A/N: So I wrote this two years ago when I was driving in my neighborhood and saw this maple. Gold-colored leaves were falling from it and I instantly fell in love with it. I lay under it for hours, writing this story.

The sleeping beauty breathed deeply as her eyes fluttered open. The wind gusted, shaking up the feather-lite gold around her and causing even more to fall to her from the gold-laden maple tree above. She must have fallen asleep, because the sun is lower in the sky than it was. From the position of the sun off to the west, She figured it had to be around four now.

Quinn had been laying in someone's yard since one in the afternoon She and her mom had a conversation Quinn had been trying to avoid since she'd realized the truth about herself. Judy Fabray had simply nodded, smiled, and hugged her panicking daughter. The words 'I love you. It's okay, Quinn.' had been the only ones to fill the air around the two golden-haired women.

So she'd went on a walk to calm herself. When she found the maple that dropped golden leaves on the ground beneath, Quinn lay down and fell quickly into slumber. The air smelled like cinnamon and vanilla and she wasnt sure where it was coming from. She closed her eyes as the scent surrounded her. Her eyes went wide when she opened them. A curtain of the silkiest brown framed her face and a pair of maple eyes locked onto her own. The blonde came out of her sleep induced haze...She'd recognize those eyes anywhere.

"Quinn? Are you okay?" Rachel asked. Quinn breathed deep again. That cinnamon and vanilla scent seemed to have soaked into the beautiful brunette above her.

"Hi." The blonde breathed, watching as the other girl's brow furrowed.

"Hi, Quinn. Is something wrong? Why are you laying in my front yard?" Becoming a little uncomfortable with her current posture, Rachel laid down and looked up at the tree above the both of them.

"I was on a walk and I saw this tree. I couldn't resist. It's so beautiful, Rachel."

"Why were you walking around alone?"

"I talked to my mom. And...I told her. I told her that i'm gay." She turned on her side and grinned when a familiar panicked look came over Rachel's face.

"Oh no! Were you walking because she kicked you out? Are you alright? Do you need somewhere to stay?" She frowned, her instinct for worrying about the blonde falling away as Quinn smiled at her tenderly.

"Everything's fine, Rach. She was okay with it. I was just trying to calm myself down i guess. I thought she would freak out, so I was kind of panicked. I just needed to let go of the image I had in my had of her looking at me like Russel did and kicking me out." She started to get up, already apologising for being in the Berry's front yard.

"Wait, Quinn...would you maybe want to come inside? I'm baking and I would like it if you stayed." She motioned towards the house, watching as Quinn nodded her head.

"How'd you know I was out here?" The blonde asked as they walked into the house.

"My dads were on their way to game down in Cleveland with some of their colleagues. I believe Santana and her father are going as well. I'm not a huge baseball fan, and also I'm baking all of this stuff for a bake sale the Columbus orphanage is having, and I wanted to make sure I finished by five so Jenna and Anthony could come pick it all up. Anyway, so on their way out they saw you laying out there and checked on you, but you were asleep so they just called me and told me." Rachel sat Quinn down at the island and took the milk out of the fridge.

"You guys have real milk?"

"My daddy isn't a vegan, just me and my dad." The shorter girl pulled out a glass and handed the blonde a few oatmeal raisin cookies, a smile curving her lips.

"Thanks. For the cookies and asking me to stay. I'm a little afraid that when I get home my mom will have like pamphlets and information and stuff. I keep thinking she'll ask me a bunch of ridiculous questions like what kind of girls I like or what kind of lesbian I am or something. I'm not ready for...any of that, you know?" Rachel nodded, poured herself a glass of soy milk, and sat down.

"I mean, the only thing i've been able to comprehend about being gay since I figured it out was this overwhelming fear. If they hated me enough to kick me out for something as overwhelmingly straight as getting pregnant..." Quinn bit into a cookie and smiled, watching as Rachel nodded, understanding.

"How would she react when ou told her you were gay. I'm glad everything's okay, Quinn. I'm really glad to see you have the mom you deserve now." She half-smiled, the subject of mother's always bitter when it spilled from her lips. She wiped the thought from her mind, wondering how and when Quinn realized she was gay.

"sophomore year... I never felt anything with Finn. With Puck my only feelings for him that aren't kind of I guess...familial? Are connected to what we created together. I wanted to so bad. I cared about them both, but physically I wasn't there. I wasn't attracted to ether of them. I knew something was wrong, they're both good looking guys, you know? But I had to keep my eyes away from Britt and Santana in the locker room and if I'm honest, Rachel...you, too. In those skirts and tight dresses. So, being a Fabray, I lied to myself. I was feeling really really gay the day I got so drunk that I slept with Puck. I uh, I'd walked in on San and Britt. And all I think about how much I wanted to be part of what they were doing. With them, or...with you." She frowned and stuffed another cookie in her mouth. She hadn't meant to tell the other girl how much she'd always been attracted to her. But today, it seemed, was a day for truth-telling.

"Wait, you were attracted to...me?" It's not like Rachel doesn't understand, she dressed the way she did to attract people, she just never expected Quinn to be one of those people, let alone to admit it. She would be lying if she said the revelation didn't make her happy. She felt Quinn watching her, but she didn't look up. She was too busy trying to figure out why she liked the news so much. Because it was flattering, or because she'd always felt the same way without ever expecting for Quinn return it.

What's wrong? Is it weird that I've liked you for that long?" She looked away and grimaced. She hadn't said that.

"You didn't say that, Quinn. Anything else you'd like to tell me?" Rachel giggled, a cocky smile falling over her features.

"No...there's nothing else right now." Quinn was a horrible excuse for a Fabray. Pregnant at sixteen, gay, unable to keep from saying things she should keep to herself. Despite those semi-downfalls, like Rachel Berry smirking at her like a sexy, cocky, Cheshire cat, the knowledge of this made her happy.

"Ready to face your over-enthused mother? I'd like to spend some time with you if you aren't." She watched as Quinn looked down at her watch. It was five p.m.

"I think I'd rather stay. I'll deal with her when I walk home later. If it's okay with you i'd like to relax and watch some tv or a movie? The shorter girl nods and grabs a pale wrist gently, pulling the blonde up the stairs behind her. The room is the color of the shorter girl's skin and Quinn's confused because she can remember Mercedes saying it was bright yellow.

"Do you like it? I painted it a few weeks ago? Went to Lowes to do the color matching thing. The yellow felt a little childish and I wanted something that felt like me." Quinn nodded. It was like her alright. If the brunette were to strip and stand against the wall naked, the blonde would never find her.

"Yea, I like it a lot." She motioned to the love seat in front of the tv and when Rachel nodded, she took a seat, watching as the brunette grabbed a mini remote and hit play for her iHome. Florence and the Machine's Cosmic Love filled the room. Rachel sat next to her and turned on her PS3, trying to decide what they should watch.

"What do think we should watch? I know you like comic-based films if they're good, and horror mo-" She was cut off when Quinn's phone wrong, Paramore's Misguided Ghosts filling the space between them. Rachel shut down the iHome across the room She watched as Quinn rolled her eyes and answered the phone, putting it on speaker to show the other girl how overbearing her mother could be.

"Hi, Mom. What's up?"

"Hi, Quinnie! Where are you? I thought we could talk and spend some time together. I brought the box set of the L word and a teen show called Victorious. The sales person said they're both very gay." the blonde sighed loudly, rolling her eyes over to Rachel who covered her mouth with her hand to quiet her giggles.

"We can do that another time Mom, I'm hanging out with Rachel."

"Rachel? is that your girlfriend, Quinnie? Is she cute? When can I meet her?" Quinn wanted to hang up. She really did.

"Yes, mom, she's cute. But she's not my girlfriend. Were just friends. We're both in glee." Rachel had stopped giggling, a smile on her face.

"Oh, Rachel Berry! I remember her from your Regionals last year. She's quite the remarkable singer, Quinnie. I know her father's, Leroy and Hiram. They volunteer here at the orphanage. Anyway, goodbye then, got to get back in there. Love you, Quinn." The blonde couldn't keep the soft smile off of her face.

"I love you too, mom." She disconnected the call and looked over at the cockily smiling Rachel with her eyebrow cocked up. "What?"

"You think I'm cute."

"Nooo...I just couldn't say no with you sitting right there. Just kidding, Rachel. Yea, I think you're cute. I was pretty sure we'd covered this already." She picked up the controller, opening Netflix, browsing the offerings.

"What should we watch?" She stopped on something, pressing the x button to see how far into the series Rachel was.

"You watch Fringe? No way." Rachel nodded.

"I just started a few days ago. Michael recommended it. It's highly interesting, I find myself wishing for a relationship to occur between Olivia and Peter. I'm wary though. It always feels like shows like this cultivate their watcher's interest in a main character pairing, and then we wait years for it, and when It finally happens it's cheap and barely existant in the first place." She rambled it all out, and Quinn sighed, knowing exactly how she felt.

"You've got no idea. Honestly, show like this, you're better off shipping Liv and Astrid. It'll never happen, so they can never ruin it, right?" Rachel nodded, pushing play on episode five of season one before she got up, pushing a large ottoman sideways in front of the loveseat. Rachel sat down Quinn finally noticed what she was wearing. Cheerio short shorts and a matching hoody.

"Where'd you get the cheerio gear? You didn't join did you?" She said this with a smile on her face, but she really hoped the brunette hadn't joined. She didn't want Sue and her overbearing and sometimes damaging way of caring for her team anywhere near her.

"Of course not. But I am what I guess you would say was...on call." Quinn was confused. Thorough.

"Wait...what?"

"sophomore year, the cheerios were down a flyer when you got kicked off the team. So Coach Sylvester called me into her office and we made a deal. She would tell you why she really wanted you off the team, and I would be on call to join the team and take your place as one of the flyers if she couldn't find one to replace the team before sectionals. So she found one, and explained to you that she just was worried about you or the baby being hurt if you were dropped or were to fall." Quinn couldn't understand how much Rachel had done for her back then. When every word out of her mouth towards the shorter girl was negative, was an insult. She hadn't deserved anything Rachel had done for her.

"But Rachel, this stuff is brand new. Britt and San just got it last week."

"So did I. Coach and I have an altered deal. I stay on call, and if you ever want to join again, she has to accept it and put you back on the squad as Santana and Brittany's third co-captain. Santana agreed to it." For Quinn, it was strange to realize how much her best friends obviously cared about her.

"Thank you so much Rachel. I do miss it. Not the popularity, but doing something that's always been a part of the friendship between San, Britt, and I. And now you too, I guess. It's perfect. I'll go talk to coach Monday. Would you, do you think you'll have to time to join the team with us? I guess you'll be a little behind, but the three of us could get you caught up."

"Okay."

"Really? I don't want to...if you don't want to do it, just say so." Rachel smiled sweetly at her, squeezing the hand she'd taken into her own a moment ago.

"Of course, Quinn. I'm sure I'll have fun and be an asset in the team in quite a few ways." Quinn laughed, leaning back against the couch comfortably.

"Oh? In what ways, specifically?"

"Isn't it obvious? Look at me, I totally rock cheerios' style." She stood and twirled around gracefully on the toes of her left foot, showing off her ass and thighs and the shorts which said 'kiss me, I'm a cheerio' on the back. Quinn wanted to. Desperately.

"I'll...have to agree. But seriously, Rach. I tell you that I'm gay and how attracted to you I am, and first chance you get you wave your ass in my face with a pair of shorts that say kiss me?" She's had so much practice restraining herself that isn't as hard anymore. But this is Rachel standing in front of her, and it's so much harder when it's this particular brunette. The blonde can see in Rachel's eyes that she's deciding whether to apologize or to scoot closer and proclaim that the words written across her perfect rear are an invitation. Curiously, neither of these things are what Quinn Fabray wants. She wants the why. The explanations behind the behavior. Because she and the brunette could have make out or even have sex now, but it wouldn't be right, feel...right unless she knew how Rachel truly felt.

"Do you want me to treat you differently? If that's what you want I won't say no. But I will tell you that I asked all our friends to treat me no different when I told them the same thing after I broke up with Finn." She waited for Quinn to absorb the information and drained the rest of her mug of mint tea.

"I missed way too much this summer. But isn't that different?" She watched as Rachel stopped the neglected episode of Fringe and pressed play on her iHome remote. Adele's Melt My Heart To Stone was what played, and Quinn couldn't help but wonder who Rachel had in mind when she created this playlist. She closed her eyes, relaxing back into the couch. When she opened them again, Rachel was completely in her personal space.

"No different. We both know how beautiful Brittany and Santana are. Mercedes and Tina are equally sexy. The only difference is how I feel about each of them, versus how I feel about...you, Quinn." Coldplay's Green Eyes played next and Quinn couldn't ignore the evidence staring her in the face even if she wanted to.

"Ok so...you care about me? You...you love me? And this playlist. I don't...are you asking me to...? What are you saying?" Rachel smiled at her in a way that Quinn could recognize from a few very important moments in their history together. she'd never seen the singer look at anyone else that way. It was special. It was only for her.

"I'm saying, Quinn, that I'm ready to stop lying to myself if you are." Rachel reached for her hand, running her warm palm up the blonde's pale arm. She had no reason to pretend anymore. No reason not to kiss Rachel. This explanation of what she felt was all she'd been waiting for. Quinn closed the narrow distance between their lips, relaxing her body and pulling Rachel down over her. This was perfect.

A/N 2: I've been thinking about making a Sequel to Heart Grown Fonder. It would definately still be Faberry/Brittana. In my planning for it, i'm taking inspiration from Gary Paulsen's The River, the same way I took loose inspiration from Hatchet for HGF.

Today, I'm kind of just getting started, as well as starting on the glee/fringe fic and maybe a couple more chapters for Lifelines and Trauma. Thanks for taking the time to read this today.