A/N: Guys, I got a Tumblr! It's sinfulperfection . tumblr . com (without the spaces, obviously). I need Gleeks, especially Faberry and Brittana shippers, to follow, so come and find me so I can follow you :)

When Quinn got home from Santana's, she checked her phone to find a text from Rachel.

Rachel: Come over soon? We need to talk

Quinn hoped that the serious tone was only the result of the fact that the words were typed out instead of spoken. With some trepidation, she responded.

Quinn: i'll come over now

She went to her room to drop off her shopping bags and came back to find her mother dozing off on the couch. Quinn debated whether or not she should wake her, but there was no need—Judy began to stir. Her eyes opened and she looked up at Quinn groggily.

"Hey Mom, I'm going over to Rachel's house for a little bit," Quinn said quietly.

"Okay," Judy responded in a whisper. "Will her parents be home?" Like everyone else in Lima, Judy knew that Rachel had two gay fathers, but unlike everyone else, she insisted on referring to them as Rachel's 'parents' instead of Rachel's 'dads.' It was a small thing, but it irked Quinn nonetheless.

"Yeah, they'll be home," Quinn said with a sigh, tuning to leave the room. "Not that it matters because we're not dating." She said the last part mostly to herself, because she had told her mom that she wasn't seeing Rachel countless times, and she doubted at this point that it would make a difference. "Bye," she called out as she headed for the front door.

Rachel did not live far from Quinn, so Quinn decided to walk. It would give her a chance to collect her thoughts, anyway. For the last couple of days, she and Rachel hadn't hung out, although they had continued to text. It was entirely possible, therefore, that Rachel wanted to 'talk' about some new song selections for Glee Club or another conversation that she'd had with Finn. However, Quinn had a feeling that Rachel had something else in mind. The last time they'd been together, they'd gone to see a new movie at the mall. And something had sort of happened...

Quinn decided that she wouldn't bring it up if Rachel didn't. Instead, as she reached the Berry's house, she plastered on a big smile and vowed to act as normal as she possibly could. Leroy Berry answered the door, and Quinn said, "Hi, Mr. Berry!" with as much enthusiasm as she possibly could.

"Hi, Quinn," he said with a chuckle. "Someone's in a good mood today." He moved aside to let her in.

"It's a nice day," Quinn said with a shrug. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm doing great," he said, closing the door behind her. "I was just making some tea. Are you hungry or anything?"

"No, thanks, I'm fine," Quinn said. "Is Rachel upstairs?"

"Yeah, she's in her room," Leroy said. "Rach!" he called. "You can go up if you want."

Quinn walked towards the staircase just as Rachel's head appeared at the top. "Oh, hey Quinn," she said. She was smiling, but there was a serious look in her eyes that made Quinn nervous. "Do you wanna come upstairs?"

"Sure," Quinn said. She glanced over at Leroy, but he had disappeared into the kitchen. Feeling suddenly awkward in the house that she had been to countless times in the last month, she made her way up the stairs towards Rachel. When she'd reached the top, she followed the shorter girl into her bedroom. Rachel paused in the doorway so she could close her door behind Quinn.

"So," Rachel said, taking a seat on the edge of her bed. "What did you do today?" Quinn sat down in Rachel's desk chair and looked at the other girl questioningly. It was unlike Rachel to engage in small talk—although she was very good at it in awkward situations, she usually had a detailed plan for conversation that left little time for things that were not strictly necessary. Quinn had expected such a plan when Rachel had said 'we need to talk,' and the apparent nervousness in her friend was unsettling.

"Well," Quinn began, "Santana and I went to the mall with her new neighbor, Brittany. And then Brittany went home and Santana and I watched T.V. for a little bit." She shrugged. "Not too interesting. What did you do?"

"Oh, nothing of consequence," Rachel said, looking down at her bedspread. She began to trace her fingers along the outline of the flowery design. "So you and Santana are still together, then?"

Quinn sighed. She had known this was coming. "Rachel," she said. "I love Santana."

"I don't doubt that you do," Rachel said quickly. "After all, you two have been friends for many, many years, and you both helped each other through the tumultuous coming out process, and you have been dating for several months now. I just can't help but wonder if some of the attraction between the two of you is only a manifestation of the convenience of your relationship. I mean, considering that she is the only other lesbian that you know, and vice versa."

Quinn raised an eyebrow. "The only lesbian I know?"

Rachel blushed. "I am yet unsure as to my own sexual orientation. I don't wish to label myself as something that I find rather confining, when I could possibly be allowing myself to explore further. I just," she looked at Quinn uncertainly, "I just want to be sure that this—that us—means what I think it means."

Quinn slumped down in her chair, already feeling tired. "Alright," she conceded. "Let's talk about this. So, let's start from three days ago. Or do you have an outline prepared?"

Rachel blushed but managed a slight chuckle. "Actually," she said, reaching into her pocket self-consciously, "I jotted down a few things that I wanted to make sure I remembered to discuss." She pulled out a note card and looked at it for a moment. "I was hoping we could start from one month ago."

Quinn sighed and rubbed her temples. "This is going to take freaking forever."

"I'll be brief, I promise," Rachel said, worry evident in her eyes. Quinn gave her a look to indicate that she should continue. "So when you were the only one in Glee Club who would come and meet with me to discuss a plan for the new year, what was going through your mind?" She looked at Quinn expectantly. Quinn felt as though she were at some sort of interview.

"I felt bad," Quinn said with a shrug. "I treated you badly last year. And then when I came out, and the tables were turned, you never did anything to me. That could have been your chance for some payback, and you didn't take it."

"I would never engage in any homophobic bullying," Rachel said with narrowed eyes. "You know that."

"Of course," Quinn said quickly. "I just meant...I just admired you more, and I felt bad for treating you the way I did, and I had hoped that we could reach some sort of truce."

"Alright," Rachel said, satisfied. She glanced back down at the note card. "And then you agreed to meet me again so that I could help you with your singing. Was that a further extension of your seeking atonement, or did you have other motives at that point?"

"Honestly, Rach, I just wanted to be able to sing better," Quinn said tiredly. "I have a question for you. Why did you want to help me?"

Rachel bit her lip. "I guess I just wanted to seize on an opportunity to gain some popularity. After Finn's rejection at the beginning of the summer, I felt that I didn't have very many friends. And I had thought that maybe, through you, I could improve my social standing. Though I must add that I never meant to use you in any way, and that it quickly became about something else."

"What 'something else'?" Quinn asked, her voice quiet and serious. Her heart was pounding and she wasn't sure that she wanted to hear the answer.

Rachel blushed. "Friendship, I suppose," she said. "I enjoyed spending time with you. And my dads were really happy that I was branching out and making some more friends. They were really proud of me. And also, for the first time, I felt that I didn't need Finn's affections to validate my worth."

"Wow," was all Quinn could say in reply. She felt a sudden pull of sympathy and fondness for the girl in front of her, and she got up so she could sit next to Rachel on the bed. "You never needed stupid Finn," she said. "Please know that."

"I know," Rachel said, suddenly on the verge of tears. She leaned over and placed her head lightly on Quinn's shoulder. Quinn wrapped an arm around Rachel's waist.

"What's next on your card?" she asked, reaching for it with her other hand. However, Rachel crumpled it into a ball and let it fall to the ground before Quinn could take it.

"Why did you try to kiss me three days ago?" she asked in barely more than a whisper.

"I don't know," Quinn answered honestly. "We went to the movies and you insisted on paying for my ticket. And then you held the door open for me and acted all charming. I was...confused. I felt like it was a date. So when I dropped you off at home, I don't know, it just felt right to try and kiss you. And then I stopped myself, of course."

"I didn't want you to stop yourself," Rachel muttered, staring fixedly at the ground.

Quinn chuckled. "I know. I could tell. But it wouldn't have been right, anyway. I'm with Santana."

"Yeah," Rachel said sadly. She lifted her head from Quinn's shoulder and looked into her eyes. "I guess my last point on the card was...what do you feel for me?"

Quinn thought for a long time before answering. "It's not the same as it is with Santana," she said finally. "That doesn't mean it's better or worse, it's just different."

Rachel pouted. "That's not a very informative answer."

"I know," Quinn said apologetically. "But it's the best I can give you right now." She removed her hand from Rachel's waist and pulled her knees up to her chest. "So if I were to make a card," she began, "my question would be, what do you feel for me?"

"I suppose I can't give an answer any better than yours," Rachel said regretfully. "I genuinely enjoyed the time I spent with you at the movies, and all the time that I spent with you before that, and I must admit that I have considered the possibility of a romantic relationship between the two of us. But it seems like just recently that I was in love with Finn, and I would hate to discover that my feelings for you are the result of my emotional vulnerability or a desire for a rebound."

Quinn felt disappointment at Rachel's words, but she forced herself to shrug it off. "Yeah, I know what you mean," she said. "It seems like it would be better for both of us if we just sort of...forgot that this ever happened."

"I suppose it would be best," Rachel agreed, though Quinn could tell that Rachel did not find the idea very satisfying. "On another topic, school is drawing very close. Should I expect this friendship to end on day one in the form of a slushie facial?" She smiled to show that she was kidding, but Quinn could tell that Rachel was legitimately concerned.

"I don't know, I might wait until day two," Quinn said with a shrug. She laughed at the look of instant fear that crossed Rachel's face. "Don't worry," she said. "I'll try to be seen with you in public at least three times a day."

"Good," Rachel said with a grin. "And I'll try to give you at least one solo in Glee Club."

"I'm flattered," Quinn laughingly replied.

"Mom, Christian and I are going to Puck's house," Santana informed her parents as they sat in the living room, watching the evening news. "He just got Halo Reach."

"I wanna go!" Marco called from the other room. Santana shook her head vigorously at her mother.

"Another time, mijo," her mother replied. Then she turned to Santana. "What time will you be home? I don't want you three staying up all night playing Xbox like you did last week."

"We won't, I have to work tomorrow morning," Christian said, entering the room holding a bag of chips. "Come on, San, let's go."

"You know, every time you go to that boy's house, you come back swearing and mouthing off even more than you already do," Mr. Lopez pointed out. "Is it really good for you to be spending so much time with obnoxious boys like Noah and your brother?"

Santana's mother laughed and Christian rolled his eyes. "Santana is a bad influence on us," Christian pointed out. "And besides, she likes hanging out with boys more than girls."

"Okay, but regardless," their father continued, "there are several other nice boys you could be spending time with. Like the one we met at the end of the year Glee Club party. What was his name? Kurt?"

"Dad, I'm not friends with Kurt," Santana said in exasperation. "Why do you assume all gay people are friends with each other?"

"Well, it's sort of true," Christian reasoned. "Look at you and Quinn."

"Quinn and I are dating, stupid," Santana snapped at him. "Can we just go, please? I wants to get my Xbox on."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, you can't play for shit," Christian said, heading for the front door.

"I can too, asshole!" she said, following him.

"Language!" Mrs. Lopez protested halfheartedly as her older children left the house. When they left, she rolled her eyes. "I don't know how we ended up with such rude kids," she said with a sigh.

Mr. Lopez laughed and put an arm around his wife. "Maybe we should just take them to the edge of town and leave them there," he suggested.

Fifteen minutes later, Santana was situated between Puck and Christian in the Puckerman's basement, staring fixedly at the T.V. Puck and Christian were playing first and Santana was watching. She had thrown a fit about it, but they couldn't play with three people, and she had lost rock-paper-scissors fair and square.

"So that Brittany girl who you were at the mall with is your neighbor?" Puck asked as they played.

"Yeah," Santana replied through a mouthful of chips. "Why?"

"I don't know. She seemed pretty cool," Puck said. "And she's going to be in our class, right?"

"Wait, is she the one who's your age who just moved in?" Christian asked. "I think I saw her yesterday. She was pretty hot."

"Ugh, shut up, Chris," Santana said in disgust. "She's sixteen."

"It was just an observation, little sis," Christian replied with an eyeroll. "You seriously need to calm down."

"I'm with Chris, she was hot," Puck said. "And she gave me the eye. Do you think she'd go out with me?"

"Puck, no one gave you the eye," Santana said. For some reason, the thought of Puck going out with Brittany annoyed her greatly. "And I don't think she's going to want to be in a relationship the second she gets to school, anyway."

Puck shrugged. "Who said anything about a relationship?" Santana shoved Puck's controller out of his hands and watched as his character got shot several times. "The fuck, Santana?" he demanded angrily.

"Don't be such a douche," she responded calmly, settling back on the couch and popping another chip into her mouth. Puck grabbed his controller and continued to play, seething.

"Santana, seriously, stop being such a bitch," Christian said. "What, do you have, like, a crush on her or something?"

"No," Santana replied, blushing. "I just don't the first impression she gets of guys in Lima should be Puck trying to pick her up. Besides, the two girls you slept with ended up going gay for each other. You don't exactly have the best track record."

"Whatever, Santana," Puck said, pausing the game so he could flip her off. "If I make Brittany gay, you can thank me."

"Why would I thank you?" Santana asked. Puck and Christian just shared a look and then went back to playing. "Seriously, Puck," she demanded. "Why would I thank you?"