Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 51st cycle. Now cycle 52!

"Uncharted Territory"
Quinn/Rachel
Sequel to "Or Forever Hold Your Peace"

Rachel had come up to the table, her coat kept snug around her wedding dress. She didn't take it off when she sat, which Quinn could understand; she didn't want the looks. As they sat there though, she wasn't saying a word, and Quinn wasn't sure what she should do, if she should wait for her to talk. She thought about ordering something to eat, but she wasn't sure what she would eat from here. Eventually she'd flagged down the waitress for two glasses of water… that'd be something. The glasses were placed in front of them, and after the woman had gone, she watched as Rachel drank up half of hers before putting it down again. That was when Quinn noticed her hand was shaking. She shifted in her seat, and that got Rachel's attention. She looked up, silent for a few more seconds before speaking.

"Why… Why didn't you say anything before… before I had to do that…" she asked, bowing her head again. Quinn had to imagine whatever had happened back at the courthouse that preceded her leaving must have been so hard and unpleasant for her, and she sighed.

"I'm sorry, so…" she paused. She needed to stop apologizing. "I didn't tell you before because… I just didn't know, not all the way, or…" she shook her head.

"I want you to tell me," Rachel had cut her off, looking up again. "Without twisting words around, or trying not to be heard… You tell me why you didn't want to marry him." She was practically demanding it, backing her into a corner, and Quinn felt like she was standing at the edge of a cliff, bungee elastics at her feet as she prepared for the leap, hoping it would pull her back rather than snap.

"Because I saw you…" she stated.

"Saw me where?" Rachel asked before she could go on.

"I had a… almost had an accident, coming here. There was a truck, I was looking at my phone and… I looked up just in time, I stopped and he missed me," she told her, and she could see her eyes widen in surprise. "And I saw you. You know how they say life flashes before…"

She had to pause, feeling as though she would lose her breath if she didn't. It gave her a chance to gather herself, take courage.

"When I thought it was all going to end, the one person my head went to was… you, I thought I'd never get to see you again, and…" She could hear her voice tremble under tears, and she turned away briefly to wipe them away. "I was supposed to hate you. That was our path, right? The popular girl and the loser," she shook her head, assuring with it that the word was a thing of the past for her now. "We both know I was no slouch in maintaining that at first. But then I got to know you, and hating you started to feel forced. I was already a mess, and… admitting to myself what I was starting to figure out, it just… I couldn't do it. But you, you were still there, being a friend to me even when I gave you absolutely no reason to." She paused again, needing a breath again. "You've been the one constantly good thing in my life these past three years, and what I've been coming to realize, today, the last few weeks, is that as different as I feel when I'm with you, maybe I've known why that was for a while, but now I can sit here, and look at you, and I can tell these feelings that I have for you, they're…" She gulped in air, hearing herself think how she couldn't back down, not now, not when Rachel was sitting in front of her, staring at her with complete attention and as though she wanted her to get through it. "They feel like falling in love…" It was all she had left to say, and there it was. "That's why I didn't want you to get married."

She had no cards left to play. They were all right there on the table for Rachel to do… whatever she would. The would-be bride slowly sat back, letting it good and sink in. Even though it had been hard for her, Quinn could only think she'd had more time to mull it over in her head. What about Rachel? Had she thought about her that way before, or… She was here, but was it for those same reasons Quinn had dictated, that Rachel might in some part not want to marry Finn, because of her? Or had she just decided she couldn't marry him right on that day? What if she'd overstepped her bounds?

"I thought…" Rachel had finally spoken, thought pausing immediately. Quinn looked up to her.

"What…" Quinn started to ask, stopped herself.

"You asked me… if you might be a reason that I wouldn't marry him. I think you've been the reason for a lot of things. And I think all this time it's been easy to write it off as us growing as friends, because we're in school together, every day, and in Glee Club… I'll turn around and you'll be there," she smiled innocently, and it made Quinn smile back, until it started to fade. "When you told me you got into Yale, I thought… for the first time, I thought 'we won't have that pretty soon.' You'll be in New Haven and, if all goes according to plan, I'll be in New York… and it felt like…" Her hand patted over her heart, searching for words. "It felt horrible, but I couldn't tell you and make you reconsider, like I had any right to do that… And I think after you left I thought 'if I walked out of here maybe I could do something about it.' I don't know where I am… with all this," she admitted freely, then after a pause. "But I don't think I could forgive myself if I didn't try and find out… if that's something that might work for you…" she breathed out, looking back to Quinn.

She'd been holding back any sort of too overt emotions, but when Rachel had finished, what had emerged was a cautious yet relieved smile.

"I think that would be just fine," she bowed her head, swiping at a couple tears trying to ride down her cheeks. When Rachel smiled back to her, she almost wanted to reach to her arm and pinch it, like maybe she had fallen asleep waiting for her in this booth. But she was feeling too many things right now, the sting in her eyes, the knot in her throat, the drum of her heart, that it just couldn't be a dream… and that heightened everything. It was real.

"I'm not sure… What do we do now?" Rachel asked, as silence had settled for a beat.

"I… No idea…" Quinn admitted.

"Oh, okay, good…" Rachel chuckled, and it made Quinn laugh. After a moment, something had dawned on her, and by how her face had blanched, Quinn could guess what it was. "I'm gonna have to talk to… to him…"

"What'd you tell him?" Quinn asked.

"I…" she breathed, looking to her hands for a moment before looking back up. "I told him I couldn't marry him."

Quinn blinked, shocked to life to think… All this time she'd thought all Rachel would have told him was that she couldn't do it that day, but… She'd broken the engagement, before she'd ever come here… Knowing that, it was like her hand had taken heart, and she watched her fingers slip into the other girl's palm. It was a risk taken, but then Rachel had paired it off: she'd curled her fingers up so that they were holding each other's hand. She'd sort of gasped, just as surprised at herself, and Quinn smiled at how befuddled she looked.

"That's one thing we can do… It's a start…"

THE END

A/N: I think this could go on, yes? ;)

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!