A/N: So sorry, I intended to have this up by Friday. This is it, the last chapter, thank you to everyone who has been reviewing and reading. It was asked in the reviews for Junior Year if Sue, Judy, Sarah, and Shelby would be in the sequel and the answer is most likely, I would definitely love to have more Sue in that on. Be on the lookout for the sequel entitled, The Only Stars There Really Are, to be posted mid-late July. It will take place seven years following the end of this. This chapter is just Faberry+Beth cuteness. Enjoy, and as always feedback is greatly appreciated.
Santana rolled her eyes in disgust as she watched Kurt and Mercedes drunkenly bump and grind in her living room. She made a mental note to reprimand Brittany for guilting her into inviting the Glee Kids to he annual back to school party. The sound of glass breaking behind her caused her attention to shift away from the two friends.
"Damn it Finn." She snarled when she turned around and saw Finn staring at her, his eyes wide and his hands thrown up, at his feet lay her sister's favorite vase.
"Santana I'm so sorry."
"Save it, I don't care and I don't want to hear it. Go upstairs, there is a broom and dustpan up there, first door on the right." Santana surveyed the damage as Finn quietly sulked up the stairs.
"This is really risky, Rach." Quinn whispered to Rachel, who was straddling her lap and working on the buttons on Quinn's shirt.
"Shh I know." Rachel whispered back, placing a quick kiss on Quinn's lips.
"I'm pretty sure this could lead to our immediate demise, Santana's head would probably explode if she knew we were doing this in her bed." Quinn shivered a little in the cold room after Rachel removed her shirt, leaving her in a pink lacy bra.
"Ugh Quinn, stop worrying so much." Rachel saw Quinn's mouth open in protest and placed another quick kiss on her lips to silence her. "I know something that will shut you up. I have a surprise for you."
Quinn raised her brow as Rachel hopped off of her lap and slowly removed her plaid skirt, revealing a black lace thong instead of the granny panties Quinn had become accustomed to.
"So, you like?" Rachel grinned and did a little twirl.
"Get back over here, now." Quinn commanded.
As soon as Rachel was back in place, straddling Quinn, they heard the doorknob turn. Both girls froze as they waited for the inevitable bloodshed Santana would bring upon them.
"Finn!" Quinn shouted as she pushed Rachel off of her and then moved so her girlfriend was behind her, not liking the way Finn was staring at Rachel's ass. Rachel too did not appreciate Finn's eyes all over Quinn, so she reached around and wrapped her arms so they were covering Quinn's chest.
"I...I...dustpan? I need a broom." He muttered as he took in the sight of his two ex-girlfriends half naked on a bed together. "I'm sorry." Finn's heart skipped a beat when he saw Quinn's eyes travel downwards to the bulge in his pants, perhaps that threesome he'd been dreaming about since the day he found out Rachel and Quinn were dating would finally come true.
"Be sure to think of the mail, Finn." Quinn said with a roll of her eyes. "And never stare at her ass that way again, or I'll have to kick yours." Quinn smiled as she felt Rachel giggle into her shoulder.
Finn diverted his eyes to the ground before silently exiting Santana's room and shutting the door. He nearly screamed when he ran into Santana on the stairs. "Is there a reason you disappeared up here and didn't get what I told you to?" She asked, sighing in annoyance.
"I get my rights and lefts mixed up." He mumbled before brushing by her to go down the stairs.
"You're a lot dumber than people realize, Finn!" She yelled after him.
Rachel sat on the edge of the sandbox at the park, drawing music notes in the sand and telling Beth what they were. She smiled as another woman and her little boy came over. "How old is she?" The woman asked. "Look at those big eyes, and those curls!"
Rachel beamed. "She's sixteen months."
"Are you the big sister?"
Rachel ignored the urge to roll her eyes, she and Quinn were asked this question nearly every single time they went out. "No, she's my daughter."
The woman seemed surprised, then disappointed. "Oh, well she must look like her daddy then." She said in an attempt to be polite.
Rachel smiled, her response to this statement always caught people off guard. "No, she looks like her mommy."
"Oh, you looked like this as a child, well as a younger child?"
"Oh no not me, I'm her Mama, her Mommy is my partner." Rachel watched the woman's face fall. "Oh but don't you worry, her granddads are gay, so is her uncle, so she is used to it."
The woman became flustered and quickly gathered her son, leaving without saying a word. This type of reaction used to anger Rachel. But she soon realized that all she could do was feel sorry for these people and hope that one day they would be ashamed of their actions.
"Hi there!" Quinn said as she peaked into Rachel's room. "Can I come in? I heard Barbara playing, and I know you only listen to her when you are trying to concentrate on something important."
Rachel closed her laptop, she had been working on a PowerPoint presentation for Mr. Schuester, who had the gull to give Brittany her solo, and she was not about to sit back and let that happen. "Of course, Quinn. You look awfully chipper this morning."
"I have a surprise for you."
Rachel noticed Quinn had one of her hands behind her back. "Oh! I love gifts!" She clapped her hands excitedly.
Quinn laughed. "Hmm sorry to disappoint you, but it's not a gift. It came in the mail."
Rachel thought for a moment. "Has the Ohio Show Choir Committee finally answered my letter regarding my offer to judge competitions after graduating? I'm sure they are beyond distraught about losing such a star."
Quinn shook her head. "It wouldn't matter, you can't do that anyway."
"Why is that?"
"Because you might be in New York." Quinn pulled an envelope out from behind her back.
"What?" Rachel eagerly took the envelope from Quinn and thoroughly examined it. "It's from Juilliard!"
"I know, open it!"
Rachel quickly tore the envelope open, furrowing her brow as she read the letter that was inside.
"Well?" Quinn asked, growing impatient.
"I got in."
Quinn instantly began to squeal and jump up and down, but quickly stopped when she noticed Rachel crumpling up the paper and throwing it in the trash. "Rach? What are you doing? This is amazing news. This is your dream, the dream you've been babbling about since you were three years old, why are you not celebrating?"
Rachel sighed. "That was my dream, but you are going to Ohio State, and I'll go there with you, I'm not giving up you and Beth to go to New York."
"Who says you have to give us up? I'm not going to let you give up on your dream, Rachel. You can have both, us and your stardom. We could make it work."
"How?" Rachel asked, going to sit with Quinn, who had just plopped down on Rachel's bed.
"Well, Beth and I will stay here, while I go to OSU, and visit you as much as possible while you are at Julliard, and after we both graduate Beth and I can move to New York."
Rachel curled up against Quinn. "I don't know, long distance relationships have a high failure rate."
"Well Rach, same sex relationships with your former nemesis that begin following the death of your baby's father, don't exactly have a high success rate either, and we've made it work, pretty darn well if I do say so myself." Quinn said with a little laugh as she began to play with Rachel's hair.
"You really think we could do it?"
"It's going to take a lot of work and it will probably be really hard a lot of the time, but I think we're worth it, don't you?"
Rachel snuggled in closer to Quinn. "Of course I do. So we're going to do this?"
"Yes, we're going to do this." Quinn repeated.
Quinn sighed as she pulled the three holiday sweaters from a box, trying to hide the disappointment she felt when she saw they were still intact, and did not suffer the water damage she had hoped for. "Look Beth, me, you, and Mama are going to wear these later today for the special picture we've been telling you about." She said to the little girl who was standing next to her in the garage.
"Horsey!" Beth squealed with delight, pointing at the reindeer on Quinn's sweater.
"Yes, well close enough. That one is Mommy's." Quinn grimaced and set her red one aside as she held up Rachel's blue dreidel sweater and Beth's beige one with the Christmas Tree Santa and scattered menorahs and dreidels. "Look a dreidel, Mama will teach you all about those. And look at this one Bethy, you get to wear it."
Beth raised her right eyebrow, just like Quinn does. "No. Yucky." She said defiantly, crossing her arms in front of her.
"Beth." Quinn said to the toddler, with a little sternness added to her voice. "No fussies, look it's Santa Clause Ho Ho Ho!" Quinn puffed out her cheeks, in an attempt to look jolly. "You will look so pretty, just like Mama."
"Hmmph!" Beth stomped her foot down, turned sharply on her heel, and marched out of the garage.
"Nice form!" Quinn heard Rachel say as she scooped Beth up and carried her back into the garage before she could get too far down the driveway.
"Do you really think it's wise to encourage these tantrums?" Quinn asked, rolling her eyes.
"Quinn, she needs to have the walkout mastered, I'm sure in fourteen years she will have a Mr. Schuester in her life, trying to ruin her career, she needs to be prepared. But anyway what were the fussies about this time?"
Quinn held up the sweaters. "She isn't a fan." Quinn frowned as she looked at the Christmas Tree Santa, noting that he kind of resembled a monster. "Maybe she is frightened of it, she liked mine though, you know how she is going through that farm animal phase."
Rachel scoffed. "She is not scared of her sweater, and your sweater has nothing to do with farm animals, I know you hate the sweaters and she could probably tell."
"I never said I hated the sweaters."
Rachel smiled. "But you do, and the fact that you wore it and put Beth in her's last year without saying anything, and plastering that fake smile across your face makes me love you that much more."
"Are you going to beat me up or something? It was certainly not Quinn and I who had sex in your bed during that party, whatever Finn claims he saw, was a lie. He lies!"
Santana muttered something in Spanish before holding her hand up to get the brunette to stop, she noticed Rachel had begun her fake tears. "No. Rachel that is not what this is about. We-"
Rachel cut her off. "You see, Santana, I am not sure if you are aware of this, but I usually wear high waisted, cotton undergarments, due to comfort reasons, however I had purchased a black lace thong and wore it for Quinn to surprise her and your room was the only one-"
"Berry!" Santana shouted, roughly pinching the girl's arm to get her attention.
"Ouch! Santana! That was violent and uncalled for."
"I don't want to hear about your panties, ever, under any circumstances. We can discuss what you all did in my bed later, and by discuss I mean bash your face in. But for right now, I need to talk to you about something else, I heard you got into Juilliard."
Rachel smiled, extremely pleased with herself. "Yes. Is this your way of offering me congratulations?"
"Berry, I may say some nice things about you during this conversation, and if it ever leaves this room, I will strangle you with my bare hands, got it?"
Rachel swallowed hard and nodded, still thoroughly confused.
"I know you have the potential to be a star Berry and underneath all of that crazy you actually do possess a great deal of talent, and I also know you and Q are really serious, when you make it big some people are not going to be very accepting of your relationship, are you prepared for that? I don't want you throwing Q and Lil B out like yesterday's garbage just because the relationship you two have may have a negative impact on your dream."
"Well Santana, dreams change and my dreams now include Quinn and Beth, and if that affects my career than so be it. My dreams are nothing without them." Rachel said with confidence.
"Okay, Britt, get Lil B and we can roll out of here." Santana said, leaving her math teacher's room, Quinn and Rachel were working on something for Glee and had asked her to watch Beth, she had to finish and a test and saw no harm in allowing Brittany to watch the baby for a few minutes.
"What kind of roll? Log? Shoulder?" Brittany asked as she continued to draw little clouds and rainbows on her piece of paper.
Santana looked around the cafeteria, where she had left the two. "B, where is Lil Bit?"
"She said she wanted her mommy and she walked off, I wasn't sure if she meant Rachel or Q, so I let her go." Brittany answered, still not looking up from her drawings.
"B! She's a baby! You cannot just let her walk off." Santana could feel her panic rising as she muttered under her breath in Spanish and ran her hands through her hair, frantically looking around the cafeteria, hoping Beth would pop out from under a table.
"She's not a baby, I think she knows more words than me."
Santana took deep breaths, not wanting to yell at the innocent blonde in front of her, she knew this was her fault, she knew better than to leave Beth with Brittany, hell Beth had probably been babysitting Brittany before she decided to toddle off. Santana knew that was the Berry in her, Beth was so much like Rachel Santana sometimes wondered if Rachel had secretly impregnated Quinn, she would not put it past her, Santana thought Rachel was crazy as hell, and maybe even a little bit creepy. "Ladies." Kurt said, breaking Santana from her thoughts. "I hear you have my niece."
"Shh! Be quiet Hummel." Santana hissed.
"What? Why?" Kurt asked looking around the room for Beth. "Where is Beth?"
"Berry's terrible influence caused her to run off." Santana answered.
"So in other words, you lost her. You lost the baby. I knew you watching her was a big mistake."
Santana grabbed Kurt by the collar. "Shut up Hummel. I need your help, we have got to find Beth, she is wandering around this school somewhere. We'll split up, Kurt you check the auditorium, gym, and the south and east corridors. I'll check the main hallways and the north and west corridors." Santana paused before turning back to Brittany. "B, you just wait here, okay?"
"And that Beth is why I am so concerned about your curly hair. " Sue Sylvester said to little Beth, who was sitting in a chair across from her desk. "I'm not sure I could even let you on the Cheerios with that head of hair, but if you possess the same determination and skill your mother did, I may make an exception. Just don't go and get yourself knocked up like your mother did, biggest mistake of her life, no offense."
Beth stared at Sue. "Santa?" She asked, not quite able to pronounce Santana's name. "B? Mama? Kur? Mommy?" She was asking for anybody, but this frighteningly tall woman in front of her.
'It's not Christmas kid. I don't know what you want, and don't talk to me about your lesbian mothers, my suggestion to send them to the Scare Me Straight Camp was frowned upon."
"Oh thank God." Santana said breathlessly as she stood in the doorway of Sue's office.
"Santa!" Beth squealed from her chair, eagerly reaching her arms up at Santana.
"You lose this Lopez? How am I supposed to be comfortable with you leading my Cheerios when you cannot even keep track of this curly haired child?" Sue asked, still sitting behind her desk. "Take this out of my office before it soils it's diaper, and straighten it's hair the next time I see it."
Santana nodded before scooping Beth up. "Lil B, you can't run off like that. Q would kill me if she knew, and I do not want to listen to Rachel's shrill voice scolding me."
"Oh! You found her!" Kurt yelled, relief washing over him as Santana walked into the cafeteria with Beth.
"She was with Coach Sylvester." Santana answered.
"Oh, that's wonderful. Now she will need years upon years of therapy."
"Who will?" Quinn asked walking up behind Kurt and Santana. "Hey Beth, were you a good girl?"
"Yes, everything went great, it was wonderful nothing exciting happened,we all just sat and colored, nothing else." Santana answered quickly.
Quinn raised her brow at Kurt, Santana never talked that fast.
"They lost her. She was with Coach Sylvester." Kurt said, stepping a few feet away from Santana, knowing she had a tendency to resort to physical violence.
"You lost MY baby?" Rachel growled from behind Quinn.
"It's your fault Berry, you are a terrible influence on her." Santana snapped back.
"Hey. Don't blame everything on Rach, she is an amazing influence." Quinn said placing a light kiss on Rachel's lips, making both Santana and Kurt grimace.
"Okay Beth, it is very important that today goes smoothly. Do you understand?" Rachel asked, turning away from the stove to face Beth, who was sitting in her highchair. Beth responded by throwing her sippy cup to the ground. "I'll take that as a yes, anyway Beth, today is Mommy's eighteenth birthday, which means we have to make it special. This breakfast must be perfect, and no fussies today, none at all."
Quinn smiled as she laid in her bed, the smell of burning toast wafting up to her room. She laughed as she heard Rachel giving in-depth instructions to Beth, as if the little girl could understand and follow them. She closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep when she heard the two coming up the stairs.
"Good Morning!" Rachel squealed as she came in the room holding a tray full of food, Rachel was normally a good cook, but cooking and tending to a toddler at the same time was no easy task. Beth ran and attempted to jump on the bed, but did not quite make it, so Quinn smiled and pulled her up.
"Did you make me breakfast?" Quinn asked Beth, smiling as she glanced over at Rachel, who was beaming with pride. Quinn took a bite of her eggs, feeling bits of shells crack in her mouth, after the eggs she moved onto the toast which was burnt beyond recognition, and then onto the pancake, that was not done in the middle, the sticky batter coated her mouth, but she still smiled. And to be honest, it was the best breakfast she had ever had, because of the thought that went into it. Rachel had gotten up way earlier than usual, gotten Beth ready, and made Quinn all of her favorite breakfast foods, despite being a vegan. Nothing could be better than all of that thought and love.
Quinn stood on the train platform, this was it, Rachel was leaving for New York and the thought of not seeing her everyday was painful. "Do you have your ticket?"
Rachel nodded, glancing at a clock nearby, knowing that in just a few short moments she would embark on the next phase of their lives, and probably the hardest. "Please don't cry Quinn, I don't think I will be able to leave if you cry." Rachel said, fighting back her own tears. "This is not goodbye, I will see you in two weeks."
"I know." Quinn said, glancing down and feeling Beth pull on her pant leg, she was still too young to know what was going on, but aware enough to understand that something was not right. Quinn pulled Rachel as close as she possibly could, letting the smell of strawberries flood her senses, knowing how much she was going to miss that smell.
Rachel pulled away. "I have something for you." She pulled two ring boxes out of her purse, keeping one and handing one to Quinn. "Open it." Quinn did as she was told and opened the box to find a simple white gold band, with her and Rachel's names carved on the inside. "I suppose these could be considered promise rings, signifying our promise to make this work, and to always remember how much we love each other, no matter how far apart we are." Rachel took the ring back from Quinn and slipped it on her right ring finger.
Quinn did the same, a tear escaping her eye as she gently slipped the ring onto Rachel's finger. "I love you so much Rachel, and I am so proud of you."
"I love you too, Quinn." Rachel buried her head into Quinn's shoulder, inhaling the sweet vanilla scent of her perfume, smiling when she felt Beth wrap herself around her leg. "I haven't forgotten you." Rachel squatted down so she was eye level with Beth. She reached around her neck and unhooked her favorite gold star necklace, gently putting it around the toddler's neck. "Mama loves you so much, and I'm going to miss you."
"Love you, Mama." Beth said puckering her lips and giving Rachel a sloppy, drooly kiss.
Both Quinn and Rachel laughed, until they heard the final boarding call for Rachel's train. "You wouldn't want to miss your train." Quinn said, ignoring the selfish part of her that actually wanted Rachel to miss her train, if she missed it that meant they would get a little bit more time together, but Quinn knew it wasn't fair to think that way.
"I know." Rachel said softly, kissing Beth on forehead before getting up. "Please don't be sad Quinn. Give her a kiss from me every single night. I'm going to call you as soon as I arrive in New York okay?" Rachel grabbed one of Quinn's hands, squeezing it gently. "Everything's going to be okay, we are going to make this work, we're worth it, remember?" Quinn nodded as Rachel kissed her lips and disappeared on the train.
Quinn picked Beth up, smiling a little when she saw Rachel take one of the window seats. "Wave goodbye to Mama, Beth. She loves us, and her moving to New York does not change anything. These last two years have been beyond perfect, and nothing will change that, not time or distance or anything." Quinn knew she was comforting herself far more than she was comforting Beth, and although she wanted to make them work, a small part of her knew the odds were stacked up against them, but only time would tell if they would be able to face the challenges their future held.
