Quinn drove 160 once they were out of the city, and Rachel didn't even complain once. They drove for hours down back roads and through small towns at extreme speeds. Rachel had no idea how Quinn knew where she was going or how she wasn't crashing because of her speed, but she didn't ask.

The night came and the broken window let the cold breeze attack the two girls. Quinn didn't show it, but Rachel shivered uncontrollably. Before their fight, Quinn would've pulled over and cuddled her to keep her warm, but now Quinn could care less. She was getting tired of Rachel's diva attitude and remembered why she was so mean to her in high school.

Around 9:00 pm the girls neared Richfield, Utah. Quinn pulled into a Super 8 right off the freeway, and before the keys were out of the ignition Rachel was out of the car. She ran from the car to the small office and Quinn trailed behind her trying to keep up. The smaller girl flung the door open and stormed to the old woman at the counter.

"Two single bed rooms, please!" the woman cocked her head at Rachel's attitude and handed her two keys. Rachel threw the money on the counter and whipped around to face the blonde. Quinn was frozen after Rachel's whirlwind of actions, but she snapped out of it and took a step towards the little girl.

"Two rooms?" Quinn laughed "You're kidding me right? We can't even sleep in the same room now?"

"Quinn, you realize you sound like an insane bitch right now, right?" Rachel retorted.

"Oh you haven't even seen crazy bitch yet, Rachel Berry! You have no idea!"

"Oh, I think I have seen crazy bitch, Quinn." Rachel yelled "I've seen you go through this self-destructive cycle since our freshman year of high school! You could have anything you want, but you don't think you deserve any of it, so you act like the victim and like you have nothing! Get over yourself, and get over me until you do! You're my escort to New York now, and nothing more. You're dangerous, and selfish, and emotionless! You're not the high school Quinn I fell in love with anymore!"

"What?" Quinn whispered, feeling like she was having an out of body experience.

"Never mind," Rachel shook her head and tossed one of the keys at Quinn "get out of here."

"Please, both of you do before I ask you to give me back the keys." the old woman said "I am quite the religious Christian woman and your lesbian relationship is, in my eyes, wrong in every sense of the word. I'm glad you two aren't sharing a room because I would have to make my maid Consuela clean that room twice. You're welcome to stay, but don't make me regret this decision. I don't want to rot in hell along with you two and the rest of the homos."

Quinn and Rachel's jaws both dropped, and Rachel fell apart in rage.
"Excuse me?" she screamed and her eyes started watering up "Firstly, we are not lesbians, and even though we aren't I play an active roll in LGBT support around the world. Secondly, I have two gay dads whom I love dearly. They have been partners for 27 years now, which is more than most heterosexual couples can say. And if this weren't the only vacant hotel on the street I'd walk out right now and slander this hotel the moment I left. We'll be gone in the morning, and don't worry, we will be in separate rooms you homophobic old hag."

Rachel turned on a heel and ran out the door. Quinn slowly followed her out as the old woman mumble a prayer under her breath.
Quinn checked out the room key. Number six, it said. She walked to the room and opened it up. Small, dark, and empty; perfect, Quinn thought. She locked the door behind her, and plopped on the bed. She fell asleep there over the covers and in her jeans and t-shirt.

Rachel on the other hand, couldn't sleep. Above Quinn in room number two she laid in her pajamas. She took an hour long shower, slowly changed, and ordered Chinese food and she still couldn't stop crying after what the woman in the office said.
The little brunette curled up in a ball on the bed and flipped on the old TV. To her surprise and pleasure, the random old channel on the TV was playing Funny Girl.

Barbra made the girl feel at peace while she ate her Chinese food. But there was still something out of place; Quinn. It felt like the first day they spent in the dirty motel room, eating pizza and watching reruns of Friends. Only this time, she was alone.

What was she thinking; pushing Quinn away like that after all she'd been through? The blonde was hurting; she needed Rachel more than Rachel needed her to take her to New York. The upset little girl couldn't hold her guilt any longer; Rachel grabbed the remainder of the Chinese food and left the room in her pink pajama set trying to hold herself together, at least until she was inside again. She walked down the dirty cement stairs, her fluffy slippers scuffing against the ground. She hurriedly closed the distance between her and door number six and knocked quickly.

She shivered at the cold and waited for a response, but there was none. She knocked again, louder, and heard a groan come from behind the door and she half smiled.
Rachel shivered as she waited for Quinn to unlock the dead bolt and chain on the door. When it finally cracked open slowly and Quinn groggily turned on a lamp by the door, Rachel threw herself around the taller girl.

"I'm so sorry," Rachel said and squeezed her friend "I've been being so selfish, not you."

Quinn squeezed her back "No, Rachel. I've been being a bitch too." she said "Come in, let's sit down." Rachel let go and nodded, following the girl into her room.

They plopped on the bed together, awkwardly for a second until Rachel broke the silence "I brought you a present." she held up the Chinese food container and Quinn giggled, taking it gladly. She ate it all while Rachel finished watching Funny Girl before they started talking about the real issues at hand.

"So," Quinn hesitated "what were you talking about in there earlier before we checked in?"

Rachel glance away "I don't know what you're talking about."

"When you said I'm not the high school Quinn you fell in love with."

The brunette huffed "I knew what you were talking about," she said and sat up on the mattress "I just didn't want to talk about it right now."

"Okay..." Quinn's eyes dropped to her hands which she fiddled with in her lap.

"What is it about me that makes you so terrified?" Rachel asked, and Quinn froze.

"What?" Quinn looked at Rachel sincerely.

"I've been around a lot of superficial people since high school ended, Quinn." she explained "I have learned to read people, I know when people are hiding things and being dishonest. You're tough, I know that. That's nothing new, you've always been tough; anyone that's gone through what you've been through has to be. But you don't need muscles or cigarettes or tattoos to be tough, I can tell after being around you for only a matter of days that part of your tough exterior is just hiding something deeper.

I come around and you're crying and actually feeling real emotions. Do you realize since you picked me up from my house you've carried around that pack of cigarettes but not lit one? Why am I making such a difference in your life? It's just me, the silly little Jewish girl who stole all your boyfriends in high school and took all the solos in glee club."

Quinn thought for a second; Rachel had just opened her up like a book and read her from start to finish. Hearing it aloud after all these years almost physically hurt her, but it took an enormous weight off her chest to know someone cared enough to say something and it took her breath away that Rachel knew her well enough to dissect her actions like that after only a few days.

"That's exactly why you're making such a difference in me, Rachel." Quinn began "Because you're still that silly little Jewish girl. When everything around me is changing, everything I have is being ripped away from me, and the world is slowly falling apart it seems- you are the one and only thing that remains constant. Ever since I met you, you've just been this bright shining star that kept growing and growing; and now, you're still doing the same thing. Becoming bigger and better and brighter; yeah, you're changing but always in a positive way. In high school I was always drawn to that about you, and I never realized how important that was until I lost it. And now that I've got that back, I'm not sure that I can go back to living without it. I'm not sure I can go back to living without you."

Quinn couldn't believe she was finally letting Rachel in, letting her know her true feelings. She hadn't talked about how she was feeling since she'd left the hospital when she was shot years ago, and now all these feelings were pouring out of her. Now that she had started she wasn't sure that she could stop, and Rachel was intently listening, so she took that as an invitation to continue.

"Rachel," Quinn whispered "can I trust you? Do you promise to accept what it is I'm about to say?" Rachel nodded and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Good," Quinn said "I don't expect you to embrace it with open arms but I just need you to hear me out."

"Anything you need to say," Rachel said "I'm here to listen. Always."

"Ok," Quinn steadied herself with a long deep breath "do you remember the day I commented on your MySpace video sophomore year? When you sang On My Own?" Rachel nodded, confused.

"Well," Quinn explained "something happened to me that day. Something I don't think I'll ever be able to explain."

"What?" Rachel asked inquisitively.

"I fell in love."

Rachel looked at nothing in particular with a thousand yard stare across the room, and didn't say a word; so Quinn further explained herself.

"I felt something change that day. Your voice gave me the chills, it made my stomach do flips, it made my heart skip a few beats. It scared me. You scared me. I was the head bitch around McKinley, but you were the only thing that threatened me because of your damn talent, and the way I felt about you. I was so cruel to you because, well, firstly you were really annoying," Rachel giggled.

"and secondly, I knew if I wasn't your enemy I'd want to be your friend. And if I were your friend I would have fell even harder for you. I gradually started accepting my feelings, especially when I was pregnant, but I was still on the fence about being your friend. It was hard for me to not want you to succeed, but I also couldn't stand to see you win while I was slowly failing.

It was a love hate relationship for the longest time, like when I pushed you to write Get It Right. And eventually that love hate relationship drove me crazy; hence the tattoo and the cutting off of my hair and trying to steal my baby back. I knew I couldn't make you love me, so I jus really wanted anyone to love me at that point. But I got love and pity mixed up for a while, until I finally pulled my head out of my ass and grew up. When I finally came to terms with what my life was going to be, a life without you because you were with Finn, I just decided it was time to grow up.

That's when I applied to Yale and put my big girl pants on, and I was so proud of myself because I was making you proud of me; because we were finally friends. No, we were best friends, and that was a title I was proud to have- Rachel Berry's best friend. I could finally say I was Rachel Berry's best friend. What I really wanted to say was that I was your girlfriend, but about that time you were becoming Mrs. Rachel Hudson." Rachel flinched at the reminder of the past lover.

"It just didn't matter if you were with him, because I knew you meant more to me that you did to him. You meant more to me that anything in the whole world. Which is why when you left for New York, I dropped out of Yale. Because we had become so close that I couldn't ruin our friendship by trying to make it more than what it was. I knew if we were so close in distance, I would try to be more than just a friend and it would ruin everything; because either you wouldn't feel the same and we'd never be friends again, or you would feel the same and I'd keep you from your dreams. Well, you went for it and you got everything you ever dreamed of, and I was proud of you.

But then, I started going crazy staying away from you, which is why I separated myself from the rest of society. I just couldn't stand seeing you on TV when I should have been seeing you in person, right in front of me. I almost killed myself because I couldn't take it for a while, but then I just learned to live on the outskirts of society without TV's and magazines and without seeing your face. For years I didn't see or hear about you or anyone else in the world. I didn't even know who the president was for a while. Now that I'm with you again it feels like all of those years without you were all just a bad dream, and I'm terrified to go back to how it was without you."

Rachel shivered and Quinn put her arm around her, but the smaller girl reflexively flinched away.

"I'm sorry," Rachel apologized "I didn't mean to move away like that, I just wasn't expecting what you said..."
She trailed off and they sat there in silence as she collected herself.

"You dropped out of Yale to stay away from me, so I could succeed?" Quinn nodded.

"Why, Quinn?" Rachel pleaded.

"What if I had went to Yale? What if I told you I loved you and you didn't feel the same? I don't know what I'd have done. I was already so broken, that wasn't a risk I was willing to take."

"I would have never hurt you, Quinn."

"Well what if, on the other hand, you felt the same, and instead of being a star right now you'd just be Rachel Berry from Lima, Ohio who never made it to Broadway because she was too busy with her deadbeat girlfriend?"

"I'd give it all up for that." Rachel admitted "I'm happy because I get to sing, my voice makes people happy, and I have fans; but it doesn't mean anything when I get home and I have nobody to share it with. I get so lonely. I see Kurt and Blaine, Brittany and Santana, and Mercedes and Sam; but they're all together, and I always feel like the third wheel. I've been searching for someone all these years; I've been with Ashton Kutcher, Gavin DeGraw, David Cook, Channing Tatum, and a whole bunch of other guys but it never worked out because they weren't the one. I found the one for me in high school."

"Finn." Quinn said and hung her head "I knew it."

"No," Rachel sighed and tilted Quinn's chin up to face her "you. I thought I wanted to be you when high school first started; it took me a few years to realize I didn't want to be you, I wanted to be WITH you. Even when I was with Finn it was always you I was drawn to. I thought when I got into NYADA and you got into Yale and you bought me that Metro pass that it was finally happening, we'd finally have a fair chance.

I wasn't planning on just jumping into things and telling you how I felt right away, I thought we had years and years ahead of us to live and love and grow together. But then you just disappeared, and I always thought it was because of me; I guess I was right."

"I'm so sorry, Rachel." Quinn said trying to catch her breath "it wasn't because of you. It was because of me, I wasn't good enough for you. I'm still not good enough for you. You're star has always shined too bright for me, I would have dragged you down."

"You're wrong," Rachel said sternly through the tears in her eyes "I would have taken you to the top with me. You wouldn't be this hollow Quinn you are now, you'd still be the beautiful strong Quinn I once knew. The one I fell in love with."
Quinn let go, she let it all out and cried into Rachel's shoulder. She let herself cry until she couldn't cry anymore.

"It's not too late, you know." Rachel said, holding Quinn tight to her chest.

"For what?" Quinn asked.

"For me to take you to the top. I want to be with you, Quinn. Let me fix you."

"It is too late," Quinn said "I'm messed up. I've got a bad reputation, I don't want to make you look bad, Rach."

"You don't get it," Rachel said "you spend so much time worrying about keeping me safe that you're hurting yourself. Quinn, I'm gonna play therapist right now. We're going to fix you tonight, and this is how we're going to start. Close your eyes."
Quinn did as she was told, and cuddled into Rachel's side "Good," Rachel said "now I want you to picture how you want your life to be right now at this very moment. If you could make it perfect to your standards, what would it look like? Tell me all about it."

"Ok," Quinn said and squeezed her eyes shut, thinking. "I see a big house, very clean and modern styled. I see Kurt and Blaine designing it as they check out their workers butts in their work jeans." They both giggled at the image. Rachel closed her eyes too, to imagine with the girl in her arms.

"I see that stupid car on the sidewalk outside the house with a 'For Sale' sign in the window. I see me walking down the street, wearing a summer dress again even, passing a police officer and not cringing because my record has been expunged. I see you standing on the red carpet, looking gorgeous as ever in a gold dress being interviewed by E! while I stand by your side smiling.

I see a beach, covered in white flowers and white sheets; and I see your dads, and even my parents in the very front row waiting for the rabbi to pronounce us wife and wife. I see our first dance at the reception, it's to the song Soldier by Gavin DeGraw. He'll be singing it there, because you two are still close and he owes you a few favors after breaking up with you, anyway." Rachel laughed and smiled, her lips against Quinn's neck.

"I see lots of birthday parties around the pool in the back yard, with all our old friends. I see a you with a beautiful baby bump, and us telling our parents. I see you telling your mom, and her being so proud of you and then laughing because it happened the same way you were conceived. I see us turning one of the rooms in the house into a nursery, yellow because it works for a girl or a boy.

I see you in the hospital holding our first child, I think it's going to be a baby girl. She's going to be just like you, a natural born star. Then a few years later, I'm going to have our baby boy. He's going to be tough and stubborn like me, but we're going to raise him to be the most chivalrous and kind guy.

I see us taking a road trip; a real one, not like this one. We'll go somewhere fun like...Disneyland. I see us standing in front of the castle, kissing under the fireworks at night. Our kids are saying ew and talking about cooties because mom and mommy are kissing. So we stop and we all hold hands and ride the small world ride, and I regret it the whole ride home because you and the kids won't stop singing the stupid song in the car. And I-"

Quinn was interrupted by Rachel's lips on hers intensely. The kiss was quick, but there was so much meaning behind it. It was desperate, and passionate, and the most beautiful thing either of them had ever felt.

"It's not too late." Rachel whispered.

"Thank you." Quinn whispered into the smaller girls ear and kissed her on the cheek.

"Hey, Quinn?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"I love you too, Rachel. I love you, too."