(A/n So the schedule is now updates on Monday or Sunday depending on when I've completed it and have had it beta-ed. If it's done early it'll be Sunday. If procrastination takes over, Monday :)

I don't know if I could put into words what some of your reviews make me feel… but if you've seen AVPM, and you've seen Voldemort's tap dance, that is it exactly. With extra jazz hands.

Oh, and riverkirby, your reviews never fail to make me laugh. Thought I should tell you.

Caitlin, Caitlin, Caitlin. Is thank you ever going to be enough? No. I'll answer that right now. No, it won't be.

Previously: "No-one in school knows, do they?" He shook his head, no. "Do you want them to know?" Sam nodded. "There we go then. There's your extravagant."

Rachel pulled the notepad towards her and flipped the page of History notes away from her.)


They made multiple lists, cross referenced them with each other and then again with both his and Mercedes' timetables; he had both memorised.

"We just need a few quick calculations for size and then cost. Could you pass my other pad please?" Her eyes were trained on the page as she gesticulated in the general direction of her scattered schoolwork. Sam picked up the one with the black cover and flicked it open to find a blank page. Rachel looked up impatiently when it wasn't presented to her and saw Sam look up with a grin.

"I never knew she was this good." He mused.

"But surely…" Rachel trailed off and eyed the blonde in front of her. He meticulously scoured each drawing with his eyes, and his mouth twitched and opened every now and then with a silent gasp of awe.

"She didn't want to show me." Rachel was shocked and humbled at the submission. She saw how nervous Quinn had been when handing over the collection and now the gravity of the moment hit her, hard. Sam carefully placed it from where it had been taken and grabbed another.

"So what's going on with you two?" Rachel's pen froze in its motion.

"W-what?"

"I know my Lor Menari; I know that look she gives you. It's the look she gave me but with so much more." A blush arose on her cheeks and the hazel eyes appeared in her mind causing her heart to thump and her palms to sweat. "So?"

Rachel bit her lip and debated claiming the fifth, but she hadn't been able to gush to anyone about the whole thing and by God was she brimming with it all.

"I…we…kissed." She breathed out. Sam saw the utter happiness in her face and felt it fill the room. It was a stark contrast to the stifling anxiety that the room had held in the days after the shooting.

"Fireworks?"

Rachel shook her head slowly.

"No-where near. Atomic bomb. It was Hiroshima 2.0 followed by multiple Nagasaki's."

The image of it alone made him burst into laughter and he cocked an eyebrow at the analogy. Rachel just pointed to her abandoned History homework and shrugged, a grin teasing her lips as well.

"You do realise that you just basically called yourself a cockroach, right?" his grin turned mischievous.

"Samuel Evans, I am not a cockroach and I said no such thing! How on earth did you come to such a conclusion?"

"Well, the only thing that can survive an atomic blast is a cockroach."

Rachel gaped at him.

"Don't worry, your disguise is impeccable, Roach-el." He laughed.

"Well I'd rather be a cockroach than a smurf. I can withstand atomic bombs. What can your people do?"

Sam's face fell into a frown but the amusement still shone in his eyes.

"A.) They're Na'vi, not Smurfs." He scoffed at the notion."B.) We're much better than cockroaches. We have bones re-enforced with carbon fibre, we are like 9 feet tall and, oh yeah, we have tails. End of conversation."

"At least I don't have intercourse with a blue dragon using my hair."

"It's not… urgh!" He shook his head in feigned frustration and then checked his watch. "I'd better get back; I still have to go to the last two lessons." He walked to the door and turned back, lifting the papers detailing their plan aloft. "Thanks Roach-el."

Rachel laughed at him before she turned serious.

"No, thank you."

He lifted his trouser leg to show the edge of his trainer socks where a black point peeked out, a part of the star that encircled his ankle.

"We've got you, Rach."

He left but she heard him bump into someone and rush out a hasty apology. She found herself liking the jock much more but decided that next time he was here; she, Kurt and Quinn needed to have the much belated conversation about his intentions.


A heavy weight slammed down across her blanket covered legs with a deep sigh. Rachel cracked open an eye lazily to see what had woken her. A mass of red and white hung over either side of the bed, pressing down on her shins. She shifted her legs under the mass and the large mass giggled slightly and shifted. Quinn lifted her head and turned towards her.

"Rough day?" Rachel saw Quinn's eyes drop and then look everywhere but Rachel's own.

"Umm… I'll tell you about it one of these days." The brunette opened her mouth to question the vague and overall confusing answer that Quinn gave but the cheerleader averted her attention, something she was becoming incredibly good at. "Sam said that you wanted to be a cockroach next Halloween. Confirm or deny." She smirked.

Rachel huffed and slumped in the bed.

"Stupid smurf."

"I think they're called Na'vi, Rach."

"Not you too!"

"Not me what?" Quinn had spun in her position so that she was on top of Rachel and she had elbows placed either side of her knees with her chin rested on her closed fists. Rachel had widened her legs slightly so that she could fit snugly between them and Quinn's were raised in the air, swaying back and forth. "I'm just using correct terminology; I thought you'd appreciate that."

Rachel ignored her smile and stuck a lip out in a pout.

"Yeah, well, cockroaches are very multifunctional. Smurfs have sex with blue dragons."

"They're actually called lesser leono-… you don't care, do you." Rachel shook her and tried hard to withhold her smirk. Quinn dropped her head to the knee to her left and the curvature fit into the bridge of her nose. Rachel slipped her hand into her blonde locks and they glided through her fingers. She wrapped a tendril around her right index finger and tugged ever so gently. Quinn lifted her head, her chin resting on her leg. Rachel tugged it again, but with slightly more force, and jerked her head upwards. Quinn smirked as realization hit and she began to crawl up the bed. When she was at her desired position, with her knees firmly planted between Rachel's legs and her hands beside her waist, she leant forward and brushed their noses.

"Only 5 more days." The husky voice washed over her and Rachel bit her lower lip in anticipation. The action caught Quinn's eye and she swiped her tongue across her own. This in turn caught Rachel's and they stared at each other for a while, wondering if this would have happened without the… confrontation… in the hallway.

Rachel tilted her head forward and connected her lips with Quinn. Her heart soared as their lips moved together. She lifted her hand to seize blonde hair again and Quinn nipped and kissed, letting the anxiety and frustration of the day evaporate. Rachel slid her tongue against hers and let out a small moan when Quinn sucked on it. Her hand clenched harder as need for each other grew stronger and took over; Quinn let her body slowly drop down onto the one beneath her. The motion of the kiss made her body rock slightly over Rachel, up and down, slowly creating friction between their hips and quickly increasing their heart rates. They part to only connect again with more passion. Rachel held Quinn's lip between her teeth and tugged sharply making the blonde emit a sharp gasp. Taking advantage of the moment, Rachel took over and thrust her tongue into the awaiting mouth. They both needed air, and soon, but the firmly clenched hands in hair and on hips would not let them split. Whimpers and moans encompassed them, sending more fuel to the fire that burned within them.

"My eyes! Santa Madre de Dios! They burn!" Santana clutched at the wall and door, crying out. In a moment of quick thinking, Brittany grabbed a water bottle and threw the contents in the exclaiming girl's face. Her hands dropped immediately as the water dripped down her face and through her clothing.

Quinn sat back on her knees and held one arm across her ribs and the other over her mouth, desperate to not laugh and face the wrath that would come with it. Rachel, however, deemed that laughing was worth getting maimed over and she buckled forward with laughter.

"I'd rip your little midget arms of if you didn't just win me fifty bucks." The laughter stopped and two sets of eyes narrowed.

"What?" Quinn growled out.

"It's about time too! Another few days and I'd have lost."

Quinn lunged from the bed but Santana was long gone out of the door. Wrenching it open, Quinn stalked down her prey. Brittany and Rachel looked at each other, smiled, and shrugged. She sat down beside the bed and pulled out a Math book.

"I think the teachers are getting confused, pie is in Home Ec., not Math."


Brittany dragged Santana out by the arm after her homework was done, begging the brunette to take her to the duck pond before they went home, as if she would have said no. The moment the door closed Quinn fell on top of Rachel's legs, de ja vu all over again. She moved up her body once more to claim her lips, but stopped short when she met those deep brown orbs.

"I was wondering…" She got lost in the gaze for a moment before she lowered her head. Rachel looked at Quinn and saw something she hadn't before, the girl was being… shy? "It's all knew to me. This." She gestured between them. "But… what I was wondering was… well…"

"Spit it out, Fabray."

"Don't ruin the moment, Berry." She smiled and Rachel joined her, her intention achieved. Quinn looked slightly less nervous at the familiarity Rachel had thrown in and she no longer felt like she was flailing. "Would you consider… being… well… mine?"

"Yours?"

"I know that that's a pretty primal way of putting it, but I'm yours. I'm all yours, and I was wondering if you could be… mine."

"You're… mine?" Quinn nodded emphatically. "Well, I didn't realize we were objects to be traded off at will, to be honest."

"No- I didn't mean it like that I meant, y'know…"

"I obviously don't."

"You do!"

"Quinn." She took the girl's chin in her palm and lifted her head. "I was yours long before you even knew." Quinn grinned and her eyes sparkled with that extra something that made Rachel's heart jump. Fingers slid together and Quinn lightly kissed the gauze and her shoulder then her lips.

A knock on the door broke their reverie and Quinn slid off of Rachel to answer it. She immediately slammed it shut.

"That's becoming a bad habit." The bed-ridden teenager smiled. Quinn didn't look up; she just opened the door and let the person enter.

She entered hesitantly with their eyes locked on Quinn for reaction, wide and nervous. Casey's hands fumbled as they wrung together and she stopped at the foot of the bed. Not one of the three spoke.

"I came by... a few times, but I couldn't come in." Her voice was small, almost as if something had trodden over it. In a way, something had.

"When?"

"Almost every day this last week and a half. I was gonna come in earlier, but you had company." Rachel thought hard over her stay in the hospital and remembered Sam's run in with someone earlier.

"You should have come in."

"I shouldn't of at all."

"You're right you shouldn't have." Quinn's voice was like steel and her eyes matched. It was nothing Rachel had seen on her, worse than with Finn.

"Quinn-"

"I don't know who she is to you, but-"

"Exactly, you don't know, so shut up."

"Case,"

"Rach," Quinn protested at the caring voice her girlfriend put on.

"Quinn." Rachel was stern now.

"What! You want me to leave?" Rachel fell silent. "You… you seriously want me to leave?" There was still no response. "Rach…"

"She wants you to leave, Fabray."

"Shut up before I return that slap, Collins."

"Case, you slapped her? God…"

"If you want me to leave, tell me, Rach. Because I don't want to leave you with her."

She pleaded with her eyes, her hazels laced with fear of rejection. It was something she had grown used to over the years. Finn chose Rachel, Puck chose Zizes, Sam chose Santana, her Father chose his image, and her mother chose her Father. She had always tried to stay one ahead of rejection but it always pulled her two steps back.

"I need to speak with her, alone, Quinn. I'm sorry.

Quinn's eyes filled with tears she swore not to shed. She backed out of the room and shut the door to cover the brunette's soft protests. The wounds that every rejection had created had healed, but this one felt like all of them torn open with salt poured on. Rachel chose Casey.

But Rachel was hers, she had told her so. Rachel was hers.

So why did she feel like she was slipping through her fingers?

Her phone buzzed with a text message and she slid her finger across the screen to open it with a trembling hand.

At the Berry's for Q&A. Casey is Rachel's ex/maybe something more. The Dad's are a bit fuzzy on details, but these pics speak for themselves. Sending you one now. – K

Her phone buzzed again and she opened the message. They were under a tree of some sort and practically wrapped around each other. Rachel was beaming at the camera her friend held aloft but Casey's eyes were for Rachel only. They shone with unspoken devotion and Quinn's stomach dropped. Her hand grasped the cold metal door handle ready to storm in and claim Rachel as hers, but she let it drop. Whilst Rachel would appreciate the dramatics and the sentiment, she would be pissed at her for not following a simple request.

Quinn held the star in her finger tips but for the first time whilst holding it, she felt lost.


(A/n Next chapter includes some Fabang, some Quick, and just a bit more drama… just a tad. Okay, I lied. There's more than a tad. A dash, a smidgen, a morsel... okay, there's a giant dollop of drama.

Thanks for reading, it always surprises me just how many of you there are. I'm no FerryBerry or DylanHart, so I'm not always sure why you're here, but I love you all endlessly.

Review it?)