A/N - Thanks everyone for all your Favorites, Follows and Reviews! I love that I have such invested readers. Your support means a lot! Happy New Year!
Chapter 38 - Past Mistakes Can Bite You in the Ass
Rachel gazed down at the photo of a little boy, probably around two years old. His blue eyes, the same shade of color as Jasmine's, went perfectly with his brown unruly hair. He was sitting on lush green grass and laughing as he looked up at the person behind the camera.
But what captured Rachel's attention immediately was the big bright smile on his little face.
She closed her eyes and swallowed the lump in her throat. Oh shit…
Jasmine took a step toward the singer and said softly, "Our son is what happened, Rachel."
The air in the hotel room suddenly felt very hot and very claustrophobic. Rachel sat on the chair, still stunned into silence as her mind whirled around and around. She was now regretting that last shot of vodka she'd had with the band a few minutes ago.
She just kept staring down at the photo of the smiling little brown haired boy.
After what felt like an eternity, she shook her head. No. No, this kid couldn't be hers. There was no way.
"He's not mine," she stated firmly as she held the photo out for Jasmine to take, her eyes looking into blue ones.
But the blonde refused to take it. She just stood there with her mouth open, not believing the singer could just dismiss this so easily. "Excuse me? Did you just say that he wasn't yours?" she asked in disbelief.
Rachel took a deep breath then stood up to face the woman. "First of all, please put your clothes back on. I don't want to look at your bits. Secondly… yeah, I'm saying that is not my son."
Silence hung heavy in the air.
Jasmine huffed out a laugh, folding her arms across her chest. "Bullshit, Rachel."
The singer looked at her incredulously. "Bullshit? Seriously? You show up out of nowhere, in my hotel room. Which by the way - how the hell did you even get in? And you decide to lay naked on my bed waiting for me?! And then you proceed to tell me that this is my son. You've got to be joking me right now!"
"He is your son, Rachel!" the angry blonde yelled at her. "You and I fucked more times than I can even remember-"
"Yeah, and I wore protection every time!" Rachel defended, running her hands through her hair.
"Not every time, Rach," the ex-dancer smirked. "You know as well as I do-"
"You know what?" Rachel interrupted harshly. "I am so sick and tired of my past coming back to haunt me."
"Consequences are hell, aren't they?"
Rachel glanced over at Jasmine and saw a smug look on the woman's face. Her temper began to rise at the blonde's self-righteous attitude - like she was delighted to catch Rachel in a trap. "Just get your damn clothes on and get out," she told her, then walked out of the bedroom.
"That's it?! That's all you're going to say?!" Jasmine yelled as she stomped after the singer.
Rachel whirled back on her. "Why now, Jaz? Why after years of no contact, all of a sudden you come back? Why didn't you tell me when you got pregnant? It wasn't like we were strangers."
"Yeah, I know," she said with a hint of pain in her voice. "According to you, we were only 'fuck buddies'," she said, her fingers indicating quote marks. "But I wanted more, Rachel! I love you! I've always loved you! Why wasn't I good enough for you?!"
"Are you insane?" the diva asked, shaking her head in bewilderment.
Jasmine spun around and marched back into the bedroom, coming back moments later and thrusting the photo at Rachel. "Look at him again and tell me he isn't yours! He looks exactly like you!" her anger growing with each word.
Rachel snatched the photo and looked at it again. Sure, the kid had dark hair, an olive complexion, and a bright smile, but that didn't mean that he was automatically hers. She shook her head again and looked up at the blonde. "I looked again, Jasmine, and he's still not mine."
"Fuck you, Rachel! The reason I never told you about him until now is because I knew you would reject him! I knew you wouldn't accept him as yours! You and your 'I'm sterile' bullshit! But guess what? You're not sterile, Rachel! The other kid you have with that blonde tramp is proof of it!"
Anger flared in Rachel's dark eyes. You could hit her all you wanted, but the moment her family was insulted, the situation would get ugly real fast. "Shut the fuck up, Jasmine! Don't you dare disrespect my girlfriend!" she said, taking a step closer to her. "You don't know anything about her or our relationship or our son!"
Jasmine scoffed as she rolled her eyes. "So how did she convince you that her son was yours? Are you even sure that he is yours?" she taunted the singer. "Tell me, Rachel… was she your fuck buddy before I was? She must have been since her kid is older than mine. Does she know about that soft spot behind your left ear that makes your cock twitch every time it gets kissed? Or what about those high notes you can only reach when you're balls deep in my throat? You like a woman without a gag reflex, don't you, Rachel?"
The brunette glared at her, her face growing red in anger. That was one of the things she always hated about Jasmine - the blonde always knew the exact buttons to push to get a reaction from the singer, and she wasn't afraid to push them, repeatedly if need be. Most of their sex had been angry sex after Jasmine had pushed the brunette too far. "Shut up. And get the hell out of my hotel room," Rachel ground out through her teeth. She was hitting her tolerance level very quickly and the sassy blonde had better start to listen because she was only one wrong word away from…
But before the thought was even completed, Jasmine continued with her jabs, "I bet she left you." At the tiny twitch in Rachel's eyes, Jasmine knew she had hit a bulls-eye. She smirked. "That's it, isn't it? You actually had feeling for that girl, and like the whore that she is, she fucked you then left you." She laughed with glee. "Wow… I can't believe the sex addict womanizer who is Rachel Berry actually has a heart. But I do have to admit, by the pictures I've seen of her, I bet her tight hot pussy tastes like gold."
The words were barely out of Jasmine's mouth before Rachel's palm connected with her cheek, the loud slap echoing around the room.
"Shut. The. Hell. Up!" the diva snapped, her eyes blazing.
Jasmine's eyes were wide, tears beginning to pool as she held her hand to her throbbing cheek, her long blonde hair in disarray.
Then Rachel grabbed the blonde's bicep and drug her toward the suite door, not caring that the ex-dancer was still completely nude. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and hit speed dial. When Matt answered she told him to get his ass to her room. "You come anywhere near me or Quinn again and I promise you will regret it. I will make your life hell, Jasmine," the brunette threatened as she wrenched the door open.
Thankfully Matt's room was right next to Rachel's. And when he stepped out into the hallway, he stared in shock at the sight before him. Rachel, more pissed off than he had ever seen her, was shoving a crying naked blonde woman toward him.
"Get this bitch out of here!" the diva's yelled. "I don't want to see her again!"
"You will regret this, Rachel! He is your son!" Jasmine yelled back, her eyes growing just as hard and determined as the singer's. "He is yours dammit!"
"Just shut the fuck up and leave us alone!" the brunette yelled, turning back to walk into her room, slamming the door behind her.
~~~~~QR~~~~~
"Honey, I'm home! The party can now officially start!" Rachel heard a woman's voice yell through the tour bus the next morning. Moments later the door to her bedroom flung open and a head of blonde hair, streaked lightly with auburn highlights, poked through. "What up, bitch?"
Without turning from her task, Rachel sighed and rolled her eyes, "Seriously, Cassie, how much more charming can you get?"
Cassie laughed, stepping into Rachel's bedroom. "I'm a ball of freakin' sunshine," she returned as she reached down and slapped the singer on the ass. "Let loose a little, Star." Suddenly realizing what the brunette was doing, Cassie furrowed her brow. "Why are you packing?"
Ignoring her best friend's question, Rachel nodded to the paper bag in Cassie's grasp. "Whatcha got there?"
Cassie grinned, then reached into the depths of the bag and pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniel. Rachel smiled as she looked at the familiar rectangular bottle. Back before New Directions had become famous, she and Cassie would sit in their tiny LA apartment and pass a Jack Daniel back and forth, dreaming about what their lives would be like once Cassie became a high-powered lawyer and Rachel made it big in the music industry. It was a tradition they kept as the years went by and even when fame and fortune was realized.
"Ah…"
Cassie shrugged. "What can I say? I've missed you, Rach."
"Cassie, it's 8 o'clock in the morning!"
The blonde just shrugged and held out the bottle.
Rachel only paused for a moment before she grabbed the whiskey bottle from her best friend, popped the top with a practiced twist of her wrist and took a long chug. The last 8 hours had been the shittiest of Rachel's life and she knew she desperately needed something to help calm her.
Cassie took the bottle back and took her own swig, watching as the brunette went back to packing. "What the hell are you doing? Your tour isn't over yet."
"I need to go home," Rachel told her as she continued to stuffed clothes into her bag.
Cassie arched her eyebrow and just looked at her best friend. She had never seen Rachel act this way, the brunette was shaking and Cassie was pretty sure she hadn't slept in a while due to the black circles and bags under her eyes. "Why, Rachel? What's going on?"
Rachel shook her head as she zipped up her bag. "I just have to go and see Quinn," she said vaguely as she passed the blonde on her way out the door to gather her things from the bathroom.
But Cassie grabbed Rachel's arm, effectively stopping her. "Talk to me, Rachel. What the hell is going on? I've never seen you like this and I'm worried."
When Rachel met Cassie's soft eyes, all the anger and frustration and helplessness she had been drowning in for the last several hours just melted. She let out a long breath, her shoulder sagging as she fell down on the bed next to her bag. "Why does life sometimes decide to just up and kick you in the balls?" she asked. "Just when life seems to be finally going smooth and great, the universe just has to throw in some drama to fuck it all up."
"I'm guessing this has to do with Quinn somehow?"
Rachel nodded. "Kind of."
Cassie handed the bottle back to the diva. "Tell me."
Rachel took another much-needed chug. "Jasmine," was all she said.
Cassie thought for a moment, then her eyes widened and she scoffed. "That dancer bitch that was all over your cock a couple years ago? The one I adamantly told you was a clingy whore?"
The singer rolled her eyes and let out a breath. "Yeah. That one."
"What has she done now? I didn't think Holly hired her for this tour."
"She didn't," Rachel said, then went on to inform her best friend about the incident the night before.
Cassie listened, inserting commentary as the story progressed, mainly just words like "bitch" "skank" and "whore".
"The kid's not mine," Rachel stated adamantly after she finished.
"How do you know that, Rachel?" Cassie asked, one eyebrow raised in question.
"Because… because I always made sure I used protection. Granted there were a small handful of times when I was too drunk or whatever to get a condom on, but I know for a fact I always wore one with Jasmine. I made sure to never screw her when I was drunk." Rachel's head fell into her hands. "Dammit, Cassie! I need to get home to tell Quinn. If she finds out some other way, she's going to freak and my relationship with her will be over!"
"Why haven't you told her yet?" the blonde wondered. "I thought you two were all about lovey dovey, bare your souls, honesty crap."
"We are," Rachel assured her. "But I feel like I should do this in person."
Cassie thought for a moment. "Well, from what I remember of Jasmine, the bitch won't stop until she gets what she wants. And coming from your lawyer…" she put her hand over her own heart and smirked, "I counsel you to get a paternity test as soon as possible."
"What about Quinn?"
"Rachel, you have slept with hundreds of girls, and Quinn knows that. I'm sure she's wondered about the possibility of there being many Rachel Jrs running around. But this thing with Jasmine can thankfully be resolved quickly. And if the test proves the kid isn't yours, I say why stress Quinn out for no reason?"
Rachel thought about her best friend's words for a few minutes, weighing each pro and con. Finally she nodded. "Okay, but we have to get this resolved as soon as possible."
Cassie nodded. "We will. I'll do some research and track down the skank-"
"She conveniently left her number on my bed before I threw her out."
The lawyer laughed. "Good. That will save us some time."
~~~~~QR~~~~~
Quinn had the day off and she was so thankful. The gallery was extremely busy and she had been conducting interviews all week for a manager as well as for additional employees. She met with several good candidates and was hoping she and Mike would be able to hire a competent staff.
But as she walked down the stairs in the house toward the kitchen, all she thought about was a fun day with Jaxon. Today was the day they went to his Gymboree class. It was one of Jaxon's favorite classes where he got to play with different musical instruments and dance and play and he had already made a lot of friends there.
Quinn smiled as she entered the kitchen to see Santana and Jaxon eating breakfast. With Brittany gone on tour with Rachel, Santana had been spending most of her time over with Quinn and Jaxon. And Quinn loved it. It felt normal to have her best friend live with her again.
They all said their good mornings to each other while Quinn poured herself a cup of coffee. They talked and discussed their upcoming day, Santana was going to be down at the strip club for most of the day doing paperwork and everything else that needed to be done, while Quinn and Jaxon went to Gymboree. They made plans to have an early dinner together before the evening rush at the club that the Latina needed to be back for.
After cleaning up breakfast and saying goodbye to Santana when the Latina left, Quinn clapped her hands together and turned to her son, "Who's ready to hit the gym and play the drums?"
Jaxon threw his hands up in the air and yelled, "Me play drums!"
Quinn picked him up and carried him toward the stairs. "Let's get you changed and into some clothes, then we'll go. We've got to get there early before the little… children," she would have honestly rather have said the real description of the little ass hats in Jaxon's class, but held her tongue. "… get all the good instruments. Then it becomes a bloodbath," she muttered the last part under her breath.
After twenty minutes, they were headed to Gymboree and as soon as they got there, Jaxon was excited to get inside to see his friends and play with the instruments.
Once inside, Quinn surveyed the large room full of activity. There were babies crawling around, kids running around and screaming. There was just so much noise it was overwhelming.
"Down, Mama," Jaxon said.
She set him on the carpet, but held on to him. "Wait one second, Jax," she gave him a serious look. "You throw something at someone, we'll go home and I'll put you in timeout. You know Miss Elizabeth doesn't like when kids get hurt."
Jaxon stuck out his bottom lip and mumbled, "No throwing. Promise."
Quinn smiled at him then ruffled his hair. "Alright, then go have fun, my little man." She kissed his cheek and watched as he ran off to the play area to join his friends.
Jaxon had the tendency to get angry with the other kids when someone wanted to take the toy he was playing with. He didn't like to share and when a few of them played together, Jaxon liked to be the leader, telling them how everything was to be done.
Sometimes Quinn felt bad for those kids. Jaxon definitely had the alpha gene from both sides of his family. But Quinn had been trying to help him learn how to better share with others and be more open to others ideas.
But for now, she happily watched as Jaxon played blocks with a little girl. For the moment he was being nice.
It wasn't long before the teacher stood in the middle of the open area and announced, "Alright parents, grab your child and go get a musical instrument."
Quinn took Jaxon's hand and went to the musical instrument shelf. It seemed like a chaotic mess as parents grabbed their children and all headed for the instruments.
Jaxon was able to secure himself his favorite drum - it was the loudest - before he and Quinn found a spot to sit down. Quinn watched in confusion as one parent fought with another one over a trumpet.
"It's just an instrument," she mumbled to herself. "Pick something different." Sometimes she couldn't understand the rivalry of certain parents.
Music time got underway as soon as everybody finally had an instrument. Quinn and Jaxon were having a blast, as the teacher led them in several songs and taught them the words to a few new ones. After a while she announced that it was social time for the children and parents. While Jaxon ran off to find his friends, Quinn spoke with a few of the other parents who she had known since bringing Jaxon here.
By the time it was time for them to go, Jaxon looked exhausted and Quinn was relieved to be away from all the chaos. She carried Jaxon out to the car and smiled when he fell asleep on the way home.
~~~~~QR~~~~~
When rehearsal and sound checks finally finished up, Rachel jumped down from the stage and began looking around the arena for Cassie. She finally found her at the catering table, flirting with a couple of the venue staff.
Rachel rolled her eyes as she walked over to them and grabbed Cassie's arm. "I'm sorry, boys, but I'm going to have to steal her," the singer told the two cute guys who were obviously entranced with the blonde lawyer.
"I'll see you around, boys," Cassie said with a wink before allowing Rachel to haul her off.
Once the two women were in an empty room, Rachel let go of her and immediately asked, "Is everything set up and taken care of?" It had been three days since Jasmine had invaded Rachel's life. Cassie had gone above and beyond to get in contact with the blonde woman and demand a paternity test. Jasmine had wavered at first, stating that it was guaranteed Rachel was her son's other parent, but Cassie threatened her in a way that only a pissed-as-hell Cassandra July could, and Jasmine agreed.
"Yes, Rachel. I personally called one of the directors of a lab in New York. He assured me that we would have the results of the paternity test within a day or two after they get the samples. So I informed the skank that she better get her ass, as well as her kid, down to the lab so they can take the boy's blood or spit or whatever the hell the doctor takes from him. She promised she would do it today since she's living in the Bronx now. We'll be in New York tomorrow and then you can give your sample. I already told the director to put a rush on the results, so hopefully we should know quickly."
~~~~~QR~~~~~
"So, after talking it over with the sponsors, we decided to add six new dates to the tour."
The reaction around the living area of the tour bus was mixed when Tina made the big announcement to the band. Puck, Sam and Jake all high-fived, ecstatic they would be able to extend the never-ending party on the road. Blaine was so-so. He didn't mind being on tour, but he would rather be home in his comfortable house with his boyfriend. Rachel, however, felt like she had just been punched in the gut. She needed this tour to be over so she could get her life back under control.
"Wait, since when do we have sponsors?" Puck asked after he and the two other guys were finished celebrating.
Tina just shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose, used to the idiotic questions Puck always seemed to have. She just ignored him and moved on. "We won't be selling tickets for those events though. They're just going to be small gigs. In a guitar shop, in a pavilion in Central Park, a music store, etc."
Blaine cleared his throat. "So just anyone can come to them?"
Tina shook her head. "No, no. We've worked out a deal with 98.9 FM, and they'll be giving away a small number of tickets. I think they will be holding contests, but we're still working out the details."
"Can you tell us about how many people will be at these events?" Rachel asked.
"Some places are bigger than the others, but probably no more than thirty or thirty-five people for each show. Anyway, because the gigs will be so small, you'll have to do them acoustic."
Everyone smiled at this. Acoustic performances were some of their favorites. The atmosphere was more private and helped to build that bond with their fans.
"I've also booked some extra rehearsal time in for you guys," Tina continued, "So make sure you've got the acoustic versions down by Friday. Plus there will of course be a meet and greet after each show." She looked down at her watch. "Alright, the concert starts in a few hours, so get some rest and I'll see you guys backstage."
~~~~~QR~~~~~
A/N - Yay Cassie's back! She's always so much fun to write for.