Disclaimer: Glee would only be mine if I was Rupert Murdoch or Ryan Murphy, and there is simply not enough booze in the world for that.

Author's Note: I originally planned for this story to be a one shot, but my brain won't shut down and here we are. So I'm thinking this will be the penultimate chapter. A separate Faberry two-shot spinoff is still being contemplated, but I don't know when it will actually be penned. Lots of things on my mind lately, and I've already started on an prologue for an Action/Fantasy/AU Brittana fic. Just didn't wanna post it until I finish a first chapter for it or finished this fic. So, again, enjoy the second to final chapter and I'll post the epilogue soon. Thanks ya'll!

The Woo-ing of Rachel Berry

It wasn't as easy as Quinn had thought to win over Rachel Berry, considering the fact that she had tormented the girl since freshmen year. First order of business was to threaten the janitor to help her scrub the pornographic pictures of Rachel Berry off the the second floor girls bathroom. Truth be told, the fat bastard should have been scraping that shit off the wall without being blackmailed (it was in his fucking job description and whatnot), but apparently he'd been sipping straight up corn booze from a teapot at school ever since his wife left him for a transvestite stripper named Betty Oops. (Santana, with Puck's help, had gotten her hot little hands on every employee file for the school staff and used them for her Machiavellian schemes).

Nonetheless, the deed was done, and Quinn had to buy Santana and Puck dinner at Breadstix for that and for sabotaging Finn and Rachel's first date (which, she had heard through the grapevine, involved an inordinate amount of honey, hairspray, angry bees, and a pound of butter). Feeding Santana had set her back a bit, but now that they involved Puck it was like watching two forest bears preparing for hibernation. Not only had Santana Lopez eaten two plates of alfredo, two plates of lemon chicken, a slice of lasagna, and practically inhaled a veritable tub of lobster bisque (served in a bowl, really, but she had it refilled 3 times), the Latina had dragged a wheelbarrow to the establishment, proceeded to set it under the table, and promptly dumped every refill of breadsticks they had into it. Apparently this was the not the first time either, earlier the manager just stared at the wheelbarrow with frightened eyes and waved them all to a table. At least Santana had manners while she ate, because Puck straight up asked for a 48 oz salad bowl and had them fill it up with spaghetti and meatballs before gorging. He had it refilled 4 times.

Quinn sat there and watched in simultaneous fascination and horror as she nibbled on her Caesar chicken salad; it was oddly reminiscent of that hot dog eating contest she had seen at Coney Island where the skinny Japanese guy stuffed down 90+ hot dogs in 12 minutes. That shit was like watching livestock give birth, nasty but you just can't look away (Santana's words, not hers).

Grotesque imagery aside, that dinner had set Quinn back around 300 bucks (not including dessert), which wasn't too bad since most of that money came from the cash stash in daddy's liquor cabinet (he drunkenly bought the story about the vigilante raccoon who stole from the rich and gave to the poor).

With the leftover cash she began to go about wooing Rachel Berry, a rather daunting task. Pornographic pictures erased, she went out of her way to be nice to Rachel. No more slushies, sneers, or nicknames (the last bit was especially hard, especially for Santana, but Quinn pulled the almost-pregnant-guilt-card and she caved). Quinn left love notes in Rachel's locker, brought her flowers and candy, talked to her more in Glee club.

Rachel didn't react like she thought. Rachel got really weirded out, threw out the love notes, gave the flowers to Matt to give to his girlfriend, and passed the chocolate to Lauren Zizes. Finn stilled followed the singer around like a lost puppy.

Quinn didn't know what was wrong until Santana showed up with Puckerman and Lauren and told her that Finn told Rachel the whole thing was probably a prank to humiliate her. Date the midget gleek and then dump her for laughs. The next day Finn Hudson came to school wearing a baseball cap, which Santana 'accidentally' knocked askew in the hallway to reveal the middle of his head completely shaved, bald and shiny, and the ring of whatever hair left around his head dyed a bright fluorescent pink. The buffoon wasn't even smart enough to just shave his goddamn head so he didn't have to come to school looking like a constipated gay friar.

Quinn was at her wit's end. She couldn't ask Santana for help, the girl's idea of a date was dinner at Breadstix and a blowjob in the back of her Lexus. Puck either, Lauren had him on a tight leash now that they were dating. They boy couldn't go to the bathroom without asking permission; it was pathetic, really.

And then rumors broke out on Jewfro's blog about Finn and Rachel getting back together, and Quinn Fabray knew she had only one chance to say her piece. She confronted Rachel in the auditorium the next day.

Quinn Fabray told Rachel Berry that she had been in love with her since the day they laid eyes on each other. This tiny, gorgeous little person with so much optimism and confidence and heart irked her immensely from the start because she had resuscitated a different heart, one that had not been truly beating for almost 16 years. From the day Quinn Fabray was born, she had learned that her life was not her own; religion had taught her that homosexuality was a sin, her parents had taught her that imperfections were reprehensible, and her experiences taught her that feelings made you weak. Quinn told Rachel that since they had met, all of it didn't seem to matter anymore. She felt more like herself with Rachel than with anybody else. She felt like God loved her more when she was with Rachel than with anybody else. And with Rachel, Quinn didn't feel like she'd end up a Lima loser like her mother, married to some Joe schmoe who worked at a tire shop, with two kids and burned out before she was thirty. The years of torment, ridicule, and slushie facials were the shameful product of a losing war with those feelings.

And finally, Quinn Fabray looked Rachel Berry dead in the eyes and told her she was so damn sorry, and that if Rachel would let her, she would spend every damn day of her life making it up to her.

Rachel, for her part, didn't say anything. Didn't lunge forward to hug her or kiss her or even smile. She closed her eyes, letting those unshed tears travel down her cheeks, and then opened them to stare straight back into Quinn's own teary eyes. Rachel bit her lip, and nodded yes.