Simple Parts (from fanfiction.net)

Epilogue- A Thousand Years

Simple Parts

Epilogue- A Thousand Years

Heart beats fast
Colors and promises
How to be brave
How can I love when I'm afraid
To fall
But watching you stand alone
All of my doubt
Suddenly goes away somehow

2040

They were there, and then they weren't.

Young Quinn and Rachel had disappeared like a bubble popping, but soundless and without so much as a shift in the air, and in their wake they left the stillness and quiet.

Alex was the first to break the silence. He pulled away from the wall he had held up for the last ten minutes, arms still crossed over his chest. "I have homework to finish," he muttered as he ducked past his mothers, head hanging so his hair fell over his eyes.

Quinn reached out to tug at a lock gently as he walked by, but she didn't stop him.

Alice sighed beside her mothers. "And just like that's it's over."

Rachel's shoulders drooped. "Yeah."

"I'm gonna miss 'em."

"We're standing right here."

"It's not really the same." She smiled sadly. "You used to be . . . I don't know. You're both moms," she wrinkled her nose distastefully. "They weren't. It just gave our interactions a different flavor."

Quinn rolled her eyes and purposefully messed up Alice's hair. "You're a weird little shit."

Alice batted Quinn's hands away and then turned to wrap her arms around her waist. She laid her head on Quinn's shoulder. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, Birdy." Quinn laughed when Alice tried to bite her. "Speaking of birdies, a little one told me that you wanted to go on the school trip to Paris during Spring Break. Apparently you've talked about it several times without me finding out." Alice stiffened in her arms and Quinn knew that what she was about to do was cruel. "I'm sorry, but we're not going to let you go for Spring Break." Alice's shoulder's slumped under Quinn's arm and she turned her face further against Quinn's neck so her eyes weren't visible. Quinn glanced over at Rachel and caught her rolling her eyes.

She mouthed, "move it along."

Quinn took a deep breath and finger combed Alice's hair. She was very proud of her middle child for not following in Carmen's stead and storming away petulantly. "Because your mother is taking you during summer for your graduation present."

It took a few seconds for Quinn's words to register, but when they did Alice jerked like she'd been electrocuted. She pulled away to arm's length and stared wide-eyed at her mother. She glanced at Rachel quickly and then back to Quinn. "Are you serious?"

"Of course."

Alice opened her mouth several times to say something, only succeeding in producing a squeak once. She threw herself at Quinn with an ecstatic laugh.

Quinn chuckled. "Are you alright?"

"I'm gonna' pee!"

Rachel laughed loudly. "Well hold on, there's more." Alice couldn't even say anything; she just turned her wide eyes to Rachel and held on to Quinn for dear life. "Tell her what she's won, Champ."

"A brand new car!" Quinn joked, pitching her voice to sound like a television announcer.

"Really?"

"No." Quinn swatted Alice's butt. "Don't be a punk. We've talked to Santana and Brittany, and if you'd like, they've agreed to let Nicole go along with you."