Rachel woke the next morning, felt Quinn's arm wrapped around her from behind and she smiled. Snuggling with her fiance for a few moments before she would kick her out of bed in the morning was always her favorite part of their day, besides falling asleep in her arms.
She shifted, turning around, but was surprised to see that it was Beth's arm that was wrapped around her. The young girl, was laying awake and smiled when she met Rachel's eyes. She pulled Rachel closer and snuggled into her chest as best she could with a still slumbering Quinn's arm wrapped around her small waist.
"I got scarred" Beth whispered.
"That's okay," Rachel answered and then craned her neck to read the time on the clock above the TV.
"You wanna help me make breakfast?" She asked, lifting the small arm so that she could turn and slide out of bed.
"I would, but she's got a really strong arm and I've been trying to move it for ages cause I gotta pee" Beth pointed to the arm wrapped around her own waist. Rachel laughed at the site as she grabbed a cushion from the other couch. She then lifted Quinn's hand, sliding the cushion on top of Beth's stomach, giving the girl a chance to slip out of the sleeping woman's grasp.
"You just need to replace yourself with something. Take this from someone who usually wakes up in the death grip each morning" Rachel chuckled as she saw Beth nod and smile, but then look quickly towards the gym where the bathroom was located.
"Go on" Rachel tilted her head towards the bathroom and Beth sprinted off towards the bathroom. Rachel headed to the kitchen laughing to herself. Maybe things were going to get even more interesting with Beth around.
###
When Beth joined Rachel in the kitchen, the two of them began the process of pancakes. Beth had no objections, so she guessed that she liked them.
"What kind do you want little miss?"
"Um... Blueberry?" Rachel tilted her head and looked at the girl with a big smile.
"Do I have something on my face?" Beth asked, bring her hand to her face.
"No you don't. It's just Quinn likes Blueberries too" Beth grinned at the answer and helped Rachel get the blueberries out of the refrigerator. When she saw Rachel take out the strawberries, her face dropped.
"Mommy used to like strawberry pancakes" Rachel wasn't sure what to say really. She had told Beth that she would be there for her if she wanted to talk about their mother, but she actually didn't know what to say.
Luckily, Quinn came strolling into the kitchen before Rachel had to answer, so instead she placed her hand on Beth's shoulder and kissed her temple.
"Hello ladies" Quinn said, yawning. "Rach, weirdest thing. I woke up clutching a cushion again!" The blonde laughed and Beth looked at Rachel, sharing a knowing look.
"Okay, to the table please" Rachel ordered, grabbing the plate with the stacks of pancakes and bringing it to the table where the two blondes were now sitting.
They sat down together to eat breakfast. Conversation was light. Beth told them about school. The young girl had just completed her first year of pre Kindergarden. Rachel and Quinn discussed asking The Voice about maybe getting some work books for Beth so that she could continue learning. While they sat at the table, Rachel noticed that Beth had her Blankie on her lap. She smiled, remembering that Quinn had told her that it was the one she had sent with Beth when Shelby adopted her.
###
At around 1 o'clock, after Rachel and Quinn had worked out, showered and dressed, construction noises were heard through the walls coming from their bedroom and outside. At first they all froze, in fear. But soon relaxed, deciding to distract themselves from questioning what was happening behind the closed doors.
Quinn showed Beth the work they had down on the childrens series she had begun working on. Who better to judge her books than a child?
When Beth was busy playing with the piano in the living room, the two women sat at the kitchen table and wrote out a note to The Voice. They asked for school supplies and books for Beth so that they could continue her education. They reminded him about the clothing for the girl. And asked if he could maybe supply some toys for her entertainment until she could get outside and run around after the construction was done.
Rachel asked for beginners guide piano work books for Beth as the girl had asked Rachel to teach her how to play some songs earlier that morning while they were making breakfast and by the sounds that the piano was making right now, she'd need a lot of guidance.
Quinn asked if maybe he could get his hands on pictures of Shelby for Beth as they had no luck finding a Facebook for the woman. Now that Beth was with them, she hoped that maybe Beth could look at her as a parent in her life, but she would always understand that Shelby was the girls mother.
###
The first week was a blur of emotions. Beths emotions were running high and being locked up in a house wasn't helping. She'd taken to walking on the treadmill in the gym at a slow pace to distract her. Both girls knew that it wasn't healthy, but there was nothing that they could actually do other than try their best to be there for her and keep her safe. She hadn't spoken much to them directly. She would be in the middle of coloring or playing a game on a computer or watching TV and randomly start talking out loud. Then she would wait for an answer from whichever one of them were in the room with.
Each night, Beth would fall asleep on a bed by herself, but come morning, she would be wedged between the two women. Rachel quickly discovered that Beth, like Quinn, had a death grip if she got her arms around Rachel in the middle of the night. Each morning, she'd have to wake the girl up just to be released.
Getting out of bed on Monday morning after waking Beth up, Rachel stood and watched as the young girl just turned around and snuggled into Quinn, falling back to sleep. They were so alike, resembling each other so much more and more each day. And now that Rachel stood watching their slumbering figures, she observed their relaxed angelic faces, the mother and daughter were the image of one another. Tip toeing over to the shelves that lined the wall of the hallway, she grabbed Quinn's camera and then quietly, took a few snap shots of the two blondes. So peaceful.
After that, Rachel went about her usual morning routine before Quinn and now Beth woke up. She would put a new load of laundry into the washing machine that Quinn would transfer to the dryer when she woke up. She grabbed the garbage from the kitchen and the bathroom and quickly placed it in the storage room, closing it after she was done. The next time she would enter the room, the bag would be gone and usually any requests they had made would be waiting for her.
She began to make breakfast, the smell usually waking the two girls up. Just as she was taking the bacon off of the stove, Beth came stumbling in and plopped down onto a chair in at the kitchen table.
"Morning sleepy head" Rachel laughed. Beth was sitting in a chair, falling back to sleep as she sat up.
"You're not awake yet, are you?" Rachel laughed, kneeling infront of the child. Beth leaned forward and wrapping her arms around Rachel's neck.
"Mom, mom kicked me in her sleep" Beth mumbled, whining as she snuggled her face into Rachel's neck. She then fell back to sleep against Rachel, who was frozen with wide eyes. Lifting up Beth, she carried the child back to bed on the couch across from Quinn.
Looking between the two girls, Rachel bit her lip. Probably unknown to the child, she had referred to both Quinn and herself by the term mom. Walking out of the room with a spring in her step, back into the kitchen, Rachel smiled. Mom... she could get used to that.
###
"Mmmmmmm I smell bacon!" Quinn called out, getting up from her bed. She wobbled a bit getting her balance and then moved into the kitchen. Beth soon followed, running past the older blonde, shoving her a little bit when they fought to get to the table first. Beth won, smirking and taking her place at the kitchen table. Rachel rolled her eyes.
Waiting for breakfast to be served up, Beth opened a coloring book that she had received from The Voice along with other toys to give her something do during the day. Rachel was breaking eggs, her face twisting as she did so. Since moving into the house, she had abandoned her Vegan ways and instead had taken to just a vegetarian diet. She told Quinn when asked about her diet change, that it she was just more comfortable with this diet, but really she had done it so that meals would be simpler to make.
"Baby, do you want me to finish breakfast and you can put the clothes in the dryer?" Quinn asked, but then froze when she realized her word slip. Her and Rachel had taken a low key road when it came to their relationship, not sure on how to approach the subject with Beth. Surely she wouldn't have a homophobic look on it, she was only 4 and Rachel knew that Shelby wouldn't have raised Beth with any negative views on homosexuality as she had helped her fathers out all those years ago. But Rachel was also frozen.
"Uh...Quinn asked you a question" Beth informed the woman.
"No Quinn, I'll do this. You grab the clothes and can you put in the next load please?"
Quinn nodded, biting her lip, unsure how much awkwardness her word slip would create between the 3 of them.
###
After a rather quiet breakfast between the 3 of them mostly due to Quinn and Rachel holding their tongues, Beth excused herself from the table, rushing off towards the library and closing the door.
"Do you think she knows about us?" Quinn asked, helping Rachel clear the plates and looking around the kitchen for any sign of the child. She then moved across the kitchen to put her arms around Rachel's waist while the girl washed dishes.
"I'm not sure. But would it be so bad if she did? We can't keep avoiding talking to her. We're engaged, she's going to find out sooner or later baby"
"I know. I'm just worried that she'll be uncomfortable and I don't want to make her stay here anymore horrible than it already must be" Quinn leaned her head on Rachel's shoulder, placing a kiss there.
"I'm not uncomfortable" Beth called out from the doorway. The two women jumped and then spun around. Rachel looked at Quinn, who was looking at Beth, before she moved forward to the young girl.
"Try not to sneak up on us again?" She asked, pulling out a chair at the kitchen table and indicating for her to take a seat. Once Beth was seated, Quinn and Rachel joined her at the table.
"Do you have any questions?" Quinn asked, biting her lip. This isn't exactly how she thought this conversation would go down.
"Are you going to get married?" She asked, looking at the ring on Quinn's finger. The older blonde almost kicked herself. Obviously with how wise beyond her years her daughter was, she would have already seen the engagement ring.
"Yes we are. Are you okay with that?" Rachel asked, taking Quinn's hand.
"Yeah" the child shrugged. "Can I be the flower girl?" Quinn's head snapped up to take a look at her daughter.
"So you're seriously okay with this?"
"As long as I can be your flower girl and my dress isn't too poofy then I'm happy" Beth replied, grabbing her coloring book from the table and then running back to the library.
"I don't think my heart can handle anymore of these situations Rach" Quinn said, resting her head upon her fiance's shoulder.
"Me neither. You Fabray women are going to be the death of me"