A/N: Hello, everyone! Just a quick little note, this fic is going to get dark in the later chapters! Warnings/Triggers for abuse, including sexual abuse will be there, just and fyi. Russell Fabray turns his life to shit and Quinn kind of gets stuck in the consequences (I didn't have room to add that in the description). So keep that in mind for the future! Things will get a little dark. Again, this is a Santana/Quinn friendship based, and a Faberry ship based fic. Enjoy!

Quinn had changed a lot over the summer. Maybe she wouldn't have if she hadn't felt so abandoned by everyone. After she had given up her baby, everyone acted differently to her, like they had to be careful what to say around her. There had also been several occasions when she'd walk into glee or join her friends at lunch, and they'd stop talking before bringing up another topic of discussion. She didn't like the feeling of being talked about behind her back. So when the school year ended, Quinn retreated for the summer.

She spent a lot more time online, talking to random people on the Internet. She pushed away her friends, even if Rachel tried to call and Puck tried to stop by. Things were weird at home anyway. Her parents divorced, her dad left, and her sister didn't come home from college this summer. Quinn decided to stay in her room as much as possible, even though her mother kept bothering her, kept trying to talk to her, to take her out. Quinn simply wanted to be left alone. She didn't know if any of the choices she had made, like giving up Beth, was right and she felt lost and in the dark.

By the time school had started, Quinn had gone out of her way to change her look. Dyed hair, dark clothes, nose pierced, and she even took up smoking, though she hardly inhaled. She kind of hated the taste. But it got people to leave her alone, for the most part. She knew Santana and Brittany were practically inseparable, which is why they had no right to try to guilt her into joining the Cheerios and glee again. They didn't actually need her. Quinn wasn't doing it and that was the end of it. She liked her new image and her new attitude. She was so over trying to hold up this image that no one even liked. So she'd become someone else.

It wasn't so bad being a Skank. The only difficulties Quinn had was forcing herself not to care. She always followed the rules as a child and still tried to follow the rules once she was in high school. She liked to please people because it often allowed her to get what she wanted. That's why it felt strange to do whatever she wanted with complete disregard to following rules or pleasing someone else. But she ignored those feelings and continued to skip class, smoke, and leave school grounds whenever she felt like it.

Her mother had tried to fix it before it got too bad. She called her father, sent her to a psychiatrist, begged, pleaded, bribed. But nothing she did made Quinn go back to the way she was before. If anything, Quinn tried harder to make her mother nervous. After all, she caused a lot of these problems. Drinking too much, letting her father control the house and kick her out when she got pregnant, trying to buy her love all the time instead of showing it... Quinn felt Judy deserved this.

That was, until the second Monday into going back to school. Quinn left before the day was over, (pretended to) smoke under the bleachers with her Skank friends, and then went home. When she arrived, she found her mother in the living room, sitting on the couch with what appeared to be whiskey in a glass in her hand. There were tears on her face.

Quinn was stunned to silence for a moment. Usually Judy hid the fact that she was a day drinker, which was causing Quinn to be worried.

"Mom...?"

Judy didn't look over. It seemed like she didn't even hear her.

"Mom," Quinn said a little louder and moved into the room, starting to worry that someone had died. "What's going on?"

There were a few sniffles from Judy before she spoke softly. "I have cancer."

She didn't look at her daughter. She still hadn't made any movement. Judy was simply staring straight ahead still, transfixed by something that wasn't even there. She was seeing the end of a life she'd never get to experience. All thoughts of weddings for her children, holidays, grandchildren... she'd never see them. She should have forced Quinn to keep Beth at home with them. At least she would have had that joy for a short time.

Quinn felt like she could hear her heartbeat as it pounded in her chest. Her legs were numb as she stepped further into the room.

"What...?" she asked softly. It was a tone her mother hadn't heard in a long time. Quinn had spoken harshly to her mother since the day she dyed her hair pink.

It caused Judy to look up, to look over at her daughter. "The doctors say I only have a few months left, even with treatment."

This didn't feel real. This was a bad dream, a nightmare. Quinn shook her head slowly. "No... How... How could you be that sick...? You... you look fine." Was this a joke? A sick, twisted joke? Quinn took a few more steps closer. "What... what kind of cancer?"

"Pancreatic." Judy sniffled and drew in a breath. "St-stage four. I hadn't felt fine for a while. It took some time for the doctors to figure it out, but... I'm going to do the chemotherapy anyway, try to extend what little time I have left."

Quinn looked her over. Her mother already seemed defeated. She didn't seem like she was ready to fight this. But Quinn knew this was serious, this was real. "Mom…" She didn't know what to say. She thought she should say something inspiring, encouraging, but she came up with nothing. "You shouldn't be drinking." She stepped forward and took the glass away from her and set it aside on the coffee table. "Have you called Nana?"

"No... not yet." Judy's gaze fell, staring straight ahead again.

"Doctors, they can be wrong all the time," Quinn said and sat on the chair next to the couch her mother was on. Her eyes were full of tears. "They say one thing and then people live so much longer. I'm sure they're wrong. I'm sure you have more time than…" She couldn't say it, that there were only a few months left.

Judy looked over at her daughter, tears shining in her eyes. "You don't know that, Quinnie. Only God knows."

Quinn held her gaze until she couldn't anymore. She stood and swiped at her own tears, pacing the room. "Can I do something for you? Are you hungry? Do need to lie down? When are you starting treatments? Do I need to drive you?" She stopped and looked at her mom. Suddenly Quinn needed to do something for her. She had to, but Judy just shook her head.

"No…" She forced herself to stand. "But I am going to lie down."

"And the treatments?" Quinn asked. "When are you doing those?"

"Tomorrow," Judy answered her and drew in a breath.

"What time?" Quinn moved closer to her, wondering if she should touch her arm, or to hug her or… something. "I can take you, if you need me to. I'll skip school."

"Your father will take me," Judy told her.

Quinn could only stare. "What?"

"He's coming back to Lima while I'm in treatment," Judy explained and began to head toward the hallway.

"Why?" Quinn didn't understand why her dad would come back. They were divorced now. Didn't her mom want someone else taking care of her?

"I'm going to lie down, Quinnie…"

Quinn was still stunned into silence as Judy moved off to the stairs and went up them. Quinn felt sick and too warm. She grabbed her mother's drink she had set aside and downed the liquor. She needed that burn in her throat, in her belly. She set the empty glass down and decided on her next course of action. Her mother was dying and she felt alone.

"What are you doing here?"

Santana looked at Quinn, disgusted. Ashamed, Quinn hung her head. Maybe she shouldn't have been so mean to Santana and Brittany when school started again. But it was just difficult to be nice when Quinn had felt so rejected by them all summer.

"I didn't have anyone else to go to…" Quinn admitted quietly.

"What about your Skanky friends?" Santana retorted.

Quinn shook her head slightly. "They're not really my friends." Finally, she lifted her head and met Santana's eye.

There was something in Quinn's expression that Santana didn't like, it made her concerned. But Santana didn't just bend over backwards. "I can give you, like, five minutes."

"My mom—" The words stuck in Quinn's throat and she felt like she might choke on them. How the hell was she going to be able to get this out and talk about it? It felt unreal to say, like it was an awful lie. But it wasn't a lie.

"Your mom what?" Santana raised an eyebrow. "Did she kick you out?"

Quinn shook her head again. "No, she's..." She drew in a deep breath. "She has cancer."

"Oh…" There was a long pause. "Quinn... I'm sorry."

Quinn wanted to respond but her tears overwhelmed her as she started to cry. Santana took her hand and pulled her inside. She closed the door and wrapped her arms around Quinn, hugging her tight.

"I'm here for you," Santana assured her. "Like, whatever you need... I'm here, okay?"

Hugging Santana back tightly, Quinn nodded. She pressed her face into Santana's neck as the other girl rubbed her back slowly. Santana didn't really know what else to do. She didn't know if Quinn wanted to talk or something, but she figured Quinn would be talking if she wanted to. So Santana simply kept hugging her.

Finally, Quinn's tears had died down and Santana led her into the living room, still holding her hand. She sat down on the couch and gave a tug to Quinn's hand. Letting out a slow breath, Quinn sat as well and swiped at the tears on her face with her free hand.

"When did you find out?" Santana asked her.

"Just now," Quinn answered and let out a shaky breath.

"Did you know she was, like, sick or anything?" Santana gave her hand a small squeeze.

Quinn shook her head. "We... weren't really on speaking terms. Like, I knew she had some doctor's appointments over the last few months, but I didn't, like, think much of them. She seemed fine."

Santana nodded. She couldn't imagine what Quinn was going through. "What kind is it?"

"Pancreatic." Quinn sniffled, feeling tears prick her eyes again. "She said... it's stage four. That's, like, the worst. And... the doctors said she has, like, months."

"What?" Santana's eyes widened. "No... That's awful. Quinn, I'm so sorry." She squeezed her hand. "But she can do chemo or something, right? That'll help her live longer, right?"

"Yeah," Quinn replied softly. "I mean, yeah, that's what I'm hoping... But... She's going to die…"

Santana felt tears in her own eyes. She had never ever seen Quinn this upset. She took both of Quinn's hands into her own.

"I'm here for you, Quinn," Santana reassured her. "All right? You come to me if you need anything." Santana suddenly felt really bad for basically blowing Quinn off all summer. But Quinn had been so mopey at the end of the school year and it was just more fun to hang with Britt. "Look, I'm sorry about the summer. I know, like, we should have hung out more. But I'm here for you now, okay?"

Quinn nodded. "Yeah…"

"You should think about talking to Coach and getting on the Cheerios again," Santana suggested. "Or coming back to glee club. I think it would help. We miss you."

Shaking her head, Quinn looked away. "Coach won't take me back."

"But Mr. Schue will," Santana told her and Quinn knew she was right, but she was getting tired and emotionally drained.

"I don't know…" Quinn released Santana's hands and stood. "But I should get home. I shouldn't have left my mom. She went to lay down."

Santana nodded and stood as well. "Call me later, okay?"

"I will, yeah…" Quinn paused a moment. "Thanks, Santana." She stepped in for a quick hug.

"No problem, Q." Santana gave her a squeeze. "Talk to you later."

When Quinn got home, she couldn't coax her mother into eating dinner and she found that she wasn't very hungry herself. She went up to her room and undressed to her underwear. Chewing her lip, she moved into the bathroom and took off her make-up. Then she removed her nose ring. She stared at her reflection for a long moment before she grabbed the rubbing alcohol and a loofah.

She had this stupid fake tattoo on her back. Her dad had sent her a couple hundred dollars, probably for school or something, but Quinn had used it on getting customized fake tattoos. It was a waste of money, she thought, looking back, but she had wanted to annoy her mother, but she also really didn't want a tattoo so this seemed like the best idea.

But there was no need to keep up appearances now. She was so stupid for wanting to piss off her mother like this. She scrubbed hard at the the offense on her skin and only felt relieved when there was nothing but black specks and a large red mark on her lower back. Quinn gave up on getting the rest off, took a quick shower, and went to bed.