Disclaimer: I own nothing but my ideas. Glee and all its characters belong to its writers and creators.

A/N1: Many spoilers for season 2 (If you've been living under a rock and haven't seen it already)

A/N2: This is my first attempt at writing a fic. I have had these ideas in the back of my head for a while now and decided to finally get them down! All reviews, follows and favourites are greatly appreciated and welcomed :) I have the story planned out in my head and I've started writing the next couple of chapters - hopefully will update later tonight. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1

Blame It on the Alcohol

Approaching the Berry residence, Quinn couldn't help but question why she was there. She had decided to walk as she only lived a few blocks away and didn't want to risk driving home if she got drunk. The, as Mercedes had dubbed it, 'Rachel Berry House Party Train Wreck Extravaganza' was certain to be a disaster. For one, she and Sam had just broken up and he had already moved on to Santana of all people, so they were definitely going to be all over each other; Santana would make sure of that purely to rub it in her face. Two, the last time she had attended a party, she had ended up falling pregnant. And three, it was hosted by Rachel Berry; the same Rachel Berry that had an unhealthy fascination with argyle and knee high socks and who never stepped out of line. At least that would mean that she wouldn't get drunk and do something she regretted, seeing as there was no way Rachel would risk getting caught drinking underage in her own home by her fathers, right?

The cold chill of the crisp night air nipped at the nape of her neck, softly flittering her knee-lengthed floral dress and curled hair in the breeze as she approached the front porch. Goose-bumps formed on her skin; due to her nerves of entering Rachel's home for the first time or the cold, Quinn wasn't quite sure. Wrapping her denim jacket around her more tightly, she reached out to ring the bell but opted to try and twist the door knob instead. She found that it was indeed left open, and continued to enter the surprisingly warm and homely house. Photos littered the mantle above the fireplace in the living room and decorated the hallway walls too, with many of them displaying Rachel from her childhood, and a few with two men - one tall and African American, and the other half his size wearing glasses, with a complexion similar to Rachel's. In many of the photos, Rachel was standing in the middle of the pair, with a giant smile adorning her face that was also present on, who Quinn deduced and assumed to be, her dads. Quinn couldn't help but turn away from them as thoughts of her own family and their photos came to mind. To a stranger, the Fabray's would have appeared happy in the photographs, always so poised and formal, but Quinn knew first hand that the smiles placated on their faces weren't genuine. Far from it in fact, especially her own.

A low dull murmuring and what sounded like quiet jazzy elevator music crept through the hallway from the basement. Walking towards the top of the basement stairs, Quinn was met with a creepy life-sized portrait of the short diva staring at her. It was then she realised that her premonitions were confirmed. Rachel stood at the foot of the stairs in a pale green floor-lengthed dress with a white lace frilling around its midsection and edging that looked as if it belonged in the 1920's. Where did she get that from? Her great grandmother? After Rachel finished welcoming Kurt, Blaine and Finn into her Dad's Oscar Room the flash of long blonde hair caught her eye and she jumped forward to greet her new visitor.

"Hey girlfriend! Having fun?" Rachel asked cheerily, placing one hand on her cocked hip and giving one of her famous dazzling Broadway smiles without the realisation of what she had just said.

Quinn was momentarily struck with a weird fluttering inside her chest but quickly stood straight and waved it off. Did she just call me girlfriend? Blinking slowly she ignored it and maintained her nonchalant composure. She must already be drunk.

"Yeah, awesome party," Quinn replied flatly as she walked past Rachel and picked up a drink ticket. She wasted no time in attempting to drink away her sorrows and prayed that someone would save her and this party from its inevitable impending doom.

Why am I here? Seriously, why? I mean, she knows Sam just dumped me and now he's hooking up with Santana right in front of me. And Berry has the nerve to ask me if I'm 'having fun?' This is going to be a loooong night.

"You have to let me break into your Dad's liquor cabinet!" she heard Puck pleadingly beg.

Oh thank God. Puck to the rescue. If he was reliable for one thing, it was throwing a great party.

Before long Rachel's shockingly blasé music being replaced by The Far East Movement's 'Like a G6' booming through the surround sound speakers. Body shots were being taken, People began stripping, and soon everybody fell into their drunken archetypes. Santana was acting bi polar, yelling at Sam one minute and then making out with him the next and Rachel constantly hung all over Finn.

She didn't know why but all Quinn wanted to do was punch someone in the face.

As the bottle spun rapidly in the center of the circle of drunken teenagers (with the exception of Kurt and Finn who had taken it upon themselves to remain sober in the respective hopes of not making a fool of themselves in front of their crush and in assigning themselves the role of designated driver for the evening), the glee club was abuzz with excitement - probably due to the actual buzz the Berry's alcohol had given them rather than the anticipation of who the spinning bottle would point to. Laughs, shouts and catcalls erupted as Brittany's spin landed on Sam and they both shared a kiss until Santana broke it up by pulling Brittney off of him and reminding everyone that ownership of those guppy lips belonged to her.

Next it was Rachel's turn. At that, Quinn zoned out and instead remembered the last time she had been drunk; the day that had changed her life so dramatically and altered it forever. It was after having a horrible day at school that was only made worse by Sue Sylvester's relentless Cheerios training regimen. That day she was the track suit donning devil's lucky target; being the selected subject of all her constant hurls of verbal abuse, mainly calling her, "a sloppy baby that could lose a few pounds!" before her coach ultimately demanded that she go back onto the Sylvester Master Cleanse.

Out of exhaustion and due to a low self-esteem at the time, she had agreed to accept Puck's offer of coming over to one of his parties and allowed herself to down the cheap fruity drinks he had supplied (which she would never have even remotely considered on any other occasion) in an attempt to suppress her self-deprecating thoughts and just feel appreciated and wanted. And Puck most certainly attended to those needs.

That day she not only lost her virginity, but also ended up falling pregnant as a result of it. Along with that, she also lost her parents' love, her home, and Finn. Losing him and the added popularity he brought her from being the power couple, she could handle. But having to raise the baby alone? Or with someone as unreliable as Puck? She couldn't.

After her parents cut off her bank accounts, she knew that in order to properly care and supply for her child, she would have to lie to Finn. He was the only boy that actually cared for her and thought of her as more than just 'the beautiful blonde Cheerios captain'. It hurt her, lying to him, but she knew that her baby's health and protection took priority over the possible consequences of admitting to breaking the boy's trust. To ensure not only her own comfort but the baby's, she pushed Finn to get a job and help provide her with some security that alone she couldn't.

However, after he discovered the truth about the baby's paternity (no thanks to someone), he dumped her and that loss of control drove Quinn into an emotional downward spiral that only the support that the Glee club had provided brought her out of. Funny how the feeling of having a 'fat day' had led to the events that would make her belly balloon. Irony was such a bitch sometimes.

The bottle's rotation had almost finished and from the looks of it, it was going to miss Finn (much to Rachel's disappointment) and instead seemed as if it would land on either Kurt or Blaine. Before it had even stopped moving, Rachel had already begun leaning forward in anticipation, pointing at the Warbler and claiming that she was going to rock his world. At this, Quinn just rolled her eyes, crossed her arms over her chest and delved back into her thoughts.

On its last round around the group, the empty bottle had turned past Kurt and slowly crawled across Blaine before it stopped dead. Quinn suddenly snapped out of her trance as she noticed that the comfortable white noise of her classmates' excited cheering had ceased, only to be replaced by a tense nervous silence.

Looking around, almost the all eyes were on her. She met her classmates' looks with confusion clearly present on her face, quirking an eyebrow inquisitively at them. Why the hell are they staring at me? Was I thinking out loud? Do I have something on my face?

Before she could question them her gaze was drawn to the only set of eyes that weren't meeting hers. Rachel's face displayed what could only be described as a mixture of shock and pure terror. Following the singer's line of sight, Quinn noticed that the brunette was staring at the floor, fixated on something there. It was at that moment that Quinn felt her own eyes widen and her breath catch in the back of her throat. All of her questions were answered. The bottle on the basement floor had not landed on Blaine but had inched its aim just past his knee and onto the quiet blonde. It had landed on her. She wasn't really even sitting in the circle - more of on its outer rim - and there were thirteenth other people that it could have landed on! She couldn't believe it. Yep. The wine coolers had done it again.

Quinn Fabray was obviously cursed. Either that, or she was stuck in terribly written teen TV drama, and the writers of it clearly hated her.

Her Dad's deep bellowing voice rang harshly in the back of her head, warning her that it was God punishing her for underage drinking by sending her message after message every time she did. And now? The wine coolers had decided to once again give her another slap in the face. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose as she inhaled deeply before letting out a frustrated sigh. She would have to kiss none other than the one and only Rachel Barbra Berry.

OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGodohmyGod! This isn't happening, this isn't happening! Rachel was in disbelief. The once spinning bottle-neck had pointed to Quinn Fabray. The one person that she prayed it wouldn't. She had only recently mended their rocky friendship and was no longer fearing the former head cheerleader's wrath. No, no, no, no! Why couldn't it stop on Blaine?! It would have been so much simpler and it would have meant nothing to her. For one, he was gay so he wouldn't feel anything and she knew Kurt was pursuing him; and two, she barely knew the guy! But Quinn...Quinn knew her and she knew Quinn.

Ever since the age of 15 and the start of their freshman year of high school at WMHS, they had both been aware of each other. The tall, gorgeous blonde was instantly popular and revered, quickly becoming the captain of the Cheerios and the subject of every boy's affections and every girl's jealousy. She however, was a short, overly charismatic and overconfident Jewish singer with two gay dads that nobody cared to even notice or pay any attention to; that was, nobody except Quinn. And after she did, the whole school seemed to also. The other girl had obviously been conscious of her and her endeavours - constantly bullying her and taking every opportunity she had to call her demeaning names such as 'Man-hands' and 'Treasure Trail'. Suffice to say, kissing her former tormentor would be the strangest occurrence in her life.

She raised her eyes and saw Quinn's hazel ones wide with shock. Great, she is freaking out as much as I am. What do I do? Seeing the panic written on Rachel's face, Kurt broke in and reassured the girls that they didn't have to if they didn't want to. It seemed as if the insanity of the task snapped everyone momentarily out of their drunken dazes.

"No way dude! They can't back out now!" Puck growled, clearly giddy with anticipation of seeing his two ex's kiss in front of him. "I've dreamed about this moment for so long!"

"Oh hell to the no! Puck don't get all perverted on us right now," Mercedes yelled out, snapping her fingers in true diva fashion with Tina sitting beside her giving Rachel a sympathetic look.

"But this is going to be awesome spank bank material!" he replied with a smug grin, before being slapped upside the head by Santana.

"We don't need to know about what you fantasize about and I don't need to see Berry and stretchmarks macking on in front of me!...Oh great. I don't think I'll ever get these images out of my brain now you ass!" Santana grimaced, glaring at the mohawked boy with an icy stare.

He just laughed and winked at the girls before turning to see Rachel and Quinn still frozen in the same positions on the floor.

Quinn seemed to collect herself and nodded to herself as she released a sigh. The blonde then uncrossed her legs and stood from her seat, moving over to meet Rachel in the middle of the circle. The tension between the two girls could be cut with a butter knife as it laced the air and space around and between them with a thick, almost palpable atmosphere. Quinn raised her hands up and cupped Rachel's velvety soft cheeks, pulling her toward her so that their faces were only inches apart. The basement fell quiet, aside from the music in the background, as everyone anxiously anticipated the surely apocalypse-inducing moment.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to," Rachel offered in a small unsure voice, shivering under Quinn's satiny touch.

"I know I don't have to," Quinn spoke with slight annoyance but maintained her hold on the other girls face. Leaning forward she brought her mouth up to the shell of Rachel's ear as she whispered, "but if I don't, Santana will never let me live it down and she'll call me a coward or something cruder, so I'm up for it if you are Berry."

Rachel's watched with bated breath as Quinn closed her eyes and slightly pucker her tempting carmine lips. Quinn had made the first move and it was now up to her to either accept by closing the gap or reject her by backing away. Taking a deep calming breath through the nose, Rachel inhaled the intoxicating scent of vanilla and cinnamon of the gorgeous girl in front of her. Gosh, how can anyone smell so good? It's ridiculous!

In that second, adrenaline pulsated through her veins and she acted on impulse, shutting her own eyes and moving her lips forward, closing the space between them. Rachel felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and a bolt of electricity shoot up her spine and through her chest as she felt the warm delicate caress of Quinn's lips brush against hers. Wow, she is such an amazing kisser. And her face tastes awesome. As their lips glided slowly against each other, Quinn felt Rachel's hot breath panting against her skin and began pulling away slightly in order to break the kiss and take a breath herself, but Rachel reached out with both her hands and latched onto her, keeping her in place. Seeking more contact, the brunette anchored herself by grabbing one fistful of Quinn's denim jacket and long luscious blonde locks in the other. With a firm grip on the back of the blonde's neck, Rachel drew her impossibly closer and deepened the kiss. Their lips crashed together even harder and a muffled whimper fell from Quinn. Rachel opened her mouth a little wider in response after feeling the blonde envelop her bottom lip and lick it lightly. Granting her entry, Quinn accepted, moving her tongue inside in exploration, before meeting Rachel's in a passionate duel, eliciting a soft moan to escape her. Awareness dawned slowly on Quinn as noise filtered back into her kiss-induced narrowed altered state of consciousness, and the positioning of herself wrapped in Rachel's embrace in the midst of all their friends fully registered.

"Oh. My. God." Kurt gasped out, finally snapping Quinn back into the reality of the situation and making her forcibly rip Rachel and herself apart with a firm push of her hands. It lasted no more than ten seconds, but as soon as the contact broke and Rachel's arms released their hold on Quinn, feeling the warmth disappear, both girls instantly and inexplicably missed it.

Opening her eyes, Rachel looked wide eyed in surprise at Quinn as the blonde wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and moved back to her spot in the circle whilst staring at the floor and without making eye contact with anyone – especially not the girl she had just kissed. Rachel looked around at the other glee members and saw mixed reactions.

Finn, Sam, Mike and Artie all resembled those rotating clowns with gaping wide open mouths in those carnival games and all hi-fived each other before making sure that nothing untoward was forming between their legs. Kurt, Mercedes, Tina and Blaine all had saucers for eyes and were looking from her to one another and having a silent conversation with their facial expressions. Santana was looking away in disgust and acting out a gag reflex motion with her finger in her mouth. Brittany smiled widely and clapped before putting her thumbs up in approval. Lauren just looked disinterested and shrugged, taking another swig of alcohol. And then, there was Puck.

The boy looked as if he had just had a stroke. His reaction mirrored something out of a cartoon - his tongue hung out of his mouth and dropped to the floor whilst his eyes were as wide as a deer's in headlights, and a pool of drool ran down the front of his shirt.

"Noah? Are...are you alive?" Rachel questioned worriedly with a hint of a smile ghosting her lips at the sight. Puck tried to form a coherent reply, but the only sound he could seem to make was "Aughhluguud," earning laughter from everyone in the room. Rachel just shook her head and returned to her spot in the circle too.

Continuing to feel the others' eyes on her, she ducked her head down shyly and allowed her bangs and hair to mask her face. She focused on regaining a steady and regular heart beat and breathing pattern before lifting her finger tips to her lips and lightly tracing them, feeling the remnants of the tingling sensation the kiss had brought her.

What…what in the world was that? Did that just happen? Did I just kiss Quinn Fabray? Why do I want to do it again? Oh right, I'm a needy drunk. That's what Finn said anyways. Yeah, that's it. It must have just been the alcohol that made me feel...that made me want to keep...that's making me want to do it again...

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful in comparison, with Blaine and Kurt singing 'Don't You Want Me' by The Human League on the karaoke machine and everyone else dancing and enjoying seeing how Rachel acted when she was off her face, trying to find someone to lean on the whole night. The most entertaining being when she began hugging Brittany, which the blonde happily returned before Santana grabbed her and scolded angrily at the smaller brunette.

Quinn however remained separate from the festivities and chose to remain seated to the side of the room on a soft fabric sofa. Seeing her friend all alone in isolation, Brittany moved away from the group on the dance floor and over to the couch before plopping down next to the shorter blonde.

"Hey Quinn!" Brittany greeted with a nudge in order to get her attention. Quinn didn't look up, choosing instead to continue slowly twirling her straw around in her red solo cup.

Brittany frowned and poked her again before noticing the anger laced with a pained sadness that encompassed the other blonde's face and the closed fists that were slightly denting the plastic cup in her palms. Instead of prodding her again, Brittany took the cup out of her friend's hands and placed it on the floor before pulling her into one of her love filled hugs that calmed Santana down whenever she was upset. The Latina wouldn't admit it, but secretly, the feeling of being held in those long gentle arms was the feeling she loved the most. Brittany felt Quinn release a shaky breath against her collar bone before feeling Quinn's arms wrap around her and return the hug. Brittany stroked her hair soothingly before asking what was wrong.

Feeling the other girl pull away, Brittany looked once again at Quinn's facial expression and was relieved to see that it was not as sombre as before.

"Nothing B. I'm fine," Quinn mumbled quietly as she wiped a small tear away and tried to sniffle away the cracks in her ever-crumbling mask of composure and indifference. "Thanks for the hug though."

Not meeting her blue eyes, Brittany could tell there was something Quinn wasn't telling her but at seeing a forced watery smile beginning to form on Quinn's face, she thought it best to drop the subject for the night and try to cheer the other girl up completely. She had seen that look before. It was the same one Santana would get whenever she saw her with Artie. Smiling back, Brittany jumped off of the couch and pulled Quinn up and into the middle of the room to dance amongst the other bodies on the floor. Quinn begrudgingly joined her but really wasn't in the mood. Brittany soon realised that this was something one of her magical hugs couldn't fix (that was a first).

"It's getting late. Want me and San to walk you home?" Brittany asked sweetly, rubbing her hands up and down Quinn's arms comfortingly. Quinn gave a small nod in reply before the taller blonde picked up her shirt (because she was still topless from stripping) and called over to Santana to follow them out. Being a school night, the rest of the club decided to also call it a night and hoped that their hangovers wouldn't last too long the next morning.