Author's Note: Thank you for your reviews and alerts. I was really motivated. This is probably the longest chapter so far.
When I wrote this, I was listening to Ai Se Eu Te Pego by Michel Teló on repeat. It's a great song – I loved it even before I translated it's lyrics into a language I can actually understand
Count To Ten
Chapter 10
Monday still…
Of course, hoping that her dads wouldn't find out about the incident had been a little too optimistic. The school had called and informed them, though, clearly, details had been conveniently left out. She wasn't sure how the principal had come to know about the day's events, anyway. As far as she knew, no teacher had been present for what had happened. It was a miracle in itself and spoke of carelessness and negligence, but it was true. How the principle had explained the absence of any and all authority figures during the happenings, Rachel didn't know. Then again, that might be why his recount had been sketchy at best.
Her best guess was that her friends had spilled the beans to Mr. Schue or maybe Coach Sylvester had found out through her spies. At any rate, her dads had been informed about her unfortunate "injury" and Grant's subsequent suspension before she'd even made it home from school. Naturally, they'd bombarded her with questions as soon as she set foot into the house. That had been fun. Especially because Quinn had been right behind her, eyes to the ground and mouth set in a firm line, stopping dead in her tracks at sound of the two Berry men falling over themselves to make sure their daughter was fine.
Standing in the doorway, Rachel couldn't help but roll her eyes at the scene. Her dads were still talking, alternating between concerned questions and indignant comments about the phone-call they had received; giving her enough pointers on what exactly they knew to think up a satisfying explanation for when they finally stopped crowding her.
Quinn was still standing behind her and still not talking. In fact, she had not spoken a single word since the impromptu Glee meeting except for "let's get you home" and "are you cold?". Rachel had decided to simply follow her lead. She'd been escorted out of school, sat down in Quinn's car and driven home. Parking in front of her house, Quinn had been quick to open the car door for her and then nodded in the general direction of Rachel's home. Rachel had simply grabbed her stuff and headed for the door, Quinn following closely behind.
It wasn't like Rachel didn't appreciate the silent, almost stoic comfort the blonde offered, and she knew that Quinn had always been more pensive than talkative, but this was bordering on ridiculous. Quinn would have to talk soon, Rachel knew. Her dads would soon calm down enough to realize her presence and she'd have to at least offer a greeting.
As if on cue, her daddy stopped himself in the middle of his sentence and eyed Quinn. "Who's that?"
When Quinn didn't show any signs of introducing herself – or doing anything really, other than just standing there, Rachel sighed. "Quinn", she answered. "From Glee."
"Hi", Quinn said, but whatever else she might've added was stuck in her throat when Rachel's dads just shrugged confused. There was no spark of recognition at the introduction. No welcoming smile or disapproving frown. No sign whatsoever that Rachel had ever spoken of her to her dads. Quinn didn't know what to make of this. She supposed she should be relieved – while Rachel apparently hadn't told them about her new good friend, she had evidently never confessed about the bitch she'd been, either.
"Rachel, we should talk-", the bigger of the two men – Leroy or Hiram? – started, but Rachel waved him off.
"I made the mistake of getting involved in a fight that had absolutely nothing to do with me. I should've just stayed out of it. It was an accident. Wrong place, wrong time. I don't even know what they were fighting about – probably something childish. You know those jocks. My face was simply collateral damage."
Quinn wanted to object, but was shocked back into silence when Hiram and Leroy simply nodded, accepting the explanation. "The school told us Grant would be dealt with. We frown upon using violence, and we're not happy with what happened, but we understand things sometimes spiral out of control. Just try to stay away from fights that don't concern you, okay? We worry."
That was it? Quinn didn't want to believe it.
"Thank you for bringing her home, Quinn", one of the Mr. Berrys said. Quinn took it for the dismissal it was. But really…that was it?
"She's staying for dinner", Rachel declared, not bothering to stay around for anything her dads or Quinn might have to say on that matter. She was already halfway up the stairs to her room before the invitation even registered with Quinn.
"Of course", dad number one said.
"We eat at six", dad number two added.
"Are you coming?", Rachel asked from the top of the stairs.
Quite obviously, that was it.
"Do you want to tell me what that was about?", Quinn demanded, as soon as the door to Rachel's room closed behind them.
"You don't have to stay if you-"
"I'm not talking about that. I want to stay. I don't think I'm ready to leave you alone just yet." It was a little more honesty than she was usually comfortable with, but the smile on the diva's face more than made up for it. "I was talking about your dads. They don't know me, do they?"
Rachel looked down, not liking the feeling of doing something that hurt the blonde. "I'm sorry, Quinn, if you feel unimportant to me because I've never told my dads about you, but it's-"
"It's not that either", Quinn interrupted. "I know I'm not unimportant to you. I just don't get how they can be so completely clueless about what's been going on at school."
"They're not clueless", Rachel disagreed.
"They are", Quinn said. She saw it clearly now: Rachel had never told them how bad things at school were for her. She had never told them about the bullying and the slushies and all the other stuff people did to her. Because of that, her dads had bought into the "wrong place, wrong time" explanation for the red mark that was still visible on their daughter's face. Why else wouldn't they ask for more details? It was either that, or... "They're either clueless or they don't care. Which one is it?"
"I'm going to have to go with clueless, then", Rachel sighed. "They're good parents, Quinn. Loving and protective. Sometimes overly so. But they're also busy. They've never been to any of our competitions, haven't you noticed?"
"You feel neglected", Quinn surmised.
"No", Rachel shook her head. "They're there for me. They just didn't have too many opportunities to see me interact with my peers. There's a difference. It's what always made it so easy to make them believe everything was going well. I have a loving, trusting, close relationship with my parents, Quinn. I know they sometimes feel bad for not being able to be as involved in my life as they'd like to be. And I don't complain about it, because I want to protect them."
"So you lie to them", the blonde stated, surprised she had never thought about that before. Thinking back, it was more than strange that Rachel's dads had never been to the school to talk about the bullying of their daughter.
"I may be guilty of omission, but I don't lie to them. I don't need to. As I said, they rarely ever see me interact with anyone from school. And it's not like I come home crying every day because someone called me names or threw an ice cold beverage in my face. I am able to handle the ridicule, you know? "
Quinn did know that. Rachel was strong, stronger than most people gave her credit for. What Quinn hadn't known, however, was that Rachel didn't even have her parents to back her up. Surely they would've helped her if she'd just told them? Didn't they see the difficulties their daughter was going through? "You lied to them about what happened today."
Rachel heaved another sigh and sat down on her bed, running a hand through her hair. "Well, it's the first time things got that out of hand."
Sitting down next to the object of her affections, Quinn tried a different route. "I just don't think it's right that they just let you drop the subject that quickly. I would've thought they'd be busy suing the school by now."
"Oh, I'm sure they're thinking about that", Rachel smiled. "They're probably calling around for bodyguards for me right now."
"Didn't look that way", Quinn frowned, thinking that was actually a great idea and mentally putting together the message she would send Santana later.
Rachel laid down on her bed, her feet dangling over the edge. "That's because me coming home like that took them by surprise."
"With a red handprint on your face?", Quinn asked, studying the diva's face closely for any other injuries or a worsening of the one that already existed.
A small snort escaped the brunette. "With you", she corrected.
Oh. "Oh."
"You said yourself that they've never heard of you before. Well, not never. I'm positive I mentioned you in some stories about Glee. They just didn't expect you to be the one to bring me home. Kurt, yes. Finn, maybe. Mercedes, possibly, but they know that we go from friends to enemies fairly quickly; enemies back to friends usually takes a bit longer. But you? Even I wouldn't have expected that, so dad and daddy were pretty much at a loss."
"You didn't expect me to be here for you?" For some reason, the thought made her stomach churn.
Lifting herself up on her elbows, Rachel looked Quinn straight in the eyes. "Not before, no. Now though, it seems like the most natural thing."
"Why is that?" It was nothing more than a whisper, but in Rachel's soundproofed and otherwise silent room, it sounded so much louder.
"You tell me", the diva challenged.
"I…" How could she answer that without giving too much away?
"It didn't escape my attention that you've held back. Not while you were beating Grant, because that was…impressive…but after that. I don't want you to have to hold back with me."
"Yes, well, I didn't think an outburst would help."
"I guess I was doing enough of that for everyone."
The self-deprecating tone didn't escape Quinn's notice. "I would've done a lot more", she confessed. "I was so unbelievably angry. I know from experience that I tend to do and say stupid things when I'm that angry, so I…"
"Held back", Rachel finished.
"Yeah. And I can't just hold parts of me back, so I just closed off completely." She wasn't proud of it, but it had probably been for the best. And Rachel didn't judge her for it, right?
"What exactly made you so angry?", the brunette asked softly.
Quinn raised both eyebrows at the question. "How about the fact that stupid fucker sl-"
"Let's not have that conversation again", Rachel cut her off, letting herself fall back on the bed again and covering her face with her hands.
"Sorry", Quinn apologized. She shifted on the bed to be able to lie down, too, and still face the other girl. Rachel let her hands fall to her sides and turned to Quinn.
"It's okay. Please don't take this the wrong way, but…I'm not the only one you've hurt in the past. Maybe not even the one you've hurt most. As I said earlier, we've all done our fair share of hurting each other. You've asked my forgiveness, and I see you're trying to prove yourself to me. I also see that you've been trying to make amends with other Glee kids for a while now. But you haven't sung any of them a song. And, dare I say, you haven't been that open with any of them, either."
Quinn suspected she knew where this was going. "You want to know why you're special."
"I'm not-"
"You are. I care about you more. I guess you have your own category", Quinn admitted, using the same words Rachel had the week before.
"You hated me", Rachel pointed out.
"Maybe. Or maybe I was confusing what I really feel for you with hate. You know, the fine line?" This honesty thing would really get her into trouble.
Rachel laughed. "I think that saying only applies when you talk about love, Quinn."
There. Trouble.
"Quinn?"
Rachel was still laughing, but it sounded unsure.
"Quinn?"
The blonde still didn't reply, instead burying her face in the covers of the bed. Rachel stopped laughing. "You cannot be serious."
Quinn didn't lift her head and didn't answer.
"You're joking, right?"
Quinn decided that if she was already in trouble because she couldn't keep her mouth shut, she was going to make the most of it. "Yeah, because me having more than friendly feelings towards you is so laughable, right?"
Yes, Rachel wanted to say. They were talking about Quinn Fabray, after all. But when she thought about it…they were talking about Quinn Fabray. It would be so typical if Quinn really felt something for her and mistook it for intense dislike all these years. "No, I guess not", she finally answered. "But I wouldn't call it love, either."
Feeling the need to save at least some of her dignity, Quinn defended herself. "I never said it was."
"You were implying it. And I'm telling you right now that I don't doubt your feelings. I just doubt you know exactly what they are."
That made her abandon the covers and look up. "I think I know when I'm crushing on someone, Rachel."
"But you didn't. Not until recently, anyway. You can correct me if I'm wrong."
"You're not wrong", Quinn acknowledged reluctantly.
"And you used the word crush. Crushing on someone is not loving them, do we agree?"
"We agree", Quinn forced out.
"You care about me, and I care about you. And last week, before Mr. Schue interrupted us-"
"We almost kissed", Quinn blurted out, thinking that if she just put it bluntly enough, Rachel would stop being so damn rational about her feelings.
"That's what I thought", Rachel nodded. "I wasn't sure if I had just imagined it. But this is new for us. Even friendship is new for us, let alone anything more. And a lot has happened. We have many emotions to sort through from the last week and today. We should concentrate on that for now. We're both not going anywhere, right?"
"How can you be so rational about this? Usually, when someone tells you they like you, you're all…"
"Excited? Passionate? Enthusiastic?"
"Well, yeah. Unless you don't, you know, like the person back."
"It takes two to almost kiss, Quinn", Rachel stated. They both knew it didn't. It could've just as well been an almost kiss because one of them didn't want the kiss to actually happen. But the way Rachel had made her statement gave Quinn hope.
"You said that I don't know what exactly my feelings for you are, and I think you have the same problem. But we do know there's something that we're both feeling. And now you want to be all calm and collected and passive and not do anything about it?"
"What do you want me to do?", Rachel asked, genuinely wanting to know.
"Just…with Finn and Jessie and-"
"Are you worried because I haven't immediately flung myself at you or made matching calendars or combed through my extensive musical collection to find a song for us to sing?"
Quinn shrugged. That was exactly what she was worried about. "To be perfectly honest, I haven't let myself think about that before. But now…you said you cared about me, you implied you liked me and you admitted we almost kissed, so…I guess I'm afraid I was a little too hopeful and we're not actually on the same page."
"You're adorable", Rachel smiled.
At that, Quinn looked almost insulted.
"Really, you are", Rachel insisted. "I think it's too cute for words that you want me to annoy you with stuff like that just because it's how I usually operate when I like someone. You really don't need to worry, though. You don't need to endure this. We are on the same page. I'm just not doing stuff like this because I've learned from past mistakes and I don't want to lose you."
"What do you mean, annoy? And endure?"
"I've been told multiple times that the way I throw myself into a relationship is-"
"Annoying?" She was going to have to hurt a few more people when she back at school, it seemed.
"That was one of the adjectives used, yes."
"Rachel, I wouldn't be enduring anything. That stuff is just you, and you don't annoy me."
Two raised eyebrows were to only reply she got.
"Well, yes, okay, sometimes you do. But I don't want you to change. I like you just fine exactly the way you are."
Rachel's breath hitched. "That's…no one has ever said anything like that to me before."
"It's true. You want to be rational about this? If it makes you feel better, I'm all for rational. But we can also be emotional, Rach. I don't want you to hold back, either."
"How about we do a little bit of both?"
Intrigued, Quinn signaled her to go on.
"Well, we'll take one step after the other. Like level-headed people who do things rationally. But each of those steps will be completely from the heart. Like emotional people who listen to their feelings."
"I like that", Quinn smiled. Leave it to Rachel to be rational about emotions and emotional about rationality.
"I like you", the brunette emphasized.
Quinn's smile grew. "So…would it be okay for me to make the next step?"
"You may", Rachel allowed.
"I more than just like you", she declared, and then she pulled the smaller girl in for a hug. It was an awkward hug, seeing as they were both still lying on the bed, but for Quinn, it was the best hug ever. Definitely up there on the list of things she needed to repeat as often as humanly possible.
"I more than just like you, too", Rachel sighed happily. "Dinner will be ready, soon. Do you…do you maybe want to stay over? We can watch a movie."
"Stay over?", Quinn gulped.
"We have a guest room."
"Oh…yeah…sure. I mean, I'd love to." Who could have known that this disastrous day was going to end in a kind of happiness she hadn't felt for ages?
"Great! I'm going to talk to my dads real quick.", Rachel announced, getting up from the bed. Before she was out the door, she paused. "Quinn?"
"Yes?"
"Tomorrow, in school…do you think things will be strange? Not between us, but, you know, with what happened today?"
"I won't let you out of my sight", Quinn promised.
"I didn't mean to make it sound like I was afraid. I don't need a bodyguard. Something I should probably also tell my dads", Rachel mused. "I'll be back in a minute."
"I'm not taking any chances", Quinn said into the empty room. Taking out her phone, she texted Santana. If anyone wanted to mess with Rachel again, they wouldn't know what hit them.