AN: Long time reader, first time poster.
This story and editing is all me. So, I must take responsibility for all mistakes and errors of both grammar and judgement.
The idea of what constitutes a happy ending is very subjective, just keep that in mind.
It was her Thanksgiving Break and Rachel was back in Lima for the first time since at starting NYADA. Being in New York and everything that came along with being in college had been so busy that she hadn't got the chance to visit Quinn in New Heaven with the Metro North Pass that Quinn had given her before school ended, or to even managed to talk to her at all, Rachel was just busy all the time, she had just assumed that Quinn had been in a similar situation, with adjusting to college and the Yale lifestyle, that she hadn't gotten the chance to talk or reach out to Rachel.
It wasn't like Rachel had done anything to upset her or at least that she knew about and as far as she knew,no one else had heard from Quinn, so it all fell under the same banner of Quinn just be busy with her new-found freedom from Lima. It was going to different now that Rachel was back in town and there was a chance to catch up with all the Glee kids that were back in town. Rachel felt that she should at least offer an invitation for Quinn to at least catch up over the break personally, so she headed over to the Fabrays house to find out what Quinn had been up to in the past couple of months.
Rachel knocked on the door, as she smoothed over skirt and waited, until saw Judy Fabray open the door and standing there looking surprised at her visitor., "Good morning, Mrs Fabray, I was just wondering if Quinn was home from school yet, I was hoping to see her." Judy just remained staring at Rachel in shock.
"N-no, no she's not... " Judy painfully managed to get out but seemed unable to finish the thought. Rachel found this reaction odd, but just assumed that Mrs Fabray wasn't coping well with her daughter's absence but felt a need to help Judy with her sentence, "here right now? When will she be back?" Rachel hesitantly asked.
"You're Rachel, aren't you? I remember you from some of your Glee performances. Quinn talked about you a lot" Judy reminisced as her eyes started to glaze over, seemly to ignore what Rachel had just said. "You should come in, I have something for you."
Rachel felt she was missing a vital part of information by this turn of events, she had yet to receive an answer about Quinn's whereabouts. Maybe Quinn had briefly stepped out and she would just wait until she got back, but still, she followed Mrs Fabray's directions to the living room, as Mrs Fabray disappeared into another room.
Judy quickly reappeared and handed Rachel a photo of Rachel and Quinn from their sophomore year, it was clearly from a group shot where they had stood next to each other, but it had been cropped so it was just the two of them. This was not making answers any clearer, her confusion must have been etched on her face because she looked towards Judy, who now had tears running down her face, "you need to look at the back".
There written in Quinn's handwriting were the words: Rachel, I loved you then, as I love you now and how I will love you always, Forever yours, L. Quinn Fabray
Rachel was shocked by this, "But I don't understand...", she trailed off as her eyes began to fill with tears. Judy took her hand.
"Quinn never made it to Yale, there was an another car accident on her way there, she wasn't as lucky as in February. She regained consciousness for a little while and told me about that photo that she was going to give you on her first visit to you in New York. I think she had been planning the entire thing for months, it was only thing she'd talk about after the accident. That this was her real chance of being with you and she wasn't going to let anything interfere with true love. We thought it might have been a side effect of all the medication she was on and it was making her loopy, but I guess we'll never know. There was a blood clot in her brain, and just when things were looking up again, she was taken away from us, from me" Judy laughed a bittersweet laugh at the memory. Just another way she had failed her daughter.
Rachel was in shock, "But how did no one know?"
But, by this time Judy was lost to her memories, trying to stay attached to more positive moments as her eyes focused on some of the photos that were on the wall, one in particular at moment of Quinn smiling brightly with her diploma clutched in her hand but with a slight darkness to her eyes that seemed to remain no matter the joy that radiated from everywhere.
Rachel felt like she was intruding and went to give the photo, that was loosely gripped in her hand, back before she left.
Judy just gave her a tearful smile, "That's yours. I can't stand in the way of true love, can I?"
Rachel just nodded, gathered her coat, gave Judy her best and a promise of a follow-up visit later in the week. Quinn had died. Quinn was dead. Before she even made it to Yale, she wondered if she had even made it out of Ohio. At least, maybe the place beyond would be better for Quinn, better than anything that this life could offer.
Quinn imagined there would be more white, that it would just be endless white, but the green grass and the clear blue skies filled her with the sense of peace and the clarity that this is where real life began. On the worn path, she eventually caught up to Rachel.
"Hey you" Rachel greeted warmly, as she gave Quinn a peck on the lips. Quinn was just lost in her smile, as Rachel continued, "now I know we weren't supposed to bring anything, but we can't show up to Thanksgiving with nothing, so I made pumpkin pie. It's vegan, but if we don't tell anyone they won't notice" she added in a conspirative whisper.
"My lips are sealed" Quinn added with a laugh.
"Oh, I hope not, that would take away all my fun" she protested, as she grabbed Quinn by the waist with one hand, moved the pie out of any possible danger, and pulled her in for a long and passionate kiss.
"Mmm... While I would love to do this all day, we do have a dinner to get to and the sooner we get there the more time you can spend with Beth before her nap" Rachel, grabbed Quinn's hand and dragged her along as she hurried up the path.
They reached the place, with tables and picnic rugs set up in the grass, under the endless blue sky, and there sat all the people that she loved and in this place, she just knew that they loved her back. Her parents, happily together not a drink in hand in a way that she never remembered but had only dreamt of, with the Glee club setting up the table for dinner as Mr Schue, Ms Pillsbury and Coach Sylvester issuing orders but not in a stern way as everyone just laughed and worked together, as Puck sat with Beth and Shelby playing with some of her toys. These were her people. Her family. They wouldn't reject her now, nor abandon her. She felt nothing but love radiating from the scene. This was home. At last.
As Rachel and Quinn walked up hand in hand, Puck saw them and picked up Beth, "Look there's Mommy with Rachel, wave to them". With Puck helping Beth wave in the right direction, Rachel and Quinn saw them and wave back
Quinn turned to Rachel and leaned into her as she sighed contently, "Can this be our forever?"
"Always."