A/N: this story is set in the same AU that Mothers and Daughters happens in. This Quinn-centric thread picks up the summer after Quinn graduates from Lawndale High, after she ages out of the most popular girl in school position. She had already begun examining her own life as Daria prepared to leave for College, and the two have become closer. The crisis triggered by the Daria/Trent relationship has brought the sisters even closer together.

This isn't exactly a sequel, more of a companion project to Mothers and Daughters. In terms of character development, this is a very different Quinn from the series, but one that showed some signs of emergence in the last show episodes. This is an older and wiser QM.

-M1

Oops, almost forgot the disclaimer. Daria and associated characters are the property of MTV and Viacom, or whomever has acquired ownership. This story is fanfiction and written for entertainment purposes only and no money or any other goods have been exchanged.

Sisters and Friends

Chapter 1

Coming Around

Miss Popularity was all alone.

Or at least, it felt that way to Quinn.

Sure, she had escaped high school, her Junior and Senior years having shown a positive academic trend on her transcript. Yes, she probably would have been able to easily get into the same school that Stacy and Sandi were attending in the fall, in California. A party school, wasting their parent's money. It would be a minor miracle if those two made it through the first year without flunking out.

Still, it felt as though her life had taken a sudden downturn. It would be nice to be able to turn to someone, a real friend; something she had never learned how to make or even recognize. With her sister Daria in Boston, there was no one.

Why the hell had she not seen all this coming? She was smarter than that.

Daria had known that she wasn't stupid. Why had she wasted so much time trying to not be anything like her older sister?

She glanced up at the homework written in the corner of the whiteboard, making sure she hadn't missed anything. She had dropped her paper on the instructor's table when she walked in; she had read the two chapters in the text. Looking around, she noted the demeanor of the other students in the classroom; most of them looked like they wanted to be anywhere else but here, stuck in a nondescript institutional beige box at Lawndale Community College.

A Survey of American Literature sounded like a reasonably interesting class when she enrolled; at the very least it would look like something other than fluff on her transcript when she started at Lawndale State in the fall. It would also give her something to talk to Daria about. She found that she was really enjoying the class, but the unhappy instructor expected effort from her students that she was apparently not getting from most of the class. She walked along the rows of desks, dropping graded papers as though they were unclean.

"In general, most of these papers were what I would consider below academic standards for a high school class, let alone a community college class," Ms. Tomlinson stated flatly. "I hope that most of you are enrolled in English 101 as well. Bear in mind that I do not grade to a curve; only a couple of you submitted work that went beyond simply plagiarizing the Wikipedia summary of Poe and managed to present quite original work in an understandable fashion." She glanced at Quinn, who had shrunk in her seat.

Now I know how Daria felt all the time. She glanced at the note in the corner of the coversheet- Excellent work, Ms. Morgendorffer. She quickly slipped it into her binder pocket before anyone looked up to see her grade. She tried not to smile. Daria could have done this in her sleep. They had spoken about the assignment for only a few minutes; Daria simply suggested an approach to the paper, and Quinn had managed to knock it out in a couple of hours after they had hung up. It was pretty much all her own work, and dammit, she was proud of it. She had emailed Daria the text that evening and was gratified when she had gotten her sister's reply the next morning.

Well Done. Change nothing.

She smiled quietly as she caught a flash of reddish-bronze on her finger as she wrote in her notebook. She loved the ring that Daria had given her at her graduation.

She loved her sister, and if that wasn't weird enough, she was becoming her sister.

At least they have decent salads here, thanks to the Culinary Arts program. She sat her tray down, tucking her backpack under the seat after checking that the floor was dry. Pulling out her E reader, she opened the Flannery O' Connor story that they were assigned.

"Why are you here?"

Startled, Quinn looked up. A dark haired girl, a little taller than herself, stood with her tray. "Is this a reserved table?" Quinn asked, a little annoyed by the interruption as well as the silliness, if in fact she had unknowingly blundered into an already claimed space.

"No, that's not what I meant," smiled the girl. "Mind if I sit here?"

Quinn nodded, and slid her tray over slightly. "You're in my Lit class, right?"

"Yeah, but I kind of sit in the back so I don't get called on. My name's Annie Nichols."

"Quinn Morgendorffer." She studied the girl's face; she had high, defined cheekbones, and dark, expressive eyes, possibly Eurasian. She was attractive, but aside from a bit of lip gloss, hadn't bothered with much makeup at all. "I don't remember seeing you around Lawndale High. Are you from Oakdale?"

"Guilty. I was just wondering why you're in the class. It doesn't seem like you're having any trouble; I'm thinking that Ms. Tomlinson made that comment about her grading just so that we wouldn't get heat from the rest of the class."

Quinn laughed. "You got a good grade too."

"Thought I'd keep the other brain company."

Quinn laughed. "Oh God, I really am turning into my sister."

"Is that a bad thing?" Annie asked, a slight tilt to her head.

"Not at all. She's in Boston; she's going to be a sophomore at Raft." Quinn smiled and pulled out her phone, opening her picture folder.

"Raft? Damn, I wish I had the grades for that place. They have a killer Architecture school there." Annie looked closely at the images on Quinn's phone. "Cute. She looks like you. Who's the artsy chick next to her?"

"Her best friend, Jane. They have a place together; she's going to BFAC."

"Boston Fine Arts College? Figures. She's got a great look, perfect for that scene."

"Jane follows nobody. Took me a while to figure out that she really is pretty cool too."

"Hey, who's the hot guy?"

Quinn smiled. "That would be my sister's live-in boyfriend, Trent. Jane's older brother."

"Damn. Your sister has everything except a talking cat."

"Not exactly," Quinn sighed.

"She has a talking dog? A dachshund, right?"

"What?" Quinn tried keeping a straight face.

"Talk to the weenie!" Annie smirked. "Come out and play!"

"Eew. No wonder you sit in the back," Quinn laughed. "Stay there."

Annie smiled. "Just a lot of talk and no action. No guys here worth the trouble."

"High standards?"

"A functioning brain, so yeah." Annie leaned forward, lowering her voice. "Most of the folks here are trying to catch up, but you seem to have it together. I'm here to knock off some of the core credits on the cheap so I can get more out of my tuition at Lawndale State in the fall."

"I guess I'm kind of doing the same, but I really need the English refresher. I had a really crappy instructor, except for a little while in my junior year when the teachers went on strike and my sister got drafted as the English instructor for my class."

Annie laughed. "Your sister sounds like a cool chick."

Quinn sat quietly for a long time, looking at the photo of Daria, Jane and Trent. Daria had found a true friend and a trusted confidant, and a man that loved her. She was smart, funny, iconoclastic. She was learning to open up to people, having gained the confidence to strike out into the world with her own compass. Despite the hard times she was dealing with, she was, for the most part, thriving. And when did she become such a beautiful woman? How had she not seen that?

Quinn envied her sister, but she was also happy for her.

"Yeah, she is."

"Hey sis, you okay?" Quinn asked carefully. She had plugged in the earbuds and pulled the little microphone capsule clear of her sweater.

"Not bad, considering," came the reply. "How did you do on that Poe paper?"

"One of only two A s in the class," Quinn smiled.

"It was a good paper, Quinn. I'd have wondered about your instructor if it hadn't gotten an A."

"Thank you, Daria," Quinn managed after a pause.

"So what's the next paper?"

"A Good Man is Hard to Find."

"Flannery O' Connor? How do you like her so far?"

"She really makes you think," smirked Quinn, after a moment. "Just like you." She smiled when she heard a rare laugh from Daria.

"Thanks for that, Sis. In hindsight, I can appreciate that."

"How's work going? You mentioned that your supervisor was pretty happy with your performance."

"I got a raise at work, and I'm starting to work on small features instead of just press releases.

"Daria! That's great!" Quinn smiled. At least something besides Trent came her way. "Sounds like fun, or at least challenging."

"It's a little weird, since I think I'm the youngest one there."

"You'll do great. They're lucky to have you."

There was a momentary pause.

"How are things going at home?" Daria asked carefully. "Is Dad okay?"

"He's worried about you. Why won't you take the money he tries to send you?"

"I did keep the money he gave me after your graduation."

"Because he tore up the check you sent him, trying to return it. At least you didn't mail the cash back." Quinn found herself stroking the ring that Daria had given her that day. The ring, and Jane and Trent's bracelet were two of the most important things she had. She wore the bracelet when she dressed up, but the ring never came off her finger. She didn't want to think about the money they had spent on her when they really couldn't afford it. I'll make it up to you, Sis.

Quinn decided to change the subject. "How are Jane and Trent doing?"

"Jane's got a job running the printmaking lab at BFAC, and also has a few hours a week at a small boutique coffee café. At least we have a steady supply of coffee. Sometimes the flavors are kinda strange, but it's usually good."

"You guys are all caffeine junkies."

"Wait till you start in the fall, Sis. Anyway, Trent's doing well at work, and has about a dozen private guitar students. He's starting to write some really good material, and he's gotten positive responses when he tries busking."

"Still going strong?"

You could hear Daria smile. "Oh yeah," came the reply, without hesitation. "Things are still tight as hell, but without him Jane and I would be under water. At least I know I have a few people that I can count on."

"Wish I could say the same. I thought I had friends, but it's always me that has to call. You're the only one I can really talk to, you know."

"And you're one of the people I count on, Quinn. You can always talk to me."

"Thanks, Sis."

"So are you going to tell me what happened that has you so happy? I can hear something in your voice."

"I think I made a friend today. I hope so, anyway."