Sweet Child of Mine
Title: Sweet Child of Mine
Pairings/Characters: Rachel/Quinn, side Santana/Brittany, Isabelle Fabray-Berry, tiny bit of Olivia Fabray-Berry/OC
Rating: PG-13
Length: ~6,200
Summary: Rachel and Quinn deal with their girls growing up and discovering who they are.
Author's Note: I've had this in my queue for a really, really long time but had to find the right time to post it. It's a little heavier than usual but sometimes life isn't entirely puppies and rainbows. Based a tiny bit off of a few conversations with my own mother.
Preceded by:
Puppy | My Girl(s) | Perfection | Decisions | Baby Love
Baby Love 2 | Slushies: The Next Generation | Little Gold Stars
Change | Baby Just Say Yes | (Not Quite) Nine Months
Double Trouble | Bigger is Better | Miracles | The Beginning
Mother's Day | First Date | Sick Day | Mondays | Nervous
Storms | Nightmares | Like a Fine Wine (You Just Get Better With Age)
Directory | Timeline | Original Character Bios
--July 2034--
Rachel and Quinn had suspected it for quite some time. They weren’t trying to assume things because of stereotypes but it was always just a little…obvious. And they were mothers. Mothers know these things.
The suspicions started when Olivia was in elementary school and her refusal of any extracurricular activity other than sports. Rachel and Quinn kept their eyes open and watched closely, neither of them mentioning it nor trying to intervene; they decided it was best to let nature take its course.
Throughout the twins’ middle school days the women were a little bit more than sure that they’d be having the talk at some point. While Isabelle was fawning over boy bands and young male actors, Olivia opted for the batting cages and her mothers caught her glancing at the posters of young actresses the way her sister looked at their male co-stars but she never verbally expressed interest in either gender, just shrugged and moved along.
They waited for it all throughout the eighth grade but the only thing that came from Olivia was more silence than usual. She started retracting into her room and usually only came downstairs for meals. Rachel and Quinn attempted to press her twin for information but Isabelle would look at them like a kicked puppy and say that Olivia wouldn’t talk to her, either. They waited but she never came to them.
The summer before the twins went into high school was a hectic one. Olivia was playing traveling competitive softball at the state level and Isabelle was enrolled in a summer art camp in upstate New York; it was their first summer spent apart. Allie’s wedding was in early June; Rachel was collaborating with Brittany on choreography for the musical she was co-directing while simultaneously playing a small part in another show.
It was a peaceful Saturday afternoon and Quinn was relaxing and enjoying the little peace and quiet she had after attempting to train their six-year-old mutt, Fiyero, to stay off of the brand-new bed. Mothered by Duck and fathered by Rachel’s stray, Oz (who had a knack for jumping fences and generally making it his mission in life to piss off Santana), Fiyero had very much inherited his parents’ love for getting into trouble. After the unexpected loss of their beloved Dorothy and Santana and Brittany’s need to find a home for their last puppy, Fiyero had been welcomed into the Fabray-Berry family with open arms and more chew toys than any puppy could ever ask for.
At the moment, Fiyero had tired himself out after tiring Quinn out and was finally giving being disobedient a rest and snuggling at Quinn’s feet. Olivia was in Albany playing a softball tournament and Rachel was at Brittany’s studio working on choreography for the new musical while Santana took the boys to Central Park. The blonde was almost asleep when her cell phone started ringing; she grumbled a little and grabbed it off the coffee table, Olivia’s coach’s number flashed on her screen.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Mrs. Fabray?”
“Speaking.”
“It’s Coach Dunn, I’ve got Olivia in the emergency room in Albany.”
“Oh my God!” Quinn jumped up off the couch and grabbed the nearest pair of shoes she could find and slipped them on, keeping her phone pinned between her shoulder and ear. “Where? What’s wrong? She’s allergic to penicillin!”
“We’re at the Albany Medical Center. She got into a fight on the field and hit her head. She’s unconscious for now and the doctors are doing x-rays and a CT scan. They’ve already talked to her other doctors.”
“Unconscious?! Oh God…oh God…okay. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
Quinn ended the phone call and right away hit Rachel’s speed dial. She frantically searched for her keys and had to keep pushing Fiyero out of the way of the garage door as she stumbled down the steps to get to her car. Rachel’s phone went to voicemail, Quinn growled and hit Brittany’s number as she fumbled for her keys.
“Hey Q…”
“I have to talk to Rachel, now.”
Quinn slammed the van into reverse and almost took out the edge of the garage door as she backed out of the driveway and onto the street.
“Hey babe,” Rachel answered breathlessly, “what’s-”
“Olivia’s in the hospital in Albany. I’m on my way to come get you.”
“What?! What happened?!”
“She got into a fight. She’s unconscious.”
The less-than-friendly gestures coming from the other drivers as Quinn sped through traffic went unnoticed as she focused on the singular goal of getting to Brittany’s studio as fast as possible.
“How?!”
“The coach said she hit her head. I’m almost there, meet me outside.”
“Okay, love you.”
Quinn made it to Brittany’s studio in record time; she barely slowed down in the middle of the street in order for Rachel to dash out and hop into the van. Rachel set the GPS and Quinn again sped through traffic to get to the interstate. What was normally a three hour drive from their house to Albany took an hour and forty-five minutes. The entire drive was silent with Rachel’s hand clamped around Quinn’s.
After circling the parking lot and Quinn finally muttering under her breath that “old people can suck it”, she parked in a handicapped spot next to the emergency room door and ran inside to the front desk. An orderly escorted them to Olivia’s room and both woman froze in the doorway at the sight.
“Oh God…” Rachel mumbled when she saw the fourteen-year-old. “Baby girl…”
Olivia’s head was wrapped in gauze, there was blood seeping through the bandages on the back; her left hand was in a cast and her nose was splinted.
“She took a good hit to the head,” the coach said, standing from his chair by the bed. “She got a few punches in herself.”
“What…what happened?” Quinn whimpered.
“I don’t know what started it, I just know I looked up and she was yelling at the girl on first. She took the punch to the nose and barely moved. She got the other girl in the eye and then again in the jaw. Before I could get to them one of the other girls shoved her back and she hit her head on one of the fence posts and she was down. The one that started it isn’t talking. Well…writing. From what I heard her jaw is broken and wired shut.”
Quinn just nodded and they thanked the coach before he left to return to Olivia’s teammates. The blonde ran her hand over Olivia’s head. Rachel held on to the girl’s uninjured hand and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Something’s not right,” Rachel sighed.
“I know,” Quinn said. “So much for letting her come to us. Something has to give.”
They moved Olivia to a regular hospital room within the hour and Rachel and Quinn stayed the night, calling Allie, and Brittany and Santana to tell them what happened and to thank them for dog-sitting (despite Santana wanting to just put them in a kennel). They debated back and forth about whether or not to call Isabelle that evening or wait until morning but their debate was solved when Rachel’s phone rang. Rachel motioned for Quinn to answer it, not daring to let go of Olivia’s hand for even a moment.
“Momma, what’s going on? Something’s wrong.”
“How did you…”
“She’s my twin! I begged them to give me phone time earlier but they wouldn’t let me. What’s going on?!”
“She got into a fight. She hit her head and she’s unconscious.”
“I want to come see her.”
“You can’t, sweetie, I’m sorry. I promise you we’ll call you if anything changes, okay?”
“You better. Tell her I love her.”
“I will.”
They waited all night. Olivia remained asleep. They called Isabelle’s camp the next morning to tell her that nothing had changed and to tell the counselors that she had better get all the phone time she wanted.
Just after noon Rachel was nodding off in the recliner by the bed, having never let go of Olivia’s hand except to use the bathroom, and Quinn was pacing on the other side. Hearing a rustling of sheets, Quinn snapped her head to look at the young brunette coming back into consciousness.
“Rachel, wake up.”
Rachel jerked awake and her eyes immediately locked on Olivia and Quinn saw her grip tighten. Olivia groaned and opened her eyes; Rachel stood and hovered over her, the younger brunette squinted a little and blinked a few times.
“Mom? Momma?”
“We’re right here, sweetie,” Quinn said. She sat on the edge of the bed and put her hand on Olivia’s shoulder. “How are you feeling?”
“My head hurts…and my hand.”
“Considering you’ve got a concussion, broken your hand in three places, and you have a broken nose, none of that is surprising,” Rachel said. She pressed the call button and they waited patiently for the doctor to come in and give her something for the pain.
“Since the CT scan came back clear we’ll keep her another night but she should be clear to go home tomorrow,” he said.
Rachel and Quinn nodded and thanked the doctor, Olivia stayed silent. When he left and they turned their attention back to their daughter.
“What happened?” Quinn asked. “What started the fight?”
“Nothing,” Olivia answered sharply. “Don’t worry about it.”
Quinn sighed. “Honey, you’re not getting away with this anymore. You’ve barely spoken to us in months, Isabelle won’t tell us anything-”
“Maybe that’s because she doesn’t know anything. I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not,” Rachel said. “Talk to us, please.”
“I told you I’m fine!” Olivia growled.
“What has ever given you the idea that you can’t tell us anything?”
“It’d be easier if you were actually home,” Olivia mumbled.
Rachel’s jaw dropped and, stunned, she backed away slightly. Quinn gave her a sympathetic look when her eyes darted up momentarily and then back to Olivia. “I…I…” Rachel stammered. “I haven’t been gone that much, have I?”
“Whatever.”
“Olivia, I know you’re not entirely familiar with the inner workings of creating a musical but it takes quite a bit of time and focus. However, I do know that you’re well aware that being a mother comes first and I will put on hold anything I must in order to be here for you.”
“Whatever, I don’t want to talk anyway. It doesn’t matter.”
Quinn’s felt her heart wrench when Olivia turned her head away from Rachel and stared out the window of her room.
“I’m going to go make some calls,” Rachel whimpered, trying her best to hold in tears. Quinn nodded.
XXXXXXXXXX
Rachel left the room and walked around the halls for a while trying desperately hard not to cry at the thought of Olivia thinking for even a moment that Rachel didn’t want to be around. She distracted herself by calling Santana and Brittany to let them know everything was okay and to thank them again for house and dog-sitting and called Isabelle’s art camp to tell her that Olivia was awake. Finally, she found herself in the maternity ward and she peered into the windows at the sleeping babies in their bassinets.
“It was easier when they were little, wasn’t it?”
Rachel spun around to see Quinn standing behind her, looking over her shoulder at the bundles in blue and pink. All the brunette could do was fall into her wife’s arms and sob into her chest.
“What do we do, Quinn?” Rachel whispered. “Allie always talked to us.”
“I don’t know, sweetheart…I don’t know. Maybe we need to take her to see someone.”
Rachel shook her head a little. “I shouldn’t have taken on the new show. We’re more than financially stable and our salaries would’ve been sufficient while they at least finished high school.”
“This isn’t your fault, Rachel. She’s just angry and you know she didn’t mean it.”
“Perhaps a family vacation is in order. I should call our travel agent.”
“We’ll see, okay? Let’s just get her home and go from there.”
All Rachel could do was shakily nod and sniffle before Quinn guided her back through the corridors to Olivia’s room. Rachel stopped at the bathroom to wash all evidence of crying from her face and give herself a small peptalk to get her through the rest of the day.
Olivia remained silent the rest of the day, barely even speaking a few words to Isabelle when Rachel called her to let them talk.
XXXXXXXXXX
The three hour drive home was completely silent aside from Rachel softly humming along to the radio occasionally. They stopped in at Brittany’s studio and Quinn swore she was going to kill her daughter when Olivia shrugged away from a Brittany hug and Brittany’s lower lip started to quiver.
“She doesn’t mean anything personal, Brittany,” Rachel said. Brittany nodded and Rachel offered her own hug to replace Olivia’s.
“She’s not happy,” Brittany said. “How come she’s not happy?”
“We don’t know, B,” Quinn sighed. She watched Olivia closely as the young brunette wandered around the studio, pausing a few times to look at herself in the mirror and then look away almost in disgust. When Quinn turned back to say something to Brittany, the tall blonde was cautiously making her way across the floor to where Olivia had dropped down to sit on a pile of foam mats.
“Should we stop her?” Rachel whispered.
Quinn shook her head. “Let’s just see what happens.”
The two women watched as Brittany sat down on the mats next to Olivia and carefully reached up to tuck a few loose brunette strands of hair behind her ears. Olivia flinched a little but stayed where she was. She hugged her knees up to her chest and settled her chin on them while Brittany talked. Both Rachel and Quinn strained to try and listen in on the conversation but Brittany kept her voice soft. They saw Olivia nod a few times and finally turn her head to look at the blonde and start talking.
“Okay,” Quinn breathed a sigh of relief. “She hasn’t hit her yet. That’s a good sign.”
They waited. Olivia and Brittany kept talking. After what seemed like forever, Brittany finally opened her arms to offer a hug and Olivia generously accepted it. Brittany giggled and rocked back and forth a few times bringing out an ever-elusive smile on Olivia’s face. The brunette stayed put when Brittany stood up and rejoined Rachel and Quinn with a smile.
“What did she say?” Quinn asked, her eyes pleading for answers.
“Nothin’.”
“Brittany, please,” Rachel begged. “Please, just tell us.”
“No.” Brittany shrugged. “You want to know, ask her.”
“We tried, B! She won’t talk to us!”
“Brittany, can you at least give us a clue?”
Brittany thought a second before she opened her mouth to speak but she quickly closed it and shook her head. “No.”
Rachel and Quinn both sighed and looked back over at Olivia who was now standing and staring down at her shoes.
XXXXXXXXXX
“She used to be so easy to crack,” Quinn mumbled on the way out of the studio. Brittany had refused every tactic that Quinn and Rachel tried to employ to even give a hint of how they could get something out of Olivia but all to no avail. The blonde ended up sticking her fingers in her ears and singing.
Just as Quinn hit the remote to unlock the van her phone vibrated in her pocket and when the number was unrecognizable she felt her stomach jolt just a little.
“Hello?”
“Momma…If I tell you something will you promise not to be mad at me?” Isabelle’s voice came from the other end.
“That depends.”
“I’m kind of at Grand Central right now and I missed the train that gets to Aunt B’s studio because I was going to ask her to take me home.”
“What?!” Quinn shrieked and stopped on the sidewalk. “You’re where?! How the hell did you get there?!”
“Okay…well…you remember the credit card you gave me for emergencies? I bought a bus ticket back and like I said, I was going to take the train to Aunt B’s studio but I missed it.”
“Isabelle Rose!”
“What?” Rachel nudged Quinn.
“Isabelle is at Grand Central.”
Rachel groaned. “Wonderful. One of our daughters is a mute, the other a runaway.”
They found Isabelle sitting on the steps inside the station and the first thing Olivia did was pull her twin into a tight hug.
“What is wrong with you?!” Olivia screeched when she pulled away. She took Isabelle’s hand into her own and pulled her through the station, Quinn and Rachel stayed close behind.
“I know, I could’ve been mugged.”
“Or worse, Iz!”
“I had to know you were okay,” Isabelle said quietly.
“They told you I was-“
“Fine. I know. But you’re not.”
“Yes I am.”
“Don’t argue with me or I’ll pull the age card. I have a full hundred and twenty seconds on you.”
Olivia just growled and pulled her sister closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulder as they walked to the van. “Don’t ever do this again…at least not without telling me first.”
Isabelle nodded. Rachel and Quinn just shook their heads.
On the way home, Rachel glanced in the rearview mirror a few times, each time seeing the same thing: the twins in the very back seat, Olivia curled up with her head in Isabelle’s lap and Isabelle was chewing on her lower lip and staring at the floor of the van. When they got home Isabelle helped Olivia up to her room to sleep while Rachel and Quinn sat at the kitchen table with Rachel’s laptop looking at possible family vacation spots.
“Mom? Momma?” Isabelle spoke quietly from the doorway. “I…Livy…” The young brunette couldn’t even get the words out before Rachel was next to her and holding onto her tight while Isabelle cried on her mother’s shoulder.
Rachel carefully guided Isabelle to the dining room table and to a chair where Isabelle clung desperately to Quinn and cried into her shoulder while Rachel scrambled to find tissues.
“It’s going to be okay,” Quinn said. “She’s going to be okay.”
Rachel returned with a box of tissues and pulled a chair close to her wife and daughter; she rubbed Isabelle’s back to soothe her until her tears slowed. Once calmed she pulled away from Quinn; Rachel grabbed a few tissues and wiped away her daughter’s tears.
“She used to tell me everything,” Isabelle whispered. She looked down at her lap and sniffled. “I mean, she never had to. I always knew what was going on but now…now it’s like…like she shut off that connection. Then she got hurt and it opened again but I don’t want her to shut it again.”
“We’re going to find out what’s going on, okay?” Quinn assured her.
Isabelle nodded. “I just want her to talk to me again. I’ve tried so hard…I begged her and she just told me she didn’t want to talk and I don’t understand why. I just keep going over and over in my head all the things that she could not want to talk about and it’s really scaring me.” Isabelle sniffled and let out a quiet sob; Quinn pulled her in for a hug and kissed the top of her head.
“I know, sweetie. I know.”
XXXXXXXXXX
Rachel and Quinn took turns checking in on Olivia a few times before dinner; Rachel took on the task of waking the girl to come downstairs to eat. She knocked lightly on the bedroom door and received no response, same with the second and third knocks. She finally entered to find Olivia on her stomach with a book under her nose, obviously having ignored the repetitive knocking on her door. She lifted her head momentarily and scowled before turning her attention back to the pages.
“Dinner, baby girl,” Rachel said softly.
“Not hungry.”
“You need to eat, it will help you heal faster. Good nutrition and a healthy diet are essential for sports. I know you might be out for the rest of this season but last I checked you had every intention of trying out for the school team which I am sure is just as competitive.”
“What I need is to be left the hell alone, not listen to you ramble.”
Rachel’s jaw dropped a little, never having experienced such things coming from any of her children. “Olivia, I do not appreciate the language and the lack of respect. Now, come downstairs for dinner.”
“I just told you I don’t want to! God! Why can’t you just leave me alone?!”
Rachel took a deep breath and shut the bedroom door, it was now or never. “Because I love you too much to do that anymore. I need to know what’s wrong with my daughter.”
“Why the fuck do you care now? Even Aunt Brittany gives more of a shit than you do.”
“Olivia Taylor,” Rachel said sternly, “you will speak to me with respect and you will watch your language. Would you like to try that again?”
“No.”
Rachel let out a frustrated groan and threw her hands up in the air in defeat. “Why are you doing this, Olivia? I don’t understand any of this! What did we do to you to deserve the silent treatment and such disrespect? I apologize profusely for not coming to you to discuss what’s been bothering you but your mother and I were sure you would come to us like you always have. We thought we raised you and your sisters to know that you could speak to us about absolutely everything.” Rachel took a deep breath to calm herself, crossed the floor, and sat down on the edge of the bed. “Please, babygirl. Please talk to me. I desperately want to know what’s going on. You wanted us to ask and here I am, begging you to talk to me, and I’m still receiving nothing.”
Silence.
“Would you rather talk to Momma? Or m-maybe a therapist? Please, just tell me what to do.”
Olivia just shrugged and went back to focusing on her book.
“What would you like me to do? I’m more than willing to stop working for the time being to spend more time at home. I’ll turn my directorial position over to someone more capable of handling such a workload and stay at home for the summer if you like. I’ll do it if it means it will make you happy. Whatever you need, just tell me. If you’d like time to prepare a PowerPoi-”
“Don’t…” Olivia sighed. “Don’t quit. I didn’t mean it, okay?” She winced when she sniffled again and turned back to her book.
“What do you want me to do, then? Just tell me. Tell me how to make it better.” Rachel blinked back her desperate tears and bit her lower lip.
Olivia glanced up at Rachel again and shut her book; the older brunette folded her hands in her lap and Olivia sat up and looked down at her fingernails and started picking them, something she picked up from Quinn.
“The other girl started it,” Olivia mumbled. “She said…she said some stuff early on in the game and it pissed me off. And I know I’m not allowed to throw the first punch so I just got her to snap when she finally didn’t strike out and actually made it on base.”
“I’ll momentarily ignore the swear and move on to ask you the obvious question. What did she say?”
“I…I…she…”
“Did she make a comment about your height? She obviously doesn’t know your batting average or any of your other statistics. If she could see the damage you can do with a bat then she wouldn’t have said anything. I did some research and your short stature works to your advantage because-”
“She called me a dyke, okay?!”
What followed was a deafening silence; Rachel snapped her mouth shut and clenched her jaw. She silently wished Quinn would knock on the door at that moment but the seconds ticked away and it was still just the two of them. Olivia slowly looked up and her gaze locked with Rachel’s.
Rachel took a deep breath. “And…it upset you.”
“Well…yeah! Why wouldn’t it?”
“I’m not saying you shouldn’t be angry about it. I fully understand you being upset and you have every right to be…I was just wondering exactly why it made you mad.”
“Because it’s derogatory, duh! It…it’s just a bitchy thing to say!”
“Honey, you don’t think I know that? I’ve been called that and much worse, I heard such things about your grandfathers when going through school, but what I’m asking you is…” Rachel took a deep breatn and swallowed hard before her next question. “Are you mad because the accusation is not true or are you mad because it might be and you’re not quite ready to deal with it?”
Olivia’s head dropped back down; she sniffled and winced again, Rachel moved to the center of the bed and Olivia wrapped her arms around Rachel’s shoulders and settled her forehead in the space where Rachel’s neck met her shoulder. Rachel wrapped her arms tightly around her daughter and held her while the young girl broke down.
“What…what if it is true, Mom?” she whispered. “What if I am…wh-what if I’m gay?”
It was as if a weight was lifted from Rachel’s shoulders yet a new one settled. She had to get her daughter through an incredibly difficult phase of dealing with her sexuality and dealing with how others were going to treat her.
“Then you are,” Rachel said softly. “But you also have to recognize that you’re only fourteen and your body is still going through extensive physical and hormonal changes. But…in the somewhat likely event that this isn’t simply a phase then you know that we’re going to be here for you.”
“I’m scared, Mom. I-I know I shouldn’t be…but I am. I read what people said about you and how you got treated in school and…and I didn’t want it. I didn’t want people to hate me. And I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want you to be mad that I didn’t want to talk to you or that I didn’t want it. And I suck at keeping my mouth shut so I just…I just stopped talking. Please don’t be mad at me…please.” Olivia gripped harder onto Rachel’s shoulders and let out a quiet sob.
“It’s okay,” Rachel said. She kissed the top of Olivia’s head and kept a firm hold around the girl. “It’s okay to be scared but you don’t have to be, okay? I’m not upset, no one else is going to be mad at you, and no one is going to hate you. I’m just incredibly relieved that you’re finally talking to me.”
Olivia nodded and pulled away; Rachel reached forward and wiped a few tears off of the girl’s face with her thumb.
“H-how do I know it’s not a phase? How do I know?”
“Baby girl, I can’t tell you if you are or aren’t. You’re the only one that knows how you feel…I can’t say that your Momma and I haven’t…guessed…But ultimately it’s down to what you feel.”
“I don’t like boys…I just…I don’t. I’d rather beat them up than think about kissing them. All of my friends keep talking about them and I just want to throw up…” Olivia’s cheeks tinged pink. “And I want to talk about…there’s this girl…sh-she was in some of my classes.”
Rachel smiled a little and pushed a few stray strands of hair back behind Olivia’s ears and smiled. “Yeah?”
Olivia nodded and grinned. “Yeah. We’ve kind of talked before. I asked her to borrow a pen and she smiled at me. She plays field hockey.”
“Well, may I strongly suggest making sure-”
“I know,” Olivia cut her off. “Make sure she swings my way. You’ve told the story about Mercedes and Kurt about a hundred times. Like, every time we see them.”
“I do not!”
Olivia giggled and Rachel shook her head. With a relieved sigh she wrapped an arm around her daughter’s shoulders and pulled her in for a hug.
“I love you, sweetie. I hope you know that,” Rachel said.
“Love you too, Mom.”
“Is there anything else you wish to discuss? I’ll reserve the altered safe sex discussion for a later date, I don’t want to overwhelm you.”
“Mom! That’s…no. Not necessary.”
“It will be eventually. Now, dinner is waiting and your Momma is going to want to interrogate me. Wash up and I’ll meet you downstairs.”
Rachel hopped up off the bed and Olivia followed, flashing a small smile over her shoulder as she stepped into the bathroom to wash up for dinner.
While the young brunette washed up Rachel went downstairs to find Quinn and Isabelle patiently waiting in the kitchen, finishing up dinner. The first thing Rachel did was hug Isabelle who looked like she was about to burst into tears again at any given moment.
Olivia walked in and stopped at the doorway; Rachel, Quinn, and Isabelle diverted their attention to her as she made her way to the kitchen counter and motioned to her twin and then to the living room. Isabelle nodded and followed Olivia out of the kitchen leaving Rachel to help Quinn begin plating dinner.
“So?” Quinn asked, her voice low to avoid eavesdropping.
“We had the talk.”
Quinn dropped the spoon in her hand and stared at Rachel. “The talk? Not like the one we gave the both of them but…the other one?”
Rachel nodded. “I told her everything we discussed, about the physical and hormonal changes and that you and I had talked about it before.” Rachel paused for a few moments and picked the spoon up off of the floor. “She likes a girl in her class.”
Quinn swallowed hard. “Okay.”
“Quinn it’s not that big of a deal. We’ve suspected this day was coming for quite some time now.”
“No, no. I know…it’s just…” Quinn’s lower lip trembled. “Our babies are old enough to seriously like someone and I don’t care if it’s a boy or a girl but…they’re our babies, Rachel!”
Rachel smiled and pulled the sniffling blonde in and stroked her hair. “I know, sweetheart. I know. But hey, when they go off to college then you’ll have me all to yourself.”
Quinn burst into sobs. “No! No! No college!”
Rachel arched her eyebrow. “Honey, do you need to take some Midol?”
Quinn pulled back and growled; Rachel cowered slightly.
“I do not have PMS!” She walked back to the counter and resumed plating dinner; Rachel made a mental note to slip a Midol into Quinn’s evening tea.
Just as the pair finished plating dinner and setting the table, the twins walked into the kitchen, each looking relieved and more relaxed than they had been in months.
XXXXXXXXXX
Olivia motioned for her twin to follow her into the living room and Isabelle obliged, leaving their mothers to discuss whatever it was mothers discussed at times like this. Olivia dropped to one end of the couch, Isabelle fell in next to her.
“So are you going to talk to me now or do I need to beat you up? You may be the athletic one of the pair of us but I’ll have you know that Aunt Santana has given me pointers on how to successfully defeat any and every opponent I can come up against.”
“I’m sorry, Iz. I’m so sorry.”
Isabelle snapped her head up and glared at her twin, boreing holes into the side of her head. “I get not wanting to talk to Mom and Momma because Mom has a speech for like, everything, and then Momma gets into it with her because she doesn’t shut up but why ignore me? I don’t get it.”
“I don’t know,” Olivia whispered. She picked at her fingernails.
“Well?”
“I…I think I’m gay, Iz.” Olivia swallowed hard and held her breath, nervously waiting for her sister’s response.
“What!?” Isabelle shrieked. She stood and started pacing the floor, seething in a way that would’ve made Rachel proud. “That’s it?! That’s what this whole thing is about?! Oh my God! Liv, I’ve known that for like years! Do you honestly think I’m that oblivious?”
“You did?”
Isabelle groaned. “Do I look like an idiot? Rhetorical question. Remember when we got obsessed with Mom’s old High School Musical movies? You didn’t care any time that Zac Efron came on the screen but that Vanessa girl, you wouldn’t even blink. You just stared.”
“I…she was a good singer…”
“Oh please. Tell me Liv, when was the last time you successfully lied to me?” Isabelle stopped pacing and stared down at her twin, arms crossed over her chest and tapping her foot. “Go on, I want to know.”
“Fine,” Olivia mumbled. “So I had a crush on Vanessa Hudgens. Like, in HSM. Now she’s old and…yeah, no.”
Isabelle dropped back to the couch and wrapped her arm around her twin. “So what did Mom say?”
Olivia shrugged. “Something about physical and hormonal changes and that her and Momma have known forever. Typical Mom stuff.”
Isabelle smiled. “I say we have some fun with this.”
A devilish grin slipped across Olivia’s face and the pair hopped up off the couch and made their way back to the kitchen. They waited until their mothers’ voices stopped before they entered.
“I assume you talked to Momma?” Isabelle asked Rachel.
“I did.”
“Good. Then I should inform you that Olivia needs to be taken shopping. Her wardrobe lacks the cliché amount of plaid and flannel necessary to be considered a lesbian.”
“And I’m going vegetarian.”
Quinn and Rachel blinked a few times until Isabelle cracked a smile and Olivia dissolved into laughter. The tension in the air lightened and Quinn hugged Olivia and kissed the top of her head before handing everyone their plates and the four settled down at the kitchen table.
“So I guess now is as good a time as any,” Isabelle said halfway through the meal. “Mom, Momma…I’m straight.”
Olivia snorted then groaned at the pain; Rachel giggled and Quinn rolled her eyes and smiled.
“I don’t want to be treated differently though. This isn’t a choice, it’s how I was born and I would appreciate respect for my lifestyle.”
Olivia doubled over laughing. Rachel and Quinn couldn’t help but laugh, either.
“They got the sarcasm from you, you know?” Rachel said, nudging Quinn.
“Me? Never.”
“My point, exactly.”
A few more quiet minutes ticked by before Quinn put her fork down and looked across the table at her daughters.
“Isabelle,” Quinn said, “don’t think that we haven’t forgotten about the little stunt you pulled today.”
“I was kind of hoping you had.”
“What you did was extremely dangerous, Isabelle,” Rachel said. “And we paid a lot of money for that program. The program you begged us to let you attend.”
“But I didn’t get hurt or anything and I’ll pay you back if you want me to.”
“No,” Rachel said. “You won’t pay us back, you just won’t go next year. And you’re grounded. Two weeks?” Rachel looked at Quinn for approval.
Quinn nodded. “Two weeks. No TV, phone, or computer.”
Isabelle nodded.
XXXXXXXXXX
If the local PFLAG organization thought Rachel was involved before they were in for a shocker after Olivia came out. Rachel called the next day to ask about local support groups for teens and was given the locations and dates for three area meetings that went on. She, Quinn, and Isabelle went along with Olivia to each meeting the first time and let Olivia pick out which group she liked best. She selected one on Tuesday nights and Rachel was slightly shocked at her choice because one of the other groups had more athletes which she thought the girl would relate to. However, after the second meeting when the brunette disappeared and Quinn came back from looking for her with tears streaming Rachel found out that the girl Olivia had talked about was at the meeting. And Quinn had walked in on her daughter’s first kiss and was absolutely hysterical at the thought of Olivia not only being old enough to have a crush but to kiss someone.
“They’re growing up too fast, Rachel,” Quinn sighed when Olivia and her more-than-friend emerged back into the meeting room.
“I know, sweetie. But look at her. She’s happy and that’s what we want, right?”
Quinn swallowed hard and nodded. It was what they wanted. Olivia went back to her old self and started talking to her mothers again. Isabelle was happier because her twin was happier and Rachel and Quinn were less stressed worrying about their girls. Well, Rachel was less stressed. Quinn still ended up in tears every time one of their babies did something to remind her that they were growing up.
Pairings/Characters: Rachel/Quinn, side Santana/Brittany, Isabelle Fabray-Berry, tiny bit of Olivia Fabray-Berry/OC
Rating: PG-13
Length: ~6,200
Summary: Rachel and Quinn deal with their girls growing up and discovering who they are.
Author's Note: I've had this in my queue for a really, really long time but had to find the right time to post it. It's a little heavier than usual but sometimes life isn't entirely puppies and rainbows. Based a tiny bit off of a few conversations with my own mother.
Preceded by:
Puppy | My Girl(s) | Perfection | Decisions | Baby Love
Baby Love 2 | Slushies: The Next Generation | Little Gold Stars
Change | Baby Just Say Yes | (Not Quite) Nine Months
Double Trouble | Bigger is Better | Miracles | The Beginning
Mother's Day | First Date | Sick Day | Mondays | Nervous
Storms | Nightmares | Like a Fine Wine (You Just Get Better With Age)
Directory | Timeline | Original Character Bios
--July 2034--
Rachel and Quinn had suspected it for quite some time. They weren’t trying to assume things because of stereotypes but it was always just a little…obvious. And they were mothers. Mothers know these things.
The suspicions started when Olivia was in elementary school and her refusal of any extracurricular activity other than sports. Rachel and Quinn kept their eyes open and watched closely, neither of them mentioning it nor trying to intervene; they decided it was best to let nature take its course.
Throughout the twins’ middle school days the women were a little bit more than sure that they’d be having the talk at some point. While Isabelle was fawning over boy bands and young male actors, Olivia opted for the batting cages and her mothers caught her glancing at the posters of young actresses the way her sister looked at their male co-stars but she never verbally expressed interest in either gender, just shrugged and moved along.
They waited for it all throughout the eighth grade but the only thing that came from Olivia was more silence than usual. She started retracting into her room and usually only came downstairs for meals. Rachel and Quinn attempted to press her twin for information but Isabelle would look at them like a kicked puppy and say that Olivia wouldn’t talk to her, either. They waited but she never came to them.
The summer before the twins went into high school was a hectic one. Olivia was playing traveling competitive softball at the state level and Isabelle was enrolled in a summer art camp in upstate New York; it was their first summer spent apart. Allie’s wedding was in early June; Rachel was collaborating with Brittany on choreography for the musical she was co-directing while simultaneously playing a small part in another show.
It was a peaceful Saturday afternoon and Quinn was relaxing and enjoying the little peace and quiet she had after attempting to train their six-year-old mutt, Fiyero, to stay off of the brand-new bed. Mothered by Duck and fathered by Rachel’s stray, Oz (who had a knack for jumping fences and generally making it his mission in life to piss off Santana), Fiyero had very much inherited his parents’ love for getting into trouble. After the unexpected loss of their beloved Dorothy and Santana and Brittany’s need to find a home for their last puppy, Fiyero had been welcomed into the Fabray-Berry family with open arms and more chew toys than any puppy could ever ask for.
At the moment, Fiyero had tired himself out after tiring Quinn out and was finally giving being disobedient a rest and snuggling at Quinn’s feet. Olivia was in Albany playing a softball tournament and Rachel was at Brittany’s studio working on choreography for the new musical while Santana took the boys to Central Park. The blonde was almost asleep when her cell phone started ringing; she grumbled a little and grabbed it off the coffee table, Olivia’s coach’s number flashed on her screen.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Mrs. Fabray?”
“Speaking.”
“It’s Coach Dunn, I’ve got Olivia in the emergency room in Albany.”
“Oh my God!” Quinn jumped up off the couch and grabbed the nearest pair of shoes she could find and slipped them on, keeping her phone pinned between her shoulder and ear. “Where? What’s wrong? She’s allergic to penicillin!”
“We’re at the Albany Medical Center. She got into a fight on the field and hit her head. She’s unconscious for now and the doctors are doing x-rays and a CT scan. They’ve already talked to her other doctors.”
“Unconscious?! Oh God…oh God…okay. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
Quinn ended the phone call and right away hit Rachel’s speed dial. She frantically searched for her keys and had to keep pushing Fiyero out of the way of the garage door as she stumbled down the steps to get to her car. Rachel’s phone went to voicemail, Quinn growled and hit Brittany’s number as she fumbled for her keys.
“Hey Q…”
“I have to talk to Rachel, now.”
Quinn slammed the van into reverse and almost took out the edge of the garage door as she backed out of the driveway and onto the street.
“Hey babe,” Rachel answered breathlessly, “what’s-”
“Olivia’s in the hospital in Albany. I’m on my way to come get you.”
“What?! What happened?!”
“She got into a fight. She’s unconscious.”
The less-than-friendly gestures coming from the other drivers as Quinn sped through traffic went unnoticed as she focused on the singular goal of getting to Brittany’s studio as fast as possible.
“How?!”
“The coach said she hit her head. I’m almost there, meet me outside.”
“Okay, love you.”
Quinn made it to Brittany’s studio in record time; she barely slowed down in the middle of the street in order for Rachel to dash out and hop into the van. Rachel set the GPS and Quinn again sped through traffic to get to the interstate. What was normally a three hour drive from their house to Albany took an hour and forty-five minutes. The entire drive was silent with Rachel’s hand clamped around Quinn’s.
After circling the parking lot and Quinn finally muttering under her breath that “old people can suck it”, she parked in a handicapped spot next to the emergency room door and ran inside to the front desk. An orderly escorted them to Olivia’s room and both woman froze in the doorway at the sight.
“Oh God…” Rachel mumbled when she saw the fourteen-year-old. “Baby girl…”
Olivia’s head was wrapped in gauze, there was blood seeping through the bandages on the back; her left hand was in a cast and her nose was splinted.
“She took a good hit to the head,” the coach said, standing from his chair by the bed. “She got a few punches in herself.”
“What…what happened?” Quinn whimpered.
“I don’t know what started it, I just know I looked up and she was yelling at the girl on first. She took the punch to the nose and barely moved. She got the other girl in the eye and then again in the jaw. Before I could get to them one of the other girls shoved her back and she hit her head on one of the fence posts and she was down. The one that started it isn’t talking. Well…writing. From what I heard her jaw is broken and wired shut.”
Quinn just nodded and they thanked the coach before he left to return to Olivia’s teammates. The blonde ran her hand over Olivia’s head. Rachel held on to the girl’s uninjured hand and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Something’s not right,” Rachel sighed.
“I know,” Quinn said. “So much for letting her come to us. Something has to give.”
They moved Olivia to a regular hospital room within the hour and Rachel and Quinn stayed the night, calling Allie, and Brittany and Santana to tell them what happened and to thank them for dog-sitting (despite Santana wanting to just put them in a kennel). They debated back and forth about whether or not to call Isabelle that evening or wait until morning but their debate was solved when Rachel’s phone rang. Rachel motioned for Quinn to answer it, not daring to let go of Olivia’s hand for even a moment.
“Momma, what’s going on? Something’s wrong.”
“How did you…”
“She’s my twin! I begged them to give me phone time earlier but they wouldn’t let me. What’s going on?!”
“She got into a fight. She hit her head and she’s unconscious.”
“I want to come see her.”
“You can’t, sweetie, I’m sorry. I promise you we’ll call you if anything changes, okay?”
“You better. Tell her I love her.”
“I will.”
They waited all night. Olivia remained asleep. They called Isabelle’s camp the next morning to tell her that nothing had changed and to tell the counselors that she had better get all the phone time she wanted.
Just after noon Rachel was nodding off in the recliner by the bed, having never let go of Olivia’s hand except to use the bathroom, and Quinn was pacing on the other side. Hearing a rustling of sheets, Quinn snapped her head to look at the young brunette coming back into consciousness.
“Rachel, wake up.”
Rachel jerked awake and her eyes immediately locked on Olivia and Quinn saw her grip tighten. Olivia groaned and opened her eyes; Rachel stood and hovered over her, the younger brunette squinted a little and blinked a few times.
“Mom? Momma?”
“We’re right here, sweetie,” Quinn said. She sat on the edge of the bed and put her hand on Olivia’s shoulder. “How are you feeling?”
“My head hurts…and my hand.”
“Considering you’ve got a concussion, broken your hand in three places, and you have a broken nose, none of that is surprising,” Rachel said. She pressed the call button and they waited patiently for the doctor to come in and give her something for the pain.
“Since the CT scan came back clear we’ll keep her another night but she should be clear to go home tomorrow,” he said.
Rachel and Quinn nodded and thanked the doctor, Olivia stayed silent. When he left and they turned their attention back to their daughter.
“What happened?” Quinn asked. “What started the fight?”
“Nothing,” Olivia answered sharply. “Don’t worry about it.”
Quinn sighed. “Honey, you’re not getting away with this anymore. You’ve barely spoken to us in months, Isabelle won’t tell us anything-”
“Maybe that’s because she doesn’t know anything. I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not,” Rachel said. “Talk to us, please.”
“I told you I’m fine!” Olivia growled.
“What has ever given you the idea that you can’t tell us anything?”
“It’d be easier if you were actually home,” Olivia mumbled.
Rachel’s jaw dropped and, stunned, she backed away slightly. Quinn gave her a sympathetic look when her eyes darted up momentarily and then back to Olivia. “I…I…” Rachel stammered. “I haven’t been gone that much, have I?”
“Whatever.”
“Olivia, I know you’re not entirely familiar with the inner workings of creating a musical but it takes quite a bit of time and focus. However, I do know that you’re well aware that being a mother comes first and I will put on hold anything I must in order to be here for you.”
“Whatever, I don’t want to talk anyway. It doesn’t matter.”
Quinn’s felt her heart wrench when Olivia turned her head away from Rachel and stared out the window of her room.
“I’m going to go make some calls,” Rachel whimpered, trying her best to hold in tears. Quinn nodded.
XXXXXXXXXX
Rachel left the room and walked around the halls for a while trying desperately hard not to cry at the thought of Olivia thinking for even a moment that Rachel didn’t want to be around. She distracted herself by calling Santana and Brittany to let them know everything was okay and to thank them again for house and dog-sitting and called Isabelle’s art camp to tell her that Olivia was awake. Finally, she found herself in the maternity ward and she peered into the windows at the sleeping babies in their bassinets.
“It was easier when they were little, wasn’t it?”
Rachel spun around to see Quinn standing behind her, looking over her shoulder at the bundles in blue and pink. All the brunette could do was fall into her wife’s arms and sob into her chest.
“What do we do, Quinn?” Rachel whispered. “Allie always talked to us.”
“I don’t know, sweetheart…I don’t know. Maybe we need to take her to see someone.”
Rachel shook her head a little. “I shouldn’t have taken on the new show. We’re more than financially stable and our salaries would’ve been sufficient while they at least finished high school.”
“This isn’t your fault, Rachel. She’s just angry and you know she didn’t mean it.”
“Perhaps a family vacation is in order. I should call our travel agent.”
“We’ll see, okay? Let’s just get her home and go from there.”
All Rachel could do was shakily nod and sniffle before Quinn guided her back through the corridors to Olivia’s room. Rachel stopped at the bathroom to wash all evidence of crying from her face and give herself a small peptalk to get her through the rest of the day.
Olivia remained silent the rest of the day, barely even speaking a few words to Isabelle when Rachel called her to let them talk.
XXXXXXXXXX
The three hour drive home was completely silent aside from Rachel softly humming along to the radio occasionally. They stopped in at Brittany’s studio and Quinn swore she was going to kill her daughter when Olivia shrugged away from a Brittany hug and Brittany’s lower lip started to quiver.
“She doesn’t mean anything personal, Brittany,” Rachel said. Brittany nodded and Rachel offered her own hug to replace Olivia’s.
“She’s not happy,” Brittany said. “How come she’s not happy?”
“We don’t know, B,” Quinn sighed. She watched Olivia closely as the young brunette wandered around the studio, pausing a few times to look at herself in the mirror and then look away almost in disgust. When Quinn turned back to say something to Brittany, the tall blonde was cautiously making her way across the floor to where Olivia had dropped down to sit on a pile of foam mats.
“Should we stop her?” Rachel whispered.
Quinn shook her head. “Let’s just see what happens.”
The two women watched as Brittany sat down on the mats next to Olivia and carefully reached up to tuck a few loose brunette strands of hair behind her ears. Olivia flinched a little but stayed where she was. She hugged her knees up to her chest and settled her chin on them while Brittany talked. Both Rachel and Quinn strained to try and listen in on the conversation but Brittany kept her voice soft. They saw Olivia nod a few times and finally turn her head to look at the blonde and start talking.
“Okay,” Quinn breathed a sigh of relief. “She hasn’t hit her yet. That’s a good sign.”
They waited. Olivia and Brittany kept talking. After what seemed like forever, Brittany finally opened her arms to offer a hug and Olivia generously accepted it. Brittany giggled and rocked back and forth a few times bringing out an ever-elusive smile on Olivia’s face. The brunette stayed put when Brittany stood up and rejoined Rachel and Quinn with a smile.
“What did she say?” Quinn asked, her eyes pleading for answers.
“Nothin’.”
“Brittany, please,” Rachel begged. “Please, just tell us.”
“No.” Brittany shrugged. “You want to know, ask her.”
“We tried, B! She won’t talk to us!”
“Brittany, can you at least give us a clue?”
Brittany thought a second before she opened her mouth to speak but she quickly closed it and shook her head. “No.”
Rachel and Quinn both sighed and looked back over at Olivia who was now standing and staring down at her shoes.
XXXXXXXXXX
“She used to be so easy to crack,” Quinn mumbled on the way out of the studio. Brittany had refused every tactic that Quinn and Rachel tried to employ to even give a hint of how they could get something out of Olivia but all to no avail. The blonde ended up sticking her fingers in her ears and singing.
Just as Quinn hit the remote to unlock the van her phone vibrated in her pocket and when the number was unrecognizable she felt her stomach jolt just a little.
“Hello?”
“Momma…If I tell you something will you promise not to be mad at me?” Isabelle’s voice came from the other end.
“That depends.”
“I’m kind of at Grand Central right now and I missed the train that gets to Aunt B’s studio because I was going to ask her to take me home.”
“What?!” Quinn shrieked and stopped on the sidewalk. “You’re where?! How the hell did you get there?!”
“Okay…well…you remember the credit card you gave me for emergencies? I bought a bus ticket back and like I said, I was going to take the train to Aunt B’s studio but I missed it.”
“Isabelle Rose!”
“What?” Rachel nudged Quinn.
“Isabelle is at Grand Central.”
Rachel groaned. “Wonderful. One of our daughters is a mute, the other a runaway.”
They found Isabelle sitting on the steps inside the station and the first thing Olivia did was pull her twin into a tight hug.
“What is wrong with you?!” Olivia screeched when she pulled away. She took Isabelle’s hand into her own and pulled her through the station, Quinn and Rachel stayed close behind.
“I know, I could’ve been mugged.”
“Or worse, Iz!”
“I had to know you were okay,” Isabelle said quietly.
“They told you I was-“
“Fine. I know. But you’re not.”
“Yes I am.”
“Don’t argue with me or I’ll pull the age card. I have a full hundred and twenty seconds on you.”
Olivia just growled and pulled her sister closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulder as they walked to the van. “Don’t ever do this again…at least not without telling me first.”
Isabelle nodded. Rachel and Quinn just shook their heads.
On the way home, Rachel glanced in the rearview mirror a few times, each time seeing the same thing: the twins in the very back seat, Olivia curled up with her head in Isabelle’s lap and Isabelle was chewing on her lower lip and staring at the floor of the van. When they got home Isabelle helped Olivia up to her room to sleep while Rachel and Quinn sat at the kitchen table with Rachel’s laptop looking at possible family vacation spots.
“Mom? Momma?” Isabelle spoke quietly from the doorway. “I…Livy…” The young brunette couldn’t even get the words out before Rachel was next to her and holding onto her tight while Isabelle cried on her mother’s shoulder.
Rachel carefully guided Isabelle to the dining room table and to a chair where Isabelle clung desperately to Quinn and cried into her shoulder while Rachel scrambled to find tissues.
“It’s going to be okay,” Quinn said. “She’s going to be okay.”
Rachel returned with a box of tissues and pulled a chair close to her wife and daughter; she rubbed Isabelle’s back to soothe her until her tears slowed. Once calmed she pulled away from Quinn; Rachel grabbed a few tissues and wiped away her daughter’s tears.
“She used to tell me everything,” Isabelle whispered. She looked down at her lap and sniffled. “I mean, she never had to. I always knew what was going on but now…now it’s like…like she shut off that connection. Then she got hurt and it opened again but I don’t want her to shut it again.”
“We’re going to find out what’s going on, okay?” Quinn assured her.
Isabelle nodded. “I just want her to talk to me again. I’ve tried so hard…I begged her and she just told me she didn’t want to talk and I don’t understand why. I just keep going over and over in my head all the things that she could not want to talk about and it’s really scaring me.” Isabelle sniffled and let out a quiet sob; Quinn pulled her in for a hug and kissed the top of her head.
“I know, sweetie. I know.”
XXXXXXXXXX
Rachel and Quinn took turns checking in on Olivia a few times before dinner; Rachel took on the task of waking the girl to come downstairs to eat. She knocked lightly on the bedroom door and received no response, same with the second and third knocks. She finally entered to find Olivia on her stomach with a book under her nose, obviously having ignored the repetitive knocking on her door. She lifted her head momentarily and scowled before turning her attention back to the pages.
“Dinner, baby girl,” Rachel said softly.
“Not hungry.”
“You need to eat, it will help you heal faster. Good nutrition and a healthy diet are essential for sports. I know you might be out for the rest of this season but last I checked you had every intention of trying out for the school team which I am sure is just as competitive.”
“What I need is to be left the hell alone, not listen to you ramble.”
Rachel’s jaw dropped a little, never having experienced such things coming from any of her children. “Olivia, I do not appreciate the language and the lack of respect. Now, come downstairs for dinner.”
“I just told you I don’t want to! God! Why can’t you just leave me alone?!”
Rachel took a deep breath and shut the bedroom door, it was now or never. “Because I love you too much to do that anymore. I need to know what’s wrong with my daughter.”
“Why the fuck do you care now? Even Aunt Brittany gives more of a shit than you do.”
“Olivia Taylor,” Rachel said sternly, “you will speak to me with respect and you will watch your language. Would you like to try that again?”
“No.”
Rachel let out a frustrated groan and threw her hands up in the air in defeat. “Why are you doing this, Olivia? I don’t understand any of this! What did we do to you to deserve the silent treatment and such disrespect? I apologize profusely for not coming to you to discuss what’s been bothering you but your mother and I were sure you would come to us like you always have. We thought we raised you and your sisters to know that you could speak to us about absolutely everything.” Rachel took a deep breath to calm herself, crossed the floor, and sat down on the edge of the bed. “Please, babygirl. Please talk to me. I desperately want to know what’s going on. You wanted us to ask and here I am, begging you to talk to me, and I’m still receiving nothing.”
Silence.
“Would you rather talk to Momma? Or m-maybe a therapist? Please, just tell me what to do.”
Olivia just shrugged and went back to focusing on her book.
“What would you like me to do? I’m more than willing to stop working for the time being to spend more time at home. I’ll turn my directorial position over to someone more capable of handling such a workload and stay at home for the summer if you like. I’ll do it if it means it will make you happy. Whatever you need, just tell me. If you’d like time to prepare a PowerPoi-”
“Don’t…” Olivia sighed. “Don’t quit. I didn’t mean it, okay?” She winced when she sniffled again and turned back to her book.
“What do you want me to do, then? Just tell me. Tell me how to make it better.” Rachel blinked back her desperate tears and bit her lower lip.
Olivia glanced up at Rachel again and shut her book; the older brunette folded her hands in her lap and Olivia sat up and looked down at her fingernails and started picking them, something she picked up from Quinn.
“The other girl started it,” Olivia mumbled. “She said…she said some stuff early on in the game and it pissed me off. And I know I’m not allowed to throw the first punch so I just got her to snap when she finally didn’t strike out and actually made it on base.”
“I’ll momentarily ignore the swear and move on to ask you the obvious question. What did she say?”
“I…I…she…”
“Did she make a comment about your height? She obviously doesn’t know your batting average or any of your other statistics. If she could see the damage you can do with a bat then she wouldn’t have said anything. I did some research and your short stature works to your advantage because-”
“She called me a dyke, okay?!”
What followed was a deafening silence; Rachel snapped her mouth shut and clenched her jaw. She silently wished Quinn would knock on the door at that moment but the seconds ticked away and it was still just the two of them. Olivia slowly looked up and her gaze locked with Rachel’s.
Rachel took a deep breath. “And…it upset you.”
“Well…yeah! Why wouldn’t it?”
“I’m not saying you shouldn’t be angry about it. I fully understand you being upset and you have every right to be…I was just wondering exactly why it made you mad.”
“Because it’s derogatory, duh! It…it’s just a bitchy thing to say!”
“Honey, you don’t think I know that? I’ve been called that and much worse, I heard such things about your grandfathers when going through school, but what I’m asking you is…” Rachel took a deep breatn and swallowed hard before her next question. “Are you mad because the accusation is not true or are you mad because it might be and you’re not quite ready to deal with it?”
Olivia’s head dropped back down; she sniffled and winced again, Rachel moved to the center of the bed and Olivia wrapped her arms around Rachel’s shoulders and settled her forehead in the space where Rachel’s neck met her shoulder. Rachel wrapped her arms tightly around her daughter and held her while the young girl broke down.
“What…what if it is true, Mom?” she whispered. “What if I am…wh-what if I’m gay?”
It was as if a weight was lifted from Rachel’s shoulders yet a new one settled. She had to get her daughter through an incredibly difficult phase of dealing with her sexuality and dealing with how others were going to treat her.
“Then you are,” Rachel said softly. “But you also have to recognize that you’re only fourteen and your body is still going through extensive physical and hormonal changes. But…in the somewhat likely event that this isn’t simply a phase then you know that we’re going to be here for you.”
“I’m scared, Mom. I-I know I shouldn’t be…but I am. I read what people said about you and how you got treated in school and…and I didn’t want it. I didn’t want people to hate me. And I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want you to be mad that I didn’t want to talk to you or that I didn’t want it. And I suck at keeping my mouth shut so I just…I just stopped talking. Please don’t be mad at me…please.” Olivia gripped harder onto Rachel’s shoulders and let out a quiet sob.
“It’s okay,” Rachel said. She kissed the top of Olivia’s head and kept a firm hold around the girl. “It’s okay to be scared but you don’t have to be, okay? I’m not upset, no one else is going to be mad at you, and no one is going to hate you. I’m just incredibly relieved that you’re finally talking to me.”
Olivia nodded and pulled away; Rachel reached forward and wiped a few tears off of the girl’s face with her thumb.
“H-how do I know it’s not a phase? How do I know?”
“Baby girl, I can’t tell you if you are or aren’t. You’re the only one that knows how you feel…I can’t say that your Momma and I haven’t…guessed…But ultimately it’s down to what you feel.”
“I don’t like boys…I just…I don’t. I’d rather beat them up than think about kissing them. All of my friends keep talking about them and I just want to throw up…” Olivia’s cheeks tinged pink. “And I want to talk about…there’s this girl…sh-she was in some of my classes.”
Rachel smiled a little and pushed a few stray strands of hair back behind Olivia’s ears and smiled. “Yeah?”
Olivia nodded and grinned. “Yeah. We’ve kind of talked before. I asked her to borrow a pen and she smiled at me. She plays field hockey.”
“Well, may I strongly suggest making sure-”
“I know,” Olivia cut her off. “Make sure she swings my way. You’ve told the story about Mercedes and Kurt about a hundred times. Like, every time we see them.”
“I do not!”
Olivia giggled and Rachel shook her head. With a relieved sigh she wrapped an arm around her daughter’s shoulders and pulled her in for a hug.
“I love you, sweetie. I hope you know that,” Rachel said.
“Love you too, Mom.”
“Is there anything else you wish to discuss? I’ll reserve the altered safe sex discussion for a later date, I don’t want to overwhelm you.”
“Mom! That’s…no. Not necessary.”
“It will be eventually. Now, dinner is waiting and your Momma is going to want to interrogate me. Wash up and I’ll meet you downstairs.”
Rachel hopped up off the bed and Olivia followed, flashing a small smile over her shoulder as she stepped into the bathroom to wash up for dinner.
While the young brunette washed up Rachel went downstairs to find Quinn and Isabelle patiently waiting in the kitchen, finishing up dinner. The first thing Rachel did was hug Isabelle who looked like she was about to burst into tears again at any given moment.
Olivia walked in and stopped at the doorway; Rachel, Quinn, and Isabelle diverted their attention to her as she made her way to the kitchen counter and motioned to her twin and then to the living room. Isabelle nodded and followed Olivia out of the kitchen leaving Rachel to help Quinn begin plating dinner.
“So?” Quinn asked, her voice low to avoid eavesdropping.
“We had the talk.”
Quinn dropped the spoon in her hand and stared at Rachel. “The talk? Not like the one we gave the both of them but…the other one?”
Rachel nodded. “I told her everything we discussed, about the physical and hormonal changes and that you and I had talked about it before.” Rachel paused for a few moments and picked the spoon up off of the floor. “She likes a girl in her class.”
Quinn swallowed hard. “Okay.”
“Quinn it’s not that big of a deal. We’ve suspected this day was coming for quite some time now.”
“No, no. I know…it’s just…” Quinn’s lower lip trembled. “Our babies are old enough to seriously like someone and I don’t care if it’s a boy or a girl but…they’re our babies, Rachel!”
Rachel smiled and pulled the sniffling blonde in and stroked her hair. “I know, sweetheart. I know. But hey, when they go off to college then you’ll have me all to yourself.”
Quinn burst into sobs. “No! No! No college!”
Rachel arched her eyebrow. “Honey, do you need to take some Midol?”
Quinn pulled back and growled; Rachel cowered slightly.
“I do not have PMS!” She walked back to the counter and resumed plating dinner; Rachel made a mental note to slip a Midol into Quinn’s evening tea.
Just as the pair finished plating dinner and setting the table, the twins walked into the kitchen, each looking relieved and more relaxed than they had been in months.
XXXXXXXXXX
Olivia motioned for her twin to follow her into the living room and Isabelle obliged, leaving their mothers to discuss whatever it was mothers discussed at times like this. Olivia dropped to one end of the couch, Isabelle fell in next to her.
“So are you going to talk to me now or do I need to beat you up? You may be the athletic one of the pair of us but I’ll have you know that Aunt Santana has given me pointers on how to successfully defeat any and every opponent I can come up against.”
“I’m sorry, Iz. I’m so sorry.”
Isabelle snapped her head up and glared at her twin, boreing holes into the side of her head. “I get not wanting to talk to Mom and Momma because Mom has a speech for like, everything, and then Momma gets into it with her because she doesn’t shut up but why ignore me? I don’t get it.”
“I don’t know,” Olivia whispered. She picked at her fingernails.
“Well?”
“I…I think I’m gay, Iz.” Olivia swallowed hard and held her breath, nervously waiting for her sister’s response.
“What!?” Isabelle shrieked. She stood and started pacing the floor, seething in a way that would’ve made Rachel proud. “That’s it?! That’s what this whole thing is about?! Oh my God! Liv, I’ve known that for like years! Do you honestly think I’m that oblivious?”
“You did?”
Isabelle groaned. “Do I look like an idiot? Rhetorical question. Remember when we got obsessed with Mom’s old High School Musical movies? You didn’t care any time that Zac Efron came on the screen but that Vanessa girl, you wouldn’t even blink. You just stared.”
“I…she was a good singer…”
“Oh please. Tell me Liv, when was the last time you successfully lied to me?” Isabelle stopped pacing and stared down at her twin, arms crossed over her chest and tapping her foot. “Go on, I want to know.”
“Fine,” Olivia mumbled. “So I had a crush on Vanessa Hudgens. Like, in HSM. Now she’s old and…yeah, no.”
Isabelle dropped back to the couch and wrapped her arm around her twin. “So what did Mom say?”
Olivia shrugged. “Something about physical and hormonal changes and that her and Momma have known forever. Typical Mom stuff.”
Isabelle smiled. “I say we have some fun with this.”
A devilish grin slipped across Olivia’s face and the pair hopped up off the couch and made their way back to the kitchen. They waited until their mothers’ voices stopped before they entered.
“I assume you talked to Momma?” Isabelle asked Rachel.
“I did.”
“Good. Then I should inform you that Olivia needs to be taken shopping. Her wardrobe lacks the cliché amount of plaid and flannel necessary to be considered a lesbian.”
“And I’m going vegetarian.”
Quinn and Rachel blinked a few times until Isabelle cracked a smile and Olivia dissolved into laughter. The tension in the air lightened and Quinn hugged Olivia and kissed the top of her head before handing everyone their plates and the four settled down at the kitchen table.
“So I guess now is as good a time as any,” Isabelle said halfway through the meal. “Mom, Momma…I’m straight.”
Olivia snorted then groaned at the pain; Rachel giggled and Quinn rolled her eyes and smiled.
“I don’t want to be treated differently though. This isn’t a choice, it’s how I was born and I would appreciate respect for my lifestyle.”
Olivia doubled over laughing. Rachel and Quinn couldn’t help but laugh, either.
“They got the sarcasm from you, you know?” Rachel said, nudging Quinn.
“Me? Never.”
“My point, exactly.”
A few more quiet minutes ticked by before Quinn put her fork down and looked across the table at her daughters.
“Isabelle,” Quinn said, “don’t think that we haven’t forgotten about the little stunt you pulled today.”
“I was kind of hoping you had.”
“What you did was extremely dangerous, Isabelle,” Rachel said. “And we paid a lot of money for that program. The program you begged us to let you attend.”
“But I didn’t get hurt or anything and I’ll pay you back if you want me to.”
“No,” Rachel said. “You won’t pay us back, you just won’t go next year. And you’re grounded. Two weeks?” Rachel looked at Quinn for approval.
Quinn nodded. “Two weeks. No TV, phone, or computer.”
Isabelle nodded.
XXXXXXXXXX
If the local PFLAG organization thought Rachel was involved before they were in for a shocker after Olivia came out. Rachel called the next day to ask about local support groups for teens and was given the locations and dates for three area meetings that went on. She, Quinn, and Isabelle went along with Olivia to each meeting the first time and let Olivia pick out which group she liked best. She selected one on Tuesday nights and Rachel was slightly shocked at her choice because one of the other groups had more athletes which she thought the girl would relate to. However, after the second meeting when the brunette disappeared and Quinn came back from looking for her with tears streaming Rachel found out that the girl Olivia had talked about was at the meeting. And Quinn had walked in on her daughter’s first kiss and was absolutely hysterical at the thought of Olivia not only being old enough to have a crush but to kiss someone.
“They’re growing up too fast, Rachel,” Quinn sighed when Olivia and her more-than-friend emerged back into the meeting room.
“I know, sweetie. But look at her. She’s happy and that’s what we want, right?”
Quinn swallowed hard and nodded. It was what they wanted. Olivia went back to her old self and started talking to her mothers again. Isabelle was happier because her twin was happier and Rachel and Quinn were less stressed worrying about their girls. Well, Rachel was less stressed. Quinn still ended up in tears every time one of their babies did something to remind her that they were growing up.