Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. If I did, the IQ's of the character's would fall into the range of normal human beings.
Spoilers: Up to 2x13 "Comeback"
A/N: It appears that this will be my first multi-chaptered fic. I wanted to do something off of a Pezberry prompt but I'd still have to do research for that. So Faberry it is. Luckily this week's episode (Comeback) has opened up an opportunity for it. Please read and review! Your comments will be greatly appreciated. It is what makes me keep on writing for you guys.
A/N2: This is unbetaed. All mistakes are mine (hope there aren't too many). I'll try to update this as quickly as I can (fingers crossed). Wish me luck!
Pick Up the Pieces
Quinn was distraught.
She couldn't understand how her life could crash and burn twice in a row. This was almost the same as Babygate last year, but without the baby. She was no longer a Cheerio, her boyfriend dumped her because she cheated and the guy she cheated with wasn't all that interested in her anymore. How could she make the same mistake twice? And this time there was no one in Glee to sympathize with her. The only bright side that she could ever pull from this was that instead of morning sickness, all she got was mono.
God, she was so pathetic.
Now, walking the hallways of McKinley with no one by her side, she felt empty. Alone. Gone was the Queen Bee of McKinley and in her place was a nobody. Quinn didn't know who she was anymore. She had nothing to latch onto, nothing that could help define her in some way. Everything that she ever worked for, everything that she surrounded herself with, all just served to keep up her popularity. It was all a mirror for her ego and now it was shattered like so much broken glass. Picking up the pieces would only make her fingers bleed.
The bell rang.
She jerked out of her emotional puddle of self-pity only to see Crystal, the new head Cheerio since she left the squad, standing before her, a large slushy cup in one hand, with the rest of the Cheerios behind her.
"You cost us Regionals, Fabray."
"Just leave me alone, Crystal."
"No! You don't call the shots anymore. You left us hanging and now we're gonna make sure you don't come back from this." She jerked her hand holding the slushy forward.
Quinn closed her eyes and braced herself as the icy liquid and grape-flavored corn syrup impacted her face and trickled down her clothes. The coldness of the drink contrasting the heat of her cheeks as she burned with the shame and humiliation of being slushied again, an act that would redefine her as a loser in this school, confirming her new place in the social order.
It took Quinn all of five seconds to burst into tears and start running for the nearest bathroom, the laughter of the Cheerio's echoing in her ears as she quickly tried to distance herself from them. The other students seemed to be laughing too, reveling in the fall of the now ex-HBIC Quinn Fabray, who once ruled over them with an iron fist, fell from grace and somehow managed, to their great dismay, to return to do it all over again. But now, there was no way she'd get a third chance to get back to the top.
Nobody liked the period of Quinn's reign. Her insecurities drove her to constantly reinforce the social order in McKinley more times than necessary. Sure, it was expected that if you stuck your neck in a place it didn't belong, discipline would come in the form of slushies, dumpster dips and if you were unlucky, being rolled around in a portalet. Quinn, however, ruling the school since she was a freshman, kept ordering 'disciplinary actions', even to people minding their own business, just to constantly remind them of their standing in the social hierarchy. Rachel Berry, for one, used to have a standing slushy order for everyday.
Rachel.
Rachel Berry was one of the few positive changes Quinn made in her life. Granted, she wasn't exactly friends with the diva, but at least they weren't enemies anymore. She was the only girl Quinn had ever personally tortured. But even after everything Quinn had done to her, Rachel had still found it in her heart to forgive her and even offer her friendship when Quinn was having a hard time during the pregnancy. Rejecting that offer was the single biggest regret of Quinn's life, so she resolved that she would at least be a little more civil to the brunette from then on.
Back when Quinn was still climbing the Cheerios ladder, she had used Rachel as an example for all those who would get on the icy blonde's bad side. All because Rachel had foolishly made the mistake of marching straight up to Quinn on the first day of classes, unaware of the breach she was making in the social order rigidly held by the students of McKinley High, and invited her to join Glee club. Quinn had seized this moment as the first stepping stone to her rise to the top and threw the slushy she was drinking at the small diva, marking the first ever slushying in McKinley High history. After that incident, it never stopped. Quinn constantly bullied the shorter brunette, making up derogatory nicknames for her, insulting her fashion sense, even drawing pornographic pictures of her in the first floor bathroom.
Now, here she was, in that same bathroom, wearing an animal sweater and penny loafers, dripping in grape slushy, crying her eyes out in front of the mirror. God, when did she turn into Rachel? If she didn't believe in karmic retribution before, she certainly did now. Speaking of which...
"Quinn, are you okay?"
Rachel.
Quinn wished she could just melt into a puddle and be done with it. Any flecks of ice on her face melted away as the blood rushed to her cheeks at the sight of the last person in the world she wanted to see standing there in front of her. Seeing that the blonde was still too shocked to talk, Rachel continued.
"Let me help you Quinn, I always keep my slushy clean up kit around for times such as these. I have also become somewhat of an expert in cleaning up the aftermath of a slushying since, as you know, I have had a lot of practice at it." Quinn just started sobbing again. Even until now Rachel was still a very kind hearted and caring person. She had even mellowed a bit in the past year and didn't make as many diva rants as she used to. Rachel never deserved any of the torments Quinn had bestowed upon her in the past.
Upon seeing the blonde breaking down once more, Rachel reached out and cupped Quinn's cheek in one hand, ignoring the sticky liquid that was still on Quinn's face, and turned her head up, forcing Quinn to look Rachel in the eye.
"Look Quinn, it's going to be alright. I know what you did to Sam was horrible, but you can't change the past. All you can do is try to be better in the future. Now we're going to get you cleaned up, okay?"
Quinn nodded.
Rachel removed her hand from Quinn's cheek, and without thinking, started licking her palm. Quinn suddenly went rigid at this very odd sight. Rachel, upon noticing Quinn stiffen, quickly realized what she was doing and whipped her hand away from her mouth. It was now Rachel's turn to blush furiously.
"I.. I-i...I'm very sorry Quinn. I-it's just that like the flavor of grape. Even Noah mentioned it once, that I always used to lick my lips whenever a grape slushy was thrown at my face. A-and.. and... I just really like grape, okay!"
Rachel nearly shouted that last part out, cheeks still burning with shame. To her surprise, Quinn just chuckled. Needing something to occupy her trembling hands, Rachel pulled a cloth rag out of her 'slushy clean up kit' and started wiping Quinn's face, albeit very tentatively, afraid that Quinn wouldn't want a weirdo touching her. To her relief, Quinn just stood there and allowed Rachel to clean her up. Quinn, however, couldn't resist making a jibe at her.
"You know, you're cute when you get all defensive like that." Cute? What the hell, where did that come from? Well.. she kinda is... No! Stop it! Do not even go there! "Ah... I-i mean... uh..."
"Thank you Quinn. I was afraid you would think I was being weird or something."
"Oh, you're definitely weird, Rachel."
Both of the girls started giggling uncontrollably. They didn't know why, the situation just seemed to call for it. Maybe it was a release of all the tension they were holding in from being in such an awkward situation.
"Okay, Quinn. Now lay your head down into the sink and let me wash your hair."
"Rachel, you're going to be late for your next class."
"It's fine, Quinn. I always prepare for my classes three weeks in advance, so missing one won't matter so much. And I'm sure Mercedes will inform me if the teacher assigns homework."
"Oh, okay."
Quinn stayed silent the whole time that Rachel was washing her hair. She was officially friendless at this point. Finn and Sam hated her for toying with them. Santana was obviously no longer by her side, seeing as she stole Sam away from her. Brittany was great but she had sort of drifted away from them for awhile now, becoming her own person with this trendsetting thing. Mercedes... well, she had lost touch with her ever since she moved out of her house last year. Puck was out, given the drama between them last year and she really wasn't close with Mike, Tina, Artie or Lauren. All that was left was Rachel...
Quinn was really confused now. Ever since she didn't take Rachel up on her offer of friendship last year, they had just been dancing around one another, neither of them wanting to raise up any old animosity between them. Any banter between them was very mild, with Quinn calling Rachel out on her ego and Rachel commenting on Quinn's incessant need to keep herself popular.
Now here she was, crying in the bathroom with Rachel washing slushy out of her hair. She felt as though she had traveled back in time. Well, the people and the circumstances were different, but the overall situation remained the same. It was as if the universe had given her a second chance at becoming friends with Rachel, that is if Rachel were still open to it...
"Rach?"
"Just a minute Quinn, I'm almost done rinsing your hair." Rachel rinsed the last of the shampoo out, then took a towel from her kit and started drying Quinn's hair.
"I'm sorry, you were saying...?"
"Um.. well, remember last year, just before sectionals. You had just told Finn that the baby wasn't his..." Rachel winced at the memory.
"Look, Quinn, I'm sor-" Quinn put a finger to the brunettes lips, silencing her.
"It's not about that. I'm talking about our conversation afterward." Rachel's eyes widened as comprehension dawned on her. Then her expression softened.
"If you're talking about my offer of friendship, then that offer still stands, Quinn. I've already forgiven you for everything you've done to me in the past and I've also seen how hard you have been trying to change this year. Granted you strayed off the path towards the end there, but that could be accounted to your deep-seated insecurities about remaining popular. In fact, given our current situations, I feel that it will be mutually beneficial for both of us to start off a friendship now. What I mean is-" Quinn held up a hand to stop the diva's rambling.
"I would really like to be friends, Rachel. But could we maybe talk about this later? We both still have classes to get to."
Rachel pouted.
"Fine." Then she broke out in a wide grin. "I know! Why don't you have dinner with me and my dads at my house later tonight. We can talk as much as we want afterward."
"It's a date, Berry." Realizing what she said, Quinn felt the heat in her cheeks rise once more. How many times could she blush in one day, let alone in an hour? Smacking herself internally in the head, she tried to amend her statement. "What I mean is not a 'date' date, but just... you know... a date?" Wait a minute. That still doesn't sound right. Stupid, stupid!
In the meantime Rachel was trying valiantly trying not to laugh as Quinn was so obviously flustered. Who knew that Quinn was so awkward when not keeping up her HBIC persona? Rachel decided to spare Quinn from further embarrassing herself and interrupted the floundering blonde.
"Relax, Quinn. I know what you meant. I'll see you later in Glee, okay? Then I'll drive you over to my house."
Quinn nodded silently.
"Oh, wait you've still got a bit of slushy left on your ear... "
Rachel leaned forward, her cheek brushing against Quinn's... and gave a quick lick to Quinn's ear. Pulling back, Rachel gave Quinn a wink and said "I told you I really like grape!" before jauntily bounding out of the bathroom, leaving a very shocked and confused Quinn behind her.