Seeing is Believing (6/10)
Name: Seeing is Believing (6/10)
Rating: PG-13
Length: 3555
Spoilers: Sectionals
Pairing: Quinn/Rachel
Summary: I have had many adventures as an invisible man - H.G. Wells
Author's Note: So, this was supposed to be up faster than this, but okay. And it took a little while to get around to the correct way of writing it, so I hope this version is right. And, I was thisclose to beating you, sunsofwhiterain . By hours, dude. HOURS. Also, absolutam wrote me an uber-long comment for my last chapter. SO PRETTY PLEASE COULD I HAVE MORE?!
[ one ] [ two ] [ three ] [ four ] [ five ]
Rachel doesn't even have time to consider doing anything else but panic until her father is standing in her doorway, with his arms crossed and sympathy playing across his face before he notices the shower running and Rachel sitting alone on the bed. He looks around the room, before his eyes land on Finn's letterman jacket cast on her desk chair - she had forgotten to give it back to him after last night when the others had picked her up. Then his eyes slide back to her and then behind her, to the mussed bed - Quinn hadn't fixed it after she left this morning.
Rachel has never before felt so ready to kill the girl for such an oversight, because now her daddy is looking at her with wide eyes, his arms crossing tighter, and she knows what he's thinking and she starts to open her mouth to explain just as Quinn starts singing in the shower to herself (and if her daddy was at all paying attention, he would recognize her voice and her habit of singing songs from A Very Potter Musical at the top of her lungs), but he seems to recognize only that it's a girl singing in her shower.
"Rachel," he finally starts, his eyes widening just a little more as Quinn sings the line, 'Imma take you up to Winnipeg, that's in Canada!' probably as sexily as Quinn can sing (which is very, very sexily in Rachel's not-very-humble opinion). "Rachel, I know you're upset about Quinn, but replacing her with some other girl is not - "
Rachel's eyes widen in accordance to her father's far too loud assertion about Rachel's feelings towards Quinn. She hadn't told her dads about her feelings, they had sat her down and spoken to her about the dangers of lesbian sex (which had been an altogether horrifying conversation, both with its content and the implications such an occurrence brought out). Rachel had, of course, cracked and clarified the situation for her fathers, trying not to cry as her voice trembled when she explained that she loved Quinn, and she would love to have lots and lots of lesbian sex with her (her fathers had looked both triumphant and off-put about the thought of her and Quinn engaging in lovemaking), but Quinn didn't feel that way about her or any girl. They had only looked back at her oddly, but she assumed it was a cross between lingering disgust and sympathy for her.
Of course, her fathers constantly referenced the situation, trying to get her to say something to the girl or, alternatively, just assuming that they had somehow gotten together when they came back from the movies giggling over something or another. They never said anything in front of Quinn that Rachel knew of - her fathers weren't really into bothering people Rachel was with or interested in - but it was unnerving, because they would see them together and smile like she and Quinn had announced that Rachel really was that good and Quinn was pregnant once more and that her fathers would be grandfathers.
And Rachel always had to remind them and herself that all levels of that situation were utterly impossible - the lesbian relationship, the lesbian debauchery and then the subsequent pregnancy. The first two were at least emotionally impossible compared to the biological impossibility of the second one. Although, Rachel had never really considered invisibility possible either.
She immediately clamped her hand over her father's mouth, thanking the lord that Quinn was still singing, although it now appeared to be the theme song of Full House.
"Daddy," Rachel starts, unconsciously copying her father's speech pattern. "First of all, Quinn and I are still not together, so I wouldn't be replacing her. Second, I could never replace Quinn, in any form, from enemy to friend to any illogical and impossible fantasy you harbor about us ever being together. Third, I assure you that I would never have sexual relations with any person, whether it be Quinn or Finn or any other person if I knew you would be coming home in a matter of hours. Also, I would be much more romantic about the situation. There would be candles."
Her father just stares at her, removing her hand and looking confused.
"Then why is there someone in your shower?"
Rachel doesn't really have an answer for that, just opens and closes her mouth unnecessarily, because nothing of interest is coming out. Before she says anything, Quinn switches songs, to Rachel's favorite popular music song ever, Falling Slowly. Most people wouldn't expect such a pick from her, she knows, but she is a fan of rabid romanticism, as evidenced by her assertion that candles would be present if she were to ever engage in sexual relations. But Once was the first movie she and Quinn ever saw together (Quinn had claimed it was weird but the music was good, and Rachel had been so in awe of being in Quinn's room and not being attacked that she had just nodded) and she really did love the song.
She and Quinn had once sang through the entire soundtrack together, with Quinn taking Glen Hansard's voice because her voice sounded gorgeous at a lower level, not because she sounded like a man, and Rachel taking Marketa Irglova's parts while they were making dinner together - all four of them, she and Quinn and her dads. That was a wonderful night - Quinn had hugged her for a full five minutes out on her doorstep, obviously trying to reign in her emotion because it was obvious to all of them that Quinn fit in so well with Rachel and her dads and she had already left to move back in her with parents. It was the first night Rachel realized how very much she was in love with Quinn, made amazingly obvious when Quinn had crawled into bed after Rachel, smiling into Rachel's upper arm and saying that she was glad Rachel had let her stay.
All this allows her daddy to recognize Quinn's voice now that Quinn's switching off the shower and her singing becomes distinctly hers, his face changes again to complete happiness and then more confusion.
"Rachel," he starts again. "Rachel, why is Quinn in your shower?" This time, his voice rises to at least a loud question, and Rachel knows that Quinn hears because her singing stops abruptly.
"Daddy." Rachel's still copying her daddy's speaking pattern. "She's not technically in the shower anymore."
They stare each other down for at least thirty seconds, before Rachel recognizes the muscles in her father's arms twitching and makes a dive towards the bathroom door and throwing herself in front of it just as he nearly crashes into her. They stare at each other some more, neither of them willing to back down, up until the door opening and Rachel falling backwards. Quinn catches her, at least, and Rachel feels the taller girl's arms slip around her in a back-to-front hug, before Quinn speaks.
"Hey Mr. Berry," she says lightly, maneuvering her and Rachel out of the bathroom with her still invisible self - Rachel had made the girl change when they got home and allowed Quinn to help Rachel with her homework before really pushing the shower thing, and by then her invisible clothes were dry. Rachel was unsure how the invisible clothes thing worked, but it was weird to a degree of around a thousand seeing Quinn in a kind of form - her clothes formed to her body and more or less showed her shape, but Rachel couldn't see Quinn, not really.
For his part, her daddy looks extremely dumbfounded. She assumes it's because it's obvious that Rachel is leaning against something, setting her hands on something on her ribs, and Quinn's apparently disembodied voice. Rachel, for her part, is becoming less and less concerned about her father's more and more confused facial expression and is focusing more and more on Quinn's body behind hers - no matter how many times they stand close to each other or hug each other or when Rachel drags Quinn off somewhere by her hand, she gets distracted and giddy and it feels like she's overheating, but it's so nice, because Quinn still has her arms around Rachel, allowing the smaller girl to lean backwards.
"Quinn?" Her daddy spins around a few times, and Rachel feels and hears Quinn giggle behind her. He locks his eyes on Rachel, or rather, beyond Rachel, because he recognizes where the sound is coming from. "Rachel, what's going on?" he asks, crossing his arms again. Quinn lets Rachel go after moving her to a position where she can support herself and steps around the shorter girl to place her hand on Mr. Berry's arm.
And then both girls shriek as he collapses to the ground and faints.
//
Quinn feels enormously guilty right about now. In fact, she's crying into Rachel's shoulder as Rachel talks her dad through this entire situation as her other dad lays out on the couch with an ice pack pressed to the back of his head. He keeps groaning and every time he does, Quinn feels like her heart is being kicked and she gives a little gasp into Rachel's shoulder. Rachel's grip on her hand is tight, and the girl sounds a little pained to be talking while Quinn is crying, but that only makes Quinn feel worse and it's a big cycle of crying.
Finally though, Rachel's dad Evan reaches out for Quinn or where he assumes she is. Before he can get close to the empty air he's reaching for, Rachel sighs and grabs his arm and moves it so it lands on the top of Quinn's head, muttering something about the girl seeming taller while not invisible.
"Quinn, it's okay. Adam's just...dramatic," he says, turning back to look at his husband on the couch. "And, you being invisible is kind of surprising."
Quinn smiles against Rachel's shoulder, feeling Evan's hand in hair and Rachel's hand in hers just as Evan groans something like, 'yeah, it's okay.'
Sometimes she wonders why she left this house. Especially when she started to feel the way she does now about Rachel, it was so hard. But something in her missed home, and over the week she and her parents had talked about her moving back in, she had felt like they were really trying to be...something. And sometimes it still seems like that, like they're reaching out just a little. She gets called down for things at random times, to watch the old Star Trek movies or the TV show, but it's weird, it's really weird. It doesn't ever feel weird with the Berrys. She feels like she could stand up on their kitchen table and declare her love for Rachel and her dads would be completely okay with it and Rachel would at least let her down easy, because they are the nicest people imaginable.
"So, you're invisible! I mean, that's interesting and previously known to be impossible, but okay. In the sense that you're not missing. Or dead, I guess," Evan says cheerfully, frowning when both Adam and Rachel make faces at the thought of Quinn being dead. "Not that I thought you were dead. I mean, I considered it, but then I considered how miserable this house would become with Thing One and Thing Two here. And then I prayed that you were alive because quality tissues and therapy cost a lot of money. I should probably stop talking about this."
"Yes, you should," Adam moans, sitting up slowly and pulling the icepack away from his head and looking around. "Where is she?"
"She's right here, Daddy," Rachel says, holding up her seemingly empty hand.
"Right. Well, that doesn't help," he remarks, settling for looking in Quinn's regulary direction. "Quinnie, I fainted. It was hardly your fault. Really, it doesn't matter, because you're alive and Rachel will stop looking like someone's gone and killed her goldfish - "
"Daddy, you were the one who killed my goldfish - "
"Once, honey, and - "
"I only had goldfish once!"
"I can't believe you two are still having this argument eleven years later. If I had known this would happen, I would've just let Adam replace the things," Evan remarks, looking toward where he thinks Quinn is amusedly. Quinn smiles back, but realizes no once can tell, and pulls Rachel's hand in hers up to her face quickly. Rachel diverts her attention from the conversation to what's going on with Quinn almost immediately before she feels the grin on her face and smiles in response.
"Quinn's smiling, dad. And daddy, how could you dare think of replacing Phantom and Christine?" she screeches, as Quinn pulls her hand back away from her face and laces their fingers together happily.
"Because you are just like me, honey, and I knew your grudge would be long-winded and strong even on your death bed. Your last words will be, 'Person-who-I-am-married-to-who-I-swore-I'd-out-survive-but-am-now-failing-and-am-very-upset-about-it, the minute I get to heaven, I'm going to give my daddy a piece of my mind about killing Phantom and Christine. Also, I love you.' And then you'd check out and the person you were supposed to be out-surviving would cry because they found your quirks endearing and now will never have them again."
All three of the other occupants in the room stare at Adam until he shakes his head and mutters something about watching too many Lifetime movies.
"So, anyway, Quinn's invisible. What's up with that?" Adam asks, changing the subject and ignoring everyone smiling at him.
"I woke up this way on Sunday, and then I called Rachel last night. I don't know how it happened either," Quinn mutters, looking down at Rachel, who has a pretty good lock on where she is, her eyes looking sort of at Quinn, not through her.
"But what'd you do all day today?" Evan asks, frowning a little. Rachel is still looking up at her, but she closes her eyes and places her hands on Quinn's face. Quinn closes her eyes in accordance, letting the feeling of Rachel caress her face wash over her. It's sweet, and she knows Rachel doesn't mean anything by it but just figuring out if she's crying or something, but it feels so nice and it makes her feel like someone's seeing her, really seeing her.
"Oh, Quinn just attempted to bring the entire school to its knees is all, dad. She somehow got paint on Coach Sylvester's tracksuit," Rachel laughs, her eyes still closed. Quinn opens her eyes to glance over at Evan and Adam, who are looking at Rachel with a look that Quinn can only describe as shining in each of their eyes. It almost makes her want to cry, because they're smiling and Adam has his hand over his heart and Rachel doesn't even notice.
Her voice sticks in her throat and she just slips her eyes closed again, letting Rachel slide her small, non-mannish hands down to Quinn's huge grin.
//
Eating dinner goes quite strangely for Quinn. For her, it's weird enough, because it's like a floating spoon is feeding her and it's just weird, but Adam and Evan spend a lot more time staring at Quinn eating than they themselves do eating. Rachel doesn't seem all that concerned, because she's already seen Quinn eat, and she's perfectly content to carry on the entire conversation about her day.
Eventually though, Adam thinks out loud.
"Can you imagine the logistics of being invisible?"
Quinn's about to say, yes, she can because she is invisible and she's had to figure out the logistics mostly on her own, but Rachel's already talking.
"I know, daddy! How on earth would they have children? Would their children be invisible?" she asks, chewing thoughtfully between random questions. "And that would require having sex first! Do you think you could see an invisible person if you spilled something on them? Would you have to spill something on them to have sex? It's so interesting!"
Now all Quinn can think about is whipped cream and Rachel.
"Rachel, you are such a teenager. Imagine the logistics of functioning as a normal human being! If you wanted to keep it a secret that you were invisible, I mean. It would be strange if you were open about it, too, I suppose though. Quinn, are you naked?" Evan asks, turning to look towards Quinn, who's been staring at Rachel's chest for his entire spiel.
"Huh? Oh, NO! No, no, no, I have my clothes on. They're invisible too. God, no. Not naked," she mutters, shoveling food into her mouth now that she's regained her faculties.
"An invisible person would be a great spy or something. Quinn, would you consider working for the CIA?" Adam asks, before he looks over at his daughter and notices a strange look on her face. She looks like she's gone faraway in her brain. "Rachel, honey, close your mouth and look like you have a functioning brain."
Rachel immediately does shut her mouth, copying Quinn and shoveling food into her mouth.
"Do spies really have to sleep with enemy spies? Because that would be weird," Evan says, rubbing at his chin thoughtfully.
"Dad, you were just telling me I was a teenager because I was talking about sex, and now you're talking about sex," Rachel says, pointing accusingly at her father. "So you're a teenager too, now."
"Okay, fine, I am. So, Rach, have you got any, like, crushes?" he asks, chewing loudly on his chicken to mimic gum.
"I revoke my previous statement if you stop doing that."
"I accept this offering and offer another: you do the dishes while I go to bed."
"But you promised ice cream!"
"Fine. But you can go get the whipped cream from the pantry," Evan says, he and Rachel getting up in a synchronized motion, her trailing off into the pantry and him into the kitchen. Adam just laughs.
Quinn is stuck back on the whipped cream and Rachel thing.
"Hey, Quinn?" Adam says, pulling Quinn's attention away from bad thoughts and back to the actual world. "I'm happy you're okay, honey. Rachel was...pretty bad for a little bit there. I mean, I was pretty bad, but she made me look like a statue. It's just...seeing your car and no you was a little terrifying. I know you and your parents don't always get along, but God, I wonder how they must feel now."
Quinn nods a little, before she clears her throat.
"Thanks for keeping it a secret while we figure it out," she mutters, poking at her plate as she listens to Evan and Rachel fix up their sundaes.
"It's nothing. We know you're important to Rachel, and you're important to us. You're practically our daughter by now, with the amount of time you spend around here," he laughs, before his eyes take on the look they had earlier. "You know, Quinn..."
Before he can continue, though, Rachel and Evan are sweeping back in and Quinn's sundae has every topping she likes and a smiley face drawn with chocolate syrup draped over the huge helping of whipped cream.
God, she loves these people.
//
When they finally go to sleep, Quinn smells a lot nicer than she did before, not that she smelled altogether bad. But Rachel feels Quinn press her head right into the space between Rachel's neck and shoulder, and feels the girl's smile against her skin and God it's amazing. It's also amazing that she thinks that any of this counts as anything really, but she can't help herself with Quinn, not since the moment the girl had let her hold Caroline before the Baums had left with a beautiful newborn baby girl and Quinn had left with Rachel and her dads and Quinn had crawled into Rachel's bed that night and done this: pressing her face into Rachel's neck. Except, then, the girl had cried and Rachel hadn't known what to do and there had been a terrible pain in her chest at the sight of Quinn crying.
So much had changed in a year.
Rachel gets so overcome with emotion that she has to breathe deep a few times and blink incessantly, but she can't restrain herself enough to stop from kissing the crown of Quinn's head. The other girl doesn't say anything about it, just nuzzles closer and hums contentedly, probably so close to being asleep that she's probably dreaming Josh Hartnett was kissing her (Quinn had said something once about liking brown doe-eyes, which explained both Finn and Puck).
Just as she drifts off to sleep though, she feels Quinn slide an arm over her stomach and a kiss being pressed to the underside of her jaw, but she's asleep before she can say anything about it.
Rating: PG-13
Length: 3555
Spoilers: Sectionals
Pairing: Quinn/Rachel
Summary: I have had many adventures as an invisible man - H.G. Wells
Author's Note: So, this was supposed to be up faster than this, but okay. And it took a little while to get around to the correct way of writing it, so I hope this version is right. And, I was thisclose to beating you, sunsofwhiterain . By hours, dude. HOURS. Also, absolutam wrote me an uber-long comment for my last chapter. SO PRETTY PLEASE COULD I HAVE MORE?!
[ one ] [ two ] [ three ] [ four ] [ five ]
Rachel doesn't even have time to consider doing anything else but panic until her father is standing in her doorway, with his arms crossed and sympathy playing across his face before he notices the shower running and Rachel sitting alone on the bed. He looks around the room, before his eyes land on Finn's letterman jacket cast on her desk chair - she had forgotten to give it back to him after last night when the others had picked her up. Then his eyes slide back to her and then behind her, to the mussed bed - Quinn hadn't fixed it after she left this morning.
Rachel has never before felt so ready to kill the girl for such an oversight, because now her daddy is looking at her with wide eyes, his arms crossing tighter, and she knows what he's thinking and she starts to open her mouth to explain just as Quinn starts singing in the shower to herself (and if her daddy was at all paying attention, he would recognize her voice and her habit of singing songs from A Very Potter Musical at the top of her lungs), but he seems to recognize only that it's a girl singing in her shower.
"Rachel," he finally starts, his eyes widening just a little more as Quinn sings the line, 'Imma take you up to Winnipeg, that's in Canada!' probably as sexily as Quinn can sing (which is very, very sexily in Rachel's not-very-humble opinion). "Rachel, I know you're upset about Quinn, but replacing her with some other girl is not - "
Rachel's eyes widen in accordance to her father's far too loud assertion about Rachel's feelings towards Quinn. She hadn't told her dads about her feelings, they had sat her down and spoken to her about the dangers of lesbian sex (which had been an altogether horrifying conversation, both with its content and the implications such an occurrence brought out). Rachel had, of course, cracked and clarified the situation for her fathers, trying not to cry as her voice trembled when she explained that she loved Quinn, and she would love to have lots and lots of lesbian sex with her (her fathers had looked both triumphant and off-put about the thought of her and Quinn engaging in lovemaking), but Quinn didn't feel that way about her or any girl. They had only looked back at her oddly, but she assumed it was a cross between lingering disgust and sympathy for her.
Of course, her fathers constantly referenced the situation, trying to get her to say something to the girl or, alternatively, just assuming that they had somehow gotten together when they came back from the movies giggling over something or another. They never said anything in front of Quinn that Rachel knew of - her fathers weren't really into bothering people Rachel was with or interested in - but it was unnerving, because they would see them together and smile like she and Quinn had announced that Rachel really was that good and Quinn was pregnant once more and that her fathers would be grandfathers.
And Rachel always had to remind them and herself that all levels of that situation were utterly impossible - the lesbian relationship, the lesbian debauchery and then the subsequent pregnancy. The first two were at least emotionally impossible compared to the biological impossibility of the second one. Although, Rachel had never really considered invisibility possible either.
She immediately clamped her hand over her father's mouth, thanking the lord that Quinn was still singing, although it now appeared to be the theme song of Full House.
"Daddy," Rachel starts, unconsciously copying her father's speech pattern. "First of all, Quinn and I are still not together, so I wouldn't be replacing her. Second, I could never replace Quinn, in any form, from enemy to friend to any illogical and impossible fantasy you harbor about us ever being together. Third, I assure you that I would never have sexual relations with any person, whether it be Quinn or Finn or any other person if I knew you would be coming home in a matter of hours. Also, I would be much more romantic about the situation. There would be candles."
Her father just stares at her, removing her hand and looking confused.
"Then why is there someone in your shower?"
Rachel doesn't really have an answer for that, just opens and closes her mouth unnecessarily, because nothing of interest is coming out. Before she says anything, Quinn switches songs, to Rachel's favorite popular music song ever, Falling Slowly. Most people wouldn't expect such a pick from her, she knows, but she is a fan of rabid romanticism, as evidenced by her assertion that candles would be present if she were to ever engage in sexual relations. But Once was the first movie she and Quinn ever saw together (Quinn had claimed it was weird but the music was good, and Rachel had been so in awe of being in Quinn's room and not being attacked that she had just nodded) and she really did love the song.
She and Quinn had once sang through the entire soundtrack together, with Quinn taking Glen Hansard's voice because her voice sounded gorgeous at a lower level, not because she sounded like a man, and Rachel taking Marketa Irglova's parts while they were making dinner together - all four of them, she and Quinn and her dads. That was a wonderful night - Quinn had hugged her for a full five minutes out on her doorstep, obviously trying to reign in her emotion because it was obvious to all of them that Quinn fit in so well with Rachel and her dads and she had already left to move back in her with parents. It was the first night Rachel realized how very much she was in love with Quinn, made amazingly obvious when Quinn had crawled into bed after Rachel, smiling into Rachel's upper arm and saying that she was glad Rachel had let her stay.
All this allows her daddy to recognize Quinn's voice now that Quinn's switching off the shower and her singing becomes distinctly hers, his face changes again to complete happiness and then more confusion.
"Rachel," he starts again. "Rachel, why is Quinn in your shower?" This time, his voice rises to at least a loud question, and Rachel knows that Quinn hears because her singing stops abruptly.
"Daddy." Rachel's still copying her daddy's speaking pattern. "She's not technically in the shower anymore."
They stare each other down for at least thirty seconds, before Rachel recognizes the muscles in her father's arms twitching and makes a dive towards the bathroom door and throwing herself in front of it just as he nearly crashes into her. They stare at each other some more, neither of them willing to back down, up until the door opening and Rachel falling backwards. Quinn catches her, at least, and Rachel feels the taller girl's arms slip around her in a back-to-front hug, before Quinn speaks.
"Hey Mr. Berry," she says lightly, maneuvering her and Rachel out of the bathroom with her still invisible self - Rachel had made the girl change when they got home and allowed Quinn to help Rachel with her homework before really pushing the shower thing, and by then her invisible clothes were dry. Rachel was unsure how the invisible clothes thing worked, but it was weird to a degree of around a thousand seeing Quinn in a kind of form - her clothes formed to her body and more or less showed her shape, but Rachel couldn't see Quinn, not really.
For his part, her daddy looks extremely dumbfounded. She assumes it's because it's obvious that Rachel is leaning against something, setting her hands on something on her ribs, and Quinn's apparently disembodied voice. Rachel, for her part, is becoming less and less concerned about her father's more and more confused facial expression and is focusing more and more on Quinn's body behind hers - no matter how many times they stand close to each other or hug each other or when Rachel drags Quinn off somewhere by her hand, she gets distracted and giddy and it feels like she's overheating, but it's so nice, because Quinn still has her arms around Rachel, allowing the smaller girl to lean backwards.
"Quinn?" Her daddy spins around a few times, and Rachel feels and hears Quinn giggle behind her. He locks his eyes on Rachel, or rather, beyond Rachel, because he recognizes where the sound is coming from. "Rachel, what's going on?" he asks, crossing his arms again. Quinn lets Rachel go after moving her to a position where she can support herself and steps around the shorter girl to place her hand on Mr. Berry's arm.
And then both girls shriek as he collapses to the ground and faints.
//
Quinn feels enormously guilty right about now. In fact, she's crying into Rachel's shoulder as Rachel talks her dad through this entire situation as her other dad lays out on the couch with an ice pack pressed to the back of his head. He keeps groaning and every time he does, Quinn feels like her heart is being kicked and she gives a little gasp into Rachel's shoulder. Rachel's grip on her hand is tight, and the girl sounds a little pained to be talking while Quinn is crying, but that only makes Quinn feel worse and it's a big cycle of crying.
Finally though, Rachel's dad Evan reaches out for Quinn or where he assumes she is. Before he can get close to the empty air he's reaching for, Rachel sighs and grabs his arm and moves it so it lands on the top of Quinn's head, muttering something about the girl seeming taller while not invisible.
"Quinn, it's okay. Adam's just...dramatic," he says, turning back to look at his husband on the couch. "And, you being invisible is kind of surprising."
Quinn smiles against Rachel's shoulder, feeling Evan's hand in hair and Rachel's hand in hers just as Evan groans something like, 'yeah, it's okay.'
Sometimes she wonders why she left this house. Especially when she started to feel the way she does now about Rachel, it was so hard. But something in her missed home, and over the week she and her parents had talked about her moving back in, she had felt like they were really trying to be...something. And sometimes it still seems like that, like they're reaching out just a little. She gets called down for things at random times, to watch the old Star Trek movies or the TV show, but it's weird, it's really weird. It doesn't ever feel weird with the Berrys. She feels like she could stand up on their kitchen table and declare her love for Rachel and her dads would be completely okay with it and Rachel would at least let her down easy, because they are the nicest people imaginable.
"So, you're invisible! I mean, that's interesting and previously known to be impossible, but okay. In the sense that you're not missing. Or dead, I guess," Evan says cheerfully, frowning when both Adam and Rachel make faces at the thought of Quinn being dead. "Not that I thought you were dead. I mean, I considered it, but then I considered how miserable this house would become with Thing One and Thing Two here. And then I prayed that you were alive because quality tissues and therapy cost a lot of money. I should probably stop talking about this."
"Yes, you should," Adam moans, sitting up slowly and pulling the icepack away from his head and looking around. "Where is she?"
"She's right here, Daddy," Rachel says, holding up her seemingly empty hand.
"Right. Well, that doesn't help," he remarks, settling for looking in Quinn's regulary direction. "Quinnie, I fainted. It was hardly your fault. Really, it doesn't matter, because you're alive and Rachel will stop looking like someone's gone and killed her goldfish - "
"Daddy, you were the one who killed my goldfish - "
"Once, honey, and - "
"I only had goldfish once!"
"I can't believe you two are still having this argument eleven years later. If I had known this would happen, I would've just let Adam replace the things," Evan remarks, looking toward where he thinks Quinn is amusedly. Quinn smiles back, but realizes no once can tell, and pulls Rachel's hand in hers up to her face quickly. Rachel diverts her attention from the conversation to what's going on with Quinn almost immediately before she feels the grin on her face and smiles in response.
"Quinn's smiling, dad. And daddy, how could you dare think of replacing Phantom and Christine?" she screeches, as Quinn pulls her hand back away from her face and laces their fingers together happily.
"Because you are just like me, honey, and I knew your grudge would be long-winded and strong even on your death bed. Your last words will be, 'Person-who-I-am-married-to-who-I-swore-I'd-out-survive-but-am-now-failing-and-am-very-upset-about-it, the minute I get to heaven, I'm going to give my daddy a piece of my mind about killing Phantom and Christine. Also, I love you.' And then you'd check out and the person you were supposed to be out-surviving would cry because they found your quirks endearing and now will never have them again."
All three of the other occupants in the room stare at Adam until he shakes his head and mutters something about watching too many Lifetime movies.
"So, anyway, Quinn's invisible. What's up with that?" Adam asks, changing the subject and ignoring everyone smiling at him.
"I woke up this way on Sunday, and then I called Rachel last night. I don't know how it happened either," Quinn mutters, looking down at Rachel, who has a pretty good lock on where she is, her eyes looking sort of at Quinn, not through her.
"But what'd you do all day today?" Evan asks, frowning a little. Rachel is still looking up at her, but she closes her eyes and places her hands on Quinn's face. Quinn closes her eyes in accordance, letting the feeling of Rachel caress her face wash over her. It's sweet, and she knows Rachel doesn't mean anything by it but just figuring out if she's crying or something, but it feels so nice and it makes her feel like someone's seeing her, really seeing her.
"Oh, Quinn just attempted to bring the entire school to its knees is all, dad. She somehow got paint on Coach Sylvester's tracksuit," Rachel laughs, her eyes still closed. Quinn opens her eyes to glance over at Evan and Adam, who are looking at Rachel with a look that Quinn can only describe as shining in each of their eyes. It almost makes her want to cry, because they're smiling and Adam has his hand over his heart and Rachel doesn't even notice.
Her voice sticks in her throat and she just slips her eyes closed again, letting Rachel slide her small, non-mannish hands down to Quinn's huge grin.
//
Eating dinner goes quite strangely for Quinn. For her, it's weird enough, because it's like a floating spoon is feeding her and it's just weird, but Adam and Evan spend a lot more time staring at Quinn eating than they themselves do eating. Rachel doesn't seem all that concerned, because she's already seen Quinn eat, and she's perfectly content to carry on the entire conversation about her day.
Eventually though, Adam thinks out loud.
"Can you imagine the logistics of being invisible?"
Quinn's about to say, yes, she can because she is invisible and she's had to figure out the logistics mostly on her own, but Rachel's already talking.
"I know, daddy! How on earth would they have children? Would their children be invisible?" she asks, chewing thoughtfully between random questions. "And that would require having sex first! Do you think you could see an invisible person if you spilled something on them? Would you have to spill something on them to have sex? It's so interesting!"
Now all Quinn can think about is whipped cream and Rachel.
"Rachel, you are such a teenager. Imagine the logistics of functioning as a normal human being! If you wanted to keep it a secret that you were invisible, I mean. It would be strange if you were open about it, too, I suppose though. Quinn, are you naked?" Evan asks, turning to look towards Quinn, who's been staring at Rachel's chest for his entire spiel.
"Huh? Oh, NO! No, no, no, I have my clothes on. They're invisible too. God, no. Not naked," she mutters, shoveling food into her mouth now that she's regained her faculties.
"An invisible person would be a great spy or something. Quinn, would you consider working for the CIA?" Adam asks, before he looks over at his daughter and notices a strange look on her face. She looks like she's gone faraway in her brain. "Rachel, honey, close your mouth and look like you have a functioning brain."
Rachel immediately does shut her mouth, copying Quinn and shoveling food into her mouth.
"Do spies really have to sleep with enemy spies? Because that would be weird," Evan says, rubbing at his chin thoughtfully.
"Dad, you were just telling me I was a teenager because I was talking about sex, and now you're talking about sex," Rachel says, pointing accusingly at her father. "So you're a teenager too, now."
"Okay, fine, I am. So, Rach, have you got any, like, crushes?" he asks, chewing loudly on his chicken to mimic gum.
"I revoke my previous statement if you stop doing that."
"I accept this offering and offer another: you do the dishes while I go to bed."
"But you promised ice cream!"
"Fine. But you can go get the whipped cream from the pantry," Evan says, he and Rachel getting up in a synchronized motion, her trailing off into the pantry and him into the kitchen. Adam just laughs.
Quinn is stuck back on the whipped cream and Rachel thing.
"Hey, Quinn?" Adam says, pulling Quinn's attention away from bad thoughts and back to the actual world. "I'm happy you're okay, honey. Rachel was...pretty bad for a little bit there. I mean, I was pretty bad, but she made me look like a statue. It's just...seeing your car and no you was a little terrifying. I know you and your parents don't always get along, but God, I wonder how they must feel now."
Quinn nods a little, before she clears her throat.
"Thanks for keeping it a secret while we figure it out," she mutters, poking at her plate as she listens to Evan and Rachel fix up their sundaes.
"It's nothing. We know you're important to Rachel, and you're important to us. You're practically our daughter by now, with the amount of time you spend around here," he laughs, before his eyes take on the look they had earlier. "You know, Quinn..."
Before he can continue, though, Rachel and Evan are sweeping back in and Quinn's sundae has every topping she likes and a smiley face drawn with chocolate syrup draped over the huge helping of whipped cream.
God, she loves these people.
//
When they finally go to sleep, Quinn smells a lot nicer than she did before, not that she smelled altogether bad. But Rachel feels Quinn press her head right into the space between Rachel's neck and shoulder, and feels the girl's smile against her skin and God it's amazing. It's also amazing that she thinks that any of this counts as anything really, but she can't help herself with Quinn, not since the moment the girl had let her hold Caroline before the Baums had left with a beautiful newborn baby girl and Quinn had left with Rachel and her dads and Quinn had crawled into Rachel's bed that night and done this: pressing her face into Rachel's neck. Except, then, the girl had cried and Rachel hadn't known what to do and there had been a terrible pain in her chest at the sight of Quinn crying.
So much had changed in a year.
Rachel gets so overcome with emotion that she has to breathe deep a few times and blink incessantly, but she can't restrain herself enough to stop from kissing the crown of Quinn's head. The other girl doesn't say anything about it, just nuzzles closer and hums contentedly, probably so close to being asleep that she's probably dreaming Josh Hartnett was kissing her (Quinn had said something once about liking brown doe-eyes, which explained both Finn and Puck).
Just as she drifts off to sleep though, she feels Quinn slide an arm over her stomach and a kiss being pressed to the underside of her jaw, but she's asleep before she can say anything about it.