Disclaimer: I own neither Glee nor any part thereof. No money is being made off of this story and is intended only for entertainment purposes; therefore it falls within the parameters of "Fair Use"

A/N: I hope everyone had a wonderful, safe and happy holiday season, which ever holiday you celebrate. I know these are the wrong dates for Hanukkah next year but for the story I wanted Hanukkah to flow into Christmas

WARNING: There are references to recreational drug use here. If you are offended by this then I suggest you not read.

Christmakkuh in New York Part 2

December 16th, 2012

"So tonight is the first night of Hanukkah?" Quinn asked. It had been a long exhausting day. Rachel's great cookie making endeavor had finished just before noon and the girls had spent the afternoon delivering literally thousands of cookies to various homeless shelters, orphanages, and hospitals. Their good deed for the holiday season now completed the girls were now crashed out on the couch cuddled up together once again. It had become the standard for them for the last couple of days when neither was busy with something else.

"That is correct," Rachel said with a smile, "I see you've done your research."

"I learned from the best. So tell me about Hanukkah," Quinn said.

Rachel's face lit up at Quinn's request. She looked up at the girl sitting behind her and said with great enthusiasm, "What would you like to know?"

"Well, I mean, I lived with Puck through one Hanukkah so I know about lighting the menorah and the dreidels and latkes, but they never really explained anything to me about what the significance of any of it or what Hanukkah is a celebration of. To be fair, at the time, I probably wouldn't have listened anyway, but now I'm curious. So start with the basics, in the Christian tradition Christmas is the celebration of Jesus' birth. What is Hanukkah the celebration of?"

"The condensed version of the story is that in the second century BCE, the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem was seized by Syrian-Greeks and turned into a temple for the worship of the Greek gods, mostly Zeus. They controlled the Temple for three years before it was retaken by a group of Jews known as the Maccabees. When they had driven their enemies out, they found the temple defiled by the Greek worship rituals, most notably the sacrificing of swine. In order to purify the Temple once more they sought to burn ritual oil for eight nights, but they only had enough oil for one night. They lit the oil anyway and it burned for eight straight days despite it being not nearly enough to do so. This is the Hanukkah miracle and in honor of that we light the menorah."

"Okay, so what about…?"

X X X X X

Half an hour later, Quinn knew more about Hanukkah that she would have ever even thought to ask: dreidel games and latke recipes and songs. It occurred to her then that though she'd known Rachel for years and had come to know her rather well over the last year, this side of her was something she'd never seen out of the girl. Rachel was seriously devout in her Judaism.

The girls had the curtains in the front windows pulled back so they could watch the progress of the setting sun still lounging comfortably together on the couch Quinn absently played Rachel's long silky hair. "So I never really realized how much your religion means to you."

"It's not something that I share with everyone," she replied, "To me faith is an intensely personal thing, a commitment between myself and God. It's not really anyone else's business... or at least no one except for those I wish to share it with. I have no desire to convert the world. That isn't God's path for me, so I keep it mostly to myself." Rachel looked up at Quinn and said, "What's funny?"

Quinn hadn't even realized that she was laughing until she mentioned it. "Um, I don't know, I guess it just seems like such an alien concept, Rachel Berry keeps things something to herself. The girl who asked everyone in creation whether or not she should have sex… twice has a private side."

"I most certainly did not ask everyone in creation. I asked the girls of Glee Club because you were my friends, or at least the closest thing I had to friends, and I needed advice. I don't need advice about my religion and if I do, I'll consult a rabbi. I ask for help from those that are best suited to advise me. It just so happens that in lieu of having a mother, on the matter of losing my virginity the best suited were a group of teenage girls," Rachel explained. "The idea that I have no private side is sort of a well cultivated misconception."

"Meaning you over share so that people don't go looking for the things you want to keep to yourself?"

"Exactly," Rachel said.

"Makes sense, I guess. Certainly a better way of dealing with things than being a horrible ice bitch to everyone." Quinn contemplated this new facet of her friend for a couple of minutes. "So is that why you are less verbose with me than you have been in years past?"

"That is entirely possible," she said, "I admit I hadn't really considered it or even noticed that I had become so, but that would seem logical. I tell you the things I ordinarily keep private so it stands to reason that I don't need the walls to keep you out."

Quinn took Rachel's hand in hers and said, "I'm really glad I can be that person to you, Rach. I'm glad that you can trust me with those sorts of things, especially considering all of our history. I'm also glad that you're comfortable enough to let me do this." She held their joined hands aloft.

"It's nice," Rachel said, "I like feeling connected to another person and your hands are the right size. Finn and Jesse's hands were so much bigger than mine, my fathers' too. I always felt like my hands were being engulfed by theirs. Yours and mine feel much more like a joining of equals. It would also seem that I'm something of a cuddler. I find I quite like being held by someone… and if Leah were privy to this conversation we wouldn't be doing anything to disabuse her of her notion of you and me."

"Heh, yeah, I guess you're right," Quinn observed. "I've kind of given up trying to convince her we're not together."

"Really?" asked Rachel, "Why?"

"I don't know," Quinn shrugged, "because it doesn't really seem to be worth the effort. She's pretty set on believing it and there's not really anything we could do to prove to her that we aren't together, short of us spending less time together which I don't want to do. I'm not seeing anyone else so it's not like a rumor is going to get around and cause problems for me, nor am I really looking for anyone that it might cause problems for in the future. I've got plenty on my plate right now anyway with all of my artistic endeavors, so I'm happy just being with myself right now. If I need companionship here and there I've got you and Leah and Kurt all willing to fulfill that need. So if my bored roommate needs or just wants to imagine us in this long distance romance… I could think of much worse people to be linked to than you."

"Awww," Rachel said as she squeezed Quinn's hands, "Aren't you just the sweetest girlfriend ever?" Quinn laughed. She loved how playful Rachel could be with her now. So few people got to see that side of her, she was glad that she was one of the few who did. The girls sat in silence for the next few minutes as the last sliver of daylight disappeared below the horizon. "Happy Hanukkah, Quinn."

"Happy Hanukkah, Rachel."

Rachel let go of Quinn's hand and disentangled herself from the blonde girl, stood up from the couch, and made her way over the small table in the window by the door currently adorned with Rachel's empty menorah. Quinn followed her and watched Rachel open the drawer in the table retrieving a pair of white candles and a box of matches. "Many Hebrew traditions are what we would considered backwards," Rachel said. "In most Romanized cultures doing things left-to-right is the standard, but when reading Hebrew one reads right-to-left. It's the same with lighting the menorah," she said placing one candle in the far right holder. "This candle will be lit and we'll use it to light the other candles… or the other candle in tonight's case. This candle is called the shamash, but before we light them there are three blessings to be recited. When I'm done, you light the shamash and I'll light the candle."

"Okay," Quinn said trying to absorb all the information that was being thrown at her in rapid succession.

"My dad will insist on saying them in Hebrew since he's fluent but I say them in English because I don't trust my diction of a language that I do not know," Rachel closed her eyes and began to recite from memory, "Blessed are You, O Lord Our God, Ruler of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukkah. Blessed are You, O Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, Who made miracles for our forefathers in those days at this time. Blessed are You, O Lord Our God, Ruler of the Universe, Who has kept us alive, sustained us and brought us to this season." Rachel nodded to Quinn who quickly slid open the box of matches, pulled one out, and struck it. She lit the candle in Rachel's hand and she tipped in over sideways to light the candle in the menorah. She then placed the shamash in the raised center position.

"So do you leave them burning all night?" asked Quinn.

"Until they snuff themselves out or until I go to bed," Rachel said, "I'm reasonably certain that God does not wish me to risk a house fire just in the name of saying thank you for the many miracles in this world."

"So is it present time?" Quinn asked with a smile. Rachel returned the smile even more brightly which Quinn took to mean yes so she went to the box she had left sitting by the door which contained an assortment of wrapped presents and pulled out two the same size. When she'd made her way back to the couch Rachel had three boxes sitting in her lap. "I've got one for you and one for your dads," Quinn said.

"I've got one for you and one for each of us from my dads." The girls quickly exchanged gifts. Quinn got a knit scarf from Rachel and leather bound journal from Rachel's dads. Rachel got a pair of woolen gloves from her fathers and picture of Quinn, Kurt, Leah, and her from the Yale Halloween party they'd all attended in a silver picture frame from Quinn. "This is lovely, Quinn. Thank you."

"Thank you for being my Hanukkah tutor."

X X X X X

December 18th, 2012

Quinn smiled at the still sleeping form of Rachel and her massive case of bed head curled up in roughly the same position she had left her half an hour ago. In the intervening time Quinn had placed an order and had received delivery, made coffee, pancakes, and Rachel's weird vegan bacon. She placed it all on a serving tray along with one of the red velvet cupcakes she'd had delivered. Which brought her back to standing over a sleeping Rachel moments before her alarm clock was due to go off.

Soft beeping started rang out through the room for only about twenty seconds before a suddenly wide eyed Rachel turned it off. "Quinn, why are you standing over me like a creepy person?"

Rachel's ability to go from deep asleep to wide awake at a second's notice was nothing short of astounding. Even after having seen it a dozen or so times it was still surprising to Quinn and that would be why she was standing over Rachel like a creepy person. Momentarily, Quinn snapped out of it. "Happy Birthday, Rachel," she said setting the tray on the birthday girl's lap.

"Quinn this looks amazing," Rachel said in complete surprise. "My fathers always made me pancakes for breakfast on my birthday."

"Yeah, you've mentioned that before, and I thought you might like it if I did it for you this year. I mean, I'm not a great cook but I can pull off pancakes pretty well."

"A…and all of this is vegan?" Rachel asked looking hard at the cupcake with the birthday candle sticking out of it.

Quinn had settled down onto the foot of the bed after Rachel had sat up to eat. She looked up at the girl with a skeptical eyebrow hiked. "You know, Rachel, a year ago that would have been a valid question, but now you're just hurting my feelings. I remember that your dads make you pancakes for breakfast on your birthday but I forget that you're vegan?"

"You're right, Quinn," Rachel said quickly, "I apologize. I know that you know me better than that. I just… aside from my fathers, I'm not use to people taking my diet into account, even Kurt sometimes still forgets."

"Well, rest assured, sweetie," Quinn said placing a reassuring hand on Rachel's lower leg, "if I bring you food, it will be 100% vegan friendly."

Rachel smiled softly and said, "Thank you Quinn. Now may I make a birthday request of you?"

"Depends on what it is."

"Come up here and help me eat some of this. This is far more than I can consume by myself."

"I think I can manage that," Quinn said as she scooted herself up to the headboard sitting next to Rachel. "I'm kind of curious what all these vegan substitutes taste like."

"Here start with a piece of bacon," Rachel offered. "But if you think you're getting any of my cupcake you are positively out of your mind." She closed her eyes and blew out the candle.

"It's okay. I didn't have time to run out and they wouldn't deliver just one, so there are eleven more in the kitchen." Quinn took a bite and said, "Yeah, that's not bad. It's not as good as real bacon, but then nothing is."

"You and your bacon," Rachel rolled her eyes. She'd never admit it but Rachel actually felt horribly guilty for loving the smell of real bacon when she and Quinn had breakfast. She still refused to eat it of course, but it was tempting. "So where's my present?" Rachel asked with a smile.

"Did your dads give you your presents with breakfast?" Quinn asked as Rachel offered her a mouthful of pancakes

In between bites Rachel replied, "No, they would always take me out to dinner somewhere nice and if it was feasible to give me their gifts at the restaurant they would, otherwise it would be home waiting on me."

After Quinn had swallowed the mouthful, she replied, "Then I guess you know where your gift is."

"You're taking me out?" Rachel asked, so surprised that she forgot her manners speaking with a mouth full of food quickly clapping her hand over her mouth in embarrassment.

Quinn laughed at her and replied, "Unless you've got a better offer." Rachel, mouth still full of food still with a hand clasped over her mouth, shook her head vigorously. "Okay, good. Then in that case, dress pretty because we're going somewhere very upscale."

X X X X X

After breakfast and a shower, Rachel spent the next few hours fielding and returning birthday phone calls from her dads, from Kurt, Mercedes, and Blaine all back in Lima, from Finn at Fort Collins where he was stationed, from Leah still in New Haven, from her Nana in Florida. Even Puck managed to find a payphone and enough change to call from wherever his band was playing that night. Quinn couldn't help but notice that this supposedly unpopular girl had a lot of people calling to tell her happy birthday. She laughed and chatted and basked in the attention that she loved so much with a giant smile on her face.

After a simple lunch Rachel had voice coaching which Quinn would have tried to Rachel into skipping just this one time since it was her birthday, but Quinn knew that Rachel actually enjoyed her voice lessons and she also didn't have anything else planned for them until that evening. While Rachel was out Quinn went over the pictures from their trip to the park to see if there was something worth presenting in a show.

Rachel arrived home around 4:30 with a box in her hands. "These were delivered today. There's no return address on them."

"Them?" Quinn asked seeing only the one package.

"Oh yes," Rachel said pulling a manila envelope from her purse and handing it to Quinn, "This came for you. Like the box it doesn't have a return address and I don't recognize the handwriting. I'm considering contacting Homeland Security. It could be anthrax or a container of sarin gas."

"That really won't be necessary. It's Leah's handwriting," Quinn remarked, "What would she be sending you? She didn't get me a present for my birthday and I'm her roommate." Rachel walked into the kitchen to locate a knife to cut the box open, as she did so, Quinn discretely opened her envelop and seeing that it contained what she expected it to she stuck it out of sight and out of mind.

Rachel produced a fairly large Tupperware dish out of the box. "Happy Birthday, Rach. I'm sure Q has something awesome planned for her ba…" Rachel rolled her eyes and continued reading, "her baby. Here's a little something to hopefully make the night more fun." Rachel set the letter aside and opened the dish. "Oooh! Brownies," she said retrieving one of them from the bowl.

"Don't eat that," Quinn said very abruptly.

"Why not?" Rachel asked.

"Because of the very extreme likelihood that those brownies have pot in them, so at the very least keep them until after dinner."

"How could you possibly know that these brownies have marijuana in them? They smell no different than any other brownies," Rachel said as she smelled the bowl.

"They wouldn't, but I know my… I know Leah. Number one, they aren't frosted. Leah likes to get high but she's responsible about it. 'Unfrosted brownies have weed in them, frosted brownies do not.' It was one of the first things she ever said to me when we met. Number two, 'make the night more fun' is code for having sex. Beyond being convinced that we're dating, she's also sure that we haven't slept together yet since in all the times you've come to visit, I've never asked her to crash at a friend's. She probably thinks we're going to do it tonight. The brownies would be to loosen inhibitions and make things run smoother."

"And it doesn't have a return address…or postage," Rachel noticed, "because she didn't send it through the postal service. She hired a courier. Crafty." She put the brownie back in the bowl. "Have you ever had any of Leah's unfrosted brownies?"

Quinn nodded slightly, "A couple of times, yeah. Why?"

"What's it like?"

"It's… I don't know, it's…" Quinn shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, "I really don't know how to describe it. It's fun. With brownies you don't really get so high that you crash afterward. You eat a couple of them, you get buzzed, you spend a few of hours laughing at things that aren't necessarily funny, you go to sleep. Why, you want to try the brownies out?"

"I must admit that I am somewhat curious," Rachel said completely surprising Quinn, "Drug use is a frequent topic in many forms of performance. I may, at some point, be called upon to act as though I am high. Having gotten high at some point in my life would facilitate that. Relatively speaking, marijuana is the safest way to go about that, but I didn't want to risk trying to buy it since it is illegal and I also didn't want to smoke it and risk damage to my voice. This would seem to solve all of my problems. Would you eat them with me?"

"Are you kidding me? Getting to see Rachel Berry high? I'm pretty sure I'd pay good money to see that."

"I don't know if I want to do it tonight or not. I think I'd like to actually remember my birthday," Rachel said.

"Okay," Quinn said, "No pressure."

A/N: So basically, I hate the way the show more or less ignores Rachel's Judaism. That's why we have a prolonged trip to Hebrew School. There should be two more chapters of this.