When Beth turned one, Rachel wasn't in town. She was upset because she could have been were it not for her producers changing their mind on her last minute. And when she finally arrived, it was Quinn's graduation and then Christmas.
Of course Quinn and her dads and Santana had sent her pictures of Beth in Quinn's arms, looking completely lost. She did look adorable, in pigtails and pink overalls. The theme of her party, - which happened only two days before Rachel's arrival, - had been animals. Since Beth loves every animal, they gathered all her stuffed animals (including the cow Puck gave her at birth, Mr. Swagger, and two Bees Santana and Britt recently bought her) and had them as guests too.
It had been pretty small, mostly family and a few odd friends, some moms Quinn met at the park, whose kids Beth had been on play dates with, and that's that.
The fact Rachel would be missing Beth's party also had caused tension between Rachel and Quinn. Rachel had assured Quinn she would do everything in her power to be there, and she did. It just didn't come through. Quinn tried not to get angry, but she couldn't help it that she wanted her girlfriend there when her daughter turned one.
One.
That's huge.
It was a milestone for Beth and Quinn wasn't going to get caught up in Rachel missing it. That's a lie; she tried her best for her daughter though. And so the day had been beautiful, fun, and light. There had been different masks for the older guests to try on and take pictures with and many songs related to animals for them to dance to. (Puck had begged for Quinn to let him play Beez in the Trap and she almost killed him.)
And Rachel saw all the pictures Puck took of the party later, - after graduation, - and realized how pissed she still was for missing it. So she devised a plan to make up for it.
She'd let Christmas pass because Quinn was stressed about her family, but she would do something for Beth's birthday before the new year.
Today is the perfect day to make up for missing Beth's one year birthday party.
Quinn is still asleep when Rachel wakes up to work out. She kisses Quinn on the forehead, lightly not to wake her up, and changes. It's part of her morning ritual so she can't skip that. But she does hurry through it and takes a shower ten minutes before she usually finishes.
When Quinn gets up, Rachel already has Beth showered and fed. They're in the living room, Beth trying to sit up on Rachel's stomach while Rachel laughs boisterously. Beth falls forward, giggling and Rachel kisses the top of her head before looking up and landing eyes on Quinn's.
"Hi," Quinn says, amused. "Good morning."
Rachel pushes Beth up by holding her tiny hands and let's her try to balance herself again before falling. "Morning, beautiful girlfriend."
Quinn's heart explodes at the cuteness. She gets on her knees and then on all fours and walks over to Rachel.
It's one hell of a view for Rachel. She smirks when Quinn comes close.
"You're killing me with the adorable," Quinn tells her and then kisses Rachel on the cheek.
Beth calls for "Ma," and Quinn smiles extremely proud of her. No matter how many times she's said it, Quinn still loves hearing it. Quinn lays down next to Rachel and picks up Beth to sit on her instead. Rachel watches with adoring eyes as the two giggle at each other. Quinn does this thing where she sits up and hugs Beth real tight and then nuzzles their noses together. Rachel dies.
"I love you," Rachel says, her eyes can't seem to pull away from the scene. She reaches with her left hand and pushes golden hair away from Quinn's face and admires God's beautiful work of art.
