fic: there
Title: There
Characters/Pairings: Mr. Lopez, Quinn, Santana/Quinn (established)
Rating: PG
Summary: Quinn watches the news with Santana's dad.
Spoilers: though 1.13 “Sectionals”
A/N: Idea from blueowls “There should a fluffy or angsty fic about Quinn and her parents and Glenn Beck”. Takes place in the same storyverse as “Lost in Translation”.
They’re watching the news. CNN or MSNBC or something. They’re all the same to him -they’re all news, a seemingly endless stream political commentary, and Hector Lopez is just not a political man.
So, Hector seeks refuge in the basement. He figures it will be empty, as his wife and daughter and eldest son are all engrossed in the latest political scandal, and his youngest son (who’s as allergic to politics as he is) left to play at a friend’s house half an hour ago.
Hector expects the basement to be empty, but it’s not. He reaches the bottom of the stairs to find a blonde sitting on the couch. Quinn. (It’s been more than half a year, but Hector still hasn’t quite gotten used to his daughter’s friend living with them.) She’s sitting on the couch, facing away from him.
Watching the news.
Hector sighs, maybe I’ll just start dinner a little early tonight, and he’s about to head up to the kitchen when a soft voice stops him.
“Santana?”
Hector clears his throat. “Um, no.”
Quinn turns around, then. Her eyes are glossy and her nose is red, and Hector can see that she’s sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees. It doesn’t take a scientist to figure out that she’s been crying.
There’s a long silence, or at least it feels long to Hector from the awkwardness of it all, and Hector is about to leave when, for a second time, a soft voice stops him.
“Could you stay?” Quinn asks him.
So he does -because he knows it would be wrong not to.
Hector walks further into the room and takes a seat on the couch, on the opposite end as Quinn. They watch the news in silence for a while. They’re watching Fox News, and Hector knows this is a station his family rarely puts on -and when they do put it on, Hector knows going to the basement isn’t any use, because the sound of his family’s irritated shouts can be heard through the basement ceiling anyway.
He and Quinn are watching a program with a man going off about public education and communists and EVIL, and Hector feels like he did being preached at every Sunday as a child, and he’s starting to understand why his family dislikes this channel so much. (Because, Hector Lopez might not be very political, but he does know a small minded cabrón when he sees one.)
“My dad and I used to watch Glenn Beck before dinner everyday together,” Quinn says, and Hector is startled out of his thoughts.
He turns to Quinn and she’s staring at the TV screen, but the tears are starting to fall and she sniffles a couple of times. So, Hector turns his attention back to the TV screen to give the girl her privacy.
But Hector can’t bring himself to listen to the man on the screen. So, when Quinn starts crying, with breathy sobs, he hears it. And when Quinn shifts on the couch, he hears that too. He feels the cushions dip beside him, and then there’s weight against his side and tears seeping through his sleeve.
So, Hector lays his arm over Quinn’s shoulder because it’s the best he can do.
…
They sit like that for a while, and Hector can’t listen to Glenn Beck without his blood pressure rising and he can’t listen to the sound of Quinn crying beside him. So, he stays sitting beside Quinn uncomfortably, and he wishes he wouldn’t have come downstairs. Because he’s a bad enough father to his own children; he doesn’t need to fail anyone else.
But then again, if he wouldn’t have come down to the basement, Quinn would be crying here alone, and Hector doesn’t like the idea of that either.
“Do you think they’ll ever take me back?” Quinn asks eventually, her voice a little hoarse.
Hector knows the truthful answer would be I don’t know, but he knows the right answer would be “Yes”. So that’s what he says. Because he knows, first hand, that a white lie feels better than a dark truth sometimes. (Like the lie his family tells him when they say he didn’t fail them. When they tell him it’s somehow okay that he lost his business and, with it, half their savings, and they tell him he hasn’t failed them.)
“I’m sure they’ll come to their senses one day, Quinn,” Hector tells the little girl beside him (and she stayed with them for most of her pregnancy, and they helped her through the whole adoption process, but Hector sometimes still can’t quite believe that she had a baby).
...
“Papi!” the voice coming from the top of the stairs definitely belongs to his son, but the quick, even footsteps definitely belong to his daughter.
Hector turns his head to see Santana standing at the bottom of the stairs, with one eyebrow raised and her arms crossed over her chest. “Ew, Quinn, why are you hanging out with my dad?” she asks with a disgusted scowl. “Papi, Mama says either you can start dinner now or she’ll just make it herself.”
Quinn shifts away and Hector stands up. He looks down at Quinn to see her compose herself in a matter of seconds, and she smiles at him, and he shrugs and smiles back.
“Hey, I’m starving here!” the voice at the top of the stairs shouts down.
“Dinner will be ready in half an hour!” Hector calls back as he passes his daughter and heads up the stairs.
Santana takes a seat next to Quinn just as she hears the basement door shut, and she grins predatorily as she leans in a little closer than necessary to grab the remote from the other side of the blonde. Quinn just rolls her eyes at her girlfriend.
Santana aims the remote at the television, and makes a show of raising an eyebrow and glancing between Quinn and the screen. “Seriously? Glenn Beck?”
Characters/Pairings: Mr. Lopez, Quinn, Santana/Quinn (established)
Rating: PG
Summary: Quinn watches the news with Santana's dad.
Spoilers: though 1.13 “Sectionals”
A/N: Idea from blueowls “There should a fluffy or angsty fic about Quinn and her parents and Glenn Beck”. Takes place in the same storyverse as “Lost in Translation”.
They’re watching the news. CNN or MSNBC or something. They’re all the same to him -they’re all news, a seemingly endless stream political commentary, and Hector Lopez is just not a political man.
So, Hector seeks refuge in the basement. He figures it will be empty, as his wife and daughter and eldest son are all engrossed in the latest political scandal, and his youngest son (who’s as allergic to politics as he is) left to play at a friend’s house half an hour ago.
Hector expects the basement to be empty, but it’s not. He reaches the bottom of the stairs to find a blonde sitting on the couch. Quinn. (It’s been more than half a year, but Hector still hasn’t quite gotten used to his daughter’s friend living with them.) She’s sitting on the couch, facing away from him.
Watching the news.
Hector sighs, maybe I’ll just start dinner a little early tonight, and he’s about to head up to the kitchen when a soft voice stops him.
“Santana?”
Hector clears his throat. “Um, no.”
Quinn turns around, then. Her eyes are glossy and her nose is red, and Hector can see that she’s sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees. It doesn’t take a scientist to figure out that she’s been crying.
There’s a long silence, or at least it feels long to Hector from the awkwardness of it all, and Hector is about to leave when, for a second time, a soft voice stops him.
“Could you stay?” Quinn asks him.
So he does -because he knows it would be wrong not to.
Hector walks further into the room and takes a seat on the couch, on the opposite end as Quinn. They watch the news in silence for a while. They’re watching Fox News, and Hector knows this is a station his family rarely puts on -and when they do put it on, Hector knows going to the basement isn’t any use, because the sound of his family’s irritated shouts can be heard through the basement ceiling anyway.
He and Quinn are watching a program with a man going off about public education and communists and EVIL, and Hector feels like he did being preached at every Sunday as a child, and he’s starting to understand why his family dislikes this channel so much. (Because, Hector Lopez might not be very political, but he does know a small minded cabrón when he sees one.)
“My dad and I used to watch Glenn Beck before dinner everyday together,” Quinn says, and Hector is startled out of his thoughts.
He turns to Quinn and she’s staring at the TV screen, but the tears are starting to fall and she sniffles a couple of times. So, Hector turns his attention back to the TV screen to give the girl her privacy.
But Hector can’t bring himself to listen to the man on the screen. So, when Quinn starts crying, with breathy sobs, he hears it. And when Quinn shifts on the couch, he hears that too. He feels the cushions dip beside him, and then there’s weight against his side and tears seeping through his sleeve.
So, Hector lays his arm over Quinn’s shoulder because it’s the best he can do.
…
They sit like that for a while, and Hector can’t listen to Glenn Beck without his blood pressure rising and he can’t listen to the sound of Quinn crying beside him. So, he stays sitting beside Quinn uncomfortably, and he wishes he wouldn’t have come downstairs. Because he’s a bad enough father to his own children; he doesn’t need to fail anyone else.
But then again, if he wouldn’t have come down to the basement, Quinn would be crying here alone, and Hector doesn’t like the idea of that either.
“Do you think they’ll ever take me back?” Quinn asks eventually, her voice a little hoarse.
Hector knows the truthful answer would be I don’t know, but he knows the right answer would be “Yes”. So that’s what he says. Because he knows, first hand, that a white lie feels better than a dark truth sometimes. (Like the lie his family tells him when they say he didn’t fail them. When they tell him it’s somehow okay that he lost his business and, with it, half their savings, and they tell him he hasn’t failed them.)
“I’m sure they’ll come to their senses one day, Quinn,” Hector tells the little girl beside him (and she stayed with them for most of her pregnancy, and they helped her through the whole adoption process, but Hector sometimes still can’t quite believe that she had a baby).
...
“Papi!” the voice coming from the top of the stairs definitely belongs to his son, but the quick, even footsteps definitely belong to his daughter.
Hector turns his head to see Santana standing at the bottom of the stairs, with one eyebrow raised and her arms crossed over her chest. “Ew, Quinn, why are you hanging out with my dad?” she asks with a disgusted scowl. “Papi, Mama says either you can start dinner now or she’ll just make it herself.”
Quinn shifts away and Hector stands up. He looks down at Quinn to see her compose herself in a matter of seconds, and she smiles at him, and he shrugs and smiles back.
“Hey, I’m starving here!” the voice at the top of the stairs shouts down.
“Dinner will be ready in half an hour!” Hector calls back as he passes his daughter and heads up the stairs.
Santana takes a seat next to Quinn just as she hears the basement door shut, and she grins predatorily as she leans in a little closer than necessary to grab the remote from the other side of the blonde. Quinn just rolls her eyes at her girlfriend.
Santana aims the remote at the television, and makes a show of raising an eyebrow and glancing between Quinn and the screen. “Seriously? Glenn Beck?”