Like I promised! Although it's more like 24 hours than 2...
Present day - Quinn's office.
"You okay?"
Quinn looks up from the mess in front of her to Jenny standing in the doorway. She sighs and runs a hand through her fringe. "Yeah, I'm alright."
Jenny doesn't look convinced and walks further into the office. "Really? Because I couldn't help but overhear your argument with the tall man and he said some pretty hurtful things."
The blonde relaxes against her chair and sighs once more. She's so tired of everything that has happened in the past few months. She just wants it all to stop.
"Yeah but he was right." Quinn shakes her head and opens up the drawer holding the divorce papers. She remembers the day Rachel stalked into her office and slammed them down onto the desk. Her wife had given her the shock of her life and as she watched her walk away not for the first time, she felt a little more of herself break.
"She doesn't want to be with me anymore." Quinn whispers, she holds up the papers to show Jenny. "I mean, if she did, she wouldn't have filed for a divorce, surely?"
jenny walks up to Quinn's desk and looks at the papers with a contemplative look. Quinn raises an eyebrow when her secretary gestures to the papers.
"May I?" Jenny asks.
Feeling suspicious, Quinn reluctantly handed the papers over to Jenny and watched as the younger woman began to read through the paper, softly reading the words aloud.
Quinn spoke along with her, having read each word about a thousand times by now.
"Ah, here we go." Jenny says after ten minutes of walking and reading. She turns round to Quinn and places the papers down onto the table, presenting the signature page to Quinn.
Quinn spies Rachel's signature already written on the line above the name "Rachel Berry." and next to that, the empty spot where her signature needs to go.
"You see that?" Jenny asks, tapping an index finger above Rachel's signature.
Quinn raises an eyebrow. "Yeah, it's her signature. Thanks for pointing that out to me, Jen." She says, feeling a bit hurt that her secretary would rub it in her face.
Jenny rolls her eyes. "You're not seeing it. Look harder." Jenny says, moving her finger and inch to the left of Rachel's signature.
"Alright, Rafiki, calm down." Quinn teases before looking closer to the signature. Just off to the side is a black smudge. Quinn looks up at Jenny with a disbelieving expression. "A smudge? You're telling me to look at a smudge?"
Jenny huffs, irritated. "It's not a smudge, it's a mark of her pen. She hesitated before writing the signature." She points to the smudge. "This mark is when she went to go write it, but then paused, before continuing."
Quinn isn't convinced by what Jenny is saying. "So?"
Jenny moves her finger to the actual signature. "Do you see how shaky it is?"
Quinn huffs. "What are you trying to get at here, Jen? She hesitated? So what? It's a shaky signature, so she was nervous? It's understandable, this was her writing our entire marriage away with one scribble, she has a right to be nervous about it."
Jenny groans and aggressively taps her finger against the paper. "No, you don't get it!" She says. "If Rachel was as sure to get rid of you as Finn claimed, or so adamant about divorcing you, she wouldn't have hesitated. Her signature would be smooth, not shaky."
"So, you're saying that purely because of a little shake in her hand, she still wants to be with me?"
"Yes,!"
Quinn laughs and shakes her head. "You're delirious!"
Jenny groans in anger and pushes herself off of the desk. She throws her hands into the air. "Oh my god! I guess this is why they say not to try and get your OTP to be canon yourself because this is so fucking annoying!"
The blonde pauses and looks over at the younger woman. "What? What on earth is an OTP?"
"One True Pairing! You and Rachel are my OTP."
Quinn looks at Jenny with a strange look. "...Okay."
Jenny huffs and rolls her eyes. "You don't get it," she throws her hand into the air one more time before leaving the office to her own desk.
Quinn frowns at the back of her secretary before shaking it off and sitting back down. She sighs as she looks down at the stupid book in front of her. Before she can even think about continuing, the familiar sound of the Skype calling tone rings through the office.
Clicking on the bouncing icon, Quinn is greeted with the stern face of her boss.
"Q. How's the book going?"
"Hi Sue." Quinn sighs. "You know, I'm really trying here Sue, but this book really is a dead end. There's no exciting characters, the storyline is depressing and the main character has about as many emotions as a can of beans."
"Who cares? Pre-teen, smelly, zit ridden girls eat this shit up. I already gave you your options Q. You finish this book. Now."
Quinn takes a deep breath. Having her boss completely ignoring her advice and then threatening her has become too much. Not to mention how much the woman has kept her from her kids.
"No." Quinn says assertively.
A dark look crosses Sue's face and she leans closer to the screen. "What did you say to me?"
"I said no, Sue. I refuse to help you in producing a book that will only serve to tell young girls that men should dominate their whole worlds. I certainly don't want my daughter reading garbage like this. I refuse to be a part of a company that idealizes misogyny to young children."
"Are you saying that you refuse to finish the book?"
Quinn nods. "Yes. And if you don't like that then I don't understand why you hired me if you did't want my opinions on the work and help you to produce the best books there are. I guess you just wanted me to be one of your lackeys. Well, not anymore, Sue."
Sue narrows her eyes. "Fine. You're fired. Be gone by the morning."
And with that, Sue disappears from Quinn's computer screen. Before Quinn can even take a breath, her computer logs her out, coming up with a message that says her employment here has been terminated.
"I will say one thing about Sue Sylvester. She works fast."
The Berry - Fabray residence
"You still love her, don't you?" Alex asks, looking up at Rachel with big sleepy eyes.
Rachel looks over at him and nods. "Yes. Very much so."
"So why did you let her go?"
"I was upset with her, I was upset with myself. I-I didn't think your Momma would want to stay with a woman who accused her of cheating."
"Why did you let her stay away for so long? Why Finn?" Alex presses, wanting to find all the missing jigsaw pieces and put it together.
"Your mother was very hurt by my accusations, Alex. She is very hurt by them. And Finn was just there. He was a rebound."
"What's a rebound?"
"Someone you go to for ice cream after ending things with the person you formerly had ice cream with." Lucy explains. At Rachel's appalled look, Lucy grins and says, "Uncle Puck told me."
"I accused her today of sharing ice cream with someone instead of seeing you two." Rachel says to her children.
Both Lucy and Alex gasp. "Momma would never do that!" Lucy exclaims, her face mirroring Quinn's own angry look.
Rachel looks down at her lap in guilt. "I know. I was just angry. Angry at myself for putting you two in this situation where you hardly get to see your Momma. Angry at your Momma for not standing up to her tyrant of a boss and I was angry at myself for letting your Momma go."
Alex's small chubby hand makes it's way onto Rachel's lap and her wraps his little fingers around Rachel's slender ones. Rachel looks up at her son and feels tears well up in her eyes at the innocent and forgiving look he is giving her. She can't stop the tears from falling and the first one runs down her cheek, landing on their joined hands.
Alex immediately sits up and throws himself onto Rachel, hugging her in his little arms with all his might. Rachel clutches at his pyjama top and begins to sob into his shoulder.
She feels Lucy move beside her and soon enough, Lucy's arms are also holding her.
Rachel sobs her pain and lost love away in her children's arms. She's been holding in these feelings all these months and today they finally tipped over the edge. She feels like she's failed her children for crying like this in front of them. She's their mother, she's meant to be strong for them and hold them whilst they cry, not the other way around.
Rachel pulls away from her children and cups each of their faces in her hands. They both look at her with sad smiles.
"Momma still loves you." Lucy says. "I know she does. Whenever she sees us, she asks how you are. Her eyes brighten when we talk about you, or if one of those songs you sang in that musical where everyone dies begins to play on the radio. Momma may be hurt, but she still loves you, and you still love her."
Rachel smiles weakly at her daughter. "I know what you two want to happen next. You want me to go to Momma and tell her I still love her and for us to get back together."
"Yeah!" They both say, bright smiles on their faces.
"Like a fairy tale. The knight declaring their love for the princess."
Rachel sniffles and shakes her head. "Life doesn't work like that Babies. It's not like in the movies or your fairy tale books where all that is needed is a declaration of love and everything is better."
"Well why can't it be!" Lucy says, crossing her arms in a huff. Alex nods angrily.
"Because real life is a lot more complicated than that."
"But you and Momma met like it was a fairytale. Love at first sight! You two were meant to be together." Lucy says, her eyes brightening at the thought.
"Lucy-"
"Just this once, can't life be like fairy tale and we live happily ever after?" Lucy asks, her eyes turning into puppy dog eyes.
Alex mimics his sister and even throws in a head tilt for added effect.
Rachel looks between her children and sighs. "Okay." She relents. "I can try."
The children laugh and high five each other before jumping up and down on the bed, shouting "Now!" over and over again.
"Now?" Rachel asks, "You want me to try now?" she looks over at her clock. "It's 10:00!"
"Momma's still at work."
"Do it before midnight like Cinderella!" Lucy says, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
"You two should be in bed, I can't leave you two alone."
"Then ask Uncle Puck or Auntie 'Tana to come babysit us!"
Rachel bites her lip. Puck probably will, Santana will yell at her for waking her up or taking her away from her Brit time for good twenty minutes before relenting because although she won't admit it, Santana loves Alex and Lucy.
She sighs. "Fine, fine." She reaches for her phone on the bedside table.
"I have an idea!" Alex says, jumping off the bed. He scurries out the room and down stairs.
Rachel and Lucy look at each other in confusion as they listen to draws and cupboards open and close. A few seconds later, Alex scurries back into the room, holding a piece of paper in his hands. He shoves his hand out, handing Rachel the paper.
Rachel reads the paper and smiles at her son before calling Santana.
"Berry, I swear if this is you calling in a panic thinking you're losing your voice again I'm going to throat punch you so hard-"
"No Santana, it's not one of those moments."
"Oh?"
"I need you to look after the kids for me."
She hears Santana yawn. "I thought it was Q-Ball's turn?"
"She couldn't, she had work."
Santana sighs. "Look, Rachel, I'm sure Quinn was telling you the truth and isn't ditching the kids for some whore-"
"No I know, I just need you to look after the kids so I can go speak to her."
She hears some rustling and believes that Santana has started to get clothed. "What are you going to say?"
Rachel walks down the stairs after having Alex glare at her with a cute little pout on his face. He urges her to go into the kitchen. "I'm going to apologise. And hopefully mend things."
"About fucking time. I'm on my way."
Across town
Quinn stands at her balcony, the divorce papers in her hands. After spending the last hour packing her things, she decided a nice bit of fresh air would allow her to breathe.
Her grip on them tightens when the wind blows ever so slightly. As much as she wants to just let them go and watch them fly away, she doesn't. Rachel wants this. Well, that's what she thought until Jenny told her differently.
Still, if what Jenny told her just happened to be a coincidence, then she's going to grip them with all her life.
She still hasn't been able to sign them. Two hours ago, Finn marched into this office and demanded she signed them.
In the last year that Quinn has worked with Jenny, Quinn has come to realise that Jenny is a big believer in fate and true love and soul mates. She's also come to realise that Jenny very much believes Quinn and Rachel to be soul mates. Or OTP or whatever.
Quinn sighs and reads the words she has read a thousand times already. The papers said they were to have shared custody of the kids. Rachel (or Finn, Quinn assumes) wishes to only see Quinn when their either picking up or dropping the kids off at each others respective homes. The first time she read those words, it broke Quinn's heart. Did Rachel really hate her so much that she wanted to see as little as possible of Quinn during their divorce?
Now, with what Finn had said to her earlier, Quinn knows that the majority of this is Finn's influence.
But there's something in the back of Quinn's mind that's saying maybe it's not. Maybe this is what Rachel wants.
She looked so broken during their argument. Quinn had never seen her wife look like that before, and to know that it was her doing. It breaks Quinn's heart.
Quinn hears the door to her office open.
Without turning around, Quinn sighs and says "I thought I told you to go home and get some rest, Jen."
"She did."
As quick as a bullet, Quinn spins round, coming face to face with Rachel dressed Quinn's old College sweatshirt and jeans. Quinn smiles softly. She always loved it when Rachel wore her college jumpers, they were one size too big and seemed to swallow her up. She always looked adorable.
"Rachel." Quinn breathes. "What- What are you doing here? Where are the kids?"
Rachel takes a step towards Quinn and smiles gently. "They're fine, Santana's looking after them. I came here to apologise."
That's when Quinn notices the tray in Rachel's hand and immediately, she recognises what is sitting upon the tray. A smile graces Quinn's face when she looks upon Rachel's "I'm Sorry" cookies. Looking at the messy pink and green icing mess, Quinn knows Rachel had help from a certain five year old boy.
"Quinn, I need to tell you something."
Quinn only nods and watches Rachel carefully as the brunette takes another step forward.
"I love you. I love you so much and I am so sorry for everything that has happened these past few months."
Quinn folds her arms across her chest and raises an eyebrow.
Rachel falters at Quinn's reaction. "You're the love of my life, Quinn. You're the mother of our two beautiful children and there's no one else I want to spend the rest of my life with,"
Quinn eyes the cookies. "So, what? You thought that baking your 'i'm sorry' cookies and coming to my office at-" Quinn checks her watch - "ten to midnight and apologising was going to be enough for me to forgive you and take you back?" Quinn steps towards Rachel, making sure her face gives nothing away.
"You thought that if you said 'I love you' one last time and arriving wearing my favourite outfit on you and looking as beautiful as ever was going to be enough for me to forgive you?" She asks, walking so she's right in front of Rachel, so close that Rachel has to tilt her head slightly to look at her. But not too close that she knocks the tray of cookies. Rachel gulps, looking extremely nervous.
Very slowly, Quinn reaches down and picks up one of the cookies. She makes sure she holds eye contact with Rachel as she speaks her next words.
"If so," She says, "then you were absolutely, one hundred percent correct, Rachel Barbra Berry."
Her signature cheeky smile pulls up on her face and she takes a bite from the cookie. Before Rachel can even form a reply, Quinn swallows her bite and connects her lips to Rachel's for the first time in months.
Quinn distantly hears the sound of the tray falling to floor before feeling Rachel's hands grip her white shirt and pulls her closer. A moan escapes Quinn when she feels Rachel's tongue against her lips. It's been so long.
This kiss is completely different to all the other kisses the two of them have shared. Not only is this kiss as passionate as their first kiss, it's as loving as their kisses that followed. They both pour everything into this one. Every promise ever made between the two of them - whether it's past, present or future - is exchanged in this kiss. Every laugh and hug shared is in this kiss. Every single thought and emotion the two have shared is exchanged in this moment.
When everything they could ever feel is passed over, the pair finally pull apart.
"Fabray." Rachel whispers against Quinn's lips.
Quinn makes a noise of confusion in her throat.
Rachel pulls back so she can look Quinn in the eyes. Her hands move to cup Quinn's cheeks.
"Rachel Barbra Berry - Fabray." Rachel says.
Quinn smiles lovingly at Rachel and gently pushes a strand of hair behind her ear. Her fingers runs down a smooth cheek, over plump lips and down Rachel's throat.
"I am yours and you are mine." Quinn whispers.
Rachel grins before pulling Quinn down into another kiss. She quickly pulls away and peers round the office. "Why are your things packed?"
Quinn hums. "I quit. Well, Sue fired me, but I basically quit." Quinn gently strokes her wife's cheek. "I promise I'll no longer put work before you and the kids."
With a smile, Rachel pulls Quinn into another kiss, silently telling her what she thinks about the change Quinn has made.
And as Quinn promises herself to her wife once more, the wind blows past the couple and pulls the divorce papers along on it's journey around the city.
Thank you all to those who have stuck by this story from the beginning. i had a lot of fun writing it. I think this is the story I had the most fun writing compared to the others. It's a bit more light hearted than the others, with the themes not being quite as dark (vampire who killed her parents, two girls who are in love - one suffers from a mental disorder, another loses her father and then a runaway victim of domestic abuse who lived on the streets for years.)
If anyone recognised the game of thrones quote i threw in, then you get a Rachel Berry approved gold star!
I will be writing a short, sort of fun epilogue to completely finish this story and to probably show what people want to happen :)
anyway, once again thank you all so much for the supports and maybe I will see you guys soon?
Thank you
Eloise x