Rachel hit the road almost two hours later. She had leftover pizza slices for her fathers, and her lips still felt tingly from a kiss she stole from Quinn on the street.

She sighed as the lights of the little town faded behind her. The drive to Lima was only an hour and a half away, but it would seem a lot farther with only her thoughts to keep her company.

I didn't even get to see the school, she thought wistfully.

There was a nagging doubt in her brain that this last 24 hours had been a one-time deal, that Quinn was going to go teach and Rachel was going to go be a star again…and when the holidays came, Quinn wouldn't want to see her.

She wasn't sure how she felt. Quinn was such a different person than her high school self. She knew that. But there was something more than sexual attraction there. There had been, for a long time, masked behind fear and Glee club competition. Was it possible that Quinn, like Santana, had only acted so rashly and angrily throughout high school because she was hiding her true self?

Well. The best people to understand a Quinn-Santana comparison were a phone call away. She carefully found Santana's number and dialed it, hoping she and her wife were at home.

"Hey, Rach!"

"Hi, Brittany. You're not Santana!"

"Nooooo, but San is getting the babies to bed so she can't really answer her phone. I'm glad I picked it up though! We haven't talked to you in a while."

"I know, Britt…I'm sorry. I've been busy." Brittany was always so happy to talk to her, and would listen to anything she had to say. She felt a bit guilty that she hadn't kept up much, but her life had left her no room for friends while Chicago was still playing.

"So, how was the twins' first Thanksgiving? Did they get turkey-flavored baby food?"

"Rachel, yes, and I need to tell you something." Brittany dropped her voice considerably. "It's not really turkey. I really hope they know that. It tasted awful. I taste-tested because I love turkey but San didn't turn the oven on enough so our turkey took a long time. I was hungry."

Rachel laughed. The Pierce-Lopez babies were a brother and sister, twins, adopted from birth because their birth mom couldn't care for them. Brittany and Santana had taken James and Julie into their care, and from the pictures that Rachel occasionally got, it looked like the babies were well-loved. They were nine months, now.

"Are they crawling around a lot?"

"Oh yeah. They like to chase the cat. Lord Tubbington is still at my parents' house, because he's old, but I think they would definitely catch him."

Rachel thought of her two cats at home with a twinge of guilt. One of her friends in the apartment complex loved taking care of them, but she knew they missed their real owner.

"Hey, Santana is here. Do you want to talk to her now?"

"Sure. Thank you, Britt." There was some rustling, and Santana's voice came in.

"Hey! I'm putting you on speaker, okay? I'm trying to put away these books that James pulled off the shelf. How are ya?"

"Hi, Santana. I'm pretty good. I'm driving back to Lima from Columbus right now. As you could tell from my pictures, I did some sightseeing today."

"Yeah, thanks for sending those! What, are you going to do a concert there or something?"

"No, I'm thinking about filming a movie with Josh Radnor. It would be filmed in parts of Columbus."

Santana let out a breath. "Woooowwww. That's awesome!"

"We can say we know a real live movie star!" Brittany chimed in. There was a pause, and Rachel could hear them putting away the books.

"…San, I have kind of a personal question for you."

"Oh damn."

"Is this like an interview?" Brittany asked.

"Well, you can help, Brittany," Rachel said. "Listen, you two…I ran in to Quinn Fabray the other day at the hospital. I was there with my dad, and she was there with one of her college students."

"Oh yeah, I knew she was all Dr. Quinn now," Santana said. "How is she?"

"She's…well…she's different." It was the only way Rachel knew how to put it. "She seems so happy, and open, and at peace with herself. It really surprised me."

"Hey, we all changed when we left McKinley," Santana said. "Remember how much of a bitch I was? I mean…it was a lot of repressed stuff, and I still regret it, but I was a kid. I didn't know how to express my feelings for a long time."

"I think Quinn is the same way, San. I know went through a lot as a teenager. But she…well, she's family now, if you catch my drift."

"Like, family as in to me and Britts and Kurt and Blaine?"

"Yes, and also to me," Rachel said, heart pounding a bit. She had never explicitly told them she was a lesbian.

"Wow, baby, we have a big family!" Brittany said, and Rachel could hear the smile in her voice. San laughed, and Rachel could hear her kiss her wife on the forehead or cheek.

"All that teenage angst. Who knew she was secretly a lesbian?" Santana was joking, she could tell.

"But…is that it? Like, is that why she was so upset in high school? She seems so happy now. I met some of her students today, and –"

"Damn, Berry, how many times have you seen her since you ran into her?"

"Just two," Rachel said innocently. "But I can't get over it. It's so strange to see her like this."

"Look, she had a lot to deal with in school. Sue Sylvester. Pregnancy. Being popular after being the fat loser. Her fucking parents. And she was gay the whole time? No wonder she lashed out. She was a scared little girl on the inside, and we knew it. I was too, but she had way more baggage than me."

"I think your bookbag was bigger than Quinn's," said Brittany.

"Not that kind of baggage, babygirl."

"Ohhhh."

"But anyway," Santana continued, "Girl was all sorts of messed up. She needed friends, and she had them, but it took a while for her to get out of her own misery. Now, I guess she's successful, and she took some time to find herself or whatever. Look at you, Berry, you're not hardly as annoying as you used to be. What changed with you?"

"I'm doing what I love. I'm successful, self-sufficient…"

"Yep, and it sounds like Quinn is, too. I sure am doing what I love, every night in bed. Right, Britts?"

"You work in a bed? I thought you drove a police car like in the movies."

Santana laughed. "Point is, there's a lot that's happened to all of us in ten years. If you are so curious, talk to her about it. Quinn has always needed someone to listen to her, but she never talked until you least expected it. So, be patient and you can find your answer."

Rachel nodded on the other end.

"Damn, I hear a baby crying. Listen, Rach, we love you but we gotta go. Stay in touch, okay? Take your time with Quinn if you two keep talking…she has always been a mystery as far as what she really wants."

"Bye, Santana. Thank you! Bye, Britt."

"Bye!" they chorused, and the call ended.

Well, that was a start, she supposed. Be patient, spend time with Quinn, and maybe she could find out how such a beautiful and angry teenager turned into such a beautiful and happy young woman.

She wasn't sure when she would have time to do that, though. Quinn had been reserved when Rachel mentioned seeing her again over the holidays. But that was three weeks from now. It wasn't too clingy of Rachel to want to get together again, right? And it would be the holidays. It was a time for friends and family to get together. Even Puck flew in to Lima to spend time with his mom. Perhaps the Puckermans would get together with the Berrys again, as they had in the past! And then, Rachel thought, she could invite Quinn and Judy. It would be a mix of the Jews and the Christians, so Michael wouldn't be alone. And everyone would be in the holiday mood, so Quinn and her mother might not feel so awkward. Maybe it would work.

This happy thought of the holidays sustained her for rest of the drive to Lima. She practically danced into her fathers' house, planting a kiss on both of them and handing them the pizza box. If they had any questions about Quinn or Columbus, they were silenced as their daughter squeezed between them on the couch and demanded that they try the pizza.