Chapter 2

Can't Ignore

As soon as Chief Sylvester was finished debriefing us about the next case, which was a big one because there were already five bodies claimed by this psychotic serial killer, Quinn Fabray immediately moved to her desk to look over the case file again. It had been a week since Rachel was assigned as her new partner and in that time she had done nothing but annoy Quinn with her superfluous speeches and tempt her with her extreme intelligence considering the fact that Quinn loved women who were intelligent … and her amazing body was just the cherry on top for her.

She let the thoughts of her hot, model worthy partner float away as she focused on the case file again with a studious intent. She naturally had it memorized already but she kept going back to see if she had missed anything in it because why else wouldn't it all fit together and make sense to her? There had never been a case she couldn't solve and this was bothering her greatly since it had already been a few hours and nothing seemed to pop out at her. Nothing seemed to really fit since each kill the ages of the victims were all varying, they all looked different, and their sex was mixed and the only thing tying them together was the way they were being murdered: asphyxiation and then their bodies were cut in half. It was gruesome but definitely a trade mark, a pattern this person was giving as a single clue. There was no clear MO and not just that but there seemed to be something off with all of the cases but Quinn just couldn't put her finger on it and it was frustrating her to no end.

"Is something wrong Quinn?" Quinn heard and she knew almost immediately who it was. She would recognize this voice anywhere due to the fact that she had become so acquainted with its owner so well the last seven days due to her chief's wish for her to have a partner who had just come from the academy. It might not have necessarily been her wish but she had still done it so Quinn now had to deal with a very vocal diva who frustrated her in ways she could not understand for the life of her and it wasn't just that either … she was actually good, good at what she did. She hadn't made any rookie mistakes yet nor had she shown anything but competence when it came to doing all of the police tasks she had been given so far. It was like she was perfect … she didn't seem to have any flaws when it came to work while in real life she annoyed the living hell out of Santana, Finn Hudson was a little too interested in her, Puck hit on her on a daily basis, Kurt was becoming her best diva friend and Mercedes her rival more than diva friend. It was just mind boggling for Quinn to see someone garnering so much attention so easily. Sam Evans was good and not even he seemed to have garnered the same attention as she did almost effortlessly.

Quinn shook herself from her thoughts and looked up to respond to her, "I'm fine Berry … this case is just … utterly frustrating. It all seems so strange and … it's like … the killer is randomly picking victims from this one …" and then it hit her that this case reminded her of something that she hadn't been able to think of earlier for some reason. "I know what the missing piece is." And with that said Quinn walked over to the clear board and grabbed a random marker from the box of markers sitting on a nearby desk and started writing all of the seemingly unconnected pieces together and Quinn marked off important information together on the board. Quinn didn't have an ID but what she had was a profile, a description for this person who had been the cause of the string of murders that all connected to one thing, one person: one serial killer. Quinn knew it was completely rude of her to walk off in the middle of a conversation but she was so used to just running off in excitement at having figured out important details like that and she needed to tell the chief immediately ever time. The chief had a soft spot for her often referring to her as 'a young Sue Sylvester' and in some ways they were similar.

Upon knocking on the door Quinn heard Sue's voice, "what is it Q? Do you have something for me?" She asked in a surprisingly soft voice. Quinn was taken aback momentarily before she answered.

"Yes. I figured out the profile of the serial killer and I wanted you to be the first to look at it chief, that is if you are free to do so right now." Quinn said confidently, sure of herself and her abilities when it came to coming up with profiles about the criminals she was only too eager to arrest and put into custody.

Sue nodded her head and followed Quinn to the board filled with all of her notes describing the criminal's profile and how it all linked and connected to the murders of the five people who seemed to be unconnected in every way possible. There was a diagram now with arrows pointing to the victims and they were all connected to words she put up in a separate column to indicate the profile of the serial killer which was a much more concise list than what was given in the report from what the chief could see. She read over its entirety before she spoke up with slight awe in her voice, "impressive … very impressive Q. It's just what I would expect from you. You even have a potential for where this killer might live within a 10 mile radius which is exceptional even for you. Keep up the good work Q. Oh you're the lead on this case so go take … what's her name again? Anyhow take Streisand with you to interview people in that area to see if they know anything about the killer." She said with a dismissive wave before going back to her office to look over something else that might have been another case.

Quinn had dreaded the thought of having to go out with Rachel because not only was it going to be difficult being trapped in a car with her she would have to endure her most likely going through annoyingly long speeches and perhaps her singing along to the radio as well. The singing part was okay because she had a very nice voice and it wasn't like she was flaunting her skills when it came to singing, she was just enjoying her favorite songs and singing along, but the speaking part … dear God why did she have to say everything in long winded speeches the way she did? Why couldn't she just be someone who spoke monosyllabic sentences … or at the very least just speak like any other person in the world did? It just felt like she was doing everything in her power to annoy the normally stoic blonde into showing emotions and being more … well human in showing emotions like annoyance and anything else she could possibly make her feel.

Quinn walked calmly to her desk and grabbed a few folders before walking over to where Rachel was sitting contently at her desk, looking through the case file most likely, and humming to herself softly. "Berry, let's go. Chief wants us to go interview people in the area that I pinpointed as what might be his home's location. What we're looking for is a schizophrenic who doesn't know he is. We're going to look for someone who is skittish and jittery because he is seeing things that no one else can and therefore is unable to concentrate on conversations well because he will be speaking to his hallucinations." She looked dumbfounded for a moment before she nodded her head and stood up to follow Quinn to their car.

Once they were in the car she spoke up, "how did you come to the conclusion that our un-sub is in fact a schizophrenic Quinn? I mean there was nothing in the case file that said anything about that and it seems to fit it very well though despite the fact that nothing about schizophrenia was mentioned in the case file. It makes perfect sense but at the same time it mustn't have been an easy conclusion to come by so how did you manage to figure it out just like that?" She sounded like she was in awe of me and I couldn't blame her. Prodigies weren't born every day and at that most likely 99% of them went into fields like music, science, mathematics, maybe even acting but certainly not going into the police task force like Quinn did. Quinn was a rarity amongst prodigies.

"I'm sure you know that I'm the head detective and … I'm very young to be one being that I'm only 24 years old and most head detectives don't earn their title as such until they are in their mid thirties to early forties. I'm a child prodigy so because of that reason I entered the task force at 18 years old and so it's been six years since I was first accepted into this particular police task force. I'm basically the reason why this one is one of the best in all of the state of Ohio and why I'm in such high demand in other police stations. I've had offers from the Atlantic Coast of the US to the Pacific Coast and though some of the offers are extremely high positions I've turned them all down because this is my team, this is my second family. I would never abandon them for something even if it might be better for me because it's like Santana says to me all of the time 'you stay where the family is.' The Lima Ohio Police Station is where my family is so I'm staying here with them no matter what offers I receive from others seeking me out to work with them. I … I haven't told any of them about the fact that I get offers from all over the US to work for them. The most persistent offers are from DC but I keep telling them no because I couldn't possibly … I can't possibly leave my family to fend for themselves without me." Quinn was never this way in front of another person so she wasn't quite sure why she was able to say all of this to someone who was barely more than an acquaintance to her. It surprised her as much as it surprised her partner considering she had only ever seen Quinn's cold side before this. It was like Quinn couldn't help herself and revealed all of this to Rachel without even realizing that she had been doing such a thing.

Rachel Berry was never one to become speechless, tongue tied like this. She was sure that this was the first time someone had left her tongue tied in her entire life and considering the fact that she was 23 years old, and that was a long time to go without ever finding a situation to become speechless over. "I … wow. You actually left me speechless and I don't … I don't think that's ever happened to me before. You … you're normally very apathetic and mute when it comes to expressing your feelings and your thoughts. I know that it's not that you cannot express yourself or articulate your feelings, you just choose not to articulate your feelings for your own personal reasons and I respect that. I'm sure that you do show this side of yourself to your two best friends at the very least and perhaps your family because I can tell that they are the most important people to you and so I can see that though you don't say much what you do say they understand perfectly without you further explaining yourself. In the last week you've barely spoken to me unless it was work related and that was the extent of it but whenever Santana or Brittany or both came around you would have a softer look on your face when you spoke to them. The first time I saw it … it made me miss my fathers. I love them dearly and that look was reminiscent of feelings of happiness I only feel around them because I love them so. I've never seen you look like that other than when you're talking to them. You have various other faces that are softer looks for the other officers but not like that specific look for your best, dearest friends." She spoke certainly and it was something that Quinn did not like to hear. It showed that in the last week this woman had figured out more of her than any of her previous partners had ever come to know in the months that they worked with her … it was like she somehow saw through her in every way and Quinn Fabray did not like it. She enjoyed her track record for being cold and hard to read because that way no one would be able to hurt her ever again.

And it was silent in the car after what Rachel had said only for a few moments before Quinn whispered with much difficulty, "and you noticed all of this in the time span of a single week? You noticed all of these things I …" but she stopped because she couldn't go on, she couldn't reveal so much about herself just like that to someone she couldn't even stand being around because of the feelings she felt surfacing in her that she promised to never feel ever again. Feelings like these were better left to be forgotten because it would only lead to heartache and sorrow, nothing that she wanted to feel ever again.

Rachel waited for a moment longer but when it was apparent Quinn wasn't going to speak and further elaborate she spoke up, "you what Quinn?" Quinn spared her a single glance, as she was driving, before she shook her head in answer. "Okay … well yes I've always been an observant person so I did take notice of all of these things about you in the last week we have known each other and I've noticed a few other things as well but I thought it better that I not talk about them considering the fact that you seem a little threatened by me seeing all of these things in so little time. I can tell that you like to keep yourself in your own corner of mystery because you seem to be quite the introvert despite the field of profession you've chosen to go into. Police work is not for introverts and yet you've somehow managed to work passed it … well work with this kind of personality trait. You're also very guarded when it comes to who you will trust and how much trust you give each person you interact with. You may be a genius with an eidetic memory and photographic memory as well from what I've seen but I have an eidetic tonal memory and so I can remember everything you've ever said as well as anyone else around me. You don't have to divulge everything to me but as your partner I would like to know you a bit more … I would like to at least know how you work and what makes you tick in order for us to be better partners, in order for us to work well with each other since we need to in this line of work." Rachel spoke with tenderness that Quinn was so unused to she felt uncomfortable.

Quinn bit her lip as she thought about what Rachel had just said, it seems that she's someone I cannot simply bypass as I had originally hoped to do … she's someone I can't ignore. She took a moment to think about what she should say before speaking softly, a show of understanding and acknowledgment, "I can see that you're not like the others … and there have been many. I acknowledge and accept that you're nothing like the other girls who gave up and resigned only to transfer to different positions within our police station or moved to entirely different counties or states in order to run away from me. I … just when I started trusting them and thinking to myself that they were a good partner they would suddenly announce that they were leaving to do other things because they couldn't stand being around me anymore because I was … too cold to them. I … it hurt even if I want to say that it didn't affect me at all because I'm better than that … I'm stronger than that … but the truth is I'm not … I'm just as weak and fragile and vulnerable as any other person in this world. I'm not the cold hearted bitch they all seem to think I am and I can bleed too." She had no idea why she was revealing so much to her … but there was just something about Rachel Berry that made her inviting … enticing … easy to talk to. She was nothing like Quinn in that respect because no one could tell what she was truly thinking and so no one really ever confided in her. She was really getting under Quinn's skin in more ways than one. "I … I honestly don't know why I'm even telling you any of these things … I've never … I've never told anyone these things before … not even my best friends and yet … here I am telling someone who is practically a stranger to me. I … I didn't even know that I was capable of speaking so frankly, so … honestly with another person before now."

Rachel chuckled at that. "I've heard that I have this kind of effect on people … I think it has something to do with the fact that I wanted to be a therapist at one point but … something happened and I decided to go for bringing justice into this world instead. I felt that it might suit me better too and so here I am, 23 years old and working with a prodigy, a genius, by the name of Quinn Fabray." Rachel said with a smile on her face. She most certainly was pleased with herself for being able to help Quinn voice something that had been bothering her, plaguing her really, for so long but she never disclosed to anyone because she perhaps felt ashamed or that she was doing something wrong and therefore deserved to have partner after partner leave her like that.

Rachel was broken out of her thoughts by Quinn's voice, "well here's the first house we're visiting because it's one of the first houses in the 10 mile radius I discovered earlier. Let's go." And they both got out of the car to start the grueling process of questioning people about what they might potentially know.

They had been out in the field for nearly four hours and they only had a small handful of suspects that fit the profile description that Quinn had made as well as a sketch from a witness had described for their sketch artist. All in all it was a good start and along the way they saw that some of the other field officers had been told to go out to do the same thing so they weren't completely empty handed and they weren't the only ones looking so there was a good chance that the others had a few leads too.

When they got back to the station they saw that only Santana and Brittany were at their desk writing something and they seemed lost in their thoughts. Quinn decided to leave them be and look through her notes again to organize them better and also to eliminate the few suspects who didn't seem like likely to match up to her profile by at least 70%. She went back to the sketch and looked at it carefully, memorizing every detail down to the freckles covering his cheeks. She wanted to make sure that if she ever saw someone who looked even remotely similar to this sketch she would be able to spot it immediately without fail because it was pertinent to catch this serial killer before too many bodies piled up.

Quinn was so lost in thought that she didn't even notice when someone came to stand next to her and she was a little startled to see that Santana and Brittany had come to stand next to her and they were waiting for her to notice them. Quinn looked up with a slightly startled look on her face despite the fact that she was so shocked that her heartbeat had actually picked up in speed due to their sudden appearance (to her). "You two certainly know how to sneak up on people." Quinn spoke with slight annoyance in her voice but it was directed with her for being so immersed that she didn't even notice her two best friends and Santana and Brittany could sense this and shook their heads at her.

"Don't be so harsh on yourself Q. You don't have eyes on the back of your head and you don't have a sixth sense either so don't beat yourself up over not hearing us. Anyways the reason Brit and I came over here was to tell you that we wanted to compare notes with you to see if there are any commonalities over what we wrote individually. That way we can see if we have any good leads as opposed to just having leads on the case … well suspects alone that fit the description. So you in Q?" She asked (but it sounded more like a demand coming from the Latina).

Quinn nodded before including Rachel in the equation, "Rachel, would you be willing to allow Santana and Brittany to look at your notes so that they can compare notes to narrow down the suspect list from what we already have now? The others should be back any minute now so we can compare with them when they come in if you are okay with it."

Rachel nodded her head before speaking up because she was such a verbose diva and she couldn't help herself, "certainly, you may look at my notes. I would be more than glad to look over your notes as well to see what leads you have come up with and most naturally I will allow the others to look at my notes when they come back from observing the neighborhoods." She always spoke such long sentences that could have been simplified simply with a yes or no answer no matter what the topic of the conversation was and it was annoying for Santana and Quinn both and for the most part Brittany was immune to it. She didn't understand most of what she said anyways to begin with so why would it bother her?

"So … that's a yes right?" Brittany asked with a confused look on her face from having to digest so much that she didn't actually understand. Rachel looked a bit incredulous but nodded her head in affirmation. Rachel wasn't sure why Brittany looked so confused but she attributed to the fact that she had spoken a long sentence and so Brittany hadn't been able to catch every word she had said. Just as Rachel was about to hand her notes to Santana Sam and Puck arrived back at the station and headed their way with an urgency that just rolled off of them in waves.

They approached the foursome and Sam was the first to speak, "while we were out looking for clues this shady guy came up from behind us and tried to attack us and he fit the profile Quinn wrote up perfectly but we couldn't see his face because it was dark but we're sure it was him. He was muttering to himself and it seemed as if he was talking to other people that we couldn't see. It was all very strange and he fit your profile down to a T." Sam spoke urgently.

Puck spoke up next, "we were walking back to our car when we noticed him. He was just standing in the middle of the sidewalk, muttering something we couldn't hear, when all of a sudden he ran up to me with a rope in his hands and he almost got to me because he was so fast but luckily Sam tackled him to the ground. He got away because he punched Sam right in the nose and we think he broke his nose." Now that they were all looking at him closely they could see some remnants of blood on Sam's upper lips and the skin above that and his nose looked a bit off too as well as extremely bruised. Puck looked worried about Sam and extremely out of character the way he kept looking over at Sam and then looking away only to look back again with the same worried and agitated look on his face. He seemed to have a lot of pent up energy and he couldn't stop moving in some way or another.

"Puck … calm down," Sam put a warm hand on Puck's shoulder. "It wasn't your fault and I'm fine." Puck looked like he was ready to cry from how upset he was.

"No, Sam, you're not. Your nose is broken and it is my fault because I should have known better. I should have realized that he was going to try and attack me and stop it from happening in the first place. Once we're done here I'm taking you to the hospital." Puck said his voice gruff at first before he softened up toward the end. It seemed like he really did care about Sam a great deal because of how emotional he had become.

Sam's grip on his shoulder tightened when he spoke next, "I really am fine and if you insist I will go to the hospital with you only to prove that I'm perfectly fine. I'm just bruised up, I'm sure of it Puck." Sam said serenely. His calm demeanor seemed to have a calming effect on Puck who stopped fidgeting almost immediately and a tranquil look passed over his face after Sam spoke. He nodded his head to show that he was feeling better and smiled at Sam; it was a smile no one at the station had ever seen on his face.

"Okay. Let's go file the incident report for this and give it to Tina." Puck said taking hold of one of Sam's cuffs from his dress shirt and leading him over to their desks.

Santana was the first to break the silence that had befallen the foursome, "well if that wasn't odd I'm not fucking Brit every day." And immediately Quinn's cheeks reddened in embarrassment and Rachel looked like she had just heard the most scandalous news in the world with how high her eyebrows had risen, they were nearly at her hair line.

"But we do fuck every day San. You're so silly." Brittany spoke like it was the most natural conversation to have in front of someone they barely and their best friend. She also added to the embarrassment that Quinn and Rachel felt by kissing Santana soundly on the lips and when they pulled away a resounding pop could be heard. To say that the two witnesses were frozen in complete and utter shock was a huge understatement because they were well passed frozen in shock, they seemed to be frozen completely and the air around them seemed cooler than the rest of the station.

At that moment someone else came in to the picture, "no PDA in this office Brittana, remember? What if someone from internal affairs had seen you? It would have been my neck on the line if they see something as obvious as that blatant display of affection between partners, got it Brittana?" Brittana was the nickname Sue had come up with for them ever since it became apparent to her that they were a couple and it was only known and understood by everyone in the inner circle meaning Mike, Tina, Sam, Puck, Kurt, Mercedes, Finn, Will, Quinn, of course Santana and Brittany, and Sue herself. And since Rachel was new she hadn't ever heard the reference before but she was smart enough to figure out what it meant on her own.

"Yeah, chief. Sorry we slipped. It was kind of a spur of the moment kind of thing but we'll be sure to be more careful from now on for sure. Don't worry about us chief." Santana spoke reassuringly and she looked chastised because she knew what risks Sue was taking by allowing them to stay partners like she was. She could lose her position as chief and they themselves could be fired by some higher ups because of the fact that there was inner office romance going on between them. "Let's get back to actually doing some work Brit. Here's our notes Q and … dwarf. Sorry I really can't remember your name so I'm calling you dwarf until I learn it. What is it again?" Santana didn't sound sorry in the least but she at least apologized for the nickname which she rarely ever did and maybe she did feel a little bad about it.

Rachel looked slightly taken aback but she responded nonetheless, "its Rachel, Rachel Berry Santana. Please try to refrain from continuing on with your nickname for me since it is rather unpleasant and I would rather not hear such a derogatory reference to my height since I am not of dwarven height in stature mainly because the height limitation is 4' 10" and under and I am not nearly that short. I am a proud 5' 2" and therefore I do not meet the requirements for such a nickname nor for such a label Santana. I do not think it an appropriate way of addressing me at all so am inclined to request you to refer to me by either my first or last name." Rachel was slightly indignant but not to the point that it was unreasonable considering Santana had called her a dwarf.

"Okay look, I know you're new around here and you don't know me that well but I wasn't calling you a dwarf out of meanness or anything of the like. I really couldn't remember what your name was and I'm not your partner so it's not my business to remember your name. All I know about you is that you're extremely new and that's about it. I don't know anything else about you so don't you go all 'please refrain from calling me dwarf' because I didn't mean to insult you either. You're shorter than me and I was trying to joke around with you, comprende?" Santana only ever reverted back to her Latina routes when she felt insulted and she most certainly looked like she was thoroughly insulted.

"S, cool it. She didn't mean it offensively just like you didn't mean what you said to be rude so you don't need to be so defensive. Rachel, I know you don't know what Santana's like so I'm pretty sure you couldn't tell that she was joking so please don't take her seriously in the future." Quinn interjected. She took a moment to take a deep breath in, "is everyone cool now?" She asked with authority in her voice.

They both nodded and Santana looked like a petulant child but she didn't say anything further to agitate the situation. Quinn knew that this was going to be a very eventful next few weeks with Rachel adjusting to everyone, especially Santana since they seemed to be butting heads most, and the newness of Rachel. It was going to a long day even though it was almost over as it was.

Here's the second chapter! Please leave your thoughts in reviews!^^

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