Dedicated to @
simonesaidwhat because without her this story wouldn't exist...
This was written as an entry to the epilogue contest of All That Is Gold, and because I'm a sucker for happy endings.
...
Perhaps it was wrong of her, but in that moment, the only thought that registered through Quinn's mind, reverberating like a million dusty moths, was that she couldn't believe she was back.
But then, in hindsight, the most significant events in the past 32 years of her life, had all seemed pretty unbelievable when they'd first hit her (or, in some cases, whopped her in the face so hard that her ears were left ringing for months and months afterwards).
Like that night when Constance had gone missing and the secrets that were revealed afterwards. Like when she'd found out that she had a half-sibling seventeen years her junior. When the acceptance letter to Harvard arrived in London only two weeks after her. When Quinn had received her first 'F' in a biology paper she'd slaved over for weeks. When a certain green-eyed, blond-haired sales assistant of a pet shop had dissuaded her from her first steps towards catwomanhood. (To this day, Quinn still holds a grudge against him for somehow persuading her to not take home the Garfield reincarnation). When she'd realized said boy was a pre-law second-year student at Harvard. When one drunken night she'd found Nirvana (which she hadn't even found with Louboutins) by slipping her feet into a pair of $10 Walmart sneakers. When, after all the late-nights and early mornings, second grade concussions (from banging her head onto the nearest object too many times), triple-shot black coffees, and drink-the-stress-away alcohol, she'd finally, graduated with a shiny medical degree. When after five years' worth of denial and going around in circles followed by four blessed years of dating, that same green-eyed devil Quinn had come to love so, so much, had finally popped the question.
Quinn had said yes, of course.
That moment when she'd come to the wry realization that despite all her oaths of having had enough of power-struggles to last several lifetimes, it was just her luck to be married to a politician. When the votes had come in and made Quinn the proudest wife of a congressman there'd ever been. And when the reality of which city they'd consequently had to move to knocked her off her feet, she was left reeling in a plush leather limousine.
After more than a decade of escaping, of trying to block out the memories of everything that had happened and the naïve and downright foolish girl she'd been...
She was back.
A part of her, a very large part of her, wanted to burst into hysterics.
Why on Earth had she agreed to come back?
"Hey." That voice was gentle, and so uncharacteristically hesitant that Quinn immediately snapped out of her reverie, feeling overwhelmingly guilty for her ghosts, for her selfishness.
Quinn turned to meet those forest-green orbs that had never, and would never fail to take her breath away. "I'm okay," she murmured, when she saw the unwitting question in his eyes.
One blonde eyebrow rose.
Quinn let out a sigh, wrinkling her nose at the fact that her husband had only gotten better at seeing through her walls with time. "It's just that...I...I'm back. And...I don't want to be that Quinn- I don't want to be back."
A small smile curved those beautiful lips, but before Quinn could demand what the heck he found so humorous and say something she'd regret like 'you won't be smiling when I push you out of this moving car and into the damned traffic,' her husband lifted her and unceremoniously plopped her onto his lap. He enclosed one arm around her to ensure her stability whilst the other reached out to tuck back a curl that'd somehow escaped from her bun. Boring deeply into her eyes, he said, "That Quinn isn't the one that's returning to D.C. This Quinn is. This Quinn who has seen so much more than that Quinn, who has sacrificed so much more than that Quinn and achieved so much more than that Quinn. And ultimately, that Quinn can't come back, because that Quinn is now only a small part of this Quinn. And it is this Quinn who is moving to D.C, this Quinn who is going to face everything she wasn't strong enough to face as that Quinn. This Quinn who I have absolute faith in, who I will stand beside at all times. This Quinn that I love."
Quinn stared up at this man, at her man, the awe and affection blatant on her face. And here was her answer. She was moving back for him. Heck, she'd move back to hell for him if need be. Because in her arms was a man that she would not, and could not let go of, even if the world stood against them. Because he was worth more than ice-cream and caffeine and comfy sneakers and everything else on Earth. He was worth...more than gold.
