Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Rachel's tirade had finally petered out after the first three hours of insulting Quinn Fabray. It was now just a lot of glaring at walls and muttered curse words about pink hair and preposterous areas of expertise ("I mean honestly how many times do you have to fire a gun to become a specialist?"). She was currently sitting on the floor of the kitchen, leaning against one of the cabinets, pensively chewing on a piece of dried banana, ignoring Brittany and Santana, who had stopped listening to her about half an hour ago, opting instead to kiss each other senseless on the kitchen floor. Rachel took Brittany's breathless sighs and Santana's deep moans to mean that they agreed with every point she made, choosing to ignore the fact that they were engrossed in each other and not her very good points about the utter pointlessness of Quinn's presence.
Under the pretence of asking their opinion on the newest crew member, Rachel had made her feelings known to nearly every person on board the McKinley, abandoning each attempt when she was not met with the response she desired.
In the control room, distracted from his work on the central computer, Artie had pointed out that Rachel's attack on Quinn's hair was completely hypocritical. "I don't think it's very fair that one of your main reasons for not liking her is her hair color, when yours is the same." Needless to say, Rachel had moved on to someone she hoped would be more sympathetic to her plight.
"She is an unnecessary addition to our already capable crew, Finn."
"Rachel, I know you're like, really good at firing guns and stuff, but Sylvester got us new ones, and we need Quinn to help us use them. They shoot lasers, Rachel, lasers! How cool is that?"
Rachel's day had gone on like this for the last six hours, ever since she had run into Quinn in the sleeping quarters the diva had been seeking a sympathetic ear. Moving on to Sam and Puck in the gym when Finn didn't meet her expectations, then Will, who she helped make lunch and finally to Mercedes in first aid. She knew Kurt would have been insightful, but he was with Quinn, giving her a tour of the ship, and the betrayal was too much for Rachel, so her last resort was Santana and Brittany. The women had quickly grown bored with Rachel, leading them to find entertainment elsewhere.
Rachel had now moved on to the critique of Quinn's wardrobe, and was well into her criticism of Quinn's ridiculous boots, when Puck walked into the room with an appreciative whistle. Santana's lips disconnected from Brittany's neck with a pop, leaving another bruise on the blonde's already colorful neck. Puck waltzed over to the fridge, ignoring Rachel, who had continued with her diatribe, undeterred by his presence, or by the fact that Santana's eyes were now on her.
"Listen, Man Hands - "
"Santana, you are aware that in our taxing line of work, having manly hands is a highly inadequate ins-"
"So not the point, Berry." Santana extracted herself from Brittany, sitting cross-legged opposite Rachel, her hand reaching behind her to tangle with Brittany's long fingers. Rachel waited with her eyebrows raised, slightly worried by the evil glint in Santana's eye.
"You totally have the hots for Quinn." Puck whirled from the fridge, letting it close with a snap as he dropped to the floor beside a smirking Santana, lustful eyes trained on Rachel. As realisation dawned on her, Brittany smiled slowly, squeezing Santana's hand in agreement, while Rachel sat, dumbfounded, looking at her three smiling co-workers as they awaited her response.
"I - I'm not - I don't... This is the most absurd accusation I've ever heard!" Santana's smirk only widened at Rachel's stuttered denial, Brittany frowned, and Puck raked his eyes up and down her body appreciatively, as though seeing her in a whole new light.
"No one said you had to be gay, Berry." Santana rolled her eyes, her fingers remaining tangled with Brittany's as the blonde sat up and tucked her chin against her knees.
"Anybody can like anybody, Rachel, it doesn't matter if it's a girl or a boy or a flower or whatever." Brittany smiled dreamily at Santana as the Latina kissed the tip of her nose fondly.
"My girl's right, dwarf. You gotta get it somewhere when we're stuck out here for months. I even caught Puckerman getting intimate with a peanut butter sandwich yesterday."
"Noah!"
"Rach, babe, I have needs." Puck shrugged his big shoulders, still smiling at Rachel, whose nose was wrinkled up in disgust.
"Rachel, no one's going to judge you if you like Quinn. She's really pretty. And nice. I talked to her for a bit this morning before Kurt stole her and made her go on his tour." Rachel's attention was back on Brittany, the blonde smiling at her with encouragement and excitement evident in her bright blue eyes. "You guys could go on double dates with me and Santana!" Brittany was bouncing up and down on the floor, clutching Santana's hands and squealing excitedly. Rachel smiled at Brittany, unable to resist her innocent excitement. Seeing Santana's smirk from the corner of her eye, Rachel cleared her throat to object to the idea, but was interrupted by the sound of Kurt's voice in the corridor.
Quinn had been on Kurt's tour for six hours and forty-three minutes. Not that she was counting or anything. Kurt was a nice guy, if a tad flamboyant for Quinn's taste. Usually left to her own devices, the weapons specialist was not accustomed to spending so much time in the company of another person, but even after almost seven hours, there had been no lull in conversation. If there was an award for talking, Quinn was sure Kurt would have won by a mile (she had not yet had the pleasure of more than a threat from Rachel Berry) and she only had to nod or hum her agreement to keep him talking. So far they had seen almost every corner of the McKinley, from the storage area to the control room, meeting all the crew members on their way. Quinn neither liked nor disliked anyone in particular, and was starting to notice smaller friendship groups and couples that had formed within the tight knit group.
In Quinn's experience, watching people usually gave you more of an insight into their character than talking did, and so chose to observe her new co-workers once introductions were made and polite small talk was done with. In her short time aboard the ship, Quinn knew that Sam liked Mercedes and Mercedes liked Sam, but neither were willing to admit it; Kurt was lonely, and bored (hence the extensive ship tour); Finn was a gentle giant, and wasn't really sure what he was doing, so used his position of authority to compensate. Will, the oldest aboard, was a terrible cook, despite the fact that it was his job, and tried to motivate the team to make himself feel useful, but was usually unsuccessful. He was nice enough, though.
Santana's sharp - and sometimes cruel - wit was softened by Brittany's innocence when she was around the lively blonde, which was always. Artie was funny and genuine, and a complete genius when it came to computers; Puckerman, despite his vulgar attempts at flirting (if his advances even warranted that title), was a decent guy that Quinn felt she could eventually get along with.
Despite the fact that Quinn found everyone she had met to be quite likeable, she refused to get attached. Soon enough the mission would be over, and Quinn Fabray would be off on another assignment, meeting a new crew and starting all over again. There was no point in making friends. She didn't really believe in friendship anyway. The only reason people got close to each other was because they wanted something. Whether it was money, sex, approval, or even just company, there was always something at stake, and Quinn Fabray didn't get used.
For the past six hours and... now forty-seven minutes, Quinn had been dragged around the metal corridors of the McKinley, feeling like she could navigate the cramped spaces blindfolded if she had to. And yet, she had not once run into Rachel. Was the girl still in her room? Was she avoiding Quinn? Quinn convinced herself that she only cared because she didn't want any conflict while stuck in the limited area of the starship, but there was a tiny part of her that wanted to run into Rachel. Quinn felt a nervous flutter at every door Kurt lead her through, the feeling vanishing when the brown eyes she hoped to meet on the other side were absent. Kicking herself mentally, Quinn pushed thoughts of the woman from her head, berating herself for thinking of someone who, first of all, had threatened her, and second of all, would not even be in the same zone of the galaxy as Quinn two months from now.
These points notwithstanding, Rachel would not leave Quinn's head. Kurt's constant barrage of information was floating somewhere in her subconscious as Quinn's mind traced Rachel's jaw, her warm brown eyes, imagined her laugh.
Quinn Fabray! You are being ridiculous. You've met the girl once.
And she threatened you.
In a really passionate way. If she channeled that passion into - NO!
By the final leg of the tour, Quinn was not paying attention to anything Kurt was saying, fighting with herself and not even registering the other voices echoing down the corridor to join her tour guide's. Completely lost in thoughts of Rachel's passion-filled yelling, Quinn didn't even notice that she was now listening to the girl's voice outside her mind, the sound magnified by the close walls of the corridor.
Rachel listened as Kurt's voice approached from the hall leading to the kitchen, describing the structure of the ship, along with its various security force fields, before beginning on the architecture of the kitchen.
"And here we have the kitchen itself! Along with a small dining area, and over there is the- oh hey, Rachel!" Kurt beamed at Rachel as he entered the room, lifting a puzzled eyebrow at her current company, soon joined by the other one when he saw Puck's indecent expression, and Santana's smirk, both directed at the girl on the floor across from them.
When Quinn trailed into the room after him, Santana's smirk grew as she winked at Rachel. Brittany jumped up from the floor to hug Quinn, who was obviously lost in thought. Rachel couldn't blame her. She had listened to Kurt go on and on about the ship's structure; he was an engineer, so it was understandable, but there was only so much information one could endure about the mechanics of an airlock before tuning out.
Brittany's hug seemed to have snapped Quinn out of her thoughts, and she glanced at Rachel, a slight blush forming on her cheeks before she buried her face in Brittany's shoulder. Rachel couldn't help but smile at the gesture, wondering if Quinn was blushing because she was being hugged, or if it was something else. Seeing that Santana was watching her, Rachel decided it would be best if she made an effort to at least be civil with Quinn. Maybe if Santana saw how unfazed she was by the other woman, all this talk of attraction would cease, and Rachel could regain an air of detachment. Honestly, the brunette didn't know what she felt about Quinn. She was angry that someone else had pink hair; Rachel Berry prided herself on being original, and now she wasn't. But it was more than that. There was something about Quinn that put Rachel on edge, and she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She wasn't attracted to Quinn. No. That wasn't possible. Was it? She was very pretty, maybe the prettiest girl Rachel had ever met. And pink did suit her. Actually, it made her look hot. And that nose piercing.
"Hi." Quinn's voice was scratchy, and cracked a little on the single syllable. Rachel stared at Quinn dumbly as Brittany let go of her, trying to decipher her body's reaction to the sound of Quinn's voice. This was the first time she'd heard the woman speak. Earlier, Rachel had left Quinn in the hallway outside her room before she had the chance to say anything about their - um - encounter. Thinking now about how close their bodies were, heat radiating off the taller girl as her shaky breaths ghosted across Rachel's face -
"Oh, God." Too late, Rachel realised she had spoken aloud, and cracked her eyes open, not even recalling when she closed them. Seeing that everyone in the room was looking at her, expressions ranging from smug to confused, she shook her head and stood from the floor. Dusting off her tight leather pants, Rachel cleared her throat, and, ignoring her heated body, walked over to Quinn. "Look, Quinn, I just wanted to apologise for my earlier behaviour. While I pride myself on originality, my treatment of you was completely unacceptable and I would like to extend you an apology, and offer my friendship and camaraderie." Satisfied with herself, Rachel extended her hand to Quinn, offering it for the other woman to shake.
Quinn had left her brain somewhere near the doorway, all coherent thought lost when she saw the woman she had been trying not to think about all day was wearing leather. Tearing her eyes from Rachel's legs to stare at her extended hand, some instinctive part of Quinn realised she was meant to shake it, and took the soft hand into her own, surprised by the warmth that enveloped her fingers.
Looking up at Rachel's face, Quinn became aware that her memory had not done it justice. Rachel was gorgeous; the anger she had seen this morning was gone, replaced with a warm, close-lipped smile and a spark in the deep brown that Quinn couldn't place.
When her brain finally caught up with her body, Quinn's face was on fire, and she quickly pulled her hand from Rachel's, knowing if she didn't speak soon the smaller woman would think there was something wrong with her.
"It's fine, Rachel, really." Now it was Rachel's turn to blush as she picked at a loose thread of her grey T-shirt with her left hand.
Oh, God the way she says my name - snap out of it, Rachel!
Attempting to rein in her less-than-polite thoughts about Quinn, Rachel smiled again, making a snap decision that caused her to grin at Quinn. Turning from the pink-haired woman in front of her, Rachel walked back towards Santana and Puck, both of whom had watched the exchange with interest, along with a confused Kurt and an excited Brittany. Winking at Santana, Rachel nodded her head slightly, confirming the latina's suspicions. Rachel Berry wanted Quinn Fabray, and when Rachel had her mind set on something, nothing would get in her way.