2. Tell me a secret

Rachel couldn't stop thinking about the boy she saw earlier and his green eyes that stared back at her with such intensity, like he was trying to read her or see right into her soul.

She had never felt something remotely close to what she was feeling at that moment. Like she needed to see that boy again, know him, hear his voice, know what was in that black book and what he was thinking when he was looking at her.

There was light conversation being held again at the table she was at but as usual her mind and body were in two very different places nowadays.

Something her mother said caught her attention though. Shelby was talking about the wedding again, trying to make other women jealous of them when in reality, Rachel wanted to be anywhere else than where she was right then.

And it flashed before her eyes. Her entire life and the way it was going to be when she marries Finn and become an even bigger expectation for everyone who knew her.

All the parties, the meaningless talks, the kids she would be expected to have, the same narrow people at the same events for the rest of her life and she felt like she was standing on a great cliff with no one to pull her back, no one to safe her because no one cared enough to noticed.

And suddenly the need to run was greater than before, she needed to scape before it was too late.

"Excuse me" she stood up from the table, her mother barely noticed her leave and Rachel's heart sank a bit lower in her stomach. Not even her own mother cared for her. Shelby only cared for the family name and what other people might or might not say about the wedding.

To anyone who happened to see her walking down the corridor she looked like the perfect put together lady she was expected to be but on the insides she was screaming and for the first time she didn't feel capable to hold it back anymore and the sting of tears was felt and she cried.

She didn't care anymore, she was not going to pretend no more, she was freeing herself that night and there was no going back.

She picked up her pace, fisted her dress in her hands and ran down the deck. Her hair due was slowly falling down because of the running but she didn't care. Tears were streaming down her face at a rapid pace and she was angry, angry because she didn't own her life, she couldn't.

She felt desperate and furious, she didn't want to marry this guy, she didn't want to have his children and she most definitely didn't want her mother's life and so she ran faster and even pushed a couple of her mother's friends on her way but she didn't care anymore.

She didn't even know where she was going just that she needed to scape and the ocean was the only scape she saw fit that night.

…

The sky was clear of clouds and the stars were shinning magnificently above Quinn who was laid back on a bench gazing up while she smoked a cigarette.

The things she could do in New York, the list was endless in her head. The opportunities will rise and she'll be ready to take them all, she'd never felt more ready to take on the world than she did at that moment.

The smoke mixed with the cold air of that freezing night, it was a beautiful sight really. Her trail of thought suddenly went to her work, her painting and the pencils she would use to paint this particular evening, even if that wasn't what she usual painted.

She heard hurried footsteps and the sobbing of a lady as she ran by the bench where she was laid and Quinn sat up just in time to watch the lady crash against the flagpole on the edge of the ship.

The lady's sobs stopped abruptly as she stared at the dark water beneath her as she leaned forward and Quinn stood up and started to walk closer without a second thought but she was still far.

But she was not as fast as the lady and she saw the woman climbed the rails with much difficulty because of her long dress and then she saw the woman turn around on the other side to face the ocean. Her arms starched behind her back to hold her in place.

Something very close to panic rose within Quinn and she walked even closer and faster to the lady hanging of the rail of the ship.

She realized who the woman was when she was only a few feet away and her heart jumped to her throat because the last thing she wanted to see that night was this particular woman dying in front of her and suddenly determination rose again within her.

"Don't do it" Quinn softly said and Rachel's head wiped around at the sound of her voice and it took a second to recognize the boy standing behind her.

"Stay back! Don't come any closer!" Rachel ordered and the blonde raised her arms showing obedience but her eyes were still focused of the beautiful lady in front of her and her tainted tears cheeks and red eyes.

But she didn't stay away for long and when she took a step closer and Rachel gave her a look, she motioned to her cigarette and how she wanted to throw it.

Rachel was completely appalled by the fact that this stranger found her here and it's the same stranger that's been occupying her mind all day long. She didn't need him there.

"Come on, take my hand and I'll pull you back in" said the blonde.

"No! Stay where you are. I mean it. I'll let go" even her threat sounded weak but it was only because her resolve quickly melted away by the mere presence of this boy. And she couldn't deny the fact that the water looked rather furious from where she was standing and it scared her to no end.

"No you won't" said the boy with the feminine voice and Rachel saw red, not for the first time that day.

"What do you mean I won't? Don't presume to tell me what I will and will not do. You don't know me!" her teeth were chattering together because it was so cold out but she wasn't going to admit that and why was this boy so interested in saving her sorry life? He didn't have the slightest idea of why Rachel wanted to end this. No one did.

"You would have done it already. Now come on, take my hand" the blonde offered her hand one more time while Rachel was processing his words in her head.

"You're distracting me. Go away" she said back but the boy only sighed before he took off his jacket.

"I can't. I'm involved now. If you let go I have to jump in after you." He said like it was the most obvious and reasonable thing to do.

"Don't be absurd. You'll be killed" Rachel retorted but he only shrugged and the brunette thought that he was the most adorable sight she's ever witnessed and her heart fluttered inside of her chest, her stomach twitched in a weird but yet pleasant way.

"I'm a good swimmer. I was in my high school's team a couple of years ago" the blonde told her with a fond smile and then started to unlace his shoes.

"The fall alone will kill you" Rachel thought out loud, a shiver ran down her back and not only because of the cold but because she realized that her words were very much true and she was the one hanging of the rail.

"It would hurt. I'm not saying it wouldn't" the blonde said, his laces undone by his feet "To be honest I'm a lot more concerned about the water being so cold" he said and Rachel's resolve completely broke with that sentence.

"How cold?" she scarily asked.

"Freezing. Maybe a couple degrees over" Quinn took of her left shoe and shrugged her shoulders, hoping that she was getting through to this woman. "Ever been to Wisconsin?" she suddenly asked but was met with a perplexed expression from the rich lady.

"No."

"Well they have some of the coldest winters around. My father took me there once to visit his sister and she lived near Chippewa Falls. We went ice-fishing once, well he and my aunt's husband went but I was around and you know what ice-fishing is. Is when you chop a hole in the…"

"I know what ice-fishing is!" Rachel cut her off and Quinn raised her hands in surrender once again. She bit her bottom lip.

"Sorry. Just… you look like the kind of indoor girl to me" she shrugged and took a deep breath. She had advanced and was resting her elbows on the rail beside the lady and she considered that an accomplishment already "Anyway, I went through some thin ice and I'm telling you, water that cold, like that right down there" her thoughts went back to that day and the way she felt, it always made her throat hurt "It hits you like a thousand knives all over your body. You can't breathe, you can't think. At least not about anything but the pain."

Before she got emotional she took a step back to take off her right shoe.

"But like I said, I don't have a choice here. I guess I'm kinda hoping you'll come back over the rail and get me off the hook here" she smiled softly at the lady and saw how the small faint of a smile appeared on her lips.

They stared at each other. Nothing or no one could bothered them right then as they looked into each other's eyes.

"You're crazy" Rachel said shaking her head and breaking their stare.

"That's what they keep telling me. But with all due respect miss, I'm not the one hanging of the back of a ship here" she moved closer again but Rachel shook her head, silently telling her to stay away.

"How do I know that you won't spread this around?" Quinn stopped her advance and thought, but nothing smart popped in her head "You need to tell me something, something about you that no one else knows. I need you to tell me something." She begged.

"I won't tell anyone."

"Please" she begged again.

I need you to tell me that my life it's not so bad. That's what Quinn thought that the lady was asking when she spoke. Her own resolve broke and she took a deep breath.

Santana was going to kill her but she needed to safe this person. She was involved and she'd be blame if something bad happened.

"I'm not a boy" it was so easy to say it out loud. She hadn't dwelt on the fact that she was hiding but she also felt chained in a way and free in a completely different one.

"Excuse me?" Rachel looked mad, furious even so the blonde went on.

"I'm a girl. A real girl, I'm just dressed as a boy and if this information runs free." She thought for a second. Homosexuality wasn't by any means well seeing and she was ashamed to admit it but she was scared to death by the consequences that her life style could bring her. She had almost gotten killed.

"Why are you dressed as a boy?" curiosity was always Rachel's biggest flaw, according to her mother anyway.

Rachel saw a flick of worry flash through the blonde's eyes and she rested her elbows on the rail again. Without her jacket or shoes she was starting to feel the cold and it wasn't pleasant.

"How about I tell you the rest of that story on this side of the ship?" the blonde said as she looked to her right and into chocolate curious and fearful eyes. She stood up straight and offered her hand for the third time. "Come on. You know you want to hear the rest. Give me your hand" she half joked and after what felt like an eternity Rachel finally nodded her head.

"Alright" she whispered and saw hazel eyes staring back at her with relief and something else that she couldn't quit tell.

Even if the person standing behind her was not a boy, Rachel still found her to be so beautiful and entrancing even.

It was a thought that should have scared her but it didn't.

She freed her right hand and moved it slowly towards the blonde who took it in a strong grip and let out a content smile.

"Phew! I'm Quinn Fabray" she introduced with a smile a little bigger than before. Rachel thought that that's the most interesting name she's ever heard. She smiled back.

"Please to meet you Ms. Fabray" Rachel was shaking, her hands were freezing and she looked a little pale but now she was holding Quinn's hand and that's all it mattered at the moment.

"Rachel Berry" she added after a few seconds of staring into hazel eyes.

"Please to meet you as well, Ms. Berry" Quinn said with a playful tone. Rachel smiled at her and squeezed the hand in her own to show her appreciation. The height was overwhelming and a sense of dread suddenly enveloped her. She couldn't believe what she was about to do.

"Come on" Quinn hinted and the brunette nodded again. She turned around, finally being able to see right at Quinn's face and not over her shoulder. The girl was beautiful beyond belief that Rachel had to shake her head to set her mind straight again.

But her dress was too long, and just when she was about to step onto the upper rail she slipped off the edge of the deck.

She screamed in fear but Quinn was quick to grab a hold of her arm as she was too pulled towards the rail with force and hit her chest.

"Help! Help!" Rachel screamed harder when she seemed to slip farther down. Desperation was quickly taking over the brunette and I could see it.

"Hey, look at me!" she practically yelled making the woman stop moving and stare at her with desperate filled eyes "I've got you. I won't let go" she pulled with all her strength one more time, this time succeeding in gaining a few inches but Rachel slipped again even though she was holding on the rail with her free hand as well.

Rachel screamed again even louder, tears sprung from her eyes making Quinn take a deep breath and pull with all that she had. She was not going to let I fall.

"I got you" Quinn pulled at Rachel's arm and then grabbed a hold of the collar of her red dress, then wrapped her arms around the brunette's waist as she pulled her over the railing.

Rachel had her arms wrapped around Quinn's neck when they fell on the deck together, the blonde was slightly on top of the rich girl.

Rachel was shaking and at this point Quinn knew that it wasn't just because of the cold. The girl was rightfully terrified and she was too.

"What's all this?" a new voice called and both girls looked up to find two officers standing before them.

Quinn saw them take in the scene but before she could say anything one of the officers grabbed her and pulled her away from the shaking lady on the floor.

"Stand back and don't move an inch!" the man ordered her. Of course she would be to blame for this. What was a third man class doing on the first class one on top of a lady?

Rachel was in shock, she was crying and shaking even harder than before as the officers pulled her up to her feet and wrapped her around a blanket while Quinn was being handcuffed.

Not a minute later Finn and three other men got to them. No one needed to explain a thing to them because the scene was doing a pretty good job alone. The lady in distress, scared to death, her dress torn apart and a third class man without his shoes or his jacket was handcuffed to a side.

Yeah, the picture was painting itself against Quinn in a marvelous way.

"My God" Finn exclaimed as he took Rachel in his arms, planted a sloppy kiss to her forehead and enveloped her in a tight embrace. Rachel could tell that he was relieved that she was alright but that knowledge wasn't making her feel the way it was supposed to.

William was watching the young boy up and down, studying him but Quinn was relaxed, she wasn't pleased but what was the point in fighting against something that you can't change and when it came to first class citizens blaming you for something there was not a thing that you could do to prove them wrong so I didn't even try.

Suddenly Finn felt furious that this unworthy piece of crap put his hands on his fiancée and he grabbed the young blonde by the collar of his shirt with anger.

"What made you think that you could put your hands on my fiancée! You filth!" he shook the boy with his hands until a gentle hand touched his shoulder.

"I, stop! It was an accident" Rachel said, her eyes locking with Quinn's momentarily.

"An accident?" Finn asked chuckling, disbelieving.

"It was" Rachel nodded while she realized that everyone was staring at her and that she needed to safe the woman that had saved her life "Stupid really. I was leaning over and I slipped" she looked over Finn's shoulder one more time and saw Quinn listening to her with all her attention and a playful barely there smirk adorning her lips.

"I was leaning way over, to see the-the-ah-propellers! And I slipped and I would have gone overboard but Mr. Fabray here saved me and he almost went over himself" she wasn't a good liar by any means and this situation was living prove of that.

All the men had their eyes fixed on her until Finn chuckled in fake understanding.

"You wanted to see the propellers?" she nodded and he shook his head. Quinn smiled at her from behind his fiancé and she managed to smile softly as well.

"Women and machinery do not mix" they heard another man said but Quinn and Rachel were so entranced with each other that they didn't even notice.

"Is that what really happened?" an older officer asked Quinn. Rachel was on the edge, she was begging her to just go along and after an excruciating second Quinn nodded her head and got her confidence back.

"Yeah, that was pretty much it" she could see the weight of Rachel's shoulders disappear but now this woman knew something of her as well and that scared her too.

"Well, they boy's a hero then. Good for you son, well done!" the officer said and tapped Quinn on the back. Another officer uncuffed her then as small chat was being held by all the men but Quinn and Rachel's eyes were fixed on each other, both women wondering when would they see each other again and if they would.

Finn put his arm on Rachel's waist and soon enough he was pulling her away from Quinn.

"Let's get you in darling. You're freezing" he said as he rubbed her arms with his large hands trying to give her some warm.

She tried to smile at him in this rare sweet moment but even then she couldn't be genuine for him because everything that had him involved meant that her freedom was nonexistent and she couldn't let that go.

"Perhaps a little something for the boy?" one of the men hinted and Finn turned around to face said boy.

In his eyes the blonde boy was nothing but a waste of space. Someone who didn't deserve to be on the same ship as them, he didn't even deserve to be in their presence, he had no education, no class, no manners but this boy had saved Rachel of her own stupidity.

"Of course. William. A twenty should do it" he ordered to his bodyguard who was quick to jump in action, like a dog expecting the orders of his master. Rachel huffed and Finn raised his eyebrows at her.

"Is that the prize for saving the woman you love?" he could tell that she was upset and he couldn't let the opportunity to please her go to waste.

"Rachel is displeased. What to do?" he playfully asked. "I know." He then turned to the boy when an idea popped in his head. He eyed the boy with superiority and disgust.

"Perhaps you could join us for dinner tomorrow, to regale our group with your heroic tale?."

Quinn knew his angle. She wasn't going to be able to walk in to their restaurant because of her class status and he knew that as well but then maybe. He was inviting her after all, wasn't he?.

"Sure" she accepted "Count me in" Finn laughed in mockery.

"Good. Settled then" he turned around to his fiancée and wrapped his arm around her shoulders impending her to look back as he kissed the top of her head and took her inside.

Quinn's eyes followed Rachel's retreating form until someone stepped on her line of sight. She looked up to find William staring at her with a blank expression on his face while he lighted a cigarette.

"Hey, can I have one?" she asked and he offered his pack for her to take as many as she'd like. She grabbed two and William offered her light as she placed another cigar behind her ear.

"You'll want to tie those" the man said pointing at her shoes and she froze in place. "Interesting that the young lady slipped so suddenly and you still had time to take of your jacket and shoes. Huh?" he was gone before she could even blink her eyes, and left her with a sense of dread.

…

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