A/N: Hello! Sorry for the delay in new chapters. I just got home from New York and am in withdrawal at home now. :( I saw lots of shows and I even met Jon Groff on the street outside the Golden Theatre! :O He was very sweet even though my girlfriend and I were kind of falling all over ourselves, lol. Anyway, this is where the story earns its "mature" rating, and probably what you've all been waiting for! Enjoy!
The next day began the last weekend of the show. Quinn had mixed feelings. On one hand, she would be glad to devote more time to her job search, but on the other, she felt that the show had somehow freed her, had helped her take that step over the threshold into this new part of her life. She contemplated this as she waited for the shower. Since she had stayed awake for so long the night before, she had slept in and put herself last in line for the bathroom. Unfortunately, both Paul's girlfriend and Jason's boyfriend had also been staying in the apartment lately, which made for an extremely cramped living situation.
Just as she heard Jason getting into the shower and she was wondering how much hot water would be left for her, his brother Paul came out of his room and sat down next to her on the couch.
"Hey, Quinn, how are you?"
"I'm good, thanks," Quinn looked at him, "and you?" She hadn't really gotten to know him very well despite staying in his apartment. He was usually at his girlfriend's house and Quinn was usually at Rachel's.
"I'm doing well. Listen, I'm going to say this to you because I know Jason never will, but things are getting really crowded around here."
Quinn felt her heart sink and Paul went on. "We want to help you, and I remember how hard it was for Jason when our parents kicked him out. But this apartment is small, and now that Marco and Amanda are here all the time, it's getting tough with the five of us."
"I understand," Quinn said, her mind immediately racing for an alternative person to stay with.
"I'll ask around to see if anyone has some space," Paul was saying, "Thanks for understanding."
When Quinn and Jason got to the theatre that night, Rachel was already warming up at the piano. Jason was in the middle of trying to convince Quinn to stay with him.
"Listen, I know you didn't have any luck finding a job today. I can talk to Paul, and Marco doesn't have to stay with me all the time. I know how hard this is! You can stay with us, I promise it'll be okay," he had been upset when he had found out Paul had asked her to leave, but the last thing Quinn wanted was to be the cause of a fight between the brothers.
"Jason, no offense, but I don't want to live on your couch forever. Paul was just being honest. There's a problem, and you're too polite to ever tell me about it. But it's fine. I want to find somewhere else to live, I just need to find a job."
Rachel's head jerked up, and she looked offended. "You don't have anywhere to stay? Why didn't you tell me about this, Quinn?"
"Rach, Paul and I only spoke earlier today." Quinn didn't like the plans she could see forming in Rachel's mind.
"Why don't you stay at my house? My dads love you, and you could stay in the guest room until you find employment and can get your own apartment!" Rachel's eyes lit up, and Quinn could almost see the spreadsheet schedule of movie musical sing-a-long nights that the shorter girl was inwardly composing. Quinn shook her head.
"No, Rachel, I don't think that's a good idea." Even as Quinn said it, she thought about how nice it would be to have Rachel all to herself all of the time, but the implications of those thoughts reminded her of how complicated that situation could easily become. She shook her head again, even as Rachel opened her mouth to protest.
"I'm only asking you to stay with us, not take up a permanent residence. Besides, where else did you have in mind?" Rachel blinked innocently, but Quinn could see the smirk forming on her lips that meant she knew she had made a good point. Quinn didn't have anywhere to go, but she was sure staying with the Berrys was a bad idea. Neither her stay at Finn's nor Puck's house had ever done anything for her relationship with either of the boys. She suddenly became aware of Jason hovering around behind them and decided she didn't want to have this discussion in front of him.
"I'll think about it, okay?" Quinn said, and before she turned away to start towards backstage, she caught the look of triumph on Rachel's face.
Two days later, Quinn was moving her suitcases into the guest bedroom of the Berry house. It was located upstairs, across the hall from Rachel's room, and was decorated with all of the Broadway posters and framed playbills whose places in the singer's bedroom had been usurped by newer, more popular productions, or else had been gifted to Rachel by someone unfamiliar with her taste in musicals. As Quinn lugged the last of her suitcases into the room, she inspected an autographed playbill from Billy Elliot.
"I appreciated the heartwarming story of that production that cuts so close to my own," Quinn turned to find Rachel standing in the doorway, "But I moved it in here after it won best musical over Next to Normal this year. Out of respect for Alice Ripley."
"Isn't this based on that movie about the little English coal miner's son who wants to be a ballet dancer? How is that close to your story?" Quinn raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"In any case, if you don't like them they can be relocated. I've been petitioning my dads to move some of them into the hall, but any redecoration of the house has to be met with a two-thirds majority approval and I have been continuously voted down. Maybe you can influence one of them. Daddy has taken quite a shine to you. We can bring it up when they get home."
Quinn chuckled and sat down on the blue bedspread. Besides the Broadway paraphernalia, the room had a light blue geometric motif that was pleasantly androgynous. It was such a contrast from her pink and white lace bedroom at home that it was comforting in its own way. She smiled at Rachel.
"No, I like it."
Rachel smiled and sat down next to her, smoothing her pleated skirt over the tops of her thighs and adjusting her argyle sweater. Quinn had the feeling that she was about to hear a rehearsed speech, undoubtedly practiced in the mirror with the hairbrush the night before.
"Quinn, I know that you are still unsure about a lot of what is going on in your life," Rachel began at a practiced speed, "but I want you to know that my dads and I, especially me, are welcoming you with open arms. I know that we may not have defined exactly what is between us," Quinn looked down, and Rachel grabbed her hand and her performance fell away, leaving Rachel's sincere expression and hopeful eyes peering up at the taller blonde. Rachel continued quietly, "but I want you to be sure about me. I'm here for you because I care about you."
Quinn gave Rachel a small smile, which was returned tenfold in a happy grin that transformed the shorter girl's face. Quinn couldn't help but lean forward and softly brush her lips against Rachel's before pulling back to look at her again.
"Thanks, Rach," she whispered, "I care about you, too." She placed her palm against Rachel's cheek, rubbing her thumb along her jawline. "I really do," she finished, and Rachel's eyebrows lifted in delight, like a child presented with a gift. Quinn felt her heart expand at the sight and leaned forward once more, feeling Rachel's lips respond against her own as she deepened the kiss. She tangled one hand in Rachel's long hair and put the other around her waist to pull her closer. She felt Rachel's lips part and she slipped her tongue between them, hearing a soft moan from Rachel that set her skin on fire. Rachel's tongue swirled around her own before the shorter girl broke away to place small kisses on Quinn's neck. The kisses quickly became more urgent, and Rachel was soon sucking at a spot at the base of Quinn's neck, where it met her shoulder. This time Quinn heard herself moan, low and throaty, a sound she had never heard herself make before. She allowed Rachel to push her back until she was resting against the pillows at the head of the bed, with one of Rachel's tanned legs on either side of her. Rachel moved her lips back to Quinn's, who caught her lower lip between her teeth. Quinn ran her hands from Rachel's waist to her thighs, made bare by her short skirt. Her skin was smooth and warm as she ran her fingertips over it lightly, and Quinn felt a rush of heat that caused her to squirm and move one of her legs upward, accidentally brushing up between Rachel's spread legs. This time Rachel's moan was loud, urgent. She pulled back, and they looked at each other. Quinn felt alarmed until she saw Rachel's darkened eyes, her moist, parted lips, her mussed curls falling around her face, her chest rising and falling as she panted slightly.
Oh, God, Quinn thought, I'm doing that to her, that's because of me. In an instant, she had flipped them over, Rachel panting beneath Quinn's ministrations, her tongue running over the soft flesh of Rachel's neck, her fingers tugging futilely at the neckline of the argyle sweater, trying to expose more skin. Rachel pushed herself up and deftly pulled the offending garment over her head, flinging it to the floor. Quinn didn't pause long enough to panic, but looked down at the taught, golden skin beneath her, the soft rounded peaks of Rachel's breasts rising with each labored breath beneath the simple cotton bra. Quinn lowered her mouth to Rachel's collarbone, running her tongue along it, kissing the dips and hollows it created before lowering her attention to the swell of her cleavage, skipping over the bra to lay kisses in a line to Rachel's belly button, around to her side and up again, then retracing those lines with her tongue.
By the time she returned to Rachel's lips, the singer was gasping, and Quinn could feel her hips shifting beneath her. She pressed her lips to Rachel's, then to her chest, above her bra. She carefully placed kisses right along the line of Rachel's bra, until the shorter girl grunted in frustration and pushed herself up a second time, unclasping it and pulling it off. Quinn made eye contact with Rachel, waiting to see the hesitation she felt mirrored there, but instead she saw only raw need, and an emotion Quinn had never seen in anyone's eyes before, when directed at her. She kissed the singer again, grazing her lower lip with her teeth before placing a hand around Rachel's breast and looking down, hearing her own sharp intake of breath rather than feeling it. The soft swell of them, peaked by small dusky nipples, the way her tiny waist tapered in beneath her chest. Quinn was sure she was beholding perfection. She experimentally rolled a nipple between thumb and forefinger, and Rachel groaned, her eyes fluttering closed. Quinn smirked wickedly, suddenly feeling powerful, something she hadn't felt since the beginning of the school year. She lowered her mouth and flicked the nipple with her tongue, moving her hand to toy with the other one. Rachel's hips bucked as Quinn continuously ran her tongue over the breast beneath her, then switching her attention to its twin. Rachel's hips gyrated beneath her, and Quinn lowered one leg between the two tan ones beneath her, and the shorter girl immediately ground down on it, moaning and clutching at Quinn's shoulders. Quinn kept her thigh where it was while she continued teasing Rachel's upper body, until the singer whimpered, "Quinn, please," as the movement of her hips became more frantic.
Quinn felt a small rush of nerves again as she slowly lowered her hand between the two of them, sliding it underneath the waistband of Rachel's skirt and panties. She banished her nerves when she felt the beginnings of soft curls, and when her fingers reached Rachel's slick, hot folds, she heard herself grown along with the girl beneath her. For a moment she ran her fingers up and down Rachel's slit, between her folds, over her entrance, but when she lightly grazed the shorter girl's clit and watched her hips buck upward, she kept her fingers there, massaging the small bundle of nerves as it got bigger and Rachel's quiet groans became louder and more insistent. Quinn varied the pressure she applied, changed directions, went from up and down to side to side; each new change brought about a different response from Rachel, who was panting and groaning with her head thrown back and her eyes squeezed shut, her mouth forming a continuous "O." When Quinn found a particular movement that made Rachel's hips rise off the bed and stay there, she repeated it, watching the other girl writhing beneath her.
"Oh, God, Quinn…" Quinn's name in Rachel's voice, husky and low with need, sent the blonde reeling. She sped up her movements, and suddenly Rachel went rigid and moaned loudly, one long, low, continuous sound that ended with, "Fuck, Quinn."
The combination of the obscenity, Quinn's name, the way Rachel's hair was spread out around her head in damp ringlets, and her swollen lips and flushed face made Quinn pull the other girl into a long kiss, pushing her tongue into her mouth. She didn't realize she had been moving her hips until she felt Rachel fumbling with the button of her jeans and pushing her hand past her panties. Suddenly Rachel's fingers were there, finally, and Quinn groaned, collapsing sideways onto the bed. Rachel kept her hand where it was, her fingers working Quinn's clit as Rachel moved her body between the taller girl's legs, and suddenly Rachel's fingers were at Quinn's entrance, slowly pushing their way inside, and Quinn was digging her nails into Rachel's back.
"Rachel, God, that feels…" but at that moment Rachel had begun curling her fingers, her thumb pressed against Quinn's clit, and Quinn forgot how to speak as her head fell back against the pillows.
"Yes, Quinn? How does that feel?" Rachel's voice was still low and husky, her mouth right up against Quinn's ear, and Quinn groaned again, not able to comprehend that Rachel Berry was making her feel this incredible, that it was even possible to feel this way.
"S-so good, Rach, please don't stop," she finally responded, her hips reaching a frantic pace. She could feel herself tightening around Rachel's fingers. Rachel increased the pressure on that spot inside Quinn and suddenly she was clinging to the shorter girl as she shuddered, crying out, her hips eventually coming to a stop. She gasped as Rachel slowly pulled her fingers out from inside her and then lowered herself down, curling against Quinn with her head on her chest. Quinn was glad she couldn't see the two tiny tears she brushed from her eyes, overwhelmed with emotions and feelings she couldn't name.