This is a re-upload of Nightfall. After having Nightfall on sale for over a year, I now have the go ahead to re-release it to you guys. I'd like to thank you for all your support, and as my gift to you, here is the original version of Nightfall in all its Faberry glory. Love to you all.
She can smell her. She can smell her and it's fucking killing her. It was hard enough at school, to deal with it, to have that smell lingering in the back of her nostrils like a bad smell that's really not that bad a smell, but a terrific smell that acts like a high dose of Viagra, but now she had to deal with it while she was just having a stroll through town?
Well, stroll is hardly what she would call it. She's prowling in the bushes behind a row of houses, hiding in and amongst the shadows to keep herself hidden while she searches for prey. She doesn't eat them, exactly, it's just good to work out the kinks and just hunt.
But when that smell is there, fucking haunting her, it kind of puts her off her stride. She'd just set her eyes on a rather fluffy white rabbit, it's ears pointed, eyes wide as it stared at her. It hadn't run, which was weird, because what wouldn't run when staring at wolf? But whatever.
Eyes trained, ears pricked, picking up the minute sounds of it's tiny feet rustling against the leaves at its feet just in case it was planning to run, just about ready to lunge, back legs bent, back tensed and she smelt it.
She crashed head first into nothing, the rabbit already thumping its way into some undergrowth. She whimpered, but not from the pain of her rather thick skull impacting with the ground, but from the fact that she'd missed a particularly good catch.
And that smell was back, and for more than enough times she'd care to count, she hates the fact that her sense of smell is particularly fantastic. It's there, just niggling away, and before she knows it, she's prowling again, sniffing the air, trying to pinpoint it.
It's only when she comes out from behind the houses, still hidden in the shadows, that she realizes she has to pass a road to continue following the trail. She's half tempted to just switch back into her normal form, but feeling your bones crack back into place and then having to walk around in her birthday suit isn't particularly appealing.
It's a 50/50 choice. One choice, dash across the street and hope she doesn't get seen. Second choice, forget that damn aphrodisiac and get the hell back home. It was already two am, and although he parents knew she was out hunting, her father didn't like her being out so late.
But fuck it, she's already dashed across the road and into some shrubbery, what harm can it do?
The smell is stronger now, so fucking strong her hind legs feel like they're going to collapse beneath her. But she keeps going, nose to floor, just smelling, following that trail that begs to be followed.
In the haze of it all, she finally realizes where she's going, and it's only when she comes face to face with a steel wire fence of the park, she knows. Her nose nudges the wire, and she's half tempted to just chomp through it in hopes of getting through, so she does.
Mouth wide, teeth bared, she stops and her golden hazel eyes narrow in like tunnel vision. There, swinging, alone, on a swing set is Rachel Berry. She's just sat there, in a pair of sweatpants and some weird tank that has the letter R bedazzled on the front. It's an eye sore, but when she realizes that Rachel is, in fact, crying, she just...stops.
Her backside immediately hits the ground and she just watches as Rachel lamely rocks herself on that one swing, chains slightly rusted, seat worn from use, just staring at her feet.
She looks so dejected and hurt, that she feels a whine escape her throat. If Rachel hurts, she hurts, it's always been that way, ever since they first met.
Her heart just hurts, and she does let the whine escape when one of Rachel's hands move up to brush a tear that's trekked it's way down her tan cheek. She wants to badly to be there as a shoulder to cry on, but that would hardly keep up appearances at school.
The Quinn Fabray at school could give two shits about anyone that isn't her or Cheerleading, that's the way that people perceive her to be. They just don't realize that Glee, and her parents, and her friends, and Rachel mean more to her than if she popular or not. People just don't tend to want to see that side of the picture, so she just keeps it hidden and locked away.
But this. This just pure fucking hurts. So she just watches, and from what she can tell, it's already past two thirty in the morning, and it really isn't safe for a girl to be out this late without anyone with her.
So she gnaws through that steel fence, molars chewing for a second before spitting out again. She licks her chops when the deed is done and the hole is big enough to finally fit through; it's only then she realizes that she's taken out one slat of the fence and maybe she should have just climbed over it instead, but once again, whatever.
She's already through, and Rachel's still sat there. So hesitantly, slowly, trying not to fucking prowl because she knows Rachel will run, she heads toward the girl, keeping her eyes locked on that tiny body.
Nothing cliché happened like stepping on a twig and Rachel's head snapping up; in fact, she made it until she was standing about ten yards away from the girl before she realized there was someone, or something else, there with her.
Rachel's eyes slowly looked up from her feet and locked on Quinn, who was just stood there, one leg poised forward, mid step.
The singer blinked, then all of a sudden she was yelping, falling backwards off the swing, and kicking at the dirt desperately to try and push herself backwards. Brown hair tousled over fear filled eyes, they remained locked on the wolf before her.
Then Quinn sat down, parked her rear end right on the ground and just sat there.
Rachel, still gasping for air that her lungs desperately needed, just stared, feet planted on the ground, knees up, leaning back on her hands.
"You're a big dog."
Quinn huffed out a laugh, mostly it was just a loud expel of air from her nose, but it seemed to make Rachel calm just a tad. Hesitantly, the girl sat up and braced her hands by her sides, just in case she had to get up in a hurry and save her ass from being eaten.
"Did you just..." Quinn watched as Rachel's throat bobbed gently, "Can you understand me?"
Quinn said nothing; the last thing Rachel needed was to go into school and start ranting about a big dog slash wolf that could understand what she was saying. They'd lock her up and then what chance would she have at getting her end in? Then again, at least she wouldn't be able to smell her. Like she could right now, and god damn was it intoxicating.
She couldn't even describe the smell. It wasn't just a normal smell that any human could smell; it wasn't the perfume that Rachel wore everyday, or the smell of her shampoo, it was something feral, something imprinted on a person when they're born.
She could smell it, only she could smell it, and fuck it was heavenly.
Rachel was just watching her, still with her defenses up, so in a small gesture, she padded out her front legs and laid down, head resting on her paws. Her fur tickled her snout, but she could care less as Rachel finally sat up fully, arms wrapping around her knees.
"You won't hurt me, will you?"
Quinn just blinked, just content to listen to Rachel's voice. She heard it enough at school, but out of school, something about Rachel completely changed. Her voice didn't carry that authority (maybe it was because she was scared to death) and she just seemed to go with the flow instead of diving head first into every situation she could get her hands on.
"You're too big to be a dog," The singer almost stated, leaning her chest forward on her knees, "Are there wolves in Lima?" She seemed to contemplate it, and then she just laughed, a loud bark that even made Quinn's ears flatten against her skull, "I'm talking to a wolf. I should be committed."
The wolf snorted again, a small puff of dust lifting off the ground and drifting into the breeze at the action. Rachel watched it until the dust just disappeared into nothingness before her eyes pinned the dark golden wolf before her.
The singer sniffled and then climbed to her feet, keeping her eyes on the wolf to make sure it didn't make any sudden movements.
"I...should head home." Then slowly, she stepped back, small, cautious steps, "Stay." She ordered gently, and Quinn didn't move, no matter how much she wanted to get up and just lunge.
Rachel didn't turn around until she was at the park gates; she bumped into a slide, tripped over the edge of a sandbox and almost collapsed over a fence, just because she was keeping her eyes trained on that wolf that refused to move.
When she left, Quinn waited until she couldn't smell Rachel anymore, then decided she'd had enough for one night and went home.
–
Santana and Brittany, contrary to popular belief, were not werewolves. They didn't even know she was a werewolf. Nor did she want to tell them. They were the biggest snitches in school and asking Santana or Brittany to keep a secret was like asking them to abstain from sex. It just didn't happen.
No one else at McKinley was a werewolf either. At first she thought Puck might have been one, but that dominant arrogance was just something he was born with, not the fact that he might have the blood of an Alpha.
She was the only werewolf at McKinley, and only a handful of people in Lima were actually wolves themselves. Some descended from them, but weren't one, others descended and could turn into one. But then again, it was only a handful, around eight or nine, and three of them were the Fabray family. Four if you counted Frannie, but she lived in Boston, so it hardly fit into the Lima category.
It was difficult, she wasn't going to lie; of course she could talk to her parents about it, but they hardly understood what it was like going to a school where she was the only wolf. It wasn't as if she could talk to anyone about it at school, whereas Russell and Judy Fabray had gone to the same school and bonded from it.
Quinn had no one to bond with, and it left her with a certain sense of loneliness. She had half the school as friends, but not one of them that she could really relate to. It sucked. So she had to deal with all the scents by herself, without being able to turn to someone and ask if they were going through the same thing. She had to deal with those primal urges that sometimes were too much to bare and she had to just go and sit in her car for an hour or so just to calm down.
But over the years she just learnt to deal with it; it came with the territory. She dealt with the urges, the need to hunt, the smells, all by herself. But then when everything with Rachel went off like a bomb in her face, she had no choice but to go to her parents for advice.
"Mom, dad? I need to talk to you both."
Russell adjusted his tie against his shirt as he sat, Judy sitting primly beside him. They both didn't look worried, nor did they have to be; they were linked to their daughter, they could tell what she was thinking, so before she even had chance to open her mouth, Russell raised his hand for her to be quiet.
"You're pulling towards someone at school, aren't you?"
Judy's eyes snapped to her husband, and then back to her daughter, who sat before her, hands clutched tightly in her lap, almost shaking from the force of the grip.
"Yeah. It's...getting difficult to handle it." She drifted off and sighed, eyes falling to her hands, "I need your advice. I need help with this."
"We'll help you. You are our daughter after all," She looked up fast enough to see her father smiling at her, "But so help me God if it's Finn Hudson..."
Judy all but chortled and Quinn's jaw dropped, "What's wrong with Finn?"
"He's a moron, Quinnie. Can you imagine how he would deal with the fact that you were a werewolf?" At Quinn's cringe, Judy laughed, "So who is it? I'm trying to hear what you're thinking but..." She looked to her husband, "Can you?"
Russell shook his head, "No. You're clouding the thought up for some reason." He chastised his daughter and leaned back in his seat, "Let me listen, Quinn."
They heard. They heard every last though, every sweet, wicked and downright dirty thought that she had for one Rachel Berry. She bit her lip, eyes shooting between the two of them before Russell cleared his throat.
"Have you been watching porn? Because that sounded something straight out of a porn movie."
"Oh my God, dad!" Quinn exclaimed, slumping down in her seat, chin burrowed against her chest, all but trying to disguise the deep blush on her cheeks.
Russell chuckled, "Go check, dear." He told his wife, "I'll talk to Quinn about the urges and you can take over with the more...intimate side of it."
Quinn groaned, "The sex talk, werewolf style? I'm going to die."
All in all, they were oddly accepting at the fact that she had the urge with a girl. Apparently, although they were a Christian family, the history and needs of their werewolf genes came first. It didn't matter if a werewolf was attracted to another female, it was just natural; a common occurrence.
The fact her dad had been so cool about it though, freaked her the hell out. The talk they had however, had been so disgustingly embarrassing, that she felt like dissolving into her seat. But she had to be told, she had to sit there and listen to it because urges were something that had to be tamed, controlled, taken care of.
When a werewolf gets an urge, it's all it thinks about until that urge is given into. The longer its withheld, the stronger it gets, the more primal it gets. Then the scents come into play; you can smell the person you have an urge for, smell their every scent and it acts as an aphrodisiac to a wolf. Then there comes a time when a wolf just snaps and acts on their urge.
It happens a lot more than people think; and the daily lessons she gets from her father to deal with them, helps a hell of a fucking lot.
Hence why she can sit next to Rachel in Glee Club and not be effected one bit. On the outside of course, because on the inside it's like World War III and her urges to want to win, but she keeps fighting and forcing them down until they raise their hands in defeat. The smell...well of course it's hard to deal with, and sometimes she has to stop herself when she cranes her neck, feigning a neck ache just to get that much closer to Rachel's neck.
But she doesn't have that urge today, because what she saw only hours ago in the middle of a hazy morning light disturbed her. Why was Rachel Berry in the middle of a park, crying to herself and now seemed to be fine and dandy, hanging off Finn's every word as he talked about Halo or some other shit?
It pissed her off that she didn't know what was going on it that brunette's head, and she just wished she could hear what she was thinking; but that only happened between strong werewolf bonds, and unless Rachel had somehow become a werewolf overnight, it totally wasn't happening.
So she just sits, staring down at the book in her lap, not really reading it while she covertly looks at Rachel from time to time, just to sense some sort of change. There was nothing all Glee session, it just remained the same, even when Rachel got up to sing a solo, when they did a group number and when they all sat down together to talk about songs for Nationals.
But when Mr. Schue called time on the session and told everyone they were free to go home, Quinn's eye twitched when Rachel's scent suddenly became bold, so much so it made Quinn rocket from her seat. It smelt...so good...
Rachel glanced at her, then smiled softly before raising from her own seat, grabbing her bag and following Quinn out of the room.
Something was wrong; that wasn't a good smell for a human. Sure, it was good for a wolf, cos fuck it was like food to someone like her, but that smell, for a human, was just pure unadulterated fear.
–
She caught the damn rabbit this time and she enjoyed the way it's neck snapped in her mouth as she clamped her teeth down on it. She wouldn't eat it, although it did taste good; but like always, she killed it, left it on the ground and walked away. It was good to just hunt and kill, not always eat. Last time she ate something on a hunt, when she'd reverted back to a human she couldn't get the taste out of her mouth for days even after going through two tubes of toothpaste and a bottle and a half of mouthwash.
Her home was calling her, and it was already one in the morning; last night hunting did wonders for insomnia. But as she turned to go back home, she smelt it again. Not the kill at her feet, but Rachel. She smelt her again, she was close by.
She followed the trail, snout to the floor, snuffing the dirt as she walked. She came to same part of road again and she didn't think twice about dashing over it and into shrubbery to hide herself.
The gaping hole she'd made the night before is still there, and so is Rachel, in the same position. It's eerily similar, and she feels as if she's replaying last night over again. This time she alerts Rachel instead of sneaking up to the poor girl; she doesn't want to scare her so much she falls off the swing again.
Rachel's head snaps up when she hears a low bark, her eyes soften but her body remains stiff, ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble. Brown eyes track the golden wolf's movements carefully, watching as each heavy paw presses to the ground with each step, the way those golden hazel eyes just lock on hers, never faltering, never wavering. It's oddly comforting.
Quinn parks her rump in front of Rachel, a good ten yards away, and just stares.
"You're back, I see?" Rachel smiles, eyes still watering. "Don't you have a family to go home to?"
Rachel watches as the wolf's ears twitch back and forth quickly, and she chuckles, fighting back a sob, "I'm sure they miss you."
Quinn knows that her mother and father miss her, she can hear them faintly in the back of her mind. She can cut their voices out completely, but it's always nice just to know they're there, safe and sound.
"Why aren't you attacking me?" Is suddenly asked, and Quinn snorts at the question, "I know you probably can't understand me but aren't wolves usually violent animals?" Quinn's ears twitch again, "Or is it because you don't see me as a threat?"
And just like deja vu, Quinn's front legs stamp out slowly and she lays down, head resting on her paws.
They sit there, in silence, together, just listening to the odd car pass in the street, or the sound of the wind rustling through the trees. Quinn doesn't know how much time has passed until she happens to glance at Rachel's watch. Three thirty in the morning.
"I should go," Rachel whispers, voice raw. She doesn't say anything else, she just rises from the swing, and walks away. She glances over her shoulder a couple times, which is understandable. There is a fucking wolf sat there after all.
–
"How is it going?" Judy asked as she placed a heaving plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and chopped tomatoes in front of her daughter and husband. Russell smiles and closes his newspaper, pressing a gentle kiss to her temple before digging in.
Quinn just shrugged, mouth too busy chomping on three rashers of bacon and half a hash brown. She's a pig at home; at school she eats like she has a stick up her ass, all prim and proper with her salad, at home she can stuff her face and eat just like her dad. Screw society.
"Are the urges becoming harder to deal with?"
Quinn swallows in time to answer her father, "They're the same."
"So why are you hunting late at night then?" Judy asked over her cup of coffee, eyes silently judging her daughter, "Unless you're dealing with urges?"
"I just want to perfect my technique." Quinn mumbled, shoveling a forkful of scrambled eggs into her mouth.
"Good," Russell praised, "I'm glad you're testing the waters." He took a long gulp of his water, "But why are you out for three hours a night doing it?"
Busted.
"I keep seeing Rachel."
Judy's eyebrow flicked up, eerily similar to her own, "In the middle of the night? Is she on her own?" At Quinn's nod, Judy scoffed, "That's not safe at all. I should speak with Hiram and Leroy."
"No!" Quinn dropped her knife and fork, sending them clattering to the plate, "Don't. I just...I keep catching her crying and then she just sits there, and she lets me sit there with her."
"You let yourself be seen?" Russell asked, approving tone all but gone.
"She doesn't know it's me, dad. I just...it's cool that she isn't freaked out by me. But she just keeps crying and I don't know what's wrong with her."
"Have you thought of asking her while you're at school? Talk to her as Quinn and not your wolf?"
Quinn shrugged her shoulders at her mom, "It's not that simple."
"And why not?"
With a sigh, the youngest Fabray grabbed her knife and fork and just continued to eat, avoiding the question entirely.
–
She gets to school and hour later and she finds Rachel at her locker, Finn stuck to her side. They're talking, he's smiling, she's smiling; it seems just like any other day. Quinn rushes past, holding her breath as she does, but when Finn calls out to her, she lets it go; she can't really talk to him if she's blue in the face.
"Finn." She glances at Rachel, barely, "Berry."
"We're scheduling a Glee meeting for this lunch time, we were wondering if you could tell Brittany and Santana when you see them?" Rachel asked, voice chirpy and excited, "Finn and I have written an excellent original song for Nationals."
Quinn just nods, feigning boredom, "Yeah. Sure."
"Awesome," Finn grins, "See you later, Quinn."
Quinn fight back the growl when Finn wraps his arm around Rachel's waist and leads her away, and barely holds it back when Rachel's scent changes to pure happiness at being held.
–
The song is alright. Okay, it's great, and it probably will give them a fighting chance at Nationals, but the fact it's a duet, wholly created for Rachel and Finn to sing, has her inner wolf just dying to rip out his throat.
Mr. Schue is over the moon, and the rest of the club is too except for the given Kurt and Mercedes who are pissed that they don't get a chance at a solo; but then again, why would they? Rachel is the strongest and most versatile singer in the club.
They agree it'll be the opening number after a vote. Quinn is half tempted just to write 'I'll sing it with Rachel' over her slip of paper, but instead puts yes. Handing it in felt like a death sentence for some reason.
–
When the bell goes during the after school Glee session, Quinn smells the shift in Rachel again. She exudes fear, and it worries her, but before she can even ask, Rachel is already out the door.
–
She doesn't go out that night; mostly because she can't deal with it anymore. Two nights in a row, just staring at a sobbing Rachel takes it's toll of a girl/wolf. It's not like she can say anything when she's a wolf either; she can't exactly dive into a philosophical discussion about why Rachel is crying and how she's going to help.
Life isn't a fucking fairy tale and things don't happen like that.
So instead, she rolls over and clings to her pillow, fighting with her body to just fall asleep. It's close to four in the morning when her body finally gives in, and she doesn't give it a second thought at the fact that it's when she usually gets in after seeing Rachel.
–
Rachel's in her AP History class, and it's driving her crazy. The singer is no where near her; in fact, she's across the room, right at the front of the class. She's right at the back, sat beside Santana who is just sat texting on her phone.
Mr. Collins, their teaching is off ranting about the Civil War, and Quinn gives into temptation. She nudges Santana, who sends her a miffed off look before looking back at her phone. "What?"
"Have you noticed anything different about Ra-Berry?"
Santana's eyes slowly drift up to lock with Quinn's, "Why?"
"Just wondering. She seems a little off."
Santana smirked, "Frickin' charming. You starting to worry about her or something?"
Her wolf screamed pride in caring about the brunette, but Quinn reigned it in, "No. I just don't want her to have a breakdown and ruin our chances in New York. It's only two weeks away."
"I doubt she's going to have a breakdown," Santana pocketed her phone and nodded her head to Rachel, "She's fine, scribbling down notes like a good little teacher's pet."
Quinn wasn't so sure.
–
There was no Glee on Thursdays due to fact that Mr. Schue handled detention after school. So Glee was cancelled, and she didn't see Rachel leave school. She hadn't seen her at all after History, and it was starting to worrying her.
She could usually sense if Rachel was nearby, or at least smell her, but there was nothing.
She cornered Finn as he walked to his truck. He told her Rachel went home, that she was sick. Quinn nodded, but her wolf raged. Something wasn't right.
–
"If you wear a hole in the carpet, you're buying a new one." Russell commented from her bedroom door, arms crossed over his chest. His hair was messy, and he was only in a baggy shirt and slacks; he'd been out hunting.
"Sorry, dad." She sat down on the edge of her bed and sighed,
"You're worried about Rachel Berry." Russell nodded his head to himself, "Understandable, with the thoughts you're having right now. What's wrong, exactly?"
"I don't know, that's the point." Quinn replied, "Every time she goes home, she exudes all this fear and for the life of me, I can't understand why."
"Fear?" Her father asked, brow furrowing, "You think she's scared to go home?"
"I don't know, that's the feeling that I'm getting from it all." She paused, "Don't quote me on that though."
Russell nodded, "Okay."
–
Two days later, Hiram and Leroy Berry greeted her as she walked in the door. Her father sat opposite them, smiling up at her with a soft smile, "Uh. Hey."
"Leroy, Hiram. My daughter, Quinn." They both smiled up at her, and Hiram even shot up out of his seat to hug her.
"She's beautiful, Russ."
"All my genes."
Quinn snorted, "What about mom?"
"What about her?" Then he smirked and looked back to the two Berry men, "So as I was saying, I think it's beneficial that you come over to dinner tomorrow evening."
Hiram glanced at Leroy quickly, then shoved his glasses back up his nose, "I think we may be busy tomorrow evening. Perhaps we could reschedule?"
Quinn wandered into the kitchen, glancing over her shoulder at her dad who just watched them, trying to somehow figure them out.
They're lying. She heard as she grabbed an orange from the fruit bowl.
With a sigh, she began peeling, I know.
–
She was at the park before Rachel even arrived that night. She was sat by the swings, amusing herself by trying to catch passing small flies when the singer finally turned her.
Ears twitched when she heard the singer close in, but she kept her snout poised in the air, trying to feign indifference as she snapped at the tiny buzzing creatures that passed by.
"I haven't seen you for a while." Rachel's voice sounded so raw as she sat down on the swing, stretching her legs out, so close to Quinn's stamped down paws.
Quinn shook, ears slapping against her skull. It made Rachel giggle slightly, so it was a minor victory, but then her eyes landed on the tiny singer. She looked so small, and frail. It was like she was looking at a shadow of a former Rachel Berry. It scared her.
"I've...kind of missed you, is that stupid?"
Quinn melted.
"It is stupid," Rachel chuckled, embarrassed, "You're a wolf and I've only seen you twice before, but somehow..."
Golden hazel eyes shot over every inch of Rachel's exposed skin. It was only part of her neck and her hands, but there didn't seem to be anything there. From what her father had told her earlier on in the night, something was fishy about Leroy and Hiram. They were acting weird, almost as if they were trying to put on a show; and it wasn't like anyone turned down the opportunity to have a slap up meal at the Fabray household.
"I kind of feel safe with you."
Quinn rose off the floor and padded over to Rachel, not missing the way the girl's back straightening in reflex as she moved closer. So Quinn just sat down and curled up at Rachel's feet, luxuriating in the way the singer's shoes dug into her stomach.
She was so close and it felt so good.
–
Quinn actually speaks to Rachel on Monday. It's a shock to say the least, and she can see that in Rachel's eyes when she passes and offers a hey to the singer. Rachel's so shocked that Quinn is almost around the corner when she finally hears a 'Hello!'
It's enough to make the day seem worth it.
–
Tuesday, she says hey and a slight raise of a hand as she passes Rachel by her locker. Rachel clutches her books so close to her chest that Quinn's shocked they don't travel right through her body. She's almost down the hall when she hears, 'Hello Quinn!' behind her.
–
Wednesday, Finn is with Rachel, so there's no hello. But when Quinn passes her after lunch, when Brittany and Santana are off on one of their janitor closet trysts, Quinn eyes warm as she offers a quiet hello to Rachel in passing.
She doesn't get an hello in return this time, and she's sure it's because of the way she looked at the singer. It would shock anyone into a coma.
–
On Thursday, Quinn is at her locker, grabbing her Chemistry book when Rachel passes behind her and then stops. "Hello, Quinn."
The blonde turns, regards her and nods, "Hey Berry."
Rachel swallows in reflex, nods and then walks away.
To the people around them its a meaningless exchange, but to Quinn it means the world.
–
It's not until Glee Club on Friday that Rachel says hello to Quinn. She's at the piano when Quinn walks in, and she actually stops what she's doing to turn and smile at the blonde. It warms her insides and she swears she feels her wolf almost purr at the sight.
So she smiles back and sits down next to Brittany and Santana.
–
Monday through to Friday, Rachel doesn't appear at the park on the night. She can smell the lingering scent of the brunette as she sits at the swings and waits and hour, but she knows the singer has already been and gone.
As each night passes, she appears ten minutes earlier than usual. Each time, there's a lingering scent. But nothing but a swing that swings dejectedly in the breeze.
Saturday is entirely different though. Santana wants to hang out, and she does too, but her father promised to take the day off work and go hunting together. As a family. Judy too, which hardly ever happens, so she tells the Latina another time and goes out and hunts with her family.
It's a huge bonding experience, and when she watches her father, a silver, almost triple her size wolf dive for a deer on the outskirts of Lima, she can't help but be an awe. Her father, while in his early fifties, still has the agility of a twenty year old as a wolf.
In a way, she kind of wants to be like him when she grows up. She wants to be that strong, that proud, that courageous; be the one who catches a deer with nothing but a simple lunge as her own child watches on with awe.
Light gold shimmers in her peripheral vision, and she turns her head to watch her mom, slightly smaller than she, return with a hare in her mouth. It makes her smile; knowing that as a wolf, her mother can still go out and hunt. Her father demands that Judy only do housework as a human; she's pinned down to the tribulations of a Christian man's wife, but as a wolf, Russell allows her to do as she pleases. She can hunt just like her husband, she can get her snout in the dirt and not have to worry about appearances. It's exhilarating.
She heads off into the woods to find her own catch, hoping to prove her hunting worthiness to her father.
–
They don't return until late Sunday night. And although she's been hunting all weekend, Quinn still goes out under the pretence of hunting. Russell and Judy just agree and tell her not to wear herself out; that she has school in the morning, but she knows that they know she's going out to see if Rachel is at the park.
Rachel is there. Knees to her chest, face buried in them. It aches Quinn as she jumps over the fence that's now been replaced. She hurts her stomach as her hind legs kick her over it, but her eyes remain trained on Rachel.
There's no loud sobbing, only gentle sniffles as Quinn walks closer. She's shocked when she stops right beside the singer, and she doesn't even notice. So she nudges the girl's arm with her snout, and almost gets a fist in her face when Rachel jolts from her position.
"Are you trying to scare me?" Rachel asked through tears, "You almost give me a heart attack!"
She sounds so angry, and in reflex, Quinn steps back. Rachel's watery brown eyes finally lessen in intensity, and the anger all but dissipates, "Just howl or something when you're nearby. You can do that right? You've done it before."
Rachel isn't wearing a jacket, and she's only in a tank and a pair of shorts. It's cold out, even for Quinn and she's covered in thick fur. So she does the only think she can do. She sits down beside the singer and nudges herself close.
The brunette hesitates, but soon enough, her arms are wrapping around Quinn's neck. The wolf's nose is so close to Rachel's neck, and she so close to nuzzling, and the urge to flick her tongue out just to taste that skin is so overwhelming that it almost kills her.
They stay like that for going on an hour before the grip around Quinn's neck finally slackens, and Rachel's pulling away to stand up. But before she does, she pats Quinn's head, and in reflex, Quinn licks Rachel's cheek, savoring the taste of her tears on her tongue.
Rachel chuckled softly, "Is that your way of telling me I look horrible?" She asked before standing, patting the wolf's head again and walking out of the park.
Quinn's tempted to follow, but by the time she's made up her mind, Rachel's scent is gone.
Only then she realizes that she doesn't even know where the singer lives.
–
Finn and Rachel aren't talking on Monday. Finn isn't at his girlfriend's locker when Quinn passes, so she shoots the brunette a smile which is softly returned. It warms her until lunch when everything just goes to shit.
She's heading to the cafeteria, walking past the auditorium when she hears shouting. Loud shouting, even for her ears. When she pushes open the door, she sees Finn looming over Rachel, who's stood with her arms crossed defensively over her chest.
"Why did you break up with me? At least tell me that!"
"I have other things to deal with, Finn. I'm sorry if you don't agree with my decision but I'd rather concentrate and focus on my own problems rather than listen to you rant about how the Xbox 360 is superior to the Playstation 3."
Quinn bites her bottom lip to fight back a growl when Finn steps closer to his gir- ex girlfriend.
"I love you, Rach. Don't you get that?"
"And I love you," She replies with a defeated sigh, "But please don't make this anymore difficult then it already is."
Finn's fist clench, and Quinn feels ever muscle in her body tense, just in case she has to lunge at the six foot giant. But then Finn is shaking is head, "You can't come back from this, Rachel. We're done after this."
"We were done two days ago." Rachel drops her arms, "I'm so sorry, Finn. I'll always love you but..."
"Yeah. Problems." He lunged down and grabbed his backpack, "I get it."
What shocked Quinn more was the fact that even though Rachel watched Finn leave, she didn't even shed one tear.
–
Quinn corners Rachel outside in the parking lot before the singer has a chance to escape into her black Focus. Rachel's eyes are wide when Quinn calls out to her, but stops none the less, throwing her back into the back seat before slamming the door shut.
"Quinn?"
"I heard about you and Finn," She said, coming to a stop before her, "Tough break." She had to sound indifferent. But it came off all wrong, and when Rachel frowned, she mentally kicked herself.
"Well he's all yours now, I suppose?" Rachel asked, not really wanting an answer, "You're free to have him."
"No, that's not what I-,"
"I have to go, Quinn. I'm expected at home."
The blonde actually slaps herself around the back of her head when Rachel's car is out of sight, and she doesn't really care that two jocks stop and laugh at her as she does it.
–
"So it's not the boyfriend, then?" Judy asked at the dinner table, carving the lemon chicken in the centre of the table.
"Nope." Quinn replied, mouth salivating at the chicken, "I mean, she didn't even cry. Every time I see her, she's crying."
"You said that she told Finn she was having problems?"
"Well, yeah..." She lingered, looking at her dad who poured a generous helping of peas and carrots onto his plate.
"Home problems?"
Judy piled chicken onto her husband's plate, "That would account to why Leroy and Hiram are acting so weird of late."
Quinn narrowed her eyes in contemplation, stabbing the chicken with her fork when it finally arrived on her plate.
Leroy and Hiram Berry.
She doesn't go to the park. Straight after dinner, in fact, she goes to the Berry house with directions that her father had given her. She goes as Quinn, not her wolf, because apparently she had to travel along busy roads to get to Rachel's house that was way across the other side of town and almost five miles away from the park they met at every night.
Rachel walked five miles to the park, then another five back. Why walk a collective ten miles? Was she trying to get as far away from her home as she possibly could or something?
So Quinn took her dad's car, and parked across the road and down six houses. The Berry's was number fifteen, so her eyes remained trained on the pale blue door, just waiting for some sort of movement.
She was there for two hours until a car pulled into the driveway, a black Lexus, beside a silver Prius. Stark opposites if she'd ever seen one. Leroy climbed out of the car, all five foot nine of him, pulling his briefcase along with him.
Quinn expected him to walk straight into the house, but he fumbled around in his jacket pocket for a while before pulling something out of one of the pockets. She narrowed her eyes as she watched him slip his wedding ring back on his ring finger and walk into the house.
"He's cheating on his husband." Quinn pushed her bangs back from her eyes and scoffed, "And Rachel knows."
No less than five minutes later, Rachel leaves the house, this time in baggy light blue jeans, long sleeved white linen shirt and tennis shoes. She's down the drive when she glances back at the house, shakes head and then starts off in a run down the street, away from Quinn and her car.
"Shit."
Quinn climbs out of the car and only just remembers to lock it with the electronic device on the key chain as she's running down the road, trying to follow Rachel, but scent, she can't smell it as well as she could if she was a wolf.
So she runs, trying to keep up, holding onto that lingering scents that rapidly disappearing. Only when she passes an abandoned car factory that hadn't been used in years, does she stop. She glances from the road, to the factory and makes a split second decision.
She climbs over the rickety wire fence and disappears into one of the empty warehouses. She waits around for a few minutes, just making sure to place is deserted before clenching her muscles, squeezing her eyes shut and allowing her wolf to make its appearance.
It doesn't hurt half a much as it did the first dozen times, but the discomfort is still there as she collapses to her hands and knees, feeling her bones crack and break as her human body contorts into it's animalistic forms.
It's intense, so much so that she feels she could faint from exhaustion as her body changes. Her body contorts, skin turns abrasive and rough before the fur begins to finally appear. Her body morphs, her face twists and expands. That's what hurts the most, because she can feel the pressure on her brain.
But she's managed to get it down to a tee. It took two hours her first transformation, now it only takes a minute at the most.
She huffs and howls as her body aligns itself into his wolf form. Then when her body finally relaxes, she takes one almighty sniff and starts off in a run, dashing toward the back the car lot and taking the back roads to follow Rachel's trail.
No doubt the police wouldn't think twice about shooting her if they see a wolf in the open public streets.
–
Rachel wasn't on the swings when she arrived, in fact, she was sat on the slide, right at the top, just waiting to slide down...or not. Quinn waits, and watches, but Rachel just sits there, hands clutching the tiny slide as her legs extend down half of it.
It was made for children, and although Rachel was small, she wasn't that small. Christ, she wasn't a dwarf or anything, contrary to what Santana said.
Rachel sees her before Quinn has time to react. She ears prick up when she faintly hears, "Come here." So she does, because suddenly she's so whipped and she can't refuse Rachel Berry a single thing.
She stops at the bottom of the slide, looking up at Rachel who just stares at her. It's unnerving slightly, because suddenly, she feels so naked, almost like she can't hide behind her fur anymore.
"You followed me here."
Quinn puts her front paws on the bottom of the slide, her upper body slightly higher.
Rachel pulls out her phone, a bedazzled pink monstrosity, "It's only eight pm. You usually don't come here until after midnight." Then she puts her phone away and sighs, "It's like you know when I need someone by my side."
Finn screams into Quinn's thoughts, and she's just confused. Finn could have been there, by her side. It didn't particularly make her happy, but Rachel did have someone by her side until she threw him out on his ear.
"A wolf..." Rachel suddenly sighs, "I'm not even worried that I'm talking to a wolf anymore. I should be, but I'm not." She tucks a lock of brown hair behind her ear, "It's like you can understand everything I say."
She desperately wants to tell Rachel who she really is, but the thought of rejection just makes her want to run away, run far away and never come back, never see the singer again, forget about her urges.
But she's climbing up the slide, feet skidding against the cheap plastic, and she knows she looks like a struggling oversized rat or something, but she wants to be closer to Rachel. Needs to be closer.
Rachel giggles gently, extends her arms and gently whispers an apology before grabbing the wolf by the fur and helping her up. It doesn't hurt; it just feels like a light tug. But then she's towering over Rachel, all but in her lap, and it feels so perfect even though Rachel looks like she's about to fall backwards off the slide and the slide feels as if it'll collapse under their collective weight. But they just sit there, content.
"I suppose you're wondering why I'm crying all the time, right?" Quinn hears, slightly muffled against the fur of her chest. She feels Rachel shudder against her, trying to fight back the tears that threaten to burst free, so she gently settles her head on top of Rachel's and just stays there, trying to pour some strength from the simple gesture.
"I feel as if I can talk to you, because in a way, you won't judge me." Rachel sighed gently, "Everyone judges me. They all assume I'm doing something for my own gain, but I'm not. I don't really have any friends, just people I share a room with an hour a day. I can't talk to them, or trust them with what I have to say."
She was quiet for a long time, and the sun was just beginning to set in a haze of light orange when Rachel spoke again.
"My daddy is cheating on my dad." Rachel whispered, broken, "Dad knows, and they argue...the argue all the time and I'm caught in the middle. They try to use me against one another and I'm sick of it."
Quinn clenches her jaw, and she knows Rachel felt it because suddenly Rachel's moving down the slide beneath her and dropping to the floor. Quinn leaps off the slide and circles to face Rachel, who's clutching her arms around herself, staring at the sky, almost praying for support.
"Dad always says 'don't shout at me in front of Rachel' or 'do you really want our daughter to hear about your sordid affair?'." Rachel lowers her head to look at the wolf sat in front of her, staring at her with almost sympathetic eyes. It's so unnerving, that an animal can show sympathy, it's almost not right; the way that a wolf is staring at her like she's the moon and the stars.
But it's oddly satisfying.
"Then daddy tries to get me on his side, and I don't want to take sides, because I love them both. I know what daddy is doing is wrong, but my dad isn't completely innocent. He treats my dad like dirt most days, and I'm there to pick up the pieces and try to keep them together." She shudders out a breath, "I'm trying so desperately to keep my family together that I'm ignoring everything else around me."
Quinn nudges her leg with her snout and sits back down again, returning to look up at her, "You want to know what I'm ignoring?"
The wolf's ears twitch, and Rachel laughs lightly through a sob, "Nosy, aren't you?"
Quinn immediately loves the gesture, lolling her tongue out of her mouth, because Rachel crouches down in front of her and scratches her behind the ear. Her back leg thumps slightly against the dirt as Rachel scratches harder.
She's never had anyone scratch her behind the ears before, but now she knows she wants Rachel to do it all the time.
"I think I know why I find it so easy to open up to you."
Then Rachel's cell is ringing in her pocket, Defying Gravity, as she once told the Glee Club during one of their sessions Sophomore year, so Quinn isn't surprised. The singer pulls out her phone, sighs at the display then flips it open, answering with a soft, "Yes?"
Rachel continues to scratch the wolf's ear softly, stroking the fur from time to time as she listens to the person on the other side of the call. Then there's a, "Okay." and the phone is flipped shut.
"I need to go home."
Quinn wants to protest, but she knows she can't. She wants to know why Rachel finds it so easy to open up to a damn wolf, but then Rachel is kissing her softly on the top of her head and walking away.
She forgets her own name and doesn't move for ten minutes.
–
A day later, Quinn finds Rachel in the auditorium, sitting at the piano and practicing her scales as if nothing had happened. She had to applaud the brunette, her act of indifference was one that could win Oscars, but she doesn't miss the way her back stiffens when she finally notices the blonde walk toward her.
"Quinn." She smiles, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"How're you, Berry?" She asks, leaning against the piano.
Rachel seems shocked at the question, "Oh, I'm doing very well thank you. Yourself?"
Quinn just nods and all but inspects Rachel. She seems fine, except for those growing bags under her eyes and the hair that's pulled up in a sloppy ponytail like she couldn't be bothered this morning.
"You got me wrong about Finn. When I asked if you'd ended it, I didn't mean it as an opening to get back with him."
The brunette nods and returns her attention back to the keys of the piano, "I regret for lashing out. I just had a very stressful day."
"I get it," Quinn nods, half wishing she was as courageous with her intentions as she was as a wolf. She can feel and smell the hurt and discomfort radiating off of Rachel and she has to bite down on her bottom lip not to hug her or do something equally weird that would probably get the singer running out of the auditorium screaming, "So you're okay?" She asks again, just for clarification, even though she knows the singer is lying.
"I'm fine." She replies with a forced smile, making sure to lock eyes with Quinn, "Just fi-,"
She stops, and Quinn flicks an eyebrow up in question. The brunette seems frozen, and for a second, she thinks Rachel's having a heart attack or something, because her eyes are wide and her mouth is opening and shutting like a land ridden fish.
The fuck.
"Uh. Rachel?"
Suddenly, Rachel slips out of it and shakes her head, "I apologize, you just...reminded me of something."
"Like what?" Quinn asks, feeling as if she's scribbling her signature down on her own personal death sentence.
Rachel smirks, "You'll think I'm crazy if I tell you." Then she shakes her head, "I think I'm going crazy now. I mean, you're talking to me after all."
"Why wouldn't I talk to you?"
The brunette just smiles, "Because I'm Rachel Berry."
Quinn just nods, "Yeah well, I don't care." Then she crosses her arms over her chest, "What did I remind you of?"
Rachel seems oddly humored by Quinn's response, "Just something, never mind about that."
"You seemed freaked out for a little bit there," She was pushing, she needed to hear it. Could she put her faith in the human Quinn just as much as the wolf Quinn?
"It was just a weird sense of deja vu." When she returns her attention back to the piano, Quinn feels herself deflate; wolf one. Quinn zero.
–
Quinn makes sure to keep an eye on Rachel for the rest of the week. She seems fine, but Quinn knows different, and her nose knows different. The singer keeps her show face on, but the blonde knows what's going on, and sometimes she sees Rachel's falter, but only for a half a second before slamming that show face back on.
It's only half a second, but it's there. And it's killing Quinn. She can hear her wolf howling right at the back of her head, begging for her to come clean, to talk to Rachel, to make her feel better more than her wolf could.
So she does.
She corners Rachel after Glee Club when she's packing away her sheet music. Finn leaves them to it, thankfully; he seems to have gotten the hint that Rachel doesn't want to be with him, or maybe it was the fact that Quinn just glared until he admitted defeat and left.
"This is becoming a trend." Rachel says playfully, "People will begin to think we're friends, Quinn. Do you really want that?"
"We need to talk."
Rachel sobers, "Okay."
"I know you're lying about being okay. I know you're not. You're a great actress, you're hiding it well, but I can tell. I know something is going wrong, and you don't want to tell anyone about it because you feel like they won't care but-,"
And Rachel's fucking laughing, like...outright laughing and Quinn's taken back.
"Did I say something funny?"
Rachel sobers, wiping the tears of mirth from her eyes, before finally saying, "Please don't act like you care."
And she's gone.
–
Quinn avoids Rachel for a week. They only talk to one another because they're on the same flight to New York. It's Nationals, everyone's pumped, including Rachel, but Quinn just puts it down to the fact that she's away from her feuding father's for a few days.
They only speak to one another because they have to. Choreography, who sings what part of their group song Light Up the World and what they're all going to do when they finally land at JFK and explore the Big Apple.
Quinn is content to just sit back and watch Rachel finally be happy about something, because after all, New York is her dream. But she's still hurt, because Rachel thinks she doesn't care. So she tries not to.
–
It all goes to shit when Finn kisses Rachel after their duet. It's fucking disgusting and Quinn almost feels the bone in her right arm crack as her wolf tries to rip free, but she reigns it in, barely, and she shuffles from foot to foot and focuses on the choreography.
It works. Only just.
They make it through the song, but during, Quinn can't help but hazard a glance at Rachel who's putting on that show face again, and it looks even more fake than usual. But she doesn't know whether it's because she's confused or just conflicted.
–
They rank thirteenth. Santana blames Rachel and lunges for her. Quinn barely holds the fuming Latina back, and she knows Santana is beyond pissed because she's mentioning something and Lima Heights Adjacent again.
Rachel just looked lost, and only leaves the room when Tina, bless her soul, tells her it would be for the best. No one follows her, not even Finn who just looks pissed at himself for destroying their chances of taking Nationals.
Quinn wants to punch him. She barely avoids doing so.
–
They were at JFK, solemn, waiting for their flight to be called back to Ohio. No one had really spoken for a few hours, not even Brittany, who tended to lighten up the mood of the group regardless of what she did.
It's horrible, and uncomfortable, and she could sense that everyone just wanted to go home and get the hell away from each other. Quinn felt the same way, especially with the fact every time she closed her eyes she remembered doing that half assed glance over her shoulder and seeing Finn and Rachel kissing after Pretending.
It was half assed glance that just etched itself into her brain and refused to disappear. She wanted to tear something apart. Perhaps Finn.
She promises herself to go hunting when she's back in Lima.
–
She does go hunting. She doesn't even stay home long enough to hold a conversation with her parents. She just dumped her luggage in her bedroom and disappeared right back out the door. She can hear her dad telling her to come home, but she just blocked him out. She was wants to hunt, she wants to kill someone and pretend it's Finn because Finn is a fucking dickhead with no sense of self respect for the Glee Club or how hard they'd worked because all he wanted was his girlfriend back and...
Fuck, she really wanted to kill something.
It's horrible, but she loves it. She chases squirrels, rabbits and even a few raccoon's just because she can. She kills each time she catches something, and doesn't regret it for a second. It's calming, and the urge to lock her mouth around Finn Hudson's throat and rip it apart finally, slowly, but finally begins to dissipate.
She's halfway home, blood around her chops when she finally decides to let herself hear her mom and dad again. Judy is thinking about dinner, but Russell is calling out to Quinn.
Get your ass home now, Quinn.
He doesn't sound angry, although he cursed, but she rushes home anyway. Russell is prowling the living room when she walks in, pulling on a shirt from the bag of clothes she keeps stashed away in the back garden for when she reverts back to being a human again.
"What's wrong?"
"Your room is what's wrong."
Once again, he doesn't sound pissed and Quinn is just confused, "I could have cleaned my room later on, dad."
"No. Go up to your room now."
Her jaw dropped, "Dad, I just wanted to hunt. I was stressed out because of New York and-,"
"Shut up and go upstairs." He put his index finger to his lips, pointing it up to the ceiling. She just watched him, eyes narrowed in confusion.
Rachel is upstairs in your room.
"What?!" She all but screeched and lunged up the stairs like a bat out of hell. She tripped twice on the same step as she launched herself up it, and she checked her shoulder when she opened her door and walked into the door frame, but there, just like her father had said, was Rachel Berry, sat on her bed.
"Uh. Hey."
"Hey." She sounded completely indifferent, and it set Quinn's teeth on edge. She closes the door behind her, because somehow, she feels safer with the door closed.
"Why are you in my room?"
"Do you blame me for losing Nationals?"
The blonde rolled her eyes, "No, I blame Finn." The she paused and dead pans, "Because he's a dickhead."
Rachel would have giggled at Quinn Fabray giggling if she wasn't so pissed, "Okay. So why the silent treatment...?" She's hurt. Really fucking hurt.
Quinn scoffed, "You literally told me to 'not act like I care'." She leans against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest as she regards the brunette on her bed, forcing the thoughts away that she could just pin the beautiful girl to her bed and fuck her senseless. She was so close, right where Quinn wanted her, smelling so fucking delicious and she desperately wanted to do it but...
"It's just a shock you know," Rachel sighed gently, "I've known you for half my life, and in that time all you've done is treat me like dirt, call me names, drawn pornographic pictures of me on the bathroom walls...why the sudden attitude change?"
She could come clean right now, but the arrogant side of her just makes her think that Rachel doesn't deserve the truth.
"What, so I can't care for a friend?"
"So I'm a friend now?" Rachel asked, sitting forward slightly, "When did that happen? I wasn't aware."
Quinn stayed silent.
Rachel sobered, "I thought you'd at least have the guts to tell me." She sounded so utterly disappointed and it broke Quinn in half.
"About what?"
Rachel shook her head and stood from the bed, straightening out the skirt she wore on the plane home from New York, "Never mind then. I have to get back home."
Quinn doesn't stop her.
–
They don't speak at school, in fact, they hardly even look at one another. Glee Club isn't even scheduled anymore because the term is over; but Quinn only sees it as a lost opportunity to talk to Rachel.
She's still confused as to what the brunette meant, although in her heart of heart she knows exactly what she meant. She just doesn't want to admit it to herself.
Rachel's heading out to her car when Quinn catches sight of her for the first time in two days. She seems to be carrying herself better than when they last saw one another, and Finn is no where to be seen. In fact, every time Quinn had seen the lumbering oaf, he seemed to be more and more pissed with each passing second.
Obviously Rachel decided not to take him back.
He made her wolf feel happy, but when she watched Rachel disappear into her car, she can't help but sigh. Summer was only a week away.
–
They don't talk or even look at each other for the last remaining week of school. When the other Glee members wish each other a happy summer, Rachel offers hers to them, but not to Quinn, blatantly leaving her out.
Santana notices, but says nothing, she's too busy dealing with her own shit with Brittany.
–
It's three weeks into summer when Quinn, as her wolf, finally sets her eyes on Rachel. She's at the park, surprise but not really. She seems fine, she doesn't look like she's been crying, but she still hesitates when she walks toward the brunette.
Rachel doesn't acknowledge her when she sits down, ten yards between them again, because somehow, she thinks Rachel will feel better with the distance between them both.
It's ten minutes before Rachel even looks at her.
She looks so broken, so dejected that Quinn actually howls in pain, because somehow, she can feel it. She can feel that pain, feel that dejection.
Rachel blinks slowly, almost as if she really isn't controlling her own body. But then she takes a deep breath and clutches the chains at her sides, kicking herself softly off the dirt and swinging ever so slightly.
Quinn watches her for an hour before Rachel gets a call and leaves.
–
Judy notices her daughter pulling away, and Russell tells her to leave Quinn alone, to deal with it herself. As a mother, it kills her, but she agrees with her husband's wishes.
Quietly, in hushed tones, they speak to one another in his office as he fills out paperwork, keeping their thoughts blocked from their daughter who slept upstairs.
"She's pulling away from us."
"She's doing it for a reason," Russell whispers back, sifting through his paperwork, "She has to come to a difficult decision, and we'll be there in the aftermath."
Judy frowns, "You really think that Rachel can be trusted with this? This is our family, our heritage, Russ."
Russell taps his pen against his lips, then after a beat, shrugs, "We'll have to see, won't we?"
"I don't like this, Russell."
"Neither do I, but we can't choose who Quinn urges for."
"I just hope this turns out well."
"It'll only get worse before it gets better."
–
Two days later, two am in the morning, Quinn lays in the park, head resting on her paws as she waits. She could smell Rachel, she could smell the girls scent ten minutes ago, it was only a matter of time before she entered the park.
Eventually, Rachel does, and Quinn's head picks up off her paws, ears poised upright as Rachel draws closer.
The singer takes her seat at the swing, quietly, eyes locked with the wolf, "My father's are getting a divorce." She kicks off the ground and allows gravity to swing her, "They agreed while we were in New York."
Quinn whimpers.
Rachel sighs, "I guess it's for the best, right? You can't force a family together that refuses to work."
They're both quiet. Quinn lays her head back down, and only after half an hour of watching Rachel swing softly back and forth, does her whole body shoot up and step back in reflex.
Rachel smiles sadly to herself, "You just noticed." She kicks off the swing and leaves.
They agreed while we were in New York.
–
Quinn knocks softly on the Berry's door and waits, trying not to die of a heart attack as she does so. Her heart feels as if it could jump out her chest and run a couple laps around the Earth before it even thought about slowing.
She was going to do it. She was going to tell her one secret that could either destroy her or make her feel significant in a completely insignificant world.
And it was all in Rachel Berry's hands.
The door swings open, and a tall African American answers the door, Leroy. "Quinn." His eyes quickly scan her, trying to get over the shock of seeing her on his doorstep, "I take it you're here to see Rachel?"
"Uhm, yes."
She hesitates, trying to reign in her anger when Leroy lets her pass by him and into the house. She wants to scream, kick off; ask why he was ruining such a good family. But he just directs her up the stairs and says, "Last door on the right."
–
Rachel is sat at her laptop, searching for something on Google when Quinn walks in; after knocking and being told to come in of course. Rachel turns in her desk chair and watches as Quinn shuts the door behind her, leaning back against it.
Quinn swallows, feeling her mouth go suddenly dry, and all she wants to do is launch herself out of the window and go back home.
"I'm a wolf." She whispers, locking eyes with Rachel.
"I know."
They're quiet, but it's not uncomfortable, it's oddly comforting. Then she's crying, because it feels so good just to tell someone what she really is. She's finally able to tell someone who can just say 'I know' and mean it. Two words, and it might as well be a monologue of love and devotion.
It's acceptance. The one thing she's ever wanted.
"I'm disappointed though." Quinn rubs at her eyes and sniffles, "I wish you would have told me yourself instead of me having to drop hints until you realized I knew."
The blonde shrugs her shoulders, "When did you know?"
"In the auditorium, at the piano. Your eyes."
Quinn nods and expels a long breath to calm herself, "I'm sure you have a lot of questions."
"Of course I do." Rachel nods in agreement, "But I'm still angry with you for not telling me."
"You have to understand that I couldn't tell anyone." Quinn fought back calmly, locking eyes with Rachel once more, "There's only a small handful of werewolves in Lima, and...if we're wiped out for any reason, that's the end of us. For good."
"The fact that you couldn't trust me enough to tell me..." Rachel sighs shakily, "Breaks my heart."
"Understand it from my point of view."
"I do." Rachel conceded, "But it doesn't mean I like it."
"I'm surprised you're not completely freaking out."
Rachel smirked weakly, "I've met your wolf plenty of times; why should I be freaking out? Your wolf calmed me down a lot more than you think."
"I know, I could smell it on you." Quinn replies without really thinking.
The singer cringes, "Gross. You can smell me?"
Quinn shrugs helplessly, "Kind of a wolf thing."
–
They're at the park, later that night, sat together on the swing, "It's weird, seeing you here as a human."
Quinn chuckles, "Yeah, it's weird being able to talk to you instead of poking at you with my nose."
Rachel ducks her head, "It's adorable...when you do that."
The blonde blushes and kicks herself off the ground, extending her legs with each push forward to try and get higher. They engage in some form of challenge, to see who can get higher. It makes Rachel giggle, and in turn, makes Quinn feel some semblance of joy because Rachel is laughing for the first time in a long time.
They come to a still eventually, and their laughter has all but died out into the wind, "I'm sorry about your dads...I wouldn't wish that on anyone."
The singer nods, "I know."
"I'm here for you, you know." Rachel turns her head to look at the blonde beside her, "You know...human form, wolf form...whatever."
Rachel is quiet for a little while, and it unnerves Quinn; she feels her wolf desperately begging for her to ask what she wants, but she just waits, impatiently but patient, until finally Rachel opens her mouth.
"Wolf for now." The brunette nods to herself, "Then...we'll work on the human side, okay?"
It's a compromise she's willing to take.
"Just as long as I'm there for you, that's all I want."
It makes her heart beat faster when Rachel blushes, "Thank you." Then she adds, "For everything."
And damn, her wolf was howling, so painfully loud inside of her, and...was that her parents?
Kiss her Quinn!
Quinn, if you don't kiss her right now, I'm ashamed to be your father. Well, not really. But you get my point.
"Jesus," Quinn whispers, scratching the back of her neck with embarrassment.
"What's wrong?" She hears, but she doesn't look up, she just keeps her head bowed, hand braced on the back of her neck in a massaging motion.
"I can just...hear my parents in my head..."
"Another wolf thing?"
"You betch'ya."
"Ah..." Rachel pauses, and suddenly, Quinn finds her shoes incredibly interesting. "So what are they saying?"
Quinn slowly looks up, swallowing in reflex as her eyes land on Rachel. She looks so perfectly content, smiling ever so slightly, and it felt so right, so she stands from the swing, drops to her knees in front of Rachel, leans up and kisses her softly.
Her wolf has never sounded so loud, and she barely hears her parents cheering over the sound of it, but none of it matters, because she's kissing Rachel Berry, and Rachel is kissing right back. It's beautiful, so perfect, so fitting and everything in her life just slots into space, just like their lips.
It's soft, and gentle, and they're taking their time. She feels safe and content when Rachel wraps her arms around her neck, all but locking them in their embrace. Quinn lifts her hands up and cups Rachel's cheeks, thumbs gently brushing over defined cheekbones.
Her body feels as if it'll set on fire, and when Rachel whines against her lips at the gentle flick of her tongue against her bottom lip, she almost feels herself combust into flames.
But her wolf is winning, and she has to pull back while she still has some sense of control.
It kills her, and Rachel whines in disappointment, but her arms don't move from around her neck. She doesn't complain about it either.
"Why stop...?" Rachel asks, breathlessly.
"Wolf." She whispers raggedly, trying to control herself, "I'll explain another time. You get the jist though."
Rachel giggles and nudges her nose against Quinn's, "I think I do."
"So..." Quinn whispers after minutes of just holding each other, content to just be in each other's space for just a little bit longer, "Wolf first...human second, right?"
Rachel smiles and blushes before burying her face in Quinn's neck. She barely hears the muffle against her neck, but she smiles when she finally makes it out.
"I'm willing to compromise."
"We have a lot to work out. You know that, right?"
She feels Rachel nod against her neck.
"You're going to have to learn everything about wolves...just so you know for future reference..."
"I may or may not already have a PowerPoint presentation ready and waiting on my laptop."
Quinn smirks and wraps her arms tighter around Rachel, burying her nose in soft brown waves of hair, luxuriating, "And I suppose I'll have to sit through that, huh?"
Rachel chuckles, "If you know what's good for you."