Rachel:

Rachel suddenly opened her eyes, the sudden silence disturbing her. She gazed sleepily around the room. The sudden silence was because Finn had suddenly stopped snoring. Most of the glee club was spread around the room. Matt was spread out on the larger couch, with Puck curled up on the smaller one. Tina and Kurt each had a chair, with Kurt practically making out with his. The rest of the gleeks were sleeping on the floor or in the two spare rooms in Quinn's house. Artie took the spare room on the ground floor, with Brittany and Santana taking the upstairs one (after their passion got WAY too much for the rest of the glee club to handle, Quinn sent them both upstairs).

Rachel was on one side of the room, neatly tucked inside her sleeping bag next to Mike. Quinn, opting to sleep downstairs after ordering Brittany and Santana up, was on the other side of the room, next to Mercedes.

Rachel stared at Quinn while she slept.

She looked peaceful, more peaceful than Rachel had ever seen her look when awake. Her long blonde hair tumbled around her shoulders like waves washing over a shore. Her face was so calm, impossible to read. She looked so… Childlike, so innocent. Like the kid who still thought Santa was still real when all their friends had stopped believing, like all the pains in the world of grown-ups could never reach her, like she was surrounded by a protective barrier that instantly dissolved the second she opened her eyes. She looked… beautiful.

Rachel didn't know how long she had been watching her, but without warning, Quinn opened her eyes.

In was so sudden, it was like she wasn't even asleep, merely lying there with her eyes closed. Rachel actually jumped a bit, and then quickly looked away.

Quinn sat up and gazed around the room. She spotted Rachel sitting up and immediately opened her mouth, then quickly shut it before any words could escape, not wanting to wake anyone up.

Quinn gently bit her bottom lip, a well-known habit that Rachel knew she did when nervous or thinking. A habit that Rachel had always thought was kind of cute, even before tonight.

Rachel looked at Quinn expectantly. "Please Quinn, talk to me" was what she thought.

Quinn stopped biting her lip and nodded at the door. Rachel got the message straight away; 'follow me'.

Quinn got up and left the room, a few seconds later, so did Rachel, being careful not to step on a passed out Mike.

When Rachel got into the hallway she saw Quinn waiting for her at the top of the stairs and silently followed her up. On the landing they crept past the spare room, Rachel glanced in as they did. Santana and Brittany were curled up together, fast asleep, with Brittany's head on Santana's chest and her arm draped over her waist. Rachel felt a weird, fuzzy warmth watching them; it was mixed with the feeling of jealousy. She ignored it and followed Quinn into her bedroom.

Quinn:

Once they were both inside her bedroom Quinn shut the door. She took a deep breath as she turned to face Rachel. "Now what?" Was all she could think.

Rachel was sitting on her bed, calm, not about to judge anyone, accepting, exactly the person that Quinn needed to talk to right now.

Quinn sighed and slowly sat down on the bed next to Rachel, making sure she left a gap between them.

She thought about how to act. Serious would have been best, and she was sure that Rachel would respect her a lot more for it. But, right this second, she just couldn't be serious.

"Well… this is a little awkward." She forced a nervous laugh.

Rachel glanced up and gave her a brief, small smile. "Quinn, I appreciate you trying to decrease the tension… but we need to talk…" Rachel looked back down. "… About the kiss."

Quinn had no idea where to begin.

In her dreams she had thought over telling Rachel about her feelings a thousand times. The most common was through… love, making love. After these dreams, more often than not, Quinn had to change her pyjamas, from lack of… dryness. Other dreams involved her telling Rachel through poetry, even song. But those were just dreams.

Maybe if Quinn had her iPod with her, and if both she and Rachel were in a mood to joke around she would have played Katy Perry's 'I kissed a girl'… it would have made things so much easier. But that was not the case.

In the end, Quinn decided to go for the direct approach.

"Rachel… I, I… I love you."