A/N: Wow. I was a bit unsure whether people would like this but I guess I didn't have to worry. Thank you all so much for the reviews/alerts!
Um, Finn gets creepier in this one... Enjoy? ;)
(Also, title = Snow Patrol song. Again.)
As far as Rachel was concerned, Finn was a good friend. They hung out now and then, the brunette making sure her girlfriend was far far away if they did, and she had suggested to Mr. Schuester that he make Finn co-captain because she thought he was so dedicated to glee.
They were in her room, working on next week's glee assignment when Finn cleared his throat loudly. "Rach, can I ask you something?" he asked, putting down his sheet music on her desk.
Rachel frowned at him and nodded, wondering what he was about to ask that caused the usually goofy boy to adopt a serious look instead.
"Okay, so, I've been thinking about this a lot lately and, like, I mean, we get along great, right?"
Again, Rachel nodded.
Finn smiled at that. "Yeah, so, I was wondering if you'd maybe like to go out with me, like, on a date?"
The brunette blinked at him. He wanted to go on a date? "U-um, I'm flattered, Finn, but—"
"Before you say anything, I just want you to know that you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen and I just, like, want to make you smile and stuff. Come on, Rach, don't tell me you don't feel the same way."
She slowly shook her head, seeing the boy's hopeful grin fade. "I'm sorry, I'm in a relationship. I-I thought you knew."
Obviously the tall boy had remained completely oblivious to her relationship with Quinn, maybe because he didn't want to see it or, well, it could've been Rachel's fault because when she was around Finn, she avoided her girlfriend. He looked like he was wracking his brain, trying to figure out who it was that Rachel was dating and she sighed. "It's Quinn. Quinn is my girlfriend," she supplied.
"Wait, what? You're gay?"
"I prefer not to label my sexuality but for the sake of this conversation, yes, I'm gay."
"But, but... No, this isn't how this is supposed to go!"
His cheeks were turning red and his confused look turned into what Rachel thought was a look of severe constipation. She felt sorry for him but there was nothing she could do about this. She wouldn't jeopardise her relationship, not for anything or anyone.
"I'm sorry, Finn."
"This is a joke, isn't it?"
Rachel looked stunned. He still wouldn't accept the truth. Maybe Quinn had been right about him? She preferred to give him the benefit of the doubt and shook her head negatively.
"But isn't that what girls do when they don't wanna go out with a guy? They tell them they're gay, it's like the best excuse."
"It's not an excuse. Look, I get that this may be hard for you, but Finn, I wouldn't lie about something like this. Quinn is... I love her. I'm truly am sorry for not telling you sooner, I thought it was rather obvious, but apparently it wasn't."
"Can't you give me one chance? Just one date? I could be the best thing that ever happened to you!"
Her eyes widened at the statement and she shot up off of her bed where she had been sitting. "Okay, um, I think it might be best if we call it a day. We can do the finishing touches during glee tomorrow."
She waited for Finn to rise, which he reluctantly did with a pathetic pout. "Think about it, okay?" he said before leaving Rachel's room. She was sure that he could see himself out and she let herself fall back onto her bed. With a groan she rolled over and buried her face into her pillow. What a mess.
The next morning she saw Quinn waiting by her locker. Her girlfriend was smiling at her and she heaved a sigh, knowing that she would have to tell her about Finn asking her out.
"Hey Quinn," she said as the blonde stepped aside so that she could open her locker.
"You look tense," Quinn said, narrowing her eyes at the smaller girl. "Did something happen last night?"
Rachel deposited her bag inside her locker and turned to face Quinn. "I'll tell you if you promise not to act rashly."
"What did he do?"
Quinn's tone was short and clipped, her eyes glinting and her posture beyond tense. She was every bit the Quinn that she used to be a year ago. It always amazed Rachel how the blonde could so easily revert back to the HBIC persona, but at least now her anger wasn't directed at Rachel. Thank god for small mercies.
"He asked me out," she said quickly, "But! Quinn, he didn't know we're together, okay? It wasn't his fault."
"How could he not know we're together?"
"I-I don't know."
"You didn't tell him?"
Whoops. "Well, n-no, I figured it was quite obvious. Then again, when I spent time with Finn you were never around so he might have gotten the wrong impression..."
"Right." Quinn was trying to calm herself down, something that Rachel appreciated greatly. "Okay. He asked you out, you said no, right?"
"Of course!" Rachel grasped Quinn's hand and looked into her hazel eyes. "Quinn, I love you. You have nothing to worry about."
"I love you, too," Quinn muttered with a soft smile. Rachel returned the smile and pulled on Quinn's hand, pulling her closer before rising up on her tip-toes and placing a sweet kiss on the blonde's lips. She backed away but got pulled back in by Quinn, who wasn't content with a soft kiss. Rachel wrapped her arms around Quinn's neck and moaned into the kiss.
"Please, get a room."
Quinn opened an eye and found Santana standing there. She promptly ignored her best friend and went back to the task at hand.
"Seriously, stop it!"
She felt Rachel smile and briefly tightened her grip on Rachel's waist before reluctantly breaking the kiss. "What do you want?" she asked Santana, looking over Rachel's shoulder.
"Good morning to you, too," Santana groused. "Quinn, can I have a word, in private?"
"Why?"
"Just, get over here!"
Rachel smiled at Quinn and removed her arms from around the girl's neck. "Go on, I'm going to go to class. You know I'm not happy unless I'm at least fifteen minutes early." She gave her girlfriend a small push towards Santana and walked in the opposite direction.
She watched Rachel until she rounded a corner and then glared at Santana. "What is it?"
Santana rolled her eyes at Quinn's hostility and casually leaned against the wall. "I walked past Finnept and his band of merry idiots in the parking lot; I overheard him nagging about Berry and her lady-boner for you and how it isn't right." Quinn narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists. "He said he was going to win her over somehow."
"I knew he was up to something with Rachel," Quinn said lowly. "God, I told her to stay away from him!"
"Yeah, since when does her royal Berryness take orders?" Santana quipped.
Quinn sighed and shook her head. "At least she's beginning to notice what a creep he is. She told me he asked her out last night and apparently he wouldn't take no for an answer."
"Look, I'll keep an eye out, okay? I won't let him do anything to your midget."
She got an appreciative smile from Quinn and, in an uncharacteristic display of affection, squeezed the blonde's shoulder before walking away. The bell rang and Quinn hurried to make it to her first class, which she unfortunately didn't share with her girlfriend.
Things remained relatively quiet. Finn wasn't around Rachel that often, though he kept shooting her those annoying wounded lapdog looks that made Quinn want to castrate him. Rachel was sympathetic but seemingly kept her distance, which made her possessive girlfriend sleep easier at night.
Until a distraught-looking Rachel walked onto the field during Cheerios practise, blatantly ignoring Coach Sylvester's barks of annoyance to reach her girlfriend. "Rach? What's wrong?"
The smaller girl pulled Quinn with her, putting some distance between them and the curious Cheerios. She wordlessly handed Quinn a black and white picture.
Quinn looked at what appeared to be a picture of Rachel and Quinn, both asleep in what she knew was Rachel's bed. The main focus of the shot had clearly been Rachel; Quinn was barely visible curled up behind her girlfriend. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down, and looked back at Rachel.
"It was in my locker and no, I don't know who it's from," Rachel said, already having guessed what the other girl was going to ask. Quinn turned her gaze back to the picture and clenched her jaw.
"Do you remember when this happened?" Quinn asked.
"Last Thursday. You gave me your shirt to sleep in, remember?"
Quinn squinted at the picture and saw the well-worn grey Spider-Man shirt that Rachel was wearing. She smiled at the memory of giving it to Rachel because the girl had demanded something that smelled like Quinn to sleep in. "We slept with the window open," Quinn murmured.
"Yeah."
With a sigh, the blonde handed the picture back to Rachel. She had a feeling that Finn was behind this but she had absolutely no proof and telling Rachel would surely result in a fight, one she didn't care to have, so she silently took Rachel's hand and walked over to Coach Sylvester, who had gone back to shouting abuse at the cheerleaders.
"Q, what is the garden gnome doing on my field?"
Rachel bristled at the nickname but remained silent.
"I have to go," Quinn stated.
"I'm sorry, I thought I heard you said you had to go, which would be impossible because my head Cheerio wouldn't dream of leaving practise early unless she was in the act of dying a horrible death which had most likely been caused by falling off the top of the pyramid."
Quinn rolled her eyes at Sue's diatribe and shrugged. "It's an emergency. Santana can take over."
Sue's eyes narrowed dramatically and she poked Quinn in the shoulder. "You're the head cheerleader, Fabray. If you leave now, I'll have to rethink my decision and give the position to Santana."
"Quinn..."
"No, it's fine," she said to Rachel before turning back to the coach. "Do what you have to do."
Sue Sylvester watched, her left eye twitching, as her best Cheerios captain walked away from her with that ridiculous Berry girl beside her. She snarled and brought her megaphone up to her lips. "Sandbags, you're up!"
"Quinn, you didn't have to do that," Rachel said softly as they left the field. She could see Quinn's jaw working back and forth and she pulled her to a stop. "Quinn."
"I'm taking you home. Are your dads back from work yet?"
"Quinn, will you just talk to me!" Rachel stomped her foot in frustration.
"Rachel, listen to me. This isn't a joke. Someone took a picture of you sleeping. Do you understand how fucking insane that is!?" Quinn was angry; angry that she let this happen. She was supposed to protect Rachel and now some Edward Cullen-wannabe was after her girlfriend. When she looked at the brunette she could see the girl's lower lip tremble and she sighed, running her free hand through her hair in frustration. "Rach, I'm sorry."
Rachel gave Quinn a watery smile and shrugged. "I do understand how insane this is. I-I just... I'm scared."
"I know," Quinn replied softly and pulled Rachel into her arms. She rested her head atop Rachel's and sighed. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you," she mumbled. "We'll find out who's behind this and put an end to it."
Little did Quinn know that it was only the beginning.
"My parents are going to a college reunion this weekend," Rachel said, fluttering her eyelashes at her girlfriend. "Would you like to keep me company?"
Quinn chuckled and nodded, squeezing Rachel's hand softly. "When would you like me to come?"
"Ew, gross!" Santana exclaimed as she plopped down on the chair to Quinn's left. "Enough with the sex talk already."
Quinn felt her cheeks going red. "No, tha-that wasn't what I meant... You know that's not what I meant, right Rach?"
Rachel gave her an indulgent smile and nodded. "Of course, baby."
"Whatever," Santana muttered as she glanced at her nails.
"But, now that Santana has mentioned it..." Rachel muttered, leaning closer to Quinn. "You will be coming. Multiple times."
Quinn coughed, having nearly choked on her own saliva, and did her best to ignore Santana's sniggers as she turned to Rachel. "Rachel!" she hissed. "Don't... Why would you...?"
Rachel smiled at her flustered girlfriend and patted her thigh. "I was merely informing you of our activities this weekend. I find it best to give you the time to prepare, both mentally and physically, in order to insure maximum pleasure for the both of us."
One look at Quinn's face had Santana doubled over in her chair. "Priceless!" she managed to squeeze out in between fits of laughter. Quinn groaned and sank further into her seat, shaking her head and muttering under her breath.
Soon the rest of the glee club arrived and Brittany took her seat next to Santana, which distracted the girl from continuing to make fun of Quinn. Finn took his usual seat behind Rachel under the watchful eyes of Quinn. Mr. Schuester entered and started writing on the white board.
He underlined the word 'duets' a couple of times and turned to face the kids with a large smile.
"I want all of you to prepare a duet by the end of the week, and no, you can't choose your partners. The hat will decide!"
Everyone groaned when he pulled out the dreaded hat with their names in. Quinn glanced at Rachel, as the girl stood to go pick her partner, and hoped that she wouldn't get paired up with Finn.
"Santana," Rachel read out loud. She looked up from the small piece of paper and tentatively smiled at Santana. The other girl merely sighed, rolled her eyes and then shrugged, which was more than Rachel had hoped for. Quinn breathed a sigh of relief as her girlfriend sat back down, only to choke on the air when Finn, who was now standing near the piano, called out her name.
"What?" she croaked while Rachel thumped her back.
"Finn and Quinn," Mr. Schuester repeated and wrote down their names on a piece of paper. Finn grumbled under his breath and returned to his chair.
"Shit, Q. Better hope you don't end up locked in Fudson's cellar while he claims your girl," Santana muttered next to her. Quinn shushed her friend and glared at Finn.
"Alright guys, now that you're all paired up you can use the time that's left to discuss song choices!"
There was a flurry of movement as everyone teamed up and isolated themselves from the rest of the group. Rachel ruffled Quinn's hair as she passed by her to go sit with Santana and gave her a sympathetic look. Quinn took a calming breath and turned around to face her duet partner.
"Let's get this over with," she said, unable to stop herself from glaring at Finn.
Finn looked just as unhappy as Quinn and they spent their time grouching in their chairs, not saying a word to one another until two minutes before the bell rang. "No love songs, Hudson."
"As if I'd want to sing a love song with you."
"Great. I'll see you later," Quinn mumbled, already out of her chair. She spotted Rachel waiting by the door and she quickly grabbed her backpack and joined her girlfriend.
"Quinnie! Ready for a weekend of unadulterated fun?"
Quinn rolled her eyes and wrapped her arm around Rachel's shoulders. "As ready as I'll ever be," she mumbled, causing Rachel to pout.
"You don't want to spend the weekend with me?"
"Aw baby, I'm sorry. Of course I want to spend the weekend with you," Quinn quickly replied, pulling them to a halt in order to face Rachel. "I love spending time with you," she said with a small smile before leaning forward to place a kiss on Rachel's forehead.
Rachel's pout disappeared and she wrapped her arms around Quinn, pulling her into a tight hug. After a while Rachel leaned back slightly and tugged on Quinn's collar. Quinn got the hint and leaned down to kiss her girlfriend.
They kissed languidly and since the hallway was deserted they took their time. When Quinn broke the kiss and opened her eyes again she spotted Finn Hudson looking at them from a distance.
"What the fuck," she hissed, causing Rachel to turn around and locate the source of Quinn's annoyance.
"Oh... Um," she stuttered, not at all liking the fact that he's been watching them kiss. "Perhaps we should go home now."
Quinn took a calming breath and nodded stiffly. She was using all of her self-control not to march right over to Finn and punch him in his perverted baby-face. "Let's go."
She shot a glare at Finn before she followed Rachel towards the exit. She could somewhat handle him trying to get Rachel's attention but she didn't know how to feel about him just standing there, motionlessly, staring at them. It did, however, expel any doubt in her mind that he was the one who took that picture of them asleep in Rachel's room.
Rachel was relieved when they reached Quinn's car and she hastily got inside, looking out the window to see if Finn has followed them outside. He was nowhere in sight and she sighed. "That was creepy," she said as Quinn got in and started the car.
"Yeah, it was."
It took Quinn a while to shake the uneasy feeling of being watched but eventually she allowed herself to relax and enjoy her alone time with Rachel.
Quinn made her way down the stairs in the middle of the night. She'd spend the entire day in bed (or in the shower, or on Rachel's desk, or on the couch, or on the floor, or in the kitchen) with Rachel and they both had a wicked case of the munchies.
Since Quinn was the only one wearing any clothes she was elected – by Rachel – to go on a food-finding mission.
She turned on the light in the kitchen and made her way over to the fridge when she heard footsteps. She turned around, thinking that maybe Rachel wanted to surprise her, but saw no one. Telling herself that it was nothing she turned back to peruse the contents of the fridge. She emerged with her arms full of food and quickly threw together a hummus sandwich for Rachel and a bacon sandwich for herself. With her free hand she grabbed two bottles of water and she left the kitchen. Just as she was about to turn off the light she saw a shadow move behind the curtains and she nearly dropped the sandwiches.
"Shit," she muttered to herself. The shadow moved out of sight and seconds later the backdoor rattled slightly. Quinn swallowed her fear and quietly and quickly went back upstairs, leaving the light in the kitchen on.
"That took you long enough," Rachel said as Quinn entered her bedroom. Quinn ignored her and put the sandwiches and the bottles on the desk.
"Get dressed," she said.
"W-what?"
Quinn's demeanour was confusing her; she was tense and brisk, unlike how she was before she went downstairs.
Quinn didn't answer and threw a pair of sweats and a t-shirt at Rachel. Rachel frowned but got dressed, hesitantly making her way over to Quinn when she was done. "Quinn?" she asked in a small voice.
"There's someone outside."
"What do you mean?"
Rachel looked scared and Quinn knew it was partially her fault, but she was on edge and, god, there was someone trying to get inside the house. She took Rachel's hand in her own and sighed. "I'll tell you later, okay?" She squeezed Rachel's hand before letting go. "I'll be right back."
"N-no, you're not going down there!"
"Rachel, be quiet," Quinn hissed. "Stay, here."
Quinn made it to the top of the stairs before Rachel attached herself to her back, making it clear that Quinn wasn't going alone. "Fine," Quinn muttered and let Rachel entwine their fingers before they carefully walked down the stairs.
They waited a moment before heading to the living room. There were no shadows or strange noises and Quinn began to believe that she had imagined it when she spotted movement near the front door. She stopped moving and Rachel shot her a questioning glance.
She pointed at the front door and they watched the shadow move. Whoever it was dropped an envelope through the mail slot in the door and left. After a few seconds Rachel moved to pick up the envelope.
The sound of the envelope tearing rung through the house and Quinn waited impatiently to see what was inside.
Rachel gasped when she saw the content of the envelope and looked at Quinn.
"What? What is it?"
"Quinn..."
Quinn steeled herself and took the envelope from Rachel's outstretched hand. She took a quick look at the pictures inside before dropping them. She unlocked the front door and stepped outside but, as she expected, there was no one in sight. "Motherfucker," she said under her breath and she went back inside. After locking the door, she leaned against it and regarded Rachel.
The smaller girl looked somewhere between furious and frightened and Quinn quickly closed the gap between them and wrapped Rachel up in her arms.
"I feel dirty," Rachel mumbled against Quinn's shoulder.
Quinn sighed. She hadn't taken the time to study the pictures in detail but what she did see made her skin crawl. Someone had been watching them all day, it appeared. There were five pictures in total, five different pictures of them having sex. They all focused on Rachel and Quinn knew Finn was behind this but once again, there was no proof.
"We have to call the police," Quinn said, reluctantly. She didn't want anyone to see those pictures but her main concern was Rachel's safety.
Rachel buried her face against Quinn's neck and clung to her. Quinn tightened her hold. "Do you think they were inside?" Rachel asked after a while.
"I don't know, Rachel."
Rachel pulled back and picked up the pictures from where Quinn had dropped them. She looked at them and then at Quinn. She held out a picture of herself sitting on her desk with Quinn kneeling between her legs. "This was taken from the hallway."
Quinn studied the picture and felt bile rise in her throat. This was insane. Neither of them had noticed anything, they were too wrapped up in each other to realise that there was someone standing just a few feet away, taking pictures.
After having studied the rest of the pictures it was overly clear that someone had been inside the house, watching them, all day long. Rachel no longer felt safe in her own home and Quinn decided to take Rachel home with her. She was sure that Finn had no idea where she lived and it eased her mind. She hadn't told her girlfriend about her suspicions and she would keep them to herself for the time being, or until she found something to prove that Finn was stalking Rachel.
They did call the police and reported the incident. Rachel showed them the first picture, the one of the two of them sleeping, which she had brought at Quinn's insistence and then one of the five pictures they had received that night. They didn't think it was necessary to show all five and the one they chose at least showed them covered by the duvet on Rachel's bed.
The woman who responded to the call, Jamie, and her partner, Rory, told them that they'd go check out the house and see if they could find any footprints or signs of breaking and entering. Jamie also gave both girls her card with her mobile phone number in case the stalker was back.
They both felt more at ease after that and managed to get some sleep.
The next morning they had to deal with Judy, who was extremely angry that Quinn hadn't thought of waking her up that night.
"Mom... There was no point in you being there since everything happened at Rachel's house, not ours."
"I know that, Quinn, but you're my daughter and Rachel might as well be my daughter and I can't believe you haven't told me about this!"
"Judy, I assure you that it wasn't Quinn's intention not to involve you," Rachel said quickly. "But last night was, it was hectic and –"
"It's alright, I understand, but from now on I want both of you to tell me when something is going on, okay?" Judy asked, smiling kindly at her daughter and her daughter's girlfriend. They both nodded solemnly. "Good. I'll go make breakfast and then I expect you to tell me about this."
Quinn grumbled as Rachel nodded again. Once Judy was in the kitchen they snuggled up on the couch.
"Quinn?"
"Hm?"
"Do you think Finn is behind this?"
"Honestly?" Rachel nodded. "Yeah, I do. I know you don't believe me but there's just something about that guy that screams stalker. Plus, all of the photo's focus on you rather than me and you know Finn has a thing for you."
"Yes, but that doesn't mean he's capable of this," Rachel argued. Quinn knew it was pointless, that Rachel would defend Finn, and she sighed wearily.
"I wish you'd believe me," she said softly. "At least promise me you'll be careful around him?"
Rachel felt bad but she just couldn't believe that Finn would do this to her. Yes, she noticed that he is perhaps a bit more obsessed with Rachel than is normal but stalking someone is an entirely different thing. "Of course, Quinn," she said and placed a gentle kiss on Quinn's lips.
Judy informed them that breakfast was ready and they got up to join her in at the kitchen table. Quinn looked dejected while eating her eggs and bacon and Rachel mentally beat herself up for not believing her girlfriend. She was going to start paying attention to Finn's behaviour from now on before it cost her the love of her life.