Author's Note:
I don't know that I'll be able to say this when we reach chapter fifteen so I'm going to say it now: thank you everyone who has read this story, left a review, send me a message, checked either (or both!) the follow and favourite boxes, your feedback and interest in this small fiction has really kept me writing until the end. It just remains to say that I can't wait to share with you how I imagine Quinn and Will's story ending and I hope you continue to leave me gorgeous reviews!
DaenerysTargary3n
Four years later…
Not while the fever of the blood is strong,
The heart throbs loud, the eyes are veiled, no less
With passion than with tears, the Muse shall bless
The poet-soul'd to help and soothe with song.
Not then she bids his trembling lips express
The aching gladness, the voluptuous pain.
Life is his poem then; flesh, sense, and brain
One full-stringed lyre attuned to happiness.
~ Life and Art (E. Lazarus)
Quinn couldn't wait to go home. She missed Kayleigh, who was a whirligig around the house these days with all her childish energy and innocence. It dawned on the mother as she sat waiting for proceedings to kick off once more that she had only spent two hours with her child over the past week. Kurt and Blaine had seen her daughter more than she had while rehearsals were underway and you could tell that the presence of Kayleigh's two favourite uncles was rubbing off on her, for she no longer allowed herself to be dressed in plain pastels or 'cute' numbers. No, no, no…all Miss Kayleigh Quinn Schuester would be seen in outside the house were outfits and dresses her Uncle Kurt (whom she had entwined round her finger) brought her back from his dabbles at Vogue.
She smiled contentedly as she recalled what she was like as a young sprite of a thing. With wealthy WASP parents, she had been given copious things and doted on to no end, which had all resulted in a pregnant cheerleader who got slushied on a semi-regular basis for being a member of the glee club. She was very much aware that after this week she would have to have words with Kurt about turning her child into a mini Rachel Berry. Honestly, the diva that child was becoming under Kurt's tutelage was frightening. Her daughter was the spitting image of what she was like as a young child and she was doted on by all who knew her. It just brought a tear to the woman's eye as she daydreamed about what her daughter would be doing while she, her mother, was unable to spend much time at all with her.
"Baby, why are you crying?" A tender, masculine voice asked, piercing her reverie.
"I want to go home. I miss Kayleigh."
Will Schuester smiled, pitying his poor wife, who was evidently being overwhelmed by her maternal feelings and the hormones that were coursing through her body at an unfathomable rate. As he took his seat beside her to watch as the dress rehearsal continued, he took her left hand in his and began to fiddle with the two rings that caressed the skin on her ring finger.
"They were two of the happiest days of my life." He stated simply.
She looked at him and the tears began to dissipate, "Mine too. I'll never forget the night when you proposed to me. It was magical – like something out of a fairy tale."
"Well, very little of our story has been that simple so to have that one night be the perfect proposal (as you put it) is enough, don't you think?"
"I do," she agreed, "but I know that Mercedes lost Kayleigh for those two hours when you weren't around that day."
He looked aghast, "I thought I'd been so careful! I made sure no one told you! It made me so nervous. How'd you know?"
"Ha, you are not that subtle…but to be fair, neither is Finn." She scoffed.
Her husband of two years was truly surprised that she had gleaned that her toddler had temporarily scuttled off and dodged the care of Mercedes. He was not, however, at all shocked that the culprit of her knowledge was Finn Hudson. The former quarterback did not have the capacity to keep secrets or to do anything furtively.
The inception of their engagement that had occurred almost three years ago had gone off without a hitch. New Directions (with the exception of Quinn, naturally…) had performed a hearty and cheery rendition of "I Got You Babe", after which Will got down on one knee and presented his girlfriend with a stunning vintage engagement ring. It was a simple setting of a solitary diamond that had cost him a fair amount but what with his shows doing well on Broadway, he managed to coax an advance out of his bosses.
"The wedding was better, you know…" Quinn murmured serenely.
He giggled, "With the amount we spent, love, I should hope it was. It was a beautiful day. I know it was our wedding but I can't help but think that Kayleigh was the star of the ceremony."
"She was adorable, sitting on Puck's lap! She was so talkative that day, no one could get a word in edgewise without her permission. God forbid anyone should talk over her or not have her in every conversation."
Their nuptials had been in a small church in New York that they had used to have Kayleigh christened, with Noah and Tina as her godparents. It had been Noah's choice to have Tina alongside him as his biological daughter was taken into God's family. It was a choice that perplexed the couple but when Blaine informed them that Tina had transferred her misplaced feelings to Puck when he told her he was gay and completely into Kurt, the Chinese girl had spent her time helping Noah through the official loss of his child. That had made the situation much clearer.
Without needing to utter a syllable, the married couple reflected on the time when they decided to enlighten their friends as regards their true attachment to each other. It had been on the second anniversary of their relationship taking root that they got all the members of New Directions together in New York with the exception of Finn, who couldn't finagle the time off or the cross-country travel, over to their place for supper and had ended the evening by announcing that they were in fact dating. No one, much to Will's surprise, raised any objection and except Mike, who remained oblivious, the entire group proclaimed that they had long suspected that Will and Quinn were in love. Kurt's words in particular had stayed with him in perfect detail all these years…
"I'm going to make a toast. That was a great dinner, Mr. Schue…sorry, Will. Totally seems odd to call you that now you're not our glee coach anymore! Anyway, I would like to toast to you and Quinn and little, gorgeous Kayleigh, of course. You are a wonderful family – the perfect family, even – and after everything you've both been through, you each truly deserve each other. I know I speak for all of us, including Finn, who's such a dork he can't be here, when I say that we owe you, Will, so much. I mean, I can honestly say that I owe you my life and Blaine and I owe you our happiness and we can never thank you enough for that. Quinn, you are the strongest woman I know. You are an awesome mother and a fantastic friend. The way you've changed from someone whom we feared as the foreboding Cheerios captain into a sincere and important member of the glee club truly shows just how versatile and capable you are and I know whatever you do after Juilliard, you'll kick ass, girl. Yes, yes, Rachel, I know, I'm overrunning but this isn't the Tonys! To wrap this up, I'm just going to say that we all support you guys and we think this relationship is a great thing for both of you and for us as a glee club family so if anyone tries to give you grief, they'll have all of us to reckon with, so my guess is – with Finn's muscles, Blaine's charm and 'Cedes' attitude – no one will bother. To Mr. Sch-Will and Quinn!"
"I'll never forget what Kurt said as long as I live." Will whispered, pulling Quinn's hand up to his lips so he could plant a gentle kiss on her platinum wedding band.
"Ouch!" Quinn yelped, interrupting her husband's attentions to her jewellery.
"What's the matter?" Will asked, waving back to the cast and crew that they should carry on their work in spite of the co-producer's outburst.
"He's kicking, Will, he's kicking…" She breathed as she brought Will's palm to rest on her engorged belly where she was safeguarding their second child and would be for the next three months.
"Wow, that's a strong kick! Football star in the making, I should think!" The expectant father guessed with a dreamy look spreading across his visage.
"No," Quinn retorted, slapping his hand away from her stomach playfully, "award-winning dancer. Kayleigh's got the pipes so it stands to reason that our son will inherit your magic feet."
"He'd have to if he's going to be a dancer. If he got your dancing ability, he'd constantly be falling on his ass!" He joked back.
"Shut up and pay attention to the dress! This is our first show together so you should be more attentive to what's going on onstage the afternoon before the press premiere tonight."
Will faked a look of horror and clasped his hands to his cheeks, "I should pay more attention? I should? What happened to it being our first show? Why aren't you watching what's happening?"
She punched him on the arm (earning a squeal), "Because I am concentrating on not swearing at your child who is mistaking my bladder for a football! Unless you want the second act to begin with the lyric 'I hate being pregnant, I wish this baby would get the fuck out of me already', you will just oversee the rehearsal for both of us, okay?"
He really did feel sorry for his young wife. The pregnancy was taking its toll on her along with the preparations for their first musical going live today and missing their other child to excess. He remembered how ecstatic he had been when Quinn woke him up one morning with about a dozen home pregnancy tests being dropped onto their bed. They had rolled around kissing for what seemed like years, Will showering her lips, neck, breasts and belly with adoring kisses. That sweet memory was ancient history for the pregnant woman massaging her belly beside him.
"How about I take your mind off it? It's the least I can do."
She looked at him with sulky eyes, "How?"
He kissed her passionately on the lips, caressing her bottom lip with his tongue as he endeavoured to distract her from their gyrating baby, "By telling you who I think would make ideal godparents for this little one."
"Oh! Who?"
He tucked a tendril of hair that had strayed from her bun behind her ear and said, "Kurt and Mercedes. I know we were going to have Mercedes for Kayleigh but she got stuck taking care of her mom so I think she ought to be our son's godmother and Kurt has been so great with Kayleigh and he and Blaine are round almost every weekend when we're at home."
"I love it."
Will's eyes pricked with tears, "You do?"
She nodded, "I think they'd make the perfect godparents for our son. We can ask them tonight when they're here for the show."
"You were a pro during that negotiation, sweetheart," he praised her lavishly, "I mean, really, I had no idea you were so good at business deals."
"I had to inherit something from my father, Will. Anyway, it was important to me that all the guys from New Directions come tonight. We need the support and I didn't want anyone to get left out because I could only get like five tickets."
"So who is turning up tonight?"
She sighed, preparing to reel off the list of their closest friends who were attending the show's opening night, "Rachel, Kurt, Blaine, Mercedes, Finn, Mike, Tina, Sam, Santana, Brittany, Artie and…Coach Beiste."
"You invited Coach Beiste?" Will asked, not expecting her to have shown preference to the football coach of McKinley.
"She's your best friend. Of course, I sent her a ticket!" Quinn chastised, unable to comprehend his amazement.
"Now, that's why I love you." He declared, smacking a wet kiss on her lips, feeling a bit stupid at his surprise that his wife had included his closest friend from Ohio.
"Hang on," Will exclaimed in a stage whisper, "isn't Puck coming?"
"No. He asked if he could stay at home with Kayleigh tonight and I didn't see why not. I offered him a ticket, of course, but he told me outright he'd rather spend his time in New York with Kayleigh. He said he'd see the show some other night."
Will nodded, "That's sweet of him. It'll be good for her too, not being around Kurt and Blaine as much."
"I know…I swear she prefers them to me sometimes."
The father caught wind of the tinge of sadness in his wife's voice and stroked her cheek, "Don't be silly, sweetheart. That's just the hormones talking."
"You're right," she concurred, "as usual. Anyway, let's get back to the show. They're just finishing up Act Two, so we can do notes and then give everyone some time off before the performance; we can even go home and see Kayleigh. She'll be asleep by the time we get in tonight and we haven't seen her today. I want to spend time as a family before we put on Schuester & Schuester's first show."