A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews I've had so far, they really help motivate me to write so thanks. Right here's the second half; it's a bit of a filler but I hope you enjoy it all the same and review!
The atmosphere in the room was subdued to say the least. It was clear that Rachel and Daniel had heard most if not all of Quinn's speech and it was slightly awkward although no one really knew why. Rachel felt happy that Quinn felt strongly enough to talk to her dad one to one but now she felt slightly guilty for listening in. Daniel was just angry at his husband for forcing Quinn to have to talk to him in the first place but was also proud of Quinn for sticking up for herself and obviously impressing Mark.
"Let's eat." Daniel said to try and cut the tension as the pair sat down, Quinn didn't look at Rachel as she took her place and Mark looked reasonably taken aback, giving his husband a reassuring glance as he sat down opposite him on the square table. They began eating in a strained silence, Quinn never looking up from her pasta until Daniel tried to engage her in some sort of a conversation and salvage the meal.
"So Quinn, I hear you're in Glee club." It wasn't so much a question but a statement that somehow required an answer.
"Yes I am." She answered giving him the briefest of glances.
"Do you enjoy it?"
"Yes, it's good to have something else to do other than school and Cheerleading; it's one of the best parts of my week really." Quinn answered simply before taking another forkful of pasta.
"Good" and the conversation died a quiet death for about two minutes, the kitchen filled with the sounds of metal clanging against china and the occasional cough. Rachel was shinking into her chair, this was actually painful, Quinn was focusing on her pasta so hard she was sure it was going to burst into flame, her daddy was the same but her dad seemed to be amused by something as he had a knowing smirk on his face that was annoying Rachel.
"What's so funny dad?" she asked slightly annoyed prompting the man to look up with a questioning smirk.
"Oh nothing, this just reminds me of a few meals in my younger years." He answered cryptically. Mark looked up to him and gave a small, knowing grin causing Rachel to become more annoyed, she hated it when they kept her in the dark about anything and these knowing looks were no exception.
"What meals?"
"Family meals where I brought someone new over. It's funny how tense they get is all." He said; Quinn seemed to look slightly embarrassed by his comment and focused back on her food which impelled Rachel to become more irritated.
"It's not tense." She snapped impelling Daniel to raise his eyebrows.
"Of course not dear, it's great. Nice pasta." Mark said with a strangled giggle.
"Oh god this is painful!" Daniel exclaimed releasing him and Mark into a bout of laughter that even Quinn joined in as the tension seemed to ease. Rachel looked put out and this prompted the laughter to escalate as she gave a bewildered yet irritated pout which made her look like an angry toddler. "Oh Rachel honey, lighten up a bit." Daniel said as the laughing began to subside.
"I will not lighten up!" she exclaimed before getting up from the table and executing a perfect storm out. Quinn watched her leave in surprise, she didn't know whether to go after her or not. She looked over at Mark and Daniel who were both rolling their eyes.
"She does it at least once a week, you can go and check on her if you want but she'll be in a mood for at least an hour so watch out." Mark said upon seeing Quinn's worried expression.
"Um, right, thanks." The blond said as she got up from the table and exited the kitchen climbing cautiously up the stairs. The landing was a painted a light green colour with about 5 doors leading off it. She walked down the narrow yet light corridor until she came to a door with a gold star painted on the front. She would have rolled her eyes if she'd seen it at any other time, it was so Rachel the thought made her smile slightly.
"Rachel?" she asked gently as she knocked on the door. There was no reply so she decided to try the handle, it gave and she slowly pushed the door open. "Rachel?" she asked again as the door opened revealing a warm yellow room, decorated with a few Broadway posters, a white desk with a fluffy white desk chair, a white four-poster bed, a few cuddly toys spread over the pillows and warm lighting. Not the pink hell Quinn had been expecting. She found Rachel lying down on the bed, facing away from her, a pillow hugged against her chest.
"Rachel what's wrong?" Quinn asked stepping towards her. The brunette turned over to reveal slightly reddened eyes.
"My dads!" she exclaimed surprising Quinn somewhat.
"What about them?" Quinn asked, genuinely intrigued, her storm out didn't make much sense.
"Daddy practically interrogated you after I told him not to and now you're all laughing about it."
"Rach, he has a right to ask me questions, not everyone is as forgiving as you. If it was my daughter I probably would have kicked me out, he gave me a chance to speak and that's more than I would have done." Quinn said sitting down on the bed and resting her hand on the shorter girls shoulder comfortingly. The girl didn't reply for some time.
"I just don't want him to scare you off, you're the first proper friend I've had in a very long time and I don't want them to take that away from me because they can't get over the past." She said quietly, focusing on the wall.
"Rach, I'm not going anywhere even if your dad's didn't approve I'd still be here trying to win them over. I meant what I said to your dad, I intend to stick around for the foreseeable future." Quinn said with conviction. Rachel allowed a small smile to grace her lips. She sat up and looked at Quinn.
"This is all just so... I don't understand why you want to be my friend Quinn, I mean, I'm a loser, no one likes me but now you suddenly do and it's good but I don't understand why you're here. It's just, so unexpected but good unexpected." She said with slightly furrowed brows as if she was trying to understand Quinn's reasoning but struggling.
"You're not a loser Rachel." She gave the short brunette's hand a squeeze. "You're a great person and everyone who can't see that is an idiot. I was an idiot. I'm the one who doesn't understand, I mean you've forgiven me for being an ass for over a year and now I'm here in your house, eating food you cooked for me as though the past never happened. I'd say it's me who should be confused not you." Quinn was looking ardently at Rachel, trying to convey her gratitude. Rachel shook her head.
"This is really weird, I swear I'm in some sort of parallel dimension." Rachel said with a smile.
"I know." Quinn replied with a laugh. "Shall we go back and eat? I'm pretty hungry and that pasta is really tasty." She asked getting back onto her feet and offering her hand to Rachel who took it with a warm smile.
As they entered the kitchen Quinn let go of Rachel's hand and the two men smiled at them.
"Wow Quinn, what do you do up there, no sign of a pout or anything, impressive." Daniel said with a grin. Everyone gave a laugh apart from Rachel who put her hands on her hips.
"I am here you know" she stated indignantly.
"Only messing with you, come on, you're foods probably cold now." Daniel said as Rachel sat down with a roll of her eyes and began to eat her lukewarm dinner. "So Quinn how did you do it? It usually takes us a good hour to calm her back down but you were only up there for what, ten minutes?" Daniel said in mock astonishment. Quinn and Mark laughed.
"I guess it was beginners luck." Rachel pouted making Quinn giggle some more.
"Hey! You're meant to be sticking up for me; maybe I should have poisoned your food." Rachel laughed as Quinn feigned offence and looked worriedly at her now empty bowl. The two older Berry's shook their heads in amusement. Everyone had finished their meals and began clearing the table, Quinn helped Rachel take the plates to the worktop.
"We'll take it from here" Mark said to the two girls "that was great honey."
"Yeah, we should get you to cook more often now we know you won't poison us." Daniel added.
"Don't count on it, I just didn't want to kill Quinn on her first visit, what kind of impression would that give?" Rachel joked smiling at Quinn who gave her a warm smile in return. The girls left the two older Berry's to the washing up and went and sat back on the couch. "Friday night's movie night by the way if you want to stay that is." Rachel added in a smaller voice looking down at the worn red fabric of the couch.
"'Course I want to stay, what are we watching?" Quinn said enthusiastically causing Rachel to brighten up and her ridiculously large grin to appear once more.
"Well we usually watch a musical but we can watch whatever really. The DVDs are on the shelf over there" she said pointing towards the large bookshelf before getting up and gesturing for Quinn to follow. Most of the DVDs were musicals, the occasional romcom or action film could be found sandwiched between Wicked and West side Story.
"What do you want to watch?" Quinn asked as she scrutinized the rows and rows of DVDs. She didn't want to chose something no one else would want to watch.
"Well my favourite musical is Funny Girl but you've probably already seen that loads." Rachel said scanning over the shelf.
"Um, no I've never watched that." Quinn said looking over at Rachel who stopped what she was doing and snapped her neck round to look at Quinn in wonderment.
"You've never seen Funny Girl?" She exclaimed.
"No, we don't watch many musicals at home; well we don't really watch any films..." Quinn replied feeling slightly self conscious under the divas stunned stare. She actually looked quite shaken at the revelation before snapping out of it and grabbing a pink DVD case and running over to the DVD player as her dads re-entered the room.
"Oh you've chosen a film then, what is?" Mark asked as he began pulling the arm chair towards the centre of the room for a better view of the TV.
"Funny Girl." Rachel announced importantly to the room eliciting a groan from the two Berry men.
"Not again" Daniel muttered.
"No, it is a matter of severe importance that we watch Funny Girl tonight, Quinn is yet to experience its charms and what sort of friend would I be to pass up this opportunity of opening her eyes to the wonders of Barbra Streisand."
"A good one" Daniel muttered to himself however Rachel heard and glowered at him. Sensing things could get ugly Quinn decided to but in.
"If you've already seen it so many times then we can watch something else, we could always watch it some other time Rach." Quinn suggested however the glare was now being cast at her. Quinn's eyebrows rose in alarm and she felt compelled to put her hands up in surrender.
"No no it's fine Quinn, I didn't get a chance to read the paper today anyway." Mark interjected, Rachel's glare turned into a bright smile again almost instantly and she proceeded to put the DVD into the player and turn on the TV set. Quinn took a seat next to the arm of the couch and Daniel frequented the opposite side. Rachel took the remote and bounced into her position between Quinn and her dad with a satisfied smirk which made the blond grin. She pressed play and so it began.
Rachel seemed to squeak every time Barbra came on screen and her face fell and rose with ever event in the story. Quinn spent more time watching Rachel than she did the screen the film was a bit dull in comparison really, another 'abandon it all for love only to find it's not really worth it' film, Rachel's expressions were much more interesting. Each time Barbra would sing Rachel would join in occasionally singing to Quinn and prompting her to giggle as her dad's yelled at her to stop. It was such a relaxed scene, Rachel's dad's were rolling their eyes constantly as their daughter became more and more absorbed in the film, giving each other knowing glances every five minutes and Rachel was so comfortably lost in what was playing out before her. The scene was so different from anything that would happen in her clinically elegant lounge. It was easy to become absorbed because it felt so safe and natural in the presence of the Berry's and their cosy lounge. This was a proper family despite anything her dad had ever said to the contrary, they were more normal than her fake family unit, they were real and happy.
The film eventually finished and Rachel gave a contented sigh before turning to her. "So what do you think?" she asked dreamily.
"It was great." Quinn replied sincerely, it really was great to be sat in a living room with real people just being there and enjoying each other's company. It was then that Quinn realised it was very dark outside and that she should probably be getting back. She checked the wall clock, 9.30; she'd been there for 4 hours which surprised her. "I should probably go... It's pretty late." She said sadly.
"Oh ok, what is the time?"
"Half nine" Quinn stated whilst getting up from the couch and stretching. Rachel stood up as well.
"I suppose that is quite late. Well, thank you for accepting my invitation and sharing your evening with me." Rachel said with reluctance, time had gone by too quickly. "We should do this again some time. If you want that is?" she asked hopefully causing Quinn to give a genuine smile. By this time they were by the door and the two eldest Berry's were making their way towards them to say goodbye.
"Rachel, of course I want to come over, I've had a great time, dinner was great, I wouldn't pass up a chance to eat your food again." She said giving the brunette a wide grin which was duly returned.
"It was nice to meet you Quinn." Mark said seriously, offering her his hand again which she took and shook firmly.
"Nice to meet you too sir" She stated seriously before cracking a grin which was returned by Mark.
"Hope to see you again soon Quinn, it's been an interesting night." Daniel said before also shaking her hand and smiling warmly. The two men went back into the living room leaving the girls to say goodbye.
"Thanks again Rachel, tonight's been great." Quinn said sincerely.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it." Rachel replied before looking down at her shoes and then back up to Quinn. "Goodnight then" she said softly.
"Night Rachel" Quinn replied, smiling down at the diva before opening the door and going out to her car. Rachel watched as she got in and waved before starting the car and rolling off the driveway and into the dark night, her tail lights eventually disappearing from view as she turned the corner at the end of her street. Rachel shut the door and wandered back into the living room.
"I like her Rachel, she'll make you a good friend." Mark said much to Rachel's surprise.
"I know daddy, night" she smiled at her dads and hugged them before going upstairs to complete her nightly routine and going to bed.
"I think Quinn will make her a good friend." Mark said to his husband.
"Yeah she will; it's obvious she cares about Rachel." Daniel replied. "She was very mature in replying to your criticism."
"I wasn't criticizing, I was just a little wary is all. You can hardly blame me."
"I suppose not but still, you were a little hard on the girl."
"I don't think I was, anyway if I didn't challenge her then we wouldn't be having this conversation now."
"We would, it's obvious that Quinn cares about Rachel from the way she looks at her and how she was all concerned when she stormed out at dinner, which by the way I think we need to talk to Rachel about, it's getting slightly ridiculous now the amount of times she storms off."
"Nonsense, she's just a teenage girl, they all do that."
"And you would know because..."
"They just do it's their hormones or whatever."
"Sure, sure." Daniel teased causing his husband to roll his eyes. "But anyway, yes I think Quinn will be good for Rachel, bring her down to earth a bit."
"I think so." Mark replied folding up his paper and getting up to stretch allowing a yawn to escape his mouth.
"Time for bed I think." Daniel laughed getting up and following his husband upstairs leaving the living room in unbroken and perfect silence.