Heaven Blessed 1/1 (Glee Fic)
Title: Heaven Blessed
Summary: A late-night call from a worried Quinn about a sick Beth starts the ball rolling on something that was always there anyway. AU, Quinn keeps Beth. Oneshot. Faberry
Rating: PG-13
Chapter: 1/1
The first time it happens, she is woefully unprepared.
It’s some time around 2 AM in the middle of July when Rachel is pulled from her dreams of Finn and Broadway and the Tony’s and a couple dancing slices of vegan pizza by “As Long As You’re Mine” blasting from the speaker on her phone. The diva frowns at it, confused as to why it’s ringing in the middle of the night (really why it’s ringing at all, since no one but her fathers and occasionally Finn call her on it) and plucks it off the night stand and flips it open without even bothering to look at the caller ID.
“Rachel Berry’s phone, Rachel Berry speaking,” she spouts as if she was never asleep at all. Perfect practice for her undoubted future on the stage, because in reality she’s already mostly asleep again by the time she finishes the sentence.
“R-Rachel?” it’s the crying that awakens her immediately.
“Quinn??”
The crying renews again, and Rachel can hear sniffles and the occasional sob from the other line. No matter their rocky past, it’s absolutely heart-breaking to hear. “I’m s-sorry to call y-you like this..” Quinn stumbles over her words.
“Quinn what is it, what’s wrong? Where are you?” Rachel sits up in bed like a pouncing jungle cat, her empty hand immediately flying to the lamp on her bedside table. There’s no way she’s going back to sleep any time soon.
“It’s B-Beth, s-s-she-”
“Quinn, you have to calm down, I can barely understand you. What happened to Beth?” Rachel does her best to croon to her sobbing teammate, although her insides are doing gymnastics at the possibilities that her dramatic mind has brought up.
The diva hears the sniffles continue on the other end, but also thankfully hears the distressed ex-cheerleader clearing her throat and what sounds like deep breaths. Unfortunately the deep breaths seem to contribute to Quinn’s hyperventilation, so her explanation is even more rushed than it would have originally been.
“S-she’s sick, Rachel! Really sick, I think, because she has an 101 degree temperature and she’s been crying a lot all night and isn’t hungry and I couldn’t get an appointment with her Pediatrician until t-tomorrow and my mom’s in Columbus for the weekend visiting my aunt and won’t pick up her phone and P-Puck’s at football camp and no one else is answering and I d-don’t know what to d-do!” Quinn breaks off crying more at the end and even though Rachel’s never been particularly close to the blonde, she quickly decides that her sobs are the most heartbreaking thing she’s ever heard in her life.
Rachel doesn’t hesitate a second before throwing her covers back off her bare legs and telling Quinn “I’ll be there in 10.”
~~
Quinn’s in the living room with a sniffling Beth in her arms when she hears a quiet but persistent knock at the front door. She leans her head to her shoulder and tries to wipe some of her excess tears on her sweatshirt before rushing to answer it.
The blonde sees Rachel’s eyes immediately go to Beth, before sidestepping the two of them and going to drop her bags on the couch so she can rummage through them. “I stopped at the pharmacy because I wasn’t sure what kind of supplies you had or if you were running low so that’s why I’m here seventeen minutes after I told you ten, which I apologize for, but…”
About halfway through Rachel’s rant Quinn’s begun to cry again, effectively cutting the brunette off. She sighs, kicking her boots off and walking over to the pair. She holds her arms out silently and Quinn carefully deposits Beth into them while she tries to pull herself together.
Quinn suddenly notices the sinfully short shorts the brunette is wearing, not leaving one inch of her tanned legs to be desired, and the playfully messy bun her long locks have been pulled back into. Shaking these thoughts from her distressed mind, she also sees that Rachel’s brought her some pain killers and a few boxes of tissues, and silently opens up a box and blows her nose a couple times. While she gathers herself, Rachel slips into the kitchen and fills up a cup of water for the blonde and wets a washcloth for Beth.
Quinn can’t help but crack a smile at seeing the other girl attempt to carry everything at once. She quickly takes her water from Rachel and pops a few pain killers with it because Jesus Christ, she has never had a headache like this before. She settles on the couch, closing her eyes for a minute and regaining some composure.
Her eyes open again when she hears the brunette speak. Not to her, but to Beth.
“Hey there, baby girl. You’ve got quite a fever don’t you?” Rachel murmurs to her, carefully wiping her burning face with the washcloth. Beth has stopped crying at this point and is just kind of lazily blinking and fidgeting, trying to figure out who this new human being is. “Well don’t you worry, we’re gonna make you all better okay?”
Quinn has to fight a smile at this, and quickly blames it on the fact that she hasn’t slept properly in at least 3 days and has been crying her eyes out for hours now.
“Quinn.” Rachel emphasizes, and the blonde realizes she’s been trying to get her attention. “Will you give me the baby Motrin please?”
Quinn jumps, and quickly hands it to the other girl.
It’s around 5:30 in the morning when Beth really nods off to sleep, her fever down to a manageable 99 degrees. Quinn’s even managed to feed her a few times, Rachel looking awkwardly off to the walls while the infant attaches and detaches from the blonde’s breast. Quinn’s spread out on the couch, Beth resting comfortably on her chest, when she slips into sleep as well.
Rachel’s been alternating between standing and rocking Beth and lightly dozing on the recliner, and when she notices both the girls are now asleep, she musters all her strength and climbs out of the chair. She carefully slides her hands under Beth’s tiny form and lifts her off Quinn, taking her over to the white crib in the corner of the room. The brunette smiles at the sleeping infant before turning and quietly draping the nearest blanket she can find, Rachel’s Wicked sweatshirt, over Quinn. She scribbles a note to the ex-cheerleader to call her if Beth gets worse again, and silently slips out the front door.
Quinn’s awakened by Beth’s wails for feeding a few hours later, and it’s not until she’s settled back down on the couch using an unfamiliar sweatshirt to swaddle her daughter while she nurses, that the blonde realizes there’s no sleeping brunette in the recliner.
Rachel passes out as soon as she gets back home just before 6 AM. When she stirs around 1:30 PM, she sees her phone blinking at her.
From: Quinn Fabray: Doc says it’s just a nasty cold, she should be fine in another day or so. Thank you.
Rachel quickly types out a polite response, glad that the girl will be alright, before slipping back into sleep. Luckily she’s left a note for her fathers not to disturb her before 2 PM under pain of death.
Quinn gulps guiltily when she hears through the grape vine a few days later that Rachel has a really terrible cold, but ignores it and stops herself from going over to the Berry residence to check up on the other girl.
It’s early August the next time Rachel sees Quinn.
She’s out in the park enjoying the lovely summer weather, reading Gone with the Wind for at least the fourth time and sipping some lemonade from a water bottle, when she spots Quinn jogging towards her with Beth strapped carefully into a running stroller. The blonde notices her smiling and slows to a stop, pulling her headphones out of her ears.
“Hello, Quinn. How have you been?” Rachel asks, standing from the bench she was occupying and smoothing her skirt subconsciously with her fingers.
“Hey, Berry. Good. Trying to work the baby weight off,” Quinn answers, before leaning over the stroller to Beth and finishing, “No offense.”
Rachel smiles at this, turning her attention to Beth. “Well you’re looking quite dapper today baby girl.”
Quinn ignores the stirrings in her gut when Rachel refers to her daughter as “baby girl” like she did that first night. Beth seems to remember Rachel (or at least like her voice) because she smiles up at the diva, wiggling around in what Rachel assumes is a greeting. She smiles wider at this, reaching down to let the girl grasp at her fingers. She suddenly looks back up at Quinn, hoping this interaction with her daughter isn’t going to earn her any fresh nicknames or slushies.
The ex-ex-cheerleader (she’s finally managed to annoy the crap out of Coach Sylvester enough to weasel her way back on the squad with the promise of never becoming a “hideous fatty” ever again) brings her face back to neutral as Rachel faces her. “What’ve you been up to?”
As expected, Rachel launches into a story about exactly what she’s been up to, starting with vocal lessons and ballet, and ending with the not-so-epic breakup with Finn Hudson the previous week. Not that anyone was surprised. Quinn couldn’t honestly for the life of her tell you what the other girl was talking about other than that, though, but she nodded along anyways, not wanting to seem rude. And suddenly she’s agreeing to hang out with Rachel Berry and isn’t quite sure where that came from.
~~
When Quinn walks through the front hallways of the Berry home at noon the next day, she’s not at all surprised to find a complete shrine to the diva in front of her. Pictures of Rachel and her dads litter every open space on walls, and while it may seem a little over-the-top to anyone else, Quinn secretly finds it very charming. The house has a beautiful “lived-in” feeling that her mansion of a home always seemed to lack. It was better lately, her mom throwing herself into all kinds of home improvement projects as a welcome-home for Quinn, but she still can’t shake the residual feelings from her childhood.
“Wow, Rach, I gotta admit, I’m surprised there isn’t a painting of you-” she stops as they turn the corner and Quinn comes eye-to-eye with a painted Rachel Berry.
Rachel clears her throat, looking to the ground with a blush on her cheeks, and tucking a few stray hairs behind her ear. “Yes, well…would you like anything to drink?”
Quinn can’t help but burst into laughter at this, and soon Rachel’s laughing along with her, the pink still resting on her cheeks. “I’d really just love some water,” she says, wiping a few tears as her giggling dies down.
Rachel leads her into the kitchen, and Quinn notices a tall African-American man standing in front of the island, cutting up fruit. He looks up as they enter, and, upon seeing Quinn’s face, states “You saw the portrait didn’t you?” with a face so serious it sends Quinn into peals of laughter once more.
“Daddy!” Rachel scolds, hands on her hips like a toddler.
He chuckles a bit more before wiping his hands on a dish towel and extending one to Quinn. “Leroy Berry. You must be the Quinn Fabray we’ve been hearing about so much.”
“Daddy!” Rachel yelps once again, the pink rising in her cheeks again. “Don’t listen to him, Quinn, he’s clearly suffering from dementia or something older men suffer from,” she says cheekily.
The second Leroy gasps and pulls a hand to his chest to feign shock, Quinn knows exactly where Rachel gets her dramatics from. Genetics were a powerful thing, apparently.
“How’s your little girl doing?”
Quinn’s completely thrown off at the simple question Leroy’s just asked. She’s used to adults completely ignoring the fact that she has a daughter, like maybe if they didn’t talk to her about Beth, she wouldn’t really exist. It’s usually accompanied by a few not-so-subtle glances to her diminishing stomach. But Leroy’s looking right into her eyes, not a fleck of judgment detectable. Quinn decides she really likes this man.
“She’s doing great, thanks. My mom has her today, I think she took her to the pool or something,” Quinn answers with a smile. She sees Rachel let out a quiet breath of relief upon seeing the other girl talk comfortably about Beth.
They settle onto the couch and end up watching Funny Girl because Quinn’s never actually seen it and Rachel looked like she might start sobbing if that wasn’t rectified immediately. They watch and eat fruit while the afternoon wanes on, and some time around 4, Quinn and Rachel are selected by the Misters Berry to make the run for dinner, and the two spend a good ten minutes arguing between Chinese and Pizza. Quinn ends up winning, if only because she was driving and was parked at “Wok n’ Roll” before Rachel noticed anything.
Rachel throws a hissy fit and refuses to speak to Quinn the entire way home or while they eat, but the cheerleader holds her own quite well with the two Berry men, who are quite charmed by their daughter’s new friend. It’s not until the two are arguing once more (this time about who gets the last of the egg drop soup) that Rachel bursts into giggles and gives up on giving Quinn the cold shoulder.
When the diva walks Quinn to her car after ice cream later, both stand a little awkwardly. Rachel suddenly goes in for a hug and Quinn, unprepared, promptly bumps her head against the other girl’s. They laugh it off, both blushing slightly, before Quinn clambers into her car, ready to go home and see her daughter.
The summer finishes too quickly for both of them, and before either of them know it, it’s the last night before school starts the next day. Santana and Brittany have already left for the evening (to go do God knows what) and it’s just Rachel and Quinn at the Fabray residence, trying to put Beth down for the night.
The baby’s apparently not interested at all, however, because every single time either one of them puts her in her crib, the crying starts before they can make it halfway out of the room. Quinn’s bouncing her slightly over by the window since that’s where her favorite mobile is hanging. The blonde’s murmuring to the little girl, hoping that sooner or later she’ll calm down and drift off to sleep so she and Rachel can go back downstairs and finish their ice cream out on the porch.
Unfortunately, Beth just seems to awaken more and more at the sight of her favorite mobile, and quickly begins giggling away and swatting at it.
“Noooo, no, Bethy, it’s time to sleep now okay?” Quinn’s almost pleading at this point. “Mommy and Rachel have school tomorrow so they would really like to enjoy their last night of Summer.”
Rachel chuckles from the other side of the crib. “I don’t think explaining the situation to her is really going to help much.”
Quinn huffs at this, looking over at her friend. “Fine, sing her to sleep then.”
Rachel shakes her head. “No, Quinn, it’s essential for babies to learn to put themselves to sleep. It’s called-”
“Self-soothing, yes I know. I was on board for that an hour ago but now I really can’t feel my arm anymore and she’s not looking any sleepier!” Quinn protests, shooting Rachel her best pouting look.
Rachel scoffs, standing and crossing the room. “All right, Quinn Fabray, but don’t you blame me when this goes on into puberty.”
Quinn chuckles, handing Beth to the diva. “I highly doubt one more night is going to doom her emotional development forever.”
Rachel ignores this, and moves to sit in the rocking chair by the crib. She carefully position’s Beth across her arms and begins gently rocking. It doesn’t take her long to begin humming the opening notes to “Imagine” and within the first verse and chorus of Rachel’s soothing voice, the little girl is out cold. The brunette continues rocking and finishes out the intended lullaby, before standing carefully and laying her down in the crib.
Quinn doesn’t miss the way Rachel slips her fingers into the forming blonde curls and silently bids her goodnight. Like usual, she quickly swallows the billowing warmth that’s growing in her stomach, and walks to the door, shutting the light off and the night light on. Rachel follows her out and the two walk back down the stairs and into the kitchen in a comfortable silence.
The blonde’s still digging out spoons for their ice cream when she hears a meager “Quinn?” from the other side of the kitchen. She looks up at Rachel, who’s fidgeting nervously.
“What’s wrong?” Quinn asks, immediately forgetting the spoons and crossing the space towards her friend in concern.
“Are…are we…” Rachel looks down at her fingers that she’s begun twiddling together. “Tomorrow, are we…are we still…”
“Rachel,” Quinn interjects, quickly sliding her hands into the diva’s to still them (or at least that’s what she tells herself). “Please talk to me.”
The brunette’s heart melts at this, and she takes a deep breath and makes herself finish. “Are we still going to be us tomorrow? I mean you’re back on the Cheerios, Head Cheerleader again, no less, and I just…I just need to know if I’m still your friend, because I can’t walk in there tomorrow not knowing and-”
Quinn bursts into laughter at this point, effectively cutting the other girl off. Rachel pouts of course, because it’s impolite to interrupt someone’s deep concerns, but it quickly diminishes when the blonde pulls her forward into her arms. They stand there for a few moments before Rachel wraps her arms around Quinn’s back, letting herself be held.
It’s quiet for a while, before the brunette hears a whispered “You’re my best friend, Rachel.”
Rachel smiles into Quinn’s shoulder, unconsciously gripping the other girl tighter. “Me too,” she answers. The cheerleader finally lets go of her, reaching up to wipe a few stray tears from her cheeks.
“We’re still us. No matter what anyone says. Not Sue Sylvester, not Karofsky, not Finn, not anyone,” Quinn answers for her. “Come on, even Santana likes you. And it’s not like Brittany will stop adoring you.”
Rachel smiles at this. The first time the four of them ever hung out, Santana didn’t speak to her once in the first two hours, besides greeting her with “Dwarf”. Not much had changed by the end of the night, but when the Latina was leaving, she said to Quinn “Fine, she can hang out with us.” And that was that in Santana-Land.
“Face it, Rach, you’re stuck with me,” Quinn finished, sending a smile to the brunette.
A wail rang out over the baby monitor at this, and Quinn groaned, rolling her eyes. So close. “And Beth too, apparently.”
The first day of school is no where near the disaster Rachel dreaded that it would be, and although she did receive a cherry slushy to the face from one Dave Karofsky, it was the last one she ever got. The wrath of the Unholy Trinity descended upon him within seconds, and while Santana was still bringing the point across, Brittany and Quinn quickly ushered the sopping girl to the bathroom and began cleaning her off.
Everyone knew not to mess with Quinn’s new best friend after that.
Rachel gets an urgent call from Quinn on a Saturday afternoon in mid-January and rushes over to the Fabray household barely clothed, to find Beth propelling herself on her hands and knees across the carpet in the living room. Quinn’s taking pictures while Judy sprints along behind the little girl and makes sure she doesn’t run into anything.
Rachel thinks it’s the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen in her young life (even more beautiful than the gleaming 1st place trophy glee club won at Sectionals the previous month) and carefully bites back tears before sitting down by the recliner and crooning at Beth as she explores. When she finally seems to calm down a bit, and realizes Rachel’s there, she quickly crawls over.
The diva scoops her up and sets her in her lap while Beth giggles. “Good job, baby girl! What an early learner too, she’s only 8 months!” Rachel presses a kiss to the girl’s forehead.
Quinn knows a photo-opp when she sees one, and wastes no time quickly capturing Rachel and her daughter on the floor together. Later that week when she’s printing out some of the pictures for a scrap book, her eyes linger over that one a bit longer than normal. It ends up stuck to the wall next to Quinn’s bed.
In May, the week before her 1st birthday, Beth learns to walk by herself, and Rachel really does cry. Quinn does too, but doesn’t let Rachel see. She figures one emotional teen is enough for the time.
~~
It’s late June, and Quinn and Beth are over at the Berry residence for the day. The Misters Berry are out shopping for dinner and Rachel’s reading one of her favorite children’s books to the toddler. Quinn’s in the kitchen getting Beth some cantaloupe pieces when it happens.
Beth’s picked up a few words at this point, one of them being “Momma” (which Quinn is very proud of) but she has yet to say anything resembling “Rachel”. Not for a lack of trying, however, because as soon as “Momma” passed the little girl’s lips, Rachel’s been attempting to teach her her name. At all hours of the day.
Beth’s more preoccupied by turning the pages than the actual story at this point, so Rachel’s kind of skipping around (which irks her to no end) and just reading out loud as much of the book as she can. “Momma,” Beth says after a bit.
“Yes baby girl, Momma’s in the kitchen getting you some cantaloupe,” Rachel sighs. Maybe if she had a shorter name, Beth would say it…
“Momma,” the little girl repeats again when Rachel’s done talking.
“She’s coming, Bethy,” Rachel explains again.
“Rach…” Rachel looks up at Quinn, who’s standing very awkwardly on the fringe of the carpet by the kitchen. “She’s not looking for me.”
Rachel looks down to see Beth staring up at her, a giant toothless smile spreading on her face. “Momma,” she repeats, still looking at the diva. The brunette panics of course, not wanting to offend Quinn in anyway (she still smirks that the girl has yet to call Puck “Daddy” yet).
“No, no, baby girl, I’m Rachel. Ray-chell. Can you say that?” Rachel quickly explains, though her words fall on deaf ears as Beth happily babbles and repeats “Momma!” a few more times. The brunette sighs, chancing a look up at Quinn, who’s handing Beth her bowl of fruit and sippy cup.
Quinn’s soft smile says everything.
Rachel presses a kiss to Beth’s head. “Yeah, baby girl. I’m your momma.”
When Quinn gets back in the car after dropping Beth off at Puck’s for the night, she knows she can’t look at Rachel. They haven’t talked about it yet, just letting Beth call both of them “Momma” the entire day, not wanting to confuse her just yet. They both know what it is they’ve been avoiding for the past year, and neither know if they’re really ready for it yet.
“I can tell her to not call me that. To call me Rachel,” the brunette starts quietly after a minute of silence. “I’m sorry, I can fix it…”
Quinn finally looks up at her. “There’s nothing to fix,” she offers quietly.
Neither is quite sure who started it, but next thing they know they’re in a passionate embrace, lips pressing against lips in a frenzy of repressed emotion. Rachel moans as Quinn’s tongue glides across her bottom lip, begging for entrance, which the brunette immediately provides. Rachel’s hands slide up Quinn’s arms to cup her soft face, Quinn’s lithe fingers rubbing gentle circles on the diva’s thigh.
They go on their first date a few days later, which ends up being a dinner cooked by Quinn and fed to Rachel and Beth over a session of The Wiggles. And Rachel can’t think of anything she’d prefer over spending the night with her girls.
Things get a bit heated after they put Beth to bed a few hours later, and their first time is absolutely slow and sensual and perfect, and the brunette has never loved her girlfriend’s mother more than she did then for being out of the house until well after midnight.
Luckily both were showered and clothed by 1 AM when Beth woke up and rather insisted on climbing into bed with her mommas. Quinn smiles sleepily as she listens to Rachel softly sing "Isn't She Lovely" to the both of them; Beth's asleep in less than a minute. Rachel carefully reaches over the sleeping girl to tangle her fingers in her girlfriend's hair, gently soothing her to sleep as well.
Judy silently looks around the corner to Quinn's room, and, seeing her, Rachel and Beth curled up together as the brunette croons the last few words of one of her favorite songs, smiles to herself and carefully closes the door.
Summary: A late-night call from a worried Quinn about a sick Beth starts the ball rolling on something that was always there anyway. AU, Quinn keeps Beth. Oneshot. Faberry
Rating: PG-13
Chapter: 1/1
The first time it happens, she is woefully unprepared.
It’s some time around 2 AM in the middle of July when Rachel is pulled from her dreams of Finn and Broadway and the Tony’s and a couple dancing slices of vegan pizza by “As Long As You’re Mine” blasting from the speaker on her phone. The diva frowns at it, confused as to why it’s ringing in the middle of the night (really why it’s ringing at all, since no one but her fathers and occasionally Finn call her on it) and plucks it off the night stand and flips it open without even bothering to look at the caller ID.
“Rachel Berry’s phone, Rachel Berry speaking,” she spouts as if she was never asleep at all. Perfect practice for her undoubted future on the stage, because in reality she’s already mostly asleep again by the time she finishes the sentence.
“R-Rachel?” it’s the crying that awakens her immediately.
“Quinn??”
The crying renews again, and Rachel can hear sniffles and the occasional sob from the other line. No matter their rocky past, it’s absolutely heart-breaking to hear. “I’m s-sorry to call y-you like this..” Quinn stumbles over her words.
“Quinn what is it, what’s wrong? Where are you?” Rachel sits up in bed like a pouncing jungle cat, her empty hand immediately flying to the lamp on her bedside table. There’s no way she’s going back to sleep any time soon.
“It’s B-Beth, s-s-she-”
“Quinn, you have to calm down, I can barely understand you. What happened to Beth?” Rachel does her best to croon to her sobbing teammate, although her insides are doing gymnastics at the possibilities that her dramatic mind has brought up.
The diva hears the sniffles continue on the other end, but also thankfully hears the distressed ex-cheerleader clearing her throat and what sounds like deep breaths. Unfortunately the deep breaths seem to contribute to Quinn’s hyperventilation, so her explanation is even more rushed than it would have originally been.
“S-she’s sick, Rachel! Really sick, I think, because she has an 101 degree temperature and she’s been crying a lot all night and isn’t hungry and I couldn’t get an appointment with her Pediatrician until t-tomorrow and my mom’s in Columbus for the weekend visiting my aunt and won’t pick up her phone and P-Puck’s at football camp and no one else is answering and I d-don’t know what to d-do!” Quinn breaks off crying more at the end and even though Rachel’s never been particularly close to the blonde, she quickly decides that her sobs are the most heartbreaking thing she’s ever heard in her life.
Rachel doesn’t hesitate a second before throwing her covers back off her bare legs and telling Quinn “I’ll be there in 10.”
~~
Quinn’s in the living room with a sniffling Beth in her arms when she hears a quiet but persistent knock at the front door. She leans her head to her shoulder and tries to wipe some of her excess tears on her sweatshirt before rushing to answer it.
The blonde sees Rachel’s eyes immediately go to Beth, before sidestepping the two of them and going to drop her bags on the couch so she can rummage through them. “I stopped at the pharmacy because I wasn’t sure what kind of supplies you had or if you were running low so that’s why I’m here seventeen minutes after I told you ten, which I apologize for, but…”
About halfway through Rachel’s rant Quinn’s begun to cry again, effectively cutting the brunette off. She sighs, kicking her boots off and walking over to the pair. She holds her arms out silently and Quinn carefully deposits Beth into them while she tries to pull herself together.
Quinn suddenly notices the sinfully short shorts the brunette is wearing, not leaving one inch of her tanned legs to be desired, and the playfully messy bun her long locks have been pulled back into. Shaking these thoughts from her distressed mind, she also sees that Rachel’s brought her some pain killers and a few boxes of tissues, and silently opens up a box and blows her nose a couple times. While she gathers herself, Rachel slips into the kitchen and fills up a cup of water for the blonde and wets a washcloth for Beth.
Quinn can’t help but crack a smile at seeing the other girl attempt to carry everything at once. She quickly takes her water from Rachel and pops a few pain killers with it because Jesus Christ, she has never had a headache like this before. She settles on the couch, closing her eyes for a minute and regaining some composure.
Her eyes open again when she hears the brunette speak. Not to her, but to Beth.
“Hey there, baby girl. You’ve got quite a fever don’t you?” Rachel murmurs to her, carefully wiping her burning face with the washcloth. Beth has stopped crying at this point and is just kind of lazily blinking and fidgeting, trying to figure out who this new human being is. “Well don’t you worry, we’re gonna make you all better okay?”
Quinn has to fight a smile at this, and quickly blames it on the fact that she hasn’t slept properly in at least 3 days and has been crying her eyes out for hours now.
“Quinn.” Rachel emphasizes, and the blonde realizes she’s been trying to get her attention. “Will you give me the baby Motrin please?”
Quinn jumps, and quickly hands it to the other girl.
It’s around 5:30 in the morning when Beth really nods off to sleep, her fever down to a manageable 99 degrees. Quinn’s even managed to feed her a few times, Rachel looking awkwardly off to the walls while the infant attaches and detaches from the blonde’s breast. Quinn’s spread out on the couch, Beth resting comfortably on her chest, when she slips into sleep as well.
Rachel’s been alternating between standing and rocking Beth and lightly dozing on the recliner, and when she notices both the girls are now asleep, she musters all her strength and climbs out of the chair. She carefully slides her hands under Beth’s tiny form and lifts her off Quinn, taking her over to the white crib in the corner of the room. The brunette smiles at the sleeping infant before turning and quietly draping the nearest blanket she can find, Rachel’s Wicked sweatshirt, over Quinn. She scribbles a note to the ex-cheerleader to call her if Beth gets worse again, and silently slips out the front door.
Quinn’s awakened by Beth’s wails for feeding a few hours later, and it’s not until she’s settled back down on the couch using an unfamiliar sweatshirt to swaddle her daughter while she nurses, that the blonde realizes there’s no sleeping brunette in the recliner.
Rachel passes out as soon as she gets back home just before 6 AM. When she stirs around 1:30 PM, she sees her phone blinking at her.
From: Quinn Fabray: Doc says it’s just a nasty cold, she should be fine in another day or so. Thank you.
Rachel quickly types out a polite response, glad that the girl will be alright, before slipping back into sleep. Luckily she’s left a note for her fathers not to disturb her before 2 PM under pain of death.
Quinn gulps guiltily when she hears through the grape vine a few days later that Rachel has a really terrible cold, but ignores it and stops herself from going over to the Berry residence to check up on the other girl.
It’s early August the next time Rachel sees Quinn.
She’s out in the park enjoying the lovely summer weather, reading Gone with the Wind for at least the fourth time and sipping some lemonade from a water bottle, when she spots Quinn jogging towards her with Beth strapped carefully into a running stroller. The blonde notices her smiling and slows to a stop, pulling her headphones out of her ears.
“Hello, Quinn. How have you been?” Rachel asks, standing from the bench she was occupying and smoothing her skirt subconsciously with her fingers.
“Hey, Berry. Good. Trying to work the baby weight off,” Quinn answers, before leaning over the stroller to Beth and finishing, “No offense.”
Rachel smiles at this, turning her attention to Beth. “Well you’re looking quite dapper today baby girl.”
Quinn ignores the stirrings in her gut when Rachel refers to her daughter as “baby girl” like she did that first night. Beth seems to remember Rachel (or at least like her voice) because she smiles up at the diva, wiggling around in what Rachel assumes is a greeting. She smiles wider at this, reaching down to let the girl grasp at her fingers. She suddenly looks back up at Quinn, hoping this interaction with her daughter isn’t going to earn her any fresh nicknames or slushies.
The ex-ex-cheerleader (she’s finally managed to annoy the crap out of Coach Sylvester enough to weasel her way back on the squad with the promise of never becoming a “hideous fatty” ever again) brings her face back to neutral as Rachel faces her. “What’ve you been up to?”
As expected, Rachel launches into a story about exactly what she’s been up to, starting with vocal lessons and ballet, and ending with the not-so-epic breakup with Finn Hudson the previous week. Not that anyone was surprised. Quinn couldn’t honestly for the life of her tell you what the other girl was talking about other than that, though, but she nodded along anyways, not wanting to seem rude. And suddenly she’s agreeing to hang out with Rachel Berry and isn’t quite sure where that came from.
~~
When Quinn walks through the front hallways of the Berry home at noon the next day, she’s not at all surprised to find a complete shrine to the diva in front of her. Pictures of Rachel and her dads litter every open space on walls, and while it may seem a little over-the-top to anyone else, Quinn secretly finds it very charming. The house has a beautiful “lived-in” feeling that her mansion of a home always seemed to lack. It was better lately, her mom throwing herself into all kinds of home improvement projects as a welcome-home for Quinn, but she still can’t shake the residual feelings from her childhood.
“Wow, Rach, I gotta admit, I’m surprised there isn’t a painting of you-” she stops as they turn the corner and Quinn comes eye-to-eye with a painted Rachel Berry.
Rachel clears her throat, looking to the ground with a blush on her cheeks, and tucking a few stray hairs behind her ear. “Yes, well…would you like anything to drink?”
Quinn can’t help but burst into laughter at this, and soon Rachel’s laughing along with her, the pink still resting on her cheeks. “I’d really just love some water,” she says, wiping a few tears as her giggling dies down.
Rachel leads her into the kitchen, and Quinn notices a tall African-American man standing in front of the island, cutting up fruit. He looks up as they enter, and, upon seeing Quinn’s face, states “You saw the portrait didn’t you?” with a face so serious it sends Quinn into peals of laughter once more.
“Daddy!” Rachel scolds, hands on her hips like a toddler.
He chuckles a bit more before wiping his hands on a dish towel and extending one to Quinn. “Leroy Berry. You must be the Quinn Fabray we’ve been hearing about so much.”
“Daddy!” Rachel yelps once again, the pink rising in her cheeks again. “Don’t listen to him, Quinn, he’s clearly suffering from dementia or something older men suffer from,” she says cheekily.
The second Leroy gasps and pulls a hand to his chest to feign shock, Quinn knows exactly where Rachel gets her dramatics from. Genetics were a powerful thing, apparently.
“How’s your little girl doing?”
Quinn’s completely thrown off at the simple question Leroy’s just asked. She’s used to adults completely ignoring the fact that she has a daughter, like maybe if they didn’t talk to her about Beth, she wouldn’t really exist. It’s usually accompanied by a few not-so-subtle glances to her diminishing stomach. But Leroy’s looking right into her eyes, not a fleck of judgment detectable. Quinn decides she really likes this man.
“She’s doing great, thanks. My mom has her today, I think she took her to the pool or something,” Quinn answers with a smile. She sees Rachel let out a quiet breath of relief upon seeing the other girl talk comfortably about Beth.
They settle onto the couch and end up watching Funny Girl because Quinn’s never actually seen it and Rachel looked like she might start sobbing if that wasn’t rectified immediately. They watch and eat fruit while the afternoon wanes on, and some time around 4, Quinn and Rachel are selected by the Misters Berry to make the run for dinner, and the two spend a good ten minutes arguing between Chinese and Pizza. Quinn ends up winning, if only because she was driving and was parked at “Wok n’ Roll” before Rachel noticed anything.
Rachel throws a hissy fit and refuses to speak to Quinn the entire way home or while they eat, but the cheerleader holds her own quite well with the two Berry men, who are quite charmed by their daughter’s new friend. It’s not until the two are arguing once more (this time about who gets the last of the egg drop soup) that Rachel bursts into giggles and gives up on giving Quinn the cold shoulder.
When the diva walks Quinn to her car after ice cream later, both stand a little awkwardly. Rachel suddenly goes in for a hug and Quinn, unprepared, promptly bumps her head against the other girl’s. They laugh it off, both blushing slightly, before Quinn clambers into her car, ready to go home and see her daughter.
The summer finishes too quickly for both of them, and before either of them know it, it’s the last night before school starts the next day. Santana and Brittany have already left for the evening (to go do God knows what) and it’s just Rachel and Quinn at the Fabray residence, trying to put Beth down for the night.
The baby’s apparently not interested at all, however, because every single time either one of them puts her in her crib, the crying starts before they can make it halfway out of the room. Quinn’s bouncing her slightly over by the window since that’s where her favorite mobile is hanging. The blonde’s murmuring to the little girl, hoping that sooner or later she’ll calm down and drift off to sleep so she and Rachel can go back downstairs and finish their ice cream out on the porch.
Unfortunately, Beth just seems to awaken more and more at the sight of her favorite mobile, and quickly begins giggling away and swatting at it.
“Noooo, no, Bethy, it’s time to sleep now okay?” Quinn’s almost pleading at this point. “Mommy and Rachel have school tomorrow so they would really like to enjoy their last night of Summer.”
Rachel chuckles from the other side of the crib. “I don’t think explaining the situation to her is really going to help much.”
Quinn huffs at this, looking over at her friend. “Fine, sing her to sleep then.”
Rachel shakes her head. “No, Quinn, it’s essential for babies to learn to put themselves to sleep. It’s called-”
“Self-soothing, yes I know. I was on board for that an hour ago but now I really can’t feel my arm anymore and she’s not looking any sleepier!” Quinn protests, shooting Rachel her best pouting look.
Rachel scoffs, standing and crossing the room. “All right, Quinn Fabray, but don’t you blame me when this goes on into puberty.”
Quinn chuckles, handing Beth to the diva. “I highly doubt one more night is going to doom her emotional development forever.”
Rachel ignores this, and moves to sit in the rocking chair by the crib. She carefully position’s Beth across her arms and begins gently rocking. It doesn’t take her long to begin humming the opening notes to “Imagine” and within the first verse and chorus of Rachel’s soothing voice, the little girl is out cold. The brunette continues rocking and finishes out the intended lullaby, before standing carefully and laying her down in the crib.
Quinn doesn’t miss the way Rachel slips her fingers into the forming blonde curls and silently bids her goodnight. Like usual, she quickly swallows the billowing warmth that’s growing in her stomach, and walks to the door, shutting the light off and the night light on. Rachel follows her out and the two walk back down the stairs and into the kitchen in a comfortable silence.
The blonde’s still digging out spoons for their ice cream when she hears a meager “Quinn?” from the other side of the kitchen. She looks up at Rachel, who’s fidgeting nervously.
“What’s wrong?” Quinn asks, immediately forgetting the spoons and crossing the space towards her friend in concern.
“Are…are we…” Rachel looks down at her fingers that she’s begun twiddling together. “Tomorrow, are we…are we still…”
“Rachel,” Quinn interjects, quickly sliding her hands into the diva’s to still them (or at least that’s what she tells herself). “Please talk to me.”
The brunette’s heart melts at this, and she takes a deep breath and makes herself finish. “Are we still going to be us tomorrow? I mean you’re back on the Cheerios, Head Cheerleader again, no less, and I just…I just need to know if I’m still your friend, because I can’t walk in there tomorrow not knowing and-”
Quinn bursts into laughter at this point, effectively cutting the other girl off. Rachel pouts of course, because it’s impolite to interrupt someone’s deep concerns, but it quickly diminishes when the blonde pulls her forward into her arms. They stand there for a few moments before Rachel wraps her arms around Quinn’s back, letting herself be held.
It’s quiet for a while, before the brunette hears a whispered “You’re my best friend, Rachel.”
Rachel smiles into Quinn’s shoulder, unconsciously gripping the other girl tighter. “Me too,” she answers. The cheerleader finally lets go of her, reaching up to wipe a few stray tears from her cheeks.
“We’re still us. No matter what anyone says. Not Sue Sylvester, not Karofsky, not Finn, not anyone,” Quinn answers for her. “Come on, even Santana likes you. And it’s not like Brittany will stop adoring you.”
Rachel smiles at this. The first time the four of them ever hung out, Santana didn’t speak to her once in the first two hours, besides greeting her with “Dwarf”. Not much had changed by the end of the night, but when the Latina was leaving, she said to Quinn “Fine, she can hang out with us.” And that was that in Santana-Land.
“Face it, Rach, you’re stuck with me,” Quinn finished, sending a smile to the brunette.
A wail rang out over the baby monitor at this, and Quinn groaned, rolling her eyes. So close. “And Beth too, apparently.”
The first day of school is no where near the disaster Rachel dreaded that it would be, and although she did receive a cherry slushy to the face from one Dave Karofsky, it was the last one she ever got. The wrath of the Unholy Trinity descended upon him within seconds, and while Santana was still bringing the point across, Brittany and Quinn quickly ushered the sopping girl to the bathroom and began cleaning her off.
Everyone knew not to mess with Quinn’s new best friend after that.
Rachel gets an urgent call from Quinn on a Saturday afternoon in mid-January and rushes over to the Fabray household barely clothed, to find Beth propelling herself on her hands and knees across the carpet in the living room. Quinn’s taking pictures while Judy sprints along behind the little girl and makes sure she doesn’t run into anything.
Rachel thinks it’s the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen in her young life (even more beautiful than the gleaming 1st place trophy glee club won at Sectionals the previous month) and carefully bites back tears before sitting down by the recliner and crooning at Beth as she explores. When she finally seems to calm down a bit, and realizes Rachel’s there, she quickly crawls over.
The diva scoops her up and sets her in her lap while Beth giggles. “Good job, baby girl! What an early learner too, she’s only 8 months!” Rachel presses a kiss to the girl’s forehead.
Quinn knows a photo-opp when she sees one, and wastes no time quickly capturing Rachel and her daughter on the floor together. Later that week when she’s printing out some of the pictures for a scrap book, her eyes linger over that one a bit longer than normal. It ends up stuck to the wall next to Quinn’s bed.
In May, the week before her 1st birthday, Beth learns to walk by herself, and Rachel really does cry. Quinn does too, but doesn’t let Rachel see. She figures one emotional teen is enough for the time.
~~
It’s late June, and Quinn and Beth are over at the Berry residence for the day. The Misters Berry are out shopping for dinner and Rachel’s reading one of her favorite children’s books to the toddler. Quinn’s in the kitchen getting Beth some cantaloupe pieces when it happens.
Beth’s picked up a few words at this point, one of them being “Momma” (which Quinn is very proud of) but she has yet to say anything resembling “Rachel”. Not for a lack of trying, however, because as soon as “Momma” passed the little girl’s lips, Rachel’s been attempting to teach her her name. At all hours of the day.
Beth’s more preoccupied by turning the pages than the actual story at this point, so Rachel’s kind of skipping around (which irks her to no end) and just reading out loud as much of the book as she can. “Momma,” Beth says after a bit.
“Yes baby girl, Momma’s in the kitchen getting you some cantaloupe,” Rachel sighs. Maybe if she had a shorter name, Beth would say it…
“Momma,” the little girl repeats again when Rachel’s done talking.
“She’s coming, Bethy,” Rachel explains again.
“Rach…” Rachel looks up at Quinn, who’s standing very awkwardly on the fringe of the carpet by the kitchen. “She’s not looking for me.”
Rachel looks down to see Beth staring up at her, a giant toothless smile spreading on her face. “Momma,” she repeats, still looking at the diva. The brunette panics of course, not wanting to offend Quinn in anyway (she still smirks that the girl has yet to call Puck “Daddy” yet).
“No, no, baby girl, I’m Rachel. Ray-chell. Can you say that?” Rachel quickly explains, though her words fall on deaf ears as Beth happily babbles and repeats “Momma!” a few more times. The brunette sighs, chancing a look up at Quinn, who’s handing Beth her bowl of fruit and sippy cup.
Quinn’s soft smile says everything.
Rachel presses a kiss to Beth’s head. “Yeah, baby girl. I’m your momma.”
When Quinn gets back in the car after dropping Beth off at Puck’s for the night, she knows she can’t look at Rachel. They haven’t talked about it yet, just letting Beth call both of them “Momma” the entire day, not wanting to confuse her just yet. They both know what it is they’ve been avoiding for the past year, and neither know if they’re really ready for it yet.
“I can tell her to not call me that. To call me Rachel,” the brunette starts quietly after a minute of silence. “I’m sorry, I can fix it…”
Quinn finally looks up at her. “There’s nothing to fix,” she offers quietly.
Neither is quite sure who started it, but next thing they know they’re in a passionate embrace, lips pressing against lips in a frenzy of repressed emotion. Rachel moans as Quinn’s tongue glides across her bottom lip, begging for entrance, which the brunette immediately provides. Rachel’s hands slide up Quinn’s arms to cup her soft face, Quinn’s lithe fingers rubbing gentle circles on the diva’s thigh.
They go on their first date a few days later, which ends up being a dinner cooked by Quinn and fed to Rachel and Beth over a session of The Wiggles. And Rachel can’t think of anything she’d prefer over spending the night with her girls.
Things get a bit heated after they put Beth to bed a few hours later, and their first time is absolutely slow and sensual and perfect, and the brunette has never loved her girlfriend’s mother more than she did then for being out of the house until well after midnight.
Luckily both were showered and clothed by 1 AM when Beth woke up and rather insisted on climbing into bed with her mommas. Quinn smiles sleepily as she listens to Rachel softly sing "Isn't She Lovely" to the both of them; Beth's asleep in less than a minute. Rachel carefully reaches over the sleeping girl to tangle her fingers in her girlfriend's hair, gently soothing her to sleep as well.
Judy silently looks around the corner to Quinn's room, and, seeing her, Rachel and Beth curled up together as the brunette croons the last few words of one of her favorite songs, smiles to herself and carefully closes the door.