No Beta.

Chapter 2: How Everything Started.

Quinn's POV:

"Holy sh-"

"Language Quinnie!" my mother scolded, I rolled my eyes.

We were standing on our front porch looking out at all of the damage the storm had caused. A few of our neighbors were outside as well, inspecting the damage that had been inflicted on their property. The morning was bright and as clear as a bell. The sky, which had been a mushy, hazy color during the heat wave, had regained a deep, crisp blue that was nearly autumnal. There was a light breeze, making the fallen leaves that covered almost everything move back and forth in the driveway. Not far from where we were standing there was a steady hissing noise, and in the grass there was what you might at first have taken for a writhing bundle of snakes. The power lines leading to our house had fallen in an untidy tangle about twenty feet to our left and lay in a burned patch of grass. They were twisting lazily and spitting. If the trees and grass hadn't been so completely damped down by torrential rains, the house might have gone up in flames. As it was, there was only that black patch where the wires had touched directly.

"What are we going to do about that?" I asked pointing towards the fallen power lines.

"Nothing, wait for the power company to come around," she said with a sigh and then walked back inside. I decided to further inspect the damage. I walked across the grass, carefully avoiding the power lines and started down the street.

It was worst than I had imagined. Trees had fallen across the road in four different places, one of them small, two of them middling, and one old baby that must have been five feet through the middle. Moss was crusted onto it like a moldy corset.

Branches, some half-stripped of their leaves, lay everywhere in jackstraw profusion. I decided to be of some use and started tossing the smaller branches into a pile.

Two hours later I walked back into the house covered in a light sheen of sweat.

"Quinnie!" I heard my mother call me. I walked into the kitchen and went straight to the fridge for a bottle of water.

"What?"

"I need you to head out to the market for me. We're out of limes and olives. Also…well, let me make you a list." Her words were slightly slurred and I immediately knew she had already gotten into the liquor cabinet. I didn't even have time to protest, two hours out in the hot sun can really slow a person's reflexes down. Or maybe it's just me…

She scurried out of the kitchen and came back with a list of items by the time I had downed two water bottles. She handed it over with my car keys and a small wad of cash. I was promptly hurried out of the door.

"Don't forget the salt!" I heard her yell as I climbed into my Volkswagen Passat and I just had to roll my eyes. It was on the list, how could I forget?

I fiddled with the radio while at a red light and thought it odd that most of the stations were off the air, but I quickly shrugged it off when the light turned green.

The Lima Washateria in the shopping center was closed, it being impossible to run a coin-op laundry without electricity, but both the Lima Pharmacy and the Federal Foods Supermarket were open. The parking lot was pretty full, and as always in the middle of summer, a lot of the cars had out-of-state plates. Little knots of people stood here and there in the sun, noodling about the storm.

I saw Mrs. Pepper, she of the swamp animals and the stump-water lore. She sailed into the supermarket decked out in an extravagant canary yellow pantsuit. A purse that looked like a misshapen red pepper was slung over one forearm. Mrs. Pepper kept the Lima Antiquary (which is basically a fancy way of saying junk shop). In one of the shadowy, dusty back rooms, stuffed owls with gold-ringed eyes spread their wings forever as their feet endlessly grasped varnished logs; stuffed raccoons stood in a trio around a "stream" that was a long fragment of dusty mirror; and one moth-eaten wolf, which was foaming sawdust instead of saliva around the muzzle, snarled a creepy eternal snarl.

I went in there once and found out I don't particularly fancy taxidermy. Never again.

An idiot on a Yamaha roared past me, missing my front bumper by a few scant inches. He wore a denim jacket, mirror glasses, and no helmet.

"Ass," I muttered angrily. I circled the parking lot once, looking for a good space. There were none. I was just resigning myself to a long walk from the far end of the lot when I got lucky. A lime green Cadillac the size of a small cabin cruiser was easing out of a slot in the rank closest to the market's doors. The moment it was gone, I slid into the space. I walked sluggishly to the market, just in time to see an amusing little incident. An elderly couple walked toward the IN door, chatting together. And still chatting, they walked right into it. They stopped talking and the women squawked her surprise. They stared at each other comically. Then they laughed, and the old guy pushed the door open for his wife with some effort- those electric-eye doors are heavy- and they went in. When the electricity goes off, it catches you in a hundred different ways. I smiled.

I pushed the door open myself and the first thing I noticed was the lack of air-conditioning. Usually in the summer they have it cranked up high enough to give you frostbite if you stay in the market more than an hour.

Like most modern markets, the Federal was constructed like a Skinner box*- modern marketing techniques turn all costumers into white rats. The stuff you really needed like bread, milk, meat, beer, and frozen dinners, were all on the far side of the store. To get there you had to walk past all the impulse items known to modern society-everything from Cricket lighters to rubber dog bones.

I grabbed a cart and walked toward the fruit-and-vegetable aisle that was just beyond the IN door. I looked up from my mother's shopping list and saw the old lady who had run into the door, she was examining grapefruits. Her husband had produced a net sack to store purchases in. I threaded my way through the aisles past half-loaded carriages and browsing shoppers while I stared at my mother's list. Why in the world does she need cucumber seeds? Do they even sell cucumber seeds here?

I bumped into someone and muttered a quick apology. I was about to turn back around, still puzzled by my mother's odd list, when I heard a high pitched, "Quinn?"

I know that voice. I looked up and immediately beamed.

"Rachel!"

"Quinn?" she said a little less high pitched, but still loudly.

"Rachel," I teased her. She just stared and I started to get self-conscious.

"What?" I finally asked.

"Y-your…What did-what?" She sputtered. It was disconcerting because I'd never heard Rachel Berry stumble over her words. Ever.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" I asked warily. She blinked a few times and cleared her throat, composing herself.

"I apologize for my vocal blunder Quinn but your new look took me a little by surprise," she said smiling a bit, but with an odd look on her adorable face. What was she talking about again?

She must've seen my confused look because she waved vaguely towards my head and it clicked. Of course! How could I possible forget my new look? Her eyes are just so freaking mesmerizing! I shook my head, no time for that right now. What was she saying…

"Oh, that, I'm just trying something…new," I ended lamely and looked down blushing. Freaking blushing! I mean, I couldn't exactly tell her that I had finally found myself after being depressed for two weeks, and that it turns out that the 'real me' is completely and utterly infatuated with her. That wasn't exactly a great way to start a conversation with someone after not seeing them for almost two months. I had spent most of my summer trying to figure out a way to talk to her and now here she was, Rachel Berry in all her magnificent glory and I still had no idea what I wanted to say to her. I rocked awkwardly on the balls of my feet and gripped the handle bar of my cart tighter while trying to avoid eye contact.

"I like it," she said in a soft tone that had me looking up so fast I'm surprised I didn't get whiplash. She was smiling lightly and I almost did double take. I blushed harder and cleared my throat.

"Y-you do?" I asked. Now I was the one squeaking. She nodded her head and I beamed. Well this is going better than I expected. She looked a little surprised at my reaction but beamed right back until we heard a commotion towards the back of the aisle. We looked over to see an incredibly annoyed looking Kurt standing with his arms crossed glaring at who I assumed was Finn, who was on the floor completely covered in Jell-o and instant pudding packages with only his hands and feet sticking out. I stifled a laugh when I heard Rachel sigh beside me.

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself Quinn, I've had to deal with their shenanigans all week!" Rachel said in an annoyed tone and poked my stomach.

"Hey!" I said swatting her hand away when she went to repeat her actions. I started giggling when I saw that she was trying to hold in her laughter just like I was. She started giggling and in a few seconds we were both hunched over laughing until what she had said registered. I sobered up pretty quickly and gasped for air.

"Wait, what do you mean all week?" I asked. If she was back with together with Finn then surely she would have spent the entire summer with him, not just the past week, right? She stopped laughing immediately and gave me a weird look.

"My dads went to Arizona because my uncle got into some legal problems so I'm staying with Kurt until Sunday," she said and averted her eyes. Kurt… which basically means Kurt and Finn. I felt a pang of irrational jealousy hit my lower stomach so I quickly averted my eyes.

"Oh," I said.

"I-It's not what you think Quinn- I mean it's," my eyebrow involuntarily arched as I watched Rachel fumble over her words again, but mostly because she was trying to explain herself to me…not that I minded…at all.

"Its fine Rachel," I said and tried to smile. She had been about to say something else when Kurt interrupted.

"Rachel! We need a little help over here!" He yelled across the aisle. I looked over and saw him trying to help Finn out of the mountain of packages. I smirked. How does that even happen?

"I can't deal with that alone, you're coming with me," Rachel said and before I could protest she was wheeling my cart towards Kurt. I was left with no choice but to follow. As we got closer we heard muffled yelling coming from the mountain and Kurt just looked up at Rachel and rolled his eyes. His eyes landed on me and widened.

"Quinn! What happened to you?" he shrieked. I blushed and awkwardly waved at him. Rachel reached over and smacked his arm.

"Kurt! There is no need to be rude," she whisper yelled. That seemed to knock him out of his shocked state and he shook his head.

"Sorry Quinn, you just look so…different," he said blushing.

"So I've been told," I replied with a smirk. I looked over at Rachel and saw her blush adorably. She cleared her throat.

"Yes, well now that we have all of that cleared up. Quinn, give me a hand," she said and grabbed one of Finn's feet. I didn't really want to touch his feet…or him at all but Rachel was already pouting because I was taking too long and well damn, how could I say no to that? I grabbed his other foot and we all gave a sharp tug; he immediately slid out from under the mountain and started sputtering. One of the Jell-o packages had burst open and dusted his face in green color. I proceeded to laugh my ass off.

"Q-Quinn?" Finn asked, still sputtering.

"Are you alright Finn?" I heard Rachel ask him. I gasped for air and giggled when Rachel smacked my arm.

"It's not funny Quinn! He could be seriously injured," she scolded me but I could see she was making a conscious effort not to laugh.

"He's not injured; it wasn't even that bad of on accident. I mean, he's a football player for Pete's sake! He's probably received a lot worse injuries than a few jell-o packages to the head," I said smirking.

"You're fine aren't you, Green Giant?" I teased him and poked him with the tip of my shoe. He grumbled something and stood up dusting the powder off. He wiped the dust out of his eyes and they landed on me.

"What did you do to your hair?" He shrieked. I winced and replied. How have I not noticed how annoying his voice is?

"Nice to see you too, Hudson," he blushed and I noticed that it wasn't as adorable as when Rachel does it, he just looked like a misshapen tomato. It was silent for a beat.

"Ok, so Quinn here was just telling me how she needs help finding something so we'll just meet you guys at the register," Rachel said breaking the awkward silence. She walked off with my cart and again and I'm, again, left with no choice but to follow her. I ran a little to catch up to her and kept pace as she led us over to the next aisle.

"So, what are you here for?" she asked.

"What?"

"What had you planned on purchasing here today?" she rephrased and gave me a small smirk. I blushed.

"Oh…I-um, e-everything on that list," I said and pointed to the list that was in the cart. She reached down for it and read it over.

"Cucumber seeds?" she asked skeptically.

"Yeah…I don't know. I was just as confused by that one," I said, smiling because I got through a sentence without stuttering too much. I mean, really. I don't think I have ever stuttered this much, or at all in any of the conversations we've ever had! Then again, I didn't realize I'm in love with her until a few weeks ago…stupid blushing! She smiled.

"Give a town a natural disaster and they turn squirrel," she said and proceeded to sweep her arm in a dramatic gesture indicating the hordes of people that were frantically moving around the store.

"Guess you're right."

"Aren't I always," she said with a smirk and pushed the cart towards the canned-food aisle. I smiled again and followed. I never expected Rachel and I to get along so well, but then again I had never given her a chance. Now that I finally accepted the olive branch that she's been extending (or beating me with) since we met, I'm hoping we can become friends…maybe more, but that comes later…hopefully.

We're almost through the entire list when I just had to ask.

"So…are you and Finn…?" I asked casually as I inspected a container of salt. I felt her eyes on me but I couldn't find it in myself to look up.

"What, no!" she exclaimed. "Why would you think that?" I finally looked up and she had a weird scrutinizing look on her face that made me look back at the salt container.

"Well, you know…with what he did at nationals I just thought-"

"Barbra, no! Did you seriously think I would get back together with him after he pulled that stunt that lost us Nationals? Granted, we were horribly unprepared and really, did we think that we could just show up, write, arrange and choreograph two win-worthy numbers and compete against show choirs that had undoubtedly been rehearsing and fine-tuning their routines all year long? In retrospect, I now see that that was a bit hubristic of us, but I digress! No, I have not gotten back together with Finn nor will I seek a relationship with him any time soon because after what he pulled at nationals I can't shake the feeling that he's plotting to destroy my inevitable Broadway career with Mr. Shuester and besides, our time has come and gone. I don't really feel the intrigue I felt when I first heard him sing because really, when you get past his kind-of-ok voice there really isn't much else there. I don't know if you've noticed, I mean you probably have, you dated him too but he's not exactly the brightest crayon in the box and not to mention he's actually a bit rude when you pay attention to what he's saying," she takes a deep breath and I shake myself out of my Rachel-induced haze long enough to stop her from working herself into a frenzy. I mean, I could just let her continue because to be perfectly honest I was staring at her mouth the entire time because God knows I've missed her voice but I caught the gist of what she said which was that… she's not getting back together with Finn?

"So you're not getting back together with him?" I asked hopefully. I felt weird when she scrutinized me again.

"No Quinn, I am not getting back together with him. Why?" she asked and squinted her eyes at me.

"I-"
"Please tell me that you don't plan on pursuing him again because-"
"No! Rachel, God no. Trust me, that ship sailed a long time ago," I stressed because ew, just the thought of getting back together with him for whatever reason is enough to make me nauseous.

"Good," she smiled brightly. She took the container of salt from my hands, put it in the cart and wheeled away again.

Well then.

The registers were down so there were only two lanes open, and the double line of people waiting to check their purchases out stretched past the bread racks, then made a jig to the right and went out of sight along the frozen food coolers. At each of the open positions, a harried-looking girl was totting up purchases on a battery powered pocket calculator. Standing with each girl was one of the Federal's two managers.

As each girl finished checking her order, the manager's would paperclip a chit to the customer's cash or check (obviously no one could use their credit or debit cards) and toss it into the box he was using as a cash repository. They all looked hot and tired.

About half an hour later Rachel and I pushed the cart loaded with my mother's things (except those damned elusive cucumber seeds which they did not sell at the Federal) over to the checkout line where Kurt and Finn were standing, at the end of the line.

"Hope you brought a good book," Kurt said warily. "We're going to be in line for a while."

I thought of my mother, at home alone, and had a flash of unease.

"Damned squirrel impulses," I muttered under my breath but Rachel managed to hear me anyway and giggled. She didn't scold me for my language so I took it as a win. And now we have an inside joke. I smiled at her and saw Finn eyeing me out of the corner of my eye. That's right Hudson, you have competition now…not that you know that…or she knows that…damn, that lost fire quickly. He averted his eyes when Kurt spoke to him so I didn't pay him anymore attention.

"So, Rach, have you gotten in touch with your fathers yet? I'm sure they're worried what with the storm and all," I said trying to make small talk.

"I've been trying since we got here but I haven't been able to get any reception," she said dejectedly.

"You can use mi-"I reached into my pocket but didn't feel anything other than my keys and the wad of cash. Oh right, I was shoved out of my house this morning.

"Never mind, I guess I forgot it at home. Sorry," I said.

"Don't worry about it Quinn, I'm sure they're not freaking out as much as I think they are," she said but it was contradicted by the worried look on her face.

"You ok?" I asked

"Of course," she replied, but she wasn't. I could tell there was something on her mind and I wanted to ask her what it was, but I didn't.

We should have left back then. But even then it might have been too late.

oO0Oo

*ASkinner boxis a laboratory tool that is used to study animal behavior. The box contains levers or bars that an animal can manipulate to receive reinforcement.

AN: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorite and followed. I'm excited about the response I got because this is my first Faberry story (though I've been reading them for like, ever). I'm glad people like my story so far and don't worry, I (hopefully) won't take this long to update every time. I was just a little iffy about continuing it because I didn't know where it was going or if people were going to like it. Now, I have a rough outline in my head and I'm a little more prepared.

Shit starts to hit the fan in the next chapter!

What did you guys think? What do you think will happen next?