A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been bugging me on Tumblr to get this done! You guys pushed me through some MAJOR writers block! That being said, I'm not too happy with this BUT it will set up the BIG PLANS I have for next chapter which I've already started :D This is totally unbeta'd, all mistakes are mine. I just wanted to get something posted for you guys.

CHAPTER 21: All Apologies

Her heart filled with regrets and despair Quinn decided not to return to the party. She couldn't face walkiing back into the house and seeing Finn or having to deal with numerous questions regarding Rachel and why the brunette had chosen Mike and Tina to take her home instead of Quinn. Her best friend. And she especially didn't want to face Mia, didn't want to have to lie to her and pretend everything was fine.

Instead she walked slowly home, needing to clear her head and hide any trace of sadness before her mom saw her and started asking questions. When she had returned home, her eyes still slightly red and puffy from a steady flow of tears, she locked herself away in her bedroom and called Rachel.

It had been a little over an hour since they had parted and Quinn hoped it was enough time for Rachel to release any anguish or anger she felt towards the blonde and be ready to talk things through.

She knew it was a long shot. That the probablility of such a miracle happening was very, very slim but she needed something to hope for. Something which would keep her from falling into another endless abyss of tears and self-loathing.

So when her first attempt went to voicemail after two rings, she tried again. And again. And then again until, finally, the call went straight to voicemail. She felt another piece of her heart breaking as she listened to the mechanical female voice instruct her how to leave a message.

She hesitated at the beep. Unsure of what to say and even whether her voice was strong enough to make any intelligable sound whatsoever. She shook her head as more tears broke through and let out a long, shaky breath before whispereing a broken 'I'm so sorry' and then hanging up.

When she awoke the next morning she instantly made a grab for her phone. Several missed calls and messages awaited her attention and she eagerly searched through them in the hope Rachel was among them, that she had responded to her voicemail.

Santana and Finn were the main senders with a couple from Mia and one from Brittany but none from Rachel and she couldn't help but curse the callers in case Rachel had tried to get through to her but was unable to due to high usage or something.

Hoping this was the case, Quinn immediately hit the call button on Rachel's name and waited for the call to connect. She threw the device away from her when the only voice that greeted her was the same mechanical voice she had heard so much only hours earlier then pulled a pillow over her face to muffle the sound of a frustrated cry.

She briefly considered going over to the Berry household and forcing her way in. She had climbed up to Rachel's bedroom before, she could do it again. But then she realized it would only make things worse. And if either of the Berry men found her in the tree outside their daughters' window they were more than likely to have her arrested.

So she forced herself to be patient. She would see Rachel at school, and if she had to wait for the diva to talk to Finn first then she would. She would wait until the end of the day as long as she knew that Rachel was ok.

Finn was stood at her locker when she arrived at school, demanding to know where his girlfriend was and why she wasn't picking up her phone. He accused Quinn of making things worse, claiming she had never wanted them together and was trying to break them up.

She remained silent throughout his whole tirade, knowing that if she did speak to him that nothing good would come out of her mouth. So she waited until he had finished, gave one look of disgusted contempt and then walked away.

As the day progressed, talk of Rachel's absence increased. Quinn had caught several members of the glee club discussing last night's events, giving their opinions on how they would have handled the situation and which side they were on.

The majority of the group, much to Quinn's satisfaction, was supportive of Rachel and had almost rallied together whenever Finn was around, either choosing not to speak to him or vocalizing their disappointment in him.

There had even been an altercation between he and Mike after the latter had refused to give any information regarding Rachel and their journey home. Finn had become frustrated and had all but threatened Mike which resulted in angry words and shoves being exchanged before Beiste pulled them apart and ordered them to cool off.

Both men were still reeling by the time Glee rolled around which only added to the utter hopelessness of rehearsal. Finn sat in the front row wearing a sullen expression and muttering about being part of a team and how certain people needed to remember that whilst shooting dark glares in Mike's direction.

Quinn, for her part, sat at the back of the choir room ignoring the tension in the room and allowing thoughts of Rachel to swallow her. There had still been no word from the brunette but despite her silence, Quinn remained determined to get through to her in some way or another.

She just needed to find the right words first.

Several messages had been typed out during the day, begging Rachel to answer her phone or reply to one of the messages, pleading for forgiveness.

Nothing she had come up with seemed good enough so the messages were now lying in the cell phones outbox, waiting to be sent.

Pulling her cell out of her bag once more, Quinn glanced up at Mr. Schue to make sure he wasn't focusing on her then back down to her phone as she thought of what she could possibly say to Rachel.

She had to start off with an apology. She had so much to apologize for. Not telling Rachel about Finn and Santana, allowing the lines of their friendship to be blurred into something more. For kissing her, again.

Except she wasn't sorry. At least not for kissing her.

Her eyes drifted away from her phone and she found herself looking straight at Finn. She wondered how he was doing in all of this. Whether he had been calling Rachel nonstop or if he was waiting for her to make the first move.

He was probably expecting her to realize she was being selfish. Over reacting to something that had nothing to do with her. He didn't look like he had spent hours awake, wishing Rachel would call him or answer one of his many calls.

It wasn't fair. He expected everything to go in his favor. He always had. And for the most part he usually got his own way. However, this time was different. Rachel wasn't just going to go back to him with a click of his fingers.

She'd make sure of it.

...

Sat cross legged on the bed with her laptop laid out in front of her, Rachel scrolled through various online shopping websites with little interest. When her father's had agreed to let her stay home for the day she had decided that she wouldn't waste it lying in bed feeling for sorry for herself.

Instead she had set out to research possible alternatives to the current setlist for Sectionals, looking through countless lists of 'The Best Songs Ever Made' and watching past winning performances on 'You Tube'.

Her self-motivation had been short lived and she eventually moved onto watching old performances of Barbra and Patti followed by sites where she could buy their merchandise which finally led to her current task. And she did all of this whilst ignoring the near constant barrage of phone calls and text messages she recieved.

The majority of calls had been from Quinn and Finn, all of which she had rejected straight away. There were also two calls from Kurt which she highly suspected to be Finn trying to trick her and a voicmail from Quinn which she had yet to listen to.

She had come close to listening to the message several times, going so far as to hearing that generic female voice stating that she had a message and when it was left. However, she couldn't bring herself to go any further.

She couldn't hear Quinn's voice telling her how sorry she was, explaining why she had betrayed her or how she felt. And god, she did not need to hear Quinn finish that sentence.

She didn't want to hear from anyone. Not Quinn, Finn or Kurt. Even her dads, whom had spent all day asking her if she needed anything. She just needed time away from everybody to think things over, decide what she was going to do and how she was going to handle Finn and Quinn.

So when a sudden knock sounded at her door, she groaned to herself and flopped back against her headboard and covered her face with her hands in frustration.

"Dad, as much as I appreciate your concern for my well-being...checking up on me every five minutes is not helping," she called out with a sigh then huffed when she heard the door squeak slowly open. She frowned in confusion when a sheepish looking Mike poked his head through the gap.

"Mike?" she managed to choke out in shock over seeing the boy in her room.

"Hey. Sorry, you're dad told me to come on up."

"Oh! Oh, no, it's fine. Please, come in," she said, jumping up from the bed and brushing down her clothes and hair with her hands as she quickly became aware of the fact she was still in her night clothes.

"Thanks," he smiled as he glanced nervously around the bedroom.

"So...not that this isn't a nice surprise but...what are you doing here?"

"Oh, um, well since you weren't at school today I thought I'd drop off the assignment we got in History today. It's not due until the end of next week but I figured you might want to get a head start on it," he explained. "Tina mentioned once that you like to do your homework the same day you get it so you have more time to rehearse later."

Rachel smiled gratefully then dropped her head as a wave of sadness washed over her. Tina had mentioned something trivial about someone to Mike once and he had not only remembered but had acted on it. Finn couldn't even tell her about something relationship-altering. What did that say about them as a couple?

"That's very sweet of you," she eventually replied once she had control over her emotions. "Thank you."

"No problem," he nodded, placing the work on her desk then raising his hand to his backpack and fiddling with the strap as he continued to look around the room. "So...how are you feeling?"

Devastated. Confused. Betrayed and humiliated. There were so many different responses she could give him. She looked up to meet his caring stare and took a deep breath, lifting her shoulders as she struggled to find the right words to convey how she felt.

"I'm ok," she answered finally.

"Right," he nodded, his tone making it clear he didn't believe her. "We really missed you in Glee today. Rehearsal for Sectionals was a disaster."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Rachel muttered.

Mike nodded once more, fidgeting with the strap on his bag again as silence descended around them.

"Well, I should probably get going. I hope you feel better soon."

"Ok. Thank you for bringing the assignment over, I'll probably start it tonight."

"No problem."

He hesitated in the doorway for a moment before spinning around and pulling a surprised Rachel into a tight and comforting hug.

"Finn's an idiot," he told her softly. "I want you to know that everyone thinks that."

"Ha," she choked out in disbelief. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, Mike, but I know that everybody is probably laughing at me. They probably think I deserve everything I got."

"You're wrong. A lot more people are on your side than you realize and we all know you can do better."

...

Quinn stood in front of a solid oak door, her arms pressed tightly to her sides as she wiped sweaty palms on her jeans. She had been planning this visit over the last day, knowing it was better to deal with the situation face to face instead of the phone.

Therefore, as soon as she woke up after a restless night's sleep on Saturday morning she wasted not time in getting ready and leaving the house. However now that the time had arrived and she was waiting for the door to open, she wanted nothing more than to turn and run away.

Her nerves causing her to become impatient, she quickly knocked the door again and let out a long breath, anxiously tapping her foot on the porch and clicking her teeth together as she heard hurried footsteps on the other side of the door.

She looked down to the floor in an attempt to gather her thoughts and organize what she was going to say. When she looked back up, her eyes landed on a very surprised Mia.

"Quinn? Hi, I wasn't expecting to see you," she told the blonde.

"Hey. Erm, can I come in?" Quinn asked, half expecting the girl to close the door in her face. By the way Mia looked at her as she asked the question Quinn thought it was a very possible outcome. So it was a great relief when Mia finally gave a gentle shrug and stepped aside to allow Quinn entrance.

"Sure. Sorry I took so long to open the door. It was a late night," Mia said, closing the door and leading Quinn into the living room area.

Cream walls and carpet surrounded Pine furniture. A brown corner sofa sat beside the far wall with a coffee table between the chairs and television set. Several bottles were littered across the floor and items of clothing lay strewn over the seats. Despite all of this, Quinn thought it a very homely feel to it.

"Nice place," she commented.

"Yeah, thanks," Mia chuckled as she went about the room picking up various bits of rubbish and dropping them into the waste paper basket. "It would be even nicer if my roommate wasn't such a slob."

She finished packing away the rubbish and then scooped up the clothes and walked through into the kitchen where she deposited the garments into the washing machine and closed the door.

"So...Ms Fabray," she began, turning to face Quinn and leaning against the counter. "To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"

There was a hint of bitterness in her voice. Quinn wasn't surprised by it nor did she resent it. Mia had every right to be bitter and pissed at her. She opened her mouth to speak then quickly closed it again, hesitating as she tried once again to gather her thoughts.

"I...I wanted to apologize," she breathed out. "For running out on you the other night."

"Oh you mean leaving me in a house of practical strangers while you go running off after your friend?"

"That would be it," Quinn sighed uncomfortably, dropping her gaze to the floor and rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet.

"Well, I have to admit it was a little bit awkward when you didn't come back." Mia replied. "I had to get the guy with the Mohawk to drive me home. He doesn't get told no a lot does he?"

"He didn't..." Quinn started, her head rising in alarm.

"Oh god no. He's just really persistent. Harmless, but persistent. He was still trying to convince me to go out with him after I closed the door on him."

"Ahh, I'm really sorry," she winced guiltily.

"Meh, I survived," Mia shrugged casually. She grabbed a soda from the fridge, offered Quinn one then jumped up onto the counter, her legs crossed underneath her. She watched Quinn as they both took long swigs from their bottles.

She pulled the bottle away from her lips and wiped the back of her hand over her mouth then placed the bottle down beside her.

"So...how long has it been going for?" Mia asked seriously.

"What do you mean?" Quinn asked confused.

"You and Broadway!" she answered with a slight smirk.

"Me and...Oh, no. No, we're not..."

"Come on, Quinn," Mia interrupted her. "Don't bullshit me. There's obviously something going on between the two of you."

"There's nothing going on," Quinn refuted hotly and rapidly shaking her head in denial.

"Really?" Mia snorted in disbelief then when Quinn repeated her statement she frowned in genuine surprise. "Ok, then at least admit that you like her."

Quinn licked her lips and dipped her head to the side, panic-stricken to reluctant to admit the truth to someone other than herself or Rachel. But then Mia already knew. There was no further reason to deny it.

"Yeah," Quinn nodded sadly. "I do."

"Ok. And you came here to tell me that you can't continue what we had going on because you have a lady boner for Stumpy," Mia said knowingly.

"Don't do that," Quinn said in a warning tone and shaking her head. "Say what you want about me but don't call Rachel names."

"Ok," Mia heeded, holding her hands up in surrender then twitching her lips up into a coy smirk. "You really have got it bad for her, huh?"

Quinn scrunched her face up and nodded her head from side to side before answering.

"Yeah... I do," she muttered quietly. "I am so sorry, Mia."

"Don't be," Mia shrugged. "We were only fooling around. Nothing serious, right?"

"I really wish things could have been different, but..."

"Quinn, it's fine. Honestly. It was obvious from the start that you were interested in someone else. No big deal."

Quinn pressed her lips tightly together, choked out a small breathy laugh.

"I know it's such a cliché thing to say but...we'll still be friends, right?"

"Yeah," Mia laughed. "Because I'm sure Rachel will be completely fine with us hanging out."

"Trust me, I really don't think it matters. I'm not exactly her favorite person right now."

It still hurt to think about it. To remember the look on Rachel's face as she tried to pour her heart out on the sidewalk. She had thought she had it all figured out. She thought that Rachel had felt the same, that once Quinn had admitted that she was in love with her everything else would fall into place.

Mia smiled again and stepped forward, closing the distance between herself and Quinn. She placed her hands on the blondes' shoulders, rubbing her arms in a comforting manner.

"Quinn, listen to me. You are stunning. Fucking amazing. Rachel sees that, she just needs to get out from underneath that shadow of a giant sea slug and do something about it."

"And if she doesn't?"

"Then she doesn't deserve you," she replied simply. "And if for some unbelievably stupid reason it doesn't happen then I guarantee you that there are plenty of other girls out there who would cross an entire ocean of giant sea slugs to be with you."

"I really do have a thing for overly dramatic women, don't I!" Quinn laughed. "But you are amazing. You really are. You know that, right?"

"Pfft, of course I do. Bitch, I'm fabulous," Mia replied, flicking her hair dramatically over her shoulders and holding her head high.

Quinn couldn't help but laugh then and she felt a rush of affection and gratitude for the girl in front of her. This was exactly why she had taken to Mia so easily. This whole situation could have gone so differently.

Mia could have screamed and shouted. She could have kicked Quinn out and given her hell for what she had done. But instead she had understood Quinn perfectly. She had known from the start what Quinn needed and she was fine with it. She had stated her intentions perfectly at the start of their relationship and she had kept with it throughout.

"Thank you," Quinn whispered, pulling Mia into a hug and placing a gentle kiss to the side of her head.

"You're welcome," Mia replied. "Although, it is a shame. We could have been so fucking hot together!"

...

By the time Monday came around Rachel still felt no better about facing the world. Her fathers had offered her the choice of returning or staying home one more day. But with Sectionals right around the corner she knew that she couldn't fully justify missing another rehearsal.

Although the amount of calls from her team mates had decreased there was still the occasional call and text from the two people she wanted to avoid.

Finn had continued to call her whereas Quinn had phoned once more then settled on a final text message. Rachel had deleted it without even so much as a glance over its content.

She didn't care what it said. Nothing would make the betrayal she felt disappear.

She arrived at school determined to avoid both Quinn and Finn as much as she could. Unfortuantely, as soon as she rounded the corner, she came to an abrupt halt as she saw Finn at his locker. She'd purposely arrived extra early to school knowing Finn was nearly always running late. Not today. She watched as he transferred books from bag to locker, casually greeting other members of the football team as if he had no other care in the world. As if he hadn't just spent the entire weekend calling his girlfriend whom he had lied to over and over again.

Once again she felt great disappointment and betrayal in him. Hot tears sprung to her eyes as she continued to watch him and she quickly clamped her eyes shut in an attempt to ward them off. When she opened them again, her vision blurry with unshed tears, she found Santana walking towards him.

She paused momentarily as she reached him, pausing just long enough to get his attention, then kissed the air in front of him and spun around, her eyes dancing flirtatiously and delivering a seductive smile as she walked away.

Rachel watched him grin as his gaze followed the cheerleader down the corridor then he turned back to his locker and laughed to himself. Her eyes darted to the wall as Santana approached her, hating the fact the dark haired girl knew Rachel had witnessed their interaction. It had been bad enough that Santana had been able to hold this secret over her for months, but to openly flaunt their brief affair in her face was more than she could bear.

"Did I tell you he bought me dinner after?" Santana murmured, leaning tauntingly over Rachel's shoulder then walking away.

Needing to regain control over her emotions, Rachel closed her eyes, took a deep breath and rested her forehead against the wall.

"You ok?" A voice muttered behind her, their presence startling her. She turned around to find Puck standing with his hands buried deep into the pockets of his grey hoodie and staring down at her with what seemed to be a genuinely concerned expression.

Still, this was the same guy who had subjected her to a daily slushie facial for most of her High School career and as he was also Finn's best friend and Santana's ex...whatever they had been, she couldn't help but be weary of his intentions.

"Why are you talking to me?" she asked with suspicious accusation.

"Hey relax. I was just looking out for a fellow Jew, is all," he replied assuredly.

"It doesn't matter," she tried to shake off. "It's just Finn."

"Boyfriend trouble," he nodded. "I got that covered. Considering I'm usually the cause of them, I'd say I was pretty much an expert."

Rachel rolled her eyes at him. She very much doubted he knew anything about relationship troubles, especially when she took into account that the closest thing he had had to a relationship was living with Quinn whilst she was pregnant.

He had never had a real girlfriend. Santana had been a friends with benefits relationship, but the rest of his experience had come from one night stands with various other women. And if any of his play things had partners, he didn't stay around long enough to deal with any fall out.

"Walk you to class?" he asked her, his usual cocky smirk in place as he held out his arm for her.

She knew deep down she shouldn't even contemplate the idea. He would see her accepting his invitation as confirmation that something would happen later on. But as she looked from his face to his arm an idea sprung forth in her mind.

If she was seen walking around the school and into Glee Club with Noah it would severely annoy both Finn and Quinn. The two of them knew him probably better than anyone and to see Rachel on his arm would be the quickest and most successful way to get back at them.

Yes, she knew it was incredibly selfish and immature. And she knew that it would hurt them but at the very moment she honestly could not care less. So, returning his smile, she turned on the spot and threaded her hand through the gap he had created between his arm and waist.

"Lead the way!"

...

When Rachel walked into the auditorium at the end of the day she made sure that her arm was securely linked with Noah's and she was pleased to see that it got the desired reaction. Finn was sat in his usual seat at the front of the risers, tapping his foot on the floor as he played with his iPod.

He looked up as she entered the room and frowned as his eyes automatically found Rachel and Puck's entwined limbs. His brow creased in anger and he jumped up out of his seat just as Puck leant over to whisper in Rachel's ear.

She laughed at his comment, exaggerating her reaction by laughing louder than she normally would have and gripping his arm tighter as she fell deeper into his body. She suspected it was this factor which instilled a little more urgency to Finn's approach.

"Rachel, we need to talk!" he barked out.

"No we don't," she replied simply, not bothering to look at him and instead following Noah's lead to the back of the room leaving Finn struck dumb in between the piano and risers. He was still stood staring after them when Mr. Schuester walked in moments later, clapping his hands to gather everybody's attention.

"Alright everyone, settle down. We have a lot to get through today," he announced loudly.

The sound of his voice must have broken Finn out of his reverie because he glanced at the teacher then back to Rachel.

"Rach come on. I..."

"Finn, have a seat," Mr. Schue repeated sternly.

He let out an audible sigh as he continued to stand there for several seconds afterwards, staring at Rachel in an attempt to get her to acknowledge him. Feeling uncomfortable she finally looked at him, her eyes blank and expression somber.

She was surprised to find that any desire she had to hurt him had somehow lessened and was now replaced with a mere indifference to him. She suddenly didn't care how he felt or what he had to say. Right now she just wanted him to leave her alone. To stop staring at her as if he were the victim.

He must have picked up on her lack of emotion. He seemed to deflate in front of her, his shoulders slumping and head falling forward as he reluctantly turned around and reclaimed his seat.

"Thank you," Mr. Schuester said dryly before stepping forward and clapping his hands once again. "Ok, so as I was saying..."

"Sorry!" Quinn interrupted him as she rushed into the choir room, still pushing books into her backpack as she walked in. "I'm so sorry I'm late Mr. Schue, I had to ask about a homework thing."

Rachel froze as Quinn's voice penetrated her ear drums and she instantly looked up to see the blonde stumble to a halt as she spotted Rachel sitting next to Puck. Their eyes met for a brief moment before Quinn managed to slowly slide her gaze to the vacant seat next to Rachel.

She thought she had been prepared to see Quinn. She had dealt with Finn easily enough and had hoped her reaction would have been the same for the blonde. However, that one brief moment had been enough to assure Rachel she was nowhere near capable of dealing with Quinn or their current situation.

Even less so when she considered the tortured appearance Quinn held and the comparisons between her and Finn. Whereas he had been angry, Quinn was evidently devastated. Her eyes, usually so bright and full of life were now dull and hollow. There was no trace of anger, only sadness and regret.

Rachel couldn't help but feel a tiny ray of sympathy for her. But then she thought about what had happened. How Quinn had lied to her about Finn and Santana. How she had befriended her then proceeded to manipulate her and her emotions, confusing her.

She forced herself to look away and moved into Noah, reverting back to her original plan of hurting both Finn and Quinn. However, it was so much more difficult to pretend to be into Noah when Quinn walked forward and took the empty seat next to Rachel.

Her back stiffened as she felt Quinn's body so close to her own and she immediately scooted away from her before she found it too hard to handle. For her part, Quinn hunched over, her elbows resting on her knees as she stared fixedly at the front of the room.

"Ok, now that we're all here we can finally start," Mr. Schue sighed impatiently. "So, as I'm sure you're all well aware that Sectionals is this Friday and we are nowhere near ready. We have a lot of work to do if we have any chance of progressing and I'm looking to our co-captains to support me on this."

Both Rachel and Finn sat up straight at this announcement.

"Finn, Rachel...I need you to lead by example on this. Now, Quinn and Sam are inexperienced when it comes to taking the lead at competitions. Therefore, I want the four of you to work together to make this performance as good as it can be."

"No!" Rachel declared suddenly. "No way. Get someone else to do it."

There was no way she was going to do anything that involved the two of them. It was bad enough just being in the same room as them. But to have to work with them both at the same time, where she would be expected to be civil and helpful even, was completely out of the question.

"Rachel..." Mr. Schue started.

"No. I'm not doing it."

"I know you're upset about not getting the lead but..."

"Yes, I am upset. About a lot of things actually," she snapped, sending a pointed look at Quinn and Finn.

"Regardless," Mr. Schuester nodded in acknowledgement. "I need you to put whatever it is aside and focus on the competition."

"I am focusing on the competition. But I am not going to work with Finn or Quinn!"

"Rachel!" he shouted angrily.

"Mr. Schue, it's fine," Quinn muttered, shaking her head to assure him there was no need to worry. "I can do this. I've watched Rachel on stage enough to be able to draw inspiration."

Rachel rolled her eyes at the comment, huffing loudly as she slumped back in her seat, arms folded over her chest.

"And I'll help her," Mercedes offered.

"Thank you, Mercedes. It's nice to know I do still have some team players. Sam, Finn, Quinn and Mercedes, head to the auditorium and rehearse. The rest of us are just going to do a quick run through of 'Valerie' then we'll be right behind you."

Quinn stood up, picking up her bag as she did so and swinging it over her shoulder. She glanced at Rachel as she took a step down then bit her lip and stared at the floor.

"Look Rachel, I..."

"Don't!" Rachel told her, holding up a hand to stop her from going any further. "Don't speak to me. Whatever you have to say means nothing."

And with that, before Quinn could protest or attempt to talk again Rachel stood up, taking hold of Noah's hand as she did so, and pulled him over to the side of the room away from Quinn.