Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.
Thank you all so much for your reviews and alerts. Many of you asked me for a second part, so here it is.
"…and we here at CHILI Media have so much fun reading through your postings and messages. It's unbelievable the response we have gotten to yesterday's video. Rachel Berry, you are a popular woman. Jesse St. James, if I were you, I'd invest in a bodyguard."
"She's still not answering her cell", Quinn sighs.
"She's probably being chased by paparazzi", Santana offers.
"Do you think I should-"
"…this anonymous message says If I ever see him on the street or somewhere, I'm going to walk up to him and slap him. Actually, we have tons of messages that run along those lines. Oh, I like this one: Someone should castrate him. And give Rachel a trophy. Actually, someone should give Rachel a trophy of his balls. Feisty! Whoever wrote this, you should work for us."
Quinn narrows her eyes in suspicion and turns to her best friend. "Santana, what exactly are you doing over there?"
"Um…surfing the net?", the Latina asks innocently, quickly closing her laptop.
"This isn't helpful", Quinn chides.
"But it's so much fun", Santana whines. "Don't make me stop. You haven't even read the stuff other people write. I'm tame."
"Right", Quinn drawls. "Tame." Turning the volume of the TV down, she sighs heavily. "Do you think she's ever going to talk to me again?"
"She never stopped talking to you", Santana points out. "She didn't even know anything was wrong until you broke up with her via text message."
"When you're in a relationship, you don't kiss other people. You kissed Jesse, so I guess we're not in a relationship", Quinn quotes. "I didn't really break up with her. I wrote guess."
Santana raises an eyebrow and Quinn sighs again. "And now she's not answering her phone, so she actually has stopped talking to me."
"You did that first", the Latina says, "and anyway, she may just have her phone on silent to avoid her head exploding from the bombardment of calls she must receive from the paparazzi by now."
"But she could-"
"Quinn", Santana interrupts her, and she looks so serious that Quinn thinks she might follow her name with 'I have cancer'. "Quinn", Santana repeats. "Stop complaining. Stop defending yourself. Stop trying to find ways to put blame on Rachel. You screwed up. She didn't. Pull yourself together and clean up your mess. The girl deserves an apology, and you were all for it yesterday."
"I was", Quinn agrees. "I am. It's just…we already have this history of me being a bitch and her forgiving me. It makes me feel…Santana, do I even deserve her? Should I even-"
"Oh my god! Turn that louder! Now- now!"
"What? Why are you- oh!"
Quickly grabbing the remote, Quinn turns the volume as loud as she can, eyes fixed on the TV, where Rachel Berry sits in a chair with an unreadable expression on her face.
"…all these messages, which has been a blast, but now we want to check our poll. Rachel, are you familiar with the poll we have running on our website?"
"I can't say that I am, no", Rachel says.
"How did we miss this? How long has she been on? What is she doing?" With every question, Quinn moves a little closer to the TV, her gaze never leaving her beautiful, wonderful girlfriend, or…you know…ex-girlfriend, but she's going to fix that.
Santana watches her and thinks that this, this is exactly what she would be dealing with every day if Quinn and Rachel had never gotten together: Quinn pining after the brunette diva, watching TV all day to catch a glimpse of her, and Rachel living in ignorance. The image of Quinn practically glued to the TV is equal parts funny (in a pitiful kind of way that Santana thinks she could enjoy more if she was still as heartless as she used to be in High School) and sad (in a way that hurts her more than she cares to admit). The sad part wins, because Santana likes the way it is now: Rachel and Quinn on the couch together, watching Rachel's appearances, celebrating the fact that she really made it. And then, later, thanking Santana for recording everything because they were too busy "celebrating" to care about anything else.
As the woman on TV explains the poll, Santana watches Quinn, and from the look on her friend's face, she knows she's not the only one thinking along those lines.
"So here are your options: A) Jesse is just a guy who knows what he wants. Rachel overreacted. Leave the poor guy alone. B) Jesse clearly overstepped a line. Rachel was perfectly within her rights when she put him back in his place. C) This guy should be looked into. Rachel should report him. And D) I don't care about the so-called problems of celebrities. He kissed her, she bit him. End of story. Well, what do you think, Rachel?"
Rachel runs a hand through her hair, taking a deep breath. "Those are all…perfectly reasonable, I guess, depending on your point of view…"
"She looks confused", Quinn observes.
"I am, too", Santana frowns. "Because that's not the real poll."
"What?"
"That's not the poll from their website", Santana explains.
Quinn shakes her head. "But she just said she's not familiar with it. Why would she be confused?"
"Are you okay?", the host asks.
"I was expecting something a bit more…outrageous", Rachel admits.
"Outrageous? Here at CHILI Media? You must be joking."
"I know your show", Rachel rolls her eyes.
"Well, we're all professionals here. We don't like to make a scene. This is all dramatic enough, don't you think?"
"Of course", Rachel nods, but Quinn knows that tone of voice. Rachel uses it when she doesn't believe a word of what is being said.
"You're a genuine heroine, Rachel. Other celebrities would stage stuff like this just to gain a little positive press."
"Is this going somewhere?", Rachel asks. "I'm not looking to make a scene out of this, and I certainly didn't stage anything. I don't appreciate being played – all I came here for is to give my opinion on this story, but I think your video – the video that was filmed and broadcasted without my permission – speaks for itself. In fact, I have nothing to add to what I already said in my private conversation with Jesse St. James."
"This is a career boost, Rachel. You should be grateful."
"A career boost, you say? Do you think that this is what I want to become famous for? Someone I considered a friend misused my trust and put me in a situation in which I practically cheated on my partner. You were lucky enough to catch that on camera and then put it online faster than I could say "Who the hell are you?". I'm talented, and I have ambitions, but those ambitions center around Broadway and not bad reality TV."
"Ouch. Look, if you want to be a star, you have to be prepared to share private moments with your fans."
"You crossed a line."
"Jesse St. James crossed a line. All we did was make the rest of the world aware of it. It's the show business."
"No, it's your business. My business is about getting up on stage and singing. It's about making people happy by letting them forget reality for a while. It's about singing a ballad in a dark theatre and making people cry because what they feel is overpowering and deep and magical. Your business is about catching me in one of my most private moments and exploiting that. You paint me a heroine and Jesse an asshole, completely ignoring the fact that I have someone to come home and explain this whole mess to or that Jesse and I have mutual friends or that he can be a really good guy when he wants to. You're destroying his reputation because of a mistake he made while in an emotionally bad place and building mine up just because I reacted the way any respectable person, any faithful girlfriend would. You know what? I like my business better. This interview is over."
And with that, she storms off, out of camera view and very likely, out of the building. The presenter looks after her stunned, then impressed. With a slowly forming grin, she turns back to the cameras. "A) I have a love/hate thing going for those two. I hate Jesse and love Rachel. B) Someone shoot the prick. C) Rachel came off a little bit bitchy, but she's hot. D) Jesse is just a typical guy. I would try to kiss her, too. This is the poll, folks, as I'm sure everyone but Rachel Berry already knew. And, as of right now, we have added option E-"
And with that, the TV goes black.
"Santana!", Quinn exclaims. "What the hell!"
"I didn't do anything!"
"You're sitting on the damn remote!"
With a sheepish look, Santana grabs the remote from under her butt and turns the TV back on, but CHILI Media is already over and instead of option E, there's a commercial for toothpaste.
"That was…", Quinn starts.
"Yeah", Santana nods.
"I mean, she was…"
"Absolutely."
"I wish we knew what option E was."
"Just look up the poll on the internet. Anyway, it's probably something like Rachel Berry is a self-righteous bitch."
"Are you kidding me? The way you put her in her place was- wait..." Quinn stops speaking and rubs her eyes. Yes, it's really Rachel standing in the door.
"Hello, Quinn. Santana."
"Rachel! That was so…cool. It was great. Awesome. You were…I'm a little bit in love with you right now", Santana says, eyes wide.
Rachel grins, then grows serious again. "Goodbye, Santana."
The Latina blushes. "Yeah, of course. Dinner on Thursday? Brittany's in town."
"I'm looking forward to it", Rachel nods.
The second Santana is out of the door, Rachel's shoulders slump and Quinn walks up to stand in front of her, her stance unsure.
"Listen, I…um…I just wanted to…"
"What, Quinn?", the brunette asks tiredly.
"You are- I was…"
"I'm just here to pack my stuff. Maybe you can try to get a whole sentence together before I leave."
"No!"
"No, what?"
"Don't…pack your stuff. Don't leave."
"You broke up with me."
"I didn't-"
"Didn't what, Quinn? Didn't know? Didn't think? Didn't trust me?"
"I'm sorry. I was just, shocked, I guess, and I reacted to that shock. I know you would never…but it's Jesse and…you two were…but I shouldn't have…" She breathes deeply, frustrated with herself. "I have so many things to apologize for."
"I'd say", Rachel scoffs.
"No, I mean, yes, but- stuff from our past. I have so many things to apologize for that I did to you, said to you, back when-"
"You already apologized, and I already forgave you."
Quinn smiles softly. "But this time, it was you doing something wrong, at least that's what I thought at the time, and I guess I was jumping at the chance to balance out the scale a bit."
"That text message didn't sound very forgiving", Rachel counters.
"I was angry and hurt. But I would have forgiven you."
"I wouldn't want you to", Rachel says. "If I ever cheated on you, I wouldn't want you to forgive me. I would want you to realize that you deserve better than that and leave me."
"I would never leave you", Quinn states. "And you would never cheat on me. Just like I would never cheat on you."
"I'm glad you realize that."
"I'm really sorry. I love you."
"This guilt thing of yours…we have to talk about that."
"I know…just not now, okay? Can we just be okay again?", Quinn pleads.
"You still have making up to do. I'm not letting you off the hook that easily", Rachel warns, but there's a small smile on her face.
"Oh, I know", Quinn grins. "I plan to pull out the big guns. I hope you don't have anything planned for tomorrow. Prepare to be wooed."
"I'm really glad you said tomorrow. Right now, I need a bed", Rachel yawns, taking Quinn's hand and leading her to the bedroom.
"Rachel?"
"Yeah?"
"What's option E?"
"Why do you think I know?"
"Do you want me to believe you didn't pull out your phone to check the poll as soon as you were out of that building?"
"I told you, it's probably something not very flattering."
"I don't believe that for a second. Come on, tell me."
"Fine. It's I want to marry that woman."
Quinn stops dead in her tracks, a funny look on her face. Rachel gives her chaste kiss, then drags her forward again. "It's really not impo-"
"Can I take that option?"
"What?"
"You can't marry anyone else."
"It's just a poll, Quinn."
"No, I mean it. That option is mine. Mine alone. You're mine. Marry me."
Rachel kisses her again and pulls her onto the bed. "Let's go to bed, babe."
"Is that…is that a no?"
"It's a let's go to sleep together and wake up together and do that for the rest of our lives. What do you think?"
"Rachel?"
"Yeah?"
"Those people at CHILI Media…I can't decide if I want to sue them or send them a gift basket."
"Goodnight, Quinn. I love you."
"Goodnight, my love."