Morning came.
Sam opened his eyes and couldn't help but smiled at the sight in front of him. His beautiful fiancé –or should he say, girlfriend- was currently curled up securely in his arms. She had her head leaning on his chest, using it as her pillow as usual, and her arm was draped over his stomach.
He admired her beauty. He couldn't understand though. The first two years they spent together, he never found Lucy this enchanting. Sure she was beautiful, she was the most beautiful girl he ever seen –beside his first love- but he never thought that it was possible that she turned even more beautiful after he got back from New York almost two months ago.
Somehow, after he got back from New York, Lucy changed. She became more open and more loving. She kissed him the way she never did before, she even finally gave in and slept with him. She was almost like a completely different person. Maybe she had a split or double personality? He didn't know. But if he likes the previous Lucy, he likes the current Lucy even more. Well, 'like' wasn't even the right word. It was 'love'. Yes, he loves the current Lucy so much.
After admiring her beauty for a few more moments, he glanced at the bedside clock to check on the time. 7:25. He groaned. It meant that he had roughly 35 minutes before he had to leave for the office. He didn't really want to go, especially after he saw Lucy throwing up yesterday. He knew that she didn't feel well yesterday so he allowed themselves to be lazy and slept in through the day. But somehow before he went to sleep, his dad texted him that he needed to come to the office tomorrow –which means, today- for an important meeting.
He looked at the beautiful face again before he dropped a kiss on the top of her head while rubbing her arm. "Wake up, sleepyhead."
Said girl mumbled something incoherent as she snuggled her body even closer to him, if that's even possible.
He chuckled and moved his hand to give a light squeeze on her shoulder. "Babe, come on. I have to work in 30 minutes."
She groaned and slowly opened her eyes. "It's still not fair that I have the rest of summer off and you're working so we can't spend more time together."
"I know. I hate it too," he said as he pecked her lips. "You feeling better?"
She smiled through that brief kiss. "Much better. All thanks to you," she said.
"Glad to know that," he smiled back. "As much as I want to spend the whole day just with you, I really need to shower now if I don't want to be late."
"Such a buzz kill," she teased. "Go on then, I'll make you breakfast," she said as she sat up and prepared to leave the bed. When she was about to scoot off, she felt a tug on her wrist. She turned around and saw Sam with a grin on his face. "What?"
He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on her lips. "I love you."
"I love you too," she said, smiling at him. "Now, go shower. We won't want you to get late."
"Alright, alright!" He grumbled but soon enough, he was gone behind the bathroom's door that connected with their room.
Quinn made her way to the walk-in-closet before she realized that for once, she was wearing clothes to bed and that was rare. Those nights she spent in Sam's townhouse, she almost always spent it naked in their bed (no need in telling what happened previously since it was so obvious). It was some rare occasion when they spent the night only sleeping in each other's side, just like that night.
She then made her way to the kitchen. She opened the fridge and started looking for something to cook. She settled for the safe choice of pancakes and bacon. But as soon as she grabbed the bacon a wave of nausea came to her. She bolted to the bathroom, knocking it frantically while clasping her hand in front of her mouth.
She kept knocking and after a while, Sam opened it. Before he could ask her some questions, she just made her way to the toilet and threw up violently. Sam, who was only clad in a towel, made his way to her and helped her held her hair while rubbing her back. She kept throwing up but after a while she stopped. She slumped down and curled up her body, bringing her knees to her chest and cried. Sam flushed down the toilet, grabbed a towel and knelt down in front of her.
"Babe?" he called her. When she lifted up her face, his heart broke at the sight of her pale and tear streak's face. "Hey… are you really okay? Cause it doesn't seems like it," he said as he wiped her tears and helped her wiped her mouth with the towel.
"I don't even know what's wrong. I was only opening the fridge, going to grab the ba—"
She stopped talking when the nausea returned. She hovered herself above the toilet and threw up again. Once again Sam held her hair and rubbed her back. When she was done, she wiped her mouth with the towel quickly and collapsed in Sam's arms.
Sam wrapped his arms around her and asked, "Are you really okay?"
"No…" she mumbled. She was really tired after throwing up twice in a row like that. She never felt this horrible before. But then she remembered that time when… no, that's not possible.
"I'll take you to the doctor, kay?"
"No, I'm fine," she said as she pulled back. "Help me up? I wanna brush my teeth. This is gross."
"Sure," he stood up then offered his hand, which she accepts immediately.
She took her toothbrush. "Sorry… I interrupted your shower."
"Nah, it's fine. You're always more important than anything, kay?" he smiled at her. "Hey, if you're still not feeling well, I can cook the breakfast and maybe I should call my dad than I'm not going—"
"Don't even think about it," she cut him off. "I'll be fine, so you're going to the office. And I can still make the pancakes, just maybe without the –no, let's just not mention that food, kay? It makes me nauseous."
"Okay… are you done brushing your teeth? Cause I kinda want to kiss you now," he said as he gave her his puppy eyes, which was freakily identical to Melrose.
She chuckled and leaned forward to brush her lips to his for a brief kiss. "There you go."
"Thank you, M'lady," he chuckled. "I'm going to shower again, kay? Or you want to join?" he asked with a smirk.
"That sounds tempting," she said as she took a step closer to him. "On second thought, no, I'll just continue cooking, kay?" she said with a smirk.
"Such a tease," he groaned. "But I love you."
"I know… I love you too."
"Mommy!"
The little girl squealed as soon as Quinn entered the Changs' house. Melrose ran to her mommy and hugged her legs but that didn't last too long because Quinn immediately picked her up.
"Oh how I miss you, my little princess!" she said as she peppered kisses all-over Melrose's face.
"Mommy!" Melrose protested and trying to push Quinn's face away but she was laughing, secretly loving that her mom spoiled her a lot. "I miss you too," she planted a kiss on her mom's cheek.
"Where's everyone?" she asked as she put her daughter back in her feet.
"Dining room. We're eating breakfast. Come on, Mommy! I'm hungry!" the little blonde girl answered as she tugged Quinn's hand and dragged her to the dining room to meet everyone.
Quinn couldn't help but laugh at her daughter's excitement. She was so much like her, but now that she knew who Mel's dad is, Quinn could see that Mel definitely had some of her dad's trait in her. And this kind of excitement was one of them. It reminded Quinn on how excited Sam was when he discovered that limited edition Avatar DVD set…
Sam.
Now that she planned on leaving him soon, even before starting what she really intended to do (finding out about the Fabrays), she felt her heart ache. She grew close to him, she felt comfortable with him already, and to top of it, she fell in love with him. Not to mention that he was indeed Melrose's dad. This is going to be hard.
"Well, hello Quinnie. Nice to have you here," Lily greeted once Quinn entered –or rather got pulled by Melrose to- the dining room.
"Morning, everyone," she greeted them back.
Melrose was finally stopping and she climbed to her own seat. "Mommy, come sit next to me!"
"Of course, sweetie," she said as she settled herself next to the little girl. "I already had breakfast but you guys know I could always use a second round. So, what do we have here?"
Lily was about to answer when Melrose chimed in. "Something yummy!" she said as she shoved more food to her mouth.
Quinn chuckled and stroke her daughter's hair. "Of course it's yummy, princess," she said as she kissed Mel's head.
The little girl smiled as her mom kissed her. "Mommy, hurry! I wanna play!"
"Okay, okay! I'll just take a bite," she said as she reached for the pancake. She saw some bacon on the plate too. As much as she wanted it, she remembered the nausea that happened earlier so she just took the butter. It was a progress already that she didn't throw up when she saw the bacon.
"Not taking the bacon, Quinnie?" James asked. He knew that his daughter had a huge love for bacon and she won't miss any chance to eat them so it was weird.
"Yeah, I mean, you LOVE bacon," Mike added.
Of course they noticed it. "Well, no. I… I'm going to explain this but we're eating now. So, maybe later…" she said.
They didn't question her more and everyone ate in silence for a while before Melrose decided to break it. "Mommy, I'm done," she said as she pushed her plate away.
Quinn glanced at her daughter's plate and saw that there were still some pancakes left. "Finish your pancake first, honey."
"But I'm not hungry anymore!"
"But you have to finish. Come on, baby girl. You love pancake."
"Mommy…" the little blonde girl pouted, trying to make her mom changed her mind.
Quinn almost gave in but it won't be a good thing in the future. Melrose could use that trick as a weapon when she needed that and Quinn wouldn't want it to happen, as much as she want to spoil her little girl. "No, honey. Finish that first then I'll play with you."
"What if I don't wanna? Mommy, I don't wanna eat anymore."
God, this is heartbreaking. "Finish your breakfast, then we'll play," Quinn finally said, using her mommy voice.
Still pouting, Melrose pulled her plate back. "Okay…" she mumbled, obviously not that happy.
"Hey, sweetie… I'm not mad at you, okay? But you have to finish your breakfast first. It's not that many left," Quinn said as she stroked her daughter's hair. It was really heartbreaking for her to see her little girl sad.
Melrose just nodded her head, still upset. Quinn sighed then kissed her daughter's head. "I love you, Mel…"
The little girl didn't say anything back and not long after that Quinn heard a tiny sob escaped from her little girl's mouth. Oh, God. "Hey, sweetie… come here," she said as she gestured her daughter to move to her lap.
Melrose scooted over and settled herself in her mom's lap. Quinn lifted her chin up and wiped the tears away. "Honey, why are you crying? I'm not mad at you, okay?" Quinn kissed Mel's forehead and breathed her in. "I love you, Melrose. And I did that because I want what's the best for you. Remember what I told you about breakfast?"
Still crying and pouting, the little girl opened her mouth. "I have to… eat all my breakfast… so I can get… more energy to play," she said in between sob. She seemed to realize that she was indeed not doing what her mommy said cause suddenly she hugged Quinn's neck tight. "Mommy, don't be mad!" she said as she cried harder.
Quinn tightened her grip on her daughter. "Ssh. Honey, sweetie, I'm not mad, okay?" She pulled back and wiped the tears away from her daughter's beautiful face. "Now, stop crying cause you're going to make me cry."
"Don't cry, Mommy… I'm sorry…"
"I won't if you stop crying too," she said as she watched her daughter calmed down a bit. Some tiny sob still escaped from her tiny mouth but at least there were no more tears. "So, I'm gonna ask you this. Do you want to finish your breakfast?"
Melrose looked down and shook her head causing the whole room let out a chuckle, including Quinn. "I won't force you to eat if you really don't want to right now. But only this time, okay? Next time, I have to punish you. Understand that, baby?" Melrose nodded but she still had that tiny pout on her face. "Now, I want you to smile, sweetie. You look prettier when you smile."
"Okay, Mommy," she said as a smile gradually appeared on her face.
Quinn couldn't help but smile too. "Everyone seems done with their breakfast now so… why don't you play with Grandpa for a while? I'll help to clean up first then maybe we can go to the mall and buy some of your school supplies? And maybe we can grab some ice cream later."
Melrose nodded her head excitedly and scrambled down from Quinn's lap then dragged her grandpa to the living room. "Come on, Grandpa! Let's play!"
After James and Melrose gone from the dining room, Quinn let out a sigh. "Am I being too hard on her?" she asked no one in particular, but she definitely hoped someone could answer her.
"No, you're not, Quinnie. What you did was just right," Lily answered her. "But if I were you, I will put her in a time out today."
Quinn sighed. "I know… I just… God, I can't stand it when she cried. She looked so upset I couldn't ruin her day even more."
"That's the hardest part of being a parent," Lily said as she went to give a light squeeze on Quinn's arm. "How are you, by the way? Feeling better? And what was that about the bacon?"
"I don't know," Quinn shrugged. "I mean, I was throwing up again this morning. Twice. And that made Sam almost wanted to take another day off. But he had this important meeting so he had to go. And I still feel like my entire body is aching thought we didn't really do anything yesterday. Just sleep through the day. Oh, and the bacon… I threw up twice because of that thing, so I was avoiding it and it was a progress that I saw and smelled it and I didn't feel like throwing up even once."
"Sounds like a morning sickness to me," Tina pointed out.
"No, that's not possible. I had my period so… no, it's not possible. Maybe just some stomach bug or something. Anyway, who wants to join us to the mall?"
"I don't think it's a good idea, Quinn. I mean, you can bump into someone that know Lucy and start asking you things, especially when they see Mel. Even worse, you can bump into Sam," Mike tried to reason with her.
"I don't think that's possible. Mike, Sam is in the office right now. I don't think he's going to the mall without checking me first."
Mike hesitated a bit before he said, "Well, you got some point there. I'll go with you and Mel, if that's okay." He saw Tina glared at him before he quickly added, "Tina will come too."
Quinn let out a chuckle. "Both of you can come with us. Melrose loves her Uncle Mike and Aunty Tina anyway."
Quinn entered the stationary store with Melrose in towed. The little girl was holding her mom's hand tightly and excitedly. It had been a while since the last time they went out together like this. Mike and Tina were also at the same store with them but they went separately from each other.
"Mommy, I like this one!" Melrose said as she pointed at a pink backpack.
"Let me see that first," Quinn replied as she took the said backpack and observed it. "I like it too, honey. You want this? Or do you want to look for the others too?"
"I want this, Mommy."
"Okay then. We'll search for some pencil case now."
They continued to look for the school supplies. Sometime in between, Quinn would give a light kiss on Mel's head. Melrose ran around a lot to look for the pencil case that she wanted but then ran back to her mom, knocked and hugged her legs and squealed 'Mommy!' with a very cute laugh that Quinn loved. They were completely oblivious of the surrounding around them, just enjoying the mother-daughter time that was very rare to happen. That, was until Quinn felt her phone rang.
She checked the caller ID. Sam. Why would he call her at times like this? She went to Melrose first. "Honey, I need to take this call first. Don't go too far from Mommy, kay?" Once Quinn saw the little girl nodded, she took a few steps away but just enough to keep an eye on her daughter then answer the phone. "Hey…"
"We need to talk."
That was all Quinn heard from Sam and that felt really weird. He usually would say 'hey' back. Something's not right. "Okay… what's wrong?"
"I'll see you at home soon."
Then the phone went die. Quinn furrowed her eyebrows. Okay, that was weird. She was about to approach her daughter and look for Mike and Tina when her phone vibrated, signalling that she got a message. It was from Sam. She opened it and she felt her jaw dropped.
He sent her a picture.
Of both her and Melrose that was probably taken just a few moments ago at the said store.
She felt her heart stopped beating and she took a quick glance around her, trying to find Sam but she couldn't find him. He was there for sure. He was probably witnessing every interaction she had with Melrose. She could feel the panic started to build up.
"Hey, princess. You found something?" Mike approached Melrose and before the little girl answered him, he saw Quinn standing not that far from her daughter, looked like she was just saw a ghost. "Quinn? You okay?"
Quinn, who was still stunned, didn't say anything. Instead, she just handed him her phone that was still displaying the picture that Sam sent her.
Mike took the phone and saw the screen. "Shit—Quinn! Oh my God! He was here?! I told you that it was a bad idea. God—"
"I don't know, okay…" she answered him weakly. She couldn't really think about anything right now. "I gotta go. You keep an eye on Mel for me, kay?"
"Quinn, hey! Breathe… You need to breathe. Where are you going? What about Mel?"
"Sam wanted to talk. I gotta meet him at home. Just… just pray that he won't kill me."
After she said that, she just left, ignoring whatever what was Mike going to say. All she knew was just… this wasn't going to be good.
Hello everyone! Sorry for the wait but this chapter is kinda long so I hope it'll make it up to you. I didn't plan that it would be this long but I couldn't really split it into two chapters and I finished the 18th chapter even before I finished this one and I couldn't find a way to adjust it. Anyway, this chapter is building the events that going to happen in the next chapter. I'm excited for that one. It's the one that we've been waiting for ;)
Caitlin2009: Hello there! Thanks for dropping by and for reviewing. I can't tell you anything about that but we're going to find out real soon. And for her to tell Sam, it's happening in the next chapter! So stick around and I really hope you'll enjoy this one too :)
Em: Hey there! Thanks for the review. You're right about both things and you don't need to wait for much longer cause it's coming next! Hope you'll enjoy this one :)
Overgron: Hello there! Thank you for the review. Things are getting pretty intense at the end of this chapter and it will be even more intense on the next chapter. I'll try to post the 18th chapter soon. Hope you'll enjoy this one :)
Ashley: Hey there! Thanks for the review. No worries, my dear. It won't be the last chapter, I can assure you that. Quinn will still need to find out about her biological parents and even if she ever found out about them, I still have lots in store for her. Hope you'll enjoy this chapter too ;)
RJRRAA: Hello there! Thanks for the review. I know it's kinda weird that Quinn kept saying that but I'm going to clear this up. What she meant was... well, Quinn left Melrose for a good two months without contacting her even once. So, Quinn basically assured Mel that she won't leave her like that again. She'll be around but she won't be living with her for sometime. I hope that makes even more sense. Hope you'll enjoy this one ;)
Kera: Hey there! Thanks for reviewing. Yes, I agree with you. Sam's just head over heels for Quinn (or Lucy, as he thought). And yeah, that might change, or might not. To find out... you have to stick around cause it's coming in the next chapter! Hope you'll enjoy this one :)
SamEvans17: Hey there! Thanks for the review. I love writing the cute and fluffy stuff so I'm glad you like it. The big chapter is coming next! Wonder what will happen? ;) Hope you'll enjoy this one too :)
Anyway, as I mention, the big chapter will happen in the next chapter. But it's NOT the last one. I still have lots in store for Quinn (and also Sam). Thank you everyone for reading and following and favoriting this story. I hope you like this chapter. Leave me some reviews. Tell me, whether you like it or hate it. Any questions will do too. I'll see you with the BIG chapter real soon ;) See ya!