A month had passed since the girls had started school, and Quinn was happy to be walking into her New York apartment. She liked being able to see Fran more, and was slowly making friends in college, but she lived for the comfort of these weekends.
Santana wouldn't be home from her last class for a few hours so Quinn dropped her backpack in their room and went out to the living room to relax.
"Oh Quinn! You're home!" Rachel said with a forced casualness that instantly put Quinn on high alert.
"Yeah I was just going to unwind for a minute, wanna watch some TV with me?"
"I have some homework to do." Rachel told her.
Quinn nodded, waiting for the girl to state her want. "I'm gonna do mine tomorrow."
"You don't think San will mind?" Rachel asked, sitting on the arm of the couch.
"Do I think she will mind me doing my homework tomorrow? No, as long as it all gets done." Quinn shut the TV off to direct her full attention to her friend.
"What?" Rach asked.
Quinn smirked, "What do you want to ask me before anyone else gets home?"
"Nothing." Rachel said, looking upset.
Quinn shrugged and picked up the remote to turn the TV back on, "Better get to that homework then."
"Quinn, wait!" Rachel said, looking over to the door to make sure no one was coming in.
Quinn set the remote down and opened her arms for Rachel and the girl quickly came to snuggle in. "Just rip the bandaid off."
"I want to go to a party tomorrow night." Rachel said, looking up at Quinn's face.
"That's not the easiest sell…" Quinn told her.
"San said that you've been to a couple parties at Yale." Rachel pouted.
Quinn nodded, thinking about that. "You and I have a different track record with this stuff."
"Which is why I was hoping you would come with me." Rachel said.
"You think Britt is more likely to say yes if I go?"
"I know she is."
Quinn ran her hands through Rachel's hair as she thought. "Okay, so that's a reason Britt may say yes. Why might she say no?"
"Because the last two party events I went a little crazy at."
"Why did you?"
"You know why."
"Tell me anyway." Quinn told her.
"I just wanted to be popular back then, but now it's not a big of a deal." Rach told her.
Quinn had to bite the inside of her lip hard to keep from smiling at that. "Is it?"
"Yeah!" Rachel said firmly.
Quinn scrunched up her face, "Is it though?"
Rachel laughed, "Yes…but why do you think no?"
"Before our parents even left you got a spanking for your shopping quest. Why was having those clothes important?"
"It wasn't important per se," Rachel hedged.
"It was important enough to get a spanking over." Quinn told her.
Rachel shrugged the best she could from her laying down position, "Spankings only hurt for a little while."
"Ah, I think you have a fundamental problem with how you look at this." Quinn told her. When Rachel looked at her questioning, she plunged ahead. "First you're wrong, because while the physical pain of a spanking lasted a short while, you are still struggling with the emotional aspect of it now because you are afraid that you can't go to this party. Which leads us to point two, spankings suck, but rebuilding after trust is lost sucks more."
"But how will I build it back if I don't get a chance?"
"You are looking at it too linearly. It's not that if you do well at a party once then you have trust and if you don't then you don't. All of the small choices build into that larger end goal. So like when you say I'm not going to spend money on coffee this week, and stop for a coffee everyday, you are slowly tearing down that trust."
Rachel nodded. Quinn knew she was still thinking more about how to get her way than the larger picture, but the girls parents hadn't attached value to trust or trust to actions, so she couldn't really blame her for struggling with the concept.
"So you think Britt will say no?"
"I think it would be important for you to sit down with Britt and ask how you can earn her trust for future parties." Quinn said.
"What if she says yes, if you come too?" Rachel asked.
"Can Santana and Britt come?"
"I want to spread my wings a little."
Quinn could understand that, she had the best of both worlds with the 2 hour commute allowing for space. "I need to see how San feels about it."
"How do you feel about it?" Rachel pressed.
Quinn bit her lip, weighing the right words. "I would go to a party with you, but I'm not looking for trouble, so I wouldn't want to be able to have say on when we left."
Rachel's eyes lit up. "That's fine!"
"It doesn't matter though if Britt or Santana doesn't agree." Quinn reminded her.
"I know! I will talk to Britt tonight." Rachel jumped up and bounced off to her room. Quinn watched TV for a little bit. After a while she got up and started cooking dinner. Britt said hi when she came in, and then went to shower from her workout.
When San came home, Quinn had just put the enchiladas in the oven. San kissed her, "Hey!"
"Hey, can we talk while those cook?" Quinn asked her, knowing Rachel would probably bombard Britt the second she was out of the shower and not wanting Santana caught off guard at dinner.
"Let me go put my stuff away, then can we talk while we stretch?" Santana asked.
"Yeah, that works." Quinn moved the coffee table so they had more room.
S came out a few minutes later pulling up her hair. She sat on the floor and Quinn joined her. "What's up?"
"Well…Rachel asked if I would be willing to go to a party with her tomorrow night, and I said I would talk to you about it."
Santana spread her legs out and pushed against Quinn's feet with her own, encouraging her to do the same. "Do you think that's a good idea?"
Quinn responded to the nudge and pulled on Sans arms to stretch her back. "I don't think that it's a bad idea for her to be able to earn some trust."
"You don't give a reward before the trust is earned."
"Well you don't." Quinn said, a little petulantly. She didn't feel like Santana was listening. "Is that a quick no then?"
Santana stopped stretching and raised one eyebrow dangerously. "Wanna run that by me again?"
"No."
Santana knew this could go one of two ways. She could match energy and end up spanking Quinn, she was sure or she could pause and take a deep breath, first. She took a moment to self regulate and then smirked. "I'm just curious, what pulled you into fuck around and find out mode."
Quinn actually laughed out loud at that. "You're right, I'm sorry. I wasn't feeling heard."
"I didn't mean to make you feel that way. Next time can you try and tell me that before snapping at me?"
"Yes, I really am sorry." Quinn told her.
"I know, Baby. So let's try again. I will listen and be less dismissive. Am I hearing that you want to go to this party with her?"
"I wouldn't hate it." Quinn said. "And she wants to stretch her wings a little. I get that."
Santana tried hard not to take offense to that comment. "My concern is that you don't always make the best choices where Rachel is concerned, and you've been doing really well. I can't even remember the last punishment spanking you got."
"Senior prank." Santana laughed at the memory. "I'm glad you think it's funny now, that whipping was nothing to laugh at."
"It was funny then, and you deserved that whipping. Can you see where I am coming from?" Santana asked, focusing back on the problem at hand.
"Yes, but I can't help think maybe then it's time for me to be able to earn some trust from you in this department." Quinn said.
Santana considered that, "Okay, Rachel is going to bring this up with Britt?"
"I'm sure she is now." Quinn said, standing to pull dinner out of the oven.
"Lets all talk about it at dinner then." Santana told her.
Britt and Rachel came out a minute later, having heard the oven alarm go off. The four women sat around the bar and dug in.
"So…I guess there is a party tomorrow." Britt started.
Santana chuckled, "I guess there is, how did your conversation go?"
"I'm a little reluctant, but not wanting to give a firm no yet." Britt said honestly.
"Me too." Santana agreed. She watched both girls faces, "What can we put in place to ensure everyone's peace of mind?"
"At Yale, I text every hour until I get home, maybe we can call every hour?" Quinn suggested.
"I like that idea." Santana told her.
"We can promise to only have a couple drinks?" Rachel volunteered.
"Two." Brittany said.
"New Haven and New York are very different cities, I would feel more comfortable if you guys were home by midnight." Santana told them.
Rachel went to open her mouth to object, but Quinn held a hand up, "You're looking to win a war, Rach, some battles aren't worth it."
"Okay…" Rachel agreed. "So can we go?"
Britt looked over at San, knowing that she had equal buy in with Quinn going. "I hate to have to bring this up, but I think it's important to lay out all of the expectations. What will one of you do if the other breaks the rules?" Santana asked.
"Huh?" Rachel asked.
Quinn pushed another fork full into her mouth buying time, she knew that this question was for her really.
"So what is the plan if say Quinn decides to have a third drink? What will you do?" Santana asked her.
Britt watched Rachel's face, she never would have thought to ask that. "I…will tell her not to?" Rachel said uncertainly. Quinn tried hard not to roll her eyes at that.
"Or Quinn, its 1130, and time to go and Rachel says no, what will you do?"
Quinn wasn't actually sure what the right thing to do there, but decided to fake it until she made it. "Call you guys."
Santana wasn't sure that was true, but she nodded. "Okay, this is a lot of trust that we are extending here."
"We know, and we appreciate it." Quinn told her.
They finished dinner and Santana washed the dishes while Britt put the food away. "What do you want to do with the rest of the night?" Quinn asked.
"I want to have one more conversation, then we can do whatever." Santana told her.
"You are feeling tense still?" Quinn asked.
"A little."
"Can we go to the gym, a run sounds nice…oh and go get ice cream after?!" Quinn asked.
Santana was proud of how well Quinn was balancing her body lately. "Sounds like a plan."
When they went back to their room to change, Quinn hung out by the door. Santana sat down on their bed. She pointed at the floor in front of her and Quinn walked over and stood between her knees. "Last part of this conversation, and I want you over my knees."
Quinn wanted to ask if she had done something wrong, but she knew better. "Do you want me to keep my pants up?"
"No, I want your pants and panties down." Quinn pulled down both and climbed over Sans lap. Santana started spanking in very, very firm swats. "I thought maybe we could get your maintenance out of the way."
"So you aren't upset with me?" Quinn asked uncertainly.
"No." Santana told her, she paused and reached over for the hairbrush off the night stand. She rubbed it on Quinn's bottom. The girl tensed, but then forced herself to relax. "Such a good girl." Santana praised. "I do not want you to let Rachel out of your sight tomorrow." With that she started in with the spanking
"Yes ma'am." Quinn promised.
"I need you to keep your head about you."
"I willlll…." Quinn whined. Santana gave 5 very hard swats to each thigh. "I'm sorry, no more whining!!!"
Santana put the brush down. "I love you, and you have done so well lately." She rubbed Quinn's bottom, "be thinking about a reward you want for having done so well with your calorie intake, and your communication, and your behavior."
"Ice cream?!" Quinn cheered.
"That's just for fun tonight, think of something more you want." Santana told her, lifting her up.
"Like maybe the Broadway tickets I wanted?" She asked.
"Hmmm…" Santana laughed, "Maybe think of something you didn't ask for for your birthday."
Quinn jumped up and changed into her workout clothes, full of energy. "Let's go!"