A/N: Inspired by tentative spoilers for when Glee returns. Some quotes were adapted from 13 Going On 30 and Win A Date With Tad Hamilton! Reviews would be awesome. I also updated Chasing Yesterday recently for those of you who follow that story. Happy holidays!

Operation Smile

The moment the sharp sound of the third period bell rang in his ears, he darted out of his Spanish class, heading down the crowded hallway with a very specific purpose in mind. He had overheard Santana explaining to Brittany earlier why they had to choose the Cheerios over New Directions. Apparently, Sue had given the unholy trinity an ultimatum this morning. They were to choose between the squad and the glee club once and for all. To the rest of the student body, there was no apparent reason as to why he should care, but secretly, he dreaded the idea of Quinn leaving the glee club behind. As pathetic as it sounded, it was really the only way he ever got to see her anymore.

He spotted her then standing a few feet in front of him, rummaging through her locker for something or another. This would be the perfect time to ask her what she was planning to do, he deduced, approaching her. Not only was she alone, but only a few lingering students remained in the hallowed hall, most of them having gone off to their next class, looks of dread on their faces.

"Hey Q," he greeted her, leaning casually against the row of metal lockers and crossing his arms over his chest.

He gave her his best smile, but still, she rolled her eyes upon noticing him, tightening up her ponytail in her locker mirror.

"Are you lost Finn?" she questioned, refusing to look at him, her voice as bitchy as ever. "Barbra Streisand's locker is further down."

He scrunched up his nose in confusion for a moment, not having gotten the comparison at first, before finally realizing that she was referring to Rachel.

"Oh no," he corrected her, walking to her other side now so that he wouldn't be talking to her through her mirror. "I'm not looking for Rachel. Actually, I wanted to talk to you."

She looked at him skeptically for a moment as she stilled in her movements. He wanted to talk to her? Since when?

"What about?" she indulged him anyway, although she kept her voice cool and collected.

In reality, she was anything but in control of her emotions. Good God. Her heart was beating so fast right now, she was probably going to go into cardiac arrest at any moment. Someone would need to call her a freaking ambulance soon!

"I overheard Santana and Brittany talking about Sue's ultimatum just now in my Spanish class," he informed her, puzzled as to why she was acting so cold towards him. "I was just wondering what you were planning to do about it? I mean, are you going to choose the Cheerios or New Directions? Have you even made the decision yet?"

He was rambling he knew, but he couldn't help it. Quinn Fabray just made him so goddamn nervous all the time.

"Not officially," she answered him nonchalantly, reapplying her lip gloss with a 'smack' as she went. "I am going to choose the Cheerios though Finn. You of all people can understand that, can't you?"

She paused in her movements when he remained unresponsive. Recapping the tube of her lip gloss, she angled her body so that she was now facing him. He swallowed hard when she quirked an eyebrow in his direction, knowing full well that that was her silent way of daring him to challenge her.

"I'm not sure that I do," he responded anyway, knowing that he was a hypocrite for saying so.

She scoffed, rolling her eyes as she returned her attention toward the contents of her locker once more.

"Oh, I see. Would you like to be the pot or the kettle today Finn?" she asked him, even though she knew the meaning of what she was saying would probably be lost on him. "Because I'd really like to be the kettle this time around, not that it matters of course. They're both black."

She swiveled around to face him again upon finishing her statement, but he only continued to stare at her blankly, not really understanding why she was bringing pots and kettles into this. Noticing his oblivious expression (the one she had expected), she restated her point in simpler terms for him.

"You chose your reputation over the glee club too once," Quinn stated as-a-matter-of-factly, her nose stuck up in the air. "So don't you dare judge me Finn."

With that, she grabbed her bag and slammed her locker door shut, heading for the gym where she was supposed to meet her squad in about ten minutes. It took him a good twenty seconds to realize that she was even walking away from him.

"Wait up Q!" he shouted after her, brisk walking to her side. "You're absolutely right. I have no right to judge you. I'd be a hypocrite if I did, but I know now that I made a mistake when I chose my reputation over New Directions. I'm trying to save you from making the same one. Can't you see that?"

She paused in her steps upon hearing his words.

He almost sounded like he cared about her.

"Why?" she questioned simply, cocking her head to the side in anticipation over his response. "Why does it matter to you whether or not I stay in the glee club?"

He blinked, swallowing hard at her question. He had no choice but to lie to her of course. The alternative would be telling her the truth and frankly, admitting that he missed her, that he wanted her to breakup with Sam and come back to him would be completely and utterly absurd. He'd seen how happy Quinn was with Sam. There was no way she had any lingering feelings for him the way he had for her.

"The glee club makes you happy Quinn," he explained to her instead, which was actually true though not the real reason as to why he wanted her to stay. "I know it does. I've seen how happy you are at practices and whatnot."

She tried so hard to suppress her smile then.

He still noticed her?

"True, but being head cheerleader makes me very happy too," she reminded him, maintaining her indifferent composure as she continued her trek down the hall.

"Oh, come on Quinn!" he protested, trying to match her hurried steps toward the gym. "Just hear me out, will you?"

"Look Finn," she enlightened him, bumping into his chest as she turned around to address him. "Thank you for your concern, but this decision is mine and mine alone. Frankly, if I truly needed someone's opinion, it would be Sam's. You remember Sam, don't you? My boyfriend?"

She could have sworn she saw him flinch at the mention of Sam's name. Then again, she was so desperate for herself to believe that Finn secretly wanted to get back together with her sometimes that this could all very well be in her own delusional head.

"Of course," he echoed bitterly, leading her for a split second to believe otherwise. "How could I possibly forget?"

Quinn stood there frozen for a moment before she opened her mouth, wanting to clarify exactly what he had meant by that. Before she could so much as get a word in, however, Santana called her to practice.

"Oh, there you are Q," she noted, motioning for her to come in already. "Hurry your ass up! Sue wants us to run through that new routine again."

The blonde obliged, but it was only when the metal doors closed tightly behind her that she finally broke eye contact with Finn.

What the hell had that been all about?

Quinn put her pompoms back into her bag as the rest of her team left the premise. God. These extra Cheerio practices were killing her, but complaining to Sue would only entice her to send her to the bottom of the cheer tier, something that was obviously extremely undesirable to Quinn.

She liked being popular, but what Finn had said earlier was true too. Being a part of New Directions did make her happy. Ugh. She had been so sure about choosing the Cheerios over the glee club before, especially since Sam had wholeheartedly agreed with her decision, but after Finn's little intervention or whatever that had been earlier, she was seriously starting to doubt herself.

Crap. Even broken up, his opinion still mattered so damn much to her. On second thought, she supposed being head cheerleader wasn't really that big of a deal. She had survived being unpopular last year after all. What was another year of slushie facials? She could take it.

With that last convincing thought in mind, she swung her bag over her shoulder, fully intending on marching over to her coach's office and informing her of her decision to quit the Cheerios right away. She'd get to see Finn more anyway this way, she silently reasoned, swinging open the gym doors.

Oh dear God.

Speak of the devil…

"Finn?" she clarified, even though he was standing right there in front of her. "What are you still doing here? Have you been waiting here this whole time?"

"Uh huh," he answered her, taking a step towards her. "In fact, I got a lot of thinking done while I was waiting Q."

She took a step back instinctively only to find her back up against the cool metal doors.

"Break up with Sam," he continued when she said nothing in return. "Please break up with him."

Her mouth fell wide open at his words, but she quickly regained her poise and confronted him.

"What the hell are you talking about Finn?" she spat, trying to get pass him.

Running away had always been one of her best defenses alongside being a complete and total bitch. He stretched out his right hand abruptly to stop her, effectively holding her back.

"I still love you Quinn," he confessed quietly, but loud enough for her to hear.

The blonde shook her head with vigor as her eyes began to brim with tears. No, he did not get to do this.

"No, you don't," she corrected him, successfully running past him now as he stood still in shock over her answer.

"I do," he reiterated, whirling around to face her, although she made no move to do the same, her back turned toward him. "You still love me too Quinn. I know you do."

She took a shaky breath as she blinked back the tiny droplets that threatened to fall. Ironically, once her emotions had reached an equilibrium again, she threw them back into chaos. Tossing her bag on the floor in frustration, she marched back over to where he still stood, her hands on her hips and a fire in her eyes.

"Stop pretending like you still know me Finn," she hissed at him, jabbing her finger into his chest as she went. "We haven't had a real conversation in months. You don't know squat about me, not anymore."

Only the sound of their heavy breathing could be heard until Finn finally decided to speak up.

"That hurts," he informed her, grabbing her hand forcefully and holding her gaze. "Both emotionally and physically for the record, but getting back to my main point now. No one will ever know you better than I do Quinn, no matter the circumstance."

The anger that had been bubbling inside her sure as hell rose to the surface then. Who the hell did he think he was? He had broken her heart by choosing Rachel over her. Now that he had confessed that he still loved her, was she just supposed to throw herself at him?

Fuck that.

She wrenched her hand out of his grasp and made sure he knew, "Well, you're wrong Hudson on two accounts. One, Sam understands me in ways you never will and two, I'm in love with him, so how can I possibly still be in love with you?"

She knew her lies would undoubtedly hurt him, but that had sort of been her intention. Much to her surprise though, he didn't even blink.

"Quinn," he murmured, reaching out for her again, an earnest look in his eyes.

She stumbled slightly as she stepped away from him quickly in response, turning on her heels to leave again. One more word and she knew she'd give in to him. She desperately needed to get away from him, from everything that he was promising her.

"Goodbye Finn," she stressed, picking up her bag from up off the floor in one swift motion as she continued down the hall.

"You have six smiles," he whispered from behind her, causing her to pause in her steps.

She did not, however, turn around to address him. She stayed precisely were she was. She knew looking at him would mean losing control of her emotions again and Quinn had had enough of not being in control for one day.

"You have six smiles Q," he repeated, louder this time, taking a deep breath before he elaborated, "One when something really makes you laugh. One when you've done something to make your parents proud. One when you're uncomfortable or just trying to be polite. One when you're with your friends. One when you're plotting against someone. And one…when you think someone's acting like a total idiot. That last one? That last one's practically reserved for me. I get that one a lot."

She instantly clasped her hand over her mouth when she realized that that last one he had mentioned was on her face right now.

Damn, the boy was good.

"Does Sam know about your smiles Quinn?" he challenged her, although he made no move to stop her from leaving. "Well, does he?"

Time seemed to stand still for a moment, but eventually, she broke the unbearable silence.

"I have to go," she merely mumbled before finally disappearing off into the distance, leaving both him and his heart behind.

Quinn sat with the rest of the crowd on the bleachers, but unlike them, she was hardly excited for the start of the game. She could see Santana at the top of the cheerleading pyramid from where she was, a wide smile upon her face. As was expected, the Latina had been promoted to head cheerleader again the moment Quinn had regretfully informed Sue that she would be choosing the glee club over the squad. Surprisingly though, stripping herself of her uniform this time around had actually been a lot easier than it had been last year.

In fact, what had been hard was breaking up with Sam. When he had stared at her blankly upon hearing her simple request 'Tell me about my smiles, Sam', however, she knew she was doing the right thing. To be honest, she had always known that breaking up with him would be the right thing to do. She had never stopped loving Finn in the time that they were together after all. Frankly, their relationship had sort of been…unfair to Sam to say the very least.

"We have a problem," Rachel announced when she returned to their side, effectively interrupting Quinn's thoughts.

"What kind of problem?" Mercedes indulged her, rolling her eyes at the always dramatic brunette. "This better be good Berry, especially since you forgot to bring me back some popcorn like I asked you to."

"We have a bigger problem than your beloved popcorn right now Mercedes," she chided her, leaning in to fill them in on what she knew. "Puck tells me that Finn's refusing to play in today's game. In fact, he's contemplating quitting the football team all together!"

The mention of Finn's name immediately got Quinn's attention.

"Why?" she queried, although she had a hunch what this was all about.

Rachel shrugged before she revealed, "Who knows? I overheard Coach Beiste yelling at him in the locker room though."

"I'll be right back," Quinn excused herself then, making her way past the other people seated in their row as quickly as possible.

Only she knew the exact words that he needed to hear.

"Coach Beiste?" Quinn echoed as she strolled into the locker room, hesitation on her heels. "May I have a moment with Finn please?"

The older woman swiveled around to face the young blonde, reminding her, "You know you're not supposed to be in here, right? This is the boys locker room missy."

Quinn nodded in acknowledgement, but made no move to leave, determination etched into her delicate features. Eventually, the coach sighed in defeat, walking past her and heading out to the field.

"See if you can get him to play while you're at it," she instructed her before she left.

"What are you doing here Quinn?" Finn questioned before she could so much as a get a word in, turning his back on her. "If you're here to try and get me to go out there and play today, you're wasting your time. You know, I was actually going to earlier, but then I realized I'm not much of a fan of watching the girl I'm in love with cheering on one of my teammates, so I changed my mind."

There it was again. She could feel her you're-an-idiot smile forming on her face.

God! He was such a baby!

"Don't forget the victory kiss too when McKinley wins," she reminded him teasingly, causing him to whirl around to face her at her words, his eyes flaring with jealousy.

"Gee thanks Q," he commented sarcastically, not having caught on to her humorous tone. "Like rejecting me wasn't enough. Now you have to go and rub your perfect little relationship with Sam in my face too?"

Instantly, her smile faltered. Oh right. He thought she had rejected him earlier. She remained silent for a moment just watching him from where she stood until she finally mustered up the courage to say what she had wanted to say since their previous encounter.

"You have five smiles Finn," she enunciated, taking a steady step towards him.

She watched as he knitted his eyebrows together in confusion, evidently not understanding why she was echoing his earlier words, so she continued.

"You have five smiles," she repeated, taking another step towards him with every one that she listed. "One when someone compliments you. One when you're out on the football field or just doing something you love. One when you're trying to hide the fact that you have absolutely no idea what's going on or what someone's saying. I get that one a lot. One when you think you've told a funny joke, but you really haven't. And one…when you're looking at me."

His hands were on her waist now, her arms looped around his neck.

"So, does this mean you broke up with Sam?" he clarified, his words a mere whisper against her lips, having gotten her less than subtle message now.

She nodded ever so slightly, their noses brushing lightly against each other as he added, "Can we can be in love again?"

"Uh huh," she assured him in response, a giggle escaping from her pink lips.

Before he could say much else, she captured his lips with hers and he, in turn, lost himself in her gentle touch. Soon after, as their kisses became more and more heated, she found herself with her back up against the cool metal wall behind them, her legs wrapped around his waist and her hands tangled in his hair. When she finally remembered the game, she pulled away from him, her gasping for air and him groaning in frustration. She laughed when she took note of the extremely disappointed look on his face.

"We can continue this later," she promised him, wiping some lip gloss from the corner of his mouth with her pinkie finger as he set her back down on the ground. "You better get out there. We can't win without our star quarterback. Hell, we probably won't win with our star quarterback."

He chuckled in agreement, grabbing his helmet from up off the bench before taking her hand and following after her toward the field.

Before he ran off to join his teammates, however, she turned to him and said, "I'll be right over there in the bleachers with the rest of the glee club to cheer you on, ok?"

It was then that he noticed for the first time that she wasn't in her cheerleading uniform.

"You quit the Cheerios?" he confirmed the obvious, feeling slightly guilty for having sort of pushed her into doing it. "You don't have to Quinn, really. I was just being selfish when I told you to."

"No," she interrupted him, smiling at him reassuringly. "You were right. I mean, I love being on the top of that cheerleading pyramid and all, but at the end of the day, being a part of New Directions makes me even happier. Now, enough chit chat Hudson. Get out there and make me proud!"

"I will," he promised her, placing a quick kiss on her lips before putting on his helmet and running out onto the field to join his team.

"Oh, and Finn?" she called after him hastily, realizing that she had never officially returned his earlier sentiment. "I love you too."

So fucking much.