A/N: Just a quick thank you to everyone who continues to review. This probably should've been up earlier but I've been completely consumed with Castle for the past couple weeks. My favourite brainstormer totally bailed on me in favour of Castle/Beckett so I'm in the market for a new one. It really isn't a hard job, most of the time it is talking me off the ledge of knocking Mercedes into a volcano. So if you're interested, just let me know.

Thirty-Six

"Sloppy, just sloppy babies."

Quinn honestly hated that blow horn. All it did was amplify Coach Sylvester's crazy to ungodly decibels. Quinn winced as she felt her leg quiver and corrected it immediately; unfortunately the feedback from the horn being turned back on meant it was already too late.

"You think this is hard? Try holding a herkie for an hour until Stanford decided to cut his cake. That's hard."

The pyramid was disbanded after that and Sue's eyes were on her the moment Quinn hit the ground.

"Disgraceful."

It was the woman's parting shot and it was directed solely at her. Quinn tried for ignorance but exhaustion made it harder to care, so she left it. Instead just welcoming that sinking feeling in her stomach, as she watched her coach stalk away and the rest of the girls stumble into the showers. Even Santana's constant heated looks were granted an iota of worry.

Quinn was just so tired and those nightmares didn't seem to care. Dreams in which she was dying weren't her only problem but it did make it easier to contact Berry. Texting her was kind of painless actually, once she got used to reading paragraphs of speech crammed into tiny green speech bubbles.

Over the phone, the girl was surprisingly amusing, witty, flirtatious… kind of perfect really. Quinn wasn't about to question it, not when it was so much simpler to stay awake with Berry being strangely charming with overly long text messages. Usually Quinn wanted to break her nose, so the blonde decided it was progress. Finn did prove she was capable of salvaging anything but Quinn still found herself too drawn to Berry to blame it on convenience.

Well, specific parts—personality notwithstanding.

Sighing, Quinn took her usual spot on the bleachers. She was sure her stomach looked like she'd consumed a beach ball last night for supper but Finn wasn't waving at her, so that was a plus.

He was glaring at Puck instead, as Finn stumbled his way around the track. If she didn't already know better, Quinn would've thought his teeny brain actually found her out.

But, no, Finn was making a move on Berry instead. She'd seen him awkwardly fumble his way through talking to the tiny girl earlier in the hall and this would've actually been amazing news if Quinn didn't really like kissing her.

Because she did.

A lot.

There were other things as well: her brazen reaction in the face of danger, her tiny body and heavenly voice. Maybe her obsession with stars was amusing enough to be cute too.

And Quinn really didn't like to share, even if what she wanted never shut her mouth and refused to listen to anything she said.

"Hello, Quinn," Speaking of, Quinn's head whipped over to face said girl as she took a step up the bleachers at a time. "I was beginning to think I'd missed you until Santana informed me you were seated out here."

Quinn frowned. "I thought you two didn't talk when you're sober?"

Berry sat beside her. She smoothed out that hideous argyle skirt but it was probably too short to worry about modesty anyway. Quinn liked contradictions though; irony was she happened to personify a lot of them.

God, she was never having sex again.

"You're quite right actually," Berry was still being shy—fiddling with her skirt—and Quinn found it sort of charming until the girl went and ruined it all with words. "Santana and I never converse much sans the consumption of a few dozen alcoholic beverages but I wanted to find you and Santana was the most proficient way to do so."

Berry quickly glanced up and Quinn sighed. She'd worry about Santana later because Quinn had more than enough to burry her if need be.

"What do you want, Berry?" she asked, smirking at the annoyed huff the girl gave at the nonuse of her name.

Berry made it too fun to stop. Maybe just the name would be enough. Quinn didn't really feel like doing the rest anymore.

As expected Berry straightened up indignantly, ready for a rant. "It is most obvious that you find it amusing to be irritating, so I'll continue to ignore such attempts in hopes that you'll cease drawing entertainment from my personal torment."

Quinn bit her lip, actually surprised she was trying to hold in a laugh. Berry was so freakin' dramatic. For some reason, Quinn didn't find it so annoying this time.

"I don't find it amusing to be irritating, just amusing to irritate you, Berry," the brunette rolled her eyes and Quinn felt that triumphant thrill flow through her, "so I probably won't be ceasing the torment any time soon."

Berry frowned briefly before giving her a small (annoying) grin. "We'll see, Quinn. I'm quite confident I'm capable of changing your tune very quickly. In fact…"

Berry trailed off and Quinn's heart started beating faster as the girl leaned in, getting closer to her. Quinn's eyes instantly went to the brunette's lips. She wouldn't kiss her now, would she?

Quinn hastily turned her head to glance out at the football field. Puck and Finn were now battling to the death over push-ups. Not surprisingly, Puck was winning. Finn looked ten seconds away from leaking custard.

Her eyes snapped back to Berry when the girl burst out into a fit of giggles. Quinn wasn't sure what she found so amusing until she saw Berry was watching the sword fight on the field too.

Puck was only using one arm now. Quinn glanced at Finn—that was embarrassing.

"Oh my goodness," Berry gasped, her tiny hand covering her mouth like she was trying to keep peals of laugher in.

Quinn was biting her lip again, allowing her eyes to roam over Berry while the girl was distracted.

She found herself wondering if her hair would be as soft as it was during stolen moments under the moonlight in the Puckerman backyard. It cascaded like brown waves over her tiny shoulder, the breeze just moving it lightly. The Christmas coloured ensemble needed to be burned but her legs—

"Berry, did you want something?" Quinn asked gruffly, blinking away the haze from her eyes.

What the hell was that?

Berry's eyes snapped to her own, looking a little startled and a lot like lies. "Well, yes, actually. Santana informed me that she had copious amounts of sexual desire to burn through with her locker room companion so I was going to offer to drive you home to allay your wait."

How Berry knew Quinn was waiting for Santana to leave, she didn't know but if she asked she'd just get a long-winded speech—with no visible breaths—so Quinn decided against it.

Instead, she said, "As long as you don't almost get us mugged in Lima Heights Adjacent again."

Berry turned indignant, which was expected because the girl really made it too easy. That sweeping thrill was back just as fast as the annoyed glint in Berry's eyes.

"Quinn, I assure you, you were completely safe that day. I never would've risked your safety in lieu of retrieving a debt for Noah." Berry just seemed to deflate then and was shyly looking down at her hands, fiddling again with her skirt. "Though if you'd like, I'd gladly allow you the use of my shower instead and we could maybe spend some time together."

Clearly this wasn't the same Berry that freely offered passionate sex as her motives for getting to know her. It was obvious Berry was completely insane but she was far more interesting than two push-up Finn. And obviously Quinn really had nothing to lose, her giant uterus was proof that everything was already gone. Not Berry though, that was something Quinn could actually keep.

The sudden want for that, it surged through her and Quinn didn't know what to do. She rarely yearned for anything and had honestly thought that she'd regret whatever this was when she woke up this morning. Quinn silently pleaded for her crumbling wall of apathy to rush from her depths stronger than ever. The only thing Quinn felt was another brick fall and it didn't really leave her much choice.

"Sure, Berry," she found herself agreeing and she'd be glaring down at her stomach if Berry wasn't distracting her with her eyes. "Actually I think that would be nice."

Or so she hoped.

Their trip to the car was painless and so far the drive was quiet, expect for Berry humming along to the radio. Quinn wasn't sure why she was surprised that the girl knew every song to hit the airwaves in the past ten minutes. Hazel eyes glanced over and maybe she should say something. Berry looked fine with the silence but how could she be when she never shut up?

"I think I can actually hear you thinking, Quinn," the girl chuckled as they yielded for a stop sign. Berry glanced at her quickly before turning to look back at the road. "Is there something on your mind? If it is our almost kiss on the bleachers, I can assure you I was only being facetious. I'd never do something like that without your express permission."

Quinn blinked because no, that hadn't crossed her mind but hearing Berry say that did make her feel better. She was suddenly calmer and how did Berry know?

Her eyes darted over to look at the other girl—as the car started to move—and the feeling of being bested clouded her judgment. Because she definitely wouldn't want to say—

"Are you going to ask me for permission every time you want to kiss me?"

Or mistakenly say it out loud.

Damn it.

Berry was blushing and so was Quinn. She'd just flirted with Rachel Berry. So far that hadn't happened outside of the text conversation stored on her phone. But besides being completely embarrassing, it actually felt kind of nice—thrilling almost.

It certainly wasn't awful.

Berry cleared her throat, as she pulled into the driveway of her home. It was a nice house, off white brick, two-car garage. A couple stories and a well maintained lawn. Unfortunately the autumn weather all but decimated the bright colours of the garden; Quinn remembered it from when Santana dragged her with her to egg Berry's house on Halloween last year.

"Well, here we are," Berry suddenly exclaimed, gesturing towards the front door through the windshield, "and…" she leaned over and lightly captured Quinn's lips. It was so good Quinn really couldn't help her gasp of surprise, "I generally prefer just forging ahead. I want things and I'm most prone to taking them. I was just attempting to be respectful."

Those words were whispered against her lips and then Berry was gone, out of the car and… opening the passenger door? Quinn glanced over at that smiling face and Berry most definitely had done this before. She stepped out of the car and wondered if she acted this way with Santana too. Maybe more girls, Puckerman was her best friend, it wouldn't be surprising.

Still the attention was kind of exciting, barely.

Quinn bit her lip as Berry whipped open the front door, allowing her to enter first before shutting it behind her.

Berry then turned to look at her. "I know it's not very exciting but I could offer you a tour, if you'd like unless you'd rather shower first?"

Quinn quickly glanced around the room, eyes briefly stopping on the Berry shrine in the foyer. Really it was like a pictorial biography of Berry's entire life. Even her birth was documented—conveniently placed first and closest to the door—two men were crowded around a woman who cradled a baby in her arms.

They all looked so happy.

It was certainly much more welcoming than her father's life-sized mural of Jesus.

Shaking her head, she glanced over at Berry and realizing she'd been caught starring, Quinn said, "Shower, please."

Berry nodded and led her upstairs, gave her towels and all but pushed her through the bathroom door. The room was nice, very purple but accented with a lot of silver and cream. Royal almost.

She couldn't help thinking about the other people that had been in this house. Berry was too charming for this to be her first foray into dealing with girls. Puck personified a cheesy eighties porno, so this had to be Berry's own familiarity shining through.

Quinn clenched her teeth and shut off the water. She dressed quickly and marched downstairs—Berry had left her some clothes she'd said were bought for her but unfortunately way too big—spotting said girl taking something out of the oven.

"Berry," she murmured, crossing her arms as she gazed at the other girl.

The brunette whirled around, spatula in hand. "Quinn how was your shower? I expect you found everything all right?"

Quinn nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

Berry looked her for only a moment before quickly spinning back around.

"Wonderful. I'm happy to see that the clothes fit you. I was a little unsure that they would." This time Berry turned back around plate in hand, taking a step to place it on the island. "Now, come and eat. I suspect you have to be quite hungry with the amount of physical exertion being a cheerleader requires of you."

Quinn eyed the food and then glanced up at Berry. Of course, she cooked. Santana probably got the same speech about practice too. Still, Quinn was hungry and whatever it was Berry made her baby seemed to really want it.

"Fine," she sat and started eating while Berry ate from a plate of her own.

Silence stretched on—this pasta was so good, Quinn wasn't even sure what it was called, she'd never seen pasta like it before—and then Berry set her fork down.

She stared at her briefly before she said, "Is there something bothering you, Quinn? I only ask because, well I feel like you are withholding something you wish to say to me. I assure you whatever it is I am more than willing to hear it. Up until this point our relationship was never one that was shrouded in things left unsaid, I'd only expect that to continue."

Berry looked so earnest that Quinn wanted to lash out on principle. It was her gut reaction every other time she was faced with those (lying) brown eyes, so she gave Berry what she wanted.

"Santana isn't your first girl, is she?" she spat with a sarcastic roll of her eyes. "I'm sure Puckerman coached you on how to notch up your bedpost."

Berry gazed at her with those wounded eyes before she looked down at her plate. The girl seemed to take a couple deep breaths and then her eyes were back, only this time they were angry.

Suddenly, Quinn didn't feel good about her decision at all.

"Actually, yes, Santana is the second girl I've kissed in a short list of four, one of them being you, as for bed post notches, well I don't have any. Despite Noah's less than tactful encouragement, I'm waiting to give myself to a person I love. In spite of how naïve that sounds, I believe I deserve that and I intend to wait however long it takes for such a person to materialize."

Berry said it so calmly that it just grated more on Quinn's nerves. She knew she should've let it go but she ended up scoffing, "So you're telling me Santana—"

"Quinn, what is it you want to know?" Berry interrupted, throwing her hands up in the air, her eyes narrowing in frustration. "You seem oddly fixated on my relationship with Santana, which I assure you is in the past and only one of friendship now."

Quinn rolled her eyes and looked away. Stupid Berry, she didn't know what she was talking about. Quinn wasn't 'oddly fixated' she just…

Berry sighed. "Fine, the furthest Santana and I have progressed was oral sex during which she passed out. It was as unappealing as it sounds and I don't intend to give it a repeat performance."

"Eww," Quinn did not want to hear that, her teeth clenched as involuntarily the images formed of Santana trailing her lips down Berry's body, "God, too much information, Berry."

Said girl looked at her again before jumping down off her stool and striding towards her. Quinn swallowed as Berry pushed her body between her legs, looking up at her with dark eyes. Quinn hands awkwardly found themselves on Berry's hips.

"I find it extremely attractive when you're jealous Quinn but in the future you might want to refrain from taking such feelings out on me unless…" Berry leaned in—and Quinn couldn't help closing her eyes as the scent of vanilla swam around her—as Berry's lips touched her ear. Quinn just barely stifled a gasp, "unless you're ravishing me breathless."

Quinn yanked the brunette's hair until her head was lulled back a ways away, her dark eyes gazing up into her own. They both stayed frozen, panting not a few inches apart. Quinn could feel the breath on her lips and Santana wasn't touching Berry ever again.

She'd make sure of it.

Their lips crashed together and Quinn mind was racing until Berry moaned.