A/N: Man, I suck. I'm truly so sorry that I've not updated in so long. I am a terrible person. I have excuses, a lot of them, all very vaild, but it totally doesn't make up for the fact that it's been like... two months. And this chapter is bad, too. It's so hard to get back into writing when you've left a story so long. I'm hoping that now I'll be able to get it back up to how it was quality wise, and my update times should hopefully be a little speedier. I suddenly find myself with a lot of spare time, so when I'm not doing music-y things I will do my best to write.

A quick thanks to everyone who has favourited/alerted either me or this story. I really appreciate it, especially as the date I last published was like, so last year ;D R&R, as it will motivate me, and let me know where to go with this. You're all great! Cheers~

Chapter 11 – The Climb

"Girl, you got more curves than a Nissan ad," Said Puck, as he craned round in his chair to leer at Mercedes. Quinn shuddered. She slept with that. Dear God, why? Then she remembered the wine coolers that had clouded her judgement, and Puck soothing her self-esteem issues with gentle insurances that she wasn't fat. At least Mercedes seemed equally unimpressed with his advances. But then again, who would be with a terrible pick up line like that? She turned her attention to the front of the room again. Rachel was seemingly ready to do her solo. She was blathering on about some truly awful Miley Cyrus song being incredibly relevant because it was about overcoming obstacles (the obstacles being the glee club in this case). Quinn didn't miss the icy glare sent her way during the speech. Rachel had been annoyed with her since finding out that she wasn't singing anymore.

Quinn clearly hadn't gotten over her issue of not being able to tell the truth under pressure and had said that she wasn't singing because her 'baby hormones were making her moody'. It was true, to an extent. She was moody, but that wasn't the real reason. The real reason was because her throat felt as though it was being scrubbed by sandpaper and she was terrified of opening her mouth in front of anyone for fear of infecting them. Neither Mr. Schuester or Rachel seemed to take the excuse very well, either.

Brad began to play the piano, (Where did he come from anyway? Quinn wondered) and a voice began to... screech. Quinn grimaced. It was horrendous. It sounded like someone was drowning a cat, but the cat was just giving in to fate and whinging about it rather than fighting.

Quinn was terrified. Why did Rachel's lips have to be so tempting? She had passed her illness on through sinful lusting! She was damned! She was damned from the beginning anyway though, she gathered, seeing as she was pregnant before marriage, not to mention that she was now kissing girls and liking it. Quinn's cheeks were flaming red as Mr. Schuester softly informed Rachel that she had lost the one thing that kept her going. Her voice. Quinn guiltily looked everywhere but at Rachel and bolted from the choir room as soon as they were dismissed.

Rachel was following her though. Quinn sped up a little, but there's a limit to how fast you can travel as a seven month pregnant girl. It's slower than the speed of a non-pregnant Rachel Berry.

"Quinn!" Rachel croaked behind her. Pretending she didn't know she was being followed was now unfeasible. Quinn turned.

"Hello," She said nervously.

"Quinn, I need to go to the doctor. I'll never sing again! What will do if I can't sing?" Quinn shrugged.

"Stop talking?"

"Quinn! This isn't funny! My dream will be ruined. I'll end up a Lima Loser just like everyone else!"
"I'm not laughing I'm jus- Oh no..."

"What?" Rachel asked, looking utterly perplexed, and mostly annoyed that Quinn wasn't taking her very dramatic problem seriously enough.

Then Quinn exploded.

Not literally, but the sneeze did sound like an explosion. There was a pregnant pause. Quite literally, this time. Understanding formed in Rachel's eyes as they narrowed at Quinn.

"You..." She said accusingly, pointing a menacing finger at Quinn. Quinn cowered.

"Me what?" She whimpered.

"This is your fault! I made a fool out of myself singing in front of the others like that! I promised myself I wouldn't be made a fool of again."
"Rachel, your school bag has wheels. You're good at making yourself look like an idio-" Again she was interrupted (although she was glad of it this time before she upset Rachel any more than she already had) by a well-timed coughing fit.

"No! You do not get to add insult to injury! Quite possibly permanent injury! If you had just been able to keep your grabby hands to yourself, I would never have gotten sick, and my sure to be stellar career on Broadway would not be jeopardised! I am holding you fully responsible if I don't ever sing again." Rachel ranted, her voice loud and grating as she struggled to get her words out. The blonde shrank away, shamefully.

"I do not have grabby hands." She said petulantly.

"Yes, you do. You can't keep your hands off me when we're alone."
"I'm pregnant! I can't help my hormones! Stop looking at me like that, Rachel, I didn't mean to make you sick. You should take it as a compliment that I can't control myself when I'm around you because you're so pretty and irresistible," Quinn clamped her mouth shut. Where had that come from? Rachel was staring at her, all anger gone.

"Y-you think I'm pretty?" Quinn blushed under her gaze.

"Of course I do. Otherwise I wouldn't be trying to kiss you all the time..."

"That's very sweet. You're very pretty, too."

"Rachel, this is lame."

"I like lame."

"Can I kiss you now?" Quinn stepped forward, hands tugging at Rachel's cardigan. Rachel resisted.

"See? Grabby hands! And no! I don't want to kiss you when you're sick, and I'm sick! What about the baby? I was going to ask you to take me to the doctor by the way, but then I uninvited you, because I was mad, but then you said I was pretty and I want you to take me now." Rachel finished babbling, still pushing a smiling Quinn away. The blonde was stronger than Rachel and pecked her on the lips.

"Okay, when?"
"I have an appointment tomorrow after school, so we can just go straight from class-"

"I can't, I have to go see the baby doctor tomorrow..."
"Oh, okay. Do you mind if I ask Finn to go? I don't want to go on my own." Quinn made a face, wrinkling her nose.

"Why him?"

"Jesse's out of town, so he can't take me, and obviously if you can't go..."

"Why would Jesse take you? I thought you had broken up." Rachel shifted uncomfortably as Quinn's HBIC face settled on her face, one perfectly shaped eyebrow raised. Rachel gulped.

"Um... Well, we haven't spoken since 'Run Joey Run', so I don't know if we're together or not."

"What do you mean you 'don't know'?"

"W-we've just not spoken about it!"

"Well, I suggest you do, if you want to keep seeing me, never mind that curly haired freak." Quinn turned on her heel and marched away, seething with anger.

Rachel felt terrible. For several reason. Physically, she was feeling more ill than she could ever remember having felt before, although her doctor had kept on assuring her that she was making herself worse by worrying so much. Finn was also proving to have been a very bad choice of person to take with her to the doctor's and she had found herself wishing for the blonde's company instead. Especially as Finn was so utterly useless at doing anything right. He had been wholly unsupportive or sympathetic towards her in her condition, considering she was fearing she would never sing again, and he had clearly found it entertaining when the doctor told Rachel that she would 'probably never sing again' as a joke (Rachel was still unsure as to how that was even a remotely funny thing to say to someone who had had their heart set on being on Broadway since... well, birth). Not to mention that when she had looked for someone to reassure her that she wasn't just a 'spoilt, annoying, only child', and Finn hadn't even been able to tell her one measly thing about her that was 'awesome' as he put it. Plus, she was quite sure (her sixth sense was tingling) that Finn had been trying to peek at her changing through the curtains in the doctor's office. And Quinn was mad at her. Well, so were Puck and Jesse, but she didn't really have the energy to care about them at that moment. She didn't like it when Quinn was mad at her. Which meant Jesse really had to go, once and for all.

Things seemed to be going from bad to worse. Puck had been glaring at Rachel for most of glee club, and Quinn had been doing the same. She was wasn't even sitting anywhere near Rachel, but Rachel could feel the anger radiating off Quinn as though it were something physical. Then Finn made it somehow even worse. He was good at doing that, Rachel noted. Not only had he been babbling about him being so much better for her than Jesse was, but then he stood up and serenaded Rachel with Rick Springfield's 'Jessie's Girl', which was truly mortifying. Finn was nice, and had good intentions and everything, but he was just... he was mostly just an idiot.

Quinn seemed to get angrier throughout the performance, and ended up with her fists clenched, nails digging painfully into her palms. She couldn't look at Finn. She knew if she did she might have to punch him. And whilst that would be really satisfying, it wasn't the most rational of things to do.

Then Puck took Finn's place and serenaded Mercedes with the song 'Lady is a Tramp'. It was Quinn's turn to be utterly mortified. She knew straight away that Puck was just looking to gain his popularity back. Since his Mohawk had gone, the nerds had seemed to think it was okay to go after him. Puck was going to hurt Mercedes, and she didn't even seem to know it. In fact, she seemed utterly charmed by it, as she danced and sang along. Quinn grimaced as she realised that everyone in the room seemed to be enjoying it and were all singing along too. She gritted her teeth and clapped, and forced a bright smile on her face.

By the end of the performance, however, Quinn had changed her mind slightly. She wouldn't bother talking to Puck about this, he would just explain that he was a 'sex shark' and he had to keep moving, or something equally gross, and arguing with him made it very difficult to live with him, especially as Puck's mum always ended up getting involved and would remain moody with Quinn long after the argument had been forgotten about.

But what she could do was talk to Mercedes. She was worried for the girl, and she had become (aside from Rachel) a friend over the last few weeks, and once again she was almost shocked to see how much she cared. After glee was over, Quinn headed to Mercedes' locker to wait.

When the girl rounded the corner in her Cheerios uniform, her huge smile faded when she set eyes on Quinn. Mercedes took a deep breath, calming herself and walked towards Quinn, preparing for her to revert to her old ways.

"Look, Quinn," At this, Quinn arched her eyebrow, mainly because she suddenly realised that Mercedes thought that she was mad at her for stealing her 'baby daddy' or something, but Mercedes seemed to take it the other way. Quinn knew she had to set the record straight before the tentative friendship they had formed was ruined.

"I say go for it," She said quickly, with a smile. Mercedes looked shocked. "Look, I screwed up by letting Puck get me pregnant, he's an idiot, and his mother won't let me eat bacon," Quinn frowned a little at this, realising she was rambling a la Rachel Berry, "I'm stuck living with him right now, but at least if you guys are dating then I won't have to listen to his insane theories on how Super Mario Brothers 'changed civilisation'," At this, Mercedes smirked, and Quinn was pleased. Until she remembered she really did have to warn the girl about 'Puckasaurus'. "But... you do realise that he's using you and your popularity so he won't get tossed in the dumpster?"

"I know he's using me," Mercedes said, with an eye roll, and Quinn's heart clenched painfully for the lonely girl stood before her, as she told Quinn that no one had ever wanted her before, in any way, so that even in being used, she felt good. It was sad that so many kids felt this way, Quinn thought sombrely.

"I just don't want you to get hurt," Quinn answered truthfully. The girls parted ways shortly after, Quinn having momentarily forgotten she was angry with Rachel.