SuperGleek18 : Agreed, better late than never. And you got to read two chapters at once.:) Glad that you liked the conversation. I felt it was important for them to put the past away. Yeah, they're already so comfortable with each other. The pacing is unusual and I'm glad that you think it's working.

Lspatz Thank you. And don't worry nothing truly bad will happen.

gllover22 Thank you. And hey, gush all you want. I don't mind. Gives me the warm and fuzzies. I'm glad you liked the chapter.

Fabraygron There's still a few chapters yet before the date will happen. I hope you enjoy what happens in the meantime and I hope I don't dissapoint when it gets to that point.

southernranger1I'm glad that you're still enjoying it. Thanks for reading and commenting. :)

FaberryOTP Thanks.

LaurenKnight13 lol. Sorry. Glad you like it. I think Rachel wooing will be fun. Still a little early for the L-word but defnitely heading in that direction.

wkgreen Thank you. Yeah. The rest of the world will be making a few appearances in their little relationship bubble.

Jaely Thank you. Glad you're enjoying it.

overnumerousness Thank you.

Chapter 17

The shrill buzz of her alarm clock jolted Quinn from sleep at an hour that, without even opening her eyes to check and see, she was certain was way too early. With a groan she rolled over onto her back and reached out blindly for the offending device, her hand knocking against it once, twice, her fingers fumbled their way across the buttons and forgoing the snooze option she turned the thing right off. When the buzzing continued she pried one eye open and gazed blearily at the bedside table. It took her a moment to process that it was not her alarm clock that was ringing but her cell phone. Groaning once again she picked it up off the stand and slid her thumb across the screen to unlock it.

"Hello?" She winced at the low rasp in her voice and cleared her throat. "Hello?"

"I'm sorry, I must have dialed a wrong number," a man's voice sounded softly from the other end of the line. "I'm sorry to have disturbed you."

"Uh-huh," Quinn muttered to a now empty line as she tossed the phone back onto the table and glanced at the alarm clock, not quite 8:30. "Great. Just great." She nestled down snuggly against the pillows and closed her eyes, hoping to fall quickly back asleep when her phone rang once again. She turned her head, staring at it for a long minute before snatching it up once again.

"Hello?" She tried very hard to keep the snap of irritation out of her voice.

There was silence from the other end followed by some faint shuffling and a cough somewhere in the background.

"I'm sorry. It appears I have mis-dialed once again. I'm sorry for disturbing you twice now."

"It's fine." The reply slipped from her lips automatically just before she heard the click of the call being disconnected.

Maybe now she could get back to sleep, Quinn thought hopefully as she stretched out to put the phone back, only to have it ring before she could even set it down. She brought her hand back and stared at. Seriously?

She considered not answering, just letting it go straight to voicemail but if it was the same guy, he'd just keep calling. Better to just tell him to knock it off now. Whoever he was trying to reach had either given him her number randomly or he'd written something down wrong, either way she was tired of answering her phone and really wanted to go back to sleep.

"Yes?" She didn't even bother trying to keep a civil tone.

"Well, this is getting awkward." It was of course the same man from before. "I'm trying to get ahold of my daughter," he said, sounding puzzled. "I'm certain that I have the right number. Perhaps you could tell me what number it is that I've dialed? Maybe it'll help me figure out where I've gone wrong."

Quinn rolled her eyes but complied, rattling off her cell phone number.

There was a long pause on the other end. "That's not even remotely close to the number I'm trying to reach," he said, confusion evident in her tone.

Quinn bit back a scathing retort. Really? Was she really having this conversation. There was the sound of shuffling in the background, faint muffled voices drifted across the phone line as a conversation took place on the other end, as if the speaker had turned his head away from the phone but forgotten to cover the mouthpiece. It was mostly nonsense to Quinn, though a few words came through clearer than others. She was just about to hang up when one word popped out from among the rest.

Rachel.

Quinn froze in place for a moment and then she pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it. Her eyes widened as it was confirmed that it was not in fact her cellphone she was holding. The last vestiges of sleep cleared from her brain as the situation made itself apparent.

Shit. She mouthed the word as she brought the phone back to her ear.

"Mr Berry?" she ventured, praying that she was wrong. That it was not in fact one of Rachel's fathers on the other end of the line. She felt Rachel shift behind her and hoped that the other woman was simply repositioning herself in sleep and hadn't been woken by the phone ringing or the sound of Quinn's voice.

The conversation on the other end of the line halted and Quinn held her breath as she waited for a response. She really hoped that the man would say no, that either she misheard or he was looking for some other Rachel so she wouldn't have to explain to this man how she'd come to be answering his daughter's cell phone in the early hours of a Sunday morning.

"Yes?" If he had sounded puzzled before he sounded downright bewildered now.

"Yeah. Hi. Sorry about..."she trailed off before she could start rambling and took a deep, steadying breath before starting again. "I'm..." she trailed off again because she wasn't quite sure how that sentence would possibly have ended. Somehow she didn't think, 'I'm sleeping with your daughter' would be appropriate. "I'm sorry for the...confusion. I picked up Rachel's phone thinking it was mine."

There was a long silence on the other end. Likely, Mr. Berry was processing her words and putting together the pieces of all the things Quinn hadn't said.

"I see," he said slowly. "Is Rachel...is she there?"

"Yeah. She's-" Sleeping? No. Quinn couldn't say that. Her head turned automatically to where the other woman lay beside her and she jumped, startled to find herself staring into a pair of amused brown eyes. "She's right here. Laughing her ass off at me," Quinn finished, muttering the last few words as she handed the phone off to the woman in question.

Rachel took the phone, smirking widely at her and Quinn just shook her head.

"Hello?" There was a brief pause as Rachel's smirk turned into a genuine smile. "Hi, Daddy. Yes. That was Quinn. You remember her don't you? We went to high school together."

And that was Quinn's cue to leave. Kicking back the covers she untangled her legs and sat up to slide from the bed, only to find her actions halted as Rachel reached out and snagged her wrist. She glanced back over her shoulder, catching Rachel's eye as the other woman tugged on her arm, trying to pull her back into bed.

Quinn shot her a quizzical glance and gestured vaguely towards the phone at her ear. She really didn't need to be privy to this conversation.

"Yes. That's right. Yale."

Well, of all the things for Rachel's father to remember her for at least it was something positive.

She tried to gently extract her arm from Rachel's grasp only for the other woman's fingers to clamp down more firmly and tug at her once again.

"No, we had lost touch. But we ran into each other again." Rachel continued on her with her conversation, ignoring Quinn's glare as she tried to free herself.

"It's been great. Yes. We've been catching up."

It became clear that Rachel wasn't going to relent and her grip was freakishly strong so with a sigh Quinn eased back into position against the pillows. Immediately, Rachel shifted towards her, snuggling into her side as her free arm slipped around Quinn's back, hand settling against her hip and her head came to rest against Quinn's shoulder.

"Yes, Dad. We're together. We're dating."

Quinn's arms came up automatically to wrap around Rachel, setting the other woman's body against her own and pulling her close.

"Why don't I put you on speaker," Rachel said and Quinn felt her eyes widen as she shook her head. She knew Rachel could feel her movement but the other woman ignored her as she took the phone away from her ear and pressed a few buttons.

"Dad? Daddy? Can you hear me?"

"Yes, sweetie, we can hear you," a man's voice, not the one Quinn had previously heard drifted through the speakers, faint and a little tinny but still clear.

"Dad, Daddy, you remember Quinn Fabray. Quinn, my fathers, Hiram and LeRoy."

Quinn cleared her throat. "Sirs," she said with an incline of her head, even though they couldn't see her.

"Sirs?" the same familiar voice came back through the line with a faint chuckle. "Such manners on this one, Rachel," he continued. "So much better than that last one we met when we came to see you for your birthday."

"Daddy, please," Rachel all but whined and Quinn couldn't help but grin at the way she reverted back to a younger version of herself while conversing with her fathers. It was cute.

"Sorry, baby girl. Quinn, please we don't stand on formality. Especially not when you're naked with our daughter."

Quinn's face and chest, no her entire body heated up in a blush at the man's words and she tried to choke out a denial, only to sputter incoherently.

"Daddy!" Rachel protested. "We're not naked."

Quinn couldn't help but feel greatful for that fact at this moment.

"Okay, baby girl. Whatever you say." Though it was clear from his tone of voice that he didn't quite believe her.

"So, Quinn, last we heard you were in New Haven. What brought you to New York?"

Quinn still wasn't entirely sure which of Rachel's fathers was addressing her at the moment, though she thought it might be Hiriam, Mr Berry voice number two. Or Dad, to Rachel. Instead of focusing on trying to figure it out she cleared her throat and tried to summon up a response that wasn't just an embarrassed squeak after that naked comment, the imagery of which was still playing out in her mind.

"I'm a writer," she began slowly, attempting to organize her thoughts. "A playwright," she continued. "I have a play that's being workshopped here in New York."

This was familiar ground, this was easy. She let herself fall into conversation with the Berry men about her work, the play she'd written and the process in which she'd found herself poised to bring it (potentially) to a New York stage.

"...we've cast a few of the roles already. The rest we're starting auditions for on Monday. The casting is not really my favourite part of all this but it should be fun, y'know, getting to see the best of what New York has to offer reading my words, giving life to my characters..." she trailed off, afraid that she might have been rambling again when she realized that she'd been the sole focus of the conversation for quite some time now.

"Wow, Quinn."

"Yes, that's very impressive."

"You're own play in New York."

"That's quite an accomplishment."

"Yes. Thank you." It was a huge accomplishment, especially for someone as young as her and she tried to be both proud and modest in her response.

Rachel squeezed her hip lightly and when Quinn glanced over at her she offered a beaming smile.

"I'm so proud of her," she said to her fathers, though her gaze was still on Quinn. "I always knew she was way more talented than she realized."

There was a lull in the conversation, a slightly awkward silence that hung between them and Quinn imagined that, like her, they were each searching for another topic of discussion.

"So you guys are...dating now?" Hiriam asked, the emphasis he put on dating making Quinn wince slightly.

"Yes, Dad," Rachel said, giving Quinn a little squeeze. "I was going to tell you. I promise I wasn't keeping it a secret. It's just still so very new and I..."

"How new?"

Rachel bit her lip and cast a glance up at Quinn before closing her eyes and muttering "two days."

"Two days?" Hiriam echoed.

"Yes, Dad." Rachel's reply held just a hint of a bite to it.

"Care to tell us how that came about?"

"Not if you're going to take that attitude about it."

"Rachel!" Quinn hissed but the other woman just shook her head and snuggled deeper into Quinn's side.

There was a prolonged silence from the other end of the line.

"Sorry, sweetie," Hiriam said. "I didn't mean to...we just...I worry about my little girl out there in the city."

"It's fine Dad." The warmth was back in her voice. "And I love you for it. But you don't have to worry about me. I'm fine. I'm careful. I'm safe. Besides, Quinn takes good care of me."

"I'm sure she does." The innuendo in Leroy's voice was very clear.

"Leroy!"

"Daddy!"

Both Rachel and her father sounded scandalized.

"Are you going to tell us how you two got together?" he asked, dismissing his chastizing.

"It was like something out of a movie," Rachel began, tipping her head up to meet Quinn's gaze as she continued on, describing their first meeting and then going on to detail the rest of their night.

Even though Quinn had been there, she had lived it, she was enjoying Rachel's telling of the story. She relished this opportunity to be privy to what Rachel had been thinking and feeling throughout the course of the evening. It delighted her to learn that Rachel had felt that same trill of arousal upon first laying eyes on Quinn. And that she'd felt a flutter of excitement, of possibility when she'd learned that Quinn was gay. That she'd felt the same reluctance to end the evening when the bar announced last call and had been equally entranced at the thought of this chance meeting turning into something more. Quinn found herself settling in, relaxing into Rachel's embrace and letting the story wash over her.

By the time she reached the end of their walk home and was describing their first kiss, both Berry men were oohhing an awwing at the sentiment of Quinn's words and the romance of a kiss under a streetlight.

"..and she took me out on the most wonderful date last night," Rachel continued, skipping over the more...salacious details of that first night and launching right into the tale of the vegan restaurant and their romantic walk through the city and the wonderful conversation they'd shared over dinner.

By the end of Rachel's story her father's were suitably impressed. Hopefully enough to overlook the fact that Quinn had bedded their daughter with only one real date between them.

The three of them gushed over the romance of it, as if Quinn weren't in fact sitting right there listening to them speak. Though she had to admit that hearing the excitement in Rachel's voice caused a warm, fuzzy feeling in the pit of her stomach at the thought that she had done right.

Eventually the conversation shifted away from Rachel and Quinn's whirlwind romance as her father's filled her in on their daily going-ons and life in Lima. Quinn tuned them out after awhile, listening with half an ear when she recognized a name that was mentioned and just letting herself be soothed by the melodious tones of Rachel's voice and laughter until she got pulled back into the conversation again sometime later as the topic shifted to the stage incidents and backstage drama of Rachel's week. Some of her stories had all four of them in stitches and so not to be outdone, Leroy and Hiriam jumped in with some tales of their own college theatre days. Soon the four of them were easily comparing stories and Quinn's sides were sore from laughing so hard.

By the time they said their goodbyes, Quinn was confident that she'd left a much better impression on them than the begining of their conversation would have indicated.

"Sorry about that," Rachel apologized as she tossed her phone gently onto the nightstand beside her. "Normally they don't call so early. They must have figured I'd be up becasue I didnt have a show last night."

"You don't have to apologize to me," Quinn reassured her. "I think it's sweet that they call you like that. I'm just sorry that I answered your phone. I was still half-asleep and I guess I thought it was-"

"Hey, it's okay," Rachel was quick to silence her with a kiss. "Like you said, you were half asleep. And it was on your side of the bed," she added as she rolled up onto her knees to hover over Quinn, her lips hanging just out of reach. "Besides," she said, trying and failing to conceal a smirk. "It was hilarious listening to you figure out you had my phone and was talking to one of my fathers."

"Uh-huh. Glad you think this is funny." Quinn tried to be grumpy but it was hard with Rachel's body poised just above hers like that and with the way breath fanned gently against Quinn's lips with every exhale. She surged up for a kiss, pressing her body up into Rachel's as she brought their lips softly together.

With a soft sigh she flopped back down onto the mattress and using her grip on Rachel's hips, pulled the other woman down to rest on top of her.

"And for the record, if my phone rings and I'm not around to answer it, if I'm in the shower or something, feel free to answer it." Rachel's words were muffled somewhat by Quinn's shoulder but not so much to be indecipherable. "Saves me from having to remember the voicemail code if you just take a message."

"What am I, your damn secretary?"

"No. But I'd love to take you over my desk," came Rachel's reply. "And I'm sure you'd look hella sexy in a pencil skirt and glasses." Rachel's voice dropped an octave and took on a slightly faraway tone that let Quinn know that she was picturing it.

"Hey." Quinn poked her side as she protested, though she had to admit it was an intruiging fantasy.

"Sorry." It was an empty apology though, Rachel didn't sound sorry at all. "So, are we staying in bed all morning or did you want to get up and actually do something today?"

Quinn contemplated the question. One one hand she would love to spend a few interruptd hours in bed with Rachel. On the other hand it would be fun and exciting to go out and explore the city with her.

"It's not a trick question," Rachel said, tickling her ribs lightly.

Quinn squirmed under the touch then reached up and grabbed Rachel's hands, stilling them. "But don't you see, it is. There is something so very appealing about both options. Neither answer is wrong. Nor is either right."

Rachel chuckled softly and shook her head. "Well, while you waste the day deciding, I'm going to go make breakfast."

Quinn thought about preventing her exit from the bed but ultimately let her roll off and slip from beneath the covers, keeping her eyes glued firmly to Rachel's ass as she strode from the room.