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Posted: 21/10/13
History
They hadn't spoken to Quinn much, it had been 7 years, what were you supposed to say to someone who just stopped talking to you 7 years ago, probably when you needed them most? So they said a short 'hello, how are you?' and then got on with their work. Though there was the occasional glance, the questioning looks, shared between the three old acquaintances.
Contact had been at a minimum over the next few weeks for Quinn and, Rachel and Santana, so they didn't get a chance to talk outside of being professional. The two junior detectives were definitely impressed by Quinn's ability to sound totally natural in her role as Assistant, Assistant District Attorney. She must have worked hard to get to where she was, like Rachel and Santana had. All three of them were nearing 30 but not quite there just yet, and they'd already come so far.
A couple of weeks into the job and they got a case, they'd been getting cases everyday but this time it was different.
"We've got a case, hotel downtown" Cragen called across the floor. Sometimes the cases walked in themselves, sometimes they were called in from another desk, but today Cragen was giving the orders "I want all four of you there" Olivia furrows brow, but when Cragen noticed it he gave her a serious nod, and she read him straight away.
The four headed out that early morning, separated into their partnerships between two cars.
Q~Q
They had barely got out of the car when an officer in uniform met them in front of the basic hotel.
"Detectives, am I glad to see you" the female, Italian American, officer greeted as she led them into the building "We've got a DOA, 11 year old girl, her throat was slashed, we had to call you in though after how we found her" she explained. Santana and Rachel shared a concerned look, now they realised why they were both here, it was their first kid case "The ME's already here with the CSU, third floor" the officer pointed to stair case "We already got a statement from the cleaner who found her, she's pretty shaken up"
"What about the guy at the front desk?" Tutuola asked, noting the man standing there on the opposite side of the foyer, looking very nervous.
"We haven't spoken to him yet, thought we'd wait for you guys" The female officer explained. Rachel's eyes scanned the officer's shield and the name above it. 'Moreno'. She was sure that sounded familiar, but she didn't remember meeting this woman before.
"Okay" Olivia nodded "Berry, Lopez, get his statement, then come meet us upstairs." She said before they separated.
"Okay" Rachel nodded, as she pulled out her note pad, most detectives weren't one for this anymore, there were other methods, but Rachel was proper, so a good old note pad and a pen would help her record what she needed. The two junior detectives crossed the cheap foyer, with the old and worn red carpeting, to the reception desk in the corner.
"So you the owner here?" Santana asked straight out to make sure they weren't asking the wrong person the wrong questions.
"Yeah" the man with the thinning hair and bad flower shirt nodded, his voice was a little shaky.
"Okay, we're detectives Berry and Lopez" Rachel introduced in a calmer tone "we're just going to ask you a few questions"
"It's gotta be some shock, finding that." Detective Lopez dug straight in.
"Yeah you ain't kidding," he huffed humourlessly, he arms were folded across his chest and he kept glancing around "and I aint even the one who found them." The detectives could conclude on the most basic level that he was just scared or he was hiding something.
"So what time did the kid come in?" Berry asked.
"I swear I didn't see any kids come in, what kinda place do you think I'm runnin' here?" he yelped, feeling the accusations about to escape the detectives mouths.
"I don't know, but how can you miss a guy walking in with a kid" well they were only assuming a guy walked in with a kid, it could have been a couple of kids, all they knew was there was one kid, dead, in a room upstairs and someone had done it.
"The room she was found in, I never booked anyone into that one last night" he explained quickly, he even turned around and reached for his books, the one with all the schedules in. he opened it and showed a page with a bunch of blank spaces, and scrawled writing everywhere else "See?"
"Then why did the cleaner go into that one" Berry asked, surely the room had already been cleaned... she hoped.
"She said the door was open" The owner explained further, he was pretty quick with coming up with these
"Was there any time last night that you weren't attending the front desk" Detective Berry asked, Santana was keeping an eye on the guy while she kept her eyes on her note pad, they worked like this sometimes, Santana always had been a natural at reading people.
"Well, I took deliveries last night, I don't know how but maybe he snuck in" he was quick to suggest.
"Cameras?" Santana pointed out the two in opposite corners of the room.
"... Well..." he seemed to cringe.
"Dummy cams?" Santana asked, disgruntled. She hated them, they got your hopes up when you were a victim then let you down, hard.
"Broken" he corrected.
"God sake, sick of damn fake and broken cameras, you cheap ass" Santana muttered under her breath, but it was still heard by her ex-partner and the interviewee.
"This place doesn't make enough money, they haven't been working for a couple of weeks" he then pointed to wall of pegs behind the front desk where the room keys were hanging "Look I keep the keys here, and the main door is unlocked until I close" he dug himself in deeper.
"So anyone could sneak in" Rachel sighed "That's all for now, don't skip town" she finished up and turned away, Santana doing the same.
"Wait, am I a suspect?" they heard him call after them, but didn't answer. Right now he was a suspect, he seemed to have a bunch of suggestions to point blame at someone else, that and with broken cameras it could have been him.
Rachel lowly asked Santana "What do you think?"
"Seemed to have a lot of theories of his own. And he seemed kinda dumb" but she wasn't a fool neither of them were, he might be playing them.
"Well his IQ can't be hitting above 80, with no cameras and no locks" unless he was just acting dumb. Rachel just flicked back a page on her notes, not that she'd got much. "You head up, I just want to write something, I'll catch up"
"You sure?" Santana asked. Honestly she wasn't sure she wanted to go up alone.
"Yeah, I'll be two seconds then I'll catch you up" she confirmed, making Santana reluctantly leave her, while she wrote up a few extra points. She was just finishing up when she saw the officer who met them out front walk back into the building. She was slim, dark hair... attractive, Rachel supposed. "Officer Moreno..." she called after the officer as moved to join her at the bottom of the stairs "Hey, do you know ADA Fabray?" she had to ask, it had clicked where she heard that name from, maybe Officer Moreno had a brother or cousin who worked in the 16th precinct.
"Yeah, I do." the female officer nodded "Actually, we dated for just over a month. Didn't last though, she broke up with me" she shrugged as they started up the stairway together, towards the crime scene.
"Oh I'm sorry" Rachel managed to say despite her shock. Quinn? Dating a woman?
"It's okay, she said her heart was somewhere else or something, there were no hard feelings" She shrugged it off. A silence settled over them as they continued up to the third floor "You're Detective Berry, right?"
"Yeah..." she searched her mind, was she supposed to know this officer, she couldn't remember meeting her before.
"Oh right" She nodded, she almost sounded approving, as she looked the junior detective up and down, not even being discreet about it... and then she wandered away, to join the other Officers at the crime scene.
Further up the hall Santana had watched and was now confused. She'd been hanging around by her and Rachel's partners, who were talking to the Medical Examiner outside the hotel room door. Rachel joined her, with a matching confused expression.
"Did she just check me out?" she asked her best friend "Is there a rumour going around that I'm gay, or something?" she had wondered after a few looks she'd got from certain female officers and the way some of the male ones had spoken to her.
Santana shrugged "Well they see me, they know I'm taken so once that heart break sets in they see you and are ready for the rebound" she suggested, with faux reasonability.
"Santana" Rachel warned lowly.
"What?" she smirked, then it dropped with a sigh "No I don't believe there's a rumour that you are gay going around the precinct" she said like a robot, as if she was confirming she had come up with no such rumour... she wasn't that childish... anymore.
"Then why do you think she looked at me like that" Rachel wondered.
"Maybe she thinks you're hot" Santana suggested, simply. She didn't think that was at all an impossibility.
Rachel shook her head dismissively as she leant on the wall next to her friend "She dated Quinn-"
"She what?" Santana would have chocked if she'd had anything to choke on "Q's gay..? whoa a lot of things from high school just started to make sense" she thought out loud.
"Like what? You know what, I don't want to know" Rachel decided. I might be cheerio locker room stuff and with Santana's ability to be graphic so easily sometimes "Anyway if she dated Quinn, there no way she can think I'm hot" Rachel added dismissively.
"Don't be so harsh on yourself Berry, you know you're attractive, right?" making Rachel feel down about herself had been acceptable in high school but not now, she needed Rachel to be confident in every aspect of her life not just her job.
"It's redundant what I or anyone else thinks, anyway." Rachel told her with that same dismissive tone.
Santana rolled her eyes, then she mumbled "It wouldn't be the worst idea in the world, you know"
"What?"Rachel looked up at her, curiously.
"To think about dating" Santana mumbled with a shrug. It's not like she wanted to force Rachel to move on, but it had been a long time, maybe she should consider trying. Santana still regretted not making Rachel see a councillor.
Rachel's head dropped "I'm not going there with you, Santana. Just leave it" she told her friend sternly.
"Okay" Santana backed off "... if you wanna talk-"
"Well I don't" Rachel cut her off lowly.
"Berry, Lopez" Benson called them over, before Santana could put her foot in it further "This is Dr Melinda Warner, our Medical Examiner, this is Detective Rachel Berry and Detective Santana Lopez"
"Good to meet you both" the ME nodded to both junior Detectives.
"Same here, doc, what have you got?" Santana asked, time to get on with this case, there was a dead kid in the next room, and yeah they'd dealt with dead kids before but this was different, this was worse.
The medical examiner complied, just happy someone wanted to hear about her findings so far "The vic is an 11 year old female, cause of death is the very obvious slashing to the throat, I've also noted some bruising to the wrists and neck. I also found fluids, and bruising to the thighs, pelvic and vaginal areas, but I can't tell you anything more specific until I get her back"
"Thanks Melinda, we'll catch up once you've done the autopsy" Olivia told her before walking into the room, to see the crime and investigate for herself. Tutuola did the same and Rachel and Santana followed too. There was no need to prolong the inevitable any longer.
As soon at their eyes landed on the body of the girl on the bed their blood ran cold. She was dressed, but her clothes were torn, almost to shreds, her wrists bound with duct tape and the blood had run from her sliced throat, across the bed, soaking into the mattress through the cream coloured sheets. There were smaller cuts to her body which was also patterned with bruises. She had dark hair and tanned skin, she looked of South American heritage.
Q~Q
When the body was finally black bagged and wheeled out of the hotel room, they could leave. All the evidence they could gather in the room had been acquired by the CSU. Unfortunately the room had been wiped clean of prints, and they'd really checked.
On Rachel's way out she grabbed a spare, large, evidence bag and rushed from the room. Santana was close behind, their senior partners weren't as quick.
Olivia found her partner by a dumpster next to the dingy hotel, she was throwing up in the formerly empty evidence bag.
"Hope you don't plan on handing that in" Olivia half joked. Her words were just a warning, her voice itself was actually the warning, just letting Rachel know she was being approached.
Rachel only glanced at her partner while she found a tissue in her pocket to wipe her mouth "Sorry" she croaked, "Just... turned my stomach you know?"
"Yeah I get it" Benson agreed, she'd done something similar in one of her early SVU cases.
"Let me just" she nodded to the bag she was hiding behind her leg "And I'll be with you" Olivia just nodded then waited. Rachel lifted the lid of the dumpster to put the now sealed evidence bag inside... when she paused "Um, Olivia? We're going to need another evidence bag."
"What's up, you gonna be sick again?" she asked seriously as she cautiously approached.
"No" she nodded down into the dumpster. Olivia peered over to see what Rachel was looking at. In the corner, next to a couple of full trash bags... a knife, red with blood "I think it could be the murder weapon" she said with an almost sarcastic note in her voice. If it wasn't the murder weapon for this case it might be the murder weapon for another.
Q~Q
"You must think me incapable" Rachel said to her partner as soon as they were back in the squad sedan together.
"Why?" Olivia asked as she reached across the console and searched the glove compartment for something.
"I threw up" Rachel mumbled, more disappointed in herself than anyone else actually was.
"Well... you did find us a possible murder weapon" she finally found what she was looking for, a pack of gum. She pulled a stick out and offer it to Rachel "And I threw up on one of my first SVU cases." When she'd thrown up, Elliot had passed her a stick of gum, it made her feel supported, and cared for, in a simple gesture.
"Really?" Rachel asked, surprised, and secretly relieved. "Thanks" she also muttered as she took the stick of gum and unwrapped the silver wrapper.
"Yeah, a um, a man had been murdered" Olivia didn't make eye contact with her, she just turned the ignition and started the car, so they could start the drive back to the precinct so they could start connecting dots "At first we thought it was mistaken identity and he'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time. But no, turned out he was a war criminal... who had raped and abused women" it had been the first rape case for Olivia, it hadn't been a surprise, she knew she'd be facing rape cases obviously, but it had got to her a lot more than she ever thought it would "We were investigating suspects, former victims of his and this poor woman... he'd left her scared and blind, and so frail. The mention of his name made her tremble"
"I can't imagine" Rachel felt the bile rise but the satisfaction cool that down when she remembered he had been killed.
"We didn't question her, obviously. There was no way she could have mutilated him. I did tell her he was dead, she cried, with relief." The tiniest amount of satisfaction was still evident in Olivia's voice, even after 12 years. "And then when we left I threw up." She finished like it was simple, to not make Rachel feel any more embarrassed. "And my partner game me a stick of gum and asked if I was okay. So, are you okay?"
"I will be, its just a shock to the system. You hear about these things happening but it's different seeing them... you can't even imagine it, because you don't want to, and then when you do... well you saw what happened to me" she huffed humourlessly.
"Just so you know, everyone loses it on their first kid case" Olivia sympathised. She didn't want to be bringing in another partner already, when she was just getting used to this one.
"I'll get used to it" Rachel assured her, she was good at getting used to things... at least she thought she was.
"When that happens, transfer out" Olivia warned her. Rachel looked to her, meeting her eyes in a glance, then she nodded poignantly as the words settled in.
Q~Q
Much later that day the team were still following leads and even looking fo similar vics in cold cases to see if they had anything, and if so, what they already had. They had put a rush on their evidence with the CSU but when every other connected department was doing the saem it was kind of redundant, so they'd just have to wait. They could only put a real rush on it if a current life was in danger, and they had no evidence to say there was another kid in the same situation, waiting for them to save them.
Olivia and Fin had gone out to collect dinner, the other staff in the office had gone home but Santana and Rachel felt they should stick with it, until they knew it was safe to sleep.
"You okay?" Santana asked as Rachel stepped up next to her. The Latina detective had a white board marker in her hand so she could make notes on the Perspex screens they had set up. They already had photo's from the crime scene set up, along with a photo of the cleaner who found the no named victim and the guy who owned and worked at the hotel.
"Yeah" She was feeling a little rough, but her stomach was still turning from earlier.
"Heard you had a little puking incident" her ex partner said bluntly as her eyes continued to scan the crime scene photos. There was also a map pinned up in the corner too... in case they found adjoining cases.
"Yeah..." Rachel confirmed reluctantly.
"Don't blame you... I probably would have if I'd eaten this morning" Santana showed some sympathy.
"You think" The shorter woman almost sounded hopeful that that could be true.
"Yeah, that was some messed up shit" Santana breathed, she knew they'd be facing it, didn't mean it wouldn't still be a shock.
"So why are you staring at the pictures so intensely?" Rachel questioned... though she was getting... settled around the pictures. She still cringed when she saw them but... there was almost something familiar-
"Reminds me of something" Santana's spoken thoughts broke Rachel from her mental ones "Don't you see?" She looked to her ex partner and watched as she made the woman focus on how the body was left "Take away the sexual assault... and think back 2 years."
Rachel's eyes and mind scanned... then scanned some more. Her eyes slowly widened as it came to her "... The bastard"
"You thinking the same as me" Santana quirked an eye brow.
"It could be him, maybe he stepped up the attack, maybe killing them to silence them didn't satisfy him enough" she felt disgusted at the thought, and the guy they were talking about already made them feel sick, before they added paedophile to the list of crimes.
Santana pointed to the map that she'd already drawn over in red, highlighting a specific section of blocks. "Add to the fact the hotel fits inside the area we know he was operating in"
"Oh that's what you've drawn over the map, you remember it that well" Rachel asked, she and Santana hadn't often spoken of work outside of work, normally because Brittany was present at those times, so she didn't know what Santana always thought about.
"There's loads of cases we never got the perps convicted on, but this one, a kid killer... I still remember it, you know" Santana said with disgust for the past... and their unfortunate failure at the time.
"So do I, nothing in this job is easy to forget" Rachel sighed.
"Do you think we should follow this... feeling then, or is it unprofessional?" Santana checked. All they were going on was a feeling, but today had been full of dead ends so far, so where was the harm.
"We're at a dead end, I think if we're on to something and we're both seeing it, we should go for it, at least check with our old records and see what the others think" she suggested as she started back to her desk and her phone.
"Okay then, I'll get on the phone to the archive lot, see if they wouldn't mind pulling what we found back then" Santana agreed as she too moved to her desk diagonally opposite Rachel's.
"Okay, I'll call tony, might just catch him before he heads home" Rachel decided.
"Good, because he likes you better anyway" Santana teased, before they started their separate phone calls in an attempt to get a lead.
Q~Q
When Olivia and Fin got back the office was alive despite the fact only two people were still around, Cragen was at some formal meeting trying to talk up his department, so it was just them alone.
They found Detective Berry busy on her computer, and Detective Santana, slouched back in her chair, feet on her desk as she talked, relaxed but with a business tone too, down the phone.
"What's going on?" Benson asked as she dropped the collected food on her desk.
"We might have something" Rachel looked crazed as she typed away at her computer "I've got our old pal Tony sending over some of our old case files and Santana is talking to the guys in evidence lock up" she explained as she continued to pull the old case files and notes.
"Well good luck getting that by the end of the week" Fin noted sarcastically. The guys in the evidence lock up tended to be ill mannered. They were the lowest of the low in the cop hierarchy and they knew it. On top of that they had people calling them and asking them all day to fetch things for them, it would grind at them, remind them of how fallen they'd fallen.
"Santana knows how to keep them sweet, we've got good connections there" Rachel told both the senior detective confidently "It doesn't take much, but bringing by some donuts and coffee every time we visit, helps us out" she added lowly so no one of the other end of the phone, held to Santana's face, could hear her.
The three looked to Santana as she worked her magic "Of course, no I understand its late, but if you could pull out the box first thing tomorrow then breakfast is on me... I swear, I'll bring it by when I come to sign the evidence out... okay, see you tomorrow" Santana put the phone down with a victorious grin "Got it, he'll pull the box first thing"
"Thought I was liking my new partner for a reason" muttered his approval with a slight nod of the head.
Q~Q
"The M.O. almost matches a case myself and Lopez were working on two years ago" Rachel begin the full explanation once they had all they could gathered up on the boards, with old crime scene photos too. She pointed to their suspect photo " Jayden Toure, called himself The Duke, like he was some big shot, he was just scum. But we had him, he killed 3 kids, two 14 year olds, a boy and a girl, and a 15 year old boy, homeless kids who became his street drug runners. The third vic, the youngest, was our witness, we had him... But then little Tommy wound up dead in a warehouse, throat slashed hands bound by duct tape. There was also bruising to the neck where he'd been strangled before his throat was cut, just like the two vics before. In the end the Jury found him not guilty because there was just a lack of evidence"
"Me and Berry knew it was him though, but a few partial prints in the room where the second victim was found wasn't enough, the rest of what we had we couldn't prove" Santana tried not to get too angry... like she had when she and Toure had last met... she was sure he wouldn't be forgettign her any time soon.
"Well we found 2 of the three vics prints at one of his homes but that was thrown out because it was argued the warrant was signed unfairly, that the judge was manipulated because the urgency of which it was asked for. The whole case was ridiculous" Rachel explained further. Basically their case had become one disaster after the other
"You just know that judge was one of Toure's clients" Santana mumbled
"Well I wouldn't go that far Santana. But it was infuriating" Rachel agreed. They really were an interesting double act, these two junior detectives.
"Do you know where he is?" Olivia cut straight to the important parts.
"We have a last known address" Rachel confirmed, she wandered over to her desk and pulled out the write print out, to pass to her partner "and we know he has a few hang outs so he probably frequents each of them often."
"We also know his drug runners will visit his places, if we can find the girls prints there, we might have him" Santana added.
"Do you think it's enough for a warrant?" Detective Berry asked hopeful. Getting the sick son of a bitch for this case, and getting the son of a bitch who walked two years ago would just be perfect, killing two birds with one stone.
"You'll have to talk to the ladies in the DA's office" Olivia said reluctantly. She couldn't be sure if it was enough, it might have all been all too theoretical to pass for a warrant. But she knew ADA Cabot was especially talented at wording their finds to get grounds for a warrant, that and Novak was brave enough to interrupt the judges poker games to get one signed, so it was likely they'd succeed on this case too.
Suddenly Santana's cell phone started ringing; she half excused herself and only stepped a few feet away to take the call. There was no doubt who it was when they heard her answer "Hey baby... I know but we just made a break on the case... I will be home for cuddles with you as soon as we wrap this up... love you too."
The team were introduced to Santana's relationship pretty quickly after she joined the unit, Brittany had shown up one lunch time with a basket of muffins for the team. They also knew that a relationship with this job was fragile. So when she'd put her cell down and rejoined them, the senior detectives made a unintentionally joint decision.
"The DA's office will be a ghost town by now, it'll have to wait until morning" Fin pointed out.
"We can't do much more without a warrant, and its late. We should all get home and get some sleep" Olivia agreed.
"Okay, I'll get that warrant first thing in the morning" Rachel decided, she'd need to show her face down there at some point, she wanted it to feel normal... Rachel just liked, and maybe needed, routine, that was all.
Q~Q
Later that night Santana found herself in one of her most favourite places; propped up in bed, next to her girlfriend of 11 years. She was gently nibbling at Brittany's neck and slipping the spaghetti strap of the blondes vest off her off of her shoulder, when-
"Santana?" Brittany asked, also blankly, as if the work Santana was doing hadn't had an effect on her because she'd been so deep in thought.
Santana peeled away to look down at the other woman, in the dimly lit room "What's up?"
"You know I like Rach, and I know she's like your sister San but..." she trailed off as she looked guiltily back at Santana.
"What is it?" The Latina cop pushed, she didn't like Brittany keeping thoughts from her.
"Don't you think its time we got our own place" Brittany suggested. She loved Rachel, she loved having friends round too... but they couldn't grow up if they still had a roommate.
"Oh" Santana found herself moving further away, she rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling.
"I just want more for us Sanny... I want us to go further" Brittany rolled over and cuddled into her side "And we need our own space if we're going to grow up."
Santana found herself swallowing thickly "I see." It wasn't the prospect of a future with Brittany that made her nervous... it was the letting Rachel go, it was the idea of having to make a change in Rachel's life... Rachel couldn't be independent. She was fine at work with a gun in a holster and a badge on her belt, but at home... alone? She couldn't force that on her.
"I don't want to hurt Rachel, but... we're adults now, we shouldn't have roommates" Brittany pointed out. She wasn't dumb.
"Yeah, you're right" Santana agreed "I'll talk to her" she decided it would be better and less blunt coming from her, but how she'd ever approach the subject she had no clue.
"Okay" Brittany squeezed her tightly,
"Good night Britt" Santana suddenly had no intention to get busy tonight... she suddenly had more serious things on her mind.
{}=-=
Rachel walked into the Manhattan District Attorney's Office the next morning. She located the actual office she was looking for, when she got there she peered through the glass door before. She saw a three desk office, two larger desks opposite each other and one smaller one on the far side, perpendicular to the other two, where a blonde with glasses was sitting there, reading through paper work. She smiled to herself at how professional and natural Quinn looked sitting there.
She quietly opened the door and slipped inside "You wear glasses now?" she asked, almost startling Quinn.
She looked up to the door to the guest and instantly smiled "Oh, hi Rachel. What are you doing here?"
"Just need to see Novak about a warrant" she looked to the two vacant desk... Novak and Cabot were out then.
"Of course. How have you been?" Quinn ushered her over and gestured the seat in front of her, on the other side of her desk.
"Good..." Rachel nodded as she took the seat "changed my career path since we last spoke" she said lightly, though the changing of careers had never been taken lightly.
"Yeah I figured that much... how come?" Quinn asked, keeping the conversation short... she wasn't sure what to say, or even what she was allowed to ask. She hadn't taken an interest in so many years... not that she didn't want to.
"Just... wanted to make a real change" Rachel shrugged, it was better than the true story, and she wouldn't be sharing the truth with anyone any time soon anyway.
"Right" Quinn breathed and nodded again.
"Nice specs" Rachel commented with a smirk she'd contagiously caught off of Santana over the years. Maybe the smirk was hiding something else too, maybe a 'I know your secret' thought, but then Rachel realised that was juvenile, obviously Quinn wasn't hiding in the closet, if she'd openly dated another woman... and then broken up with her.
"Oh, I only need them for reading. Staring at papers and screens all day, it's better to just wear them" Quinn excused, awkwardly, she wasn't exactly happy that at 29 she needed glasses for reading.
"They're cute" Rachel teased, almost finding herself back, far back before her world got turned upside down and when the woman opposite her was a close friend.
"Oh, ah, thanks" she cautiously took them off, suddenly feeling subconscious.
"So, how long have you been working here?" It seemed like a perfect time to ask, they were alone, she was waiting on the SADA and the ADA to return, so why not have a little chat.
"Just over 6 months now. I'm mainly here in the office, doing paralegal type duties, but my day back in the courtroom is coming up," she said confidently, and also like she really missed it "Alex and Casey just don't like to give up the spot light... like someone else I used to know" it was Quinn's turn to smirk a little.
"Well it used to be pretty great, I can't blame them" Rachel agreed with a grin, remembering how she loved her time in the spot light... before her world turned very dark.
"... Why the change?" Quinn asked curiously. She leant back in her chair, Rachel almost felt herself being sized up, analysed, by the absent old friend.
"Oh you know... stuff happens and... singing on a stage didn't seem so important anymore" she shrugged.
"You've changed" it was obvious but Quinn still needed to Say it, Rachel berry had really changed... really, really changed, and that was scary.
"Things change" Rachel decided was a better way of putting it, if the world around you changed you needed to adapt to fit in with it. or people changed... like Quinn was dating woman now, she didn't dare ask about it though "How long have you been qualified?"
"Well I graduated 4 years ago" Quinn started
Rachel raised an eyebrow in surprise "At 25, that's quite early isn't it?"
"Well it took 4 years to get my bachelors, then three in law school" She nodded, it might have sounded early but if you really worked hard then it was an attainable thing "I didn't take any gap years, or fail anything, so-"
"Well you make it sound easy" Rachel added lightly. Maybe this was more awkward than she'd first though.
"How about you, what did you do with your NYADA... degree, thing?" Quinn asked unsure.
"Oh, I quit" The way Rachel said that it was as if she had no real connection with the words.
Quinn's eyes shot open comically "So glad I wasn't drinking anything then" she rambled lowly. "You what?" she had to check she heard right.
"Yeah, about 5 months after we had last spoken, I just changed paths. Saw some flyers for the NY Police Academy and thought... what the hell, and here I am, 7 and a half years later" the shine in her eye as she vaguely spoke about herself joining the NYPD gave Quinn the impressions he was just as passionate about her new job... it was comforting to know, that was all.
"Well you're looking good, different clothes too" she noted lightly, the idea of High school Rachel Berry, stage sensation wanna be, strolling the streets made her laugh inside her head.
"Well yeah, these are more inconspicuous on the streets; Santana might have helped back in the beginning too" also clothes that really covered her had made her feel more secure when she walked down the streets, like Jeans, they didn't rip easy...
"Well, I'm kinda glad, for your own sake" Quinn added, Rachel didn't need any more people teasing her or picking on her in her life "What's Santana's story then?" she tried to move the conversation along.
"Well I was such a shining example she just had to follow me" Rachel joked.
"I bet" she muttered sarcastically, she could just imagine how Santana would react to that statement. Then again maybe Santana was really okay with Rachel now, seeing as they worked together. Yes, things really had changed. "What brings you down here?" she asked again. She'd heard 'warrant' but that had been the extent of it.
"Need a warrant, the case we're working on, we think we've got the guy. Santana and I have met him before, but he slipped away the first time, he's not getting away with it this time" Rachel said lowly with determination.
"Well Alex and Casey will be back any minute, I haven't been given the privilege of handling the warrants yet, so I better not step on their toes" she chuckled.
"I can wait for a little bit" Rachel conceded with a smile, she was in a rush, but not that much of a rush, she still had to make sure she presented what they had so far convincingly enough to get the warrant.
"Good..." Quinn suddenly felt nervous, though she did her best to hide it. She knew that leaving things bottled up was a bad idea; you should be open, better to try than never know, right? "Um, please forgive me if I'm being too forward, or even presumptuous but I was wondering if you wanted to go to dinner sometime"
Rachel found herself nodding before Quinn had finished the question "Yeah that would be nice, to catch up and stuff"
"Actually I meant like a... date" Quinn corrected, meekly.
"Oh" Rachel's expression dropped, she paled, she hadn't imagined that. Was that why Officer Moreno had checked her out- No Rachel was side tracking "I don't think-"
"Oh sure," Quinn cut her off, while fighting an embarrassed blush. She had to duck her head "because you're not, you know, or interested, sorry" she dismissed the idea almost as quickly as she had offered it.
"No... well I mean I'm not a Lesbian or have ever thought of myself that way, its just I haven't been on a date in a really long time and I don't think it would be a good idea Quinn. We almost work together and... I just don't think it would be a very good idea" Rachel tried to let her down easy, while her heart was beating wildly at the unexpected offer. But no, dating was a bad idea for Rachel Berry.
"Okay, sure, I get it, sorry for asking" Quinn rambled all her short points, and now she felt trapped. She scolded herself mentally for even putting herself out there and trying.
"No, no its fine, I'm sorry to disappoint" Rachel cringed, feeling guilty now.
"You haven't it was just a little question, an idea, no big deal" She couldn't even meet Rachel's eyes because of the humiliation, Rachel hadn't even thought about it, she'd just shot her down before her hopes could get any higher. She looked to the door as she heard voices "Oh, they're back" she sighed with relief, then grabbed her bag from under her desk "I'll see you later or something" she nodded to Rachel with a brave faux smile before rushing from the office.
"Yeah, um Quinn..." Rachel tried, she wanted to suggest a friend dinner instead, to pretend she didn't feel awkward now. Quinn had wanted to go on a date with her?! What was that all about? It was too late to ask though; Quinn was already gone, receiving odd looks from her colleagues as she squeezed past them out of the door.
"Detective Berry, what can we do for you?" Alex Cabot asked when she found the Detective still sitting in front of Quinn's desk.
"Oh, ah..." for a moment she had to remember where she was "I need a warrant."
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