Disclaimer: I own nothing of Glee and everything related to it. Just borrowing Quinn and Rachel for a bit.
Spoilers: Flashback scenes from '2.04 - Duets' forward.
Standing there dumfounded, both Quinn and Rachel just… looked… at each other for what felt like hours. Several minutes after Quinn said Rachel's name, she broke the silence.
"Rachel! What the hell are you doing here? Making it a mission to follow me around Italy and ruin my vacation?"
"No, Quinn. I'm not. I had no idea you were staying here." Rachel replied, walking out of the water, grabbing her towel off the beach and throwing it at Quinn.
"What's this for?" Quinn asked, catching the towel the brunette threw at her.
"I want you to wrap it around yourself. You being almost completely naked is distracting me." She shyly replied, walking back to the water to cool off.
"Oh. Thanks." Quinn smirked, knowing she still had control over the brunette like that all these years later.
"You still didn't answer my question Rachel. Why are you here?"
"I am simply on vacation, Quinn. Am I not allowed to go to Italy whilst you're in the country? Because last time I checked, I can vacate at any destination that I choose. It just so happens to be, by nothing other than plain serendipitous coincidence that we are both here in Italy at the same time." Rachel rambled on.
"I'm well aware that we can both vacate wherever we choose, but why, of all the places on this Earth, are you here? Why do you have to be here? I've spent the last seven years trying to focus on me. Focus on becoming a successful lawyer and making something of myself, which I have done and I'm here taking a six-week vacation in Italy because I deserve a break from you. I deserve some time out from all the control you still seem to have over me all these years later and yet, here you are. Not giving me a break, once again!" the blonde spat out.
"Quinn! You seem to think that you are the only one that is hurting because of what happened between us. Do you have any idea how much it killed me to have to do that to us? I wanted nothing more than a future with you, but I needed to prove myself and make something of myself before I came back for you! I hated leaving you to better myself for a future for us!" Rachel shouted at the blonde.
"You think playing the victim card is going to work with me, Rachel? I don't see you being the one still in love with the girl who broke your heart seven years ago." Quinn retaliated.
"Y-you're… what?"
"You heard me!"
"You're still in love with me Quinn?" the diva hesitantly asked.
"Do not make me repeat it! You have no idea how much it hurts to admit that I am still in love with you, even though you were the one who obliterated my heart into nothing the day we both left for college! Do you not even remember the day you shattered me?" Quinn replied, swiping at the tears that were threatening to fall from the memory...
Rachel pulled up to the train station and parked her car.
"Okay, so your train leaves at 11am and mine doesn't leave until 2.25pm. That should be enough time for me to get back home, collect the last of my things and make the train in time." Rachel bluntly stated, not looking at Quinn.
"Rach, baby. What's wrong? Why are you beginning to cry? Talk to me."
"Quinn, I love you so, so much. I love you so much that it hurts and I want to be with you so badly, that I can't be with you."
"We can do this, Rach. We can make us work, I know we can. I want to be there for you, spending as much time as we can between college and days off and your rehearsals. I want to make a life for us with no-one but you by my side every step of the way."
"I know, believe me Quinn, I know you do. I am so sure of your persevering strength and you taking Yale by storm-"
"W-wait a minute!"
"- with all your talent and this is something that I need to let you do on your own and it kills me."
"Wait a minute…w-wait. A-are you… breaking up with me?"
"I'm setting you free." Rachel replied.
"Oh m-my God!" the blonde turned away, breaking down almost completely.
"Do you know how hard this is for? How many times I've cried about this?"
"No. N-no! I'm not going anywhere, knowing you won't be with me." Quinn stated.
"Look, you're going to get on that train and go to New Haven and you're going to become a star without me. That's how much I love you!"
"I can't believe this is h-happening right now." Quinn tearfully replied.
"This is so hard for me to have to do this Quinn, because I love you so much. You're going to be wonderful Quinn and I can't wait for you to eventually, hopefully come to New York, where I will have made something of myself to be able to be everything you deserve." Rachel said, boring nothing but love and truth in Quinn's green eyes.
"We're just gonna sit and let go. We have to, for the sake of our future, we have to just let go and let fate do it's thing and if the universe decides that will be together, if it's in New York or on the other side of the world, then we'll be together, okay? Can you do that for me? Can you let go for our future?" Rachel asked.
"I l-love you, so much." The blonde said, leaning in to kiss Rachel one last time.
"And I will always love you." Rachel replied, meeting Quinn's kiss halfway.
Rachel got out and grabbed Quinn's case from the trunk then proceeded to open her door, closing it behind her after Quinn stepped out. She took Quinn's hand, leading her to the platform where every one was waiting to bid her farewell to New Haven. They both approached the platform as Rachel took Quinn's case and put it on the train and let her hug everyone goodbye. Rachel handed Quinn her ticket and pulled her gently by the chin to look at her.
"You're going to be so wonderful. I love you, Quinn."
"I love you." Quinn tearfully replied, not caring that all of their friends were watching their moment.
Rachel pulled Quinn in for a kiss full of love and promises for their future, which Quinn reciprocated just as passionately, and let her step onto the train, letting their hands break away at the last second. Quinn found a seat right where everyone was watching her from the platform. She felt the train begin to move and Rachel walked along with it, starting to run as it sped up and dropped off when she couldn't keep up with it. Quinn watched Rachel collapse on the pavement, breaking down, just like she did.
Quinn wiped away the rest of her tears from that memory.
"You think that was easy, like I enjoyed doing that to you, to us? I cried myself to sleep for weeks when I got to New York because all I could think about was you and what I did to you. I made the biggest mistake of my life, letting you go that day. For some stupid reason, you must be blinder than I think you are, Quinn." Rachel shouted, tears cascading down her face.
"Me? Blind? Why does the oh-so-great Rachel Berry think that I'm blind?" Quinn sarcasticly threw back towards the brunette.
"Because you cannot even see how much you still exist within me, Quinn." Rachel shyly replied, stepping out of the water, walking closer to the ex-cheerleader.
"What do you mean Rachel? I am supposed to see big, flashing neon signs around you saying 'Property of Quinn,' or something? Because, quite frankly, after what you did to us, that ship sailed years ago." The blonde spat out, air-quoting part of what she said.
Walking closer to the blonde, Rachel knew that it was time to show Quinn what she did for her two years ago. Finding Quinn's green eyes, she locked onto them, finally stopping in front of the blonde. Rachel grabbed her hand and placed it on her left hip, running her thumb over Quinn's Q.
"What are you do– oh." Quinn stopped, cut of by what Rachel was running her thumb over.
"I know it's no neon sign, but its close enough. I still do, and will always, belong to you, Quinn." Rachel said quietly, still holding her hand over Quinn's on her hip.
"When did you get it?" the blonde quietly asked.
"Two years ago. The night following my second performance of Spring Awakening. Even though you weren't there, I still wanted you with me for every performance after that"
Quinn removed her hand and clutched on the towel, suddenly feeling very exposed. She dropped the towel from her left side; still keeping herself covered and lifted her arm up for Rachel to see. Rachel bent down, finding and reading the words she wrote for Quinn many years ago.
I'll keep a place in my heart – you'll see it shining through,
So please, find a way to my heart and I will follow you.
Now, I know you haven't made your mind up yet, but I will never do you wrong,
Because I knew, from the moment we met, no doubt in my mind, we belong.
Rachel ran her hands down the script that was inked into Quinn's soft skin. As she read each word, tears flowed freely from her. Every word was like a beacon of hope after being apart for seven years, it felt like reading this, was coming home for Rachel.
"I can't believe you got that." Rachel said, with her hand still on Quinn, looking up at the blonde as she traced idle patterns over the ink.
"You told me specifically to read the letter the day I graduated from Yale and even though it took me a lot of will power not to open it before, I held out until that day I had my degree in my hands. It was like you predicted the future when you gave it to me the day we graduated from high school. I was trying to get over you Rach -" the blonde cut off.
"Quinn…" the brunette trailed off, before Quinn cut back in again.
"Just hear me out Rachel." She cut in, with Rachel nodding her understanding.
"I couldn't get over you no matter how many people I slept with or attempts it took to have something remotely close to a relationship with another person and before reading that, I thought I was getting over you. Over us and how great we were together. I was in love with how carefree we were back then, but now, after seeing that passage every day on me, I am very much in love with you for who you are and the faith you have had in the both of us."
"I gave up on us being together. How can you still love me for that?" Rachel inquired.
"Reading that letter, I know you never really did and since when do you give up on that fairytale ending? Who are you and what have you done with Rachel Berry?" Quinn teased, chuckling lightly.
"Ha. Ha. Very funny, Quinn." Rachel replied, removing her hand from the blonde and standing back up.
"You know, I was there for that opening night." Quinn stated, finding Rachel's chocolate orbs on her.
"You were? Why didn't you come find me after?"
"I wanted to Rachel, more than you could ever know, but I couldn't. It was your night and seeing you get that standing ovation after all these years, I have never been so proud in my life."
"So you were the one who sent me a dozen Stargazer lilies to my dressing room before the show that night?"
"It was. Please forgive me for not leaving you a card. I wanted nothing more than to leave even just my number, because even if I left that, then you knew they would've been from me and after all this time, I knew I couldn't just show up and assume that you'd still have any kind of feelings for me, let alone love me."
"So I'm assuming all the other bouquets of lilies I got every week after that were from you also?"
"Yes, they were. I sent them in the hopes that I'd be able to work up the courage to leave a card each time, but I never did. Regardless of what has happened between us, I'll still send them every time." Quinn replied, looking at Rachel with nothing but love.
Rachel stepped closer to Quinn, closing what space was left between them. Quinn placed her hand on Rachel's cheek, wiping away the tears there with the pad of her thumb. The blonde continued her ministrations on the diva's cheek as Rachel leant into the touch, relishing the contact she's missed after all this time, wondering why she let Quinn go in the first place.
Quinn felt the brunette lean into her touch and felt her heart skip a beat from the gentle and content smile that crept upon Rachel's face as she ran her thumb along the brunette's supple bottom lip. Quinn tilting Rachel's head up towards her own and met Rachel's eye. All the blonde saw was love as she leant in and gently kissed the brunette. Rachel pulled away, seeing nothing but pure love swirling in Quinn's green orbs.
"Oh Quinn…" Rachel breathed out, before Quinn's lips met hers again.
Exploring each other's lips like it was their first kiss all over again, they both became familiar to the territory quickly. Rachel snaked her arms up around Quinn's neck, pulling their bodies closer together, relishing in the contact. Quinn darted her tongue out, rolling a languid stroke across Rachel's bottom lip, asking for entrance. Rachel gave it and their tongues became lost in each other, falling easily into step to perform to dance they so often performed together.
Quinn pulled away, breathless from what she felt all over again for Rachel.
"Rachel. Is this what we want?" she asked the brunette.
"I cannot speak for the both of us, but I can speak for myself. I love you. I've never stopped loving you. I am and will always belong to you. You're the keeper of the key to my heart and I want you to remain the keeper of it forever. I'm too in love with you to ever let you go again."
"Oh Rach." She smiled, feeling how wonderful the nickname felt rolling off her tongue.
Placing another kiss to her swollen lips, Rachel let go of Quinn to pick up her things off the beach and walked back to the love of her life.
"Let's get out of here." She smiled up at Quinn, pulling her in for another kiss before leading her up the beach towards her place.