I do not own Glee under any circumstances. Nor do I own the romance novel I found under my mom's bed and read when I was 15 that this fic is based on.

I. Dani's Day

Dani was angry, and as she felt Quinn grab onto her arm, she tried her hardest to console her. It was somewhat funny, on the off chance that somebody had let her know at the start of this ordeal that she, Dani Harper, would have taken the side of a man over a woman in any circumstance, she would have said they were insane, yet that was the situation she was in now.

She was angry with the short brunette lady she had thought she could trust for helping to cast aside the man she had begrudgingly come to befriend. Dani looked down and saw Quinn saying a prayer. She closed her eyes and attempted to think up a way out of this, thinking about how exactly she had ended up here...

…

Danielle Harper, or Dani as she demanded everyone call her, was at a crossroads in her life. This was generally because of the fact that she was on a cruise to partake in Quinn's wedding. While Quinn had been raised as daddy's favorite sheltered little girl, Dani had had a significantly more troublesome childhood. Dani's family had been poor and basically all that she now possessed was obtained through her own guile.

Dani's troubles really begun before she was conceived, when her flippant father overlooked putting on a condom one night and Dani was the result. Since her mother was from an extremely traditional Spanish Catholic family, Dani's grandparents forced her mom to marry her father and to keep her. To say her father despised this situation was an understatement; he was irate about it and frequently took it out on Dani's mother, and in the end Dani too. She withstood the abuse to herself and her mother just long enough to discover a way out and to fight back.

At the age of 13, when her friends were anticipating high school, Dani was figuring out how to keep herself and her mother far from her abusive father. Lucky for her one of her neighbors placed her in contact with a nearby restaurateur searching for employable part-time workers.

Dani demonstrated considerably more than average work. Also, in the wake of showing herself to be very competent in the restaurant business, Dani turned into a junior protégé to the woman. Under the teachings of her new friend, Dani grew to love the work. Best of all, the woman additionally took Dani and her mother under her protection and helped them get on their feet in the wake of abandoning her father.

Dani kept on working under her mentor until she graduated high school and head off to Yale, with a solid referral letter from her friend, who was an alumina. It was at Yale she met a blonde named Quinn Fabray, and despite their altogether different upbringings, the two got to be best friends after being forced to live together in their freshmen dorm.

Nonetheless, it was Dani's effort to save her inebriated companion from a group attack at a fairly rambunctious rave one night that cemented their bond. The incident had, for all time, solidified Quinn's unwavering loyalty to Dani. The friendship between them developed, and as it did, both young ladies' fortunes with romantic endeavors deteriorated. Dani had little admiration for men after what her father had done, and discovered a hefty portion of them were scared shitless by her ambition, but coming out of the closet quickly took care of those unwanted advances. Quinn had a lot of luck pulling in multiple partners, however she was far too trusting and ended up with her heart broken frequently, and every time this happened she turned to Dani for comfort. It was even worse than it sounded, because of Mr. Fabray's great expectations, it made it very difficult to find any man he would be in favor of.

Inevitably Quinn and Dani grew closer through their bad experiences, and it shockingly transformed into love. This came as a shock to Dani, as she never once suspected Quinn of being willing to dip into the lady pond. It was a love they eventually were able to express physically as well as emotionally.

Her new love with Quinn displayed its own particular issues however, the first of which was Quinn's father. Both girls knew there was no chance he would give them a chance to have a relationship if they told him. Lucky for them Dani had started a business on her own to help herself and her mother while she went to class, and it was very profitable. Knowing that many would not accept her as the head of the business, she had paid a man to be her proxy spokesman.

Utilizing her growing wealth and her dummy for a spokesman, she and Quinn tricked Mr. Fabray into believing that the Dani Harper his little girl was to wed was Danny Harper, male Yale MBA graduate with a successful startup business to HIS credit. So she, Quinn, 'Danny,' and her hired decoy date (to keep up appearances) had boarded the cruise that was supposed to be Quinn's wedding cruise, which it would be, only Quinn was gonna be marrying her.

All had worked out as expected, so Dani arranged for her decoy date to have some time alone with Quinn, to give the blonde one last hetero experience before their big day. She didn't see much danger in it. Unlike Dani, Quinn was bi, and got a kick out of the periodic excursion with a man or two. Dani consented in light of the fact that she figured it was best to give Quinn a chance to discharge her heterosexual desires and not let them destroy things in the future. Additionally she was permitted the company of several different young ladies on those nights, so it balanced out. She planned out one such night on this journey, so after their wedding it could be just them. Worst case scenario, she figured the man would fuck Quinn and pass out leaving Quinn in peace for the rest of the night. So she left her fiancé with the man to go ashore and see some of the local attractions.

While the island's beaches intrigued the greater part of the wedding party, Dani was more excited with the noteworthy destinations on the island itself. While business was her passion, historical architecture was her guilty pleasure. She wanted to visit obscure authentic sights regardless of how insignificant they sounded. She and her trusty camera went to as many as she could. This island ended up being a virtual buffet of classic architecture and landmarks.

As she went around the island, she discovered that there were a couple of nerds like her. Specifically there was a young woman, a man that appeared to be the woman's possessive father, and a tall youthful man. Dani watched these three as she traveled through the different sights, yet it was not until the last building, an old church (with rather great glasswork for such a little island), that she had any true interaction with them.

As she entered the church, she reviewed what she had observed of the three others. The first thing to come to mind was that the young lady was exceptionally cute. She had an immaculate and friendly face, the highlight of which was her stunning dark eyes. Her brown hair reached passed her shoulders and she was attired in a simple tank top and shorts. The tank top was a bit too tiny in Dani's opinion, yet it showed off to her breasts and stomach very well. Her breasts were around a B cup from what Dani's ocular evaluation told her, and the stomach was flat. Dani had spent enough time in gyms, working out being a favorite stress relief for her (second to Lady Sex), to identify the ones who worked for their body and those, like this girl, that did not need to. The shorts echoed her suspicions as the ass and legs, while fabulous in there own right, were definitely free of muscle tone. This girl was something else and in overhearing her speak a few times Dani was reminded of a 1940s New York lounge singer.

Some place along the line, she discovered that she was not the only one appreciating this beautiful woman. She started to understand that the tall young man likewise had been watching brunette from afar. She could tell he was enchanted with the woman on the grounds that he had, generally, neglected to acknowledge anyone else all day. He was taking in the sights, alright. He would take pictures of the structures, however his look never was a long way from the brunette beauty. Dani was not certain whether she thought that it was adorable or appalling.

She had additionally noted the conduct of the old man. His oppressive nature and possessiveness to his young companion enormously pissed Dani off. Truth be told, it looked as though he had been keeping the young lady from taking pictures of the sites Dani had seen her admiring throughout the day. In her own silent revenge, Dani had helped the girl by using her own camera to capture pictures of the windows and if she could manage it, the girl with them.

It appeared the man had business here and when she saw with whom, she instantly sprung to action. She attempted to do too many things at once and wound up walking directly into the side of the back pew. This made her topple over it and land on the floor exceptionally unladylike: on her ass with arms and legs sprawled out. It likewise caused the camera pack she had to open when it hit the floor and to scatter all it contained.

What had brought on her sudden response was two things. Initially it was that this man was with Quinn's cousin Karl and his friends, and anytime she could spend avoiding contact with the men of Quinn's family was time well spent in her mind. Secondly, it was that the brunette had taken up flirting with Karl's frat boy companions, and for reasons unknown to her, she tried to divert the young man's attention before he saw this. She was still not certain why, however, there was just something about him that made her fee really sorry for him in that moment.

Unexpectedly, she succeeded in both her objectives, or it appeared she had, as the Fabray men had not seen her and the young man in front of her had bolted over to her position to attempt to offer assistance. She was ready to sit up before he arrived and she immediately declined his offer to help her get up.

As the sounds of mocking laughter rang out from the crowd, her cheeks flushed with resentment for those frat boy assholes. Dani took her anger out on this young man. The man helped her anyway quietly assembling her gear for her and repacking better than it had started out before he gave it back. She heard him make some remark about the amount of memory cards she had in it.

Having had her fill of shallow men, she wanted to snap back with annoyance, but she was feeling kind after she realized she was being a bitch unnecessarily. It was then that she looked at him getting a good look at her. She saw his eyes widen as he attempted to subtlety check her out. She considered rebuking him for it, but figured he was mostly harmless. Also, she realized that even if he hadn't seen what was going on up front, he probably saw it now and was likely suffering profound disappointment because the girl he had been admiring all day was now basking in the attention of Karl's asshole friends.

She didn't frequently feel pity for the opposite sex, yet she felt a bit for him now and chose not to add to the bruised ego he for sure had by yapping at him for attempting to be a decent human being and for one purely innocent look at a pretty girl.

Instead she chose to find out whether or not her assumptions of the man were right; if he had truly come here for the history, and not the brunette. She was surprised to learn that he had been to a significant number of the same spots she had and knew a considerable amount about them too. She had a wonderful time strolling and conversing with him, both snapping the incidental picture.

He started to ask her about her background, and when she let him know about her MBA, she was amazed to see that that got her a second flirtatious glance. That was the exact opposite thing she had been expecting, it seemed that learning she was accomplished intellectually increased his desire for her. Typically when she mentioned the MBA to men it sent them running.

This response placed Dani in a difficult situation as she had no desire toward any further association with this man and he appeared to now be into her. She would not mind him in small doses, nothing more than that. She attempted to think up an approach to break it to him casually that she was gay. The thought caused her to wonder a bit: since when did a man's feelings matter to her?

"Apparently when they are smart, respectful, and open minded like this one," she thought to herself. She gestured with her left hand to point out something in a stained glass window. As she did, his flirtatious manner was halted suddenly and he started to make a quick exit to the door of the church. Dani was confused, why the sudden change? She hadn't done anything unusual; was it Karl and his companions? No, couldn't be they were long gone.

As he moved away from her, she replayed the events in her mind, she had raised her left hand and… it hit her seeing a glimmer in her periphery, she looked down at her engagement ring, she had worn it to ward off men. It was an old trick she had developed in school. The ring would repulse those conscious enough not to hit on a engaged woman, and those that disregarded it were quickly proven to be jerks, so it worked really nicely. Well it might have done its job here without her realizing it.

She pursued him attempting to think up a way to make it up to him. It was just then that fortune favored her, as low and behold, who ought to venture out of the church and lean against the door: the brunette. She contemplated inviting the girl to take a picture with her new friend, but thought up something different. They had both wounded his ego enough today. So instead, she offered to take a picture of him with his camera outside the church, he accepted and Dani made sure that the church was not the only thing in the shot he would like to have another look at. She verified that the brunette was visible in the background when taking each photo. Then she had him return the favor, posing herself in front of the church while he used her camera.

As she posed, she got an another incredible thought and conscripted the brunette, who she learned later was named Rachel, to take a couple of pictures of her and her male companion. Rachel obliged and after a couple of speedy pictures the man thanked both women and rushed off as the frat boys had returned.

She reviled them and their terrible timing as she watched the poor man leave. Had there had been more time she might have been able to clear up some of the misconceptions between them. Also, she had not missed the looks he had gotten from Rachel while Dani had taken his picture. As the assholes passed by, they made a couple of discourteous remarks about their plans for the evening to Rachel. Dani had crouched down to rearrange her camera pack and practically none of them saw her or recognized her. She saw Rachel quietly stroll into the church, and Dani followed her in.

Rachel was promptly and rather commandingly grabbed by the old man and taken out the back door. Dani rapidly took a couple of extra shots in the church before going after them. She went down a safe distance behind and as they approached the dock to return to the boat she was satisfied to see that Rachel had gone to the restrooms while he old man got in line.

Following Rachel into the Ladies Room she waited by the mirror until Rachel finished.

"He preferred you, you know." Dani said to Rachel as she strolled past.

"Pardon me?" Rachel paused and asked a bit befuddled, apparently not aware Dani was talking with her.

"The tall calm gentleman, the one I had you take my picture with, he was into you." Dani said to Rachel rehashing her prior explanation. Rachel walked over to Dani and appeared to consider this for a brief moment.

"Really? I thought he was charming, but why me?" She said with such a delightful voice and perfect posture that Dani stared at her for a second and felt her panties dampen at the sight.

In the following moment, Dani said in an incredulous voice, "Rachel, who wouldn't notice you? I know a few girls that would actually kill for a body like yours, do you need to hear names?"

For impact she heard a few 'me too's' from other women in the bathroom and saw a couple of nod accordingly. At that point she said, "However that kid was not simply appreciating a decent body, I think he was in love."

"What makes you say that?"

"For one thing, not to sound vain, but he barely looked at me the entire time and I am not really an ugly hag. No, he was stuck on you."

"Really? Wow, I just thought he really enjoyed history and stuff." Man this girl had issues if she couldn't accept the idea that a man would follow her smoking hot body all over an island.

"Well he was doing that too, believe me he knew his stuff. I got to talk with him in the church, but make no mistake, up until he saw you with the frat boys he was into you. Still after, when you left the church it was you, not me that made him stick around." Dani said attempting to put forth a defense for the tall man whose name she never learnt. It was a peculiar feeling defending a man and Dani was still not certain why she was doing it either.

"Why didn't he talk with me then?" Rachel asked breaking Dani from her thoughts.

"For one he appears to be the shy type, in addition to that, the old man hanging on you like a vulture gave him no chance. Plus you flirted with the frat boy assholes, and that's kind of a red flag to his type. Dudes like him tragically lose to boneheads like that constantly. I got one question though, if you found him cute why didn't you express more interest?"

"Well he was with you."

"Nope, bullshit, on the off chance that he was with me we would have been talking the entire way and holding hands and stuff, so what's your real excuse?"

"My uncle says women ought not approach..." It was as Dani figured, but it didn't prevent her from losing it a bit.

"Well he isn't right, this is the 21st century and you're an adult, if you want something or somone, you go and get it. You shouldn't bother with your daddy's consent."

"He's not my father, he's just my uncle."

"All the more motivation to forget him. Speaking of which," Dani reached into her camera pack and gave a dazed Rachel a memory card. At that point she said, "I got a couple of shots of you close to the most loved spots and I even got a couple of shots with you in them. Take this card to the photograph cottage in the primary concourse and have a set of prints made. Charge it to the Fabray wedding and select the ones you like then have whatever remains of the prints and the card sent to my room they ought to know where I am, the room numbers on record."

"Really? Much appreciated!" Then after a beat she said, "Hang on, Fabray wedding? I was told I would be assisting with the bachelor party for that wedding tonight."

Dani now realized what Karl had paid the old man for and felt extremely sad for the girl, as her uncle had probably just pimped her out as a prostitute and/or stripper for the party.

"Yes, that is my friend Quinn's wedding, she is getting hitched in two days. I'll see what I can do for you Rachel, but it doesn't look good. All I can say is try to get out of it, trust me you want no part of that party. Get to my room, penthouse suite two, if you can, as soon as you can." Rachel nodded and left the room.

Dani then did her business before she set out toward the dock. She was in time to make the next ferry back and attempted to place herself as a long way from the frat pack, Rachel, and the old man as she could. It was then that she recognized that her fake date was there alone, and she quickly got concerned for Quinn.

As the swarm of people left the boat, Dani cornered the patsy and asked where Quinn was. His response was essentially that he was not certain, but that he thought she was in her room. Dani told him that in the event that she was not there, then it would not be pleasant for him. Dani picked up the pace to Quinn's room to check whether he was lying.

However, she was diverted from that goal by Quinn's mother who was making last minute arrangements and would not leave Dani alone unless she helped out. Quinn's mother said she saw Quinn head to her suite for a rest prior to dinner, which alleviated Dani's tension about her missing friend.

Later that night, when Dani was finished helping Mrs. Fabray she took off to find Quinn. She discovered upon arrival at Quinn's room that one of Quinn's cousins was apprehensively sitting on Quinn's bed unsure of where Quinn was. It turned our that in her race to accomplish everything Mrs. Fabray had confused the cousin for Quinn and the cousin had been so frightened she hadn't corrected her. Dani advised the cousin to return to her own particular room, and afterward departed from the room in a hurry herself.

She was getting angry as she went through the clusterfuck of men in the dining hall that was housing the raucous bachelor party. When she discovered who she was looking for, she yanked him out of his seat by the hair and dragged him from the room before cussing him out and asking, once more, what happened to Quinn. He had no reply, and Dani, with an incredible number of insults, requested that he find her or there would be consequences. The man rushed off. Dani calmed down, and she heard him as he lurched away murmuring something about a man named Puck.

It was then she heard Rachel's name advertised and a wave of compassion for the girl washed over her. For a short time, Quinn was driven from her brain and she thought about a way to help Rachel. A brisk look through the door gave her an idea and she headed for the staff hallway.

A short man attempted to stop her and she said, "Don't even short round, you attempt to stop me and your grandchildren will feel the beatdown I give you."

The man backed away and when she got behind the stage a pudgy security woman prevented her from getting to Rachel, and after appraising her adversary, she was reasonably certain in the event it got physical she could take the woman in a fight, she didn't think it would get to that however.

With much belligerence Dani said, "Get her off that stage."

"She's a pro she knows what..."

"Trust me she is not a pro, she is some poor girl with an uncle who needed to make a quick buck."

"Listen, I feel for her, but I can't go against the wishes of the party."

"Tell them it's my fault, I am the maid-of-honor in the wedding." Then after a beat Dani said, "Listen, if you don't go get her, I will."

The woman protested, but a couple of seconds later she had done her duty and Rachel was off the stage, a bit worn out, but considering where things could have gone, not that bad.

"We should go." Dani said to the still bewildered Rachel. She didn't challenge as Dani took her hand and led her away from the party. When they returned to her room, Dani sent the purser to the keep watch at the door, and convinced Rachel to strip out of the fetish outfit that they had forced her to wear and get in bed.

She looked on as Rachel submissively agreed, and after she turned to her and said, "You saved me and you don't even know me. I feel compelled to thank you some way or another… " Since Rachel was still naked, Dani thought for a second that she was being offered rescue sex.

"No chance. I got to go pay off a promise and I don't take you for the type who delights in the joys of sex with a girl. As much as I would like a piece of you, I think it'd be best if we left things here."

"Wow, okay, I didn't mean to imply I would thank you with sexual intercourse. I was talking about money. Where I am grateful for your help and a part of me certainly finds you to be sexy, I'd much rather have a man in my bed if you get my meaning." Rachel said shaking her head.

"I can't take your money, I was simply being kind; and about the sex thing, no offense taken whatsoever. Whereas I tend to prefer a woman in my bed, I have met a few like Quinn who are willing go both ways." Dani said nodding in understanding.

"Not to pry, but are you and she?" Dani nodded and Rachel asked, "then why…"

"The wedding?" She replied before getting into a large clarification of her and Quinn's situation.

After the short discussion about the sadness of the circumstances in which Rachel demonstrated genuine empathy, they talked about the whereabouts of Quinn and after some reassurance from Rachel that Quinn would be alright, Dani gave Rachel her room key and bade her goodbye.

Dani then turned her attention to the other suite. Discovering the room still empty of course she sat down to attempt to sleep. The great thing about saving Rachel was it had taken her mind off of Quinn for a bit, but now the stress returned and she fell into an uneasy slumber envisioning what could now be befalling her lovely fiancé.

The next day flew by pretty rapidly in a whirlwind of wedding related events. She got out of bed and thought she'd work out, on the journey there she was relieved to discover Quinn had been found and looked fit as a fiddle. With that settled, Dani let her rest in her room and took off to the rec center.

When she got there she was amazed to see that the gentleman from the island was there also. He was completing his workout, but stopped to talk with her for a moment. After seeing him again she was told his name was Sam. It was going great until he put on his backpack and a weird item dropped out unbeknownst to him. It was a red bit of fabric and she lifted it up to examine it. She remembered it instantly as the red lingerie she had purchased for Quinn recently before this trip. The ones she knew Quinn had been wearing the day before when she had left her with her simpleton of a date. As he had not been aware they had fallen out of his backpack, Sam continued strolling along, and the rage Dani felt kept her from letting him know he had dropped them.

Her opinion of the man took a nosedive in an instant, as this implied he for some reason took a torn pair of her lover's underwear as a trophy. She could murder him. To think she had felt sorry for him and even attempted to help him score Rachel, well Rachel deserved better if this man was what she thought he was. Just when she thought her view of men could sink no lower.

Still angered by this she completed her workout and stormed off to the rehearsal dinner. Quinn was brilliant of course, but Dani barely took note of this, as she was preoccupied waiting for her proxy and his friends to show their faces. When the hung-over butt holes bumbled in they started to make such an array of fuck ups that it made the thing last until supper when it mercifully concluded.

The formal supper was shockingly pleasant and Dani's temperament improved with the bountiful feast; her disposition was raised even more when she remembered the impending secret ceremony between Quinn and herself. In a couple of hours she would be married, no matter how illegal, to her soulmate and nothing could detract from that.

After all the young men, as anticipated, went off to get wasted, Dani was allowed to go to Quinn's suite for the night. This was intended from the outside to make the sleeping arrangements as well as wedding prep the following morning less demanding. But for Quinn and Dani, it meant they had time and privacy to do their secret ceremony.

Dani immediately gathered her night bag including her pictures from yesterday that she had printed out. She then rushed over to Quinn's room and was nearly tackled when she got there.

Quinn held up long enough for Dani to close the door before she raced to her side. Dani dropped her things and closed her arms around Quinn and felt little arms close around her back. She then lifted Quinn off the ground and spun her around while they shared a kiss that appeared to go on forever before she set her down.

"I love you Quinn Fabray," She said as Quinn's feet touched the floor.

"And I love you Dani Harper."

Dani was satisfied to here it in response. As the two broke apart she said, "You would not believe the day I have had."

To which her lover replied, "You too huh?"

xoxo

End of Chapter 1