So I probably shouldn't have been working on this when I have so many unfinished stories, but I couldn't just ignore the inspiration I had for this story. I'm working on updates for most of my stories that aren't on hiatus. So be patient with me.

Rachel surveyed the contents of her car as she finished the last of her packing. It wasn't the life she'd envisioned for herself, but then she wouldn't trade her son for the world. She was thankful, for him, for her parents, for having made it to the city of her dreams, even if her dreams hadn't come true.

She went inside, her eyes lighting up at the sight of her son laughing. Her fathers loved spending time with Patrick and spoiling him rotten. It saddened her, that they had to leave, but she could only get so much time off of work, in fact, she was amazed that she'd been able to come home for the holidays at all.

"Come on Pattycakes, it's time to go," Rachel said.

Patrick pouted slightly, but otherwise made no arguments. Rachel knew her son was almost as dramatic as she was, but he knew when to make his dramatic side known, which was something Rachel had always had trouble with.

After saying their goodbyes and getting Patrick buckled snugly into his car seat, they were off to the big city.

It wasn't twenty minutes later that her car broke down, barely managing to pull the the side of the road. She cursed under her breath, hoping that the three year old couldn't hear her.

"Aunt Quinn," Ryan whined, "Can we come live with you in New York?"

Quinn laughed at her nephew. He hated Ohio as much as she did, but then, she only came back for special occasions, like Christmas.

"We can talk when you graduate high school," Quinn told the ten year old, "Until then, you'll have to tough out Ohio just like I did."

Ryan pouted, crossing his arms defiantly. "Aunt Quinn," the boy whined again.

"How about I talk to your mom about coming to visit?" Quinn appeased her nephew.

Ryan squealed in delight, running back into the living room to tell his brother that they were going to visit New York.

Quinn followed him in, laughing softly at his enthusiasm.

"Alright kids, time to head back," Quinn said.

Groans erupted from the room, and a frustrated five year old boy chucked the block in his hand against the ground, which bounced and hit his three year old sister in the eye.

"Logan Clayton Evans!" Quinn reprimanded the boy as she rushed to her daughter's side. The three year old had let out a high pitched scream, and let the tears fall from her eyes. Quinn pulled her into her arm, rocking her gently and whispering soothing words into her ear. When she calmed down, Quinn pulled back slightly.

"Lucy," Quinn said softly. "Lucy, baby, let mama see you eye."

Lucy slowly removed the hand that had been covering her eye, letting Quinn take a look at it. She was relieved to find that it hadn't actually hit her eye, but rather just outside of it. Not that it wasn't a big deal either way, but now Quinn wouldn't have to worry about her needed surgery or anything.

Quinn picked Lucy up, and walked over to her son.

"Logan," Quinn said sternly, but softly, "We do not throw things." Logan looked guilty. He hadn't meant to hit Lucy, but he didn't want to leave yet. "You need to apologize to your sister and we'll talk about it when we get home."

Logan apologized sincerely. He really was sorry. Not so much that he had thrown the block, but that it had hit his sister. He didn't want anything to happen to her. He didn't even fight going home, though he had originally planned to. He was going to be in big trouble when they got home, and he knew it. And worse then that, he had the trip to New York to think about it.

Rachel was under the hood of her car, trying to figure out what in the hell had just happened. She had no idea what was wrong, or what to do. She wanted a quick fix, because she couldn't really afford to take the car into the shop. She was about to give up and call her dads when she saw a vehicle pull off behind her car.

Somebody had stopped to help her. When the door to the other car opened, she looked up. She was shocked by the sight before her.

"Rachel?" Quinn asked upon seeing the brunette. "Rachel Berry? Is it really you?"

Quinn had always been jealous of Rachel. She had known that Rachel Berry would make something of herself, she would get out of Ohio and be somebody important in the world. She was actually surprised she hadn't heard of or from her since high school.

"Quinn?" Rachel asked. She wondered if she was dreaming, but then, she was in Lima, and it was just after the holidays, so it really shouldn't have been that surprising to see her. It should have been ore surprising that she had stopped, but for some reason, Rachel just couldn't seem to think this was real.

Quinn smiled at the recognition. "It's so good to see you!" Quinn exclaimed, giving the brunette a hug.

Rachel was momentarily stunned before she returned the hug, "It's good to see you, too."

Patrick decided he didn't like that woman he didn't know getting that close to his mother, so he decided to get her attention. He opened his mouth and screamed, scowling at the world.

Quinn jumped, and looked back at her car, before realizing it wasn't either of her children who was crying. She was relieved and when she turned back to Rachel, Rachel was in the back seat fishing out a little boy.

"What's wrong Pattycakes?" Rachel asked.

Patrick just frowned, refusing to use his words. He put his arms around his mother and rested his head on her shoulder.

Rachel chuckled at the boy's antics.

When she emerged from the car holding Patrick, Quinn just stared. She hadn't expected Rachel to have a child, then again, she imagined that nobody expected her to have two children. Well, three if you counted Beth, but Quinn never got to see Beth.

"This is my son, Patrick," Rachel told Quinn. "Pattycakes, say hi to mommy's friend Quinn."

Patrick looked up at Quinn curiously, as if studying her, but quickly hid has face back in Rachel's shoulder.

Quinn just laughed. "Hi Patrick."

Rachel felt attempt to bury his head further into her.

"So..." Quinn wasn't really sure what to say. "What's up with your car?"

Rachel huffed in frustration. "I really don't know, it just died on me. And we really need to get home."

Quinn took a look at the engine, but after realizing that she didn't know the first thing about cars, she decided on another tactic.

"I don't know what to say about the car," Quinn said, "But I'd be happy to give you and Patrick a lift home."

"Oh no, Quinn, I couldn't have you do that, we live all the way in New York, I couldn't possibly ask you to drive us all the way there. But if you'd like to give me a lift back to my father's house, I suppose I could agree to that. I can see if I can borrow one of their cars and see if Burt can fix mine in the morning, though I really hate to leave either of my fathers carless, but I can't afford to take more time off of work."

"Rach," Quinn cut her off, "As much as I've missed you and your rambling, it's not a problem. We live in New York as well, and I'd be more than happy to take you and Patrick home. I could use some adult company, and I'm sure that Lucy and Logan would love to meet Patrick."

Rachel's head was spinning. "You missed me?"

Quinn laughed, "Of everything I said, that's what you pick up on? Of course I missed you, Rach."

Rachel smiled, "Alright, who are Lucy and Logan? And how long have you been living in New York without telling me?"

"Lucy and Logan are my children. Lucy's three and Logan's five. And we moved to New York about two years ago."

Rachel was doing the math in her head. If Logan was five, then Quinn must have had him her freshman year.

Quinn knew that Rachel was doing the math. "I know what you're thinking and it's not like that. Let me drive you and Patrick home. I'll give you my number, and when you have time, we can catch up."

Rachel wasn't really sure what had happened between her and Quinn. Sure, they had had their differences in high school, but they had become close friends by the time graduation came. She knew she couldn't put it all on the blonde, of course, the phone works both ways.

Rachel nodded her acceptance to Quinn.

"I missed you, too, by the way," Rachel said shyly. Quinn beamed in response.

"Come on," Quinn said, grabbing Rachel by her free hand. Rachel didn't put up a fight as Quinn dragged her, and by extension, Patrick, to her car. Rachel didn't see the make or model of her car, but it was big. Most definitely an SUV, and relatively new as well. Rachel thought that Quinn must be pretty well off to afford a car like this with having two children. She wondered what type of job Quinn had, and if she was living her dreams, instead of having had to give them up like she had.

Quinn opened the back door, and popped her head in. "Lucy, Logan, there's some people here I want you to meet. They're going to be coming to New York with us."

Lucy made a squealing sound that sounded a lot like the ones Rachel used to make in high school.

Quinn pulled Rachel into view. "Rachel, Patrick, these are my children, Lucy and Logan. Kids, this is mama's friend Rachel and her son Patrick."

"Like from SpongeBob?" Logan asked excitedly.

Rachel cracked a smile. "Wait, are you talking about SpongeBob SquarePants?" Rachel laughed. She couldn't believe that that ridiculous show was still around, let alone that Quinn would let her children watch it. Rachel raised her eyebrow at Quinn, letting her disbelief be known.

Quinn just shrugged. "Like father, like son."

Patrick looked up at his mother. He really didn't know what was going on.

It didn't take long for Rachel and Quinn to transfer everything from Rachel's car into Quinn's SUV. Patrick's carseat was placed in between Lucy's carseat and Logan's booster seat, and the three kids seemed to get along really well. Rachel had called her father's and asked them to make sure that her car got to Burt's shop alright, and she had called Burt to let him know that it was coming. It was nice that after everything that had happened, Burt and Carole still had her back.

A few hours into the trip, all three kids had fallen asleep, and Rachel thought it was the perfect opportunity to actually talk to Quinn.

"So, you got married?" Rachel asked, once again noticing the wedding band on Quinn's finger.

Quinn sighed. She didn't really want to talk about all this with her kids in the car. On some level, she knew she would because she had that sinking feeling that Rachel wouldn't relent until she got answers. It had always been her way.

"Rach, I really don't want to discuss the intricacies of my life with my kids in the backseat."

Rachel huffed, "They're all sound asleep, and we can change the subject if they wake up. It's just going to be awkward if we don't talk about it because we'll have nothing to talk about for the entire trip to New York."

Quinn relented as she knew she would. Rachel was right. It would be terribly awkward to not talk to each other, and she knew this was where they needed to start. She wasn't quite ready yet, though.

"Fine, but we're talking about you first."

Rachel knew that this was an attempt to deflect from herself. Quinn was undoubtedly hoping that the kids would wake up before the conversation turned back to her. Well Rachel didn't know about Lucy and Logan, but Patrick was a sound sleeper, and he liked his naps.

"Okay," Rachel agreed.

"Did you and Finn..." Quinn started to say. She wasn't sure if she wanted to ask if they were married, if they split up, or if Patrick was Finn's child, though she was pretty sure he was.

"Finn and I never got married," Rachel told her, "Finn got a few days to come home during his first tour. We had an amazing weekend together, but then he had to go back to Iraq. He was killed two weeks later, saving the life of one of the soldiers in his platoon."

Quinn wasn't sure what to say. She hadn't even heard that Finn had died. God, she felt horrible. She should have paid her condolences to Rachel and Carole and Burt and Kurt, but she hadn't known.

"I'm so sorry," Quinn said softly, "I – I didn't know."

"It's okay," Rachel said. It wasn't, but yet it was. Rachel understood that Quinn hadn't heard. She supposed she didn't come home much, certainly not when it had happened. She wasn't really okay with him being gone, but there wasn't anything that she could do about it. She was proud of him for saving the other guy. Michaels. The guy had had three children, and because of Finn he had been able to live to see them another day. He and his family kept in touch. They always offered whatever they could to her, though she never accepted any of it. It wasn't Finn's fault that he had died. He had done the noble thing. He hadn't known he was going to be a father.

"It wasn't until a month or so later that I realized I was pregnant. At that point I had already pretty much failed out of NYADA. I hadn't coped well with the news of his death, but when I found out I was pregnant, I picked myself off the floor. I knew that I had to do my best for Patrick. Now he's my whole world. I don't get to spend as much time with him as I'd like to because I have to work so much to keep the apartment and food and bills, but he always comes first in one way or another. He's the only thing I have left of Finn. He's ours and he's perfect and I wish that Finn could be here to see him, but I know that he's looking down on us, watching over us, keeping us safe from afar."

Quinn sympathized with Rachel. But she understood that Patrick was her whole world. It made sense in a lot of ways, but mostly she understood because Lucy and Logan were her whole world as well.

Rachel sighed. "We hadn't gotten married yet, when he died. We had been engaged, again, when he had come back from boot camp, he had proposed again, and of course I had said yes. It had been what I had been waiting for. We were going to get married after I had graduated, and when he had finished his tour. But obviously we never got that far."

"He would be so proud of you Rach," Quinn said sincerely, "He'd be so proud of you and the wonderful job you're doing raising your son."

Rachel smiled, "He makes that same face Finn made when he was thinking."

Quinn couldn't help but laugh, "I hope he got your brains."

Rachel laughed, and both girls were glad at the lighter atmosphere in the car. It was Quinn's turn now.

Quinn sighed, "I met Clay at freshman orientation. He was older, not like old, old or anything, he was twenty-one. Anyway, Clay and I hit it off really well, not in like a romantic sort of way, but we just got along great. We became really close, and he was one of my best friends. Definitely my best friend at Yale. I met his pregnant wife Lucy, and we became close as well. I got to be there when Logan was born."

"So Logan's not yours?" Rachel clarified.

"Just listen, alright?" Quinn asked.

Rachel nodded, biting her lip.

"Clay was really well off. He had grown up with a wealthy family, as had Lucy. They both had big fat inheritances and trust funds and everything. Clay was lined up to run his family business. Neither of them needed to go to college. They could live a comfortable life just coasting on their money and even send Logan to top notch colleges, but they didn't want that. They wanted to make something of themselves, and do something with their lives, so after a few years of just exploring the world, they both decided to go to college, and that's how I met them. Well the three, well four if you count Logan, of us were inseparable. Kinda like the unholy trinity again. And when Lucy got pregnant again, I was there for both of them. In her third trimester, Clay was diagnosed with cancer. It hit us all really hard, but Lucy was torn up about it. It just got worse from there. The treatments weren't getting rid of the cancer. They only slowed the spread of it. And then Lucy died during childbirth, so little Lucy was named after her mother. The stress of losing Lucy and having a second child and having cancer wasn't helping Clay. I stuck by his side though. He was my best friend. I'd have done anything for him. It was pretty clear to both of us though, that Clay wasn't getting better, and he was scared to death about what would happen to his children. I mean, you would be too right? He was sure that someone in his family would get custody of them, and he didn't want that. He loved his family, but they weren't nurturing, and Logan and Lucy barely ever saw them. He needed his kids to be with someone they loved, someone who loved them. So one day, he got down on one knee and proposed. It shocked me at first. For a moment, I thought he was crazy. I didn't feel that way about him. But after a moment, he explained why he wanted to marry me, and it made sense. He wanted me to raise Lucy and Logan. I was so involved in their lives already, that it just made sense. So we got married about a month later. And I adopted Lucy and Logan. It all went through smoothly. We graduated and moved to New York, and a few months later, he was gone. He left me everything. All his inheritance, his trusts, and Lucy's too."

Rachel wasn't sure what to say to all of that. It was a lot to process. It was more than she'd gone through.

"Rach?" Quinn asked hesitantly.

"You always were resilient Quinn. You've always had a heart of gold. I've known that for years, even when you hated me, I knew you had an amazing heart. I'm so happy to have been proven right, though I'm truly sorry for the tragic events that have happened."

"You have a knack for seeing the best in people, Rach. You were a big part of my resilience in high school. Even when I was at my worst, you saw the best in me."

After that, they had both become more relaxed. The kids had stayed asleep for a few more hours, and Rachel and Quinn had talked about everything. Rachel had told Quinn about the boy Brody, who had hit on her the first time they'd met in freshman year, and then again shortly after Finn had passed away. Quinn told Rachel the story about the first time she'd seen Clay's parents after they'd gotten married. Suffice to say, they were none too thrilled about it.

They were almost in Harrisburg when Lucy woke up, and Quinn decided to stop there for food, and because she desperately needed to use the bathroom at this point. All the stories she and Rachel were sharing had helped keep her mind off of it, but she was sure the kids would be hungry when they woke up as well.

Quinn pulled into a place called Cafe Fresco. She had been there before, so she knew it had good food. She wasn't worried about Rachel not being able to find something, since Rachel had told her that with her budget, she couldn't really afford a vegan lifestyle anymore, so she had settled for vegetarian. Lucy, bless her soul, would eat just about anything, and Logan would be content with a pepperoni pizza. She hoped that Patrick wasn't picky, but then, being the son of Rachel and Finn, he probably was.

Quinn gave her keys to the valet, and she and Rachel got the kids out of the car. Quinn held Lucy on her hip, her free hand holding Logan's. Rachel held Patrick on her hip, and smiled when Logan held his hand up for her to hold as well.

One look at the menu and Rachel started to protest.

"Quinn, this is way too expensive!"

"Don't worry about it Rachel, I got it covered."

Quinn hoped Rachel wouldn't put up too much of a fight. It was her treat, and she wasn't about to let the diva take that away from her.

"But Quinn," Rachel started again.

"Rach, listen to me. This is a great restaurant. The food here is well worth the money, and it's the least I can do after everything that's happened between us."

Rachel relented, not because she wanted to, but because she knew she wasn't going to win this. She couldn't afford this restaurant, so she couldn't pay for her and Patrick, and Quinn obviously wasn't going to change the restaurant, so she was stuck anyway.

"Fine," Rachel huffed.

Rachel had to admit, she was really impressed with the Fresco Chop Salad that she had ordered. Even Patrick was enjoying his dinner, which, granted, was only a cheese pizza, but still. Rachel had shocked Quinn when she had stolen a bite of her pork meatballs, and herself when she had found that she actually liked them. So much for being a vegetarian, but she figured, now she had to do what she had to do to get by, though she'd really only done it for the look on Quinn's face. It had been priceless.

It didn't take long for Quinn to pay the bill and get back on the road. Quinn put on a DVD for the kids, and by the end of the movie, they had all fallen asleep once again.

"I have to admit, I was surprised when you told me your daughter's name was Lucy. I didn't think you liked that name," Rachel said when she was sure the kids were sleeping soundly.

"I have nothing against the name," Quinn answered honestly, "I didn't like the person I was when I was Lucy. Admittedly, I wasn't the best person when I started going by Quinn, but I liked myself better as Quinn than I did as Lucy. And when I officially changed my name, I decided I was going to be a person I was proud of, and for the most part I have been. I changed my name to Quinn Taylor Fabray the summer before college, and I've been Quinn Taylor Evans for a few years now."

Rachel chuckled at the name. She couldn't help but picture Quinn and Sam when she said her last name was Evans.

"What's so funny?" Quinn asked, genuinely not understanding why Rachel was asking.

"Evans?" Rachel said still chuckling.

"Yeah, I don't get it."

"Did Clay get down on one knee when he proposed?" Rachel asked, knowing that the poor boy probably had.

"Yeah. Why?" Quinn had no idea where Rachel was going with this.

"Do you remember another Evans who got down on one knee for you?"

It was like a lightbulb went off in Quinn's head. The look of realization on Quinn's face was just too much for Rachel to take, and she started laughing hysterically.

"I can't believe you never thought of that," Rachel laughed.

Rachel's laughter made Logan stir.

"Mama, are we home yet?" Logan said sleepily, wiping his eyes.

"Not yet, honey, go back to sleep," Quinn replied.

Logan nodded, and within a couple minutes he was asleep once again.

"God," Quinn said, "Now this feels really weird."

About an hour later, Quinn pulled up outside of Rachel's apartment. Rachel took the kids upstairs while Quinn made quick work of bringing all Rachel and Patrick's bags up to the third floor where they lived.

"You'll keep in touch, right?" Rachel asked when Quinn was preparing to leave, back to her own apartment.

"Of course," Quinn responded, "You can't get rid of me that easy."

Rachel beamed at her. It would be nice having a friend in the area.