AN: There you go, the 7th Chapter up, hereby. 7 is my lucky number :) I am very much begging for reviews, any reviews, because I am almost too curious to find out what people think of this! I know you're reading this, you know *wiggles eyebrows* so you can just go ahead and review!
In other news... No, I'm gonna make this uncharastically short. Read. Enjoy. Review.
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or anything I may refer to.
"Quinn, are you absolutely positive that you are willing to go through with this? I mean, I like Brittany as much as everyone, but Santana has always had violent tendencies and I think she may kill us both, and Brittany did explicitly ask you to prevent me from interrupting, not join me in the action."
"Please? She needs us to. Maybe she doesn't know it, but she does need us to."
"Fine. Because it's Brittany. And because it's you."
"Thank you!" She kissed Rachel on the cheek, and the brunette looked up with obvious stars in her eyes.
"Come on. Let's get this over with."
Rachel reached up and pressed the bell that said 'Brittany & Santana'. Brittany's name had a duck behind it, like Rachel still put a star after her name.
"By the way, I got you something!" Rachel exclaimed.
"What?"
"Well, it is not exactly ultimately romantic, but it is practical. Very practical. And I hope you will do me the pleasure of using it a lot." She looked like she had an entire speech prepared at that, but Quinn wasn't interested.
"Give me!"
"Patience never was your strong suit." Rachel rolled her eyes, but reached inside of her bag.
"And you love it."
"Here." She gave Quinn a pass.
"What is it?"
"It's a backstage V.I.P. pass for my show. So you can visit me without having to go into a fresh quarrel with security like last Tuesday."
"Thank you, but is it a good place for hanging out?"
"What do you mean?"
"I know that you have piano's and guitars to play, and we can sing. But I enjoy playing games with you, and sometimes being alone with you requires privacy."
"I will even make it better for you, Quinn. I practice a lot in my cabin, and I sing a lot of course as well,because a good warm-up is one of the keys to a good performance. Which is why I embraced my inner diva once more and demanded a sound-proofed room."
"Sound proofed?"
"Sound proofed."
Oh. Sound proofed. Like THAT.
"Oh," she mouthed quietly.
"Which is why I believe it is the perfect place for hanging out, to use your words. Also, about games, well, if we decide to engage in a game that does not require a sound-proofed room, I have playing cards and dices and I am sure you can bring whatever you want to with you."
Quinn wasn't there yet. "Sound-proofed."
"Yes, sound-proofed. I think we established that. Ironically, they agreed with me when I bothered the entire cast while singing a rendition of one of my favorite Avenue Q songs. Let me tell you, that Broadway Musical does have an undeniable sense of humor. And after watching it, I had great trouble getting the song You can be as loud as the hell you want (when you're making love) out of my head again. I believe that that song was when they decided that they couldn't handle it anymore and changed everything around so I could get a sound-proofed room."
"Right. Sound-proofed. You can be as... Sound-proofed, got it."
"I hope that your remarks will grow decidedly more intelligent as this evening proceeds, Quinn. Otherwise I fear that neither Santana or Brittany will enjoy your company very much. Hopefully you can shake the images of the sound-proofed room off long enough for this dinner. When we're home, I promise you can tell me all about it, alright?"
"Yes. Yes, alright."
"I will keep you to that, by the way. I can hardly wait to hear what you have in mind." Another suggestive smile from Rachel made Quinn sure that she was about to show Rachel what she had in mind, but the door opened, and Brittany pulled her in an enthusiastic hug.
"Quinnie! You're here!"
"Hey Brit. How are you? I brought Rachel with me!" She pulled out the hug and gestured to the beauty beside her.
"Yay! I'm so happy to see you again!"
"Same here, Brittany. It's lovely to see you too."
"Come on! San's inside."
They went in, and Rachel whispered softly:
"Quinnie?"
"I don't like it, okay? But you know Brittany. Just wait for it, when she gets to know you better she'll start calling you Rachie."
"Hey Q, great that you made it. And you brought smur-"
"Don't call Rachel smurf, they just made it! Would you guys like something to drink?"
"Yes, thank you, Brittany."
Before long, they were all seated and catching up on years past. Santana hadn't seen either Quinn or Rachel in a very long time, so there was a lot of catching up to do with them. Rachel and Quinn tried to keep the lovey-dovey looks to an absolute minimum. It was important to the plan.
The plan came to life when Quinn pulled Brittany to the kitchen to work on the dinner, so Rachel had Santana all to herself.
"What's up, Quinnie? You seem so stressed out. I don't think that Santana's gonna hurt her. And we don't need to be in here for another half hour."
"Shhh!" Quinn shushed Brittany urgently, trying to catch what they were saying in the living room.
"What? Q, what are you doing? What's going on?"
"You can't intervene, okay? Just listen. I made a plan to make things better to you, because you made them better for me, too."
"What?"
"Shhh!"
Brittany held her tongue then, and Quinn could finally hear the words in the next room. Right on time.
"So, what about you and Brittany? Are you really together?"
"It's none of your business, smurf."
"It is only an innocent question, Santana. I am not attacking you or anything. I promise. And your apparent reluctance is rising suspicions. Are you and Brittany romantically involved?"
"No."
Quinn looked slyly behind her and saw Brittany's face contort, hurt.
Her plan had to work.
"Oh. So, Brittany is single then?"
"I guess. What are you getting at, Berry?"
"Nothing. But she's single?"
"What's your deal?"
"Well, if I can be frank, Quinn has been mentioning her more and more lately. I am very seriously considering inviting her over once."
"And doing what? She doesn't need to be single to hang out with you."
Brittany's nails dug into Quinn's shoulder blades and a small squeal rose from her throat.
"Wel, I mean, she is such a beautiful girl, with a sweet personality. I have been fond of her since she joined Glee, and I know that Quinn likes her a lot too. You know that I have a thing for blonde Ex-Cheerio's."
"What is she doing!?" Brittany whispered.
"Helping your ass!"
"No way," Santana's voice is determined, but her anger is already showing.
"Well, if she is single, and if she wants to, I believe that is actually a good idea."
"She won't want to, you midget."
"We'll just have to check that with her, won't we?"
Quinn now was tugging on a slack jawed Brittany.
"Come on! Just play along, okay? Follow my lead."
Brittany was always good at following Quinn's lead. She nodded her head, a little more sure now that she had something familiar to cling onto.
Back in the room, Quinn gave Rachel a coy smile.
"Did you talk to her about it?" She asked Rachel, seemingly unknowing.
"Yes. I'm sure she doesn't mind."
"So, Brittany, what do you think?"
She forced Brittany eyes to lock with hers, and thought about what she needed Brittany to do. In their High School years, they had built an almost telepathic connection, that could only emerge from the unlimited trust that came with a free fall in a routine, knowing that someone would catch you.
"Sure, it seems like fun."
"B? What are you--"
"She's coming over Saturday, just for some fun stuff. Aren't you, Brit?"
"Yeah. Totally." The hesitance in her eyes disappeared when Quinn nudged her and gave her a wink, that Santana probably took in a different matter.
"That is settled then. How is the dinner looking?"
Rachel let out her most proud, beaming smile and Quinn's heart melted a little. She knew she could count on her girlfriend for these sort of things.
"Ready in another 20."
"It already smells amazing, not that I expected differently. I know for a fact that Quinn is very decent at baking and an amazing cook, which is of vital importance. Before I knew her, I barely could have boiled an egg. I didn't think my fathers actually knew how to cook before they started to do so to make a good impression on Quinn. I only knew take-out. And she has confided in me that Brittany is a great cook too, and would probably beat her at baking!"
"Yeah! I love baking! Can I bake for you once?"
"Of course, I would love to taste something of you," Rachel said in a suggestive tone. She was looking at Quinn, but Santana missed that. Probably distracted by the steam coming out of her ears.
"You know, there's even a kitchen backstage at Rachel's show?" Quinn quickly said, trying to step onto a safer subject.
"Really? Whoa, Rachel, do you like... even need that?"
"I don't, but I am still very pleased to have one. It shows that backstage, I have every luxury I could want, and that I get the star-treatment I deserve. My room is even sound-proofed."
"Sound-proofed? That's a little bit stupid. I mean, do you really need that?"
"It may surprise you, but I am sure that that particular luxury is one I will enjoy to the fullest in the near future, or so I foresee."
One glance was all Quinn needed to know that she would try hardest to make Rachel express herself in her most vocal way that night. She wouldn't rest until she got at least 3 complaints of the neighbors.
Saturday, Brittany came over.
"So, like, what are we gonna do?"
"Just relax and watch a movie or something. It's just so you're here, and we're just gonna have a good time hopefully, and at home you're gonna be all mysterious and reluctant about what you did today."
"But I'm not mysterious or reluctant..."
"Today, you will be. So, if we are going to do this blast from the past thing, we're gonna do it well. Wanna watch some Gossip Girl, or Grey's Anatomy?"
Brittany stayed and thought for a second, before grinning, and saying: "Mean Girls!"
It was a relaxed afternoon, with Rachel talking her head off, Quinn translating everything to Brittany-speak, and all 3 of them comparing their own High School experiences to Mean Girls. It took a long time for Rachel to admit it, but she said that she was relatively lucky that Quinn was the worst she got. Because when Quinn stopped being really horrible, she swayed to the other extreme. From really, extremely dreadful to be with to the best person Rachel ever had been with. And even Brittany was a nice girl. It was just covered up by the need to follow the lead of others, with worse personalities.
"I guess we gotta thank Coach Sylvester once, for making us join Glee. That's why we started hanging with you guys."
"I was joining Glee anyway, remember? I think that I only have to thank the wine coolers that Puck got me on that night. I would have sacrificed everything to keep that night from happening, but I guess it was meant to be this way."
"Oh Quinn, you keep telling yourself that. I can assure you that if you hadn't cracked because of Babygate, your true colors would have found another way to shine through. Otherwise you would have ended up unhappy, and you were always strong enough to see that something needed to change. Somewhere along the line you would have seen that you were madly in love with me and wanted me badly, baby or no baby. I would like to believe that we would have ended up together."
"You guys would have. You're like, meant to be or something. Quinn was always really extreme when it came to you. But I'm glad she ended up loving you, I mean, you can be really annoying and stuff but you're sweet too. And you belong with her I think."
Brittany stood up.
"I think I'm gonna go now, see how S is doing."
"Okay. Be mysterious, okay? See you soon? I think it was fun today."
"Yeah, it was. I'll tell you how it went."
"Please do, I cannot wait to see how Santana will react to this day. Call us soon."
They walked her to the door, and Brittany gave Quinn a hug.
"Sure. Thanks Q, it's really cool of you to help me like this."
Then she hugged Rachel, saying:
"And you too. Thanks, Rachie!"
Rachel ignored the muffled laughter that came from Quinn.
"Bye, Brittany."
The door slammed closed, and Quinn smirked at Rachel.
"Not a word, Quinn."
"Of course not. I wouldn't dare... Rachie."
"Shut up! I'll talk to her about that. At least Quinnie sounds cute, but Rachie? It sounds like a creepy artist name. The kind that you really don't want."
"I don't know, I think it has a ring to it. Rachie. It beats Stubbles."
"Don't! Shut it, Quinn!"
"Make me, Rachie."
Rachel made her.
When the phone rang, and an ecstatic Brittany was on the other side of the line, both girls were grinning, but neither was surprised.
"I'm brilliant." Quinn said, her voice final, as if it were the only thing of truth ever to be spoken.
"And modest, at that. So what's the deal? A kiss? A date?"
"A kiss, a date on Friday, then weird noises and she said she had to hang up."
"I'll try to skip that part in my mind."
It was 3 days away from New Year's Eve, and Rachel had her last show of the year that evening. It was also the first day of Quinn finally using her V.I.P. pass, and she was already making plans of using it on many other occasions. She stepped out of the taxi and skipped to the first security guy in sight, showing her pass with a proud grin.
"I'm with Rachel Berry. The star of the show." She couldn't help but add that little tidbit of information.
"I know. She talks a lot about you."
"She does?"
"She talks a lot about everything."
Quinn smiled. "She does."
"Amazing how you put up with that girl. I'll make sure to remember you, so I'll recognize you next time."
"No need! 'Cause I've got a V.I.P. pass!" She sung it on the melody of "I've got a golden ticket" - always having been a fervent Roald Dahl fan - and waved the pass once more.
"Why are you so happy to see her anyway?"
"I'm about to get laid!" He grinned at that and let her through.
"Don't kill her! She's our star!" He called after her.
"She's my star too!" She called back, grinned a wide grin, turned around and bumped into something bigger than her.
"Oh, sorry." She looked up a little, and stared into the green eyes of Noah Puckerman.
"I figured I would run into you here sooner or later."
"Puck! What are you doing here?"
He flashed her a pass very similar to her own, only with his name and his picture on it instead.
"I come here a lot, to hang out with Finn."
"You're here a lot? I thought you were just visiting like, once in a while!"
"I was, but now I'm a regular guest."
Noah? A regular guest backstage on Broadway? She shook her head in disbelief.
A guy came buy, carrying a lot of cables, he stopped and said:
"Hey, Puck! It's Thursday, so we're all going out for drinks tonight. You coming?"
"Of course I am, dude! Same place as usual?"
"Where else? See you tonight then!"
"Bye!"
Quinn's mouth had dropped by now.
"Oh. You're here a lot!"
The one thing she hadn't taken in account. If Noah was around here all the time, could she be?
"Yeah. They're cool here. For Broadway people, anyway."
"Right."
"So, how have you been? Having fun living with Berry?"
He gave her a glare like daggers, and though she knew she should be ashamed and quiet, she felt the anger bubble up inside of her. She pushed it down.
"More than you can even imagine. And how's life for you, Puckerman?"
"More fun than it's been in a long time. Hasn't Berry told you that I'm here a lot?"
Why hadn't she told Quinn? Did she think she didn't want to know or something?
"She hasn't."
"Strange. Well, run off now, little blonde. Run off to your girlfriend. I'm done wasting my time with you, I'm gonna do something else."
He walked away, and while Quinn walked to the door with a gold star on it, she felt an uneasy feeling settling below in her stomach. And she knew, getting laid would have to wait.
