A/N: This is my second upload of ch.3. the first one I realized I had uploaded without fixing a few mistakes so I went in and delted the ch. So sorr in advance for any confusion. Thnk you to those who have read, revieed, and or alerted. It means alot! And also keep in mind what happend between Puck and Quinn in Ch. 1, it'll come in handy. This is my little "nudge" into Faberryland lol It's still slow going but we'll get there!

Disclaimer: I own everything! Not. lol Obviously.

Ch.3

Quinn Fabray. The blonde, picturesque beauty was never one much for athletics. She hated Sue Sylvester and the little crony midget that followed Coach around everywhere she went. She hated them. She hated the 'cheerios'. She hated having to be so cheery and happy for the dumb jocks who couldn't play worth squat. And most importantly she hated having things in her life hitlerized by a bunch of snotty nosed brats who didn't care about her one bit, but they all had to go by the same rules…which by the way…who the hell made this shit up in the first place?

So yeah, she hated it. She hated everything about it. Some may call her bitter, even resentful. But- to Quinn- she just thought of herself as plain old tired. She worked so hard to keep in shape, to keep up with Coach's demands, and to keep up with the social 'rules of engagement'. But, for all her hard work, she never seemed to be able to find satisfaction. And she could never be good enough for anyone.

Life pretty much blew any and all expectations she had for high school right out of the water. Here she was, trapped in a hell and she couldn't find it in herself to give the cheerios up. Yeah, her Dad was gone now-leaving her and her Mom for some tattooed freak- and with him the pressure to uphold the 'perfect Fabray' image. She didn't really have to stay on and endure the endless tirade of craziness that, one way or another, seemed to follow her around everywhere she went. But she was also in the Glee club. And that? That right there was enough to knock her down a peg or two on the social latter. So she needed a counter balance. She grimaced when the thought of the reason she was in that club in the first place. Puck, she shudders to herself. He insisted she'd join him when they started dating. It wasn't half bad at first, until Santana joined and then all of it went downhill. Her boyfriend and best friend didn't know how to keep it in their pants…with each other.

So, now its 9 am on a Saturday, and she's adding them to the list of things she hates as she finds herself dragging her half dead body into Leroy's Café. She stayed up all night breaking up with Puck and telling Santana to screw off. Neither of the two knew how to take a hint and get lost. They called and called, and when she shut off her phone, they simply just…showed up on her doorstep. Together. And after the little episode with their performance last week she was done pretending she didn't know what was going on. Or that she didn't care. Good riddance she thought to herself. She pulled open the door to the café and stepped in. The warm smell of coffee and pie greeted her, waking her tired body just a little bit more.

"Long night?" a voice carried over to her. She started, pausing mid stride. She looked over to one of the booths by the open window front where the voice had come from and cringed. It was Rachel. The too perky for 9 in the morning, all smiley and doe eyed Rachel. The girl had never really conversed with her before. She supposed maybe it was because it was that they were from two completely different clicks. Or, she mused, because the girl was Pucks half-sister. A sister he had really tried to avoid wholeheartedly. In the background of her mind a tiny voice reminded her that-maybe- it was also because she hadn't ever talked to the brunette either.

"Or early morning," Quinn grimaced. She continued over to the counter, and in the corner of her eye she could see that the brunette had followed her. She watched as the tiny girl took a cleaning rag off of her shoulder and tossed it underneath the counter somewhere. Rachel looked up at the blonde with a tight smile.

"I get that." she stated, and Quinn nodded her head looking around the seemingly empty café. She notices Rachel watching her and takes a deep breath, steadying herself.

"Right. So….how come you're here so early? Don't you have like…" the blonde's voice fades slightly when she sees the look on the brunettes face.

"A life? Friends?" Rachel asks. Her lips turn a pale white as they purse together. She steals herself for a second and the tight smile she had on before is even tighter this time.

"Well, no. I mean yes. I…I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that." Quinn apologizes. She grips the counter in front of her and sighs, so much for starting the day off on a new foot she thinks to herself. Rachel holds her hand up at the blonde.

"No worries, really. I picked up my Papa's shift today; he and Daddy had some business to attend to in the city so they had to leave early." Quinn takes in this information. Rachel's' Dad's left her alone….in charge of the café…by herself? For real?

"That's cool…." she nods at the brunette. Rachel's mouth twitches, and her hands come to the side of the register as if they are just itching to finish the transaction already.

"So…um, what can I get for you?" Rachel finally asks. The question shakes Quinn from her reverie and it takes her a second to remember what it is that she wanted in the first place.

"Oh, um….yeah can I get a medium coffee? Black, two sugars. To go," the two finish the transaction and when Quinn is handed the coffee she starts for the exit of the café. From the side window facing the street, a group of young people round the corner. They're laughing and pushing each other around, an older couple smiles at them in nostalgia, and some kids passing them on their skateboards give a few of them high fives. The noise of the cars and pedestrians going by the café do nothing to drown out the boisterous laughter emitting from them, and Quinn recognizes Pucks voice right away. His letterman's jacket stands out among the small crowd of teens and she berates herself when her gaze stays too long on it. It looks inviting and safe, and she wants so desperately to feel that again with someone, but she knows life doesn't usually work out that way. So she turns quickly, deciding to enjoy her coffee in the café instead. She sits herself in a small booth, choosing the seat facing away from the westward window.

Rachel watches the blonde with a frown, wondering what exactly had the blonde so gloomy. She bites her lip self-consciously and decides to throw herself to the wolves-so to speak. She approaches the blonde cheerleader slowly, calculating in her head how many times she's actually spoken to the blonde in her life time. Three times, she figures, sadly she counts the conversation they had just then. She stands next to the seat in front of the blonde. Her arms unconsciously cross behind her back and she clears her throat nervously.

"I thought you wanted that to go?" she asks. The blondes head pops up, startled at the intrusion. She looks up at the brunette for a moment.

"I did." she states, she slouches in the seat, her hands coming up to pick at the lid of her coffee. Rachel sits down across from her, taking in Quinn's raised eyebrow with a smirk.

"How do you do it?" Quinn asks, she doesn't look directly at Rachel, but she doesn't avoid her gaze either.

"Do what" The brunette tilts her head in confusion. Without thinking she hands Quinn a napkin from the dispenser. The blonde takes it, making quick work of tearing it in small slivers. When she looks back up, her eyes bore into Rachel's.

"How do you spend every day at that school…knowing full well you can't have what you want. Living every day with the things that remind you of what hurts you the most?" Rachel gives the blonde a curious look. She doesn't get where the blonde was going with that.

"I'm not sure I know what you're saying Quinn." she tells her. Her hands come around to wrap themselves around her arms self-consciously.

"I'm talking about Puck, Berry. He's your brother, and yet he treats you like crap. You can't tell me you don't want things to be different…that you could have your Mom." Rachel leans back, her eyes narrowing at Quinn.

"You have no idea what I want and do not want Quinn Fabray. You don't know me, and you've certainly not taken time out of your daily bitchiness to learn anything about my life. So how dare you-" Rachel is cut off mid rant when Quinn raises her hand, her voice raising an octave higher than normally.

"How dare I what Berry? How dare I speak the truth? We may not be friends, and yeah I sure as hell don't know you…but I know what it's like to be rejected by family. Only difference between you and me is that fortunately for me, I don't have to see the reminder every day." Rachel sits back, astonished at the nerve of the blonde. One minute she's making the cheerio coffee and the next the blonde is tempting her into some serious conversation.

"Let me make something very clear to you Quinn. I, in no way shape or form, am under the ludicrous ideal that Noah and I-"

"Puck" Quinn interrupts. Rachel glares at her.

"That Puck and I are ever going to be anything other than a heated adversary to each other. He hates me and I…feel sorry for him." The blonde scoffs at that. Rachel feels white hot anger boiling in her veins. She clenches the fists gathered in her lap, breathing deeply and counting to ten.

"You feel sorry for him? And just why is that?" Quinn mocks, plucking the delicate strings of Rachel's temper.

"Tell me something Quinn. Why does it matter to you? Why are you even talking to me about this? What the hell is in it for you?" Quinn sits back, her focus strays for a moment and she realizes that she doesn't know why. All she wanted to do was to avoid running into Puck and yet here she is, talking to his sister about him and her problems. She was just as confused as Rachel was.

"You sat here." she states. Rachel sighs deeply, her hands swipe at the air in front of her.

"And I'm sorry I did so. Excuse me, I have a café to run." the tiny brunette gets up to leave but a hand on her arm stops her.

"No, I'm sorry. I have this bad habit of picking at other people's problems instead of dealing with mine." her voice is soft and pleading and Rachel sighs again, but stands up anyways.

"You're pretty good at deflecting." the brunette admits, her gaze bores holes into Quinn and the blonde shifts slightly in her seat.

"And you're pretty good at denying your problems." Quinn says. She watches as Rachel's eyebrows furrow and she worries briefly if she's made the diva mad again.

"I never said I had a problem Quinn. You just assumed I did." Rachel turns to walk back to the counter, but pauses. She turns around to face the blonde, who is getting up and gathering her stuff from the table.

"Did he send you here?" she asks, the blonde sees some sort of emotion pass across her face and she can't quite seem to place what it is, or why she feels the need to hug the tiny girl all of a sudden.

"No. I…we broke up. Puck and I. I just wanted a coffee." Quinn tells her. Rachel nods, her feet scuffing at the floor.

"I'm sorry you broke up." she tells the cheerleader. Quinn nods, choosing her words carefully.

"I'm sorry I brought him up." she says. She turns to leave, but as her hand grasps the door she hears a tiny voice call out to her.

"My life is just fine without him." she sighs. Suddenly the image of her Father fills her mind and she finds herself not wanting to leave without saying something…anything.

"I'm not so sure it is."