Writer's Note: Thanks again for the reviewing and reading! Well, I don't have much to say, I just present you a new chapter and I hope you'll review again! They really are much appreciated!

Chapter Twenty Six

There he stood, smirking and Puck wished he could just smack that smirk off his face. How did he have the nerve to show up and smirk at them? He took a step forward, his hands clenched in fist. A hand on his arm stopped him and he looked up at Quinn, who shook her head softly. Then her gaze went back to Rachel, who seemed calmly.

"Too bad you're not a part of it," she spoke and Jesse's face twitched.

"Excuse me? I lead you to victory, remember?" he said.

"And then to destroy us at Regionals. Jee, thanks, Jesse."

Quinn was impressed by Rachel, she knew her girlfriend must be terrified. She stepped forward and laid her hand on the brunette's shoulder.

"I think it's better if you leave," Quinn suggested and looked him right in the eyes.

The man in front of them started laughing out loud while looking at the small group of friends. He stepped back and still laughing, he disappeared in the crowd. Puck followed him with his eyes and sighed. He stepped forward and came standing on the other side of Rachel.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly.

It was like all the calmness slid off Rachel and she started shivering with anger and fear. Quinn quickly wrapped her arms around the brunette, scared she would collapse.

"What was that about?" Kurt asked, looking worried at Rachel.

Rachel took a deep breath and looked up at Kurt. She didn't want to tell them, she felt so embarrassed, but they were her friends and they deserved to know. She exchanged looks with Quinn, who looked doubtful.

"They deserve to know, sweetie," she said and sat down.

The rest of the group gathered around her on the table and Rachel took a deep breath. She watched the worried faces around her and she started her story.

"It started about five years ago…"

The morning air felt cool on her skin and Quinn loved it. She was on her way to the base on her bike and looked forward to see Rachel again. After last night, Rachel had decided she wanted to go home and have a good night of rest. Quinn had agreed, although she found it risky to let Rachel alone. But this morning, Rachel had shot her a text with the message she had slept like a baby and that they would meet on the base. The blonde parked her bike and smiled as she saw the helicopter standing on the grass. She loved her job. With her helmet under her arm, she walked inside and Joyce greeted her.

"Morning, Quinn."

"Morning, Joyce," Quinn greeted back and walked into the locker room to put away her helmet.

"A, Quinn. Morning," Edmund greeted her.

He was changing into his normal clothes and smiled at her.

"Hey, Ed. How was the night?" she asked.

"Slow. Not one call out," he informed her and looked quasi-sad.

"Aw, poor you. But, look at the bright side, now you were able to do your well needed beauty sleep. You need that on your old age," she mocked him and ducked to dodge the flying shoe that came her way.

"Yeah, yeah, mock me all you want, but I have more flight hours then you," he replied.

Quinn smirked at him and pulled out her motor jacket and pants. Out of her locker she grabbed her overall and changed into it.

"O, I don't know if you heard it, but Jackie caught Jesse wondering around the base yesterday, during the air show," Edmund told her.

"You're kidding," Quinn reacted shocked.

"I wish. I kicked him out."

"Thanks, Ed."

"Anytime, Blondie," he mocked.

Smirking, Quinn walked out of the locker, right into the canteen. As if she was a magnet, Quinn's eyes immediately went to Rachel, who was sitting alone at a table. Quinn greeted the rest of the crew and walked over to Rachel. She caught Rachel looking outside, with a frown on her forehead. Quinn sat down across her and smiled. God, she was so lucky to call Rachel her girlfriend.

"Good morning, sweetie," Quinn said and Rachel looked up.

"Hey. Morning."

She rose from her seat and kissed Quinn quickly. Ned, Steve and Puck cheered and laughed. Rachel just stuck her tongue out and sat down. She smiled as she looked into Quinn's beautiful eyes and felt so lucky. Rachel took Quinn's hand in hers.

"Did you sleep well?" Quinn asked, noticing the dark circles under her eyes.

"Not so good. I kept dreaming about him, you know?" Quinn nodded and squeezed her hand softly. She wished she could help Rachel, but she knew Rachel had to deal with it mostly alone. "You looked sexy though, on your bike."

Quinn smirked and blushed slightly. Jaidy used to say the same. Jaidy. The missing and the grief had become less, but there was still a part deep down that missed her previous girlfriend. She thought she would always miss Jaidy, no matter how great her current girlfriend was. Jaidy was after all her very first real girlfriend. Yes, she had always loved Rachel in a way she couldn't love Jaidy. In that way, Jaidy and Rachel had been equally. They both were her first, Rachel her first love and Jaidy her first girlfriend. Quinn smiled at the thought.

"What are you smiling about?" Rachel asked curious.

"Nothing. I'm just glad to see you," she smiled.

"Me too."

Their eyes locked and Quinn thought she could drown in those brown eyes. She wished she could look into Rachel's eyes for eternity.

"Yo, two lovebirds!" They looked up, startled, facing a smirking Puck. "It's briefing time," he smirked.

Quinn smirked back at Puck and they stood up. Talking and laughing, the three of them walked up the stairs to the briefing room.

Whistling, Rachel walked out of the hangar. With a toolbox she walked to the helicopter and hopped in after she had set the toolbox in the helicopter. Still whistling, she opened the lid to the motor and pulled out her little flashlight. Ned had heard something strange yesterday, so she decided to check it out. So far, it had been a very slow day. There had been no call out and it was half past the afternoon. After a bit searching, Rachel found the problem and fixed it. She smirked as she closed the lid. In high school she never would've figured she would be fixing a motor of a helicopter. While she sat down in the doorway, she figured you never know for sure how life pans out. To be honest, she was pretty content with the way her life was now. Perfect job, great friends, hot girlfriend. What could a girl want more? A shadow slid over her face as she thought of Jesse. If he hadn't been around, her life had been so different. For a moment she allowed herself to go back to her old dreams and tried to imagine how it would be to be on stage, to do a production of Wicked. She sighed, she knew she would never be on Broadway. She jumped out of the helicopter, grabbed the toolbox and walked back to the hangar. Most of the time she was content with her life, but ever so slightly she thought of the life she could have.

"What are you looking serious?"

Rachel looked up and saw Jackie sitting on a bench. The brunette smiled at Jackie and set down the toolbox. She walked over to Jackie and sat down next to her.

"Just thinking of old dreams," she replied vaguely.

They had conversations like this before, mostly at the beginning. Rachel knew she was way more closed off and serious then she was now.

"In which you sing on Broadway?" Jackie guessed. Startled, the brunette looked up at Jackie. How did she know about that dream? "Quinn told me about it," the dark haired woman added guilty.

"I could've known. Yes, I was thinking about it," Rachel admitted, looking through the open hangar door at the mountains.

"Do you miss it? Performing?"

Rachel looked aside, not meeting Jackie's sympathetic eyes and nodded.

"Every day. But I know it's not possible."

She saw Jackie nod from the corners of her eyes and bowed her head. As if she was really interested in it, she studied the patterns on the ground. She noticed it was still hard to talk about her dreams, it hurts to know she will never be on a stage. At least not professional. She was glad Quinn never asked about it, she think she couldn't have handled it well.

"But if you got the change, would you take it?" Jackie asked seriously.

"I'm too old to be on stage now. And besides, I couldn't sing. I had polyps on my voice, remember?" Rachel replied.

"I didn't hear anything last night. You sounded amazing."

Rachel smiled slightly as she thought back of last night. It had been so amazing to be on stage with her friends again, it had felt like old times.

"Thanks." Still smiling, she looked aside at her friend. "Look, even if I had the change to go to Broadway, I wouldn't do it. I can't miss it here, I love it here."

"Do you love it as much as Broadway?" Jackie asked, sensing Rachel didn't want to talk about it, but she wanted to know.

Rachel looked away from Jackie again and took in her surroundings. She eyed the RMT 04 which was ready to be tested, another old helicopter which was no longer in order, an iron platform and the bright sun outside shining on the RMT 02 and smiled. Then she went in her mind back to the time she stood on the stage of Wicked and knew how she felt. She had felt incredible and intimidated at the same time. It had been an overwhelming feeling to sing there.

"I don't know," she answered honest and looked back at Jackie.

Bored, Quinn was folding paper planes. She had accepted a challenge with Puck and Ned to build a paper plane to see which one would fly the furthest. She had been bragging she was a champion and now the gentleman wanted proof. So there she sat, folding paper planes. She saw she was quicker and leant grinning backwards in her chair. Finally, Ned and Puck finished and they made their way to hallway. Steve would be the referee.

"On my count. One…Two…Three!"

At the same moment, they threw away the paper planes. Three paper planes sailed through the air and soon one of them landed against the doorpost. The other two kept flying until the second on fell down out of the air. Quinn started cheering, she knew her paper plane was the one the flied the longest. As soon as the third plane had landed, they ran to the planes and saw that Ned's plane the first one that had crashed. As they walked further they saw Puck's plane and a broad smile came on Quinn's face as she picked up her plane.

"Told you so," she smirked and content with her plane, she walked back to the canteen.

"We want revenge," Ned stated and the blonde just laughed.

"Yeah right. Do you really like losing, Ned?" she mocked him.

"Mine wasn't good. You can at least give us a second chance," Puck said.

"Fine. At least I don't have to fold another one," Quinn smirked and plopped on the couch.

She watched as the guys started folding again and toyed with the plane in her hands. A year ago she couldn't imagine she would be back in Roswell. She leant back and thought of Rachel. She really loved that girl, she always had. Sighing, she checked her watch and saw it was almost time for the test flight. She looked out of the window and saw Rachel and Jackie walking over the grass. Once again she noticed how gracious Rachel actual was and smiled. She chuckled softly as she thought of Santana, what would she think right now?

"Done!"

Quinn looked up and saw Ned jumping up and down. She quirked an eyebrow and stood up. Puck was also ready and they walked back to the hallway. Joyce looked up from her computer as she saw them coming again.

"Come on, guys. How old are you?" she asked, but around her mouth lingered a smile.

"Eight," Puck smirked.

"Ready to be smashed?" Quinn mocked the boys.

"O, bring it on!" Ned called.

"On my count. One…Two…Three!"

Once again the paper planes sailed through the air. Soon, the middle crashed on the floor and Quinn heard Puck sigh. She smirked as she watched hers go further and further, followed closely by Ned's plane. After a few more meters, they both crashed almost at the same time. Ned, Quinn, Puck and Steve ran to the planes. Steve knelt down, with a measuring rod in his hands. Ned, Quinn and Puck gathered around him as he measured. Tension rose as he looked slowly up.

"The winner is, by a nose length…Our Quinn!"

Quinn cheered once again and picked up her plane. She smirked at the boys who looked disappointed.

"Want a revenge again, Ned?" she asked sweetly.

"No, thank you."

Smirking, Quinn made her way to the canteen. Halfway, she met Rachel who just come out of the locker room.

"What are you smirking about?" she asked, eyeing the paper plane in Quinn's hand.

"I beat the boys twice," Quinn replied and held up the paper plane.

Rachel shook her head and laughed. When this crew had too much time, they grew immature.

"Really mature," she chuckled and plopped on the couch.

Quinn shrugged and plopped next to her. She saw Puck and Ned talking to Joyce and Steve had disappeared. She smiled and looked seductive at Rachel.

"I hadn't had a real kiss yet," she said.

Rachel frowned and looked aside at her girlfriend. As soon as she saw the seductive look on the blonde's face, she knew where this was going. She bowed to Quinn and kissed her passionate. They closed their eyes and forgot the world around them. It was only when someone scraped their throat, they looked up, gasping for air. They looked up at a smirking Puck.

"Test time," he smirked.

He turned on his heels and disappeared out of the canteen. Rachel sighed and leant her forehead against Quinn's forehead.

"Don't be away too long," Quinn whispered.

"I promise," Rachel whispered back.

She kissed Quinn once more and stood up. She walked out of the canteen as Quinn looked after her. Suddenly she rose to her feet.

"Rae, wait." Rachel turned around and Quinn quickly walked to her. She handed Rachel the paper plane. "Here. Then you have reminder of me."

Rachel smiled and took it out of Quinn's hand. She looked at it and putted in her breast pocket.

"I keep it here. On my heart."

Rachel opened the door and walked into the locker room. The door fell close behind her…

Fully enjoying the view, Rachel looked outside the window. They were flying around the mountains near the base to fully test the helicopter. Up until now, everything worked perfectly. Puck looked behind him and saw Ned was scribbling busy on his flip board.

"So, you and Quinn. It's pretty serious," he said, looking aside at Rachel.

"Yes, it is. I never thought this would happen. I've fancied her for so long, I thought it was a daydream," she smiled.

"Well, you two look perfect together. You really make her happy."

"And she makes me happy," Rachel replied.

Deep down her she saw a few people climbing and smiled. She realized she still needed to explain something to Quinn and promised herself she would do it soon.

"Okay. Let's go to 6000 feet," Ned said, his eyes trained on the instruments.

"Going to 6000 feet. 45000 feet. 5000 feet. 55000 feet," Rachel count.

Just before they reached 6000 feet the instruments hit the roof and some red lights lit up. Rachel's eyes went big as she saw it.

"Fire in the second engine," she called, but even before she stopped speaking, a second red light lit up.

"Fire in the first engine," Puck called, his voice sounded slightly panicked.

"Second engine down," Ned saw, his voice was high pitched.

"First engine down. We're crashing!"

With fear in her eyes Rachel looked aside at Puck, who looked just as frightened…

Whistling, Quinn walked to the desk and picked up the phone.

"Do you know a good restaurant?" she asked Joyce. "I want to surprise Rachel."

"Uhm, there's a new one in town. It's called Rockie Blue," Joyce said and scribbled something down. "This is the number."

Quinn nodded and dialed the number.

"Good afternoon. I want to reserve a table for two. For tonight. Yes. On name of Fabray. Okay, thank you."

Content Quinn hung up.

"She's going to love it," Joyce assured her.

"Thanks, Joyce."

Smiling, Quinn walked back to the canteen to get back to her magazine. Behind her the doors of the WING Ops centrum flew open and a panicked Jackie appeared in the doorway.

"The RMT 02 is crashed!"

Quinn turned around and saw Jackie wasn't kidding. Her mouth dropped and she wasn't able to move.

The terrain car drove like mad over the bumpy road to the place where the RMT 02 had crashed. In the car sat Steve, CO Lincolns and Quinn. High above the trees they had seen the smoke and now they drove through the forest to the crash place. Finally they arrived and the chaos was huge. Everywhere where fragments. They jumped out of the car and the CO was the first one to spot the two people a few meters away from the wreck. As Quinn got nearer and nearer the two people, she slowed down.

"Where is Rachel?" she asked.

She didn't receive and answer and started to search around the crash site. Suddenly her eye caught something red close to the helicopter. She knelt down and saw it was Rachel. The brunette had her eyes closed and for a second Quinn was scared she had died. With shivering fingers she felt Rachel's pulse and breathed relieved as she felt the thumping under her fingers. With tears in her eyes she pulled Rachel's body on her lap and cried, holding a motionless Rachel…