Chapter 15: Favorite Dish
Chapter song: "Bewitched" - Steve Lawrence
Time: October

AN: In this chapter, there's a refence to the dream sequence from Chapter 12. In case you don't remember it, it might be a good idea to read again (the first few lines in italic) :-)

"Quinn!" Sam's little brother exclaimed, taking a big step forward and hugging her.

"Hi Stevie," she said, as she couldn't help but smile at the little boy's affection.

She then looked at Sam, regarding his deep green eyes that were staring right back at her. This is actually the first time we've had eye contact since… July? She figured.

They were both silent for just one second too long until Sam finally caved in and sighed.

"Hey Quinn."

"Hi." She felt herself casting her eyes downward. No Quinn, you can't escape him now. Keep that eye contact. She looked him in the eyes again.

"So, what are you doing here?" He murmured.

"Uhm, I just had lunch with some of the others…"

"But you're looking at jewelries,"

"Oh." Nice one, Quinn. "Yeah well, I just wanted to, uh, buy a pearl necklace before I went home."

"Ah, okay."

They were silent for yet another moment.

"S-so, what are the three of you doing here?" Quinn asked.

"We're visiting daddy," Stacey smiled.

"Your dad?" Quinn asked, looking back at Sam.

"Yeah, he kinda got a job here."

"That's great! What kind of job?"

"He's the store manager of the men's clothing department," Sam said, sounding a bit proud.

"Oh really? That's awesome," she said, genuinely happy for them. After all she'd been a big part of their life when the crisis had hit them, so for a moment, she forgot that Sam was her ex-boyfriend. "For how long has he been working there?"

"Like four months or something and he's actually pretty excited about it, I think he enjoys being the boss," Sam chuckled and he was glad to see Quinn smile with him. I've missed that smile.

"Quinnie," Stacey said, tugging at the older girl's green dress. "Sammy's buying us hot chocolate. Won't you come with us?"

Quinn hesitated and looked at Sam. He gave her a small smile and raised his eyebrows as if he was daring her.

"Sure, I'll go with you."

The four blondes went over to the nearby Dairy Queen and found a table.

"Quinn and I will go up and order, you two stay here," Sam said to his siblings.

They went up the counter, and he ordered three hot chocolates and was just about to ask Quinn what she wanted when a thought hit him: I'm not her boyfriend. So he just paid for the three hot chocolates and stepped aside.

Right, Quinn thought. This is not a date, he isn't paying. She stepped forward and ordered a small soft ice in a cup.

When they got down to the table with the beverages and the ice cream, Sam sat down next to Stacy so he was facing Quinn who sat down next to Stevie. When Stacy saw Quinn's ice cream, she wrinkled her nose.

"Why didn't you get some hot chocolate?"

"I'm not really a big fan of hot drinks," Quinn said, feeling a little childish. "I always burn my tongue."

"Me too," Stevie chanted with his whole face down in the cup.

"Take it easy, Stevie" Sam hollered.

"But why did you buy an ice cream," the little girl kept on going. "It's not summer anymore."

"Well, Stace, ice cream is my favorite dish."

That seemed to satisfy the little girl who shrugged and began blowing on her hot chocolate.

Bus as soon she had said the words 'favorite dish', Quinn couldn't help but glance over at Sam. He was sitting there with a big grin mouthing 'it's not a dish'. She giggled and licked off the piece of ice cream that was on her little plastic spoon.

Suddenly, Sam exclaimed "Stevie take it easy, it's really hot-"

"Ouuuuuch!" the little boy shouted and put down his cup.

"Oh shit," Sam said while Quinn quickly grabbed a napkin and started dabbing the little boy's nose.

"I told you take it easy! Why did you have your whole face down in that thing anyway?" Sam said obviously annoyed.

"Shut up, Sammy, it really hurts," Stevie said as tears began to gather in his eyes.

Quinn put her thumb beneath his chin and turned his head towards her. "Where does it hurt the most?"

"Right here," he said and pointed to the tip of his nose.

She leaned a little into him to study the damaged skin.

Stevie must have a really good view of her boobs right now… Sam thought absentmindedly, before shaking his head a bit. Sam, stop it! Damn, he's your little brother, she's your ex-girlfriend and you're with Mercedes. You know what you're being right now? You're being a perv, that's what you are.

"Oh gosh, you actually got a little burn," she said, sounding worried. Then she picked up her spoon, put a little ice cream at the end of it and held it in front of Stevie's face. "This is probably going to feel a little weird, but it'll help."

She gently dipped the little bit of ice cream on the spoon with her index finger, and then she brushed the little boy's nose with her finger. When she noticed his weird expression, she smiled and said "It'll help, I swear."

Then she put her spoon down and Stevie faced his siblings, very aware of the white substance on his nose. They all laughed for a bit at the burned pale nose, before Stevie turned to face Quinn again. "It did help a little, but now it's just sticky."

She grabbed another napkin and wiped away the ice cream.

"It still hurts, though," he said, looking expectantly up at her.

So she leaned down to his level and gently kissed his nose as soft as possible. Sam could actually feel his mouth drop open when she did that.

Stacy snickered and bellowed "Now do that to Sammy."

Both Quinn and Sam hastily looked at Stacy and then they looked at each other. Their eye contact just lasted for a moment, but Quinn swore it felt like an eternity. Then she looked down and he told his sister to mind her own business.

They had been sitting in an awkward silence for a little while when Stevie asked if him and Stacy could go to the mall playground behind the Dairy Queen.

"Yeah, sure, but stay on the playground, don't go anywhere else."

"Quinnie, will you come home with us and have dinner - you can see our new house?" Stacey asked as she stood up.

"Thanks Stacey, but I can't tonight, I'm having dinner with my mother. I'll come and say goodbye to you guys before I leave though."

The girls smiled at each other, and the two kids walked away.

"New house?" Quinn asked curiously.

"Yeah, we just moved in. I think it's been like two months now."

"Is it big?"

"Nah, it's a pretty small row house, but it's a million times better than the motel. And it's a lot closer to school as well."

"Sam, I'm so happy for you guys."

They smiled at each other.

This is actually kind of nice, Quinn mused.

At the same moment her cell phone rang, so she turned on her chair to get to her bag, which was standing on the floor. She picked up her phone.

"Hello?... hi mom… n-… no, I'm not home right now… I don't know, later… at the mall… with, uh-" she rapidly glanced at Sam "-just some friends… oh, okay… no, it's all right mom, I'll be fine… yeah, I'll just order in… sure… okay, have a nice evening… yeah, I'll see you tomorrow… bye mom." She bent down to put the phone back in her purse.

"What was that all about?" Sam asked, mostly out of politeness.

"She just told me that she wouldn't make it home tonight from her business trip…"

So she's not doing anything tonight? I wonder what she'd reply if Stacey asked her over for dinner now…

"… I don't know, I have a feeling she's seeing someone."

"Hmm?" Sam asked a little distracted.

"She's been kind of jolly lately and she's constantly going to these really late meetings. And now, her business trips are being prolonged. It seems like she's hiding something and, knowing my mother, that could easily be a relationship."

"Oh. Yeah, sounds weird," Sam said, a little uncomfortable talking about Quinn's mother's love life. To avoid eye contact, he casted his eyes downwards and he couldn't help but notice how her dress had slid upwards a bit, exposing a bit more of her thigh. He swallowed hard. And then he noticed her knees.

"How do you do that?" He chuckled.

"Do what?" Quinn asked, having no idea what he was talking about, as she was focusing on her ice cream.

"Your knees," he said, now laughing. "You're the most graceful person I know, how the hell do you manage to bruise your knees so badly?"

Why was he looking at my knees in the first place? She thought as she began to giggle. "You know, I've asked myself that questions many a times," she snickered while trying to pull down her dress a bit, though she didn't really succeed.

"I'd like to know what it is that you do all day long that gives you so many bruises on your knees… no, wait, I actually don't want to know!" He continued laughing.

"What do yo-… Oh my god, Sam Evans, you are such a perv!" She said, trying to come off as indignant, though she couldn't help but smile.

You got that right, Sam mused as he wiped his eyes for the laughter tears.

Quinn gathered the last of her ice cream on the plastic spoon, and then she licked the spoon carefully.

God. Just the sight of her tongue turns me on, Sam thought, wishing something would distract him.

"Sammy! Sammy! Look at me!" There we go.

Quinn and Sam both turned their heads and they caught a glimpse of Stacy at the top of a slide behind the Dairy Queen stall.

"I can see you, Stace. Don't fall down." Sam yelled back at her, chuckling a little.

"God, I've missed them so much," Quinn said looking at the little girl helping her brother up to the top of the slide. "It seems like I haven't seen them in… forever."

"Uh, I guess I kinda owe you an explanation to why I haven't called you since we started school."

" You've been dating Mercedes," she murmured absentmindedly. Did I just say that out loud?

"Uhm, yeah, I have…" Sam said, sounding a tad confused. "Anyhow, my dad has been doing really well at his new job, so he and my mom decided that I should quit at that pizza place."

"So you're not working there anymore?"

"Nope, gave 'em my two weeks' notice the day before we started in school… but I'd been working there for such a short time, that they just let me go," he said with a goofy grin. "And with my dad getting a full income every month, my mom and I just take care of Stacey and Stevie. So that's why I haven't contacted you lately – we don't need a babysitter anymore."

Quinn frowned slightly as his words had hurt her a little. She wasn't exactly sure why.

Sam noticed it right away. She's always been bad at hiding her feelings, he thought, looking at her eyes.

"But they miss you like crazy, Q." And so do I.

Quinn looked up at him with a slightly surprised expression. He called me Q. He called me Q again.

And there they were; Quinn Fabray and Sam Evans at the Dairy Queen in the mall. They just sat there on the purple chairs. Him, with his arms crossed on the table; her, with her hands folded in her lap. And they just sat there, staring into each other's eyes.

Sam, I still love you. Please tell me you don't love Mercedes. Quinn thought, feeling like the worst friend in the world.

I've got to tell her that I miss her. That's not illegal – she's been a friend of mine since after our break-up. I can tell her that I miss her without cheating or hurting Mercedes, Sam mused, but he wasn't sure about the very last part though. Damn it, I can't tell her that I miss her.

At last, it became too much for Quinn. She looked down at her hands and inhaled sharply.

"Quinn, I-"

"I've got to go, Sam. It's getting late." She stood up and quickly walked away from her ex-boyfriend, leaving him at the table.

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed heavily. Perfect, Sam. Just perfect.

Quinn went around the Dairy Queen stall and exhaled. Well, that was mature Quinn. Just walking away from him without even saying good bye. Yep, I've definitely grown over the summer. She suddenly saw herself sitting up in a tree with a messy hair do and in a little girl's dress, spying on grown-ups dancing. I'm so Sabrina pre-Paris.

She was shaken out of her thoughts when Stevie and Stacy approached her.

"Are you going home now, Quinnie?" Stacey asked.

"Yeah, it's getting late." That's right, Quinn, lie to the children as well.

"When are we going to see you again?" Stevie asked seemingly upset.

"I don't know," she answered, truthfully this time, as she pulled both kids in for a hug. "But hey, Sam told me that we live closer together now than before when you were staying at the motel… and since your dad works here now, maybe we'll be lucky-" Sam. "-and bump into each other again, just like we did today." She smiled at them, trying to convince herself as well that it wouldn't be too long until she'd see them again.

She then nuzzled Stevie's cheek and kissed Stacey's forehead before descending down the escalators.

As she exited the mall, she pulled out her umbrella, only to realize it had stopped raining.

Thank you for reading!
And so they meet again. I hope it wasn't too cliché with Stevie and Stacey (I know it was a bit cliché, I'm a clichéish girl). So, in this chapter there were a lot of references to other chapters and a lot of pay-offs. I hope you guys were able to get it all - or at least the important bits :-)
And for the dear fuzzywuzzy123: I hope you got your question answered! If not, then think of a certain midnight blue dress with a retro cut à la Saint German (or simply Chapter 3). If it still doesn't ring a bell, then just you wait. There'll be more about the dress and the pearl necklace in an upcoming chapter. Probably not the next one, but an upcoming one ;-)