Hey you guys! I'm sorry it's been forever since I last updated! I got busy with moving and then the holidays and now work. It's just been a mess. I'm still struggling on how exactly this story is gonna be played out. I have been writing some more, so we'll see how this goes! Thanks for all of the follows and favorites. Hopefully you guys will continue to like what I'm writing! Thanks again guys! -sammy

Previously on Penguin (in Rachel's POV)

I can feel her eyes on me and I look at my hands, which have now taken residence on the table. I feel like she's bored a hole through my face and I finally look up to lock eyes and say the first thing that comes to my mind: "How's the weather?"

Quinn's POV

"How's the weather?" Did she just really say that? I can't help but laugh. I literally am rolling on my bed laughing. Only Rachel Berry would ask about the weather when she hasn't spoken to you in months.

"It's getting chilly. I mean, it is mid-October in New England. How's New York? And how are you?"

"Yeah, sorry," she apologizes, "I just…kinda blanked. New York is good. NYADA is kicking my ass and adequately preparing me for the challenges of Broadway. How have you been?" I lift my signature brow. She did not just ask me how I have been. I immediately turn on HBIC Quinn.

"Really? Are you really asking me how I've been?" She nods, surprised at my tone. "I've been texting you since you left for New York four months ago! Now you decide to ask me how I'm doing? Apparently you weren't even planning on talking to me. When were you going to decide that I was worth talking to, huh? Were you even going to talk to me at all?" I finish my rant. I close my eyes and take a deep breathe to calm down because I've become entirely infuriated with the whole situation. I really needed to get that off of my chest. I just thought that we were different. Our friendship was different than any of the other glee club friendships. After a few more calming breaths, I realize that she hasn't said a word yet. I look up at her and her face goes from shocked to ashamed, as she realizes that what I said was true. I see the shame in her face and feel better now that she can see how I've been feeling the past couple of months, but then I see a single tear flow down her cheek. I start to feel bad for flying off the handle. "Hey, look at me," I wait until she finally looks up. She has started to silently sob now. "Rach, I'm sorry. I just…I haven't heard from you since you left. I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have gone all crazy!Quinn on you. I just really miss you."

She wipes her tears and gives a small smile. "No, you're right. I should have texted you back. I've even gotten a few of your calls. I've just been putting it off. You have every right to be upset. I've blatantly ignored you for four months. That was incredibly rude of me and it won't happen again, nor should it have happened in the first place. I regret not contacting you, and there is no—"

She's rambling again, so I interrupt her. "Rach"

"—for my actions and I am terri—"

"RACHEL!"

"Quinn!" she retaliates, "Why must you interrupt me? I am trying to apologize to you. I feel deeply apologetic for my actions and I am trying to properly say sorry."

"Rachel! I get it. You're sorry. You just keep rambling." I try to hide my laughter from her rambling behind a front of my existing, but slowly diminishing, anger. I fail miserably. "I would like to know why I haven't heard from you since you left. I thought we were going to keep in touch?"

"Again, I am awfully sorry for not returning any of your calls or texts. I really don't know. I've just been—"

"You don't know?" My anger is coming back, but for Rachel's sake, I'm attempting to keep it calm.

"I've been waiting to hear back from Finn—"

"What does Finn have to do with anything?"

"A lot…nothing. I don't know. I just wanted to talk to Finn before I got to talk to you. I just want to clear the air with him."

"About what?" I maintain the line of questioning pertaining to the relevance of Finn in this situation.

"You will hopefully understand at a later date." She looks in my eyes, but I can tell that she's gone off into her own little world. "But anyway. Again, I'm very sorry for putting you on the back burner. How have you been?"

I'm still confused as to what she means by any of it, but we continue with our conversation. I tell her about classes, clubs I've joined, being a drama major, and my mom coming up for family weekend.

"Last week my mom came up for family weekend. It's a like eleven hour trip. I didn't think she'd actually drive it. I figured she'd fly or something, but nope. She was very adamant about driving to come visit me."

"Haha. I guess we all know where your stubbornness came from." She winks and smiles at me. I am not sure how she'll take the next few details I'm about to give her about that weekend. Hopefully they'll be okay. Last I heard, everything was somewhat okay between them. I guess I'll tell her.

"But guess what?"

"Ooh! What?"

"You'll never guess who she surprised me and brought."

"Oh my gosh. She brought someone? Who was it?" I can tell she is getting excited. She's starting to hop up and down in her seat.

"Guess."

"Lucy Quinn Fabray. How do you tell me to guess something, tell me I would never guess, and continue demanding me to guess? You tell me who joined your mother in her journey to New Haven this instant!" She is giving one of her signature pouts, and I counter with my eyebrow. She softens, "Please?"

I enjoy seeing the little kid in her, but I obey her wishes. "Shelby and Beth."

Rachel POV

"Please?" I can tell that my pout is working its charm.

"Shelby and Beth."

"Oh."

"Oh?"

"Yes, oh. That is what I said." That's all I could say. I haven't really heard much from Shelby since Sectionals. I have gotten a few texts from her, for things like holidays and congratulating me on graduating high school and getting into NYADA. It's been little things; nothing more.

"You okay? I know not everything's been the greatest between you two."

I shake off the surprise and smidge of hurt. "No, I'm fine. What's happened between herself and I has nothing to do with you. I want—"

"Rachel, you do know that it was my child that she adopted as her "second-chance" kid, right? This has to do a lot with me. If it wasn't for me, then she would never have really come back."

I cringe. I don't know how to take that. I know she didn't really mean for it to come out so terrible, even though I know that it is somewhat the truth.

I guess she realizes the effect of her words. "I'm so sorry Rachel. I didn't mean for it to come out like that. I just, what happened between the two of you-I'm sorry. I should have never brought it up. I just got really excited because I got to see Beth. I thought about how a couple years ago I thought I was never gonna have this. I thought I was going to be stuck in Lima forever and be some idiotic 'Lima Loser' statistic. Beth is seeing me make something of myself and being someone."

I see the immediate change in her face as the topic shifts from Shelby to Beth. I can tell that that little girl has truly changed Quinn, and made her into the determined woman that is before me. I know that she's talking about her daughter, but I still honestly wish I had someone who spoke of me and had that proverbial twinkle in their eye. I know my fathers do, but they just don't show it. Everything is expected of me, nothing is pure joy or excitement with them. I just want someone to feel endless pride for me with everything I do. Even as Quinn goes on with stories about how much Beth has grown and is adjusting to pre-school, I can see in her eyes the growth of her own delightment in her daughter, even though she isn't raising her.

"Hey Rach," she pauses in the middle of her story, "are you sure that you're okay? You've been really quiet. No interruptions or comments or anything. Am I boring you? I shouldn't do th—"

I put up my hand and effectively stop her mid-sentence. "Quinn, it's fine. She is your daughter, even though you haven't raised her, she is still a part of who you are. If she was never conceived and born, who knows who you would have been today? She has changed you for good." I sincerely tell her, singing the last part. "Besides, you were so much happier talking about her, than about any other conversational topic we have had all night. It made me happy to see you happy." I say with a content smile, which she returns.

"She is just so amazing. It's incredibly difficult to believe that head cheerleader, president of the celibacy club Quinn Fabray, and man-whore Noah Puckerman, created that perfect little being."

"Yes, now look where both of you are now because of that pint-sized blessing. You graduated high school, top of your class, and are attending Yale. You don't obsess over what everyone thinks and what their opinions may or may not be. You have an amazing group of friends, a new family, that has and always will support you and you even gained a new best friend, even better than your previous one, if I do say so myself." I add, winking at her. "Noah, has actually graduated high school, and is now running his own business. Last I heard, he has even slowed down on his promiscuous ways."

"Rachel, because of that little girl, I have grown and I do admit, I have changed for the better. I have learned so much about who I am as a person."

"That's great, Quinn. I mean it. Every—"

Quinn POV

"No. Stop," I close my eyes and take a deep, calming breath. "Just let me get this out, then you can talk, okay?" She nods. "I know that you went to New York right after graduation. Well, I didn't exactly spend my summer in Lima either. I did a little travel and went to a few events. Hell, I even had a summer fling, another one." I say with a laugh, remembering that really creepy dude I dated the previous summer. "And along the way, I discovered something about myself. I, I li‒," I closed my eyes, took another slower calming breath and continued, "I like girls." I opened my eyes to see her eyes grow wide. "I'm gay."