Week 13

Rachel/Quinn Connecticut

Quinn looked like she was going to run for the hills but Rachel wouldn't let her give up. She wasn't going to start at the beginning. Not now. Not after this, it was impossible to let things go back to the way they were before.

Quinn's eyes were closed tight and Rachel ran her hand down the side of Quinn's rib cage. She shuddered when Rachel's hand brushed against her breast. Rachel let her hand linger and watched as Quinn held her breath. She pulled her hand away and slipped it underneath Quinn's tee-shirt and Quinn once again held her breath.

"Open your eyes." Rachel demanded. Quinn did as she was told, her eyes crept open slowly, her face stone cold and emotionless. Rachel knew that face. She looked empty but Rachel knew better, she was terrified. "Don't freak out." She said softly.

"Why would I freak out?" Quinn said with all the ease of someone doing her best not to scream bloody murder.

"Because," was all Rachel said before leaning into her and pressing their lips together.

Quinn didn't fight it, she met Rachel's kiss with an enthusiasm Rachel didn't expect. Their lips held together tightly before Quinn ran her tongue slowly across her lips. Rachel accepted her tongue and let her hand explore the girls body.

Rachel could feel her shudder under her touch but Quinn's tongue didn't back down an inch. Rachel inched her hand slowly up Quinn's abdomen stopping inches away from her breasts. Quinn responded by sliding both her hands onto Rachel's hips and slipping them beneath her nightgown.

Rachel could feel her heart beginning to pound. She'd initiated this but for some reason she wasn't expecting to be successful. Quinn was so nervous, so guarded. Rachel didn't expect her to be receptive. The fact that she'd slipped her hands underneath her nightgown was like finding out there was a tooth fairy. Both terrifying and exhilarating.

Rachel decided that if Quinn was open to this she may as well go for the gusto. She pulled away from her severing their kiss with one smooth motion. Quinn's mouth chased hers as she pulled away and Rachel gave her a smile. Quinn's eyes were still closed so she didn't see it. Rachel was thankful, she knew anything may send the girl over the edge and she was weary her next move was going to be hard enough for her to process.

She straddled Quinn's hips and bit the corner of her lip. Quinn's eyes opened up slowly just in time to see her pull the nightgown over her head. She looked more confused now than scared. Almost as if she were debating something in her head. Rachel decided to beat her to it.

"Relax. It's just me and you here. Quinn and Rachel. Nobody else. Only us."

Quinn breathed hard. "Me and you," she said, her voice shakier than Rachel had ever heard it.

Rachel nodded. "Me and you." She leaned into her and kissed her again. This time Rachel didn't hold back. This time when she slipped her hand beneath Quinn's shirt she let herself enjoy the moment.


Quinn wasn't sure what to think about this morning. On one hand it was spectacular. Gentle, passionate, tender, and caring all while being totally hot and steamy. On the other hand it was like being told that something was true that you never envisioned about yourself. She'd known that Rachel wanted to be her girlfriend but until now she'd never really considered what it meant. It was a real thing, alive, breathing, rooting around in her heart. She didn't expect that. She didn't expect to feel it afterwards.

Rachel was asleep. Snoring lightly and sprawled across Quinn's chest like a blanket. Quinn wasn't experienced in sex, her only real foray into the area had been with Puck and that had ended up in disaster. There had been a few other close encounters, with Finn, again with Puck, but she'd been careful since that first time not to fall victim to hormones. It hadn't been too difficult, she'd had no real desire for it until this morning. This morning something had happened to her and everything she'd been taught about sex, love and sexuality had gone out the window. This morning she'd finally felt like she'd lost her virginity.

The fact that Rachel was a girl hadn't entered into her mind until right this moment. And the thoughts it brought out in her didn't involve shame and disgust, they brought fear and worry. Fear that her father would find out. Fear that people back at home who knew the old Quinn would somehow see her differently. She had to keep the two separate. Rachel wouldn't mind, she'd said it herself. This was about them. It was nobody else's business.


Rachel ducked out of the hotel room expecting stares and whispers. Instead she got indifference. Nobody cared that it was nearly three in the afternoon and her and Quinn were just now making their daily public appearance. It was almost as if they hadn't been missed. It wasn't until she grabbed the room's door handle that she saw the sign hanging from the door knob.

'Do Not Disturb, Sex in Progress!' Her face went red with shame. Did they know, she wondered? Surely not? How could they unless they'd heard some unfortunate noises coming from the room. She brushed the question off and walked down the hallway her head high. She wasn't about to let herself be ashamed. What happened between her and Quinn this morning was beautiful. Two doors down she saw another of the signs, then another, and another. She finally laughed at the absurdity of her thoughts. Of course they didn't know.

When she found her way to the girls room she found a crowd of girls sitting around playing cards. Jules who Rachel hadn't seen much of was front and center today, her smile wide and mischievous. She clearly had noticed Rachel and Quinn's absence today.

"There she is. I didn't think you two would ever come up for air."

The girls here had been extremely accepting and Rachel saw no need to lie. She also saw no need to share either. "Some private moments should best stay private," was all she could manage. Short sweet and to the point. It also seemed to get the desired effect.

"God I remember when Jenna and I used to hide out in the room all day. These days all she does is complain about how we have to hide." Elise said.

Rachel liked Elise even if she was the epitome of Wasp-y upper class. She was short and stuffy, almost demure in her behavior and painfully polite. The last thing Rachel thought of when she saw her was lesbian. She was too well mannered, too perfect. Jenna, her girlfriend, although neither of them had actually stated that it was the case and Rachel hadn't asked, was the same way. At least she was at first. She showed up looking every bit as stuffy and upper class as Elise but once she relaxed, her perfect hair was pulled into a ponytail and her expensive clothes were replaced with old jeans and jerseys, sweats and tee-shirts. She was a closet butch according to Quinn.

"Would your parents be really upset if they found out?" Rachel asked.

One of the girls laughed and Elise gave her a sorrowful look. "My parents don't let me anywhere near Jenna anymore. Her parents made her go all the way Stanford to keep us apart, and that's just because they suspected something was going on. My parents would disown me. Or Grandfather would disown them if they didn't. They don't actually know that we're here together. If they found out they'd freak."

"I'm sorry." Rachel said.

"I hear Quinn's father doesn't like you either. What about your parents. Do they like her?"

Rachel shrugged. "I have two dads, one African-American, one Jewish, both gay. They wouldn't care about this in the least. Quinn on the other hand they'd have a problem with. She sort of made my life hell back in high school. She wasn't very nice to me and they'd remember how many times I came home upset because of her. She tortured me."

Elise laughed. "That's because she liked you. And her dad is a religious nut. I guess she probably didn't know how to process it so she made you miserable."

"Our friend Santana says the same thing. She always told me Quinn had the hots for me. She's a lesbian and has excellent Gay-dar." Rachel said.

"That girl from the video the boys were drooling over you mean?" One of the girls asked.

Jules nodded. "That's her, they don't believe she's gay."

"Wait, what videos?" Somebody in the crowd asked.

"Oh, you haven't heard Rachel sing? She's good."

Rachel scoffed. "Please, I'm much more than simply good. Allow me to demonstrate."

"Uh, oh," Jules said from across the room. "Quinn warned me about this."


Quinn was nearly positive she heard Rachel singing in the distance. It wasn't the type of thing you got confused about, hearing her sing. There wasn't anything like it in the world. Now she was somewhere in the hotel belting out a rendition of what sounded like Lady Gaga's Telephone.

"Quinn is that your girl singing?" Jeff asked. Jeff and his girlfriend Carol were responsible for the catering bill that Quinn's father had ended up paying. He was a nice guy, an upper classman that the boys naturally gravitated to. Jeff was a type-A personality whose mother was the CEO of some major family owned Investment Bank. He was the big man on campus. Most of the boys didn't make a move without seeking his counsel.

"Sounds like it." Quinn said.

"She's good," he said and Quinn could tell he wasn't just being polite.

"She is, she's very good. But don't ever tell her that because the cool girl you know disappears and the Diva comes out. She'll talk all day about how great she is if you let her."

Dustin who had been hiding in the corner drinking beer nodded in agreement. "Quinn's right. She will. She once spent twenty minutes telling me about Celine Dion's hairdresser."

Quinn had no idea what he was talking about but decided not to contradict him. "She's great but you need to understand the Diva is it's own entity. When she's in star mode their is no turning it off."

"Oh, hey Quinn, I talked to the guys about putting that business plan together. I still want to know if you're in."

There was always some business venture being put together. Quinn had no real use for most of it. She only understood half the ideas the boys pitched and the others went over her head completely. Even the ones she understood were out of her field of expertise.

"Ollie I don't know anything about computers. I have nothing to offer, nothing to bring to the table."

Ollie shrugged. "People listen to you. You can sort of handle the meetings and stuff. I still need somebody to write the code, maybe you can interview some guys for us."

Quinn didn't see the point but why not. What else was she doing. "Fine but with my luck you'll all get Zuckerberg'd and somebody will steal your idea and the whole thing will end up in court."

A few of the boys laughed but Quinn was serious. She didn't know the first thing about any of this and the fact that these kids would turn to her instead of their parent's lawyers was unsettling.

"What do you think Jeff, want to take a few meetings for these guys?"

Jeff shrugged. "Why not. I know some computer guys."

"Just don't blame us if this doesn't work out. I got enough problems figuring out how I'm going to squeeze in a Finance degree with all this damn acting."

"Don't worry it won't interfere," Ollie said. Quinn doubted that very much but only smiled.


Rachel was nervous about going to bed but when she saw Quinn step into the room in a pair of silk pajama's that made her look like a female Hugh Hefner she couldn't help but laugh. She looked so cute and was doing her best to be casual Rachel suddenly couldn't remember what her nerves were about.

"What?" Quinn asked seeing her laughing and immediately becoming self conscious.

"You look cute is all."

Quinn shrugged and walked into the hotel's small bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed. "Did you see that thing the boys put on the door."

"The do not disturb? I saw it, it was cute."

Quinn didn't look like she agreed but she let it go. "Are we together. Or are we just together here?"

She blurted the question out as if it were some huge thing that had been hanging over their heads for days. In reality Rachel had never NOT considered them together. She knew they weren't together but she knew they weren't separate either. It was like being asked if you were tired at bedtime. You probably were, most likely were, but maybe not in certain situations, but still probably yes.

"Do you not want us to be together?" Rachel asked. She'd long since given up trying to decipher how THIS Quinn would react to anything. Old Quinn, Lima Quinn, was predictable. She'd do what was best for Quinn, damn the consequences. This Quinn, college Quinn, at least Rachel's private version, was shaky and on edge most of the time. She'd act erratically and make emotional decisions. She often picked fights for attention and pouted when she didn't get her way.

"I want us to be together. I mean after this morning I want to clarify. I mean I only want to be doing stuff like that with somebody who I'm together with. I just think it's important that we talk about it but if you think we shouldn't I guess we don't have to."

Rachel climbed across the bed to meet Quinn on the edge. She wrapped two comforting arms around her. "We're together. We were always together in my mind. I was just worried you'd freak out because of this morning. I mean we went from zero to a hundred in a few minutes. Things moved really fast and I wanted to make sure you were okay with that."

"You know somewhere along the way I must have," she started to say before her cell phone began to ring. She sighed losing her train of thought as she pushed herself off the bed and snatched her cell off the nightstand.

"Rachel this is Santana. Are you ever going to answer your phone? They'll just keep calling."

Rachel just shrugged. "Tomorrow. I'll talk to them tomorrow."

Quinn nodded with a smirk. "Sure you will."

Rachel watched her push a button and put the phone up to her ear.

"Santana hey." She shot Rachel an annoyed glance sure to make a mean face as she did so. "No I haven't spoken to Rachel. I'm sure she's fine though."


Quinn's heart was still pounding when Rachel pulled away from her neck. She wasn't sure when she'd become such a sucker for making out but these past few days she couldn't get enough of it. Before today she had always considered it a chore, something she had to do to keep a boy interested. Her overall annoyance with it had made it easy for her to shut them down once things got too hot and heavy. Ever since yesterday morning though something had changed.

Rachel seemed to be okay with things the way they were playing themselves out. She didn't seem bothered by the fact that they'd had sex yesterday. She was behaving as if it was the most natural thing in the world. As if what they'd done was a natural progression in their relationship.

Quinn wasn't so comfortable. It was weird, the more she thought about what happened between them the weirder it was. She wasn't sure when she'd began thinking about Rachel that way. She'd always thought the girl was pretty. Cute and cuddly with the perfect mixture of attitude and talent. She hadn't blinked at any of the changes and forward progress they'd made.

"Is this okay with you. What we're doing?"

Quinn's face scrunched. Could she not tell she was enjoying herself?

"Of course, it's great. I never knew sex was supposed to be like this. Truthfully I never knew what the big deal was before."

Rachel only smiled, her face showing admiration and humor. "I don't mean the sex. I mean are you okay with the idea of us having sex. Emotionally, morally." Rachel pulled away from her and laid down beside her on the bed.

It was the sort of question Quinn didn't expect. Not now, not after what they'd done. It seemed like an afterthought. If she wasn't okay with it, morally or otherwise it was much too late now.

"I'm fine Rachel. I mean I'm not ready to go walking hand in hand down the street but I'm okay with what we did. What we're doing." She sighed. "I'm more than okay with it. I don't know what it means, the fact that I am but I feel good about it. About us."

Rachel reached over and stroked the side of Quinn's face. "I'm sorry about the way I was acting. I didn't want to pressure you into this. I just figured I had to show you that you did feel this way about me. You seemed to be on the fence. My plan was to get you all worked up and make you realize it. I didn't intend for us to have sex."

Quinn shrugged. "It's okay that we did. I like making love to you Rachel. I just wish we could skip all the weird stuff."

"What weird stuff?"

"This conversation. People finding out. It's all weird Rachel."

"Nobody here cares that we're together Quinn. It's like it's not an issue. I expected judgment and scorn but your friends are very accepting."

"It's not here that I'm worried about Rachel. Sooner or later we're going to have to leave this place and go back to the real world. What happens then? What happens with us when people start asking questions."

"Like who?" Rachel asked.

"I don't know, our friends back home."

"Quinn our friends back home, are back home. They don't know what we're doing. They don't even know that we see each other or talk as much as we do."

"I know, it's just maybe we should come up with some sort of plan. You know what we're going to tell people. When Santana called last night she said everybody was looking for you and that you weren't calling anybody back. When I told her that you were probably fine she didn't accept it. They're seriously worried about you Rachel. And it's freaking me out that you won't tell me why."

Rachel laughed lightly. "Always with the why. It has nothing to do with me and you Quinn. I promise. It won't effect us. It's about Finn. Now do me a favor."

She waited silently for her to agree. Quinn hated agreeing to things without the details but the silence in the room was deafening. Rachel wasn't going to budge.

"Fine, I'll do you a favor. Now tell me what's going on."

"Don't push this. This stuff going on at home, I'll handle it. Just trust me. Trust me that it's not about us. Let me take care of it."

Quinn was annoyed that she'd agreed to it almost instantly.


Rachel watched Quinn leave the room and forced herself to act. Her refusal to simply deal with her problems was beginning to cause a strain on her relationship with Quinn. Quinn had agreed to leave the whole thing alone but Rachel didn't actually believe she would for a second. She was inquisitive by nature, stubborn and proud. She wouldn't leave it alone. Rachel had to end it herself.

She waited a few minutes for Quinn to disappear into the hall and fished her cell out of her purse. Bringing it to life was like being slapped in the face. Over sixty missed calls, text messages too numerous to count.

Not answering her phone was stupid. Childish even. Still she didn't see any other way to handle it at the time. It was either ignore it all or answer a thousand questions she didn't want to answer. Rachel knew this was all Finn's doing. He had questions and rightfully so. She just hadn't expected him to share everything with all their friends back home.

She dialed the only number she knew she could trust implicitly not to judge her. Normally that would be Kurt but he was Finn's brother, if forced to choose sides he'd choose Finn. Instead she chose the only friend she had who she knew wouldn't choose sides. Couldn't choose sides.

She answered on the first ring.

"Rachel. Rachel where are you, we've been calling you for days. Are you okay? Are you murdered?"

Rachel would have laughed had it not been such an insane question. "No Brittany I'm not murdered. I'm in New York."

In the distance Rachel could hear Santana's voice asking Brittany if it was Rachel. "Hobbit, Hobbit I'm going to kick your ass when I see you, we were all worried sick about you and I hate worrying about people who don't matter to me."

"Rachel you should come home. We're not mad at you," Brittany said without an ounce of judgment or shame.

"I'm not coming home. I want to be here. I'm fine here."

Santana must have snatched the phone away because Rachel heard her voice screaming into her ear.

"You know I'm almost impressed with you hobbit but hiding in New York like some sort of loser isn't what I'd call cool. Now get on the damn train and get your butt back down here. Quinn already jilted us for some Networking conference in New Haven. We were hoping to have a reunion."

Networking conference? Is that what Quinn told them she was up to?

"Santana I just want to be alone. I'm fine. I wanted you guys to stop worrying about me. I'm alive, I'm well. And once this call ends I'm not answering my phone again for a few days."

Santana screamed a stream of obscenities into the phone.

"Rachel. Rachel are you there?" Brittany asked.

"I'm here."

"Rachel don't be embarrassed. You messed up, everybody messes up. Santana did."

"Britt you said you wouldn't tell anyone." Santana began to plead in the background.

"She met this girl and hooked up with her at some sorority party. It's college. It's actually not that bad. Finn's angry but Puck told us he met a bunch of girls over there in Germany. You don't have to be ashamed."

Brittany was always a breath of fresh air, her outlook on life was unique, her acceptance of her friends for who and what they were was a quality Rachel had always admired. She was the least judgmental person on the planet so her opinion on the matter was clearly peppered with her optimism.

"Brittany I'm not ashamed. I did what I did but it's over. It would have been over anyway. I just wanted him to know, I think he deserved that much."

"Rachel."

"Look Brittany, I have to go. I may be home over Christmas but I'm not sure."

"Rachel." Brittany said but Rachel ended the call anyway.


Quinn woke up to the sound of pounding on the door. She and Rachel had spent the night outside the room last night. The boys had planned a party and Quinn thought it best that she and Rachel not set themselves up as outsiders. It had been nearly two a.m. before they made it back to their room. Rachel had been impossibly wasted and Quinn couldn't quite remember the details of what happened herself.

She woke up in a pair of purple silk pajama pants and a white tee-shirt. Rachel was tucked safely under the blanket quietly sleeping away the morning. Quinn shot a look at her cell phone and saw that it was nearly noon. She wanted to laugh but her head was pounding.

A loud string of heavy knocks hit the door again and Quinn drug her body out of bed and stumbled to the hotel door.

"Do not disturb. What part of that don't you people get?" She yelled as she yanked open the door. She half expected to come face to face with one of the boys, eager to ask for her help or for her opinion on some endless argument they were having about some inane subject. Instead she got the shock of her life.

"Damn Tubbers if I didn't know any better I'd think you lied to your parents to go to a party."

Quinn's head was swimming but she was positive she wasn't still sleeping. She was awake and standing face to face with Santana Lopez.

It had been months since they'd seen each other but Santana hadn't changed at all. She was flawless in her appearance, her long black hair shiny and neat, her body thin and muscular. She was wearing a professional looking black dress with a red blazer over top of it and expensive black and red heels. She looked like she was going on a job interview. Quinn was looking at her outfit when she noticed Santana was doing the same. Admiring her silk PJ's and tee-shirt.

"Santana. What." She stammered. "What are you doing here?"

Santana looked around the room behind her and smirked the way only she could. "You are officially my hero. Your dad told me that you were here making connections and networking with big shots. Instead you're having a damn party and he's footing the bill, proud as a peacock." She began to chuckle and shake her head. "He'd flip the fuck out if he saw this."

"Santana. What?" Quinn said. Her heart was pounding now and her hangover was making her head spin.

"We drove down to see if you wanted to take some time off to go track down Rachel in New York."

Quinn felt like she was going to be sick. "We?"

"Britt, Chang and Puck." Santana said as she peered over Quinn's shoulder. She was looking toward the bedroom with curiosity.

Rachel groaned in the background and Quinn watched Santana's face go from humorous to shock. "Do you have a boy in there?"

"Santana do me a huge favor and go wait outside. I'll get dressed and come right down I swear. I need you to turn around and leave right now though. If we were ever friends I need you to take off."

Santana gave Quinn a concerned stare but didn't speak. The second she opened her mouth to speak Quinn heard a voice only it wasn't Santana's.

"Quinn baby come back to bed."

Quinn watched with horror as Santana's mouth flew open. "Holy fucking hell is that the hobbit? Did she just call you baby?"

"Santana, please go outside," Quinn began to plead. Her hand was shaking now.

"Are you two getting it on now?" Santana asked.

"Please don't say anything. Don't tell anyone. I'll be down, just give me a minute."

"You big fat liar. Both of you." Santana said with excitement in her eyes.

"Santana."

Santana finally stopped staring and nodded agreeably. "Fine, I'm going, I won't tell anybody yet."

"Yet? Who are you going to tell?" Quinn said panicked.

"EVERYBODY." Santana said as she turned to walk away.


Rachel could see the horror in Quinn's face when she woke her up but Quinn wasn't talking. She'd mumbled something incoherently about Santana then started to get dressed. Rachel followed suit and over the course of the few minutes it took them to get dressed she pieced together what was going on. Santana was here. Waiting outside.

Quinn walked towards the elevator as if on her way to the gas chamber. Slowly, somber and with her head down. Rachel tried to take her hand to calm her down but Quinn shook it free and shoved it in the pocket of her sweater.

"Quinn it's just Santana, we can explain this." Rachel said with as much confidence as she could muster.

"Not just her, Puck, Brittany, and Mike Chang are with her. And Santana is going to tell on us."

Rachel's wheels began to turn. "What are they doing here?"

"They're coming to see if I want to go with them to New York to find you. I told you to call them back," Quinn said. She was upset, but not like Rachel had ever seen her before. She was afraid, she'd never seen Quinn afraid before.

"Quinn, I need to tell you something. I need to talk to you."

The elevator binged on the bottom floor and Quinn stepped off lost in her thoughts.

"I can't run from this. I can't back down. Put on your game face Rachel. I need you to be Lima Rachel right now. I need you to let me handle this. Let me do all the talking."

"Quinn, I need to tell you something." Rachel said reaching for Quinn's hand again but like last time Quinn snatched it away. She was gone, her gentle Quinn was gone, replaced by the old evil bitch Rachel had often found amusing lately. These days her presence was anything but funny. This could be bad she realized.

"Let's go." Quinn snapped. "I don't have all day, let's get it over with. Now remember, don't say anything."


Rachel was dragging her feet but Quinn didn't let it bother her. When she stepped outside into the fall air she saw Santana standing with Brittney, Mike Chang, and Puck near Brittany's mother's minivan. They'd driven nearly ten hours to get here and drag Rachel back to Lima. Ten hours, so Quinn knew they weren't going to leave without some sort of explanation.

"Hey." She screamed out excitedly rushing over to Brittany and wrapping her in a giant hug. When in doubt, act as if, she's always been told.

"Quinn." Brittany squealed. She accepted Quinn into her arms but her hug was gentle, careful. She was thinking about Quinn's back, her spine.

Puck had nearly ran her over and wrapped Rachel in a hug spinning her around off her feet in a circle. Santana was leaning against the van her eyes on Quinn as if she were waiting for something. There was humor in her eyes but in typical Santana fashion she threw Quinn for a loop when she opened her mouth.

"I told them Rachel came down to visit you last night after we talked to her." Santana said. "We probably should have spoken to you before we drove all the way down here."

Quinn shrugged. "It's good to see you guys."

"I'm starving, we're going to go grab something to eat." Mike said with Rachel in his arms. "You guys hungry?"

Quinn didn't blink. "Absolutely. I got my wallet and my keys, let's go right now."


Rachel's heart was pounding, she'd climbed into Quinn's passenger seat but once Santana saw the car she quickly hopped in the backseat. Brittany followed and it killed any chance she had to explain herself. This she knew, was going to be a disaster.


"I can't believe you have a freaking Range Rover. You're like eighteen years old."

Quinn shrugged. "I didn't buy it. My roommate's father is Tom Blake. She dates Kevin Dixon's son. They wrecked my car because they were drunk and my dad kept them from getting DUI's so their dads bought me a new car."

"You know these cost like seventy grand right." Santana said looking around. "It's not like Money Bags can't afford it though. I heard he has his own island. And I didn't even know who Kevin Dixon was until I started dating Sam. He has a poster of the guy in his bedroom. Or he did until his dad got them tossed out of their house."

"Are you guys dating?" Brittany asked. "You're acting weird and I'm getting lady kisses vibes from you both."

Quinn looked at her through her rearview mirror. "Brittany Rachel needed a place to crash and I helped her out. She was pretty upset last night."

Santana laughed. "That's an understatement. If she thinks she's upset she should see Soft Serve though. He's totally got a complex now. After finding out that the two girls who meant the most to him both cheated on him, he's totally crushed."

Quinn heard Rachel make a frustrated groan and shot her a look of confusion. Rachel cheated on Finn, she wondered. When was this? Rachel hadn't mentioned that. Unless she was talking about that idiot Pistol Pete Rachel made out with.

"Quinn." Rachel said quickly.

"When?" Quinn asked cooly. Rachel tried to speak but Santana beat her to it.

"With some guy in some band even, how desperately New York of you Berry." She looked up at Rachel over the seat, careful to lean in and speak directly into the girl's ear. "When was this hobbit?" Santana was smiling, relishing in Rachel's humiliation. Classic Santana.

"Yeah," Quinn asked. "When was this?"

"It doesn't matter. It didn't mean anything." Rachel said firmly but Quinn could tell she'd lost all sense of bravery and confidence.

"When?" Quinn asked again. This time there was no doubt in her tone that she wanted an answer to the question.

"Quinn." Rachel said pleadingly.

"WHEN?" Quinn snapped. She surprised herself and everyone else with her reaction. Santana was suddenly leaning back in her seat, her smile now gone, and Brittany was staring open mouthed but silent. "Before or after you told me nothing happened between you two?" She asked.

"Before." Rachel finally said softly. "I didn't want to tell you because I knew you'd be upset."

"So it's MY fault you've been lying to me for weeks about that boy? That skuzzball who looked at me like he wanted to punch me when I visited you last month."

"It's not important. It doesn't change anything Quinn." Rachel began to plead.

"I should have known. Nobody reacts that way over making out. God I'm so stupid. I should have seen it. And you told Finn about it and he told everyone else, that's why you haven't been answering your phone all week."

"You've been here together all week?" Brittany asked from the backseat. Santana shushed her.

"Quinn I was going to tell you," Rachel said.

"When, five seconds before you were about to get caught?"

"No, I wanted to tell you but not this weekend. I wanted to tell you in person but this trip was special."

Quinn scoffed. "Special. You lied to me. You didn't have to say anything about that boy but you did and then you lied. And that boy, that skuzzball, he hates me and it's all your fault."

"I don't care about Pete. I told you that. I told him that I wasn't available."

"How many times?"

"How many times what?" Rachel asked. Quinn knew she was playing dumb and wasn't about to let her off the hook.

"How many times did you knock boots?" Santana asked unhelpfully in the backseat.

"Once."

"Is that the truth or are you lying again?"

"That's not fair." Rachel said almost hurt.

"What isn't fair is you lying to me. I don't even care about the sex. It's the other thing that bothers me. You've been lying. You go on and on about me being honest with you and keeping my word and you lie to me for weeks."

"I was trying not to hurt you."

"By lying. Unprovoked, bold faced lying. You think getting lied to like an idiot for weeks doesn't hurt? Being played for a fool, that doesn't hurt?"

Rachel's head sank to her lap and Quinn watched her with an ounce of regret, she was being hard on her, and in front of their friends, but she couldn't let it go. Rachel had hurt her. The one person she was supposed to be totally honest with had hurt her.

"I'm sorry."

"If you say things are going to be a certain way then they actually have to be that way. Remember that? You said that to me after I missed our phone call. A phone call Rachel. You treated it like it was a natural disaster and now you go and do this." She let out a long frustrated breath. "Is that why you didn't want to mail the letter, because you were going to tell him the truth?"

"Yes."

"And at no point did it occur to you to tell me? Because I asked you specifically what was in that letter and you didn't want to talk about it."

"Because I knew you'd be upset with me and I didn't want to risk losing you." Quinn heard sniffles coming from Rachel's side of the car and realized the girl was crying. Her heart immediately broke. She sounded sorry, genuinely sorry.

"We'll talk about this later, in private." Quinn finally said mercifully ending the exchange.

They rode in silence for another few minutes before Santana leaned into the front seat. "So what's new with you guys?"

I hope this doesn't feel out of the blue. If you go back and re-read it, the signs are there. Subtle signs, but they're there none the less.