A/N- Once again, thank you so much for all of your reviews! They are so motivating and uplifting to know that there are people out there eager to read what I'm writing. As for your guesses, they were once again entertaining and a few were startlingly spot on... I'll say no more! Read on and I hope you enjoy!
"Give me the files." Mackenzie said with startling calmness, her gun still trained on Rachel.
Quinn reluctantly stepped forward away from the desk and held out the papers, staying as far as possible away from the other cop.
"And put your gun on the ground."
The blonde knew that once she gave up her weapon she would be powerless. Weighing her options, she prepared to strike against Mackenzie, but the shorter girl must have noticed the determined shift in Quinn's eyes. Mackenzie turned her gun on Rachel, "Don't try anything."
With Rachel's safety at stake, the all knew that the blonde wouldn't dare do anything risky. Slowly, Quinn reached behind her back and pulled out her gun. She ejected the clip and set them both on the ground side by side.
"Good girl." Mackenzie said patronizingly as Quinn retook her post next to Rachel and Mackenzie scooped up the blonde's weapon, tucking it into her empty holster.
Mackenzie looked at both files, pulling out the thicker one and holding it up. She had a satisfied glint in her eyes. Stepping forward, she slid the file across the desk to Quinn, "Open it."
"First I'm going to un-tape Rachel." the blonde said evenly.
"You're not exactly in a position to be making requests Fabray."
Quinn stood her ground, "I'm not doing anything until I un-tape her."
"Fine."
Before the decision could be changed, Quinn dropped to her knees in front of Rachel and carefully peeled away the tape. The brunette's wrists were an angry red where the tape came away, but it made both of them more comfortable now that she was free.
"Now open it."
From the moment Quinn picked up the folder, broke the seal, and saw the name on the first page of the report, she felt a churning begin in her stomach. Things were beginning to make sense. Mackenzie began pacing again.
"Look familiar Fabray?" she asked wickedly.
Quinn nodded, her throat was dry and she didn't think she would be able to respond verbally if she wanted to. Rachel remained silently in the chair, her eyes wide and full of concern.
"Why don't you share it with the group? Read the summary." Mackenzie ordered.
"Is this really necessary?" the blonde asked weakly.
In a moment, the gun was back up and trained on Rachel, "Read it."
After a deep breath, Quinn reluctantly began, "On the twenty eighth of November, police, fire crew, and EMTs responded to a call on route 38. When they arrived on scene, they discovered one victim in a car wreck. The victim was a female, about eighteen years old who had suffered deadly injuries as a result of the impact of the car. She was later found to have been legally intoxicated."
At this point, Mackenzie held up her hand to halt Quinn in her reading, "Now go to the autopsy report."
Flipping through the pages, the blonde passed photos of the wreckage, of the victim laid out on a slab in the coroner's office. They made her sick. Quinn didn't need to be told to read the end findings, "The victim ultimately died of a cerebral hemorrhage inflicted by impact of the car crash. It took approximately twelve minutes for the victim to fully bleed out, during this time she was likely in and out of consciousness. She had a blood alcohol content of .09."
"Do you know how long twelve minutes is?" Mackenzie asked, her voice was low and deadly.
"Why are you doing this?" Quinn countered, trying to keep the other girl in the present.
Mackenzie ignored it, "Today is her birthday. She would have turned twenty four."
"I know." Quinn said shortly.
"Knowing and caring are two completely separate things. Do you know how hard it is growing up without your sister? The hell of going to school each day and seeing only sympathetic smiles because your the girl who's sister died." Silent tears tracked down the younger girl's face.
Quinn's eyes widened in recognition, "Oh my goodness. Matt, is it really you?"
The short brunette simply nodded, "I'm not the annoying little sister anymore."
"But why are you doing this?"
"Because you left her there!" Mackenzie yelled, she want pacing anymore and her tears were steadily overflowing her eyes, "Nobody saw you get in the car, nobody saw you at the crash site, but I know you were there. And after, you left her to die alone. You got to just walk away."
"Matt, you don't understand-"
"You didn't even come to the funeral!"
Quinn ran a tired hand down her face, "I wanted to Matt, you have no idea how much I did but I just couldn't."
"You didn't even come to the funeral!"
Quinn ran a tired hand down her face, "I wanted to Matt, you have no idea how much I did but I just couldn't."
"Exactly, and I deserve to know why. You just gave us the official report of that night, now I want to know what really happened." Mackenzie's tears had stopped and her face was once again determined.
"What do you want me to tell you Matt? You know what happened." At this point Quinn was desperate. She would say or do whatever it too to get Rachel out of the situation unharmed.
"Take me through it. Everything that happened."
The blonde's eyes softened, "it's only going to hurt you to hear it all."
"Maybe. But it's going to hurt you more to tell it. I know you've been running from this for six years. Now your running is over and you're going to have to face it just like I have, every damn day." Quinn internally shuddered at just how real Mackenzie's assessment was, "No more hiding. Start from the beginning, I get the feeling your new girlfriend is a bit in the dark." She said with a deathly smirk at Rachel.
The younger cop was right however, Rachel had no clue what they were talking about. She figured it had something to do with the nightmare that Quinn had which caused her to flee the apartment, but other than that hunch she was downhill without a paddle.
After a deep breath and one last look at Rachel, Quinn began telling her story. More than anything she was concerned of what the singer would think of her once she knew the truth, but she pressed on, "I met Carly when I was a sophomore in highschool. From the moment I saw her, I knew she was different. She was wise in a way that no teenaged girl from Lima Ohio should be." Quinn's eyes got a faraway look as she remembered that first meeting.
Quinn readjusted her book bag on her shoulder, her Calculus book was held protectively in front of her chest. She was already a month through her sophomore year and still felt like everyday she was walking on eggshells.
Shutting her locker and turning to head down the hall to her first period, Quinn froze dead in her tracks when her gaze landed on a taller blonde leaning effortlessly against the wall. She was wearing a sweater, khakis, and combat boots, it was the perfect combination. She was beautiful in the effortless way that made Quinn believe she rolled out of bed looking that flawless. The girl's eyes flitted boredly from person to person in the hall until they landed on Quinn.
With a small, closed mouth smile, the girl pushed off the wall and strode confidently over to where Quinn was standing awestruck, the students in the hall seemed to move out of her way without question until the girl was standing right in front of Quinn. She was a good couple of inches taller and she used that to her advantage, looking down at Quinn in a positively predatory manner.
When she spoke, her voice was low and sultry, "You know photos last longer?"
Immediately a blush rose on Quinn's cheeks when she realized how it must have looked for her to be staring at the older girl, "I-I'm sorry. I w-was just-" she tried, but was silenced by the girl's quiet laughter.
"Relax, I'm just messing with you." Straightening up to her full height, the girl extended her hand in an oddly formal gesture, "My name's Carly." she offered.
Quinn readjusted her book so she could accept Carly's hand, it was warm and her handshake firm, "Quinn."
"Nice to meet you." Carly said with a genuine smile that made Quinn believe anything was possible, "We should hang out sometime." she threw out like the offer didn't make the younger girl's heart positively race, the two minute bell rang signaling that class was about to start, "See you around." Carly turned easily on one heel and walked straight out of the school.
Quinn was left speechless until the tardy bell rang and she sprinted to make it to class. The interaction was like nothing she had experienced before, but she couldn't wait for it to happen again.
"From then on we spent most days together. Hiding from PE class under the bleachers, ditching class to go to that pond behind the high school. She provided me with a lot of my firsts, first time breaking curfew, first drink, first smoke, first kiss with a girl." Quinn blushed a little, "She was my first love but I could never admit it to her."
Rachel's eyes were trained on Quinn like a hawk, despite all of their time together, this was the most she had ever heard of the blonde's past.
"As the year progressed I spent more time at her house than my own, which was fine by me considering how my parents got." Quinn trailed off, not wanting to deal with all of that at the moment, "She gave me the strength to be who I really was, I don't know what I would have done without her."
The blonde shuddered remembering how her parents talked about the others in their congregation at church, the snide comments the two would throw around. Quinn thought it was a miracle she didn't burst into flame whenever she entered a pew. Carly truly had been her saving grace.
"We had known each other about three months when we went to that party." The blonde shook her head at the memory of that night, "You remember how stubborn she could be and she insisted on driving home, I hadn't been with her all night so I didn't know how bad off she was. I tried to get the keys from her but she wouldn't give them up."
Mackenzie let out a small pained noise from the back of her throat as all of her suspicions were finally confirmed, Quinn continued on, "The drive was fine until this stupid song came on the radio and she got distracted, a deer ran out in front of us and she swerved to avoid it. The car flew off the road, rolled over, and landed in that field."
Rachel's hand flew to her mouth in shock.
The younger cop ran a hand through her hair, "What happened next?"
It was the question Quinn had spent the better part of six years avoiding. Her weakest and most defining moments had taken place after that crash, she had never told anyone the details of that night, not even Frannie. Now she had no choice.
Quinn knew that no matter how fast you ran and no matter how hard you tried, you could never hide from your past. It's the one startling constant throughout you life and no matter what you do, you can never change it.
A/N- So, surprised, satisfied, confused? Tell me what you thought, reviews fuel the writing :). I promise I'll try to update quickly again!
P.S. This story broke 100 reviews last chapter which absolutely blows my mind seeing as this was originally going to be a short little 1 chapter oneshot thing and has exploded into my fanfic with the most chapters! Thank you all so much for your support!