chapter two: anything you say can and will be held against you, so only say my name
No matter how many seasons she produced, the first day of shooting a new season never failed to feel like trial by fire. Contestants flying in from every direction, all wild cards despite Everlasting's vetting, a confused and nervous suitor, and everyone with a new agenda different from the years past.
And Quinn loved every second of it.
Checking the time, Quinn poured herself a third glass of whiskey. The contestants were on route from the airport and their suitress was locked away in her rooms after a nearly blow out ten minutes ago.
"It was in my contract that I could skate everyday!" Vanessa Lexington cried.
"Well whoever told you that was wrong," Quinn said, "From today until the finale you're here, and you are ours."
"I am a skater! I need to skate!"
"You are an ex ice fucking dancer who cost both her and her partner the gold metal because of doping, now if you want to save the shreds of your reputation or lack thereof, you will do everything I say," Quinn narrowed her eyes as she stepped closer to Vanessa, "And I mean everything."
Vanessa had shut up after that, hanging her head in defeat but still glaring at Quinn through her eyelashes. She'd put on the dress though, a tight sequenced thing that shimmered with every move Vanessa made.
Now back in her office, Quinn rolled her neck and took another drink. Rachel hadn't returned, not that she was expecting her too after Quinn's disappearing act. But Rachel was a hurricane and Quinn had slept one blissful night in the eye of the storm.
"Girls are ten minutes out," Jay said, sticking his head into her office, "Boys in fifteen."
Quinn threw back the rest of her drink, slamming the glass down onto her desk next to a slim white envelope bearing her name.
"Okay people!" She yelled into her walkie, "Let's make shit happen!"
…
"We are rolling in three, two-" Quinn said into her walkie. She was standing in the control room, monitors on, people rushing in every which direction around her.
Graham's voice filled the speakers, "Everlasting, where both men and women have found true love-"
"What a bunch of shit," Quinn muttered, glancing behind her. It was in that movement though, that she belatedly realized that there was no Rachel to share in her joke, just an empty chair and Jay giving her an odd look.
"And tonight is no different," Graham continued, "This season we're going for the gold-"
Cue control room groans.
"And finding our suitress her one true love."
"Blah blah blah, let's get to the wifies!"
Onscreen, Graham was walking over to Vanessa, who was twisting her hands and smiling awkwardly at the camera.
"Uhg she looks like a nerd! Someone sex her up!" Quinn barked into the walkie.
But it was too late, the first car was pulling up. The camera zoomed in on the black tinted windows. Quinn held her breath and watched as the door opened and a silver high heeled shoe and dark blue dress emerged.
"Wait what?" Chet's voice cut through the moment, "We're going lezzie this season? Who came up with that idea?"
"Vanessa is bisexual," Quinn said, arms crossed as she turned to address him, "What are you doing here anyway?"
Chet was sitting in the empty chair and Quinn could feel her her blood pressure rise as soon as she heard his voice. Her face flushed and it wasn't from the alcohol.
"I'm still an executive producer!" He said with a shrug, "So this season is all homo?"
The room was suddenly too hot. Quinn felt sharp pricking across the back of her neck as her defenses went up. For one terrifying moment, all she could think of was the taste of Rachel's lips and feeling of her hands in her hair. Then autopilot kicked in and she rolled her eyes.
"It is not 'all homo,'" said Quinn with air quotes, "There are male contestants too. That's what bisexual means, genius, two."
"Actually, the definition of bisexual has changed to mean two or more genders so to include more than just the gender binary," Jay piped up.
Quinn gestured to Jay, "See? More genders mean more drama which means good tv!"
"Was this Fiona's idea?"
"Hey Quinn," Madison said, "I think you might want to see this?"
Everyone turned to the screen, where the first male contestant was exiting his car. He looked from Vanessa to the blonde woman standing off to the side and did a double take.
"Wait," He said, eyes flicking to the camera, "What's going on? Who's she?"
"Troy Tremblay, centerman from the Alaska Caribou. He was fined ten thousand dollars for making homophobic slurs against an ex teammate," Madison read from his file, "He's one of mine."
"Oh god, Quinn, you didn't," Jay groaned.
Onscreen, Graham said, "This is your competition, why don't you introduce yourself to our lovely suitress, who's heart you're trying to win."
"How is she my competition?" Troy asked, then a camera zoomed in on his face as realization dawned, "Wait…"
"Hi, I'm Vanessa," Vanessa offered her hand to him, "And as you might have just figured out, I'm bisexual."
Troy just stared at her hand in horror for what felt like forever.
"And cut! Okay, let's get some more contestants out there!" Quinn yelled over her walkie before turning turning to Chet, "See what I mean? Twice the drama!"
…
Finally after twenty-seven more introductions, they were down to their last contestant. Quinn leaned back in her chair, ready to move onto the next phase of the night, but there was a nagging sense of something being missing. They'd introduced plenty of interesting contestants, both male and female, but aside from Homophobic Troy- as they were now calling him- nothing had popped.
"Look alive people, we have one more!" She barked into her walkie before turning back to the control room, "Who's this last one?"
"Autumn Capstone," a vaguely familiar voice read from the back of the room, "She owns a cupcake shop in Kincade, Washington. And is getting over a bad breakup with her last girlfriend."
Jay and Madison glanced at each other in confusion. The voice had come from a tall red haired woman sitting in the dark corner that had once occupied both Dr. Waggerstein and Dr. Simon. She glanced up at them and pushed her glasses up.
"At least, that's what my file says," she added.
"This is Dr. James," Quinn said, waving a hand in her direction, "Our new shrink provided by Fiona- Wait, what the hell?"
Quinn interrupted herself as she stood up and leaned towards the monitors. Instead of a heartbroken cupcake baker stepping out of the car, a suit clad man emerged. His dark hair was tousled and his smile stunning- until he saw Vanessa.
Vanessa's jaw dropped as soon as she saw the mystery man, her face flushing, "Mike? What the- what are you doing here?"
"Yes, what is he doing here?" Quinn demanded, "And who is Mike?"
Mike didn't look happy either, "Did you do this?"
"Who is responsible for this?" Quinn's set was suddenly out of her control and she despised it with every fiber of her being.
"No! I had no clue you were here!" Vanessa was saying on screen, "You haven't been returning my calls or texts or anything!"
"Wait, do they know each other?"
"That is Michael Concord," Rachel said and everyone whipped around in surprise, "Vanessa's skating partner. They haven't seen each other since their gold medals were revoked. You're welcome."
"But Autumn was my girl!" Madison whined.
"Autumn reconciled with her girlfriend and was going to tell Vanessa that she was dropping out tonight so I did you a favor," Rachel snapped.
With quick strides, Quinn crossed the room and was standing toe to toe with Rachel. Rachel's cocky attitude dissolved as Quinn narrowed her eyes. It was all she could do to keep herself from grabbing the lapel of Rachel's blazer, whether it was to shake her or kiss her, she didn't know.
Instead, she hissed, "I am going to fix this little stunt of yours while you better be waiting in my office when I get back. No running off."
"I'm not the one who runs away, Quinn," Rachel said, calmer than Quinn had ever seen her.
Pressing a hand to Rachel's chest, Quinn roughly pushed her out of the way and walked out of the control room.
…
With both Quinn and Rachel gone from the control room, Madison turned to Dr. James.
"Do I know you?" She asked, giving her the once over.
"Oh I don't think so!" Dr. James said with a smile, "I just moved here from Maine."
"You seem familiar," replied Madison, then shook her head and returned the smile, "You must just have one of those faces."
Dr. James nodded, "I get that a lot. You're Madison right? You can call me Allison, Dr. James is so formal and I save it for my patients."
"Nice to meet you Allison. Have you seen my pilot, Hashtag Adulting? It aired last week."
"No but I'll have to check it out," Allison said, then leaned in, "Hey, you seem on top of things, what with your pilot and all. Can I ask you something?"
"Sure,"
"I heard the other two psychologists on here got fired, what did they do? I just want to be sure I don't make the same mistake," said Allison.
"Well, I'm not really supposed to tell you this," Madison whispered consportally, "But Dr. Waggerstein murdered a couple people, and Dr. Simon was stalking Rachel."
"Oh wow," Allison breathed.
"So as long as you're not stalking anyone or planning a murder I think you'll be good," said Madison, "Oh and don't get on Quinn's bad side."
…
Rachel resigned herself to Quinn's office. She sat on the couch, slouching, feeling a bit like a wayward student in the principal's office.
She doesn't want you here, she doesn't want you here, she doesn't want you here, repeated over and over in Rachel's mind in a nagging voice that sounded much like her own.
If she did, the voice added, She wouldn't have left without saying good bye, she would have called or texted or said something all these months. She'd have asked you back, instead of leaving a cryptic note.
She pushed aside the thoughts and tried one more of the breathing exercises her dog eared self help books had recommended. It quelled her nerves for a moment, just long enough for Quinn to burst through the glass doors, wild and angry.
Rachel's breath caught in her throat, Quinn never looked more beautiful than when her eyes were lit up with the fire of a fight burning behind them. She slammed the walkie talkie down onto her desk.
"What the fuck was that, Rachel?" Quinn demanded, "If you're going to go rogue, at least have the decency to give me some warning! Don't you ever, ever, make me look like an idiot in from of the crew again!"
Rachel pushed herself up, off the couch, walked over to Quinn, and kissed her. Her hands went to Quinn's waist, pulling her in, and, miracle of miracles, Quinn kissed her back.
The kiss was slow and deep, tasting like whiskey and adrenaline, but as they parted, Quinn grasped Rachel's jaw in a vice like grip.
"Is that why you're here?" She asked, lips curling into a sneer, "Back to scratch an itch? Or is this a post producing high?"
With her other hand, Quinn roughly wiped her lipstick off Rachel's mouth.
"I just thought-" Rachel managed as she felt tears spring to her eyes.
"Thought what? That whatever happened at your cabin meant something? Well guess what? It didn't," Quinn said, "Now if you still want your job, stop thinking with your clit, get out there and convince Vanessa not to cut your little wild card. Understood?"
Rachel nodded the best she could while still in Quinn's grasp.
"Good."
…
After the elimination ceremony, Quinn poured herself another glass of whisky and pulled the thin envelope out of her pocket. It was crumpled from the evenings activities, but still whole with her name neatly typed on the front. With her knife sharp letter opener, she cut open the envelope.
Opening the perfectly folded sheet of paper, three black and white photos fell out.
First, a photo of when she kissed Rachel on the couch, taken from the window outside. It was the image of passion but looking at their private moment caught on film made Quinn feel sick.
The second photo was also through a window, but it was from the morning after with Quinn curled around Rachel, her head on Rachel's shoulder. Rachel was awake in the photo, looking down at Quinn as she touched her hair.
Quinn felt cold, suddenly sober as she turned over the last photo.
It wasn't as compromising as the other two, but it was of Rachel pulling her hair back into a ponytail, completely oblivious that she was being watched.
Barely breathing, Quinn turned over the letter.
Hickory dickory dock,
Quinn King worked 'round the clock,
Making wives
Ruining lives
Hickory dickory dock
Hickory dickory dare,
Who'd have thought she'd care?
For someone else
Beside herself
Feelings for Rachel you bare
Hickory dickory strife
I'll cut her with a knife
You'll watch her die
Maybe cry
Before I end your life