A/N: This took far too long to write, and I'm sorry for that :( But Sue is possibly the most scary thing to ever try and write, and I'm still not happy with it. Just as a warning, I do not at all think that all Catholic priests do what Sue says, but it seemed like something ridiculously prejudice and well... Sue Sylvester to say so it went in. Sorry if I offended anyone, but it's her view not mine! xD Also a huuuge thanks to Hacchichu for the awesome review. Those are the kind of reviews I really love, because I get to know details on what you think. And also a thanks to Kikky, as yours is just as great. Please be more critical of my writing, guys! I need to know if you like where it's headed! Of course I love all reviews, but ones with more info make me smile more. It keeps me going :) Oh and lastly, things are going to start going more ooc now, as a) i don't have time to write every detail from the show in, as much as I love to I don't have the time or the patience to keep going through ever episode so meticulously... b) it'd make the story ramble on even more than it already is and c) the faberry wouldn't make sense. I think I'm gonna start skipping ahead through time now, too, seeing as I've been stuck on "Home" for sooooo long now. ;_;

Chapter 7 – The Fix

A week passed and Rachel and Quinn grew closer. The glee club members grew more and more curious. Kurt had clearly held back on telling anyone anything, but that didn't stop the knowing smirk that he had plastered on his face every time he looked at the pair. Rachel remained mostly oblivious to the attention she was getting – shockingly – and Quinn would try her hardest to ignore the many stares she got in classes, corridors and glee club as Rachel talked at her loudly. She would not be embarrassed by Berry. Not anymore. She was turning over a new leaf.

Currently Quinn was trying very hard to ignore the looks the hockey players were giving her as she stood at her locker with Rachel still talking incessantly about the pros and cons of 'facon', and whilst it was still atrocious to want to consume anything animal flavoured, at least it wasn't really an animal.

Quinn could see Karofsky and Azimio leering at her out of the corner of her eye, behind an unsuspecting Rachel. She tried desperately to pay attention to her unlikely new friend, but right now it really was hard to remember that they were friends now as she mostly just wanted to throw a slushie in Rachel's face to get her to stop talking for just a minute so those stupid puck-heads could back the hell off.

Karofsky leant on the locker next to Quinn, Azimio assuming the same position beside Rachel. Rachel shut her mouth with an audible click of perfect white teeth against perfect white teeth. Quinn grimaced.

"Got yourself a new boyfriend, Fabray?" Karofsky asked, obviously proud of himself for thinking up an insult all on his own. As if Quinn and the rest of the Cheerios had never insisted Rachel was a man countless times before. Azimio snickered childishly. Rachel ignored them both, as did Quinn, although her eyes deceived her as one twitched in irritation.

"At least it can't get you pregnant, seeing as you've already got that one sorted for yourself," Azimio added in. Rachel began to walk away.

"Wait," Quinn called after her, trying to hurry to grab the book she needed for their next class. Karofsky slammed her locker shut as she was reaching for it. Quinn wanted to hurt him. I'm a new person, I'm a new person, she repeated in her head. She took a deep breath and patiently – or at least she tried to seem patient – reached to open her locker again. Once more it was slammed and she barely pulled her hand out of the way in time.

"What do you want, Karofsky?" She snarled.

"Ooh, vicious," He jeered, "You don't scare anyone anymore, Fabray. You're nothing. I can see how low you've sunk, if you're okay to be seen with that in public. So, if you're hanging out with that thing, then you won't mind if we just..." He pulled a slushie from behind his back, "help you feel at home with this?"

"Don't even," Quinn warned. Azimio snickered again. Quinn thought that he sounded like an asthmatic donkey, not that that really helped in any way, shape or form.

"Don't even what? Do this?" His arm went backwards, ready to attack.

Then his face was purple.

"You bitch!" He cried, whirling round to tower above Rachel who had pushed his arm to cause the slushie to backfire on himself. Quinn was snickering like Azimio now. That is until she saw the fear in Rachel's wide, brown eyes and the look of pure rage on Karofsky's face. He's going to hit her, she thought desperately.

"Dude, don't hit a girl!" Azimio cried, suddenly thinking he had morals.

"You're gonna pay for that!" There was a bang as Rachel was shoved against the lockers.

"Hey," Quinn's voice cut through the heavy air. HBIC was back with a vengeance. "Touch her again and so help me God I will castrate you, Karofsky," Her voice was low and dripping with venom.

"What you gonna do, Juno? Waddle at me with your big, fat, bowling ball for a belly?" Karofsky jeered. If possible, Quinn got angrier. The whole corridor watched in horrified silence. Jacob Ben-Israel was taking notes and looking ecstatically at the altercation.

"What did you call me?"

"Fatty."

"Say it again."

"Fatty," He spat the word, and Quinn wiped the saliva from her face coolly. The calm before the storm settled.

"Just one more time, please?"

"Bring it, Fatty,"

Karofsky doubled over with a shockingly good impersonation of the well-known 'Wilhelm Scream'. It wasn't graceful, it wasn't elegant, and it certainly wasn't as cool as Quinn had thought it would be, but she dropped to one knee and punched him. In the groin. Punched, not kicked. But by God, it had done the job. She clutched her bump as her baby kicked in appreciation. Karofsky was crying. Rachel was looking at her like she was an angel. Azimio looked like he might wet himself at any second. Everyone else in the corridor was looking on at the scene before them with their mouths in the shape of a capital 'O'. Somebody whispered that Karofsky just got 'owned' by a 'girl'. Then someone piped up with the 'technical' term for what Karofsky had had demonstrated upon him. Something that rhymed with 'stunt-hunted'. Rachel cast a disapproving look their way as there was never an excuse for the 'c' word. Then there was a frenzy of whispers, some about whether Karofsky could ever father children, some in shock that Quinn would defend Rachel What's-Her-Name.

Then Miss. Sylvester arrived.

"What's going on here?" She asked with a look of disdain. "Did you go into early labour from the stress of waddling around like some sort of senior citizen penguin, Q?" There was a pause as Quinn tried to think of what to answer with. She chose not saying anything at all.

"She was defending me, Miss. Sylvester," Rachel said quietly.

"And why on earth would she ever want to do that? Q, have those baby hormones you have flying around in that misshapen body of yours given you early dementia? What happened to you? You used to be so much like a young me, and now here you are... defending those that were once your enemies. And you, Karofsky, quit blubbering like a little Catholic boy after he's seen the priest for some 'private prayer time' and get yourself cleaned up. You should know to never incur the wrath of a pregnant woman because she will come down on you hard; like a ton of bricks. In fact, like a ton of angry, tearful, pregnant bricks. Now move along people, there's nothin' to see here!" And just like that, everyone bar Rachel, Quinn and Miss. Sylvester were gone.

"Thank you," Quinn whispered.

"Don't thank me. It's nice to see that you've still got a backbone underneath that pregnancy, even if it is straining from all of the extra weight. I can practically smell the bacon on you. You should stick to your diet, you know." She stalked away, pushing any kids stupid enough not to see her coming into other kids stupid enough to be in the same vicinity as she was.

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked softly, extending her arm to Rachel. She looked shaken and her tanned face was pale.

"I'm fine. I didn't hit the lockers that hard, they just made a dramatic noise. Suits me I guess..." She chuckled half-heartedly. Quinn enveloped her in a hug, running her hands up and down the diva's back. Rachel hummed in approval and sighed, enjoying the tender embrace.

A loud and over exaggerated throat clearing made them spring apart instantly.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything..." Said Kurt, his face smug as he smirked mischievously as them. "But Mr. Schuester says he'd appreciate it if you actually came to class sometime today, rather than canoodling in the corridor." Now it was Rachel who was clearing her throat.

"Yes, well, thank you for passing the message on. We'll be there in a minute," Kurt smiled at them again and bowed before turning and heading back into the classroom.

"Thank you for rescuing me. It was really very brave of you. You didn't have to hit him, though," Rachel continued with a shy smile.
"Yeah, maybe so, but he did deserve it. No one gets away with calling me fat."
"You're not fat, you're pregnant. And now you're my pregnant knight in shining armour. Thank you, again." Rachel placed her hand carefully on Quinn's cheek and pressed a light kiss on the other. Before Quinn had a chance to react, Rachel was walking into class. Quinn blinked, a blush rising in her porcelain cheeks. It was strange to think that just two weeks ago she would have been disgusted with what had just occurred, but now... Now she wasn't sure what she felt. But it wasn't disgust. Then, she too, walked into Spanish.

Once again, Quinn found herself heading towards the Cheerios' table in the cafeteria. She stopped midway and turned about-face in the direction of the gleek table.

"And stop trying to make me eat you!" Mercedes shouted. Quinn looked at the girl curiously, and then it all clicked into place. Mercedes was clearly still trying to lose weight was hallucinating that her friends were food. Quinn knew this was exactly what was happening because it had happened to her countless times. Then Mercedes' eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed.

Quinn dumped her lunch in front of a bemused freshman and was at Mercedes' side in a heartbeat. Tina helped her half carry, half drag the unconscious girl to the nurse's office. Quinn silently thanked God that Terri Schuester was no longer the school nurse, as prescribing Vitamin D would so very definitely not help in this situation.

"It's okay, Tina, I've got it from here," Quinn said quietly as she moved Mercedes into a chair. She had come around on the way there asking where her pie was and was still unable to hold herself up. The nurse opened the door, beckoning to Mercedes. Tina glanced at Quinn, unsure if she really should go or not. After all Mercedes was her friend, too. "Seriously Tina, it's alright. You go." Tina nodded and walked away, glancing over her shoulder as Quinn took Mercedes round the waist and supported her as she stood.

"Hmm..." Said the nurse with a frown. Mercedes looked at her questioningly. Quinn already knew what was coming. She was going to tell Mercedes that she fainted because he blood pressure was low.

"Your blood pressure's low, maybe that's why you fainted..." Quinn's lips quirked in a wry smile. Either the nurses of this school were all really stupid, or Coach Sylvester was paying them to keep quiet. Or maybe threatening them. There was no way that every nurse the school had ever employed had never realised that the only girls passing out from low blood pressure were the girls sporting the cheerleading uniform. The nurse left the room to fetch Mercedes some ginger ale, and Quinn moved in, taking her seat. She offered a granola bar to the abnormally sullen looking Mercedes.

"Thanks, I'm not hungry..." Quinn wanted to pin Mercedes to the bed, force open her mouth and shove the food down her throat, and if she were head cheerleader still, she really would have done. Instead, she repressed the violent urge (even if it was to do a good deed, she was sure that things could be handled without being a total bitch to get her point across) and spoke instead.

"Yes you are. You're starving," Mercedes looked quizzically at her from the corner of her eye. Quinn continued, "I know; I've been there. Did all the other kids start looking like food right before you fainted?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Mercedes was on the defence now. Quinn smiled sadly at her, her eyebrow slightly raised. This was like déjà vu in reverse.

"Been there," She repeated, more firmly although her voice was still soft. She was wishing that someone had been there for her and forcing granola bars down her throat and talking nicely to her when she was in this situation. At least she was able to fix it for someone else before it got out of hand. She remembered too well the gnawing hunger within her, the fear of gaining even the slightest amount of weight, the anguish when you gave in and ate something you shouldn't have, because it wasn't part of the 'diet', only to bring it all up again out of guilt. The constant dizziness that threatened to topple you over onto the floor with every step you took. She held the food out again, shaking it slightly.

"Eat the granola bar." Mercedes reluctantly reached out and took it from her. She was still cautious Quinn noticed with a hint of sadness.

"Why are you being so nice to me? I can't remember the last time that you said two words to me that weren't 'you' and 'suck'." Quinn also knew this would come. She was of course acting completely out of character. But she was a bigger person now. Literally. I mean look at her, there was no use in denying that belly any more.

"Because I was you; scared, hating myself for eating a cookie... But I got over it,"

"Yeah, well of course you did Miss. Pretty-Blonde-With-the-White-Girl-Ass-" Quinn swallowed the anger, and the urge to force the granola bar Mercedes was slowly unwrapping down her throat again, but this time not to help, to stop her from insulting her. She hated that it was so easy to dole out the insults, yet so difficult to take them, and Mercedes was only grieving, not really meaning what she said. Quinn had a lot of work to do, but she swallowed and cut her off, still trying to keep her voice calm.

"When you start eating for someone else... So that they can grown, and be healthy, your relationship to food changes. I realised that if I'm so willing to eat right to take care of this baby," Her hand automatically came to rest on her little girl, rolling over inside of her, "why am I not willing to do it for myself?" Mercedes was crying. Quinn didn't want this to happen and she leaned forward, fervently taking the other girl's hand in her own.

"You are so lucky, you've always been at home in your body..." Mercedes chewed anxiously on her lip and Quinn squeezed her hand again, imploring, "Don't let Miss. Sylvester take that away from you." Mercedes looked down and shook her head.

"I'm so embarrassed..." She sniffled and finally met Quinn's eyes. Quinn smiled reassuringly, "This isn't me. How did I become this person?" Quinn knew the answer to this one too, and sighed a gentle, humourless laugh.

"You are beautiful. You know that. I'm gonna stay here with you until your mum comes, okay?" Quinn said, nodding and trying to smile through the tears that were threatening to spill over. Mercedes nodded and launched herself at Quinn, wrapping her in a warm hug. Quinn's heart lifted. She had really helped someone today. In fact, she had helped two. First Rachel, and now Mercedes. If she kept at it, she really could be a better person, and soon she wouldn't have to keep feeling the relentless guilt that was always in her heart these days, threatening to make her sick. She just had to keep going, and she could fix this. One thing at a time.