Fic: Baby, We're the Same
Title: Baby, We’re the Same
Pairing: Brittany/Finn, side Rachel/Quinn
Rating: PG
Length: 2128
Spoilers: Um, none?
Summary: Finn and Brittany watch baby Drizzle.
Disclaimer: These characters are not mine.
Author’s Notes: For anomalousalanna. I promised her Duckizzle months ago. Ugh. Sorry. Title is from the song “We’re the Same” by Matthew Sweet.
It’s the fact that she sneaks it in during a make out session after sixth period that first worries him. They would not be going on a date that evening-well, not by his standards. She said he would barely notice a difference between the monkey house at the zoo and watching the baby. That concerned him, too, but he didn’t realize it until midway through Algebra. The look of confusion on his face didn’t draw attention from anyone else, though. They were discussing fractions again.
But now they are waiting on the front porch of the Berry residence. As weird as it was for him to know that his ex-girlfriend and ex-baby (whatever you would call it) were living with his ex-almost girlfriend and her dads… it strangely seemed to work. He had noticed how happy the two girls seemed to be, and he couldn’t really complain, either. He gives his girlfriend a quick half grin before the door opens, revealing a flustered Rachel Berry.
She smiles at them, quickly looking over her shoulder and sneaking out the front door, closing it behind her. “Well, as much as I appreciate your promptness, something that is lacking at times when it comes to Glee rehearsals, Quinn decided that we weren’t going out tonight after all.”
The door opens behind the small brunette, and a fleeting look of terror runs through her eyes.
Quinn greets them, “Oh, I’m so glad you made it. With Rachel’s dads out of town, I didn’t think we’d make it to the concert.” Noticing the perplexed looks on her friends’ faces, her eyes narrow and she looks at Rachel.
Rachel avoids her eyes, clearing her throat. “I was just welcoming them?”
“You are going out? Rachel said you didn’t want to.”
Rachel’s eyes clench shut at Brittany’s words.
“We’re going out, B,” Quinn says, ushering them inside.
Nine month old Sarah crawls over, her tiny hand hitting Rachel’s foot and grabbing at her ankle. Rachel can’t help the grin that spreads across her face as she reaches down to pick up the smiling girl. “Hey there, baby girl.” Sarah rests on Rachel’s jutted out hip, and one hand wraps around the thumb on Rachel’s free hand. The happy look on Rachel’s face fades as she looks over to Brittany and up at Finn. She looks at Quinn pleadingly.
Quinn looks at her watch. “We have to go, Rach.”
“Quinn, I just think that we need to discuss something in the kitchen.”
Finn’s brow furrows, and Brittany gives him a reassuring smile, her hand dropping to tangle her fingers with his.
Quinn moves toward the brunette, taking the blonde baby from her arms. Dropping a soft kiss onto Sarah’s forehead, she hands the pudgy girl to Brittany. “We’ve discussed it enough. Let’s go. If this was a musical we were going to see we’d already be there.”
Rachel huffs, indignant. “It’s not about the concert.”
“Enough,” Quinn says, leaning in to whisper something in Rachel’s ear that leaves the tan girl blushing.
When Rachel looks up again and sees Brittany dancing around with Sarah she nods and grabs their jackets.
“We’ll be back late,” Quinn says, more to Brittany than Finn and Brittany nods happily.
The bouncing blonde replies, “We’ll take good care of Drizzle!”
Rachel yells back to them as Quinn tugs her out the door, “There’s a note in the kitchen with everything you’ll need to know!”
Finn, realizing things were resolved, gives the two leaving girls a goofy grin. Brittany has moved further into the living room, still dancing with Sarah, and singing softly to the giggling child. A warmth spreads into his chest, a feeling he doesn’t want to analyze right now, but it doesn’t feel bad, so with a wave to the departing pair, he heads over to sit on the couch.
“Sesame Street!” He surprises even himself with his excitement, but the DVD is sitting there at the edge of the couch, so he moves to quickly pop it into the DVD player.
As Brittany seats herself next to him, leaning against his shoulder and bouncing Sarah on her knee, she whispers, “I told you it was just like playing with a puppy.” As an afterthought she adds, “I still want him, Finn. He was cute and brown and had too much skin that he needs to grow into.”
Finn’s mind goes back to the day at the mall when Brittany suddenly disappeared and he found her staring into the window of the pet store. They went in and asked to see the puppy she was so enamored with. They sat on the floor in a tiny concrete enclosure while the pup ran around them in circles, chasing the small green dinosaur toy Brittany was teasing him with. Finn picked him up, and he was small in his big hands, gnawing on Finn’s knuckles. Brittany let out a low squeal of excitement, and Finn looked up at her, a wide grin plastered on his face.
The grin slowly bled from his face when he felt the warm liquid dripping down his hands and onto his pants.
He looks at the back of Sarah’s head, the blonde curls slightly tangled. He wasn’t sure that Brittany was right. “Maybe, babe. He might have already found a nice home.”
“Snuffy!”
Judging by her exclamation, Finn was glad that the peeing puppy had been forgotten.
Sarah squirms on Brittany’s lap, turning toward Finn. As if seeing him for the first time, she lets out a high pitched wail.
Finn recoils as if he were struck.
Brittany pulls the screaming child to her chest, resting Sarah’s head on her shoulder as she looks at Finn. “What happened?”
“I have no idea!”
“She never cries,” Brittany mumbles as she rubs the baby’s back soothingly. “Maybe she’s hungry.”
They go into the kitchen, unsurprised to see Rachel’s note. The first thing on it, in bold letters was “CALL US IF SHE CRIES.” Finn reaches for the phone, but Brittany stops him. Sarah is quieting down. Line two read, “She just ate dinner, so she shouldn’t be hungry. If she is, there are some Cheerios in the cabinet over the fridge.”
Finn grabs the Cheerios box as Brittany snaps Sarah into her highchair. The silver necklace dangling from Brittany’s neck seems to hypnotize the baby. Her little hands reach for it, and Brittany distracts her easily by tapping out a rhythm on the tray. It isn’t until the boy is standing before her that she starts screaming again.
Eyes wide, Finn quickly drops some Cheerios on her tray. She swipes at them, sending them flying across the floor, and she turns in her seat, trying to get out.
“Not hungry, then?” Finn questions Brittany as he bends down to try and pick up the errant cereal bits.
The rest of the night doesn’t go much differently. Finn does his best to stay out of Sarah’s line of sight, which is difficult, considering his size.
They are midway through their third run of the Sesame Street DVD, and Finn is seated on the floor, hidden by the side of the couch. He’s doing his best not to scowl, he knows she’s just a baby and will eventually get over it, but it is frustrating that he can’t even sit next to his girlfriend while watching one of his favorite shows. When they restarted the DVD for the third time, Brittany assured him that Sarah would go to sleep by the end of it and then they could do whatever they wanted until Rachel and Quinn got back.
His thoughts are interrupted by a quickly tapping foot and a quiet groan that doesn’t sound like it’s from Sarah.
He calls out, “You okay, babe?” He doesn’t dare move, for fear of the screaming child. He hears movement, and jumps a little when Brittany’s head peeks over the side of the couch at him. “I need to go.”
His mouth goes dry. He can’t watch Sarah on his own. “Go where?”
“I need to go.” He can tell she’s holding Sarah out of view.
“Oh,” he says, realization dawning. “Okay.”
She disappears again, and he figures she is going to go to the bathroom. He’s wrong.
Brittany comes around the side of the couch, Sarah perched on her hip. “I need you to take her.”
“What?” A look of panic settles itself on Finn’s features, and he raises his hands to wave her off. “I can’t!”
Sarah starts to cry.
“See?!” He gestures at the baby, demonstrating his point.
Brittany starts to dance, but it’s a dance he hasn’t seen before. She’s crossing her legs and bouncing from foot to foot. “Finn, please. I’ll just be a minute.”
He stands, still unwilling. “You can’t leave me with her! She’s freaking out. I don’t know what to do.”
Brittany pushes the wailing girl into him, and his hands grab underneath Sarah’s arms. He holds the baby at arm’s length, clearly terrified. “Britt. I can’t…” But his girlfriend is already rushing toward the bathroom.
She doesn’t turn around, but calls back to him, “It’s like in the wild. You can’t show her any fear! She can smell it.”
His eyebrows knit and he turns and dips his head to check his armpits. He doesn’t know what fear smells like.
He can hear the muffled words coming from the bathroom, Brittany trying to assure Sarah that Uncle Finn loves her.
He raises one eyebrow as he looks back at the baby, still having a tantrum. She pauses and stares at his face. His face relaxes into a small smile, and her face scrunches up once more, ready to start sobbing.
He sticks his tongue out at her and she stops again. Silently she waits. Finn beams before crossing his eyes. She lets out a quiet giggle, still a little broken sounding from her tears. He sits down on the ground, placing her next to him and begins to make all the faces he has in his repertoire. He puffs out his cheeks, tongue slightly out as he crosses his eyes and pulls his ears away from his head. It was his monkey face. He had been practicing it all week in preparation for the trip to the zoo they had planned for this afternoon. At least it was coming in handy.
Sarah laughs loudly, and she reaches up to pop the air out of his cheeks.
Brittany comes back into the room, “It’s okay, Drizzle. I’m back!”
She stops short when she sees her boyfriend making faces at Sarah. She skips over to them when she notices the little girl chuckling and playing with him. Finn shoots her a tentative smile, as if to ask if he was doing it right. Brittany leans over Sarah, giving him a quick peck on the lips.
While they play, Brittany gets Sarah’s bottle ready. The baby curls up in Finn’s arms and dozes off after she finishes the bottle. Brittany leads him into the room Quinn and Sarah share, and he lays the baby down into her crib, drawing the blanket up around her.
He looks around the room, whispering, “How does Quinn not wake her when she comes in at night?”
“I don’t think Quinn sleeps in here much,” Brittany replies, taking him by the hand and leading him back to the couch. Settling herself onto his lap, her lips soon make him forget his question of why.
At a little past midnight, he hears the key in the front door. Brittany had fallen asleep, her head resting on his lap. He nudges her shoulder, gently waking her as Rachel and Quinn quietly walk in, Quinn’s arm around the smaller girl’s shoulder.
Quinn whispers, “How was she?”
Brittany yawns as she sits up, arms stretching over her head, and her hair flat on one side.
“She was great,” Finn responds. He stands, his legs feeling a little stiff from lack of movement. Brittany burrows into his side, and he puts his arm around her, supporting her.
Quinn grins as Rachel pulls away, her hand trailing down her arm and grabbing Rachel’s hand before letting it drop as the brunette goes to check on Sarah. “It’s a nightly ritual,” Quinn explains. “She always goes in to sing a quiet goodnight.” She looks from Brittany to Finn. “You should get her home. Thanks so much for the help tonight. She’ll never go out unless her dads are around to watch her, but I know how good Britt is with her.”
Finn nods, hiding a yawn. “No problem, Quinn. We’ll do the zoo another day.”
Quinn sees them out, and Finn helps Brittany to the car.
Brittany’s voice is soft, “See?”
“Hmm?”
“We can totally get the puppy.”
Pairing: Brittany/Finn, side Rachel/Quinn
Rating: PG
Length: 2128
Spoilers: Um, none?
Summary: Finn and Brittany watch baby Drizzle.
Disclaimer: These characters are not mine.
Author’s Notes: For anomalousalanna. I promised her Duckizzle months ago. Ugh. Sorry. Title is from the song “We’re the Same” by Matthew Sweet.
It’s the fact that she sneaks it in during a make out session after sixth period that first worries him. They would not be going on a date that evening-well, not by his standards. She said he would barely notice a difference between the monkey house at the zoo and watching the baby. That concerned him, too, but he didn’t realize it until midway through Algebra. The look of confusion on his face didn’t draw attention from anyone else, though. They were discussing fractions again.
But now they are waiting on the front porch of the Berry residence. As weird as it was for him to know that his ex-girlfriend and ex-baby (whatever you would call it) were living with his ex-almost girlfriend and her dads… it strangely seemed to work. He had noticed how happy the two girls seemed to be, and he couldn’t really complain, either. He gives his girlfriend a quick half grin before the door opens, revealing a flustered Rachel Berry.
She smiles at them, quickly looking over her shoulder and sneaking out the front door, closing it behind her. “Well, as much as I appreciate your promptness, something that is lacking at times when it comes to Glee rehearsals, Quinn decided that we weren’t going out tonight after all.”
The door opens behind the small brunette, and a fleeting look of terror runs through her eyes.
Quinn greets them, “Oh, I’m so glad you made it. With Rachel’s dads out of town, I didn’t think we’d make it to the concert.” Noticing the perplexed looks on her friends’ faces, her eyes narrow and she looks at Rachel.
Rachel avoids her eyes, clearing her throat. “I was just welcoming them?”
“You are going out? Rachel said you didn’t want to.”
Rachel’s eyes clench shut at Brittany’s words.
“We’re going out, B,” Quinn says, ushering them inside.
Nine month old Sarah crawls over, her tiny hand hitting Rachel’s foot and grabbing at her ankle. Rachel can’t help the grin that spreads across her face as she reaches down to pick up the smiling girl. “Hey there, baby girl.” Sarah rests on Rachel’s jutted out hip, and one hand wraps around the thumb on Rachel’s free hand. The happy look on Rachel’s face fades as she looks over to Brittany and up at Finn. She looks at Quinn pleadingly.
Quinn looks at her watch. “We have to go, Rach.”
“Quinn, I just think that we need to discuss something in the kitchen.”
Finn’s brow furrows, and Brittany gives him a reassuring smile, her hand dropping to tangle her fingers with his.
Quinn moves toward the brunette, taking the blonde baby from her arms. Dropping a soft kiss onto Sarah’s forehead, she hands the pudgy girl to Brittany. “We’ve discussed it enough. Let’s go. If this was a musical we were going to see we’d already be there.”
Rachel huffs, indignant. “It’s not about the concert.”
“Enough,” Quinn says, leaning in to whisper something in Rachel’s ear that leaves the tan girl blushing.
When Rachel looks up again and sees Brittany dancing around with Sarah she nods and grabs their jackets.
“We’ll be back late,” Quinn says, more to Brittany than Finn and Brittany nods happily.
The bouncing blonde replies, “We’ll take good care of Drizzle!”
Rachel yells back to them as Quinn tugs her out the door, “There’s a note in the kitchen with everything you’ll need to know!”
Finn, realizing things were resolved, gives the two leaving girls a goofy grin. Brittany has moved further into the living room, still dancing with Sarah, and singing softly to the giggling child. A warmth spreads into his chest, a feeling he doesn’t want to analyze right now, but it doesn’t feel bad, so with a wave to the departing pair, he heads over to sit on the couch.
“Sesame Street!” He surprises even himself with his excitement, but the DVD is sitting there at the edge of the couch, so he moves to quickly pop it into the DVD player.
As Brittany seats herself next to him, leaning against his shoulder and bouncing Sarah on her knee, she whispers, “I told you it was just like playing with a puppy.” As an afterthought she adds, “I still want him, Finn. He was cute and brown and had too much skin that he needs to grow into.”
Finn’s mind goes back to the day at the mall when Brittany suddenly disappeared and he found her staring into the window of the pet store. They went in and asked to see the puppy she was so enamored with. They sat on the floor in a tiny concrete enclosure while the pup ran around them in circles, chasing the small green dinosaur toy Brittany was teasing him with. Finn picked him up, and he was small in his big hands, gnawing on Finn’s knuckles. Brittany let out a low squeal of excitement, and Finn looked up at her, a wide grin plastered on his face.
The grin slowly bled from his face when he felt the warm liquid dripping down his hands and onto his pants.
He looks at the back of Sarah’s head, the blonde curls slightly tangled. He wasn’t sure that Brittany was right. “Maybe, babe. He might have already found a nice home.”
“Snuffy!”
Judging by her exclamation, Finn was glad that the peeing puppy had been forgotten.
Sarah squirms on Brittany’s lap, turning toward Finn. As if seeing him for the first time, she lets out a high pitched wail.
Finn recoils as if he were struck.
Brittany pulls the screaming child to her chest, resting Sarah’s head on her shoulder as she looks at Finn. “What happened?”
“I have no idea!”
“She never cries,” Brittany mumbles as she rubs the baby’s back soothingly. “Maybe she’s hungry.”
They go into the kitchen, unsurprised to see Rachel’s note. The first thing on it, in bold letters was “CALL US IF SHE CRIES.” Finn reaches for the phone, but Brittany stops him. Sarah is quieting down. Line two read, “She just ate dinner, so she shouldn’t be hungry. If she is, there are some Cheerios in the cabinet over the fridge.”
Finn grabs the Cheerios box as Brittany snaps Sarah into her highchair. The silver necklace dangling from Brittany’s neck seems to hypnotize the baby. Her little hands reach for it, and Brittany distracts her easily by tapping out a rhythm on the tray. It isn’t until the boy is standing before her that she starts screaming again.
Eyes wide, Finn quickly drops some Cheerios on her tray. She swipes at them, sending them flying across the floor, and she turns in her seat, trying to get out.
“Not hungry, then?” Finn questions Brittany as he bends down to try and pick up the errant cereal bits.
The rest of the night doesn’t go much differently. Finn does his best to stay out of Sarah’s line of sight, which is difficult, considering his size.
They are midway through their third run of the Sesame Street DVD, and Finn is seated on the floor, hidden by the side of the couch. He’s doing his best not to scowl, he knows she’s just a baby and will eventually get over it, but it is frustrating that he can’t even sit next to his girlfriend while watching one of his favorite shows. When they restarted the DVD for the third time, Brittany assured him that Sarah would go to sleep by the end of it and then they could do whatever they wanted until Rachel and Quinn got back.
His thoughts are interrupted by a quickly tapping foot and a quiet groan that doesn’t sound like it’s from Sarah.
He calls out, “You okay, babe?” He doesn’t dare move, for fear of the screaming child. He hears movement, and jumps a little when Brittany’s head peeks over the side of the couch at him. “I need to go.”
His mouth goes dry. He can’t watch Sarah on his own. “Go where?”
“I need to go.” He can tell she’s holding Sarah out of view.
“Oh,” he says, realization dawning. “Okay.”
She disappears again, and he figures she is going to go to the bathroom. He’s wrong.
Brittany comes around the side of the couch, Sarah perched on her hip. “I need you to take her.”
“What?” A look of panic settles itself on Finn’s features, and he raises his hands to wave her off. “I can’t!”
Sarah starts to cry.
“See?!” He gestures at the baby, demonstrating his point.
Brittany starts to dance, but it’s a dance he hasn’t seen before. She’s crossing her legs and bouncing from foot to foot. “Finn, please. I’ll just be a minute.”
He stands, still unwilling. “You can’t leave me with her! She’s freaking out. I don’t know what to do.”
Brittany pushes the wailing girl into him, and his hands grab underneath Sarah’s arms. He holds the baby at arm’s length, clearly terrified. “Britt. I can’t…” But his girlfriend is already rushing toward the bathroom.
She doesn’t turn around, but calls back to him, “It’s like in the wild. You can’t show her any fear! She can smell it.”
His eyebrows knit and he turns and dips his head to check his armpits. He doesn’t know what fear smells like.
He can hear the muffled words coming from the bathroom, Brittany trying to assure Sarah that Uncle Finn loves her.
He raises one eyebrow as he looks back at the baby, still having a tantrum. She pauses and stares at his face. His face relaxes into a small smile, and her face scrunches up once more, ready to start sobbing.
He sticks his tongue out at her and she stops again. Silently she waits. Finn beams before crossing his eyes. She lets out a quiet giggle, still a little broken sounding from her tears. He sits down on the ground, placing her next to him and begins to make all the faces he has in his repertoire. He puffs out his cheeks, tongue slightly out as he crosses his eyes and pulls his ears away from his head. It was his monkey face. He had been practicing it all week in preparation for the trip to the zoo they had planned for this afternoon. At least it was coming in handy.
Sarah laughs loudly, and she reaches up to pop the air out of his cheeks.
Brittany comes back into the room, “It’s okay, Drizzle. I’m back!”
She stops short when she sees her boyfriend making faces at Sarah. She skips over to them when she notices the little girl chuckling and playing with him. Finn shoots her a tentative smile, as if to ask if he was doing it right. Brittany leans over Sarah, giving him a quick peck on the lips.
While they play, Brittany gets Sarah’s bottle ready. The baby curls up in Finn’s arms and dozes off after she finishes the bottle. Brittany leads him into the room Quinn and Sarah share, and he lays the baby down into her crib, drawing the blanket up around her.
He looks around the room, whispering, “How does Quinn not wake her when she comes in at night?”
“I don’t think Quinn sleeps in here much,” Brittany replies, taking him by the hand and leading him back to the couch. Settling herself onto his lap, her lips soon make him forget his question of why.
At a little past midnight, he hears the key in the front door. Brittany had fallen asleep, her head resting on his lap. He nudges her shoulder, gently waking her as Rachel and Quinn quietly walk in, Quinn’s arm around the smaller girl’s shoulder.
Quinn whispers, “How was she?”
Brittany yawns as she sits up, arms stretching over her head, and her hair flat on one side.
“She was great,” Finn responds. He stands, his legs feeling a little stiff from lack of movement. Brittany burrows into his side, and he puts his arm around her, supporting her.
Quinn grins as Rachel pulls away, her hand trailing down her arm and grabbing Rachel’s hand before letting it drop as the brunette goes to check on Sarah. “It’s a nightly ritual,” Quinn explains. “She always goes in to sing a quiet goodnight.” She looks from Brittany to Finn. “You should get her home. Thanks so much for the help tonight. She’ll never go out unless her dads are around to watch her, but I know how good Britt is with her.”
Finn nods, hiding a yawn. “No problem, Quinn. We’ll do the zoo another day.”
Quinn sees them out, and Finn helps Brittany to the car.
Brittany’s voice is soft, “See?”
“Hmm?”
“We can totally get the puppy.”