Santana, Tina and Kurt sat at table at the station's unofficially adopted Mexican restaurant. Officers were regulars here and the staff knew them and treated them right.
"So," Kurt began after everyone had ordered and their drinks had been delivered, "Have you guys met any of the new recruits?"
"Tina is scared to," Santana said playfully.
"Scared?" Kurt asked with a smile.
"Did you know one of the rookies is the mayor's daughter?" Tina asked Kurt.
"Yup," Kurt answered confidently, "Quinn. Nice girl."
"You talked to her?" Tina asked looking stunned.
"I talk to all the officers," Kurt said, "Well, the ones that want their gear. Are you scared of Quinn?"
"First name basis are we?" Santana asked amused.
"I only talked to her for a minute or two," Kurt said, "She was in a hurry and couldn't chat. But from that short time, she seems nice."
"I just find her intimidating," Tina said, "Besides, I don't need to be messing around with the mayor's daughter."
Santana let out a laugh, "Messing around? You planning to sleep with her and run? What would Mike say?"
"Of course not," Tina said, "I've heard that she makes your life hell if you cross her."
"You are overreacting. And overreacting to rumors," Santana said, "It's a big department and we're out on the street most of the day, and you might not even see her all that much."
"Seriously Tina," Kurt said, "Chill out."
"OK, fine," Tina said, holding up her hands, "Maybe I am overreacting, but I just want to keep my life drama free."
"Did it ever occur to you," Kurt began, "That making friends with the mayor's daughter could have it's benefits?"
Santana let out a breath, "So now you want to be friends with her to get some perks? Listen, both of you...Who cares about Officer Fabray and her mom. Let's just do our job, keep doing what we do and it'll be fine. If we end working on a call with her, we treat her like any other officer. Look, I'm not really jumping to know her out of the uniform. I wouldn't be surprised if she got ahead in her career because of who her mom is."
"Now who's making generalizations," Tina stated.
"Let's just talk about something else," Santana said.
Tina had a point. Santana had already made up her mind about the young Fabray: rich, privileged, daughter of one of the most influential women in the State. Santana did wonder why Quinn Fabray had chosen to be a cop. That seemed odd.
The food arrived and soon the discussion turned to what everyone did on the weekend.
###
Brittany, gripped the steering wheel of her car and circled the corner again.
"Fuck, there's never any parking around here," Brittany said, annoyed.
"Let's go somewhere else," Puck said, "I'm not really in the mood for Mexican. How about pizza?"
"We always eat pizza," Quinn said, "Let's go get some sushi."
"I thought you wanted some fajitas?" Brittany said, scanning the street with no luck. Even the restaurant's parking lot was full.
"Yes, but there's no parking," Quinn said, "We're just wasting gas and starving to..."
"THERE!" Brittany yelled as she speed up and pulled behind a car that was pulling out of a spot, "Boom! Parking spot!"
"Good Lord," Puck said, "This isn't the squad car, slow down."
Brittany just smiled and proceeded to park the car. Brittany had heard about Maria's Cocina from her partner Jim. It was the supposed to be one of the best Mexican restaurants in the city and was frequently visited by many on the force. Jim had called it the Cop Pen.
The three of them entered the restaurant and were immediately greeted by a short, stocky man with a mustache.
"Welcome. Three?" he asked.
"Please," Brittany answered.
The man lead them down the to a table in the large open dinning room. The place was packed and Brittany was surprised that they were being seated right away. The man lead them through the crowded room to their table.
As soon as they reached their table, and handed them the menus, the host excused himself and left.
"Oh look, Kurt's here," Puck said taking a seat at the table and looking across to the far end of the room, "And I think the other woman's name is Tina."
"Just great," Quinn said unenthusiastically, sitting down next to Brittany.
"What's wrong?" Puck asked, "You don't like them?"
"Don't know the other two, but Kurt and I talked for a bit," Quinn explained, "He seems nice. I just like to keep work at work. I'm not really interested in mixing my worlds."
"Then why did you agree to come?" Puck asked confused, "This is the unofficial restaurant of our station."
"Is it now?" Quinn asked, looking at Brittany, "I was unaware of that."
"I could have sworn I mentioned it," Brittany said, innocently.
Brittany knew Quinn liked to keep her work and personal lives separate. Being the mayor's daughter sometimes made that a necessity. Quinn had learned the hard way to be careful who to befriend. She had had a couple of people in her life that were only interested in her because of her family. With the exception of arranging the stations assignments, Quinn had never used her political connections for her career.
"Look, he hasn't seen us," Quinn said, "And it looks like they're done with their meal and they should be leaving soon. Let's just pretend we didn't see him."
"Quinn," Puck said, "I get why you keep your guard up, but you can't shut out everyone you work with."
"I know," Quinn said, "But we just started this job and luckily, it seems that no one knows who I am and I'd like to keep it that way as long as possible."
"It's OK," Brittany said squeezing Quinn's hand, "Baby steps."
The man soon returned with a basket of ships and red and green salsa.
"Thanks," Quinn said,
"Oh no problem," he said, "I am honored our mayor's daughter has chosen my restaurant to dine."
Quinn gave the man a small smile, "I'll take a blended margarita and steak fajitas, please."
Brittany and Puck ordered their food and drinks.
"Looks like I'm not coming here again," Quinn said once the man had gone.
"Sorry Quinn," Brittany said.
###
Across the large dinning room, Santana was ordering dessert.
"I'll have a flan," Santana told the waitress. She turned to her friends, "How about you guys?"
"I'll have..umm," Tina began, looking at the menu, "A scoop of chocolate ice cream."
"Same," Kurt said.
Everyone handed the waitress their menus.
"Hey, speak of the devil," Kurt said after the waitress had left, "Look across the room."
Santana turned to her right and saw Quinn Fabray sitting at a table with two other people. Because of the angle, Santana could only see Quinn's face and the back of the blond woman next to her. Santana wondered if it was the same blond she saw in the locker room.
"Who are they?" Santana asked.
"Umm," Kurt said, "I think the one across from Quinn is Noah Puckerman, rookie. He's very cool. I can't see the blond's full face, but she doesn't look familiar."
Guess it's not the locker room blond then, Santana thought.
Santana saw that Quinn had put her arm around the other blond's shoulders and both were laughing. Quinn then kissed her on the cheek. The three of them looked like they were having a good time.
"Right, Puck," Tina said, recognition in her voice, "He's paired up with Mac. I saw them this afternoon."
"Should we go over and say hi?" Kurt asked.
"No," Santana said, "I don't know them, neither does Tina, going over is just awkwardness waiting to happen."
"Santana's right," Tina said, "They haven't seen us, so let's just pretend we didn't see them."
Their dessert came and all attention shifted to their final dish. Santana would every now and then glance at the table across the room. Her curiosity of the young Fabray returning. Why would Judy Fabray's daughter go into law enforcement. The Fabrays were more than just your average political family. According to Uncle Will, the Fabrays have "a shit load of money" that spans generations with most of the family in business, politics and law. All but Quinn, who had chosen a civil servant job.
###
Across the room, Brittany didn't want to be obvious. She tried to glance over at the table across the crowded room at the three others who, apparently, were her co-workers. When she had gone to the weapons locker to pick up her gear there had been a middle aged man working the counter, not the young man named Kurt. Brittany really couldn't get a good look at the other two.
Their order came and Brittany focused her attention on her food and her friends.
"Looks like they're leaving," Puck said, motioning to their colleagues, "Should we say hi?"
"No," Quinn said, "Let's just enjoy our meal and not bother them. They're leaving anyway."
"You know Quinn," Puck said, "You can't keep hiding forever. Sooner or later people will find out who you are."
"I know," Quinn said, "But the longer it takes the better."
"They didn't see us," Brittany said, "So let's just leave it."
Everyone got back to their meal but Brittany made one last glance at the leaving trio. As she did, for a split second, she met the eyes of the striking woman with jet black hair as she left the restaurant.
-TBC-