Rachel, after roaming the carnival alone for about an hour spotted her friends as they hung out close to a dark pathway. Rachel sighed heavily as she made her way over to them, she wasn't particularly keen on scary things, and most horror movies usually had her cringing. And a dark pathway at night wasn't her idea of fun.

"Hello." Berry said, standing beside Sam and Tina.

"Hey Rach can I ask you something?" Sam said, turning to the brunette.

Rachel was hesitant she had a feeling it was in regards to a certain blonde but she wasn't too sure. Sam stared at her with a look that resembled a sad puppy dog, or so she thought.

Rachel nodded. "You may."

"Well I was talking to Finn and he mentioned to me that you and Quinn kind of...well you..."

"Sam please just ask me."

The blonde pushed his hair out of his eyes, it was longer now and he had a bad habit of pushing his hair aside when he was nervous.

"Are you and Quinn...like together?"

Rachel blushed at the question and looked the taller boy in the eyes. "No. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't want that."

Sam nodded in understanding. One thing she admired about Sam was he may get jealous, but he never got ahead of himself like Finn did. Sam always played it cool, calm and collected.

"Do you still love her?" Rachel fiddled with the necklace around her neck, which as she did she realized she had yet to give it back to Finn. She was a hundred percent sure she didn't want to keep it.

Sam cleared his throat and looked away from the diva. "Yes, I think a part of me will always love Quinn. But I know she will never feel the same and I just want her to be happy." Sam answered.

Why can't Finn be this sweet?

Sam swiftly changed his posture, his whole body now facing her. Rachel took a step back, taken off-guard by the sudden movement.

"Will you promise me something?"

Rachel held her head up high and nodded. She brought her hands up and reached the best she could around her neck, finding the clasp to her necklace. She undid the chain and removed it, allowing the jewellery item to pool into her hand. "Only if you do something for me..."

Sam smiled, answering without a word or a nod. "Promise me you'll take care of her, and you won't hurt her? She becomes a lot more vulnerable once her guard is let down, which she seems to only fully let down around you." The jock said, causing Rachel to smile.

"I'll try my very best."

Sam seemed satisfied with her answer and she brought her hand to his and raised his gently. She placed he necklace Finn had given her inside the blonde's hand and he looked at her with a confused expression.

"Will you please give this to Finn? I think it would be best if a friend gave it to him, I can't really handle talking to him at the current time." Rachel said. She wasn't even sure when Finn had become a stranger to her.

Rachel lowered her hand away from Sam's and he closed it, making sure the necklace didn't fall.

"Okay." Was all Sam said, with a gentle nod.

He carefully put the necklace in his pocket and turned to look at their group of friends. They had been watching them in interest the whole time. Mercedes was holding onto a satisfied smirk, rooting for Rachel and Quinn.

xxxxx

Quinn walked into the carnival, shocked to see the beautiful park transformed into an amazing carnival that had its own form of beauty. She looked around and the lights from some food stands and the few rides that they did have filled the dark sky. There were people everywhere, kids begging their moms for a stick of cotton candy, teenagers her age laughing loudly as they walked through the park, finding out what they should do next.

There weren't many rides, due to the size of the festival. There was a ferris wheel, and a few other rides and one of the dark pathways was turned into the "Haunted Maze". She laughed at that and kept walking, with Kurt beside her who was also taking it all in.

"Lima would be less lame if they had something like this." Kurt said, his attention falling on the event itself.

"I don't think anything could make that town any better." Quinn mumbled.

Kurt laughed. He bit his lip as he watched the guy who was pushing a cotton candy cart, finding him shockingly attractive.

"Have you seen Rachel yet?" Quinn asked, her attention now falling off of the carnival itself.

"I wasn't even looking for her." Kurt turned to look at his friend and sent her a small smile. "I'm going to go and flirt with the guy whose selling cotton candy." Before Quinn could even say anything, Kurt was walking away. Quinn rolled her eyes and began to walk through the carnival, not paying much attention to it anymore; she was just focused on seeing Rachel.

She walked through the festival and she shoved her hand in her pockets, trying to just blend in. But with Quinn that never worked. She looked around even more and her eyes settled on a short brunette and she smiled when she realized it was Rachel. The diva was standing close to the pathway that was now the haunted maze, with Mercedes, Tina, Mike and Sam, talking up a storm as usual. Quinn's lip pulled up a bit as a smile tempted her.

Suddenly she felt her body smash into someone else and she sighed.

"I'm sorry." She said, looking at the guy who now stared at her. To her disadvantage it was Finn staring down at her. His brows furrowed together and his lips formed into a tight frown.

"Sorry for bumping into me or stealing Rachel away from me?"

Quinn was not in the mood to deal with Finn. Rachel isn't yours...

Rachel who wasn't interested in Sam's tirade about-well she didn't even know what it was about because she wasn't even paying attention. As soon as Sam began to talk she looked away, trying to spot Quinn. She was still irritated with her, but she wanted to see her none the less. As she looked around, her eyes finally settled on a familiar blonde, who wasn't alone.

"Look Finnocence I didn't steal her from you, you treated her like shit so in result she left you. It's your own fault so stop blaming me."

Finn stepped forward, his body almost touching hers. Her stared down at her and she could see the anger flash in his eyes. Everyone in Glee club-all thanks to his tantrum when he found out that Puck was really the father of his kid-knew when he got angry he didn't hold back. Finn had never hit a girl before, and he promised he never would but he was wishing he never made that promise as he saw a small smirk form on Quinn's face.

"You don't deserve her!" he yelled loudly, forming his hand into a fist and clenching his jaw.

"I never said I did! But she deserves better than you!"

Rachel watched the interaction between her ex-boyfriend and her crush, getting worried because she knew that look that Finn was sending the HBIC. She slowly walked over to them, they hadn't been too far away, and she hadn't noticed that Mercedes was slowly following behind her. As she made the short journey, she noticed Santana and Brittany were also standing close by, Santana watching Finn with eyes like a hawk.

Rachel didn't want to approach them fully and make the situation worse so she stood close by, and in perfect earshot.

"You think you're better! You're a slut and you'll just cheat on her like you do with everyone else and you probably don't even care about her!"

Rachel's attention moved from Finn and then to Quinn, wondering what her answer was going to be. Finn had a point, Quinn did happen to cheat on almost everyone she dated. She cheated on Finn, and slept with his best friend; she had cheated on Sam with Finn, and then yelled at Sam when he had cheated like she did nothing wrong at the beginning.

"First of all I had my reasons for cheating on you and Sam. They were shitty reasons, but to me it never mattered because I didn't love you, or Sam. Not in that way. I made mistakes, and knowing me I'll probably fuck up with Berry too...if she ever gave me a chance. But for your information..." she held out her finger and brought it to his chest, poking him hard. "...I would never cheat on her. She's actually worth that. I can't promise I won't hurt her, but I'd never intentionally do so."

Finn slapped Quinn's finger away and rubbed the spot where she had been poking. "How can you hate Rachel and now be crushing on her! It's impossible Quinn."

Quinn laughed. "I never hated her...not exactly. I can't explain it Finn but you're not her boyfriend anymore!"

"It's your fault!" Finn said, putting the blame on anyone except him.

Quinn laughed, the HBIC attitude quickly coming into play. "I wasn't the one who got my girlfriend drunk, took advantage of the situation and-"

Finn raised his fist and Quinn flinched back, actually afraid that the jock was going to hit her. Guess I deserve it after bruising his jaw...

"In order to get any action from her she has to be drunk, good luck getting-"

Finn was cut off before he could even finish by a hard slap that connected with his cheek. Quinn had learned from last time that slapping didn't tend to hurt as much. She glared at Finn, her eyes full of fury.

"You got her drunk to have sex with her!"

"No not exactly I just meant that she's so tightly wound that you'll never get anywhere with her, then again you use to be that uptight."

Quinn lunged at Finn but she suddenly felt someone's strong yet slender arms around her waist. "Q, as much as I'd love to see you beat the shit out of Finnocence I think you'd much rather hook up with...Man-Berry." Santana said, turning Quinn slightly to face the diva.

Santana wasn't a fan of Rachel; in fact she couldn't stand her. But it was obvious to the Latina that Quinn saw something in her even though to Santana it was hard to see that something, all she could think of when she saw Berry was ringing her neck. But as much as she 'hated' Quinn at times, she still loved her best friend and would do anything-that was subtle of course-to make her happy.

Quinn looked at the diva, her eyes burrowing into Rachel's nervous looking ones. Santana gave Quinn a friendly push and the girl tripped over her own feet and was drawn close to the other girl. Rachel put her hands out reflectively, gripping Quinn's arms, to prevent her from falling forward.

Quinn straightened herself and smiled softly at the girl in front of her. She raised her arm, causing Rachel to remove her hand. The blonde gently brushed some stray hair out of Rachel's face and behind her ear. The brunette's eyes fluttered closed at the soft graze Quinn's knuckles had made on her cheek.

Finn watched the interaction and his jealousy was getting the best of him. He began to storm toward them, but two strong arms caught his arms from behind and as the person held him back Finn began to squirm, yelling out "let me go!"

Quinn reluctantly turned away from Rachel, and her eyes widened when she realized who was holding Finn back, his strong hold causing his biceps to flex. Quinn raised an eyebrow, at his sudden appearance. She regretted and loathed kissing Erik; she wasn't even sure why she did it anymore. Facing her feelings and having Rachel almost in her grasp wasn't as bad as she made it out to be. The blonde also realized that her fear of being Gay, and what people would think was dumb and it was no excuse to make-out with a stranger.

Finn continued to squirm and Erik cleared his throat, "Enough or you'll be kicked off the premises!" he yelled in Finn's ear. He let go of the jock and Finn glared at him and then at Quinn.

"How are you Quinn?" Erik asked, smiling at the blonde.

"I'm fine Erik." She said flatly.

"You know him?" Rachel asked, curious.

Quinn sighed, and knew she'd have to explain this eventually if she ever wanted anything between her and Rachel to work out. "It's a long story Rach..."

"She should know me...especially after last night." He sent them a wink and Quinn felt sick to her stomach.

Rachel walked closer to the blonde and looked at her, now feeling jealous, which in her mind was ridiculous because whatever Erik and Quinn engaged in had nothing to do with her, after all Quinn wasn't even hers.

Santana curled up her lip, slightly disgusted by the thought of Erik and Quinn together. "Q, please tell me you didn't hook up with him, he's fugly." It was obvious Santana would think that, the only person who was her type right now was Brittany. Although Santana had never stayed monogamous for long, she had been trying really hard to do so with Brittany.

"It's complicated...I was broken and hurt and..."

"So she decided to make-out with me, what's the big deal?" Erik said.

Finn laughed and shook his head. "This is priceless."

"Take a hike Finnocence." Santana growled.

Quinn's eyes widened and she felt suddenly stiff she didn't even want to move. She felt a light touch on her arm, and she turned toward Rachel after the diva had gotten her attention.

"I'm so sorry Rach..."

Rachel faked a small smile. "Quinn we aren't even together, I can't hold this against you." Her voice was shaken and the blonde knew although Rachel was trying to do what she thought was right, and take the high road Quinn knew it was bugging the diva to do so. Quinn also knew that inside Rachel was hurting, angry and slightly jealous, judging by the way she was staring at Erik.

Quinn stepped closer to the brunette, who took a step back. Quinn sighed, "Rach..."

"I'm sorry Quinn to be honest it bugs me and I'm not wanting to talk to you at the moment." Rachel searched Quinn's eyes for a brief second and then began to walk away. Quinn felt like she did when she was little, when she had her teddy bear and every time she held it close her sister would steal it away, and she began to cry. Quinn wouldn't cry now, but it felt the same. She had what she really wanted in her grasp and it was gone, in a heartbeat.

Quinn turned to Erik who held onto a small smile that seemed too innocent. Quinn took a step forward and she forced herself to look at him, scanning his face and his eyes. "Just because I kissed you, does not make you my boyfriend so you didn't have to protect me and I didn't kiss you because I liked you, I kissed you because I was desperate to erase something that wasn't going to go away anyway."

His smile slowly faded, but he kept his composer. She leaned forward just a bit more bringing her mouth close to his ear. "By the way I'm gay." She whispered, and for once it actually felt good to admit it. She pushed him away from her and instead of freaking out; she simply walked away, chasing after the only person who meant the world to her.