A/N: Flash forward to Christmas Eve. Things are probably going to start slowing down really soon.

November passed in a blur and before she knew it, Rachel was setting everything up for Christmas. It was Christmas Eve and her fathers were set to be there soon, so she held off the tree until they arrived. Usually she'd of already put up all the decorations, but with the Winter Showcase only barely just passing, Rachel's time was packed. It was no surprise that she got invited to the show for a third year in a row, but what really brought her joy was that Blaine had gotten invited as well. Kurt was slightly bummed that he hadn't been invited to perform for a third year as well, but he was happy for his friends. He knew his time to shine would come soon.

Kurt and Santana had left a few days prior to spend Christmas with their families in Lima. Kurt was excited to see hi dad, Carole, and Finn, but Rachel knew if she went to Lima with them that she'd fall back in love with the charming boy from high school, and she couldn't let that happen. Despite it being a few years since they dated, Rachel fell more in love with him every time she saw him. She had done so well to avoid him this year that she even went to the stakes of convincing her fathers to come to New York for Christmas.

She was attempting to hang a string of lights above the inside of the windows when she heard a knock outside the door, causing her to stumble on the step-stool she was standing on. Once she regained her balance she fixed her hair and scurried over to the door, revealing the bright and happy face of Sam Fabray.

"Uh, Sam? Everything okay?" She asked, a little confused when the man didn't start talking. As far as she knew they didn't have a lesson, and she was supposed to start with Quinn soon anyways. Was something wrong with Quinn? Hopefully not- Sam seemed really happy. Like he was up to something.

"Yeah, everything's fine. Blaine told us that you were going to be here for Christmas, and I was wondering if you wanted to join Quinn and I for our little Fabray Tradition. It involves movie marathons, junk food, and staying up all night telling horror stories. " Sam explained, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

"As… pleasant, as that sounds, my fathers should be arriving soon." Rachel commented, glancing at her phone for the time and to check for missed calls.

"Oh, no problem! They can come too. The more the merrier." Sam's smile wasn't fading, and Rachel sighed. She couldn't say no to this man.

"I'll be sure to let them know of the idea. Maybe after we put up the tree?" Rachel asked, and right before Sam attempted to speak a much deeper voice cut him off- the voice of Hiram Berry.

"Baby girl!" He called, walking behind Sam who stepped out of the way to let the men go to Rachel.

"We've missed you!" Leroy exclaimed, setting down the bags to join in on the Berry hug.

"I've missed you guys too! You can come right in, and I'll join you when I finish talking to-"

"Actually, I should probably let you-"

"Nonsense! Anyone who's a friend of Rachel's is a friend of ours." Leroy smiled at Sam and patted his back, urging him into the apartment.

Sam gave Rachel a wide-eyed look as he passed her, but Rachel couldn't help but laugh. For Sam, this was going to be a long night.

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"So Sam, what is it that you're doing in this marvelous city?" Leroy asked, crossing his legs as he leaned forward slightly in the comfortable chair. Rachel was in the kitchen getting a drink for everyone, while Hiram was unpacking things into Kurt's room (which he so kindly allowed the Berry men to use while he was away).

Sam looked at him carefully, a slightly afraid expression on his face. He was never good with confrontation when it came to adults- most of them scared him, despite being an adult himself (kinda). "Well, I'm here with my sister and our friend. We live across the hall- actually. They're both in school, and I'm here to find a job and help pay for rent and everything." He explained, moving his hands a little as he spoke. It had become such a habit that sometimes he forgot that he didn't need to do it.

"And have you found any form of work within the months you've been here?"

"Well, no- but that doesn't mean that I haven't been looking. Things are really hectic, as you probably know and stuff, so I haven't really be able to-"

"Daddy, please stop criticizing him, he's only doing his best." Rachel stated, walking into the living room with two glasses of wine and two glasses of sparkling juice for herself and Sam. She handed him his drink and he signed back 'thank you' to her, pleased that she remembered that he didn't drink alcohol. "You know how hard it was for Kurt and I to find work when we first moved here."

"No offense, sir, but uh.. why does it really matter to you if I have a job or not?" Sam asked, taking a sip from his drink.

"Well, if you're going to be dating my daughter-"

"Why does everyone think we're dating? Do we really have that much chemistry?" Rachel asked, turning towards Sam as she sat down next to her father. After hearing the rumors spread around by her friends, she thought the whole idea was rather incredulous. She had no interest in Sam romantically- he was merely a good friend, but apparently that wasn't allowed.

"Rachel, I don't think you should have that tone with your father." Hiram announced, coming into the room and sitting on the other side of Leroy. "He was only assuming things, like always."

Rachel huffed, shaking her head as she rest it in her hand. She wanted her fathers to have a good impression of Sam, but things weren't going well. After her fathers went into a conversation among themselves, she looked up at her friend and saw the expression on his face. Worry settled in, so she gently tapped his knee and signed, 'Everything okay?'

'Quinn isn't doing too well.' He signed back, making a "Q" on a flat hand to signify a book.

'What do you mean?'

'She's.. off. Worse than she usually is at Christmas. I can't get her to talk to me.'

Rachel bit her lip and looked back at her fathers, then back at Sam. She cleared her throat to get her dad's attention, and smiled softly when they looked at her. "I'm going to go out for a few; but please make yourselves at home." She stated, standing up to take care of her glass. She grabbed her jacket before her fathers could protest, and motioned for Sam to follow her. "Come on."

Sam followed, quite intrigued by what she had in mind. If he couldn't get his sister to come out of hiding, then what made Rachel think that she could? Sam knew Quinn better than anyone- even better than Blaine. As much as he trusted Rachel, he didn't know what she could do that he hadn't done.

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Sam led Rachel into his apartment, and as soon as the door was open the brunette was walking back to where Quinn's room was. She didn't hear any noise, and that frightened her. Quinn was such a carefree and happy person; just the mere thought of the girl being sad was alarming to her. She pushed back the curtain, only to be met with the sight of an empty, disheveled bed with a book haphazardly thrown against the end of it, and the light still on. She stepped forward to examine the damaged done to the book but to her surprise it was still in perfect condition. She placed the bookmark lying on Quinn's bedside table in the place that was dog-eared and closed it, setting it down against the table lamp. Something was definitely wrong with Quinn. She looked around the room for anything that could determine what was going on, but everything seemed to be in place. Aside from the yellow sunflower phone case that sat against the pure-white pillow. Rachel picked it up carefully and saw that it was Quinn's phone. Shaking her head, she turned to walk out of the room to the living area, where Sam stood playing with his fingers.

"She left her phone." Rachel stated, handing it to Sam. "I thought you told me everything was fine."

Sam shook his head and looked down at his sister's phone, noticing how the battery light flashed when he tried to turn it on. She had let it die- something she never did. She must've left not too long after he was invited into Rachel's apartment by her fathers. Quinn had to of been watching through the peephole. "She always gets a little sad around this time of year. I thought that by inviting you over to spend Christmas Eve with us, it could make her a little happier. She had to of seen me go inside your place- maybe she got the wrong idea. I.. I didn't mean to let her run off." His voice cracked on the last sentence as he plopped down in the chair, Quinn's phone falling into his lap. His head fell into his hands, fingers threading through golden locks and tugging gently on them.

"Sam.." Rachel sighed, walking over to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "What is going on? Why does she get sad around Christmas time?"

"I'm not the person to tell you that, Rach.. As much as I want to, as much as I want you to understand everything.. I can't. She has to be the one to tell you." He whispered, sniffing his nose and wiping a stray tear from his eyes. He was scared. Quinn never got this bad. Never. He should've known things were going to be harder when they moved, but he didn't think that Quinn would get to the point of running away.

Rachel nodded, swallowing as she stood. Something was definitely wrong- she had never seen Sam cry. Her heart hurt at the sight- the last time she had seen any of her friends this upset was when Kurt found out that his father was diagnosed with cancer. It was horrible to see. "I'm gonna find her, Sam." She whispered, straightening her form.

"What?"

"I'll be back, okay? I'll keep you updated." She called over her shoulder, leaving the apartment. She had a feeling she knew where Quinn would be, and it wasn't too far away.

The hallway of their apartment building was cold and dark. She hated how it made her feel- it was horrible despite the cheerful, happy time outside the actual apartment. The lights outside were red and green and gold, but the only light in the hallways was the blinking, white hospital-like lights that reminded her of a horror movie. She hated it at night. She wrapped her arms around it as she walked down the hallway past Brittany's door- a soft, upbeat melody came from the other side of the door- to the fire exit. Carefully, she stepped through the window out onto the metal staircase and headed up to the roof, against the bitter cold wind that came with the December, New York air. Her feet clanged against the metal but she ignored it, knowing that if Quinn was up there she wasn't going to be able to hear it anyways. As she peaked the top of the stairs, she felt her heart jump when she saw the figure leaning against the railing. Her instinct was right- Quinn was up there.

Letting out a breath, she walked through the small cloud of condensation towards the silhouetted figure. She knew it was Quinn- as far as she knew not many people knew about the rooftop access anyways. She approached slowly and leaned against the railings, a small distance away from the blonde as to not scare her. Rachel just wanted to know what was wrong- what had made Sam a mess downstairs. After a few moments of taking in the city sounds and the bright lights from the streets below, she carefully tapped Quinn's shoulder to get the blonde's attention.

'Sam is worried, you know.' Rachel signed, looking over at the girl. She couldn't see much given the darkness that came with being so high up, but the lights illuminated enough for them to see each other's hands, as well as each other's faces. It wasn't much, but it was enough. Sound wasn't necessary for this conversation.

Quinn just nodded, then looked back at the street below. She knew Sam was worried- why wouldn't he be? She just up and left. But a part of her really wanted to be alone in that moment. It was a really bad day, and the night was just going to get worse. Sure, Sam wanted to cheer her up just like he did every year, but that didn't mean anything was working. Memories flashed by in her head and she cringed, squeezing her eyes shut. The wind picked up and she felt like it knew that she was going to have to tell Rachel what was happening- it was like a warning.

With a deep breath, she turned back to Rachel and swallowed, bringing her hands up. 'Tonight marks the anniversary of me becoming deaf. It was eleven years ago tonight. My dad.. He and I were going to pick up Sam's Christmas present. I was eight, Sam was nine. Dad had ordered a specially made guitar for him, and we were going to pick it up.' She paused, shifting on her feet to keep them warm. 'He had looked over at me for just a second. Just a second to see if I was alright. He ran a red light. It hit my side..He had to of seen it coming but he didn't tell me. The damage was so bad to my ears that they couldn't fix it.'

Quinn paused again and Rachel stepped forward, going to place a hand her shoulder, but Quinn stopped her. 'My dad died in the hospital a few days later. We found out the guy was drunk.. That's why Sam, Blaine and I don't drink. It was.. horrible.'

Rachel looked at her, her brows furrowed. 'Why did you run, though? Tonight?'

'Sam got invited to a Christmas party, but he turned it down to spend Christmas with me.'

'That's not that bad, though. You're family.'

'You don't understand, Rachel.' Quinn sighed. 'He's given up everything for me. He dropped out of school for a year because our mom started drinking- he had to get a job as a freaking stripper at the age of sixteen because she couldn't take care of us.' Quinn explained, shaking her head as she went. 'He gave up so much for me. He lost his childhood because he grew up so quickly to give me the life I needed. He forged my father's handwriting so I could transfer to the deaf school my sophomore year. Hell, he moved out here with us so I could live my dream. He's done so much for me, but I can't do anything to him in return..'

Rachel licked her lips a moment then sent a quick text off to Sam, letting the girl know that she was okay. After she put her phone away (and seeing that it was only seven o'clock) she smiled at the girl, and took her hand.

'Where are we going?' Quinn asked, signing as best as she could with one hand.

"We're going to help you, and Sam, have a wonderful Christmas."

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"And how much would this one cost?"

"Two hundred, not counting the case."

"And with the case?"

"Two-fifty."

Quinn tapped Rachel's shoulder with a concerned look on her face. 'Rachel I don't have that kind of money.'

Rachel only smiled at her and turned back to the man. "We'll take it."

Quinn didn't know what Rachel was up to, but she really hoped she knew what she was doing.

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'Why did you do that?' Quinn asked as they exited the music store, Rachel carrying a rather large guitar case. The cold air met them in a rush, sending chills down Quinn's spine. New York's streets were busy with people doing last minute shopping trips, and Quinn was afraid that someone was going to try and rob them for the obvious expensive gift that Rachel carried.

"Because I know what your brother means to you, Quinn. Besides.. everyone deserves a little Christmas miracle now and then, you know?" Rachel replied, looking over at the girl. "You said he's done so much for you, so who am I to stop you from thanking him in a way he'll appreciate?"

Quinn's heart soared as she read the words coming from Rachel's lips. Not once before has anyone willingly done that for her. The fact that Rachel was actually wanting to help her with this showed her how caring of a person she was. It was really surprising to her. She hadn't even realized that she had stopped walking until Rachel had turned back towards her with a bright smile.

'Everything okay?' The brunette asked, the question showing on her face.

'Yeah.. Everything is just.. perfect.' Quinn replied, snapping out of her daze and walking forward, taking the time to lace her fingers with Rachel's as the shorter girl led them towards Central Park.

[END PART 1]

A/N2: I didn't really want to leave it like that, but it's really late and I wanted to finish something for you guys before I head over to my dads for a few days/Christmas Eve and I won't have computer access. Now you guys know Quinn's backstory, some of it at least. Don't worry, Rachel will kick into canon soon; and we'll learn more about the girls and their families in upcoming chapters.