A/N: And it starts to roll into motion. How do you think this'll end? Please do tell! I enjoy reading people's guesses so :-)! Also take note, the rating has changed.

Rachel is at her locker, packing her bag when Finn walks over and kisses her on her cheek.

"Hey honey, I was wondering, since our week went by so well without too many quarrels, well, besides our conflicting bathroom schedules…"

You forgot you cluttering my shower drain with hairs and my sink as well. Not to mention your insistence to keep playing Call of Duty in my room while I'd rather sleep but you're too lazy to plug in the headphones. Your complains when I stepped on the elliptical at 6 A.M. because you'd only gone to bed 2 hours before. And I could go on and on and on..
Although it was nice to wake up in someone's arms for a change.

"Rach, are you listening to me?"

"No, no my thoughts had drifted off to.. how happy I was with you this past week." She smiles sweetly at Finn.

"Yeah I thought the same! That's why I was thinking, say, do we really need to wait until you've settled down in New York before we marry? I mean, we love each other, we're happy with each other, so why wait?"

"But.. I've already pushed the wedding forward! You know how I wanted to wait until I had a tony first? I already stripped it down to a year."

"Yes yes I know and I truly appreciate that, but it'd be so great if I could call you my wife earlier. It'd make me so happy.." Finn starts another whiny rant, as to which Rachel loses interest halfway.

"Anyways honey, I think that we should marry in 3 months, that way we can have prom first, become prom king and queen and marry the day after. That'd be grand, don't you think? And then when we conquer Nationals we can sing the lead as husband and wife." He smiles at her with his trademark dopy smile, as if he'd just invented the wheel.

She spots Quinn walking in through the entrance. "Right. I-I'll think about it okay?" She gives him a quick peck on the lips, closes her locker and swings her bag over her shoulder.

"Oh Rach?"

"Yes Finn?"

"I won't be home this evening, I'm going to visit a football match with Puck and Rory. I'm not sure when it ends but you know at which time I stumbled in last time."

"Yeah, four o' clock in the morning."

"Yeah I gather it'll be around that. So you don't have to stay up for me alright? Ask some friends to come over and keep you company." He walks over and kisses Rachel once more. "I love you."

She smiles at him. "I love you too, Finn." He smiles at her and turns around. The moment he's around the corner she moves over to Quinn whom escaped into the girls' bathroom at the sight of Finn.

She's reapplying her make-up in front of the mirror, as usual.

"Hey Quinn, would you like to come over at my house later?"

"What about Finn?"

"Finn is going to a football match with Puck and Rory. He won't be home until late."

"Okay, I'll be there. Oh, and don't bother cooking, I'll do that for you. I haven't forgotten the eggs you tried to feed me last time." She winks at Rachel, whom ducks her head shyly in response.

-=XXX=-

Quinn and Rachel are sitting at the dining table in Rachel's house. They'd just finished the Italian vegan pasta that Quinn had cooked for her.

"Quinn, that was amazing! You're a really amazing cook."

"Thanks. I can teach you to cook if you want. Then you won't have to rely on your dads so much." She winks at Rachel, who beams at her in return.

"I'd very much like that."

"Hey Quinn? I've been meaning to ask you something, did you actually get something nice for valentine? Some nice bouquet of red roses from a secret admirer? A box of chocolates?"

Quinn smiles but it doesn't quite each her eyes.

"No, I haven't gotten anything this year."

"But.. You're Quinn Fabray. You're gorgeous, and like, the most wanted girl at McKinley. Surely you must have gotten something? Come on you can tell me. Was it Joe? Did he give you something?"

"No, really, I haven't gotten anything. Not everyone is as popular as you." She winks at Rachel, trying to avert her attention.

"Hmm.. have you given something to someone then?"

Shit. Why doesn't she drop it?

"Actually yes I have."

"Ooooh what'd you give, and to who? You can tell me, who's making you happy?"

You.

Quinn looks at Rachel with a pained expression in her eyes. "Look, can we not talk about this? It's rather embarrassing and I was rejected.. Sort of."

Rachel looks at her with a shocked expression on her face. "Rejected? You? Who did it? I'll talk some sense into that tiny brain of his!"

Oh god stop it, stop it just stop it Rachel!

Rachel huffs "No-one should reject you, you're great, caring and loving, that loser should be happy to have you!"

"Rachel, stop it!" Quinn bursts it out before she can help it.

Rachel startles and nearly falls off her chair. "W-what?" she looks at Quinn with a confused look on her face. Quinn never shouted at her anymore, what's with the sudden outburst?

"I-I'm sorry I shouldn't have done that. I just.. wanted you to stop."

"Oh. I was just.. angry because of that guys insolence."

"That's the whole point!"

"W-what point? You're acting really odd ever since I started about valentine." She tries to contact Quinn's eyes, but Quinn avoids hers.

She can feel Rachel's eyes studying her face, annoyance starting to show on Rachel's face because of Quinn's stubbornness to speak.

"Rachel, I.."

Quinn lets out a sigh, and grabs Rachel's hand before she averts her eyes to the table as if she's still contemplating what to say.

Rachel looks at her with questioning eyes, confused by the obvious discomfort that's suddenly overtaking Quinn. She squeezes Quinn's hand reassuringly, to tell her that it's going to be okay, no matter what she'll say.

Quinn chews on her lower lip before she looks up Rachel, a hint of fear flashing through her eyes.

"I-I need to tell you something.. Something important."

Rachel stays silent, urging her to go on.

"Remember.. Remember what I told you a few weeks ago? How I thought that I loved Finn, Puck and Sam?" Rachel nods.

"I-I never did, I was never.. in love with any of them, that one time with Puck I-I didn't really want it, I was drunk and had no clue as to what I was doing."

"I'm.. I'm really sorry you feel that way about your first time Quinn. But.. It's going to be okay, you're going to go to college and I'm sure you'll find a lovely guy that'll treat you with the respect and the love you deserve. It's never too late to fall in love."

"N-no, you don't understand. I don't want a guy, none at all. Ever."

She is pleading Rachel with her eyes, to understand, to grasp the subtle hint. But she doesn't. Instead, Rachel looks at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Quinn swallows audibly. This is it. No turning back anymore.

"I ehm.. I don't want to be with guys because I'm not.. attracted to them."

Rachel continues to stare at her with a puzzled look, her mouth slightly open.

God, even now she's adorable.

Quinn takes a deep breath and exhales it shakily. She averts her eyes to the table again, because she doesn't dare to look Rachel in her eyes, afraid of seeing rejection in them.

"I.. I'm.. I'm a lesbian Rachel.." Seconds seem to take minutes as silence sets down upon them. Quinn starts to fidget with the tablecloth with her free hand, still not daring to look up at Rachel.
After a few more seconds she can't take the suspense anymore and finally looks up and meets Rachel's eyes, only to find Rachel looking at her with a very surprised look on her face.

Why isn't Rachel answering? Is she going to throw me out now? Is our friendship over?

"Rachel? Can you pl-please say something?" Her lower lip starts to tremble, and she tries to fight the urge to cry.

"I'm sorry, I'm trying to let this information sink in. It's.. rather a lot to take in.I-I mean we used to chase the same guys.."

"It.. It was never about them." A lone tear spills over her cheek.

It was about you. I wanted them because if I had them I could have a part of you. It was better than nothing..

Suddenly she starts to sob. She's not sure if it's from relief that she finally told someone, or from the fact that she almost said her thoughts out hears the scraping of a chair and shortly after a pair of arms are wrapped tightly around her."Quinn, it's okay, it's going to be okay. I'm always here for you. I'm your best friend and I love you alright? And nothing's going to change that, especially not something as your sexuality". She kisses Quinn's head to reassure her everything is alright.

Quinn wraps her arms around Rachel and pulls her closer to her, Rachel's sweater dampening the sound of her sobs. They stay that way until Quinn finally calms down.

-=XXX=-

They've taken place on the couch, Rachel had just put Hairspray in the DVD Player. Rachel had been wanting to see that one for weeks, but Finn never felt like 'watching that mushy and cliche movie'.

"I'm going to grab some ice cream, do you want some too?"

"Depends. What kind of have you got?"

"Hmm chocolate, strawberry or vanilla."

"Chocolate please." She smiles appreciably at Rachel. She is glad that Rachel was as accepting as she was, she wasn't sure what she'd done if she wasn't.

After a few minutes Rachel comes back from the kitchen, carrying a tray with two bowls full of chocolate ice-cream and a pressurized can of whipped cream. She hands one bowl over to Quinn and sets the other one down on the table.

"Do you want some whipped cream Quinn?" Rachel looks at her with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Ehm.. Yes you can put some on my ice-cream, please."

She watches as Rachel sits down next to her, shakes the can and sprays some whipped cream on her ice-cream. She then proceeds to do the same on Quinn's ice-cream. Right after she's done, she grabs the can, shakes it, and sprays a full blast in Quinn's face.

Quinn startles in response. "Rachel! What was that for?"

Rachel giggles. "I wanted to cheer you up."

She laughs. "By spraying a mustache on my face?"

Rachel laughs out loud in response and grabs the can again to spray some more.
Quinn squeals and hides her face behind her hands but it isn't quite working because Rachel is trying to tug Quinn's hands away with her own. After a few seconds Quinn grabs blindly for Rachel's hand holding the can and after a few more tugs she finally rips it free of Rachel's grasp. Quinn quickly grabs the can and sprays Rachel's face all under, whom doesn't even try to cover herself, she's too busy laughing.

After a few seconds Quinn becomes aware of how close their face actually are. Her cheeks flush, her tongue darts out and licks her lower lip nervously. Much to her surprise Rachel's eyes follow the movement of her tongue, so she does it once more. Rachel's eyes flicker to Quinn's lips again. She stares at Rachel in bewilderment, not sure of what's going on. Before she can do anything, Rachel quickly stands up and mutters that she's going to wash her face and walks off to the kitchen.

She stands up and walks after Rachel, only to find her drying her face with a towel. She smiles when Quinn walks in. "I'm glad I managed to cheer you up a bit."

"Rachel, I-" She gets interrupted by the doorbell chiming in.

"I ehm.. I have to go to the door."

Quinn watches Rachel walk away before she walks over to the sink to splash cold water on her face. Thankfully, it helps to get rid of her flushed cheeks as well, although Rachel couldn't have seen those as her cheeks were covered in whipped cream. She grabs the towel and wipes her face with it, throws it into the cleaning basket and walks into the living room. She's about to sit down when she hears Rachel shouting.

Alarmed, Quinn runs to the hall, only to find Rachel in a heated discussion with someone who is standing in front of her. "Rachel is everything okay?"

"Y-yes it is. Please, go inside I'll be with you in just a minute."

"It didn't sound okay to me." She walks towards Rachel and stands next to her, before her eyes meet their visitor's. It's Sebastian.

"My what a coincide, Quinn Fabray. Fancy seeing you here." He smiles at her with a very smug grin. Quinn wishes she could wipe it off.

Rachel's nostrils flare in anger. "Weren't you about to leave?"

"Yes, yes I am. I am sad to interrupt your.. lovely evening together. You should've told me and I would've come another time. Alas, you know what I said, terms have changed. You've got two days, no more. See you Quinn." He winks at her before he walks off, whistling a tune of Michael Jackson. Quinn's sure she recognizes Bad.

Rachel turns around to face Quinn, her expression unreadable. "I told you to stay inside, why didn't you listen?"

Quinn looks at her with scrunched eyebrows. "I thought someone was about to harm you. I wanted to protect you."

"What was Sebastian doing here anyways? That guy is nothing but trouble."

Rachel doesn't answer, she walks inside instead, trailed by Quinn.

"Rachel? What's going on?" Rachel still refuses to answer and walks into the living room but she's stopped by Quinn who grabs her hand and spins her around, facing Quinn.

"Rachel, you promised me I could tell you anything, so you should do the same for me. Tell me what's going on, is he threatening you?"

"He's.. He's got three voice recorded tapes with incriminating information. H-he wants me to drop out of Regionals, or he'll spread them to Ohio's biggest news broadcasters."

"What kind of information?"

Rachel hesitates. She couldn't possibly tell her the truth. "I-I don't know. I've only heard one where Jacob recorded a conversation I had a few days ago and Sebastian has modified it into something completely different."

Quinn huffs. "That asshole!" Rachel's jaw drops. She hasn't heard Quinn swearing in ages. Truth be told, her protective nature was kind of endearing.

"I'll modify his face into somethi-"

"No! Quinn I don't want you to do that, it'll only make matters worse."

"Only if you'll tell me you're not going to do his bidding! We need you Rachel, without you we can't win Regionals. He knows that, I know that, I know Schuester doesn't seem to believe as much, but it's true. You're the core to New Directions, and without you we are nowhere.

"Don't worry, I have a plan. I'll have this all solved and taken care of before you know it. Pleasetell me you'll leave him alone though, or you might ruin it for me."

"Fine, I'll stay away from him."

But not from those tapes.

-=XXX=-

The very next morning Santana, Quinn and Brittany are in Santana's car, parked on the parking lot in front of the dorms of the Dalton Academy.

For some reason, Brittany had insisted that they should wear men's clothes, as by her logic, women wouldn't be welcome in the all-male-boarding-school's dorms. Santana had agreed with her girlfriend's crazy plan and they had raided the drama class' costume department together.

She took a glance in the rear-view mirror, for the first time since she had decided to wear the costume Santana had given her. She's wearing a blonde wig, a fake beard is plastered on her face, complete with a goatee. Furthermore she's wearing a white pantsuit complete with a knotted tie and brown polished shoes. She snorts, there is no way she'd pass for a man.

"This is ridiculous!" Quinn blurts out.

"No wonder, when you insist on wearing that creepy-ass make-up. You look like a drag queen, Q."

Quinn huffs. "I prefer to stay feminine."

Santana smirks. "The only reason you decided to wear it was because you thought you'd might encounter Berry on our way here."

Brittany chimes in."Q, don't worry, you still look hot even in a pantsuit."

She sighs. "Let's just get this over with." She opens the door of the car and steps out, waiting for Santana and Brittany to do the same. Truth be told, their outfits are just as ridiculous. Santana is clad in full leather and wears a black wig and a mustache, while Brittany wears an overall with a plaid blouse, a brown wig and a full beard. She looks like she'd just escaped from a farm, the only thing that's missing is a pitchfork and a pig.

Santana takes three sunglasses out of her car and hands one over to Quinn and Brittany before she puts the third pair on. Quinn puts hers on and waits until Brittany does the same. "Well, let's go."

They walk inside, with Quinn in front. Quinn exhales a sigh of relief, the front desk is empty so the receptionist isn't there. They'd just skipped the lobby when she spots the receptionist coming out of the elevator. He spots them and walks towards them with a confused look on his face. Quinn motions for Santana and Brittany to stay put.

"Hi, we're looking for our cousin, Sebastian Smythe. He told us his room is on the second floor but we forgot the right number and he's not picking up his cell at the moment."
She makes her voice sound as low-pitched as possible, thankfully he seems to buy it. At least the smoking had been good for something.

"His room is 253, but he won't be back in about an hour or so, as the Warblers are currently rehearsing for Regionals. You can wait downstairs in the lobby if you want? I can offer you some refreshments while you wait."

She feels Santana stiffen besides her.

"No that is alright, thanks. We will wait upstairs for him."

"Okay I'll tell him you've come to visit him when I see him. What are your names?"

Shit. We haven't thought of any names!

She feels her body tense. She's glad she's wearing sunglasses so that he can't see the fearful look in her eyes.

"Why, thank you that's very.. polite of you." She flashes a smile at the receptionist who's looking warily right now. "Tell him that Luciano, Brad and Zach Smythe, are here, alright?" She smiles politely before they step into the elevator. She quickly presses on the button she needs, the elevator doors close behind them and the elevator begins to lift. She lets out a sigh of relief. "That was close."

Santana pats her on her shoulder. "Quick thinking, Fabray. Although I don't really like the name you gave me."

Brittany smiles. "I like Brad, it reminds me of tour piano guy. My mom used to tell me that your name defines your talents. Reckon I can play the piano now?"

Santana smiles at her. "You can do anything as long as you really want it, B."

With a "ding!" the elevator comes to an halt. The doors slide open and they quickly rush into the hall in search of room 253. After a minute they've found it. Santana grabs a hairpin out of her pocket and begins to pick the door's lock.

Quinn motions for Santana to be quicker. "We'd better hurry, I'm not sure if that guy was buying our story."

"I'm working on it as fast I can okay?" after another minute she eases the door open. They step into Sebastian's room, where they're instantly greeted by a wall of warm, damp air.

Ugh, why do rooms of guys always smell so nasty? Even Finn's is like that.

"Let's quickly find what we've gotten here for and scram."

They ravage through his room, checking out every closet and cupboard they can find. She'd crawled below his bed, checked the curtains, checked behind the radiators and at one point Quinn even dashed into his bathroom and inspected the lid of the toilet to see if he had hid the tape recorders there, but to no avail. She sighs and walks back into Sebastian's room, only to find Brittany giggling about the last drawer they hadn't inspected yet: his underwear drawer.

"Brittany that's gross.."

"But look he's got Winnie the Pooh underwear!" She grabs the boxer short and waves it in front of Quinn's face.

"Very cute, but unless Winnie the Pooh has tape recorders hidden in there then I highly doubt it'll help much."

Suddenly Santana bursts out in laughter, grabs an object from the drawer and dangles it in front of their faces. Quinn's eyes widen in response when she recognizes it. "Oh my god! Is that.. is that a THONG?" "I think it is. Rather small though. And I'm no fan of silky red." "Oh for the love of god Santana put it down, that's just nasty." "Oh come on, he's a gay guy they take care of themselves. Unlike Finnept whom, last I heard, didn't even wash his own balls!" She smirks when Quinn makes a gagging sound.

"Ooooh! Oh! I know!" Brittany jumps up and down in excitement. "I know where he hid it! People usually hide their important stuff under their mattress just like Santana and I hide our purp-" "Brittany! Not everyone needs to know that!" "But it's Q, she's walked in on us a few times so you shouldn't be embarrassed, it's nothing new for her anyways.." Santana looks at Quinn with an alarmed look on her face, telling her not to respond to that. Quinn just smirks when she notices that Santana looks flustered.

"Well, let's see if Brittany is right about her hunch." She winks at Santana who huffs in return. She quickly walks to Sebastian's bed and pulls off his sheets before she grabs the mattress and pulls it off his bed. There is nothing on his box spring, except for a stack of male porn magazines.

Gross.

No tape recorders and no tapes.

Santana huffs. "Shit. What do we do now? You don't reckon he's been keeping them with him, do you?"

"I can't believe we just ravaged his whole room for nothing." Quinn kicks the mattress out of frustration. It flies through the room before it crash-lands against the wall, on its opposite side. Without even bothering to look at it, she storms out of the room in anger. Her plan has failed, she couldn't help Rachel and all she wants to do now is go home and sulk, hoping that she won't run into Sebastian on the way home, as she might just punch him a black eye.

She makes her way to the elevator, but she's stopped before she can press on the button. She turns around to see Santana and Brittany staring at her with triumphant smiles on their faces.

"You forgot something Q."

"What do you mean?"

Brittany chips in. "We found the tape recorders. He had taped them to the underside of his mattress." She hands over three small tapes to Quinn.

Quinn's eyes light up and a feeling of utter gratitude flutters in her chest. She rushes to Brittany and Santana and hugs them, she's just released them when she hears the alarming "ding!" sound of the elevator.

Shit. They've found us!

Without any word they rush to the staircase, run down the flight of stairs, hop into their car and drive off, the tapes safely tucked in Quinn's pocket.

-=XXX=-

The elevator doors glide open and Rachel steps out. To her surprise, the hall is deserted.

That's odd, I'm sure I just heard voices.

She glances on her watch. Just ten minutes left until Sebastian will be here.

Shit, that's not much. She quickly types out a text to Blaine.

I got stuck in traffic, please try and delay him further, offer him another drink. I'll pay you back, I promise! Thanks!

I'll try but I can't promise you anything. Just so you know, you so owe me! Next solo is mine .Oh, and you owe me and Kurt a dinner at Breadsticks! ;-)

She'd devised this plan last night after Quinn left. At first Blaine didn't want to help her after his accident with the rock-salt slushy, but after explaining the situation to him he'd agreed to do it. Sebastian was all too happy to oblige when Blaine asked him for a coffee at the Dalton Academy, apparently he thought he could still pry Blaine away from Kurt despite all that had transpired the past few weeks.

She turns around the corner and walks to room 253, taking a hairpin out of her hair. She's watched Google videos for hours on end to find out how to pick a lock with a simple hairpin, it didn't seem all that hard so she was sure that she'd succeed. She's about to put the hairpin into the lock when she notices that the door isn't locked at all. In fact, she can easily push it open. When she walks inside her jaw drops on the floor. His room was a complete mess, clothes were lying everywhere and his bed was stripped bare. It was like a tornado had rushed through it.

Has someone gotten here before me? What if they're still here, hiding behind that door waiting for me to walk past so they can grope me? Rachel Barbra Berry! stop those scary thoughts! Think of the tapes. I need to find the tapes.

She walks further into his room until her foot steps onto something. She steps away to see what it is and picks it up.

A tape recorder!

She turns it around and opens it, only to find out that the tape that was supposed to be inside of it, was gone. She drops on her knees and crawls over the floor, intent on finding the other tape recorders and their tapes. It doesn't take long until she finds the other two recorders, they were chucked under the cupboard close by the first tape recorder she found. She grabs them and inspects them. Much to her horror, they're empty as well.

He must've expected someone coming here and taking them. Shit, he must have them on him!

She sinks down on her knees, feeling faint and her breathing speeds up. She feels a panic attack incoming.

I'll have to drop out. There's no other way. Unless..

Her phone buzzes, she startles at the sound.

I couldn't delay him any further, he's just left. Get out of there Rach!

She quickly gets up and walks out of Sebastian's room, but she freezes in her tracks when she hears the doors of the elevator open and footsteps coming her way.

Oh my god, he's here!

She quickly looks around her and spots the emergency door to her left. She runs to it, tugs the door open, rushes into it and closes it behind her. Apparently right on time, if the scream of anger on the opposite side of the door is anything to go by. She carefully climbs down the stairs until her feet hit solid ground. She walks off towards the nearest shopping mall where she'd parked her car. She hadn't dared to risk taking the bus as the other Warblers might see her there.

She steps into her car and grabs her cell, scrolling to the contact she needs.

I won't let him win. I will perform at Regionals, even if I have to take drastic measures. Even if I have to sacrifice my happiness for the others. For Quinn. We'll go home with the first place trophy this year, we have to.

She presses the dial button, it doesn't take long until it's picked up.

"Hey honey, I'm just about to go to practice, why are you calling?"

"I-I've been thinking about what you said yesterday. And I think you're right, we should get married earlier."

"Really? Oh that's so great!" She hears him laugh on the other side of the line. "When did you have in mind?"

Rachel bites her lip anxiously. "Tomorrow."