Though they started off the night as far apart as they could get, the morning brought them snuggled together in the middle.
Rachel woke up first this time. Though she liked the warmth and security Quinn provided, she knew Quinn would freak out if she found them like that again. So she slowly tried to extract herself from Quinn's arms, which was easier said than done. The second she tried, Quinn gripped her tighter, determined not to lose her cuddle buddy.
She sighed, knowing that this wasn't going to end well. And she was right.
When she stirred, she buried her face into Rachel's hair, trying to prolong the sleep. Though as soon as Quinn came to her senses, she scrambled as fast as she could away from Rachel.
"What the hell, Berry?!"
"Sorry! I tried to move but you wouldn't let go!"
"Try a little harder next time," she snapped.
"Okay. I just didn't want to wake you up. You looked so peaceful. You're not like that when you're awake," Rachel explained.
"Why would I be peaceful? We were kidnapped and now we're stuck in a maze. There's absolutely nothing to be peaceful about."
"It was just an observation, Quinn."
"Well you didn't have to voice it. I don't voice all of mine."
"You used to," she muttered, thinking of all the times over the years that Quinn had made fun of her.
"You have no idea what you're talking about, Berry, and I would appreciate it if you would stop talking." She definitely didn't tell Rachel about how she made her feel as if she was both going to throw up and do backflips at the same time. "We need to get out of here. Today."
"I agree. So should we resume trying to find our way through the maze?" she asked, standing up.
"Unless you know some other way out."
"Okay. Left or right?"
Rachel's stomach hurt. She wasn't sure exactly how long they had been drugged, but she hadn't eaten since then and she was starving. Quinn hadn't said anything, but she had to be, too, right?
"Are you as hungry as me?" she asked around noon.
"This is nothing compared to what Coach Sylvester's made us endure. So not really. Could use some water, though." Truth was, she was just as hungry as Rachel. She hadn't done any of Sue's crazy training sessions since before she got pregnant with Beth.
"How long do you think it's been since we were at my house?"
"A day maybe? I don't think we were drugged that long. I would be hungrier if it was more than a day."
"Do you think we'll find a way home?"
"If we can get out of the maze that you got us stuck in."
"Are… Are you still mad at me for that?"
Quinn sighed. "I wasn't mad to begin with. Just annoyed. But yes, I'm still annoyed."
"I said I was sorry."
"Sorry doesn't help the fact that we're still stuck here."
"What more do you want me to say?"
"Absolutely nothing. Just get us out of here."
"Okay." It took her three more hours, but after backtracking and muttering under her breath, Rachel finally found the exit. Or at least she thought.
"Here we are!" she cried excitedly, sprinting over when she found a gap that provided a change in scenery.
"I hope wherever we are has a bacon cheeseburger," Quinn replied, going to follow after Rachel, but ending up just running into her back at the opening. "What is it?"
"I might have gotten something wrong in my calculations," Rachel said as she gazed up at the manor they had escaped from in the middle of the night.
"Shit."
"Quinn, you shouldn't use that kind of language. It's not ladylike no matter the situation and frankly-"
"Can you do anything right?" Quinn was fed up. She was hungry, which made her become extremely mean and it was just too easy to take out her frustrations on Rachel.
Rachel visibly shrank at this comment, all happiness disappearing. "I'm sorry. But at least now we can try to find another way home."
"Not during the daylight." She plopped down on the ground right inside the maze where Rachel joined her soon after. "I'm sure the entire place is crawling with people looking for us. I'm surprised we haven't run into anyone yet. Guess they don't think we're stupid enough to try to escape through a maze." At this she shot a glare at Rachel.
"I didn't know it was a maze at first! I just thought it was a very odd landscaping choice."
"Because that makes perfect sense," Quinn murmured.
"Did your parents never teach you that if you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all?"
"No."
"That explains it."
"My dad taught me from an early age that I should pick on people like you because you're different and if we try hard enough, then you'll conform."
"Your dad doesn't sound very nice."
"He's kind of the world's biggest jerk," Quinn agreed.
"So then why do you still do what he taught you?"
"I'm trying to be better, okay?" There was a pleading in her voice that Rachel had never heard from her. "It's just hard, when you're taught something for so long, to just walk away from it."
Rachel sat for a moment in silent contemplation. "I have an idea."
"What?" Quinn asked as she arched her eyebrow. She had learned from experience that Rachel's ideas weren't always the best.
"Why don't we start over?" she suggested. "Hi, I'm Rachel Barbra Berry, soon to be Broadway star and current junior at McKinley High School." Rachel held out her hand, which Quinn hesitantly shook after a beat.
"Quinn Fabray, also a junior at McKinley but with no Broadway aspirations of my own. Maybe prom queen instead."
Rachel beamed at her, and Quinn tried to ignore the way her hand felt as if it was on fire as she removed it from Rachel's grasp.
"Nice to meet you, Quinn."
"You too… Rachel."
They weren't immediately best friends. In fact, they hardly spoke at all the rest of the day, instead opting to take turns napping and keeping watch.
Thankfully Quinn had worn a watch the day she went over to Rachel's (so she would be able to leave rehearsal at exactly the two hour mark), so they were aware of when they should try escaping.
Around ten, they were both wide awake and Rachel was getting antsy. Quinn wanted to wait to move at midnight, but Rachel wanted to go right that second. So she decided the next best thing would be to question her newly-made friend, Quinn.
"Why do you think no one showed up for glee rehearsal that day?"
"It's summer?"
"Well then why did you come?"
"You called my house and my mom answered. I haven't really been out of the house since school ended so she thought it would be good for me."
"You really haven't seen Santana or Brittany since school? Aren't they your best friends?"
"No. After rejecting their offer of a threesome freshman year, they've only tolerated me. And that was only when I was head cheerio."
"Oh. Why did you refuse?"
Quinn jumped up, not at all wanting to answer that question. "Well I guess we can leave now!" She was halfway back to the maze entrance before Rachel even realized what was going on.
"Wait on me!" she cried, running after Quinn.
"Shh!"
Their eyes had long adjusted to the darkness of the maze, so the slight light from the manor hurt them rather than helped. Quinn was very worried about it, making them slide along the shadows of the wall.
Eventually they came to a door, where they had a silent argument over whether to continue on or go in, which Rachel soundly won after finding out that the only way forward outside was through the well-lit courtyard.
Fate was on their side that night as they found themselves in an empty kitchen.
"Food," Rachel practically moaned before Quinn slapped a hand over her mouth.
"We can't stay here. Find bags and I'll get the food. If you see some bottled water, get it," Quinn directed, and Rachel nodded, getting to work.
Quinn quickly found snacks and started piling them on the counter. Next came fruit and bread. Finally, she checked the fridge, hoping to find the remnants of a dinner with meat that she could have. Her stomach growled as she spotted half of a rotisserie chicken. She happily put it on top of her food pile.
Rachel, meanwhile, had located some plastic grocery bags and begun filling them with bottled water. When she had a bagful, she started loading Quinn's items.
She stopped at the chicken.
"Quinn, we're not taking this."
Quinn looked over from the bag she was filling. "Yes we are. I need meat."
"I refuse to be an accomplice in your consumption of an innocent animal."
"I'll carry it then." She made to grab the chicken, but Rachel pulled it out of her reach.
"That's not what I meant."
"Rachel just give it to me!"
"No!"
"This is not the time for you to preach to me about why I should be a vegan! Just let me have my meat and we can go!"
"You don't need this, Quinn!"
"Yes I do!"
Their argument was cut short as they heard the sound of fast approaching footsteps. They looked at each other, wide-eyed, as they realized just how loud they had been.
Rachel was the first to move, snatching up as many bags as she could carry and running out the door they had first come in. Quinn was behind her, making sure to grab the chicken as well.
"I thought I told you no chicken!" Rachel huffed as Quinn caught up with her.
"You can't tell me what to do," she replied while they ran. "Where are we going?"
"The maze is the only place left."
"Great."
With no prospects of escaping through the manor or around it, Rachel and Quinn were faced with the impossibility of getting through the maze in hopes that at the end they would be free.
Deep in the middle of the maze, after they were sure no one had followed them, Quinn and Rachel sat down to finally eat by the light of a flashlight Rachel had found.
After having downed an entire bottle of water, Quinn dug in to the chicken, not even caring about appearances. Rachel huffed and refused to look at her, much less talk to her. Had this happened a day ago, Quinn would've been ecstatic, but now that she was starting over with Rachel, it bothered her.
"What?"
"I'm not speaking to you."
"I can see that," she said slowly. "Why though?"
"You're eating meat!"
Quinn almost snapped, saying she could eat meat if she damn well pleased, but instead reined in her anger and put down the chicken she had pretty much devoured already anyway. "I won't eat anymore, okay? Happy now?"
She nodded solemnly, but still didn't speak to Quinn.
"You're really making it hard to be nice to you."
"I just can't look at you without seeing the murderer of a mama chicken."
"Then how in the world do you look at your boyfriend, much less kiss him? Because I know for a fact that Finn loves meat."
"I broke up with him last week," she said in a tiny voice.
Quinn stared at her with a look that she usually reserved only for Finn when he did something incredibly stupid. "So you thought he spent his entire savings on a fruit basket for his ex-girlfriend? How are you in honors classes?" It was only after she said it that she realized she might have been insensitive.
"I'm just gonna go to bed then," said Rachel, quickly standing up, wanting to get as far away from Quinn as possible.
"Wait!" Quinn cried, going against her better judgement and grabbing Rachel's hand to prevent her from going away to her corner. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. Please, sit back down."
Rachel looked at her curiously, and then down to their hands, at which Quinn immediately let go. She cautiously took her seat back beside Quinn.
"Do you want to talk about it? Why you two broke up?" She didn't say how happy she was that they broke up, because she didn't understand why she was happy. She surely didn't want Finn back.
"I never felt a spark with him, you know?"
Quinn didn't. "No."
"A spark, like every time you see the person your stomach turns upside down, but you're immediately happy." Something started nagging at the back of her mind, like a mini Rachel kicking her brain, but Quinn decided to ignore it. "I thought that maybe, over time, that would happen with Finn, but it never did."
"Oh."
"And even though I'm scared to death that no one else will ever love me, I'm not going to settle. It's not fair to him."
For the first minute, Quinn sat in shock. Here was the most selfish person she knew, the girl who demanded every solo in Glee, being completely selfless. "You know what, Berry? You're alright."
Rachel beamed. "Thank you, Quinn. When I inevitably go back to him out of sheer desperation, I give you permission to slap me."
She laughed. "Will do."
It was in the silence that followed this that they heard it.
"Raaaaaachel."
She looked over at Quinn, wide-eyed. The voice was instantly recognizable. Jacob Ben Israel was in the maze and, by the sound of it, close.
Quinn immediately scooped up the flashlight, turning it out. Rachel sat stock still, absolutely terrified.
"Raaaaaachel."
At the second call, she moved to cling to Quinn. And because of the situation, Quinn allowed it. She was able to ignore the fact that Rachel was basically in her lap and their faces were kissing distance, by reminding herself that they were in actual danger at the moment.
"I know you're in here, Rachel, just come out."
Rachel was violently shaking by the time he said this, so Quinn held her. She told herself that it was because the sound of her shaking would attract Jacob, but deep down she knew that it was because she legitimately cared that Rachel was scared and wanted to protect her to the best of her ability.
"Quinn, quit hiding my darling Rachel from me. I went to all this trouble of obtaining her and I won't have you ruining it."
Quinn smiled at this, but hid her smile in the crook of Rachel's neck as she held her closer.
They stayed like this for a while, listening as Jacob would wander closer and then farther away. He never found their dead end, but that didn't stop them from clinging to each other for at least an hour after the shouts stopped.
"Do you think he's gone?" Rachel whispered finally, breaking the silence.
"I don't know. Maybe."
Just to be safe, they clung to each other until they fell asleep, at which point they reverted to cuddling on the ground.
