The Way We Were

The Way We Gossip

Marcy sipped her tea. She flipped a page in her book and continued reading.

Mercedes and Quinn walked in. "Mail call!"

Marcy shushed them quickly. "Rye just went down!"

"Sorry!" They whispered.

Marcy checked the bassinet by the bed. Riley made some noise and screwed up her face but ultimately stayed asleep. Marcy blew out a breath.

"Sorry, Marce." Mercedes apologized again. "Here's a stack of letters."

"Who is it from?" Marcy took the letters.

"The whole glee club almost and girls from cheer and art club and the paper." Mercedes said.

Marcy set aside her book to go through the stack. "I should read Artman's first. Just to see how he's doing."

"Don't you know how he's doing? Didn't you talk to him yesterday?" Quinn pressed.

Marcy stuck her tongue out as she ripped open the letter. "How about a little less lip and a lot more shutting the hell up?"

Quinn glared. "I'll tell Mikey on you!"

"Who he gon whoop?" Marcy unfolded the pages.

"You, naughty girl!"

Marcy scoffed as she read.

Mercedes rolled her eyes. "What's it say?"

"He's talking about his family." Marcy shrugged before sitting up straight. "Holy crap! He's dating Rachel!"

"Rachel?!" Quinn wrinkled her nose. "Rachel Berry?! Why?! How?! I would have thought that she'd have gotten her hooks into Finn!"

"Apparently Finn's dating Tina!"

Mercedes gasped. "No way!"

"Yes way! RT explains it all! Did Tina send you a letter?"

Mercedes nodded. "I haven't opened it yet!" She popped up and ran to find it.

"I can't believe Tina." Quinn's eyes were wide.

"She took your boyfriend?" Marcy teased.

"Shut up. She took Finn right from under Rachel. I think I love it."

"You know you're going to have to bury the hatchet with Rachel at some point, right?"

"No! Why would you say such a thing?!"

"Because this burning hatred you have for her is highly childish. It makes no sense."

"You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Unless it does make sense? What is it? Are you jealous of her?"

"Jealous?! Of Rachel Berry?! Yeah, right!"

Marcy lifted a brow.

Mercedes came back. "She tells me in the letter! It's true! Hey? What's going on here?"

Quinn glared at their little sister. "She thinks I'm jealous of Rachel."

"What? Why?" Mercedes sat down in complete befuddlement.

"That's what I'd like to know!"

Marcy lifted a shoulder. "Maybe it's because she is who she is. She doesn't apologize for it nor hate herself. She's completely comfortable in her own skin. She thinks highly of herself and never bends; not to peer pressure, not to logic, not to anyone."

Quinn's lips trembled. "What are you saying?"

"You were bullied for years and came away hating yourself. You changed your outside completely. Do you even still love the inside?"

Mercedes' mouth fell open. "I can't believe you said that!"

"You spend all your time following behind Laura. You love yourself in the daytime. You have doubts at night and worry about how you look and act and how you're coming off to other people. You second guess yourself too much."

Mercedes stuck her bottom lip out. "Why are you saying this stuff to us?"

"What about you?!" Quinn bit off. "You're not perfect!"

"I never alluded to being perfect." Marcy shrugged lightly. "You're my sisters and I love you. I want you to be your best selves because that's what I see what I look at you. But we all have issues. They just can't rule us.

I'm just saying Quinn has to stop hating Rachel for loving herself and both Mercy and Quinn need to love all of themselves."

The wives swallowed hard. "How'd you come up with that?"

"Talking with Dr. Jackson about how I feel."

"How do you feel?" Mercedes asked.

"Sometimes the only reason I don't hurt myself is because I speak to one of you guys. The twins saved my life numerous times."

Mercedes gasped. "Where's Laura?!"

"Mercy, calm down."

"No! You're talking about hurting yourself again!"

"No, I'm not. I'm talking about not hurting myself. Besides I'm not the topic of discussion. Quinn is."

Quinn laid back. "I still hate Berry."

"I didn't say you had to love her. Just stop hating her because she doesn't hate herself."