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Chapter 19

"Wait here Santana." It came out harsher than Quinn had intended, but she prayed that for once the Latina would do as asked. Just because Rachel was comfortable communicating with her did not automatically mean it would be as easy with others.

She walked towards Rachel who was still standing rooted to the pavement.

When she was near enough, she could see the confusion in those large, brown eyes.

"Quinn, what are you two doing here?"

Rachel's eyes skipped between her girlfriend and the tall, dark haired Latina standing a few paces behind her before settling back on the woman in front of her, not sure what to make of the situation.

"I mean, you told me you were going to meet Santana, but not …here." The brown eyes still rested on Quinn's features.

There was a mixture of surprise, confusion and … was it guilt … on Quinn's face. Rachel asked herself why Quinn had not told her that she would meet with Santana in her neighborhood. Maybe she just forgot or did not find it important. Maybe Santana lived somewhere nearby.

Nevertheless, it still felt strange that Quinn would have omitted such banal information. So why did she? Was she afraid that Rachel would want to join them? It was not as if she wanted to intrude. But now that Santana had already seen her, what best should she do?

Quinn stood with her back to Santana. She hoped that she would not see her signing right away and thus put Rachel in the uncomfortable position of exposing her disability. It was Rachel's call to let Santana know, or to address her in the first place. Watching her girlfriend's face, she saw a whole range of emotions race across Rachel's features.

Quinn tried to figure out how she could best explain her reason for having met at the Coffee Bean, so close to Rachel without actually telling her before.

Rachel, I am sorry you ran into us unprepared and that I did not tell you Santana and I would be meeting here at the Coffee Bean. I did not want to lose time traveling back and forth across the city, so I suggested this little café. I also managed to rush a bit through my appointments this morning. So I asked Santana if we could meet earlier than planned, because that would also leave more time for you and me to spend with each other. I wanted to surprise you. That's why I did not say anything to you before. I am truly sorry for putting you on the spot. I didn't know… I could not have guessed that you… This is awkward.

"Yes, it is."

Rachel's eyes were still probing, trying to see if Quinn had another reason to feel caught. Rachel pushed the latter thought away quickly. Her girlfriend's words seemed genuine enough and she felt her resolve loosen up a bit at learning the reason for Quinn and Santana being here. Despite her initial confusion and astonishment, she was happy to see Quinn, even though she had not expected to run into her like that. And Santana, for that matter.

Still, it was a strange situation. She would have liked to hug Quinn and kiss her upon seeing her. Instead, they were standing on the street looking at each other, carefully trying to gauge each other's feelings.

Quinn was not sure if Rachel was mad at her, she kept searching her face with those deep, brown eyes. Then Quinn took a small step towards her. She wanted and needed a physical connection with Rachel. She wanted the insecurity that was hanging like a thick curtain between them to disappear. Tentatively, her hands formed the next question.

Can I kiss you?

She was glad when she heard relief woven into the simple: "Yes."

Quickly, she closed the remaining gap between them by pulling Rachel closer. The brunette's eyes closed automatically when Quinn's lips touched hers. She savored the feeling of the soft and tender caress, not caring that it was on open display. Quinn drew back too soon to Rachel's liking and asked:

What brings you here?

"I live here Quinn," Rachel stated mockingly with a raised eyebrow. Then felt a bit guilty about the somewhat harsh answer. "Well, actually I am on my way to the supermarket." An involuntary smile appeared on her face. "I wanted to surprise you with dinner. I figured that after such a hectic day and long week, you could use some time to relax," she explained.

That took Quinn by surprise.

"Oh!" But I have to make it up to you, so I planned on cooking! That was part of our peace treaty, remember? She added with her hands.

"Well, then we just have to adapt it a bit." Rachel retorted, still displaying the small smile that made Quinn's heart glow a bit.

Quinn gazed at the beautiful face in front of her almost forgetting her other friend was waiting at a small distance away. She glanced over her shoulder and found Santana observing them, clearly wondering what the hell was going on and probably asking herself why Rachel and her would not just walk over and say hello.

Why don't we go grocery shopping together later? Quinn paused for a moment, before continuing with another small glance back at Santana.

She does not know. I have not told her anything about your accident, only about…us being together. Do you want to say hello? If not, it's ok, I'll tell her… something. She watched Rachel's smile disappear.

Rachel bit her lip, torn between the easy way out and the mature thing to do, namely to face up and say hello to Santana. Even though she felt like turning the other way, she swallowed her unease and tried to brave the new challenge. Even though she was not ready to go all public with her disability, she could at least start to take it step by step and person by person. This seemed to have become her new philosophy. So far, she thought, that tactic had let her make some small progresses.

"No, this would be ridiculous." Rachel stated as answer to Quinn's comment. She stepped around Quinn, tugging her a in the along in the process, courageously walking up to the former Cheerios Co-Captain.

When she stood in front of her, she was intrigued by the curious look the Latina gave her.

"Hello Santana. Nice to see you again." And she bravely mustered a smile.

"Hello Rachel. Good to see you, too!"

Rachel was surprised when Santana hesitatingly bent down a bit to give her a brief hug.

"I am sorry, I did not want to interrupt you two. I was just going to the grocery store." Rachel made a wage movement with her hand down the street.

"It's ok, don't worry, Q and I were saying goodbye anyways." While speaking the last words, Santana slightly moved her head towards Quinn, who had taken up a spot next to her. So the final part of the sentence was lost to Rachel, who wasn't well versed in lip-reading yet anyway. Slowly she cast her eyes on Quinn who took the silent cue and transformed their friend's words into signs.

Santana watched the exchange in silence, her eyes darting between the two women, her brows furrowed. What the hell was going on? Something about both woman's poise and the way Quinn seemed to dance around a certain topic when she had talked to her the other night gave Santana a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Wait a second," and she pointed between Rachel and Quinn, trying to sort her thoughts. Then her eyes rested on the small, brown-haired woman who patiently watched her with those intense brown eyes, after Quinn had also relayed the last sentence to her in sign language.

"Rachel…." For once, Santana was at a loss for words. She needed a moment for the significance of what she had just witnessed to sink in. Then the little pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

During all those years in school, whenever she had teased Rachel, rolled her eyes at her and just wished she would shut up, she never – never - would have wish for something so life shattering to happen to her. She started to begin to understand what that must have meant to Rachel's dreams. Then she remembered her joke from the other night about Rachel losing her voice. She had not meant anything by it, but now the significance crashed down on her. And now, she understood Quinn's reaction for what it was. She was not hurt because Santana teased her about Rachel, her involuntary reaction had actually come from the fact that Santana had hit the bulls eye with her careless remark.

"Rachel, what on god's earth happened?" Santana finally managed to ask, again witnessing the words being translated by Quinn.

"I lost my hearing in a car accident six months ago." Rachel simply explained and observed the Latina closely. The news really appeared to shock her. Curious. She would not have thought that she would care so much. Or that it would get to her in such a deep way. After all Santana was never one to hold back her opinion and her comments to Rachel had often stung. But, just as it was with Quinn, Rachel always guessed that there was also another side to Santana, that the rough exterior demeanor was just an armor to hide behind. She indeed had a caring side, something that her relationship with Brittany had also borne witness to.

Rachel got the feeling she needed to reassure Santana somehow; which was actually funny, because after all she, Rachel, was the one who was at the greater disadvantage here. She decided not to dwell longer on that notion. The brunette quickly exchanged a look with Quinn and made a small movement with her head towards the cafe.

Quinn nodded and propelled her still stunned high school friend back through the doors of the coffee shop they had exited just a few moments ago. They settled at a table in a corner in front of the big window. Santana sat to Rachel's right and Quinn sat opposite her girlfriend. This way Rachel could see Santana and talk to her, while Quinn would be able to interpret without Rachel having to move her head to much to look from one woman to the other.

Rachel reached out and lightly touched the Latina's arm. "Are you ok, Santana?"

She nodded. "Yes, sorry, I…. Rachel…You're asking me if I'm ok?" Unsure, she turned and looked at Quinn. "I am really sorry. I … "

Rachel furrowed her eyebrows; not knowing what was happening and was relieved when Quinn jumped in.

She is apologizing.

Was she talking to me or to you? Rachel asked by signing.

I think she was talking to you. I guess she is unsure how she should communicate with you. And she wondered why you would ask her if she was ok, when … Quinn struggled a bit how to explain the next bit…. the inflection of her voice indicated that she actually should ask you that.

Rachel swallowed. She was glad Quinn was with her and was very grateful that she also made the effort to explain the subtle detail of Santana's intonation. It made her want to reach out and hug her girlfriend. Even though Quinn was just sitting across from her, it seemed so far away at that moment.

All of a sudden Rachel would have liked to get some physical reassurance that this was ok, that they would manage this situation together. As if sensing her insecurity, Quinn smiled encouragingly, silently telling her that she would be here for her, that she was not alone. It gave Rachel enough courage to reach out and tap Santana, whose attention was still focused on Quinn's hands, lightly on the arm to get her attention.

When the dark eyes rested on her, she shortly explained.

"Santana, please look at me when you are talking to me. I need to see you when we have a conversation. I… I need to see at least your expression and body language. Quinn is interpreting your words in parallel for me. This way I can – more or less - get the whole picture."

"Oh, ok. Sorry, I did not mean any disrespect, Rachel." And this time Santana's eyes did not stray from Rachel's face, which she gratefully noticed. Out of the corner of her eye, she read Quinn's signs and nodded.

"It's ok. I guess…" Rachel shrugged with her right shoulder,"… it is an unusual situation."

Santana exhaled and rubbed her forehead. "Yes, you can say that. "

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence while neither woman knew what to say. Finally, Santana focused her attention on the petit woman again.

"Rachel, I do not know what to say. How do you get along? How … do you manage?" After finishing the sentence her eyes quickly darted to Quinn and back to Rachel.

Rachel shrugged. How much did she really want to share with the Latina? After all, they had not been close friends in school and after that, they had only written each other a couple of e-mails, rather keeping in touch on a superficial level.

"Do you mean by 'how I get along' how I get along with Quinn or with my daily life?" She then asked back with a small smirk.

Santana quickly shot Quinn a look before settling her attention back on Rachel. "Quinn spilled all the details about how you met and a little of the mushy stuff as well," Santana teased and waited until Quinn had finished interpreting, watching a little color raise in Rachel's face when mentioning the "mushy stuff".

"I did not tell her any details, Rachel, believe me!" Quinn rushed to comment, holding Rachel's eyes with her own, waiting until her lover nodded. Then she slapped Santana playfully on the arm. "Don't say such things!"

"Ah, come on Q," then turning to Rachel "you should have seen her face and gooey eyes when she was talking about you." She poked her thumb in the blonde's direction. "This woman is head over heels in love. I have never seen her face as radiant as when she mentions your name. She does not need to actually tell me anything. I can see it written all over her face."

Rachel could not help but blush, then mumbled more to herself: "Yes, she can communicate very well without words," and looked up to send a loving smile to Quinn across the table.

Quinn reached out and quickly squeezed her girlfriend's hand.

"Hello, you two lovebirds, I am still here. Save the slobbering for later," Santana reminded them in her own charming way, before sobering up a bit. "Honestly, how do you two manage without Rachel being able to hear? Isn't that hard in a relationship?" Santana was never one to hold back with her honesty and straightforwardness.

Quinn and Rachel exchanged a look. Then Rachel filled in the details about their first meeting that Quinn respectfully had left out. Quinn told Santana that she had followed Rachel to the community center, but not what Rachel was actually doing there. So now Santana learned about their paper and pencil arrangement. Rachel also explained about how Quinn took up ASL lessons, which quite impressed Santana. Now that Rachel had filled her in Santana had to admit to herself that Quinn's reaction to the whole situation let her see her see Quinn in quite a different light.

"Is this sign language hard to learn?" She looked at both women.

This time, Quinn answered. "Well, some signs are pretty easy and quite logical. The difficulty is to piece them all together in a fluent way and also to get used to the syntax and grammar. Basically you don't translate every word, which makes it difficult at first, especially if I am talking and interpreting at the same time." Quinn smiled at Rachel. "Rachel is very patient with me. I am sure often I am not making much sense, so she has to keep her wits together to figure out what the hell I am trying to say."

Rachel had to laugh at that, remembering the "weight-incident", quickly filling Santana in.

"Wow, Quinn, way to go. I thought I was tough, but you really top me. Bringing the weight issue on the table right after your first night, even I would not have dared to pull such a stunt."

"Shut up, Santana."

Rachel reached over the table, pulling Quinn's hand close. "No, Quinn is really doing a wonderful job. And I cannot say how grateful I am that she is actually making the effort to learn, besides having a very time consuming job, and other friends to meet once in a while," she then added with a look at Santana.

Santana gazed at Rachel for a long moment. Rachel almost flinched under the scrutinizing look. Whatever came now, Rachel had no idea what was going on in the other head. As easy as it was for her to read Quinn, as difficult it was with Santana.

Then the Latina leaned a little in the smaller woman's direction.

"You know, Rachel, I really admire your perseverance. Letting go of your dreams must have been hard." Rachel only nodded once in acknowledgement, a bit surprised at the words she did not expect. "I am happy for both of you that you found each other. I really am." Then a little smirk appeared on the pretty face. "But tell me, how did you manage to turn Quinn around and make her play for the other team? I would like to get to know the charms you worked on her."

Rachel chuckled and Quinn exclaimed: "Hey Santana! She is mine, hands off!" Seeing Quinn fight for her, even in a light and bantering way with her friend, made her heart glow.

Santana tapped her hand slightly and Rachel turned away from her girlfriend.

"Rachel, I will probably be staying in New York for a while. So, if you ever want someone to talk to and if Quinn is getting on your nerves, because sometimes she can get quite obnoxious…" that earned her another slap from the blonde, "… let me know."

Rachel appreciated the gesture and saw the sincerity behind Santana's teasing words. She was glad she had found the courage to meet the Latina instead of running away. And that Santana offered Rachel her friendship, despite the circumstance, meant a lot to her, even if it took her by surprise.

"Thank you, Santana."

Suddenly Santana jumped in her seat and fumbled at her jeans pocket. Quinn held her forefinger and thumb against her ear and mouth. "Phone's ringing."

Expectantly, both gazed at Santana, who nodded several times and Rachel guessed she made the appropriate accompanying sounds. Then the Latina's face broke out into a wide smile and she looked at Quinn and Rachel, holding one thumb up. Her mouth moved in what seemed to be short sentences of which Rachel did not understand much until Quinn relayed the short conversation. Rachel felt a bit like prying, because the conversation was not directed at her or did concern her, but then again Quinn was also privy of what was spoken, so she swallowed her doubts.

Finally Santana hung up.

"You got the job?" Quinn asked expectantly.

Santana's head bobbed up and down, her smile widening. "Yes!"

In her excitement Quinn threw her arms around her friend, congratulated and hugged her.

While still being embraced by her friend, Santana explained: "I've got it! I can start at the beginning of next week!"

Rachel watched the exchange, not sure what had exactly transpired as Quinn was busy huggging her friend, being happy with her. Rachel suddenly felt self-conscious asking for a translation.

When the two friends disentangled their arms and leaned back in their chairs Rachel caught Santana's eyes.

"You got the job?" She then dared asked, putting words to her interpretation of the previous happy exchange. Santana simply nodded, still grinning. "That is great, Santana," Rachel beamed and congratulated her friend. "Quinn will be happy to have you stay here in the city!"

Santana trained her dark eyes on Rachel, her face serious all of a sudden.

"And what about you, Rachel?"

Rachel lowered her gaze for a moment before connecting again with the dark haired woman. "Well, I'd be glad to see you too, Santana." She honestly stated.

Santana offered a small smile. "Good, Berry, I'm gonna take you up on that. Besides, since you and Quinn are a couple now, it will probably be hard to get you separated!" That last comment, delivered with a teasing smile earned her a third punch from Quinn and a roll of eyes from Rachel.

Santana let herself be hugged by Quinn again before she pushed her chair back.

"Sorry, gotta go, I have to meet my future boss so we can get the contract ready and stuff."

She stood, then bent down again to give Rachel a tight hug, speaking over her shoulder. "I am glad to see you, Rachel. Let's stay in contact, ok?" Quinn smiled as she formed the words.

When Santana had left, she let out a deep, long breath, looked at her girlfriend with some relief and raised an eyebrow as if to say, that wasn't so bad, was it?

Rachel just shook her head slightly. Indeed, that had not been too bad. In fact, it was actually quite nice to know that someone else was aware of her condition she did not have to hide from anymore. Even though she had to admit that Santana's reaction and interest in her astonished her somewhat.

Supermarket? Quinn asked then. With a nod, Rachel got up. They gathered their things and exited the coffee shop to stock up on the ingredients they needed for dinner.