A/N: Big update (for me anyway). Hope you enjoy. I would love some feedback on this. Ya'll have been great!

Disclaimer: I don't think I have to say they aren't mine. I am clearly not RIB.

"So, you sent her to a crack house?" Angela gets out amidst her laughter. Her eyes are twinkling and her smile is blinding as she shoots it in Rachel's direction.

"While I will admit, it wasn't my proudest moment, there was no telling what she was capable of! I was not in the position to risk my seat as the lead vocalist. Not when I had so many other threats lingering around me at the time. Up until then, Santana –"

"The bitchy lesbian cheerleader." Angela reminded Rachel she had been listening.

"Correct. She was my biggest threat for solos of the female variety. Tina was far too shy at that time and Brittany, sweet, sweet Brittany, really only wanted to dance. But Santana was in my way enough as it was. Well, her and Quinn. Her voice was…" Rachel let herself trail off. Now was not the time to start reminiscing about Quinn and her voice and her beautiful hazel eyes and the wonderful way her bravado sent sparks straight from Rachel's spine all the way to –

"Well, for what it's worth, I am sure you had nothing to be worried about." The redhead girl in front of her reached out and placed a confident hand on top of Rachel's.

She couldn't help but notice how she didn't feel the same burn she did when Quinn touched her, but she decided not to dwell on it. This felt nice. This was a start, a beginning, a first date, but it felt nice. Not wonderful, and she was a little nervous at first to make a decent impression, but she was content with her surroundings.

"So tell me more about Georgia. I've actually never been to the deep south, but I can only imagine it is quite a culture shock to New York." Rachel offered.

"It was an interesting place to grow up. That's for sure. Everything was 'yes ma'am' and 'no sir'. I was raised under the conditions of pleasantries and the house of God, but it wasn't nearly as stifling as the movies make it out to be. Not until I came out. You would have thought OJ had just moved in with the way the neighbors stared at me. But my parents loved and accepted me, and that's really all that mattered." Angela replied somberly. Her tone was slightly pinged with a sadness that Rachel could relate to, but it was still bright. Everything about her was bright.

It was a breath of fresh air Rachel hadn't known she had been missing.

The two parted some time later when the coffee barista informed them it was closing time. They said their goodbyes on the sidewalk and promised to do it again sometime soon.

Rachel fished her phone out of her bag to check the time; she had forgotten it hours ago somewhere between her story of Mr. Shue's proposal to Miss Pillsbury and how Santana had been outed ever so viciously by Finn. She hadn't even heard it buzz, alerting her to the text message she now found to be unread.

Lucy Bray: 1 New Message

Rachel couldn't help but feel a little aggravated that now was the time Quinn chose to make some sort of contact.

Can we talk?

It was something she wasn't expecting. Too little, too late.

I don't really see what there is to talk about anymore.

And she really didn't. She was going to move on. She was done being a toy, a sexual object to be used at the other girl's disposal whenever she got lonely.

Please Rachel.

She could almost hear the desperation through the words on the screen of her smart phone. It was enough to give in just a little.

Whatever you want to say, you can say it to me right now.

Can I come over?

Kurt is home.

I don't like the way we left things.

I don't like a lot of things about the past couple months, Quinn. But what's done is done.

I just want to talk. Just come over for a little while. We don't have to do anything, I just want to talk.

Rachel rolled her eyes. Of course they didn't have to do anything. She was a grown adult and could make her own choices when it came to her sexual ventures. She didn't need Quinn's permission for when she did and did not take off her pants.

It's too late and I'm tired.

In more than one way, she thought to herself.

Please.

She knew this would be a bad idea. She knew it as she flagged down a cab and gave them the address of the apartment the opposite direction of hers.

Rachel only knocked once before the door was flung open to reveal a girl she hadn't seen in a while. The blonde hair and hazel eyes were familiar, but the girl who stood in front of her was vulnerable and small and hesitant. She hadn't seen that girl since her sophomore year of high school.

"I'm glad you came." A broken voice echoed the words she had spoke herself just a few hours ago. Only these words weren't nervously excited, they were flat and afraid.

Rachel pushed her way past the taller blonde and into the foyer inside. "What do you want, Quinn?" Quick and fast, get to the point and rip off the emotional band-aid.

"Are you thirsty? I can make you some tea. Or I have some wine if you want." Quinn offered shyly only barely meeting Rachel's tough glare.

"I don't want anything other than for you to tell me why you called me over here at one o'clock in the morning to talk about things that, quite frankly, I am most certainly past wanting to discuss." Rachel's patience was wearing thin. It had been for a while now.

"Can we sit?" Quinn's voice cracked. Rachel wasn't sure where on earth the HBIC Quinn was and when this version of the girl has taken over her body.

Rachel walked over to the couch and sat. She couldn't remember if she had ever been anything but propped up against the couch or laying down on it. She definitely couldn't ever remember being near it with this amount of clothing on.

"I know you don't want to talk to me." Quinn began after a moment of uncomfortable silence. Rachel scoffed. "I get it. I've treated you like shit. But I don't want you to hate me for it."

Rachel was trying to hold down bubbling anger. If Quinn thought she could just sit here, sounding sad and sorry, and Rachel would just forgive her for… what exactly?

She couldn't really remember exactly what it was that Quinn had done wrong, other than the obvious betrayal, but that wasn't even directed at her. I mean, sure their whole relationship was convoluted and dysfunctional, but that was how they always had been. She had let herself into Quinn's life again, after years of non-communication, for one reason only. She knew that the girl had wanted her around for sex. It wasn't like she expected Quinn to get over any lingering demons from her past, admit an undying love with Rachel, leave Finn and run off into the sunset. She could be realistic when she felt it was most appropriate.

She wasn't really made at Quinn at the end of it all. She was more upset with herself for letting her feelings deepen over the past few months. She knew she was treading on unsolid ground when it all began. Quinn was not somebody her heart ever took lightly. Throughout their years in school together, she had this unexplainable draw to the other girl. She wanted to put her together with a hot glue gun and love and watch her blossom into the wonderful person she knew Quinn would be. She wanted to know everything about what made the blonde girl smile, what made her cry, what made her laugh, and God, if she didn't love that laugh with her entire being. She wanted to be the one to make her laugh.

But Rachel also knew what was reality and what was fantasy. She knew that she would never get to have Quinn in the ways her teenage self so much desired. Quinn was unattainable. So when they met again only recently in a seedy bar, she knew she was going to take whatever the world was willing to present her. Despite knowing it could possibly break her even more in the end.

Rachel sighed. "I don't hate you Quinn. I just, I can't do this anymore." Her voice was tired, dejected.

"I know." Quinn nodded her head somberly. Her eyes trained on a lose thread hanging off the throw pillow lying across her lap.

"It's not right," Rachel continued. Trying to convince Quinn. Trying to convince herself.

"I know." Quinn repeated.

"Finn would be crushed."

"I know."

"Kurt would never forgive me."

"I know."

"You're getting married."

"I know."

"To a guy who doesn't deserve this. You know he doesn't."

There is no answer and Rachel scooted a little closer on the couch, knees now barely touching. Her voice getting even quieter.

"Everyone would think we were crazy." Rachel isn't even entirely sure who and what at she is referring to or why she cares. And she knows she's getting too close, too intimate.

"I know."

"I think we are crazy." The words are out of her mouth before she knows what she's saying. And it does its job to remove Quinn's attention from the pillow beneath her fingers.

"Rachel…" It's ever so quiet and ever so desperate and Rachel's heart breaks at the vulnerability.

Quinn hesitantly lifts her hand from the pillow and moves towards the soft cheek in front of her. Her head tilts to the side and her eyes roam over the innocent features of the tan face wearing the most pained and confused expression she has ever seen. As soon as her hand makes contact, Rachel lets out a shaky breath.

Never have they been so soft with one another, so open, and with so few words. Their relationship was never built on communication, but at this moment there wasn't a need for any.

It was written all over Rachel's face. Hope and sadness poured from her eyes and love. That's what was swimming in those deep brown eyes. Unhinged, unrequited, unchained love. Quinn knew what it was; Rachel couldn't pretend it wasn't there any longer.

"You can't." Quinn shook her head softly. Her voice was pained and stressed and it cracked when it came out and Rachel had to lean in just to even to hear it.

"I know." It was the brunette's turn to shy her eyes away and repeat the words that had been slipping from Quinn's mouth only moments ago.

"I can't." It was choked out and it was brief and oh so very small, but it conveyed more to Rachel about Quinn's fears than anything else she had ever witnessed.

"I know." Came the once diva's not-so-diva response.

A thumb rubbed so softly against her cheek and Rachel couldn't hold tears back any longer. She had never wanted anything more than this contact, and the fact that she knew it could never be received again shattered her heart like glass.

"Look at me." The blonde said after a moment. And Rachel reluctantly lifted her eyes to search the ones in front of her. They searched for lies, and truth, and hope, and fear, and sadness. But mostly they just found a lonely longing. Something that might resemble love. They found Quinn.

Neither moved, neither spoke and neither breathed. Not until a tear trailed down Rachel's face and Quinn wiped the pad of her thumb across it, hoping to wipe away any sadness she had caused the girl in front of her. It would never be that simple.

Rachel wasn't expecting a lot out of her trip here. Maybe some yelling, some trivial attempt at lust filled sex, but not this. And definitely not the feeling of Quinn's lips against her.

But there they were. So soft and so gentle. They were placed hesitantly on hers with barely any movement. The kiss was tentative and shy, unlike their first just over a week ago. And as lips she had only once been able to dream about moved against her own, she melted further and further into sorrow.

This was only their second kiss, but it wasn't a beginning, or a middle, it was an end. An end to something she hadn't let her mind register it wanted fully until very recently. So she let herself feel. She let herself indulge in the last time she could have Quinn in any way, because she knew once they parted it would be too painful to stay.

The tears flew down her cheeks more rapidly as the kiss intensified. Her tongue brushed over cautious lips and was granted access into the mouth of the girl she had always wanted to be somehow imbedded in, body, mind and soul.

The fire inside her burned and ached and passion was simmered down to pain. Pain that hammered in her chest. Her hands clung to the loose fitting shirt Quinn wore and desperately hung onto this moment. She clung to the sheer force of everything she longed for crashing into her. Knowing that in moments it would simply…disappear.

When the need for air became to great, their kiss softened. Neither girl wanting to let go and say goodbye. Goodbye for the last time.

But they had to. And they did.

When they parted, Rachel saw the tracks of shed tears against porcelain skin in front of her. It only served to make her own intensify. The moment was too strong, too emotionally demanding, and she could no longer bear to look at the girl in front of her, but she couldn't let go just yet.

Foreheads rested against one another as they breathed in the same air. Neither held onto their tears and they wept. Wept for the end of something they never once discussed.

Quinn placed one last kiss to Rachel's swollen lips, as hard as she possibly could, and pulled back to rest her head again.

"Don't you ever stop dreaming, kid." She whispered into their mingled breath.

"Don't you stop either." Was all she could manage through a choked out sob before she pulled away quickly, gathered her things, and walked out the door. Walked out of Quinn's life, like she knew she needed to do.

Rachel wandered around the city for a while. The thought of going home as per her usual routine was something she couldn't bare. She had to think.

She wasn't sure when she closed herself off to realizing Quinn had made such a mark on her heart. She thought she was alright handling a strictly physical relationship. Whenever Quinn had presented something a little reflective of intimacy in the past, she had shied away instinctively. Even though she told herself she was done with things after the bridal shower, it wasn't until she truly had to let Quinn go that she felt that nauseas pain creep throughout her whole body.

She reasoned with herself that it was simply because it was the end of a chapter, given, a fucked up and short chapter, but still a chapter in her life none-the-less. When things end it's always sad, no matter how badly you know it needs to.

But something about this felt different. It didn't feel like when she had broken up with ex girlfriends or ex boyfriends. It felt like she was giving away a part of herself. A part that had been so attached to her for so long she didn't even realize it was there.

Maybe, she thought, that high school crush had never dwindled, but only intensified with time. Maybe it was never going to be that easy to part. Maybe she never wanted to.

She walked home in silence, letting her thoughts stew in her mind and her tears streak down her face.

She was crying to the end, she told herself. It made it much easier to deal with that way.

As soon as she walked into her apartment she heard Kurt rustling in the background. She wiped quickly at her eyes to hide the fact that she had been crying for hours, desperate to avoid the questions bound to come if he noticed.

What she wasn't expecting was a livid Kurt to walk around the corner.

"How could you not fucking tell me?" He demanded.

Rachel snapped into gear, immediately searching her mind for what on earth he could be talking about. "Tell you what?"

"Did you think I wouldn't find out? Did you think that any of this was okay?" He was fuming and marching and pacing around. She had never seen him so angry.

"Kurt, I really don't have the energy to play some vindictive guessing game right now. So if you could just –"

"Lucy? Some girl named Lucy Bray? You mean Lucy Quinn Fabray?" He cut her off, shaking in anger.

"Kurt…" She breathed out. After everything she just went through, she didn't have the energy to fight, or deny, or explain. She just wanted this saga to be over.

"Finn knows." He says. Throwing every proverbial wrench into the hypothetical machine.

She didn't have anything to say, but panic must have been evident all across her face. Finn knowing was exactly what she wanted to avoid.

"He doesn't know it's you," he offered, his tone beginning to calm. "He just said he knew something was up. He came home tonight and Quinn was in tears. When he tried to ask her what was wrong she just slammed the door in his face and locked him out of the bathroom. He didn't know what to do, so he called me. He said she's been acting really strange lately. Coming home late from outings with friends, refusing to have sex, crying when she thinks he can't hear her. He said he hasn't seen her this upset since the school found out she was Lucy. I put the rest of the pieces together myself."

Rachel didn't, couldn't say anything. There was no use in denying everything. She was busted. A risk she knew she was taking from the beginning. She could only just hope Quinn didn't suffer the consequences.

"How could you, Rachel? I know you aren't the biggest Finn fan in the world, but if he knew what was really going on, it would absolutely crush him." He shook his head and sat down at the kitchen table. "He doesn't know she's stepping out on him, but he is heartbroken that he thinks he's doing something wrong."

"We," she coughed, barely being able to speak the next words without her heart sinking deeper into her chest. "We're done. He doesn't have to worry anymore. She chose him."

"So what? That's supposed to make it all better. You both still did it. She still cheated on him. You still betrayed him. How could you do that?" Kurt had a look of pain and confusion all over his face. He truly wanted to know.

"I couldn't help it."

"That's a cop out reason if I've ever heard one." He scoffed. "I want to know why."

Rachel looked up at him, silently begging to not make her answer. She didn't want to hash out everything she had just spent the last couple hours internally debating. Turns out, she didn't have to answer because it was written all across her face.

"Are you in love with her?" His voice was not accusing or judgmental. Stepbrother Kurt had automatically flipped to best friend Kurt, and that fact alone broke her heart even more.

She nodded her head and the tears she had been fighting began to slip out.

"Oh honey." He immediately was at her side, pulling her into his chest, running soothing hands through her head.

"I know, I know it was so wrong." She choked out through a sob. "She was there and I couldn't help myself. I tried to stop, I tried to. I just don't know what I'm doing." The words were barely understandable and Kurt continued to run his hands through her hair.

"Does she love you?" He asks, hesitating like he's not sure if he even wants to know the answer.

"I didn't think so before tonight." She sobbed even harder before she spoke again, nodding. "But now… I don't know, maybe?" It was the first time she allowed herself to believe so. It was in the way she kissed her, in the pain of the goodbye, in the pain of letting go.

"Shhh." Kurt whispered into her hair. "It's going to be okay."

"I ended it. Or she ended it. I don't know. But it's done." She told him again, wanting to be sure he knew. Wanting to be sure she knew herself. "We're done."

"Sweetheart, I know he's my brother, and I should want to kill you both for doing this to him. But I don't think you are. Call me a sucker for a happy ending. I don't think hers is with him."

"That's her choice to make, Kurt. Not mine." Her tears began to die down.

"Her heart made that choice a long time ago. She just hasn't realized it yet."

Rachel really wanted to believe he was right. But she also knew she had to make herself think he wasn't. She had to move on. She had to build herself again. She had to let Quinn go. For good.

I know most of you thought she had said goodbye to Quinn in the last chapter, but I felt like they both needed that closure. That they both needed to realize exactly what they were walking away from.

Reviews would be EPIC. And I love EPIC.

Peace, Love, and Football. Less Than 3