I hope you all enjoyed this week's Glee! I loved Summer Nights, and the small Brittana moment.

Didn't update quite as fast this time! I know the last chapter was really racy, so from now on I'll try and make each one 3000+ words. It took longer to write this because I wanted to work on some character development, as I realized I really had no idea how to portray Quinn and Rachel!


"I like what you've done to your hair Quinn, it's so fiery and well… awesome."

"Really? I thought I looked a little insane."

"No, it's great! It's very… spirited." Rachel replied, trying to develop a sophisticated vocabulary again.

Quinn thought back at all the times Rachel had complimented her looks, or her personality – as volatile as it was, to say the least – and how she'd never once mentioned a 'thank you' or shown any other form of gratitude. Her memories stung; the last thing she'd ever done to Rachel was abandon her on the worst day of their lives. Little did Rachel know that it was one of Quinn's biggest regrets, and to this day she still occasionally thought about the girl stranded on the school steps. Hopefully Rachel had forgotten that. Quinn was a different person now; yes she used to hate Rachel with a burning passion, yes she and Santana used to ridicule her on MySpace, or harass her with an arsenal of nicknames; RuPaul, midget, that 'thing'

But it was over now. Their lives had been flipped upside down, beaten around, set on fire and left to rot… Quinn was beyond happy to have Rachel in her company. In fact, she was so 'elated', that when Rachel had gone upstairs without her noticing, Quinn suddenly had a panic attack, thinking she had run off and abandoned her. She was terrified to let her out of her sight; terrified of saying something that would push her away. So Quinn kept her mouth shut about their difficult past, at least for now.

"Tell me how you've managed to survive all this time."

Rachel thought long and hard about how to answer. Quinn had suggested that they catch up on ground level, so there they were, sitting in her dusty, derelict sitting room, enjoying the morning sunshine for as long as they could. Rachel had just finished devouring her first meal in two days, and the two of them were now sipping hot cups of coffee – God knows how Quinn managed to stock up on such a variety of beverages – and reclining in armchairs.

"You know, I've been running, like most people. The thing is, I never once saw anyone, so I've been alone these two years, just living day to day. There really isn't much to it – surviving. My dads… we were all together at first, but… there was a raid one night; there were so many of them… and they were bitten, so naturally I had to… finish them off."

Rachel said, getting her last few words out with difficulty. Despite it being so long ago, this was the first time she'd ever spoken of it to anyone. She felt a little weight leave her shoulders though, releasing her memories to Quinn. The blonde turned to face Rachel, giving her a sincere, sympathetic smile. She'd gotten over her parents' deaths too long ago, accepting and suppressing any the emotions about it.

"Yeah, I know how it feels. My dad was bitten on the very night the quarantine was announced; it was so long ago, and so fast! In fact, you're sitting in the very chair he… um… died in…" Quinn bit her lip, eyes falling down to study her feet. Hmm, I really need more socks…

Rachel took her hand off the armrest a little too carefully for comfort. "Oh."

She furrowed her brow in unease as she sunk into herself, feeling as though she was now sitting on a grave.

"Should I move to another-"

"Oh no! It's alright, I'm over it." Quinn said it like she had just dumped a lousy boyfriend. "No need to feel weird or anything, I mean, it's just a chair. No big deal, really." She chuckled a bit, remembering her father in that armchair… 'Quinn honey, pass me my scotch. This chair's too damn good for me to move from!' The memory pricked at her eyes for a second, praying that they'd stop talking about dead parents now.

Meanwhile Rachel took the little chuckle completely the wrong way, but pretended to disregard Quinn's shift of personality and perception of her parents – who were dead, you know, just in case you forgot – to stare slightly contemptuously at her coffee, figuring that a little of the old, cheerio Quinn was present. Though Rachel said nothing too, fighting to remain the ever forgiving, grateful person she had always been. Quinn had saved her life, after all, for whatever reason. She couldn't stop thinking about it though. Her own memories swarmed to the front of her mind, where this Quinn, the one she was sitting adjacent to, had tortured and teased her day after day, fought each other over the same boys, when maybe all they were really doing was fighting each other.

An uncomfortable silence wedged its way between them again, forcing sweat from their palms and their twitchy eyes to hit the floor. Quinn swirled the coffee around in her mug; it needed more sugar.

Now a battle raged inside Rachel's own mind. She's being so nice to you! …But long ago she was ordering slushies thrown in my face… And yet she carried you all the way here, cleaned you up, and dressed your wounds! … And she'd humiliated me, ridiculed my face all over the bathroom walls; she even slapped me during prom, if you forgot.

Rachel held to her coffee for dear life, gnawing on her lower lip. She forced herself to take long, slow breaths, as the thoughts fumed, bursting at the seams of her mind. The angry old blabbermouth living within Rachel absolutely could not be released at any cost, not when you were possibly with the only other girl left on earth.


Quinn was getting hungry, and it was getting a bit too quiet, especially when there was one normally very talkative blabbermouth sitting right next to her.

"Hey, I think I'm gonna get-"

"Quinn, don't you think you were acting just a little bit odd about your parents just now?" Rachel interrupted, completely failing to withhold her inner bigmouth. Once released, it could not be contained.

"Wait what? I don't under-"

"I just think you might've been just a tiny bit disrespectful towards your parents there, you know?" Rachel let her frustration out little by little, plastering on a polite-yet-snide smile, once very familiar to Quinn.

The blonde was dumbfounded; this had been thoroughly unexpected. What the hell was going on?

"Wait. I didn't mean to be disrespectful, not at all! I just-"

"Really? Because then you might want to note down a few things regarding what respect actually is, since you quite clearly-"

"Hold up, back up for a second. And stop interrupting so I can talk! No, I wasn't being trying to rude at all, I was merely trying to make our conversation sound a little less depressing, you know? Because talking about our dead parents getting torn to pieces is definitely the most pleasant thing to be reminiscing about! Why is not wanting to talk about it such a big problem with you anyway?" Quinn stood up from her chair, staring down at Rachel in confusion more than irritation. What on earth was going through that girl's mind? "Can we just... can we talk about something else?"

Rachel stood up to her, ignoring her question, totally lost in the argument and beyond return. "Did you not hear yourself casually dismissing your own dead father just now?" She held up her hands to exaggerate quotation marks, raising her voice in a slightly comical imitation of Quinn's. "'I'm over it! It's no big deal! My dad's dead, so what!' Your own father died in this chair, in your own house! Doesn't that impact you at all? How can you just stand there and be so heartless?" She walked right up to Quinn, glaring at her.

"Heartless? Why don't you just run your hand up that little stomach of yours; remind yourself of the hours of heartlessness I put into fixing that up." Quinn inched closer to Rachel's face, both of them radiating fumes of rage at one another.

"Don't go using that as an excuse for what you just said Quinn, and don't you dare try and use it to cover up all the shit I suffered under your precious cheerio pedestal you thought you sat on back at McKinley." Rachel spat, lifting her nose at Quinn, proud of her sudden outburst of profanity. She was very aware what she'd just brought up, preparing to deal with the catastrophe that would now come.

Quinn took a step back in utter disbelief, scrunching up her face in sudden abhorrence.

"So this is what it's all about."

Somewhere deep inside her, the sixteen-year-old 'HBIC' resurrected, ready to do Quinn's bidding after almost four long, dormant years.


Neither girl foresaw that their road to friendship would lead to disaster so soon.

All hell broke loose at the Fabray residence. It had literally been less than two hours since Rachel woke up, and already all the high school terror the girls had spent three years suppressing was now being unleashed in a fiery battle unlike any other. No number of undead swarms could match their fury. They completely disregarded the dystopian state of the world around them, not caring that the zombies could possibly hear and come hunting. All that existed in this moment were two adolescent girls, doing what adolescent girls did best.

"You stole Finn. There isn't any other word for it! There was nothing done on my part that would've made him suddenly fall into your pygmy arms. You stole him. Get that into your tiny little head Rachel, you STOLE, like a stupid rat."

"Are you delirious? You were a horrible girlfriend with a snappy attitude and extraordinary demands! How can you possibly say you had nothing to do with Finn's straying? You never understood him like I did, he simply used you for your status and irritatingly desirable features!"

There was a pause as Rachel realized what she'd just said. Thankfully her face was already red with anger, and Quinn didn't notice the blush, already throwing out her comeback.

"Are you so absorbed in your self-worth that you think things just gravitate around you? Yes, Rachel, Finn simply just glimpsed at you and saw your glorious stardom," Quinn snapped sarcastically. "Well he couldn't have missed his journey to the stars, especially since your schnoz is the size of his ass!"

And on and on it went. Like two women desperately trying to win a game of tennis, slapping the ball back and forth at each other. In a way their 'argument' acted as a cleansing system, for these high school grudges had kept with them until now. Another half hour passed before real feelings started settling in. Even the HBIC Quinn was getting worn out from the screaming, trying to yell over the expert windbag that Rachel was.

"Don't even get me started on that stint with Puckerman!"

"What? You have no right! You hypocritical little-"

"Oh don't start you try and throw this back at me Quinn; I wasn't the one screwing two boys at once, like the filthy slut you were!"

If you watched from space you would probably be able to catch a spark coming from Lima's position on earth, as though a massive bomb had just gone off.

And one did, right inside Quinn. She stood there gaping at the red-faced brunette, obviously taken aback for a second. At Rachel's remark she pounced on the smaller girl, who was surprisingly agile. Rachel grabbed hold of Quinn's shoulders and shoved her back against the wall, clearly experienced from handling zombies for years. But Quinn didn't stop there. As surprised as she was at the girl's strength, she didn't let it faze her, and proceeded to grab Rachel again.

Both girls wrestled each other, grunting and yelling out a little too disturbingly. Rachel pulled at Quinn's short hair, suddenly loathing the style, regretting all the compliments she'd given her so happily this morning.

"And by the way," Rachel squawked as Quinn pushed her to the floor, "your hair sucks!"

"You lying wretch!" Quinn screamed at her, slamming her on the floor. Without really noticing, she straddled Rachel, pinning her arms down.

Rachel struggled against Quinn's compromising hold, squirming underneath like a dying insect. "Get the hell off me!" She cried, not wanting to admit physical defeat.

At her impending victory, Quinn softened her grip, just slightly. Rachel huffed, the curls on her face blowing away. "Take it all back." Quinn demanded with deadly calm, staring daggers down on the girl below her.

"Slut!" Rachel taunted. She used Quinn's loosened grip to her advantaged and yanked her arms away, then twisting her body out from under Quinn. She stood up gruffly, throwing her hair away from her face in a frenzy.

"That's what you are to me, Quinn, even though no one else would admit it! A promiscuous, selfish whore, who never did anything unless it was for her own gain! Finn, Puck, Sam, and then back to Finn! What were you, checking the boys off your long list!" Rachel hissed, staring at the wide-eyed Quinn kneeling in front of her.

"Come senior year you were already hanging with the skanks. You didn't even stop to notice me!" At that Quinn's face dropped into bewilderment. "Guess what Quinn? I knew everything. I saw what you really were! You never fooled me with your little angelic exterior! And I tried to see past it! I tried really hard to be there for you, Quinn, because I knew somewhere inside, you had to be more than that. But what did you do? You were silent! You pushed me away!"

Rachel's next words fell out of her mouth. "God, You even left me standing on the school steps!"

There was a long pause.

Quinn jaw dropped. She was speechless, just staring up at Rachel, who had tears forming at the corners in her eyes. They gaped at one another, Rachel beginning to break down and Quinn just… Quinn just melted; memory sent screaming back to the freezing December day as she watched a helpless Rachel stand – trembling like she was now – in front of the school, for the millionth time in her mind. How lost and hopeless her face looked… And then she slammed back to the present, watching the very same expression work its way onto Rachel's face again. She knelt frozen before the shaking girl, though inside her core had turned to liquid. Rachel had hit her right at the very centre; and still she said nothing, just soaking up the girl's words; feeling the heavy pound of her pulse in her head. This girl had been there in Quinn's background all along; she'd really wanted to be more than silent strangers. And Quinn had only thrown it in her face.

Rachel was now on the verge of crying. She wrenched her gaze away from those piercing hazel eyes gaping up at her and ran down to the basement, holding her fragile stomach as a sob slipped from her mouth. Absolutely every demon of a thought had been flushed from her conscience, and now she felt completely empty of emotion.


Quinn wandered down some street in Lima in a haphazard, the last of her tears drying in the sun. She kicked at empty soda cans and other debris from ransacked buildings. It had been three bland hours since Rachel slammed the door of the basement as Quinn knelt, completely blown away by the things she had said; the things she'd tried to do for Quinn. And now the blonde had no idea how to face the girl that had tried to be part of her life. Rachel cared for Quinn, and she had no idea! How blind could she have been? Rachel was right, Quinn was so self absorbed in her reputation and struggle to appear desirable to all the school jocks that she'd entirely overlooked those who actually cared. During that September she'd pushed both Santana and Brittany away, disassociating herself from the cheerios, and beyond that she'd even fled from the open arms of the glee club. What was that all for?

The girl kicked over a garbage can in anger. She hated thinking about high school. It was all so trivial and irrelevant! Why did it still matter so much? Because it's the only life I've ever had apart from this mess.

Quinn suddenly stopped, realizing she'd walked right by McKinley.

There they sat, the front steps of her school, silently scoffing like they were taunting her for the last bad decision Quinn had made here. The place was overgrown with weeds and bushes, she watched as a squirrel made its way out of the smashed in entrance. All this time, Quinn had not been near the school, not daring to let any fragments of life here slip back into her mind. There was too much sentimentality, too much sorrow associated with this place, as terrible as high school had been.

Everyone believed she had it all. The queen bee, leader of the cheerios and celibacy club (though celibate was an amusing word to describe Quinn with, to say the least), everyone either respected or feared her. Most likely feared her. But Quinn lived in an entirely different world to what everybody saw. She herself lived in constant fear, fear that if she took one misstep her entire reputation would crumble before her eyes; fear that if she were too nice to anyone, they'd take advantage of her. Everybody thought she had piles of friends, being so popular. However in reality Quinn only had Santana and Brittany, who half the time were so busy wrapped up in each other to even notice her.

And Rachel. Rachel, who saw through the entire façade, even when Quinn was the epitome of a closed book. It was so noble, so magnanimously beautiful that a girl from the bottom of the social food chain had put aside any loathing she had, to simply try and be there for her. Quinn realized in that second that Rachel had been everything she ever needed. With such a capacity for forgiveness, Rachel was a perfect opportunity for a clean break from her horrible life; one Quinn had evidently missed.

She slowly edged towards the entrance in caution. Each step taken towards the school reminded her even more of the life she spent in it's halls. No. Not today. She couldn't bring herself to go in yet. Perhaps there were zombies in there, making better use of the place than she ever did. So she turned around and continued her 'stroll' through Lima, trying to stay away from her own house for as long as possible.

How could she return with dignity? There was no way. She'd lost it the moment she became the heartless head cheerio. The only appropriate thing Quinn could think of doing was to kneel before Rachel's feet and beg for her forgiveness; maybe even kiss the floor Rachel walked on. And even that would not make her worthy again. But the sun was beginning to fall from its high point in the sky, making the heat coerce the blonde into heading home. It was mortifyingly embarrassing; the HBIC had been bested, and rightfully so. Thank God Santana is not here to see this.

Quinn walked back home, and stood on her overgrown lawn for an painfully long twenty minutes, pacing back and forth. She practiced what she was going to say, with no idea how Rachel would react. After all, she barely knew her! So how did Rachel happen to know so much about Quinn? She must've been stalking me all this time, Quinn thought egotistically, before punishing herself for still thinking like the heartless devil she used to be. It would probably take some time to change that habit. Quinn continued to practice talking to her rusty, eroding mailbox, trying to access the compassionate and empathetic side of herself that had been locked away for... well, forever.

Meanwhile, Rachel watched through the peephole in the front door. What on earth was Quinn doing? Why is she talking to herself? It had only been three hours, had she gone insane again? More perplexed than anxious, she grabbed the door handle and swung it open, causing Quinn's face to shoot up in scarlet embarrassment. In an instant the girls noticed they had both been crying, as their eyes were puffy and their hair was a total mess.

Quinn move to stand on the pathway to her house, hazel eyes now filled with shame and humility. All the 'practice' apologizing she'd just been doing washed out of her mind, mouth opening and closing in indecisiveness. She gave up on words pretty quickly. Now her face seemed to be pleading to Rachel, and she alternated between fiddling with her hands and her shirt. For once she kept her gaze locked on Rachel's eyes, no longer afraid of awkwardness or giving a strange impression. She'd already accomplished in doing much more than that. So Quinn stood there biting her lip, outside her own home, silently begging for the forgiveness of the girl who had once been the bane of her life.

Rachel stood in the doorway, watching Quinn with her tail between her legs. Her first thought was success! Oh how the tables had turned. Quinn was at her mercy, begging to reinter her own house! However, the look on Quinn's face reminded Rachel of herself once, weak and helpless that December day. Rachel was not one to play hypocrites. She turned to her side, signaling for Quinn to come in.


They sat on cross-legged on the carpet; Quinn was leaning into her hand while Rachel sat against the bed, not bending her patched-up stomach over too far. Quinn was well aware of what was expected. Two words were really all that were required, yet, a simple 'I'm sorry' was obviously not quite enough to insure the physical and psychological damage she had done to Rachel over the last four years. But what else could she say? How could she make it up to her?

She studied Rachel, who was drumming her fingers on her knees, probably humming a tune in her head while she waited patiently for Quinn to speak. Was she expecting an apology? Of course she is you idiot! Oh well, she had to start somewhere. Quinn swallowed.

"Rachel," Quinn started, almost in a whisper. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Rachel. I need you to know that... on the day school was closed, and I... left you there," she looked up at the girl opposite, hazel eyes pleading for support. The brunette returned the gaze with expectant eyes, urging her on.

"You've got to understand. I panicked, I was selfish and absorbed in my own worries and plans and... Rachel. I'm so sorry. I'm so, truly sorry. And I-I know it solves nothing, I know that what's done is done. But I want you to know that it's been one of my biggest regrets - leaving you there. I think about it a lot, what I could've - should have - done instead. That's why I'm afraid of visiting the school, because all the horrible things I did to not just you, but to everyone; I'm afraid of remembering them." Quinn looked away in shame, something she was still unaccustomed to. Even so, she soldiered on, finally opening her soul for Rachel to see.

"In senior year, I realized we had something between us, even if it wasn't friendship. Quitting the cheerios gave me a new sense of humbleness, and you may always think of me as the obnoxious, cruel bitch from school, but I wasn't that person in senior year Rachel, you have to know that I was trying to change. And you, you were there this whole time, looking out for me even when you had every right to hate me, but I never noticed. I should have, though. I should have come begging for your forgiveness years ago. I'm aware that I'll never be worthy of it now... just... please, please know that I'm sorry." She sighed, voice about to break. Quinn looked at Rachel imploringly with glistening eyes. This was the first time she'd spoken so openly about her feelings. Not even Santana - especially not Santana - had heard such emotion come from the usually very isolated blonde. Despite that, Quinn believed it had been a pathetic apology, one that probably gave Rachel no solace at all.

An excruciatingly long moment passed, before Rachel sat up, opening her mouth to speak. "I understand." She said, sincerity in her voice. "Thank you Quinn, for opening up to me... I really appreciate it. And thank you for letting me know that you're... sorry. Maybe... Now we'll have a chance to start over?" She dipped her head at Quinn, a weak smile playing on her lips. Something about her reaction was not as consoling as Quinn thought it would be. But she'd have to take what she was offered.

"I would very much like that. Thank you." Quinn replied meekly. Does this mean she's forgiven me...

"Okay." It was all Rachel said.


They had their dinner at the basement dining table, where the howls of the zombies just barely penetrated through the walls. Though with each other's company - as tense as it still was - they were not intimidated by the sinister screams anymore. Most of the night was spent in silence, quietly appreciating the fact that they were no longer haunted by loneliness. But that was as far as this tranquility took them. No playful chatter, no more joyous laughing like they had shared yesterday; instead there was just more silence. Quinn started to wonder how this was any different to being totally alone; the only real obvious differences being that there was now one more person using up the oxygen in the room, and eating her unwanted vegetables. Quinn longed for Rachel to say something, anything to her... And more than that she yearned to be able to tell her anything, anything that would bring them back to good terms. Admit it, you want Rachel to be your friend... You want to be able to tell her all your stories... You want to be able to tell her to stop picking at her peas... You want to tell her that she's got an eyelash on that massive nose of her's, and you want to be able to say it's massive without insulting her... You want to reach over and just brush the eyelash away, like it was the simplest thing...

Quinn stared at the girl pushing peas around, hand resting in her palm again, dying inside. Who knew one could be so lonely when there was someone less than a metre away? Rachel twirled a hand around her wavy long hair, reminding Quinn of how she'd spent that horrible night washing the blood away from her body. Rachel'd never asked how she woke up so clean, and Quinn was too embarrassed to explain how anyway. It had been a strange experience for Quinn. After spending day upon day violently slaughtering undead, nursing someone back to health was the exact opposite. Quinn refused to admit to herself that she'd liked - even relished in - running her hands through Rachel's long hair, brushing the blood off her smooth, pale skin. It was such a change from shooting and stabbing that the whole night had been ridiculously exhilarating. But Quinn hastily crammed the thought to the back of her mind, not wanting to burst into tears at the table from her stupid, stupid emotions! Get it together.

"You have an eyelash on your nose." Quinn blurted out. Oh God. Why did I just say that.

Rachel looked up, slightly dazed. "Oh. Thanks." She took it onto her finger, closed her eyes, and blew it away. Quinn couldn't help but smirk silently to herself.

"What'd you wish for?" Quinn asked, trying really hard to maintain a tone of seriousness, despite the childish subject matter.

For you to say something to me.

"Um... for those zombies to shut up." Rachel muttered, eyes glued to her plate in despondence.

"Yeah, that's probably never gonna happen." Quinn replied, the tone in her voice softening. "They know I live around here, you see. Damn those zombies."

Rachel slowly raised her head then, seemingly her wish had come true. She smiled oddly to herself, letting out a small chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Quinn asked.

"What? Oh, nothing, just..." Rachel paused for a moment, formulating words. "It's just... I'm grateful not to be alone tonight, even if we're... you know..." She trailed off, not wanting to ruin the mood. Quinn decided to ignore the last part of her sentence.

Instead, a warm smile returned to her face, melding with Rachel's chocolate gaze.


Finally! It took three days to write that! I now have a few plans for the story, at last. I hope my rendition of faberry has been satisfying so far... It may take up to three more days for the next chapter! Although next week I am on holiday, so I'll have more time to write.

Please review in the meantime! Any suggestions for the plot would be great. And if you managed to read through any disastrous spelling/grammar mistakes, I applaud you!