A/N: So I guess I should have mentioned a few things at the beginning last time: I have yet to see all of season one, but I know the main points so spoilers for season 1(although if your reading fanfic, chances are you've seen at least the first part of season one so we're even). It goes AU pretty much right after Regionals and I like to throw things out randomly as they come up, so the past six years of Rachel and Quinn's lives will unfold in time. And lastly I know this is starting sort of slow, but I have big plans and like I said before a lot of it written so hopefully not a lot of waiting for updates. Thanks to the people that take the time to review, it's really sweet and it helps a lot :)
Quinn loved getting lost taking shots in the city. She had been here for just under a year and she was still amazed when she walked the same streets every day and constantly found things that she had not seen before. It was like every day was an adventure for her and even though she was sure that at some point the novelty would wear off she took the time every day to revel in the newness of everything that surrounded her. She took one last shot as she heard her phone going off in her pocket and then walked over to a nearby bench to begin packing up her things. When her camera and all of her gear were safely tucked into her bag she reached into her pocket to pull out her phone to silence her alarm. As she pulled the iPhone out of her pocket Quinn felt something else swish to the ground and she bent to pick up the garbage that had fallen out of her pocket. She was about to drop it in the trash when she noticed that it had something scrawled across the back of it and she turned it over. Right below the logo of the bar there was a phone number and a message. 'Call me, it would be wonderful to hear from you' Rachel had scrawled out the message and signed her name next to a little star that she had drawn in before the 'R'.
Quinn sat down on the bench that she was at and stared at the writing not knowing immediately what to do. It had been over a week since she had run into Rachel at the bar and even though the girl had popped into her head at the oddest times over the course of the week she had not gotten the impression from the brunette that she wanted anything to do with Quinn. Rachel had been nothing but polite and friendly as ever to Quinn for their very short conversation, but that was as far as it went. And even in the split second that Quinn had wanted to give the brunette her number Lacey had called and she felt guilt tug at her insides so she had simply said thank you and goodnight to Rachel before leaving in a cab, turning only once to watch as Rachel went back inside.
Quinn still didn't understand her reaction to seeing Rachel. It wasn't as if she had been living under a rock for the last two years, she was well aware that Rachel was in the city and had been since she had gotten accepted to Julliard at the end of her sophomore year. She also knew that Rachel was a pretty big deal on Broadway, she had seen her name a few time around the city on billboards or buses and things like that. She had even, on occasion, come across pamphlets and tourist books with her picture inside and never thought twice about it, but there had been something about seeing her in person that had done something to make it very hard for Quinn to forget that they were in the same city. Finding the number in her pocket was going to make it impossible for her to forget…
Rachel sighed as she walked into her loft apartment and set down her things. It was her favorite time of day, coming home and taking a bath with some music and a glass of wine, which she was now able to buy herself, thank goodness, she found that owing favors to Shane was sometimes more trouble than it was worth. But it was after all how Quinn Fabray had ended up waltzing back into her life. She had gone to the club with Shane that night so that he didn't have to show up alone. She wondered how long Quinn had been in the city, and for the thousandth time over the course of two weeks wondered why Quinn had not called her, and for the thousandth time worried that it was because Quinn didn't want to call her. Rachel didn't know why she cared so much whether or not the other woman contacted her or not, but she hadn't been able to get Quinn Fabray out of her mind. They had been far from best friends before, but Rachel had always felt a weird desire to win her over. Of course that had been squashed when she had left Lima the summer after her sophomore year, but now she felt like she had another chance.
She heaved another sigh as she made her way to the bathroom, kicking off her clothes as she went, for once not caring where anything landed. She had done two shows that day, and whether it was that or the fact that she couldn't stop thinking about Quinn, she felt exhausted. Rachel fell onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling groaning when she heard her phone going off in the next room. She decided to ignore it and headed toward the bathroom…
Quinn sat in one of the very back rows of the theater and waited with anticipation for Rachel Berry to take the stage. She wanted to be closer to the stage, but she had purchased the ticket only after finding the note from Rachel in her pocket and beggars couldn't be choosers. She was lucky that she was there alone because she had a feeling that finding two seats together might have been impossible. But when Rachel took the stage Quinn could still see and easily hear every nuance of her performance. The years spent at Julliard had been kind to Rachel Berry because as well as she performed in high school it was nothing compared to what Quinn was seeing now. Rachel's voice was stronger than ever and if Quinn wasn't mistaken she had a much wider range than she used to. Quinn figured she was sort of biased, but when the curtain fell on the end of the play she thought Rachel's performance was flawless. She grinned and clapped as hard as she could during Rachel's curtain call as if the diva could hear her above all the others and for some reason could not stop the feeling of pride that spread through her. Rachel had achieved her dreams and Quinn knew that no one, not even herself, had ever doubted that she would.
It wasn't until she was home sitting on her bed taking off her dress and her jewelry that she thought about using the number that she had programmed into her phone earlier that week. She looked at the screen for a full minute before typing out a message and hitting the send key before she could over think it. She waited for her phone to ring back with a response, but when five minutes passed and there was still no reply Quinn shook off the irrational amount of disappointment that coursed through her body and walked toward her bathroom…
Rachel felt a thousand times better now that she was clean and wrapped in her favorite pajamas. She was on her way to the couch when she remembered that she had missed a call before she got in the shower and stopped to grab her phone before settling herself on her couch. It was a text message from a number that Rachel didn't recognize and she felt anticipation in her stomach as she opened it.
'I saw your show tonight…ps this is Quinn Fabray'
Rachel's pulse raced as she read over the letters of Quinn's name. She frowned when she saw that the text message had been time stamped an hour ago, she hadn't thought that she had been in the shower that long. Rachel thought about it over and over again. She didn't want to wake her if she was sleeping, but she didn't want Quinn to think that she was ignoring her either. She had gone through enough of that this week so after deliberating over it for another quick second she sent off a text of her own and braced herself for an answer…or no answer if Quinn was sleeping.
'I was wondering if you would ever use that number. And just for the record, you are the only Quinn that I am acquainted with. How did you find my performance?'
Quinn had gotten out of the shower and into bed and found that she had been staring at her phone for twenty minutes when it finally went off. She couldn't help her smile and quickly replied back.
'Eh…you were all right, occasionally sharp'
When Quinn didn't receive a reply after a full minute she laughed out loud picturing Rachel's face and typed another message.
'Jeez Berry I was only kidding get a hold of yourself…seriously you were amazing, as if you had any doubt'
Rachel tried not to read too much into Quinn's reply. That she felt they were friendly enough to tease her, that she remembered their conversations from high school, or most importantly that she thought Rachel was amazing. No, she thought your performance was amazing, Rachel reminded herself as she typed in a thank you.
'Well it's late Quinn and unfortunately I do have obligations and responsibilities. I need my rest in order to be in top performance so I have to say goodnight. Do you mind if I contact you again tomorrow night? I will try to make it earlier, I'm sure you're tired and need your rest as well.'
Quinn smiled as she read Rachel's message trying not to think too hard about the fact that she had smiled more in the last five minutes than she had in quite some time. She sent Rachel a reply and then switched off her phone. Quinn pulled her blankets up under her chin and didn't try to stop the warmth that spread through her at the thought of speaking with Rachel again tomorrow…