This What If is based around a prompt given to me in the reviews of the story. I would say this would be set around May 2014. If you have a look at Chapter 12 of my original Snapshot of A Memory story you will see I talk about what would be Madeline's 4th birthday. This is where I see this What If sort of being around.
Rachel stands in front of an apartment building looking at her phone and the address on the phone making sure she is in the right place.
She takes a deep breath and goes to take a step forward when she sees someone coming down the sidewalk to the apartment where she is standing. She tries to hide but he sees her and she smiles as happily as she can even though everything inside her at this moment in time is hurting.
"R...Rach?" Puck says as he takes in the small woman in front of him. "What are you doing here?" He steps forward and embraces her tightly before lifting her off the ground making her squeal in shock. "I would say you look good but this moment in time... what's wrong?"
"I quit Julliard last month." His eyes widen, Julliard was Rachel's dream and the reason why his daughter didn't have her mama with her.
"What? Rach, Julliard was everything you ever wanted." She shakes her head.
"I had to quit." She swallows. "Everything I ever wanted is here in Boston, is she here?"
He shakes his head. "Quinn's got back-to-back lectures today and Madeline is at the day care." He puts his key into the door to let himself and Rachel into the building and then opens it so Rachel could walk through. "Follow me."
He tells her to take a seat in his living room while he begins to make her a coffee, black of course as he didn't have any soy milk in the apartment. Rachel sits down and takes in the apartment. There are three bedrooms, so Rachel can only assume that Quinn shares the place with Quinn and Madeline. Rachel can also see the hundred pictures surrounding the apartment, all taken quite professionally and all involving Madeline, Santana, Brittany and Puck in some way or another. There are only a few that involve Quinn.
"Here you go jewberry." He hands her the cup of scolding coffee. "So, why did you quit Julliard?"
"I slept with the Dean's daughter." His eyes widen and he sputters on the sip of coffee he had previously taken. "I don't know what came over me, but I... I treated her horribly and found myself without any support and I was out on my ear before I knew it."
"So you didn't quit?" She shakes her head. "Oh. What's the plan then?" Puck isn't stupid, he knows Rachel and knows how much she hates being without a plan.
"I've talked with my dad's and sent in my application. I'm planning on coming to UMass. They have a good theatre and music department. I don't need Julliard to make it on Broadway."
"That's brilliant Rach."
She nods and takes a sip of her coffee. "So how have you been? What's with the outfit? Stripogram?" He chuckles and shakes his head. He was currently dressed in his cop uniform, it wasn't as prestine as it should be as his shirt was untucked and most of the buttons were undone due to the very warm day, and his hat was in his rucksack, so he could see why Rachel would make hte assumption.
"I'm a cop. Well I'm still only a cadet, I finish in September but I'll be a BPD from then on." She smiles at him proudly.
"Noah look at you. I'm so proud of you."
"Thanks." He takes a big sip out of his drink. "Go ahead ask, I know you are dying to ask."
She smiles softly. "How are they?"
He nods. "They're both good. Quinn is doing brilliantly at school as we all knew she would. She's worked on quite a few designs outside of school as well which has brought us a bit more money here." He runs a hand through his hair which has started to cover most of his head rather than part of it. "These digs are not cheap believe me."
"I can imagine. They are beautiful though."
"Thank you. Madeline you will be very proud of." He puffs out his chest when he talks about his little girl. "She's about to turn 4 as I'm sure you know." She nods. "The place she goes during the day wanted to put her up a year and put her into school from last September. Quinn and I put a stop to the idea, but she is so smart. I bet she's gonna be a lawyer or doctor or something." He says proudly.
"She sounds amazing."
"She is. She misses you Rae. She is just starting to forget you though, you being back now, will be brilliant for her."
"I miss her so much Noah, like you wouldn't believe. Both of them, all of you."
"We missed you too Rae. I..." He is cut off when the door to his apartment is thrown open and in walks Brittany followed closely by Santana. It was Brittany who notices Rachel first, letting out a high pitch squeal and throwing herself onto the smaller girl. Rachel can only fall backwards onto the couch spilling the now luckily luke warm coffee onto her and Brittany's laps and then wrapping her arms around the blonde.
"Rach, what are you doing here?" Brittany asks and then she leans down and covers the brunettes face in kisses. Rachel giggles loudly and Brittany is quickly pulled off by Santana.
"No lady kisses for anyone but me remember Britt."
"But it's Rachel, San. She's back." Brittany says pouting and Rachel and Puck chuckle when they hear a growl and Rachel is quickly pulled into a hug by the taller brunette.
"Gracias mija." Santana whispers into her ear.
"What for?" Rachel whispers back.
"She misses you, all three of my girls miss you. Now your back they'll be complete again. So thank you." She squeezes her one more time and kisses her cheek. "It's good to have you back."
"It's good to be back."
"Why are you here Rach?" Santana asks as she walks to the kitchen and comes back with two towels both for the mess that Rachel's coffee cup caused on Brittany and Rachel. She then takes a seat and Brittany perches herself on Santana's lap.
"Got kicked out of Julliard."
Santana's eyes widen as she really was not expecting that. "What? How? Why?" She asks rather comically as she tries to get her head around the news.
"I might have slept with the deans daughter and then treated her like crap."
"What?"
"It brought me back here though."
"What are you going to do now?"
"I'm coming to Boston." She smiles. "I've started to look at apartments and I should be back from Lima in September to hopefully start at UMass."
"That's where I go." Brittany exclaims her eyes full of wonder.
"I'll be transfering so I'll probably be in the same sort of lessons as you Britt." Britt sits up on Santana's kness and bounces up and down excitedly.
"San did you here that baby?"
"I did. It sounds good Britt." Santana pulls Brittany back onto her lap so she is not hurting her knees any longer. "So are you back here for Quinn?" Rachel looks down at her hands. "Rach, your not gonna have too much trouble, she loves you still."
"Really?"
Santana, Brittany and Puck nod their heads up and down. "Of course she does. You're Quinn & Rachel." Brittany says as if it's very obvious.
"My girl said it for us all, you two are meant to be together." Santana says with a smile. "Look we have the apartment next door. Puck can take the couch and Madeline can have the spare room. We'll have dinner here and then leave the two of you to talk through everything."
"Are you sure?"
Santana nods. "Yes."
"Now I have to ask, you and Britt are you finally a proper couple?" Brittany bounces up and down catching Santana in the ribs with a misplaced elbow. Both girls forget about telling Rachel what's been happening as they get lost in each other.
"They'll be there forever now. Yes they're together, exclusively now. Thank fuck."
Rachel chuckles. "They're happy."
Quinn walks up the steps to her apartment, thanking god again that they only lived on the first floor. Madeline is running a few steps above her, trying to get her mother to walk a bit quicker.
"Come on mommy. I wanna see daddy."
Quinn chuckles and scoops Madeline under one arm when she gets close enough. "Lets go see daddy then munchkin." She places Maddie down on the floor in front of her so she can place the key in the door however as soon as she has it open, it's slammed back into her face. "What the hell? Let me into my apartment Santana Lopez." She shouts getting irate with the brunette whom she saw before the door had been closed.
"Wait there a second." Santana says shouting back through the thick door panel. The door is then quickly opened and standing there with small smiles are Brittany, Santana and Puck. Madeline runs over to her father and he scoops her into his arms and walks towards the couch thankful for the distraction from keeping the surprise a secret.
"What the hell was that?"
Santana steps forward and pulls Quinn's rucksack off her back and then places her hands on her shoulders. "Least you look less of a tramp than normal when you get back from lectures." She says as she looks Quinn up and down. "You might want to go to your room. We'll look after Maddie. Dinner is at 7 tonight."
"San, what the hell is going on?"
Santana wraps her arms around her best friend. "Just go to your room. It's fine, trust me." She kisses her temple before pushing her in the direction of her room.
Quinn takes a deep breath and walks through the open door and her eyes widen to the size of saucers when she sees who is casually lying on her bed. She takes in the smaller woman, Rachel has a beanie on the top of her head, trying to control her unruly curls. She is wearing a worn pair of jeans and a black wife beater, however the one thing Quinn does notice is the bags beneath her eyes. They were not there when they split up, and if Quinn had anything to say about it they would be gone in the morning.
"Rae?" She whispers out, catching the attention of the other girl. Rachel whips her head around and smiles as brightly as she can at Quinn however something stops the smile from reaching her eyes like it normally does. "What are you doing here?"
Rachel rolls off the bed so she can stand in front of Quinn and has to look up like always so she can reach the blondes eyes. "I got kicked out of Julliard." Quinn's eyes widen.
"Rache..."
"No let me tell it." She sighs. "I haven't been celibate in the time we've been apart and I ended up sleeping with the wrong person." Quinn turns her head away not wanting to think about Rachel with someone else. "Princess please look at me?" Quinn looks back at Rachel after a moment. "I slept with the Dean's daughter and he kicked me out."
"He can't do that."
"Probably not, but he did." She explains. "I went back to Lima, to my dad's. It's not the situation I wanted, but to be honest, I think I will be happy here. My dad has managed to get the Dean to transfer me to UMass. I'm studying here in Boston from September. In the same year as you."
Quinn opens her mouth to say something but nothing comes out. She lifts her right hand and hesitantly tucks a strand of Rachel's hair behind her ear and leans forward and kisses her clammy forehead. "Are you sick?"
Rachel leans her head back in a laugh and shakes her head. "One of the first questions you ask me after seeing me for the first time in 2 years is 'are you sick?'" She smiles. "I'm nervous, like if it wasn't for Puck seeing me outside your apartment building I would have probably walked."
"Really?"
Rachel shakes her head. "I would have been back an hour later. I don't know how corny this will sound but every mile of the journey back here, I swear I could feel my heart filling as I got closer to you and Madeline."
Quinn smiles. "Well what's even cornier I felt something in here" She taps her heart "this morning. Something full and I couldn't explain it. You came back to me, that explains it now." Quinn leans her head down whilst Rachel tips her head back and their lips meet softly in a small kiss. "What are you doing between now and September?" She whispers as if trying not to ruin the moment with words.
"I think that depends on what's happening right now."
"Move in with me?"
"No." Quinn pulls back and stares at Rachel in shock. "Wait princess, I want nothing more than to live with you again however we need to take it slow. If we make it a few weeks, I'd love to move in with you." She smiles and steps into Quinn's personal space again. "We're different people now Quinn, we need to see before we hurt each other or Madeline."
Quinn nods realising what Rachel says is true. "Okay that makes sense." She smirks. "Can I kiss you though?" Rachel nods, "And other stuff...?"
"How else are we gonna see if we're still compatible still?" Rachel explains with an equally evil smirk to Quinn. "Kiss me woman." Quinn quickly swoops her head down and captures Rachel's lips in one of the most passionate kisses either of them has ever experienced. From the first touch of their lips they felt like they were coming home and neither of them wanted to be anywhere else at this moment in time without anyone else. Rachel moans and pulls away from the kiss before stepping back with a smile and leaning her hands down to unbutton Quinn's jeans...
Quinn and Rachel finally make it out of their room at 6.58pm, bright smiles on their faces, and looking freshly showered. 3 year old Madeline comes running over to her mother and Quinn swoops her into her arms and kisses the toddlers cheek.
"Hey baby girl." She whispers and smiles when she sees Madeline staring at Rachel. She looks over to the rest of the gang and asks Santana a question with her eyes about wether they've told Maddie who Quinn's guest is. Santana nods and puts her thumbs up. "Do you know who this is Maddie?"
Maddie nods and then buries her face in her mothers neck. "Mama." She says quietly but loud enough for Rachel to hear and cover her heart with her hands at the sound she has waited years to hear again.
"Yea it is baby." Quinn runs her free hand which isn't holding Maddie up and down the little girls back. "Why are you hiding kiddo?"
"Scared."
"Scared of what Mads?"
"Her leaweaving gain." Rachel's heart breaks at this comment and she steps forward so she see her daughter better.
"Maddie, I'm not going anywhere unless you want me to. I promise you." She says talking to the child like she's an adult knowing full well from what she learnt from Santana and Puck earlier in the day that the girl will understand.
"Pwomise?" The little girl asks still keeping her face in her mother's neck.
"I promise Maddie." Rachel lays her hand on her daughters back. "Can I see your face again my little gold star?" Madeline smiles at the nickname and lifts her face out of Quinn's neck and smiles at Rachel. "There you are. You look so much like your mother sweetheart."
"Thank you mama." Madeline looks up to Quinn. "Can I...?" Quinn nods knowing what Madeline was asking. In seconds Madeline was out of Quinn's arms and snuggling into Rachel's who happily accepted the 3 year old into her arms.
"Oh I've missed you Madeline."
"Missed you too mama."
"Now enough of the reunion, get your asses over here and eat." Santana says from her position at the kitchen table which is laid out with some gorgeous smelling food.
2 weeks later
Quinn laughs out loud and covers Rachel's mouth to stop the loud cackle she knows was about to come out of the brunettes mouth. She attempts over 4 times to put her key into her lock and finally gives up and hands it to Rachel who easily slides the key in and turns letting them into their apartment.
As Puck was 'out' tonight with one of his lady friends, Madeline was staying with Santana and Brittany whilst Quinn and Rachel went out to enjoy their, well whatever they wanted to celebrate. Despite being together for two years they never really saw the other drunk until now, mainly due to the fact that they were underage and Rachel was highly against drinking when their was a baby in the house.
It was now getting to 4am and they had just got home after an amazing night out together, exploring the clubs of Boston and enjoying each other and of course alcohol.
Rachel guides Quinn into the apartment and finally lets out a laugh when the blonde trips over her own feet trying to get to Rachel to kiss her. "You my love are drunk." Rachel says as she holds Quinn up easily.
"Arn't you?"
Rachel shakes her head. "Nicely tipsy. I wanted to remember this night." She kisses Quinn quickly before guiding them in the direction of their room, making sure Quinn didn't trip over anything this time.
"Rache?"
"Yea Princess."
"I lurve you." Quinn admits as she falls onto the bed and looks up to Rachel.
"I love you too baby."
"Nooo, I lurve you. Say you lurve me too?" Quinn says giggling loudly making Rachel smile fondly at hte other woman. She gets rid of her dress and puts on a nighty before leaning forward and straddling the blonde and quickly getting into her personal space.
"Quinn?"
"Ya."
"I lurve you." She kisses Quinn's nose before getting off her and attempting to remove her dress.
"Noo, weave me, wanna sweep n coodle."
"You can't sleep in your dress baby."
"Can"
"Look let me get the dress off and we can cuddle and sleep." Quinn nods.
"You juss wanna see me neeked." Quinn says pointing her finger at Rachel trying to be stern.
"There is that." Rachel finally manages to get the dress of the other woman and puts a long top on her which she assume belongs to Noah and gets them both under the covers and into each others arms. "Thank you for tonight Quinnie."
"Tank you." She curls her body into Rachel's as much as she can. "Moooove in?" She asks to Rachel's breasts where her face is currently pressed.
"Yeah, of course I will beautiful." Quinn smiles and kisses the skin underneath her lips and promptly falls asleep. "I love you so much Quinn Marie Fabray. So fucking much."
"Mama, Mommy. I'm four." Madeline exclaims as she runs into her mothers room, Puck following closely behind. They had left their door open last night so Madeline could come running in when she wanted to as she knows the rules of knocking before entering.
Rachel groans and buries her head further into Quinn's neck. "Do I havta move?"
Quinn smirks. "Nah it's only your daughter's fourth birthday." Rachel groans and moves.
"Hey my little gold star. Come here." Madeline clambers up onto the bed and settles in between her two mothers, snuggling into them and just being content for a moment being with these two women. "Maddie?"
"Ya mama."
"Happy birthday beautiful."
"Thank you." She smiles. "Love ya mama."
"I love you too. Both of you. So much." Rachel kisses the top of Madeline's head and leans forward to kiss Quinn's lips. She was home, in the arms of her girlfriend and daughter and she couldn't imagine a more perfect place. Sure it wasn't in the state she had dreamed of living but she was with people who loved her and nothing, not even some Dean of a prestigious school like Julliard could stop her from achieving her dream.
I have tried to do a Quinn quitting Harvard to go to New York before, but to be honest, I can't see the Quinn I have written in this story doing that. She lost the woman of her dreams because of her choice to go to Harvard, and I don't think her pride would take it if she dropped everything or didn't work hard enough to prove to Rachel that being apart was worth it. I do think the Rachel I have written would have it in her to leave however I do think how it originally panned out worked better.
Please review with your opinions and hopefully more ideas for What If's. The next few I'm working on involve some not so happy endings, one of them surrounding this quote I heard on Criminal Minds 'There are people we can't live without but have to let go'. Another one I have in the pipe line is what happened if Shelby came back into Rachel's life sooner.
A/N: Thank you for reading. Please review, even though some reason at the moment I can't read any of the reviews on the last 3 chapters even though it's telling me there was around 10 extra ones :( It'll still be nice to read it when they appear again.