"...Hello?" The soft voice of Quinn reached out across the static, hoping with all of her might that it was just a prank call, a wrong number, a computer, a salesman, something, anything, but... Anything but...

"Baby girl?" A hoarse voice returned. Quinn froze, reaching a hand out to the wall to stop herself from crashing to the floor. This wasn't happening. This wasn't. It couldn't be...

"It's Dad. I just..." the voice continued, "I get out next week and I... well, I wanted to see my girl."

"Quinn, are you almost ready?" Brittany called from the bathroom completely unaware of the girl's sudden predicament.

The blood seeped out of her toes, up her spine, through her quivering chest and to the tips of her ears. A steady ringing drowned out the laughter from the other side of the room. Quinn could feel her face turn white and her feet turn cold.

"Are you there?"

"Yes." Quinn broke, a quiet burning rage built up from within as a wave of painful memories crashed over her. "..No."

"No?" The overwhelming silence squeezed the air from her lungs. Rage and fear twisted and collided to unbearable proportions.

"NO!" Quinn erupted, screamed, and spilled over. The phone fell from her quaking hands and onto the ground. Anger shook her. She stomped with all of her might, causing the surface to bend and crack beneath the pressure. But it wasn't enough. Quinn picked up the crumbling pieces, the screen still flickering in retort. Desperate fingers fumbled with the doors to the balcony. After an eternity of panic they gave way and flung open. She looked down at the abused phone in her shaking hands.

"NO!" She screamed again as she arched her back and threw her arm forward with all of her might. The phone released from her fingertips, out the balcony, and crashed somewhere out into the city below. The laughter stopped.

"Uh... Quinn?" A perplexed, stunned Brittany questioned an overwhelmed Quinn as she fell to the edge of the bed. She offered no answer. "Quinn?"

"Don't! Just... don't."

Brittany shrugged. This new Quinn confused the hell out of her but those pink highlights sure were awesome.

Quinn wrapped her arms tightly about her form. The tighter she squeezed the more it hurt. The more it hurt, the more it matched the ache within and the more she lost herself in the fragile balance between despair and release. It's so hard for me to breathe.

Brittany and Rachel finished primping in the bathroom and awkwardly turned to leave the hotel room to join the others downstairs. Brit stepped out into the hallway and turned back solemnly towards Rachel to find the brunette paused in the doorway.

A tug from some distant corner of her heart was preventing her from taking another step. Rachel looked up at Brittany, paused and sighed, "You go ahead. I'll be out in a bit." The girl in the hallway half-smiled and nodded. The metallic sound of the door falling into place filled the empty space as Rachel turned to gaze at the girl across the room. Quinn had her arms squeezed tightly about her chest with her back turned to the entrance. She faced the open balcony in front of her. The cool breeze carried the sounds of the city laced with the girl's soft sobbing towards Rachel on the other side.

Rachel swallowed as another tug pulled her towards her enemy. Her eyes flickered to the ground before rising to glance at the heartbreaking picture once more. Why did she care? Rachel sighed as the sobs grew into soft whines pulling at the chords of her heart. The girl who hated her most was falling apart and yet somehow, for some reason, Rachel couldn't bear the melody. I just can't leave her like this. Ensnared, the brunette inched her way towards the broken girl.

The ache in Quinn's chest grew to consuming proportions, tipping the scale and causing her body to shake uncontrollably. Once again she was that helpless little five-year-old girl drowning in insecurity. She wrapped her fingers into her blouse, clutching at what little sense of comfort she could find. Her nails dug into skin as she desperately tried not to break. Her determination slipped away with each passing second. Why was her strength failing her now? Quinn struggled to grasp what sliver of it she had left, but the pain, the shakes, the sobs, were nothing compared to her world falling apart from within. No Air. Just one more second, one more moment and she was going to surely disappear.

Just then she felt the bed dip as someone crawled in behind her. Panic coursed through Quinn's veins but a set of arms soon enveloped her subsiding the fear. A sudden rush of relief overwhelmed the blonde, causing tears to flow freely down her cheeks. Fresh air filled her lungs. The small arms around her squeezed tighter reeling her in away from hopelessness and back into a world of little faith. She could feel Rachel pressing into her back and nearly fell to pieces in that embrace.

There were no words, only a hold. That hold, however, was the only thing preventing Quinn from falling apart and spilling out into the world. Rachel turned to rest her head on the girl's left shoulder, refusing to let go. Pain shot throughout her arms as her muscles began to ache. Yet, she held on still.

Quinn's sobs grew quiet. She took in a deep breath tilting her head to rest on Rachel's. The minutes ticked on by in silence. Rachel's tight grip slipped into a comforting hold as Quinn fell softly into her arms.

"Thank you," Quinn choked out effectively breaking the silence.

"Mmhmm," hummed Rachel in response, her arms still lightly wrapped around the blonde before her. Another long comfortable pause filled the air.

"I don't know what happened." Rachel continued. "But you don't have to tell me."

"...Thank you, Rachel," Quinn softly accepted and breathed a sigh of relief. Words. Words were all she ever had. Her father had said the words little Quinn wanted to hear. Yet, with his actions he had broken her over and over and over again. Painful memories seeped into her mind. She could see the anger in his face, hear the hurt in his voice, and feel the pain in his blows.

As if the brunette could read Quinn's thoughts, Rachel interrupted the painful replay in her mind, "I've seen that look, the look of a girl with a story." The brunette turned to brush a strand of pink hair from Quinn's face, safely tucking it behind her ear. "I know that look, Quinn. The last thing you need are words."

Quinn nodded as she squeezed Rachel's hand at her side. Out of all the people in the world, the person that hated her most was the only one here now to keep her together. How did this happen? After all Quinn had done to this girl, after all the things she had done and said, why was she here now when she needed her most? Maybe, just maybe the world is not as cruel and harsh as she had always believed.

Quinn shook the thoughts from her mind. Even this, this tenderness, this briefest of moments, this fraction of comfort would soon pass. It would come and go, leaving her to stand alone once more. And now her past had come back to life, rearing its ugly head to torment her once more. The painful memories gripped at her throat, suffocating the life from her veins. You took my breath, but I survived. She couldn't do this again. She just couldn't.

So she wasn't going to.

"I'll be alright, Rachel. Thank you." Quinn lied to the girl. "You go ahead. Go celebrate with the others. I just want to be alone right now."

The safe embrace slowly fell away as the brunette almost reluctantly let go. Worried brown eyes met Quinn's, holding firmly onto something in that sea of green. Quinn struggled to display a smile, "Really, I'll be alright. Go ahead." She squeezed Rachel's hand again to reassure the girl.

Rachel sighed as her eyes finally let go falling to her hands, "You should be celebrating with us, you know. We couldn't have done it without you, but I understand." The brunette leaned forward to hug Quinn once more and sighed. "I'll be downstairs if you need anything."

The girl nodded in response as Rachel rose from the bed and turned to leave. Quinn turned to watch her walk away, her heart racing. She wanted to say something, but Quinn just couldn't risk it.

So instead she surrendered. She let Rachel walk away.

Quinn quickly turned her gaze towards the window as Rachel paused at the door to look back. The blonde could feel those brown eyes searching for something and finding nothing but the back of her head to hold onto. Quinn's heart broke and quietly slipped down her cheek to fall past the sleeve of her blouse. The sound of the door closing splashed against her skin. She took one last moment, one last weak breath to steady her nerves and to solidify her resolve.

Quinn stood firm, resolute, grabbed her hooded leather jacket and her beaten backpack, and ran.