DISCLAIMED

I'm doing this story because Ryan Murphy did my baby Quinn Fabray dirty. I'm also ignoring the Lucy Caboosey storyline, because it was a stupid idea, otherwise canon compliant.

Family Ties

It was a beautiful day in New Haven, though Quinn was spending it inside. Laid on her bed, she read the leaflets in front of her that she'd picked up from the grad fair earlier in the day. She'd swiped stuff for post graduate education and jobs, but she'd kind of known what she wanted to do.

When she'd arrived at Yale, she was focused on being a theatre major, but had slowly found herself drawn to political science so had declared that. Now, she was rifling through leaflets for law school, something that she had found herself attracted to. Quinn figured that if she'd managed to get into Yale, then she had a chance of going into the legal profession. She'd decided upon adoption or family law, having been disheartened by her lack of support when she'd given up Beth. Quinn wanted women in her position to have support and for families to gain access to new members of their family.

She was one of three from the original New Directions that weren't pursuing a career in the arts, four if you included Finn. Sam was going into teaching and Puck was still in the air force, whilst everyone else was going to be a singer, actor or involved in theatre. Quinn had found that whilst she did genuinely love performing, it wasn't something that would be a career for her. She was part of the Yale drama club and she was happy to be involved in that. Rachel Berry could be the Broadway star, Quinn was happy doing a sensible and well paid career. It was reliable and predictable, but it was something that interested her.

As she was looking through the law school leaflet for Yale, she heard a frantic knocking at the door.

It was probably Haley forgetting her keys again. Haley was an anthropology major and Quinn's best friend. She'd been the first to defend Quinn when Biff had spilled the beans about Beth, though Quinn found pretty much everybody was on her side and thought that her asshole ex boyfriend was the one in the wrong. Haley was also very scatterbrained, forever forgetting her possessions- keys mainly.

"For gosh sakes Haley, you're such a-"

It wasn't Haley on the other side of the door. Frannie Fabray- well, Frannie Stewart- stood at the other side of the threshold, looking terrified. Cross necklace on her as always, the taller blonde looked little like her younger sister. She was tall and bony, with the harsh face she inherited from their mother's side of the family. Clutching her bag strap, her red nail polish shone brightly.

"Frannie?"

"Hi Quinnie," Frannie went forward to tightly hug her sister, said sister not being too enthralled at this embrace.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well I thought I would come see my big shot little sister at Yale."

"Yes, because you're always coming to visit me," Quinn bit back, "When I had a baby at sixteen, you dropped everything to come to the birth. When I was hit by a semi and was paralysed from the waist down for months, you rushed to see me because the doctors thought that I could die. I was nominated for prom queen twice and you were there to take pictures with me. I graduated class valedictorian from McKinley and you sat, cheering from the crowds. Oh wait that was mom. My own sister never visits me, so this isn't just a polite social call. What do you want?"

Frannie was taken aback by Quinn's immediate hostile attitude. She'd expected that her sister would be delighted to see her, but she clearly wasn't."

"I just wanted to see you..."

"Bullshit Frannie, what do you want?"

The older blonde paused, sighing, "I'm getting a divorce."

Quinn raised an eyebrow. Divorce was not a thing in their family, except for when their very pious father got a mistress and her mother left him for it. That had felt a little bit good, especially considering that her father was now the outcast in the situation. Having never forgotten her upbringing, Quinn was very anti-divorce, wanting any future marriage to be lifelong. Sure she'd cheated and had a baby out of wedlock, but that was young her.

"What happened with the perfect Christian man?"

"I'll explain in a minute," Frannie defended, "Can I sit down?"

Quinn nodded coolly, shutting the dorm door behind her. Sitting across from her sister, she nodded at her to talk.

"We were falling apart. I got married aged 21, when I was still in college. Whilst my friends went out to drink and dance with guys, I was going home to play house. I thought that I would continue to be the golden girl, daddy's favourite. Everything we were taught at home, I thought marrying young would solve everything. I did it all right- lost my virginity on my wedding night and played the good Christian girl. I was happy- Mark is a good man, there's no bad in him. So lucky, I thought, I married a devout Christian man who worked hard, provided for me and would be a father to our children. Then one day, I fell out of it. The moment I realised it was over when I thought I was pregnant. A year ago I would have felt joyous but I was horrified. I'd be trapped. I actually thought that I would have an abortion. It went everything against I thought I believed about it being murder, simply because it was me. Then I found out I'd just skipped a period. I left a note for Mark and skipped. I had no idea where I could go- daddy would hate it, mom's an alcoholic mess and all of my snotty church friends would judge me. I've never been the bad one before."

"So you came to your harlot sister who had a bastard baby in her sophomore year of high school."

"You're not a harlot," Frannie touched Quinn's hand before it was angrily pulled away.

"Well it's not like you contacted me when you found out. I called you but you never answered."

"I'm sorry. Daddy called to tell me and I didn't even need to ask. I felt so guilty, I just thought I'd wait a little while to clear things up then I'd answer your calls, but I never did. Look, I know it was hard."

"You know, do you?" Quinn got up from the bed, her voice rising by several octaves, "Ok, so let me tell you what happened. I got pregnant in my sophomore year of high school with a guy who told me he was wearing protection. Yeah, I cheated on my boyfriend but that was on me. I go from the most popular and pretty girl in the school to being that pregnant cheerleader slut. Then my stupid boyfriend tells my parents in a song. Instead of comforting me, my mom denies knowing and my father kicks me out. They actually timed thirty minutes on the microwave for me to get my things. After living with Finn, he finds out that he's not the father. I go to live with Puck's family, everyone knows and then his mom won't let me eat bacon. Then I live with Mercedes, whose family are true Christians and took me in kindly. Mom comes back to apologise but not because she feels bad, it's because she found out daddy was having an affair. She didn't stand up to him then, only when she was wronged by him. Then I give my beautiful baby girl up for adoption, one of the hardest things I have EVER done. Nobody ever asked me if I was ok, no doctor or guidance counsellor checked if I was alright. Everyone just assumed I was over it. All is going well when I get into Yale before I am paralysed in a car accident. Yeah I did text and drive, that was my own fault, but I still ended up in a wheelchair in the end of my senior year. My mom looks after me, but my dad continues not to talk to me and my own sister doesn't bother to talk to me after I could have died. The only person cheering for me at graduation is my mother- everyone else has their other parents and siblings, not me, just mom. So yeah, it was very hard but you can't know that because pretty perfect Frannie wanted to be the golden child and not upset dear daddy."

Frannie looked genuinely hurt.

"I'm so sorry Quinnie."

"Don't pretend to care now, you never did then."

"I didn't know that daddy had been cheating."

"Oh so that's all ok then."

"He is proud of you- he tells everyone about his little girl that got into Yale, how smart she is."

"Only because it looks good on him, he doesn't care that it was my hard work," Quinn shot back, "Listen, I'm happy. Mom does drink but she has grown as a person and looked after me when no one else did. I graduated valedictorian and I have a near perfect GPA here at Yale. I have great friends and am looking at law school. My life has been fine without my asshole dad and my sister. Look, I want to get through my books and then I have rehearsal. You can leave now, I'm sure we'll see each other at daddy's funeral in thirty years."

"Please, I just want my sister," Frannie stood, "I have no one else."

"Well neither did I when I got pregnant, apart from my Glee club. Why should I help you Frannie? You took daddy's side when you found out I was pregnant. You come here just because you're having a divorce. Boohoo lots of people get divorced, worse things happened to people I went to school with."

Frannie tried to speak further but Quinn interrupted.

"What do you want me to do Frannie? Do you want me to hold you and hug you and tell you it's going to be ok? That's what I wanted daddy to do to me, but instead he called me a disappointment and told me to get out of the house. You'll get your divorce, get an apartment and get a job. It'll be just like a movie where we become super close and you become a better person. No, I'm not going to coddle you because you're a twenty seven year old woman and you can sort your own life out. I don't pity you at all. I needed my big sister but she wasn't there. Excuse me for wanting nothing to do with you Frannie. It must be so hard not being the favourite. Go tell daddy about the divorce and you wanting an abortion, I'm sure he'll be so welcoming about that."

She'd at least succeeded at driving her sister to tears. At that, Quinn felt a little bit bad, but not too much.

"I was always jealous of you Quinn. You were always the pretty one; you've always been the prettiest girl I know. When you were a kid, everyone would coo over you and tell you how pretty you were with your ribbons. You got straight As, so smart. All I wanted was to be the good one, to be the one that daddy approved of. We never talked about bad things in our house, we kept our secrets locked away and silence was golden. We always had to smile. When daddy told me that you were pregnant, I knew that I was always going to be the good daughter because of that. I was selfish and I wasn't fair because of it. I wanted to ask you how you were doing after the baby was born and see what became of my niece, but I was too focused on my own life. I knew deep down what daddy did was wrong; I could imagine you were terrified and hurt. This is on me and I'm sorry. You owned up for your sins but I never did. I watched what happened when a girl at my church got pregnant from a one night stand, everyone shunned her. Silly me, I thought I had the moral high ground. Christianity isn't about hatred and repulsion; I should have loved you as my sister. We were so close when you were young, what happened?"

"You focused on being perfect over your family."

"If the shoe was on the other foot, would you have supported me? You would have been ten if that happened to me at sixteen, tell me you would have gone against daddy."

"I would have been a child in hypotheticals," Quinn shot back; "You were a college senior, not a child who worshiped her parents. Spare me the lecture Frannie and go divorce Mr. UPS."

"Please Quinnie, please help me," Frannie begged, "I don't know what to do."

"Grow a backbone and then come back."

Frannie stopped.

"Do you hate me Quinnie? I wouldn't blame you if you did."

"I don't hate you Frannie; I love you because you're my sister."

"I love you too Quinnie," Frannie gave a sad smile, "I wish things were different. If I could go back in time I would have answered your calls and defended you. I can't ask you to forgive me in a day but if you love me, we can at least try to be sisters."

The blonde regarded her sister. It was a rather humbling sight, her seemingly perfect older sister in tears in front of her, begging to be helped. Quinn felt bad for enjoying it, but there was something in the pit of her stomach that made her feel sad. Frannie was, like her, a product of parents who believed in saving face, being perfect and having no loyalty to those believed to have wronged her.

Quinn remembered being in a pink bridesmaid dress at Mark and Frannie's wedding, her older sister glowing with pride, looking beautiful in a white dress. She looked at her now, a sad shell of a woman. Looking back, she remembered the kindness of others. Rachel had tried to prevent Jacob Ben Israel from releasing the story. Puck had done everything for her and Beth even though she'd tried to prevent him from being the real father. Mercedes had let her stay at her house, even though Quinn had been nothing but a bitch to her. Mr. Schuester let her stay in Glee club after her outburst. Shelby had forgiven her for her stupid stunt with the adoption stuff. Artie helped her when she was confined to a wheelchair. Before all that Rachel was the girl she bullied; Puck was her boyfriend's annoying best friend; Mercedes was some girl she barely knew; Mr. Schuester was the lame teacher; Shelby was the Vocal Adrenaline coach and Artie was the loser wheelchair nerd.

Those people had forgiven her for her cruelty and helped her when she was low. Those were the people who had shaped her, changing her from the HBIC to the kind, mature girl wanting to go into law in order to make a difference. Frannie was her sister, the sister that she loved and deep down, Quinn knew she wasn't bad. She'd made mistakes and bad choices, but she was good.

"I can't forgive you overnight but we can make a start."

Frannie beamed, "You mean it?"

Quinn nodded, "How long are you here for?"

"A week."

"I can meet you for dinner tonight after my rehearsal- 7PM at the pizza place on campus. You can pay. We'll talk then. Will you be able to occupy yourself for then?"

Frannie bobbed her head up and down excitedly, "I'll look at an art exhibit."

"Alright, I have my books to get through, I'll see you then."

"Can I hug you?"

Quinn sighed, "Fine."

Frannie embraced her sister. For the first time in a long while, Quinn and Frannie both felt as though they were sisters again, truly and properly. They were not the Fabray sisters in name and blood only, but the Fabray sisters emotionally and spiritually.

Hi everyone, hope you enjoyed it. If you like this, feel free to read my other Glee fics! Don't forget to review if you can please xxx