fic: Mistakes
Title: Mistakes
Author: flipflop555
Rating: PG-13, angsty with a happy-ish ending =P
Pairing: Rachel/Quinn
Summary: Someone has an affair….
Disclaimer: This is a total piece of fiction, I own nothing and no one involved
Word Count: 2,160
A/N: Honestly have no idea whereeeee this came from, got stuck in my head and wrote it in 30 mins! Never done anythinggggg like this, so please leave comments/feedback/u-know-the-drill (lol!)
Quinn closed the door to her and Rachel’s home, eyeing the wall clock which read 11:15pm. She knew Rachel wouldn’t be asleep yet, but she was probably in bed resting. The blonde slipped her shoes off and called into the house softly, “Baby, I’m home,” so as not to scare the singer with her presence. She took her jacket off and left it on the coat rack, and walked at a brisk pace towards their bedroom. The lights were off and Rachel was curled on her side, but her breathing gave away that she was awake. “Hey sweetheart,” Quinn said softly. Rachel rolled over and eyed the blonde before returning to her previous position. The blonde looked confused, but figured the diva was simply tired, so she changed into her pajamas.
Once changed, Quinn rolled into bed and reached for fiancé’s waist to pull her closer. “Don’t touch me.” Quinn was startled by the seriousness of Rachel’s tone.
“Rach?” Quinn tried to wrap her arm around Rachel again but was met with the same cold tone.
“I…I said don’t touch me.” Rachel curled herself further into a ball.
“Rachel, what’s wrong?” There was no answer. “Rachel?” Still nothing. “I-I’m sorry about working late again, you know I’m up for that promotion, and even at 9 at night it’s still insane traffic to get out of the city, you know that.” Rachel didn’t move. “Baby, please, if something’s wrong, tell me.”
“Good night, Quinn.” The blonde just watched the brunette, concerned, but sighed.
“Good night. I love you?” There was a scarily long silence.
“I love you too, Quinn. So much, it hurts sometimes….” The blonde was still concerned, and didn’t get much sleep that night.
**
Quinn woke up the next morning and eyed the clock; 7:12 am, a miserable time to be awake on a Saturday. The blonde rolled over, hoping that she could cuddle with the love of her life so when she woke up, she might get over whatever bad mood it was that had plagued her the night before. But when Quinn rolled over, there was no Rachel, and the singer had never been known to wake up before 9am unless it was crucial.
Quinn sat up; this was odd, and coupled with Rachel’s attitude from the night before, Quinn was confused. That’s when Quinn heard it; a small whimper coming from their bathroom down the hall. The pale girl eyed their open door curiously. She gently got out of bed and padded down the hall, following the sound until she was standing next to the closed door, Rachel sobbing on the other side. Quinn opened the door to find the brunette sitting on the floor, crying into her knees which were pulled up to her face. The singer looked up, saw Quinn and started sobbing harder. Quinn almost cried as she dropped to her knees.
“Baby, what is this? What’s wrong with you?” Quinn pleaded, rubbing her hand on Rachel’s knee. “Rachel, we’re getting married, you need to share things with me, especially when it’s upsetting you.”
“I-I am just…” Rachel couldn’t control herself. “I’m a-a-awful!”
Quinn put on a sympathetic smile. “Babe, nothing you could ever do is awful. You’re wonderful.” She pressed a kiss to the diva’s knee and she flinched.
“D-don’t. Don’t say t-that. Don’t act like I’m great… And don’t look at me l-like that.” Quinn was smiling affectionately at her, trying to bring comfort. The last sentence caused the blonde’s brow to drop.
“Rachel, I love you but you’re scaring me. You’ve been acting weird since last night, I need you to tell me what happened or what’s going on.”
“I….I cheated on you….”
Quinn felt the wind get knocked out of her. Her body went numb as she pulled her hand back from the singer’s knee like it had been burned. The action didn’t go unnoticed by Rachel, who winced at causing the blonde any sort of pain.
“I-it was a kiss. And he…he fingered me…but Quinn, I swear-”
“It was…it was a he?”
Rachel swallowed thickly and nodded. “Steve…” Steve was Rachel’s co-star on Broadway, a good looking man with a terrible, womanizing reputation. Quinn almost threw up; instead, she rose to her feet, in a trance. “Quinn?” The blonde snapped out of her haze for a second to refocus on Rachel, who was looking at her pleadingly.
“Do you love him?”
“No! No! Quinn, it was a drunken mistake, i-it was stupid and I stopped it, I love you, I’m marrying you, I only want-”
“I need to be alone right now.” Quinn turned to leave, but Rachel snapped up and grabbed her hand.
“Quinn, please, let’s talk about this-”
“If you have even an ounce of love for me, you’ll stay right here until…until I decide I can talk to you.” Rachel nodded as fast as she could and sunk down to the floor again as the tears poured out of her. Quinn, still dumbfounded, wandered out of the bathroom and down the hall into their living room. She sat on the couch and started crying.
After a solid 10 minutes, Quinn started to calm down, taking deep breaths. After collecting herself, she got back up and returned to the bathroom; Rachel had done as she had been asked and stayed perfectly still on the floor. She looked up at Quinn hopefully. “Living room.” Rachel nodded and followed the blonde to their couch, where they sat opposite each other. After a minute of silence, Quinn spoke. “Explain yourself.”
Rachel nodded. “We went out for celebratory drinks because our director, Derek, got engaged. W-we were all just taking shots and then more shots and Steve…” Quinn winced at his name. “Well, you know him, he started flirting, and I just…Quinn, you have to understand, I couldn’t even see straight, Steve could’ve been a bear on a unicycle and I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference.”
“What happened, that’s all I want to know.”
Rachel sighed. “He kissed me. I-I didn’t really know what to do until I felt his hand in my pants and it just felt so wrong, Quinn.” The blonde nodded numbly. “I stopped him. I didn’t finish, I told him to stop and I came right home, if that makes it any better,” Rachel whispered softly.
Oddly enough, Quinn did feel a little better with that knowledge, but kept her steely façade. They sat in silence for several minutes before Rachel couldn’t take it anymore. She reached over and took Quinn’s hand in her own. “Quinn Fabray, I love you with every particle of my being, please, how can I prove it to you?”
The blonde stared off into space. More silence. “Quit the play.” This time, Rachel felt the wind get sucked out of her. The play had practically been Rachel’s baby. When it was just getting started, people thought it would flop and be closing in a matter of weeks. Rachel gave it her all every night and breathed life into a show that was thought to be dead. It was generally believed that the Tony they had won for Best New Musical had been because of her, and the Best Lead Actress award certainly backed it up. Quinn knew all of this and watched Rachel thoughtfully.
“I understand why that would make sense Quinn, it’s just-”
“I don’t want you near him. I want to go to work and feel safe that you two aren’t…fucking in your dressing room round the clock.”
“Quinn, that’s insane, you know-”
“You have no right to dictate my feelings, not after this.” Rachel stopped talking and looked down, ashamed. After a minute, Quinn sighed. “I know what the show means to you, believe me I do. I was there at the very first show, I’ve seen it dozens of time and every time I’m blown away. I was with you at the Tony’s, I saw you achieve your dream…. But Rachel, I can’t wake up every morning and feel any sort of security if you’re with him. You broke a bond you and I spent years building, you violated my trust. You sacrificed our relationship so you need to deal with the consequences.” Rachel nodded slowly but didn’t give a response. “I need to go. I can’t be here right now.” The singer looked up worriedly. “I’m going for a drive, I hope you’ll think about this, I expect a decision by the time I return.” Rachel tried to formulate a sentence, but Quinn rushed out of the house, still in her pajamas, car keys in hand.
**
Rachel sat on the couch, dumbfounded. Finally, she stood up and got her phone from the side of her bed and punched in the number of her agent and long-time friend, Andrew.
“Hello?” Andrew answered.
“Hey Andrew, it’s umm…it’s Rachel.”
“Oh. Hey, I, uh, heard about last night from some of your cast.” Rachel chewed her lip and nodded to herself, tears forming in her eyes.
“Yeah. I’m…look, I’m obviously not proud of what I did, both to myself and to Quinn. I need your help.”
“Sure, what can I do?” Andrew offered.
“She wants me to quit…And I’m going to. It’s the only thing I can do to right now to make it up to her. You always say other productions are, what’s your phrase, ‘beating down your door’ to book me?”
Andrew chuckled softly. “You’re the hottest thing on Broadway, Rachel, finding a new show shouldn’t be too hard.” Rachel sighed a little in relief. “But your current contract doesn’t expire for another month, you need to discuss it with your director if he’s ok with you quitting early.”
“Fuck the director, I don’t care about the director. He’s not the one I’m marrying, Andrew. Just call me when you have a new show, I’ll take anything, just get me out of here. I’m desperate,” Rachel pleaded softly. On the other end, Andrew was nodding his head.
“All right, I’ll shop you around, tell people Rachel Berry’s on the market and looking to make another show a smash success.” Rachel smiled for the first time that morning at the compliment.
“Thanks, Andrew, I really appreciate it.”
“Don’t worry about it. And Rachel, you’re doing the right thing, and while I hate the circumstances that got you here, I’m proud of you for making this decision.”
Rachel felt tears in her eyes. “Thank you. Please call me as soon as you hear anything.” Rachel ended the call and walked out to her living room, dialing Derek’s number as fresh tears bubbled to the surface.
**
Two hours later, Quinn’s car pulled into the driveway. Rachel sprang up from the couch and met her fiancé at the door. Quinn’s eyes were red and puffy from crying, and her tear-stained cheeks only confirmed it. She looked at Rachel bitterly as she closed the door.
“Hi,” Rachel offered softly.
“What’s your decision?” Quinn demanded coolly, standing firm at the front of the house.
“I called Andrew the second after you left, I told him to find me anything and I’d take it. I a-also called Derek and told him I quit. He was really mad, but I told him I couldn’t go back a-and explained as a man about to be married, he should understand…” Quinn nodded. “He did.”
“So that’s it? You’re not going back?”
“Never. Quinn, you’re all that matters to me. You mean more to me than any job, any award, anything. I’d take a job working at Burger King if it meant you could let us try, please,” Rachel pleaded, taking Quinn’s shaking hand in hers.
“You broke so much trust, Rachel.”
“I know, and I’ll do anything to build it again, Quinn. Please, I’ll do whatever it takes.” Quinn just stared at Rachel’s hand holding her own. “Can…can this work?”
Quinn nodded slowly. “I really hope so.”
“Can I kiss you?”
Quinn winced a little but nodded. Rachel took a step closer and stood on her tip-toes to plant a gentle kiss on Quinn’s lips. She almost instantly started sobbing, crying into Quinn’s chest. “I’m s-soooo sorry, Quinn. I never, ever ever want to h-hurt you again,” she wailed. Tears spilled from Quinn’s eyes, but held Rachel in her arms.
“Never again, Rachel. I…I can’t feel like this again. You need to control yourself, because you won’t get a second chance.”
Rachel nodded vigorously into Quinn’s chest. “I don’t deserve one. I love you so much, Quinn, I swear I’ll spend the rest of my life proving it to you.” Quinn nodded and held Rachel closer. They stayed there, holding each other for another 20 minutes before Andrew called back to tell Rachel she had been offered a lead role in a new show that was supposed to be excellent. She accepted it, but only after making sure her male counter-part was gay. Quinn couldn’t help but smile.