A/N- I don't actually have much to write here except for thanks again for reading and reviewing and all that jazz.

I only have my chapters planned out up through "Sectionals", but I'm starting to brainstorm ideas for the second half of season one and I'm excited, so you should be too. Or not. It's fine. It's a free world. Kind of...

YEAH. Here's chapter nine. *triumphant fist bump*


Santana had her purse tucked tightly under her arm, glancing around self-consciously as she made her way down the school hallway. She'd been out of uniform for two weeks now, and on top of that, she was beginning to show. She was trying her best to hide her pregnancy, but most of the clothes in her wardrobe were tight-fitting and revealing. Today she was wearing a simple white baby-doll dress and a yellow cardigan. She felt absolutely ridiculous.

"Wow," Finn said, closing his locker and gawking at her as she approached him. "You look…"

"They're Quinn's," Santana snapped. "She let me borrow some stuff."

Finn's nostrils flared uncomfortably. "That's…nice of her…"

Santana didn't want to think about how unfair it was. "Look, Hudson, we have a problem," She hissed, sliding her purse down her arm and shoving her hand into it. She pulled out an opened envelope. "I finally went to the doctor that everyone was so insistent that I see."

"What?" Finn sounded a bit hurt. "I wanted to go with you. Is everything okay?"

"Oh, don't worry. Baby beluga is as healthy as can be," Santana snapped. "But do you know how much it costs to see a doctor without insurance? I can't afford this, Finn, and if I don't pay it, they're going to start sending bills to my parents."

"Santana, we're going to have to tell them eventually,"

"We're not going to do anything. I'm going to deal with los padres, and you're going to take some responsibility and find a way to make this envelope disappear."

She thrust it into his hands and stormed off. He watched her go, suddenly in a state of panic. How was he supposed to take responsibility? He'd never worked a day in his life. He barely even got his homework done on time. Looking down at the envelope, everything suddenly felt real to him, and he didn't want to deal with it.


"I think it's nice," Quinn said as she measured out a cup of flour in the near-empty Home Economics classroom. "I mean, Mr. Shuester was right, we were being a little insensitive.

A few days earlier, people hadn't reacted with much sympathy when Mr. Shuester told them they couldn't afford a handicap bus for sectionals, and that Artie might have to ride to the competition with his dad.

"Well, the bake sale's definitely a good idea," Rachel said, cracking an egg. "But making us go around in wheel chairs is a little much."

Quinn notice's that Rachel's face had twisted up, and that she was standing several steps away from her bowl.

"Are you okay?" She asked, trying not to laugh.

"I don't eat eggs," Rachel admitted squeamishly. "They gross me out. They always have."

Quinn smile in return was a mix of empathy and adoration. Rachel was cute when she was grossed out. "Here," Quinn said gently, reaching out and grabbing the bowl from under her. "You start mixing the butter and brown sugar, and I'll take care of the eggs."

"Really…?" Rachel asked. "You're too nice."

Quinn just blushed and started in on the second egg. Rachel, however, found herself unable to continue with her work. She stared at Quinn instead. When Quinn was done with the eggs, she looked up and realized she was being watched.

"What…?" She giggled, reaching for the brown sugar to measure it herself.

Rachel just shook her head. "I'm just spacing out…" She admitted. "I'm kind of nervous for the Diva-off tomorrow. I don't know if anyone's going to vote for me."

Mr. Shuester had offered Rachel the chance to sing one of her favorite songs from "Wicked" at sectionals, but Kurt had demanded the chance to audition for the solo as well. However, for some reason, he didn't want to be the one to pick who got it. Rachel wasn't sure how much she actually cared about the song. There would be other solos, but she had to talk about something, or else she'd spend the rest of the hour staring at Quinn and making things awkward.

"Of course people are going to vote for you," Quinn said simply. "I'm voting for you."

"Kurt's, like, close friends with everyone, though. And Finn and Santana both hate me…"

That was true, but Quinn didn't want to admit it, just because it was so unjustified. "That's not true."

"I mean, it's just another audition," Rachel sighed. "I'm just…nervous…"

"Well, for the record, I'm rooting for you," Quinn smiled warmly using only her eyes, which was so beautiful that Rachel had to hold her breath for a minute. Quinn looked down at her bowls. "I think we're ready to mix."

"You really are perfect, you know that?" Rachel heard herself ask. She wanted to kick herself. Why had that happened?

"No one's perfect," Quinn said, unfazed, reaching for the mixer.

Rachel shook her head, "You are. You're so nice and so pretty and everything I've ever…" Why was she still talking? "…I mean; I know no one's perfect, but to me…you are..."

Quinn was holding her bowl with both hands, staring down at the mound of flour inside it. She knew if she looked up at Rachel, she'd lose control. She knew that the things Rachel was saying to her were the things she'd wanted Rachel to say since the moment they met.

She looked up. "Don't…" She tried, her voice getting quiet.

"I'm trying not to," Rachel's voice was saying. "You keep telling me to give you space. You keep telling me you need time, but then it's just this empty possibility, and I can't stand it!"

Quinn felt angry suddenly. She felt put on the spot. "Then don't!" She snapped. "Move on! Don't wait for me!"

Rachel clenched her jaw for a moment, fighting back tears. "So that's it? You're saying that there's no chance we're ever going to be together?"

Quinn swallowed. "You're the one complicating things, Rachel."

Rachel tried to be strong. She nodded quickly. "Fine," She started "I guess I'll just see you in glee club."

Rachel flew out of the room, and Quinn stood behind. She choked on the first sob, and then felt the hot tears start to run down her face. She hated herself for reacting like that. It wasn't even how she'd wanted to react. It was a terrifying situation, though. She felt so vulnerable with Rachel. She hated the possibility that she could get hurt.

"Rachel, wait!" A guy's voice called after her. She didn't want to turn around to see who it was. "Wait!" He yelled again. His footsteps ran, catching up with her. She tried ducking into the girl's bathroom, but that didn't slow him down.

Puck pushed the door open without hesitation. "Hey, I was heading to my locker after football practice. Is everything okay?"

She shook her head, breathing heavily. "Why does it have to suck so much? I thought liking someone was supposed to feel good!"

"This is high school, babe," Puck broke the news to her bluntly. "The good feelings don't come until later."

Rachel crossed her arms, sniffing hard so she wouldn't get snot everywhere.

"Hey…" Noah quickly went into the bathroom stall to get some toilet paper for her. He came back and shoved a wad into her hands, putting his arm around her. She blew her nose loudly. "Do I need to slap that bitch across the face?"

Rachel laughed in spite of herself. "No. She doesn't deserve that," She said honestly. "Really, I just need to stop living in this fantasy. I was so stupid, thinking that it might actually work out."

"It's not stupid," Puck told her, pulling her into a full-on hug. "You're just a positive person, Berry. It's one of the many great things about you."

Rachel nodded, finally slipping her arms around his torso and hugging him back.

"Oh my god," A third voice cut in. Puck and Rachel flew apart to see Santana coming into the bathroom. "Are you, two, like, hooking up? …In the school bathroom?"

Rachel was scared for a moment, until she remembered that Puck and Santana weren't actually together. Suddenly, Santana remembered that they were supposed to be.

"God, Puckerman, I can't believe you would do this to the mother of …"

"Save it, San, she knows." Puck said boredly.

This only angered Santana more. "Asshole…!" She cried. "You told Berry? Who else knows?"

"Santana, don't worry about it, I'm not going to tell anyone, he just…"

"He just what…?" Santana cut her off. "Wait, why are you crying?"

"She's having a bad day," Puck tried.

"Oh no…? Did she realize that the father of her baby is an incompetent oaf and that by the time all of her doctor bills are paid off, the country will be inaugurating its first robot-lesbian president?"

"Um…" Puck wasn't sure how to answer that question.

"Santana, I get it. You're going through a lot…" Rachel tried to sympathize.

Santana just rolled her eyes. "Whatever. You two have completely destroyed my motivation to urinate. So you can go back to your kosher beef injection. Just lock the door, okay? I know I hate everyone, but no one deserves to witness this."

Santana turned around and left them alone.

"You know, I know I should hate her but I actually feel kind of sorry for her." Rachel admitted. "What she and Finn did to Quinn; it sucks…but I can only imagine how scary it must be to go through something like that and not have anyone who's really there for you."

Puck completely understood. "I'm helping her where I can, but…"

"I know," Rachel shrugged. "It's not actually your responsibility."

"Yeah," Puck sighed. He reached up and gently wiped a deposit of tears from under Rachel's eye.

Rachel laughed at herself. "I'm a mess, aren't I?"

Puck shrugged. "It doesn't matter." He told her honestly. "Come on, I'll give you a ride home. We'll stop for a slushy on the way."


Finn walked in on Quinn crying over the stove.

"Um…are you okay?"

She spun around. "I'm fine," She said, stupidly trying to pretend like she wasn't crying. "I'm baking some cookies. It's my grandmother's recipe."

"You know, my mom said that everyone always thinks they're using their grandma's recipe, but ninety percent of the grandmother's got the recipe from some magazine."

Quinn blinked wetly at Finn. What was he even doing here? "That's fascinating, Finn." She said unconvincingly.

"You know, Mike said that Rachel said that some of the glee club was going to meet here to work on the bake sale. He and Matt should be on their way from the locker rooms at any minute."

Quinn suddenly felt stupider. She'd had the impression that Rachel had invited her to bake after school for some one-on-one time. Now that she knew that other people had been invited, she regretted snapping at Rachel. Maybe the other girl was just as afraid to be alone together as she was. Maybe she'd known all along that she wouldn't be able to keep her mouth shut.

"Look, are you sure you're okay?" Finn asked her, going over to her counter. "Because you're baking alone and that's kind of weird…"

"No it's not. People bake alone all the time." Quinn replied miserably.

"Well, what concerns me is the fact that you're crying."

She rolled her eyes. "Like you care…"

"Look, I don't get why you have to be so mean to me!" Finn cried. "I mean, yeah, we broke up, but why do you have to be so angry about it? Why can't we, like, be friends or something?"

Quinn wanted to shout that it was because he was a total idiot and with all the stress she was under, she just didn't have the patience for him. Of course, she was too nice to do that. "I don't know…" She mumbled. "It just doesn't work like that."

He frowned intensely at her, and she knew that he wasn't going to give up. "I'm still not really sure why you broke up with me, but if it was something bad that I did; you know, if I hurt you...I'm sorry..."

"Get over yourself," Quinn mumbled. "It was...personal. I realized that you weren't what I wanted."

"And what did you want?"

I want a girl... It was the first thing that popped into Quinn's head. She'd known it all along. She bowed her head, and tried to stop herself from crying any harder than she already was. She couldn't stand it. All this time, she'd been trying to pass it off as confusion, but now she was sure. It had never hurt her so much to lose someone, and now it was clear why. The people she'd lost before weren't girls. She was a lesbian. She knew she was. Even if she was bisexual, she'd never felt the way about a guy that she did about Rachel. It sucked, but she had to live with it.

Finn must have realized he'd hit a sore spot. He was almost afraid that he'd actually have to deal with her emotions. Maybe they really didn't have to talk about it. He cleared his throat and changed the subject. Maybe that's what Quinn needed him to do. "So...uh...you said you're making cookies. What's next?"

Quinn realized she had to give in. She couldn't put on a whole bake sale on her own. "Cupcakes… we should probably, um…make some cupcakes."

"All right, where's the recipe?"

As Quinn went for the cookbook, Mike and Matt entered the room enthusiastically. As much as Quinn wanted to continue to cry over Rachel, she had no choice but to hold it together.


"What's this?" Finn stood in front of his locker, staring down at his hand.

"We're bros, right?" Puck asked lightly. "And when a brother's in need, it's the other brother's responsibility to help him out."

He'd just given Finn a wad of cash. There had to be at least a hundred dollars there. "I don't get it." He said nervously. There had to be a catch.

"Look, I tried to give the money to Santana but she wouldn't take it from me."

"Dude, are you crazy?" Finn said. "It's not your baby. What are you doing?"

"It's not my money either," Puck shrugged. "It's, like, in the Glee Club's public domain. Rachel and I put in some…extra work to aid the bake sale's success and…"

Finn's jaw dropped. "You stole from our friend in a wheel chair! I'm pretty sure that breaks, like, ten laws."

"No, I'm pretty sure it's only one," Puck patted Finn on the shoulder smartly. "And look, this is just left over. We still had enough money for the bus."

Finn remained apprehensive. "Really, why are you doing this?"

Puck hesitated briefly. "I guess I just care about you guys. I can't imagine how scary it must be, you know?"

Finn was touched. He nodded, speechless.

"Just…don't tell Santana it was from me, okay?"

"No, of course not…"

Puck gave Finn's shoulder one final grab. "Perfect. See you in practice, bro."


Quinn was losing her mind. She was sure of it as she turned onto Rachel's street. Her thoughts had been racing non stop all day, and finally she couldn't take it anymore. She parked in front of Rachel's house and threw herself out of the car.

She knocked on the door because it felt more like the thing to do. Luckily, Rachel was the one to answer the door.

"You know, I have a doorbell," Was the first thing she said.

"Are you alone?" Quinn asked breathlessly.

"Yeah, my dads are at pottery barn. What are you…?"

Quinn let herself in. There really wasn't anything stopping her at that point.

"Close the door," She ordered steadily. Rachel was clearly intrigued, and did as she was told.

Quinn took a breath, and then started talking a mile a minute. "You're perfect to me too. I know I should've told you when you told me but the truth is that this; these feelings…it's all completely new to me, and I'll be honest, I'm not going to want to tell my parents or the kids at school for a long time, because I'm just not that brave. I'm afraid that you'll push me to do it, and I'm also afraid of falling too hard and letting you hurt me. But…the thing is, there's no point in pushing you away just because I'm afraid. I know that because I regretted everything the second you walked away, and I just know how much I'll hate myself if I ever send you away again. I want to be with you. We can work through everything else because…you're perfect to me too. And I want to be with you."

Rachel had to take a moment to process everything. For a second, she thought she was dreaming. She repeated it in her head; "I want to be with you".

Then, her face broke into a huge grin. She finally realized that everything was real: very, very real. She wanted to laugh and cry and have every single emotional reaction possible, because that was everything she was feeling. She giggled, tears coming to her eyes, and lunged forward, doing the only logical thing by planting a warm kiss on Quinn's mouth.

She stood on her tiptoes, her arms moving over Quinn's shoulders and securing around her neck. Quinn kissed back, completely elated with her own success. She took the small of Rachel's back and dipped her a bit, tightening her hold as she stood up straight again. Their lips broke apart and Rachel buried her face in Quinn's neck, inhaling her scent; like strawberries and cream. Quinn ran her hand up Rachel's back and slipped into her hair, fingering it gently.

"Don't change your mind again, okay Fabray?' Rachel's muffled voice said, comfortably close to Quinn's ear.

"Rachel, this is it." She nodded, letting her cheek rub against Rachel's head. "I'm never going to change my mind again."

Rachel let out a choked sigh of relief, and kissed her new girl friend all over again. "Me neither…" She said triumphantly.

And in that moment, both of them really believed it.