A/N: O.K I think I've decided that my update day is going to be most Wednesdays (Australia). This means two things. One, updates will be fairly regular. Two, the chapters will most likely be longer (yippee).

If one comes before Wednesday try not to expect another one in the same week but I will try to get another out there. Similarly with after, if there is no update on Wednesday one week I'll try to get both chapters up by the next Wednesday. It all depends on how busy I am. This is a longer chapter but I do hope now that some things have straightened out a bit in my life that they will all be this long.

Oh, and by POV I mean whose feelings I am going to explain not really an actual Point Of View per say. This one is Quinn's. Next chapter will either be up on Wednesday or Thursday but don't yell at me if it's not.

As always Read and Review.

-/-

Monday morning Quinn woke up cheery, it had been a good weekend. More specifically, it had been a good Saturday which had elated her into having a good Sunday as well. Nothing particularly good had happened, but she was still happy.

She got dressed into her cheerio's uniform and went downstairs into the kitchen. She poured herself a bowl of cereal. Before long it was time for her to go to school. When Quinn got to school she found Brittany and Santana talking near their lockers. She went over to talk to them, but on her way she met Rachel going in the opposite direction. As they passed each other Quinn threw Rachel a small smile. It wasn't much, but it was there.

Rachel looked around nervously and raised her books up to her chest as though she thought she was about to be slushied, but returned with a small smile when she saw no sign of danger.

These actions made Quinn feel the worst she had since her father kicked her out. Was she really such a sign of danger to Rachel? Did she expect to be slushied every time they saw each other?

When she reached Brittany and Santana she figured she must have looked about as good as she felt. The first words out of the Latina's mouth were.

"What happened? Who are they? I can make them pay."

"No S. Please don't. It's my fault."

"Why. What happened?"

"I just noticed how much Rachel is scared of us."

"Then why do you look so sad. This is a great achievement. We have done well."

"No we haven't. When I smiled at her she thought she was going to be slushied or something. She deserves more than that. "

"If she deserved more than that she wouldn't have been continually slushied. Would she?"

"You saw on Saturday that she isn't always so high strung and pushy. She is nowhere near as annoying as she is at school."

"Hang on. Are you actually not only defending Rachel Berry, but saying you might like her a bit."

"So what if I am?" Her answer caught herself by surprise. Did she now want to be friends with the girl she had tormented for years after just one weekend?

"I like Rachel." Quinn had completely forgotten that Brittany was there. Quinn and Santana had kept their voices quite low so Quinn supposed Brittany hadn't picked up on the fight yet.

"Fine. Whatever, see if I care." Wow. Santana had actually admitted defeat. Quinn was proud of herself.

"Let's just go to class." Quinn suggested. So they set off for the first class of the day.

-/-

Through the day Quinn was thinking of ways to make Rachel comfortable around her. She had given up on fighting it; she desperately wants to be the diva's friend.

At the end of the day, they had glee. Quinn walked into the room to find Rachel sitting in her usual spot in the front. Today instead of going to her usual spot in the back, Quinn stopped herself and sat next to Rachel.

She smiled genuinely at Rachel and after a moment's hesitation, Quinn received a smile back. Quinn felt herself become elated like she was earlier this morning, and that was only from a smile. She decided to try her luck at some pleasantries.

"Hi Rachel. Had a good day so far?" It was weak but worth a shot.

"Yes. Thank you Quinn for asking. How about you?" Nice work so far no one was feeling bad.

"Mine has been great. Nothing particularly good has happened; I guess I'm just feeling good today."

"Well that's good. I thought you seemed happy today." Quinn looked towards the door just in time to see Santana walk in. When she saw Quinn with Rachel she threw Quinn a horrible look. If looks could kill I'd be dead before I hit the floor, Quinn thought to herself. But for once she didn't care.

"Why does Santana look so angry?" Rachel asked with confusion on her face.

"It's something she can get over." Was Quinn's only reply. Rachel sat with a confused look on her face for a few seconds before she understood what must have happened.

"Is she angry because you're sitting with me?" Quinn didn't want to lie to Rachel but also didn't want to hurt her feelings, so she remained silent. It seemed as though this was the confirmation Rachel was looking for though because she said,

"You can go sit with her if you want Quinn. It's not like I'm not used to being alone."

This comment physically hurt Quinn's heart. It was her fault the other girl was used to being alone.

"No Rachel. You deserve company more than she does." Quinn smiled and received one back. Rachel's quickly fell though.

"Quinn are you sure? Wouldn't it just be easier to keep Santana happy?"

"I don't care." Quinn said it with finality in her voice. She thought she may have frightened the diva so she said,

"You're worth more than anyone gives you credit for Rachel."

"Since when?" Quinn knew she was going to have to answer this question, she just hoped it wouldn't be today. Although she was determined to answer none the less.

"Rachel, you have to understand how sorry I am for the way I treated you."

"Why are you so sorry all of a sudden?"

"Because I never really saw you outside of school where you were attention seeking and really bossy."

Great way to apologise Quinn, really good work. Quinn thought to herself.

"Look Rachel, the point is that I don't want to be mean to you anymore."

Rachel looked how Quinn felt. Shocked.

"So, you don't want to be mean to me anymore because you saw me twice when I wasn't being attention seeking and really bossy."

Wow. Out of Rachel's mouth it did seem quite unlikely and a bit lame.

"Yes Rachel. I want us to get the chance to start again and try and be friends. If you will let me have the chance of course."

Oh my God. When did I become so lame?

"Why should I give you a chance to be my friend? How do I know you won't just try to get inside of my feeling so you can try to completely destroy me?"

"You don't. Look we can start off just being nice to each other. Then we can start doing things more like friends do."

"Like what might I ask?"

"You know, like go to the mall and the movies and just hang out. Look you don't have to give me an answer right now. Please just stop flinching when I smile at you in the halls."

"Why?"

"I don't like it. I mean I knew I was bad to you, but I didn't think I was that bad. It makes me feel really bad when I see you try to hide like that."

"Well you deserve it."

"I know. But you don't. I'll try and make it up to you somehow."

"I'll... I'll think about it."

"That's all I ask... until you trust me a bit more so we can be friends."

Quinn smiled genuinely at Rachel. Rachel kept her expression fairly neutral as Mr Shue walked in to begin the lesson. Quinn thought it was the best she should have hoped for, even if it did sting a little. Quinn figured things could have gone worse, Rachel could have lost her temper or just rejected Quinn's friendship like she had done to Rachel, but things could have gone better.

-/-Rachel POV

Rachel couldn't believe it; either that or she wouldn't let herself. Quinn freaking Fabray was talking to her and not only asking for forgiveness, but asking to be her friend too!

But Rachel decided that before she was going to let herself get caught in a trap and hurt really badly, she was going to make sure the cheerleader was being genuine. She was going to be level headed. Someone doesn't just be your enemy one day and then come back the next week wanting to be your friend.

Rachel decided that there was most likely some elaborate plan of Quinn's to make Rachel feel really bad about herself and make her cry for weeks because she let herself be opened up to just to be torn down again. So she asked calculated questions. She was a little surprised when Quinn told her she could take time to think about it.

Rachel was very torn. She desperately wanted a friend, especially someone who wasn't as lonely as Rachel usually was, but she didn't want to be hurt by Quinn anymore. If Quinn was being genuine, it would be like a dream come true for her. On the flipside though, if she opened up and got hurt... she really didn't want to think about that if she could help it.

She and Quinn sat through Glee club as they usually would if they weren't sitting next to each other; Rachel offering her opinion on everything that was said and Quinn sitting, just listening to what was said and contributing as little as possible. Rachel figured this was kinda a good thing; at least the cheerleader wasn't tearing anyone down.

When Glee was finished Rachel picked up her bag and turned to leave when she heard an argument starting beside her.

"I can sit with whoever I want to Santana. I don't need to screen everything I do by you."

It looked to Rachel as though Santana had started the fight Rachel was sure to happen as soon as Quinn refused to sit with the Latina.

"No you don't Q, but sitting next to Manhands? Really Q? Are you trying to make yourself a slushie target? Because I don't think I will be able to stop them if you make stupid decisions like sitting with RuPaul."

"Shut up Santana. You keep calling her names and I'll make sure you are off the Cheerio's before you know what has happened to you."

Rachel couldn't help but let her heart lift when she heard Quinn defending her like this.

"Earth to Q, you made up these names. Besides why do you care about the midget?"

"Quinn why can't you just leave Rachel alone? Haven't you done enough to ruin her life already without doing whatever you are trying to do?"

This was Finn. Maybe Rachel had more friends than she had thought. Well, at least people who had her back.

"I'm not trying to pull anything. I'm actually trying to be nice to her."

"Why?" Santana and Finn asked together.

Rachel cleared her throat loudly, she was happy Finn was trying to defend her but she didn't like his tone of surprise that someone would be nice to her. The diva thought it best to remind everyone that she was still there.

"Look I feel really bad for what I did to Rachel. I want to try and make it up to her."

"Did this start before or after you slushied her last Wednesday?" Finn asked as a mock question.

"It started on Friday when I realised she wasn't as bad as we made her out to be. I want the chance to get to know her now."

"You know what? I trust Rachel's judgement. I'm going to let her decide what she wants to do. But I'm going to be watching you Quinn." With that Finn walked off.

Rachel beamed. Not only did Finn have her back after their history together but he still respected her enough to trust her with herself. She had a newfound respect for him as well now.

"Whatever Q. If you want to throw away your rep for no good reason, that's up to you. I'll do what I can, but I'm not going down with you." Santana walked out the door as well.

"How are you getting home Rachel?"

Rachel was surprised with the abrupt change in Quinn's voice. It had changed from being harsh and unforgiving to sweet and kind in an instant. Apparently her shock showed on her face because Quinn explained.

"Look Rachel, if you show any sign on weakness to Santana she will exploit it, that's if she can gain something by it. She can be understanding some of the time though, so don't judge her from what you usually see. Anyway, so how are you getting home?"

"I usually just walk home. It only takes like 15 minutes."

"Well today, you are getting a lift home from me."

"Quinn really it's no problem. I walk home all the time."

"I don't really care. Come on lets go get what you need from your locker."

To put an end to any of Rachel's arguments she was forming in her mind, Quinn grabbed hold of Rachel's hand and led her to her locker.

"I'll be back in a minute. I just have to get my stuff. If you try to start walking I may have to resort to tying you up. You probably already know that I would actually consider it an option so don't try it okay?"

"Fine."

As Quinn walked off Rachel thought to herself, after just watching Quinn defend her like that to Santana, there was no chance she would abandon the blonde. She couldn't help but feel she was trusting Quinn a bit more than she had hoped she would after the cheerleader being nice to her one day but, then again, she hadn't really expected to watch Quinn to stand up for Rachel, but to do it to the fiery Latina herself.

As Rachel packed her bag she smiled to herself. Maybe Quinn wasn't pulling her leg. Maybe, just maybe, Quinn actually wanted to be her friend.

-/-Quinn POV

As Quinn walked back to her locker, she had mixed emotions. She was a little sad that Santana had started a fight with her, but really that had been expected. She was pissed at Finn for trying to interfere with her and Rachel. They weren't even dating anymore! But at the same time she was a little grateful to him. He did still have Rachel's best interests at heart.

But more than anything she was pleased and happy with herself. She had defended Rachel and thought she had done a pretty good job. She could also feel that she had made the diva trust her a lot more than she had been hoping to for at least a few weeks. And now she had the chance to get to know Rachel a good deal more because the diva had begrudgingly allowed Quinn to drive her home. This was turning out to be a pretty good day.

When Quinn had gathered all that she needed, she went back to Rachel's locker. She was pleased to see that the diva had not run away and was waiting patiently for Quinn.

"Ready to go?" Quinn asked.

"Yeah sure. But you really don't have to give me a lift Quinn. I am perfectly fine with walking for 15 minutes to get home."

"Well I'm not and you are coming with me." She really wanted those few minutes to be alone with the diva without anyone staring at them or judging them like they had been in glee.

"So stop arguing and come with me. Please." She added as an afterthought. Was she pushing too hard? Maybe she should cool it a bit.

She grabbed Rachel's hand and led her to the car park where her blue ford fusion was parked. They got in and Quinn started to drive towards Rachel's place.

"So Quinn, you know you don't really have to defend me from Santana. She has a tendency to just say stuff like that about me and she was probably right. I will make you a target for ridicule and maybe even slushies."

Hearing Santana say it was bad enough, Quinn didn't need to hear it from Rachel as well.

"No they won't Rachel. You're more than what people give you credit for. Anyway if a cheerio tries to slushie me they will be off the team faster than they can say that their sorry. Besides all that, I don't really care. I've been nothing but mean to you the whole time I've known you. I know that I can't make it up to you but I can try. I want to be your friend Rachel. I don't have to do anything."

For the first time in her life, it looked as though Rachel Berry was speechless. She kept opening and closing her mouth, but there was no sound coming out. After a full minute Rachel seemed as though she could speak again.

"You really mean this don't you? You aren't just trying to hurt me?"

"Rachel I promise I will never try to hurt you again. I'm really sorry for how I treated you."

"That was a week ago Quinn."

They were stopped at a red light so Quinn closed her eyes. She didn't think she could feel this bad for doings something.

"I know, I know. Just please believe me when I say that I'm sorry." If she kept apologising, maybe she could convey just how sorry she was.

"I'm not saying that I'm going to completely trust you straight away and I may still flinch when I see you smile at me in school, but I want to try." After hearing Rachel say this Quinn's eyes shot open and she looked at Rachel.

"So you are saying that you are going to give me a chance? You mean that we can be friends?" She hated herself for sounding as eager as Rachel would have if she were in the same position but she didn't really care all that much. She needed the clarification.

"Yes Quinn. I really always wanted to be your friend if you will remember."

"I'm sorry Rachel. I really am."

"It's okay Quinn."