It took a bit of coaxing, but eventually Quinn was able to get Rachel back to her house. The two of them walked slowly as Quinn held Rachel in her arms. She had stopped crying by then so their stroll was very quiet. The expression on Rachel's face held only one emotion; hurt. But she didn't even try to push Quinn away so Quinn believed that not all was lost. When they got to her house she led her upstairs and the two of them sat down on her bed.

Rachel was still quiet, but Quinn could tell that she was trying to sort through her feelings; her feelings for Quinn and whether she should hate her or not. Quinn hoped that she chose not to. The silence was practically torture. All she could do was await Rachel's judgment. "I know you're mad. You have every right to be. If you want to break up I'd understand." Her words caught Rachel's attention, and for the first time since she had run off, Rachel looked at her. She really looked at her.

"No," she answered after a few moments. "No, I don't. I don't want to break up with you."

"You don't?"

"No," Rachel repeated. Again everything grew quiet. Briefly their eyes met but then Rachel glanced down at the floor. Quinn carefully reached out for her hand. Rachel didn't fight her. "I do have some questions though." Quinn nodded and gave Rachel's hand a squeeze to show that she understood. Rachel nodded herself. She didn't appear to have any real desire to know any more. "Could you just start at the beginning?"

"Sure." And so Quinn told Rachel everything. She told her about how she found the spell book and how she had cast the spell for fun, and she continued on until she reached present events. Rachel listened patiently, absorbing every word that was told to her. She would nod occasionally gave Quinn's hand an encouraging squeeze, but she did little more than that. Even after Quinn was done, Rachel was still quiet.

She sat with her hands folded neatly in her lap. Rachel was still confused, but then again so was Quinn. She had only known that magic was real for a few days. It was a lot to take in. It seemed like a lifetime before Rachel finally spoke up. "Shelby's a witch?" were her first words. Quinn answered with a nod. "Does that mean that's I'm one too?"

"Maybe," Quinn shrugged. Rachel made a sound of agreement and then grew silent again. "Are you still mad at me?" Rachel looked at her briefly, gazing deep into her eyes. Then she looked away and down at her lap.

"A little," she answered. Of course she was. "But there's something I don't understand."

"What's that?" Quinn asked, shifting in her seat to turn towards Rachel. She scooted in a bit but made sure to give Rachel a fair amount of distance. "I might not know that much about magic, but I'll answer what I can." Rachel smiled at her. It was a small smile, one that didn't quite reach her eyes, but it was real and it felt more genuine than the smiles that Quinn had seen from her in the previous days.

"You said that the spell made it that all I cared about was making you happy." Quinn nodded guiltily, but stopped herself from breaking eye contact. It was shameful, what she had done, even if it was an accident. And it hurt to think about, especially since Quinn had so enjoyed that time. She tried to hide her pain but was unsuccessful in doing so. A frown tugged on Rachel's lips and she reached up to cup Quinn's cheek. It looked like she was about to kiss her, but she didn't. "It's not your fault Quinn," she told her, and if only for that second Quinn believed her.

"Yeah, I know. But um, what were you saying?"

"Right. So um, if that's what it did then how was I able to run away?" Quinn opened her mouth to answer, but she stopped as she thought it over. Her brows furrowed. She understood what Rachel was getting at, but she couldn't explain. Brown met hazel. Quinn's heart began to swell with hope. She had just learnt that most anything was possible and maybe just maybe this was as well. Nervously, she started chewing on her lower lip as considered what to do next. "What are you thinking?" Rachel asked her, gently and softly.

Quinn let her eyes drop and asked, "What would you say if I told you that I don't want to go to New York?" She heard Rachel gasp but Quinn continued on before she could actually answer. "If I told you that I don't really like Broadway, and I think that you'd better off going for movies and stuff?" Quinn watched as Rachel's expression changed as she spoke. She looked appalled by the very idea. Clearly Rachel was upset, but Quinn couldn't help but feel just a little happy. "How would you feel about that?"

For a moment Rachel was speechless, but then she suddenly huffed and spun so her back was facing Quinn, crossing her arms over her chest as she did so. "I'd say we'd have to break up and that I'd really miss you. I love you, but I'm not going to give up on my dreams because of you and…" Her words trailed off as it hit her. "You don't really feel that way, do you?" she asked, turning back to face Quinn.

"No, I don't. It was just a test, I guess." And it seemed to prove Quinn's assumption. Without even having to be told, Rachel seemed to know that as well. She looked down at her hands, examining herself to find anything different. "How do you feel?"

"The same," Rachel answered plainly. "Am I supposed to feel any different?"

"I don't know. I wish I did. I just-" And then Rachel kissed. Their lips were only together for a second or two, shorter than any of their previous kisses but it was better than all of them as well. Afterwards Rachel pulled away meekly; suddenly shy over her spontaneous action.

"Thanks," she said softly.

They spent the rest of the day together, doing little more than simply enjoying each other's presence. During their time together Quinn noticed that was different once more. She didn't act like the obedient version of herself that Quinn had gotten accustomed to over the past few days, but at the same time her personality was a bit subdued. She did end up talking quite a lot and two of them even got into a small argument, or discussion as Rachel put it, about movie preferences when they decided to go into the living room and watch something.

Rachel had thrown somewhat of a fit when she found that Quinn owned not a single musical, and that the closest thing that she had would be a plethora of Disney movies. It was cute to watch her and Quinn couldn't help but laugh at her playfully. Rachel in turn ended up getting a bit annoyed but she wasn't mad in the slightest. They ended up watching one of the Disney movies and had fully enjoyed it. Once or twice, they even sang along.

After they were done, Quinn invited Rachel to stay over. In retrospect, Quinn realized that she might have been a little hasty but Rachel said yes and that's all that mattered. She slept in the guestroom, partially so Judy wouldn't suspect anything but mostly because they decided that if they were going to continue going out together than they would slow things down. And Rachel needed some space. Her love was deep enough that she was able to forgive Quinn after she understood everything but that didn't change the fact that she was hurt by what Quinn had done.

Quinn made sure that the room was nicely set up and kissed Rachel on the cheek before heading off into her own room. She slipped under the covers and drifted off to sleep; it easier than she had expected. But knowing that she and Rachel were going to make things work did bring a sense of calm. Everything would be all right. She knew that if she just went on believing that, then everything would be okay eventually.

Halfway through the night, Quinn was woken up when she felt the bed dip behind her. "Oh, sorry," she heard and she flipped over. Beside her was Rachel, looking ever so cute in her pajamas with her hair tied into pigtails. "I didn't mean to wake you, I'm sorry." Quinn shushed her with a wave of her hand.

"It's okay," she assured. "It's nice to see you." Quinn took a moment just to look, although doing so proved to be difficult under the dim lighting. She could just barely make out her form. But just as ever, Rachel looked beautiful. "So, what are you doing here?" Quinn asked after a beat. "Did you have nightmare?" she joked, to which Rachel giggled and shook her head.

"No," she laughed out. "Nothing like that. Not really, at least. I just miss you. Do you mind?"

"Of course not." Quinn scooted over to give Rachel more room. She handed her some of the covers and then tentatively tossed her arm over Rachel's midsection. Rachel hummed her consent and placed her hand over Quinn's. "Goodnight Quinn."

"Goodnight Rachel."

When Quinn woke the following morning Rachel was still in bed with her. It was early so her mother wasn't up yet, but it wouldn't be long before she had to get ready for work. Reluctantly, Quinn roused Rachel. She groaned and fought Quinn's attempts to wake her, but eventually Rachel agreed to get up and to head back into the guestroom so as to keep up appearances. Judy didn't seem to find anything out of the ordinary and the three of them had breakfast together.

Quinn and Rachel went off to school taking their respective cars. Quinn didn't want to smother Rachel so soon after telling her the truth. They agreed to meet up like they had for the past few days. After finding a parking spot, Quinn found Rachel waiting outside the school. She took her hand they walked inside. Rachel seemed nervous. Quinn could feel her hand shaking. It was almost as though it was their first time walking through school together. She squeezed her hand to get her attention and when Rachel turned to her, Quinn flashed her a reassuring smile.

It helped calm her nerves although it was clear that she was still a bit jittery. And she stayed like that for a lot, if not all, of the day. She was shy when displaying shows of affection, but she did show them, if only with soft kisses and hugs. But as the day grew on, her confidence did as well. Even then though, Rachel wouldn't makeout with Quinn for hours, nor would she make a scene to simply show Quinn that she loved her. But she did get into an argument with Santana.

More and more, Quinn's hope grew until school was over and she headed to the parking lot to find Shelby waiting for her. Despite their relatively good interaction previously, Quinn approached her cautiously. "Rachel's been doing well," she said almost immediately.

"I know," Shelby answered simply. Quinn didn't argue; for all she knew, Shelby had been watching them the entire day. And if that were the case, then Quinn was really glad that she and Rachel didn't do anything that was even moderately inappropriate. If they had, then she'd guess that Shelby would not be as amicable. "Thank you Quinn."

"Of course. It's been funny actually," Quinn said, to which Shelby raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Rachel's been acting differently. Since I told the truth, she started acting more and more like herself. Like her real self, I mean. It's almost as though…" Quinn trailed off as she saw the pleased glint in Shelby's eye. "You lied to me," she accused.

"Yes, I did." Shelby didn't even attempt to deny it.

"But why?"

"Because the power of love is hard to harness." Quinn's brows furrowed in confusion. "There's a lot of emphasis on the power of true love's kiss, and while a kiss is a great way to focus that energy, it's the power of love itself and not the kiss that breaks the curse," she explained.

"So… Rachel… is she going be…"

"Yes, she should be fine. Just love her Quinn, and she'll be okay."

"I will. I do. I always have."

"I know. Now take care of her, or else." And with that Shelby disappeared, leaving Quinn with a dumbfounded look upon her face.

"Wow," she breathed out. "I have to learn that spell."

"Quinn!" she heard Rachel call out. Quinn turned around. Rachel ran up to her and hugged her. She pulled back then kissed. With no one around them, Rachel didn't hold back. She threaded her fingers through Quinn's hair and tugged her in close. They stayed like that for a few minutes. "Stay over at my place today," she whispered as she pulled back.

"Anything for you."

AN: Okay, so that's the end. I realize that I never actually wrote their date, but that's because that was only there to kind of mislead you. That said, I was also planning to write something where Santana and Brittany find a way to do that which I really liked. So I might (and that's a big might) actually add more to this, but if I do it will be no more than one chapter

And well, I will now focus on "The Running Back"