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. Somehow things change between the two and they start having feelings for each other.
Author's notes: All mistakes are my own… and I'm trying so hard to catch them. I think I've read over this story at least 10 times so if there are mistakes I apologize.
Sorry for the wait… its exam time and I've been busy trying not to fail out of college…
Thanks for all the great reviews… they were phenomenal. I hope this chapter will alleviate some your addictive needs for 'more'… and hopefully you can hold out until I can update again.
Late Morning Lullaby
It was quiet, yet noticeable, the sound of Quinn's bedroom door squeaking open. The subtle sound seemed amplified in her mind. Someone had opened her bedroom door. She wanted to open her eyes, but for some reason, she waited. For what? She couldn't say. The room seemed to become still again. Her ears strained, and her breathing became shallow as she tries to pick up any other noises. But it was silent. Then she could feel it, the unmistakable feeling of being watched while she slept. A feeling that would make anyone wake up, but instead she tossed in her bed. Her internal clock was flashing in her mind. 'It couldn't be time to get up yet.' She thought. All she wanted was to sleep in until at least eight for once, but whoever was watching her, had other plans. Finally, she heard a small sound of feet moving closer to her overly sized bed. She waited. The bed dipped as the unknown person slowly crawled on. She noticed the movement as they crawled up the length of the bed. Then she felt the weight, as the person crawled over top of her. That's when Quinn's eyes slowly open. She tries to focus on the weight that was now on her knees and making their way higher. The image above her seems to blur instead of focus, because she swears the person on her looks like…
"Rachel?"
A fit of giggles explodes from the unknown person… a giggle that wasn't Rachel's. Quinn sits up quickly and rubs her eyes. The person laughing was now laying fully on her stomach.
"No mama… it's me!"
Her eyes finally focus enough to see the gleaming face of her daughter.
"Beth? What are you doing up so early? It's only…" she looks over at her clock. "Seven thirty."
Quinn lays back against the headboard of her bed as she watches her daughter roll around on her comforter.
"But I'm not sleepy anymore..." Again the girl seems to roll around on top of the blanket. Quinn can't help but smile. This was a nice way to wake up. "Why did you call me Rachel mama?"
"Huh… I did? Um, oh you just scared me and I thought…" she trails off, not honestly sure why she thought it was Rachel in the first place. Maybe it was because the nanny was still sleeping down stairs on their overly large leather couch.
"Come here you," Quinn quickly grabs the wild child. Scooping her up in her arms before falling backwards on the mattress. Beth kicks and screams, and maybe even bites Quinn to try and get away.
Laughter from both of them seems to be radiating throughout the room. That was until Beth's elbow collides with Quinn's jaw, as a result of trying to tickle the girl.
"Ow…" she lets go of the wild child and holds her jaw.
Beth seems worried as she watches her mom hold her jaw.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah Bethy, I'm fine… I think you might have knocked out a tooth."
"Really… does that mean the tooth fairy will come for you too?"
"Huh, I don't know, I'm guessing she won't, because she only takes your baby teeth. Speaking of the tooth fairy, did you check to see if she came already?" Beth shakes her head no. "Well… maybe we should."
The small blonde gets excited and rolls off the bed. She lands on the hardwood floors with a thud. Quinn peers over the side to make sure she's okay.
Beth pops back up, and grabs Quinn's hand and pulls her out of bed.
"Come on… we need to goooo and seeee." She exclaims as she pulls Quinn towards the bedroom door.
"Just hold on…" Quinn's feet hit the cold wood floor. "I need to put on pants first."
Beth stops long enough for Quinn to pull on a pair of booty shorts. After Quinn got somewhat decent, she lets Beth lead her downstairs.
Beth stomps down the stairs.
"Shh… Bethy, Rachel might still be asleep." Beth was about to question her mother as to why Rachel would still be here, but when they walk into the living room Beth sees someone still on the couch.
"Why! ..."
"Shh…" Quinn escorts Beth into the kitchen and away from Rachel.
'At least one of us will get to sleep in.'
Last night Beth had put her tooth in a glass of water, that's what Rachel had told her to do. So she was eager to see what the tooth fairy left her. Her face lights up when she sees the glass on the counter. She lets go of her mom's hand and rushes to the breakfast bar. Something was definitely different.
"Look mama!" Her voice is loud again.
The glass of water was now pink, and the countertops were now shining with glitter. However, the most noticeable thing was the two shiny gold coins sitting at the bottom of the cup.
"She took it!" Beth was obviously talking about her tooth.
"Looks like… she also made a mess with her fairy dust." Quinn runs a finger through the glitter.
"And she turned the water pink… how?" Beth holds up the glass to inspect it closely.
"Must be magic."
"WOW!" Again Beth's voice rings out a little too loud.
"Shh Bethy, keep your voice down… Rachel still sleeping."
"Look what she left me." She holds up the glass to show her mom.
"I see… she must've liked your tooth. Here, let me help you with that." Beth hands her the glass, and Quinn carefully pours out the colored water into the sink. She then hands the curious girl the two gold coins.
"Now what do I do with them?"
"Well, they're yours, so you can do anything you want with them silly. Now what are you hungry for? I feel like this is a moment we should celebrate." The young girl is distracted by the shiny coins. "Beth… hello?" Quinn waves a spatula in front of her face.
"Huh…"
"What do you want for breakfast sweetie… and no you're not having Spooky-o's again."
The young girl has to think about it for a second.
"Um… can we have banana pancakes?"
"Huh, let me see. We have bananas… sooo. Yes we can have delicious banana pancakes." Quinn pulls out a large mixing bowl.
"But what about Rachel won't she be hungry?"
"Well, I'll make them so she can eat them too. Now why don't you sneak upstairs and get ready for the day while I make the pancakes." Beth is about to run back up to her room, but Quinn warns her before she can take off. "And try not to wake up Rachel, it's her day off, and I think we should let her sleep in. Don't you think?"
Beth nods before scurrying back up to her room to get dressed.
Quinn starts to prepare her pancakes. Banana pancakes were her favorite, just above blueberry, and for the most part, they were relatively easy to make. She seamlessly starts to mix the ingredients together. She doesn't even realize she's singing as she cooks.
Rachel woke to the soft voice emanating from the kitchen. At first she'd thought she was still dreaming, as the song almost seemed to take on a dreamlike melody.
She sits up slowly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and taking in her surroundings. That's when she realized, she was still at Quinn's house.
She stretched, and then heard that calm, low voice call to her again. Someone was singing. She gets up from the leather couch, and walks towards the kitchen to investigate. She stops in the archway and sees where the light voice is emanating from.
Quinn's back was turned to her as she cooked over the stove. Rachel's eyes were glued of the slow sway of Quinn's hips as she danced to the song.
Quinn flips a pancake.
"Wakin' up too early maybe we could sleep in... I'll make you banana pancakes." Her voice seems to emphasize the pancake part. "Pretend like it's the weekend now..." Again Quinn flips a pancake.
Rachel couldn't get over Quinn's voice, it seemed to encircle the walls. It was like this room was perfectly balanced to carry her voice.
She also thought it was funny how the girl seemed to flip the pancake's after each verse.
"… But just maybe, Hala ka ukulele, mama made a baby, I really don't mind to practice…" she skips a verse. "Lady, lady love me 'cause I love to lay here lazy. We could close the curtains pretend like there's no world outside and we could pretend that all the time…"
Rachel is so caught in the moment she doesn't even hear Beth sneaking up behind her.
"Good Morning Rachel!" Beth's voice erupts from behind her. Scaring not only Rachel, but Quinn as well.
Quinn turns around, startled to find Rachel standing in the doorway.
"Oh Rachel you're up… I didn't hear you." She hoped Rachel hadn't heard her singing.
"Yeah, the um- um smell of the pancakes woke me." She lied, it was Quinn's voice that woke her. "They smell delicious."
"Yeah? Well they're done so Beth and you can have the first round."
The two hungry girls sit down at the breakfast bar. Quinn places two plates with pancakes in front of them, along with a cup of coffee for Rachel, and a cup of orange juice for Beth. She then goes back to making her own fresh pancakes.
"So Banana Pancakes, huh? I never took you for the type."
"They're my favorite… I try to make them at least once a week." She says as she flips the two massive pancakes in the skillet.
"I meant the song… Banana Pancakes… didn't take you for a Jack Johnson fan."
"Oh… well truthfully that song just gets in my head every time I make Pancakes. It's the only song I know about Pancakes." She trails off.
"Well the song suits your voice perfectly."
"Oh please, I'm not that good." Quinn can tell she's blushing. She wasn't extremely comfortable singing in front of an audience.
"Quinn, trust me. Your voice was amazing." Quinn was surprised by the comment, usually she thought she sounded a little shard when she sang. "Don't you think Beth, your mom has a beautiful voice doesn't she."
"Yup, you sing pretty, but mama you need to hear Rachel sing sometime."
"I've heard about this famous Rachel Berry voice, but I have yet to hear you actually sing." She was just happy Beth changed the subject.
"Well, that's because this is probably the longest conversation we've had since I've started working for you. Usually by this time on the weekday you're already out the door. So there hasn't been a sufficient amount of time for you to hear my voice." Rachel says in between bites.
"True… you know you're right. I think this is the first time you've actually stayed overnight."
"Yup." Rachel takes another bite of her delicious pancakes.
"So how did you sleep?"
"Okay I guess… although I'd much prefer a bed to a couch." She rubs her neck slightly.
"Yeah, I thought about that last night, and I was going to ask if you wanted to stay in the guest room, but you looked so peaceful."
"I think it was the beer… it knocked me out."
"Rachel… you could've slept in my bed." Beth says with a full mouth.
"Beth please, try not to talk with your mouth full."
"Th-orry." She says while still chewing. Quinn just shrugs it off.
Her pancakes where now done so she sat down in the last bar stool and enjoyed her delicious pancakes.
"You're a pretty good cook Quinn."
"Why thank you, you sound surprised." She eyes Rachel's plate, her pancakes were already half gone.
"I am. Actually, I think this is the first time you've made me something other than toast and coffee. Usually I'm the one cooking meals around here."
"Well, now you know my talents also extend to pancakes." She says back playfully.
"What else can you mama make Bethy?"
"Um… tacos!"
"Tacos?"
"I also have a mean PB&J sandwich in my repertoire." Quinn gleams.
By the time the pancakes were gone the three girls were practically comatose from eating too much.
"I definitely ate too much." Quinn groans.
"Same." Rachel was currently in the same predicament Beth on the other hand seemed keen, in fact she seemed way too hyper.
"Who knew food gave her energy. How long do you think she can spin like that before upchucking all over my kitchen." Rachel says.
"Your kitchen…" Quinn scoffs. "Trust me, I timed her once, and she did that for like ten minutes straight. However, in order to get her to sleep by seven that amount of spinning is a must."
"She making me sick by watching her. Remind me not to give her banana pancakes during the week."
'Noted.'
Quinn was right, about ten minutes later, Beth was tired out on the floor from spinning. Shortly after that Rachel excused herself from the Fabray home. Her dad had been calling her all morning trying to find out why she hadn't come home yet.
Beth then decided she didn't want Rachel to leave and attached herself to the girls leg.
"Beth let her go."
"No… she needs to stay so we can play hide and go seek, and you can't play that with two people."
"I sorry Beth, but I really need to get back to my house."
"But you can stay here, so this can be your house."
"Beth I'm not going to ask you again… let go of Rachel's leg."
She reluctantly lets go and starts to pout. Rachel then kneels down in front of her and gives her a hug to calm her before she starts to cry.
"Hey, we can have all sorts of fun on Monday, okay?" Beth nods then runs upstairs. "Is she going to be okay, usually she isn't like this when I leave."
"I think she'll be fine, it's probably because you stayed overnight for the first time." At least that's what Quinn hopes.
"Yeah maybe… thanks again for letting me crash here last night."
"It's no problem, it was one of the best Fridays I've had in a while."
"I guess I should probably…"
"Wait, um… I know tomorrow's Sunday or whatever, and it's your day off, but I was wondering if you might want to join us for dinner at my mom's house. We have a family dinner every Sunday, and my mom keeps telling me to invite you."
"That sounds great actually, is it okay if I invite my dad's too… I'm sure they'd love to meet Beth."
"Yeah, that's fine. So Sunday at 7, at my mom's house."
With that Rachel leaves in her black Volkswagen. Quinn waves as the girl backs out of the driveway.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful for Quinn, she ended up calling her mom after Rachel had left to inform her about tomorrows dinner. Then she went outside to soak up some sun this her daughter.
After an afternoon of playing soccer in the back yard. The two of them found themselves relaxing on the nice leather couch. Beth was busy eating leftover pizza when Quinn's phone went off.
"Baby can you grab that for me?" Beth reaches over to the coffee table and hands Quinn her phone. It was a text from Santana.
"Great, now what." She clicks on the message.
-Sorry I lied.
Pops up on her screen as a picture of her assistant pops up on her screen. It was obvious that Ashley the 22 year old, was lying naked in Santana's bed. She wanted to be pissed at the fact that she would probably have to start looking for a new assistant soon, but at the end of the day she saw it coming. Santana always went after the things she was told she couldn't have. And sweet straight Ashley didn't stand a chance when it came to Santana's charm. It was that charm that had gotten her into the Latina's bed.
-Thanks, should I start looking for a new assistant?
- Come on Fabray is that all you have to say to me… how about congratulations.
-Okay, congrats on sleeping with yet another of my employees, hopefully they'll still be competent enough to work for me on Monday.
-She won't be after I'm done with her ;)
-Whatever…
Sunday- Family Dinner
"Mom! Do you know where the wine opener is? I can't find it!" Quinn yells to her mom in the other room. The two of them were busy setting the table for dinner.
"I think I put it above the fridge!" Her mom yells back.
"I can't find it!"
"Just a second I'll be right there!" Her mom comes storming into the kitchen. "Did you find it darling?"
"No… where else would you put it?"
"Quinn it's not like I drink wine every night… it should be there… just keep looking." Quinn continues to dig through the cabinet, as her mom finishes pulling out the eggplant lasagna. The aroma of the lasagna almost made Quinn fall from the stool she was currently balancing on. "Oh, Quinn I found it… it was next to the microwave here."
"Really mom, the microwave?"
"Yes, dear now hurry up and open that bottle, it needs to sit open before we can drink it."
"You know, next time we should just drink the boxed wine you have in the fridge…"
"Oh hush now, and stay away from my box wine." Quinn can't help but giggle. "What time did you say the Berry's were coming?"
"I told them, we were eating at seven, so I'm guessing they'll be here any minute." And as soon as Quinn says it the doorbell rings. "See, right on time."
"Oh goodness… I'll get it. You hurry up with the wine."
"Yeah yeah…" her mom swats her with a dish towel, then scurries to the front door to greet the guest. Quinn can hear her mom as she answers the door, since her voice seems to carry back into the kitchen. She could just barely make out Rachel's voice
She finally gets the cork out of the bottle and walks it into the formal dining room.
"Quinn honey, come here please." Quinn sets the opened bottle on the table before making her way to the front door. Her mom had just shut it after inviting both Rachel and her dad in.
'Wait, I thought she had two?'
"Quinn honey, I'd like you to meet Hiram Berry. Hiram this is my daughter Quinn. I'm not sure if you ever met her before."
"Nope, I think I've only ever seen the baby pictures of her. Russell always had them on his work desk. It's good to finally meet you Quinn." He extends his hand to her.
"Likewise."
"Oh Judy she looks just like you."
"Here Quinn why don't you take their coats upstairs, and bring Bethy down with you. We'll wait in the living room okay?"
Judy escorts Hiram into the living room, leaving Rachel standing in the entry way.
Rachel was dressed in a classic white dress that was cut off just above her knees. Her hair was pulled back slightly and she was currently wearing a necklace with her name on it.
"Do you want me to take that?" Quinn motions to the bottle Rachel was currently holding. Rachel for some reason seemed frozen. "Rachel?"
"Huh? Oh no, it's fine. Um… I'll just set it in the dining room."
"Okay… here give me your coat and I'll run it upstairs for you." Rachel hands her the coat.
"You look very nice tonight. However, you didn't need to get all dressed up for us."
"I just… I didn't know how formal the dinner was going to be." Rachel says as she looks down at her dress.
"We try and keep it semi casual, hence what I'm wearing… I thought you were bringing both of your dad's tonight?"
"Oh right, I um… Daddy is running a little late , but he should be here soon, I hope that's okay. He said we could start dinner without him too, if we don't want to wait for him."
"I'm sure we can wait, the wine still needs to sit for a while, so we have some time." She gives Rachel a quick smile before disappearing up stairs to stash the coats and find Beth. Who was currently hiding under the bed for some reason.
"Beth honey, what are you doing under the bed?"
"I wanted to scare Rachel. Is she here yet?
"Yes honey she's here , but she's down stairs with grandma right now. Why don't you come out from under there. We're about to eat, and if you want to sit by Rachel, you'll have to be the first one at the table."
It was a sneaky trick, but it worked.
Two seconds later, Beth was out the door and running down the stair to get to Rachel first. Before Quinn reached the bottom of the stairs, she hears a sudden oomph from the living room. She didn't have to see what had happened, and when she walked into the living room her suspicions were confirmed. Beth had all but tackled Rachel in a chair and was now talking adamantly about why she was going to sit next to the nanny.
"So what you're saying is that I have to sit next to you."
"Yup." Quinn just shakes her head at her daughter.
"So this is the infamous Beth Fabray my daughter has talked nonstop about for the last five months." Hiram says as he gets up to meet Beth.
"Yup… This is Beth. Beth this is my Dad Hiram Berry."
"Hi… you're really tall…"
"Well, I suppose I am, or maybe it's you," he taps her nose "that is very small." Beth laughs.
"Well, why don't we move this into the dining room. You said Leroy was going to be here soon right?" Judy asks as she starts to usher her guest into the next room. Beth had a hold of Rachel's hand and was leading her to the table.
They all settled into a seat as Judy brought out the food and started serving.
"This looks amazing Judy. Did you make this from scratch?" Rachel says as she scoops herself a plate.
"Yup, I got it from one of those cooking shows on the food network. Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks. Quinn why don't you pour the wine."
Quinn makes her way around the table pouring the wine. Skipping Beth of course, who instead was poured a giant glass of chocolate milk, and just as they all settled down at the table the doorbell rang.
"That's Daddy, I'll get it." Rachel excuses herself from the table and goes to answer the door. They can hear the greeting LeRoy gives as he enters the house. Rachel then leads him into the dining room.
"I see I made it just in time."
"We were just about to start." Judy says from the head of the table.
"Daddy you remember Judy Fabray, and this is Quinn her daughter and this little one is Beth."
Beth waves at the man.
"Wow, she does look like a little handful doesn't she." Leroy says as he sits down next to Hiram.
Beth smiles wickedly.
"Daddy, Beth isn't a handful at all."
"Oh please, I know what it's like raising a five year old girl. You were always go go go. That's why we enrolled you in singing and dance. It helped vent all that energy. Is Beth enrolled into any programs like that?"
"Um… no. We haven't really looked into anything like that."
"That's a pity, they say the best time to start learning things like singing and dancing is at a young age." LeRoy says as he plates his food.
"Daddy…" Rachel scolds.
"What? It was only a suggestion. Think of where you'd be if we didn't push you into those programs."
"Yes, well not everyone wants to be a Broadway star by age three. Beth here wants to be… um, what was it again?" She looks to Beth, who was busy pushing around the food on her plate.
"Deep sea Fisher MAN!" She exclaims before putting an enormous bite of eggplant in her mouth.
"Well, maybe they have, I don't know… workshops for that."
"Daddy she wants to do that because we saw a commercial for Deathliest Catch and asked me what it was about. She wants to be a fisherman because she wants a pet lobster."
"Mama won't let me have one."
"Yeah… no shellfish pets for you." She can't help but laugh at her daughter.
The conversation from there was left to complimenting the food, or asking for more wine. Beth was the first to finish eating, but she sat patiently for dessert.
"Beth sweetie, do you want to help me serve dessert?" Judy asks after everyone finished eating. Beth quickly nods and slides off her chair.
Judy and her go into the kitchen.
"So how old did you say Beth is?"
"She's five, she should be starting school in the fall."
"They grow up so quickly don't they." Hiram says as he finishes the last sip of wine. "I remember Rachel's first day of school. She had this little yellow backpack, and these little notebooks and pencils all ready to learn. She practically pulled Leroy and I into the school, then as soon as we tried to leave she started to cry."
"I did not." Rachel pouts.
"I'm sorry sweetie, but you did… just tears everywhere, then we picked her up that night, and she wouldn't stop talking about everything she did… the ABC's… 123's… everything."
"Well, I was a little excited, but I didn't cry. I remember exactly what happened that day."
"You did too baby…" Rachel scowls at him. "Then they leave and go to college, and you become this middle aged man grasping onto the younger days." Quinn raises her eyebrow. "Well, maybe not the middle aged man part, but just you wait about the college thing."
"Speaking of college, if Beth is starting school in the fall does that mean we can finally re-enroll you into college Rachel?"
"Daddy… not this, please."
"What is just a simple question… I mean Quinn, will you still need Rachel around when Beth's in school?"
"Dad, I told you, I didn't want you to bring this up tonight."
"What it's a fair question, and I think I have the right to know, I mean at some point she's not going to need you anymore, and I think Quinn would agree with me that a college education is necessary. I just want to know when you'll be able to enroll again that's all."
"Daddy…"
"Rachel…" the tension in the room seem to rise.
"Can I talk to you for a moment in the hallway." She huffs and stands from the table. "Please excuse us."
Leroy and Rachel leave the room just as Beth and Judy come back with plates of Brownies.
"Are we ready for… where did Rachel and LeRoy go?"
"They'll be back, let's just start without them." Hiram says as he grabs a Brownie.
"Did something happen while we were in the kitchen…"
Quinn didn't know what to think, in all honesty, she hadn't thought about letting Rachel go.
When Rachel and Leroy come back in the room, all eyes are on them.
"Everything alright?" Judy asks, not really knowing what was going on.
"Yes… um. Are we ready to go?" Leroy asks as when he entered the room.
"Oh but, you haven't had dessert yet." Judy extends the plate of Brownies.
"I'm a little full right now, Hiram do you want to ride with me or Rachel?"
"I'll ride with you, just give me a second to chew." Leroy was already holding both of their jackets. He was waiting patiently by the front door. "The Food was lovely Judy, thanks for having us over."
"Oh, it was no problem we like having company over."
"We'll have to do this again sometime." He hugs the older lady before walking to the door. " It was lovely to have met you both…" he says to Quinn and Beth, as he waves to the girls before walking towards the front door.
"Rachel, don't stay too long." LeRoy says as he waves goodbye to Judy.
"Well that was lovely Beth why don't you help me put away the Brownies."
"Okay…" she follows Judy into the dining room once more.
"So, um… I hope you don't think… I hope my father didn't… ugh." Rachel honestly didn't want to talk about, but it was out in the air now.
"You can ask me Rachel. This seems to be something your father is concerned about."
"He just doesn't know how to stop, he never seems to realize that I'm not ready to go back to school, and that I truly enjoy looking after Beth."
The room goes silent.
"Rachel, I know we haven't really talked about time lengths, but if you want to go back to college, or I don't know, do something else with your life you can tell me. I mean I know you're young, and I understand if you want to find something else to…"
"I don't though…" she interrupts. "That's just it, I like watching Beth, I like being her nanny and working with you, and I'd like to keep doing that for as long as you'll have me."
"Okay… if that's what you want." Rachel nods. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow at 6:30."
With that Rachel quickly says goodbye to Beth and Judy then leaves with a plate full of Brownies. Quinn helps her mom clean up as much as possible before saying Goodnight to her mom.
"So I think tonight went well, don't you?" Judy says as she puts a plate full of leftovers in the back seat of the Audi. She sets it next to Beth who is already strapped in and falling asleep.
"Yeah, I guess… It could have ended better."
"Yeah, what was that all about? I leave you alone for five minutes, and when I come back people are leaving." Judy tries to say it like a joke.
"Is nothing really… Leroy and Rachel got into an argument about her going back to school."
"I see… so what did you tell her?"
"Just that if she wants to leave and go back to school, she just needs to let me know."
"Aw honey I don't think that's going to happen."
"And why is that? Quinn asks.
"Oh… um, no reason, just an assumption… look you two drive home safe and get this one to bed." She gives Quinn a kiss.
"Right… I'll talk to you soon." She gets into her car and drives home.
She was already dreading tomorrow.
By the time she got Beth bathed, and ready for bed it was almost ten o'clock.
"Goodnight little might." She kisses Beth head before tucking her in.
"Good… night." Beth all but yawns out.
Quinn makes her way back downstairs to shut off the lights, and arm the front door. But just as she's about to lock the door, the bell rings.
"Now who in the hell…" she was almost tempted to call the cops, because seriously, who rang a doorbell at ten o'clock in the suburbs. Instead, she peers through the peephole. At first she seems shocked. She has to pull away from the door and look again. However, the image in the peep hole stayed the same. She unlocks the door and swings it open.
"Rachel?"
"Hi… I um…"
"What are you doing here?"
"I was- was hoping that offer of being a stay in nanny was still open." Quinn seems confused. "I know it's late, and this could have waited until tomorrow morning, but I kind of got ahead of myself and stormed out of my house tonight." Rachel says rather quickly.
"Here come inside and let's talk." They make their way into the living room. "Now tell me what's going on."
"I-I want to move in here… with you… and Beth. You said it was okay before, and so I'm taking you up on your offer." Quinn shakes her head slightly trying to process everything.
"I know this is going to seem strange, since I did offer it, but what made you change your mind?" Rachel takes a deep breath.
"I realized on my drive home where I wanted to be, so I packed my stuff and came here. I know I probably should have at least called first. Instead of springing this on you at ten thirty, but I was running on a power high, and things just lead to another, and now I'm here. I can leave if you want me to. Like I said, it probably should have been brought up tomorrow, but after I stormed out I realized I didn't have any other place to go."
"No.. I mean I'm glad you came here, and of course you can stay here. We have the space that's for sure. Um how did… your... um dad's take you leaving?"
"They had…. With mixed emotions I'm sure after tonight you see why."
"Yeah, I guess so," The room goes quiet again.
"So… which room is mine." Rachel asks, changing the mood of the room instantly.
"Huh… oh right, well, I wish you'd given me more of a notice so I could have gotten the downstairs in order for you. Tonight you'll have to stay in the guest bedroom upstairs, until we can get a more permanent setup in place. If that's okay with you?"
"It's perfect." Quinn leads Rachel upstairs… shutting off the lights and arming the front door as she goes. The guest room is just as big as Beth's room, but with a queen sized bed instead of a full. The room was for her mom when she came to spend the night, which wasn't very often.
"I hope this is okay… I mean otherwise you'll have to sleep on the couch again." Quinn says as she turns on the light.
"This is perfect Quinn. Thank you."
"Okay… do you need anything? Pajamas, extra pillow?"
"Um, if you have a pair a p.j.'s. I could borrow, I left my clothes in the car."
"Yeah, just a second." Quinn runs back into her bedroom and finds a pair of pajamas for Rachel to wear. When she gets back, Rachel is waiting patiently on the bed, taking in her surroundings. "Will this work?
She hands Rachel a pair of light pink silk pajamas.
"They're perfect, thank you… for everything. I know it's kind of overwhelming and last-minute, but I am grateful." Rachel stands awkwardly waiting for Quinn to leave so she can change.
"Oh right… I guess I'll leave, good night Rachel." She says as she shuts the door.
"Goodnight Quinn."
End
So another chapter down… I hope you liked it because it took me forever to write. I'm looking forward to the reviews on this chapter. Let me know how you felt about Rachel moving in, because I originally thought about her showing up the next day with her bags in hand, but I felt this way would lead to the next chapter easier… thoughts?