Hey, so this is really just a rough piece of writing that I've been meaning to publish on here at some point. It's a just a bit of fun but if it's popular I will continue to elaborate more. This is a very different style than I am used to, but I wanted to step outside of the box a little for those of you who like reading books/fanfics like this.

Rachel, Santana, Kurt, Blaine etc will be in this! It's more about the original cast members from the first 2/3 seasons, but I'll see where it leads!

Sorry about any mistakes. Think of this chapter as an introduction. If anything is unclear then I hope to resolve it within the next couple of chapters. Feel free to ask any questions and feedback will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

P.S Rating may change. It's from Quinn's POV. Eventual Faberry (chapter three).

P.P.S Apologies to those who have read/reviewed/followed since I will be reworking this fic. I was co-writing this with a friend who led me to believe that she understood what I wanted to create. Unfortunately, it has come to my attention that she was not honest about her work or it's originality there-fore I am reworking the chapters we worked on together. The story will be different (and already is slightly)than the chapters you read previously. Sorry for any disappointment caused, but thank you for your support!

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A year later and we have finally managed to reach the sixteenth of July. I found my roommate huddled against an ancient oak tree camouflaged in the rich, bottle-green grass of Central Park.

Her white top rippled in the breeze and her denim shorts appeared faded and worn. The converses she was wearing once belonged to Rachel and I recognised them instantly. Rachel and Gia had spent three years of their lives switching clothes and exploring New York together whilst I studied at Yale. They had attended NYADA together and Rachel had even visited Gia's family in London during their summer break last year.

As I approach Gia, her emerald eyes flicker with flames of torture, relaying her pain to me in silence. Long blades of spring grass wrap around my knees as I approach her, repeating our ritual that reoccurs every year. Just an hour previously, I had been hand in hand with my seven-year old daughter Beth, winding through the interconnected paths of Central Park.

After kissing Beth goodbye, Shelby slid her away from me with an awkward goodbye and I was forced to return to reality.

Now, my feet find a way of tangling in the knotted weeds below me and my quiet approach is now ruined by my own clumsiness. I'm metres from Gia's spot beneath the shade when she looks up, squinting at my limp body. A smouldering cigarette was beginning to disintegrate between her fingers and the long, chocolate locks of hair fell beautifully around her face, awakening a twang of jealously deep inside me.

I draw to a halt, waiting for Gia to acknowledge me with a smile or a softly spoken word, but she said nothing. There was nothing to say. "Hey." I whispered.

"How are you?" She asks, her emerald eyes deserting their focus on my shoes to stare at the crease between my brows.

Concerned, tired, worried? The list goes on, yet I say none of these things as I respond with the same monotone response I believe is acceptable on this day. A response Gia is not only anticipating, but relying on. "Yes. I'm fine. Beth says you owe her a hug" I laugh, but it's dry and certainly not genuine. She smiled for a split second and then stopped, as if she felt guilty for being happy. I thought I could see a woman brought back to life. She was strong and not afraid to cry, but I did not know her anymore. The conversation had run dry and we had run out of faith. The last year had changed us.

She felt it too. I could see it in the ghost of her smile. She patted the ground next to her; a smile playing around the corners of her full lips. We were both too tired, that was all. "Come here, Fabray."

As unusual as it is for me to succumb to the comfort of another person, I couldn't ignore her. My feet seemed to find their own way to her and I slid down the tree, slipping onto the ground beside Gia. "Everything aches."

"It's natural," she smiles. "Though, I'd have thought we'd have become immune to this suffering by now." She grits her teeth between each word, the effort of speaking too difficult when numbness possesses her entire being.

"Impossible." I say, blindly pulling blades of grass from the hard, dirt soil. Each blade I kill with inconsiderate tugging, the pain dulls ever-so-slightly. Only Gia understands how desperate I had been to keep this day sacred for us so that we could lie here together, appreciating the beauty of New York under the yellow, white sun. And Rachel probably knew too, but she wasn't here.

"He's at peace now." Gia reminds me, gently. "It's you and Rachel that I'm worried about."

Suddenly, I understood why she'd disappeared so urgently after seeing me and Rachel arguing that morning. The resemblance it had to her own relationship with her ex-boyfriend was uncanny. The arguing and pushing each other to the gutter so that we'd never love another was all too familiar and I could see the pain behind her eyes. It had been there for quite a while – since her husband passed away last year, on this exact day.

I have been seeing Rachel on and off for three months, but a combination of various factors means that our new relationship is fragile in many ways. Currently, we are going through a three day phase of ignoring each other. This time it was the end result of Rachel over-working. Last time, it was because of my own uncertainty. I did not know what I was searching for, and who I would find it within and Rachel did not want to be 'just an option'. I don't blame her.

I would never regard her as an option though. I already knew that I loved her, but for me, the question has always been whether or not I deserve her. I have never been under any illusion that what I did to her was okay, but she forgives too easily. What if I hurt her again? How could I ever forgive myself if she gave me a second chance and I destroyed it? Rachel seems to believe that I have changed, which I have, but it is not enough to be worthy of her.

Gia tells me to trust myself. I tell myself not too. Rachel is too precious.

So right now, I am in an in-between state of confusion and clarity. Clarity because I have and always will have feelings for my roommate - Gia - who does not have any prior judgements and simply takes me as I am. A relationship with her would not have any previously romantic emotions that we would need to confront and untangle carefully. Yet I feel confusion because I can't go a single day without thinking of Rachel - she has such a distorted view of my true intentions - but I want her. She is willing to take me as I am and pretends the past is no longer an issue in our lives, but I know that isn't right. Our past is still very much a part of the present. I need to prove to myself and Rachel that we really could work.

I look to Gia. Looking at her emotionless eyes flicker with the aftermath of despair, I realise that her huddled position in the grass is a haven away from anguish. When Nate had been diagnosed with cancer, it destroyed them both. They had grown up together, like two perfect Disney characters I once read about in fairy tales – yet at twenty two, Nate's life ended. They married three months before his death because Nate had insisted that that was the only thing he wanted to do with his life. So, they did. Gia wasn't one for commitment, but something pulled her back to Nate again and again. Agreeing to marry him knowing he was going to die was the most difficult thing she'd ever done, but it was beautiful and worth every memory.

Now, there was no end in sight for Gia to look forward too since his death had cost her everything – her best friend, her husband, her soul mate. Now that the bruises from their outrageous fights had vanished, there was nothing left. Not even a last kiss, or smile. He had been claimed by heaven and she had released him into the sky, knowing that was where he'd find peace.

I remembered Nathaniel Carson with fondness. He was tall and muscular - brilliant at swimming. He had brilliant blue eyes, shiny and bright, and he was always laughing. He wasn't like most other St. Jude boys, but then again, Gia wasn't like most other Upper East Side girls either. They both had a problem with rules and there was a degree of difficulty in dealing with them both, yet they were adored by every one that knew them.

They fought like crazy, but they loved like life depended on it. It didn't matter where they were, as long as they were smiling. Nate wanted Gia to find someone else to love like he loved her, but Gia claimed that was impossible. Even now, as we sit beneath the tree they married under, I can see it in her eyes that she has no desire to move on. The chance of us becoming something more is very unlikely. She is still Gia Carson.

"We'll do something to remember him by," I say, but she doesn't reply. She stares straight ahead into the endless seams of bottle-green grass swaying in the breeze. After a considerable amount of silence, Gia gently pulls my head to rest of her shoulder and tells me to close my eyes.

I comply, resting my head comfortably against the crook of her neck, but I don't close my eyes. The park is too beautiful, and my eyes have begun to settle on a rose bush way in the distance beside a bridge. The auburn leaves fluttered across the ground, reminding me of the golden flecks that sparkle in Gia's eyes whenever the sun caught her at the right angle. The auburn flecks match the natural highlights in her hair that flit back and forth between gold and bronze in colour depending on the angle of the sun.

A heavy silence fell over us, but it was comfortable. Never of us felt the need to fill the space with empty words or pointless questions.

After a while Gia moved, tracing patterns across my hand with the back of her pedicured nails. "You know, I've known you for two years now…" Gia murmured beneath her breath. Somehow, I knew she was smiling.

"It's gone so quick." I realise. After officially living in New York for two years and being twenty-three years old this year, I am still nowhere near to choosing a career that I want to pursue.

"Yes, it has." She nodded. "I think we should do something…to celebrate, maybe? I know that people will typically be expecting me to be upset and locked away out of sight, so let's do the opposite! I hate sitting here doing nothing. I need something to distract me."

I smiled. "Okay, what do you have in mind?"

"I want to show you something tonight, and feel free to bring Rachel along."

"I don't do threesome's usually, but perhaps I can make an exception…" I began to joke, teasing her.

"Babe, you'd have to work very hard to keep up with both me and Rach at the same time..." she laughed, and then she pouted. "I wouldn't want you to be out of your comfort zone."

I laughed. "You have no idea what I'm capable off!"

"Ohh, is that right?" She asked mockingly. I forgot that she could hear me and Rachel when we were in the next bedroom. Right now though, it didn't seem as though that would be a problem anymore.

We both laughed, the heaviness of the sixteenth of July was slowly melting into the background. "We'll try to be quieter..." I promise. It's a promise that even Gia knows I won't keep. I add "If we sort out our latest argument."

"Don't worry about it," she grinned. "I'll get revenge one day – you just see if I don't!"

"Yeah, yeah!"

"I will." She stated, pointing at me. "It's a promise."

"Alright," I smiled, suddenly curious. "So, where are we going tonight?"

"I want to show you my favourite place in New York. It's a surprise and you'll need a jacket and converses. None of those high-heels that make your legs look like they go on for miles." My eyebrow arched instinctively. "Don't think anyone, gay or straight, hasn't noticed." She smirked.