Author's Note: I'm sorry for the length of time it took me to post this chapter. I've been struggling with this scene for ages. No matter how hard I tried to get it down, it kept elluding me. I never gave up on it, and I have a ton planned for this story. I'm sorry that it took me this long to get it done. To all of you who chose to continue reading, I thank you for your patience.
Also, thank you to all of you who offered up more accurate translations to my Spanish. I appreciate it. :) I took it in school but it's been years since I've used it extensively and there are nuances I'm just not familiar with, so thank you for taking the time to correct them for me.
DameonCain She's still working on the play, I'll mention updates of the progress but it's secondary to the Quinn/Rachel storyline so it might not be featured too prominently.
Harley Quinn Davidson-Thank you. Sorry for the wait.
ilovemycandy Thank you. And, there will definitely be more Santana/Quinn nteractions.
pgranger Thank you, for reading and for the review. :) And of course for the spanish translation.
eliza1313 Google translator has the same limitations as someone who speaks a language but isn't fluent. It works at getting the point across, but it doesn't always sound authentic.
gllover22 Yep. And they're not even "in love" yet. Or at least, they're not admitting it yet.
w1cked Glad you enjoyed it.
MsSpatz :) Took awhile, but here it is. Hope you enjoy it, lady. :)
Guest Thank you.
RachelBarbraBerry Thank you. I'm glad you're enjoying it.
CarmellaD'Winter Yeah, it was sweet. And hints at some things to come as well. :)
progpoet Thank you.
RikkuKashi Yes, there will be more group and various one on one pairings as the story progresses.
wkgreen Yeah, definitely a party I would attend. And yeah, Quinn got an earful but she deserved it.
auntdedra Thank you.
Priscilla Thanks.
GomezingRivera Well I guess we have to agree to disagree on this one. Because I think they both behaved badly.
Chapter 45
Dinner was a hit. Everyone went back for seconds and in some cases, thirds. Compliments to Quinn's cooking interspersed the conversation, breaking into the various dialogues going on around the table at random intervals.
"...so he turned to me, eyes all wild and cray like...Quinn, what is in this stuffing? These mushrooms are amazing...and thrust this swatch of fabric in my face..."
"...tripped over her own feet and fell into the camera man...Quinn, this rizzoto is probably the best I have ever had...and sent them both toppling into the creek..."
Her cheeks burned, and she was sure she was flushed red with the steady flow of praise but it was a pleasant heat, a warm glow of appreciation that made her feel accepted into this close knit group once again. She knew she had underestimated them in assuming that they would shun her for her earlier actions. It was a silly notion, thinking that, when they had all been so forgiving and willing to overlook her transgressions in the past. But she was so greatful that they had and she was glad to be able to do something to show them that she appreciatd their efforts.
"Okay, that was officially the best meal I have ever had." Artie dropped his fork onto his not quite cleared plate and pushed it away, leaning back in his chair with a groan as he did so.
"Sounds more like it was the worst meal you ever had," Santana said. "You sound like you're going to hurl."
"Oh, God. Don't say hurl." Tina's face went ashen as she pushed her own plate away from her.
"I second that." Kurt paused with his fork raised halfway to his mouth, contemplating his next bite before deciding against it and laying it down. "I've eaten entirely way too much and if you say it, it's going to make me do it."
"So, Q, is it a compliment to the chef when their dinner party expresses the need to throw up-"
"Can we please not talk about this at the table?" Rachel interrupted, looking a little green around the gills as well.
"Should we move the discussion into the living room then?"
"That would be rude. There are some people who are still eating."
They all turned their attention to Sam and Brittany, who were, sure enough, still steadily forking mouthfuls of food.
"Oh, man. Just looking at them eat is making me feel fuller," Artie groaned again, holding his stomach.
"How? Where are you putting it all?" Tina reached over and lifted Sam's shirt slightly, poking at his solid, well defined abs. He merely shrugged and grinned awkwardly around a mouthful of rice.
"Are you saying that if the gluttony twins over there weren't still eating, we could move into the living room and continue conversing about throwing up? Upchucking. Ralphing-"
"Santana." A chorus of groans went up around the room and Santana just laughed.
"Seriously though, Quinn," Sam said, speaking with his mouth full, but at least having enough grace to cover the lower half of his face with his hand. "This dinner was amazing."
"Yeah," Brittany agreed, scraping her plate clean of the last few morsels. "The best thing I've had in my mouth in ages."
"That's what she said."
"Wanky."
Artie and Santana said at the same time, pausing for a moment to glance at each other before Santana leaned across the table to smack Artie's arm.
"Don't talk about my girl like that."
"Ow. Hey. You..." His mouth opened and closed a few times, making him look a little bit like a goldfish, before he scowled and shook his head, rubbing his arm.
"All right, children. Behave. Or I'll send you to your rooms without dessert," Quinn teased as she stood up and began to stack the plates and serving dishes. Rachel and Tina immediately rose to help her.
"Oh, no. Please no more food," Artie groaned, wheeling himself back from the table as if they were somehow going to force him to sit there and eat it.
"Why don't we all move into the living room and relax for a bit?" Rachel suggested. "I'll put on a pot of coffee and we can let our meals digest before dessert is served."
"Sounds like a wonderful idea." Kurt rose slowly from his chair, letting out a faint groan as he stretched to his full height. "My compliments to the chef. Quinn, you did a wonderful job with dinner. Now, if you'll excuse me I'm going to go sit down on the couch and try not to throw up." He gave her a swift nod before turning and making his way unsteadily into the other room, with Artie, Britt
Quinn shook her head, watching them go, then turned her attention back to clearing the table. She balanced a stack of dishes in each hand and turned to carry them into the kitchen.
"It really was a good meal, Q," Santana said as she followed Quinn, Rachel and Tina into the kitchen, empty handed. She leaned against the counter as the three of them began rinsing off dishes and then loading them into the dishwasher. "It's nice to see that some of that Stepford shit your mom forced onto you actually coming in handy."
Quinn had to admit, that as annoying as it had been, listening to her mom drill into her all of the important domestic tasks she should be adept at to please a man, it had been good preparation for her once she was out on her own. She'd been astounded by the number of classmates at Yale who couldn't manage to do a load of their own laundry. Or clean up a stain in their dorm rooms. And,it was nice to be able to do things like cook a good meal for the person she was dating (and her friends.) It felt nice to be able to take care of them like that. Not to mention, it had always earned her points in college. A home cooked meal pretty much guaranteed to get her laid. She had little doubt that it would accomplish the same thing tonight, once all of their friends were gone.
"Just become someone has been properly instructed in things such as cooking and housekeeping does not make them a Stepford Wife," Rachel said. "Those are all very useful skills to have. In fact, I-"
"You're going to make some lucky hobbit a good wifey one of these days," Santana continued, speaking over Rachel.
"You say that as if you're not just as capable in the kitchen as I am. Or that you don't stress clean," Quinn said, ignoring the wife jibe, though she couldn't keep her gaze from cutting over to Rachel for her reaction, but the other girl had her back to Quinn as she set up the coffee maker.
She knew that the comment was just Santana being Santana. She hadn't actually meant anything by it. And that it was too soon to be thinking about it. She shouldn't even be entertaining the idea. But, would her friend have really said something like that, even in jest, if the possibilty had not occured to her? Even if it were just a fleeting though, it still had to have crossed her mind, right? Had she seen something in their interactions that indicated that their relationship was heading in that direction? Was it wrong that Quinn was hoping she had?
She shook her head, dispelling thoughts that would get her nowhere, and turned her attention back to loading the dishwasher, arranging the last of the pans in and sliding the drawer into place.
"Coffee's on," Rachel said, turning around. "Shall we join the others in the living room?"
The three of them made their way out into the other room to find their friends sprawled out across the furniture, save for Artie who was fiddling with something over by the tv.
"What's going on in here?" Rachel crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the back of Artie's head, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Well," Kurt said, standing and picking his way over their friends limbs to them. "With all that we've eaten tonight, we thought it would be a good idea to maybe work off some of those calories," he said, taking Rachel's hands, giving them a little squeeze as he gently unfolded her arms. " Artie has his laptop with him, so we thought it would be the perfect night for...karaoke."
"What, Kurt no."
Quinn turned to Rachel, brow furrowing in confusion. "Since when do you try and talk people out of karaoke?"
"Since they stopped doing it properly."
"I didn't realize there was an improper way to do it."
Rachel tugged her hands from Kurt's grasp and refolded her arms. "You want to explain it to her?" Without waiting for an answer she turned and stalked across the room over to Artie.
Kurt let out a sigh and rolled his eyes before turning to Quinn, who arched an eyebrow at him, awaiting an explanation.
"It's sort of a long story. Which, I will tell you glorious, epic detail, if you'd like. But a few years ago, karaoke became ...misheard lyrics karaoke."
"Meaning?"
"Well, you know all those songs that you hear, where you think that they're singing one thing, when in fact the line is actually something else?"
Quinn nodded. "Yeah." She remembered a phase when she was younger when she'd been convinced that the line in Bad Moon Rising was "a bathroom on the right." She'd walked around the house singing it for weeks after hearing her dad playing it in his office and Frannie had a field day making fun of her for it.
"Well, we do the misheard version of the lyrics instead of the actual song."
"I see." Quinn bit back a smile. It sounded like a lot of fun. And she could see why Rachel was totally against it.
"What do you say? Are you in? If you agree, Rach will have no choice to go along with it. But if you don't, you know she'll shut us all down."
"Oh, I'm in."
"You are? Oh, that's so great."
"Awesome," Tina said, giving her a smile as she moved past her and squeezed in between Sam and Brittany on the couch.
"Yo, Berry. Your girl's in. So why don't you quit your whining and pick a song already?"
"Really, Quinn?" Rachel spun around, eyes wide and lips pursed.
"What? It sounds like fun."
"It's not fun. It's...depraved. It's blasphemous. It's-"
"A nice chance for us to relax and let loose with our friends," Quinn said softly, making her way over to Rachel and giving her shoulder's a gentle squeeze."Please, Rach?" Rachel held herself stiffly under Quinn's touch for a long moment before letting out a sigh and nodding.
"Okay. Fine."
"Thank you." She brushed a kiss against her girlfriend's forehead before pulling back. "C'mon, let's pick our songs."
Quinn couldn't remember the last time she'd laughed so hard. Or as often. Her sides hurt and her eyes stung with tears. It had started with Santana performing "Poker Face" as "Fuck Her Face" and hadn't let up from there. Artie's rendition of "Blurred Lines" with such gems as "breed a cactus from Jamaica" and "tooth decayer" had everyone in stiches. Brittany had killed it with Pat Benetar's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", replacing best shot with "pet shark." and Sam's version of The Spin Doctor's "Two Princes", with the whole "I kow what a prison lover ought to be" line was unexpected but hilarious. And Kurt caught everyone off guard with "let's pull out or dicks" in Weezer's "Buddy Holly" Even Santana looked stunned that he'd found that, and the expression on her face was priceless. Tina managed to keep a straight face the whole time she sang "What Does the Fox Say," as "What the Fuck Zane." Even Rachel eventually got into it, singing about the piece of meat she wished she hadn't eaten, in her rendition of Zedd's "Clarity." Quinn managed not to laugh her way through her version of Taylor Swift's Blank Space, replacing "ex lovers" with "Starbucks lovers."
There were duets and group numbers. The most fun beings ones that they'd covered in Glee so many years ago. Quinn had no idea that there were so many songs that had misheard lyrics and now there were a couple dozen songs on her playlists that she'd never be able to listen to the same way again.
Coffee was served, and the cake that Quinn had bought was received with much enthusiasm, the earlier complaints about being full forgotten. In all, it was one of the best nights that Quinn'd had in a long time. And, the most amazing part of it was that she was hosting it with Rachel.
As she sat on the floor in front of the couch, leaning back against Rachel's legs while her girlfriend absently combed her fingers through Quinn's hair, glanced at the room around her. And, while taking in the sight of their friends, she got a glimpse of the elusive dream that had plagued her since early childhood. Not the one about being rich or successful or the top of her field. But the one about being happy. About finally being able to live the life that she wanted. The one full of friends, ones who were as close as family, of love and laughter and joy. All the things that she hadn't found in her parents house, she had found here. Among this group of former rag-tags and misfits who had, for some reason, welcomed her into their fold. She knew, without question, that this night was just one of many. That there would be years of dinner parties and birthdays and milestone celebrations. There would be weddings, and children and life would knock them down sometimes, but they'd always have each other. They'd always have this, this network of support. One that stretched far beyond the people within these far walls. There was Mercedes in L.A. And Puck and Finn in Lima and Mike in Chicago. She had no doubt she would reach out to them. Or nerves about doing so.
Slowly, the conversation began to wind down as people rose and began making their goodbyes. It was a weeknight, everybody but Rachel had to be up the next morning for work. Quinn pushed herself to her feet, then turned and hauled Rachel up off the couch with a groan and a feigned wince. The two of them linked hands as they made their way over to the door to see their guests out. There was a flurry of hugs and plans to get together soon and then it was just the two of them, alone in the apartment.
"That went well," Rachel said, leaning against the door after if closed behind the last of their guests.
"Yeah Our first jointly hosted dinner party went well.. Did you think it wouldn't?"
Rachel shrugged. "Well, you put all of us together in a room for any length of time, there's bound to be some drama. But, no. I wasn't anticipating any major problems."
Quinn laughed lightly. "Fair enough." She knew that it was probably true, things wouldn't always be smooth sailing for the lot of them, it never had been in the past. "So," she said, taking Rachel's hand and tugging her away from the door. "The night is young-"
"No, it isn't. It's almost eleven and you have an early morning. You should be in bed."
For a moment Quinn thought about arguing, then shook her head and changed her course, leading Rachel towards the bedroom instead of the couch.
"You're right. It's getting late," she said as she spun them around, guiding Rachel backwards towards the bed. "And I should get to bed." When the back of Rachel's legs hit the mattress she automatically. Quinn climbed up onto the bed after her gently guiding her to lay back and leaning forward so she was hovering over her, her weight resting on her hands. She dipped her head and kissed Rachel lightly.
"This is not exactly what I had in mind." But that didn't stop Rachel from winding her arms around Quinn's neck and pulling her down more fully onto her, deepening the kiss.
"Really? Could have fooled me." Even though she was teasing, it was true. Rachel's original intention might bave been for Quinn to go to bed so she could get some sleep, but you wouldn't know it now from the way she was returning Quinn's kiss with fervor, her hands starting to roam restlessly up and down Quinn's back and sides. She slid her hands beneath Quinn's shirt, her short, blunt nails raking gently against the bare skin of her back as she slipped her tongue into Quinn's mouth, a soft sigh escaping her lips.
Quinn let out a soft sigh of her own as she sank down into Rachel, positioning herself over one thigh as she shifted her weight to one side and let her hand begin a meandering descent down Rachel's body.
Their movements were languid, unhurried, their hips rocking together in a slow grind as they kissed, their tongues swirling and dueling around each other. It was almost lazy, the way Rachel slid one hand beneath the lacy cup of Quinn's bra and kneaded her breast and the way Quinn pressed her thigh firmly between Rachel's as they slid together, kissing her deeply.
Their pleasure mounted slowly, a gentle rise rather than an engulfing wave, and the came together with soft, muted gasps then kept on kissing, this time with no greater purpose than to just be kissing.
Eventually, Quinn began to feel the tug of sleep and, with one last kiss she slid off Rachel and snuggled into her side.
"Today was pretty perfect," she murmured, wrapping an arm around Rachel's waist and tucking her head into the crook of her shoulder.
"Yeah." Rachel's repsonse was soft, sleepy as she nestled into Quinn.