The two of them curled up together on the couch and later that evening Quinn called her family on a video chat. In the last couple of months dating Quinn, Francis found out that Quinn was actually working a lot outside of class to send money back to her family. Which explains why she slept so often. Francis offered to help but Quinn refused outright saying she couldn't take his money. Francis's mother May answered the call as always, a cloth bandana on her head covering up her lack of hair.

"Quinnie!" May greeted happily before spotting Francis in the background, "Francis! Hi, hunnie! How are you!" May spoke in a thick southern accent. She was always so sweet though. "I'm great Ms. May!" Francis leaned over Quinn's shoulder. "How are you doing?" He asked, "Ah well I'm still kicking so I'm doing good!" May said just as some kids shouted and screamed in the background. "Harley, Hudson, and Hilda! Y'all best behave yourselves! I'm talking to your sister Quinn!" She shouted, the children bomb rushed the scene, three identical triplets around the age of eight popped up. "Quinn!" They screamed, "Hey kiddos! Did you guys get my presents for your birthday?" Quinn greeted.

"Yeah, it was awesome!" Harley exclaimed before spotting Francis, "Francis! She got us a new game system!" "Each!" "We don't have to share!" Hilda, Harley, and Hudson chimed in one after the other. "It was their birthday?" Francis asked, "Yeah a couple of months ago, their gifts just showed up." Quinn explained and Francis let out a breath. For a moment. He had thought Quinn had kept that information from him on purpose.

He almost had felt hurt at the idea. But thankfully that hadn't been the case. "That's great!" Francis told the kids who smiled. "Y'all get off my lap!" May exclaimed with a laugh shooing them away. "So what's up buttercups?" May asked once the kids scattered after one of Quinn's other siblings called for them off-screen.

"I'm going to be visiting Francis's family over spring break." Quinn explained, "Oh that's great honey! I hope y'all have a good time. You need a break from all that studying and work anyway!" May said with a smile, Quinn smiled back at her. "I'll be sure to send over some more money before the break." She told her, "Quinn we're fine! You need to keep some of that for yourself! Good golly running yourself to death. Just like your Mama!" May scolded, "Worse people to be like Mama." Quinn said laughing. May let out a sigh and smiled, "Now Francis you better take good care of her. She might be all grown now but she's still my baby." May warned playfully.

Francis smiled, May was always great to talk to. "Yes, mam." He said smiling, the two of them spoke with Quinn's family a bit more all of the kids taking turns to tell Quinn and Francis about everything going on. When they got off Francis looked over at Quinn. "Did your family move recently?" He asked, previously, May would always answer outside. But now, they looked like they were in a house. 

A fairly big one, Quinn grinned. "Yeah, I was able to send over enough money so Mom could buy back her mom's house from the bank. So they moved in." Quinn looked proud of herself as she said that. Francis had seen the different jobs that Quinn did on campus and off. Constant tutoring, remote work, and even odd jobs. Somehow she even found time to spend with him after they started dating.

Part of the reason why Francis had moved in was that Quinn had such a bad habit of stretching herself thin she forgot to eat. So whenever she did come home, he'd make her food to eat and made sure she got to bed at a reasonable hour. She refused his help financially, which was honestly nothing to him. So, he thought he'd at least offer help this way. Francis smiled and clapped, "That's amazing Quinn. You worked very hard for that." He said proudly, Quinn smiled from ear to ear. 

"Thanks." She said clearly happy with the compliment. "So will you be able to cut back on your hours for work now?" Francis asked curiously, "Yeah." Quinn said sounding relieved. "The place we were staying in before was what was really making mom sick," Quinn explained. "So she should be able to recover better. I won't have to worry as much."

Francis nodded, not really understanding what kind of situation that could be. Quinn's family sort of danced around it. Acting embarrassed, Francis didn't ask because he didn't want to seem pushy. The two of them were quiet for a moment, Quinn then spoke up. "You can ask if you want." She said, "I'm not ashamed or anything." She clarified. Francis looked away, "I'm curious but I don't want to make you uncomfortable." Francis said softly. "It's fine, come here," Quinn said motioning for Francis to move closer. She then opened up a video on her laptop. "I took this before I left. I wanted to remember where I grew up at." Quinn said clicking on a video.

What Francis saw startled him, it was a small two-bedroom trailer. There were holes in the floor covered by boards, black plastic bags covered windows, it looked like the family tried to keep the place clean but... With eight people living there. It was hard. Lights flickered as Quinn went through the house silently turning things on. The water in the kitchen was brown and sputtered when she turned it on. There was a hole in the ceiling inside one of the closets. Black mold grew near one of the windows. Outside wasn't much better, homes were mere feet away, trash littered the ground and there were shouts, babies crying, and dogs barking in the distance.

"You grew up there?!" Francis nearly shouted, "It looks like a third-world country!" He was startled that Quinn would grow up in a place like that. "Kind of was. But some people have it worse." Quinn said with a sigh, "How?" Francis exclaimed, "They don't have a house." Francis went silent hearing this. "How did your mom even manage it?" He felt sick, how did Quinn even manage it? Quinn got into the university on a scholarship, which meant her tests and essays were beyond anyone else's. "She had no choice, dad left and all she could do was pick up the pieces," Quinn explained.

Francis took a deep breath, "You're amazing Quinn." He said with deep admiration, "You pulled your family out of that, that's amazing." He felt so much prouder of her now that he had context. Quinn grinned hearing this, "Thanks." She said rubbing the back of her head. Francis smiled, wondering how in the world he had ever thought Quinn was even remotely lazy. "So tell me about your family's house." Francis said changing the subject slightly, Quinn smiled, "It was built by my great-great grandmother and her wife. They bought the land for five dollars." Quinn said proudly, "What?" Francis exclaimed, "Yeah, they got the land at an auction. The guy who owned it before them got told by a psychic he had to sell the land to a young couple or else he'd be cursed. My grandmothers were the lowest bidders but they were the only couple at the auction. The man sold it to them." Quinn said smiling.

Francis was actually startled hearing this, "He listened to a psychic? Aren't they all fake?" He questioned, "Hey if you ever visit down south with me you better not say that stuff out loud," Quinn warned, "People believe that stuff there. Especially when the psychic was Madam Rose." "Who's that?" "She was this really famous psychic that even did a reading for the president. She saved his kid's life by warning him about not letting him eat pork." Quinn explained, "There was a swine flu outbreak in pigs later that year and his kid avoided getting sick because the president wouldn't let anyone eat pork. His brother and his kids actually all got sick and died because they didn't listen to the president."

Francis laughed, "That's amazing. So Madam Rose was the one who told that man to sell to your grandmothers?" He asked, "Yeah, he ended up getting a huge windfall after that and helped funded building the railroad. The house had been in my family for generations after that until my dad got into debt and the bank took it." Quinn explained, "I'm so sorry that happened." Francis said empathizing with her. "Ah well, he's dead now so," Quinn said shrugging. Francis breathed exasperated, "Quinn... You say some really dark things for someone with a sweet face like yours." He deadpanned, Quinn, laughed. 

"It's part of my southern charm hunnie." Quinn spoke in a thick accent that made her sound like her mom. Francis laughed, "You sound like your mom when you talk like that." Quinn gasped, "No I don't!" "You do!" Francis insisted.

Spring break arrived and fresh off of midterms, Quinn and Francis were exhausted. By chance, Quinn and Francis both shared the same major of political sciences. Quinn had wanted to become an ambassador for her country and Francis took the major for obvious reasons. So it was helpful to have someone to complain about everything to. 

"Can you believe Professor Jackson's midterm? Five hundred questions!" Quinn ranted as they climbed the steps to the plane. "I thought I was going to die." Francis agreed. "He's the devil, I just know it!" Quinn insisted, "He's just mad because Professor Harmon thought his latest research paper was trash." Francis spilled the latest gossip he had heard as Quinn and he sat down in their seats.

"What?" Quinn asked completely distracted from how fancy the plane was by this gossip. "She's an ethics teacher why would he care?" She asked, "Because he has a massive crush on her. Duh." Francis said smugly, "No... All he ever does is rant about how philosophy is dead." Quinn shook her head, "He did that after he followed her around like a lost puppy during lunch. He got mad when he couldn't sit with her. I saw it myself." Francis said proudly, he loved gossiping with Quinn she had all the best reactions. "How do you manage to get this information to fall into your lap?" Quinn said laughing, "I have my ways," Francis winked at her making her laugh even more.

"Hot towel?" The stewardess offered, "No thanks." Quinn said before processing everything. "When did we get on the plane?" She asked looking over, "About twenty minutes ago." Francis said sheepishly. He had purposely been trying to keep Quinn distracted knowing how she'd react. Quinn didn't care too much for being around so many expensive things. So Francis had started sort of distracting her whenever he got her near expensive stuff. It helped soften the blow more often than not.

"What about my stuff?" Quinn exclaimed, "I took care of it! Everything is packed and good to go!" Francis said proudly. "Wow." Quinn said amazed, "Look I may have grown up with a silver spoon in my mouth, but I'm damn good at organizing." Francis said grinning. Quinn laughed and clapped, "Thank you. Thank you." Francis did a couple of mock bows. "Everything was sent ahead of us. So it'll be there when we get there." Francis explained.

"Very clever. A pretty face and a brilliant mind. You're the whole package aren't you?" Quinn teased, Francis grinned despite knowing it was teasing it made him happy. Everyone always treated him like he was some lovesick airhead. Quinn had been the only one to ever treat him like he had any sense in his head. "I've got to match wits with an alpha like you beside me," Francis replied, he looked away for a brief moment before glancing over to see Quinn with a bright red face. She looked away and Francis smiled grabbing her hand.