Are You Ten Years Ago? [11/14]
Title: Are You Ten Years Ago?
Major Characters/Pairings: Quinn Fabray-Puckerman, Beth Puckerman, Noah Puckerman, Jr., Jasper Puckerman, Rachel Berry, Finn Hudson/OC, Mentions past: Quinn/Puck, Rachel/Puck, Rachel/Quinn
Minor Characters/Pairings: Mike/OC, Matt/OC, Artie/Tina, Rachel's dads Mentions: Brittany/Santana, Mercedes/OC, Kurt/OC
Rating: PG-13
Length: 45,200+
Summary: AU beginning after 'Funk'. Rachel got the hell out of Lima, Ohio immediately after graduation, breaking Quinn's heart in the process, and never looked back. Now, ten years later, she's back and Quinn is the one to show her the aftermath and the pieces of what she left behind - all the while trying desperately not to fall back in love with her ex-girlfriend.
Warnings: Pre-story character death discussed in detail.
-Chapter 11-
Saturday nights quickly became “date night”. Finn and Kelsey didn’t mind and by the third date Finn was actually encouraging it. Quinn left her wedding ring in the box with Puck’s after the first date. Noah commented that Quinn was always “smiley” on Saturdays because she knew that she would get to talk about taxes with Rachel. The Puckermans’ presence was becoming a frequent occurrence at Rachel’s house since she invited Kelsey to bring the kids over any day to go swimming which was quickly turning into every day. Quinn joked that she should just drop the kids off at Rachel’s and the brunette smiled.
“Perhaps you should,” she said.
Quinn left the kids with Puck’s mother when Rachel convinced her to go to their class reunion. Puck’s senior picture was put on a stand just inside the doorway to the gymnasium. Rachel gripped onto Quinn’s hand and gave the blonde a reassuring smile. The pair greeted their former classmates, Rachel with a surprising amount of civility toward the people who were once determined to make her life a living hell. Everyone looked at Quinn the same way. The ones that had stayed in Lima had seen her at Pick-n-Save. The rest had heard through the grapevine.
Despite the glances and the murmured apologies and condolences, Quinn held her head high and kept her smile on. She enjoyed the dinner that was catered and sat with all of the former glee club members that had managed to make it. Kurt had no interest in returning and Santana and Brittany were both busy but Mercedes had managed to fly in with her husband. The blonde wrapped her arm tight around Rachel’s waist for the class picture and her eyes flickered down to Rachel’s flushed cheeks and genuine smile before the photographer yelled for them to all hold.
When her watch indicated that it was nine o’clock, Quinn said her goodbyes and told Rachel to stay and have fun. She headed for the exit and just as she hit the warm summer air an arm linked with hers.
“Rachel, I told you to stay and have fun. Finn and Kelsey said they’d take you home.”
“I’m well aware of that, Quinn. However, I knew it wouldn’t be worth it to be there if you weren’t. That and I saw Dave Karofsky with a slushie and although he was drinking it I suddenly had flashbacks of ice cold corn syrup and decided it best that I leave before thrown into a panic attack.”
Quinn shook her head and unlocked the van. Even though she was only with Rachel for a grand total of five minutes on the way from the high school to the brunette’s house it was still a moment with Rachel and Quinn was perfectly content with it.
-*-*-*-*-*-
Kelsey started leaving Beth and Noah at Rachel’s to take Jasper to therapy and Quinn noticed a significant decrease in Noah’s bad days. In fact, he hadn’t had a single one since career day. However, as August loomed closer he was less and less excited, especially when Rachel started packing her clothes.
Quinn and Rachel’s last date night before the brunette was to depart was three days before her flight left. Quinn was a little nervous, to say the least. Rachel hadn’t pushed boundaries and Quinn was appreciative…but it had been over two years. And Quinn was a little more than ready. Rachel greeted her at the door with her signature smile and started to pull Quinn to the kitchen but the blonde took a deep breath and pulled Rachel toward the stairs.
“I have ingredients for pizza,” Rachel said. She looked thoroughly confused and Quinn smiled a little.
“I don’t care about the pizza.”
Rachel blinked a few times. “Oh…Oh! Okay!”
Just like cooking, their familiar rhythm hadn’t been lost in the bedroom, either.
Quinn lay awake and completely exhausted. Rachel’s head was on her chest and her arm was draped over Quinn’s stomach, her fingertips lightly tracing patterns on pale skin.
“I’m going to go for the incredibly cliché line of ‘what are you thinking?’” Rachel sighed.
“I’m thinking…that was pretty amazing.”
“I’m fairly certain I’ll need to find my thesaurus to properly describe my feelings right now.” Rachel shifted and Quinn tightened her grip around the brunette’s shoulders.
“Rachel, I swear if you get up and actually get a thesaurus right now I will club you over the head with it.”
Rachel gasped a little and nervously cleared her throat. Quinn rolled her eyes and pulled the brunette on top of her.
The sheets were even more tangled than they had been and now it was Quinn with her head on Rachel’s chest. After five minutes of listening to Rachel’s stomach growl but no complaint from the star, Quinn finally suggested they eat dinner. It was nine o’clock when the pizzas went into the oven.
When Quinn finally got home that evening she blushed and mumbled a “just fine” to Finn when he asked her how her night was. Kelsey chuckled and hugged her. Finn had his hand on the front doorknob when they heard it. Three loud bangs. Gunshots. Very loud and very close. Finn pulled Kelsey to the floor, Quinn ran to Noah and Jasper’s room, Noah was sitting straight up in bed. Beth came bursting in just as Quinn picked up Jasper who was startled and had begun to cry. There were two more shots and Quinn pulled Noah out of his bed and Beth dropped to the floor and quickly crawled to her mother.
“Quinn!” Finn yelled. “Quinn are you guys okay!?”
“We’re fine!”
Jasper was crying harder and Beth and Noah were clinging onto their mother for dear life and Noah was whimpering. After a few seconds of silence Finn and Kelsey appeared in the bedroom door and both dropped to the floor.
“I called the cops,” Finn said.
Quinn nodded. She refused to move until the blue and red lights were flashing outside of her house and she calmly handed Jasper to Finn and they all went to the living room and waited. Quinn looked out the window at the three police cars and two ambulances at the house across the street. An officer approached the house and Quinn cautiously opened the door. She, Finn, and Kelsey gave statements as to what they heard and before she knew it, it was all over with. She walked the officer to the door and he thanked her for their statements. When she closed the door she rested her forehead against it.
“Finn,” she choked. “Finn I know this is a lot to ask…”
“No, it’s not,” he said. “You can stay with us.”
Quinn quickly packed everything she could think of. On her way out the door she looked back at her house and saw it. With the illumination of the street light she saw the perfectly round hole and splintered wood about one inch away from Noah and Jasper’s bedroom window and she almost collapsed. Finn drove her van to the Hudson house since she was still too shaken up to do it. She sat in the back with Noah on one side and Jasper fast asleep in his car seat on the other. Beth was in the front seat and Finn’s hand never left hers.
They settled Jasper and Noah on the pull out sofa in the den and Finn pulled out the bed from the sofa in the living room for Quinn and Beth. It took quite a while to get Beth to calm down enough to sleep, Quinn sang quietly and rubbed the girl’s back until she stopped shaking and was finally lulled to sleep. Quinn tiptoed into the kitchen where Finn and Kelsey had a cup of coffee waiting for her.
“You okay?” Finn asked.
Quinn shook her head. “There was a bullet hole an inch away from my sons’ bedroom window. I’m definitely not okay. And it’s only going to get worse.”
“You gotta get out of there,” Finn sighed.
“I know.”
Quinn awoke the next morning on the pull out couch to frantic knocking on Finn’s front door and the doorbell ringing incessantly. Finn stumbled into the living room in his bathrobe and rubbed his eyes.
“What the hell?” he mumbled. He opened the door and Quinn heard Rachel shriek.
“Where are they!?”
“Right here, Rachel,” Quinn groaned. “Why are you here?”
Rachel shoved Finn out of the way and practically landed on top of Quinn.
“Have you seen the news!? My God, Quinn! I saw it and I went to your house and you weren’t there, what is wrong with you?! Why didn’t you call me?!”
“No kissing,” Beth mumbled before she rolled over and pulled her blanket up over her head. “Gross.”
“It was late, I honestly didn’t think about it. I was pretty shaken.”
Finn yawned and turned on the TV, a reporter was standing on Quinn’s street.
“The shooting happened around ten-thirty last night, reports say. Officers have released that one man and one woman were shot and killed by another woman. Police haven’t released the victims or the alleged shooter’s names but they do suspect that drugs were involved in a motive. Back to the studio for weather…”
Finn hit the ‘mute’ button and rubbed his temples.
“You guys want coffee?”
Quinn and Rachel both nodded and Finn sleepily dragged his feet to the kitchen and started clamoring around to get coffee ready.
“You’re okay, right?” Rachel asked.
Quinn nodded again and Rachel cupped the blonde’s face in her hands and kissed her forehead.
“The kids are okay? Nothing happened?”
“We’re fine,” Quinn whispered. Nothing could be farther from the truth at that moment. There was a bullet hole in her house and she was fairly certain that at least one of her kids was going to need more therapy.
“Don’t lie to me, Quinn. Please, stop lying to me.”
Quinn looked down at her sleeping daughter and Rachel pulled the blonde up off of the bed and wrapped an arm around her waist as she pulled her to the kitchen. Finn was sitting at the table with his head on his arms snoring. Rachel dropped Quinn to one of the chairs and pulled another to sit in front of her. Quinn leaned into Rachel’s offered embrace and nuzzled into Rachel’s neck.
“Quinn, I’m going to offer you this again and this time I’m not taking anything but ‘yes’ for an answer. Move into the house. For the kids. For you. You need this and you deserve this. Please.”
Quinn swallowed not only the lump in her throat but she swallowed her vow to not take anything from Rachel and she nodded.
“For the kids.”
Rachel kissed the top of the blonde’s head and whispered, “thank you.”
There wasn’t much to be moved since Rachel’s house was fully furnished. Finn, Matt, and Mike donated their trucks and their time to the cause, some of the furniture went to the city dump and what was still in good condition went to Goodwill. Beth immediately demanded that the bedroom with all of Rachel’s old furniture be hers.
“That was the plan all along, sweetie,” Rachel said with a smile.
On moving day, Quinn directed the men to put both Noah and Jasper’s beds in one room and hers in another. She left to go back to the old house and pack up a few more boxes of her things in the van and when she returned to put things in her room she found Jasper’s bed in it and hers nowhere in sight.
“Rachel!”
The brunette came in from down the hall with a smile. “Yes, Quinn?”
“Where is my bed?”
“I had them put it in the basement.”
“Why would you do that?”
“You’ll be in the master suite, of course.”
“Rachel I can’t just…we can’t…”
“Why not?”
“Because…it would be inappropriate?”
“What would be inappropriate?” Beth appeared in the doorway on the way to her room with a box.
“Nothing,” Quinn said.
“Quinn, I’ll sleep on the couch if you insist.”
“Why’s Rachel going to sleep on the couch?”
“Beth, go put your things away please.”
“Are you kicking her out of her room? Why can’t you just share?”
“That’s what I asked,” Rachel chimed in with a smile.
Quinn selected the bedroom closest to the master suite as Jasper’s room, Rachel offered to have a door installed connecting them, Quinn politely declined. The stairs presented a problem that Rachel quickly remedied with a call to a company that installed chair lifts. Noah got in trouble three times the day it was installed because he wanted to take it for a ride. By the time Rachel had to leave, absolutely everything was moved in and installed and Rachel was helping Noah pick out a theme for his room so decorators could come in while she was gone.
The night before her flight out of Columbus, Rachel said her goodbyes to Beth and Noah. Jasper smiled up at her when she kissed his forehead before leaving Quinn to read to him and tuck him in. Quinn took the day off the next day to drive Rachel to the airport and she tried really hard to contain herself when the brunette left her embrace to go through security.
“I’ll call you as soon as I land…and probably before we take off. And if there’s a phone on the plane I’ll call you from that, too.”
Quinn smiled. “Have a safe flight, Rachel.”
It did feel kind of strange to step into the big house without Rachel’s bubbling presence. Quinn walked through the living room and kitchen to the back yard where Beth and Noah were splashing in the pool and Kelsey had Jasper in his stroller on the patio.
“People are going to have a hard time believing they’re mine, they’re so tan,” Quinn said looking at her two oldest kids. “Were they good?”
“As always,” Kelsey said as she relaxed back into her chair. “Noah had another nightmare, though.”
“I’ll call his doctor in the morning. I have to take them tonight for orientation for school. How was Jasper?”
“He pulled up on the coffee table today and stood for a while. He tried to take a step but that didn’t go too well.”
Quinn sighed and leaned down to kiss Jasper’s forehead. The four-year-old strained against the belts of his chair and Quinn unbuckled him and pulled him to her lap.
“I really thought he’d be walking by now.”
“Give it time, Quinn. His therapists say he’s doing better each day.”
Quinn smiled and bounced Jasper a few times and watched Beth and Noah closely while talking with Kelsey. Beth and Noah tired themselves out in the pool and Quinn kissed each of their foreheads and shooed them upstairs to take showers to get ready for school orientation.
Noah was starting middle school that year. Beth showed him around where the closest bathrooms were to his teacher’s rooms and how to find the gym and where to stand for the bus. Noah looked around in amazement at the building that was much larger and more open than his elementary school. He clung to Quinn’s side until they got to his homeroom classroom. The teacher explained that the class switched for each subject but they always stayed together and sent him to explore and he saw a couple of his friends from the previous year and scrambled to them. Beth kept Jasper entertained in the hallway while Quinn talked with Noah’s teacher.
“Quinn Puckerman,” the blonde said, holding her hand out. “Noah’s my son.” She pointed to the boy who was checking out the desk that already had his nametag on it.
“Ms. Green, it’s wonderful to meet you. I’ve looked through Noah’s files already and I’m so sorry to hear about your husband, Mrs. Puckerman.”
Quinn smiled a little. “Thank you. It’s been difficult but I think Noah’s dealing with things a little better. I just…I want to make sure you know…” Quinn looked around the room at the other parents who were with their kids and she swallowed hard. “I am seeing someone, I’d rather you know about it before Noah brings it up and you’re unprepared.”
The teacher nodded and Quinn took a deep breath.
“There could be problems if it were to somehow come up with the other students.” Quinn was stalling as best she could, trying to get a feel for what the teacher was thinking. “I’m…seeing a woman.”
Ms. Green continued nodding but this time with a small smile. “I understand perfectly,” she said. “My brother is gay and I fully support him, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. I’ll even discuss it with his other teachers if you’d like.”
Quinn sighed. “That was better than the reaction I was expecting and I would appreciate that, thank you.”
The teacher laughed. “I understand, this is Ohio after all.”
“He’s shy at first but once he gets comfortable you might have a little trouble with him, just a warning. He got it from his father. There hasn’t been anything serious happen but he can be kind of difficult sometimes.”
“I taught in an inner city school in Detroit for six years, Mrs. Puckerman, I can almost guarantee you that I’ve seen much worse than Noah could ever think of doing.”
The teacher smiled and Quinn internally sighed in relief of actually getting a teacher that might know what she was doing.
Noah bounced back to Quinn with a smile having thoroughly inspected the room. He gave his nod of approval and clung back onto Quinn. They said their goodbyes to the teacher and headed to the other side of the building to the seventh grade classrooms. Quinn introduced herself to each of Beth’s teachers as they went through her schedule and the girl wandered around her classrooms and like any other almost-teenager she seemed unimpressed.
“I’ve been there for two years already,” Beth said on the way back to the van. “All the rooms look the same.”
“Yes but this year you don’t have to stick with one class, you get to switch on your own.”Quinn folded up and hoisted the stroller into the back of the van.
Beth shrugged. “I guess it’s exciting.”
Quinn hopped into the van and turned the key over, nothing happened.
“Shhh-darn,” she growled.
She tried again and again, still nothing happened and she dropped her head against the steering wheel. The van had finally bit the dust, she knew it. She pulled out her phone and called Finn, he was there in fifteen minutes. They tried jumper cables and he looked around under the hood for a loose cable, belt, or anything.
“I knew I should’ve taken it to Burt,” Quinn mumbled as she strapped Jasper into the car seat in the back seat of Finn’s truck. “I just didn’t have the money.”
“Quinn, you know I woulda helped you out. Come on.”
“Finn…I ask too much of you already.”
The man sighed and checked to make sure the van was locked. Beth and Noah squeezed in on either side of Jasper and Finn took them to their house. Rachel’s house, Quinn had to correct herself.
“Thanks again,” Quinn said as she hoisted Jasper up on her hip. “I owe you.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell Kels to give you the keys to her car tomorrow so you can get to work and stuff.”
Quinn nodded appreciatively and Finn hugged her before she went inside. She got Jasper stretched and exercised. With her bracing him he took a few steps. She loosened her grip a little just as a test and he was able to take a few more. It was progress.
“Mom!” Beth called from downstairs after Quinn got Jasper tucked in. “Mom, Rachel’s on TV!”
Quinn grabbed the baby monitor and shut off the light. She made it down the stairs in record time, Beth had the TiVo paused and she hit play. E! News came on and there was Rachel in a short navy dress with camera flashes going off everywhere. She grinned at the cameras and twisted around as the announcer talked about the new movie and the promotional event that Rachel was attending.
Ryan Seacrest came on the TV with a mic in one hand and Rachel standing next to him with her signature smile.
“God, I didn’t even know he was still around,” Quinn muttered.
“Mom, he has like six shows,” Beth said with a roll of her eyes. “You need to get out more.”
The young brunette hit the volume up on the TV and Quinn smiled at the sound of Rachel’s voice.
“First of all,” Ryan said, “congratulations on the new movie. It’s already predicted to be one of the biggest hits of the year.”
Rachel bounced a little. “Thank you, Ryan! I was so excited when I saw the script for this that I was on board immediately. I love the director and the whole cast was absolutely wonderful to work with.”
“I’ve got to get a little bit of gossip out of you, Rachel, you know I do.”
Rachel playfully rolled her eyes.
“So the rumor mill has it that you went back to your hometown for the summer, right?”
“I did! I went back for my high school reunion and re-connected with some old friends. I had a great summer, I really did.”
“Any sparks fly with some old flames? You know everyone is buzzing about your life as a single woman now.”
Rachel blushed. “I will say that I’m very happy right now.”
“That’s all!? Come on, Rachel!”
Rachel shook her head. “That’s all you’re getting, Ryan!”
“Aw well maybe next time! Before you go, I have to ask, who are you wearing?”
“Hummel and Jones,” Rachel said enthusiastically. “Everything from the dress to the jewelry.”
“Thanks, Rachel.”
Rachel smiled and stepped back into the crowds.
Beth turned the TV down and Quinn felt herself being nudged.
“You look really goofy right now, Mom,” the girl said.
Quinn could feel the ridiculous smile on her face and the redness plaguing her cheeks. She looked down at her fingernails and picked at them, Beth sighed.
“What was the sigh for?” the blonde asked, nudging her daughter.
“It’s still a little weird,” Beth admitted. “Like, I know you like Rachel and everything and she’s cool and I like her…but she’s not Dad.”
“I know sweetie. Listen, if you don’t want…”
“I didn’t say that, Mom. I guess it’ll just take time or something.”
“I understand, baby girl.”
Beth snuggled into her mother’s side and they found something else to watch on TV until both the young girl and Noah were fast asleep. Quinn got them upstairs and into bed and she settled down into the queen sized bed in the master suite with a book. She didn’t pay much attention to it, she glanced at her phone more than the words on the pages.
Quinn jumped a little when her phone started buzzing even though she expected it. She grinned when she picked it up.
“Hey you.”
“Hey!”
Quinn could hear Rachel’s smile which only made her smile wider. She closed her book and snuggled down in bed.
“I saw you on TV,” Quinn said. “You looked amazing.”
“Thank you! Mercedes and Kurt really came through for me on the dresses I’ll be wearing. I discussed it with Mercedes at the reunion, I’ll only be wearing their collection for the promotional tour. How was the rest of your day? Beth and Noah had orientation this evening, correct?”
“It was okay. Orientation went well, I talked to Noah’s teacher about us just in case he’d bring it up. The van died, probably for sure this time. Finn couldn’t find anything wrong with it but I’ll have Burt take a look at it when I can.”
“Quinn I wish you’d let me…”
“No.”
“Well at least take the credit card I left in the dresser and get a rental. You can pay me back, I promise I’ll let you.”
“It’s fine, Rachel. I’ll take Kelsey’s car and the hospital has a free taxi service to pick her and the kids up for Jasper’s therapy. Trust me, we’ve use the system before and it works.”
Rachel sighed. “Quinn, I fully understand that you’re an independent woman and I respect that. I respect that you want to raise your children knowing you worked hard for them, I really do. But I wish you’d let me help.”
“Can we please not talk about this right now? I don’t want to fight tonight.”
“Alright. Let’s talk about this, I miss you.”
Quinn smiled a little and pulled Rachel’s pillow close to her chest.
“I miss you, too. It’s…strange, being in the house without you. I feel like I’m invading your privacy or something.”
“I’m sure you’ll get used to it. It is your house, too, after all.”
Quinn sighed. Rachel continued talking about what she was doing in Los Angeles and the film shoot she was starting the next day. She almost drifted off to sleep at the sound of the brunette’s voice until she heard Rachel giggle.
“Get some sleep, baby,” Rachel said. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”
“Mkay,” Quinn mumbled. “Love you.”
The line was silent. Quinn’s eyes snapped open.
“Rachel, Rachel, I didn’t-”
“I love you, too.”
Quinn smiled. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight, Quinn.”
Quinn heard the smile on the other end of the line and let out a happy sigh. “Goodnight, Rachel.”
Chapter 12
Major Characters/Pairings: Quinn Fabray-Puckerman, Beth Puckerman, Noah Puckerman, Jr., Jasper Puckerman, Rachel Berry, Finn Hudson/OC, Mentions past: Quinn/Puck, Rachel/Puck, Rachel/Quinn
Minor Characters/Pairings: Mike/OC, Matt/OC, Artie/Tina, Rachel's dads Mentions: Brittany/Santana, Mercedes/OC, Kurt/OC
Rating: PG-13
Length: 45,200+
Summary: AU beginning after 'Funk'. Rachel got the hell out of Lima, Ohio immediately after graduation, breaking Quinn's heart in the process, and never looked back. Now, ten years later, she's back and Quinn is the one to show her the aftermath and the pieces of what she left behind - all the while trying desperately not to fall back in love with her ex-girlfriend.
Warnings: Pre-story character death discussed in detail.
-Chapter 11-
Saturday nights quickly became “date night”. Finn and Kelsey didn’t mind and by the third date Finn was actually encouraging it. Quinn left her wedding ring in the box with Puck’s after the first date. Noah commented that Quinn was always “smiley” on Saturdays because she knew that she would get to talk about taxes with Rachel. The Puckermans’ presence was becoming a frequent occurrence at Rachel’s house since she invited Kelsey to bring the kids over any day to go swimming which was quickly turning into every day. Quinn joked that she should just drop the kids off at Rachel’s and the brunette smiled.
“Perhaps you should,” she said.
Quinn left the kids with Puck’s mother when Rachel convinced her to go to their class reunion. Puck’s senior picture was put on a stand just inside the doorway to the gymnasium. Rachel gripped onto Quinn’s hand and gave the blonde a reassuring smile. The pair greeted their former classmates, Rachel with a surprising amount of civility toward the people who were once determined to make her life a living hell. Everyone looked at Quinn the same way. The ones that had stayed in Lima had seen her at Pick-n-Save. The rest had heard through the grapevine.
Despite the glances and the murmured apologies and condolences, Quinn held her head high and kept her smile on. She enjoyed the dinner that was catered and sat with all of the former glee club members that had managed to make it. Kurt had no interest in returning and Santana and Brittany were both busy but Mercedes had managed to fly in with her husband. The blonde wrapped her arm tight around Rachel’s waist for the class picture and her eyes flickered down to Rachel’s flushed cheeks and genuine smile before the photographer yelled for them to all hold.
When her watch indicated that it was nine o’clock, Quinn said her goodbyes and told Rachel to stay and have fun. She headed for the exit and just as she hit the warm summer air an arm linked with hers.
“Rachel, I told you to stay and have fun. Finn and Kelsey said they’d take you home.”
“I’m well aware of that, Quinn. However, I knew it wouldn’t be worth it to be there if you weren’t. That and I saw Dave Karofsky with a slushie and although he was drinking it I suddenly had flashbacks of ice cold corn syrup and decided it best that I leave before thrown into a panic attack.”
Quinn shook her head and unlocked the van. Even though she was only with Rachel for a grand total of five minutes on the way from the high school to the brunette’s house it was still a moment with Rachel and Quinn was perfectly content with it.
-*-*-*-*-*-
Kelsey started leaving Beth and Noah at Rachel’s to take Jasper to therapy and Quinn noticed a significant decrease in Noah’s bad days. In fact, he hadn’t had a single one since career day. However, as August loomed closer he was less and less excited, especially when Rachel started packing her clothes.
Quinn and Rachel’s last date night before the brunette was to depart was three days before her flight left. Quinn was a little nervous, to say the least. Rachel hadn’t pushed boundaries and Quinn was appreciative…but it had been over two years. And Quinn was a little more than ready. Rachel greeted her at the door with her signature smile and started to pull Quinn to the kitchen but the blonde took a deep breath and pulled Rachel toward the stairs.
“I have ingredients for pizza,” Rachel said. She looked thoroughly confused and Quinn smiled a little.
“I don’t care about the pizza.”
Rachel blinked a few times. “Oh…Oh! Okay!”
Just like cooking, their familiar rhythm hadn’t been lost in the bedroom, either.
Quinn lay awake and completely exhausted. Rachel’s head was on her chest and her arm was draped over Quinn’s stomach, her fingertips lightly tracing patterns on pale skin.
“I’m going to go for the incredibly cliché line of ‘what are you thinking?’” Rachel sighed.
“I’m thinking…that was pretty amazing.”
“I’m fairly certain I’ll need to find my thesaurus to properly describe my feelings right now.” Rachel shifted and Quinn tightened her grip around the brunette’s shoulders.
“Rachel, I swear if you get up and actually get a thesaurus right now I will club you over the head with it.”
Rachel gasped a little and nervously cleared her throat. Quinn rolled her eyes and pulled the brunette on top of her.
The sheets were even more tangled than they had been and now it was Quinn with her head on Rachel’s chest. After five minutes of listening to Rachel’s stomach growl but no complaint from the star, Quinn finally suggested they eat dinner. It was nine o’clock when the pizzas went into the oven.
When Quinn finally got home that evening she blushed and mumbled a “just fine” to Finn when he asked her how her night was. Kelsey chuckled and hugged her. Finn had his hand on the front doorknob when they heard it. Three loud bangs. Gunshots. Very loud and very close. Finn pulled Kelsey to the floor, Quinn ran to Noah and Jasper’s room, Noah was sitting straight up in bed. Beth came bursting in just as Quinn picked up Jasper who was startled and had begun to cry. There were two more shots and Quinn pulled Noah out of his bed and Beth dropped to the floor and quickly crawled to her mother.
“Quinn!” Finn yelled. “Quinn are you guys okay!?”
“We’re fine!”
Jasper was crying harder and Beth and Noah were clinging onto their mother for dear life and Noah was whimpering. After a few seconds of silence Finn and Kelsey appeared in the bedroom door and both dropped to the floor.
“I called the cops,” Finn said.
Quinn nodded. She refused to move until the blue and red lights were flashing outside of her house and she calmly handed Jasper to Finn and they all went to the living room and waited. Quinn looked out the window at the three police cars and two ambulances at the house across the street. An officer approached the house and Quinn cautiously opened the door. She, Finn, and Kelsey gave statements as to what they heard and before she knew it, it was all over with. She walked the officer to the door and he thanked her for their statements. When she closed the door she rested her forehead against it.
“Finn,” she choked. “Finn I know this is a lot to ask…”
“No, it’s not,” he said. “You can stay with us.”
Quinn quickly packed everything she could think of. On her way out the door she looked back at her house and saw it. With the illumination of the street light she saw the perfectly round hole and splintered wood about one inch away from Noah and Jasper’s bedroom window and she almost collapsed. Finn drove her van to the Hudson house since she was still too shaken up to do it. She sat in the back with Noah on one side and Jasper fast asleep in his car seat on the other. Beth was in the front seat and Finn’s hand never left hers.
They settled Jasper and Noah on the pull out sofa in the den and Finn pulled out the bed from the sofa in the living room for Quinn and Beth. It took quite a while to get Beth to calm down enough to sleep, Quinn sang quietly and rubbed the girl’s back until she stopped shaking and was finally lulled to sleep. Quinn tiptoed into the kitchen where Finn and Kelsey had a cup of coffee waiting for her.
“You okay?” Finn asked.
Quinn shook her head. “There was a bullet hole an inch away from my sons’ bedroom window. I’m definitely not okay. And it’s only going to get worse.”
“You gotta get out of there,” Finn sighed.
“I know.”
Quinn awoke the next morning on the pull out couch to frantic knocking on Finn’s front door and the doorbell ringing incessantly. Finn stumbled into the living room in his bathrobe and rubbed his eyes.
“What the hell?” he mumbled. He opened the door and Quinn heard Rachel shriek.
“Where are they!?”
“Right here, Rachel,” Quinn groaned. “Why are you here?”
Rachel shoved Finn out of the way and practically landed on top of Quinn.
“Have you seen the news!? My God, Quinn! I saw it and I went to your house and you weren’t there, what is wrong with you?! Why didn’t you call me?!”
“No kissing,” Beth mumbled before she rolled over and pulled her blanket up over her head. “Gross.”
“It was late, I honestly didn’t think about it. I was pretty shaken.”
Finn yawned and turned on the TV, a reporter was standing on Quinn’s street.
“The shooting happened around ten-thirty last night, reports say. Officers have released that one man and one woman were shot and killed by another woman. Police haven’t released the victims or the alleged shooter’s names but they do suspect that drugs were involved in a motive. Back to the studio for weather…”
Finn hit the ‘mute’ button and rubbed his temples.
“You guys want coffee?”
Quinn and Rachel both nodded and Finn sleepily dragged his feet to the kitchen and started clamoring around to get coffee ready.
“You’re okay, right?” Rachel asked.
Quinn nodded again and Rachel cupped the blonde’s face in her hands and kissed her forehead.
“The kids are okay? Nothing happened?”
“We’re fine,” Quinn whispered. Nothing could be farther from the truth at that moment. There was a bullet hole in her house and she was fairly certain that at least one of her kids was going to need more therapy.
“Don’t lie to me, Quinn. Please, stop lying to me.”
Quinn looked down at her sleeping daughter and Rachel pulled the blonde up off of the bed and wrapped an arm around her waist as she pulled her to the kitchen. Finn was sitting at the table with his head on his arms snoring. Rachel dropped Quinn to one of the chairs and pulled another to sit in front of her. Quinn leaned into Rachel’s offered embrace and nuzzled into Rachel’s neck.
“Quinn, I’m going to offer you this again and this time I’m not taking anything but ‘yes’ for an answer. Move into the house. For the kids. For you. You need this and you deserve this. Please.”
Quinn swallowed not only the lump in her throat but she swallowed her vow to not take anything from Rachel and she nodded.
“For the kids.”
Rachel kissed the top of the blonde’s head and whispered, “thank you.”
There wasn’t much to be moved since Rachel’s house was fully furnished. Finn, Matt, and Mike donated their trucks and their time to the cause, some of the furniture went to the city dump and what was still in good condition went to Goodwill. Beth immediately demanded that the bedroom with all of Rachel’s old furniture be hers.
“That was the plan all along, sweetie,” Rachel said with a smile.
On moving day, Quinn directed the men to put both Noah and Jasper’s beds in one room and hers in another. She left to go back to the old house and pack up a few more boxes of her things in the van and when she returned to put things in her room she found Jasper’s bed in it and hers nowhere in sight.
“Rachel!”
The brunette came in from down the hall with a smile. “Yes, Quinn?”
“Where is my bed?”
“I had them put it in the basement.”
“Why would you do that?”
“You’ll be in the master suite, of course.”
“Rachel I can’t just…we can’t…”
“Why not?”
“Because…it would be inappropriate?”
“What would be inappropriate?” Beth appeared in the doorway on the way to her room with a box.
“Nothing,” Quinn said.
“Quinn, I’ll sleep on the couch if you insist.”
“Why’s Rachel going to sleep on the couch?”
“Beth, go put your things away please.”
“Are you kicking her out of her room? Why can’t you just share?”
“That’s what I asked,” Rachel chimed in with a smile.
Quinn selected the bedroom closest to the master suite as Jasper’s room, Rachel offered to have a door installed connecting them, Quinn politely declined. The stairs presented a problem that Rachel quickly remedied with a call to a company that installed chair lifts. Noah got in trouble three times the day it was installed because he wanted to take it for a ride. By the time Rachel had to leave, absolutely everything was moved in and installed and Rachel was helping Noah pick out a theme for his room so decorators could come in while she was gone.
The night before her flight out of Columbus, Rachel said her goodbyes to Beth and Noah. Jasper smiled up at her when she kissed his forehead before leaving Quinn to read to him and tuck him in. Quinn took the day off the next day to drive Rachel to the airport and she tried really hard to contain herself when the brunette left her embrace to go through security.
“I’ll call you as soon as I land…and probably before we take off. And if there’s a phone on the plane I’ll call you from that, too.”
Quinn smiled. “Have a safe flight, Rachel.”
It did feel kind of strange to step into the big house without Rachel’s bubbling presence. Quinn walked through the living room and kitchen to the back yard where Beth and Noah were splashing in the pool and Kelsey had Jasper in his stroller on the patio.
“People are going to have a hard time believing they’re mine, they’re so tan,” Quinn said looking at her two oldest kids. “Were they good?”
“As always,” Kelsey said as she relaxed back into her chair. “Noah had another nightmare, though.”
“I’ll call his doctor in the morning. I have to take them tonight for orientation for school. How was Jasper?”
“He pulled up on the coffee table today and stood for a while. He tried to take a step but that didn’t go too well.”
Quinn sighed and leaned down to kiss Jasper’s forehead. The four-year-old strained against the belts of his chair and Quinn unbuckled him and pulled him to her lap.
“I really thought he’d be walking by now.”
“Give it time, Quinn. His therapists say he’s doing better each day.”
Quinn smiled and bounced Jasper a few times and watched Beth and Noah closely while talking with Kelsey. Beth and Noah tired themselves out in the pool and Quinn kissed each of their foreheads and shooed them upstairs to take showers to get ready for school orientation.
Noah was starting middle school that year. Beth showed him around where the closest bathrooms were to his teacher’s rooms and how to find the gym and where to stand for the bus. Noah looked around in amazement at the building that was much larger and more open than his elementary school. He clung to Quinn’s side until they got to his homeroom classroom. The teacher explained that the class switched for each subject but they always stayed together and sent him to explore and he saw a couple of his friends from the previous year and scrambled to them. Beth kept Jasper entertained in the hallway while Quinn talked with Noah’s teacher.
“Quinn Puckerman,” the blonde said, holding her hand out. “Noah’s my son.” She pointed to the boy who was checking out the desk that already had his nametag on it.
“Ms. Green, it’s wonderful to meet you. I’ve looked through Noah’s files already and I’m so sorry to hear about your husband, Mrs. Puckerman.”
Quinn smiled a little. “Thank you. It’s been difficult but I think Noah’s dealing with things a little better. I just…I want to make sure you know…” Quinn looked around the room at the other parents who were with their kids and she swallowed hard. “I am seeing someone, I’d rather you know about it before Noah brings it up and you’re unprepared.”
The teacher nodded and Quinn took a deep breath.
“There could be problems if it were to somehow come up with the other students.” Quinn was stalling as best she could, trying to get a feel for what the teacher was thinking. “I’m…seeing a woman.”
Ms. Green continued nodding but this time with a small smile. “I understand perfectly,” she said. “My brother is gay and I fully support him, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. I’ll even discuss it with his other teachers if you’d like.”
Quinn sighed. “That was better than the reaction I was expecting and I would appreciate that, thank you.”
The teacher laughed. “I understand, this is Ohio after all.”
“He’s shy at first but once he gets comfortable you might have a little trouble with him, just a warning. He got it from his father. There hasn’t been anything serious happen but he can be kind of difficult sometimes.”
“I taught in an inner city school in Detroit for six years, Mrs. Puckerman, I can almost guarantee you that I’ve seen much worse than Noah could ever think of doing.”
The teacher smiled and Quinn internally sighed in relief of actually getting a teacher that might know what she was doing.
Noah bounced back to Quinn with a smile having thoroughly inspected the room. He gave his nod of approval and clung back onto Quinn. They said their goodbyes to the teacher and headed to the other side of the building to the seventh grade classrooms. Quinn introduced herself to each of Beth’s teachers as they went through her schedule and the girl wandered around her classrooms and like any other almost-teenager she seemed unimpressed.
“I’ve been there for two years already,” Beth said on the way back to the van. “All the rooms look the same.”
“Yes but this year you don’t have to stick with one class, you get to switch on your own.”Quinn folded up and hoisted the stroller into the back of the van.
Beth shrugged. “I guess it’s exciting.”
Quinn hopped into the van and turned the key over, nothing happened.
“Shhh-darn,” she growled.
She tried again and again, still nothing happened and she dropped her head against the steering wheel. The van had finally bit the dust, she knew it. She pulled out her phone and called Finn, he was there in fifteen minutes. They tried jumper cables and he looked around under the hood for a loose cable, belt, or anything.
“I knew I should’ve taken it to Burt,” Quinn mumbled as she strapped Jasper into the car seat in the back seat of Finn’s truck. “I just didn’t have the money.”
“Quinn, you know I woulda helped you out. Come on.”
“Finn…I ask too much of you already.”
The man sighed and checked to make sure the van was locked. Beth and Noah squeezed in on either side of Jasper and Finn took them to their house. Rachel’s house, Quinn had to correct herself.
“Thanks again,” Quinn said as she hoisted Jasper up on her hip. “I owe you.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell Kels to give you the keys to her car tomorrow so you can get to work and stuff.”
Quinn nodded appreciatively and Finn hugged her before she went inside. She got Jasper stretched and exercised. With her bracing him he took a few steps. She loosened her grip a little just as a test and he was able to take a few more. It was progress.
“Mom!” Beth called from downstairs after Quinn got Jasper tucked in. “Mom, Rachel’s on TV!”
Quinn grabbed the baby monitor and shut off the light. She made it down the stairs in record time, Beth had the TiVo paused and she hit play. E! News came on and there was Rachel in a short navy dress with camera flashes going off everywhere. She grinned at the cameras and twisted around as the announcer talked about the new movie and the promotional event that Rachel was attending.
Ryan Seacrest came on the TV with a mic in one hand and Rachel standing next to him with her signature smile.
“God, I didn’t even know he was still around,” Quinn muttered.
“Mom, he has like six shows,” Beth said with a roll of her eyes. “You need to get out more.”
The young brunette hit the volume up on the TV and Quinn smiled at the sound of Rachel’s voice.
“First of all,” Ryan said, “congratulations on the new movie. It’s already predicted to be one of the biggest hits of the year.”
Rachel bounced a little. “Thank you, Ryan! I was so excited when I saw the script for this that I was on board immediately. I love the director and the whole cast was absolutely wonderful to work with.”
“I’ve got to get a little bit of gossip out of you, Rachel, you know I do.”
Rachel playfully rolled her eyes.
“So the rumor mill has it that you went back to your hometown for the summer, right?”
“I did! I went back for my high school reunion and re-connected with some old friends. I had a great summer, I really did.”
“Any sparks fly with some old flames? You know everyone is buzzing about your life as a single woman now.”
Rachel blushed. “I will say that I’m very happy right now.”
“That’s all!? Come on, Rachel!”
Rachel shook her head. “That’s all you’re getting, Ryan!”
“Aw well maybe next time! Before you go, I have to ask, who are you wearing?”
“Hummel and Jones,” Rachel said enthusiastically. “Everything from the dress to the jewelry.”
“Thanks, Rachel.”
Rachel smiled and stepped back into the crowds.
Beth turned the TV down and Quinn felt herself being nudged.
“You look really goofy right now, Mom,” the girl said.
Quinn could feel the ridiculous smile on her face and the redness plaguing her cheeks. She looked down at her fingernails and picked at them, Beth sighed.
“What was the sigh for?” the blonde asked, nudging her daughter.
“It’s still a little weird,” Beth admitted. “Like, I know you like Rachel and everything and she’s cool and I like her…but she’s not Dad.”
“I know sweetie. Listen, if you don’t want…”
“I didn’t say that, Mom. I guess it’ll just take time or something.”
“I understand, baby girl.”
Beth snuggled into her mother’s side and they found something else to watch on TV until both the young girl and Noah were fast asleep. Quinn got them upstairs and into bed and she settled down into the queen sized bed in the master suite with a book. She didn’t pay much attention to it, she glanced at her phone more than the words on the pages.
Quinn jumped a little when her phone started buzzing even though she expected it. She grinned when she picked it up.
“Hey you.”
“Hey!”
Quinn could hear Rachel’s smile which only made her smile wider. She closed her book and snuggled down in bed.
“I saw you on TV,” Quinn said. “You looked amazing.”
“Thank you! Mercedes and Kurt really came through for me on the dresses I’ll be wearing. I discussed it with Mercedes at the reunion, I’ll only be wearing their collection for the promotional tour. How was the rest of your day? Beth and Noah had orientation this evening, correct?”
“It was okay. Orientation went well, I talked to Noah’s teacher about us just in case he’d bring it up. The van died, probably for sure this time. Finn couldn’t find anything wrong with it but I’ll have Burt take a look at it when I can.”
“Quinn I wish you’d let me…”
“No.”
“Well at least take the credit card I left in the dresser and get a rental. You can pay me back, I promise I’ll let you.”
“It’s fine, Rachel. I’ll take Kelsey’s car and the hospital has a free taxi service to pick her and the kids up for Jasper’s therapy. Trust me, we’ve use the system before and it works.”
Rachel sighed. “Quinn, I fully understand that you’re an independent woman and I respect that. I respect that you want to raise your children knowing you worked hard for them, I really do. But I wish you’d let me help.”
“Can we please not talk about this right now? I don’t want to fight tonight.”
“Alright. Let’s talk about this, I miss you.”
Quinn smiled a little and pulled Rachel’s pillow close to her chest.
“I miss you, too. It’s…strange, being in the house without you. I feel like I’m invading your privacy or something.”
“I’m sure you’ll get used to it. It is your house, too, after all.”
Quinn sighed. Rachel continued talking about what she was doing in Los Angeles and the film shoot she was starting the next day. She almost drifted off to sleep at the sound of the brunette’s voice until she heard Rachel giggle.
“Get some sleep, baby,” Rachel said. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”
“Mkay,” Quinn mumbled. “Love you.”
The line was silent. Quinn’s eyes snapped open.
“Rachel, Rachel, I didn’t-”
“I love you, too.”
Quinn smiled. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight, Quinn.”
Quinn heard the smile on the other end of the line and let out a happy sigh. “Goodnight, Rachel.”
Chapter 12