Chapter 2

It had been a hard night for Quinn. After arriving home from school, she had retreated to her room to cry for about an hour, until her mother came in. Judy tried to comfort her undeniably upset daughter, but Quinn was totally out of it – not even bacon made Quinn stop. She went on crying for a while, only stopping once she fell asleep, which occurred about a half an hour after Quinn's mother left.

Quinn wasn't quite sure why she was crying; at first she shed a few tears about hurting Rachel's nose, but then she started bawling, and Rachel in general was on her mind, not just her 'adorable' nose. Yes, Quinn thought that Rachel's nose was 'adorable'.

She would never admit that to anyone, and I implore you, never tell anyone she thought that. Please.

While Quinn was asleep, Rachel had taken the liberty to call up Quinn, but because she didn't have her number, and she didn't want anyone to know she was calling, she had to call the Fabray's landline, which she acquired from the phonebook.

"Hello?" a voice had answered, sounding nothing like the daughter Fabray.

"Mrs. Fabray?"

"Call me Judy. Are you one of Quinn's friends?"

Rachel smiled at the thought of being Quinn's friends. "I'm in glee club with her. My name's Rachel."

"Hi Rachel, um, Quinn's in her room. She's asleep." Quinn? Asleep at four-thirty in the afternoon? That didn't sound like the girl at all.

"Is she okay?"

"Honestly," if Rachel could see Judy, she would've seen Quinn's mother glancing around to make sure Quinn hadn't wandered out of her room, "she came home and started crying. She kept crying until she fell asleep, which was only about a half hour ago."

A pang of pain with a hint of guilt overcame Rachel. "Oh my," she said, trying to sound as caring as possible, but being at a loss of words, she couldn't exactly come up with something better than what she decided upon.

"I'll tell her you called when she wakes up. Is there anything you want me to tell her?"

Rachel struggled for a moment. Did she want to let Quinn know she called? She might try and avoid Rachel more than she already had. "Um, yes please. Could you tell Quinn that I hope she feels better and that…" Rachel took a moment to think; Judy could realize just from Rachel's voice that she genuinely cared for her daughter, and because of this, didn't mind waiting on the phone. "and that she shouldn't worry about getting back to me immediately."

Judy smiled. "Okay Rachel. I appreciate your concern, and I'll make sure she gets your message. Have a goodnight."

"You too." Rachel said politely, hanging up.

True to her word, when Quinn wandered into the kitchen later that night with strained, red eyes and looking rather pale, Judy told Quinn Rachel's message. Quinn had been sitting, sipping slowly on some orange juice when she was informed of Rachel's considerate message to feel better.

Just as before, Quinn started crying before at the thought of Rachel. Judy quickly pulled a chair over to Quinn's side and sat down next to her daughter. She brought her into her arms and comforted her daughter. "She also said not to worry about immediately responding."

How can she be so nice? Quinn thought, in regards to Rachel. "I'm a terrible person, mom." Quinn sobbed, burying her face in her mother's embrace.

"No, sweetie. No you aren't."

Quinn knew what her mom was saying was true in her eyes, but in the eyes of most of McKinley, was a huge lie. Quinn was terrible. She acted like a bitch to the majority of the school, specifically Rachel, as demonstrated by her meltdown earlier that day.

"I've hurt Rachel so much." Quinn cried.

"What are you talking about, Quinnie?" her mother asked, but not loosening her hold one iota.

"I bully Rachel. Just today I was bullying her. I insult her. Hurt her. I'm atrocious to her!" Quinn cried.

Judy readjusted her hold on Quinn, to allow Quinn to fall more into her mother's loving arms. "Quinn, listen; you listening?" Quinn nodded, tears still flowing, "what you've done to Rachel, it's terrible. But look at yourself, you are sobbing over it now. If you looked back at what you've done to Rachel and felt proud about it, then…" Judy's voice trailed off – she couldn't even think about her daughter being terrible. "But you regret it. You're crying and you realize what you've done is wrong. You are a good person. I know you are."

Quinn nodded, Rachel floating around in her mind the entire time.

The next day at school was extremely nerve-racking for both Quinn and Rachel. Rachel wasn't quite sure how Quinn would react to her message. Quinn on the other hand wasn't sure about anything. Did she like Rachel? Did she hate her? Did she love her? Was she going to apologize? Was Rachel's nose okay? All these questions were burned into her brain, and each one needed to be answered.

Quinn went to her locker; all her actions were slower that day – putting in her locker combination, collecting the proper books for her classes – even after finishing, she simply stood at her locker, not even bothering to look like she was doing something. Quinn closed her locker and turned, immediately met with Rachel. This caused Quinn to jump.

"Damn it Berry." Quinn huffed, her heart racing, not just because of the scare.

"Sorry." Rachel said. Quinn glared at her, which was when she observed the slight tint of blue Rachel's bruised nose had acquired. It wasn't very noticeable, but when standing right in front of Rachel, Quinn couldn't help but notice.

"What do you want, Berry?" Quinn asked, suddenly impatient.

"Did you get my message?' Rachel asked, half-confident.

Quinn's demeanor instantly softened at the mention of the sweet message Rachel had left. She dropped her head and mumbled something.

"What?"

"Yeah." Quinn said, louder, looking up at Rachel. Rachel's eyes locked with Quinn's. The hazel eyes Rachel looked into that once held anger and pride, were now filled with subtle sadness and warmth. Between the vulnerability shown in Quinn's eyes and the sudden change of attitude, Rachel suddenly was filled with confidence. Quinn returned her eyes' attention to the floor.

"Hey," Rachel said, bending down to enter Quinn's field of view – she was not yet confident enough to nudge Quinn's chin up – "how are you feeling? I heard you were upset." She offered a small smile that seemed friendly enough.

That was the wrong thing to say – not in general, but to someone like Quinn. Quinn immediately shot a glare at Rachel, but only raised her head slightly. Rachel frowned at the hostility now shown. "Who said I was upset?"

Rachel immediately shrunk back, "Your mom said you were crying…" her voice trailed off. Quinn glanced around quickly, making sure no one heard that she, Quinn Fabray, was crying. Or expressing weakness in any way whatsoever.

"Don't tell anyone that. Got it midget?"

"Be nicer to me."

Quinn furrowed her eyebrows at Rachel's command. "What?" was Rachel Berry threatening her? The girl who not even two seconds ago was shaking in her boots…well, penny loafers…was giving Quinn a command?

"I want you to be nicer to me."

"Listen here, Berry," Quinn stepped forward slightly, but Rachel, even though she would never tell anyone Quinn was crying, felt more confident with the blackmail, "that is none of your concern, and it's not your information to disclose."

"Quinn, I have no idea why it is that you are unwilling to reciprocate the kindness I am offering you. I called your house last night to see if you were okay, and you're responding with anger, now I"

"I can respond however I damn want, got that Ru"

Rachel took another step forward, suddenly feeling very tall next to the taller girl. "No, you fucking listen," Quinn winced at the harsh word she never expected to leave Rachel's lips, "I am sick and tired of you treating me like an inanimate object. I flower you with consideration whenever it is possible for me. And even when I'm blackmailing you, I ask a very simple thing: be nice to me. I'm not asking for you to date me, or screw me, or anything! Just be nicer to me and you can't even do that. I wasn't even thinking about telling anyone else. I just wanted to be friends with you." Rachel started to cry towards the end of her speech, and by the time she was finished, the tears had been flowing just like Quinn's the previous night, and that's when she quickly turned and scrambled down the hallway, trying to look like a fool in as few people's eyes as possible.

Quinn remained motionless, her mouth slightly ajar, and her thoughts in a funk. Rachel Berry just had the meltdown she had been wanting for so long. So, so long. Quinn thought it would feel good to get to the core of the brunette; that sending the singer over the edge would fulfill some dark and strange fetish that she was secretly harboring.

It didn't.

It didn't feel good. It didn't satisfy. It made Quinn feel absolutely, undeniably terrible. Rachel was right. What she had been asking was miniscule to what she could've asked. What she was asking wasn't even real blackmail; what she was asking was basic human rights. And Quinn Fabray stamped on those rights.

Quinn's heart ached.

Rachel had managed to avoid Quinn in the halls between classes for the rest of the morning, but when lunchtime came, she decided she would have to face Quinn if she decided to seek out Rachel in the choir room.

Quinn didn't get the chance to, as Brittany absolutely insisted they spend lunch together that day. And how could you say no to Brittany?

"Tubbers, you okay?" Santana asked, using the insult to cover the care she was expressed.

Quinn shook her head as she crossed her arms. Brittany frowned. Brittany and Santana exchanged glances. Quinn hadn't even reacted to tubbers, which she normally at least rolls her eyes at. But not today. Not an eye roll, not even an irritated sigh. Just silence.

"You can talk to us, you know." Santana said, sensing the strange aura of depression that misted around Quinn.

"Thanks." It was halfhearted.

"Does this have something to do with RuPaul?" the Latina girl asked.

Quinn turned angrily towards Santana. "Don't call her that." She seethed, her eyes obtaining enough fury to shock both of her friends. The blond turned away but remained tense from her sudden mood change.

"Sorry…" Santana mumbled, with a hint of sass.

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to the girl you make fun of on a daily basis!" Quinn snapped, fury gathering inside her. Why was she acting like this? She wasn't sure. She just was, and considering the treatment Rachel received, she didn't feel it was overreacting in the slightest.

"What's up with you? All of a sudden you're defending her? You made her cry earlier today, and now you're treating her like your best friend." Santana retorted.

Quinn clenched her teeth. Hot tears were burning behind her eyes, threatening to reveal themselves with any more mention of that morning. Santana noticed this, and took her opportunity to throw a low blow at Quinn. "Okay. The double standard. Okay, I'll stop calling her names and you'll continue making her cry. Less work for me." Quinn lurched over the table and grabbed Santana's shirt with both fists.

"Stop the violence." Brittany mumbled, but Quinn didn't notice.

"Stop talking about that!" Quinn cried.

"Get off of me!" Santana yelped, grasping Quinn's wrists.

"I didn't-she-I" Quinn was unable to form coherent sentences with the high amounts of stress that plagued her. She simply let go of Santana when she felt Mr. Schue's hands on her shoulders. Quinn plopped down onto the bench and continued crying.

"Hey, Quinn. C'mon, calm down." Will soothed her, rubbing her back. "Let's go to my office, we'll talk about this." Quinn nodded, only hearing 'let's go talk about this'. The two left the room, with legions of stares bearing down on them both. Will didn't care and Quinn didn't have the mental capacity at the moment to realize.

It was when they were about twenty yards away from the choir room that Quinn realized she would have to see Rachel. She started to flail her arms around, trying to break out of Will's arm.

"No! I can't go there!" Quinn cried, trying to run, but Will had a firm grasp on her.

"Quinn, calm down. Why can't you?" he asked, trying to keep Quinn from dashing down the hall.

"Rachel's in there, I can't do it…I-she-I can't do it! She hates me." Quinn shrieked, hinting off to Rachel, who had remained seated in the choir room upon hearing the distraught girl, that Quinn was seriously upset. She stood up and opened the choir room door. Will turned his head towards the door, and saw Rachel, who looked disturbed by Quinn's meltdown. Will hadn't seen her so upset since she saw Finn's reaction to discovering the truth about Quinn's child.

"Rachel, can you help me out?" Schue asked, nodding at Quinn, who was still attempting to make a break for it.

Rachel strode down the hallway, towards Quinn, who had her eyes tightly shut, and no real knowledge of her surroundings other than her teacher. "Quinn," Rachel put her hands on Quinn's other arm, loosely, not wanting to stress the blond out more. Quinn's reddened eyes shot open, and seeing the beautiful Rachel Berry standing in front of her made her heart skip a beat. She continued to struggle, however.

"Quinn, please, calm down." Rachel begged, trying to sound as calm as possible, but the sheer sight of Quinn in this much pain was a knife in the heart.

"I'm sorry!" Quinn cried, closing her eyes again, unable to handle the kindness the girl was giving her. "I'm so sorry!" Quinn whimpered at Rachel. Rachel felt her heart breaking at that moment.

"It's okay Quinn. You're okay. Do you need something?" Quinn nodded as she continued whimpering 'I'm sorry'.

"What do you need?"

Quinn snapped out of Mr. Schue's grasped, shocking him. When she ran into Rachel, Rachel released her hold on Quinn's arm. "I need you to hold me!" Rachel was caught off guard, but once she adjusted to the situation, she wrapped her arms around Quinn and started rubbing the blonde's back. Will looked on with sad eyes. It wasn't until then that Rachel or Will had noticed a crowd had gathered. Thankfully Emma was there, and she and Will successfully dismissed about a dozen students who had gathered to the scene.

Quinn however, was completely in her own world where only she and Rachel existed. Quinn continued crying into the shorter girl's shirt. When Rachel was able to attract Quinn's attention, approximately two minutes later, she and Mr. Schue guided her into the choir room. They sat Quinn down, but Quinn wouldn't let go of Rachel – with either hand. Both hands remained clenched onto Rachel's arm. Will brought the brunette a chair and told them he would talk to their teachers about what happened – meaning they would have an entire period to sit there and talk. Guess who liked that.

Rachel kept her worried gaze locked on Quinn, who was staring intently at her hands clenching Rachel's sleeve. Finally after a few minutes of nothing, Quinn looked up at Rachel. Eyes locked, and the corners of Quinn's moth slowly twitched upwards.

A/N: OMGLEE! I was so excited at all the feedback I got from you guys. 10 Reviews! That's incredible! You think you guys could match it this time? I'm so sorry about the wait! I just didn't have any inspiration until yesterday/today. I love you guys! :)