Thank you for all the reviews for the last chapter and I'm sorry I didn't get to respond to many personally this time. Always busy busy at the moment, but here's the next chapter :)

I have lifted a line or two of the dialogue from the episode "Throwdown." because if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Chapter Eleven: You Just Keep Me Hanging On.

They were practicing in the halls now?

Quinn was not impressed when she walked into school in the morning and had the first thing she saw be Rachel crooning away to Finn by her locker.

But how, do you expect me,

To live alone with just me…

"You should be used to it by now, Manhands," she snapped as she neared them. Gripping Finn's forearm like she was trying to break his bone with her fingers, she dragged him away, "Finn, you need to walk me to my locker."

"I was practicing!"

"I don't care! If you really need to drool over that dwarf, you can do it in the choir room where no one that matters can see you."

As Finn grumbled beside her, she opened her locker door and only then did she chance a glance at Rachel. She was still singing, only now those sad, brown eyes were meeting hers.

'Cause my world revolves around you,

It's so hard for me to breathe.

Biting her lip, Quinn closed her eyes to the sight; keeping them closed until she had turned enough to hide her face in her locker.

I'll sing it with you if you want me to. I'm sure we can come up with enough reasons to convince Mr. Schue it's the right choice to make.

It had taken ten minutes of listening to Mr. Laxforth read before Rachel had summoned up the courage to write a note. Mostly because Quinn seemed to be bristling with tension beside her and Rachel didn't want to accidentally make her explode.

I don't want to sing it with you.

Rachel nibbled on the end of her pen.

You wanted to yesterday.

No. I was just making a point that it's not fair that you and Finn always get the leads. Mr. S doesn't even give the rest of us a chance.

Quinn's anger was even coming out in her handwriting; her normally curly, pleasant script was angular and harsh.

Okay. Well, if it's really not a big deal, then I wouldn't mind your thoughts on how Finn and I could improve our performance.

She held her breath, knowing this could go one of two ways and if it went the bad way, it could be really bad.

What?

We're meeting in the auditorium at lunchtime. Brittany has already agreed to make the extra practice and Finn is going to use his football captaincy to persuade Puck to give up another lunch time in order to pursue excellence. Can we count on you being there, too?

She had to wait a long time for a reply. Long enough for her patience to run out.

Well, can we? If you honestly don't want to sing it with me yourself, I don't know why you'd choose not to attend.

You don't need me there to practice. I already know where all my "Oohs" and "Ahhs" go. I won't embarrass you when we perform.

You may not need to practice, but your presence would greatly help me perfect my own performance.

How? It's not like you can sing at me when we do it in front of the others after school.

Rachel smiled at the misunderstanding. Well, I was actually referring to you being the only person I trust to give me an honest critique of my overall performance. Puck doesn't like me and, frankly, Brittany will clap at anything. You're my only hope for a candid assessment.

I think you're forgetting the one person who'll be in there who is actually your friend. I'm sure Finn will be more than accommodating to your needs.

But I am singing with Finn so he is liable to be biased. I said honest critique, not just someone willing to pander to me.

Quinn frowned at her before replying.

Why would Finn not be honest? If I was singing with you I wouldn't let it stop me from pointing out your mistakes. If I didn't, it would just make us both look incompetent.

Rachel tapped her pen lightly against her note-pad while she decided on the best response. In the end, she decided to just go for it because it wasn't like she had to worry about hurting Quinn's feelings anymore after all.

But, as you've mentioned a few times, Finn still has a crush on me, which leaves him pre-disposed to biased opinions concerning my looks, personality, dress sense and, most importantly, natural talent.

Not that I don't believe I have the talent to back it up, she added quickly. But I would prefer to receive an objective evaluation and as you are no longer suffering from the same handicap as Finn, it has to be you.

Quinn's plastic pen made a sharp cracking sound as it snapped between her fingers. Rachel had been prepared for a range of different responses from "Sorry, but no," to a giant "F-you" scrawled across the page. Or even the more hurtful reply of "sure, no problem" – but a broken biro hadn't been one of them, and with the way Quinn was staring down at the blue ink covering her hand, she hadn't expected it either.

Rachel fished one of her own bedazzled pens out of her well-stocked case and handed it over without comment.

Quinn fumed throughout the entire performance, not knowing who she wanted to kill more – her boyfriend or her… or Rachel. It might have helped if she'd thought they were both laying it on thicker to antagonize her but they were both just too into the song.

How she found the strength not to trip Rachel onto her stupid face when she breezed between her and Brittany with a love-sick expression aimed only at Finn, could only be described a miracle. And as for Finn, she was going to stay with him forever after this – and never let him get past first base again!

Once it was finally over, Rachel and Finn – both clearly buzzing from their performance – ran up to Mr. Schuester's director's desk to get notes from him. It gave Quinn the perfect opportunity to put the second stage of Coach Sylvester's plan into action.

"He clearly doesn't like minorities," she glanced back over her shoulder at Puck and Brittany, "I don't know how you two can stand it."

After what she'd just witnessed, she didn't even feel guilty about it.

She was at the main doors when she heard Rachel call out, "Oh, Quinn, wait I –"

The doors closed behind her, cutting off the rest of the sentence. She would get to Berry soon enough.

Rachel jumped as someone slammed her locker shut between fifth and sixth period, but relaxed when she realized it was just Quinn. Finally she could get some notes from the other girl on her duet with Finn.

"Listen up, Treasure Trail, we're about to have a smack-down!"

Or not.

"I don't want to have a confrontation with you."

Not out here in the open anyway! That would be sincerely stupid. So Rachel started to walk away; it was the only sensible course of action. But apparently Quinn was beyond sense because she followed her, caught her shoulder, and forced her to spin around.

"I don't care what you want, Stubbles, just stop using my boyfriend to make me jealous!"

"That's not what I'm doing!"

"It's exactly what you're doing. And it's not going to work."

"It's not what I'm doing, but if it was, I'd say it was working pretty well!"

She had the satisfaction of seeing Quinn flustered for a second or two before the blonde got herself together and leaned in, "I'm asking as nicely as I possibly can: stop flirting with Finn. He's my boyfriend, I'm having his baby, and you don't have the right to mess with that."

"The right?" she scoffed, "Let's not forget, Quinn, that you're the one who's been cheating!"

From the look that suddenly overcame Quinn's eyes, Rachel surmised that now would be a good time to make a hasty get away.

Quinn dogged her shoulder, "How dare you hold that against me? You were just as willing to…"

Rachel spun back to face her, "I'm talking about your willingness to sink glee club for Coach Sylvester!"

"That has nothing to do with us!"

"There is no us, which you have made quite clear, and by helping that woman you are helping to tear apart not only your friends, but also the only club you can feel comfortable in!"

"You're wrong! I still have the Cheerios, and that's what matters."

"For how long? I don't think they do maternity uniforms in the Cheerios colors!"

"Bitch!"

"You can call me names all you want, but am I wrong? Do you honestly think Sue Sylvester is going to give you the time of day when she finds out that you're pregnant?" Rachel hissed. "She will drop you faster than half of your squad can even spell out Cheeriosand then where will you be?"

Quinn was speechless and Rachel took the opportunity to dart away and up the stairs to the second floor. Unfortunately, Quinn recovered quickly enough to follow her.

"If you say anything…!"

Rachel spun around on the landing between floors. In surprise, Quinn stopped two steps down, giving Rachel the unique perspective of being taller for once.

"I wouldn't do that."

"You had better keep your mouth shut."

"I have nothing to gain from outing you, Quinn. In any capacity."

"I hate you!"

"I assure you the feeling is rapidly becoming mutual."

"You're lying!"

Rachel shook her head, "I'm not. But I still want you to be in glee. Despite how awkward it's going to be for me, personally, I want us to be friends and I know that you belong with us. And you're going to need us too, Quinn, probably sooner rather than later, as soon as you –"

"I don't need your stupid, pathetic little club!"

"Yes, you do! And you should start embracing it, because you seriously need to sing out some of that tension in you."

"Oh, you have no idea how much tension I have!"

"Actually I…" Quinn had already turned, red pleats swirling as she headed back down to the first floor. "… know exactly. I'm feeling it too," she finished under her breath.

Should she count this as a victory? It was hard to tell.

As she skipped sixth period – it was history and she sat next to Santana, so that was two good reasons right there – Quinn found herself in the auditorium, standing in the center of the stage.

She felt completely alone and completely stupid, but… didn't she feel like that everywhere she went, now?

She pressed play on the portable stereo and her foot started tapping out the beat on its own and then…

Set me free, why don't you babe

Get out of my life, why don't you babe

'Cause you don't really need me

You just keep me hanging on…

Quinn started to dance to the music, imagining herself as not alone, but surrounded by a dozen other girls, all dancing with her as she tried to tap into the energy that Rachel displayed every time she made one of her Myspace videos. She didn't know if she was singing to Rachel, or Finn or Coach Sylvester, or even Puck and Santana, and Terri Schuester and the . . . the baby, but she ripped every single lyric straight out of her heart, unleashing them on the empty auditorium as she offered all of her fears and doubts and confusion up like a prayer for understanding, both given and received.

Why do you keep a-coming around?

Playing with my heart

Why don't you get out of my life?

And let me make a new start

Let me get over you

The way you've gotten over me!

Yeah…

After, she was trembling as she caught her breath, but damn it, she did feel better.

Forty-five minutes later found a furious Rachel standing on the auditorium's stage when Quinn, hand in hand with Finn, finally made her appearance.

"Do you know anything about this?" she snarled before she could stop herself.

"About what?"

Finn tried to keep between them, "Rach, take it easy. Whatever it is, it's not Quinn's fault!"

"Like heck it isn't!"

"What did I do now?"

"Brittany and Puck have defected!"

The blonde rolled her eyes, far too casually in Rachel's opinion, "And that's my fault how?"

"Oh, I think you know," Rachel growled out.

Quinn locked eyes with her and Rachel wasn't going to be the one to back down. Quinn was trying to sabotage her, so screw their agreement; it didn't count anymore. If Quinn was going to try and take the glee club down, Rachel was going to take Quinn down!

"Okay you three, the others will be here any minute so let's get into position."

They fell into a line at Mr. Schuester's instruction, but Rachel couldn't stop glaring at Quinn.

"What is your problem with me, Manhands?"

"I think you know already," she said, "What's your problem with me, Barbie?"

Quinn gave her a look that said she wanted to kill her, before snapping, "Finn, control your Furby before I stomp on it!"

"I – what? She's not – uh…"

Rachel rolled her eyes at the same time as Quinn did, but it was in no way a bonding experience.

Thankfully, Sue's Kids – aka the rest of New Directions – trooped in and took seats in the first two rows.

"Right," Mr. Schuester began, "Obviously we'll be splitting the numbers up, but I hope you'll all agree that this is a really good contender for our duet at Sectionals." He gave the three of them a grin before nodding to Brad at the piano, "Let's take it away, guys."

It went swimmingly for all of twenty-five seconds.

They sat in the choir room, all of them, in a silence broken only by the squeak of Artie's wheels as he nervously rolled back and forth and Puck "squeaking out" a fart. Artie apologized, Puck didn't, and Quinn really didn't care either way. She just wanted to be out of this situation as soon as possible.

Which was made totally obvious by the whole not leaving thing, clearly.

Rachel's mouth opened and closed a few times but no sound came out. Hardly surprising when everyone was staring at her, waiting for an explanation. Like she'd been to blame for this whole thing? Rachel had been the one trying to keep them together from the start!

And, okay, Quinn was still angry with her, but no one else had a reason to be. They were just using her as a scapegoat.

"Look, blaming each other isn't going to make this better," she said eventually, and then wished she hadn't when Rachel scoffed at her.

It did break a little of the tension though, enough to make them all start talking over each other at once. Half of it was accusatory and the other half was apologetic, and it was all just chaos until Finn put his finger and thumb between his lips and whistled.

"Come on guys, why don't we all –"

Brittany interrupted him, "We should totally have a cheer circle."

"We don't have a spirit stick," Santana's sarcastic tone was watered down for Brittany's sake.

"I got a spirit stick for you."

Santana batted her eyelashes, "Thanks, Puck, I'm sure Kurt can't wait for it to be his turn to speak now."

As Kurt choked on air, Puck just grinned, casually slapping Finn on the back, "Nah, it ain't my spirit stick he wants to get his hands on."

Looking around, Finn saw a bright red Kurt, several people grinning at him, and those who weren't were glaring at Puck, "What just happened?"

"Nothing, Finn," Rachel said angrily. "Noah Puckerman is just being extremely juvenile and callous, as usual."

"It was a joke, Berry, jeez."

"But not a funny one. Words hurt."

"Santana started it!"

"Way to take it like a man, asshole."

"I don't take it, babe, I give it."

"Even I can barely stand to leave that joke just hanging there," Kurt offered to titters from Mercedes, Tina and even Santana.

"Can we please stop this and concentrate on how to repair our group dynamic?"

Quinn smiled, "I think we just have, Rach."

All eyes turned to her as they registered her affectionate shortening of the diva's name and to top it off, she knew she looked wide-eyed and guilty for the offense.

"And there you go breaking it again," Mercedes deadpanned, causing enough chuckles for the awkward moment to not be that awkward.

"I'm sure Quinn just couldn't bring herself to waste extra breath on my full name," Rachel said, but she was smiling.

"Yeah, exactly, Rachel Barbra Berry isn't worth the time it takes, you know?" They were all looking at her again and she probably should have quit while she was ahead. If Rachel hadn't been smiling at her, she would have thought of that before it was too late, "I'm actually thinking of going back to It."

There went that smile, as she'd known it would. It proved to be a pointless insult, though, when Santana unwittingly brought it back.

"Hey, I don't need to hear about your pet names for each other. It'll give me night terrors."

"Santana, I assure you, while Quinn may have a choice selection of pet names for me, I do not have one for her."

"They are not pet names, Stubbles, don't flatter yourself."

"Ahh, thank God, the disturbance in the force has resolved itself," Artie said with exaggerated relief, "Now we're back to normal."

The group split up shortly after that, heading off early to other after-school activities or home, but Rachel lingered in the choir room alone. There was only half an hour left until her dad was due to pick her up anyway, and she could use the intervening time to read the chapter she hadn't listened to in American Literature.

Twenty-five minutes later, the school halls felt deserted as she made her final visit of the day to her locker. It was so quiet she could hear the clickity-click-click of Donna the secretary typing away in the principal's suite around the corner. It made the sudden squeak of sneakers on the linoleum very evident and she tensed. It wasn't often Rachel was hassled when she was alone – most of a bully's pleasure came from the audience, after all – but there were a few, Santana for example, that also appreciated the personal touch.

When the footsteps seemed to come within feet of her before stopping and no one spoke, she said, "You're too late for my lunch money and I have nothing else of worth on me, so I think it would be beneficial to the both of us if you could come back tomorrow during school hours."

"When have I ever taken your lunch money?"

She hadn't realized how keyed up she'd been until the sound of Quinn's voice made her sag with relief against the bank of lockers. She briefly closed her eyes, waiting for her heartbeat to slow down, before realizing that it was pointless while Quinn Fabray was standing behind her.

She straightened up, pretending to be focused on the contents of her locker, "Actually there was that one time."

"Oh, right, I remember. I gave that to charity."

"Well, at least someone got a hot meal out of it."

"It was a donkey sanctuary, I think."

Rachel smiled, "A cold meal then."

Quinn huffed in amusement behind her and it probably wasn't meant to annoy Rachel, but it did. What was she doing here? Why were they talking? Why was she being friendly? Rachel was giving her the space she'd asked for to move on; why couldn't Quinn afford her the same courtesy?

She didn't voice any of her questions, if only because she didn't know which one to ask first, and she continued to keep her back to Quinn despite having no business left to conclude in her locker.

It seemed to make Quinn nervous because she stumbled over her next few words, "I-I was just, uh, coming by to get my Cheerios folder from my locker. Coach wants the notes I made for the routine we did last Friday."

"She's going to take the credit for your hard work, I assume?"

"I don't know, maybe."

"You don't sound too upset by that."

"I'm not. I'll still know it was mine. Besides, I got everything I needed out of it."

Rachel felt tears prick her eyes at the desolate way Quinn spoke, but she blinked them back, "Well, don't let me stop you from going to your locker."

"I won't," there was a long pause in which she heard Quinn walk a few steps away… and then back again. "Rachel, I wanted to say sorry, too. Finn explained to me why you took your underwear off."

She felt her cheeks redden, "I'm glad you now know that I wasn't trying to seduce you but I don't accept your apology."

"What? Why not?"

"Because your refusal to accept mine made me realize that I hand out forgiveness to you far too readily."

"Rach."

"Stop calling me that! Also, if I had been trying to seduce you, do you have any idea how humiliating it would have been to have you respond the way you did? The things you said, the names you called me? I could overlook them at the time because I knew you'd misunderstood my intentions, but if I had been…"

"That's not fair. If you had been trying to seduce me, they would have been entirely appropriate."

Now Rachel turned around, "And if I called you a slut because you're pregnant, would that make it okay because you are actually pregnant?"

She watched Quinn clench her jaw angrily before she ducked her head, muttering, "No."

"Was there anything you wanted to add to your apology or are you done? My dad is probably waiting for me outside."

Quinn looked up again, "Like what? Sorry I called you that? Sorry I doubted you? Sorry I almost ravished you?"

If she was hoping to get a laugh it was too soon, but Rachel did file that last comment away to blush over later.

"No, I wasn't thinking of another sorry."

"What then?"

Sighing, she turned just to close her locker, "It doesn't matter. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Rach… el," she finished, anticipating Rachel's glare, "I was messing with you. Thank you," she said slowly, making sure she felt every letter, "I really appreciate what you did. So does Finn. We owe you."

She shook her head, "Finn doesn't owe me anything."

Quinn's voice sharpened again, "Oh, so it's just me?"

"No! I didn't mean it like that. I just meant, if anything, I still owe Finn for… stuff, not the other way around."

"Okay."

"Although if you did want to thank me," Rachel mustered a grin. "Have you given any more thought to letting me have Grumpy Bear back?"

"I hate to break it to you, Berry, but Grumpy Bear is dead."

"What?" she gasped. "How?"

"Stabbed twenty-two times with a sharp, flat object. The police suspect file play."

It took a second to sink in, another second for her outrage to surface, "You stabbed my teddy-bear with your nail file twenty-two times?"

Quinn nodded solemnly for a few seconds before she couldn't help breaking into a grin, "Relax! Grumpy is fine."

"That was unnecessary," she huffed.

"He's not your teddy-bear anyway, not right now."

"So you won't let me have him?" she sighed, desperately trying to convince herself she didn't want the silly stuffed animal anyway.

Quinn spared a glance first one way and then the other before closing the distance between them. Rachel didn't want her so close – she didn't like her very much right now after all – but she couldn't quite get her body to be on the same page. She allowed herself to be backed up against her locker and the only concession she made was to bring her hands up, pressing them against Quinn's shoulders to keep her at bay.

They had zero effect and suddenly Quinn's chest was against hers and her lips were against her ear.

"If you want him back you have to earn him. He wants to be with you but he's not chasing you anymore. He jumped, and now it's your turn. So you had better start wooing him, okay?"

She wanted to argue that she had no intention of doing any such thing, but Quinn's lips on hers didn't just stop her mouth; they stopped her entire brain. The kiss was soft and short, way too short, and the twinkle in Quinn's eyes as she pulled back nearly made Rachel grab at her collar and pull her back in.

How she resisted, nothing in the universe could explain. But she did, and Quinn was already walking away before her eyes could focus again properly.

"See you tomorrow, Gnome."

"That's a pet name," Rachel breathed through still tingling lips.

"And if you ever tell it to anyone, I'll whip your behind until you can't sit down."

"Kinky," she breathed next, in the exact same stunned tone.

Quinn turned to glare at her, only her eyes betrayed her amusement instead, and Rachel laughed as she pushed herself off of the lockers and sauntered towards the doors.

"See you in the morning… baby?" she sampled the feel of it on her tongue. It didn't feel right, though, and she frowned in disappointment.

Quinn shared her opinion, although she didn't look away from her open locker as she said, "Too generic, you can do better."

"Maybe I'll try," she said off-hand, not wanting to give her feelings away. "You can too, you know?"

"What?" Quinn spun to face her. "Gnome is cute, and original, and it has meaning!"

"A meaning I don't actually remember, but that's beside the point. I was talking about your routine last Friday. It was wonderful, Quinn, and it was yours. You shouldn't let Coach Sylvester take that away from you. At least not without credit."

Quinn nodded thoughtfully for a few seconds, but all she said was, "You tripped over a garden gnome when you were drunk."

And just like that it came back to her. She could remember the cool, wet feeling of walking through ankle-high grass and the sudden disorientation of falling in the dark…

She smiled a little, "And afterwards you told me if I didn't behave you'd make me sit outside with a… a…" her nose crinkled as she remembered. "… a toadstool or something."

"Yeah, something like that." They smiled at each other for what felt like a year or two, maybe it was even longer. "Your dad's going to think you got lost if you don't meet him soon."

"Yeah…" And then the words sank in and she pulled herself together. The last ten minutes notwithstanding, Quinn didn't deserve to be mooned over, "Yes. See you tomorrow… uh, Quinn."

"Bye, Berry."

She left immediately then, without looking back, so she missed the way Quinn watched her go with a slight frown, and she missed the way Quinn turned back to her locker and pulled out her Cheerios folder, and she missed the way that after a moment of staring at it, she pushed the folder back in and shut her locker with an air of finality.

What she didn't miss was the way her stomach both soared and plummeted as she walked out of school. It was very unsettling and slightly nauseating, to feel both elated and depressed simultaneously.

Quinn wanted Rachel to woo her, which surely meant she wanted them to be together again! But to give into Quinn's wishes meant that once again, Rachel was allowing the other girl to subjugate her, and she already held such little power in their relationship – for lack of a better word – that she was loath to give the blonde even more.

She could do nothing but give in to the battle that raged inside her and just hoped that by tomorrow morning, when she saw Quinn again, a clear winner would successfully wrestle itself to the top.

Thanks for reading.

Chapter title and song lyrics used come from The Supremes song: "You Keep Me Hangin' On." as sung by Quinn Fabray in "Throwdown."