Bring Me Home

Disclaimer: All characters are the property of Fox

A/N: This story is really beginning to feel like a Faberry piece, so I'm thinking of posting it at the Rachel/Quinn site but let me apologize in advance for letting my love for Rachel run amuck. Also, not to spoil anything but let's just say that the road to true love is never easy.

Chapter 6: I'm A Freak, But Thanks For Loving Me

The following Friday, the former members of McKinley High's Glee club received specially engraved invitations for breakfast at the Berry residence. The cast of Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog will be making an appearance on Good Morning America and later that morning, on The View. The proud papas Berry took this opportunity to bask in their only child's success, while simultaneously christening their newly renovated home theatre room. As much as this little revelry was a celebration of their daughter's achievements thus far, it was in equal parts a gigantic 'Fuck You!' to every single person who ever belittled her or told Rachel she wasn't good enough to make it. Not too long ago, Quinn herself was one of the most vocal naysayers.

Back in the first grade, Ms. Anderson asked the students to draw a picture of what they wanted to be when they grew up. Most if the boys drew pictures of themselves as football or basketball players, a few of the girls drew safe occupations as nurses, teachers and the occasional doctor. Quinn was sitting across the desk from Rachel, ruminating on whether she would actually have a job or just be a housewife like her mother when her musing was interrupted by Ms. Anderson asking Rachel what all of the gold stars surrounding the girl on the page represented.

"That's me," little Rachel pointed to the girl holding a microphone in one hand and a big smile on her face. "I'm going to be a famous singer on Broadway." it was said so matter-of-factly that Quinn believed in that moment that Rachel's dream would come true, even though she hadn't a clue what Broadway was exactly. Unfortunately their teacher didn't share this same belief.

"Rachel maybe you should think about something a little more realistic, you're a smart girl it wouldn't do to waste your time on silly dreams." the woman walked away, patting Rachel's should in sympathy. Rachel waited until their teacher made in back to the front of the room before focusing back on her picture with renewed vigor.

"Well she just lost her favorable mention in my Tony Award acceptance speech."

The corners of Quinn's mouth twitched a little and with that thought in mind she set about making her picture, opting for a profession outside Ms. Anderson preconceived realm of possibilities.

Quinn and Sophia arrived early to lend the two men a hand in the kitchen. Recalling several nights gorging on take-out because none of the Berry's could cook dinner to save their lives, Quinn was expecting to be put on 'Scoop the food out of the take-away container and onto a serving platter' duty, but was pleasantly surprised when she walked into the kitchen to find Boyd Berry gingerly dipping a slice of Texas Toast into a milky cinnamon mixture.

"Berry's Berry French Toast!" he exclaimed with a flourish. Then he carefully placed the sodden bread onto the hot griddle. "It's an old family recipe."

"It smells amazing," taking inventory of the ingredients spread out on the island in the middle of the Berry's spacious kitchen, Quinn grins at the large bowls of exotic fruit that the men surely had to have specially delivered overnight from the Harry & David catalog. "So what's the fruit-of-the-month for June?"

"Prunus armeniaca also known as the Apricot." wiping his hands on a dish towel, Boyd scoops out a sampling of all of the fruits and with a wink, places the bowl in front of Sophia. "Though they're not in season, the blueberries are to die for."

"Thank you." Sophia politely accepts the bowl and scrambles off to sit at the dining room table.

After last week's disastrous lunch, Quinn was a little surprised to see the other glee members accept the Berry's invitation. When they arrived in pairs they at least had the good graces to act polite and keep their snide comments to themselves. Artie was the first to express his gratitude to their hosts, though that could have been because he was touched that Ira had the foresight to place a temporary ramp on the front steps to accommodate his chair. If seeing Kurt and Mercedes behaving themselves wasn't enough to make Quinn pinch herself to make sure she was awake, Sue Sylvester's borderline chipper appearance was cause for apocalyptic panic.

"Sue!" Will Schuester gaped open mouth at the tall blond, clad in a bright red Addias track suit and wearing a pearl necklace, her variation of dressy casual wear. "what are you doing here?"

"Why shouldn't I be here to celebrate this grand and what is likely to be, ostentatious occasion William?" Sue drawls, waltzing into the house and giving the room a disinterested once over.

"It was my understanding that this gathering was to celebrate one of New Directions' members success." barely restraining his indignant anger, Will calms somewhat when he feels Emma Pillsbury lightly grasp his arm.

"Of course," Ira interrupts the oncoming brawl. He's heard enough war stories from his daughter to know that these two teachers have a habit of nearly throwing down regardless of where they may be at the time, "Coach Sylvester was ever so kind as to write Rachel a glowing letter of recommendation when she was applying to Julliard. She even went so far as to personally talk to the admissions board at Yale University just to make sure Rachel took advantage of all of her opportunities. Who better than Coach Sylvester would be more welcome in our home?"

That last comment was aimed at Will and no matter how clueless the teacher may be half the time, he knew when to duck his head in shame at his less than stellar track record with the nascent starlet.

"In addition to being an Internationally rank Cheerleading Coach and just plain awesome," Sue pauses with a cocky smirk, daring the curly haired pansy to refute her claim, "I still hold the title of co-director of William McKinley High's drama department and I would have been remiss in my duties as co-director if I didn't encourage one of our brightest stars to fulfill her potential. The fact that Berry unknowingly handed you the right amount of rope to hang yourself with William was just icing on the cake."

Its taken entire school year of fundraising and pleading with Figgins not to cut the program after their terrible loss at Nationals. As much as Will would love to lash out at Sue, he knows that the blame for their hardship lies solely at his feet. Shelby may not be at the helm of Vocal Adrenalin any longer but her successor was even more ruthless than he ever could have dreamed. Planting Charolette in their club to force Rachel out was a diabolical maneuver and one that Will wholeheartedly fell prey to.

"Well Sue, if you'll follow me down this hall," Ira gestures to the right, "my husband has just finished mixing the protein shake to your specifications."

"Excellent, you've got to love the gays for their adherence to meticulous dietary directions." clapping Will on the shoulder, harder than necessary, as she proceeded into the dining room Sue Sylvester gave a non-committal greeting to the others in attendance.

The start of Rachel's segment came after a very long wait, made even longer by the teasers announcing that the appearance was 'coming up soon'. Quinn sat amongst their friends in utter silence as they watched the girl they had walked the same halls with nearly everyday now on national television.

The skirt of Rachel's lilac sundress slid up when she crossed her legs and took a seat on the wooden directors chair, placing her toned naturally tanned legs on display. Rachel was glowing, corny as it may seem, it's the only accurate way to describe the brunette. Or maybe it was simply the reflection off of her ever present gold Star of David necklace.

She sat sandwiched between two very handsome and talented stars of stage and screen, comfortably bantering back and forth as if they were hanging in their favorite coffee shop and not sitting live in front of millions of viewers. Between Neil Patrick Harris' cute anecdote of his first meeting with Rachel and how he was absolutely blown away when this huge voice came out of such a tiny person and Nathan Fillion's witty comments interspersed throughout the interview, Rachel explains how she was invited to audition for the show after one of the producers saw her performance in the Julliard Spring Showcase.

Neil and Rachel perform 'My Eyes' and when Nathan joins the pair for 'A Man's Gotta Do', the crowd outside of the GMA studios totally loses their shit.

The second the credits began to roll, Ira Berry leaped across the room to the phone, anxious to call Rachel and discuss her next appearance.

"That was wonderful, I didn't realize this musical was so popular." Emma states as the adults congregate towards the kitchen.

"A little campy for my tastes but no one does 'doe-eyed bleeding heart' like Berry so it's not such a hard sell." Sue actually complements.

"Auntie Rach looked pretty right mommy?" Sophia innocently inquires.

"Yes baby Rachel looked very beautiful." a slight blush warms Quinn's face and she tries to hide her obvious affections by burying her face in her daughter's hair. Boyd and Ira share an amused look over the blondes head and Brittany pokes Santana in the side.

"See," Brittany whispers in the other girl's ear, "what did I tell you? Quinn's totally into Rachel."

"You bribed the kid to say that, didn't you?" Santana shakes her head at Brittany's meddling.

"Yep." the peppy blond happily admits.

"And what does Puck think about you using his daughter to hook up her mother with his ex?"

"Puck was the one who said we should use little S. Now on to the next part of the plan big S, you have to talk to Rachel and drop hints about Quinn."

"Oh hell no, I'm staying out of this B, sorry. I've got enough stuff going on right now and the last thing I want is to get caught up in this shit storm.."

"It's not a shit storm," Brittany pouts, "we'll be getting Quinn and Rachel to finally admit that they weren't really fighting over Finn back in high school. They like each other, I know they do and when they get together it'll be awesome, like a perfect storm of hotness!"

Placing a light kiss on the obstinate Latina's lips, Brittany grins to herself when she feels Santana's resolve cracking and deepens the kiss.

"Now that is totally worth waking up at freakin 8 a.m. on my day off for!" Puck exclaims, leering at the two girls sitting next to him on plush leather stadium chairs. The Fireman is too busy giving a high-five to Matt that he doesn't see Santana's fist until it's too late to dodge the oncoming blow. "Ow damn, why are you so freakin strong?"

"You're just a pussy!" Santana hisses in annoyance. Puck smirks lasciviously at the girl, gearing up to make a wholly inappropriate joke, so she cocks her fist back in warning. He quickly got the hint and turned back to talk to Matt.

"I'll help you with those." Brittany offers to help Boyd Berry collect their dirty dishes. She vacates the chair she was previously snuggling in with Santana and carefully stacks the syrup drenched plates in her hands.

"Thank you Brittany and thank you kids for coming over to show support for our Rachel."

Sophia contracts the chickenpox in mid July, Quinn spends the better part of two days trying to keep her three year old from scratching the small itchy blisters. After a long oatmeal bath and being rubbed from head to toe in calamine lotion, Soph is finally asleep, Quinn is exhausted yet too wired over her child's illness to rest. Picking up her phone she hit's the 2 speed dial slot and starts talking before the other person even has a chance to give a proper greeting.

"Is it wrong to want to kill the little punk that gave Soph the chickenpox?"

"Not that I'm condoning violence as the solution to any situation but if you're looking to take out a hit on this pestilence spreading menace, I know a guy, who knows a guy that works in a butcher shop that could take care of your problem." The girl's teasing voice quickly soothes Quinn's frayed nerves, until she hears another female's voice in the background.

"Hey babe, I've gotta run I just caught a new case." a sexy whiskey toned voice interrupts their conversation and Rachel asks Quinn to hold for a moment while she walks her guest to the door, "See you tomorrow?"

Quinn gnashes her teeth in a fruitless attempt to tamper down the red hot flare of an all too familiar emotion churning in her stomach. Soft moans and the unmistakable sounds of hungry kisses carries through the phone, further exasperating her annoyance.

"Mmm, definitely." Rachel agrees in a breathy whisper. 'Did Rachel forget that she's on the phone while making out with that woman?' Quinn wonders

"Bye, gorgeous."

"Goodnight Jane, be safe." Rachel closes her door, securing the locks and chain then returns to her call. "Still there, Quinn?"

"Um, yeah…sorry, I didn't know I was interrupting anything."

"You're not, Jane was just called into work, apparently a double homicide takes priority over post-coitus snuggling." Rachel chuckles at her own joke, Quinn attempts to do the same but the sound comes out a bit more strangled and false. If Rachel noticed the difference, she doesn't bring it up, to Quinn's relief. "What are you still doing up this late?"

"I couldn't sleep, Sophia's been running a fever and itching like crazy all day. I finally got her to sleep but now I'm too worried to nod off."

"Poor baby." Rachel coos. Quinn can't tell if she's referring to her or her daughter but she takes the sentiment with a smile, just the same.

"Tell me a story." Quinn demands, stifling a yawn.

"Alright…um," Rachel thinks for a moment, getting more comfortable in bed and propping her arm up onto a pillow to better position her iPhone against her ear. "There once was this Sparrow that was suppose to fly south for the winter but he was a bit absentminded and lost track of his flock. He got stuck in the middle of a terrible blizzard and he couldn't see which direction he was suppose to fly, after a while he grew tired of this fruitless endeavor and fell to the ground, covered in snow he was virtually a little birdie popsicle. When the storm past a cow wandered by and defecated on him, gross I know, but the warmth from the manure melted away the ice and the Sparrow was so happy that he began to sing. But he was still stuck in the smelly mess, until a wolf happened by and licked all of the poo away. Before the bird had a chance to thank the wolf for freeing him, the wolf ate the Sparrow. Now, the moral of the story is, 'not everyone who shits on you is your enemy and not everyone who cleans you off is your friend.'"

There's a long pause, then Quinn's laughter bursts through the phone causing Rachel to pull it away from her ear.

"Okay the only question in my mind right now is 'what type of F-ed up nursery rhymes did your folks tell you when you were a kid?'"

"What," the brunette indignantly sputters, "I think that the Sparrow story is a very accurate account of how society portrays…"

"It's an F-ed up story, Rach." Quinn declares once again and she can clearly picture the pout on her friend's face.

"Well the next time you request a bedtime tale be sure to ask for one that isn't socially conscious."

"Fine, no more bedtime stories. So what's the deal with you and this…woman?" Quinn masochistically inquires but making a great effort not to speak the woman's name. "Puck said that she was a lot older than you."

"Not even by a decade," Rachel huffs in aggravation

"You know you're spending too much time with Puck, when you start chasing cougars."

"For your information, Jane has barely turned 28 and she is a very beautiful and lovely person."

"Who can very distinctly remember the 80's."

"You're being obnoxious, maybe I should hang up and let you get some rest."

"Sorry, it's just been a really long day." Quinn quickly backtracks when she realizes she's gone from playful teasing to…well, sort of a jealous bitch.

"Forgiven, would it help you relax if I told you another story?"

"I swear Rachel, if this is the tale of the Tortoise and the Scorpion…" Rachel's silence confirms that she was indeed thinking of that story or maybe one similar. Quinn decides to change the subject before Rachel can gear up to launch into another tirade. "How's the Shelby situation going?"

"Incidentally, the Shelby situation is just another long chapter of a disinteresting pulp fiction novel." Rachel sighs, ruefully. "She's desperate to prove to me that she isn't the scourge of the universe, while I pretend not to die a little inside each time my biological mother dangles a possible relationship in front of my face, only to yank it away at the most poignant moment."

"Jeez Rach, that's way too much drama, even for you." Damn, the words come out snarkier than Quinn intended and she silently scolds herself, 'I'm like 0-2 tonight, where the hell is my A game?'

"She just…I've survived nearly two decades without a mom and after years of utter silence, she just comes crashing into my life with all of these unrealistic expectations of us being one big happy family. As much as I want to be angry with her for throwing me away twice before…"

"You really just want her to be your mom." Quinn answers. She knows from personal and very painful experience, what it's like to yearn for your mother's unconditional love. Judy Fabray has always been a distant and reserved woman. If it weren't for the fact that she can ingest half a bottle of bourbon each night, Quinn would have thought her mother was a robot. Maybe she's a cyborg, that would explain a lot.

"That day at Regionals, she just stood there, calmly pouring cream into her coffee while I begged her to love me. If Shelby didn't want me then, why now? Santana said it's probably only because I'm doing well out here…"

"No! I'll admit the timing is a bit suspect but there's probably a really good reason why she felt that way back then and it has nothing to do with your growing success."

"Maybe," Rachel quietly ruminates on her mother's motives for a reunion. "Quinn, can we shelve this for now? I feel like we're repeating the same thing over and over and I'm no closer to a plausible answer than I was the first dozen times I've thought about her."

"If you're sure, I'm willing to execute yet another topic change."

"I'm positive."

"Alright…so um, what are you wearing?" the line is deadly silent for a moment and then Rachel's melodic laughter filters through the phone, bringing a very accomplished smile to Quinn's face.

"Unbelievably cheezy Fabray."

"I try."

"I'm really glad I decided to come back here for the summer." Santana murmurs into Brittany's shoulder as the pair lay naked in her bed.

She lives for moments like this, just the two of them holed up in her room, shutting out the rest of the world. It's one of the few times that Santana will allow her guard to fall completely, showing Brittany just how much she truly loves her and speaks candidly about her emotions. But it's also the time when Santana will really tell Britt what she's thinking, 79 percent of the time it's not good.

"You weren't going to come back home?"

"Hadn't planned on it." the Latina casually shrugs, clueless to her bedmates heart rate increasing anxiously. "Most of our friends were staying in the city , either to work or just try to make a few contacts with some of the smaller theaters, so there were plenty of people to hang with. My academic advisor got me this sweet internship with a major talent agency but that doesn't start until the fall and when Mami said she needed someone to babysit my jackoff brother Pedro while she and Papi worked…" she trails off with another shrug.

Brittany bites down hard on her bottom lip, grateful that Santana can't see the pained expression on her face. That confirms it, she bitterly scoffs in her head, San didn't come back home in hopes of seeing her. She simply had nothing else better to do this summer and as always, Brittany was just a convenient lay. Come September, Santana will pack up her things and go back to her life in New York with all of her new friends and that girl Brittany knows she's been sleeping with. That is what hurts her the most, Santana absolutely refused to publicly acknowledge the true nature of their relationship for years, but the second she steps foot in New York the brunette has no issue with openly dating another girl.

These thoughts leave Brittany feeling cheap and used. Turning over onto her side, she faces away from the other girl who's drifting off to a peaceful slumber, completely ignorant to the silent tears cascading down Brittany's face.

Slipping back into her house the next morning when she's sure her folks are off at work, Santana's contemplating doing a few laps in her backyard pool and listening to some music until Brittany gets off of work at 3. Suddenly she is grabbed from behind and unceremoniously tossed onto the couch. She looks up at her assailant, trying to recall a special on the Discovery Channel about how to turn your shoe into a deadly weapon but calms marginally when she sees Quinn and Puck standing over her.

"You two have a death wish?" she growls. Quinn, unthreatened by Santana's attempts at intimidation, simply holds up her phone and tells the person on the line to begin.

"Santana," Rachel's voice on loud speaker calmly begins, "Noah, Quinn and myself are gathered here because we believe that you are headed down a very slippery slope from which you may not be able to recover. And as your closest friends and confidants, we have chosen this moment to intervene to prevent you from falling into undesirable consequences. "

Santana blinks numbly at her stoic friends in front of her and Rachel's disembodied voice over the phone

"An intervention?" she shrieks in disbelief, "You three dumbasses are staging a fucking intervention, what the hell for?"

"Fuckin' told you this was stupid." Puck gripes. Discreetly he takes a step back because Santana has her 'Nut Punchin' face on and one can never be too careful when it comes to the family jewels.

"Noah please, we need to maintain an united front if we have any chance in helping Santana overcome her addiction."

"What fucking addiction?" When the shock wears off, it becomes all too clear what her friends are referring to. "Oh, I get it, this is about me and Britt, huh? Well you know what? You assholes suck and you need to stay the hell out of my business…"

"Santana, we're just trying to look out for you, after what happened the last time you two broke up…"

"We're not going to break up, Quinn. Things are different, we're different and once Brittany moves to New York with me, everything is gonna be fine."

"So you're planning to stick this thing out?" Quinn skeptically questions

"Yeah, I am. Me and Britt…look I've been planning this for a while." crossing her arms defensively over her chest, Santana leans back on the couch avoiding eye contact as she reveals her very thought out plan to her astonished friends.

"Oh, so I guess you didn't need us up in your shit after all." Puck laughs, comfortable enough to join Santana on the couch now that she doesn't look like she wants to rip his balls off for meddling.

"You know, I get why Q is here and even Rach teleconferencing in isn't as weird as it should be. But what I don't get is why the hell do you care who I'm sleeping with, Puck?"

"For some reason, I'm always knee deep in all of you guys drama, I'm like the 'Lesbian Whisperer' or something." He shrugs, grabbing the remote off the coffee table and making himself at home.

A/N: Hate to end it here but it was getting pretty long and since I have the next chapter already typed up, I'll post it soon. Thanks for reading!