I do not own Glee or any of the original Glee characters, it all belongs to RIB and Fox. Anyone you don't recognise is my own invention.
For Squishy.
Chapter 1
Quinn sighs as she enters her and Santana's apartment, slamming the door closed behind her and dropping her keys onto the hook. She notices straight away that her wife isn't home yet, the apartment is far too quiet. She walks into the kitchen, switches the coffee machine on and slumps into one of the chairs at the kitchen table, her head dropping into her hands. Quinn feels desperate for this day to be over. 'Being a lawyer looked so much more fun on tv' she bitterly thinks to herself as she tries to force the case she's working on to the back of her mind. Checking her watch, the blonde sighs in relief as she notices that Santana will be home soon, as long as no huge traumas were radioed in before she could escape the ER. Forcing herself back onto her aching feet, she grabs a mug from the cupboard and fills it to the brim with coffee, dragging herself into the living room and sinking into the cushions of their huge corner sofa. She grins when she hears the apartment door open and close.
"Babe?" she hears her wife call out.
"Livingroom" she yells in response, watching as her Latina enters the room a few seconds ago, looking just as stunning as ever despite having just worked at twelve hour shift in a busy emergency room."How was your day?" the blonde asks as she presses a soft kiss to Santana's full lips when the Latina sits next to her.
"It was okay, didn't have to treat anyone that was injured too seriously, a few broken bones and a case of measles that turned out to be red pen" Santana smirks, "How about you? Were you in court all day?"
"Yeah, my feet are killing me" Quinn pouts, smiling victoriously when her wife pats her knee, signalling for the blonde to put her feet up. "You are amazing" She states as the Latina gently pulls her pumps off and starts to massage her feet softlySantana studies her wife as she runs her stockinged feet, noting to herself that she looks exhausted, dark circles under her hazel eyes, her skin paler than usual. She knows that Quinn can't talk about the high profile case that she is second chairing but knowing her wife as well as she does, it's obvious that it's taking it's toll on her.
"Just relax" she murmurs, the blonde nodding and tipping her head back to lean against the armrest, still nursing her coffee. "A few more weeks and it'll be over, we'll go on vacation and lie on a beach somewhere sipping cocktails" the Latina promises, Quinn grinning her approval.
"That sounds amazing" Quinn sighs, passing her mug to Santana, who finishes the coffee and places the empty mug on the coffee table. "You wanna just order in tonight? Thai?"
"Yeah, I'll call the place down the block and go pick it up. Why don't you have a nap, I'll wake you when I get back" Santana suggests.
0-00-0
Santana rolls her eyes as she returns with the bag of take-out to find Quinn sitting at the kitchen table with her laptop, work clearly winning over the nap idea. She dumps the bag on the counter and pulls out two plates, noticing that her wife still hasn't looked up from her laptop. Shaking her head she had loads up both plates with Quinn's favourite and walks to the table,The Latina places her wife's plate next to her before sitting down opposite her with her own food.
"Quinn, eat your food" Santana coaxes, irritation building inside her as the blonde holds up her hand to silence the brunette. "You can stop working for ten minutes" she adds in a firmer tone.
"Give me a minute honey, I just need to finish this email" Quinn responds. Santana sighs as she eats her food, dropping her fork when her wife is still typing almost ten minutes later.
"Quinn, eat your damn food" she snaps, "Have you eaten at all today?" The blonde's silence answers the latina's question. "Eat something now then, it's not healthy to starve yourself" she adds and Quinn finally looks over, hazel eyes meeting stern brown ones. Closing her laptop and pushing it away to satisfy her wife, the blonde picks up her fork and starts eating her dinner.
"I need to go into work early tomorrow so can you remind me to call Tina to let her know I can't do breakfast?" Santana rolls her eyes at the blonde's request.
"Sure, I'll text you in the morning, you're not working late are you? You've been working yourself to exhaustion baby" Santana keeps her tone gentle, not wanting to upset the blonde.
"I'll work as late as my boss needs me to" Quinn replies snippily. "I know my limits Santana" The Latina sighs, having had this conversation before.
"I'm just trying to look out for you" she states simply, eyeing the now on edge woman across the table from her.
"I'm quite capable of looking after myself" Quinn bites out, pushing her barely touched plate of food away.
"Quinn... I see people all the time at the hospital who don't look after themselves properly and if I'm being honest, it feels the same way it did ten years ago" Santana tells her quietly, "And I won't let that happen again, our relationship is the way it is for a reason baby... Just remember that. Quinn watches as her wife places her plate in the sink, walking out without another word. She knows her wife is right, her pride stopping her from admitting out loud but accepting that she needs to do thinks about that time ten years ago, a time when she thought she had truly found herself but in reality it was a time when she was completely lost.
Everyone stares as Quinn strides down the halls of McKinley in her pink haired, tattooed, pierced, Joan Jett attired glory. Every mouth dropping in shock as one by one her old friends realise that it's her. She overhears Brittany telling Mercedes that the 'new girl' is hot, not hearing the response as she pushes through the back entrance and continues walking to the bleachers. She stops short as she reaches the area underneath them, the skanks that usually hung out there are nowhere in sight, just a lone Latina Cheerio. "What are you doing here?" she demands. "It's nice to see you too Quinn" Santana drawls sarcastically, looking disgusted at her surroundings. "I still have that soap in my locker if you want it" she adds, causing Quinn to scoff. "What do you want Santana? You shouldn't hang out under here, you might get your Pom poms dirty" she sneers, not missing the flicker of hurt in the cheerleaders eyes. "Everyone else may believe that this is the real you that's just been hidden away but I know better than that. I know you" Santana tells her, her usual harsh demeanour nowhere to be found. "You're hiding, running away from things" she adds, studying Quinn's soft features. "She got back with Artie" is all Santana says, completely shocking Quinn. Any other time, the Latina would be going 'All Lima Heights" on the person mocking her but Quinn notes that she just looks sad, not even trying to deny being a lesbian. "I'm sorry" she tells her sincerely and Santana nods, blinking away the tears that are threatening to fall. " I thought we were friends again" the tanned girl whispers, "After what went down at Nationals I mean" she clarifies and Quinn feels a pang of guilt attack her chest as she remembers Santana and Brittany being there for her after Finn left her for Rachel. She watches as the latina pulls herself together, the walls springing back into place as her jaw hardens and her queen bitch look takes over her face, Quinn seeing through it but doubting that the other students would, even Brittany. "Call me when you want to stop lying to yourself" Santana tells her as she brushes past her, leaving Quinn standing underneath the bleachers on her own.
"That's a little rich coming from you, gotten yourself a big gay beard lately?" the pink haired beauty asks in a hard tone. "Still pining over Brittany?"
Quinn stands up and dumps her plate in the sink, moving out of the kitchen and into the master bedroom that she shares with Santana, stopping in the doorway and watching as her wife pulls her scrub top off and throwing it into the hamper, turning to face Quinn when she realises she's there. She stands there in her scrub pants and bra, waiting for the blonde to say something, unable to keep the smirk from her face as she notices her wife check her out. She clears her throat, Quinn's eyes snapping up to meet hers, a sheepish grin on her face.
"Sorry about before, you were completely right. I've been working too hard, I hadn't even noticed that I'd been skipping meals" Quinn murmurs, Santana stepping forward to engulf her in a hug.
"It's fine, just promise me you'll try to ease up on your work hours, even just a little bit and try to look after yourself better and if you're having trouble then come to me" Santana whispers into her ear, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek as she pulls back. "If you slip up then you know I'll be here, it's my job to hand out the consequences. I love you" she finishes passionately.
"I love you too"
This chapter is basically just setting the scene, let me know what you think. I'm planning to be solely focusing on this until Tuesday night. It's going to be a long one!