Quinn shoved her hands in her sweatpants' pockets as she shuffled over the doorstep to the front yard. As soon as her shoe touched grass, an incredibly strong blond was pulling her to the side. "Brittany, okay! Okay - Brittany, pregnant! Be careful with me."

The blond cheerleader pulled Quinn around Rachel's house away from the glee club that was just hanging out at that point as opposed to working, and into the shade of the garage.

"You told her you loved her, didn't you?"

It was blunt and honest and shouldn't have knocked the air out of Quinn, but it did.

"Yeah… ye- holy - Brittany. I told Rachel Berry that I love her," Quinn said, sinking into the wall and blinking repeatedly as if to wake herself up from a dream. "I wasn't actually supposed to tell her that. Why did I tell her that?"

"Because you made a deal with Santana?" Brittany offered, her gaze flicking to the side of the house, out of Quinn's view.

Quinn breathed in. "Well, yes. But it's as if… it was the right time for me to tell her, but I don't think it was the right time for her to hear it… you know? I've felt it… and figured it out… but I don't… think she has… so it must have caught her off guard. Hell, we only just kissed for the first time last night… oh my God. That was only last night! And now I'm telling her that I love her!"

"But you do love her," Brittany stated obviously, giving Quinn a look. "You have for a while. That's why you weren't mad at her when she told Finn the truth, and why you helped her when Finn hit her."

Quinn stared at Brittany with warm hazel eyes. "It's easier for you to grasp, Brit, because you've always known that Santana loved you. You were just waiting for her to tell you. Rachel hasn't always known."

Brittany shuffled her feet and smiled. "I think you're wrong."

Quinn smiled in a placating matter before shaking her head. "I don't think so, B. Santana seems to think Rachel's been waiting for me to admit my feelings, but… she didn't take it well. She's like… crazy bipolar… I just wish that she could sort out her feelings for me and then talk it over with me like normal human beings. But I guess nothing about… Rachel… is… you…" Quinn paused, noticing the quiet and peeking around the corner to the front yard. "B? Why isn't Santana with you? She's always with you."

Quinn met Brittany's terrified eyes as she turned back to the glee group and silently counted them. "Where are Santana and Puck?"

Brittany's eyes darted back and forth. "At the dentist. The one that isn't in Rachel's room."

Quinn's eyes widened as she took off as fast as she could around the corner. She heard Brittany call out after her, but Quinn was already waddling up the steps to the front door, headed to Rachel's room.

Santana heaved a sigh as she glanced at her cell phone. "We have probably ten minutes before Brittany screws up and Quinn realizes what I'm doing."

Rachel gripped the edge of her bed with white knuckles. "What you're doing? I-I thought that we were friends now, Santana. You were protecting me from-"

"I'm not here to hurt you, beat-down," Santana snapped, rolling her eyes, "I thought you didn't have a concussion."

"That's offensive, Santana," Rachel stated, crossing her arms over her chest.

"And beside the point," Santana bit out, checking her phone again and sitting down in Rachel's desk chair. "I'm not going to waste any time here, okay? So, shut up and listen."

Rachel loosened her grip on her bed and put on her best serious face. Santana's gaze flicked to the wound on Rachel's head and she held back a wince. "I know that Quinn told you she loves you. Ah, ah, ah!" Santana snapped, raising up her hand to shut Rachel up. "I said you're just going to listen. Here's the deal. You and Quinn have been giving each other the fucking run-around since the beginning of sophomore year."

Rachel bit her lip and nodded as Santana continued. "You two have seriously been taking turns fucking with each other in some sick dance to figure out your repressed sexual desires, got it? Don't give me that look; you know that I'm right. So, here's the thing. You being hit was what did it for Quinn. She decided right then and there that everything in your guys' past was done, gone, and that she was going to try to make shit okay with you. She didn't tell me this, but any dumbass can see it. So, she did that in her own dumbass, repressed, gay teenager Quinn way. Which means passive niceness and so much ust that I gave up eating around her because it just made me too sick."

Rachel sucked in a deep breath and shook her head. "Santana, you realize that you're basically telling me that Quinn and I have been in love with each other since… what, babygate? Before then?"

Santana merely cocked an eyebrow as Rachel continue, urged on by her silence. "And that I apparently have no handle on my feelings because I've been giving Quinn the same "run-around" that she's been giving me?"

Santana kept her face straight as she stared Rachel down. "Rachel, can you honestly tell me that Quinn telling you she loved you caught you off guard?"

Rachel shrugged. "Of course it did." Santana glared. "It… okay… it caught me off guard, yes, but not because it was Quinn saying it… but because it was Quinn saying it!"

Santana opened her mouth to tell Rachel how dumb she thought she was when there was a bang on the door. Santana checked her phone and cursed. "Okay, less time than I thought. Look, Berry, this is me looking out for you and Quinn. I don't know what you said to her to upset her so badly, but whatever you said, you were wrong. You and I both know that. Telling yourself that you don't love Quinn won't make it true and it won't make whatever sick problems you have with love go away, either. I suggest taking some time and sorting everything out. All of this shit has just been piled on your lap and you went from making out with Quinn to having her speak the things you haven't been able to speak."

"Santana, I swear to all that is holy that I will take Brittany and-"

"Rachel," Santana snapped, drawing the brunette's attention from the door and back on Santana. "She does love you. And you love her. If you two don't figure this shit out, I'll beat you myself. Take some time and sort yourself out. Get your head healed, and then work on your heart. Or… let Quinn handle that," Santana finished with a shrug. Rachel and Santana's gaze snapped to the door as a loud crash resounded through the room.

Rachel blinked as she took in her door swinging open on its hinges and Quinn standing in the doorway with Puck and Brittany behind her. "I tried, San. I can't really hold back Quinn."

Santana stood up from the chair across from Rachel and gave the brunette one last glance before brushing past Quinn and whispering, "Chill the fuck out, Q. You'll thank me for this later."

Brittany grabbed Santana's hand, and Santana's frown instantly melted into a smile as she allowed Brittany to tow her down the hall. Puck sputtered an excuse about finishing up outside before he ducked out of the room and left the two girls to themselves.

Rachel and Quinn had locked eyes the minute Quinn came into the room, and they hadn't moved since. The brunette slowly stood up and rubbed her sweaty palms on her sweats. "Quinn…"

Quinn shook her head softly, stopping Rachel before she could start. "Did Santana say anything to upset you?"

Rachel's mouth slowly slid closed as she shook her head. Quinn nodded as her gaze roamed Rachel's room. "Good. I'm gonna bail, okay? Don't forget to take your medicine." Rachel took a step forward and opened her mouth to speak but Quinn quieted her once more. "Please… don't. Just, think about what I said, okay? I'll see you in glee." The blond turned on her heel, wrapped her arms around her stomach, and left Rachel alone in her room.

Rachel blinked as she realized how badly her head hurt. This is way, way too much to process in one day. Hell, in one year! She stood frozen in the same spot as Quinn made her way out of Rachel's house and into her car, headed home.

One week later, and Rachel had seen no sign of Quinn. And if anyone in the glee club had, they sure weren't telling her.

"Brittany, how can you not have seen Quinn when she's living with you?" Rachel asked, cornering the blond before glee that Friday.

Brittany's blue eyes darted around the room in a last ditch effort to find Santana. "Because my cat hid her."

Rachel sighed. "I get it. Can you please just tell me if she's at least doing all right health wise?"

Brittany cheered up immediately, "Yeah! She's doing great physically! Just not emotionally or mentally, at least that's what Santana said."

Rachel face dropped as a familiar voice sprung up behind her. "She's giving you time, peach."

Rachel rolled her eyes as Santana made her way next to Brittany. "Let me guess, from the phrase, "Bruise like a peach"?"

Santana beamed. "Hey! You didn't get as much brain damage from that brick as everyone says you did," she said cheerfully as she wrapped an arm around Brittany. "No, but really, she's giving you time."

"Well I don't need anymore time!" Rachel yelled, stamping her foot.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that really just proved your point."

Brittany piped in just as Mr. Schue walked in. "When the time is right, you'll know, Rachel, because you'll be where you need to be and you won't even know how you got there, because your heart will have taken you there when you needed to be there!"

Rachel and Santana both blinked in shock at Brittany's words as Mr. Schue clapped his hands together, signaling the beginning of glee. Rachel sat down next to Puck and Mercedes as she attempted to focus on the current lecture. She eyed Quinn's empty seat and sighed. Maybe when the time is right, I'll also understand what Brittany just said.

Another week passed, another Friday, and Rachel sighed as she sat in her sixth period class that Quinn hadn't attended in two weeks. Rachel tapped her pencil against her desk as she tuned out Mr. Schuester's poor attempts at conjugating verbs.

She eyed the clock as her mind roamed. For two weeks she'd been stuck in an emotional limbo: Not singing in glee, not taking notes in class, barely talking. Despite her friends repeated efforts to get her to look alive again, Rachel couldn't shake the empty feeling that she'd been carrying around with her.

A minute passed and Rachel groaned, rolling her eyes and rubbing her hands over her face. When the time is right, you'll know, Rachel, because you'll be where you need to be and you won't even know how you got there, because your heart will have taken you there when you needed to be there… oh Brittany, what does that even -

Rachel's hands dropped as her cell phone vibrated in her lap. She drew her head back in surprise as she saw the text from Santana.

"Brit n I ditched last period n went back to her house - saw Q is gone n wont answer her phone. Do u have ne idea where she might've gone?"

Rachel glanced quickly at Mr. Schue to make sure his back was turned before she typed back a response. "Maybe she went to her parent's house? She isn't due for a few more weeks and I think she would have told someone if she'd gone to the hospital. Is any of her stuff gone?"

Rachel waited the longest two minutes of her life before Santana texted back. "All her shit is still here xept her car. U say nething to upset her?"

Rachel practically growled as she typed back - "You know as well as I do that I haven't had any contact with Quinn in 2 weeks. I think that you two-" Rachel paused, an idea suddenly striking her. "I think that you two shouldn't worry. I know where she is." She sent the text and glanced back to the clock. Twenty minutes before I can go after Quinn…

She looked down as she got another text from Santana. "W/e u think. Its not like her 2 leave though. I'm not worried, course, B is. U better fix it."

Rachel began typing something back when she heard someone clear their throat above her. The brunette slowly raised her head and saw Mr. Schue standing there, holding out his hand. "Rachel, I'm surprised at you. You know the rules, so I need your phone."

Rachel sputtered, "You can't take my phone! I have a crisis going on."

Mr. Schue folded his arms over his chest and shook his head. "I don't know what's gotten into you lately, Rachel, but you haven't been yourself. If you don't give me your phone now, I'm going to have to send you to the principal's office, and although I don't want to-"

Rachel rolled her eyes and slammed the palms of her hands onto her desk. "Do you not understand, Mr. Schue? There are far more important things going on right now than me not paying attention to you failing to understand that ver is an irregular verb. In fact," Rachel said, almost in awe, "I have to go."

The brunette picked up her backpack, completely oblivious to the class ogling her. Mr. Schue gaped as he put a hand on her arm. "Rachel, if you leave -"

"I understand the consequences, Mr. Schue. But someone needs me right now. Well, to be honest, I need someone right now. I just need to go. I'll see you on Monday." Rachel gently pulled her arm from her teacher's grasp as she slung her backpack over her shoulders. She texted Santana as she walked through the empty halls of McKinley High, ignoring Mr. Schue's calls trailing behind her.

"Pick me up in front of the school, now. I need you to take me to Quinn."

Fifteen minutes later, Santana's car rolled to a stop. She threw the car in park and turned to face Rachel in the passenger's seat. "I don't think she ran away."

Rachel nodded as she eyed the restaurant through the windshield. "She's too pregnant to run away. She wouldn't put her child in danger."

Santana cocked an eyebrow. "Then why did you go running after her?"

Rachel unbuckled her seatbelt. "Same reason you frantically texted me when you saw she wasn't at Brittany's." Santana glared as Rachel picked up her backpack. "Because she's Quinn. She doesn't just disappear for no reason. I'll call you if she's not here." The brunette made her way from the car as Santana watched her go.

Rachel eyed the restaurant sign as she made her way through the same doors that she and Quinn had walked through weeks ago. Rachel knew she was taking a chance on all of this: following Quinn, leaving school, and assuming that Quinn needed her. She didn't know why her feet were bringing her here, but she trusted them as she made her way into Burgundy's.

"Welcome to Burgundy's! Table for one?" the hostess greeted, smiling in an all-too fake way.

Rachel shook her head as she carefully looked around the restaurant. "No… I'm actually -" She stopped short as she caught a glimpse of blond near the back of the restaurant. Beaming, Rachel brushed past the hostess, ignoring the woman's protests. The brunette made her way to the back of the restaurant and sighed in relief as she realized her feet had brought her to the correct place. Quinn was there.

She stood behind the blond as she watched her chew on a bacon cheeseburger. Rachel's backpack dangled from her shoulder as she thought about what she was supposed to say. I came running after Quinn as if she needed rescuing… but… what am I supposed to say? What if she doesn't want to see me? What if… Rachel gasped lightly as Brittany's words came crashing back to her. When the time is right you'll know, because you'll be where you need to be and you won't even know how you got there.

Rachel took a deep breath as everything became clear to her. Everything that had happened so quickly… her and Finn ending before they started, Quinn taking care of her every time she got hurt, neither of them understanding why they were acting this way around the other, this run around that they gave each other that led them back to this place that Quinn had taken her to. Rachel smiled as she remembered how Quinn had sputtered when Rachel had told Quinn that Jesse had never taken her anywhere that nice. Her feelings finally surfaced, and Rachel smiled as she realized she could be honest with Quinn, that she didn't have to fear her.

"You still have one question left," Rachel heard herself say. She watched the blond tense in front of her. Quinn slowly turned her head to the left as Rachel made her way around the booth. She took the seat in front of Quinn, running a hand through her dark hair.

Quinn's eyes roamed Rachel's face as she frowned. Rachel grimaced. I must look as bad as I feel. She merely nodded. "I look horrible, I know."

Quinn took a sip from her water. "Does that reflect how you've been feeling?"

Rachel practically smirked, feeling renewed as she sat in Quinn's presence. "It does. Not now, though. Oddly enough, I feel a lot better now."

Rachel watched Quinn bite back a smile. "Someone's balls dropped. Why so cocky, Berry?"

"I'm not cocky, Quinn. Merely confident. Aren't you going to ask how I knew you were here?"

Quinn rolled her eyes and shook her head. "No, I'm not. I thought we established that I gave up trying to make sense of the things that go on between us."

"Then you must ask me your final question."

Quinn eyed the last half of her cheeseburger before sitting back and folding her hands on the table. "Why can't you tell me that you're in love with me too, Rachel?"

Rachel's breath hitched in her throat. This was the exact question she'd been hoping Quinn would ask. She crossed her legs and took a sip of Quinn's water as the blond eyed her with an arched eyebrow.

"I've never been able to tell anyone that I've dated that I love them. It's a combination of not believing them and not feeling it. With you, though, I know that it's real. It happened so fast though… well, not the falling part. But we're still in our sophomore year, Quinn. We haven't even been friends for that long. It just happened so fast… and it's you. Someone like you… it's very hard to grasp that someone like you loves me. I've also been hurt, well… broken, actually, by everyone I've attempted to give my heart to. There's this enormous combination of things that all have the underlying factor that…" Rachel paused, taking a deep breath, "I'm terrified too, just like you said you were. We've gone back and forth over everything, and we fight, and we probably haven't spent enough time actually together and not fighting to know that we love each other.

"But… despite all of that, it is there. I look into your eyes and I just know. I don't know if it will last or even work, or if we'll be accepted, or if you'll just end up murdering me. But it's still there, and it's terrifying, but it's the first time I've really felt it. I do love you, Quinn."

Quinn blinked her wide eyes. "I'm so glad I didn't fall asleep during all of that because I would've missed that quick little thing at the end." Rachel glared; Quinn continued, "I'm honestly not going to try to make sense of anything that has happened between us, Rachel, to lead us to this point. All I know is that the day that gave you that scar," she said, reaching over and running her fingers along the scar under Rachel's eye, "was the day that I got this scar," she finished, bringing her fingers from Rachel's scar and touching them to her own heart.

"I knew that I loved you then, and no amount of excuses could change that. Santana made me confess it to you, whether it was the right or wrong time, and it was true then. Just like it's true now. I've never been in a more complicated situation in my life."

Rachel's eyes were focused on Quinn's heart as a slow frown began to cross her features. "Are you saying that I'm a scar on your heart, Quinn?"

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Yeah, a scar. It's not an insult, Rachel."

"Why can't I be like a handprint? Or a tattoo?"

Quinn blinked. "Because, stupid, a handprint can be washed a way and a tattoo can be removed. Scars are forever. Scars have stories."

Rachel bit her lip as she nodded slowly. "So, our scars represent a piece of each other that we will always carry around with us? That explains why I've been feeling so empty these past two weeks. Don't ever give me 'time' like that again."

Quinn smiled as she hesitantly reached across the table and grabbed Rachel's hand. "I won't. Do you honestly think we'll even work…? We make no sense."

Rachel squeezed the blond's hand. "You make no sense. I, on the other hand, am able to express myself rather eloquently."

"When you're not pushing me away or telling yourself that you can't be loved, sure."

"Was that before or after you refused to leave my house and then let me be hit by a brick?"

"Before… after… you know, probably during, too. You have a few emotional problems, you know? What happened to that therapist?"

"I referred him to your house, but, well… you weren't there."

Quinn laughed loudly and Rachel smiled. "To answer your question… I have no idea if we'll actually work, Quinn. But I think it's going to be quite a ride trying to figure it out."

"Is this your way of asking me out, Berry?"

Rachel looked around the restaurant. "I suppose it is, Quinn. It fits rather nicely since this was the scene of our first "date" night."

Quinn smiled as Rachel got up and moved to sit next to Quinn instead of across from her. The blond swept her eyes around the restaurant before she turned back to Rachel. She began to bend her head when the perky brunette beat her, pressing her lips to Quinn's as she snaked a hand through the blond's hair.

"Oh, God, this is disgusting. Thank God I didn't come here to eat."

Quinn smiled against Rachel's lips as the brunette chuckled. They pulled apart and looked to where the voice had come from: behind them. Santana stood there, arms folded over her chest. "I brought Rachel, and I hadn't heard from her, so I wanted to make sure she wasn't dead. I wasn't worried, it's just, Brit would have killed me if I let anything happen to her."

Quinn threw a small smile towards Rachel before furrowing her brows. "Wait, you brought Rachel? And… wait! Rachel, shouldn't you be in sixth period right now?"

Rachel managed to look sheepish as she intertwined her fingers with Quinn's. "Santana informed me that you weren't home… and, well, my heart brought me here!" Quinn cocked an eyebrow as her jaw hung open. "Okay, fine. I yelled at Mr. Schue, walked out of class, and had Santana bring me here because we were looking for you. You can't honestly be mad."

Santana chimed in. "You really can't, Q. It's not like Rachel has a spontaneous bone in her body, so you should be honored that she did that crap for you. And now that I know Berry isn't dead, I'm going to go home to Brittany. Feel free to take your time coming back, Q." Quinn nodded and Santana kept a serious face. "No, I'm serious. Take. Your. Time. As in, come home tomorrow. I've had to spend way too much time away from Brittany lately." With that, the Cheerio turned on her heel and left the restaurant.

Quinn shook her head. "And she called us disgusting?"

Rachel chuckled as an air of silence dropped on the girls. She broke the silence a few minutes later. "So where does this leave us?"

"Where we've always been," Quinn stated, "together, through all of the insanity that is our lives. Is that okay with you?"

Rachel felt a vibration in her pocket and she quickly checked her phone to see a text from Santana. "Congrats, btw. Don't fuck it up."

Rachel pocketed her phone and smiled up at Quinn. "Yeah, yeah that's okay with me." She reached up and pressed a kiss to Quinn's lips. Rachel smiled as she felt the blond smile into the kiss. Rachel pulled away and laid her forehead on Quinn's as she whispered, "There's this quote that goes… turn your scars into stars."

Quinn smiled, and Rachel felt it. She whispered back, "That's what I did, and it worked, because now I have you. You don't need to be scared of anything anymore, Rachel."

Rachel smiled as she closed her eyes, keeping her forehead pressed to Quinn's. "I'm not afraid of anything anymore, Quinn."

Fin.