Title: Grab Your Tent and Let's Get Going
Author:
rainbowpuzzleRating: PG
Length: 2,900 words
Spoilers: None
Summary: Response to the prompt at
rq_meme:Rachel and Quinn go camping with Rachel's dads.Quinn's like the camping pro, while Rachel knows nothing.
Snuggling in one sleeping bag to keep warm would be nice, and sharing a blanket next to the fire, while they make smores would be even better :]
Disclamer: I own nothing, just borrowing Quinn and Rachel from Ryan Murphy and FOX
Author's note: This is my first fic ever so I hope it's not that bad. I figured fluff would be easiest for a start :) also, HEAPS of thanks to my beta
hymnsuponurlips who helped me a lot :)
After a long week at school with plenty of quizzes and assignments, Rachel and Quinn were finally enjoying some alone time in Rachel's bedroom, only to be interrupted by a knock on the door. Quinn quickly jumped off of her girlfriend as she heard a manly voice saying "Girls! Dinner's ready!" which made Rachel roll her eyes.
"I can't believe this! A full week without anything more than a quick kiss at school and now when we finally have some time…." she trailed off with a frustrated sigh.
"It's okay, babe. We'll continue this after dinner, I promise." Quinn winked mischievously, taking her girlfriend's hand. 'Let's go downstairs, you know how much your Dad ranted about his pasta getting cold while waiting for us."
After they settled at the table, Rachel squealed in delight.
"Oh Daddy! This is amazing! Broccoli curry! You haven't cooked this for ages!" she said excitedly, taking a big bite of the deliciously looking food. Her Daddy Aaron shared a look with her Dad James and they both smiled.
"Well, Rachel, I'm very happy that you like it" Aaron started. "I know how hard this week was for both of you in school, so we decided it's time for something special. Starting with this dinner…"
"…and continuing with some brilliant weekend plans!" James finished. Quinn raised an eyebrow while Rachel smiled giddily.
"We thought that you spend too much time indoors, what with school and Glee and all, even your dates are all in restaurants or cinemas! You definitely need some fresh air to clear up your mind and relax without straining your eyes at the TV or the computer. This will be the perfect opportunity to spend a weekend together and freshen up at the same time!" James was rambling excitedly, making Quinn exchange knowing looks with Aaron. James and Rachel could, and not only could but also did, replace a simple sentence of three or four words with complicated phrases that seemed never-ending.
"We're going camping!" Aaron summarized happily. Quinn's reluctant expression changed to one of pure joy as she smiled from ear to ear. Rachel however looked as if someone threw her plate full of broccoli curry in the trash.
"Dad! Daddy! I hate camping so much! You know that very well! The last time we tried it, I fell in the lake at night and I was close to drowning, not to mention how I nearly froze to death that night in the tent! There is no way that I am repeating such a life-threatening activity, no matter how much you advocate its health benefits! What's healthy about freezing to death and being exposed to the wrath of wild animals?!" Rachel said desperately, her arms flailing as she spoke.
"Oh come on, sweetie, you were not close to drowning! The part of the lake was barely above your shoulders! I'm sure it will be better this time. And Quinn is coming too, aren't you dear?" Aaron asked.
Quinn's huge grin and excited eyes said it all.
"QUINN! I can't stress enough how dangerous-" Rachel started to explain but she was quickly interrupted by her girlfriend.
"Come on, Rach! Camping is FUN! Give it another chance, you'll see how amazing it is to go hiking and eat s'mores at the campfire and sleep in the tent! It'll be fantastic!" Rachel sighed. She just couldn't say no to Quinn when she looked this excited. It would've been like killing a duck with Brittany watching: pure cruelty.
"Mkay. As long as you don't let me freeze, it's fine." she mumbled.
"YAY! It's going to be great!" Quinn squealed as she hugged Rachel tightly.
The next morning found the three Berrys waiting in the car as Quinn ran down the stairs, said a rushed goodbye to her mother and skipped to the car. They drove for about an hour to a nice spot where James' father and uncle used to take him and his cousins during the summer breaks. It had no lakes for Rachel to "drown" in and it wasn't such a popular place either, making them likely to be the only ones there. As soon as they arrived, Quinn got out of the car quickly and started walking around, as if she was looking for something.
"What's wrong, Quinn? Are you searching for something? Oh my GOD! Did you see a huge bug or something? Worse? A SNAKE?!" Rachel was freaking out again.
"No, silly!" Quinn chuckled. "I'm inspecting the area to see the best place to pitch our tents. Aaron! James! Bring the tents here, this looks like a good spot!"
James and Quinn started setting up one of the tents, while Aaron worked on the other. Rachel stared at Quinn, shocked to see how her girlfriend was bossing her Dad around, giving him instructions on how to perfectly set up the tent and re-doing some steps if she wasn't satisfied with how they were done. It looked as if she lived in a tent all the time.
"Rachel! Come and help your Daddy with this tent, will you?" Aaron beckoned. She hesitantly walked over and tried to put the poles through the holes and make the tent stand, but she failed miserably. Aaron did it for her and asked her to tie the knot at the center of the tent while he got a bottle of water. She stretched to reach the knots on the top of the tent but she was too short so she lost her balance and fell on the newly-pitched tent, making Aaron groan as he ushered her away to set it up by himself. Quinn, who had finished the other tent, went over to her and hugged her from behind.
"It's okay, babe. I kinda sucked too when I set up a tent for the first time."
"Huh. I should've recorded you, you were just like a pro. I'm sure if tent-pitching was an Olympic sport, not only would you win a gold medal, but you'd also set a new record. " Rachel huffed, clearly upset that she was so bad at this whole camping thing.
"Aww, don't get mad. You'll get better at this. What do you say about going for a walk?"
"Like…hiking in the woods?" she looked terrified. Quinn laughed softly and took her hand, squeezing it reassuringly.
“It’ll be just fine, babe. Here, take one of my pocketknives, if it makes you feel safer.” Quinn handed over the knife and then proceeded to fill a backpack with a couple of sandwiches and a few bottles of water. She wanted to carry the backpack herself, but Aaron was a gentleman and took it from her.
At first, Rachel acted like a petulant 5 year old. Well, a petulant 5 year old with an extensive vocabulary and an excessive word usage.
“Quiiiiin, you’re walking too fast! I know that I have an amazing lung capacity and I work out daily so my legs are used to exercising but I do not work out regularly while wearing heavy boots that put a strain on my ankles!” or
“Daad, are you sure that the sound we heard was not a bear? I recall from the documentaries we used to watch on National Geographic that this is the exact sound that a mother bear makes when she prepares to launch an attack!”” or
“Daaaaaddy! I know that I asked for water two minutes ago but need I remind you that it is of extreme significance to keep hydrated and well nourished during extended periods of physical activity?!” The other three would ignore her whining and would remember adventures from other camping trips.
Seeing that she was not attracting any attention anymore, Rachel kept quiet and started looking at the surroundings. She still clutched her pocketknife whenever she heard a suspicious noise, but she began to appreciate the beauty of the landscape. There was no hazardous lake or psycho wild animals out to get them, just the sounds of the birds chirping and the wind blowing softly in the leaves. After a while, Rachel grudgingly admitted that it was "quite a pleasant experience". At hearing this, Quinn smiled widely and put her arm around Rachel’s waist, placing a quick kiss on the corner of her mouth.
“I have an idea.” Quinn winked. She told the Berry dads that they’d make their way back to camp alone (because, duh, she was a pro, she never got lost) and pulled Rachel off to another path.
“Quinn!! Where are you taking me? I most certainly do not want to get lost in -“ but she was interrupted by Quinn’s soft lips on hers.
“Gosh, you’re such a baby.” She whispered against Rachel’s lips, then latching onto the brunette’s lower lip, biting lightly. Rachel just moaned in response, momentarily forgetting her worries. Ten minutes later, two shirts were lying wrinkled on the grass and Rachel was seated in Quinn’s lap, kissing fervently.
“Quinn, I’m still not so sure about this ‘in the nature’ thing. “
“Come on, babe, it’s not like you’ll get a bug bite on your ass or anything. “ Quinn chuckled and nuzzled Rachel’s neck. Rachel suddenly went stiff.
“Oh God no.” Quinn rolled her eyes and hung her head, knowing that her little joke made her chances of getting lucky painfully close to zero.
“I’m sorry, Quinn, but I do not want to take that risk. Who knows -“
“-What life-threatening disease we can catch from a bug bite. Okay, I get it. We won’t do anything if you don’t want to” Quinn smiled resignedly.
“We can sit here and keep on kissing though” Rachel grinned and kissed her girlfriend, tangling her hands in the blonde locks.
When they were left breathless and had to stop for air, Quinn rested her forehead against Rachel’s.
“You *peck* are the most *peck* annoyingly adorable *peck* person ever.”
“But you love me anyways.” Rachel winked, deepening the kiss.
“Of course I do. Even when you act like a spoiled brat.”
“Good. Because I love you too even when you’re being all creepy girl-scouty like.”
“Hey! I am NOT creepy!” But her protest died soon, when the two girls resumed kissing for what seemed like hours.
They returned when the sun was setting because the Berry dads (and Quinn) were real campers and wanted to make a campfire. Rachel tiredly declined Quinn's invitation to collect firewood together claiming that she needed a rest so she watched, in awe again, how her girlfriend knew everything about making great campfires. She continued to stare, admitting to herself that she actually felt safer this time because Quinn was around. And she seemed like the Queen of Camping or something of the kind, so it was obvious that no crazy bears or sneaky snakes were going to attack her in Quinn's presence. As she saw the fire burning already, she took the blanket that was under her and placed it next to the fire, waiting for Quinn to sit down next to her.
"Do you like it?" she heard the question whispered in her ear as Quinn sat down next to her, putting an arm around her waist and pulling her closer.
"Mhm. It looks nice…who knew you were such a camping expert?" Rachel smiled, putting her head on Quinn's shoulder and snuggling her. Quinn chuckled and placed a kiss on Rachel's forehead.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, until Aaron brought them two sticks, a bag of marshmallows, a pack of biscuits and some chocolate.
"Here you go, girls. James and I hate marshmallows so we won't be joining you for s'mores. We'll go inside the tent to get some rest. See you in the morning!" he said and waved.
"How can anybody hate marshmallows?" Quinn mumbled as she placed a piece of it on the stick and held it close to the fire. She noticed that Rachel wasn't doing anything and then realization dawned upon her.
"Oh.My. God! I don't believe this! You have never eaten s'mores?"
Rachel blushed and tried to defend herself.
"Last time we went camping, which was the only time we did it, all that horrible stuff happened to me so I wasn't really in the mood for s'mores! And it's not like my Daddy cooks them for dinner either!"
"Okay then. I will have the honor of feeding you the first s'more!" Again, Quinn expertly took two biscuits, put some chocolate between them and then wiped the marshmallow on one of the biscuits. The chocolate melted quickly and it looked absolutely delicious. It also tasted delicious, Rachel found out a couple of seconds later. Quinn moved to make another one but Rachel looked so adorable with a bit of chocolate on the side of her mouth that she just had to kiss her. Her soft lips were warm and tasted amazing, a combination of Rachel and the s'more and it escalated from an innocent kiss to a passionate French kiss that left them both breathless.
"Come to think about it, camping isn't all bad." Rachel smiled against Quinn's lips before capturing them in a sweet kiss.
The s'mores were excellent, but they were so sweet that the girls had to stop after a short while. Quinn was yawning so they decided to go inside the tent and sleep. As soon as she was in her sleeping bag, Quinn fell asleep, leaving Rachel to toss and turn and wonder what animals lived here, or worse, what psycho murderers were looking for their next victims in this area. At some point she heard a rustle close by and she panicked, shaking Quinn out of her sleep.
"Quinn! QUINN! There is somebody outside our tent!"
"Rach…just go to sleep baby, it's okay." Quinn mumbled sleepily, turning on the other side.
"I can't! What if it's a bear looking for food for its cubs! It will kill us! Or if it’s a serial killer who came here to bury his victim and then sees us and his killer senses get activated and he comes and murders us! Nobody will find our bodies!"
"Mhm."
"Mhm what? Quinn?! You can't possibly continue sleeping when so many perils surround us!" Rachel was panicking even more, seeing the lack of reaction from Quinn. It was not likely that Quinn being Queen of Camping would put off a bear.
"Rachel! The only 'peril that surrounds you' is me kicking you out of the tent for not letting me sleep!" Quinn snapped and pulled the sleeping bag over her head, trying to bock out Rachel's whining.
And just when she almost fell back asleep, there was a flash of light and a loud rumble. Rachel jumped on Quinn, holding on for her dear life.
"This is so why I HATE camping! A storm! With thunder and lightning!"
Quinn sighed, realizing that there was no way that she could sleep peacefully with Rachel so scared. So she unzipped her sleeping bag and gestured to Rachel to join her.
"Come here, baby. There's nothing to be afraid of, it's just some rain with some visual and acoustic effects, not a big deal." She took Rachel in her arms and held her tightly, making her feel safe and remembering how her grandfather used to calm her down when they went camping and storms would start. She felt bad for dismissing Rachel about the 'perils' earlier when she remembered how she scared she was the first few times she went camping. Rachel snuggled closer, shaking slightly, trying to warm up a bit and shield her ears from the loud thunder.
"I hate storms. I hate them when I'm at home in my safe, warm room! And now I'm under a piece of cloth and that stays up with some plastic poles!" she whispered, clutching the front of Quinn's PJ. Quinn stroked her hair and peppered her face with soft kisses, trying to calm down the scared girl. After a while, the thunder died down, leaving only the sound of the rain to lull the girls to sleep.
In the morning, there were puddles and mud everywhere and everything was wet. Much to Rachel's delight, Aaron and James decided they should go home, so they took down the tents (an activity that Rachel was very good at), placed everything in the trunk and headed back to Lima.
"So, Rach, did you enjoy this weekend?" Aaron asked curiously.
"Well, I guess it wasn't as bad as the previous time." She looked over at Quinn and smiled, remembering how warm and nice it felt after the storm passed.
"Maybe next weekend the weather will be better." James said jokingly.
"DAAAD!!!" Rachel looked petrified at the thought of another weekend spent in a tent, which made the others laugh and Quinn pull her in for a chaste kiss.
"Naah, we'll go back to our 'indoor dates', won't we?" the blonde grinned and winked.
"Of course we will." Rachel winked back, happy that she was finally going to spend alone time with her girlfriend without worrying about snakes, bears or murderers.