A/N: Sorry about the delay in updates, I haven't really been feeling this story lately. I have so many ideas I want to write I'm just in a bit of a funk with this bit of the story and the last few chapters only receiving a couple of reviews has me wondering if anyone is still reading? Bit hard to get out of a writing funk when you don't seem to have a captive audience so let me know if you are still reading so I have motivation to continue!
Bit of a filler chapter, but cuteness all around.
Chapter Twelve: 13 Weeks
"Fran, this is my boyfriend Puck, and my girlfriend, Santana," Quinn introduced the two most important people in her life to her older sister who scrutinised the pair before her mouth broke into a grin.
"Hey guys," Fran smiled. "I just want to thank you both for taking such good care of my baby sister, even if you did get her pregnant."
Puck could tell from Fran's smile she was genuinely thanking them and the part about the pregnancy was just light-hearted.
"God you two look almost identical," Santana observed. "At least we know how gorgeous you'll look in eight years time, Kitten."
Both Fabray girls blushed at the brunette's comment.
"Excuse her, she's a charmer," Quinn apologised with a grin at her girlfriend.
"Do you live here too, Puck?" Fran asked, turning her attention to the so-far silent boy.
"I live with my Mom and my little sister, but our parents let me stay here on the weekends," Puck explained and Fran nodded as she listened, glad to see that it seemed the two families got along well and were supportive of the teenagers' unique situation.
"How's your wrist now, Santana? Lucy told me that Russell hurt you that night too," Fran asked the brunette, who raised an eyebrow at the name Fran called her sister.
"It's fine now," Santana told the older girl. "I would have broken a hundred more bones if it took his attention away from hurting Quinn."
"I can't believe I left you here alone with them for six years," Fran's eyes were full of tears again as she looked to her younger sister. "I was so relieved to be away from them both that it never even crossed my mind what you would be dealing with."
"Please don't blame yourself, Frankie," Quinn begged, using the nickname she used to call her older sister. "Even if you were here, he still would have done it, and he would have hurt you too. Plus you'd never have met Chris and had the boys if you stayed here."
"You're right, Lulu," Fran agreed, using Quinn's childhood nickname as well. "The past is in the past, and there's nothing we can do to change that, right?"
Quinn nodded, hoping her sister wasn't just saying that to end the debate, though she was relieved a smile now graced Fran's face.
"So what are we meant to do now?" Quinn asked. "Are we expected to plan funerals or something?"
Fran's face screwed up, the last thing she wanted to do was to attend a funeral where people spoke well of her parents, ignoring everything bad the two had done to their own daughters over the years.
"Can't say I want to do that," Fran shrugged. "Have you called Grammy?"
"No, I was waiting for you to be here," Quinn replied. "I haven't called Uncle Richard or Aunty Jane either."
Quinn had wanted to call her Grammy Clara, her maternal grandmother and the only living grandparent she had left, but she knew that Clara and Judy hadn't had the best relationship because Clara hated Russell with a passion. This had meant that Quinn had little to do with her Grandmother over the recent years, though she knew Fran was in touch with the older lady.
"I'll call Grammy," Fran nodded. "Have you spoken to her lately?"
"I called her on her birthday," Quinn smiled sadly. "Russell overheard the phone conversation and went crazy."
The other three in the room cringed at what Quinn was implying, and Puck reached out for Quinn's hand, feeling like the blonde was entirely too far away from him in that moment.
"Oh Lulu," Fran sighed. "I am so glad he can never hurt you again."
"Me too," Quinn agreed. "And you know what? I had always made excuses for Mom, as to why she let him hurt us, but this morning I lost whatever shred of respect I had for her when she begged me to go home with them, know what he would do to me and the baby."
"She was just as bad as him when it came to me," Fran explained. "A few weeks before I left, she had burnt dinner, you were at some school thing, and he came home and was so mad, and she blamed me. My own Mother shifted the blame to her 17 year old daughter so that she wouldn't get beaten, and when he lay into me, she disappeared to their bedroom. He burnt my arm on the stove that night and she refused to let me get it seen by a doctor."
Fran tugged up the sleeve of her top to show the teenagers a large scar on her arm.
"My god," Santana cringed, feeling the pain in her own arm and understanding on a greater scale what the Fabray girls had gone through, she knew a few stories, but Quinn was reluctant to tell many, but suddenly the scars that were scattered all over Quinn's body held a much more sinister meaning.
Fran excused herself from the room to ring Clara and Puck used the hand he was holding to tug Quinn across to him, letting her settle on his lap.
"I love you," he told her sincerely. "You're the strongest person I know, Quinn Fabray."
"I love you too," Quinn responded with a blushing smile. "Thank you for being here for me. And you too, San, you're my best friend and I am hopelessly in love with you."
Santana leant forward, meeting Quinn's lips halfway in a soft kiss.
"Love you too, Lucy," Santana smiled, and Quinn frowned.
"How did you..." She started, before remembering that Fran still called her Lucy or Lulu out of habit.
"So how did you go from Lucy to Quinn?" Santana questioned curiously and Quinn sighed, knowing she needed to tell Santana and Puck about her radical transformation the year before high school.
"Lucy is my first name, Quinn is my middle name," Quinn explained. "When I was a kid I was chubby and the kids used to call me Lucy Caboosey. The year before high school I worked really hard to lose a lot of weight. Then that summer Russell broke my nose when he hit me and I convinced him to get me a nose job. When I started high school I decided to be called Quinn instead, I only had negative memories of being called Lucy."
"Wow," Santana breathed, it had never crossed her mind that the bold, feisty girl she had met at cheerleading camp had just reinvented herself, Quinn had so much confidence that summer, Santana had been in awe of her. "You're kinda sometimes amazing, did you know that?"
Quinn's hard look softened at her girlfriend's choice of words, "kinda sometimes" had become the threesome's little saying, and Santana's use of it made Quinn realise that neither her boyfriend nor her girlfriend cared what Quinn had looked like as a 12 year old, and Quinn was glad she had told them.
"Fran left before I became Quinn, so she's only ever called me Lucy, or Lulu," Quinn explained. "She was always Frankie to me, and I was Lulu to her."
"I'm glad this has given you a chance to get your sister back, Kitten," Santana said honestly. "The times you've talked to me about her, I could tell how much you missed her, and now you'll get to finally met your nephews."
"Oh god, I hope they like me," Quinn confessed. "I've never really been around kids before."
"And yet, you carry a tiny one around with you 24/7," Puck teased, and Quinn rolled her eyes.
"I don't have to impress this one yet!" Quinn exclaimed, making both Puck and Santana laugh.
The three settled into a comfortable silence as they waited for Fran to return, Quinn stayed on Puck's lap, letting him play with her hair as she closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder. Santana pulled Quinn's legs up to rest on her lap, softly caressing the blonde's bare skin.
When Fran entered the room, each of the teenagers had their eyes closed, and soft smiles graced their faces. She could tell from the way they sat together that they each of them was truly in love with the other two, and she felt a sense of peace that even though she hadn't been here for Quinn, her sister had two people that were on her side, looking after her and loving her.
Quinn's eyes opened as she heard Fran's footsteps and she smiled as Fran sat down on the couch across from her.
"Is Grammy okay?" Quinn asked worriedly.
"She was a bit upset," Fran told Quinn. "She said she will be here first thing in the morning."
Quinn nodded, stretching her legs across Santana's lap as she prepared to stand.
"Suppose I should call Uncle Richard and Aunty Jane," she sighed, not really wanting to have the conversations with her Dad's brother and Mom's sister.
"I did that too," Fran replied. "They'll both be here in the morning too."
"Thanks," Quinn smiled, it felt nice to have her sister helping her out again.
Just then Maribel walked into the room, smiling at the older-looking-Quinn.
"You must be Fran," Maribel said as she sat down on the couch next to Fran. "I'm Maribel."
"I just want to thank you so much for taking Quinn into your house," Fran said sincerely to the older woman, but Maribel simply shook her head.
"We welcomed Quinn into our home, and into our family," Maribel corrected. "And that makes you family as well."
"Thank you," Fran smiled, feeling the love from the older woman who she had just met.
"Are you staying for dinner?" Maribel asked. "Noah, your Mom and Hannah are coming over."
"Oh I should get back to my husband and my sons," Fran replied. "But thank you for the offer."
"They're invited too, we'd love to get to know Quinn's family."
Fran nodded, eager for Quinn to meet her nephews and brother-in-law, and not quite ready to be separated from her sister just yet.
"I'll just call Chris and let him know," Fran told Maribel. "Thank you so much."
"She's so polite," Santana commented once Maribel and Fran had left the room. "I can see where you get it from now, Kitten."
Quinn smiled, it was true that her and Fran shared a lot of the same characteristics, despite their eight-year age gap and six-year separation, Quinn had always idolised her older, beautiful sister.
"I'm so excited I get to see my nephews," Quinn grinned. "I finally get to be an aunty!"