Monday at school was strange. The girls were careful to not look like they were dating, but everyone seemed to be staring at them. When they stopped at Rachel's locker, Quinn couldn't help but speak up.
"Geez, what does everyone want today? They're staring us down."
Santana walks up just as Quinn finishes her thought. "Uh, Hello, Q, Rachel punched out your mom, remember?"
"Oh yeah…" Quinn smiles at the memory and Rachel can't help but laugh.
"I guess we'll have to deal with that at some point today, huh?" Quinn asks Santana. The Latina girl nods solemnly.
"And that's not the only thing you have to worry about. Sylvester told all the Cheerio's to get dirt on you two. They're trying to take you down." Santana explains the content of the Saturday night meeting to the shocked girls.
Rachel sighs. "Well, we just won't give them anything to talk about. We have to keep 'us' a secret anyway, right?" The short girl slams her locker shut and storms off to class, leaving Quinn staring after her.
"Guess she's not into the 'keeping us a secret' thing, eh Q?" Santana remarks.
Quinn sighs. "We haven't really talked about it since our initial conversation. I guess we should."
"Q?"
"Yeah, S?"
"I've got your back, you know?"
"I know, S. Thanks."
"No problem. It's what I do."
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"Rachel! Rachel, wait!" Quinn hurries after the other girl in the hall after their first period class. Rachel slows, but doesn't stop. When Quinn reaches Rachel, she's out of breath.
"Can…we…talk?" She manages to force out in between breaths.
"We've got class, Quinn." Rachel looks away from Quinn's face. It's hard to stay mad at her when she looks so pretty.
"Rachel, please?" Quinn is practically pleading, but fights to keep her voice low.
Rachel looks into the taller girls' eyes and melts at the sorrow there. She knows she's been hurting Quinn, but she really thought that once Quinn's mother had been dealt with they'd be okay. And when that didn't happen, she was hoping that when Quinn was off the Cheerio's then they'd be fine. But when she tried to hold Quinn's hand that morning, Quinn had pushed her away.
Rachel knew that she was being selfish, but Quinn pushing her away had hurt her more than she realized it would. She'd agreed to keep their relationship a secret, but she hadn't thought about how much it would hurt.
"Lunch. In the auditorium?" Rachel says quietly, trying to keep her voice even. Quinn nods, slightly relieved that at least Rachel was speaking to her. She had been so upset since this morning. Quinn couldn't figure out why. Maybe Santana was right, maybe they needed to talk about their relationship some more.
But at lunch, when they were walking towards the auditorium, they're intercepted by Mr. Schuester.
"Girls, I hate to steal your lunch hour away, but I really want to go over your duet with the band. They're all in the choir room…do you mind?"
Quinn sighs, but obediently follows Mr. Schue into the choir room. Regionals are in a few months, they've got to make sure their set list is perfect.
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"Girls, it sounds so great. We're going to kill at Regional's. Really." Mr. Schue and the rest of the Glee club applaud as after school Glee rehearsal ends and the kids are walking out the door.
Kurt puts his arm over each girl's shoulder and walks with them to Quinn's car. "How are my favorite lady lovin' ladies this fine afternoon?"
Quinn just shrugs, and Rachel whispers "Fine…"
Kurt looks at them. Neither girl is looking him in the eye, or at the other. "Alrighty, what's wrong?"
The muttered nothing's that he gets in response do nothing but make him take turns staring the girls down. They reach Quinn's car, but no one moves to leave. It's finally Quinn who speaks up.
"Rachel's mad at me." The blonde sounds sad, and Rachel's heart breaks. She has to keep herself from hugging her girlfriend.
"I'm not mad…" Rachel whispers.
"Then what are you?" Kurt asks bluntly.
Rachel directs her answer at Quinn, even though Kurt asked the question. "I guess I just keep thinking that things are taken care of, and we can be open about our relationship, but then there's something else. And something else. And something else. It's never ending. I just want to hold your hand in the halls! I want everyone to know that you're mine, and I'm yours."
Kurt sighs, but smiles slightly. "Rachel, you have to understand that Quinn is—"
They're interrupted by loud laughter from a car driving by. A Cheerio rolls down the passenger window, and leans out of the car. She holds up a video camera, and smiles triumphantly at Quinn.
"I liked your little monologue, Berry. Very touching." And the car speeds off, leaving a trembling Quinn behind it.
"I have to go home." Quinn whispers.
"What?" Shout Kurt and Rachel.
"Sue is going to tell my father." Quinn's face is completely blank, her voice monotone. "I haven't even spoken to my mother since….I have to go."
And Quinn climbs in her car and drives away before Rachel or Kurt have time to process it.
"I…we…" Rachel stammers, her breath coming in shallow bursts. "She can't go alone."
Rachel starts to cry, and Kurt hugs her close. He can scarcely believe what just happened. He whispers.
"I think she has to. There's nothing we can do."
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Quinn walks into her house, locking the door behind her as her parents always taught her to do. She follows the sound of voices coming from the kitchen.
"Russel, she hasn't been home in days, what makes you think that—Quinnie?" Judy Fabray turns at the sound of footsteps in the hall. When Quinn enters the room her mother rushes towards her and hugs her tightly. Quinn sees the faint outline of a bruise around her mouth, but excess make up covers it expertly. If Quinn hadn't been looking, she wouldn't have seen it.
"Where have you been, sweetheart? It's been days." Her father sounds concerned, but he doesn't even look at her. He's spent years perfecting his act, but still can't get that part right.
"I was staying with my friends. Working on Glee things, doing class projects. I was busy. I guess I forgot to call."
When Quinn's mother doesn't dispute her story, Quinn figures that Judy had not told Russel any of the events that had taken place previous to Quinn's brief disappearance. For once, Quinn was grateful for her mother's silence.
"You had your mother in a panic. Don't forget next time. Fox news should be starting soon, Judy, fix me my drink." And the large man stalks from the room, without looking at his daughter once.
As Judy rushes around the kitchen, fixing the customary tall glass, she whispers to Quinn.
"You've been with that Berry girl. I know you have. I can't believe that after all we taught you about those kinds of people, you'd actually grow up to be one of them. You're disgusting. And you're lucky I don't tell your father. We could press charges. That girl assaulted me, and I've got half a mind to have her thrown in jail."
Quinn just takes a seat at the table quietly, and doesn't say a word. She almost considers going upstairs and packing her things, but she can't will herself to stand. She hears her father shouting about liberals and democrats at the television, and almost perfectly times when her mother comes in to fix her husband a second glass.
The phone rings. Her heart stops beating.
Her father speaks quietly. There's no shouting. He comes rushing through the room, looking for his car keys. He grabs his coat, mumbles something about a meeting, and is gone.
Sue wants to show him the video, of course. He wouldn't believe her on rumor alone.
Quinn finds herself walking up to her bedroom, and packing her things into a duffel bag she used for Cheerio competitions. She dropped the bag out her window. When her sister still lived at home, she used to jump out Quinn's window on the weekends, and go off with her boyfriend. There was a secret area that couldn't be seen from any downstairs window. She'd always ask Quinn to drop her purse down after her. It was their little secret.
Quinn always kept that spot in mind, in case she needed it for any time like this. If her father threw her out, he probably wouldn't give her time to pack anything. She'd have that bag, just in case.
She sat quietly on her bed, waiting for the familiar sound of a car pulling into the driveway. She heard it a lot sooner than she thought she would.
She walked to the staircase, and took a seat at the top of the stairs. She could see into the living room from this spot, it was where she sat every time her parents would fight. She was quite comfortable there. Quite out of reach.
Russel stomped into the house, shouting for his wife to join him in the living room. He had a disk.
"Sue Sylvester told me we sould watch this together. Maybe it's footage from Quinnie's last cheerleading tournament?"
Quinn's heart sank. Sue was going to make her witness this? That was far worse than anything she could have expected.
Her father set the disk in the DVD player, got comfortable in his recliner, and pressed play. They were greeted with video of Sue Sylvester sitting at her desk, speaking into the camera.
"Mr. and Mrs. Fabray, I feel there is something you need to be informed of. Your daughter, though once a top student and Captain of the Cheerio's, has fallen victim to a demon seed."
The video cut from Sue's face, to a picture of Rachel and Quinn talking. They were laughing, and Quinn's hand was resting on Rachel's knee. Quinn couldn't even remember that happening. It had to be days ago. Sue had done her homework. Without the help of the Cheerio's. Before Quinn had even quit the team. Quinn felt sick to her stomach.
Quinn heard her father ask her mother "Is that-?" But his question is cut off when the video cuts back to Sue.
"I've tried to steer young Quinn in the right direction. I've tried to help her succeed in any way possible. But she began to pull away from me, and I worried for her future." The video cuts to footage of Quinn quitting the Cheerio's.
Sue had been planning this all along. How could she have known? Quinn feels a tear slide down her cheek. She should have been more careful.
Quinn hears her father call for her to come downstairs, but she doesn't move. She knows what is coming next. Sue's voice is back.
"I knew that she was falling from the beaten path, but I did not realize the severity of the situation until very recently. The most disturbing thing of all."
And there it is, the video footage of Rachel proclaiming their love in the parking lot. Sue's voice echoes through Quinn's mind. "I just thought you should be aware."
Quinn finds herself walking down the stairs, and into the living room. She walks to the DVD player, removes the disk, and snaps it in half. She turns to her shocked father, ignores her quietly drinking mother, and asks, "Now what?"
He glares at her. She sees the all too familiar anger in his eyes and mentally prepares herself. She tenses when he takes a step forward, but is relieved when his arms remain at his sides and he only speaks.
"You go upstairs and pray until you're my child again. That is what."
"What do you mean?"
He shouts, his anger evident in every letter of the words he screams to her. "I mean that you will go upstairs and ask the Lord to forgive you for your acts. And at this moment, you are nothing to me. If you ask the Lord to forgive you, I may consider you my child once again. Until then, I do not want to see your face."
Quinn allows the words to sink in. She considers crying, and walking upstairs, but she doesn't. She stands still, and looks at the man who raised her. She considers all the times that he acted as her Father, and has no trouble counting them on one hand.
She looks to the stairs, and walks towards the front door. Her mother runs towards her. "Quinnie! He didn't kick you out, you don't have to go!"
Quinn smiles. "Yes, I do."
And she walks from her house, retrieves her bag, and drives away.
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She pulls up in front of her sister's house a few minutes later. She digs around in her bag for her phone, thankfully it's charged. She dials the familiar number; it only rings once or twice before someone answers.
"Quinn?"
"Hey Kirsten. Uh…"
"You finally left, huh?"
Quinn looks to the house, and sees her sister standing on the porch. She hangs up the phone and pulls her bag out of the vehicle, before running up and hugging her sister, immediately bursting into tears.
"Hey, easy, you're okay. It's fine. I knew this day would come. What was the nail in the coffin?" Kirsten kisses her younger sister on the forehead, grabs her bag from her, and ushers her inside the small house.
"I'm dating a girl…" Quinn mutters.
Kirsten laughs. "Damn. Going all out, I guess. Ah well, at least you're not pregnant. I'm not takin care of any baby."
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Ha. Get it? Because she's pregnant in the show…bada-bing.
Anyhow, I decided not to have kicked-out Quinn, because that always happens, so I went with self-empowered Quinn instead!
Hope you liked, please review!