Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. If I did mida212, scifimom2000, and chasingyellowcarsfaithfully would be the writers for the show. Mrs. Baral would be in charge of costuming ;)
Riley's head was drooping on Finn's shoulder as he carried her through the house. He headed straight for her bedroom hoping she would stay awake long enough to take the bath he knew Rachel was preparing for her. Trying to set her down he chuckled a bit as her arms wrapped tighter around his neck.
"Riley, come on. Let Daddy put you down. We need to pick out some jammies so we can get you in the tub." When he tried to set her down again, her arms just squeezed a tighter and her head stayed tucked on his shoulder. Walking to the mirror, he turned to see her eyes scrunched close as if she were pretending to be asleep. Thankfully, he knew just what to do to get her to cooperate. In a stage whisper he said, "Hey Rach. No need to tell more of the story-she's out."
Before he finished her head was off his shoulder, almost cracking into his chin. "I'm awake Daddy!" Squirming in his arms impatiently she waited for him to put her down. "Daddy! I need to pick out my jammies."
Setting her on the floor he gave her bottom a pat as she ran towards the dresser drawer holding her pajamas. Thankfully she didn't realize there was no way Rachel could have heard him over the running water in the bathroom. He watched as she pulled out her favorite nightgown, a yellow one with ruffles at the bottom and a large picture of Princess Belle holding a rose. She ran back over to him and lifted her arms, already knowing he would pick her back up and carry her to the bathroom. He picked her up and tucked her back onto his hip.
"You ready for your bath munchkin?" He asked as he carried her down the hallway. He could hear the tub filling and the sound of Rachel humming over it.
"Yes Daddy," she quickly replied, even though her voice was still sleepy.
He set her down in the bathroom, next to Rachel who was kneeling by the tub. He saw the bubbles but caught the underlying scent of lavender as well. Their baby was going to relax and go to bed no matter how hard she tried to fight it.
Reaching over to Riley, Rachel began to help her undress, handing off clothes to Finn to place in the hamper. "You ready for your bath baby girl?" She asked when Riley stood there rubbing her eyes.
"Uh huh. Can I please have a little bit of the story?" she tried batting her eyes as Rachel set her in the warm water but it was just too hard to open them after she closed them.
Rachel began to wash Riley, keeping her movements quick and gentle. "Well you see, after they won their big competition it was almost time to be done with school. Only Raquel and Kyle didn't want to be done, they wanted to go to New York and go to school there."
"What about Flynn, Mommy?" Riley asked as she tipped her head back so Rachel could work in some shampoo. "Did he want to go to New York too?"
Rachel shook her head; Riley was such a daddy's girl even in stories. "Yes baby, he wanted to come too. So the three of them, Raquel, Flynn and Kyle all came to New York."
"That's good Mommy." Riley said through a yawn. "I'm glad Flynn came."
Rachel looked over at Finn and grinned before rinsing out Riley's hair. She stood the little girl up and lifted her onto the bathmat and wrapped her in a towel. "It was fun being in New York together but it wasn't easy."
As she lifted her arms allowing Rachel to pull the nightgown over her head she kept talking. "Why wasn't it easy? We live in New York!"
Hugging her quickly before passing her to Finn Rachel continued, "Well school was really hard for them and they hardly saw each other."
Finn set Riley on the stool in front of her mirror so Rachel could braid her hair. Working quickly since they had both seen Riley rubbing her eyes, Rachel continued. "Kyle and Raquel had thought they were so talented; but it was hard since everyone else was just as talented."
Finn quickly jumped in "Raquel and Kyle were great. They sang the best and worked their hardest. But Kyle soon decided he didn't want to be onstage anymore."
Hair braided, Riley leaned back against Rachel as she yawned again. "But what about Raquel?"
Finn laid her gently in her bed as he spoke, "Well, Raquel began to give singing lessons and quickly discovered that she loved helping others learn to sing."
Rachel beamed at him from across the bed before nodding slightly at him, indicating Riley was about to sleep. They sang their bedtime song to her and left the room, her princess crown nightlight softly illuminating the room.
"That was a nice thing you said about Kurt and I being great." She gave his arm a squeeze as she smiled at him.
"You were, and are still, great. I hope you don't regret stopping auditioning."
Rachel had gone on hundreds of auditions when she was in school and had even been cast as a member of a company once, but it truly hadn't given her the same rush as helping others work on their singing did. Finn had completely supported her decision to teach even though her fathers were upset at first.
"I don't regret anything. Everything that happened led us here and I'm grateful. You're still coming to the school tomorrow right?"
Each year when Rachel taught the lesson ballads, Finn came and sang Faithfully with her. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."
Pecking her lips to her cheek she said, "Thanks Finny. And Quinn is still taking Riley after school, I wonder if she'll try and tell some of the story."
He caught her cheek in his hand and turned her face up to his, placing a lingering kiss on her lips. "You know it's my favorite lesson of the year right baby?"
she wound her arms around his neck as she reciprocated the kiss. "Mine too." keeping her arms wrapped around his neck, she jumped into his arms, knowing he'd catch her. "I think we need to get some rest so we sound our best tomorrow."
He grinned into her face, "I couldn't agree more," he said as he carried her to their room, kissing her the entire way.
The next morning while the three shared breakfast, Rachel reminded Riley, "Now, remember Aunt Quinn is picking you up from school today."
"I get to go to Emma's house!" She bounced in her chair for a moment, almost losing one of her little pink sandals since she shook her legs so hard.
Rachel smiled at the little girl who was dressed in a pink plaid skirt with a pink top adorned with a silver sequined bow. "Yes, and you need to be good and listen to Aunt Quinn ok? Daddy will pick you up from there so Mommy can get dinner started ok?"
"Ok, Mommy. Daddy, is it time to go?" Riley turned her attention to Finn who was finishing his glass of juice.
"What's your hurry today Riley?" He asked as he set his glass in the sink.
"I need to talk to Ms. Barron." Slipping out of her seat, she walked to her backpack and slung it over her shoulders. "Come on, I'm ready."
Rachel chuckled as she kissed Finn, "I guess you've got your marching orders. Better get moving." Walking over she crouched to Riley's height, "Be good today. I love you."
"Love you too Mommy. Now let's go Daddy!"
Finn laughed as he took her hand and walked towards the door. "See you after school Rach. Love you."
Rachel was setting the rest of the dishes in the sink and grabbing her own bag as she replied, "See you later, love you."
Finn buckled Riley into her seat, grateful that today wasn't show tune sing a long day. He popped in his Bon Jovi CD and the pair sang Living on a Prayer and You Give Love a Bad Name before pulling into the school parking lot. They were running a little later than he liked, so instead of taking Riley to class, he allowed her to go to her room with Ms. Barron. He gave her a kiss and told her to be good for Aunt Quinn somewhat surprised when she reached up, patted his cheek and said, "Ok, Daddy. You can go now!" He walked off to his own class as he heard her run in and say to her teacher, "Ms. Barron? I'm going to be real quiet today in class-I don't have to talk to Emma, I get to go to her house later."
The day passed quickly and Finn gathered his papers before heading off to the high school to meet Rachel. As he walked out of his classroom he saw Quinn holding hands with Emma and Riley, one on each side of her as they were walking towards his car.
"Hey Quinn, wait up!" He shouted as he picked up his pace.
She stopped and turned, still holding onto Riley and Emma's hands. "Hey Finn. We were just heading off to go play, right girls?"
"We're going to play Barbies Daddy! And Aunt Quinn is going to give us a snack!" Riley was clearly excited and anxious to get on with playing.
He bent down to give her one last kiss, "Well you be good ok? Daddy'll be by to pick you up in just a little bit."
"Finn, she's fine. Go have fun, sing your little heart out." Quinn said in a teasing tone. "Besides," she continued, lowering her voice, "I'm dying to hear more about this Flynquel."
Finn laughed loudly as he walked to the car, "Don't be jealous Quinn. I'm sure Quick's story would be just as cute. Nah, who am I kidding? Flynquel forever." He got in his car and waved before Quinn could reply.
Looking down at the girls, Quinn shook her head and said, "He's so silly sometimes isn't he girls?"
"Uh huh, but who's Quick Mommy?" Emma asked as the continued to walk to Quinn's car.
"Hmm maybe you'll have to ask Daddy about that one day baby." Quinn said as she put the girls in their seats in the back, listening to them chatter away about what they did in Ms. Barron's class that day.
The drive to the Puckerman house didn't take long and once Quinn opened the door to the house the girls made a beeline for the playroom. Quinn went in the kitchen to prepare them a snack while they played. As she cut up the apples and cheese slices, she could just make out Riley's voice telling Emma about the star. She walked to the playroom, plates in hand, to find the girls sorting through the Barbie box as Riley talked.
"Hey girls, I have snacks. What are you looking for?" Quinn asked as she set the plates down on Emma's tea table.
"I want a brown haired Barbie like Raquel, Aunt Quinn and I don't know if Emma has any. She has blond ones like Lucy." Riley's face scrunched as she continued to look through the box.
"Well, Lucy isn't all that bad Riley right?" Quinn didn't know how far in the story telling they had gotten, but she hoped Riley knew they were all friends now.
"Daddy said that Lucy was ok, and she even was in their wedding." Her little hands still dug through the box, letting out a crow of triumph when she located the one brunette Barbie that Emma owned. "I found her!" Happily, she crossed to the table and sat across from Emma who had already set her Barbie down.
Quinn was still curious about the story so she prodded Riley, "Did they tell you that they spent their first Christmas married with Lucy?"
Pausing in mid-bite Riley turned to Quinn, "They did?" She asked her little voice tinged with suspicion. Emma meanwhile, just kept snacking away.
"They did! You see, Lucy went to a different school than everybody else, but they were all far away from home. That Christmas they decided to stay by their own schools since it cost too much to go home." Quinn idly picked a Barbie out of the box and brought it over to the tea table. "But you see Raquel was sad that Lucy wasn't going to spend Christmas with anyone so she asked Lucy to come to New York and have Christmas with them."
Riley picked up her own Barbie and looked at it. Quinn could tell that in Riley's mind she was imagining the doll to be Raquel and was puzzled by this new development. Slowly, Riley turned her doll to face Quinn's blonde Barbie. "So did she come?"
Quinn nonchalantly moved her Barbie closer to Riley's. "She did. And they all sang together and played games and stayed up super late catching up with one another." Quinn smiled thinking of that first Christmas. Nobody had exchanged gifts; instead they spent what time they could together laughing and having fun being on their own for their first Christmas away from home.
"Like we do when we have Christmas Eve eve Aunt Quinn?" Each year, on the 23rd of December the Hudson clan and the Puckerman clan met up to exchange gifts. That way if one family was going home for Christmas they still got to see the other one and vice versa.
"Just like that baby." Quinn said with a smile, pleased Riley had made that connection. "It was so much fun and they decided they would try and make it a tradition every year while they were in school, but it wound up becoming a Christmas Eve eve tradition like we have."
Emma smiled up at her mother, "I like Lucy. She got nicer."
Quinn ran her hand over Emma's ponytail, "She sure did baby. She sure did."
Riley however, was not so easily convinced. "Did Lucy ever get married like Flynn and Raquel?"
"Uh huh-she even married an old friend of Flynn and Raquel's-Nick." Quinn paused, watching Riley digest this new info.
"The Nick that kissed Raquel?" She asked, stunned.
"Well, I think Raquel kissed Nick, but that's not the point. Yes, that Nick." Quinn said to them both. "Now, you girls play for a bit. I'm going to get dinner started and your Daddy will be here before you know it Riley." She stood and took the girls plates with her, smiling as she heard them begin to reenact this new portion of their story with their Barbie dolls.
Quinn was putting the finishing touches on her lasagna before placing it in the oven when she heard the knock on the door, followed by Finn calling out, "Hello? Anybody home?"
Riley heard her Daddy's voice and came running down the hall, launching herself into his arms. "Hi Daddy." She said as she gave him a big hug.
He couldn't have stopped the grin on his face if he tried. "Hi baby. Did you have fun with Emma and Aunt Quinn?"
"I did Daddy; did you know Aunt Quinn knows the Flynquel story too?" Her eyes were rounded in shock as she looked at him. "She said they spent Christmas together like we do!"
Quinn's eyes laughed into his as he looked back and forth between the two, "She did huh? Well I told you Flynquel is a good story, lots of people love it." He met Quinn's eyes again as he shifted Riley to his hip. "Thanks again for watching her."
"No problem-we always have fun. How's Rachel's group? They ready for Regionals?"
"Well I mean they're no New Directions of course, but with Rachel coaching? No way they don't win." Pride infused his voice as he spoke.
"I'm looking forward to the performance. We'll all be there to cheer them on." Quinn said, running her hand down Emma's back since the little girl had come out of the playroom and attached herself to Quinn's leg.
"Well we better get going-Rachel's getting dinner going. Thanks again."
"Bye Aunt Quinn, bye Emma!" Riley called out over Finn's shoulder as he grabbed her bag and walked to the car.
"I'm glad you had such a good time today baby. Did you like Aunt Quinn's portion of the story?" Finn asked as he drove them home.
"You know what Daddy?"
"What baby girl?" Finn asked, looking at her in the rearview mirror.
"Aunt Quinn said Lucy married Nick." She watched Finn's face, wanting to see if this was true or not.
"She sure did Riley. And you know what? Raquel and Flynn were in that wedding too!" He pulled onto their street as she thought about this.
"I guess Lucy's ok then huh Daddy?"
Pulling into the driveway, Finn said, "Yep, she's definitely ok."
Riley waited to be unbuckled and was holding Finn's hand walking to the house when she said, "Daddy?"
He was pushing open the door when she planted her feet, forcing him to turn and look at her before moving into the house. "Yes Riley?"
"Do Flynn and Raquel ever have a baby?"
"Well, you know what? They do, but that's a story for another day." Finn started moving again, letting Riley run past him to tell Rachel that they were home. He couldn't wait to tell the story of how Riley came to be.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed Quinn coming in for a bit, I like the idea of her trying to coax Riley into liking Lucy. Next up is finishing college, career choices and one other life altering event. Thanks again for the read and please feel free to review-they're always appreciated ;)
On a personal note-thank you forky dork again for reading this before I put it up-you don't know how much it helps. I'm glad we update together most of the time...now let's get to 200 today!
Mida212-I'm looking for some Confessions to take place soon; I sure hope the coupe didn't pull a hit and run on your inner P…
Mrs. Baral-hope you spy some good stuff for us tonight! I'm so glad you're the crazies #1 fan ;)