Hello! long time no see! Sorry for the lack of updates recently, i've been majorly busy these last few months with exams - which are finally over yay! So here I am finally with an update with you.
I need to explain how these chapters are going to work:
only the second to last chapter will involve the full argument between Quinn and Rachel that breaks them up. The chapters leading up to it will gloss over it
the way the explaining of how Quinn and Rachel split up is split into three sections. These sections all play a part into why they split up. These are: Finn, Quinn's busy work schedule and Rachel's insecurity.
These sections all affect one another and so will appear briefly in each of the following chapters. If you don't like how I've set it up then i suggest that from here on you stop reading
This therefore means that these chapters will probably be longer than previous ones.
ENJOY!
3 years ago
Rachel looks down at her two children sleeping in their beds. Her hand brushes the small tuft of hair beginning to grow on Alex's head, her index finger slowly moving down his cheek. A grin wakes on his tiny face and Rachel sighs in adoration. Rachel then turns her attention to her five year old daughter bundled up like a burrito in her power ranger duvet. Rachel remembers how she and Quinn argued over getting her the duvet, Rachel stating that she should have a girly duvet. Quinn won the argument by reminding Rachel that it's not okay to dictate your children's gender identity.
"You okay?"
Rachel turns around at the sound of her wife's voice, a smile gracing her face when she spots the blonde leaning on the doorway, her shaggy blonde hair gracing her angel like face.
Rachel nods as Quinn crosses the room and wraps her strong arms around Rachel's body. Rachel welcomes the comfort her wife brings and leans back into the strong body behind her. She smiles and closes her eyes when a kiss is placed on her neck. She feels Quinn lay her chin down onto her shoulder and opens her eyes, glancing to the side at her wife before looking down at her baby girl.
"She's grown up so fast." Rachel says, looking at Lucy's face and noticing how her baby fat is starting to go, turning her from a baby girl to a little girl.
"I know. I wish she could stay this age forever, where she runs into my arms when I return from work, or gives us drawings of our family and gladly welcomes our cuddles."
"Soon, she's going to be going to elementary school, and Alex to Kindergarten. Then, to middle school and high school and before we know it, our babies have graduated from college and out making changes in the world." Rachel says, starting to become teary eyed at the thought of her babies leaving home.
She feels another kiss placed on her neck. "I'm dreading the teenage years."
Rachel chuckles softly and turns in Quinn's arms, her own coming up to wrap around Quinn's neck. "Who do you think will be like a fifteen year old me?"
When the cheeky smirk that Rachel has fallen in love with pulls up on Quinn's face, Rachel rolls her eyes. "Oh definitely Alex. He's only two and already has your personality. He's going to perfect your storm out, be singing show tunes, have high ambitions and be the loudest, most obnoxious child in his high school, but we will love him all the same."
Rachel gasps softly. "How dare you say I was obnoxious! You weren't even around for my high school days." Rachel teasingly.
The same smirk is back on her wifes face and Rachel bites her lip to stop herself from kissing it away. "Oh but I've heard the stories from your Dad's, Kurt and Santana."
Rachel pouts. However, when Quinn leans forward and places a kiss upon her lips, her pout turns into a smile and a blush graces Rachel's cheeks.
"And I love you for those stories, you sounded like quite the entertainer."
Rachel scoffs softly. "Alex may become me, but Lucy is definitley going to become you. And I've heard the stories of your time in High School, so don't go acting like you were the bloody messiah."
Quinn gasps mockingly. "Did Rachel Berry just swear in front of her children?"
Rachel ignores her wife, her arms moving from Quinn's neck so she can rest her hands onto Quinn's chest. "I heard that you were quite the tyrant and ruled your high school with an iron fist, all the while in a cheerleading uniform."
Rachel watches as a solemn expression falls onto Quinn's face. Rachel knows all about Quinn's time in high school, not just from Puck and Brittany, but also from Quinn. Suffice to say, high school was not a great time for Quinn, she openly admits being ashamed of her younger self. Due to her christian upbringing, Quinn couldn't accept herself for being gay and therefore took her self hatred out on others. However, Quinn completely changed when her father found out through gossip and promptly threw Quinn out just days before graduation. Guilt washes over Rachel after having just thrown all of that back into Quinn's face.
"I simply mean that she won't let anyone walk over her and rule that school whilst wearing her own cheerleading uniform." Rachel says, moving her hand to lift Quinn's chin up. She stares into her wifes solemn but beautiful hazel eyes. She leans forward and presses a sweet kiss to Quinn's lips. "You uh, you don't happen to still have that uniform, do you?" Rachel asks when they pull away.
Quinn bites her lip and looks at Rachel with dark eyes. "I might do."
"What are we waiting for?" Rachel asks before jumping up and wrapping her legs around Quinn, their lips meeting for a passionate kiss.
Holding Rachel up with her left arm, Quinn backs the two of them out of their children's room and closes the door.
Present day
"So, why did you and Momma split up?" Lucy asks from her new position on Rachel's bed.
Deciding that it would be better for Rachel to lie beside both her children, the three of them moved into Rachel's room and buried themselves under the covers. Alex currently lies with his head on Rachel's shoulder, is thumb firmly in his mouth as he listens.
Rachel sighs. "There are three factors that all played a part in your Momma and I's separation."
"What were they?"
"The first one was Finn."
9 months ago
Rachel squeals and jumps into Quinn's arms, pressing kisses all over her wife's face. Quinn laughs happily, the phone that was held up to her ear now lying on the floor as she tries to hold her excited wife.
"I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!" Rachel says, jumping down from Quinn and back onto her own feet. "I knew she would love you."
Quinn stares at Rachel with wide happy eyes. "I didn't think she did. All the way through my interview she just glared at me and fought me on everything I said. She grunted at every suggestion I made about the short story she gave me."
"Yes but you've heard the stories about her. Sue Sylvester rarely shows any sort of emotion to her employees and rules with an iron fist, hence why she's owns one of the best publishing companies in the country!"
"And she just hired me."
"Yep, as her editor in chief!"
Rachel watches as a look of shock graces Quinn's face and he wife slowly makes her way over to a chair and sits herself down. Rachel approaches her shocked wife, realising that what has transpired has just hit Quinn.
Quinn's finally got we dream job. It's all a bit daunting for her.
Rachel sits herself down on Quinn's lap and begins to run her hand through her wife's shaggy locks. "Hey" she says, gently titling Quinn's chin with her other hand so the beautiful hazel eyes she loves look at her. "This is amazing, Honey. You've finally got your big break, after all this time. You are an amazing editor and someone has finally recognised that."
Quinn smiles softly and presses a kiss to Rachel's lips.
"This is really happening?" She asks.
Rachel nods, a smile gracing her face. "Yes, it's really happening." Rachel jumps up from Quinn's lap, pulling the blonde up along with her.
"Now, we need to go out and celebrate, have a nice meal, have all our friends there and just drink!"
Quinn chuckles and pulls on Rachel's hand, bringing her excited wife back to her. "What about the kids?"
"We'll hire a sitter, Ginny from next door is a nice enough girl and wouldn't mind, she has suggested it to me before."
"Wouldn't they want to celebrate with us?"
"We can take them out tomorrow, go to the zoo or something."
"I can't tomorrow."
"Why not?"
"Sue wants me to start immediately, meaning tomorrow." Quinn says.
Rachel pauses for a moment and bites her lip. "We can go at the weekend then." She leans on her toes and kisses Quinn on the cheek. "Now, you go get ready, ill book us a table and ring our friends."
Rachel lightly pushes Quinn towards the stairs, lightly slapping her bum as she passes, causing a yelp to sound from Quinn's lips.
...
"What is he doing here?"
Rachel looks up at her wife, her eyebrows furrowing when she recognises the bitter tone in Quinn's voice.
"Who?"
Quinn doesn't answer, but instead walks over to the table, heading straight for Puck. Rachel quickly follows.
"Here she is!" Kurt says from the other end of the table, "the man of the hour!" Kurt pauses and glances to his partner Blaine "or should I say woman?" Blaine just shrugs his shoulders and turns to Rachel and Quinn, offering Quinn a congratulations.
Rachel frowns when Quinn half heartedly thanks him before grabbing Puck and taking him to one side.
"Hey Berry, what's found it's way up your wife's ass?" Santana asks with a smirk.
Rachel rolls her eyes "Must you be so crass?"
"I wouldn't be me if I wasn't."
Quinn and Puck return to the table, Puck looking a little sheepish.
"Hey Rach, I hope you don't mind but I invited my buddy Finn here along. We were planning on going out tonight before you rang and I felt shitty just ditching him."
Rachel finally notices the rather large man sat in the seat beside Puck. She stops herself from widening her eyes too much when she realised exactly how tall this man must be. He gives Rachel a lopsided grin, one Rachel guesses makes most girls swoon. It does not work on Rachel however and after giving him a polite smile, she looks over at Quinn.
"Well that's up to Quinn, it is her celebratory meal after all."
"I guess it's okay." Quinn says half heartedly before pointedly taking a seat the furthest she can from Finn, which so happens to be with only one chair between them.
Rachel rolls her eyes at her wife's immaturity. Even though she has no clue as to why Quinn is behaving this way towards Finn, Rachel will certainly not be as rude.
Rachel takes her seat between Finn and Quinn, her hand immediately moving to rest on Quinn's thigh. She notices Finn watching her and quickly looks over, giving him a polite smile once again before turning her attention to the group.
"I think it's time we order some champagne." Rachel says with a smile.
"That depends." Santana says, her eyes narrowing as a smirk pulls on her mouth. Brittany, sat next to Santana, rolls her eyes and nudges her wife playfully.
Quinn chuckles, "Yes Santana, we will be paying."
Santana grins and leans back in her chair, "In that case," she looks over her shoulder and spots a waiter standing close by. "Hey you, guppy, get over here." She says with a snap of her fingers
The waiter's eyes widen and he quickly scurried over, trying to stay professional when he approaches the table.
Whilst Santana begins to milk Rachel and Quinn of their money, Rachel feels a light tap on her shoulder.
Turning her head, Rachel comes face to face with a very smiley Finn.
"Hey, I'm Finn Hudson." He says, holding his hand out to Rachel.
Rachel smiles and takes his huge hand "Rachel."
"Oh I know who you are." Finn says, his eyes widen every so slightly "not in like a stalker way, but Puck mentions your kids and you a bit when he talks about Quinn."
"Have you and Quinn met before?"
"Yes." Quinn answers tightly.
Rachel turns to look at her wife and notices that her wife's jaw is clenched very tightly.
"Yeah, Quinn used to hang out with me and puck occasionally when we were in college." Finn says, not even looking towards Quinn.
Rachel hears Quinn scoff and mutter to herself, "More like he hung out with me and Puck."
Ignoring her wife and her childish behaviour, Rachel gives Finn a smile. "I'm sure you have wonderful stories to tell me about Quinn back in college." Rachel pauses for a moment and then laughs, "Actually, I think Puck told them all to me already."
She looks away from Finn to her wife and places a hand on her thigh. Quinn turns her head to look at Rachel and gives her a smile, covering Rachel's hand with her own.
The sound of Finn clearing his throat causes Quinn to roll her eyes in exasperation and Rachel to very reluctantly turn her attention to him.
Finn gives Rachel the crooked smile once again and scoots his chair closer to her. "When Puck told me that Quinn had married someone, I didn't believe him. Did Quinn Fabray, the big lesbian heartbreaker at NYU really find a girl to settle down with? The girl who slept with a new girl every night and-"
"Oh look!" Santana shouts, interrupting Finn, "The champagne is here!" Rachel shoots Santana a thankful look.
Santana winks at her and rather rudely grabs the bottle off the waiter. Lifting her hand up, Santana waves it, muttering: "You can go now."
Rachel and Quinn both chuckle and say "Santana." in a chastising matter as they watch the young waiter scurry off.
Santana looks at them with innocent eyes. "What did I do?"
"Well for starters I think you have scared that young man half to death and secondly, you are definitely not going to be in charge of the champagne." Rachel says, standing up and holding her hand out to Santana.
Santana looks at Rachel's hand as if it's a foreign object. "Well why not?"
"Because you'll end up drinking ¾ of the bottle to yourself and also it is not your celebratory dinner it is Quinn's so hand it over."
A staring contest then commences between the two brunettes. Rachel giving Santana the same stern look she gives Alex when he refuses to change out of his Princess Jasmine outfit and into his pajamas, and Santana giving Rachel the same disobedient and cheeky look she had all through high school and college.
However with the clearing of Brittany's throat and a pointed look aimed at the defiant brunette, Santana begrudgingly hands over the bottle of champagne to Rachel who smiles triumphantly.
"Wck-tsh" Comes from a snickering Puck who also mimics a whipping motion along with the sound.
"Bite me Puckerman." Santana says, also flipping him the bird in the process.
This only causes to make Puck laugh harder and he nudges Finn to laugh along with him. This is when Rachel notices that Finn is still staring at her and it's making her rather uncomfortable.
Ignoring the staring, Rachel begins to pour out a glass of champagne for everyone, handing it down the line until everyone has a glass.
Kurt goes to take a sip, only to be stopped from a high pitched sound coming from Rachel.
"Not yet!" she says, although she doesn't miss the sip Santana takes from her glass. honestly, that woman is just like her children sometimes. Rachel stands up and clears her throat.
"I would like to make a toast." She says before leaving a pause in her speech. "To my wonderful wife, Quinn, who has managed to land herself her dream of job of becoming the chief editor for the largest book producing company in the state of New York. Quinn, you really deserve this job, you have worked so hard for it. It is now my place to step down from my pedestal of top breadwinner of the family and allow you to take over, for you have allowed me to have my dream-"
"Get on with it!" Santana says, taking another sip-more of a gulp-from her glass.
Rachel continues on like Santana hadn't interrupted and looks down at her beautiful wife. Rachel doesn't miss the slight blush dusting Quinn's cheeks and finds herself smiling uncontrollably at the fact she still has the ability to make Quinn blush. "And so, it is now your turn to have your dream. To Quinn, and congratulations." She says, raising her glass.
"Congrats babe!" Puck says, following Rachel's lead.
Santana follows. "Yeah yeah congrats and all that shit to you Q"
"Well done Quinn." Kurt says, placing a hand onto Quinn's.
Rachel beams at her wife and leans down to give Quinn a kiss, who happily accepts the kiss. When Quinn goes to pull away, Rachel gently grabs her cheek and pulls her back in, lightly running her tongue over Quinn's lips before finally pulling away.
She faintly hears Santana's "Get a room!" comment before winking at her wife and softly whispering "I'll give you my own congratulations later." and sitting down.
Rachel smirks when Quinn shifts in her seat, her cheeks and the back of her neck becoming red. When Quinn looks back at Rachel, her eyes a much darker than before, and only darken more when Rachel makes a show of taking a sip from her glass and sensually running her tongue over her lips before looking away and turning to have a conversation with Brittany.
"So, uh, how did you and Quinn meet?"
Rachel glances to her right at Finn, pausing mid sentence with Brittany. She looks back over at the taller blonde and upon seeing that Brittany had already turned her attention elsewhere, she sighs softly and turns to talk to Finn.
"I was on holiday with Santana and Kurt. Kurt had managed to get a spot as a designer on one of the fashion shows. I met Quinn on our first night there."
Finn nods "I remember Puck invited me to go with him, Quinn and Britt."
Puck joins the conversation upon hearing his name. "Yeah, but this douche right here had work and so couldn't."
"It was such a shame." Quinn says, not sounding the least bit put out, "We all wanted him there."
Rachel figures that with the way Finn is grinning and nodding, he's too obtuse to notice when Quinn is being sarcastic. However, Rachel is not and pokes Quinn's thigh, shushing her.
"Yeah. So uh, where did you meet?"
"In one of the nightclubs that was directly between our hotels." Rachel says. She grabs hold of Quinn's hand and squeezes it. "Our eyes met across the dance floor, Quinn approached me and the rest is, as they say, was history."
Puck chuckles. "Always the dramatic, Rach."
Rachel huffs, "I live and breathe theater, of course I'm going to make it dramatic!"
"And I love you for it." Puck says, throwing Rachel a wink.
"Hey," Quinn says, "Don't make me spray water on you again!"
"Relax Q-Ball." Puck raises his hands in a surrender, "It was only a friendly wink."
Quinn hums and narrows her eyes at Puck. With a kiss on the cheek from Rachel, however, a smile graces her face.
"Love you." Quinn says, causing Rachel to beam.
"And I, you."
"That's typical Quinn though." Finn says, once again bringing the attention back to him.
This time, Rachel doesn't bother to try and be polite and outrightly shows her irritation with Finn's constant talking.
He grins when Rachel looks at him. "As soon as she lays eyes on you, that's it. You were going to end up in her bed for the evening. Happened with every girl in her English class at college. Oh man, you should have seen the cat fights they got into over her."
"It wasn't just one evening with Rachel." Quinn says, the anger clear in her voice. "It was every evening for the whole trip and every day after that."
"I still don't believe that, you, Quinn Fabray settled down."
"Dude, how much more evidence do you need to see? You're sat next to her wife, her wife who has a huge ass rock on her finger."
Rachel looks down at the engagement ring Quinn brought her and smiles at the memory.
"I wouldn't say it was huge." Finn mutters. Rachel raises an eyebrow, mirroring the same look from her wife.
"I swear you two need to spend less time together, it's scary how much you look like a couple." a rather tipsy Santana says, breaking up the soon to become heated conversation.
Brittany stands up. "And with that silly comment, it's time for us to go." She says, pulling up her wife.
"Congrats Quinn," She says, hugging Quinn when she manages to drag Santana away from her seat. "Bye Rachel, thank you for the champagne." Brittany pauses and quickly shoves money into Rachel's hand. "Here, for some of the expenses."
"Oh Brittany you don't need to."
"No honestly I do. Santana may have brought a few more drinks than just the champagne." Brittany grins. "Anyway, see you!"
"Bye Q *hiccup* and Berry! *hiccup* thanks for the cheap ass alcohol." Santana calls out before being taken away by her wife.
A few minutes after Santana and Brittany, Puck, Kurt and Blaine all also get up to leave, saying congratulations to Quinn and despite the couples protest, giving some money towards their meals and drinks.
"Dude, you coming?" Puck says to Finn who's still sat at the table.
"Nah man, I'll stay for a bit."
Quinn stands, pulling Rachel up with her. "We're going now too, but feel free to stay Finn, everything's already been paid for." Quinn says.
"Oh, uh yeah, okay. I'll guess I'll see you." Finn also stands up. "Uh, congrats, I guess." He says, awkwardly rubbing his head.
"I'll meet you at the car." Rachel says to Quinn. "I need to pay for the champagne and apologise to the poor waiter that Santana tormented."
Quinn glances at Finn before nodding and pressing a kiss to Rachel's lips. "See you in five." she says before walking away.
Rachel sighs and grabs her purse before walking up to the maitre d' and handing him the money for the rest of the bill.
She rummages through her purse for a few extra dollars and also hands that to the maitre d'.
"You've already paid, ma'am." He says.
"I know, this is for the waiter my friend terrorised whilst we were here. Can you apologise to him for me?"
"Of course ma'am. Thank you."
Rachel gives the man a smile before walking away.
1 week later
Rachel's happily dancing around her house in only a t-shirt and her underwear, enjoying the time alone with the kids off at school and Quinn at work when she gets a knock on her door. Pausing the soundtrack to Funny Girl and grabbing the nearest pair of pants she could find - Quinn's sweatpants - Rachel begrudgingly pulls them on and makes her way to the door.
When she opens the door, she's surprised at who she sees on the otherside.
"Finn. Are you looking for Quinn? i'm afraid she's at work and won't be home until nine."
Finn stands on the other side, with unkempt hair and wearing a messy green t-shirt with a hoodie and jeans. His hands are stuffed into his jean pockets and he has a look on his face that looks very similar to the face Alex used to pull when pooping in his diaper.
"Uh, no, I wanted to see you, actually."
Rachel raises an eyebrow. "Oh."
"I hope you don't mind me turning up like this. Puck told me where you lived."
Rachel leans against the door frame and stays silent, waiting for Finn to tell her why he's here.
"I uh just wanted to apologise to you for the other night. I behaved inappropriately. I was wrong to bring up what Quinn was like in college."
"Yes, you were."
Finn blanches, obviously not expecting Rachel to be so cold. "I see you make her happy. She never seemed happy in college, no matter who she was with that evening, in the morning, she also looked like she regretted it. The cat fights, Quinn could never bring herself to watch it or even look at it."
Rachel stays silent, not really knowing how to reply to that.
"I'm sorry. It's just...I'm jealous. I was jealous of Quinn, of her landing her dream job, of her being able to break away from her old self and to change into a better person. I haven't been able to do that. Not yet, anyway."
Rachel finds her resolve lessening and she relaxes her shoulders. "You're not a bad person, Finn."
Finn shrugs. "I can't take your word for it, you've only known me for a short while."
Rachel sighs and looks at the clock. She grabs her coat when she sees it's almost time to pick the kids up from school.
"Where are you going?" Finn asks, stepping back as Rachel walks out of the house, tugging her shoe onto her foot.
"To pick the kids up."
"I'll be on out of your way then." He says, starting to turn around.
"Finn, don't go." Rachel says running to meet up with him. "I understand your jealousy, everyone gets jealous at some point in their life. As for the whole 'you're not a bad guy' thing, how about we take a walk to the school together and we can talk, yeah? Get to know each other, as friends?"
Finn gives Rachel a half smile, a smile that would have made her fifteen year old self swoon. "You're sure?"
"Of school's not far." Rachel says, starting to walk down the street.
"My house is this way anyway." He says, walking to catch up with her.
Two months later
Ever since the day Finn came to apologise, it became a routine for Finn to come round on the weekdays and walk with Rachel to the school, before leaving at his road. During the walk, Rachel grew to know and like Finn.
For instance, Finn used to work at his step-dad's tire shop during high school. He was in his school's glee club as well as football team. He moved to study music at college, where he met Puck and was therefore introduced to Quinn. He lost his step-dad during his second year of college and struggled through the rest of the semester before making sort of a comeback after the summer.
After finishing college, Finn applied for teacher training and was able to get himself a teaching job in a nearby middle school. However, Finn really wants to go into High Schools to teach, but has found it difficult to find a place.
When Quinn found out not long after their second walk together that Rachel and Finn were becoming closer, she, for obvious reasons, wasn't too pleased. However, rachel managed to convince her that it's all okay.
"I don't like it." Quinn mumbles as she gets undressed and then dressed into her pajamas before joining Rachel in their bed.
Rachel immediately snuggles up to her wife, enjoying a rare evening of having Quinn home before ten o'clock. Quinn wraps her arms around Rachel and tugs her closer.
"It's completely innocent, Quinn."
Quinn scoffs. "I doubt that."
"On my half of it it is. I promise you Quinn, we're only friends. All Finn wants is a friend and i'm happy to be that for him."
"He has Puck."
"Exactly. All he has is Puck. You don't like him and I know Brittany isn't too fond of him."
"He called her stupid once."
"We all say things we don't mean."
"He also publicly outed a girl when she wasn't ready because she didn't agree to what he was asking of her." Quinn says with more spite than usual.
Rachel frowns. "Now that I definitely don't agree with. He had no right to do so. I thinks he's changed though Quinn. Ever since that night he hasn't tried anything with me."
Quinn sniffs and turns her body so she's facing Rachel. She reaches her hand down and begins to run her fingers in between Rachel's.
"He's trying to woo you." Quinn mumbled, her eyes following the movement of her fingers.
"Do you trust me?"
"What sort of question is that?"
"Answer it."
"Of course I do."
"Then trust me with this. Please."
Quinn sighs and nods her head. "Okay. Now can we go to sleep please? I've been looking forward to this all day."
As the months passed, Rachel began to notice the little amount of time Quinn spent at home. So, as Finn and Rachel grew closer, Rachel confined in Finn during one of their daily walks to the school.
"Quinn's been coming home late recently." Rachel says as they trudge through the snowy streets.
"She's working a hard job." Finn says with a shrug, scuffing his shoes against the pavement.
"I understand that. Sue Sylvester is known to not give out light loads of work. It's just, Quinn will return home at eleven in the evening and leave at six in the morning. She hardly sees the kids any more."
"What about at the weekend?"
"She's nearly always in her office, going through the work Sue has given her. She refuses to let me in to the office, claiming that I stop her from concentrating."
"Well, she does have an attractive wife, I can see why she said you'd stop her from concentrating."
Rachel playfully shoves Finn at his comment. "I'm being serious Finn."
"So was I."
Rachel ignores him. "Did you know that we haven't had sex in a month?"
Finn blushes and coughs awkwardly, looking anywhere but at Rachel. "No, i wasn't privy to this information."
"'Privy?' Have you been doing your research, Finn Hudson?"
Finn shrugs. "I kinda need to keep up with you and your use of big words so I bought myself a thesaurus."
"That's sweet." Rachel stays silent for a moment. "I haven't not tried to seduce her. I mean, I've greeted her at the front door in my sexy lets-have-sex underwear, but she merely smiled at me and told me she was too tired and then thanked me. She thanked me, Finn."
Finn again refuses to look at Rachel. "I read that when you get so tired you like become really disinterested in your...usual activities."
"Yes but this is sex Finn! I mean, if I greeted you at the door in lingerie after work and you were really tired, would you say no?"
Finn scratches his head. "I don't think that's an appropriate question to ask me-"
"Oh don't be silly Finn, we're friends."
"Well, no, I guess I wouldn't."
"See!" Rachel stops walking when they arrive at the road Finn usually departs to. "I'm worried that there's something wrong. Maybe Sue's working her too hard?"
Rachel watches as something flashes through Finn's eyes.
"What?"
Finn hesitates. "What if it's something else?"
"What do you mean?"
"Like, what if it's not a something but a-"
Anger boils within Rachel. "I'm going to stop you right there Finn Hudson. Don't you dare go and accuse my wife of cheating on me. You have no right to do such a thing. Quinn loves me and I love Quinn. Quinn is working her ass off to give me and our kids the best quality of life she can seeing as I am a full time stay at home mom now."
"Rachel-"
"No Finn. I am angry at you right now and I am going to angrily walk away from you and you are not to follow me."
And so, with a sharp turn on her heel, Rachel storms off down the road.
2 weeks later
It's the smell of perfume that makes her re-think Finn's unthinkable suggestion. The smell of perfume on Quinn that is not Quinn's perfume.
She smells it as Quinn walks into the bedroom. Rachel pretends to be asleep as Quinn changes and slips into the bed, the smell of the perfume that is not Quinn's surrounding Rachel in a suffocating cocoon. It only worsens when Quinn wraps an arm around Rachel's stomach and spoons Rachel's back.
What makes even more suffocating is the gentle kiss Quinn places against Rachel's neck and the soft 'I love you' she whispers before falling asleep.
Not being able to stay in such a tight confinement with the smell of this acid like perfume surrounding her, Rachel wiggles out of Quinn's hold and leaves the bedroom.
Walking into the kitchen, Rachel picks up her phone and dials a number she hasn't dialed in two weeks.
"Hello?" A very sleepy Finn answers the phone.
"Hey, it's me." Rachel says.
"Rachel, it's...2:00am."
"I know, I'm sorry for waking you up but I need to talk to you."
She listens as Finn shuffles about, presumably moving to get more comfortable. "Shoot."
"Can you tell me why you think Quinn has had a sudden lack of interest in sex with me and why she's been so tired and getting home late and just distant in general."
"What? No."
"Why not?"
"Because you'll get mad at me again and it'll just make you upset."
A lump forms in Rachel's throat. "Please Finn. I need to hear it. I need to know what you think."
"Wouldn't it be better if you spoke to Puck about this? He knows Quinn better than me."
"No. Puck will defend Quinn because she's his best friend. Whereas you...you're like switzerland. You are neutral."
"I'm not really all that neut-"
"Just tell me!" A tear falls down her cheek and she begins to shake.
There's silence for a few seconds until Rachel hears a very soft sigh come from Finn and then - "I think she's cheating on you."
"Why?"
"Going by her track record with girls, she's never been very good at...keeping her impulses in check. I guess the stress of work broke the resistance she put up upon marrying you and she gave in."
A sob escapes Rachel and she quickly clasps a hand to her mouth to stop herself from sobbing loud enough to wake her family up. "Oh god."
"Rach?"
"I smelt perfume on her when she got home today." Rachel says through her sobs.
"Okay? That's normal for girls to smell like perfume."
"No, it wasn't her perfume, Finn."
"Maybe she brought a new one?'
Rachel shakes her head, not caring that Finn can't actually see her shake her head. "There are no new bottles on our dresser." She says, releasing a sob.
"Oh." There's a pause. "What are you going to do?"
"Mommy?"
Rachel turns around to find a very sleepy Alex standing behind her, his favourite cuddly toy - a dinosaur names Rex- hanging by his side. He rubs at his eye, a tiny yawn escaping him.
"Alex."
"Why are you crying?"
"That's what you were crying about? Because you thought Momma was having ice cream with someone else?" Alex asks.
"Yes baby. I was very irrational."
"You told me it was because you had something in your eye."
"I did."
"You lied to me."
"Only so you wouldn't worry, honey."
Lucy hushes Alex. "That's not important, what is important is what you did next."
"But was Momma having ice cream with someone else?"
"We'll find out, now shush."
A few weeks later - Late evening
What Rachel did next was very simple. She waited. She waited to see if more evidence would appear that Quinn was in fact cheating.
None did, but Finn's words kept playing over in Rachel's head, and so her paranoia got worked up, until one night, when she invited Finn round for dinner because she Quinn expected to be home earlier than usual (as Quinn had said she would) and cooked too much for herself and the kids.
That's when it all kicked off.
When Quinn walked through the door at eleven o'clock and spied Rachel and Finn sat on the settee together. When seeing Quinn walk in and stare at Rachel with such hurt that it caused Rachel to explode.
That's when Quinn packed her things and left.
"Oh honey."
Rachel feels Kurt wrap his arms around her and pull her against his chest. He held her as she sobbed. He listened as she replayed every scene over to him, starting right from the dinner.
He walked out the front door after pointing out to Rachel where she was wrong in this situation, causing her to kick him out.
This is when Finn swooped in and told Rachel everything she would want to hear in her fragile state. He told her everything he knew would get Rachel to see him in a different light.
He did everything he could to manipulate her into liking him as more than a friend. Including manipulating her into agreeing to divorce Quinn.
The love of her life.
Present day - Quinn's office, 3 hours after the coffee incident.
Quinn sighs and runs a hand over her eyes as she stares at the godawful book in front of her. Her pen taps against the table as she reads the words over and over again, scoffing at how ridiculous the character of Bella Swan is and how she is the role model she wants her daughter or son to look up to.
"Why does she want to publish such crap?" Quinn wonders to herself, truly worrying about Sue's sanity.
This book will either make or break the company. Quinn doesn't want to take the risk. But not taking the risk means losing her job and losing her job means not being able to care for her children.
Quinn looks to the picture frame sat on the desk and smiles. It's from the summer she, Rachel, Lucy and Alex took to Disney land. They tried and failed many times to get the perfect family selfie, but Alex kept moving his head at the wrong moment, causing his face to become blurry. Lucy was squinting and so looked in pain in every photo they took. Rachel was standing on her tiptoes, trying to avoid the glaring sun staring into her eyes, causing Quinn to have unsteady balance. Quinn, not only being the one to have to take the photo, was balancing a Rachel leaning into her side and an Alex on her shoulders. (He had demanded to be on her shoulders for nearly everywhere they walked, claiming it was too hot for him.)
There was also arguments over where the photo should be taken. Alex wanted it in front of Space Mountain, Lucy wanted it near Mickey Mouse or with Mickey Mouse in it. Rachel wanted it wherever they could get her best side and Quinn quite frankly was too busy trying to balance Alex and her camera and phone to think about where it should be taken.
Eventually, the family decided it would be best to get other tourists to take the photo for them, with the other tourist family suggesting they take it in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle.
After much goading from Rachel, Quinn reluctantly gave her very expensive camera to the other family and happily posed with hers before grabbing the camera off the man as quickly as possible.
The end result had Alex sitting on top of Quinn's shoulders, Rachel stood beside Quinn, her body angled into face Quinn and Lucy standing in front Quinn and Rachel. All four of them had their own pair of mickey mouse ears on and were all laughing. As the photo was being taken, behind the man taking it was Mickey Mouse, who was making funny gestures behind him.
Quinn smiles at the memory and turns her attention to the photo on the other side of her desk. It was taken moments after the first one. What the other tourist family failed to mention was that they were standing directly in the splash zone of Splash Mountain and so the second photo consisted of a giant wave of water being in frame whilst all four of them are shrieking and laughing as they jump away from the water.
It makes for a very funny photo.
"Quinn, you have a visitor."
The sound of Jenny's voice rings through the intercom and brings Quinn out of her memory.
"Who is it?"
"Finn Hudson."
Quinn pauses. "Don't let him in. Tell him I'm busy."
"I've already done so, he's insisting that you see him."
"Send him away, Jenny, I don't want to see that bastard."
"Sir you can't just go-"
Finn storms through the doors of Quinn office and glares right at her, his face as red as a tomato.
Quinn just sighs and leans back in her chair, arranging the papers on her desk to entice a feeling of boredom. "What do you want?" She asks.
"I want you to finally get the fuck out of Rachel's life and sign the goddamn divorce papers." He growls, storming up to her desk.
Quinn simply raises an eyebrow. "Oh you do, do you? I'm afraid that choice isn't up to you and is rather impossible considering we share children."
Finn scoffs. "Only Alex is your kid. Besides, I'm going to become their new Dad soon anyway, so there will be no need for you."
Quinn slowly lifts her head up to look at the giant man child. She slowly stands up and leans forward, her hands coming to rest on the desk. She eyes Finn slowly. Now being in such close proximity of Finn, Quinn smells the alcohol on his breath.
Whiskey.
The very same poison her father would drink when angry.
"Oh you are you? And who the fuck agreed to that? I certainly didn't."
"Rachel did. She said she would rather have me as their father than you as their mother." He smirks at her. "I don't understand why you haven't signed them yet. I figured that as soon as she kicked you out you would have been the first to sign the papers and jump into bed with the next slut you saw."
Quinn glares at Finn. Her voice is dangerously low when she speaks. "Get the fuck out of my office."
"just admit it Quinn. Rachel no longer wants you in her life anymore. With the way you treated her, I can understand why. You saw you've changed, but you didn't change one bit, you're still the same slut from college, only this time, you're a cheating slut."
"You know as well as I do Finn that I did not cheat."
Finn's smirk becomes more sinister. "I know. But Rachel doesn't know that. She thinks you did. Which gave me the perfect opportunity to swoop in and be her knight in shining armour. Now sign the fucking papers and fuck off."
Quinn tilts her head before her own smirk graces her face. "Did she kick you out this evening? Did she realise how much a fucking dick head you are and so kicked you out?"
When Finn becomes red in the face, Quinn knows she's hit the nail on the head.
"How about this:" Quinn growls, moving back to sit in her chair. "You take your sad, pathetic little butt hurt self out of my office, out this building, out of my life, out of my children's lives and out of Rachel's life because it's clear to me that none of them want you."
Finn glares at Quinn and with a roar and a kick to one of her chairs (which only caused to hurt him due to the chair being bolted to the floor) he storms (angrily limps) out of her office.
When the door shuts behind him, Quinn releases a breath she hadn't realised she was holding and stares up at the ceiling.
God, give me strength.
There's that chapter for you guys!
It's 3:00 am over here in England and i am very tired so I'm just going to keep this short.
Thank you for reading!
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