A/N: New story! Yay! I had two Glee-fics planned before this one, and neither of them worked out, so I decided to try something new, and do one of these prompt fics. I don't really have a running theme – I'm just going to write whatever I feel like writing on the word. No particular pairing, sometimes non-canonical, perhaps a lot of Quinn-centric, maybe a songfic or two. Who knows? I hope you like the first part! Oh, and just to let you know, there is not meant to be any femslash in this chapter – just friendship!
2 a.m. and she calls me 'cause I'm still awake, "Can you help me unravel my latest mistake..."
I lay under the covers of my bed, staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars on my ceiling. Aside from these stars, the room is pitch black. I can't go to sleep. I know I should, because I need my beauty rest, but sleep just won't come. I shouldn't feel guilty for what I did – Finn had the right to know – but a little voice in my head tells me it wasn't my place to say anything. And what Quinn said to me afterwards – it should have made me feel better but it didn't. The look on her face told me that I'd made a girl whose life had already gone down the toilet hit the ocean floor. I normally have very strong convictions, but right now I am waffling – and Rachel Berry does not waffle.
My cell phone starts to vibrate and sing out a grainy version of 'Defying Gravity' from my nightstand. I grab it, startled, and look at the glowing screen on its front – I don't recognize the number, but I am shocked to see it's nearly two o'clock in the morning. I debate shutting the phone off and going back to counting sheep, but I know whoever is calling must have something important to say. So I flip open the phone and press the cold fiberglass to my ear.
"Hello?"
"R-Rachel?" Says a shaky, but familiar, voice.
"Quinn?" I ask, in shock partly because I don't know how she got my phone number and partly because I never thought I'd be the person she would call up in the middle of the night.
"Are you alright?" I ask tentatively.
"Could you come get me?" She blurts out, and then she starts crying. I feel tears prick at my own eyes – I have always been a very empathetic person.
"Oh! Don't cry, Quinn! I'm coming now, where are you?"
"In my car, in the school parking lot," she manages to choke out. I stifle a gasp. That cannot be good for her or the baby.
"I'll be there in ten minutes, Quinn. Don't worry!" I hear her whisper a thank you, and then a soft click indicating she has hung up. I get out of bed and throw on a fluffy pink bathrobe over my nightgown. I slip quietly downstairs and leave a note for Dad and Daddy in case they wake up, then throw on my pink Uggs, grab my car keys, and walk out the door to my car.
When I turn the key in the ignition, the engine lets out a louder hum than normal and a light goes on in my dads' room. I sigh, because I really didn't want to wake them up, but I'm lad I had the foresight to write a note. I back out of the driveway and go to school.
When I get there, the only car in the parking lot is Quinn's. I recognize it because it's the only car in the parking lot in the mornings, aside from mine, that is that bright – it's a cherry red convertible. Thank goodness the top is up. I park next to the car, and I see Quinn curled up in the backseat, her hand tracing the roundness of her middle and her eyes red and puffy. I get out of my own car and shiver in the cold night air before knocking on the door of her car. She opens it, and I slide in next to her.
"Quinn, what happened?" I ask gently.
"When Finn found out the truth, I went home to his house and packed my stuff. I left a note on the table for his mom, and drove away. So I went to Santana's house, but when she saw it was me, she slammed the door in my face." She pauses and takes a deep breath, trying to steady her shaking voice. "I didn't even bother going to Brittany's because I knew Santana would have told her to ignore me." A tear winds its way down her cheek.
"I was going to go to Puck's after that. But then I – I remembered I told him I wanted to do this on my own." Her voice cracks, and more tears find their way out of her already cried-out eyes.
"I can't face him now," she whispers.
I wrap my arms around her and rub her back. It's what my Daddy does when he tries to comfort me. Quinn starts crying in earnest and buries her face in my bathrobe.
"Rachel, what have I done?" She asks me, her voice muffled by the fuzz of the robe.
"Quinn," I say, trying to keep my emotions in check. "You are a person who made a mistake. Everybody makes mistakes." She starts to protest, but I talk over her.
"No matter how many mistakes you made, they were all for her, weren't they? They were all for your daughter, Quinn, and even if the mistakes were that bad, they are forgivable. Your intentions were only good ones, and that mean they will forgive you. It may take time, but they will." Quinn sniffles and looks up at me.
"I'm a horrible person," she whispers. "I ruined Finn's life, I ruined Puck's life, I ruined Mr, Schue's life. How is that forgivable?" I sigh. She really doesn't get it does she?
"Quinn, if you were really a horrible person, you wouldn't feel this guilty over ruining their lives, which you didn't do. They might be hurting right now, but they'll survive. And when they get over the shock, they're sure to forgive you." I'm finally out of things to say, which doesn't happen very often.
"You really think that?" She looks me in the eyes, as if she thinks she'll find a different answer there, but since I really do believe it, she doesn't. Finally, she says a quiet 'thank you.'
"Any time," I respond. "Now, we're both going to get in my car, and I'm going to take you to my house, where you're going to live from now on." Quinn looks at me, bewildered.
"I was just going to ask you to take me to the women's shelter. I didn't think I was in any state to drive"
"Quinn, if you think I'm going to let you live there when you are five months pregnant, you are sadly mistaken." She nods slightly, still in shock, and I take that to mean aquiescence. Besides, I wouldn't have taken no for an answer.
"But what will I do with my car?" She asks.
"We'll leave it here tonight and my Dad will drive us to school tomorrow. We'll drive your car home in the afternoon.
"Oh," she says. She looks really exhausted. And now I'm starting to feel my lack of sleep catching up on me. I look at the clock on the radio. Three-thirty in the morning. I decide now is a good time to be going home, so we quickly switch to my car and drive home.
When we get there, my dads are sitting expectantly at the kitchen table with mugs sitting on the table in front them. but the minute they see Quinn's lethargic form, thy give me a look that says 'we'll talk in the morning' and help me bring her upstairs to the guest room.
But as I'm climbing into bed and snuggling under the covers, Quinn shuffles into my room, looking very small despite her expanding middle.
"I – I don't want to be alone," she says quietly. So I wave her to the bed and she gets under the covers next to me. She gives me a small hug, and falls asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow. I give her a small smile, and then welcome sleep. It comes much easier now.