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 67th cycle. Now cycle 68!

"Face to Face"
Quinn/Rachel, Brittany, Santana
Runaway Bride series
(no listing yet; sequel to 'Reply to Sender')

Quinn had been friends with Brittany long enough to know certain things about the kind of person she was, what she would or wouldn't do, but in some situations it was just too… open. What she'd end up doing would have to be found out, not expected. In this case, she had no idea what the blonde would decide… or have decided, if it was done already.

She found her at her locker and stopped in next to her. "Hey," she greeted her. Brittany looked over and she smiled; was this good or bad?

"Hi."

"So listen, about last night… that text I sent. You know it was a mistake, right?"

"I do."

"It was meant for someone else, but it got sent to you."

"I know."

"Okay, well… Can you just promise me one thing?"

"Sure."

"Don't tell anyone about it, please?"

"I won't." Good. "But…" Here we go. She figured she would have to explain herself, and she stood back from the locker, to try and think… "The thing is I already told Santana about it." Quinn closed her eyes. "I didn't know it was supposed to be a secret at the time, I'm sorry…"

"Don't worry about it," Quinn promised her. "Do you know where Santana is now?"

She really had no idea what would happen now. Brittany was one thing, but Santana… Santana could decide to throw everything upside down for you if you gave her reason to. She knew things between them could be rocky at times, but other times Santana Lopez would back her up like no one else could. If she could only appeal to that side of her, then they might be alright.

"We need to talk," she came up to the girl, who turned and gave her a look.

"So you talked to Brittany?" she guessed.

"Yes, and she told me that she told you about the… incident, from last night."

"Incident, is that what we're calling it?" Santana asked.

"Santana, let's not go there, alright?"

"Where exactly should we go then?" Santana shrugged. Quinn took a moment, thinking to herself, deciding what she should do. It wasn't just about her, but she had to believe that she knew what was best.

"Look, I don't know if you've got it figured out or if you think you've got it figured out, and I don't care. That text, the one I sent to Brittany by mistake, it was meant for Rachel. Yes, that Rachel," she spoke pointedly. "We were texting each other back and forth, and one of those messages ended up sent to the wrong person, and I think we both freaked out a little when that happened. The thing is, we've been seeing each other, me and her. In secret, behind closed doors, but still even though neither one of us is ready yet to say it to other people, we're together, and she's my girlfriend. It started the day she was supposed to marry Finn. I almost had an accident driving over there, and that was when it finally hit me."

Best thing that could have happened.

"It hit me that this girl I'd spent so much time being mean to in the past, who drove me crazy, this girl… I was falling for her, that I could love her, and I'm pretty sure I do, now more than ever. I asked her to meet me, to walk away from Finn and that place and come to me, and I told her all that. I don't think either of us knew what we were doing, but that was alright, because we could figure things out together. We took it slow, started spending more time together. That turned into dates… movie dates…"

Roman movies…

"And it turned into kisses, and seeing what we were ready for. We're taking our time, but whatever we do, wherever we go, we decide together and… I don't think I've been this happy in a long time… I don't think I've been this happy in my entire life. She's the reason I feel that way, she's… all the reasons. It's like I'm finally who I'm supposed to be, who I was trying to figure out all this time. We're keeping it to ourselves not because we want to lie, and not just because we don't know how people will react. Right now it's new, and it's ours, and that's how we want it to be. We don't have that much time left before we're out of here, before I'm at Yale and she's in New York. So it's our secret. No one knows except for you and our parents. She told her dads, I told my mom… Four people know, and you're one of them. I know we haven't always seen eye to eye, but I'm asking you, Santana… You know what this is like, you went through it… something like it, with Brittany. I need to know that I can trust you, that you won't tell anyone, not until we're ready."

She couldn't even tell whether she was crying; she couldn't feel her face. There was so much of this she had never told anyone, not her mother, not even Rachel, but as soon as she'd started talking, there was no stopping it. All the words came up and found their way one behind the other. Now it was out there, laid at the feet of Santana Lopez, waiting to know what she would say or do.

She'd said nothing, but she'd put her arms around the blonde. Quinn was surprised, but then she breathed with relief. There were two sides to her, and she'd managed to appeal to the steadfast friend. So Quinn went on her way, remembering at last that she had this test to get to, and her head was at ease.

Santana watched her go, knowing she hadn't seen what she'd seen, just as she'd gone in for the hug. She looked to Rachel, who was standing just barely within sight, knowing each word of the former head Cheerio had found its way to her finely tuned ears. Quinn had shed a few tears saying those words, and Rachel had shed some hearing them.

THE END

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!