A/N: So kind of like the conversations chapter I got this idea about 'contact' in my head a while back and then I wrote some stuff along that line in the previous chapter so I thought 'hey I should actually just go ahead and post this', so ta-da : -)

As with the conversations chapters I've not really given much in the way of timeline indications but hopefully people can roughly work it out/guess.

It's like all of two sentences but I feel the need to explain and disclaim that my medical knowledge is superficial, even if I do work with medical teams, so while it would be lovely to be 100% accurate, I apologise for any mistakes.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything and I mean no offence, just having some fun.

Contact

The surgery hadn't taken long and as soon as Rachel was brought out and moved back to her room Quinn was at her side taking a limp hand in her own. The doctor addressed the blonde, talking even though the girls focus was on the unconscious brunette.

"All pretty routine, it hadn't burst but it wasn't far off, a few more weeks and it would have been a different story I reckon. Anyway she won't wake up for a couple of hours and even then we need to keep her in for the day, make sure everything's ok no complications, infections that kind of thing. She'll probably just sleep tonight and she's gonna be sore for a few days, not very mobile, but a week or twos rest and she'll be fine. Don't look so panicked it's all good."

Quinn felt the doctor's hand on her shoulder and managed to look up and give a weak smile before returning her gaze back to the sleeping and pale brunette. She pulled the nearby chair closer to the bed and sat down, just continuing to watch and hold the sleeping girls hand.

She didn't know how much time had passed when Santana and Brittany walked in, Brittany was in New York working for a dance studio at the moment while Santana was here on one of her frequent visits to the city.

"What's the sitch?"

"Appendicitis. They operated, removed it. It hadn't burst, they're keeping her in for a bit as a precaution and she should be able to leave this evening, maybe, but she'll need some time to recover."

"What about you?"

"What?"

"How are you Q?"

"Fine, better when she wakes up."

Quinn had only looked up briefly when the two girls first walked in before returning her gaze to Rachel. From her position at the end of the bed Santana rolled her eyes at Quinn's response, folding her arms and jutting out her hip in a stance of annoyance, while Brittany moved towards the blonde, placing a hand on the girls shoulder. The taller blonde can feel the tension in it, knowing that neither of them is going to get any compliance from their stubborn ex-captain unless she relaxes. She remembers how scared she was when Santana was in the hospital, it's not quite the same thing but she had still been scared, and even when everyone said the Latina would be fine and that she would wake up soon she couldn't sleep, let alone relax, until she heard the girl's voice and saw those deep brown eyes.

She lifted her hand up into Quinn's hair, running her fingers through the blonde strands and smiles when she feels the girl relax slightly at the contact. She moves closer and pushes to sit in the chair beside Quinn and keeps going until the other blonde has no choice but to pretty much stand. She wraps an arm around Quinns waist and pulls her back to sit down in her lap, trying to give her as much physical support as possible, and as her arms encircle her loosely she feels the other girl relax a bit more, her head falling into Brittany's shoulder as she accepts the gesture of comfort and support.

Santana had been flicking through Rachel's chart and notes on the clipboard at the end of the bed and looking up she smiles at the sight of her woman doing her thing, Brittany cuddles are magical.

"What do you need San?"

Santana finally looked up at Brittany, her vision was starting to blur and she hated it, she hated that her body couldn't control itself around the other girl, that it refused to hide anything.

"I can't . . . I-I just, I don't . . . can you just hold me right now."

Arms circled her and pulled her tightly to the taller girl's front and she can't stop the release of everything at the contact.

"What do you need Q?" Santana asks gently.

"I need to tell Hiram, LeRoy, the theatre, Kurt. Sort the insurance, get clothes . . . and coffee, coffee would be really good right now." The blonde laughed weakly, her gaze never leaving the unconscious brunette.

"Done." Santana moved up the side of the bed and reached out moving some hair out of Rachel's face. She turned to the two blondes and kissed Quinn on the forehead before dipping down to give Brittany a chaste kiss on the lips. As she turns to leave she feels someone take her hand and looking down she's met with tired hazel eyes.

"Thank you."

Santana squeezes Quinn's hand, simply shrugs and leaves the room.

"How long til she wakes up?" Brittany questions.

"Doctor said it'll be a few hours."

"It's 3 am."

Quinn nodded.

"You're tired."

Quinn nodded.

"You're going to stay awake."

Quinn nods again and both blondes smile even though they don't make eye contact.

"What will Rach eat now?"

"I don't underst-, what do you mean B?"

"Well she's vegan and she can't digest grass and stuff now. That's what your appendix does digests grass, so can she not eat plants now?"

"I-I don't know B, I didn't even know that's what your appendix did. We'll ask when the doctor comes and checks on Rachel."

"Ok."

Quinn smiles to herself at her friends bizarre knowledge and train of thought, as Brittany tightens her grip around the girl. She still holds onto Rachel's hand, focusing in the silence that fills the room on the small contact, occasionally running a finger up to the other girls wrist to feel the steady reassuring beat of her pulse.

Quinns tongue dips into her belly button, causing her to squirm slightly. Quinns hands are at her sides just above her hips and their grip tightens slightly to keep her still as the blonde continues to runs her tongue around Rachels stomach. Rachel can feel how erratic and shallow her breaths are, she's desperate to move, to grab at Quinn and move her where she wants, needs, her most. She looks down her body to where the blonde is still lavishing attention on her, that tongue now running along the underside of her breasts before their eyes meet.

The intensity and intimacy of their gaze and the situation causes Rachels breath to hitch. She can see everything in Quinn's eyes, every dirty thought and fantasy that she wants to do to her, every way in which she wants to physically and emotionally break her, to merge with her, consume her, take away and free her from all her negative thoughts and feelings, and then build her back up, bigger and better, and watch her shine.

Quinn has made her way back down the plane of Rachels stomach to tan thighs and Rachel watches as that tongue emerges once again as Quinn leans forward, guiding it in a long firm lick through Rachels folds. As she reaches the hard bundle of nerves at the top Rachel finally breaks eye contact as she arches off the bed with a loud cry.

Rachels alarm went off as it did every morning at 6:30am. She quickly rolled over to shut it off, not wanting to disturb everyone else in the apartment. It was early December and cold, in fact it was freezing, they'd even had snow earlier in the week and more was forecast. As she got up and out of bed Rachel grabbed some sweat pants and a chunky knit cardigan, putting on the layers to keep her warm as she made her way to the kitchen. Normally she'd be preparing to go for a run or head over to the gym at NYADA, but she'd quickly learnt last winter that going running in the snow in New York was not fun, nor was leaving the apartment when it was cold. Quinn was visiting for the weekend from New Haven, so the idea of just staying inside and watching crappy movies for the day was far more appealing.

As she entered the kitchen area she found it was empty and the apartment quiet. Between her and Kurt she was always the first up, but it wasn't uncommon that when Quinn was visiting the blonde would rise early and either be making coffee and breakfast or be dressed and ready to go for a run. Setting off the coffee maker she walked across the open living space to the couch, peering down to see the blonde still fast asleep, tightly curled up in blankets.

She noticed the girl shiver a few times in her sleep and reached out, placing her hand over icy fingers, which peeked out of the blankets they gripped, and then moved her hand up, running the backs of her fingers over an equally cold cheek. Rachel turned and headed back to her bedroom, emerging a few moments later with the fleece comforter from her bed and placed it over the sleeping girl. She just watched for a few minutes as she saw Quinn begin to relax into the extra warmth and her shivering stop, her hand reached out again of its own accord and ran fingers through the blonde hair. The sound of a contented sigh broke through Rachel's trance and she ran the backs of her fingers over a pale cheek again, pleased that it had warmed and moved back towards the kitchen area where she could smell the now ready coffee.

"Quinn are you rea-, s-sorry, I-I'm sorry." Rachel stammered, as she stood in the doorway of her bedroom, hand still gripping the door handle, as she stared at Quinn who was stood in the middle of her room in a skirt and bra and nothing else. Nope nothing else, just a bra, a bra that showed off her friends bare, naked skin and she should be apologising and perhaps making eye contact about now.

"Sorry I-I'm sorry."

"We covered that Berry, I'm nearly ready just trying to find the top I brought last time, seriously how do you find anything in here aren't you normally like super-OCD about things being tidy and in their place I mean this room could give some of the boys dorm rooms at Yale a run for their money-."

Rachel had zoned out, closing the door as she walked further into the room towards the chest of drawers against the wall. She knew the top Quinn was talking about and she'd actually folded and put it away in the drawer she'd started for things Quinn left in the apartment. The blonde had been visiting her and Kurt regularly now for most of the academic year and it made sense for her to leave certain things and to just give her a space for them.

She couldn't stop her eyes from flitting towards the skin on show, she'd seen Quinn change before it wasn't a big deal but she hadn't realised until she'd walked in that she hadn't actually seen the girl change since the accident. After the accident Quinn had always just turned up at performances already in costume or would disappear and come back changed. The blonde's body wasn't any different, still soft looking pale skin, toned abs, the only difference was the series of scars along her left side. Not a great expanse or vast area but a collection of lines along the girls ribs and disappearing down below the line of her skirt, in varying shades from a light red or deep pink to that blanched white colour scars often heal to.

Taking the top out of the drawer she moved in front of the blonde holding the garment out between them for Quinn to take.

"Here, I er started putting your things in that drawer so that it's easier I mean everything's in one place it's easier for you to find . . . here."

"Thanks. Rach, why are you being weird?"

Rachel couldn't stop the flit of her eyes again at the question, hoping it went unnoticed by Quinn.

"I'm not."

"You are."

"Am not."

"Are to."

Rachel could tell by the tone of the other girls voice that she wasn't going to drop this, and in reality Rachel didn't want her to drop it either, in a masochistic way she wanted to have this conversation. They'd been making such progress, they were friends, best friends now, but there was still a lot to be resolved between them.

Rachel closed her eyes and sighed, reaching forward she let her fingers come into contact with the skin on display in front of her, letting the tips run along the raised and dipped lines and catching the sound of a light hitched breath from the blonde.

"Do you blame me?"

"You really want to do this?" Quinn exhaled.

Rachel nodded.

She felt the deep breath Quinn took under her fingers before a hand cupped her cheek in encouragement and she opened her eyes to meet Quinn's intent gaze.

"Honestly . . . yes in the beginning at some points I blamed you, but I was scared and I blamed a lot of things that had nothing to do with it. I blamed my car keys for not being in the right place, I blamed the cup of coffee I drank that morning for not being strong enough, the men doing the road works on Jameson . . . you didn't cause the accident Rachel, I did. I could've been texting anyone, it could have happened the week before when I was driving and text Santana or even the day before when I was driving and text my mom to say I'd be home late. You didn't cause anything, I don't blame you for it."

Rachel's gaze fell back down to look at where her fingers are still running along the marked skin, she nodded her head in acknowledgment of what Quinn had said and felt tears sting her eyes.

Quinn watched the first tears fall down the brunettes cheeks and brought her other hand up to Rachel's face, cupping both of the girl's cheeks now as she wiped at the tears with her thumbs. She saw Rachel bite her bottom lip, trying to keep herself together, but then her head broke free of her grip and fell forward against Quinn's shoulder. She felt the brunette shake with sobs against her, and wrapped her arms around Rachel's shoulders and neck, pulling her more tightly against her as she holds her.

The ping that came from her laptop and the little skype message window that popped up in the bottom right hand corner pulled Quinn's attention from the assignment she'd been working on.

New contact request. Shelby Corcoran.

After Shelby had left Lima again in senior year, she'd moved to New York but with the promise of keeping Quinn and Puck updated about Beth. They exchanged emails and recently, after moving to New Haven and making her first trip to New York, they had broached the subject of Quinn seeing Beth again. Talking over skype was to be the first step.

She watched as the little window disappeared, moving back down into the taskbar.

Opening her skype she went to the contact request, taking a moment and a deep breath before she clicked on the 'add to contacts' button.

Bucket list item number 37: Enjoying cocktails on a sunny New York afternoon. (Otherwise known as getting tipsy on cosmos before 3pm).

Kurt finally got the front door unlocked and the three friends stumbled into the apartment.

"I can't believe you actually did it!"

"I can't believe it came off so easily."

"It looked alive, was it alive?"

"No Rachel, it was a toupee not a tayra."

"A what now?"

"It's a type of weasel."

"Haha weasel." Quinn snorted as she laughed out loud, before collapsing onto the couch.

"Well, it was fun ladies but I need a disco nap, may I suggest take-out and trashy tv later this evening while we nurse our inevitable hangovers."

Quinn grunted from her slouched position on the couch and Rachel emerged with a slight stumble from the kitchen area with two bottles of water, handing one to the boy.

"Sounds good Kurt."

"Ok. Ladies." He said as a goodbye with a wave as he disappeared into his room.

Rachel moved to the couch and sat down as she drank half the water while Quinn struggled to kick her shoes off. She nudged the other girl handing her the bottle to finish as she sat forward removing her own shoes and tucking her legs under her.

"I'm glad we did this."

"Me too, it was fun."

"Everything is going to start getting so crazy this year, I mean it already is and I know you still have another year and Kurt is working now, but it's strange isn't it to think that in less than a year I'm going to be a college graduate and hopefully that little bit closer to Broadway."

"No bits you'll be on it Rach."

"Bits?"

"What?"

"You said bits, did you mean buts?"

"You wish pervert." Quinn quipped as she swatted at the brunette, before leaning into the shorter girl, resting her head on the other girls shoulder and wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Er Quinn, what are you doing?"

"Sshhh sleep time now." The blonde replied as she snuggled closer.

"And people think I'm the needy drunk." Rachel teased, she knew deep down that Quinn was a tactile person. It was something that had emerged from their growing friendship, seeking physical assurance and comfort, whether it was a hug goodbye, taking the others hand on a crowded New York street or one of them curling up against the others side and falling asleep while they watched tv.

"Less talking more napping . . . unless you want me to tie you up and gag you Berry." Quinn joked as she raised her head from the brunettes shoulder and gave her a quirked eyebrow expression.

"Ok still an angry drunk."

Quinn pulled further away and glared playfully at the girl before lunging forward, a squeak escaping the surprised girl under her, as she pushed Rachel down onto the couch. Positioning herself to lay on top of the other girl, treating her like a human mattress, her head finding its place back on Rachel's shoulder which was shaking slightly with the girls quiet laughter. After a few moments she felt the girl beneath her eventually still and yawn, triggering her own yawn in response as arms encircled her, securing her in place atop the brunette, and Quinns own hand gripped and twisted the fabric of Rachel shirt beneath it.

"Knew you'd come round to my way of thinking Berry."

"Sshhh sleep time now."

A/N2: Reviews and comments as always. Honestly I can never get enough, they are like Brittany cuddles.

Speaking of Brittany, I'm not sure how into it people will be but I had a couple of (I guess you would call them) 'ficlets' around Brittany moving in and living with Kurt and Rachel and I've posted them separately on here.