Summary: Sequel to Dirty Little Secret
Pairing: strong Rachel/Quinn
Notes: Sorry for the wait guys but I haven't forgotten about you, promise.
Warning:
Disclaimer: I own nothings, but the random ramblings of which occur in my brain. Glee and any other copyrighted content used belongs to their respective owners.
A year ago, Hiram would've felt like he was intruding. A year ago, he was still trying to adjust to the thought of his little girl having a daughter of her own. A year ago, the sight of the blonde that had once tortured his little girl would bring mixed feelings that he couldn't make heads or tails of. A year ago, Hiram wouldn't have thought about any of these things because they had yet to transpire. A year ago, he was living life as he had done for as many years as he could remember; he would get up, have breakfast, say goodbye to his husband and their daughter, and then head off to work. He'd come home from work, possibly with take out depending on what time he got out of work and enjoy dinner with his family before relaxing for the night and eventually kissing his daughter on the cheek and heading to bed where he would cuddle up with his husband and air his concerns when it came to his little star. It was hard to believe how much had changed in a year. He'd gone from being slightly worried about the changes he had noticed in Rachel, to discovering her horrible truth, to accepting help in the form of someone he would've once liked to have a serious talk with about her treatment of his daughter, to trying to accept the harsh reality of Rachel's pregnancy, to discovering her relationship with a certain blonde, to not only becoming a grandparent but also loving the grandchild that was a result of hatred. So much had gone on and all in the space of a year. All of this rushed through his mind as he lent against the doorframe and watched on, his entire being full of love, at the family he never asked for but now couldn't imagine being without.
Quinn sat on the bed, propped up by pillows. Never in a million years did she think she would find this to be an enjoyable afternoon and yet here she was, and if she was totally honest, she wouldn't change it for anything in the world. Charlie lay against Quinn's chest, she'd been fed not so long ago and was now drifting off to sleep as she took comfort in the familiar sound of the blondes voice. Beth sat beside her mother, pressed closely to her side, a hand tangled in her mothers hair while she sucked the thumb on the other. It was a very rare occasion that both little ones would nap at the same time, but Beth had skipped nap time when she was at the childminders and Charlie had a bit of a rough night. The blonde had found a way to soothe them both, reading. As she read the words of Dr. Seuss, she could feel the little girls relaxing and slowly giving in to their tiredness.
Hiram cleared his throat, just loud enough to grab Quinn's attention but not so loud that it'll disturb the babies. "Well," he uttered softly, "I see three of my four favourite girls. Where's Rae?"
A smile tugs at her lips from being included in Hiram's favourite girls, it just further cemented that she was family as far as the Berry's were concerned. "She's in the shower," she glanced down at Charlie and noted that she was asleep, and judging for the way Beth's hand seemed to be drooping in her hair she wasn't that far behind her baby sister, "Charlie decided to spit up in her hair."
"Lovely," he grimaced. "Well," Hiram started, as though suddenly remembering the purpose of coming up to the girls room in the first place, "when she's all nice and shiny again can you girls come downstairs? Your mom, Leroy and I would like to talk to you about something."
The young mothers brow creased, "That sounds ominous..."
Hiram couldn't help the good natured chuckle that escaped his lips, "Anyone ever tell you you worry too much, dear?"
"Your daughter tells me all the time."
"And she's right," he countered. "There's nothing ominous going on, nothing to worry about, we'd just like to talk to our favourite grown up girls."
"And my mom's here?" Quinn puzzled, she couldn't think of a scenario that involved the three main adults in their lives wanting to talk to them that wasn't some of an unpleasant nature.
"She sure is," he nodded.
A sudden realisation dawned on the blonde and she couldn't prevent the words that tumbled off of her tongue in a worried haste, "Has someone died?"
"No," Hiram reassured, he noticed the dubious look his pseudo daughter in law was giving him and went over to the bed, "I promise you, Quinn," he placed a hand gently on her shoulder, "no one's died, there's nothing wrong, and there is nothing bad about it at all."
Quinn nodded and took a deep steadying breath, "You promise?"
"On everything that I hold dear to me."
"Ok," she nodded once more, "next time could you maybe lead with the nothing bad part?"
"Sure thing," he chuckled, before leaning over to press a kiss to the top of her head. "I'll leave you to the wonderful world of Dr. Seuss."
"Gee, thanks," Quinn replied dryly, before returning to where she had been in the story and continued reading in a calm, soothing voice so as to help the sleeping babes in her arms stay asleep.
Hiram smiled contently at the sound of Quinn reading to what he considered to be his grandchildren and quietly left the room and return downstairs.
As the blonde mother came to the end of the book she glanced at the clock on the bedside table, it had been almost an hour and yet her girlfriend still had yet to emerge from the bathroom. A part of her was worried, Rachel's shower habits had been improved so much, and yet a small part of her wondered if her girlfriend had had a nightmare and hadn't said anything about it and was now desperately scrubbing at her skin until it would be red raw to try and remove the ghost that still, at times, haunted her and plagued her thoughts. The logical part of her brain was telling her to remain calm, that Rachel was probably just enjoying the time to herself, and that was something she could relate to. Even Quinn was guilty of extra long showers or even the almost extinct soak in a bubble bath whenever the opportunity presented itself, whether it be someone else watching over the babies, or when she was at home and Puck had Beth. Glancing down at the sleeping children, she found herself enveloped in calm and focused on their delicate features. She knew all too well from Beth that they grow up in the blink of an eye and she wanted to memorise their youthful innocence and treasure it forever.
Unwittingly Rachel found herself repeating the motions of her father as she stood in the doorway of the bathroom, silently watching the scene before her eyes, her heart swelling with love. "You know," she began softly, "I don't think I will ever not love seeing moments like this."
"Hey, you," Quinn beamed, "have you come to save me?"
Rachel took slow steps towards the bed, "Save you from what?" she asked teasingly and pointed the book in her girlfriends lap, "The world of Dr. Suess?"
"Haha," she rolled her eyes, "I was thinking more of releasing me from the munchkins so I can get feeling back in my limbs and salvage whatever mess Beth has made of my hair."
"Ok, ok, but I have to do one thing first." She went to the bedside table and retrieved her phone.
"What do you have to do first?"
"This," Rachel held her phone up and hit the capture button on her phone camera app.
"I'll get you back for that," Quinn teased, "but first things first, I need rescuing and then our presence is required downstairs."
The dark haired mini diva returned her phone to the bedside table and carefully lifted Charlie from Quinn's arm, "It is?" she asked as she cradled her daughter close to her chest and made her way over to the crib in the corner.
Quinn stretched her arm out, a small groan escaping her lips as she flexed her feelings to get the blood flowing back to them, "Yep, apparently there has been a gathering of the parents and they request an audience with us."
"Wait, what?" her features crumpled in confusion.
"Your dad came up while you were in the shower," she began, "but I'm telling you what he should've told me first and that is nothing is wrong, no one has died and nothing bad is going to happen."
"Well, that's reassuring," Rachel deadpanned as she walked around to the opposite side of the bed and pulled back the covers.
Quinn expertly disengaged Beth's fingers from her hair and lifted the toddler up slightly, just enough for her girlfriend to pull the covers further back. "That's what I thought, but your dad promised me and if he breaks that promise he is in a world of trouble." Carefully she lay Beth in bed.
Rachel placed a pillow behind Beth and waited for Quinn to do the same on the opposite side to prevent the small being from accidentally rolling out of bed. "Dad will do many things," she uttered in a hushed voice, "but he has never and will never break a promise. It's just the way he is, even if it's a silly promise, he'll keep it."
"Good to know," the blonde replied as she gently tucked the sheets around her sleeping tike, her fingers ghosting over the wisps of fine blonde hair that were rapidly beginning to get out of control with curls.
As much as Rachel wanted to stay and watch over their babies, she was much too curious about the collection of parental units that awaited them downstairs, "Come on you, we don't have long before these two wake up again."
Quinn joined Rachel at the entrance of their room and cast one more glance over the one thing she never expected but wouldn't give up for anything in the world, "I know, but I'm hoping that they'll sleep at least long enough to find out what the three stooges downstairs have in store for us and enough time for me to have an undisturbed coffee, I have a paper to write and there's no way I'm doing that without the aid of caffeine."
Reaching up on her tiptoes, the dark haired mother pressed a chaste kiss to the lips of her girlfriend, "I promise, if they wake up, you'll still get your coffee."
"You're so good to me," she beamed as she laced their fingers together and led the way downstairs, a voice asking from behind her, "This paper isn't due tomorrow, is it?" Quinn knew she was busted, but it wasn't exactly the first time she'd ever written a paper the night before it was due and in her defence she was pretty sure that most of their class, if not the vast majority of the student body at McKinley were guilty of that very offence and they didn't have to deal with raising children.
"Quinn?"
"You worry too much, Rae," she placated. She stopped in her tracks at the mouth of the living room as she took in the three expectant faces staring back at them, "On second thoughts," she murmured, "maybe you should worry."
Rachel rolled her eyes and pressed a kiss to the blondes cheek, "Now who worries too much?" she teased as she gently squeezed the digits interlocked with her own, and added, "So much for stooges..."
"How nice of you to grace us with your presence," Hiram chuckled, "I was beginning to think we'd have to send a search team for you two."
"Well it's a delicate operation," Rachel explained, "trying to unearth Quinn from beneath the girls without waking either of them up."
"Fair point," Hiram conceded.
Noticing that neither girl had made to move Judy spoke, "Don't get me wrong, girls, you make for a lovely substitute to a door, but I think you'd be much more comfortable sitting down."
"Oh," Quinn laughed nervously, she hadn't even realised that they had been standing in the doorway, she had no idea why but her entire building was a bundle of nerves.
"Quinn," Leroy placed his warm gaze on the obviously nervous young woman, "Hiram did explain to you that nothing bad is going on..." he shot a glance to his husband, "you did tel her, didn't you?"
"He told me," she quickly interjected, saying Hiram from his usual stumble before he began to defend himself, much like Rachel had done on occasion. She tugged gently on Rachel's arm and led them over to the couch. Months ago they would've just sat next to each other, knees touching and taking comfort in that simple act. Now? Now they were comfortable, no lies, no hiding, no expectations so when Quinn sat in the corner and Rachel sat beside her, pulling her legs up beneath her and leaning her head on her blonde counterpart it was nothing out of the ordinary and as Quinn draped an arm around her girlfriends shoulders she found her source of peace and felt her nerves begin to fade.
"There really isn't anything to worry about, Quinnie," Judy spoke up from the armchair.
"So..." Rachel began as she looked from each face to the next, scrutinising their features for any trace of anything remotely bad, "why have you three banded together? This isn't a case of judge, jury and executioner is it, because if it is I have a baby upstairs that I will gladly wake up to give her her bath and avoid playing that game."
Leroy couldn't contain the laugh that erupted from his belly and out of his mouth, "Rae, you are too much sometimes baby girl."
"What?" she asked, her voice only just a few octaves below being considered shrill.
"I'm going to forgive you, this time," Hiram interjected, "I'm going to blame it on baby brain that you have forgotten what this time of year is."
"This time of year?" Quinn's face crumpled in confusion, "Rach, what's going on?"
It took a few moment for Rachel to get up to speed as she worked through the many calendars and planners inside her head, she could remember dates and appointments from before junior high, "Oh..." the penny dropped, "Dad, you can't expect-"
Hiram silenced Rachel with an open palm in the hair, "I don't expect anything," he calmed, "and before you let that mind of yours get going with God only knows what, you need to hear us out, understand."
Rachel nodded in understanding, but she knew her father would know that it was impossible to stop her mind from going off in a multitude of tangents.
"Erm..." Quinn raised her hand, "can someone fill in the blanks, please? I've yet to master the silent communication that goes on with all of the Berry's."
Leroy rolled his eyes at his husband and daughter, "It's not a Berry thing, Quinn, it's a Hiram and Rachel thing. Trust me, I've been trying to master it for years."
"Even if it is a Berry thing, Quinine," Judy said with a relaxed smile on her face, "you're not the only one that doesn't speak it."
"That's great and everything, Mom," the younger blonde pushed, "but I'm still none the wiser."
Rachel placed a hand on Quinn's knee and made it so that she was sitting up more than melting into her girlfriend, "Every year, Dad and I, we go for a weekend break to New York and we go see a Broadway show," she explained. "Things are different now," she aimed at her parents, "I can't skip school like before, not now and even IF I could, I can't leave Charlie behind or dump or someone else, that isn't fair to anyone."
"We know that, sweetheart, but-"
"No, no buts," Rachel countered.
"Wait..." Quinn could feel Rachel tensing up beside her, she knew that she needed to diffuse the situation before Rachel became truly stressed out, "is this your way of saying that those few days you weren't in Glee club or anywhere that I know of each spring, you were in New York?"
"That's exactly right," Hiram confirmed.
"Rachel Berry, THE Rachel Berry, skipped school?" She couldn't hide her amusement.
"It was Broadway, of course I skipped school," Rachel replied incredulously.
Judy cleared her throat, amusement tainting her voice, "I do believe that we are getting off track here."
"Judy's right," Hiram said with a nod. "Now girls, we know that your situation is very different from your peers, while they're out partying and such on the weekends, you're dealing with bottles and diapers."
Quinn's brow furrowed, "This isn't exactly news..." She looked to her girlfriend, "It's not like we mind, Beth and Charlie are everything. I wouldn't trade a single moment of it."
"We know that, Quinn," Leroy eased, "but our point is, you're both seventeen, almost eighteen and there are experiences that you're, well, maybe missing out on isn't the right turn of phrase here, but there are still things you should get to do at your age."
"Quinn's right though, Daddy," Rachel knew that the three adults that made up their parents meant well, but she agreed with Quinn wholeheartedly, she wouldn't swap a single moment with Charlie and Beth for a trip to the mall with her friends or underage drinking at a party with music of very questionable choice, "we have our girls and they're so much more than any of the things our peers get up to."
"You're both so grown up," Judy mused, "more so than you should be. I love Beth and Charlie, those little girls are a blessing in all of our lives, but that doesn't mean that while you're watching your little girls grow up that we don't wish that our little girls could be making the same mistakes and immature decisions of other kids your age."
"Mom..." Quinn was touched by what her mother had said, she had never thought of any of this from her point of view, she could see it to an extent from Hiram and Leroy's point of view because she'd been there through everything that their little girl had to endure. Not once had she stopped and thought of herself as her mom's little girl.
"Just because you're both moms, doesn't stop you from being our little girls..." Judy cleared her throat, she could feel the threat of tears catching in the back of her throat, "which is why, we," she stressed, "have decided that you girls will be playing hooky on Friday and the Monday following."
"Mrs. Fabray-"
"Rachel, how many times do I have to tell you, it's Judy," she gave the diminutive brunette an arched eyebrow, daring her to challenge the older woman.
Rachel sighed in defeat, "Judy," she said pointedly, "that's all very well that you've banded together to decide that we're going to play hooky, but we still have commitments, we may as well just go to school anyway. Charlie and Beth are still going to be needing our attention."
"Rachel's got a point, Mom," Quinn sided with the body pressed against hers, "a day off from school will just mean a day that we don't have to drop the girls at the sitters."
"I'm sorry," Leroy laughed, "that answer is incorrect, but you do win this lovely years supply of turtle wax."
Hiram elbowed his husband in the ribs, "This is not a gameshow you fool."
"Oh but it is," he pointed out kindly, "we just haven't revealed the prize yet."
"Can we get to the point please?" Rachel spoke up, irritation in her voice, a combination of hating waiting and having not slept well the night before, "I could be napping with Charlie right now."
"Ok, grumpy butt," Leroy joked, poking out his tongue. "On Friday, Charlie and Beth are being stolen by their three favourite grandparents for a weekend free of their parents because you two," he pointed a finger in their direction and wiggled it, "will be getting your butts to the airport to catch your flight to New York."
"I'm sorry...what?!" Quinn asked in shock.
"You heard me, Miss Fabray," Leroy smiled. "Friday, you, Rae, airport, plane, New York. But, that's not all..."
"Seriously, Leroy," Hiram shook his head in mock despair, "enough with the gameshow host schtick."
Leroy purposely ignored his husband, "Your hotel is booked with free range of room service, order whatever you want. Saturday, well, I'm sure Rae will give you a tour Quinn, Lord knows she's been there enough times over the years. Saturday night, you have prime seats for Wicked. Sunday you have all to yourselves and then Monday you fly back and go back to being the responsible young women we have watched you become."
"I think my head might explode," Rachel muttered.
"Breathe, baby," Quinn comforted, before turning her attention to the three adults staring at them expectantly, "you've really thought all of this through, haven't you?"
"But of course," her mother answered, "and the best part is, it's all booked and it's non-refundable so you two will go have fun, even if I have to drag you to the airport and put you on the plane myself."
"You're not the only one," Hiram agreed. "You guys need this, I know you say you're ok and you wouldn't change a thing, and we know that's true. But you also need time to just be yourselves, without having to be mommy at the same time, and friend, and daughter, and the many other things in your lives."
"So girls," Leroy eased in to the conversation, "what do you think?"
Quinn looked at Rachel, her eyes swimming in the chocolate pools in front of her, searching for the answers to the many unspoken questions between them. "I think..." she turned to face their parents, "we're going to New York."
Authors note: Hi guys, sorry to keep you waiting so long, I've got a lot of help problems and they make it difficult to write sometimes but I haven't forgotten you and I will finish Long Way to Happy and write the sequel also. We're heading in the direction of some Faberrycentric chapter(s). I haven't decided if I should write the girls trip to New York as one long chapter or if I'm going to break it up into smaller chunks, opinions? Also, are you ready for a turning point for our dear Rachel? Is Quinn equipped to handle this situation? Who knows?! Right at this moment, I don't even know. I can't think of any really questions but if you have any suggestions then please send them my way.