Disclaimer… I don't own glee or its characters.

Description: Quinn is a single mom raising her daughter Beth with the help of her nanny Rachel. Somewhere things change between the two and they start having feelings for each other.

Author's notes: All mistakes are my own. I'm shocked with all the reviews for the first chapter. I'm glad it caught some good attention, hopefully I can keep you all interested… you know, no pressure.

Late Morning Lullaby

Set five months ago…

Quinn frantically runs around the house. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence, her house was like her own personal gym at least twice a week. She'd walk up the stairs, back down, into the kitchen, maybe a few squats, and then repeat until she felt like she'd accomplished her workout. Which usually was when she found whatever object she was searching for.

"Keys… come on… where the hell, " she dumps out the remnants of her purse on the entry table, but doesn't find what she's looking for. "Come ON!" She scrapes the contents back into her purse before she started frantically searching for her keys again. "This can't… okay think… where did I?" She walks back into the living room and flips all the cushions of the couch.

"Dammit, where did I put those keys!" She groans out. "Beth! Hurry up, we need to leave soon!" She yells up the stairs before making her way into the kitchen. She takes in her surroundings, trying to focus on any possible hiding places her stuff somehow liked to move to. "Okay…" she looks at the fridge. 'No, I didn't, I wouldn't put them there,' she thinks while eyeing the suspicious looking fridge. 'But it's the only place I haven't looked…' she opens the door to the stainless-steel appliance, and scans the shelves. Sure enough sitting next to the jug of skim milk was her damn keys. "Great… I found them." She jingles them in triumph as she grabs them. Then shuts the door to the fridge with an unnecessary amount of force. She walks back into the living room gathering her briefcase from the living room floor. "Come on baby!" She yells up the stairs again. "Mama's running late, and I still need to drop you off at Grandma's house!" She doesn't hear a reply from her daughter, but can hear Beth walking down the wooden stairs.

Quinn is busy putting on her shoes.

"Baby, are you ready…" she looks up, and notices Beth is still wearing her pajamas. "Aw, baby you didn't change into the clothes I laid out for you."

The girl was still wearing her Scooby-Doo footy pajamas.

"I don't want to go to Grandmas." The young girl says with a pout.

"Beth, please mama is running late okay, just grab the clothes and lets go." She says, she was starting to lose her patience. Her morning was already stressful, and she hadn't even left the house yet.

Beth doesn't move from the stairs.

"But I haven't had my cereal, and grandma's cereal is yucky." Beth says.

Quinn kneels down in front of her daughter. She brushes the tangled hair from the still sleepy girl's face, and gives her a small smile. She couldn't take her stress out on Beth, it wasn't her fault they were running late.

"I know baby, but Mama worked late last night and forgot to set an alarm. That's why I wasn't up in time to make you breakfast like I usually do, but I need to get to work okay. So help me out, and go pack those clothes into your Scooby-Doo backpack, and I'll grab your box of Spooky-o's okay?"

Beth gives her a small nod, then dashed back up the stairs. Quinn quickly walks back into the kitchen and grabs the unopened box of Spooky-o's from the counter. Her favorite mornings were when Beth and her ate breakfast together. She was actually sad she didn't get to drink her morning cup of coffee, while Beth slurped the chocolaty puffed cereal. But there was nothing she could do about it now.

By the time she makes her way back to the entryway, Beth was already pulling on her kid pair of lime green Crocs. Quinn let out a sigh of relief. Now all she had to do is get her daughter to her mom's house.

"You ready?" She grabs her briefcase, purse, and makes her way to the front door. She holds it open as the five year old runs through it, her backpack flopping wildly around on her back.

This was their weekly routine, wake up, eat breakfast, and then take Beth to grandmas before she went to work. Sometimes hidden variables arise, like keys spontaneously moving into the refrigerator, or forgetting to grab her cell phone. But for the most part this routine seemed to work for them.

Quinn's mom had been looking after Beth ever since she started back at work, at first it was great, she'd always wanted a strong relationship between her mom and daughter, but now driving across town in the morning was becoming stressful.

By the time she gets to her moms, Beth was passed out in her car seat. Car rides always seemed to do that to the girl, no matter what time of day it was. She smiles at the image in the rearview mirror. She puts the car into park before slipping out to open the door to the back seat and unstrap the sleeping child. She doesn't bother shutting off the engine, because she knew she couldn't stay exceptionally long. She grabs the girls backpack and sugary cereal from the car before walking towards her mother's front porch.

The door swings open, and her mom dressed in her morning robe steps out to help her daughter.

"You're running late I take it." She takes Beth's bag from Quinn.

"Yeah, I forgot to set my alarm. Anyways, we had a busy morning, so she hasn't had breakfast, or as you can see, gotten dressed." Quinn's mom smiles at the sleeping girl.

"Oh, that's fine honey… here, bring her inside." She motions the two inside.

Quinn follows her mom inside and lays the sleeping girl on the couch, then covers her with one of the throw blankets.

"There was something I wanted to talk to you about this morning…"

Quinn nods, but there isn't any time to talk. She gives her mom a quick hug before making her way back towards the open door.

"Yeah? It's gonna have to wait… I mean I'm already going to be ten minutes late, and I'm supposed to have a meeting at nine." She trails off.

"Of course, it's fine sweetie, we can talk tonight." The older lady gives Quinn a quick kiss before sending her on her way.

The thrills of work were what she had to focus on. It sucked, but soon the weekend would be here, and then she could lounge around with Beth.

Later that night

Quinn's day at work was a blur, which wasn't good since she was supposed to be in charge of several important projects her company was organizing. She was thankful her assistant takes outstanding notes.

She was just relieved it was over, and she only had one more day until she could relax the weekend away.

She drives back to pick up her daughter from her mom's house. She'd gotten a text at eight thirty about dinner, and it was now nine as she pulled into her mom's drive way. She knocks once before entering the house, usually she's attacked by her daughter when she comes to pick her up, but tonight the house seemed quiet. A little too quiet for comfort.

"Mom?" Her voice cracks slightly.

"In here Quinn." Her mom's voice rings from the kitchen. The smell of food hit her full force, and made her mouth water. There was nothing better than a home cooked meal.

She walks into the kitchen and sees her mom pulling a roast from the oven.

"Hey." She says as she eyes the delicious food. She picks at the green beans sitting on the counter top.

"Hey sweetie, the food will be done soon. How was your day at work?" Her mom closes the oven door.

"Fine… well fine in the sense that my brain is fried. My boss keeps piling on projects."

"Sounds busy… you should ask for time off…" she makes a sincere suggestion, one Quinn knew couldn't happen.

"I can't. There's just too much stuff going on right now, since I just got this promotion as an editor, and I need to perform. Sue keeps saying that I'm the youngest editor they have and I should be working twice as hard to prove myself." Her boss was a hard ass.

"Your boss is crazy, you work harder than half the company put together… and you should get a break for it. That's what I actually wanted to talk to you about this morning. Why don't we sit in the living room for a bit."

She follows her mom into the room and sits on the floral printed love seat.

"So…?" She was somewhat intrigued to find out what her mother wanted to talk to her about. They rarely had conversations that required her to sit and listen. The last one was probably five years ago when she told her mom she was pregnant.

"Well, I've been thinking a lot lately about Beth and you, and I realized that this whole situation with me watching her isn't working exceptionally well." That was something she wasn't expecting to hear.

"Mom…"

"No, I don't mean I don't want to watch her, I'm saying that I'm getting old…" Quinn was still confused. She shakes her head, trying to wrap her mind around what her mother was getting at.

"I don't understand?"

"Beth is a very active girl, and I love her to pieces, but I can't keep up with her anymore. So I've been thinking about it, and I think it would be beneficial for Beth to have a nanny."

"A nanny? But…" the thought had never occurred to her.

Her mom stops her.

"Look, I know you have trust issues about letting a stranger be around your daughter, but I think having a nanny would take loads of stress off you. I mean you wouldn't have to get the poor girl up at the break of dawn, or have to pick her up after work."

That was a valid point, but what about the negatives.

"But I mean… I wouldn't even know where to find a nanny. Are they like listed or something, plus then I would have to set up interviews and… and aren't nanny's supposed to be like old people anyway?" Her mom laughs slightly, shaking her head no in the process.

"Look, I know the idea might seem overwhelming, but it just so happens I know someone who I think would be perfect for the job." Of course she knew someone, her mom knew everyone.

"Who?"

"You remember the Berry's, your father used to work with one of them, anyway their daughter is looking for a job, and I thought she'd be perfect."

The idea of a nanny was tempting, but she didn't know if she could trust a stranger watching Beth.

"Look it sounds like a good idea, but I mean what do you even know about this girl, she could be… I don't know a pervert or something…" Quinn says trying to put the whole situation in perspective. Her mom slaps her on the leg.

"Hush your mouth, I've met Rachel Berry on numerous occasions, and she is nothing but polite. She's very mature for her age, and I think she would be a positive role model for Bethy."

"I don't know, Ma… can I think about this." Quinn says as she runs her hands through her hair. It was a lot to take in.

"Well, I was hoping you'd consider it, since she's upstairs right now playing with Beth." Her mom says slowly.

Quinn all but stands in shock and walks to the stairs, 'a stranger was upstairs, alone, with her child'. Her motherly instincts to protect swing into full alert. Her mom follows her upstairs, she quickly walks down the darkly lit hallway toward the guest room. Inside, she can hear a small girl laughing about something, along with another voice that seemed to be equally amused at whatever the two were talking about.

Quinn pushes the door all the way open and stands in the doorway. She sees Beth sitting on the floor eagerly talking about something to the girl she assumed was Rachel. The two of them look up to the doorway when they see Quinn standing there. Beth squeals when she sees her mom.

"Mama!" Beth jumps to her feet and runs to her mom, throwing her arms around Quinn's waist.

"Hey sweetie…" she says as she hugs the little girl.

Quinn watches as the girl dressed in a poke-a-dotted dress stood up.

The girl straightens out the dress and stands there awkwardly, watching the two of them interact.

"Who's your friend Bethy?" She asks. She wanted to find out more about the woman in the room. Beth immediately detaches herself and spins around to Rachel.

"This is Rachel…, and she's a singer… or was a singer." The girl smiles then extends her hand to Quinn.

"Rachel Berry." She says, her rich voice cutting the airwaves with ease. Quinn hesitantly shakes the brunette's hand, not wanting to hire the girl in front of her just because she sounded polite. "I hope you don't mind, Beth here was just telling me all about her favorite TV show, and we lost track of time."'

The girl didn't look like a nanny, hell she looked too young. How could her mom possibly think this girl was qualified to take care of her child. She looked like a child herself.

"Bethy why don't you go downstairs with Grandma and help set the table."

"Come on sweetie." Judy, her mom grabs the young girl's hand. "Be nice." She whispers to Quinn before she leaves with an energetic five year old in hand.

"So… um, my mom said you were looking for a job? And that you could somehow be helpful to me." She says eyeing up the girl in front of her. She's not actually sure how this was supposed to work, but small talk might help.

"Yeah… my dad's actually told me about it. I guess your mom keeps in touch with them still." The room goes quiet. "Look, I know you don't know me, and I'm not expecting you to trust me when I say I'm good with children. So here's my resumé…" she pulls out a piece of paper from her purse. "I'm not a registered nanny or anything like that, but I have had some babysitting experience and I'm willing to start on a trial basis too."

Quinn eyes the resumé.

"Who are all these people?" She briefly looks at the paper, seeing at least twenty names listed on it. Along with background information, and an assorted list of her skills.

"Just parents I've worked with, those are there numbers, I'm sure if you call them, they can give you some background information about me, and I have a wide variety of skills listed there also."

"Okay, Rachel, I'm just going to be frank about this. I need help, and I'm willing to look past your young age, but I need someone I can rely on, and if you think you can be more than a babysitter, then I'll consider you, but if you can't then I need you to take this paper back." She extends it back to the girl. The girl eyes the paper again, but doesn't take it back.

"I can be that…, and if you give me a chance I'd like to prove it to you." She says simply, her face looked almost to determine to prove it.

Quinn eyes her. Giving her another once over before excepting the girls answer.

"Fine… I'm going to call these people and see what they think. But I want you to come over to my place on Saturday, and we'll see if you can perform. My mom might think you're qualified to watch Beth, but I need to see it for myself."

"That seems fair. I would be just as cautious, I mean, if I had kids…"

"Okay, I'll see you Saturday… here's my address." She scribbles down her house number on one of her business cards and hands it to the brunette. Rachel eagerly accepts it. "Be there at ten fifteen."

"Thank you Miss Fabray, you won't regret this" Rachel shook Quinn's hand before escorting herself out.

Finding herself famished the Fabray family dug into their meal. Quinn's mom kept eyeing her from across the table until Quinn could no longer take the subtle glances.

"What?" She asks finally giving up.

"So… what did you think of her?" Quinn takes another bite of her roast beef, she chews it slowly to prevent having to answer the question. She shrugs her answer instead.

"Well, I like her…"Beth gleams as she used her fingers to pick of a green bean.

"See, Beth likes her." Her mom smiles at the girl triumphantly. Giving the young girl a wink of approval.

"Beth, doesn't even know what we're talking about, baby use your fork please." Beth reluctantly grabs her fork and attempts to stab the cut up food on her plate. But after several failed attempts to stab her food she resorts back to using her fingers. Quinn notices this right away, but pretends not to see it.

"Oh come on, she's a great girl."

"Exactly, she's a girl. I just don't know if she's going to be able to be what I need her to be. I mean how old was she anyway?"

"I think she's twenty one, but seriously…"

"Ma, do you really think a twenty one year old should seriously be taking care of Beth?" Quinn's mom shrugs. She liked Rachel, and knew the girl would be a perfect fit in Quinn's house.

"You were only twenty four when you had her, and look at how well you've raised her."

Quinn couldn't tell if that was a compliment, or a jab on her parenting skills so she intended to ignore the remark altogether.

"Fine, if you must know, I told her to come over on Saturday. If her references check out, and she can handle my standards I might, and I said might… give her a chance. But that's a big might." Her mom seems pleased by her answer, and they all go back to enjoying their meal.

"That's all I ask."

That night after Quinn had wrestled with Beth to take a bath, and had finally gotten her to sleep. She looked over Rachel's references. There were quite a few of them, but it was pretty late to be calling anyway, so she opted to wait until tomorrow.

The next morning went by a lot smoother that yesterday. Quinn and Beth even had time to eat at home before going over to grandmas. Today was Friday, so Quinn's job was busy as hell, but she did find time to call several people on Rachel's list. All of them said the same thing about Rachel. Pretty much everyone on the list said she could be trusted, and that she could handle more than one child.

The best conversation was with a lady who had three boys, who basically said the girl was a miracle worker. She said that she was the only sitter that actually got her kids to bathe, and be in bed before she got home. The lady couldn't stop raving about Rachel, it was somewhat overwhelming.

By the time she got to the end of Rachel's list she was convinced, Rachel Berry had an exceptional record of accomplishments. She knew how to cook and kept a clean house. She was active with the children and kept them busy with arts and crafts. She seemed too good to be true, like a modern day Mary Poppins, which was how she was actually described by one of her references. It was all a little daunting, but it did put her at ease for Saturday.

It all came down to Saturday, if Rachel could prove to Quinn that she wasn't just a twenty one year old party girl, she would hire her.

Saturday

Rachel arrived on time at the Fabray home, not a minute late. Which for Quinn was a plus, and gave the girl a point in the pass column. Quinn met the girl at the door.

"Rachel you made it, come on in." Quinn says as she opens the door a little wider and ushers the girl inside. It was kind of cold outside, and she didn't want to leave the door open any longer than necessary.

"It's good to see you again, Miss Fabray. You have a lovely home." Rachel takes off her coat and shoes in the front entryway.

"Thank you. I see you found the place alright." Rachel nods.

"Yeah, I actually live not too far from here. So I know the neighborhood pretty well."

After a quick tour of the downstairs, they ended up in the kitchen. Quinn wanted to test to make sure the girl could actually cook, and used this time to interview Rachel.

Rachel so far seemed to answer the questions with ease.

"So I called some of your references, they all seemed to say the same thing about you." Rachel didn't look surprised. She just nodded politely and gave Quinn a small smile.

"Yes, well, I liked working for them. And I realize this won't be like babysitting, you're probably concerned that because I'm young I won't be reliable, but I can assure you, I take everything seriously. And I'm looking for a full time job, not just a once a week thing like a babysitter."

Quinn took that answer as a good thing. Rachel seemed determined to get this job, and looked like she was willing to work hard for it.

"I'm a little shocked you would say that, most twenty one year olds are a little less centered around commitments such as this."

"Yes, but I am."

"… Well, since you've already passed the informal test, now we can start the practical. I want to see these well renown cooking skills your references mentioned."

"You want to see me cook?" She asks with some confusion.

"Yup... Whenever you're ready."

Rachel smiles, then starts going through the cupboards.

"I guess I should ask, Beth isn't allergic to anything? You know, like peanut butter or shellfish?" There's another point for Rachel Berry.

"Nope… no food allergies." Rachel smiles she obviously noticed she earned brownie points for asking.

"What about you… anything I should avoid?"

"Nope… I eat anything, well anything not processed in a box. Other than cereal… that won't be a problem will it, cooking I mean."

"Oh no, I actually expect to… I guess I should start."

Quinn continues to interrogate Rachel as she makes her meal. The house is filled with the sweet aroma of food. Quinn was actually salivating at the smell, and thirty minutes later a plate of saffron rice and shrimp was placed in front of her.

"Did you go to culinary school?" She asks as the beautiful plate of food was placed in front of her.

"Nope… I just enjoy cooking, it's one of my hobbies. I actually was enrolled at Julliard for music."

Quinn takes a bite of the food and lets out a moan of approval. Rachel smiles. She knew she could cook, and enjoyed seeing the reaction people got when they taste her food.

"This is fantastic…, and Julliard… did you finish?"

Rachel's looks at the hardwood floor.

"No, I'm taking a break right now." This set up a red flag.

"Why did you leave, if you don't mind me asking." She didn't know why this bothered her, just getting into Julliard was impressive. Maybe it was because she said she was taking a break.

"Um, is kind of personal, but I don't know, I guess I just lost the drive to stay. Singing was a passion for me, but once I got there it seemed to become more of a burden, and I didn't like that. So I moved back in with my dads. Now I'm just trying to find something that makes me happy again."

And the red flag was gone.

"So where is Beth… I was hoping I could see her again." Rachel says, effectively changing the topic.

"She's upstairs, she couldn't stop talking about you all yesterday, so I don't think we'll have a problem there."

"She seems like a sweet kid."

"She can be, but she can also be a little lion. Do you think you can handle that?"

"Absolutely."

Rachel cleaned up the kitchen, and then they both went upstairs. Beth practically jumped the girl when she saw her.

"RACHEL!" The girl hugs onto Rachel.

"Hey… it's good to see you again." She gives the young girl a slight hug.

"Beth, I'm thinking about hiring Rachel here to look after you during the days when I'm at work. How would you feel about that?"

"Really… like Rachel will be here every day?" The girl lets out a happy squeal.

"I'm guessing that's a yes." Quinn asks as the girl seems to be a little too excited. "So you're okay with Rachel being your nanny?"

"Yes… Yes, a thousand times yes!" The girl squeals again.

"Wow… well, thank you Beth. I think we're going to have loads of fun. Here, I brought you something too…" Quinn looks at Rachel questionably. Rachel pulls out a DVD from her purse. "I didn't think she'd be excited about having a nanny, so I thought you two could watch this."

The Movie is Nanny McPhee.

"It has a good message behind it, and kind of shows what a nanny is. I thought you guys would enjoy it."

She hands the movie to Beth, who seems excited to watch the movie.

"That was a cute idea, with the movie."

"It's nothing… I just saw it and thought it could be relevant, you know fun for you both."

In the end how could Quinn say no. She could at least give the girl a try, Rachel seemed to be able to calm any situation, and Beth seemed to like to be around her.

"So I think it's safe to say Beth likes you." Quinn is walking Rachel to the door. "And I think we can trust her judgment when it comes to people. So I think we should give this arrangement a shot. I mean you're young, but you seem able to give Beth what she needs when I'm at work. So I'm willing to give this a try, you start on Monday, I need you here at six thirty, okay?" Rachel immediately smiles.

"Of course Miss Fabray… you have no idea how much this means to me." She shakes Quinn's hand again, while giving her a megawatt smile. Quinn couldn't help but return the gesture. She hoped Rachel would last the next week.

"Let's just see how you do in a week… then we'll decide where to go from there."

"Right."

"And you can call me Quinn, Miss Fabray is my mother." She adds.

"Right... Quinn, thank you. I won't let you down."

Five months later… Rachel was still working for Quinn.

End.

Just a little flashback… I thought it would be amusing. Hopefully it stands up with the first chapter.