Goal: To bang this out by around the first of the year.
Want it sooner? Motivate me through reviews.
It's almost the holidays! Get ready!
-leanmean
"So you're running from not only one, but two of the country's most infamous organizations? Really, Rachel, I think this time you've out done yourself."
Rachel eyes meet Quinn's from across the diner table as she pushes her untouched oatmeal away. The blonde sighs, running her fingers through her hair, then peeks out the window again. They had crawled back into the apartment two hours after they last heard a sound inside, mostly because they thought it was safe but partly because Rachel refused to let her neighbors see "their goods" for free as the sun rose. She was still anxious, even though they'd taken necessary precautions, and Rachel turning every paper product within arm's reach into tiny shreds on the table wasn't helping.
"Really, it's more like one and a half, Quinn." She says, watching the bits of napkin flutter from her fingers to the pile below. "I mean the Mob is a big problem, but it's not the full blown Witness Protection Program. Hiding Rachel Berry wasn't going to work. I'm fairly well known, you know. Plus they've been trying to get me in a safehouse, I just didn't feel like it was necessary."
Quinn frowns over her black coffee.
"You witnessed a murder. The mob was inside of your house, Rachel. I think it's time to reconsider."
Rachel shrugs, reaching for the mug Quinn set down to steal a sip, immediately spitting it back into the cup with a look of disgust.
"Please stop drinking that mud. And maybe you're right. Or maybe I just need to find a new place to hole up. Had I not performed at the Black Cat, I'd still be plenty safe, cooped up in that apartment with nowhere to be, but safe all the same." Crossing her arms with a huff, Rachel stares pointedly out the window. "I've taken care of it in the past and I will now as well."
Quinn's frown deepens. The look of despair on Rachel's face this morning was still too fresh for her to believe that. Watching her in her room surrounded by torn fabric and tossed clothes, shamelessly crying over a ripped picture of her dads, Quinn's heart had broken. Even worse, Rachel has been drawn entirely into herself since then; the space they had been sharing so comfortably the last few weeks is now just Quinn, grasping for straws. The look in those big brown eyes as they picked through her home, realizing not a single thing was still in one piece, she would never let that go.
And she couldn't let Rachel go now, no matter what.
"Rachel."
"I can take care of myself."
"None of this would have happened had I not taken your picture in the first place! I'm the one who threw you back on the front page-"
"Don't you dare blame yourself!" Rachel yells, her face twisting in anger as she slaps the table top with her palms. Her voice lowers as the people in the diner turn to stare, but the fury remains. "I put myself on that stage, Quinn Fabray. I did that, not you. And I knew damn well what you were when I did it the second time. I left you with no idea what you were getting yourself into whatsoever and then they come in the middle of the night! What if I had been asleep! What if…"
She turns to look out the window again, her mouth opening and closing, no sound coming out. Exhaling loudly, she pulls her wild hair over one shoulder, turning back to face Quinn with fear shining in her eyes.
"I can't even bear to think of what would have happened, Quinn. I can't." Her voice cracks and the blonde reaches for her hand, squeezing lightly.
Her lips come together, a straight line on her tired face.
"I don't want to do this anymore."
"The trial is in a month, Rachel. You can make it."
Brown eyes meet hazel as she shakes her head.
"No. I don't want to do this with you."
Quinn's heart thumps sharply against her chest.
"No."
Quinn shakes her head, moving to sit in the booth with her.
"You can runaway, but not from me, Rachel Berry."
Sighing as if all the fight has left her, Rachel reaches to twist the end of a blonde hair around her finger pouting, their knees touching under the table, and Quinn can't decide if she would rather laugh or cry at how much Rachel obviously wants to curl up in her lap.
"You don't get to regret this," Quinn says, brushing the brown hair behind her ears. "I don't. Not for one second. And I don't care if something happens to me, Rachel. I've already had more life without you in it than I'll ever need."
She slides her hands down to cup her cheeks and nuzzles their noses together.
"Just let me protect you. Or try to. Whatever happens, whatever you decide. Let me at least try. Please."
Rachel's lip trembles as she reaches up to wrap her fingers in Quinn's against her cheek.
"You're sure? Anywhere?"
Quinn smiles slowly then presses a lingering kiss to the side of her mouth.
"Everywhere, darling. I could never stop."
Touching their foreheads together, she sighs and leans back into the crook of Quinn's arm, stretching behind them along the back of the booth.
"Well then. I guess we better call the reinforcements."
Quinn chuckles as Rachel's head comes to rest on her shoulder. She takes a final swig of coffee and pats her arm.
"I hope the mob is ready for that."
"I was in the mob once. It was great!"
"Not a flash mob, babe." Santana grins, kissing the top of Brittany's head from behind the couch before hopping over the back and wrapping an arm around her. "So you're telling me that Berry here is on the lam?"
Rachel sighs for the thousandth time today and reaches for the mug of cocoa sitting on the coffee table.
"'The lam' is perhaps slightly over dramatic Santana. I'm making an effort to stay hidden, yes."
"Because you saw some chick get axed?"
"Correct."
"No shit, Berry. That's legit."
Quinn rubs her eyes, exhaustion from the rude awakening this morning finally creeping up on her.
"Try to focus guys. The important thing here is that we need a plan to keep Rachel safe for thirty days. Clearly her place is no longer available. She can stay with me for a while, we're assuming, but even that may not be safe."
"How about back in Lima?" Santana says, shrugging her shoulders.
Scoffing, Rachel turns her head as Quinn moves to stand beside her.
"I'm not dragging my family into this mess." Reaching for Quinn's hand, she tugs her down into her lap and wraps her arms around her waist. "Everyone here knows I'm from Ohio, but no one knows exactly where. I won't risk it."
Quinn nods, curling her feet up into the chair as she stretches an arm behind Rachel.
"She's right. Her home here or her home there, neither is an option."
The room sits in silence, each girl racking their own mind. Rachel picks nonchalantly at a loose string on the bottom of Quinn's sweatshirt, tired of putting both the girl and the life's she's always wanted at risk.
She sighs.
Vince Maroney is ruining her carefully laid plans.
"What if I just go into custody until after the trial? I mean that makes the most sense right?"
Quinn watches her, her lips twist to the side in thought.
"I mean if it were Brittany and I, I would probably go with you." Santana says, nodding at Quinn like she knows exactly what she's thinking.
"She can't," Rachel interrupts, shaking her head. "They don't let you maintain contact once you go in and they only take one."
Quinn nods back, her hand rubbing slowly against Rachel's arm.
"I would feel better if I knew you were safe… and they would have better resources..."
Brittany hums happily and pulls her feet up into Santana's lap.
"Plus, you look really good in stripes, Rachel."
Rachel chuckles, trying to imagine the mental picture Brittany has of her in custody. She could just remove herself from the equation for a while. Quinn would be okay and in theory, she would just disappear for a few weeks then resume life after the trial without the complication of making choices. She would just have everything she wants. This could actually be her last major life decision until her and Quinn have kids!
Nodding quietly to herself, Rachel leans forward and kisses Quinn's temple.
"I think, for the good of all of us, I need to make a phone call."
Leaning into her, Quinn sighs, but pats her arm understandingly.
"I think so too, babe."
"So the Maroney's have found you then. Fantastic. I swear it's a wonder you're not dead yet. Did you really think you could go fluttering out on stage and then hide from them?"
"Well, I hid from you."
"...We'll be there to pick you up tomorrow morning. Bring everything you'll need."
Rachel pushes open the back stage door and shivers, surprised by how cool the night's gotten in the time it's taken her to go in and gather her things from the cast room. Shrugging on her coat she checks the alley and grins at the sight of Quinn, ever graceful, even bundled in six layers and a toboggan, standing guard as Rachel was inside.
Her hero.
A slinky little smirk plays on the corner of the blonde's mouth as she quirks an eyebrow and a finger at her, leaning against a lamp post at the end of the block. Chuckling, Rachel wraps the scarf around her neck and starts towards her, sashaying her hips for good measure.
Tonight was their night. Their last night together until after the trial, their first night together in a lot of ways, now that all of the secrets were finally out in the open. If she didn't feel so obligated to testify, she would have thrown everything to the wind and hopped a flight immediately just to begin her life with this girl.
Quinn's smile widens as she approaches, but Rachel's falters, her eyes lifting to a movement past Quinn's shoulder.
She was right. The darkness beyond the glow of the street light was closer, slowly, darker than it should be somehow. The sound catches in her throat as she lifts her hand to point, reaching as her heart pounds against her ribcage.
Please... Please no. Take me.
The realization dawns on Quinn's face, the color draining from her cheeks as she turns to look behind her. A gloved hand slaps over her mouth, stifling a scream. Rachel barely catches the widening of her eyes as she's yanked back to the shadows, into the backseat of a car that slams its door and squeals away. The smell of burnt rubber and exhaust hangs in the air with Rachel's broken sob as she falls to her knees on the deserted sidewalk, twin tail lights burning in the empty night air, shrinking to pinpoints in the distance.