alcohol in your digestive system it should soak it up. That and none of you ate any food yesterday, well at least not while you were here"
"That's because there was no food, just your shit vegan food"
"Thank you for that Santana. Although you are right we didn't have much food left so I went and bought some this morning, after cleaning up the mess"
"Rach, I would have helped you with that, you should have just asked"
Rachel smiled at the maturing boy "That's kind Noah, but I had it covered; besides we're all going to be training today, which brings us back to the food in front of you Santana" she turned back to the Latina as the others were at least poking at Rachel's efforts "You all need to keep your strength up for today" she then nudged the plate forward a little more to encourage Santana
The Latina just sighed "can I have some water and some painkillers first?"
Rachel just rolled her eyes, but got what the fiery girl had asked if it would just shut her up. With the water in front of her and a box of tablets she looked satisfied, enough to remember where this conversation had started "So what do you want... is that what the foods really about, a bribe?"
"If it was a bribe I would have made you lunch to a breakfast" Rachel pointed out "Actually I was wondering if you'd all stay in here tonight, in the living quarters. I kind of have date plans with Quinn and because of security and safety"
"Okay we get it" Santana groaned
"Rachel, this is your base, we completely understand" Tina spoke real words for the first time that morning. Rachel saw Mike managing a smile as he nodded in agreement.
Rachel then looked to Puck, he had been supportive so far but she was always worried, Quinn was the mother of his child after all "Noah?"
"You know its fine Rach" he told her earnestly "I'll make sure Santana don't mess it up for you, and keeps any comment to a minimum"
Santana sat up straight and opened her mouth to protest when she noticed the look Brittany was giving her out of the corner of her eye "Fine she muttered... what you got planned then?" she leaned in, wanting to know every detail to make herself feel important over her former Cheerio captain
"Like I'd tell you" Rachel scoffed "Now eat up"
Santana just deflated in disappointment while the others laughed silently to themselves.
...
"Come on guys, faster you need to move faster!" Rachel was being the
"I can't" Tina dramatically fell to the floor "We need to take a break"
"No this is fun" Brittany jumped in next to Tina who was still face down while Santana crawled into place next to the Asian girl on the floor
"No Britt, It's not fun, it's running, I hate running" she collapsed onto her face
"You guys need to be able to move quickly and for long distances. Who knows what we could be facing?" Rachel yelled with her stop watch in hand. The time was still ticking away. She'd wanted then to run to the far end and back, for what Santana would say was the millionth time in the first hour. "Besides this is just a warm up"
"I swear to god..." Santana growled lowly. Even Mike and Puck had stopped by the other three.
"Okay I'll make you all a deal" they heard Rachel shout "I'll reset the stop watch. And if you guys can get back here in 40 seconds I'll let you take a break and there will be no more running today"
"You promise" Mike panted, yes Mike was exhausted
"Promise" she yelled back "3" she then called out in warning as she held up the stopwatch
"Come on, get up" Mike encouraged his girlfriend while Brittany tried to get Santana up
"2"
"Come on San, you have to get up"
"Just leave me, it's not happening" she cried out as she remained laying on the cold hard concrete floor.
"Me too" Tina moaned, she didn't think she could stand if she tried "It's too far, we'll never make it"
"1!" Rachel hit the start button staring the count on the clock
Mike and Brittany felt helpless as they tried to get their other halves to move. Puck muttered "To hell if I'm doing any more of this shit" he effortlessly picked Tina up and through her over one shoulder before awkwardly crouching and doing the same to Santana "Run" he told the other two who shot off in a sprint, Mike was back to Rachel in what felt like half a second. The others getting there at the same time just inside Rachel's set time limit.
Rachel noted she'd want to test Mike's speed next. She also noted how Puck wasn't slowed by the mass he was carrying. She might want to test that too, to see how much he could carry before it slowed him down.
Puck almost dropped the two girls as he lowered them to the ground before he collapsed next to them. He heard footsteps approach as he felt the glaring ceiling lights darken from behind his closed eye lids.
He cautiously opened his eyes to see Rachel smirking down at him "What?" he said as he tried to catch his breath "You gonna disqualify me?"
"Nope, I just think there might be hope" she looked at the stop watch. 37 seconds to run just over 150 meters, with a delayed start and he was carrying two people... two not very heavy people but
"Huh?" he screwed up his face in confusion
"That... that was team work" she smiled to herself before walking away again, allowing the ceiling lights to blind the mohawked strong boy again.
As she walked away a hand wrapped itself round her ankle, making her yelp in surprise. She looked down to see the tanned hand was attached to the fiery Latina "I'm gonna take that stop watch and shove up your-"
"You'll have to get past me first San" Quinn warned as she stormed up defensively next to her girlfriend
Rachel shook Santana's hand in is weak grasp free from her ankle. "Hey you're up" it wasn't necessary to say but she still said it.
"Yeah I had to get Beth ready, and feed her first so I took a bit longer than I thought, sorry"
"Don't be, you only missed the warm up. Noah is already showing potential in the team working area"
"Oh yeah" Quinn chuckled "I saw him carry Santana's lame ass over the finish line"
"I'm only down here preggars!" Santana groaned
Was that really all Santana could come up with right now, Rachel wondered if she'd broken her... that would be worrying "Santana Quinn isn't preg-"
"Oh yeah dare you to stand up and say that to my face" Quinn playfully taunted the still collapsed Latina. Brittany had melted to the floor too. She sat slumped next to her nearly comatose girlfriend gently and creepily petting her back.
"I can't" she rolled over onto her back and kept up her dramatics "I can't move your girlfriend is evil Fabray" Quinn smirked to Rachel who just had a satisfied smile on her face "I hurt so much that concrete is comfortable"
"Oh come on San, she's not that bad"
"Then again, maybe you'll get preferential treatment" she managed to glare up at them from the floor
"Santana leave it alone" Tina whined from somewhere behind the Latina "Otherwise evil Rachel will take our break away" there was some playful teasing in there... at least Rachel thought there was.
"When did you get a play pen?" Quinn moved to a different subject as she pointed to the wooden playpen Beth was currently safely locked away in
"Oh I just picked it up this morning" Rachel shrugged "is that okay, I thought she could rest in front of you then, you wouldn't have to worry about not hearing the baby monitor. I have some safety screens to put round her too, not that she's in any danger but if It make you feel better-"
"Shut her up already Q" Santana sighed, still on the floor
"You're wonderful" she gave Rachel a quick kiss as a reward, not ready to share anymore in public.
...
"Mike stop hesitating" Rachel sighed, he kept slowing too early when running between the laser/light gates she'd set up. It was the most accurate way for her, or in this case Fairchild as the results were instant, to calculate his speed
"I don't wanna do a road runner and splat against the wall" his voice was shaky with worry, that and he wasn't used to the continuous running. It had his heart beating like crazy, which had been worrying at first. But it seemed his body was supposed to do this, which only made sense, if he could move a lot faster than the average person his heart and lungs would need to work at accelerated speed too.
"It was the coyote that would run into the wall the roadrunner would go through the painted tunnel" Puck explained in a way that made it sound like philosophy to him
"Well there isn't a painted tunnel either!" Mike yelled in frustration
"Okay, okay, calm" Rachel was getting sick of shouting already "Mike take a minute, I'll move the light gate and measure a new distance we'll start this again"
They found out that Mike could run roughly 300 meters per second in the enclosed space, which was obviously impressive, he could outrun some types of ammunition from certain guns, but Rachel had a suspicion there was more in the boy.
After she was finished with Mike she took some of Tina's blood so she could use it to develop a disappearing suit for the girl. She'd have to work on that tomorrow though, she would be busy tonight.
Tina seemed somewhat reserved when it came to her powers, as if she knew her limits. She practiced everything with everyone else any though. Then again maybe Tina didn't see the point, if her clothes were still visible.
Then the crazy girl turned her attention to Puck.
"How the heck are you gonna test my strength?" he smirked, positive there was nothing his guns couldn't beat... except Quinn of course
"Well I picked up Rachel's car?" Quinn folded her arms across her chest as she eyed the boy up and down. She knew she was getting to him
"Fine" he got defensive, his own smirk wiped away by Quinn's, defeated, just like his arm in the arm wrestling last night "You wanna see me pick up a car? I'll pick up a car"
"No wait..." Rachel trailed off, dropping her shoulders as the mohawked boy kept none of his manliness as he strutted off "At least be careful with it, I would like to be able to use it again"
He wasn't as hesitant as Quinn when he picked up the car, in one swift movement the Lexus was above his head. Quinn's smirk didn't deter though, so he went one further, with no strain on his face he slid the cars over so the centre of gravity of the car was settled over one hand. He then let go, letting the entire car sit on just his right
Strength was his thing, his only thing, Quinn couldn't take it away with one arm slam.
...
Regret, yeah that was basically what Rachel was feeling right now. What had felt like a good idea for the past couple of days was now feeling really stupid. It was too late now, she'd just have to go through with it and hope Quinn didn't hate her.
She didn't have any pebbles, so she picked the few spare washers and ¼" nuts to throw at the window instead. She knew Quinn would still be in there changing, if not she was already ready.
Like a cliché out of some crappy chic-flic, she took the washers and nuts as replacement pebbles out of her jeans pocket and started throwing them at the Perspex safety window. She crouched down to pick up one of the washers she'd already thrown when she heard the window open above her.
"Rachel?" Quinn asked quizzically "What the heck are you doing?" she asked as she looked down on the casually dressed Rachel, holding a long stem red rose, standing in front of her car that was parked right out front.
"I needed to get your attention and there's no door bell... or door" she pointed to the opening in front of her but kept looking up to Quinn, at their bedroom window "I'm here to pick you up"
She saw Quinn's lips form a bright grin before she ducked her head
"Is that okay?" Rachel asked cautiously
Hazel eyes connected down with her brown ones again "You're so damn sweet Rachel Berry"
"That's me" she shrugged with her modesty
"I'll be down in a second, I just want to hand Beth over to Puck" Quinn told her before pulling the window shut and disappearing. Rachel nodded, only partially surprised Puck didn't already have Beth.
A minute later Quinn was by Rachel's side "You look beautiful" Rachel commented on the classic Quinn clothes, dress and cardigan.
"Thank you, you do too" after just a short shy kiss Rachel tugged Quinn toward the car where she opened the door for her.
"This is for you" she had been so distracted she forgot about the flower in her hand. She offered it to Quinn who took it and tried to suppress another stupid grin from creeping onto her face.
"Thank you" that earned her another quick kiss, at least they were getting comfortable with some of the smaller things.
"Let's get out of here before people start watching" she chuckled as she held Quinn's hand, guiding her into the front passenger seat. Rachel then ran round the car and got in herself. They put their seatbelts on (Rachel being very strict about car safety) and she started the ignition.
Rachel set off across the warehouse floor, heading along the far wall toward the corner with the garage door. What Quinn didn't expect was when Rachel got close to the door Rachel turned round and headed toward the centre of the space. Quinn noticed something ahead of them lying out on the floor. Rachel swerved round it and pulled up so the car was between the living quarters and what she'd set up. That way they had more privacy, just in case.
Rachel couldn't gage Quinn's reaction as she was currently staring at the back of her head. "We're here" she announced hesitantly. Quinn was just looking at the small set up in front of her "Its stupid isn't it?" Rachel cringed
"No" she heard Quinn say softly before the blonde turned back to her with bright eyes. "It's kinda perfect... I'll admit, I'm shaky about going outside after finding you like... that the other night" she couldn't talk directly about it, not yet
"Are you sure?" Rachel had to check
"I'm with you, where I feel safest, what could be better?" she smiled
"Okay" Rachel relaxed now able to smile. "Wait there a second" Quinn watched in amusement as Rachel got out the car and ran round to the other side.
She opened the door for a chuckling Quinn "Fairchild?" Rachel called out as she offered her hand out to her girlfriend
"Is it time Miss?"
"Yes it is time, Fairchild" she chuckled softly as she walked Quinn the few feet to the picnic blanket. The lights dimmed and soft music started playing form Fairchild's speakers above them. The shutters on the ceiling above them retracted so they could see some of the night sky and the stars above them. Rachel and Quinn settled on one side of the blanket, with a cliché basket sat in front of them and an ice bucket
"Is this okay?" Rachel checked again, it wasn't a fancy restaurant it was the floor Santana and Tina had collapsed on earlier that day.
"Yes" Quinn stressed to reassure Rachel "It really is?"
"Okay" she started removing containers form the basket "I made us some things for dinner" she commented
"And you cook too" Quinn faked gushed, knowing already too well Rachel liked to cook "When did you have time for all this"
"You'll be surprised what you can do in 2 hours" that was the simple truth about it "I made these things this morning, they're ideal at room temperature anyway" she added so Quinn wasn't put off
"You know it's fine. Besides if the left over pancakes are anything to go by, this should be great" she added, that's when she noticed the bottle in the ice bucket and the two stemmed champagne glasses next to it "And champagne?"
"Yeah, only the best for you" she grabbed the bottle and without making a mess popped the cork.
"How did you get champagne?" she noticed Quinn eyeing her suspiciously
The truth wasn't such a great story so she kept to a line "I have my ways" it would have killed any possible moment to say she went to the Berry house and picked it up from her dad's special collection he'd kept in the liquor cabinet.
She poured two glasses and passed one to Quinn "How about a toast?" she raised her glass "To you, Quinn, my life saver"
They clinked glasses and sipped at the bubble drink. "You saved my life too Rachel" Quinn reminded her as she placed her glass down on the smooth floor next to her
"I didn't though did I?" oh no, tears were brewing in those chocolate eyes "I didn't actually get there in time to-"
"Shh, don't say that" Quinn hushed softly not wanting to think about any more almost death "You did save me Rach. In so many ways"
"Quinn?" Rachel furrowed her brow and placed the glass back down, while the tears dissipated "What do you mean?"
She let a humourless laugh exhale from her lungs "You have no idea what I felt before you became my friend" Rachel was silent, waiting for her to continue. Quinn ducked her head, afraid of what she was about to admit "When I was alone, with only Beth... I felt so unloved, but when you became my friend I started caring about myself again" she felt Rachel's hand wrap round her own "Before I just thought of Beth and it kept me going, her little face... but it wasn't until you" now she could find that gaze, from Rachel to give her confidence "Until you kissed me, you freed me, and I'm not talking about Thora"
Rachel was definitely worried "I don't understand, freed you from what?"
"You freed me from all my negative self pitying thoughts. You... you..."
"I love you" if Quinn was afraid to say it in that perspective, Rachel wasn't afraid to help her
"Yeah, that" she let out a tiny shy giggle "Because you love me, I could love myself again... because I felt I was worth loving" she shut her eyes tightly, embarrassed she'd actually admitted that out loud.
"Quinn, you shouldn't have felt like that" she hooked a finger under Quinn's chin and gently tilted her head up "You are definitely worth loving. I consider myself lucky that you have any feelings for me. I feel lucky that you're here with me right now"
"Funny" Quinn leant it, letting Rachel guide her as she let her eyes slip shut "I thought I was the lucky one" Her lips found Rachel's for a deep kiss, a more satisfying kiss than all the others they'd shared that day. Food, drink, music and stars were forgotten as Quinn gently pushed Rachel to lay back and she followed, crawling up Rachel to straddle her, all while never letting her lips leave Rachel's.
Let us know what you think...
Forgive me for grammatical errors, its 2 in the morning and i need to be up at a real time... i'll fix them tomorrow, (so at least for now you were able to read it :/)