Dampened Spirits (F/F, Glee) - (6 Parts)

[Whysprr]

This just keeps getting better and better! Cannot wait to read more!

[wannablessedbe]

Hey gleeks,

thanks for the feedback-- you're awesome cheerleaders! I don't think I'll ever get sick of writing about Quinn and Rachel, they are just so friggin' cute I could die. Glad you're still enjoying this-- here's another part for your reading pleasure. Have fun!

--WBB

Dampened Spirits

Part 5

By WannaBlessedBe

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Rachel stayed nestled up with Quinn on the couch, cuddling her girlfriend's sleeping body and stroking her hair, until she eventually had to get up to pee. Quinn was usually a deep sleeper, but right now she seemed restless and agitated from the fever; so Rachel took extra care not to jostle her when slipping out from under the blankets. The blonde girl whimpered in her sleep when the warmth of Rachel's body left her, and the little starlet spent another minute sitting on the floor by Quinn's head and stroking her hair, singing lullabies very quietly, until the sleeping girl settled down again (thank God, because Rachel really had to pee now). After that, she curled up at the empty end of the couch by Quinn's feet and quietly started in on her homework, which is how her dad Jacob found her when he stomped furiously through the front door an hour later.

"Rachel Barbara Berry"--

"Shh!" Rachel hissed, glaring at him and nodding toward Quinn, who was whimpering and tossing under the blankets again. Instantly, Jacob fell silent, and crossed the room with a much softer expression on his face as he bent down to feel the sleeping girl's forehead with the back of his hand. With a sigh, he smoothed the hair back from her face, then looked at his daughter again, caught between annoyance and understanding as he motioned her towards the kitchen. Reluctantly, Rachel followed, planting a few soft kisses on Quinn's overheated face before trailing after her dad into the kitchen, where they could speak freely.

"Before you say anything, I realize that leaving school without proper authorization is generally inadvisable, and obviously not something I would normally consider. However, under the circumstances"—

"Rachel, I know how protective you are of Quinn—but you're still a kid, and it's not up to you to just pull her out of school. You could've gone to the nurse..."

"Dad, you wouldn't say that if you'd seen her falling apart like I did. She was much too sick for school; there's nothing the nurse could've done."

"She could've called me, Rachel! There are proper protocols to be followed when it comes to children leaving school, as you very well know. I would've come and picked Quinn up and brought her home myself; you know I would. Instead, I had to get a call from Principal Figgins letting me know that I had two missing children on my hands. I lied and told him I'd told you to come home, by the way. I made up a whole yarn about a family emergency so you wouldn't get in trouble." He folded his arms in consternation.

"I'm sorry, Dad..." Rachel pouted, looking up at him with her biggest Bambi eyes. "I just...she was so sick and miserable, and it took me half the morning to convince her that it was okay to even take a sick day, so when she finally agreed, I just couldn't stand to wait another second. Do you know that her parents have never once let her stay home from school? They made her think it was some sort of character weakness to admit you're sick. The poor little thing was so stuffed up she could barely breathe; but she was still trying to stick it out. She needed me, Dad. I had to take care of her, I just had to." The little diva was quivering with emotion from head to toe by the time she finished her impassioned speech, whipped up into a full-on Rachel Berry tirade. Her dad gave her one long, measured look, and sighed in defeat.

"Okay, kiddo...this is your one get-out-of-jail-free card. Next time I get a call that either of you are AWOL from school, I'm sending out a SWAT team. With dogs and nightsticks." Rachel smiled and hugged her dad, who kissed the top of her head and ruffled her hair. "Now, should we whip up some homemade chicken soup for our patient?" Before she could answer, they both heard the sound of Quinn coughing and calling out for Rachel from the next room.

"Hey sweet angel," Rachel cooed, sitting beside her girlfriend on the couch and rubbing her back while she coughed.

"How do you feel, Quinnie?" Jacob asked gently, squatting down by the blonde girl's head to feel her forehead again.

"Yucky," Quinn whimpered, curling up and pressing her face into Rachel's leg. "Everything hurts..."

"I think you caught the flu going around, kiddo. This isn't just a cold anymore; not with that fever. We'll have to keep you home for a few days." Jacob gently patted the top of Quinn's head as he made his pronouncement.

"I'm sorry," Quinn sniffled, as tears began to stream down her flushed cheeks.

"Shh, it's okay baby," Rachel soothed her, dropping more gentle kisses onto her hair and rubbing her back until the tears began to ease. "We just want to take care of you, all right? It's time for the full royal Berry treatment. You have no further say in this matter, so just submit."

"Okay," Quinn smiled weakly, with another congested sniffle. Jacob passed her the tissues from the coffee table. "Thadk you," she murmured wearily, sitting up a little against the couch cushions. Rachel noted that she'd finally given up trying to be dainty and polite when she blew her stuffy nose, which was a relief-- maybe living with the Berrys was finally helping Quinn get over her parents' psychotic influence.

"Do you think you can eat a little, sweetheart? We can whip up a batch of our special, 'Berry good' chicken soup if you're up for it," Jacob offered, and Rachel nodded vigorously.

"I'b...*sniff!*...dot very hudgry…but if you wadt to bake it, I'll...*sniffle*...I'll have sobe." Quinn rubbed methodically under her nose as she spoke, blinking woozily, until her breath caught in her chest and her eyes welled up. "Huhh-tshiiew! *Sniffff.*"

"Bless you," Rachel and her dad both said at the same time.

"Thadks," Quinn mumbled, pressing a fresh tissue to her pink nose and looking up hopefully at her girlfriend. "Rach, will you stay with be while your dad bakes the soup? He...*sniff!*...he cad do it by hibself, r-right...? Etchhiew!" Quinn shivered weakly, bowing over in her seat with her hands cupped to her face.

"Bless you, sweetheart," Jacob said kindly, patting the top of Quinn's head while she blew her nose.

"Of course I'll stay with you, angel...you need some more snuggles?" Rachel cooed, oblivious to her dad's smirking and eye-rolling as he left the room.

"Yuh-huh," Quinn nodded woozily, scrunching up her nose and blowing vigorously into a fresh tissue. "But I dod't wadt to get by sdeezes all over you...you'll cadtch by gerbs." Her lower lip stuck out in a cranky pout, which Rachel found painfully adorable; especially combined with her pink nose and the slightly spaced-out, about-to-sneeze expression on her face.

"Quinn, I'm already covered in your germs; I don't think it matters anymore. And besides, I actually had my flu shot this year, so I can't catch it anyway. Next year you're getting one too, missy. Now come here." Quinn was far too miserable and exhausted to resist Rachel’s open arms, and crawled into her lap with a soft sigh of blissful relief. The little brunette pulled the afghan up over her girlfriend’s feverish body, making sure she wouldn’t get chilled, and kissed her forehead. “Is that better, angel face?”

“Yeah, lots better...thadks, baby.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Quinn. I want to make you feel better.” Rachel slipped a hand under the afghan and lightly rubbed Quinn’s stomach under her pajama top.

“Well, you are,” Quinn sighed, yawning softly. “Cad you pass be the…*sniff, sniffle*…the t-tissues…?” Rachel could feel Quinn’s stomach muscles tightening as her breath hitched, and quickly the dark-haired girl grabbed a tissue and held it lightly to her girlfriend’s pink nose. Quinn wasn’t expecting that, but her body reacted automatically to having a tissue pressed to her flaring nostrils, and her hand came down over Rachel’s to hold it there as her shoulders jerked.

“Hetshhh! Huhh-chhiew!! *Sniffff.*”

“Bless you, angel,” Rachel cooed, gently pinching Quinn’s nose in the damp tissue. Then she wiped it once underneath, folded it in half, and held it back to Quinn’s nose, soothingly but firmly commanding, “blow.” Quinn did, her hand once again over Rachel’s so she wouldn’t move, and shifted her head slightly against Rachel’s leg so she could rub her still-itchy nose firmly against the tissue at the same time. Rachel giggled, amused by her girlfriend’s kittenish behavior, and rubbed the tissue against Quinn’s nose a little harder. “Poor baby, you’ve got the sneezes something awful, haven’t you?” She finally tossed the used-up tissue onto the small pile at the edge of the coffee table, and, immediately hearing another wet sniffle from the blonde girl curled up in her lap, grabbed another.

“Yuh-huh,” Quinn murmured woozily, clamping her hand over Rachel’s as soon as she felt a fresh tissue being pressed to her quivering nostrils. “Huhhhh…ahh—ahhh”—Quinn shivered involuntarily, pressing her unbearably itchy nose into the tissue held firmly in her girlfriend’s hand. “Ahh-itchiiew! *Sniffle.*”

“God bless you,” Rachel said tenderly, lightly stroking Quinn’s hair with her free hand while wiping her adorably pink nose with the other. “Give me one more good blow, sweetie…” Quinn sighed, sounding utterly exhausted; but she shut her eyes and did as Rachel asked, tilting her head again to rub her nostrils firmly against the tissue in Rachel’s hand. “There, is that a little better, baby?”

“A little…thadk you,” Quinn sniffled, squeezing Rachel’s leg. “You must really love me to wipe my nose for me,” the blonde girl giggled shyly.

“You must really love me to let me,” Rachel replied, leaning down and dropping a kiss onto Quinn’s temple.

“Yeah. I actually kind of like it…I don’t have to sit up, or reach for a tissue, or anything. I can just lie here and let you take care of me.” Quinn yawned and snuggled up more securely against Rachel’s leg with another sleepy sniffle.

“That’s exactly what I want you to do,” Rachel agreed, softly stroking Quinn’s hair. “Now how about a little TV? It’ll be a while before the soup is ready. We can even watch South of Nowhere if you want—that always makes you feel better, even if the plot devices are clichéd and Mandy Musgrave’s voice isn’t really anything special.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Quinn yawned, too worn out to get caught up in their usual debate about the questionable merits of cheesy teen programming. Obediently, Rachel turned it on, and spent the next hour alternating between stroking Quinn’s hair, and wiping her nose whenever she sniffled or sneezed. By the time Jacob came into the living room with a tray bearing the freshly made soup, the blonde girl was fast asleep again in Rachel’s lap.

[musiclover90]

Aw, poor Quinn...the flu totally sucks but this is too adorable. Thanks for another part.

[Whysprr]

Great part! And I loved the South of Nowhere reference anyways, please continue!!!

[wannablessedbe]

okay soooo...this update is partly in response to tonight's episode of glee (rather disappointing for us, I must say; tho gwenyth paltrow was pretty awesome!), and partly in response to the person who left an anonymous review on my glee story at fanfiction.net requesting that I update here! I tried to write back to you but I couldn't because you reviewed anonymously! hope you like it

Dampened Spirits

Part 6

By WannaBlessedBe

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

The next time Quinn woke up, it was dark outside and she was alone on the couch, the only light coming from the crack under the kitchen door. She felt disoriented and anxious-- was it the middle of the night? How long had she been asleep? Did she miss anything important? She rubbed her eyes and slowly sat up, whimpering softly as her body protested the smallest of movements. Jesus, she felt crappy. More than anything, the blonde girl did not want to be alone in a room right now; she wanted to be where Rachel was. She wanted to be kissed and cuddled and fussed over by the one person she knew would not judge her when she was vulnerable like this, no matter how gross she might look.

Slowly, Quinn stood on shaky legs, wrapping the quilt around her shoulders to ward off the shivers coursing through her feverish body. She knew it was really too long to wear wrapped around her like this, and normally she wouldn't let a blanket just trail after her across the floor; it wasn't particularly sanitary, and her father would've had a fit if he could see her right now. Then again, the whole "living with my girlfriend and her two gay dads" thing may have overshadowed the slovenly use of blankets, so what difference did it make at this point, anyway? Sniffling, Quinn shuffled slowly towards the light peeking out from behind the kitchen door, where she could hear the faint rise and fall of familiar voices, making her smile a little despite her misery.

The kitchen light was so bright it made her wince and squint, barely able to make out the figures of the three Berrys around the table. She whined softly and covered her eyes.

"Oh, Quinn! You look absolutely terrible, baby. Why are you even up?" Rachel scolded gently, leaping up from the table to push her woozy girlfriend down into a seat, then scooting her own chair as close as possible to Quinn's, so the sniffly cheerleader could lay her head on her girlfriend's shoulder.

"I woke up all alone, and I was lonely," Quinn whined, rubbing the end of her sleeve under her pink nose with a cranky sniffle. "I...*sniff!*...I don't wanna be by myself."

"Poor baby," Rachel cooed, stroking her girlfriend's messy blonde hair while her dads came around to table to fuss over the sick girl even more, feeling her forehead and offering her a fresh box of tissues.

"Do you think you can eat something, sweetheart?" Jacob asked kindly, while his husband was busy tilting Quinn's head up so he could feel her glands. "You haven't eaten a thing all day, and we've got some nice homemade chicken soup all ready for you."

"That sounds awesome," Quinn smiled weakly, lying through her teeth. Really, the thought of food made her want to hurl; she was queasy from the combined effects of the fever and the congestion in her head and chest. But Jacob and Michael-- who she'd started to think of as her own surrogate dads-- were both looking at her with such genuine concern, a look she'd never really seen from her own parents, that she couldn't bear to say no to them.

"Coming right up," Jacob beamed, rushing over the fridge to warm up a bowl of the soup he'd made earlier in the day.

"Thadks for...*sniff!*...taking such good care of me...huhh...etchhiew! *Sniffle.*" Quinn hastily clamped a fresh tissue to her nose, shivering weakly.

"Bless you," all three Berrys chorused promptly. Quinn blushed and blew her nose.

"Thanks for letting us take care of you," Rachel murmured in her ear, her breath warming the side of Quinn's face.

"No problemo," Quinn joked, yawning and dropping her head onto Rachel's shoulder again.

"Aww, angel...why don't we take you back to the couch? You can barely even sit up, you should be somewhere comfy. Dad can bring your soup out on a tray when it's ready."

"Ohhh...*sniffle*...okay..." Quinn pulled another tissue out of the box, holding it ready in front of her face as her breath welled up, and her pink nose twitched and continued to run. "Huhh...ishhiiew!" Quinn's shoulders snapped violently, bowing her upper body over with another intense, helpless sneeze. "Uhh," she sighed wearily behind her tissues.

"Bless you, sweetheart," Michael rumbled in his low, soothing voice. "Rachel's right, you don't need to sit at the table in this state. Go get comfy on the couch, and then we'll all come watch a movie, how does that sound?"

"Good," Quinn nodded, truthfully this time. "As long as it's not Funny Girl again."

"What's wrong with--" Rachel started to say defensively, but cut herself off before she finished her sentence, biting her lip with an expression that suggested she was giving herself over to some seriously high-level altruism. "I'm sorry, nevermind. We can watch whatever you want, okay baby?"

“Thadks, Rach,” Quinn smiled weakly, and Rachel positively beamed. Once she had her sick girlfriend comfortably settled on the couch, bundled snugly with plenty of pillows and blankets, the dark-haired diva made a huge production of reciting the titles of every dvd on the bookcase, so Quinn would know all her options before making a hasty decision.

Quinn ended up choosing Muppets Take Manhattan, which Rachel approved of because it was silly and didn’t really have any sad parts; but whenever the blonde girl started to laugh, it turned quickly into bouts of congested coughing, and soon she was too weak even for that. The soup, which she hadn’t really wanted to eat, really did make her feel a bit better, though; it settled the queasiness in her stomach and soothed her scratchy throat, and it even seemed to clear her head a little, too. All of which came as a complete shock—no one had ever made Quinn soup when she was sick before.

“This is so good, Jacob,” she sighed, holding the bowl up to her face and breathing in the steam.

“Good, I’m glad you like it,” Jacob beamed, looking like a carbon copy of Rachel when he smiled, in a boy sort of way.

“And now that you’ve got something in your stomach, you can take these,” Rachel said rather bossily, dropping a handful of capsules into Quinn’s hand.

“What is it?” Quinn frowned.

“Just some herbal supplements from my acupuncturist. You’ll heal much faster with a full assault from both western and eastern medicine, Quinn. Now swallow them.”

“Geez grandma, I already took the Theraflu, now I have to take your stupid hippie pills too?” Rachel crossed her arms and glared. Even feverish and cranky, there was still apparently a line Quinn was not to cross; and it looked like insulting Rachel’s herbal remedies was it.

“Did you or did you not feel better after the Theraflu?” The dark-haired girl demanded, tapping her foot impatiently.

“I…*sniffle*…I did,” Quinn admitted meekly.

“And did you, or did you not, feel better after I made you come home from school?”

“I did,” Quinn whined, her lower lip beginning to stick out in a pout.

“Rachel, take it easy on her,” Michael chided gently from the recliner. “Just because you take herbal remedies doesn’t mean Quinn has to. She is allowed to decide for herself, you know.”

“But Daddy, I’m just trying to help her feel better!” Rachel exclaimed, exasperated.

“Rachel”—Jacob interjected warningly, before Quinn interrupted with another jarring “Ahhtshhew!”

“Bless you,” Everyone chorused, while Quinn grumbled and dabbed lightly at her increasingly sore, pink, running nose.

“Uhhh. Okay, I’ll take the hippie pills. Just dod’t get adgry, okay? I cad’t take it,” Quinn sniffled, her eyes suddenly welling up with tears.

“Aww, baby—I—I’m sorry. Please don’t cry, I’m not angry with you. I just hate that you don’t feel good, and all I want to do is make you feel better. Okay?”

“’Kay,” Quinn sniffed, wiping her eyes and blowing her nose before swallowing the herbal supplements in her hand. “Cuddle?” She practically begged.

“Of course,” Rachel nodded happily, leaning back against one arm of the couch and drawing Quinn against her, so the blonde girl’s back was against her front. They both sighed contentedly.

“This feels good,” Quinn murmured, rubbing a tissue absentmindedly under her nose as Rachel began to play lightly with her hair.

“Yeah,” Rachel agreed, their intimate position allowing her to sense when Quinn’s muscles began to tense in anticipation.

“Hehh…*sniff!*” Quinn’s back arched slightly against Rachel’s front, her jagged breathing rising and falling erratically. “Uhhhh,” she groaned miserably.

“Aww, poor baby…do you have a sniffly little sneeze stuck in your cute little nose?”

“Uhh…uh-huh,” Quinn nodded woozily, too distracted by the unbearable tickly feeling in her head to be annoyed by Rachel’s cutesiness.

“Here, maybe I can help,” the dark-haired girl murmured, picking up a lock of her own long hair and reaching around her girlfriend, gently pushing Quinn’s hands away from her face.

“Rach, what are you”—

“Shh,” Rachel scolded. Very lightly, Rachel brushed the ends of her hair back and forth across Quinn’s irritated little nostrils. Quinn whimpered, her head automatically dropping back against Rachel’s chest as her back arched slightly again.

“Huhhh…heh…heh…Heh-kshiiew! Tch-chhoo! *Sniffle*…uhh, fuck. Thadk you,” Quinn sighed, mopping up her sneezes with the damp tissues now clamped to her nose. “It felt really good to get that out…ahhh…atchhoo! *Sniffle.*”

“Bless you, Quinn. And, you’re welcome.”

[musiclover90]

Once again, poor Quinn. But I totally feel warm fuzzies while reading about Rachel taking care of her. Thanks for the update.

[Renny]

Ah, well that wasn't totally LOVE or anything.

Oh, Quinn, you pathetic little pretty. What are we to do with you?

Why, torture you with sneezes, of course!

How did I miss this before????

[Icee]

okay. this is frickin adorable. :) :)