AN: As always, thanks for reading. And I appreciate any reviews. Title of this chapter comes from a Fleetwood Mac song. There is also a brief AN at the end of this chapter.
"Of course you know I'm in love with Rachel, you fucking bitch!"
Santana pushed the phone away from her ear to better block out the sound of Quinn's shrieking voice. Some greeting! Santana seriously considered hanging up, but thought better of it. She'd been in Quinn's position before: Eager to strike out at any moving target so as to avoid the reality of her feelings. But how could Quinn possibly know that Santana was aware of the girl's feelings for Rachel?
"Are Rachel and Kurt with you? Are you happy with yourselves? Did you drag Brittany into this, too?"
Santana frowned. What in the holy fuck was Quinn talking about? And the only place Santana dragged Brittany was into her bed.
"How much fun are you having right now? I'm surprised you were able to stop laughing long enough to call me. This whole thing was beneath even you, Santana."
Seeking to shut down Quinn's momentum, Santana grasped at the very first idea that entered her mind. She screamed into the phone. No words left Santana's mouth; just a high-pitched yelp cultivated from years of yelling out from the sidelines at football games. She figured it would buy her some time and shock Quinn into silence. It worked a little too well. Quinn hung up on her.
"Fuck me!" Santana shouted, still unable to lower her voice. She quickly dialed Quinn's number again. She was actually surprised when Quinn picked up, but Santana had lost whatever slim advantage she might've gained after screaming at Quinn. She was about to speak when Quinn cut her off.
"I thought we were friends, Santana! And you don't even like Rachel!" It sounded to Santana like Quinn was crying, but she couldn't be certain.
Santana dropped her voice an octave and used the tone she usually only reserved for Brittany. "Quinn, I'm not following your logic right now. I'm not exactly friends with Rachel, but I don't hate her. And as for you, Fabray, I am your friend, and that is why I texted you and called you and allowed you to call me a fucking bitch."
"Tell me you weren't plotting with Rachel, Santana, just tell me that."
"Plotting with Berry to do what, exactly? Honestly, Quinn, I barely speak to Rachel! I saw her last night in the park, she ran from me, and today I tried to figure out why. And I learned an interesting fact about you from Rachel. Apparently, you like to push girls around."
Santana knew she might be dangerously close to having Quinn hang up on her again. So, before she could even catch her breath, she continued, "You need to talk to me, Quinn. I'm not quite sure what is going on in that bat-shit crazy mind of yours, but I think I can help you."
Quinn laughed. "Help me with what? Rachel?"
"Well, yeah, actually. I seriously don't understand your attraction to her, but whatever." Santana waved her hand dismissively in the air. "If she's the one that makes you see rainbows and unicorns and all that shit, I can get on board."
There was silence on the other end of the line. Santana was beginning to wonder if it was the word rainbows or the word unicorns that had made Quinn hang up on her this time. Quinn finally spoke.
"Rachel doesn't want me. And I'm sick of being her punching bag."
Santana had to bite back the comment that sprung immediately to mind: Seems like Rachel was your punching bag, Quinn.
Instead, Santana said something she was certain Brittany would be proud to hear. "Quinn, you love Rachel. You need to try for her. Really try for her, or you are going to lose her." Santana wasn't sure she should mention Finn just yet.
"Oh believe me, I've tried for her. I can't do it anymore, especially not now. Not after last night."
Santana was certain that it was simply embarrassment keeping Quinn from coming to her senses. The girl must be pretty upset with herself for hurting Rachel. Santana had stayed away from Brittany for days after their "I love you" conversation, and there'd been no physical violence on their end. But in that time Santana had lost Brittany to Artie. Quinn was on the verge of making the same mistake and she didn't even know it!
"You can work through it with her. Don't you think you'll regret it if you don't try?"
"Why do you care so much? If this isn't some type of scheme between you guys, why are you even bothering right now? It's not like we're close anymore."
She wasn't sure why Quinn was so hung up on this weird conspiracy theory. Would she next accuse Santana of somehow being involved in the JFK assassination?
Santana looked back toward McKinley: The place that made her so afraid. And the place that made her so happy because that was where she'd fallen in love with Brittany. She thought about how miserable she'd been without Brittany. Thought about what might've happened to her if they hadn't found their way back to each other. Was she willing to let Quinn go through that?
Quinn repeated her question: "Answer me, Santana, or I'm hanging up. And don't even bother calling me back."
She weighed her options. She could come back with some quip about how she didn't really care at all. Quinn could do whatever the hell she wanted. Fuck you, Fabray.
She could have said any of those things. Instead, she took a steadying breath and told the truth.
"I care because I'm in love with Brittany. I was mean to her before I finally wised up…and you are doing the same thing with Rachel." Santana closed her eyes and waited for Quinn's verdict.
"Santana, I've known for years that you're in love with Brittany."
She let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding and laughed. "Well, I wish you would've clued me in. Might have saved me some trouble."
"I didn't know you required any assistance." Was Quinn bantering with her now? If so, she might be able to convince Quinn to talk to Rachel. At least Quinn was no longer rattling on about absurd plots against her that didn't even exist.
Santana decided to take another risk. "Oh, I'm perfectly capable of handling Brittany. Can't say the same about you when it comes to Rachel."
"I'm really not in the mood for your snark."
"What are you in the mood for? Wallowing in your mistakes? Pissing off the girl you love?"
"Being in love with her changes nothing. She's already fucked me over too many times."
"Uh…pretty sure it was you that had the major meltdown, not Rachel."
"Whatever, Santana. It…is…over."
"But it doesn't have to be! Talk to her!" Santana felt like punching a wall. Rachel and Quinn were just too perfect for each other; both too stubborn to give an inch. And it was making Santana excruciatingly tired. She'd had to deal with the emotional baggage of both girls that morning and she usually spoke only two or three words to them per day, if even that! She was rapidly reaching her breaking point and so she made a decision she knew wouldn't make Brittany proud of her. Not at all.
"Listen carefully to me, Fabray. Kurt convinced Rachel to sleep with Finn to get over you. You know Finn still has the hots for Rachel, so he'll totally be all up in that." So what if Santana had embellished the truth? She'd sort it out later.
Quinn practically growled, "If he so much as touches her, I'll tear off his nuts with my teeth."
"Gag me! Too. Much. Information. Howz about you get your sweet ass to the Lima Bean and we can come up with a plan together?"
"Can't. I'm not even in Lima."
"Then where the fuck are you?"
"On my way to Dayton. I was planning on spending the weekend with my cousin. I just needed…away."
"I think it best you change your plans and come back."
"I can't talk to her today, Santana. It'll wreck me."
"This from the girl who just threatened to rip off Finn's balls. Well, you certainly weren't planning on using them to grow a pair of your own. Man up, Quinn. Turn yourself around and meet up with me somewhere. Either that or I'll have no excuse for blowing off school. And I really need out of here today."
She could almost hear the gears turning in Quinn's mind. The static on the other end of the line grew heavier. Was Quinn not going to say anything else at all? Santana feared her efforts were in vain. At least she'd be able to tell Brittany that she came out…to one person. Still, that had to count for something. Santana was calculating how many brownie points she might earn with Brittany when Quinn's voice forced her back to reality.
"All right." There was no mistaking the fear and resignation in Quinn's voice. "I'll talk to Rachel, but not until later. I need time to think. And you need to go back to class. Coach will never let you hear the end of it if she finds out you skipped out on classes today." And with that, Quinn hung up on Santana.
Santana grinned. Quinn Fabray always had to have the last word. But she was too drained to care at this point. She made her way sluggishly back to McKinley and hoped she could convince Brittany to give her a massage later that day. She sure as hell deserved one.
(Break)
Quinn made a decision almost as soon as she ended her call with Santana. And her decision was to go into her conversation with Rachel with no clear plan. No agenda. No prepared speech. She was going to wing it. If Quinn thought too long about what she might say to Rachel, she'd end up talking herself out of even approaching her. The only thing she clung to was that Rachel loved her once, and Quinn believed that it was possible for Rachel to love her again. And knowing that Finn was soon coming back into the picture only meant that Quinn was going to have to talk to Rachel soon. Maybe that night, even. Who knows how long before Rachel followed through on her plan to sleep with Finn? Tonight might be Quinn's last chance. And did it mean that Rachel still cared for her – if even just a little – if she wanted to have sex with Finn to get back at her?
Quinn stopped herself. She was overthinking, again. She was just going to drive home, take a nap, follow that up with a shower, and go over to Rachel's house in the evening. With her non-plan of a plan in place, Quinn turned her car around and headed back to Lima.
(Break)
Kurt thought he must somehow be related to Cupid himself. He first approached Finn at lunch and convinced his step-brother to ask Rachel on a date. He then convinced Rachel to accept Finn's offer by the end of the school day. Rachel and Finn were set to go out the following evening.
"Are you sure you're doing the right thing?" Blaine looked at his boyfriend with a bemused smile.
"Of course I am! You know how Finn goes on and on about Rachel. This is perfect!"
"Yeah, but does Rachel go on and on about Finn? I don't know her very well, but she doesn't seem all that in to him. And, she's not gonna be over Quinn so quickly."
"This will help her get over Quinn! And it will make Finn happy. It's a win-win!"
Kurt was oblivious to the worry hidden beneath Blaine's smile. He was already planning out possible outfits for Finn to wear on his date with Rachel. Nothing too flashy; that might scare her off. Nothing too simple; she might think he wasn't trying hard enough. Kurt couldn't wait to get home that afternoon and sort through Finn's wardrobe.
(Break)
Quinn circled Rachel's block at least a dozen times. She managed to watch the sunset over Lima as she retraced her route again and again. She knew Rachel's fathers weren't home since neither of their cars were in the driveway, but she was having trouble gathering her courage. She was looking for a way out of this situation. But then she thought of Finn. And Rachel with Finn. She made one last loop through the neighborhood and pulled into Rachel's driveway.
She wiped her sweaty hands on her jeans before knocking on the door. She very nearly turned and ran when the door opened and Quinn came face to face with a Berry she wasn't expecting to see.
(Break)
Hiram's day had been nothing short of awful. His car broke down on the way to work and he'd waited hours for a tow truck. The mechanic just made things worse by informing Hiram that they'd have to order a part for his vehicle. When he finally got to work, he spilled coffee on his favorite tie: The one with tiny musical notes on it that Rachel had given him for Father's Day when she was ten. It was the first gift she'd ever picked out by herself. He had to bum a ride home from work because Leroy was pulling an all-nighter at his accounting firm. At least Hiram was able to go home fairly early. An afternoon of silence would be good for him.
All of that changed when Hiram walked into Rachel's room in search of her Funny Girl DVD. A piece of glass stuck painfully into his foot. Hiram howled out in pain and hopped around his daughter's room. He stared down at his foot and back up at Rachel's mirror. It was broken. Scratch that. It was shattered. Just what in the name of Moses had happened in here?
Hiram tried to control his emotions as he cleaned up the mess in his daughter's room. He glanced at her desk clock. She'd be home from school soon. There wasn't any need to panic. No need to call Leroy and beg him to come home. Rachel would have a good explanation.
Rachel was barely able to walk through the door after school before Hiram let loose with a barrage of questions.
"Rachel, why was there glass all over your bedroom floor? What happened to your mirror? Why didn't you tell me about this over breakfast?"
It was clear Rachel was trying to come up with an excuse – a deception, he sensed it! – because she took too long to answer.
"It's really nothing, Daddy." Rachel shrugged nonchalantly. Hiram wasn't buying it.
He knew he was overprotective when it came to Rachel. But he also allowed her a great deal of freedom. Why was she holding back from him now? He'd made it abundantly clear that she could trust him. He'd not pestered her once about her relationship – was it a relationship? – with Quinn Fabray. And he happened to know that Rachel was spending many an evening with one Quinn Fabray.
A thought sprung up and took root in Hiram's mind. He glanced at his daughter.
"Does this have anything to do with Quinn?"
Hiram could tell by the way Rachel squared her shoulders and averted her gaze from his own that she was about to lie to him.
"Rachel, be careful before you speak to me. Because I think you are getting ready to lie to your Daddy."
Rachel burst into tears. "Yes, okay, yes! It does have to with Quinn. I told her I loved her and she got mad at me. She broke my mirror…and…and left me. Are you happy now? Now that you know the truth?" Rachel ran up to her room and Hiram decided to let her be for the moment. This was one situation he wasn't about to face without Leroy with him.
But he took some time to think about Quinn. He remembered that he'd felt bad for her after his last – his only! - conversation with Rachel about the girl. He realized now that he'd underestimated Rachel's feelings for Quinn. He had rather foolishly assumed from Rachel's apparent detachment at the time of their talk that Rachel wasn't fully invested in Quinn. But he had been wrong. And he now mainly just felt sorry for himself.
A knock on the front door pulled Hiram from his thoughts. He opened the door to find Quinn Fabray staring wide-eyed up at him. He quickly shut the door and stepped onto the porch. Quinn took two steps back.
"You've got a lot of nerve, little girl. Did you honestly think you could breeze right back into my home after what you did to Rachel?"
Quinn stared hard at the top of Hiram's head. He found that telling; the fact that Quinn wouldn't meet his eyes.
"You need to turn around, get back in your car, and go home. You aren't welcome here."
He didn't wait for Quinn to say anything before slamming the door in her face.
Rachel yelled down to ask who had been at the door. Hiram told her it was just some neighborhood kid trying to sell magazine subscriptions. He wasn't sure how he felt about lying to his daughter, but that was for him to worry about later. Not too much time passed before Rachel came back downstairs looking calm and collected. Hiram knew then that lying to Rachel had been the right move. Seeing Quinn would've only upset her all over again.
"If it's okay with you, Daddy, I'm going over to Finn's house. I think it'll make me feel better to be around him right now."
Hiram thought that was an excellent idea. He'd always liked Finn Hudson. The boy might not be Jewish, but he wasn't super-Christian, either. And he could always convert! He gave Rachel his blessing, kissed her on the check, promised her things would look up soon, and waved at her as she walked out the door.
AN2: So…do you think Rachel is really going over to Finn's house? I already know the answer, but I could be swayed to change my mind (maybe).
