"You wouldn't know."

"Hm?"

"From looking at her, you wouldn't know."

"That she's a girl or, what Quinn?"

Quinn scoffed and shook her head, "You wouldn't know that she's two seconds away from shooting up the school and three seconds away from hurling herself off of a cliff."

Santana took a swig of her [lunch] water bottle and shrugged, "I don't see why you've taken such an interest in Berry."

Quinn tore her gaze away from where Rachel and Jesse were sitting together enjoying lunch and raised her eyebrow, "Me? I'm not the one who gave her my Cheerio's jacket after hopping off of my white horse to save her."

Santana glared daggers at Quinn before scanning the cafeteria for Brittany. Not seeing her, Santana's eyebrows etched a deeper frown onto her face as she mumbled, "Yeah, I need to knock that shit off…" She trailed off, sighing, "People are going to think we're dating now or something. My reputation is already tarnished enough as it is by sitting with you again."

Quinn rolled her eyes, "I never said you had to. Where is Brittany, by the way?" Quinn asked, dragging her straw around her lunch tray.

"I have no freaking idea. I've been too busy trying to keep tabs on Empire State building."

"Why don't you just let him talk to her? It's not like he's going to hit her again, and even if he loses his cool, she has Jessie now," Quinn said with a poorly disguised half snarl.

Santana set down her water bottle and followed Quinn's gaze to Rachel. "Why are you so like, indifferent to this situation now? God, I swear you are like the biggest damn bipolar teenager in this school. Get it? Biggest, Preggo," Santana chuckled.

Quinn ignored her. "I cared about her when no one else seemed to, I helped her as best as I could. It's clear that she's moved on from the whole ordeal, so she and I no longer need to affiliate."

Santana smirked, "And she handed you your ass the other day in Brit's house."

"And she handed me my ass the other day, yeah," Quinn reiterated calmly, "I think the whole thing has just blown over. It's done."

Santana glared at Rachel before turning back to Quinn, "Have you noticed that she hasn't smiled with her teeth in like, a month?"

Quinn nodded, "Yeah, so what?"

A smug look. "I was just seeing if you noticed."

"What the hell are you implying, Lopez?"

Santana rolled her eyes, "Oh calm your tits, I'm not interested enough in you to care about who you have the hots for or who you don't."

Quinn's chest heaved in rage as she -somehow, completely keeping her composure - slammed her straw, and the palm of her hand, onto the cafeteria table. She was always so good at keeping her composure in public; she was sure as hell not about to let Santana crack that. Santana merely raised an eyebrow at the now, incredibly flustered, blonde.

"I so knew it!" Santana yelled, pointing a finger at Quinn, "I so knew it. Oh my God you have the hots for Rachel fucking Berry!"

"Shut the hell up!" Quinn hissed, fury and panic glazing her eyes as she scanned the cafeteria. Her eyes darted to Rachel, who was now looking over at Quinn and Santana with raised eyebrows. Quinn made sure that Rachel saw her glare before turning back to a smug looking Santana, "Keep your mouth shut. I do not have the hots for beat down. I stepped up in order to make everyone else step up, okay? That's what we do in glee. We pull for each other in glee and only when we need to. Then we forget it ever happened. But that doesn't mean that I like Rachel, not by a long shot."

Santana's face stayed straight, "So, you wouldn't mind if I hooked up with her?"

Quinn had been in the process of standing up and leaving Santana high and dry at the table. She stopped. "Excuse me?" she asked, her back still to Santana.

Santana, of course, had ulterior motives, "What? You are the one who calls me home wrecker. Brittany wouldn't care, she wouldn't even have to know. Would it bug you?"

Quinn faced Santana but still stood, "And what about Jesse?"

Santana smirked, for the upteenth time, "Jesse is irrelevant. There's a reason man-hands still has my jacket, you know."

Quinn shot a gaze back over to where Rachel was sitting with Jesse. Rachel still had her eyes on Quinn with a worried expression playing across her features. Why should I care? She offered me an olive branch like, twice. I didn't take it. I don't want her friendship. I only stepped up because she needed help, and… damn, why does she look at me like that? Quinn wondered, keeping Rachel's gaze. Jesse was talking animatedly to Rachel, complete with hand gestures and Oh God, male hair flips. Rachel was nodding in all of the right places but her eyes remained on Quinn's from across the lunchroom.

"Quinn, I know I'm a bitch 125% of the time," Santana said seriously, standing up across the table from Quinn (who, much to Quinn's embarrassment, realized she was still standing), "so I'm going to say this once, and if you miss it then tough shit, I'll never say it again and I'll poison your bacon if you tell anyone I said this." Quinn reluctantly tore her gaze from Rachel's eyes - pissed at herself for actually keeping eye contact with the brunette for so long - and scanned a different set of brown eyes. "Everyone in this damn school thinks that something is going on between me and Brittany. It's not true." Quinn's eyebrow shot up. "It's not, okay? We hooked up, we hooked up a few times but we… look, she's Brittany, you know? She doesn't get… well she doesn't get "serious" because she likes making out with everyone. And I don't have it in me to tell her, well… ask her, to not do that."

Santana's voice lowered even more and Quinn was grateful that she had laid her hands on the table between them and leaned towards the blonde as she continued. "I wish I could ask her to stop. I wish the fucking rumors were true. Yeah, Brittany and me have something special or whatever. But it's all bullshit because she doesn't get it. Hooking up isn't fucking good enough when it comes to her. I just don't have the guts to do anything about it yet, because like, I'm the head bitch now and I'm not giving that up yet. You're not the head bitch anymore, though. And to be honest, I never thought you and Puck were good together. So what in the hell do you have to lose? Stop living in your dumb ass world of denial. Berry isn't as grotesque as I thought she was. I mean, she's up there with those croc shoes and like, sweater vests on the cringe worthy scale. But you've shown more compassion to her than I've ever seen you show to anyone else. And maybe Finn slapped the 'annoying' out of her. All I know is that she looks at you like a friggan puppy. If you won't do something about it, I will," Santana finished.

Quinn's hazel eyes were wide as she bit her lip. Santana swept her glare around the cafeteria before straightening up and rolling her eyes, "Stop looking so shocked. I have a heart, you know."

Quinn shook her head and breathed out, "Honestly, I didn't know. I…" She trailed off and glanced back at Rachel, who was doing a horrible job of avoiding Quinn's eyes while chewing on a cookie. "I'm not grossed out by her anymore. When she yelled at me the other day… she was right. I'm worse than a coward is. I haven't let myself feel anything towards her, except when I'm with her, and then things just leak out. It's disgusting. I'm not gay, you know," Quinn whispered vehemently to Santana. But when she looked back, Santana wasn't there. Quinn glared at the spot where her friend had just been and wondered how long have I been standing here talking to myself? She shook her head and slung her backpack over her shoulder. She cast one more look to Rachel, who was staring hard at something that Jesse was quickly scribbling into some notebook. "I'm not gay," she whispered again before walking out of the cafeteria.

Rachel shut her locker and jumped, expecting to see Jesse there - seeing as how that's usually where he popped up - but instead, saw Quinn. "Quinn… Hi, can I help you with something?"

Quinn stared hard at Rachel and into Rachel's eyes for a few moments before she opened her mouth. Then closed it. She rolled her eyes, more out of frustration with herself than the confused girl standing inches away. "Are you okay?"

Rachel squinted in confusion, "I'm feeling rather adequate today Quinn. How are you…? Did you need my assistance with something?"

Quinn took a breath in; do not insult her out of defense. Do not be an idiot. Just do this. "I just wanted to talk to you. You know, see how you were holding up. It wasn't that long ago that…well," she gestured to Rachel's face, "Finn knocked you down a few pegs."

Rachel winced when Quinn's hand got too close to her face, "I'm all right, Quinn. It was merely a dimness in the light that is my life." Quinn rolled her eyes. "I was hoping to talk to you again, however…"

Quinn tilted her head a little, "Why? You don't think we're friends now, do you Berry?"

Rachel huffed and rolled her eyes and Quinn glared, "No, Quinn I do not think that we are friends. I did want to apologize for the other day though at Brittany's house. While I feel like I was right in what I said, I was wrong in how I delivered it. I shouldn't have gotten in your face like I did and I can assure you my voice was hoarse for the rest of the day because I yelled far too loudly. So I hope you can forgive me."

Quinn rolled her head on her neck and briefly glanced around the hall. It was after school, but you never knew who was lurking, like that creepy Jacob kid. "I don't forgive you." Rachel sighed, expecting a fight. "Only because you don't have a reason to apologize. You were right. Do you… do you remember what Finn said in the bathroom that one time? When he stormed in like an imbecile?"

Rachel shifted on her feet and thought for a second, "Oh, when he asked why you and Santana suddenly cared about me?"

Quinn nodded, leaning against the lockers and wrapping her hands around her stomach, "He said that, along with the stupid yet accurate comment about how we've hurt you just as much as he has. That's true. I'll admit I'm still a pretty big bitch now." Rachel nodded. "But I've gotten better. Having a little human in you sort of changes your perspective on life. Today Santana told me that she wasn't willing to take a risk for something she loves because she doesn't want to lose her title as head bitch of the school. That was me…" She trailed off. She met Rachel's eyes again and was surprised to see the shorter girl had all of her attention trained on Quinn. "I'm sorry," Quinn said, eyebrows raised and jaw clenched, "Finn was right. I'm sure every insult felt worse than a slap in the face and every slushy ten times worse. I don't like you; I don't want to be friends. But I'll admit, when you went down from Finn's hand, I felt it. I'll repeat," she said, taking a breath and nodding her head, "I don't like you. But I'm human, so I feel compassion. What you said to me in Brittany's room and what Finn said to me in the bathroom just, hurt. I'm tired of hurting people. Even you. Kind of."

Rachel watched Quinn's eyes the entire time; she must be lying. This must be some trick. It wasn't a trick though. Rachel felt oddly comforted by knowing that Quinn was just being level with her, making a point to amend her mistakes. Rachel nodded, seeing as how she was obviously the bigger person, she didn't hesitate to say "Forgiven. It doesn't mean I like you either, although I wouldn't mind having a friend in you. If you can manage an apology, I can certainly be a big enough person to manage to forgive you. Thank you for apologizing Quinn."

Quinn smiled, a real smile, "Well, glad that's settled. I'm just gonna go."

Rachel nodded, plastering one of her small, trademark, hurt smiles on her face, "Of course, wouldn't want anyone thinking we're friends, after all," she said, complimenting her fake smile with an even sadder fake laugh.

Quinn chuckled, "Yeah, exactly. Later, Berry." She turned and took five whole steps because five is an okay amount. Five means I made an effort to leave but because I'm such an awesome person that I decided to be nice. Yeah, five is a good number. She turned back to Rachel, "RuPaul."

Rachel looked up from stuffing her books in her bag, "Quinn?"

There were things Quinn Fabray wanted to know about Rachel. She wanted to hear about the incident with Finn. She wanted to know how Rachel felt now. She wanted to know what the hell was up with Jessie. She wanted to know why Rachel wouldn't smile with her teeth anymore. Though Quinn couldn't admit it to herself without coming up with clever excuses, she couldn't hold off on asking anymore. "I've been craving a bacon cheeseburger like, really bad. So I was going to sneak out of Brittany's tonight and go some place for dinner. Do you want to like, I don't know, meet me there? So we can hang out and maybe you could have something better than the take-out you apparently eat constantly." Oh, God. What am I doing? This is horrible. This is awful. She's going to think I want to be friends instead of just wanting to get information out of her. I'm curious; I'm a curious girl. I'm learning about the world. I just want to ask questions. Why couldn't I have just asked here? Oh, God she's going to-

"Sure, Quinn," Rachel said in a quiet voice.

"Really?"

"While I hope this isn't some elaborate prank you're planning to pull on me that will inevitably end in me sobbing on a street corner, I'm curious as to why you want to attend dinner with me. At the moment, my curiosity outweighs my fear. Besides, Jessie already had plans tonight and I don't really like being alone anymore, even though I usually am," she mumbled, more to herself than to Quinn. She shook herself out of her thoughts when she saw Quinn's raised eyebrows, "Moreover, yes Quinn. I'll hang out with you for dinner tonight. Where at?"

Quinn shrugged, "Some diner, somewhere. I don't know yet. Preferably some place that isn't crowded, seeing as how I don't want anyone to know I'm hanging with you."

"You make this offer so hard to turn down. I don't have a ride."

"Can't you take a bus?"

"Maybe this isn't a good idea."

"Fine. You are such a burden. I'll pick you up."

"You have your car?"

"Puck hotwired my car one night and got it back to me and Kurt's dad made a copy of the key."

"I don't know if I feel comfortable riding in a stolen car, with you no less."

"That's a yes, right?"

"I already said yes."

"You said your curiosity outweighed your fear."

"What time, Quinn?" Rachel sighed.

"Be ready by seven."

Quinn paced Brittany's guest bedroom in a blue baby doll dress. Her flats slapped the floor over and over again, inciting an already pissed off Santana next door.

"Are you trying to make the baby fall out or something? Why the hell are you pacing so much? You're confusing Brittany."

Quinn scowled at Santana, "I'm just nervous, okay? I did something really freaking dumb today and it's all your fault."

Santana leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed, "My fault?"

Quinn sat down on her temporary bed, "I confronted Rachel after school. I apologized for being such a bitch to her over the years. I told her I didn't want to be friends and that I didn't like her. Then I invited her out to dinner since I was going to sneak out anyway."

Santana's face stayed serious, "If you're lucky maybe she'll let you kiss her good night. If you get past second base, lemme know if she really is a guy or not."

"This is not funny! What the hell am I doing with my life? I only wanted to ask her questions, there's stuff I want to know. But I ended up asking her to dinner for God's sake! Do you know of any restaurants that are like, abandoned? I don't want to be seen with her."

"You're quite a catch, Preggo. You'll make a great date for her."

"This is not a date!" Quinn practically screamed, "This is your fault anyway! I wouldn't even be talking to her if it weren't for your lapse of judgment today in the cafeteria."

Santana pushed away from the doorframe and shot Quinn a disgusted look, "I don't know what the hell you're talking about. I sat with Brittany at lunch. Stop pacing or I'll talk Brittany into kicking you out." With that, Santana stormed out of the room, leaving a fuming Quinn.

"Bitch." She turned to her open laptop that was lying in her bed and pulled up Google. She typed in secluded cheap diners Lima, OH. Her brow furrowed at the words in the search bar. She stopped looking at the words and stared past the screen. Images of Rachel focusing completely on Quinn when she spoke flashed through her head. She thought about how they locked eyes in the cafeteria. She thought about how Jessie was ignoring her because he was too focused on himself and his hair. She thought about that scar under her eye "Maybe she deserves something a little better than crap food… Besides, the more comfortable she is, the easier she'll answer my questions."

She deleted her first search and typed nice affordable restaurants Lima, OH. I'll just splurge a little with my money that Puck stole for me from my room…

The questions about the incident had been plaguing her since the day it happened. She would have never concerned herself with anything to do with man hands before. But everything was different now, and she couldn't deny that her curiosity as to what the hell was wrong with this girl had reached the point where she couldn't deny them anymore. She couldn't push them down and she couldn't deny that maybe, maybe that bathroom had been the gate to the Twilight Zone that one day. Maybe she did care if Rachel Berry lived or died.

Most importantly, Quinn thought to herself, taking calming breaths as she sat in her car in the Berry's driveway, I need to figure out how she knew the streusel thing. And then I need to lie and make her think it was Brittany who did it. Quinn arranged her questions for Rachel in her head and her plans for how to get the diva to spill her guts to Quinn. Ultimately, I can figure out why she's dating Jesse St. Idiot. Once I know that, I can tell the glee club.

Yes! Quinn clapped her hands together in victory, that's why I'm doing this. To get inside Rachel's head to see if Jesse is legit or not. Then I'll report back to the club. Perfect. Quinn had her plan set by the time she saw Rachel's silhouette emerge from the house and run towards her car. She only knew it was Rachel because she had first thought it was a rogue, small shrub taking off into the night.

Rachel stopped at the passenger door and peered inside the car. After a minute, Quinn frustratingly gestured to open the door and so Rachel did. "Sorry Quinn, I was just making sure it was you and not a potential kidnapper since it is sort of dark-"

"Okay, well it's me. So get in."

Rachel hesitantly got in and pulled on her seatbelt. She didn't ask where they were going.

As they drove, Quinn glanced over at Rachel, "So, you're really just going to trust me on this?"

Rachel shrugged, "Why not? If your offer is sincere then I get to spend the night out with someone who was nice to me when I needed them to be. If not… then… well, what's the worst you could do to me that you haven't already done?"

Quinn smirked, "Well… I could list some things."

"Please don't. I'm already scared enough."

Quinn's face contorted into a dumbfounded expression, "Scared? Why did you get into the car if you're so scared?"

"I told you, what's the worst you could do? It's not like I have much left to lose."

"You have no sense of self-preservation."

"I suppose not."

There was silence before Quinn pulled into the parking lot of a fairly nice restaurant. "I've been here once," Rachel commented as Quinn parked the car, "for my thirteenth birthday we came here."

"Fascinating," Quinn mumbled as she gazed out the side window, maneuvering her car into a spot. She did file that thought away, however, for future references or, blackmail or something. She shut down the engine as Rachel pulled off her seatbelt. "Ready?"

Rachel smiled, "Sure. Let's go, I'm hungry."

As they walked to the door, Quinn scanned the parking lot. Rachel, walking beside the blonde but trying to keep her space, caught her and laughed hollowly, "I don't think anyone we know will be here."

Quinn's eyes snapped to Rachel, "Just making sure. I don't want anyone to-"

"Think that we're friends."

"Right."

"You're so adamant about not having anyone think we're friends, which is obviously because you're horrified by the idea of us being friends, but I just can't understand why you're hanging out with me."

Quinn shrugged, "I'm making an effort. I didn't have anything else to do and I figured maybe this could be part of the apology."

"I was wondering if I could pay for your dinner, Quinn."

Quinn's hand paused as it reached for the door to the restaurant, "Why? This isn't a date, you know."

Rachel's eyebrows shot up, "What? No, I didn't think it was a date, Quinn. I wanted to do it as a thank you, and because I know you aren't exactly rolling in money, what with the doctors bills and-"

"Yeah, I get it. I'm broke," Quinn snapped, "What the hell are you thanking me for though?"

Rachel squirmed in her jeans and picked at her argyle sweater, "For helping me after Finn hit me. I mean, everyone seems to forget that that was the same day I spilled the beans to Finn about the baby… and you turned around and helped me like you actually car-"

"I get it. You don't need to thank me for that, I just felt bad for you." Quinn froze, an alarm going off in her head shouted at her that you just said the absolute worst thing ever, you idiot.

"Felt bad for me," Rachel whispered, "that's what I thought was going on when the entire glee club shadowed me for a week to make sure I was okay. You told me I was wrong when I said you weren't taking care of me because you felt bad for me. I knew I was right," she finished quietly.

Quinn was at a loss. She'd never been in this position with Rachel, or anyone before. She averted her eyes, turning her head left and right while fumbling with her purse strap. "Rachel… look, we did that because we cared about you. The glee club, that is. They all care about you. I didn't mean to say that, I don't think. I don't know, it hurt you right? This should be my specialty. I just don't know what-"

"I'm hungry. Can we just go in?"

Quinn breathed out, relief and fury - fury at herself and at Rachel for making her feel this way - and nodded, "Yeah, I really need that damn cheeseburger right about now."

Rachel held the door open for Quinn.