Author's Note: Ficlet written for Faberry Week, Day 6 - Vacation. It could be taken as AU post season 3 or canon compliant.

Unbetaed so all mistakes are my own.

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or the characters, I just like to play with them…strictly non-profit.


All I Ever Wanted


We need your tremulous alto and your Belinda Carlisle glamour.¹

Quinn shakes her head as she recalls Rachel's words, wondering why they insist on ringing in her memory so clearly nearly a year after they were first uttered. But then, 98% of everything Rachel says seems to stay with her for some unknown reason. She supposes that remembering Rachel's favorite Wiggle and what song she sang in her very first singing competition is the price that she has to pay to know that she's the prettiest girl that Rachel has ever met but so much more than that.

And God help her, it has to be some toxic combination of that and the heat and wine coolers and Finn Hudson dumping Rachel at a train station two months ago and a summer spent being kind of friends that has Quinn standing next to the karaoke machine at Santana's pool party (because of course she owns one despite making fun of Rachel for hers) in a red, one-piece swimsuit and a sarong wrapped around her waist—the bikini is a no-go for the foreseeable future thanks to the still noticeable scars from her accident—queuing up a song worthy of that tremulous alto and Belinda Carlisle glamour.

But she'll be leaving for Yale next week, and Rachel will be heading back to New York a few days later, and who knows if either of them will ever be brave enough to use those Metro North passes, so what the hell? It's not like Rachel will ever look at her without her Finn-colored glasses long enough to actually notice what's really going on with her, and half of their friends are already too drunk to remember this tomorrow anyway.

The synthesizers kick in with the simple but catchy beat, and Quinn grabs the microphone. Her eyes seek out Rachel despite her best efforts to look anywhere else, and she's not surprised to see her grinning happily from her deck chair, her foot already tapping in time to the song. Quinn tries and fails to keep her gaze from drifting down to that ridiculous(ly sexy) polka dot bikini as she opens her mouth to sing.

"Can't seem to get my mind off of you.
Back here at home there's nothing to do.
Now that I'm away,
I wish I'd stayed.
Tomorrow's a day of mine
that you won't be in."

Quinn wonders if she's going sharp (or maybe flat) because Rachel's grin slips noticeably. She's probably mentally preparing her critique of Quinn's performance even though Quinn will likely never sing in front of an audience again once she dives into her college experience. There's no way that Rachel could actually be getting a clue at this late date over a Go-Go's song—not when she'd sat through Quinn's multiple speeches and silent begging to not marry Finn without even batting an eyelash.

"When you looked at me,
I should've run."

She really should have. Sometimes she feels like Rachel Berry has been the catalyst for every terrible decision that she's ever made, including this one.

"But I thought it was just for fun."

It stopped being fun for Quinn about the time that Rachel first set her sights on Finn.

"I see I was wrong,
and I'm not so strong.
I should've known all along
that time would tell."

She should have known that Rachel would end up causing her to fall farther and faster than she ever imagined possible.

"A week without you.
Thought I'd forget.
Two weeks without you,
and I still haven't gotten over you yet."

Quinn's gaze is still locked on Rachel, and Rachel isn't smiling at all anymore. She's just kind of looking intensely at Quinn with a furrowed brow, and—shit! Maybe those Finn-colored glasses did finally slip off. Maybe she's finally seeing that, after an engagement and Finn and only Finn and a car accident on the way to Rachel's rushed, teen wedding, Quinn still hasn't gotten over it. This. Her.

"Vacation.
All I ever wanted.
Vacation.
Had to get away.
Vacation.
Meant to be spent alone."

Quinn refuses to look at Rachel for the rest of the song, which is just a rinse and repeat of the same lyrics, and when she's finished, everyone claps and cheers—everyone except Rachel. And okay, so maybe Quinn does sneak in one more look.

She sets down the microphone and makes a tactical retreat while Mercedes stands up to choose her own song to keep the party going. Quinn passes the cooler and snags another drink as she pads away from the pool and through the sliding glass door that leads into the Lopez's game room. She presses the bottle to her forehead in an attempt to cool off while she paces around the room with a hand on her hip and mutters, "Stupid idiot. You just had to go and sing."

"It was a very good performance."

Quinn jumps, grunting out an undignified, "Fuck," at the unexpected sound of Rachel's voice, and she nearly drops the bottle onto the floor. She spins around to find Rachel standing in front of the glass door with an uncertain smile touching her lips. Quinn absolutely is not leering at her breasts in that bikini. She's not!

Rachel licks her lips, dragging Quinn's gaze to them before she speaks again. "And the song was rather apropos, as our summer vacation is rapidly coming to a close."

"Yeah," Quinn manages, clutching the bottle tightly in front of her as if it's some magical weapon to ward off Rachel's inquisitive gaze. "Yeah, that's exactly why I picked it." It's only half a lie.

"I thought as much," Rachel claims with a nod, licking her lips again. She really needs to stop that—Quinn really needs to stop staring at them too, but that's how she sees the corners curl into a playful, little grin. "Plus, it was a perfect complement to your Belinda Carlisle glamour."

Apparently Rachel remembers at least 98% of everything she's ever said, too. "We should probably get back to the party," Quinn suggests, pointing at the door with the neck of her bottle as she takes a step forward, mentally calculating the proper trajectory to sidestep Rachel on her way back outside.

Rachel determinedly steps into her path to stop her, catching her gaze and holding it. "Quinn, I know that I have an unfortunate habit of occasionally missing pertinent social cues, but when you were singing that song, you were singing it to me, and only me," she says in a way that's far too reminiscent of Quinn's own desperate question before the wedding that wasn't.

"It was just a song, Rachel," Quinn insists, averting her eyes to the shenanigans of their friends still having fun outside. "A silly, frivolous song. I only needed something to focus on so I wouldn't get distracted and forget the words," she lies.

"Oh?" Rachel breathes, casually leaning back against the door and making it impossible for Quinn to get past her or to look at anything else. "Because for a moment, I thought that perhaps you'd chosen a somewhat unconventional method of confessing your long hidden feelings. For me," she clarifies unnecessarily.

Quinn decides to pick at the label on the bottle with a fingernail to avoid looking at Rachel. "That really would be stupid, wouldn't it?" she scoffs. "You're still waiting for Finn to change his mind and want you back. Again."

Rachel sighs and shakes her head. "No, I'm not." Quinn abandons counting the rivulets of condensation on the bottle to look at Rachel with unpreventable interest. "It's true that I...still haven't gotten over him yet," she admits with an ironic grin tugging at the corner of her mouth. "But I'm getting there."

Quinn nods automatically, processing the words. "That's…good," she reasons cautiously. "For you. Good for you," she repeats inanely.

Rachel's smile widens. "I hear that New Haven is lovely in the fall, and I have those train tickets that you bought for us," she reminds Quinn, almost shyly. "I'm certain that it won't be very long at all before I'll need a vacation from the stresses of attending NYADA." She runs her tongue across her lower lip again—Quinn is beginning to suspect that she's doing that on purpose. "One that I'd…rather not spend alone."

Quinn swallows around a suddenly dry throat and briefly contemplates downing the wine cooler that she's been carrying around in a single gulp. She decides it might not be wise under theses newly confusing circumstances. "Well, that's…that's why I bought the tickets. To visit." Certainly not to seduce Rachel Berry away from Finn Hudson.

Well—not entirely for that reason.

"I'm very glad you did," Rachel tells her sweetly, and then she completely surprises Quinn by swaying forward and lightly grasping Quinn's shoulders for balance before she rises onto her toes and presses a chaste kiss to her cheek—suspiciously close to the corner of her mouth. "Thank you, Quinn," she murmurs before letting go.

"Yeah," is all that Quinn can think to say as she stares open-mouthed at Rachel, barely resisting the urge to touch the spot on her cheek where Rachel's lips had just been.

"I'll see you back outside," Rachel says with a tip of her head.

Her grin might be just a tiny bit smug as she turns and slides open the door.

Quinn's grin might be just a tiny bit besotted as she watches Rachel walk away. She's absolutely not leering at her ass in that bikini. She's not!

Okay—she totally is, and she doesn't care who knows it.

"Thank you, Belinda," she whispers as her eyes follow Rachel.

Today just got a lot more interesting and so have all of her tomorrows.


¹ Glee 3:01, "The Purple Piano Project"
"Vacation," by The Go-Go's