Spirit Exchange Fic! Not Just For The Holidays, for lilahfrost
Holiday Wish Fulfilled for:lilahfrost
Title: Not Just For The Holidays
Rating: G
Pairing/Characters: Gen. All members of New Directions, but Rachel-centric.
Warnings: n/a
Word Count: ~1200
Disclaimer: This Glee fanfiction is based upon the television show of the same name. All characters and situations other than my own are sole property of Ryan Murphy Productions and 20th Century Fox Television.
Summary: Rachel’s favourite present was a friend.
A/N: This is an alternate timeline wherein Wicked had become quite popular by 2001-2. It also ignores some of the events of 2x08 and 2x09 (namely, Kurt’s transfer and the Finchel break up).
After the wedding, the Hummel-Hudson compound became the unofficial out-of-school meeting place for the New Directions. For this reason on December 28th, during the lull between Christmas and New Years, the basement of the house played host to a sleepover of the twelve members of New Directions.
“We’re not here to practice, Rachel,” Kurt exclaimed, exasperated after Rachel tried to start a group arrangement of the music from Hello, Dolly! in preparation for Regionals.
“What’s your most awkward holiday story?” Sam asked suddenly in an attempt to prevent another argument between Kurt and Rachel. He was met with more than a few stares from the club. “Well, if we’re not going to practice, we can still do some team-bonding,” he said defensively.
“Wonderful idea, Sam!” Rachel said. “I’ll start!”
-
“…and then my Dad punched him and knocked him out in one hit,” Tina finished. “He isn’t allowed into Breadstix anymore.”
“Wow. I think you win,” Quinn said.
“No Breadstix? That must be torture,” Santana concluded. The group sat in silence for a few moments, waiting for a new suggestion.
“Your most favourite present ever,” Brittany piped up suddenly. “Mine was a duck.”
“My first Vogue subscription,” Kurt said, grinning. “I’m not sure why I thought that my dad didn’t know I was gay.”
The rest of the club went through their various stories, but Rachel was oddly silent.
“Rachel, you haven’t said anything,” Mercedes began after she finished with her story.
“Well don’t let her start now!” Kurt said snidely, before being silenced by a glare from Mercedes.
“C’mon, what was yours,” she urged.
Rachel fidgeted, uncharacteristically uncomfortable.“Well, I was eight,” she slowly began.
---
The holidays could be kind of lonely. All the other kids at school would be so excited about Christmas that Rachel felt kind of left out. Sure, she had Barbra Streisand, but everyone else seemed to hold Santa Claus in higher regard. Honestly, Lima was full of such uncultured riff-raff.
(Kurt opened his mouth to object, but was quickly stopped by Mercedes.)
Of course, she was lonely all year round - not too many seven-year-olds could understand the dedication required to become a star and so Rachel had always felt herself to be above her peers - but at Christmas, the loneliness was worse. The only other Jewish kid she knew was Noah Puckerman, but she didn’t like him very much after he decided to dip her hair in paint once during art and craft.
(“Hey! You probably deserved it!” Puck exclaimed, before being elbowed in the ribs by Finn.
“Puck, don’t interrupt,” he said.)
So she was lonely. She was used to it, but the holiday season was always that much worse. She spent more time with her dads, but parents couldn’t exactly replace proper friendship. Deep down, Rachel knew that her fathers knew what she was going through - everyone in Lima knew they were gay, and it was the American Midwest, not exactly the most progressive place in the world - but they couldn’t really do much for her.
Or so she thought.
-
On the first day of Hanukkah, Rachel climbed out of bed and ran down the stairs, into the living room where her fathers were already waiting.
“Morning, Daddy! Morning, Papa!” she chirped.
“Morning, honey!” the replied in unison.
“Now, sweetie,” her Daddy began after Rachel had kissed them both on the cheek. “You know how each year we normally get you eight smaller gifts?” Rachel nodded.
“Well, your Daddy and I decided to do things a bit differently this year,” her Papa continued, “and we got you one big gift.”
“Well, it’s kind of big and small at the same time,” her Daddy mused.
“Close your eyes,” her Papa said as he left the room.
Rachel obliged and shortly after, something warm and fuzzy was placed into her hands. “Okay, you can open them.”
It was a kitten. A tiny, adorable kitten. Rachel’s jaw dropped. She was awestruck for a moment before she thought of something.
“But Daddy,” she began, in a serious tone, “a kitten is for life, not just for the holidays.”
“We know honey. She wasn’t an impulse buy. Your Papa and I thought long and hard over this.”
“You didn’t buy her from a pet store, did you? Everyone knows that pet stores act as incentive for bad breeding practices for backyard breeders! And they cause thousands of impulse purchases each year and the animals are later disowned which causes problems with overpopulation in -”
Rachel was silenced when her Papa raised his hand.
“No, we adopted her from the rescue shelter. She was abandoned by her last family because they decided she wasn’t cute enough.”
At that, Rachel blinked in surprise. “Well,” she decided, “I guess it’s all right then.”
As if she had heard what Rachel said, the kitten arched up and nuzzled her head under Rachel’s jaw. Rachel’s grinned
“Daddy, Papa, I have decided that it’s in the best interests of all parties involved to keep her.” Her parents started to smile, and her Papa left the room to go get the camera.
“What are you going to name her?” her Daddy asked.
Rachel paused for a few moments. It couldn’t be just any normal cat name, she was far too cultured for that. Something from a musical, perhaps, but certainly not from Cats. That was just too obvious. But really, what sort of musical was there where the leading lady - no kitten of Rachel’s was going to settle for second best - was rejected because of their looks?
Oh.
Of course, it was perfect. If it was possible, Rachel started to smile even harder.
“Elphaba,” she announced to her fathers as her Papa returned with the camera. They had all gone to see Wicked at the Ohio Theatre in Columbus the month before. It was just too perfect.
---
“But of course perfect is the standard when it comes to our family,” Rachel finished off.
“It’s just a kitten. What makes it so special?” said Santana.
“Because,” Rachel said softly, “she became my only friend until high school.” The room descended into silence.
A few minutes passed before Kurt spoke. “Whatever happened to Elphie then?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’d have noticed a cat in your house before. I mean, I’m here often enough,” Finn said.
“She died,” Rachel said softly. “A few months before the club started.”
“Oh, Rachel. I’m sorry,” Brittany said. “Do you want my duck?”
“It’s alright. I mean, I have real friends now. A cat can’t exactly replace people,” Rachel said with a small smile. Before the room could fall back into an awkward silence someone pounced on Rachel, hugging her tightly.
“Finn!” she yelped, trying in vain to push him off. “Someone help!”
However, it was a New Directions tradition to ignore what Rachel said. Rachel soon found herself smothered by the arms of the eleven other members of the club. They stayed like that, as one giant group hug, for a few minutes before Rachel spoke up again.
“Britanny?”
“Yeah?”
“Why are you purring?”
“I can be a cat and a friend at the same time.”
Rachel just smiled and hugged her friends even harder.
-
1. Rachel: Her very favourite present was a friend
2. Sue Sylvester: How Sue stole Christmas
3. Glee Club: Singing carols
Things you DON'T want in your story: Nothing, go nuts :)
Title: Not Just For The Holidays
Rating: G
Pairing/Characters: Gen. All members of New Directions, but Rachel-centric.
Warnings: n/a
Word Count: ~1200
Disclaimer: This Glee fanfiction is based upon the television show of the same name. All characters and situations other than my own are sole property of Ryan Murphy Productions and 20th Century Fox Television.
Summary: Rachel’s favourite present was a friend.
A/N: This is an alternate timeline wherein Wicked had become quite popular by 2001-2. It also ignores some of the events of 2x08 and 2x09 (namely, Kurt’s transfer and the Finchel break up).
After the wedding, the Hummel-Hudson compound became the unofficial out-of-school meeting place for the New Directions. For this reason on December 28th, during the lull between Christmas and New Years, the basement of the house played host to a sleepover of the twelve members of New Directions.
“We’re not here to practice, Rachel,” Kurt exclaimed, exasperated after Rachel tried to start a group arrangement of the music from Hello, Dolly! in preparation for Regionals.
“What’s your most awkward holiday story?” Sam asked suddenly in an attempt to prevent another argument between Kurt and Rachel. He was met with more than a few stares from the club. “Well, if we’re not going to practice, we can still do some team-bonding,” he said defensively.
“Wonderful idea, Sam!” Rachel said. “I’ll start!”
-
“…and then my Dad punched him and knocked him out in one hit,” Tina finished. “He isn’t allowed into Breadstix anymore.”
“Wow. I think you win,” Quinn said.
“No Breadstix? That must be torture,” Santana concluded. The group sat in silence for a few moments, waiting for a new suggestion.
“Your most favourite present ever,” Brittany piped up suddenly. “Mine was a duck.”
“My first Vogue subscription,” Kurt said, grinning. “I’m not sure why I thought that my dad didn’t know I was gay.”
The rest of the club went through their various stories, but Rachel was oddly silent.
“Rachel, you haven’t said anything,” Mercedes began after she finished with her story.
“Well don’t let her start now!” Kurt said snidely, before being silenced by a glare from Mercedes.
“C’mon, what was yours,” she urged.
Rachel fidgeted, uncharacteristically uncomfortable.“Well, I was eight,” she slowly began.
---
The holidays could be kind of lonely. All the other kids at school would be so excited about Christmas that Rachel felt kind of left out. Sure, she had Barbra Streisand, but everyone else seemed to hold Santa Claus in higher regard. Honestly, Lima was full of such uncultured riff-raff.
(Kurt opened his mouth to object, but was quickly stopped by Mercedes.)
Of course, she was lonely all year round - not too many seven-year-olds could understand the dedication required to become a star and so Rachel had always felt herself to be above her peers - but at Christmas, the loneliness was worse. The only other Jewish kid she knew was Noah Puckerman, but she didn’t like him very much after he decided to dip her hair in paint once during art and craft.
(“Hey! You probably deserved it!” Puck exclaimed, before being elbowed in the ribs by Finn.
“Puck, don’t interrupt,” he said.)
So she was lonely. She was used to it, but the holiday season was always that much worse. She spent more time with her dads, but parents couldn’t exactly replace proper friendship. Deep down, Rachel knew that her fathers knew what she was going through - everyone in Lima knew they were gay, and it was the American Midwest, not exactly the most progressive place in the world - but they couldn’t really do much for her.
Or so she thought.
-
On the first day of Hanukkah, Rachel climbed out of bed and ran down the stairs, into the living room where her fathers were already waiting.
“Morning, Daddy! Morning, Papa!” she chirped.
“Morning, honey!” the replied in unison.
“Now, sweetie,” her Daddy began after Rachel had kissed them both on the cheek. “You know how each year we normally get you eight smaller gifts?” Rachel nodded.
“Well, your Daddy and I decided to do things a bit differently this year,” her Papa continued, “and we got you one big gift.”
“Well, it’s kind of big and small at the same time,” her Daddy mused.
“Close your eyes,” her Papa said as he left the room.
Rachel obliged and shortly after, something warm and fuzzy was placed into her hands. “Okay, you can open them.”
It was a kitten. A tiny, adorable kitten. Rachel’s jaw dropped. She was awestruck for a moment before she thought of something.
“But Daddy,” she began, in a serious tone, “a kitten is for life, not just for the holidays.”
“We know honey. She wasn’t an impulse buy. Your Papa and I thought long and hard over this.”
“You didn’t buy her from a pet store, did you? Everyone knows that pet stores act as incentive for bad breeding practices for backyard breeders! And they cause thousands of impulse purchases each year and the animals are later disowned which causes problems with overpopulation in -”
Rachel was silenced when her Papa raised his hand.
“No, we adopted her from the rescue shelter. She was abandoned by her last family because they decided she wasn’t cute enough.”
At that, Rachel blinked in surprise. “Well,” she decided, “I guess it’s all right then.”
As if she had heard what Rachel said, the kitten arched up and nuzzled her head under Rachel’s jaw. Rachel’s grinned
“Daddy, Papa, I have decided that it’s in the best interests of all parties involved to keep her.” Her parents started to smile, and her Papa left the room to go get the camera.
“What are you going to name her?” her Daddy asked.
Rachel paused for a few moments. It couldn’t be just any normal cat name, she was far too cultured for that. Something from a musical, perhaps, but certainly not from Cats. That was just too obvious. But really, what sort of musical was there where the leading lady - no kitten of Rachel’s was going to settle for second best - was rejected because of their looks?
Oh.
Of course, it was perfect. If it was possible, Rachel started to smile even harder.
“Elphaba,” she announced to her fathers as her Papa returned with the camera. They had all gone to see Wicked at the Ohio Theatre in Columbus the month before. It was just too perfect.
---
“But of course perfect is the standard when it comes to our family,” Rachel finished off.
“It’s just a kitten. What makes it so special?” said Santana.
“Because,” Rachel said softly, “she became my only friend until high school.” The room descended into silence.
A few minutes passed before Kurt spoke. “Whatever happened to Elphie then?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’d have noticed a cat in your house before. I mean, I’m here often enough,” Finn said.
“She died,” Rachel said softly. “A few months before the club started.”
“Oh, Rachel. I’m sorry,” Brittany said. “Do you want my duck?”
“It’s alright. I mean, I have real friends now. A cat can’t exactly replace people,” Rachel said with a small smile. Before the room could fall back into an awkward silence someone pounced on Rachel, hugging her tightly.
“Finn!” she yelped, trying in vain to push him off. “Someone help!”
However, it was a New Directions tradition to ignore what Rachel said. Rachel soon found herself smothered by the arms of the eleven other members of the club. They stayed like that, as one giant group hug, for a few minutes before Rachel spoke up again.
“Britanny?”
“Yeah?”
“Why are you purring?”
“I can be a cat and a friend at the same time.”
Rachel just smiled and hugged her friends even harder.
-
1. Rachel: Her very favourite present was a friend
2. Sue Sylvester: How Sue stole Christmas
3. Glee Club: Singing carols
Things you DON'T want in your story: Nothing, go nuts :)