Rachel's lifetime goal of sitting on the Today show set turned into a complete ambush. Matt Lauer turned out to be a complete asshat and Savannah Guthrie was an airhead. Well at least she'd pretended to be an airhead before she bombarded Rachel with questions about the mafia. The entire four minute segment had been questions about Quinn's criminal past and Rachel's new life within the mafia.

"This whole mafia thing has been blown completely out of proportion. I don't know anything about the mafia. I don't know anybody in the mafia and I don't associate with anybody involved with the mafia." Rachel had been all smiles up until this point, expertly deflecting the questions with professionalism and confidence. At this point in a typical interview the host would change the subject after sensing they weren't going to get the answers they wanted.

Matt nodded with professional detachment but Savannah, intent to earn the chair she'd all but stolen from Ann Curry, kept pressing Rachel for answers. There were things in life Rachel had never cared for and arrogance and smugness was one of them.

"My sources within the FBI says you've maintained a personal relationship since college. In fact sources within the NYPD say you were arrested just last night in the company of a known Russian gangster." Rachel's first instinct was to reach out and smack the skinny host in the face. How dare she ambush her with this? She'd been promised a clean segment, fun and light, daytime fare. Instead she'd gotten an interrogation.

Rachel knew that in a previous life Savannah had been a lawyer but she hadn't been expecting that lawyer to poke her head out of the daytime sand today. Today was supposed to be about showing the world she wasn't a lunatic. That HAD been the plan until Savannah decided to earn her stripes by putting Rachel's head on a pike outside the Today Show studio.

"That was a misunderstanding. I was questioned and released. No charges were filed," Rachel said with hesitance.

"But is he a gangster?" Savannah asked with an obviously phony smile. "Be honest. He has an extensive criminal record doesn't he?"

Rachel shrugged. "I couldn't tell you. I don't know what people do when they aren't with me."

"What about the accusation that you've maintained a personal relationship with Quinn Fabray over the years," Matt Lauer asked with his phony TV smile? Great now Matt was ganging up on her too.

Rachel's heart began to pound and her palms began to sweat.

"We've known each other since we were fourteen. We were friends. Friends can talk to each other whenever they want last time I checked." Rachel's tone had sharpened considerably and Savannah's TV smile widened. Matt, the consummate professional only nodded.

"Of course but," Savannah started again.

"But what? I'm supposed to cut somebody out of my life because some dickhead in a suit says they're the bad guy? The FBI can kiss my ass. I'll spend as much time with whoever I want whenever I want and I don't need anybody's permission."

Matt tried to ease things but his smug confidence only infuriated Rachel more. How dare these assholes drag her down here in an attempt to break her? She wasn't going to let them win, not ever. Not some two bit daytime show that focused on cooking segments and weather reports.

"Well it seems you have some firm views, lets switch gears," Matt said with impressive focus. He'd finally seemed to have gotten the message and something in Rachel's belly tried to ease.

"Let's," Rachel said not bothering to hide the annoyance in her tone.

"It's been said you've got a pretty short fuse," Savannah said apparently deciding she wasn't going to let up.

Rachel's mind went blank and something inside her shut down. "You wanna see how short you skinny bitch? Keep this up."

"Jesus Christ Rachel, NBC is going to ban you. You'll never get back on the network again. What were you thinking?" Robin had been irate all morning and every attempt to talk her down had been unsuccessful. Of course once Rachel caught a replay of her freak out on CNN she knew Robin was right. She'd lost her cool.

"What was I supposed to do, she baited me? She did that on purpose. You should have seen them, they went out of their way to rile me up. Even during the commercial breaks she kept whispering nasty stuff to me to get me all worked up."

Savannah Guthrie was a total bitch, everyone knew that. Rachel had been nothing but professional but she'd been ambushed and humiliated by the Today Show hosts. Nothing she'd done up until the last few seconds of the interview could be considered her fault. Not one iota of it, but she'd taken the blame anyway.

"You don't freak out on live TV. You don't tell the FBI to kiss your ass, and you don't threaten the host of the Today Show and call her a skinny bitch," Robin wasn't happy but despite the fiasco her phone hadn't stopped ringing. If a few people wanted interviews yesterday, everyone wanted one today.

"I told you, you missed all the ugly stuff they were doing. They edited half of what they did to me out so they wouldn't look bad and I'd look like I was crazy. I'm the victim here."

Robin sighed. "Rachel you ARE married to a gangster. Quinn is on the Interpol website for everyone to see. She's wanted all over Eastern Europe for a litany of crimes. Trying to say that the mafia doesn't exist isn't going to work. She's clearly a criminal. Maybe you should just tell the truth."

Rachel scoffed. "What truth?"

"That you've been maintaining a relationship with her for years. Tell the truth. That you fell in love with her when you were young and that doesn't go away because of what she does for a living. I can hire you a crisis manager to handle the PR. This is an easy fix, you just have to address it head on."

"We haven't maintained a relationship for years. That's all lies. We barely see one another. The FBI is lying to everyone."

"They have photos Rachel. Text messages. Hotel receipts. Why are you denying this? The truth is actually better for you. If you've been together for years it's not as strange that you'd love her in spite of what she does for a living." Robin was using her tough sell face but Rachel decided she didn't care.

"I don't know what you're talking about. They're obviously fakes."

Robin nodded. "Fine. Have it your way."

Rachel sipped on her third glass of wine while Quinn flipped through the TV. She'd been gone for the better part of the day and despite Rachel's professional crisis Quinn hadn't made herself available for encouragement. She'd come home from her strip club smelling like stripper oil and scotch and hopped immediately into the shower. Afterwards she'd climbed into bed beside Rachel and turned on the TV without saying any more than 'Hey babe', and offering a kiss on the cheek.

"Did you see it?" Rachel finally asked. The video had been all over TV all day. Rachel had always wanted to be a household name but not this way. Today she'd just made herself a media star but not in the way she'd always envisioned. Everyone knew her name today and despite her desire for it to all go away things had only gotten progressively worse.

Quinn nodded, her eyes not leaving the TV. "I saw it, you looked great."

Rachel wanted to scream. Quinn never bothered to comment on the terrible things that went on. She'd always found something encouraging to say. That was why Rachel liked her so much. When things got bad she'd always managed to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

"What about that interview? I think I'm going to get banned from NBC because of that stupid Savannah Guthrie. She ambushed me and attacked me with all these meaningless questions about us. Then she spouted all those lies from the FBI."

Quinn didn't bother responding. She flipped through her channels aimlessly as if the whole thing was boring her. Rachel didn't bother getting upset she'd expected as much from Quinn, instead of getting angry or offended she kept complaining.

"They had all these doctored photos of me visiting you in the strip club. I mean I've only legitimately been to that place three or four times but they have dozen of photos that they faked to make it look like I was there all the time."

Quinn finally nodded but still didn't look at her. "Oh, yeah?"

"YES. And then they said that we spent all this time together in hotels back in college. I mean we did when Finn died but that was just us mourning you know. But they're trying to say we did it like every weekend. That we were having some sort of affair. It's totally crazy." Rachel shook her head with annoyance. "And don't even get me going about the phone calls."

Quinn's head finally snapped to attention and whipped around to face Rachel. "What phone calls?"

"Our text messages. That Special Agent Cole said we've been texting each other for years. She claimed it was all sexy in nature."

Quinn's emotionless green eyes squinted and she gave Rachel a glare. "You didn't think to tell me that last night Rachel? If the government is up on my phone I need to know that."

Rachel sighed. "How am I supposed to know what I'm supposed to tell you? Everybody knows you aren't supposed to talk business on the phone." She shook her head and smacked her lips. "You're already supposed to know what you're doing. You shouldn't need me to tell you what you're doing."

Quinn groaned. "I do know what I'm doing. That doesn't mean you aren't supposed to tell me that sort of stuff. God Rachel, you'd have thought we haven't talked about this a million times. We have an agreement."

"That I don't ask questions," Rachel said smugly. "That I don't need to know things."

Quinn nodded. "That doesn't mean I don't need to know everything. This isn't a game Rachel no matter what sort of shenanigans you're pulling in your head. I need to know everything." She pushed herself out of bed and grabbed her pillow as she headed towards the door. "And for the record that isn't the agreement I'm talking about."

"Where are you going?" Rachel yelled as she walked towards the door.

"To sleep in the other room."

Rachel's heart began to pound. "Get back in here. Come get back in bed. You can't just walk away when you get upset. That's not how marriage is supposed to work. That's not how THIS marriage is going to work."

Quinn shrugged.

Rachel started to panic, she didn't do all of this so Quinn could just give up at the first sign of trouble. "Get back here Quinn. We had a deal!"

Quinn laughed. "Oh NOW you want to remember the deal?"

Rachel wanted to scream and yell but she noticed almost immediately that Quinn had stopped walking. She had threatened to walk out but she hadn't. She never would. Not ever.

"Come back to bed."

Quinn stared at her with emotionless green eyes. "Fine. But take off your clothes first. I want sex tonight."

Rachel downed her glass of wine and poured herself another. "Sure thing Mrs. Fabray."

Seven times. That was the number Rachel remembered. Seven times that she'd been to Quinn's strip club. And it had been more than three months since she'd last visited. She couldn't be hanging out at some strip club in Brooklyn. She was a famous Broadway actress.

The front page of the New York Post made her want to scream. She graced the paper's front page along with a photo of Quinn. They were having dinner at some restaurant with another man that the paper identified as Joey 'Peeps' Todesco. Sugar's husband.

According to the paper Joey Peeps got his name because he used to make all his money from the old Peep Show booths in Times Square before the Mayor shut them all down. He'd turned to Pornography next and according to The Post, prostitution. He looked at least ten years older than Sugar but he was a handsome man, a manly man.

Rachel didn't remember taking the photo and assumed it was another doctored picture from the FBI used to not only sabotage her career but to discredit Quinn and possibly lock her up. Her marriage was unconventional sure, dangerous of course, but it was hers and she wouldn't let anyone stand in the way of it. The entire world had turned against her, even Santana and Brittany weren't on her side anymore. It was all because of her relationship with Quinn. Well if that was the way they were going to treat her she'd just play the role written for her.

If they say she'd held a long time affair with Quinn since college? Fine. It was true then. In fact she'd go one step further and say high school. After Quinn's accident she'd say she'd gone over to her house one day, then another, and another, and another. Why not, what difference did it make now?

If they wanted to say Quinn was a gangster, there was nothing she could do to change their minds. Why even bother? She'd never admit it but she wasn't going to shout 'No' from the rooftops anymore. They want to accuse her of being a drug dealing, gun running gangster, fine. They want to say she broke out of some Russian Gulag. Whatever. Maybe Rachel even helped bribe the guards through a bunch of shady phone calls and bags of cash. None of it mattered. Not really. People believed what they wanted to believe. There was nothing she could do to change that. All she could do was embrace it. Wholeheartedly and completely.

FBI Field Office Manhattan New York:

Special Agent Deena Cole's eyes widened when the computer tech came into the room with the flash drive. She'd assumed getting the footage from the wedding chapel was a long shot but the good thing about computers was nothing was ever lost. A few subpoena and a bit of brain power and you could find almost anything if you knew where to look.

"Tell me you have it?" Cole asked with a grin.

Agent Miller nodded, his shaggy blonde hair far from regulation but the bosses cut all the computer guys a little slack. They knew that with most of their skills they could be someplace else making millions of dollars and living on a beach. If they were constantly harassed about their hair, or any other personal quirks they managed to express in the office, they'd likely go and do just that.

"Got it, you were right. They didn't think twice about cleaning it up before they left town," Miller said with a nod.

Cole pumped her fist in the air. "Told you. Fabray thinks of everything. I thought I had my crack in the foundation with Berry's bodyguard popping that photographer but the guy wants nothing to do with us. We don't need his cooperation to press charges but without him we'd barely get the bodyguard on assault."

Miller tilted his head and nodded. "Fabray sent a brand new camera to the photographer's daughter at school along with a note for her dad. As threats go it's pretty blatant but not blatant enough to warrant a charge. If anybody says anything she can just claim she was apologizing, which she could attest to with the note."

Cole had been over the case with a fine tooth comb looking for a way to bring Fabray down but realized right away that it was a loser. If anything Ivan the bodyguard would plead out and end up with a few weeks in county or very likely probation. Pursuing it was a waste of time, not to mention the case wasn't federal, it was local and the locals didn't want gangsters anywhere close to Las Vegas, not even if it was just to put them in jail.

"Let's see what's on this thing," Cole said stifling her excitement.

Miller was already at a computer working his magic and when he looked up at Cole with curious eyes she knew what the question on the tip of his lips would be. Still, he asked anyway.

"What are you expecting to find on this thing anyway?"

Cole shrugged. She wasn't sure what she expected to find but her meeting with Rachel Berry-Fabray had piqued her interest. Berry was a bit too comfortable in the box, a bit too sure of herself. Normal people, regular citizens, sweat bullets when faced with the prospect of meeting with the FBI. Berry was the complete opposite. She adamantly requested a lawyer, disregarded the proof laid in front of her, and scoffed at the prospect of doing time.

"I don't know, anything that gives me an insight into these two. I don't quite get it."

Miller pulled away from the work station he'd commandeered and looked towards a nearby TV. "You can't help who you fall in love with."

Cole knew this to be true. She'd been burned herself, her last boyfriend had turned out to be using her in hopes of gleaming useful information from her to sell to criminals out on the streets. Cole had personally arrested him and afterwards had relegated herself to building her career. Dating wasn't in the cards, at least not anytime soon.

The video began with Berry screaming.

"I'm getting married Bitches!"

Fabray ignored her excitement as Ekrem her monster of a bodyguard looked on. Elvis' 'Are you lonesome tonight', began to play and Berry began to sing along.

She sang for a few minutes and even drunk Cole had to admit she had a wonderful voice, there was no surprise she was a Broadway star, she was extremely talented. When she finally stopped singing she looked over at Fabray with raised eyebrows.

"Aren't you glad I told you we were coming to Vegas?"

Fabray nodded. "I am, you're the one who didn't want anyone to know you told me."

"I have to look out for myself. We made a deal remember. We'd always be there to help each other. I've more than held up my end. If I hadn't you'd be rotting in a Russian prison still."

Fabray chuckled. "How long are you going to hold that over my head?"

Berry laughed, a drunken maniacal laugh. "I don't know, twenty five years. Or life, depending on your good behavior."

Fabray looked around. "Do you call getting married in Las Vegas looking out for yourself? Everybody is going to find out about this. Our friends, our families. Your parents. Your fans. It's going to kill your career."

Berry shrugged. "They hate me anyway. It doesn't matter anymore. God forbid you get a little bit angry and yell and somebody, all of a sudden your Russell Crowe."

Fabray looked around. "If we do this, things change. Forever. No more living apart, no more sneaking around. It's you and me. And I make the rules from now on."

Berry shrugged. "I don't care about that. I'm in. I'm all in. Isn't that what they say in Las Vegas? I'm all in?"

Fabray shrugged this time. "I don't know, they don't let me in the casinos."

"I'll go and gamble for you."

Quinn shook her head. "No, if you do they'll ban you too. Just marry me and we'll figure out the rest later."

"Fine. I want to go back to the room after this and celebrate. But the hotel guy said they had to fix the TV."

Fabray's eyes widened. "What hotel guy?"

"The guy with the leather shoes and the push cart. When I went back up to get my purse he was fixing the TV."

Fabray looked over her shoulder at her hulking bodyguard and shook her head. "FBI?"

He shrugged. "Probably. We should search room in morning. Check for bugs."

Berry started to pout. "I don't want to talk about this. Let's get married, then we can go celebrate."

Cole sighed, the rest of the video was standard Vegas wedding fare. The bureau had been curious how Fabray had found the bug buried in the floor of the hotel room. Looks like they had their answer.

"Looks like Agent Adams didn't handle it so well after all," Miller said with a smirk. When Berry had found Agent Adams in their hotel suite he'd swore to anyone who'd listen that he hadn't been made. Seems his leather shoes had said otherwise.

"I knew there was something off about Berry. I want copies of this video made and sent out to every agent on the task force. Find out if what she said about Fabray's jail break holds up and if it does tell me how Berry pulled it off. Start a file on Berry, dig into her background. Deep into her background. If she and Fabray passed notes in high school I want to know about it."

Miller nodded. "I'm on it."

Cole smiled with pride. For a moment she thought she'd just lost her touch. Being dismissed by Berry had stung her pride a bit but that self-doubt disappeared immediately when she watched the video. Berry wasn't an innocent wife like she made herself out to be. She was an actress. An actress playing the role of innocent wife.

"I'm going to put in a request to go where it all started. Lima Ohio. I want to find this Mr. Shuester. He would have to be able to tell me something about these two."

Miller shrugged. "It's been years, he may not remember anything."

Cole smiled again. "He'll remember them. You have an international criminal. A Broadway Star, A Movie Star, A genius mathematician. All in the same class. He'll definitely remember them." She looked up back at the criminal pyramid board that showed the structure of the Khimki Brava, the Russian gang Fabray belonged to. She was on the second rung of the pyramid one step below the gang's leader Clev. Fabray was very high up on the chart. If something happened to Clev she'd be next in line to take over. Berry's picture had been off to the side with the other wives and girlfriends. Cole walked over to it and moved it to the Board and pinned it beside Fabray.

"The FBI can kiss my ass. Well now she's fair game," Cole said with nod. Miller only nodded before turning on his heels and walking away.

Okay, Yes. Rachel is willfully lying to herself. And yes. That's where I'm ending it. Now before anybody gets upset the signs are all there. Some of you even pointed them out. Rachel's story doesn't make sense. Not even the story she tells herself in her head. The facts don't add up. I read once, or saw on TV I don't remember. That women who are married to career criminals willfully deceive themselves about the things that aren't quite right with their lives. They ignore the facts staring them right in the face. For instance, Rachel hears with her own ears that Quinn 'fired' Evan, the guy who put the casino plan at risk. But when Mina talks about Evan Rachel doesn't even consider that Quinn killed him. Sure there may be a few questions but in her mind the two don't even relate. And as far as Rachel herself, she's always been delusional. Think back to her Glee club quitting tantrums. Everybody is against me, everybody is holding me back! She's self absorbed and will do anything to get what she wants (sending Sunshine to a crackhouse) and in this case she wanted Quinn. Did it require lying to herself? Sure. Are the signs there? Of course. In the second chapter Quinn tells Rachel they're in love and Rachel goes delusional. Quinn's response? Ignore her. That's always Quinn's response when Rachel is being delusional. Ignore her. Read again and notice, even their first meeting by the pool is tongue in cheek, at least on Quinn's end. There's more signs there but the fun is finding them. Anyway thanks for reading and I'll begin something else soon. Be sure to tell me what you think, even if its to say I suck. I don't mind. really I don't. ~Empty Pen~