Family Portrait Chapter 4, a glee fanfic

Hello! I'm so sorry this chapter took so long, I've been busy with coursework and mock exams that I haven't found the time to sit down and just write. But I finally have and here is the next chapter! I hope you all enjoy and thank you for your reviews - keep em coming! I love hearing your opinions on all of this and if you have any ideas, feel free to voice them.

The week flew by and before Rachel knew it, she was back walking along the same beach she had the first morning she was here. Her flip flops once again hang in her hands, gently hitting against her thigh as she walks, her feet kicking up the sand beneath her. She breathes in the salty air, trying to memorize the smell, for in five hours she's going to be on a plane back to New York, where there is no beach quite like this one. She listens hard to the soft sound of the waves of the clear blue ocean, trying to remember the sound of the water washing onto shore.

She also tightens her hand around the one she's holding onto, wanting to memorize how this feels, to hold someone's hand along a beach. She looks to the blonde walking beside her, her smile falling at the expression on Quinn's face. Rachel stops them from walking and turns her body to face Quinn.

"What's wrong?"

Quinn looks up at Rachel and bites her lips before shaking her head and looking away. Rachel lightly holds Quinn's chin in her fingers and turns her head to face her.

"Hey," She says gently. "Tell me."

The blonde before her takes a deep breath and takes a step back from Rachel. "I have something to ask you, Rach."

Rachel's heart flutters at the nickname. Over the past week, Quinn would call Rachel by that nickname and each time, Rachel's heart would react in exactly the same way. Rachel studies Quinn, picking out the traits of nervous Quinn that Rachel has gotten to see these last few days.

After their walk along the beach and the fashion show, Rachel and Quinn spent nearly every second with each other. Kurt and Santana didn't seem to mind, Kurt was pre-occupied by the offers flying at him to design clothes for big companies, whilst Santana had her own life no occupied by Quinn's friend Brittany - who happened to be one of Kurt's models. Everyday, the pair would find themselves doing something different with their day.

One day, they found themselves at one of dubai's street races where the rich men would race their sports cars through the street. For someone who's not that big on cars and racing, Rachel loved it. The atmosphere was so real and lively. It also helped that she had a beautiful women by her side the entire time. However, every evening, the pair would always find themselves back at one of their hotel rooms and fall into bed together, their night soon becoming filled with passion.

"How much ice cream did you have?" Alex asks with wide, excited eyes.

Rachel blinks, realising that her eyes had glazed over slightly and turns her attention to her son. "A lot." She says with a soft sigh.

"What flavours?" Lucy asks, looking equally as excited as Alex.

"All of them."

"Yeah, but which ones were your favourite.?"

Rachel clears her throat awkwardly, not really wanting to discuss such a topic to her children. Sure, they think she actually means ice cream, but Rachel knows what she means and so knows it won't be right to talk to her children about the different 'flavours' her and Quinn tried.

"That doesn't matter."

"I really want some ice cream now, Ma." Alex says.

"No, you just brushed your teeth."

"I want some too Mom."

"Neither of you are having ice cream and that's it." Rachel says, crossing her arms over her chest. She narrows her eyes at her two children, who both have puppy dog eyes and pouts on their faces.

5 minutes later

"Are you happy now?" Rachel asks as she watches her children dig into the ice cream she went and got them.

Lucy swallows the mouthful of neapolitan ice cream she's stuffed into her mouth. "Ya, we're good."

"Alex?" Rachel raises an eyebrow at her son, holding back a chuckle when she spots the chocolate ice cream that is covering the whole of his mouth.

Her gives her a closed mouth smile, nodding his head vigorously.

"Good."

During the days they spent together, the pair would talk about anything and everything. Rachel learnt that Quinn dreams of being a full time editor and is at the moment, flying around the world for the travel book company she's temping at. Rachel told Quinn all about her dreams of becoming a broadway star. Sometimes, they would talk about mundane things, places they want to see, films they enjoyed, ect.

Other times, when they would just spend the day lying in bed together, they would talk about the more personal subjects. Rachel spoke about the prejudice she faced when she was younger for having two gay dads, how she was bullied in school for being too ambitious and in turn, Quinn talked about her alcoholic parents, how she struggled by herself for a year when her Dad found out she was gay and kicked her out.

So after spending nearly every second of this trip together, Rachel has picked up on Quinn's behaviours.

"I'm leaving tonight and heading to Italy. You're leaving in the morning and heading back to New York."

Rachel nods slowly, not quite seeing where this is going.

"We're going to be four thousand miles away from each other, and quite frankly, I'm dreading it." Quinn licks her lips, her eyes staring right at Rachel. Rachel shivers a little at the look Quinn is giving her, it's something she can't place but has seen it on Quinn before.

"I am too." Rachel says, stepping closer to Quinn.

Quinn smiles slightly and lets out a puff of air. She runs her hand through her hair. "I don't want to be so far away from you, Rach. I've never-" Quinn hesitates before closing her eyes briefly. "You make me feel things I have never felt before. I don't want to leave tonight without you, because I fear that if I do, then that will be it. I will lose you."

"Quinn-"

A finger is pressed to Rachel's lips. Rachel looks up into sparkling, pleading hazel eyes. "Just, let me finish, please." Quinn pleads, before removing her finger from Rachel's mouth. "My way of living, the choices I have made...they all meant that I kept people at a distance from me, all bar Puck and Brittany." Rachel refrains rolling her eyes at the mention of Quinn's crude friend. "But I couldn't do that with you, I can't do that with you. I know we've only known each other for a week, but I feel like I've known you for so much longer."

Rachel watches as Quinn takes shaky breath before pulling something out of her back pocket. "That's why I bought this ticket." The blonde says, her eyes beginning to fill with confidence.

Rachel looks down at the ticket, noticing the logo of an airline in the left hand corner.

"I know that you feel the same way about me, Rach. Well, at least I think I do." Quinn chuckles softly. "And if you do, you will come with me to Italy. Tonight." She holds the ticket out to Rachel.

"Why?" Rachel asks, still staring at the ticket in Quinn's hand.

"Because I want to be with you, Rachel. I don't want to go without seeing you for however long it might be. And I know that you do." She pushes the ticket into Rachel's hand and clasps her hand, pressing down on Rachel's fingers so she clasps the ticket.

"If you decide to come, I'll be waiting for you." Quinn says, before leaning forward and placing a kiss upon Rachel's cheek before turning around and walking away.

Rachel stares at Quinn's back, her mouth hanging open in shock at what Quinn has just said. She's asking her to...run away with her? To leave her friends and her life in New York to go to Italy with someone she's only known for a week. Someone that during this week, she has opened up to with more ease than any of her friends. This woman, with only a single look across a dance floor has walked into Rachel's life and flipped it upside down.

Rachel looks down at the ticket in her hand, her finger rubbing at the ink that tells her where she would be going. She bites her lip and looks up, spotting the small figure of the beautiful blonde walking away.

"So what did you do?"

Rachel smirks at her children, reclining backwards on the bed. They are both staring at her with wide eyes, looks of anticipation on their faces, their bowls of ice cream long forgotten.

Rachel looks down and the princess bed sheet beneath her, picking at the cotton before looking back up at her children.

She's trying to make this as dramatic as possible - shocking, she knows - and by the impatient looks on her children's faces, it's working.

"I got on the plane."

3 months later

"Are you sure about this?"

"More than anything."

"We can wait, I understand if you want your friends and family here."

"Quinn, I'm fine. All I need is you."

The blonde in front of her takes a deep breath, a beautiful smile breaking out on her face. "I wish I dressed up a bit more for this, though." She says, looking down at her button up shirt and black jeans.

Rachel rolls her eyes and grabs onto the blonde's shoulders. "You look absolutely perfect."

"Not as perfect as you."

Rachel blushes, looking down at the simple summer dress she's wearing. She looks back up and leans forward, placing a soft kiss against Quinn's lips.

"Ready?" She asks.

Quinn grins and nods. "Ready."

Taking Quinn's hand, Rachel turns towards the man standing in front of them, dressed in his best clothing.

"Are you ready to begin?" He asks, shifting the book in his left hand onto the podium in front of him.

The couple nod, their eyes staying focused on each other.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join together Quinn Fabray and Rachel Berry in holy matrimony…"

Rachel drowns out the sound of the priest, instead becoming solely focused on the beautiful blonde standing in front of her. Under the italian sun, the blonde looks stunning, the sun radiating behind her head like a halo. If you were to tell Rachel three months ago that she was going to marry a beautiful blonde woman at a small chapel in venice, but without the whole big white wedding celebration, Rachel would have laughed in your face and then showed you the power point presentation she put together as kid, telling you all about her dream wedding, with bullet points that go down to every last detail.

If you had told her that instead of having her Daddies and close friends sitting in the pews, witnessing her wedding, she had an old farmer, a drunk and a pregnant woman who cleans hotel rooms, Rachel would have choked on her own spit. If you had told her that instead of a big white dress and bridesmaids wearing pink bridesmaid dresses, she would be standing alone, in front of the one she was to wed, wearing a simple red floral summer dress and black flats, Rachel would have cried with laughter.

If you had told her that she didn't care about all those details, that all she cared about was the woman she met three months ago, standing in front of her, Rachel would have believed you for about ten seconds, before falling onto the floor and rolling around in laughter.

But yet, here she is, in exactly that setting, standing in front of what Rachel has come to realise is the love of her life. She doesn't care that she's only known Quinn for three months, she doesn't care that she hasn't told Kurt and Santana about this, even after talking on the phone with them last night. All she knows is that she's about to marry the most amazing woman she has ever met, a woman who quit her job at the travel company just so she could stay with Rachel longer in Italy.

"...Does anyone have the rings?"

Rachel blinks and looks around the room, spotting the old farmer making his way up the aisle very slowly, his hands holding a folded up piece of cloth in his hands. He grins at Rachel when he finally makes it up the alter. He slowly opens up the folded lilac cloth, presenting two very plain rings to the two women.

"Quinn, can you please take the ring you wish to give to Rachel." The priest asks, his italian accent thick.

Quinn does so, her fingers shaking ever so slightly. Rachel reaches out and places a calming hand on top of Quinn's shaking ones.

"It's okay." Rachel whispers. "Take your time."

Quinn grins at Rachel before glancing over at the priest. The priest raises his eyebrow, and when he receives a nod from Quinn, continues.

"Repeat after me. 'I, Quinn Fabray'"

"I, Quinn Fabray."

"Take you, Rachel Berry."

"To be my lawfully wedded wife,"

"To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse,"

"For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health,"

"Til death do us part."

Rachel grins brightly at Quinn, only to have the smile returned.

"Can you please place the ring upon Rachel's finger."

With trembling fingers, Quinn does so. All the while, Rachel doesn't break eye contact with her.

When the ring is on, the priest asks for Rachel to repeat the same thing to Quinn. As she speaks, Rachel watches as love shines in Quinn's eyes, causing her heart to flutter hard. She's never been looked at with so much love before.

Rachel's fingers also tremble as she places her ring to Quinn on Quinn's slender finger. She and Quinn chuckle breathlessly.

"By the power vested in me, I pronounce you Wife, and Wife. You may kiss the bride."

Without wasting a single second, Rachel jumps into Quinn's arms, wrapping her arms around her shoulder and pressing her lips against the blonde's. Quinn's arms hold her steady against her body, her hands resting on Rachel's hips. They kiss vigorously, before awkwardly pulling apart when the priest clears his throat.

Clearing her own throat, Quinn holds her arms out to Rachel, who graciously takes it. Together, they walk down the aisle as a married couple.

"What did Grandpa and Grandad say?" Lucy asks.

Rachel removes the now melted ice cream off the bed and place sit on Lucy's bed side table. Alex has changed his position so his head is in Rachel lap, so voices his annoyance at Rachel's movement. Rachel chuckles at her little boy and moves back to her position. "Sorry Little Guy." She says, running her hands through his hair.

Rachel sighs and looks up at Lucy. "Do you remember how your Momma and I reacted when we found out that you had taken the pink paint out of the garage and decided to decorate the kitchen with it whilst Uncle Puck was looking after you?"

Lucy nods, wincing slightly. "Yeah, you were pretty angry with me."

Rachel shakes her head. "Do you remember how we shouted at your Uncle Puck for being so careless because he let you go into a room that had dangerous equipment?"

Lucy's eyes widen and a gasp escapes her lips. "You were really mad at him."

Rachel scratches lightly at Alex's head, watching as he tries to fight to stay awake. "Yeah, well think about how angry we were then and multiply it by about one hundred. That was how your Grandad reacted."

3 weeks later

"You're married!"

Rachel flinches at the angry expression on her Dad's-Hiram-face. She glances over at her Daddy, Leroy, who's sat silent in his armchairs, his eyes watching Rachel and her wife. He hasn't said anything since she and Quinn announced their marriage.

"Yes, Dad." Rachel says, she looks over at Quinn who smiles softly at her and grabs her hand.

"How long have you known her?" Hiram asks, shouting once again.

"About four months."

The look on Hiram's face becomes monstrous, the vein is his neck popping out furiously against his bright red skin. Rachel unconsciously moves a little closer to Quinn, who much like her daddy, has stayed silent.

"Four months!" He roars. "You've known this woman for four months and already you're married!"

"Dad, I love her." Rachel says, starting to become angry at her Dad's reaction. "And she loves me."

"How can you love someone you've only known for four months? You're acting like some love struck fifteen year old, Rachel!"

"I am a grown woman, Father!" Rachel says heatedly. "I can make my own decisions and know when I am in love with someone."

Hiram rolls his eyes at his daughter before turning his attention to the blonde sat next to Rachel. Rachel hears Quinn gulp and squeezes her hand.

"What did you do then? Offer Rachel some money? To get her the best role of her life on Broadway, huh? What did you bribe my daughter with?"

At her Dad's words, Rachel stands up in anger, her face matching Hiram's furious one. She places her hands on her hips and stares him down.

"How dare you insinuate that Quinn bribed me to marry her!" Rachel shouts. "How dare you when you don't know the first thing about us!"

"I know enough to know that you can't marry that woman after only knowing each other for four months! It's absolutely ridiculous!"

"My wife," Rachel growls, "Has a name. Her name is Quinn and I would appreciate it if you stopped referring to my wife as 'that woman'" Rachel sits herself down in a huff, crossing her arms in anger.

Hiram glares at his daughter before turning his attention to his husband sitting silently in his chair, observing the situation. "Leroy, please tell me you see how utterly stupid and ridiculous this was."

Rachel looks between her fathers. Her eyes focus solely on Leroy, who's still looking at his husband with a neutral expression. However, when Rachel sees the tiniest twinkle in his eye, she has to physically stop herself from dancing. She presses her hands down onto her thighs, trying to stop the urge to bounce. When Hiram huffs in anger and throws his arms up, Rachel knows he's seen the twinkle too. With a glare in Quinn's direction, Hiram storms out of the room. Rachel hears Quinn chuckle from beside her.

"What?" Rachel asks, making sure to keep her voice quiet so Leroy doesn't pick up on them chatting.

"I now know where you perfected your storm out from."

Rachel smiles softly at her wife and rolls her eyes good heartedly. When she hears her Daddy clear his throat, Rachel's smile quickly drops and she gulps a little. Turning very slightly in her seat so she's closer to Quinn, Rachel watches as Leroy stands up from the chair and slowly makes his way over to them. Her hand automatically grabs for Quinn's when Leroy sets his eyes on the blonde beside her.

"Do you love my daughter?"

Rachel blinks slowly, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Yes."

Her daddy's eyes briefly glance over to her before settling back on her wife. He stands up straighter and rolls his shoulders back. "If you two were held at gunpoint, and the offender turned the gun towards Rachel, would you stand in front of Rachel, tackle the offender or run?"

Rachel looks over at Quinn and watches as Quinn sits up straighter, her chin lifting in confidence. Rachel smiles at this.

"I would stand in front of Rachel."

"Why?"

Quinn answers straight away. "Running away is cowardly, I would be doing wrong by my wedding vows if I was to run. Tackling him is pointless, he could pull the trigger before I even reached him and still manage to shoot Rachel. Standing in front of her means I am protecting her, doing my duty as her wife." Quinn looks over at Rachel and grabs her hand.

"I meant it when I said til death do us part." Quinn says to Rachel, causing Rachel's heart to soar, before the blonde turns her attention away to look at the man standing before her. "I would happily put Rachel's life before mine, Sir. I love your daughter and she loves me, and I know that it will make her so incredibly happy to gain your acceptance at our, admittedly, hasty marriage."

Rachel doesn't move her eyes away from Quinn's face. She's so in love with this woman it's unreal. Everything she just said is what Rachel has always wanted to hear and more. Apart from the hasty part, she will need to talk to Quinn about that.

When the sound of her Daddy's hearty chuckle rings in her ears, Rachel finally turns away from her wife to her Daddy who is looking at the two of them with the warmest expression.

"I accepted your marriage as soon as you walked through out door." He says. "If anyone is able to get my little girl to have a small wedding with nothing fancy or flashy and still get to have her looking at them like she is now," Rachel blinks, blushing at her Daddy's teasing. "The she must really love you. I have no doubt about that." He smiles warmly at Rachel before opening his arms. "Come here baby girl."

Immediately, Rachel jumps up and allows herself to be wrapped up in warm familiar arms. Rachel steps away from him, a beaming smile on her face. Her smile only grows when Leroy turns to Quinn and opens his arms to her.

"You too, Quinn. You're part of the family now."

When Quinn has finished being hugged by her Daddy, Rachel quickly moves to grab hold of Quinn's hand.

"Don't worry about your Dad, sweetheart." Leroy says, placing a gentle hand on Rachel shoulder. "He's just angry that he didn't get to give his little girl away."

Rachel sighs and nods, hoping that that is just it.

"Was it?"

Rachel looks up from the sleeping face of her son to look at her daughter. "Was it what?"

"Was that why Grandpa was angry?"

"Mostly, yes. But he was still unsure about whether Momma's intentions were strictly for love."

Lucy swings her body to the side, so she's leaning upside down over the edge of her bed. "What changed his mind?"

Trying not to jog the sleeping Alex, Rachel gently coaxes Lucy to sit up. "Your Momma did."

"What did she do?"

Rachel runs her hands through her son's soft hair and thinks back to the Christmas Eve Rachel, Quinn and her fathers spent together.

"She told Grandpa the truth. You should know this part, Momma told you her side."

Lucy sighs dramatically and rolls her body once again so she's leaning over the edge of her bed. "Yes but I was wondering if you knew."

"Of course I did. Your mother and I told each other everything."

"If you told each other everything, then why do you think Momma was lying to you earlier?"

The hand running through Alex's hair freezes and Rachel looks up at her daughter, who's now rolled so her feet are flat against the headboard of her bed. "What?"

"I heard you earlier, when you were talking to Finn. You don't think Momma actually did that, do you?" Lucy rolls over once again and sits up, staring at Rachel with watery puppy dog eyes.

Rachel inhales a shaky breath and removes her hand from Alex's hair. He grumbles softly in his sleep, making Rachel stop her movements as she panics that she woke him up. Both Rachel and Lucy watch Alex with a bated breath, before both of them release a relieved sigh simultaneously when he just rolls over and snuggles his face further into Rachel's lap.

Rachel looks up at her daughter and bites her lip. "I don't know, kiddo."

5 hours earlier.

Quinn growls in anger at all the paper on her desk. Sue had just come into her office, demanding she re-edit the darn book because she didn't like the changes and neither did the author. With an insult about how Quinn reminds Sue of her younger self, Sue left Quinn with the first version of the damn book and an even shorter deadline.

Tomorrow morning.

Six a.m sharp.

No excuses.

Quinn wouldn't have had to of made all those changes if the book had been written well in the first place. Seriously, who makes a fucking vampire sparkle? It's ridiculous. She looks at the time on her computer and growls again. The kids need to be picked up in thirty minutes. Biting her lip, Quinn makes a decision that she's going to regret in about two minutes time.

Moving her mouse, Quinn clicks on the Skype icon and then clicks on the contact 'Crazy bitch' before leaning back in her chair and waiting patiently for the phone to be picked up.

"Q, what could you possibly say to me that you didn't already say when I was in your office?"

Quinn refrains from rolling her eyes at her boss. She didn't actually have a chance to say anything to Sue before the tracksuit loving woman stormed out. A storm out that could rival Quinn's wife's. She flinches slightly, she means soon to be ex wife.

"I'm really sorry, Sue, but I have to go pick up my kids. Can I get this back to you by the end of the week? I'll even go without pay."

Quinn watches as Sue's eyes narrow. "Why would you want to spend your time with those little chirpy, mini Barbra Streisand mouth breathers when you could spend your time editing a book that's going to get me money?"

Anger boils within Quinn at the way Sue described her children. Sure, Alex will probably follow in his Mommy's footsteps and go onto Broadway, but her kids are no way in hell, mouth-breathers. "Don't talk about my kids in that way."

Sue's eyes become dangerous as she stares at Quinn through the webcam. "Because you all of a sudden decided to grow some balls, Q, I'm going to give you an ultimatum. 1) You will stay in tonight, get your Streisand wannabe wife to look after you kids, and finish the damn book or B) You are fired and I will make sure you can never find another editing job in New York City - heck, even in the whole of this great nation, for the goddamn rest of your life. But don't worry, you'll have your children." Sue gives Rachel a fake, plastic smile.

Quinn bites her lip and looks over to the work on her desk and then to the phone resting just beside the papers. Quinn needs this job, she's at the top of her career, working in the biggest editing company in the whole of New York.

"But, Sue, I haven't seen my kids for the past few weeks because of this book." Quinn pleads.

"I've given you your choices, Q."

Knowing that she's going to get bad karma for her decision, Quinn reaches forward and picks up the book.

"Good choice, Q. Now, get out of my sight, I can smell the stench of your self-pity from here."

The screen goes black and Quinn collapses back into her chair, running a hand down her exhausted face. Quinn picks up the phone on the desk and types out a message to the number she's had memorized for years.

Once the text has sent, Quinn reaches towards her desk phone and presses a button for the secretary,

"Jenny."

"Hey Quinn."

"Do you mind grabbing me some coffee please? I feel like I'm going to need it."

"Sure thing."

Five minutes later, Jenny walks in with two cups of coffee and a dunkin donut bag. Quinn looks up at her secretary, rolling her eyes at the grin on her face.

"Don't laugh."

"Who's laughing?" Jenny says, walking further into the room and handing Quinn the coffee she brought. "I got some donuts as well."

"You're a life saver." Quinn says before opening the bag and picking out a bear claw.

"And you look like a mess." Jenny says, hiding her grin behind her cup.

Quinn blinks. Jenny's face has all of a sudden been replaced with Rachel's, and instead of being in the office, she's sat in the local coffee shop down the road from their apartment. Rachel's looking at her just like Jenny was.

As fast as it was there, it's gone again and Quinn's once again sat in her office, surrounded by the book.

"You know how to compliment a girl, Jenny." Quinn says sarcastically.

Jenny clicks her tongue and places the coffee down. "What's the Sue-meister burdened you with now?"

"Have a guess."

"The book?"

Quinn flings her hands out, "Ding ding, we have a- oh shit, fuck." As Quinn swung her hands out, she knocked over her coffee, causing it to spill over the papers on her desk, her phone and her shirt.

Immediately, Jenny jumps up and begins to help Quinn try and salvage the anything they can.

Quinn distantly hears her phone ringing, but in her haste to try and find her bag where she always packs a spare shirt for situations such as this - when having a five year old child who enjoys making mud pies, Quinn has learnt is always good to carry extra clothing - she doesn't quite recognise the ring tone.

Quinn rushes round her office, desperately trying to find her bag, when Jenny stops her and holds it up in front of her face.

"Oh - thank you."

Quinn takes the bag and removes her spare shirt. She looks up at Jenny who's still watching her. "Do you mind?" Quinn asks, gesturing for her to turn round.

"Oh." Jenny quickly turns round giving Quinn her privacy.

Just as Quinn finishes buttoning her shirt, she hears her phone ringing. Pushing papers out of the way, Quinn accidentally sends her phone flying onto the floor. Her eyes lock onto the caller i.d, seeing that it's Rachel. She ignored the amused look from Jenny as she lunges across the desk to her phone, picking it up and answering with a breathless "What?"

Quinn smacks herself on her forehead at her rudeness. She tries to control her breathing. Jesus she really needs to start working out again, she shouldn't be so out of breath.

"Again! You're doing this again!"

Quinn flinches at angry tone in Rachel's voice. "I'm sorry, okay."

"Don't say sorry to me, say sorry to the children you are letting down once again."

Quinn stands up from the floor and walks over to her desk, picking up the soiled papers with distaste. Jenny sits in the chair opposite and begins to play with the paper weight puzzle Rachel had brought Quinn when she started her first day here.

"I wish I could pick them up today, Rach, but I can't, I've got so much work to do."

When Quinn grimaces at very soggy page, Jenny giggles, rather loudly, causing Quinn's eyes to widen.

"Are you bullshitting me?" Quinn hears the accusation in her voice, it's the same tone that Rachel used that day. It stings that Rachel still thinks she would do such a thing. Quinn watches as Jenny figures out the puzzle and begins to throw it up and down in the air. Quinn tracks the paperweight, worry flooding within her just in case Jenny drops it

"What makes you say that?" She asks, distractedly, her eyes focused on the paper weight. Not being able to handle the worry within her -seriously, it's like watching a stranger stand next to your kid in a store - Quinn places her hand over the receiver and reaches out to Jenny, pausing the secretaries movements.

"Can you stop for a moment, I can't concentrate."

Jenny mouths a 'sorry' to Quinn and places the paper weight back. Quinn watches as she grabs a piece of paper and pen.

"Are you with someone?"

Jenny holds up the paper. Quinn reads the message "Shall I go print out another copy of the book?" and quickly nods. Having had Jenny distract her, Quinn misses the implication Rachel made in her sentence and casually answers:

"Yeah, Jenny, my assistant, why?"

The biting silence on the other end of the phone tells Quinn she shouldn't have answered Rachel's question. Closing her eyes, Quinn counts down from three.

3…

2…

1…

"You know what, Quinn? Next time when you want to fuck your assistant instead of spending time with your children, just say so, okay?"

Like clockwork. Before Quinn can even defend herself against her ex's words, Rachel hangs up, leaving Quinn sitting in her chair like an idiot with a desk that stinks of coffee, a crappy book she has to edit and the feeling that she's just made things worse for herself with Rachel.

She throws her phone onto the table in defeat.

Present time

"I think it's time you went to sleep young lady." Rachel says to her daughter.

Lucy groans. "But you haven't told the whole story yet."

"I've told you how we met up to us getting married. That's the whole story."

Rachel picks up her son and turns to Lucy, urging her to get under her covers.

"Momma told me the story up until Alex was born."

"Well then you know it already." Rachel goes to turn around and head into Alex's room, only to have Alex suddenly jerk awake.

"Wh-what happened?" He asks in a sleepy voice.

Rachel smiles softly at him, he looks so much like how Quinn does when she wakes up. She runs a hand through his hair and places a kiss on his forehead. "You fell asleep, little guy."

"You woke up just in time, Alex!" Lucy says, bouncing on her knees. Rachel narrow her eyes at her daughter, recognising the devious look on her face. "Mommy was just about to tell us why she and Momma are no longer together."

"I want to know!" Alex says, wiggling about so much in Rachel's arms that she finally relents and release shim, watching as he jumps onto Lucy's bed and gets under the covers with her.

"I was not!" Rachel says, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at her daughter. Lucy just grins at her cheekily. "You two won't understand why we did. It's too complicated."

"Then uncomplicate it." Lucy says in a matter of fact tone. "It's only fair that we learn why our parents from being so in love like a fairy tell, to still being in love but not being with each other."

"We are not having this discussion!"

"Fine!" Lucy says. She reaches over and grabs the cell phone Rachel left on her nightstand. "I'll just call Uncle Puck and ask him what happened."

"No!" Rachel reaches forward to grab the phone but Lucy passes it to Alex who puts it down his pajama top and proceeds to curl up into a tight ball. Rachel growls, she hates Puck so much right now for teaching Alex that.

Lucy grins at her mom. "Looks like you're going to have to tell us Mom, or no phone."

Rachel glares at her children and sits herself down on the bed. She points to her daughter. "You are too clever." She says, but gives her a soft smile. "I want you two to promise me something."

"Okay."

"Promise that you will not think of me or your Momma any differently once I tell you. We all make bad choices in our lives, you mother and I just happen to make a few when it comes to each other."

"We promise."

"Pinkie swear?" Rachel asks, holding out both her pinkies to her children.

Alex and Lucy quickly wrap their own pinkies around Rachel's, and in unison, the three shake their hands.

"Pinkie swear."

Thank you for reading!