Rachel leaned in tantalisingly slow, hands resting gently on either side of Quinn's trembling face. Warm brown orbs found hazel and as their gazes locked Rachel brushed her lips lightly over Quinn's, who sighed quietly in contentment. The diva pulled back until their foreheads were touching and whispered "I love you Quinn". Quinn sucked in a surprised breath and without thinking replied "I love you too Rachel.

Beep .. Beep ..Beep. Quinn sat bolt upright in bed, panting, as she scanned her room, as if Rachel were hiding behind her curtains with a video camera. Recognising that she was acting slightly insane she took a few deep breaths trying to calm her now frantically beating heart. She glanced at the bedside clock. 6:30am. She was going to be late if she didn't haul ass. Sighing loudly, she tossed aside her bedcovers and reluctantly began her daily routine. She stepped under the warm spray of the shower and began vigorously shampooing. As she watched the suds circle the drain, she began to think about the dream that had awoken her. That dream.

The same dream that had haunted her for the past two weeks, invading her thoughts during the most random of moments. At first she thought that maybe she was having nightmares which would explain why Berry showed up, but after a few nights of the same scenario, she realised it was not exactly scaring her. However, reaching this conclusion, did scare her.

She had tried and tried to think about what could have triggered this sudden barrage of dreams. And after a few hours contemplation she admitted to herself that these night-time visions had happened after Rachel sang that song in glee. The Only Exception. It was a beautiful rendition and Quinn found herself completely transfixed as the brunette poured her heart and soul into each word. After the song finished Quinn quickly caught herself and plastered her trademark smirk firmly in place. But that didn't mean, that in that moment, she was utterly taken in by the pintsized diva.

She felt herself connecting to the words like she never had before. But that didn't mean that she liked Berry now, it was just her voice. Besides she was obviously singing that song to Finn, her boyfriend. She had simply appreciated the other girls performance. With this comforting thought, Quinn stepped out of the shower ready to face the day.

That day Quinn went through her daily routine of intimidation and cheerleading. The two seemed to go hand in hand. After screaming at a few newly recruited Cheerio's, and screaming at Santana to fix her goddamn ponytail, she was feeling much better when she stepped into Glee that day. As soon as she swaggered through the choir room door, she could tell something was wrong. Finn and Rachel were standing feet apart both red in the face and screaming at each other.

"I know it wasn't about me Rachel! Just tell me who it is!" bellowed Finn.

"My musical inspiration has absolutely nothing to do with you Finn, if I gave away all my secrets my position as lead in this club could be in jeopardy, do you want that to happen!" screeched Rachel defensively. Quinn raised her eyebrow and took a seat beside Mercedes and Brittany.

"What happened to Rupaul and Finn?" inquired Quinn, watching Finn fumble to find a response. Mercedes stopped shovelling popcorn into her mouth long enough to mumble "check it that song last week Rachel sang, yano the only exception or whatever, well it wasn't for Finn." "And he got pretty mad" chirped Brittany, stating the obvious. Quinn rolled her eyes, and turned her gaze back to the bickering couple.

"Well if you won't tell me who it was about then you obviously don't care about me, we're through Rachel .." snapped Finn, stomping clumsily from the room. Rachel simply stood there staring at the door for a long time. She was so predictable, thought Quinn.

"Any second now she's going to go run after him and beg for forgiveness".

That's why the Cheerio was shocked to see Rachel slowly turn around, lock eyes with the blonde, then sit down next to Artie and stare unseeingly at the whiteboard. Quinn glanced around wondering if anybody was going to go comfort the obviously upset diva. However, one look was enough to tell her that nobody was paying the brunette any attention now that the show had ended. Britney and Santana were quietly playing strip poker in the corner, Artie was engaged in conversation with Tina and Mike, and Mercedes and Kurt were discussing which one of them was the biggest cliché. Looking back at Rachel she felt a pang of sympathy, had that been anyone of them that was hurt, Rachel would be fussing over them, possibly enlisting the help of the school nurse and writing a letter of complaint to the person who had upset them. Quinn chuckled inwardly, then stopped as she watched Rachel quietly wiping a solitary tear from her trembling cheek.

"I should go comfort her" thought Quinn randomly. The blonde quickly shook her head trying to banish this unnerving thought. Yet it wouldn't fade and she suddenly felt herself standing up and wending her way towards the teary brunette.

She saw Rachel look up hopefully searching for the kind soul come to comfort her. Her hopeful expression changed to that of weariness as she saw that it was Quinn who stood before her.

"Whatever insult you plan on throwing my way, can you just save it till tomorrow. I think I've had enough joy for one day" sniffed Rachel quietly.

Quinn squirmed inwardly. "

"That's that Rachel thinks I want to do?" she cringed. "I need to tell her that I'm sorry, that I'm sorry this has happened her", thought Quinn.

"Rachel .. I-" began Quinn. Just as she was about to offer the brunette a shoulder to cry on, Mr Schue practically bounced into the room and cut her off.

"Hey guys! I have an awesome mash up for you today, and don't worry it's not a boring old song, it's rap! So I'll be able to sing with you" he smiled, as if that was everyone's dream come true.

"Quinn why are you standing there?" questioned Mr Schue, who was pulling song sheets out of his bag.

Quinn looked back at Rachel, who was staring at her as if she were wondering the same thing.

"I.. I just dropped one of my pencils and uh ..thought I saw it.." she trailed off sitting back in her seat.

"Oh .. ok.. well let's get started gang!" the oily-haired man-child practically yelled.

Quinn looked down at her song sheet. The song was "I'll stand by you". As she club began singing the opening verse, she looked down at Rachel and wondered if she would be ok.