Chapter 53

The same sick feeling Santana used to get when certain teachers in school beckoned her to their offices was washing over her as they moved from the elevator to Rachel and Brittany's apartment. Not only was there every reason to believe Brittany would be joined by her girlfriend, a situation that would require Santana to fight every emotion brought on the other night at the Broadway show, but also there would be Mercedes to contend with at the party.

Santana always had respected Mercedes for her talent and fierce loyalty until she found herself on the receiving end of Mercedes' wrath. The night at Quinn's wedding had been hard enough without getting a finger waved in her face as a result of the rather public fight with Brittany at the reception.

...

Santana was shocked and angry at the same time. What was Brittany's issue with trying to talk Quinn down from a giant mistake? For the last three months Santana had been giving most of the reasons why this was a bad idea. Sure, Brittany didn't know the largest reason but Quinn's new husband's severe personality defects should have been enough without breaking Quinn's confidence by revealing the big secret.

And why couldn't they have dealt with this last night at the hotel if Brittany was so ticked off? Instead Brittany had bolted and to add to it Santana now had Mercedes up in her face and she wouldn't back down. Why the hell wouldn't Mercedes just get out of Santana's way so she could go work things out with her girlfriend? Who had named her the relationship police? "Look, Mercedes, not now! I need to go talk to Brittany."

Mercedes waved her hand. "No! You're going to let her do what she has to do by giving her space."

"Like hell."

"I will take you down in front of this entire room of well dressed 'wasps' if you try and go after her Santana."

Santana could feel her temper rising up and if Mercedes didn't back down someone was going to have to stop an actual fight. "This has nothing to do with you. So don't step where you don't belong."

"Someone has to lay it out for you so you understand. You tell her you have to torpedo certain plans without giving her an ounce of trust as to why. And don't try and give me some crap about it being about not liking someone." Mercedes whispered before raising her voice again. "She asks you for one thing, to keep your mouth shut, and you can't even give her that."

Santana was fuming. There was no time for this. "Excuse me but what makes you an expert on my relationship?"

"Who do you think is the friend she turns to when she needs someone to actually listen to how she feels about something? It's not you Santana and that's a big reason you two are doomed."

"Have you lost your mind? Standing here judging what I have with Brit."

Mercedes gave Santana a strong purposeful look. "When was the last time you actually listened to her? Huh?"

Santana had enough. "Yeah, cause your Ms. Expert on relationships. Talk to me again after you dated someone for more then a month."

Out of nowhere Quinn, looking lovely in her wedding gown, jumped in. "Guys, I appreciate its been a long weekend so far and that everyone has had a couple drinks but you see my mother is having a meltdown because my wedding is turning into a reality TV show so for my sake can you tone it down? As a wedding present to me, please?"

"Sorry Q. I'm out of here anyway. I've got to go track down my girlfriend." Santana apologized as she headed towards the entrance to the reception giving Mercedes the evil eye as she passed.

The last thing Santana heard as the door closed behind her was Quinn yelling. "She got in a cab and left Santana."

...

Knocking on the door Quinn's heart was racing but thankfully Santana looked more thrown off then Quinn felt so perhaps her roommate would prove to be the perfect shield tonight. 'Concentrate on Santana', Quinn told herself as the door opened.

Brittany was standing on the other side of the door, with Kurt over her shoulder with a drink in his hand and a smile on his sweet face. Standing in the living area Mercedes was on the phone but Rachel was nowhere to be seen.

"You guys made it." Brittany squealed as she pulled them each into a hug.

"Sorry we're late." Quinn said as they both moved into the room.

"You're right on time."

Kurt took a sip from his glass. "We were all early."

The more Quinn tried to think of the tension coming off Santana or how good Mercedes looked Rachel would jump right into her mind, which only made her nervous. Moving to give Kurt a hug Quinn found herself worrying that he could actually read her mind and that the gig was up before the evening began. Kurt, of course couldn't read minds but he was the most observant. Not letting him in on things was the key. So Quinn figured it was best to get him looking elsewhere off the bat. It wasn't the nicest tactic but it was bound to work. As Quinn went to pull away from his embrace she leaned in to him and whispered. "Samantha here?"

He broke the contact with her and shook his head no.

Quinn nodded back and silently mouthed a 'Good' to him.

Now that she had planted a seed of concern for Santana the only question she wanted to ask, but figured she couldn't, was where was Rachel?

...

As soon as she got the vegetables organized Rachel had excused herself from the group saying she had to go up and use the restroom. Of course that was an excuse. What she really needed to do was get her wits about her before Quinn arrived and Rachel was required to give an award winning performance complete with nuances of friendliness balanced with the right amount of disinterest in anything the blonde said or did.

Pacing in her master bathroom Rachel found her mind wouldn't stop going a mile a minute. "It's fine. It's only Quinn. Certainly we can all be adults. It's only dinner. Any nerves are of course because so many of us are in one room with such deep history with one another. It will be fine. Why would anyone suspect anything?"

Who was Rachel kidding? They spent half the night trying to keep their hands to themselves and with Kurt in attendance, with enough back-story to piece things together, if they slipped up at all he would have them figured out. Rachel couldn't handle the group knowing yet. It was too fresh and too deeply rooted in history to tell the world before the two of them had a good idea of where they were with one another. Taking a deep breath Rachel washed her hands for show. Flushed the toilet that didn't actually need flushing and headed down for the performance of her life.

"You guys made it." Rachel said when she was still far enough back on the upper landing for no one to see her face or, more importantly, for her to see anyone. She just kept telling herself to see the Quinn who made her nervous the first night they had dinner and not last night's Quinn.

When she got far enough down the steps Rachel forced herself to make eye contact with the blonde while successfully fighting off the grin that was trying to force it's way onto her face. "Can I grab your coats and hang them up for you?"

"I'm already on it." Quinn said as she took Santana's from her and wandered to the small closet off the living space. Rachel was now less worried about tipping their hand and more worried about Quinn doing it for them.

Walking over to Santana, Rachel gave her a casual but friendly hug. "What can I get you to drink then?"

"I'm on it." Brittany said from her place in front of the fridge.

Perhaps Brittany's conflicted state about Santana's presence would act as a distraction for the assembled but then again now the hard part. "Quinn, what about you?" Rachel asked as she walked over to the attorney and gave her a similarly platonic hug. Immediately the warmth from Quinn's body and the feel of her arms wrapped around Rachel's midsection made her head swim. It took all the self-control she could muster to pull apart. "What can we get you to drink?"

"With the pain meds I shouldn't drink." Quinn explained in a way that made Rachel wonder if maybe the lack of drinking had more to do with keeping her wits about her then the aspirin that the doctor's told her to take for the pain. "Just seltzer water if you have it."

"Coming right up." Rachel said moving back into the kitchen to pour a sensible drink for Quinn and one for herself. At least with the bubbly water over ice no one would be the wiser that Rachel was forgoing the alcohol the rest of the evening. Quinn had the right idea. It was better to be safe then sorry.

...

Walking out onto the roof Brittany was quite proud of her little party. Another table had been set and some decorative lighting fixtures of Rachel's had been hung. A bar that was up there but apparently seldom used had been stocked with all the necessary items for both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Now it was just a matter of bringing up all the food Brittany had purchased. Enlisting Mercedes and Quinn to help her bring stuff up the girls made their way outside.

Brittany had grabbed those two because it seemed safer to keep Mercedes and Santana as separated as possible for as long as possible. Mercedes had already made her feeling about Santana being back in Brittany's life very clear and the evening needed to be fun and not filled with the past.

"It's so good to see you Mercedes." Quinn said as she placed a vegetable tray on the largest table. "It's been far too long."

"It really has. When did we last hang out? Was it about two years ago when I was passing through Arizona?"

"It was. We had dinner at that cute place downtown."

"I was sorry to hear about the divorce but from what Brittany has said..."

"It was for the best." Brittany said with exactly the tone Quinn had used to describe the end of her marriage on numerous occasions.

Quinn laughed. "And Brittany would be right."

"Well, whatever makes you happy. Speaking of happy, Brittany, tell me all about your new girl." Mercedes inquired.

"She's pretty fantastic. Sexy, smart, talented, and fun.

"It sounds like she treats you very well."

Mercedes tone wasn't lost on Brittany and it also didn't seem to be lost on Quinn.

The lawyer couldn't avoid butting in. "Mercedes, I think if Brittany and Santana have resolved things don't you think its time you and Santana resolved things?"

There wasn't anger on Mercedes face; in fact it looked like sadness. "I don't forgive easily."

Brittany laid her hand on Mercedes shoulder. "You could try."

"She hurt you."

"We hurt each other Mercedes. I appreciate the support then when I needed it but Santana and I are becoming friends again and I want all my friends to like each other. Look at how much Rachel and Quinn are getting along."

Quinn coughed. "Yeah, bet you never would have thought we would be friends."

Mercedes nodded. "That's the truth."

"Will you try for me?" Brittany asked with her most manipulative tone. "I would love it if you two could get as close as Rachel and Quinn have grown to be."

Again Quinn coughed loudly.

"Maybe you should get some water Quinn." Brittany suggested.

"That's a great idea." Quinn agreed and then headed inside.

...

Having been there for twenty minutes Santana had basically avoided Mercedes so far and vise versa. However the inevitable was bound to happen so Santana thought it best to be the one to make the first move to give herself the advantage if things grew confrontational. Carrying her glass and a small plate of food, she took a seat at the table. "So."

"So." Mercedes said looking up from her plate with surprise written on her face.

"Congratulations on the album." Santana offered grasping for conversation.

"And the Mayor's office, that's got to be exciting."

"It has its good days." So far, so good. "So you rehearse all week and then do the television stuff at the end of the week?"

Mercedes nodded. "All day on Friday. Rehearsals with Brittany start tomorrow."

"Must be exciting after all the work you've put in."

"Same for you with the PR stuff."

At this rate they were bound to continue playing the game all night long. Taking a deep breath, Santana decided to start playing offense. "Look, Quinn's wedding was a long time ago. Brittany and I split a long time ago. They are both fine with me. Can we both agree to bury the hatchet and just move past everything that happened at the reception?"

Mercedes face went from serious to a large smile. "Directness was always a skill of yours."

"Well?"

"Do we have to be best friends?"

"Absolutely not."

"Then consider the hatchet buried."

No fight, no argument, Santana was in shock but did her best not to show it. "Good."

"But hear me Santana, you do anything to hurt Brittany again, you will answer to me."

"We're only friends."

"That wasn't true at McKinley and something tells me, if you had your way it wouldn't be true now."

Santana was a good liar but not that good of a liar. She looked Mercedes straight in the eye. "It won't happen again."

"See to it that it doesn't." Mercedes said as she turned back to the plate in front of her and continued to enjoy her meal.

...

If the water Quinn had been drinking were alcohol they would have found her passed out on the sofa by now. Sticking to a Tupperware tumbler, to avoid a repeat of the incident the night before, Quinn had refilled it at least a half dozen times mostly as a means to avoid the group so the secret she was helping to hide could stay that way. After the innocent comments on the roof by Brittany to Mercedes earlier in the evening the first of many refills got Quinn away from the unintentional innuendo. As the evening went on it had deflected an innocent question from Mercedes on the state of her love life, had avoided a concerned moment when Kurt expressed worry about how Mercedes question had made Quinn feel, and had kept her from being seen alone with Rachel downstairs with no reason to be there with her.

The latest trip down to refill had been because Brittany and Rachel were filling everyone else in on the workshop show. Kurt had started to give a detailed description and Quinn felt herself being pulled back to that evening. She tried to make her departure subtle but as she got back into the house to refill her cup Quinn heard Kurt at the top of the stairs.

"I'm sorry Quinn, I wasn't thinking." Kurt said as he came down the spiral steps.

His comment was Quinn's way out. As long as he remained focused on her confession to him there was no reason for Quinn to believe he would see the real truth. "It's okay."

He made his way to her and rested his hand on her shoulder. "I shouldn't have been so insensitive as to dissect the script and Rachel's performance after what we talked about it."

"Kurt it's okay." Quinn repeated as she took a long drink from her cup of water. "I'm determined to make this friendship with her work and for that to happen I have to get better about putting aside the other feelings."

"But why?"

"Kurt, we've covered this." Quinn said but felt bad about scolding him considering the truth.

"I just think it's stupid to try and deny yourself. Hell, you never know."

Kurt was being so sweet to her and yet Quinn had no choice, at this point, but to lie to him. Quinn chugged the rest of the water in her glass and then tapped into her mean girl tone. "Leave it alone Kurt."

He nodded disappointed.

Trying to keep herself in character Quinn spun back to the sink and turned on the faucet very aggressively. She was so quick at it she managed to turn the water on as her stitched hand crossed into the water now pouring into the sink. Her hand and her bandages soaked. "Damn it."

"Oh, man. Let's go see if Brittany or Rachel have a way to re-bandage that."

Walking back upstairs an out to the party Quinn was happy to see all four of the girls sitting at the table laughing with one another. It appeared that maybe a miracle had taken place and Mercedes and Santana were going to bury the hatchet.

"Do either of you have a first aid kit with some bandages?" Kurt asked.

Rachel about jumped out of her skin. "What happened?"

If it wasn't for them keeping things from their friends Quinn would have kissed Rachel right then and there for her concern but since that wasn't the case she had to calm Rachel another way. "It's nothing I ran my hand under the faucet by accident and soaked my bandages."

Brittany laughed. "Please no more blood in the house."

"I promise Brittany."

Rachel continued over to Quinn annoyed. It might have been play-acting or it might have been relief mixed with worry but either way it worked for her. "Thank goodness it's only that. I have stuff in the house. My dad's insist I have a fully stocked first aid kit. Follow me."

As Quinn followed Rachel inside Kurt went to join the ladies at the table. It seemed her scolding had done its job.

Now was going to be a real test of not overstepping when they assumed they were alone. It was a good thing Quinn had been sticking to water all night. Knowing the door was shut and her back was to everyone at the party Quinn spoke as they walked out of Rachel's room and towards the spiral stairs. "How are you holding up?"

"Truthfully," Rachel said, as they got to the landing, her back to Quinn. "I am over thinking everything they are saying out there and have wanted to kiss you all night long."

It was a risk. The view into the house from the roof was only into Rachel's bedroom and they were now outside the bedroom on the landing. If they could hear Brittany come in the front door the previous night then she would hear the sliding door open in Rachel's bedroom. Reaching around Rachel's middle from behind Quinn pulled the shorter woman to her. Leaning in she nuzzled her neck. "Hi."

Rachel turned and faced Quinn. "We are going to get caught."

Quinn leaned in and kissed Rachel gently on the lips. Pulling away she smiled. "We didn't get caught."

"So it seems." Rachel said smiling. "Let's get that bandage taken care of before we push our luck.

Quinn laughed and followed Rachel down the stairs.

...

Moving to throw out her empty plate and then refill her glass Santana saw Brittany moving up next to her. "Do you need a refill?"

"Vodka tonic?"

Santana nodded and after taking Brittany's glass from her made the drink the blonde had requested. Handing it back to Brittany, Santana felt the words escape her mouth before her mind could stop them. "So where's the girlfriend tonight?"

"She wanted to give us all a chance to catch up."

"I see." Santana said with a tone to her voice that Brittany must have immediately recognized.

"It's not always about you." Brittany explained.

Santana got a big smile on her face and started to move away from the bar towards the empty part of the roof. "Yeah but most of the time it is."

...

Mercedes couldn't help but stare at the two ex's as they chatted by the far end of the roof.

Kurt waved his hand in front of Mercedes field of vision. "Are you paying any attention to me at all?"

"Brit won't go back there again? Will she?" Mercedes asked, obviously very concerned.

"With any relationship I never say never, but Brittany seems very happy with Samantha so I don't see her ending anything to start up with Santana again. Now had she been single when they crossed paths it might have been another story."

"Thank goodness for small favors."

"We both know those two will be connected for life."

Her old friend was right but after watching Brittany beat herself up for a year following the break-up Mercedes didn't want to hear of her friend going through such pain again. "Doesn't mean they are meant to be together."

"That's true enough. I missed all the drama with them back in the day. It must have been epic."

"Not sure how Santana got on, I'm sure Quinn dealt with all that, but if the little drama in high school is any indication I am guessing it was ugly. Brittany was just heart broken though. Maybe it was her naïve nature but she thought they could face any hurdle. When it grew very clear that they couldn't she crumbled under the pressure. Threw herself into work and nothing else. New York has brought back the optimistic Brittany. I just don't want to see that light in her go out again."

"She's got you and the rest of us to be there for her if things get complicated but when you see her with Samantha I think you will relax."

"I suppose we will see."

Mercedes might have agreed to a truce with Santana but she was still not convinced that one perfectly constructed move on the Latina's part wouldn't send Brittany's world spinning once again. Even if the moment wasn't intentional the blonde would always have a soft spot for her first love and Mercedes wasn't sure Santana deserved it.

...

Okay, so maybe she was flirting a little but truth be told Santana couldn't help it. From the moment they went from a platonic friendship to making out in high school their dynamic had always had a flirtatious undertone. It was nearly impossible to look into that bright and cheerful face and not find herself flirting.

"You really are exactly the same." Thankfully Brittany was smiling and not looking at Santana like she wanted to toss her off the roof.

"Not exactly but certain parts of my personality are still very present."

"I hadn't noticed." Brittany said with sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"Sure you haven't." Santana said still unable to drop the flirtatious tone. "Does Mercedes look like she wants to kill me again?"

Brittany glanced carefully around Santana to see what was happening at the table. "Her and Kurt are in deep conversation."

"Good. I would rather not take any steps backwards with the time we have left here tonight."

"I'm sorry I ended up turning her against you back then. It was never my intention."

Santana felt bad about making Brittany feel she had to apologize. "I know that and it's not like I didn't give her a reason to be angry at me."

"Technically she should have been angry with both of us. We were both responsible."

"Water under the bridge." Santana reminded her while taking Brittany's hand and squeezing it.

Brittany didn't say anything. She only nodded her head, squeezed Santana's hand, and then released it before excusing herself and going back to sit with Kurt and Mercedes.

Standing alone, Santana, for the second time in about a week, took a moment to shake the feeling of holding Brittany's hand and then went back to join the table as well.

...

"The downside is this might hurt when I pull the tape." Rachel explained as she sat next to Quinn on the sofa. "The upside is they are all so preoccupied with their stuff out there we have managed some alone time.

"The other downside is we still have to sit here acting like we are only friends."

"When the truth is…" Rachel started but didn't finish.

Quinn smiled keeping her body language as reserved as possible. "Exactly. Sorry again for today."

"It's okay."

"It's not. What we thought were our final winning motions before giving our closing were shockingly denied by the judge. So instead of wrapping thing up as we hoped, it means the trial just got extended."

"So your job just got far busier. Ready?"

"Yep."

Rachel held the skin tight with one hand as to not rip open any of the stitches and then grabbed the tape with the other end and pulled at it very slowly.

"Damn that hurts."

"Sorry."

"It's not your fault. I'm the clumsy one who sliced her hand open."

"Well hold still so I can get another bandage and more gauze on it." Rachel said retrieving the necessary items from the kit.

"I'm a terrible patient."

"You are not a terrible patient." Rachel said with a cute raise of her eyebrows. "You are, in fact, a perfect patient."

"Careful Rachel or I might think you're flirting with me."

"Good instincts because that is exactly what I am doing." Rachel said opening up the large gauze from her first aid kit. "Can you hold it in place while I get the tape?"

"Sure." Quinn said as she reached over lightly brushing Rachel's hand with more contact then she actually needed to make. "Seems we're both capable of flirting."

"Keep it up and we are going to get caught."

Quinn smiled. "You're right."

Rachel pulled medical tape from the spool and then applied it around the edges of the bandage Quinn was holding. The same amount of unnecessary hand-to-hand contact took place again and after Rachel applied the final piece she let her hand linger over Quinn's only for a moment.

Warmed by the touch Quinn soaked it all in and stared at the lovely woman before her. "Work this week is going to keep me busy but maybe we can do lunch tomorrow or Thursday?"

"I would like that very much." Rachel said looking up into Quinn's eyes and then smiling. "You are all set."

Rachel packed up the first aid kit and then proceeded to place it back into the closet off the living room where the stackable washer and dryer were also hidden.

The entire time Quinn had her eyes fixed on the movements of the tiny brunette. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

From the top of the landing a voice interrupted their private moment. "Are you two finished down here or what?"

It was Kurt and hopefully he hadn't been ease dropping on them the entire time or the cat was certainly going to be out of the bag.

...

When Kurt arrived at the top of the landing he watched as Rachel put away the first aid kit and Quinn stared longingly at the Broadway star. He had promised himself he would remain out of the matchmaking game after some disastrous attempts at helping pair people up when he first moved to New York but there was a big part of him that wanted to lock those two in an elevator and force them to talk out their feelings. He would never actually do it but he wished that he could. It was hard being the barer of everyone's secrets especially in moments like this because he knew for a fact that if the two of them would just talk about what was obviously bubbling beneath the surface there was a chance that Quinn and Rachel would become the perfect pair.

In the meantime he was forced to endure the most obvious display of unrequited love he had ever witnessed from another human being sans his own relationship drama over the years. Quinn was head over heels, if only she wasn't too scared to make a move.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Sorry for the delay. I hope no one minded but even a dedicated writer such as myself needs a little summer vacation time. I had hoped to have this chapter finished before I left on Friday morning but it was not to be. Hopefully I didn't leave folks waiting too long and that the tension at the party proved fun, a tiny bit gratifying no matter which characters are your favorite, and laid some very interesting groundwork for our NYC residents.