As promised, the Epilogue. There is payback in here towards Finn.
The Fabray - Berry household - Christmas Day.
A soft moan escapes Rachel when she feels light kisses be placed against her neck. She sighs dreamily and smiles, her eyes still closed. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she rolls onto her back and happily greets the body she feels move on top of her.
"Merry Christmas, Rae."
Shivers run down the spine at the words whispered lovingly in her ear. Opening her eyes, Rachel gazes up at her wonderful wife. A grin breaks out onto her face when she notices the adoring look in the hazel eyes she loves.
lifting her head up, Rachel connects hers and Quinn's lips together in a kiss, her hands moving to lock round Quinn's neck. She can't wipe off the grin she has on her face when they pull apart.
"Merry Christmas Quinn." She whispers, her fingers lightly drawing a pattern on the back of Quinn's neck.
It's been five months since the fairy tale moment in Quinn's office and life for the Fabray - Berry's went back to how it was before Quinn got her job at Sue's publication company. Rachel feels happier now than she ever has and she feels that what happened between her and her wife only made them stronger as a couple. They've learnt that trust is what they need the most - something which after a few rocky weeks, they managed to slowly build up between each other.
Life was tough for a while after Quinn quit the publication company. just like Sue had promised, she made sure no company would hire Quinn. Seeing Quinn look so upset by this, Rachel decided to take matters into her own hands. Speaking to Santana, she worked out the best way Quinn could start up her own publication company. With this business plan drawn up, both Santana and Rachel sat down with Quinn one evening and told her about it.
The last time Rachel had seen Quinn looks so happy was on their wedding day. Quinn had happily agreed, especially after Rachel brushed away any doubts Quinn had, by pointing out that with how passionate Quinn is about literature and the impact of literature, she is smart enough and capable enough to publish books that can send the right message out to the world.
And so, with that, Quinn started up her first ever publications company.
"IT'S CHRISTMAS!"
With a roll of her eyes, Quinn rolls off of Rachel and back onto her own side as their children come rushing into the room and jump onto their bed.
"IT'S CHRISTMAS!" Alex squeals excitedly, jumping up and down on the bed.
Lucy just sits on the bed and grins widely, watching her little brother with excitement.
Rachel raises an eyebrow at her little boy. "Is it? I thought it was boxing day." She looks over at Quinn for confirmation.
Her wife smirks at her and then turns her attention to the little boy who has ceased his jumping and is looking at her with wide eyes. "Yeah it is. Sorry buddy, you're a day late."
The look of disappointment and sadness in Alex's face is almost enough to make Rachel crack.
"Am I?" he asks, sitting down glumly on the bed and looking to his big sister. Lucy just shrugs, having caught up with her mothers' joke.
"Yeah, you must have slept through it." Rachel says, glancing over at Quinn with a barely concealed smile.
Alex narrows his eyes at his mothers and notices their expressions. His eyes widen and he gasps before jumping up. "You're lying! It is christmas!"
Both Quinn and Rachel begin laughing and Rachel lunges forward, grabbing Alex round the waist and pulling him down to lie down between her and Quinn. "Yes it is you little nugget!" She says, tickling his little body.
Lucy crawls up the bed into the open arms of Quinn and happily snuggles into her Momma.
Alex giggles as Rachel continues her assault of tickles on him. He manages to wiggle away from Rachel and hurriedly crawls off the bed.
"Come on! We gots presents to open!" He says before scurrying out of the room.
Rachel and Quinn look at each other and then down at Lucy with raised eyebrows.
Lucy giggles. "Auntie 'Tana taught how to speak Lima Heights."
"Of course she did." Quinn mumbles with an eye roll.
The sound of footsteps are heard and Alex appears back into the room, breathing heavily and looking very red in the face.
"What are you waiting for?" He asks before rushing out once again.
Quinn, Rachel and Lucy all giggle before following the boy.
Rachel smiles at her children who are both surround in their presents and ripped wrapping paper. Both of them are pre-occupied with the presents Quinn and Rachel brought them. Quinn lies against Rachel, her head resting on the smaller woman's chest, their legs wrapped around each other.
"They're so happy." Quinn says, taking a sip of her coffee.
Rachel kisses the top of Quinn's head and begins to play with her hair. "Of course they are, they're surrounded by new toys."
Quinn chuckles and then sits up. "That reminds me!" Quinn says, before getting up and rushing off.
Rachel raises an eyebrow at her wife who scurries into the room, in a similar fashion to Alex in the morning. Quinn grins sheepishly at Rachel and removes her hands from behind her back, presenting a present to the brunette.
Rachel smiles. "I told you not to get me anything for christmas since you got me presents for Hanukkah."
Quinn blushes. "I know, but I still wanted to get you something." She hands the small, neatly wrapped box to Rachel and sits down beside her on the sofa. Rachel moves her legs and places them on Quinn's lap before starting to unwrap the present.
Slowly, Rachel opens up the blue velvet box and carefully picks up the long silver chain. Sitting at the end of the chain is a silver infinity symbol and at the cross over of the infinity symbol is two stones. One is a deep purple, cut into the shape of a triangle and the other is a dark blue cut in the same way as the purple one.
"Quinn…it's beautiful." She whispers, her eyes glancing up to her wife and back to the necklace.
Quinn blushes and scratches the back of her neck. "The two stones are our birthstones. This one here," she points to the purple one "Is my birthstone - Amethyst" she moves her finger to the second stone "And this one is yours - Tazanite."
Rachel is speechless and looks up at her wife with the most loving eyes. Quinn continues her explanation. "With them on the infinity symbol it means that you and I will be together forever. Our love is infinite."
Before Quinn could even react, Rachel leaps upon her wife and showers her in kisses before pressing a loving one onto her lips. Rachel giggles when she feels Quinn hug her tighter and kiss her a bit harder.
It's only the tiny "Ewwws" they hear that pulls them apart. They look towards their children who both have their noses scrunched up at their parents.
Rachel laughs and turns back to Quinn. "I love you."
"I love you more."
The brunette pulls back from Quinn and looks down at the necklace. She picks it up and holds it out to Quinn. "Put it on for me?" she asks.
Quinn smiles and nods, motioning for Rachel to turn round. Once the necklace is securely clasped round her neck, Quinn presses a soft kiss to her back and rests her chin onto Rachel's shoulder.
"What's wrong?" she asks when she notices that Rachel is silent, playing with the necklace, looking slightly down.
Rachel sighs. "It's just- I wish I got you something better, more meaningful. This is so beautiful, Quinn and holds so much meaning. The books I brought you and the cufflinks are nothing compared to this."
"Hey," Quinn coaxes, getting Rachel to look at her, "The presents you got me mean everything to me. I still can't believe you managed to find the original copy of A Brave New World - and with it the original signature of Aldous Huxley. That means so much to me. And the cufflinks - I love the fact that you went and brought customised cufflinks that have yours and mine's initials on them. Now, every time I'm at work and I'm missing you, all I have to do is look down at them."
Rachel smiles softly at her wife and presses a kiss to the corner of her mouth.
"I love you." Quinn whispers.
"I love you more."
A little while later, after everyone had gone and gotten showered and dressed - all of them wearing christmas sweaters on request by not just Rachel, but Alex as well, Rachel and Quinn found themselves standing in the kitchen, working away to get the christmas dinner ready.
It was whilst Rachel was cutting up the carrots and Quinn was stirring the cranberry sauce that they heard a knock at the door. Both looked to each other in confusion.
"You told Santana and Kurt three o'clock, right?" Quinn asks, removing the spoon from the sauce and placing it on the counter.
Rachel pushes the sliced carrots off the knife and into a pot filled with other vegetables. "Yeah, I did. Did you tell Puck?"
Quinn nods. "Yeah. And Brittany in case Santana forgot."
There's another knock, this one a bit more insistent than the last.
"Momma, Mommy, there's someone at the door!" Alex shouts from the living room where he's playing with his new wicked play set.
Rachel places the knife down and follows Quinn as she walks to the front door. Standing slightly behind her wife, she waits in anticipation as Quinn opens the door.
However, when she recognises the figure standing int he doorway, her anticipation falls and anger replaces it.
"What are you doing here, Finn?" Rachel asks, glancing at her wife. She notices how Quinn's jaw has become clenched and her eye have narrowed.
Finn grins and waves awkwardly. "Uh hey, Rach." He looks to Quinn, his face morphing like he tasted something sour. "Quinn."
Quinn merely grunts back at him. Rachel purses her lips at the man in front of them and folds her arms over her chest. "You haven't answered my question."
"Can I come in? It smells good." He says, about to step in, only to have Quinn step forward and growl.
"No, you're not welcome." Quinn growls, her hand tightening on the doorknob.
"Listen Blondie-"
"Finn, just answer me." Rachel says with an annoyed huff, her anger quickly increasing.
Finn scratches at the back of his head and gives Rachel a lazy smile. "Oh right. I just wanted to apologise to you." He looks over at Quinn. "Both of you." He adds a little reluctantly.
Both Rachel and Quinn raise their eyebrow, giving Finn a matching look. Finn blanches at this, the realisation of how much of a married couple they are hitting him.
"I'm sorry for what I did, I know it wasn't the right thing to do." He grins afterwards, waiting for Rachel to let him off the hook.
But Rachel won't let him.
"You're not forgiven." She says, smiling when Quinn lets out a snort.
The look that appears on Finn's face tells the couple that he was not expecting that answer.
"What? B-But it's the time for forgiveness-"
"That's thanksgiving, moron." Quinn bites.
Finn glares at Quinn. "Shut up! I only came to say sorry to Rachel if I'm honest, not to you. You deserved what I did."
Rachel notices the fist that Quinn's hand has curled into and how her arm begins to raise. Rachel also feels the same anger as Quinn and quickly places a hand on the arm. Quinn glances at her with a pleading look.
"Let me." Rachel whispers low enough for only Quinn to hear. Rachel's been wanting to hit Finn for so long now.
"You fucked up your marriage, not me. So how about you just go the fu-"
A loud crack is heard as Rachel's fist connects with Finn's face, causing the tall man to stumble back and slip on the icy porch, landing onto his backside. Blood begins to run down his face from where Rachel had hit his nose.
Rachel, running high on adrenaline doesn't feel the pain yet in her hand and instead, stands in the doorway.
"Merry Christmas, Finn." She sneers before closing the door on him.
"So let me get this straight." Santana says later on in the day. "You punched Finn?"
Rachel sighs, smiling up at Quinn when her wife returns with a towel wrapped in freshly frozen ice and places it back down on Rachel's now swollen and bruised hand.
Everyone is sat at the dinner table, their plates completely empty and their bellies full after Rachel and Quinn happily fed them the christmas dinner they made. Puck is sat back in his char, rubbing at his belly, a smudge of cranberry sauce in the corner of his lips, listening to Alex as he chats away to his Uncle Puck about his new presents.
Kurt is looking at Rachel with a horrified look, whilst Blaine just looks concerned for Rachel's hand. Brittany is talking to Lucy about her new book whilst Santana stares at Rachel with a disbelieving and proud look on her face.
"Yes, Santana, for the fifth time, I punched Finn." Rachel says tiredly.
Quinn sits back in her spot at the head of the table and rubs a soothing hand on Rachel's shoulder.
"So you're telling me that you, Rachel Berry, the girl who doesn't condone any sort of violence, punched the man child that is Finn Hudson?" Santana says, her eyes narrowing.
Rachel narrows her eyes. "Yes."
"Baby, I think we've gathered by now that she did hit him." Brittany says, having finished her conversation with Lucy who's now turned her attention to one of her new books.
Santana laughs and leans back in her chair. "I don't fucking believe it."
"Language!" Quinn, Rachel, Brittany, Kurt and Alex all shout at the Latina who just laughs.
"I think it's hot." Puck says with a smirk. His smirk quickly disappears at the glare Quinn sends his way.
Rachel laughs at Puck and looks to her wife. Quinn smirks at her. "It was." She says, causing Rachel to blush.
After a while, Quinn gets up and brings in the christmas pudding. After lighting it and distributing portions to everyone, all was quiet at the dinner table as they all dug into their dessert.
"So you actually hit him?"
A chorus of groans follows Santana's question.
After dinner and the gang helped Quinn and Rachel clean up, they found themselves in the sitting room, drinking eggnog and enjoying each other's company. Santana is sat on the sofa, watching Brittany with a fond smile as the dancer looks through the many cd's Rachel owns. Puck is sat with Blaine, talking about a game that was on the other night. To Rachel, it seems like their talk is getting a little heated between the two men, but they both look like they are having fun.
Kurt is sat on the floor with Alex, acting out scenes from Wicked with Alex's play set and Lucy's sat on the other end of the sofa, her nose deep in her new book - The Hunger Games. Rachel had been sceptical about buying it for their daughter due to the violence she had seen from the films, but Quinn calmly explained the political and social problems the book explores which Lucy can benefit from.
As for Quinn and Rachel, well, they're currently sat on the arm chair together, Rachel sits happily on top of her wife, watching as Quinn wraps a bandage round her bruised hand. Once finished, Quinn presses a gentle kiss to Rachel's wrapped knuckles and then kisses her cheek. Rachel sighs contently and leans back against her wife, placing her head on her shoulder.
The excited squeal the sounds from Brittany causes Rachel to jump in her wife's lap. The dancer places a CD into the stereo and then turns round, her eyes set on Santana as the first line of chords of Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas" begins to play.
Rachel and Quinn watch with amusement as Brittany begins to sing along to the music and slowly make her way to a very embarrassed Santana. Brittany curls her finger beckoning Santana to stand up and join her, only for Santana to shake her head.
When the beat picks up, Brittany skips over to Santana and grabs her hands, pulling the Latina up from her place on the sofa and begins to dance, shaking her body around the Latina.
"I don't want a lot for christmas
There is just one thing I need"
Both Quinn and Rachel laugh at the look on Santana's face before providing the backing vocals for Brittany.
"(And I) Don't care about the presents
Underneath the Christmas tree."
With a roll of her eyes, Santana gives into Brittany and begins to dance with her.
As Brittany sings the next lines, she makes her way to Lucy and takes the book away from the girl, who attempts to grab the book back. Rachel hears Quinn chuckle as they watch Brittany pick their daughter up in a familiar fashion as she did Santana, and start moving her arms to dance, still happily singing to the song.
"I just want you for my own
More than you can ever know."
Brittany then turns her attention to Alex after lightly pushing Lucy over to Santana, who's now dancing with Rachel's daughter, singing along with Brittany. Alex doesn't need anymore attention before he abandons his play set, grabs Kurt's hand and pulls him up to dance with him.
Rachel chuckles as her little boy skips around the coffee table, pulling Kurt along with him as they both join in with Brittany's singing.
Soon enough, Blaine joins in, doing his own version of Carlton's dance. Puck crosses his arms over his chest and shakes his head when Brittany bounds over to him.
"Make my wish come true."
All it takes for Puck to join in is Alex's little doe eyes staring at him before he relents and begins to dance with Alex, showing the little boy his signature twist move.
Quinn and Rachel watch with fond smiles as their friends and children dance around their living room, all singing their heads off to Mariah Carey. Kurt has taken to do his shimmy which he teaches to Lucy, causing Quinn to chuckle at how ridiculous Kurt looks with his shimmering jumper and his daughters shaking shoulders. Puck has turned his attention to some awful dad dancing, even throwing in the sprinkler move, causing Rachel to cringe slightly. Blaine is in his own little world, happily dancing about. Santana has taken to standing on their coffee table, shaking her hips about and Brittany and Alex are dancing together, their hands joined as they do their won version of a ballroom dance.
Rachel's foot has started tapping along with the music as she hums long to the music. Quinn hugs her wife tightly and places a kiss behind her ear, singing softly in her wife's ear. Rachel grins at this and begins to dance in her seat. Seeing this, Brittany dances over to the couple, singing all the while she does.
"And everyone is singing
I hear those sleigh bells ringing."
Brittany grabs hold of Rachel's hands and pulls her up. Rachel immediately joins in with Brittany's singing.
"Santa, won't you bring me the one I really need?
Won't you please bring my baby to me?"
Quinn is quick to follow her wife and both of them join in with their friends and family in their dancing. Brittany helps Santana jump off the coffee table and they begin to dance together, criss-crossing their arms and spinning each other. Rachel grabs hold of her dancing daughter and spins her around before beginning to dance with her. Quinn lifts her son up onto her feet and begins to dance with him, using her own feet to guide his in a little jig.
"Oh, I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know"
Rachel and Quinn soon find each other again and begin to dance, with Quinn wrapping her arms around Rachel's midriff whilst Rachel presses her back into her wife. They sway side to side before Quinn spins Rachel out and spins her back in, continuing their swaying.
"Make my wish come true
Baby all I want for Christmas is
You, (You baby)"
When the song comes to an end and the next track plays, everyone take a breath and start laughing together. None of the adults have dance so much since their time back in Dubai. Lucy and Alex have both taken to lying down on the floor, their legs and arms spread right out and their chests heaving for air.
"Best Christmas Ever." Rachel says, feeling Quinn wrap her up in a hug. The others agree and fall back onto the settee, except for Brittany who once again bounds over to the stereo.
After a few moments of silence, Brittany speaks.
"Hey Rach, isn't this yours and Quinn's wedding song?" Brittany asks, holding up the familiar CD to Rachel.
"You mean at their second wedding." Santana says with a annoyed expression. "You know, the one we were actually invited to?" Though her words seem bitter, Santana sends Rachel a wink, which Rachel simply replies by sticking out her tongue before turning her attention to Brittany.
"Yes it is, Brittany."
"Cool."
Alex sits up in excitement, having finally caught his breath. "Can we hear it? Please?" He asks, turning the doe eyes he used on Puck to his mothers.
Puck watches with a smirk when the mothers relent and agree, telling Brittany to put the track on. At least he's not the only one who can't resist the little boys eyes.
Kurt, Brittany and Alex all squeal in delight at the mothers' words and Brittany happily plays the track. All eyes turn to Quinn and Rachel as the first bars begin to play.
Quinn turns to her wife and holds out a hand. "My dear, may I have this dance?" She asks with a slightly bow.
Rachel grins, a slight blush covering her cheeks. "Why, of course." She says, taking Quinn's hand and giggling when the blonde pulls her close. She watches as Quinn connects Rachel's right hand to her left, careful to keep her touch light as to not hurt Rachel's bruised hand, and places her other hand on Rachel's hip. Rachel lifts her left hand up and place it on the back of Quinn's neck, assuming the position they used at their wedding.
"My mind runs away to you
With the thought I hope you see
Can't see where it's wondered to
But I know where it wants to be."
Rachel smiles up at her wife, her heart soaring at the affectionate look Quinn gives her as they begin to slowly dance, their bodies moving in sync. Rachel can feel the eyes of her friends and family on her, but she doesn't care, all she has eyes for his her wife in front of her.
"I wait here patiently though time is moving slow.
I have one vacancy and I wanted you to know that."
Quinn spins Rachel out of her arms, smiling like an idiot at the giggle that escapes the brunette. She spins the woman back to her and with grace, begins to lead the two of them around the room again, spinning the two of them every so often.
"You're the one designed for me
A distant stranger that I will complete."
Quinn dips Rachel, her hand securely supporting Rachel's back. They both smile at each other and Rachel realises their hands to loving cup Quinn's cheek. She's never been happier with her wife than on their wedding day when they got dance to this song with her.
"I know you're out there, we're meant to be
So keep your head up and make it to me.
And make it to me."
When Quinn picks Rachel back up, the smaller woman notices that Kurt and Blaine have joined in with their dancing, looking at each other with loving smiles. She grins at her friend before turning her attention back to her wife.
Quinn and Rachel continue to dance together as the song continues through the next verse. Soon, Brittany and Alex have joined in, with Alex standing on Brittany's feet as she guides the little boy round the room. Puck and Lucy soon join, copying Brittany and Alex's stance.
Rachel and Quinn slow down their dance so they're just slowly turning in a circle, holding each other and remembering how much this song speaks to the both of them. They both feel as if their wife is the perfect counter balance to them, that they fit together like two pieces on a jigsaw puzzle. They remember how heartbroken they both felt that day on the beach when they thought they'd never see each other again, only for Quinn to present the plane ticket to Rachel.
After everything they've been through, Rachel can't help but feel that the song speaks to them now more than ever. They are meant to be together, even when they're apart, they'll still find themselves back together.
"I know you're out there, we're meant to be
So keep your head up and make it to me."
And as Quinn pulls back from Rachel and places a gentle, loving kiss upon her lips, Rachel knows that this is where she belongs. Here in Quinn's arms is her home and no one can replace her or her two wonderful children and amazing group of friends.
"Make it to me
Make it to me
Make it to me"
And as Rachel takes a look round the room, looking at her friends dancing with her children and then back to her wife, she knows that this…
This will forever be her perfect family portrait.
The End.
Thank you to all of you who have left reviews, followed the story or just simply read it. If it wasn't for you guys, I probably wouldn't have finished the story like with two of the other ones I used to do. Thanks so much again for the support.
The songs I used in this chapter were "All I want For Christmas Is You" - Mariah Carey and "Make It To Me" - Sam Smith.
I just wanted to quickly explain my choice for using Sam Smith as Faberry's weeding song. A couple of months ago on my tumblr, I don't if any of you saw, but i created a set of Faberry manias that used lyrics from the song. When I first heard the song, Faberry immediately popped into my head and I needed to make something that used them and the song. As I thought about the song more and wrote chapters to this story, i realised how much it fit in with the Faberry I wrote and how perfect the song was. Some of you may disagree, but this is just my opinion.
Whether you disagree or not, if you haven't already (especially after the music video he released with Dianna in it) I strongly suggest you go and check out Sam Smith and his music - it's just amazing and so emotional.
Anyway, I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you again to all you guys for sticking by me even though some of you didn't like the way I wrote Rachel or Quinn in this. It still meant a lot that you were passionate about the ship enough to point flaws out on how they wouldn't act etc.
Take care of yourselves and maybe I will see you in the near future (I do have a new story brewing that I am VERY heavily planning)
Eloise
xx