Judy wasn't always Mrs. Fabray. Or Russell's wife. She had her own identity. She was her own person. She used to be carefree and filled with joy. She loved road trips, water balloon fights and impromptu concerts with her friends at the park. Most of her days were spent reading on a blanket by the lake and nights touring the town on her bicycle.
There wasn't an exact moment in time that Judy could remember where things began to change. Perhaps it was when she had Frannie and realized that she had to be tough because that child's headstrong ways were bound to get her in trouble. Perhaps it was when she had Quinn and realized that she had to be tougher because this child had such a tender heart. Or maybe it was when she realized that a drink made her marriage work and sometimes she didn't know if she felt anything anymore. Whenever it was that it started, she only fully woke up from the haze that had been her life when she almost lost Quinn the second time. If she was honest with herself, she wasn't really there when Quinn came back after Beth. Her initial guilt from not defending her daughter the first time around had Judy tiptoeing around everything involving Quinn so much so that she tiptoed right out of her sight. She forgot what it was to be a mom. She fooled herself into thinking it was okay as long as they were under the same roof.
Quinn's accident was a spiked bat to the face. What was worse was that it took almost losing a child to get her to this point. She was despicable person in her eyes. The months of rehabilitation that followed weren't just for Quinn physically. That time was spent rehabilitating their relationship. She learned that Quinn was growing up to be a far better person than she ever was because she was readily willing to forgive her. Through her sad youth, Quinn had kept her tender heart. While in a drug induced state in the hospital, Quinn had looked over at her and whispered, "You stopped saying 'I love you' when I was five. I thought I did something wrong. I miss that," before she fell asleep again to repair her broken body. Judy didn't think she'd ever stop crying after that but she knew then that this relationship could be fixed.
She was reentering Quinn's life. Her daughter brought music back into the house. The old Judy was starting to resurface. Quinn would always sing and hum and dance and twirl. It especially delighted Judy when it was a song she recognized and she could sing along with her. Quinn talked on and on about her glee friends and Judy appreciated them to no end after seeing their interactions after the accident. Judy loved that there was something that her daughter was so passionate about that made her that happy. She found it odd when she picked her up from the train station after sending off Rachel that she had nothing to say. Judy thought it was because she was going to miss Rachel but that didn't seem quite right, either. When they got home, Quinn went straight to the shower without a word. Judy could hear her singing and instantly recognized it as one of her favorites and started humming along as she sorted the mail. Maybe Quinn was just tired, she thought. Judy slowly stopped smiling, though, when realized the way it was being sung and heard the melancholy behind the words. It was the saddest rendition of "Somebody to Love" she had ever heard.