Title::..Material Girl
Spoilers::..Ballad
Rating::..G
Genre::..Fluff
Characters::..Quinn, Finn and Kurt
Pairing::..Quinn/Finn
Author's Note::..Glee fic #4 and it's Quinn-centric. I wrote this sometime after I saw Sectionals but before Hell-O aired. The lyrics in the summary are from Madonna's Material Girl so you can imagine Kurt and Quinn singing this as they are shopping. A nice happy ending because it wouldn't be Glee without it. Also I apologize if the last scene doesn't properly capture the feeling of a kicking baby, due to the fact that I've never been pregnant I have NO IDEA what it feels like and simply had to make something up.
Summary::..Only boys who save their pennies make my rainy day, there's one sure-fire way to improve Quinn's mood: take her shopping!

Quinn hated trying to pick out something to wear each day. She had always loved her Cheerio uniform, the comfortable polyester material and the bright colours that had attracted attention whenever she moved through the halls. There had been a sense of pride whenever she had pulled the uniform on. She had always been proud to be a Cheerio, to be Sue Sylvester's best. It had set her apart from the others, made her better.

Now the uniform was beyond her reach, at the bottom of the closet in Finn's spare room. There was no glory in wearing it anymore. It would put her swelling stomach on display for everyone to see. She didn't want people to notice her or the bastard child growing within her. The Cheerio uniform attracted too much attention, it was best to leave it hidden.

She would much prefer to disappear into the background. This was where the plain, loose-fitting clothes she had purchased to appease her father came in handy. Baby-doll tops with the kind of patterns a grandmother would wear; she used these to hide from the other students. These clothes said she had given up on trying to look good, all she wanted was comfort. She hated the way she looked. She tried to make herself feel better with make-up and by doing her hair but it hardly improved her mood. She spent hours straightening her hair but still it wasn't good enough.

For all of her life Quinn had been a pretty girl. She didn't know how to be anything else. She wasn't a smart girl; the closest she had gotten to the end of a book was when she had read six chapters of Twilight. She supposed she could be a smart girl, if she started studying really hard. She wasn't the best singer. Maybe if she could sing as well as Rachel she would get more solos in Glee and then she would have something to show off. But Schuester had made it quite clear she had nothing to show off, he shoved her to the back-up vocals.

She considered becoming an emo. Black hair might suit her. She could wear dark make-up and Converse sneakers wherever she went. There was the definite positive of not having to act like she was happy. She could walk around all day letting how frustrated she was show clearly on her face.

Was this all she had left, considering becoming an emo because she couldn't be pretty anymore? The usual sting of tears filled her eyes. She didn't want to go to school; she would happily stay in the bathroom for the whole day. She felt safe in here, in her cocoon where nobody could see her.

Finn knocked lightly on the door. "Come on Quinn, we gotta go."

"Yeah." She tied her hair back quickly, putting it out of her way so she wouldn't be bothered by it.

She opened the door to find him waiting for her. He handed her pack to her. She felt jealous of him. He probably hadn't touched his hair and what he was wearing was undoubtedly the first thing he had picked up off of the floor. He didn't need to put any effort into looking good and yet all of the girls would be swooning over him.

"Are you okay?'' He asked.

"Sure." She replied. "Let's go."

Quinn wasn't surprised when she found herself crying in the cubicle with the door locked. She couldn't control these hormones. She supposed she would be sitting in here for the entire Glee club meeting. While they were singing and rehearsing she was hiding away. The more she thought about it the more the tears flowed. Enjoying Glee club wasn't an option anymore, she was better off hiding in here.

Finally frustration hit her and she found the motivation to move out of the cubicle. She didn't think she would attempt to go to Glee. She didn't need to tempt her emotions with that kind of trigger, not today. Going out and sitting in the car until Finn was finished sounded like a brilliant solution.

Her face was a pale mess lighted by the unforgiving fluorescent tubes. It seemed make-up was a waste of time lately. It never survived the whole day. She put it on despite this. Cover-up. Cover-up your emotions, your human imperfections.

Kurt entered. She didn't pay much attention to the fact that a boy had just entered the girl's bathroom. Such things didn't matter to her today. After washing her hands he considered his reflection in the mirror beside hers. "What do you think of this hat?"

She hadn't properly noticed it before. Now her attention had been drawn to it she saw how out of place it was. "A trucker cap, really?"

He removed it from his head instantly. "Thank you for your honesty."

"Any time." She replied.

He began to fuss over his hair, where his part should lie and how his fringe should sit. "I wore it to appease my father. Why does he think buying me clothes is a good idea? His sense of style is flannelette shirts and jeans, on every occasion." He observed the way his hair sat now and it didn't please him. He worked to push his bangs back off of his forehead. "I didn't know you were here today."

"I'm wishing I wasn't." She told him, turning her back on her reflection. She watched as he put the hat back on. He screwed his nose up and removed it, beginning to style again. "I remember being like you, worrying over accessories. Now there's just over-sized tops and loose jeans."

He looked over her with sympathetic eyes. "You don't look like yourself. When was the last time you went shopping?"

She laughed sarcastically. "The last time I went shopping I wasn't pregnant. What does that tell you?"

"It tells me you really need to go shopping." He stated. "Actually that top tells me you need to go shopping; I've seen it too many times."

"Maybe I could get a cool Von Zipper cap to improve the outfit." She mocked, pulling the hat onto her head.

"It looks better on you." He commented. "You should keep it."

"Thanks." She replied, trusting his assessment rather than facing the mirror to make a decision of her own.

He checked his watch. "One hour left. I don't think I could go back in there for a whole hour."

"Me either." She agreed.

"So let's ditch, we'll go shopping and bring the old Quinn back." He suggested.

She could hardly resist such a smart idea. "What about Finn? I have to drive him home."

"Would the old Quinn have said that?" He asked.

A smile tugged at her cheek. "He can drive himself home."

"Brilliant." He offered his arm and she linked hers with his. "Now let's go over-charge my credit card."

"Fun." She grinned.

She attempted to shop like the old Quinn. But all of the clothes the old Quinn desired were not manufactured in a size to suit her pregnant body. Shopping did not improve her mood the way it once had. All of the clothes she would have bought to wear out with friends now only caused her to feel ashamed. Would she have preferred to stay and hang around the back of Glee club?

Kurt's cheerfulness could not be affected by her sour mood. "A maxi dress would be perfect for you; it won't look like you're trying to hide something because these are in style right now. How do these look to you?"

She pulled a black dress off the rack for closer inspection. "This one's pretty."

He reattached it amongst the others. "Okay, let's get one thing straight: you're pregnant, you're not dying, let's stay away from dark colours. This has a cute pattern."

The pattern was interesting but what made it interesting also made it eye-catching. She felt anxious looking at the design. "I don't really like it."

"Is that because you're afraid of looking good?" He asked. She had no reply. Next he showed her a red dress. "Red, the colour of passion. It's also a perfect colour for you. You can't say no to this."

She considered it. "I suppose I could try it on."

"Try it on and never take it off?" He suggested.

"I just said I would try it on." She stated, taking the hanger from him.

Quinn liked the feeling of full shopping bags dangling from her hands. New clothes! New clothes were so exciting. These new clothes held the possibility of making the best out of a bad situation. She actually felt optimistic of what was to come next. It was the happiness that came over her whenever she bought new clothes. She felt like the old Quinn as she waved to Kurt and began down Finn's driveway, the shopping bags swinging merrily.

"She's here." Carole announced the instant Quinn had entered through the front door.

Finn came bounding down the hallway. "You're okay. I thought you'd been kidnapped, I was so worried, you just disappeared."

"Sorry." She murmured as she slowly began down the hallway.

He was close behind her. "What happened to you?"

"Kurt took me shopping." She replied.

His mouth gawked open. "Shopping? I was here freaking out, so close to calling the cops and you were shopping? Why didn't you at least message me?"

"Because I needed to get away from all of this for a couple of hours." She snapped.

While she flung herself onto the bed with a dramatic sigh he remained at the doorway. He watched her, leaning against the doorjamb with his hands in his pockets. She supposed she deserved him to be angry with her. If she were in his position she would undoubtedly be annoyed. But he was never angry for long; he couldn't keep that energy up.

The bubbles that had been irritating her stomach for the afternoon intensified. She ran a hand across the bump as an attempt to soothe it. She was rubbing the surface, but the bubbling was beneath this. It continued and she was helpless to stop it. It wasn't a pain; instead it was an uncomfortable annoyance.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"I don't know, the baby's doing something." She replied.

He quickly came into the room. "What's going on?"

"I don't know." She groaned.

All of the colour had drained out of his face, his lips drawn into a thin line. He sat down on the bed beside her. He put his hand to her stomach, exploring it like never before. As he was moving his hand across the bump he gradually began to relax. "It's just kicking." A smile appeared on his face. "The baby, it's fine, it's kicking."

She released the worried breath she had been holding. "Oh."

"Wow." He said, putting both hands on her stomach.

She looked up at the same time as he. Their eyes locked. The baby continued to kick wildly. She could ignore it now. She didn't feel bothered by worries of what she was going to wear to school tomorrow, or the day after that, or what she would do in four months when nothing fit her. Finn was happy and that made her feel better than fitting into her Cheerio uniform again could.

The End.