A/N: Wow. Masses of comments on the last chapter, can't think why :-) Thanks to all for your feedback and your appreciation for my writing (even if you didn't like what happened - you weren't supposed to). Hope you enjoy this latest development.

Sunday afternoon at home, Quinn had just cleared things away after a solo lunch when she heard a loud knock at the door. Answering it, she was surprised to see an angry Puck, who pushed straight into the hall and then turned to glare at her. "It's about time you were in," he growled.

"Good to see you too, Puck," Quinn said sarcastically.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Puck yelled at her.

"Language," Quinn hissed. "And what's your problem this time?"

"You and Hudson, that's what my problem is," Puck snarled.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Some things never change, is that it? I'm just helping him out. He doesn't remember most of his friends very well and he's getting stressed out by everyone's expectations. He remembers being with me so it's easier on him to be around me." She glared back at Puck. "Not that it's any of your business what I do."

"I'd say it's my business if you're trying to drag my friend back into the mud of his past," he said, his face grim. "He's messed up, this isn't some... opportunity to change his life back to what it was." He clenched his fists at his sides, barely controlling his fury.

"I'm not trying to drag him anywhere," Quinn protested. "I've told him about everything that happened, including the full truth about you and Beth. I'm heading off to Yale soon anyway, and believe me I'm not looking back. I'm just making things a bit easier for him right now."

"You do that with your lips do you?" Puck accused.

Quinn was taken aback, but Puck's meddling angered her. "I can kiss who I want. Yes we had a child together, and we'll always both love Beth, but we're done. It's none of your business who I kiss."

"Or when, or where? 'Cause Saturday right outside the synagogue wasn't your best choice."

"It just happened," Quinn spat defensively. "And how did you find out anyway? I know you're not a regular at Temple."

"My mom is," Puck stated.

Quinn frowned, absorbing that, but stayed tense. "So why did she tell you? Does she know you're still that hung up on me that you need to be told who I'm with?"

"She was worried my friend was getting hysterical -"

"It was a kiss!"

"The Berrys are regulars at Temple too, not everything is about you!" Puck roared, his face mere inches away.

Quinn stepped back, reeling. She hadn't considered Rachel at all. After a moment, though, she collected herself, hurt that, even when it came to Puck, once again something she'd thought was about her turned out to be about Rachel instead.

"Oh, of course, Rachel. Silly me, not realizing that everything's really about Rachel." Quinn's defensiveness returned.

"Not everything. This. Him. Her fiancé."

"She doesn't own Finn, ring or no ring, and he doesn't even remember her. If he wants to spend time with me why shouldn't I?"

"Oh I don't know, because you're going to Yale and not going to look back?" He pushed her words back at her, and they stood glaring at each other for a few breaths. Puck got his temper a bit more under control, but still spat out his words. "Finn doesn't know what he's doing, and he doesn't know what he wants. But he's the best friend I've ever had, and if right now he needs me to stop him from destroying the life that I know he really wants, that's what I'm gonna do. And if you give a damn about him you'd do the same."

"How do you know what he wants if he doesn't know himself?" But Quinn's retort had lost a lot of her energy as Puck's words sank in.

"It's what he's always wanted. We've been through this dance a few times before and it never changes. Whatever that accident may have done to his head, he's still Finn Hudson." He shook his head at her. "And I guess you haven't changed much either. You're messing with things not because you really want to, not because you really want Finn or love Finn, but just because you can. And you obviously don't care who you're hurting or whose lives you're fucking up."

Puck moved back to the still-open door, then turned to face Quinn again, who was too stunned to move. "You know, Quinn, I thought you were finally growing up. But when you do stuff like this -" he shrugged. "I think Beth'll get there before you do." He gave her a last glare. "Fix it."

Quinn spent the rest of the afternoon in her room. She started out crying at the viciousness of Puck's attack, then thinking about the truth of what he'd said... then crying again as she realized what she'd done and how badly she'd slid back into being the old Quinn, the one who went after Finn because she could get any boy she wanted and he was cute and popular. It hadn't been an adult relationship then, in fact she'd barely cared what he'd wanted at the time, and she wasn't acting adult now either. She'd been flattered by Finn coming around to see her, enjoying the attention, but that was all, and it was so selfish of her to take that when it was at the expense of something so much more for someone else.

But this was Finn, and she'd never quite gotten over the thought that Finn had been her boyfriend first and Rachel should have stayed away from him from the start. No matter that she'd cheated on him with Puck. No matter that she'd only really been concerned about him as her property, how he made her look good and feel good about her status and power. No matter that his heart had never properly been hers, Rachel had filled a void with Finn in that she'd actually cared for him and opened herself up to him. She'd never seen Finn so happy as when he was with Rachel, even though a lot of the time she'd preferred to ignore it, resenting that it showed how much she had fallen short.

Quinn dried her eyes and then tried, for a moment, to put herself in Rachel's shoes, to imagine losing something that important. She couldn't. She'd meant what she'd told Rachel when Rachel had asked her for advice on Finn's proposal – she'd thought she had loved some of the guys she'd dated, but she knew she wasn't going to think about them in the future or remember why she'd thought she'd cared at the time. She just hadn't felt that deeply for anyone, ever. Except maybe Beth. At the time she'd tried to pretend that giving away her child hadn't hurt her, but she'd been lying to herself. Even then it had taken Rachel to bring her to her senses and help her realize that to truly love Beth she had to want what was best for her child even if that wasn't herself.

Quinn had told Rachel that no boy was that important, and for a long time she hadn't thought that Finn and Rachel's connection could really be so strong. But even though Quinn had thought it foolish, Rachel loved Finn so much that for her he was worth risking everything else for, including the dreams she'd had her whole life. Quinn couldn't imagine loving anyone that much. But just because she couldn't understand how much Rachel was bleeding now didn't mean that she should be turning the knife.

That evening Quinn steeled herself and went to the Berry house to apologize to Rachel. She was scared; she'd once slapped Rachel for being loved by Finn, not for anything Rachel had done, so how much worse did she herself deserve for what she'd done now?

The door was answered by LeRoy Berry, who frowned darkly at her. "What are you doing here?" he asked coldly. Quinn bit her lip. Of course, they go to Temple as a family, so Rachel's dads saw the whole thing too.

"I need to talk to Rachel," Quinn said hesitantly. "To apologize. I don't know what you must think of me, but please believe me, I'm not here to hurt her any more."

Penetrating eyes surveyed her and her demeanor as she waited for an answer. "I'll go ask her if she's willing to see you," he finally said. The main door was left open, but she was not asked in.

Quinn waited. A few minutes later LeRoy came back downstairs and opened the screen door for Quinn. "You can go up," he said. "But she's very fragile." He glared at her, a caution implied in his look.

Quinn ascended the stairs and went to Rachel's room. The door was ajar, but she knocked. "Rachel?"

"Come in." Rachel's voice sounded choked, like she'd been crying all day. Perhaps she has been.

Quinn pushed the door open and went into Rachel's room. The dark-haired girl sat slumped on her bed, her back to Quinn. She was slowly playing with something on a chain, and as Quinn walked around the bed she realized that it was Rachel's engagement ring.

Now Quinn could see Rachel in profile, but Rachel didn't look up, intent on the slow slide back and forth of the ring on the chain in her hands.

"I am so sorry, Rachel," Quinn said, putting all the sincerity she could into her voice.

"What for?" Rachel's reply was numb, and she kept her eyes on her ring.

Quinn sighed internally. Rachel isn't making this easy, she thought. I suppose I don't deserve it to be. "I know you saw us kissing," she said. "Finn and I."

"Yes," Rachel replied, but the sound was barely audible. She stopped moving the chain, and the ring stilled.

"And I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. It's not as if I still love him, I don't know if I ever really did actually, certainly not the way you do," Quinn babbled a little. "I think I got sucked into a bit of memory loss myself, just through the time I've been spending with him. I thought I was helping him adjust by providing a familiar face, since so much has changed for him since the time he remembers, but we went too far." She swallowed. "I went too far," she admitted. "I'm the one who actually knows better. I didn't mean to take advantage of his amnesia, or to help keep him stuck in his past, but I did. I'm sorry I did and I'm going to stop, right away." She went to Rachel and touched her shoulder, concerned by the girl's lack of reaction. "Rachel?"

Rachel finally raised her head up to face Quinn, her eyes red, her face layered with tracks over tracks of tears. She tried to speak, and sniffled a few times before she could get anything out. "I guess I should thank you or something," she choked out, lowering her head as she started to cry again.

"No – Rachel!" Quinn went to Rachel's side, sitting next to her and putting an arm around her shoulders. However awkward comfort from her might be right now, Quinn couldn't help but be wrenched by the other girl's obvious misery, especially as Rachel started to sob. She'd caused this, she had to fix it somehow. "I was completely wrong and I'd change it all if I could," she said softly, trying to penetrate Rachel's despair. "Even hit him over the head for you if that would help." Her joke was rewarded by a small hiccup in Rachel's crying. "But you can't keep crying like this, you'll damage your voice."

"I don't care."

When does Rachel not care abut her voice? This is really bad. She heard a step in the hall outside and glanced back to see LeRoy hovering outside the door, his face crumpled in sorrow at not being able to help his daughter. "Of course you care," Quinn insisted. "You're Rachel Berry. And Finn loves to hear your voice. If he doesn't remember that, you'll have to show him again, so you need to take care of it." Next to her, Rachel's heaving sobs slowed, then stilled.

"He said he needs some time."

Of course he has, he always does, Quinn thought. But he's not really making very good use of it because he's just avoiding the issue, as usual. "He's wanted that before, hasn't he," she commented. "But how well did those times work out?"

"Not well," Rachel admitted. Her voice was hoarse but had lost its numb flatness.

"So why listen to him now?" Quinn asked rhetorically, glad to see that Rachel's mood was lifting slightly. "But this isn't you," she cajoled. "Well right now it is, but there's so much more to you. You need to show Finn why he fell in love with you, and you can't do that like this." She looked at Rachel's face until the other girl met her eyes. "You can't give up on him, Rachel. You've won him over before, you can do it again if you have to. But you have to show him who you really are. Can you do that?"

Rachel looked back at Quinn. "It's so hard, it hurts so much."

I know, Quinn wanted to say, but she really didn't know. She tried to think quickly, while she still had Rachel's attention. "Do you want him?"

"Yes."

"Do you love him?"

"Yes." Stronger.

"More than anything?"

"Yes." Stronger still.

"Does it matter that it's hard?"

And Rachel gave her a small smile. "No."

Quinn smiled back. "Besides, Finn always says that Hudsons don't give up easily," she said. She gestured at the engagement ring that still dangled from the chain in Rachel's hands. "You're supposed to be a Hudson, someday, right?"

"Right," Rachel said. She sniffled, her tears drying up. "Thank you, Quinn," she said. "Really."

"Just trying to make things right." She hugged Rachel, then stood. "You and Finn are a force of nature, Rachel," she said. "I'm sure it would take a lot more than a bump on the head to keep you two apart." With that Quinn left, nodding at LeRoy's small smile of thanks as she passed him in the hall.