Hi, guys! Sorry for the delay. I had spring break and was on vacation for a week, and then I got super sick. But I'm all healthy now and spent the entire day writing this and chapters for my other story (Letters From Quinn, if you want to check it out).

Thanks for being so patient with me!

When Quinn woke up the next morning, the enticing aroma of bacon filled her room. Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, she sniffed the air and smiled as she also caught a whiff of maple syrup. Her mom had obviously woken up early enough to make them a real breakfast, as opposed to the basic cereal they normally both went for on week days. She stumbled her way into the bathroom and sighed when she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. The bruise on her face had only turned a darker shade of purple overnight and starkly contrasted with her ivory skin. She touched it lightly and winced when pain shot through her eye.

15 minutes later, as she got dressed, Quinn's nerves fluttered. She was incredibly anxious for how people at school would react to her face. She had tried her best to cover it with make-up but it was no use; the bruise stood out and was visible no matter what. The thought of people staring at her more than usual and knowing that Santana would be incredibly on edge all day already had the familiar feeling of anxiety settling itself in Quinn's stomach.

When she walked downstairs and into the kitchen, she was greeted with the sight of pancakes, bacon, and orange juice on the table. Judy Fabray looked up and beamed.

"Honey! I was just about to come up and see if you were awake. Look, I made us breakfast!"

"I can see that. What's the occasion?" Quinn asked as she sat down across from her.

"Oh, you know. I was awake and couldn't go back to sleep so I figured I may as well do the good-mom thing and cook."

Quinn laughed but her heart ached. Deep down, she knew that her mom still felt guilty about Saturday night and was trying to make it up to her. "Mom," she said gently, reaching across the table and taking Judy's hand. "You know I love you, right?"

Judy looked into her daughter's eyes and immediately saw that Quinn could tell how guilty she was but was letting her off the hook of having a conversation about it. She allowed herself one painful glance at the bruise on Quinn's face before she squeezed Quinn's hand and said, "I do know that, and I'm so grateful. I love you, too. Are you going to be okay at school today?"

Quinn nodded as she bit into a piece of bacon. "I'll be fine," she said. "I'm a little worried about San, though. I can't promise she'll behave."

Judy chuckled, "Why does that not surprise me? That girl wouldn't hesitate to punch the queen if she thought she was a threat to you."

"I know, right?" Quinn snorted. "And she thinks I'm over-protective!"

"You are. You're as bad as each other. But it's a good thing. I thank God every single day for blessing you with Santana and Brittany."

Quinn smiled.

"I do, too."

Lunchtime. Rachel was in the midst of putting her math book into her locker when the hallway grew significantly quiet and she knew without having to turn around what was happening.

The students of McKinley parted like the Red Sea as Quinn, Santana, and Brittany made their way through the crowd. It was the same ritual that happened every single day at the start of the hour-long lunch break. However, there was a slight difference that, after her weekend spent with them, Rachel was able to notice immediately. While normally it was Quinn that glared everyone's eyes away, that day it was Santana. In the past, Rachel might have automatically assumed that the Latina was having a bad day. Now she knew that she was doing it for Quinn.

Watching the three of them walk down the hall, it was impossible not to see why Brittany referred to her two best friends as fire and ice. When Quinn glared, the look in her eyes was glacial and literally caused people to freeze where they were standing. But Santana's dark eyes flashed dangerously and she looked not unlike an angry dragon – completely ready to scorch anyone who was foolish enough to cross her path.

Quinn caught sight of Rachel standing at her locker and smiled. She nudged Santana and tilted her head in Rachel's direction. Santana nodded, giving her consent, and the three cheerleaders veered right, walking directly up to the small brunette.

"Hey, you," Quinn said, reaching out and poking Rachel's stomach in greeting.

"Good morning, Quinn," Rachel replied, beaming. She turned to Santana and Brittany, giving them a winning smile. "Hello to you two, as well."

"Hi, Rach!"

"Do you have to beam like that all the time? Stop beaming. It's blinding me."

"San, be nice. Rachel's smile is pretty."

As Brittany chastised her girlfriend, Rachel was not unaware of the curious glances she was receiving from the rest of the students in the hall. They all knew that the four girls were in glee club together but to see them hanging out? Acting as if they were…friends? It was just as surreal for everyone else as it was for Rachel.

Quinn also took note of the stares they were attracting and elbowed Santana lightly. "Can you take care of the prying eyes, San? I'd rather not pull more attention to myself today than necessary."

"Right. On it." Santana whipped around and fixed the other students with a smoldering glare. Immediately, they all turned their heads and hastily busied themselves at their lockers. Turning back to the other girls, Santana grinned wickedly. "Taken care of, cap."

Quinn shook her head with silent laughter; watching the affect Santana had on people never failed to amuse her. Brittany just rolled her eyes at the two of them and focused her attention on Rachel.

"So Rach, are you doing anything tonight? Because I was thinking that we should all get together again and watch a princess movie. You and I totally owe San and Q for yesterday."

"Yes!" Rachel exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. "I mean, yes that sounds excellent and no I'm not busy!"

"Perfect! Q has a bunch of good movies so I was thinking maybe her place if she's okay with—"

"Heeyyy, look at that. My favorite Cheerio babes and my hot Jew! Ssup, ladies?"

At the sound of Puck's voice, Quinn visibly stiffened. He hadn't seen her since his party on Saturday and the other three girls winced as the blonde took a deep breath and braced herself before turning around.

"Hey, Puck."

Puck's cocky, cheerful grin vanished as soon as he caught sight of Quinn's bruised eye. He felt his stomach drop and he took a step back, shock written all over his face.

"Quinn. Your eye. I don't – I don't understand." He swallowed hard and Quinn felt a needle of guilt stab her heart.

"I'm fine, Puck. It's nothing. Honestly."

"You didn't have that at the party."

"Noah, maybe now isn't the best time..." Rachel tried to interject but Puck ignored her.

"Where did the three of you go after you left?" he demanded.

"Puck, Rachel's right. This really isn't—"

"Wait. That's not right." He shook his head in confusion and cut Quinn off, speaking slowly as he turned to Santana and Brittany. "You two were there. You were still there. But Quinn wasn't…" He looked at Santana, his brown eyes widening in disbelief as realization flooded through him. "No. Tell me you didn't let her leave alone."

Santana couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze and that alone told him more than enough. At her silence, the look on Puck's face hardened.

"Are you fucking kidding me, Santana," he said in a low, dangerous tone of voice.

Quinn immediately stepped in front of Santana, effectively shielding the shorter girl. "Enough," she said firmly. "Stop it, Puck. Whatever you're going to say, don't. You have no right to blame Santana. I left on my own because I wanted to go home. It was my decision and there's nothing she or anyone else could have done to stop me."

"What? You said you went home? Home? Quinn, I swear to god, if that black eye if from your bastard father and Santana was stupid enough to let you leave by yourself—"

"Like you're so much better than me," Santana snarled from behind Quinn as she tried to push the blonde out of the way. "I didn't see you trying to stop her, asshole."

"Santana, please calm down. Noah, Quinn is right. Neither of you could have done anything to stop it from happening and it's very hypocritical of you to blame Santana when you didn't do anything to prevent Quinn from leaving, either."

"For fuck's sake, Rachel, you know it's different!"

"Q, get out of the way so I can beat this moron's ass."

"You guys, I really don't think you should—"

"You sure you wanna use the word beat in front of Quinn right now?" Puck sneered at Santana, who momentarily looked like she'd been slapped before she let out a furious shriek.

"You fucking asshole—"

"Q, stop her NOW," Brittany commanded immediately. Quinn swiftly and effortlessly grabbed Santana as the shorter girl lunged for Puck, who knew that he knew he had gone too far, was scared shitless but jumped to protect an obviously horrified Rachel from getting caught in the fray. Quinn hooked her arms around Santana's waist and although Santana let out another angry growl, there wasn't much she could do to escape Quinn's grasp without hurting Quinn in the process.

Brittany turned to Santana, caught in Quinn's hold, and said, "You need to go cool off right now. No questions. Go." Santana glared murderously at Puck but she couldn't argue with Brittany. After hissing a low, "Fuck you," to Puck, she took off down the hall and Brittany looked at Rachel. "I know you're super freaked out. We'll explain all this later but can you go after her, please, and make sure she's okay and doesn't kill anyone?"

In any other moment, Rachel might have laughed at the wording but she saw that Brittany was completely serious so she nodded. "Of course," she said. She looked at Quinn. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine. Britts is right; someone has to go check on Santana and normally it would be me but I need to talk to Puck."

Rachel nodded again and hurriedly took off in the direction Santana had disappeared in. Quinn winced in dismay as she caught sight of everyone staring at them again but before she could say or do anything, Brittany said firmly, "I got this, Q. You and Puck need to talk so you two go do that somewhere else and I'll take care of damage control."

Quinn tugged Brittany into a quick hug. "Thanks, B. Make sure S is okay? And Rachel, too?"

"Will do, bestie." Brittany turned her gaze to Puck, who wanted nothing more than to look away but forced himself not to. He knew he had majorly fucked up but shit – Quinn was hurt and that made him so angry and so sad that he wanted to kick something. He looked into Brittany's blue eyes as she said, "Puck, I know that you only said all those mean things because you're just super worried about Q because she's your family but it totally wasn't fair for you to blame Santana or lash out like that."

His eyes filled with tears that he refused to let fall because he was Noah Puckerman, damn it. "I know, Britts. I'm sorry. I'll apologize to her later."

"Good." She gave him a hug. "Go ahead, guys. I'll see you in a bit."

With that, she turned away from them and began to confront the people who had been watching them, no doubt warning them not to gossip about it. Quinn smiled briefly; Brittany was nothing like her and Santana but she had a unique fear factor of her own, in that people were terrified of her purely by association. Sighing, Quinn finally focused her attention on Puck, who was desperately trying not to cry. Seeing this, she took his hand and led him down the hallway to an empty classroom. He immediately sank into a desk and put his face in his hands.

Quinn sat down at the desk next to him and let him cry for a few minutes before she punched his shoulder. Hard. He looked up at her as she steadily met his gaze.

"That was for what you said to Santana," she said. "I love you. You know that. But she's off limits."

"I know." He wiped his eyes. "Like I said to Brittany, I'm sorry and I'll make sure I say it to San and Rachel, too. But what the fuck? You show up at school with a huge bruise on your face and basically imply that your dad was the one who put it there? You owe me some answers. Pact, Q."

She sighed. After she had given birth to Beth, she and Puck had made a pact. Even though they both knew they weren't going anywhere romantically, they were bonded forever. Not just because of Beth but because of what they had been through together. Quinn was very aware that part of her heart would always belong to Noah Puckerman, and Puck knew the same about himself and his heart.

They loved each other. They were family.

So, she told him what had happened after she left his house on Saturday and it took everything in Puck not to cry again. Instead, he reached out and gently held his hand against Quinn's bruised cheek.

"Thanks for telling me, Q. I'm so sorry. Sorry I did nothing to stop you from leaving the party and sorry that this happened to you. I want to kill your dad. Literally. But I'll channel the anger into football practice later and take it out on some poor freshmen instead." Quinn laughed. "Where did you go after you left your house?"

"I walked to Rachel's."

His eyes widened. "So you spent the weekend with Rachel. That's why you guy were talking to her earlier."

She nodded and a half-smile danced on her lips. "We're friends. At least, we're trying. I know I have a lot of making up to do and she knows that she has a lot of accepting to do, but we're trying."

There was something weird about the tone of Quinn's voice and the look in her hazel eyes and suddenly, realization dawned on Puck. His eyes widened.

"Oh my god. You like her, don't you."

Quinn blushed. "I…maybe," she confessed. She so didn't want to have this conversation with Puck; not before she had even had it with herself. But the pact meant she couldn't lie to him. "I don't know. Honestly. All I know right now is that she makes me feel safe and she makes me smile. But please don't tease me or say anything to anyone. Not yet."

He grinned and leaned forward, kissing her forehead. "Your secret is safe with me, babe. But straight up? I'm a total dumbass so if I was able to figure it out, you can be sure that San and Britts already know, too. Or at least assume. But you know they won't say anything, either. Not until you're ready."

She affectionately ran her hand through the soft strip of hair on his head and gave him a rare, real smile. "I love you, Puckerman."

"Back atcha, Fab-gay."

"A gay pun? Seriously? As Rachel would say? Noah!"

Rachel followed Santana all the way to the football field. She found her sitting at the top of the bleachers, looking out at the empty field with a blank expression on her face. Rachel approached quietly and with caution because she was still somewhat wary around Santana and took a seat next to her without saying anything.

Ten minutes passed before Santana asked, without looking at Rachel, "Did Brittany send you?"

"And Quinn, yes."

Santana nodded. "I thought they might."

"Noah was wrong, you know. To blame you like that when he did nothing to prevent Quinn from leaving, either."

"That's where you're wrong Rachel." Santana shook her head, her dark eyes glittering with anger. "He was right. I was drunk and sloppy and not as focused as I should've been on Quinn's well-being. She was wrong at her house; if I had been there, I could've prevented Q's dad from hitting her. Not because I could have stopped him from swinging but I would have stepped in front of her and taken the hit instead."

"You would have done that for her?"

Santana gazed steadily at Rachel and nodded. "In a heartbeat and without a second of hesitation. Better me get hurt than her. Always better me than her or Brittany."

"They're incredibly lucky to have you."

"Well, you might be just as lucky soon."

"Why do you say that?"

"Seriously?" Santana raised an eyebrow at Rachel. "Q meant it when she said that you better get used to all of us being together. She and Britts both like you. And they trust you."

"It would seem that they do," Rachel agreed. After a couple seconds, she asked hesitantly, "What about you?"

"Do I like you?"

"Yes."

Santana looked into Rachel's huge, nervous brown eyes and answered honestly, "Despite the fact that you sometimes make me want to bang my head against a wall? Or better yet, yours? Yes, Rachel, I like you."

"Really?"

"Really."

Rachel sat with that for a few minutes.

"Thank you."

"You don't need to thank me. But you do need to listen to what I'm going to say next. And I don't mean just hear what I'm saying. I need you to listen, hear the words, and understand them." Rachel's eyes widened in slight apprehension but she nodded and Santana went on. "Here's the thing. If things continue on the way they've been going for the past few days, I have a feeling that you're going to start spending a lot of time with us. That means that I'm going to have to put my trust into you concerning Brittany and Quinn."

"I would never do anything to hurt either one of them," Rachel assured her.

"Oh, I know that. But what you don't know – not yet, anyways – is just how important it is that you keep that promise. As of now, there is exactly one person in the world that I trust with Brittany and Quinn. That person, though it may surprise you, is Puck. He and Quinn are family and I know that he loves her and Britts. So yeah. I trust Puck. And now possibly you. But not yet. Not until I'm confident you know what that means."

Santana's tone was fierce as she spoke. "You know that I love Britts. Like love her, love her. Everyone knows that. I can tell you right now that one day, I'm going to marry that girl. I been knowing that since the second I met her. So I have Britts forever. But I also have Quinn forever. It's like this, midget. When I met Quinn, I knew that there was something different about the friendship I shared with her. It wasn't like with Brittany. Q was so god damn similar to me and sometimes it was almost like I fed off her emotions but felt them in a stronger capacity – if she mad, I wanted to kill someone. If she was sad or hurt, I was fucking miserable until she smiled again. I couldn't figure out why until I read this quote in sixth grade: A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you've forgotten the words."

"That's when it hit me. Q is that person to me. To put it into perspective with the quote, she can sing the words back to me because she has the exact same song in her heart. She's my best friend but she's more than that. Almost like a soulmate. Not in a romantic way, obviously, but in the sense that her soul mirrors mine."

It was the most beautiful description of a friendship that Rachel had ever heard and she felt tears stinging her eyes.

"So yeah. I have Quinn forever and now you know how I feel about her. I know you're not going to do anything that would ever hurt her or Brittany. I'm going to trust you with them, Rachel, and if you can't see what a big deal that is to me then you haven't been listening very well."

Rachel put her hand on top of Santana's. "I listened, heard you, and understood every single thing you said. Thank you so much for putting that kind of trust into me. I promise I won't let you down. Like I told you yesterday, you're not alone in your fight to make sure they're okay. You're slightly terrifying, Santana, but you're one of the most caring people I've ever met."

"Yeah, yeah. Shut up. That officially ends this disgustingly mushy conversation that we never had. Got that?"

"Got it. Are you okay?"

Santana knew that Rachel was referring to the incident with Puck. "Yeah, I'm all good. Sure, what Puck said burned a little. But he just had his balls in a twist because he was freaking out that Quinn got hurt without him knowing. He'll apologize and so will I and we'll be fine. You'll see."

They sat in silence again.

"Santana?"

"Berry?"

"Are we friends?"

Santana resisted the urge to roll her eyes because really, Rachel was the only person she knew who could still need verbal affirmation even after the conversation they had just had. But instead, she settled for nodding and allowed a small smile to blossom on her lips.

"Yes, Rachel. We're friends."

After school, the four girls went to Quinn's house to watch the promised princess movie.

"Mom, we're home!" Quinn called out as they walked through the front door. Judy came out from the kitchen and gave them a smile.

"What a surprise! I didn't know you were bringing friends over. You should have told me, Quinnie, I would have made cookies!"

"Seriously, Q, what were you thinking? Your cookies are badass, Judy."

"San, language!"

"Don't worry, Brittany," Judy laughed as she hugged her daughter's best friends. "I got used to Santana's colorful vocabulary a long time ago."

"It's colorful alright," Quinn snorted.

Judy released Santana and turned to Rachel, who gave her a shy smile. "I know you," Judy said warmly. "Rachel Berry, right? I don't believe we've ever formally met but I've seen you at glee club performances. You have an incredible voice."

"Thank you!" Rachel beamed and Judy gave her a hug. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Fabray."

"Please, call me Judy. And the pleasure is mine, Rachel. Quinnie, I'm going upstairs to call you grandmother. Let me know if you girls need anything."

"Will do. Thanks, Mommy."

After half an hour of Quinn and Santana arguing over which movie to pick, they finally settled on The Little Mermaid. While Brittany and Santana set it up, Rachel followed Quinn into the kitchen to help bring out beverages and popcorn.

"Your mom is really nice. You have her smile."

Quinn grinned shyly. "Thanks."

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked with concern in her eyes. "We never really got to talk after everything that happened at lunch."

"I'm fine. I talked to Puck and we're good. He was just worried about me and he knows he was wrong to take it out on San."

"That's good. I'm glad Noah cares so much about you."

A few minutes later, she spoke again.

"I do, too, you know. Care about you."

Quinn smiled down at her.

"I know you do. And you know the feeling is mutual."

They resumed the positions they had been in when they watched The Lion King – Brittany and Santana snuggled in an armchair and Rachel and Quinn sitting side by side on the couch.

20 minutes later, in the middle of "Part of Your World," Quinn rested her head on Rachel's shoulder and asked very quietly, "Will you sing for me?"

Rachel felt her heart skip a beat but she swallowed and did as the blonde asked. She sang along softly until the end of the song and couldn't stop her stomach from fluttering when she heard Quinn sigh in satisfaction.

Feeling bold, Rachel reached over and took Quinn's hand, lacing their fingers together. She sensed more than saw the smile on Quinn's face and, letting out her own sigh of content, she rested her head on top of Quinn's and smiled.

Ahhh, the sweet and unsure beginning of Faberry.

Next up, we'll have some Quinn/Santana talk, Rachel/Brittany talk, and Faberry will continue to evolve. Thanks so much for reading!

Reviews are, as always, much appreciated.