AN: Thank you for the reviews, anyway enjoy this chapter.
'I knew that little dwarf was bad news. Dwarfs always are—she's been lying to you. Messing with your head and leading you on. Stay away from her.' Santana began angrily, finally managing to get it all out. Charlie had long since given up on attempting to keep her calm.
Quinn blinked surprised at the vehemence in Santana's voice, she had answered the call only to be assaulted with Santana yelling in Spanish at her. "Santana, I have no idea what you're talking about, so start at the beginning. All I'm getting from you is that Rachel, that's her name by the way, is bad news? Why?"
'You know how you asked Charlie to look into it and ask Kurt about Rachel? Apart from the fact that Kurt's a fucking gossip, guess what else your sister found out?'
Quinn sighed and rolled her eyes. "You know as well as I do that rumors are just that Santana. How do we know that this guy is legit? I have the feeling that they aren't as close as they once were—"
'Because Rachel is his sister-in-law. So I think his word about what Rachel is up to carries a bit more weight than some random stranger who is talking out his ass. Rachel is married Quinn to his step brother. I did my own investigation after I sent him a friend request through Charlie's Facebook. I took a look at all his pictures, it's true. He's got pictures from her wedding. Everything is there Quinn, check your email I'm sending it all to you as we speak.'
Quinn was stunned, torn between wanting to put absolute faith in Rachel and wanting to believe her best friend. Santana got to the bottom of things, she was just a natural nosy person. If Santana said that Rachel was married then she was married. "She doesn't have a ring on her finger Santana, I checked. She's never worn a ring."
'I'm not wearing my wedding ring.' Santana points out.
"What do you mean you're not wearing your wedding ring? Since when?" Quinn asks as she pulls her phone away and moved to check her email.
'I'm pregnant, things don't necessarily fit right anymore, I'm still happily married and if any creep tries to hit on me that's what I'd start with.' Santana informs Quinn.
"What if she isn't happily married—" Quinn begins as the pictures load.
'Don't. Don't be that person who tries to justify it. It doesn't matter if she's not happily married. She's still married. You don't want to be that person who breaks up a marriage. Sure sometimes it's fucking tough and there are times when I feel like I want to murder your twin but you work through it. It matters Quinn you know it matters. If she leaves him then it's not going to be because you're her safety net. Because I know you, you'll always wonder, whether you were a safety net, whether she's cheating on you.' Santana said firmly shaking her head and hoping that Quinn wasn't too far gone on this barista. She's met with silence and she frowns. 'You're looking at the pictures aren't you?'
Quinn flipped through all the pictures that Santana had sent there were so many of them and each one makes her heart drop a bit more. Rachel looks happy and she pauses for a moment as she stares at the man beside her. She narrows her eyes as it finally registers that it was the man-child who had tried to pick her up the other day. "Santana—remember when I told you that there was some douchebag hitting on me? That's him—he tried to pick me up in the parking lot of where his wife worked. I don't think she is happily married."
Santana paused for a moment, the whole situation was a clusterfuck of epic proportions. 'Quinn, my advice is that you fucking abort. You are not going to get into the middle of a marriage dispute like this. If she wants to remain tethered to that man-child then it calls into question her intelligence. Or maybe she already knows and just accepts it. The fuck cares, it's none of your business and you should just abort.'
Quinn swallows, Santana is right. It's not like Finn knew who she was, and clearly he didn't have any respect for Rachel if he was trying to pick up women. I mean he wasn't even that good at it. He seemed more like a self-important jackass. He also didn't seem that smart, why would he be picking up women where Rachel could possibly see him. "You're probably right—I just—"
'Quinn. No. I will come down to Ohio to kick your ass if you keep trying. Or worse—tell your mother. Just find another place to get your book down or better yet just get your ass back to New York. If you want a girlfriend—well Charlie knows models.'
Quinn shook her head, "I don't want to date someone random Santana, and Rachel insisted that we be friends. Just that friends. I can do that, especially now that I know that she's married. I—"
'Look, Quinn you like her and if I thought that you could just be friends with her I'd say go for it. But I know you, your feelings are only going to get stronger and you're only going to end up hurt. She kissed you remember not the other way around. So just let it go. You've only known her for a couple of weeks—you'll survive.'
Quinn studies the photos again, Rachel is looking at him with those brown eyes, and she can see the adoration on Rachel's face. She loves him, she can see that plain on Rachel's face and it's the first time that Rachel has looked—happy. She looks happy that she's marrying him like he's her prince charming, and it hurts a bit. "I think you're right." Quinn says as she drops her phone and leans back.
'Of course I'm right,' Santana says.
Quinn rolls her eyes knowing that Santana will probably gloat about knowing that Rachel was bad news. "Alright I'm going to go to the library and get some work done."
Rachel couldn't breathe. Everything hurt and she was sure that this time he had broken something. A rib maybe, she could barely move her wrist. She could hear herself wheezing with each labored breath. She had never seen him so angry. For a moment, a harsh moment, she had truly believed that he was going to murder her. He hadn't stopped hitting her, kicking her last night but once again her face was spared. He knew better, he knew to hide the damage to make it impossible to notice. She handed someone their coffee and looked at the line. She choked back the whimper as she straightened herself up and went to go work on the next person's order.
She felt ill and her vision swam, as she moved to get her job done. She nearly spilled the coffee, but she managed to hold it together. No one cared, they just got their coffee and left and she kept that smile plastered on her face. She was glad that Quinn hadn't shown up yet and maybe she wasn't showing up at all today. Which would be for the better she just needed a bit of time to heal—Rachel stumbles again slamming her hands into the counter, and it's a sharp pain that shoots through her arm overwhelms her senses. Stars explode in her vision and she sways for a moment the entire room spinning rapidly. There is more pain and it takes Rachel a moment to realize that she's staring at the ceiling, she can hear the gasps and people moving back and then she hears one voice through all the noise.
"Rachel!"
Maybe it's just her mind playing tricks on her, but she could swear that it's Quinn's voice. It's the last thing she hears as everything finally goes dark.
AN: Super short chapter, but things start to pick up next chapter.
