Chapter 1

Hi Everyone - This is my first two shot and first Faberry. Don't worry. I'm still working on Open Wounds. It's actually open on my screen now. I want to thank my dear bugs for the prompt for the story. Incredible. Thank you! Thanks as always to my two beta for their help and feed back.

Please be gentle with this story. There is Finn bashing.

A/n: please read with caution. Domestic violence, manipulation, and sexual assault are depicted.

Friendships sometimes just happen. You get to a point where you're not sure where it started but you know that you breathe contact with the friend like air. Imagining your life without them causes you to feel like you lost a limb simply at the possibility of the lost. That's how Quinn felt about Rachel. If someone had told her twelve years ago that her friendship with Rachel Berry would be so essential to her life that she equated it to breathing, she would have assumed that they were insane. At fifteen, Rachel was just another girl that was too talented for Lima and would leave her behind; she was someone that Quinn needed to crush. However, fast forward twelve years: Rachel was the one that stayed... not her.

Quinn sipped at her wine as she sat down to her computer. She thought more carefully. It wasn't as if she didn't have friends in the city. Santana and Brittany were here. She had people at the firm. She had plenty of friends. She rolled her eyes hating that she had to convince herself that she had friends. She sighed. However, when she came home, all she wanted to do was tell Rachel. She wanted to tell her everything. All the time.

She paused for a moment. Santana was giving her a hard time a few days ago about the regular video chatting. She called Rachel and her skype sessions: drunk dreaming damsel dates. She laughed and waved it off. They were dates.. but not dates dates... She didn't think of Rachel like that... She …. she didn't... Rachel was just... Though sometimes she wanted to hug her... hold her...She shook her head.

She's married.

She needed that to be a reminder. Rachel stayed in Lima and became an amazing teacher and...

Quinn felt herself pause again. Rachel unquestionably was a good teacher and she made such a difference, but she couldn't help but feel that she was being held back. She couldn't help but feel as though Rachel made the wrong decision all those years ago. She was... so much bigger than that. In high school she had all these dreams... she was supposed to do so many great things, become someone great. But then upon graduation... she just pushed them all aside. For him.

The message popped up on her screen interrupting her thoughts. Rachel was calling. She smile and answered. Rachel's face spread across the screen.

"Hi," Rachel said with a smile. She had a tiny kitten in her lap and a blanket around her shoulders.

"Hi," Quinn smiled. "Hi Chester," she said waving at the cat. The blonde searched her friend's eyes and saw past her smile. "What's wrong?"

Rachel laughed awkwardly. "Nothing." She bit her lip. "I just haven't talked to you in a long time."

"I know," Quinn said. "Well, a certain somebody kept canceling on me," she said with a smirk jokingly. Her smile faded when Rachel only gave a half smile in return. "Why have you cancelled so many times?"

Rachel shrugged. "Things just got busy. You know?"

"Not really," she said honestly. "You doing okay? You seem sad."

"I'm not," she said again. The cat bounced off of her lap.

The normal easy fun conversations that they typically had via skype chat was absent this evening. Something was off; something was missing. Quinn couldn't quite put her finger on it. The conversation felt forced. There was something else about it, she wasn't sure what. However, it was unquestionably strange. Finally, after the millionth time of assuring her that she was fine, Quinn finally pushed back.

"Stop being a liar," Quinn said. "You know you can tell me anything." She paused expecting Rachel to open up to her about whatever her mind was distracted on or in the very least nod her head at her last comment. When Rachel just continued to look at her through the screen with no expression on her face, Quinn decided to continue another neutral conversation with a sigh. "Did I tell you what Santana calls our little chats?"

Rachel rolled her eyes, relaxing slightly. "What? How is she by the way?"

"Being a successful bum as always," she laughed. "She calls them drunk dreaming damsel dates. It's quite a mouthful."

Rachel's smile faded. "Why would she call them that? I'm not in distress."

The blonde frowned. "I didn't say you were..." she said slowly as she kept her eyes focused on Rachel.

"Oh... alliteration..." she muttered. Something knocked over in the background causing Rachel to jump. Quinn saw the blanket slip as Rachel looked over her shoulder. The blonde's smile faded instantly as she leaned closer to the screen to examine what was revealed. Rachel turned back to the screen with a shake of her head. "Just... Chester."

"What the hell is that?" Quinn said with a hardened gaze.

Rachel quickly brought the blanket back up over her shoulders when she noticed it had slipped. She gave a nervous laugh as she looked at Quinn's shocked face. "What do you mean? What is what?"

Quinn pointed at Rachel's shoulder that was now covered and the blonde was sure that she saw a bruise. "You know damn well what I am talking about. That huge ass bruise on your shoulder!"

"You don't know what you're talking about," she said pulling the blanket tighter around her. She waved at the computer screen playfully trying desperately to change the subject. "When was the last time you cleaned your computer screen?"

Quinn shook her head fiercely. "Stop it. Just stop. I know what I saw, Rachel." She looked her friend directly in her eyes.

Rachel quickly avoided the blond's eyes as she sat up straighter in her chair. She shook her head strongly. "You don't know what you saw, Quinn. It is nothing."

Quinn quickly snapped back. "If it's nothing then take off the blanket," she demanded.

Rachel felt her face falter at her friend's demand. It would have been a simple request to any other person but Rachel knew what was hidden underneath the blanket. Revealing it to her best friend would mess up years of her life that she had successfully managed to hide from everyone. Years of things that she had no choice but to hide with makeup, long sleeves, jackets, scarfs... blankets. She looked at Quinn's face through the screen. It was so serious. She wasn't going to give up on this. Rachel looked down at her shoulder hesitantly. It was still covered in the blanket she had wrapped so tightly around her, but as she looked at it it was almost like she could still feel his harsh grip.

Rachel was quietly working on her class's lesson plans in bed when she watched the clock turn to read 11:16pm. She hadn't seen Finn all day. He had been so angry lately, so she was somewhat grateful for his absence. She understood his anger. He had a right to be angry. She owed him so much. With everything with his mom and... then between the two of them, with the baby... she loved him even more for surviving. It was her job as a wife to help him through it. It was just a rough patch... It was just a rough past that was lasting a few years... She honestly didn't know what more there was for her to do.

She jumped when she heard the door slam. She just didn't know if she could handle the rough patch, not again. It scared her, but her Finn was in there somewhere, right?

She heard him stomp up the stairs and enter their bedroom causing the door to slam against the dresser on the other side.

"Hi," she said with a small smile from the bed. "You okay?"

"No," he hissed heavily as he sat on the edge of the bed. "I'm tired. I want to lay down and relax."

"Okay," Rachel said quietly as she stood up. "I can go downstairs and finish this." She gave him a gentle look. "You should rest."

He didn't reply so she took her leave as she collected her things. She managed to get to the door before he called out.

"That's all you're going to say?" he asked. "You're not going to offer to help me?"

She darted her eyes nervously around the room. "I... I don't know what you mean."

He stood up and walked over to her pushing her notebooks to the ground. He lifted her chin so that their eyes met. "You're my wife," he said his breath warm on her face. "How do you think I want to relax?"

She tried to lower her gaze but he held her chin. "I... I... um... We haven't done that since... We haven't done that for awhile... I just …. I thought that... I wanted to make it special."

"Well, I want it now," he said as he reached down to unbutton her shirt.

"Finn... I..." Rachel began but her shirt was on the floor and her pajama pants were now pooled at her feet. "Finn," she said more forcefully backing away. "I want to make this special. Can't we just-"

He unbuckled his pants and let them pool at the floor. He pulled down his boxers revealing an already hard member. "Take off your underwear, Rachel," he said moving toward her.

"Finn, you are my husband," she said backing away from him. "I am not a whore."

He reached out and pulled her to him spinning her around so that her back was flush against his front. He grabbed her shoulder roughly as he ripped off her underwear. "You're my wife," he hissed in her ear. "That makes you my whore."

Still gripping tightly onto her shoulder he pushed her down to her knees onto the bed. Rachel tried to squirm away. "Finn, no! Finn! Stop! I mean it! Finn!'

His hand came down roughly on her backside. "Shut up," he hissed as he pushed into her from behind. She let out a scream of anguish. She was dry. She sobbed in agony as she kicked.

"No! Finn! Get off me! This is rape damn it!" she screamed. She suddenly felt his other hand on the back of her head pushing her into the pillows muffling her as he continued to ride her gripping her shoulder for leverage.

"It's not rape, Rachel. You're my wife," he hissed as his hips continued to hammer into her. "The doctor said you were fine days ago. I was patient." He thrust his hips deeper causing another muffled scream. "You'll learn to be a better wife Rachel." He continued to pump in and out of her until he reached his climax. He rolled off of her now sobbing form.

She turned her cheek on the pillow to face him. "Why did you do that? Finn," she sobbed. "Why?" The tears continued.

He caught his breath and looked at her tear-streaked face and the spots of blood and cum on the bed. "I just got out of control," he said calmly. "Sorry." He looked at the bed. "Maybe you should go shower... I'll strip the bed so that you can make it when you get back….." He stood up. Her body was still shaking on the bed. "Are you gonna get up?" She wobbled to her feet and started toward the bathroom. "Hey, Rach?" he called out. She turned slowly and looked at him still shaking. "I'm uh... gonna grab a beer downstairs. You want one?"

She looked at him in shock. "No," she said angrily. "I don't want a beer."

"It's not rape, Rachel," he said again while yanking the dirty sheets off the bed. "You're my wife. I just got too excited. I had a hard day today." He walked over and picked up her notebook and then went to her, dropping it on the dresser near the bathroom. "Better go shower. It's getting late and you still have lesson plans to do."

Without another word, he turned and left the room.

He had been rough with her their entire relationship, but he had never been like that. Not when it came to sex. Not ever. She stared more at the blanket that covered her shoulder.

"RACHEL!"

She looked up at the screen with a jump. Quinn was looking back at her worried. "What's going on?" Quinn asked.

"Nothing," Rachel said shaking her head. "Listen, I'm really sorry, but I have to go. Chester knocked over something, it made a real mess. I need to clean it up."

"Rachel, don't do this. Don't run away from me."

"I'm not," she replied quickly. "I have to go." She smiled. "I love you, Quinnie."

There's that smile, the blonde thought. "I love you, too-" Quinn began.

Call disconnected.

….

Rachel stared at the computer. She just hung up on her best friend. She just literally slammed the computer shut in her face. What else was she supposed to do? She challenged herself. She didn't have any other option. Finn had been very specific years ago. He had warned that what happened in their house was only their business...and if someone else should find out about it then it would only make things worse for her. For years she had been hiding things from her fathers, friends, coworkers and neighbors, she was too terrified to find out what his threat had meant. She didn't want to know what 'worse' could be. Quinn had had such a determined look in her eye, Rachel didn't have any other choice but disconnect the call. It was a panicked decision but it was the right one.

"Rachel?" she looked over her shoulder with a slight jump as Finn was coming in the door. He smiled at her. He was carrying a bundle of a cheap flower arrangement from the grocery store. He leaned down and kissed her softly on the cheek. "How are you?"

She nodded and leaned into him slightly. "Fine." She took the flowers. "Thank you."

He sighed as he peeled off his blazer. "I wanted to apologize again for last night," he said leaning against the wall casually. "I am sorry that I lost control. I just...had a hard day at work. And it has been so long since we've been able to have sex." He shrugged his shoulders simply. "I know losing the baby was hard on you, but honestly, Rachel how long did you expect me to have to wait? I'm a man. I have needs. You can't make me out to be the bad guy here. Your body wasn't strong enough to carry the baby to full term. That's not my fault. "

"I know," she nodded. "I never blamed you for that."

"I know, but I just... I love you and I need you to love me too," he sat on the arm of the couch. "Do you still love me?"

"Of course," she said. Rachel looked at her husband nervously. She wasn't sure if she should even voice her thoughts. He seemed to be in his 'I'm sorry' mood, but she couldn't ever be too sure. If she said the wrong thing when he was in the wrong mood it would be bad, she knew this from experience. She bit her lip gently as she looked into his eyes. "Last night scared me, Finn. I'm … just... It scared me a lot."

He nodded. "I know. I'm sorry. Why don't we go upstairs and I'll take care of you." he smiled. "I promise I'll make it good for you. He pulled her close to him so that she was standing between his legs as he sat at the couch. Even sitting he was taller. He pulled the blanket away and traced his fingers on the bruise, kissing it. "I didn't mean for this accident to happen." His hands on her hips dipped into her yoga pants pulling them down to her ankles. He locked his gaze with hers and pulled down her underwear as her kissed her neck softly. He trailed kisses down to her chest before he leaned down and kissed the bruises on her hips and between her legs. "Let me make it up to you," he said with a seductive grin.

She felt a familiar pull in her stomach as he began to play with her gently. He looked up at her and she bit her lip as she gave a soft moan. "Okay."

He picked her up bridal style with her clothes still off her, exposing her. As they headed up to their bedroom, Rachel looked over his shoulder at her phone on the coffee table. It was buzzing. Someone was calling. She leaned back into Finn. He was her husband. He came first.

…..

Quinn stared down at her phone anxiously. Voicemail. Voicemail. Voicemail. She was frowning so deeply her face hurt. She didn't know how many times she had hit the speed dial for Rachel's cellphone now, but she didn't care. She hit the button again and pulled the phone to her ear for what felt like the millionth time. She stared at a picture frame that held a picture of her and Rachel from this past New Years celebration as she listened to the monotone ringing, praying that this would be the time her best friend would answer.

Quinn leaned against the counter and sipped her wine. She licked her lip and looked around. Rachel and Finn were the only ones who chose to stay in Lima after high school graduation. Everyone else wanted them out of that tiny podunk town, everyone except the two of them. They invited them to the city for a holiday vacation. Quinn was even throwing a New Years party for them. However, like everything else on their visit to the city. Nothing was going as planned. Quinn had tried to take Rachel to a show, tried to show her the city, but Finn kept changing the plans. He kept saying that they wanted to do something else, or that they wanted to spend time together, just the two of them.

Quinn watched them from the kitchen. They were talking quietly in the corner about something. She couldn't ease the frown on her brow. It simply wouldn't go away.

"Stop pouting in the corner," Santana said taking a sip of her beer.

"I'm not," she said with a frown. "I'm just..." She sighed. "I'm just disappointed. I thought having her here would be so much fun, but she hasn't really been able to hang out because Finn is keeping her busy with his own agenda. I just wanted to spend time with my best friend." She sighed again and waved her hand in the direction of the huddled couple. "And even now...I mean look at them..." They looked at Finn and Rachel who were talking quietly in the corner of her living room. "Its like they are their own little team... It's like it's them...and then it's us...and I hate that. Why do they have to talk all secretly in the corner? What are they talking about? Do you think they are even having a good time?"

Santana arched her brow. "Seriously? Quinn, I love you but they're married." She shrugged. "Yeah, you're besties, but …. what do you expect?" She gave a slight smile. "Chill out or drink more wine. You are over thinking WAY too much. They still have 3 more days here...you and Rach will have your lady time." Santana eyed her carefully.

"What?" Quinn said with annoyance.

"Are you sure your jealousy isn't something else?" she asked carefully.

The blonde scoffed. "What else would it be?"

Santana rolled her eyes. "Forget it."

"Hey," Rachel said interrupting them.

"Hi," Quinn said, her scowl was instantly gone.

"Finn and I have to head out," she said with a pang of regret.

"What?" Quinn asked drily.

Santana glared at the blonde and then frowned at her petite friend. "It's New Years. You just got here. They haven't even started the ball dropping yet."

Rachel nodded regrettably and looked over at Finn as he came up behind her with their jackets.

"Where are you going?" Blaine asked with Kurt as they entered the kitchen.

"Rachel's not feeling well. We're leaving," he said plainly.

"Thank you, sergeant puffy," Santana muttered.

"You're not feeling well?" Quinn asked.

Rachel paused as she looked at Finn over her shoulder. He linked his arm around her waist pulling her into his body as he gave her hip a tight squeeze. She looked back at her best friend. "Yeah, just a bit of a headache," she muttered.

"We have Advil and stuff here if you want," Brittany offered.

"See you guys later," Finn said with a nod as he turned towards the front door, shoving Rachel's coat into her arms.

"What's going on?" Quinn asked with a frown as she took a step closer to Rachel again.

"Nothing," Rachel said quickly as she pulled on her coat. "Call you later."

"Rachel," Finn called from the door. "Let's go."

"Bye guys," she smiled. "Happy New Year!"

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked with Santana as they followed Rachel to the door where Finn was waiting impatiently in the hallway.

"She's fine," he muttered with his hands in his pockets with a huff. "She's just pregnant."

Brittany let out a loud squeal of excitement. "AHHH! Seriously?!"

Finn rolled his eyes in response to Brittany's screech. Quinn watched as Rachel looked back at Finn with a betrayed frown.

"Yeah," Rachel finally said with a smile as she turned back to face Quinn, Brittany and Santana. "Just found out … took a test at the hotel... so … it's not for sure until we get back to Lima..." She looked at Finn with a sigh as he nudged his head towards the door again. "I'm just tired okay?.. I'll call you later." She locked eyes with Quinn. "Stop worrying so much," she smiled softly. "You'll get wrinkles."

Quinn smiled softly. "Night."

Quinn looked at her phone. Rachel had just lost the baby a month ago. She thought it was the baby that had her in the weird mood that night. After everything that Quinn went through with Beth, she had a degree of insight about what was going on in Rachel's head. However, at the same time she didn't and she hated that. She frowned. Was it really Rachel's idea to leave the party that night? Had it really been just about the baby?

She thought back to a couple of Thanksgivings ago when Rachel was hysterically upset because she accidentally broke Finn's mother's gravy boat. It was soon after his mother died after her long battle with cancer. Finn had been incredibly moody as he mourned her. Quinn hadn't lost a parent, but she wasn't sure if Finn's increasing criticism of Rachel was a typical and acceptable grieving process. Rachel assured her she was fine and that Finn was just in a dark place, but that they loved each other and would work it out as husband and wife.

She frowned as she thought about their relationship over the last few years since Mrs. Hudson - Hummel's death. Kurt even said that Finn was acting more distant and refused to speak with Kurt or Burt. Quinn felt a punch in her stomach. Rachel had sprained her wrist, she remembered. Some accident at work or something. She had refused to get it checked out. She assured Quinn that she had had worst injuries when she danced in high school. Quinn's heart began to race. That was almost two years ago... How did she miss all of this? How did she miss the change? How did all of them miss it? Quinn trailed off.

Her head snapped up. This wasn't new, she realized. It was a long time coming.

Quinn used her fist to pound on Santana's door.

"Santana!"

Finally the door opened. "I'm going to kill you!" Santana hissed in her face, yanking Quinn into the apartment.

Quinn blushed in embarrassment. Santana was wrapped in a towel and her hair was wet. She grimaced. "Sorry, Brit!" she called into the loft's high-ceilinged space.

"I'm fine, Quinn," Brittany yelled breathlessly. "Santana's the one that's really upset. She didn't -"

"Lalalalalala," Quinn said putting her hands over her ears. "I love you but I don't want to hear about you making each other scream and what not."

"We only went into too much detail that one time at wine tasting. That was damn good wine," Santana said with a sigh.

"Fuck yeah, it was!" Brittany called out again.

Santana sighed and looked at Quinn, her smile faded instantly. "What happened? Why is your face like that?" She gasped. "Oh my god did you unpress your lemon!?"

Brittany screamed from upstairs. "HOORAY! Yay for Quinn!"

Quinn could hear Brittany practically fall out of bed and scramble down the stairs. Please have her remember clothes. Brittany had walked around naked so many times causing Quinn to look away so often that she knew exactly where the most interesting spot on the ceiling loft was.

"What?!" she asked. "No! No!" She waved her hands. "God! NO!"

Santana and Brittany's eyes widen. "Geeze," Brittany muttered. "Apparently, more pressed than ever."

Quinn shook her head quickly. "Something is wrong with Rachel. She was acting weird and then she hung up on me out of nowhere. We need to go!" She looked at the couple with panicked eyes. She was panting she talked so fast. "WE NEED TO GO!" She raised her voice when she noticed Santana not moving, still in place.

"Um... what?" Santana asked. "Go? Go where?"

"To Ohio!" she said with an obvious roll of her eyes. "Pack a bag." She demanded quickly as she began to scan through her phone. "I can get us a flight on my fancy phone. Shit! I don't want to open that! Close app! Close!" She shouted into her phone with frustration.

Santana looked at Brittany with wide confused eyes. "What the hell?" she asked quietly. Brittany just shrugged. Santana reached over and took the phone gently out of Quinn's hand. "Give me this," she said pulling it. Quinn protested but Santana pulled harder. "Give it. Give it to me." She shook her head. "You're not breaking the fancy phone the company just bought you even though you treat it like a tiny incompetent human." She took a deep breath. "You can't fly to Ohio," she said slowly before continuing at the same pace, "just because Rachel hung up on you, Quinn."

"What? Santana! No, you don't understand," Quinn said desperately. "There was bruise...and she was all... short …. and then she got all daze like... and weird and... Finn's just been... GAH! Do you remember New Years!?" She pointed at the girls as if pointing would help the memory surface in their brains faster. "Remember!? He was all like... and then Rachel was just quiet and then they left early? Remember!? Come on! You totally remember!" Neither one of the girls could keep up with her rant. She was talking so fast and her sentences were so incomplete it was hard to follow. Quinn squeezed her hands slightly together when she got no response from either of her friends standing in front of her. "Something is wrong! I know it! Please. Please!" She looked into the brunette's eyes. "I know that Rachel isn't your favorite person and you really don't like Finn but... Something's wrong. You have to believe me... SOMETHING is wrong!"

Santana shook her head slowly. "Quinn, you can't..." She laughed nervously. "You're not serious. She's okay. Just wait til the morning."

"No!" she screamed clenching her fists next to her face in frustration. "I need to get there! There's something wrong!" She shook her head. "I don't have time for this!" She looked at her with a cold stare. "You need to pack a bag right now or I will go alone." Her voice shook with intensity. "Nevermind! I'll go alone!"

Santana looked at Brittany with wide eyes not knowing what to say.

"Quinn," she called out after her. The blond stopped but didn't turn around. "I can't chase after you in a towel. Okay?" She paused. "... Just give me a second."

Quinn turned and looked at her with a defeated but grateful look. "Thank you," she whispered seeming to deflate.

She watched as the couple went upstairs into the loft. "Are you sure about this?" Quinn heard Brittany ask quietly.

"I'm already on vacation anyway," Santana muttered.

"I know, we were supposed to go to the cape," she whispered, less annoyed and more tiredly. "But something is clearly wrong. I've never seen Quinn this worked up before."

There was a long pause, just long enough to make Quinn feel guilty.

"I don't really understand either," Santana whispered, "but I can't let her go off by herself. I need to be there …. especially if there's nothing wrong and even more if there actually is..."

Quinn sighed. There was something wrong. She knew it.

…..

Quinn hadn't said much since they boarded. Santana instructed her to call out for a few days. She was due more than a few hours off since she had worked overtime recently on a big corporate case.

"Thanks for doing this Santana," Quinn muttered after the captain announced the final descent. They hadn't been able to get a flight until late. The Red Eye. She could see the tiredness in her eyes. She knew how much Santana needed her sleep but she knew she couldn't do this alone. Perhaps when she was headstrong in high school she wouldn't have asked for help, but now she knew. She was older and knew better, but still the only way she knew how to ask for help apparently was to bang on the door of one of her oldest friends and yell panicked sentences.

Santana looked down at her hands and hesitated. "It's just... I don't know, Quinn," she mumbled. "What you're accusing Finn of is... is huge..." She gave a nervous laugh. "We've known him since high school... before that..." she gave a nervous grimace. "He isn't the best guy but we've both slept with him and we... we were never the nicest girls..." She shook her head. "I just... I don't know."

"We used to know him," Quinn said with clarity, as she realized her own words and their meaning. "We've all changed. You and I know that." She looked at her with a smile. "We've all changed so much." Her smile faded. "You can't tell me that you think it's right that Rachel's stuck in Lima after she spent her first seventeen years dreaming of something more."

"Is this what this is about? Is this about Rachel's dreams?" Santana shook her head. She visibly gulped. "I …. They're married Quinn...It's not like they got married weeks ago or months ago and you just got to the altar to stop the wedding too late... It was years ago... It was ten years ago..." She met her hazel eyes. "Ten years, Quinn." She shook her head. "You're not... I don't know what you're feeling but... you must know that flying to Ohio in the middle of the night to check on her because she hung up on you because you think you saw a bruise... You must know that that means something more..."

Quinn took a deep breath. "I do love her," she said quietly. Santana looked at her with relief. "She's my best friend." Her words were so simple. "I would fly to you if I thought you were in trouble too."

Santana sighed heavily. "It's so much more than that." She shook her head. "Quinn, you're in love with her and have been for years... maybe more than ten... "

"Santana," she said sharply. "What?"

The brunette sighed again. "You can't blame Finn for this," she said quietly. "That's all I'm trying to say. You can't pretend that you need to be this hero riding in on a white horse in order to tell her how you feel."

"Santana," she said with a baffled frown.

"I'm not saying your wrong, Quinn," Santana whispered. "I just don't know if you're right... " She looked at her for a moment. "Just... think about it okay?"

"Something. IS. WRONG," Quinn hissed. "I saw the bruise. I saw the panic in her eyes. And you're saying that you think I'm making this up as an excuse to come out... as a way to come out?" Her voice lowered when she saw people across the aisle staring at her. "I'm not … I …. " She suddenly lost her words and felt a punch to her gut and a surge to her chest. "I ….. " Maybe it was the plane. They were descending right? She wasn't in love with her best friend. She wasn't making this up. She began to breathe heavily in her seat. She needed to get off this plane and breathe air that wasn't recycled. She looked at her watch. Sweet mother of Jesus it is 4:45am. She was 28 years old. Was she honestly just realizing that she was in love with the one girl she once thought she would always hate?

"Awww crap!" she heard Santana mutter. "I should have waited until we landed."

When they finally landed, Quinn ran into the terminal and locked herself in the nearest bathroom stall for approximately sixteen minutes. Santana was about to climb over the stall but then Quinn simply opened the door, washed her face and said, "Let's go. We have to rent a car. I'll pay for it."

….