I guess I should tell you as a warning that Quinn's family, or at least her dad, is OOC.

.

The world was a messy place, Lucy realized. Things happened without a reason; or because of God's will, she had been told. God watched over people, gave them good things if they're good, gave them bad things if they're bad. But she'd also been told that God is merciful and forgiving.

So what had this girl's Daddy do, to make God so mad? So mad that He made him sick?

She would have asked her Daddy, except she felt it was one of those questions that would make him mad.

This girl seemed innocent; surely she couldn't have done anything to make God so mad that He'd make her feel so sad. She was asleep when she got there, but Lucy saw her face was red and puffy. She'd been crying, she could tell. Lucy got ugly red spots on her face when she cried, and her nose got all burgundy and swollen. But this girl still looked pretty.

From her place on a mattress on her bedroom floor, Lucy could see a stuffed monkey clutched against the girl's chest, and she instinctively reached for her lamb inside the covers.

She hoped the girl was nice, because Lucy only knew mean girls.

The girl, Rachel, was very quiet for a week. Lucy's Mom always spoke quietly at her, like she did when Lucy or her sister, Frannie, were sick. But Rachel wasn't sick, and everyone treated her differently because she was sad. Lucy tried to surreptitiously watch her, maybe see what she liked and they could talk about that. But the problem was, she didn't have any friends, and so she just couldn't find the courage to speak to Rachel. And Rachel was really pretty, why would she want Lucy's friendship in the first place?

The first days were scary. Rachel knew Russell, her Papa's co-worker, from the few times she'd been to their office. He seemed nice, and his wife Judy treated her good, too. But they weren't her Daddy and Papa, and she missed them. She knew Daddy was sick and had to be in the hospital, and she couldn't stay there, but that did nothing to make her feel better.

This house was very different from her own. A lot of things were to not be touched, the couches weren't that comfy, and they ate meat. Sometimes Rachel felt like crying at the dinner table and not because of her Daddy. She missed all the movies and books and records she had at home, she was only allowed to bring her favorites and soon she realized they all were.

Most of all, Rachel observed Lucy. She only had a few friends at school, only the kids that mattered. The other ones could be mean or silly, and she didn't care about them.

But where did Lucy fit? They had only exchanged a few words. Rachel knew she should be polite and make proper conversation, but she wasn't sure about what they could talk about.

The first time they really talked was the night Rachel came back from her first visit to her Daddy at the hospital.

Lucy had been to church and then bible study, but when she got home Rachel wasn't there yet. They weren't exactly friends, but she knew where the brunette was today and she couldn't help but to be a little bit worried about her. She couldn't stop thinking about it all day.

Rachel arrived home after dinner. Her Mom went for a hug, but Rachel uncharacteristically hid behind her Papa's leg. He looked really tired, Lucy noticed from her place atop of the stairs. He looked like the sick one. They had a quiet talk and then Rachel hugged her father on the doorstep for a very long time, legs hanging and body almost hidden by his arms. All Lucy could make out was her brown hair beneath her father's chin and her long legs, appearing from under his embrace.

Once he let her go, Rachel ran up the stairs, past Lucy until she reached the bedroom door. She seemed to deliberate for a few seconds, but ultimately went inside.

Lucy didn't know what to do.

Should she go inside and talk? Except she really didn't know how to do that.

Should she leave her alone? Rachel seemed sad, and maybe she needed a hug. Lucy could do that.

"Lucy, come here for a second." Her mother called from the foyer.

Sighing, she went down the stairs as gracefully as she could, because her mother was watching.

"Rachel is a little sad today, okay?" Judy said softly. Lucy had to look up so see her face. "So don't bother her. Just… let her be, yes Honey?"

Lucy wanted to say something.

But won't she need a hug? Shouldn't we give her cookies? Maybe she wants to talk about it. Let's just ask her. Let's at least ask.

But instead she just nodded.

Sometimes, when she was sad, she just wanted to talk about it. Maybe have someone hold her. Sometimes she daren't approach her mother and she just hoped she could see how sad she was and ask her if anything was wrong. But her mother almost never did, and Lucy didn't know how to reach out to her.

Her only solution was to write. She wrote how she felt, what she'd like, how she would have faced those girls at school who pulled her hair tie and dumped it in the toilet so she had only half her hair up. Sometimes she wrote stories, about girls who were stronger and faced the bullies and did all those things she just couldn't dare to do.

Lucy nodded to her mom and went gracefully upstairs, but walked hurriedly to her room once she was in the hallway. When she entered her room she couldn't see Rachel anywhere, until she heard sniffling coming from the closed closet doors. Biting her lip and taking a deep breath, she took courage from somewhere within her, that felt suspiciously like it came from where her cross touched the skin of her chest.

Slowly, she sat down next to the closed doors.

"R-rachel?" She asked tentatively. "It's… Lucy. Um… are you okay?"

She heard sniffling, but Rachel didn't answer. Trying desperately not to breathe too hard from the nervousness and slight panic of putting herself out there, Lucy looked around the room for something that might help.

Rachel's monkey was peeking out of the covers, and she crawled to her bed to retrieve it and went back to her place next to the closet.

"I have… something… for you." She said quietly. "Maybe you just need… um… I have Mr. Teddy for when I get sad." She frowned. She would never say that at school, because everyone would make fun of her. But Rachel was sad, and Lucy… she was finally taking courage. "What's your monkey's name?"

Rachel still didn't say anything from the other side of the door, she just sniffled and sighed. And then…

"Oz."

Lucy almost gasped at that single word.

"Well… he's here with me, and maybe… you just need a-a hug."

It took a few seconds, but the door slowly opened and Rachel scooted over a little outside of the closet. She grabbed Oz from Lucy's hands and snuggled him to her chest, hiding her face in him.

Lucy watched quietly, not really sure of what was next and getting a little nervous.

"Thank you." Rachel murmured, finally looking up.

Her face was red and tear-strained, her eyes were puffy and her nose was running, just a little.

Lucy got up from the floor and headed to her desk, taking a tissue from the box and handing it to Rachel, who blew her nose noisily. Lucy had the sudden urge to giggle, but it mostly came from the excitement of taking a little courage and speaking up. But most of all for making Rachel feel better, if only a little.

"I'd like it if we'd be friends." Rachel said suddenly, voice serious with a confidence that surprised Lucy.

Friends?

"You… you want to be friends?" Rachel nodded. "With me?"

"You've been kind." Rachel answered softly. "Why wouldn't I want to be your friend?"

Because no one really likes me. Because everyone thinks I'm weird and I'm starting to believe them. Because I'm ugly and you're pretty. Because I'm just… Lucy.

"I don't know." She mumbled instead, feeling her face going red.

"I think I deserve that hug you promised me." Rachel said. She could tell that Lucy was just shy, and her Daddy always said that making friends was harder for shy people, and that she should give them a little push.

Her Daddy said a lot of wise things.

Somehow the tears were back in her eyes.

Lucy noticed and stepped forward, biting her lip. Rachel was just a little bit taller, and so she hugged her waist. She smelled like the vanilla perfume her mother put in her clothes, and Lucy smiled.

"I'd like to be your friend."

Lucy didn't really know what they were supposed to do now that she and Rachel were friends. She had friends before, but somehow she couldn't remember what they did, what they played at. She mostly didn't play now. Running was not proper and she could stain her clothes in the back yard, and her mother would be really mad.

But luckily, after a few days, Rachel seemed to gain confidence. And she really liked to talk. Lucy was glad, because she wasn't much of a talker.

There was this thing called Broadway that seemed to be what Rachel loved the most. She said it was her dream, to sing and dance and act on a stage on Broadway, New York. She told Lucy the entire story of her visit there when they were back home from their respective schools on Friday.

She'd seen Wicked there with her dads the year before, and when she found out that Lucy didn't know the story, she proceeded to tell it to her.

It was past their bedtime when Rachel finished. Somehow, she'd spoken all afternoon. She'd spoken non-stop at the dinner table, and Lucy's attention was divided between the story, Rachel's facial expressions and looking sacredly at her parents. She was afraid one of they would get mad, but none of them did. Her mother even asked questions and Frannie kept giggling behind her glass.

Lucy was reminded of their Christmas dinners, where everyone just seemed happier.

Rachel was in the closet again the next Sunday night.

It was harder for Lucy to hear her sniffling because Rachel was her friend now. She was her only friend, and Lucy realized she never ever wanted her to be sad. Rachel was such a happy person, from morning to night. Sure, she'd only seen a week of it, and there were a few times when Rachel just wasn't there in the house, but she was bubbly ninety percent of the time, and Lucy hated the other part.

"I'm here." She said as soon as she sat on the floor next to the closet door.

They were silent for a while, but Lucy couldn't hear any crying.

"Could you get Oz?" Rachel asked quietly.

"He's here with me."

The door opened slowly once again, and Rachel snuggled the monkey to her chest and hid her face in it.

"My Daddy's hair is falling off."

"Why?" Lucy whispered, confused. Rachel just shrugged one shoulder. "When I'm sad…"

"What?"

"Um… I write."

"I sing." Rachel smiled a little.

"Do you want to? Now?"

"Do you know Billie Holiday?" Rachel asked instead. Lucy shook her head. "My Papa sings a song to me when I have nightmares, he's really terrible at singing, but I like it anyway."

"Do you want to sing that now?"

The sudden shine in Rachel's eyes made Lucy worry she was about to start crying again, but then she smiled, and Lucy knew she'd asked the right thing.

It was a song about smiling and being happy, and it somehow made Lucy's heart beat everywhere in her chest because Rachel's voice was simply amazing.

There, sitting in the floor of her bedroom with their backs against the wall and Oz between them, Lucy knew that Rachel was probably right. She'd be on Broadway when they grew up, because she could only imagine what she sounded when she sang out loud and not just softly, like she was doing now.

She contemplated if it was a good thing to ask Rachel for another song, but she somehow seemed suddenly exhausted, so they went to brush their teeth instead.

"We should play something." Rachel announced one day after school.

They'd had cookies, special ones for Rachel that her Papa brought every week, and were sitting at the living room couch, the most comfortable one, that wasn't really comfortable at all. Lucy had just finished her homework and was hoping for maybe read her next Chronicles of Narnia book that her sister had given her as a present, just because.

Playing with Rachel seemed… exciting.

"What should we play?"

"I don't know…" Rachel's face scrunched up in thought and Lucy smiled. "Princesses!"

"O-kay…"

"But not the kind of princesses that poison each other with apples over boys, real princesses, like Lady D."

Lucy had no idea how to play at that, so she just sat there, quietly observing Rachel with her hands on her lap and her lips pressed together, furrowing her brow.

Rachel smiled widely when she saw the look on her face.

"There has to be a big issue in our kingdom that we have to solve as we are responsible for the safety of our people."

"But I thought there could only be one princess." Lucy frowned.

"No, silly; that's the queen. There can be a lot of princesses in a castle."

"So who is the queen?"

"Your Mom." Rachel stated excitedly.

"I'm not sure she'll want to play with us…"

"But we have to think about the problem first! What could be wrong that we have to fix?"

"The White Witch wants it to be winter forever." Lucy whispered unsure.

"The White Witch?" Rachel frowned.

"She's… um… she's got all the-the bad creatures on her side… and…"

"Does she have powers?"

"She can turn people into stone with her magic wand." Lucy rushed out, feeling immediately pleased with herself when Rachel's eyes widened. "She's really tall and-and beautiful, and really, really strong."

"Okay, that is scary and amazing. Dramatic, in other words; which is why I absolutely love it."

Lucy beamed.

"We need costumes."

Her tone of voice accepted no buts, and so Lucy nodded and they ran as slowly as they could up the stairs.

All her dresses were a little big for Rachel, but she didn't seem to mind. They put on as many necklaces as they could per Rachel's insistence that they needed to be elegant, and Lucy daren't tell her that her mother once said that elegant meant choosing one jewel and wearing it right. When they left the room, Rachel running excitedly down the hall, she bumped right into Frannie and almost fell on her ass.

When she looked up, and amazing gasp left her lips.

Frannie had a weird up-do in her hair and a long dress that looked kind of silly, the kind the women wore on the movies her mother watched.

"The White Witch!" Rachel gasped again.

Frannie lifted an amused eyebrow at her, with a little quirk of her lip.

"Excuse me, Dopey?"

"We're playing." Lucy said quietly.

"Well I'm not playing with you." She said sternly, but the adorable look on both their ridiculous faces full of crappy make up melted her heart just a little. She sighed. "You're playing Narnia?"

"No, just princesses." Lucy answered again.

"The White Witch wants to take over our kingdom! She's kidnapped the queen and threatened to turn her into stone if we don't surrender and give her the throne, and she's got… um –"

"Trolls?" Lucy supplied hesitantly.

"She's got Trolls around our land to keep help from coming!"

Frannie suddenly seemed to really like their game, because she had a huge smile on her face.

"Okay, who's your queen?"

"Your mother!" Rachel squealed, getting more and more excited by the second.

"Where is she?"

"In the kitchen."

"Okay, wait a second, right here." Frannie walked to her bedroom and turned around at the door. "Don't move or I'll turn you into stone." She threatened before going inside.

Rachel gasped and slowly reached out to take Lucy's hand, and they waited like statues until Frannie was out in the hallway once more, this time with a crown on her head and barefoot instead of with the shoes she was wearing before.

"Okay, go explore or whatever and I'll be in the kitchen threatening your kingdom" She went down the stairs with that walk that Lucy admired and disappeared.

"We have to hide and plan out a strategy!" Rachel beamed, tugging at Lucy's hand and bolting down the stairs.

They ended up hidden in the wardrobe under the stairs, giggling like crazy.

"What do we do now?" Lucy whispered.

"How do we defeat the White Witch?"

"Um… I don't know. We can't hit her."

"No, of course not. She needs to have a weak spot."

"I don't know about that." Lucy shrugged.

Somehow she was both incredibly excited and fearful about playing this. She was good at imagining stories in her head, reading them or creating them, but she wasn't so sure she could play along as well as Rachel did. It was exciting, though, and Rachel didn't seem to mind that she wasn't really good at acting it out.

"We have to confront her." Rachel decided.

"How?"

"We stand up to her. We're princesses, and no one is allowed to be mean to us."

Suddenly this was a lot scarier than before.

"But what do we do if someone's mean to us?" Lucy whispered.

"I told you, we stand up to them! Papa and Daddy told me that I should never let people tell me how I am or what I can or can't do, because I can be anyone I want."

"That sounds… so nice." Lucy whispered.

"And it's true." Rachel nodded confidently. "So are you ready to stand up to the White Witch?"

"Will you hold my hand?"

"Of course."

"Then yes."

Frannie was at the kitchen table, doing homework, and Judy was already making dinner, cutting vegetables and boiling water.

"We're here to fight!" Rachel exclaimed as they entered the kitchen, hand in hand.

Judy turned around to watch them and immediately covered her mouth. The make-up all over their face would be impossible to wash, and Lucy had stained her white dress with red lipstick. They looked… adorable, and it was the first time she saw her daughter, usually shy and hidden behind books or notebooks, play like that.

"What's going on?" She asked curiously.

"Nothing, I've taken over their kingdom and kidnapped you –you're the queen– because I'm the evil White Witch."

"Is that why you haven't taken off your drama class costume?"

"Yeah, and the Prom Queen crown." Frannie pointed to her head.

"So how are you going to defend me?" Judy asked the girls in all her seriousness, watching them as they still held hands in the doorway, whispering to each other.

"We're –we're standing up… to you."

Frannie smiled that smile at Lucy, like she wanted so badly to say something but thought her sister wouldn't understand. Like she loved her even more because of it.

"How?" She asked, raising her eyebrow.

"You're mean and the meanies never win." Rachel said defiantly. Lucy was staring at her with rapt attention. "You can try to take away our kingdom as many times as you want, but we'll never give up, because we're strong and talented and we'll win in the end."

Frannie was a lot more than just impressed by the confidence and knowledge of this nine year old girl, and she couldn't help but to see her in a new light.

So she said.

"Okay, I surrender."

Lucy's mouth was hanging open and Rachel was frowning.

"Wait, that's it?"

"You're obviously a lot stronger and a lot wiser than me, so…" She shrugged.

"But she was supposed to sing to you to show you that, and then you'll surrender!"

It was the loudest she'd heard Lucy speak, ever, and that somehow made Frannie like Rachel even more.

"So do it, Grumpy."

With a Smile and a Song wasn't Frannie's idea of a song to defeat a witch, but perhaps it was the ideal song to melt even the White Witch's heart. Little Rachel Berry could sing, and everyone seemed to realize that as soon as she started singing. Her mother gasped behind her and Lucy beamed as big as ever, and even her father appeared from his study with a stunned expression on his face through the ending of the song.

They all applauded and Rachel had the courtesy to blush despite that face splitting grin. Lucy wasn't far behind it, though, and as soon as her father returned to his study a minute later, she grabbed Rachel's hand and they disappeared running up the stairs.

Rachel was a good kid, amazingly talented, and she seemed to be just what her sister needed to loosen up a little, get out of her shell and act like the little kid she was.

"You're going to be on Broadway!" Lucy exclaimed once they entered her room, climbing to her bed and jumping on it.

"I know!" Rachel beamed. "Did you like it?"

"As soon as you make a CD I'm going to buy it Rach! I'll probably have my own car then and I'll play it everywhere!"

Rachel giggled and joined Lucy on the bed, grabbing her hands and jumping up and down with her.

"I hope you're not jumping on the bed, Lucy Quinn Fabray." Her Daddy's voice was suddenly right behind the door, and they stopped immediately, just in time to hear him walk away.

Lucy was still giggling, covering her mouth.

"Your name's Lucy Quinn?" Rachel asked with her eyebrows raised.

"Yeah." Lucy answered, and then her face fell a little. "Is it a stupid name?"

"No… it's… actually really pretty."

"Do you have a middle name?"

"Rachel Barbra, like the Barbra."

"What Barbra?" Lucy asked, clueless, and her brow furrowed at Rachel's shocked expression.

"My parents need to have a serious talk with your parents." She answered seriously.

The next Sunday, when she left church, Rachel was standing at the sidewalk with two ice-cream cones and the biggest smile Lucy had ever seen.

"Hi!" Rachel bounced excitedly on her spot, careful not to drop the treats.

Lucy felt an overwhelming rush to run to her in her excitement, but ultimately controlled herself because her family was right behind.

"Thank you!" She grinned widely at Rachel when she offered one of the ice-creams. "Are you here alone?"

"No, silly, I want you to meet my Daddy. They're watching me over from a park bench across the street." She seemed to be trying really hard to contain her energy, eyes wide and legs bouncing. They walked towards her parents, who were speaking with some friends from the church, and Judy turned around to look at them. "Ms. Fabray, my dads are across the street and they'd like to meet Lucy. And-and speak to you, once you're finished."

Judy immediately raised her head in search for them, and she seemed to spot them, because she nodded.

"Okay, be very careful when you cross the street, girls."

Lucy was equal parts excited and afraid. She couldn't wait to actually speak to Rachel's Papa and meet her Daddy for the first time, but she was also afraid, because she'd never met someone sick before, and she just didn't know what to expect.

Rachel's Papa smiled widely and motioned for them to hurry, which was exactly what they needed to start running towards them, just like they wanted.

Lucy didn't really pay attention to Rachel's Daddy until he was right in front of her. Her first thought was that he seemed unusually clothed, because the day wasn't so cold. He was bald, and a little pale, and didn't really seem to be able to crush Rachel in a hug like her Papa was doing right now.

"It's nice to meet you, sir." She said just like she'd been told, stretching her hand towards him, trying to make him lift his as little as she could.

"My name's Leroy, please call me that. And you must be Lucy; Rachel's talked non-stop about you."

"She's talked a lot about you, too." Lucy smiled shyly. "She said… um… that you needed to teach me everything about Barbra once you were back home… sir-Leroy."

He laughed gently, the corner of his eyes crinkling. Lucy had never met someone bald before, but she found she quite liked the way his face seemed to never end and the top shined.

Rachel was snuggled on the bench between them, one of her Daddy's hands on her lap, sandwiched between both of her own, with her Papa's hand on top of the pile. Their skins were all a different tone. Lucy really liked it.

Leroy and Hiram talked to them about silly things they loved until Judy, Russell and Frannie appeared. Frannie took both of them to the playground while the adults talked, but Rachel seemed really distressed at having to leave her dads, even if just for a while.

"We'll be back there in a little while, okay Sneezy?"

They went to sit on one side of the seesaw while Frannie took the other, but Rachel seemed to just look at their parents talking with a pout and shiny eyes.

They changed for the swings in little time, but then after a minute Frannie ended up with a whimpering Rachel on her lap. They rocked slowly back and forth, but it didn't seem to calm her. Lucy got up from her swing and stood in front of them, so that her stretched hands were able to touch Rachel every time they moved forward.

"What if we sing a song?" She suggested timidly, and Rachel nodded glumly.

"What do you want to sing, Doc?" Frannie squeezed her softly and the brunette smiled a little.

"There you see her, sitting there across the way…" Rachel began singing and immediately both Fabray girls smiled and joined her.

They were screaming and giggling more than singing by the time they sung "…She won't say a word until you kiss the girl…" And just then their parents decided to join them with amused expressions on their faces.

Rachel immediately ran towards her dads and Hiram picked her up in an instant, swinging her like a doll and settling her in his shoulders.

Frannie grabbed Lucy's hand they walked together towards their parents.

"Leroy will be home for a few weeks before he has to be back at the hospital." Russell told them once they were all together. "So Rachel will be going home today and we'll guest her with all our pleasure again in three weeks."

Lucy nodded, somehow torn between feeling extremely happy that her friend would be going home and sad at the same time because they wouldn't be together.

Rachel was on the floor once again, beaming magnificently and hugging Russell, then Judy and then Frannie.

"I'm going to miss you a little, Happy." She said while messing her hair, and Rachel beamed.

Then suddenly Lucy almost fell with the force of Rachel's hug, who was squeezing her shoulders and back tightly.

"I'll miss you, Lu." She said softly, kissing her cheek.

Finally Lucy decided to just be elated for her friend and her dads, and she watched them go slowly down the park's path while she sat in the swings with Frannie again.