"So Quinn, what's with the no alcohol rule?" Elaina asked as she plonked herself down next to Quinn, who had claimed them a booth early on.
It had taken Quinn around 30 minutes to make herself presentable for her bachelorette party before the girls had whisked her away into some club, that in her opinion, was too loud, too crowded and far too warm. Although, that may just be her secret pregnancy talking.
"I really can't handle my liquor very well. I'm hungover for days and I'm not really a joy to be around." She joked. "And considering I get married in two days, I don't think Santana would appreciate a zombie bride."
"You have to be joking. I've seen the two of you together and that woman worships the ground you walk on, she would marry you no matter what you looked like walking down that aisle. If I'm ever lucky enough to find someone who loves me a fraction of what she loves you, then I'll be a very happy woman." Elaine expresses.
This does make Quinn blush slightly. It always does when people compliment hers and Santana's relationship. It's nice to know that what they share is blatantly obvious to world and that they aren't second guessed by the people closest to them.
"You will find someone like that. You're a great catch, you just have to be patient." Quinn replies earnestly.
"Well I'm so done with being patient, so how about me and you get back on that dance floor with your best friends and your future mother in law and find me a potential partner."
Quinn didn't have time to answer before she was dragged to her feet and through a herd of sweaty bodies to the middle of the dancefloor where the rest of the group was. Surprisingly, Maribel was at the heart of a dance circle they had going on, proving to everyone that really, age was just a number. She was extremely rhythmical when moving to the beat and Quinn could finally understand where Santana inherited her dancing ability from.
Time passed quickly for the group as they danced the night away, everyone, bar Quinn, treating themselves to delicious cocktails and various shots and surprisingly, she felt no envy. She didn't even feel like she was missing out and was craving a drink. The blonde was overly shocked by the fact that she was able to let loose so freely without the confidence, alcohol so easily provides.
The blonde had realised quite soon into the night that this was probably going to be the last time that she would be able to hang out freely with her friends, in a night club till god knows what time in the morning. Soon her early morning 'get-ins' will turn into early morning 'get ups' for feeding times and as much as she couldn't wait for that, being in this scene now with her friends just made her realise that she was 21 years old and she isn't going to get the 'wild days' that her friends are going to have.
Alas though, she was brought out of her deep thoughts by Mercedes slinging a heavy arm across her shoulders.
"Come on girl, we need to get out of here. This club is closing nowwww." She hiccupped as they followed the the remaining partiers to the exit. "Maybe we can find another place to go, get your girl a few more drankssss!"
Quinn could only laugh at the state of her best friend. In fact, as she looked around all of their group was in a very similar state. She was holding Mercedes up as Elaina and Helen were perched against each other. As she looked further round, panic began to set in as she had no sight of Maribel. Thumping Mercedes onto a conveniently placed bench, she walked back around to the exit to see if she could find her Mama. She was seriously beginning to worry that she had lost her future mother-in-law until she spotted a familiar coif through the crowd. As the blonde forced her way through, she was flooded with relief as she watched Maribel, trying to teach Kurt to salsa dance in the middle of the street.
The remaining people leaving the club had gathered around and one of the boys had even started to play some Latin music through his phone which only delighted the older Latina that little bit more.
Watching Maribel try to teach Kurt was like watching Bambi trying to ice-skate, it was completely useless, but entertaining all the same.
Quinn had been part of the admirers until Maribel looked up and spotted her. She gave her a big grin before she was struck with the greatest idea.
"Mija! Come here will you and dance with me. Show these people how it's done."
It was more of a demand than a request because before Quinn could reply, Maribel had grabbed her hand and spun her into the circle. Their steps were practised and next to perfect.
Over the years, since Santana had taken Quinn dancing the night before she was first departed, it became much more regular for them. When Santana would return, they would always go back to that same club multiple times whilst she was in town. In turn, they started to take Maribel as it was a great way to meet people and socialise, it was also something that she loved and it made them both, Santana and Quinn, so happy to see Mari in an environment that she was comfortable in, that wasn't her work place.
So in this moment, Quinn knew how to follow Maribel's lead and they made it look easy.
After the song had finished, an loud applause was heard and Quinn's cheeks blushed a deep ruby red, she had forgotten that in that moment they were being watched. Maribel clearly still had her liquid courage and was eating up the attention, bowing and waving to the crowd (waving although she was the Queen of England), much to everyone's amusement.
"Come on Mama, let's get you home." Quinn expressed as she wrapped a supportive arm around Mari's waist, as they began to stumble to where she had left Mercedes, Helen and Elaina, Kurt traipsing closely behind them.
They all tumbled into two cabs to make the short journey back home, they had walked to the club but other than Quinn, (who's feet were in extreme pain anyway), none of them were in a state to walk back.
The cabs promptly pulled up to the trio's apartment and they all collapsed onto any surface available once inside.
"Everyone's staying here tonight, none of you are in a state to make your way home." Quinn announces.
Helen and Elaina give a thumbs up from their place on the sofa as Kurt and Cedes stumble to their rooms.
"Mija, I need to go home. Jesus will wonder where I am, I can't do a walk of shame in the morning."
Quinn could only laugh at her Mama as she guided her towards hers and Santana's room.
"I will text Jesus, you can stay in mine and Tana's bed tonight and I'll get in with Mercedes."
Maribel promptly launched herself onto the free bed and was asleep within seconds, so Quinn removed her shoes and covered her over with the blanket, kissed her gently on the forehead, grabbed some clothes to sleep in and made her way to the cupboard in the hallway to get extra blankets for her passed out friends on the couch.
She quickly covered them over before changing in the bathroom, washing her face off and completing a shorter version of her night routine and quietly entering Mercedes bedroom across the hall. She scooted into the bed, careful not to completely wake her friend before closing her eyes, with a content smile on her face. Happy with the way her night turned out.
Santana, Blaine, Alex, Sam and Jesus had just left the apartments and were making their way towards a low-key bar first so that they could catch up over a few beers (and a mixture of soft drinks for Santana) before progressing their night. They quickly sat in a corner booth with Jesus and Blaine went to the bar to grab the first round of drinks.
"So Sammy boy, not that I aren't happy to see you but what are you doing at my bachelorette party?"
Sam laughed and thought about his response before opening his mouth, "Well, I had just been deployed and arrived at base, you know the drill, looking around to find my bed and I entered the last tent on base and who was there cleaning their boots as thoroughly as ever on the end of their own bunk?" He rhetorically asked. He knew immediately Santana would know about Blaine's obsession with cleaning his boots.
In the army, you have to always ensure that your uniform is in impeccable state, but Blaine has always had an obsession with extensively cleaning his boots, even before they had enlisted and were just in ROTC.
"You're in the army?!"
Surprisingly, Santana wasn't the one to blurt out that confession. Alex had just alerted the whole bar that there was at least 1 soldier in the building, causing Santana to keel over with laughter when she noticed the embarrassed look on her best friend.
Sam had also now got a red tint to his cheeks when he noticed the stares from the surrounding tables and the attention on them. "Is that really so hard to believe?" He responded, once he had pulled himself together.
"Well Trouty, I was not expecting that. I mean, I don't know where I was expecting you to say you re-united with my brother but I don't think that was it." Santana replied.
"After you two left Dallas I was kind of lonely for a while. Considering you two had already decided that this was what you wanted to do and you'd been more than open about it, I decided to look into it for myself. You know I'm not the brightest crayon in the box so I needed something to strive for. I knew roughly how to train myself for it, hell, I'd joined in enough of your training sessions to know what I needed to do to be successful, so I got my head down at school and I trained like crazy so that when I left, I could enlist. I know that you went to Lima and joined a ROTC at school but you know there was none in our area, so I trained myself." He explained.
Once he'd finished he looked up into the shocked face of Alex but a small smirk was plastered onto Santana's face. She reached over and patted him on the shoulder.
"I'm proud of you Sam. You did good." She said sincerely, causing a shy smile to spread across his face.
Just then, Jesus and Blaine returned with the drinks and the five of them settled comfortably into conversation for the next hour or so.
"Right then, who says we get this party started?" Alex announces after everyone had finished their 5th drinks.
They all gathered their jackets and things and Santana followed Alex, Jesus and Sam down the street as she hung back and caught up with her brother. They discussed their recent deployments and Blaine's re-uniting with Sam, all things wedding and how Quinn is before they stopped in front of a run-down looking building. Alex stood in front of them with a bright smile plastered on her face.
"Erm Al.. I'm not really sure Quinn would be too happy if I was murdered two nights before my wedding." Santana quipped, but Alex just shrugged it off.
"I am not leading you to your murder you idiot, but you may murder these guys' bank accounts in here. I asked everyone here and it turns out we're all pretty good at a very specific card game." Alex finished smugly.
It did not take long for Santana to see where this was going. Poker was a game that they often played on base. They would bet things like candy bars from home and cigarettes, never money as they never really had much out there. But that didn't mean that back here in the real world, she wasn't going to shake down the pockets of every person around that table.
She sported a grin that matched the one of her bestfriend and she couldn't help but smile wider at the fact that she was stone cold sober and that never hurt when going into a serious game.
With that they all entered the building and Alex dealt with the man standing at the door, who looked extremely illegal to the others, but none of them questioned it as they were lead through a dark hallway and towards a lightly lit room, holding around 10 other man around a large table. They all made themselves comfortable and were dealt into the game.
They were there for what felt like hours and finally the only people that were left were Santana and a bulky bald man, smoking a cigar and wearing what looked to be a very expensive suit.
Santana looked on closely but wasn't 100% certain that he was bluffing. She had thought that she had nailed his tell quite early on but then she hadn't seen it for while, so now she isn't sure, so she will just have to trust in her cards and all she was missing was the Queen of Hearts for her royal flush.
She decided to take the risk and get her replacement card as her opponent had raised the bet but she just knew he wouldn't be able to beat this hand. She prayed to all that was holy that out of the approximate 40 cards in the deck, the one she needed would be on the top.
And as luck would have it, the Queen was smiling back at her.
Game over.
"Santana that was the most incredible thing I've ever seen!" Jesus exclaimed as they clambered out of the dark building. They had decided to have one last drink in the bar a couple of buildings down as Santana had just come out with A LOT of winnings and she was more than happy to buy her friends a round of drinks.
"I can't believe that the card fell for me to be honest. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that."
"San, I knew you'd whip his ass! MY BEST FRIEND IS A BOSS!" Alex screamed down the street.
Everyone else could only laugh at the girls antics, none of them really believing that she was a machine on the battlefield, she was always so care free and happy when she was home, she did not seem like a girl who was in the army.
As the five of them made their way into the bar, they all sat around a table and a tall blonde approached them to take their orders. Santana was last to order but when it got around to her she was way too distracted by the girl to listen to what was going on around her.
She squinted her eyes, as if to help her see better but still just stared at the girl.
"Is she okay?" The girl asked, but was quickly re-assured that she was fine and Blaine placed his sisters order. Once the girl was out of sight, he turned to the girl to his left.
"What the hell San? You have a Fiancée, remember? Her name is Quinn." He said sarcastically, the others just watched on.
This seemed to snap Santana out of her staring contest with the back of the blonde's head.
"Of course I remember Quinn Blaine, I wasn't checking her out!" She exclaimed. "But look at her!" She gestured wildly towards the stranger. "She looks familiar, don't you think?"
With this, the others turned to really look at the girl who had taken their orders and was now behind the bar preparing them. They sat in silence until Jesus whispered, "She really looks like Quinn."
With this confirmation, Santana bolted out of her seat and towards the bar tender. As she got there, the girls back was to her, so she gently tapped her on the shoulder, as not to startle the girl.
"Excuse me, I'm really sorry for how I acted back there but you look so similar to my Fiancée, it's scary. I know this is a little forward, but by any chance are you Frannie Fabray?"