"Happy Birthday," Santana whispered in Quinn's ear when the girl started to stir.
Quinn snuggled deeper into Santana, "Do we have to leave this room?"
"Normally I would say no, but we have plans today, and I can hear Britt making you breakfast."
"Please?" Quinn whispered.
Santana was at a loss, She pulled her girl close. "What's wrong Quinn?"
"Everything." Quinn said back.
"Tell me about it." Santana ordered.
"Am I in trouble?" Quinn asked.
"Are you?" Santana asked. Quinn shrugged. "Talk to me baby."
"Can we just do my birthday next weekend?"
Santana was irritated having to be the ass and force Quinn into any birthday celebration plans, but they weren't going to get another chance to see this sold out show for a while. "I hate to say it, but you are going to need to suck it up today."
"It's my birthday." Quinn whined.
Santana stood up and the pulled Quinn up, "Let's go eat."
Quinn sighed but allowed herself to be lead out of her room.
"Happy Birthday!" Britt called as soon as the spotted the pair.
Quinn smiled warmly, "Thank you."
"Where is Rachel?" S asked.
"Oh, I guess signing up at the gym? She thought she would be back in time." Brittany said.
Quinn sighed and threw herself down on to the bar stool.
"What's wrong?" S asked.
"Nothing, can we eat?" Quinn snapped.
Britt raised her eyebrows, Santana just shook her head, "You don't want to wait for Rachel?"
"Not really." Quinn said, reaching for a waffle.
"Lucy Quinn!" Santana growled. She hadn't slept the night before, Quinn was stressing her out and being lippy on top of it.
"Its my birthday, but sure, I will eat a cold breakfast." Quinn said putting the waffle back.
"I'm sure she will be back soon," Britt said anxiously, putting the food in the oven to stay warm.
"It's fine, Brittany. Quinn?"
Quinn sighed. "I'm sorry."
"Do better." Santana growled.
Just then Rachel came through the door and everyone looked at her. She faltered. "Happy Birthday, Quinn."
"Did you have fun at the gym?"
The amount of disdain in Quinn's voice turned Santana's stomach. "Excuse us." She pulled Quinn up and ignored her yelp as she stomped back to their room with her.
She pushed Quinn gently on to their bed. After a minute of silence the glare left Quinn's face. She sighed and threw herself back on the bed.
"Sit up." Santana growled.
"But its my birthday." Quinn whined.
Santana sighed. "Quinn, my love, sit up." Quinn sat up, but tears had started. Santana sat down next to her. She wrapped Quinn up in a strong hug. "What did you ask me last night?"
"For space to navigate this…"
"It doesn't feel like that's going well from the outside, what does it feel like on the inside?"
"Lost."
"Can you let me in to help us find the shoreline?"
"No."
"Because you don't want to be in trouble?"
"Because I want to kill Rachel, I cant imagine what you will do to her." Quinn said.
"That bad huh?"
"It's a lot." Quinn said. Sighing in defeat at the enormity of the situation.
"Honest Question: Anger is not an emotion that you are used to navigating, is whatever this is too big for you to try and grow that muscle with?"
"No," Quinn said petulantly.
S kissed her temple, "Then go out there, apologize to Rachel and fix your attitude."
"No." Quinn said again. "I hate my birthday."
"You're gonna hate it more when you can't sit at the show this afternoon." Santana said without heat.
"You got tickets?!" Quinn asked.
"Yes, still hate your birthday?"
"Is Rachel coming?"
"Quinn…" Santana growled.
"Fine, fine." Quinn said standing.
They went out had breakfast. Quinn asked if she could open her gifts later so they got ready for their matinee show and left.
After one of the best musicals they had seen they walked around central park until dinner. They ate at a fancy restaurant they would normally never splurge on and went home.
"Wanna watch a movie?" Britt asked as they walked through the door. She was trying to keep spirits high but it was clear Rachel and Quinn were fighting all day any time they thought they were out of ear shot.
"Im pretty tired. I've had such a fun day, Thank you, but I want to go cuddle for now." Quinn said.
Santana nodded. They went back to their room and changed and crawled into bed.
"Thank you for today." Quinn said, cuddling.
"You have 24 hours left to fix this." Santana told her.
"Yes ma'am."
"Please don't earn a spanking on the way." Santana told her.
"I will try. Are you mad at me?"
"Im frustrated that you won't let me help."
"I'm sorry."
Santana pulled her in, "I know."
The next day Quinn had spent the day in their room reading and doing homework. Around 7 San stood in their doorway. "Come out and make dinner with me, Britt will be home soon."
"I don't want to. Can't you do it alone?" Quinn whined.
"Sure, I can cook dinner and you can come stand in the corner for whining."
"Is Rachel out there?"
"Quinn, I know that you have the self control to be in the same room with her." Quinn sighed but followed Santana out. She stood hesitantly at the island. "What?" San asked.
"Corner or cooking?"
"Wash your hands."
"I'm not in trouble?"
"Thin ice for sure."
Quinn started boiling the water when they heard Sans phone ring. She gave both girls a nervous look, but when they seemed to be ignoring each other she went to answer it.
Rachel walked over a minute later. "Not used to hearing the princess be in trouble…"
Quinn didn't look up from cutting the chicken into chunks.
"You're ignoring me now?"
"I'm trying not to lose my cool."
"You're over reacting."
Quinn went and washed her hands again. "How would you feel if the situation was reversed and it was Britt meeting up with this girl at parties and the gym?"
A weird triumphant look crossed Rachel's face, "Ah ha! That's what this is about"
"What?" Quinn asked confused.
"You are afraid that Santana is stepping out on you and you are projecting it on me!"
In that second Quinn saw red. She lifted her hand to smack Rachel when Santana's voice boomed across the room, "Hey!" Instantly Quinn's hand fell. She didn't turn around, knowing her girlfriend would be irate. "Go wait for me in our room."
Quinn walked off, still tense. "Thanks." Rachel said.
"What was that about?" Santana asked. She was done allowing the two room to work it out, and while she caught the tail end of Rachel's comment, it wasn't making sense.
"Not your concern." Rachel said petulantly.
"Excuse me?!" Santana shouted. "The second Quinn was involved it was my concern, so try again."
"No, only Britt can tell me what to do." Rachel said.
"You're right." Santana turned to walk to her room, pulling out her phone to text Britt. When she walked into her room, Quinn had her jeans down and was standing in the corner. San gave her a light swat, "You know how I feel about you topping from the bottom, did I tell you to stand in the corner?"
"No ma'am." Quinn said, turning away uncertainly.
"Come out, and let's go for a run. You obviously need to work some things out." Santana told her.
Quinn came out of the corner and started to pull out clothes, "Am I in trouble?" She knew Santana hated that question, but she wanted to know.
Santana had been shuffling through her gym bag to find clothes. She stopped at Quinn's question and looked up, giving the girl a fierce glare. "How many times have you asked me some variation of that question this weekend?"
Quinn played with her shirt, looking down. "I don't know."
"No ma'am." Santana said fiercely. "You look up at me." Quinn slowly obeyed. "Now answer me."
"I don't know."
"More times in the last 3 days then the last 3 months." Santana told her. Quinn nodded and started to look down at the floor. "Don't you dare, Quinn."
"I'm sorry." Quinn whined.
Santana took a breath so she didn't completely lose her cool, but squinted at her girl. "There has to be layers to this, because you have gone for broke this weekend. Let me tell you how tonight is going to go: We are going for a run, when Britt gets back, we will have a family meeting, where you will lay your cards out, and then you and I will debrief in our room after, am I understood?"
"Yes ma'am."
"For the record Quinn, I would die before I ever thought about cheating on you." Santana told her.
Quinn was alarmed for a second by the fierceness of the loyalty. "Me too."
As they were walking out the front door, Santana paused, "When Britt gets home, we are going to have a family meeting, she can tell you what to do then."
"Whatever." Rachel sighed.