Disclaimer: I own nothing really, just borrowing the characters for a little joyride

Pairing: Eventual Quinn/Rachel
Spoilers: Anything up has already aired.
Rated: R for language

A/N: Yup! still Unbeta'd. The whippets don't catch too many grammar mistakes, sorry. So… still sorry for all mistakes, feel free to point them out. Reviews would still be very much appreciated, as we all know authors live off of them, even part time authors like moi. And I still love popcorn.

A/N 2: Yes, long long hiatus, sorry sorry! Go Liverpool. We need a win. gf bought me a new t-shirt that I'm testing today!

Rachel stopped with as she was picking up her keys from counter.

She looked at Quinn long and hard. "Kenny Smithson? You don't know?" Quinn looked her. "I do not. Hence the 'who the hell is Kenny Smithson' comment."

Rachel shook her head. "He is in our English class. Granted, I don't know why he is calling you…"

Quinn smacked her head. "Dammit. I knew S was up to no good." She flipped open her phone. "Hello?"

Rachel stood there, one hand on her hip shaking her head. Quinn looked over at her and shrugged. "Uh no, Kenny, I think Santana must have had a little brain fart and accidentally put my number in your phone." She paused, looking over at Rachel, her body language clearly saying 'see? I'm being nice, are you happy?'

The diva did at least quit tapping her foot, pursed her lips and nodded her head side to side in semi-approval. Quinn continues. "Oh, yes. You know how it's hard to remember your own number sometimes, right? He heh?" Quinn looked at Rachel again, arching her brow and giving thumbs up sign. Rachel nodded back approvingly.

"Well, Kenny, not a problem. Why don't you let me give you Santana's number real quick? I'm sure she's wondering why she hasn't heard from you." There was a pause. "You know, I think she wanted to get together with Brittany to study also." Pause. "Yes, you're right, she lives on Fairlane." Pause

Rachel tilted her head conveying her suspicion and curiosity. "Well, that is a stellar idea Kenny." The blond shrugged her shoulders innocently, looking at the brunette. She heaved a sigh. "You might want to give her a call before showing up though, I'm just saying." She looked at the diva to see if that satisfied her, trying to keep the smirk off her face. The brunette raised her shrugged her hands and nodded. "Okay, Kenny. Good luck with that. No problem. I'm sure it was an honest mistake on Santana's part." She closed her phone.

"Honest mistake my ass," Quinn quipped.

"Okay, but do you really want to send poor Kenny into Lima's own Hellmouth? Really?"

"Well I told him to call first, right?"

"I guess. Still, be it on your head if Kenny turns up missing on Monday," she trailed off, raising her hands.

The blond picked up her keys from the table, glancing over at the other girl, who was shaking her head. She sighed. "Okay, okay."

"Okay what?"

"Okay, I maybe shouldn't have sent an innocent bystander into the Lima Hellmouth."

"And?" Rachel crossed her arms and waited, expectantly.

"And, fine, what do you want me to do?"

"I don't know, what do you think you should do?"

"You sound like a shrink," Quinn replied with amusement.

"I do not," she huffed.

"Yeah, you kinda do,"

The diva pursed her lips in a flat line and raised an eyebrow.

Quinn rolled he eyes and sighed. "Look, we'll drive by there and see if all is well…?"

Rachel bobbed her head back and forth as if weighing the idea.

"Are you making a pro/con list? You are, aren't you?"

Rachel harumphed. "In fact I am. Are we going to go in, or just drive by?"

Rachel disregarded the growling sounds escaping the blond, and seemed more amused than frightened by this, as she waited for an answer.

Quinn raised her hands in defeat. "Okay. Look, we'll drive by. If it's just them, I'll text her and warn her, okay? If there is a car there…we'll go and check on them. But I am NOT knocking on that door if it's not necessary. Is that good enough?"

Placated, Rachel smiled in victory. "That would suffice I think."

Quinn crossed her arms and looked at her pointedly. "Huzzah. But then you're driving. Parking's a bitch over there."

"Fair enough." She pulled out her phone to text her dad.

Rachel: Stopping by a friend's study group. Don't wait on food or anything. Be there when…"

Dad: Sure thing hon

Rachel: Going out on a limb. There is bacon, yes?

Dad: Alas, yes. Sorry hon, you know Daddy.

Rachel: Thought so. Save some. Not for me obviously.

Dad: Obviously. Will try…

She smiled and shut her phone and turned Quinn. "Are we ready?"

"Oh yes. And I'm beside myself with anticipation, " Quinn laughed lightly, and let out another half growl. She picked up her house keys and shook her head. "I can't believe we have to go check on … whatshisname."

"Kenny Smithson. And it's the right thing to do," the brunette countered looking self-satisfied.

"Yeah yeah. Go on. After you, fearless leader." She picked up her keys and headed out, grabbing her coat and fleece scarf and gloves.

It was chilly out and Rachel could see her breath as walked to the car. She looked up at the sky thoughtfully. Still overcast.

Quinn noticed her looking. "Think it'll snow?"

"I don't think so, but it could freeze over night if we see rain I suppose. But it seems early for snow. Which is too bad. I love it."

"Me too. Though I hope it holds off until Daylight Savings Time starts."

"Ooookay? Why is that, do you mind me asking? I just mean that seems rather arbitrary", she laughed.

"Ah, yes. Well, I managed to talk Coach into letting us wear 'civilian' clothes on non-game days. Hey, her word, not mine.

"Ah, then I concur. I would love to see some early snow, but I certainly can get behind hoping it waits until you can wear suitably warm clothing."

"You and me both," Quinn agreed emphatically.

Rachel put on her seat belt, checked her mirrors and turned to Quinn. "So. Buckled up? Good. Now. Where to? I can put it in the GPS or…"

Quinn looked at her puzzled before realizing Rachel would never have been to Santana's house for any reason. "Oh, I guess you don't know where she lives. Duh. Okay, it's only about 10 minutes from here. Head up 309."

"Roger." She eased the car into reverse and pulled out, naturally stopping to look both ways, three times each, before backed out into the street and headed out. Quinn thought she heard a giggle, and looking over, she realized she had indeed heard a giggle.

"What's up Berry, care to share with the rest of the class," Quinn allowed a little sarcasm to drip into her voice.

"Oh nothing. I was just thinking of those bumper stickers you see on cars. You know, like…, Dog is my Co-Pilot. Visualize Whirled Peas…and the ever popular Honk if you love Jesus…"

"Yes…?" She dragged out the word.

"I was just having this absurd vision of one on my car that says "HBIC is my Co-Pilot."

Quinn's jaw dropped. Finally she let out a half laugh, half cough.

Rachel looked over a little nervously, still giggling.

"Well…I'll try not to get you lost. Wouldn't be good for my rep if we got lost, would it?"

"Heh heh, I guess it wouldn't."

Quinn shook her head wondering what kind of reputation she really had now anyway. She found she didn't care as much.

"Okay, next street up, hang a left."

"Right."

"No left."

Rachel looked over at her. "I know. I mean, 'right', as in correct. Not as in that I should turn…"

"Rachel!" Quinn yelped, interrupting her. Rachel jumped, startled. "What?"

The other girl slapped her forehead and sighed. "That was it. You were supposed to turn left there."

Rachel pulled her shoulders up, looking sheepish. "Oh. Er. Oops. Uh. Okay, I'll turn left at the next intersection."

"You do that, Miss Earhart," she quipped. "You can just hang two lefts and you'll be back on track."

"Two lefts. Right then."

"No, two lefts and then another left. Dork"

"I meant two lefts, 'got it'."

"Kidding Rachel."

"Yeah, well I was messing with you too. And just so you know, I am an excellent driver."

"An excellent driver? Hm," Quinn teased. "While I will agree you have occasionally exhibited similar qualities, I have to ask, do you really want to go around quoting Rain Man and inviting comparisons just now?"

Rachel looked over at her passenger, and noticed the slight smile playing around her lips, and the slight shake of her head as she tried to suppress a giggle. She looked relaxed. Despite just having had Quinn's infamous sarcasm leveled at her, Rachel found herself smiling hugely. But she answered simply.

"Perhaps not."

"Okay then."

Rachel looked over again, her face filled with unbridled enthusiasm. "Speaking of Rain Man, I happen to have the Rain Man soundtrack on my Itouch if you want to turn that on? It is quite good I think. Even if there is relatively little singing."

"Will it help us get through this ordeal faster and then to your house for bacon?"

"Probably not."

She caught the shrug of indifference out of the corner of her eye and glanced over yet again, and Rachel could see there was still a ghost of a smile playing around her lips. Then again, Quinn's lips always looked like they were about to smile lately. She audited that thought, and continued her inner monolog, wonder how often she looked at Quinn's lips in the first place to come up with that statement. She would have to think about that later, she decided, startled when the blond spoke again.

"Then I think we're good at the moment, besides we're almost there now. Left, left, Left!" Rachel made an "eep" sound at the shouting and hauled on the steering wheel.

Quinn quite suddenly found herself yelping expletives and lurching towards her car window as the Rachel made an exceedingly abrupt left turn. Rachel yelped when the brakes squealed and then she pulled over to the curb immediately and looked at Quinn, eyes wide. She took a deep breath.

"Quinn. I'm sorry if I scared you! I really am an excellent driver." She couldn't help but wince at the incredulous look Quinn gave her. "I mean, when I'm not distracted. I promise it won't happen again."

Quinn was just shaking her head. "Have you been watching some crazy ass Fast and Furious marathon lately? This is not Tokyo Drift!"

The tiny brunette looked a little pale. "No! Really, I swear. I passed my driving test and Daddy…."

Quinn cleared her throat, cutting her off. "Uh huh. Well remind me to ask you what was distracting you so we can avoid that, right? Okay?" Her blood was pumping from the unpleasant surprise Dukes of Hazard move.

"Okay. But, well, you were." Awesome filtration process there. Nice. She berated herself.

"I didn't realize I was a driving hazard," the shaken cheerleader couldn't help but quip, secretly a little pleased.

And Rachel couldn't help but look again. She could here it in her voice, and indeed there was the ghost smile again. She liked seeing that smile she decided.

They were almost to Santana's when a text came in and even though she wasn't driving, Quinn made Rachel pull over to avoid an unfortunate onset of carsickness.

Santana: R U Mad? Or just insane? Why was there a sniveling English geek on my doorstep just now?

Quinn glanced at Rachael with a rueful shake of the head indicating that the gig was up. She decided to be circumspect for the time being.

Quinn: What?

Santana: Kenny Smithson!

Quinn: Who is that? New bloke?

Santana: Har har. This is how S Cs it. Divine retribution will be visited on you.

Quinn had no response for that. She knew that the next few days would be touch and go with Santana scorned and she had no intention of starting in on it sooner than necessary.

"How about we head on our merry way? I think my job here is done."

Rachel looked over, puzzled.

"Kenny is fine. I, however, may have some unpleasantness in my not too distant future."

The drive to Rachel's house went extremely slowly, as the diva now felt the need to use an abundance of caution in a bid to add weight to her claim that she was indeed an excellent driver.

Quinn fiddled with the radio until she tuned into the OSU college radio, and they tooled along in relative silence, while Rachel took an extremely slow turn onto her street. Quinn couldn't tell in the dark, but it looked like a nice little nook of a neighborhood. There was Prius parked in the driveway of course.

"Well, here we are, safe and sound," Rachel put the car in park and announced unnecessarily.

"Barely…," Quinn extricated herself from the car and cocked an eyebrow at the brunette over the hood of the car as she shut the door. This elicited a nervous grin from the other girl.

"Come on, bacon might make you feel better."

"Maybe…"

The door opened into a cozy anteroom, and the smell of eggs and the unmistakable aroma of bacon and coffee, and some vaguely familiar sounding music played in the background. She could hear the murmur of voices, and some laughter.

"Hello? We're here," Rachel called out as she pulled off her coat and gloves. She rearranged the other coats and scarves on the ornate coat antique rack, making room for Quinn's things. She held out her hand for Quinn's coat and scarf. Quinn stuffed her gloves in her coat pocket and handed them over to Rachel.

Quinn sniffed the air. "Wow, you guys really do full on breakfast! I smell coffee too."

"Oh yes. Decaf of course. Dad gets too wired if he has coffee after noon. If you think I talk too much, you really don't want to see daddy on caffeine.

Quinn looked horrified for half a second before she caught herself, and unsuccessfully attempted to cover her smirk with her hand

"I saw that Fabray," Rachel pointed out.

"Sorry. I just…wow. That is just, wow."

Just then, a tall bespectacled man wearing fluffy comfortable looking house shoes, jeans and a grey Kenyon sweatshirt appeared around the corner smiling.

"Hi honey! Glad you made it home for 'brinner'. I begrudgingly saved some bacon for…you?" He turned to face Quinn. "You must be Rachel's bacon eating friend? You dad thought it was going to be Finn, and I was having a hard time convincing myself to save anything. That boy wolfs everything down, and Jonathan thinks he doesn't really take the time to savor food anyway, and what is the point of saving him any bacon if he is not going to able to even taste it I ask you?" He took a deep breath and turned to Quinn. "You, however, are decidedly not a six foot tall bundle of hormones, are you? I'm Curtis." He held out his hand.

Quinn mouth was close to hanging, but she kept it up. She was marveling at the man's nonstop flow of words, and was caught off guard when he suddenly introduced himself, but she held out her hand and gave it a shake. She wasn't used to shaking hands as a greeting, but everything she'd ever heard indicated a firm handshake was a good thing, so she shook it firmly.

Rachel deadpanned. "Yes, hard to believe someone talks more than me? Well I had to get it from someone didn't I?"

Quinn glanced at her, wanting to laugh, but not wanting to offend the man in front of her. He laughed and shrugged. "She gets it from both of us, I'm afraid."

Quinn caught his infectious smile, and her stomach tightened nervously knowing her next statement may have an adverse affect on that charming smile.

"Hello Mr. Berry, I'm…I'm Quinn Fabray. Rachel and I are in glee together and we have some classes together this year as well."

She cringed inwardly, suspecting her name might ring a bell with the other man. She had no idea how much Rachel's dads knew about Quinn's role as chief tormentor in Rachel's life most of her freshman and sophomore year. However, as often as Rachel talked about her dads she suspected they were close and probably did not have pleasant associations with her name. Watching the man's face in front of her when he heard her name confirmed that for her.

"Quinn Fabray," his face got ponderous for a moment, and smile dropped ever so slightly. He gave Rachel the quickest of looks. Rachel smiled at him and nodded slightly.

He cocked his head slightly and then turned to smile at his guest. "Well Quinn Fabray, it's very nice to meet you. Please! Come in!" He gestured for her to precede him through the arched entrance to the living room area. "We're eating in the kitchen, just keep going there and follow your nose around to the back." He took the moment while Quinn was heading away to look again at his daughter. Rachel leaned in and squeezed his arm, whispering out of the other girl's earshot. "Yes, that Quinn. Older, wiser. I think? I'm fine. We're fine. Bygones. Don't worry."

"Okay, hon, I trust you and your instincts." He smiled but still looked a little worried.

She smiled at him. "It's okay I think. She's….changed."

He took a breath and nodded and smiled warmly "Okay then. Goodness knows you can have that kind of effect on people." He squeezed her shoulder as they followed Quinn towards the kitchen. "So where is Stretch tonight anyway?"

Rachel shook her head and groaned dramatically. "He's playing video games."

"Of course he is," he squeezed her shoulder and patted it and laughed in sympathy. "No bacon for him then."

"No bacon for him," Rachel agreed.

A/N Okay, sorry, sorry sorry for such a long hiatus! Oh how I've missed fanfiction trying to insist that 'Quinn' is 'Quint'. Gah. Anyway. Tried to make a longer chapter, and working on next now. Had work, got sick, etc. Back on a roll now… thanks everyone for reading and reviewing. The comments and reviews get the creative juices flowing. On to the next chapter!