Own nothing but the plot.
Author's note: Quinn's POV. Sorry for the late post! As always, comments are loved.
Leroy Berry is sitting in the kitchen, head in his hands, replaying what he and Hiram had talked about the other day, when the doorbell rings. Rachel was in her room, and Jesse had promised to come down to visit her, so Leroy was prepared to open the door to curly brown hair and a set of grey-blue eyes. What he did not expect to see however, was the package otherwise known as...
"Quinn."
His daughter never talked about how she was bullied in school, but of course he knew. Mr. Schuester always took the liberty to inform him and Hiram of who did what to their daughter, and Quinn had ranked first in their list of "People Rachel Should Avoid at All Cost". So it definitely came as a surprise that the head Cheerio should turn up at their doorstep with a basket of cookies on hand. She looked nervous, frightened even, of what he might say to her, but despite the voice in his head telling him to ask her to leave, he opens the door wider and gestures for her to come inside. She nods, thanks him softly and asks where she should leave the basket of cookies she had baked for the family. He takes the basket from her and moves to the kitchen and begins transferring the cookies to an empty glass plate, all the while not looking at her.
"She's in her room, second one to the right."
He doesn't see the myriad of emotions that flash across her face, from guilt to happiness to anger, but he does hear her footsteps muffled by the carpeted floor begin making its way up the stairs. The tell-tale click of Rachel's door is heard, and he slumps against the counter, letting out all his frustrations in the form of angry huffs and sharp intakes of breaths. He silently wonders if Hiram was even coming home tonight.
Quinn was in Rachel's room, for the very first time, and it was exactly how she had imagined it. But the once bright and cheery colors seemed to have dimmed with Rachel's personality. They looked vaguely...unhappy and sad even. Rachel herself was sitting in her chair, ram-rod straight (some things just never die) and was looking at the floor hesitantly.
"Why are you here Quinn?"
She flinched involuntarily at her harsh and evidently guarded tone. She, not unlike many others, missed the old Rachel Berry, the one that acted like she ruled the world. This Rachel Berry scared her out of her wits; because she had no idea how to handle her. Shifting nervously from foot to foot, she took a mental deep breath before pasting on a small smile on her face.
"Just wanted to ask how you're doing."
"Oh really? That's it?"
Her smile dropped immediately. Why the fuck did she have to make this so difficult for both of them. She hated cussing, but she didn't care. Rachel Berry was being ridiculous when she was trying to be nice and that's all that registered in her mind.
"Look, I'm worried ok. Just like everyone else in New Directions. We need the old Rachel Berry back and we can't help you if you keep being so distant from all of us."
Rachel simply stares at an imaginary spot on the floor, not looking up, but not rebutting her either. She remains perfectly silent as Quinn feels the tension in the room rise and eventually snap, sizzling into an almost indefinable atmosphere that envelope the two girls.
"I haven't had a girlfriend to talk to in a long time."
These words make Quinn suddenly realize how awful she has been to Rachel, from creating the G-list, to slapping her on prom night; sudden but not unfamiliar feeling of guilt begins twisting in her stomach and she swallows tightly. She had done those things because she was scared; of her talent, of her confidence, of her future. The current Rachel Berry was what she had been hoping to achieve when she had planned those attacks, but she got so used to the idea of her fighting back, that she didn't know what to do when Rachel actually broke. And it suddenly dawns on her, that if Rachel ends up in a crack house, with no shelf-full of Tonys and never performing to an audience on a Broadway stage, she would have been one of the main causes of it. She would have essentially killed Rachel Berry, even if she was still physically there, and would be a murderer. Worse still, she would have killed a bright and achievable dream for someone of Rachel's caliber.
"I'm sorry."
Her voice cracks at the third syllable, and her gaze lingers on a photo frame hanging on the yellow colored wall. It's a picture of all of them, at the hospital with Quinn in the middle, holding on to baby Beth, Puck a distance behind her, tears in his eyes. Finn looking on softly at the beautiful girl in her arms, Tina and Mercedes teary-eyed, Brittany has her face hidden in Santana's hair, their pinkies entwined, Artie grinning like he won the lottery, Mike and Matt giving each other a high-five over all their heads, Kurt reaching over for the baby, mouth shaped in a cooing motion, and her eyes rested on the last brunette in the picture. Rachel's eyes were sparkling, her face emitting a radiant glow as the glow from the hospital lights highlighted the tear-tracks on her face.
"I should be the one saying sorry Quinn. Don't bother yourself."
Rachel is still staring at the floor, her whole body stiff and unmoving. Quinn reaches forward to touch her, but she flinches and scoots away from her, as though afraid of being burnt. She looks at her hand, then out the window, afraid of her reaction as she says her next words.
"Sam told me about your dads. How are they?"
She appears smaller, if possible.
"It's because of me." she whispers. "They love each other, but they always end up fighting because of me and I feel awful."
Although the brunette was avoiding her eyes, she could detect the hurt in her voice at the knowledge that Sam had revealed such an important piece of information to her. It was ridiculous to expect Rachel to open up to her in such a short amount of time, but she had been willing to take the risk anyway. She reminded herself again that this was karma, what she had done to this very person in the past has all come back to haunt her in the most unexpected of ways, but she was going to put up with it anyway. Because if she wasn't going to help Rachel, no one else could. Her mom had once told her that having the support of girlfriends was always more encouraging, so she had figured having her around for Rachel would be a good thing, but her reaction seemed to say otherwise.
"You know Rachel, there are things girlfriends can do for you that boys can't."
Just then, she hears a click from downstairs and the sound of male voices travel up to Rachel's room. Rachel shifts slightly in her seat, eyes brightening slightly as she stares at the door. Quinn looks at her meaningfully, before attempting to continue her previous conversation.
"Quinn, I really appreciate this and all but I think you better leave."
Quinn's face falls at this statement. This was an evidently wasted trip, and she tried not to show the disappointment too clearly on her face.
"I will call you, when I'm ready." Quinn hears as she reaches the door to her room.
"You're right, there are things girlfriends can do that boys can't. But I need some time, if you don't mind..."
She smiles. So it wasn't wasted after all.
"Of course Rachel." Her expression softens at the sight of the smaller brunette looking happier than when she first came in. "Anytime."