DISCLAIMER; I don't own glee. I went hiking this weekend for my Gold Practice expedition and flip… we climbed four mountains and it turned out we were only supposed to go up three aargh!

Oh and evidently I still haven't worked out how to put page breaks in so I just went back to the wee lines.

-/-

"You okay now?" Quinn asked gently, as Rachel polished off her third glass of water. For some reason Rachel insisted it be put in a glass that had a gold star on the front but Quinn dutifully sought it out from the vast and numerous cupboards nonetheless.

"Yes, thank you." Rachel mumbled. She was embarrassed that Quinn had seen her in that state. It was pitiful.

"What happened?" Quinn prompted although she had a fair idea that Rachel hadn't accidently fell in the dumpster and magically got the bench to hop on top.

"I was intending to go hide out in the auditorium when some footballer's caught me. They taunted me for a bit then dumped me in there."

Quinn frowned, "What did they say?"

"The usual. I probably shouldn't have accused Azimio of being gay..."

Quinn couldn't help but chuckle, "that probably wasn't very wise. Very clever retort but not wise."

"Hm." It saddened Quinn that the usually outspoken girl had been reduced to simple sentences and words of one syllable responses.

"I hate small spaces. I don't like the feeling of being closed in... Trapped. I find it hard to even be in the Choir room if both doors are shut." Quinn admitted, hoping to prompt some sort of story from the little brunette.

Rachel studied the Head Cheerio intensely. Quinn wasn't the type of person that confessed weaknesses easily and for her to do so to Rachel, whom she only recently ceased bullying, it was a huge gesture. It proved that she was really changing into the person that Rachel always believed her to be. Changing might not be the correct word... That person had always been inside of the blonde, now it was just being set free.

"It was the dark. Small spaces don't worry me so much as I am of a small stature. A fact I'm frequently reminded of. It has the same effect though... You feel everything pressing down around you until you can't breathe."

Quinn nodded in agreement. "I can't believe they trapped you in a dumpster, not only is it cruel but it's freakin' dangerous! What if you were ill or something?" Quinn began to pace. The anger at the jocks was flooding back, now that Rachel had calmed down a bit. One thing was for sure, they wouldn't get away with this.

Rachel set her empty glass down on the counter, noting that the trembling of her hands had ceased. "I recognise how serious this is but the school will take no action against its most prized assets as you well know."

Quinn tilted her head away so that Rachel didn't see her wince at the reminder of Quinn's past behaviour. "The school mightn't but I will. They need to pay for this Rachel." Quinn faced the brunette who was still perched on the stool and gazing unfocused passed her shoulder.

"I'm sick of this constant to and fro. I just don't feel like retaliation will settle anything. Clearly it just irritates them. I suppose it's like poking a tiger with a stick; you just make it cranky and it doesn't move."

Quinn sighed angrily. "With all due respect Rachel, this won't be you fighting back, it'll be me."

Rachel scoffed and twisted on the seat so that she faced the counter. She could feel herself becoming overwhelmed again... She just wanted it to be quiet.

Quinn was confused by the out of character reaction. It was just plain rude and the blonde was slightly hurt by how dismissive she was being of her.

"Rachel... These guys will deserve everything they get." Quinn was trying to make the singer see that she was trying to stick up for her.

Rachel shut her eyes. She could feel the anger swelling inside her, coiling in her stomach, flooding her body with fire. "So what... You'll slushy them? Yeah that will make a difference right? Why can't you just back off Quinn, bullying never solves anything it is just pathetic and pathetic people do it!"

Quinn took a step back, the words almost palpable as they struck her frame. She knew what she did was terribly wrong but Rachel said she forgave her... Obviously that was a lie. To call her pathetic as well... Yes, Quinn had been scared to face the truth about herself, lashing out at the one person that seemingly had no problem with self-acceptance and self-confidence, and no that wasn't at all excusable but she had thought it was understandable. She figured, Rachel, of all people could understand why she behaved that way and she assumed Rachel had understood, which was why she forgave her.
Clearly Quinn misread the situation. Rachel was just toying with her. Quinn bit her lip to prevent herself from crying, she'd brought this on herself. How could she think that the girl whose life she made hell would ever want to be even acquaintances with her?

"I only wanted to help. I'm sorry, I should go..." Quinn said softly, hesitating for a moment, secretly wishing Rachel would stop her. Instead the brunette continued her staring match with the counter top and Quinn violently snatched her bag up from the ground and strode towards the front door. "Goodbye Rachel." She paused, no response...

Quinn sighed and shut the door behind her, but took her phone out as she headed to the gate. Rachel may not want her around but Quinn would be damned if she let the girl wallow on her own.

-/-

Rachel faintly heard the front door click shut and she clenched her hands into fists and pressed them into her eyes.

She saw all the different colours flicker across her eyelids, the pressure numbing her surrounding and distracting her from the pain of her nails biting into the flesh of her palms.

Gradually, the numbness faded away and there was only pain and darkness. Rachel breathed out slowly.

She shouldn't have yelled at Quinn. The girl was trying, she was really trying and Rachel had thrown it back in her face. It used to be Quinn throwing the slushies for no reason, just because of someone's rung on the social ladder. This time it was her attempt to defend Rachel's honour albeit in a misguided way.

Logically, Rachel knew that, she accepted that, and she was grateful for that. However, with the stress from being submitted to one of her deepest fears, exposing herself to her ex-enemy-turned-friend and then being stood up for... There was just too many conflicting emotions; fear at the dark, joy at having her secret crush angry on her behalf, anger at being so vulnerable and calm at being taken in Quinn's arms.

She had just needed to block it all out but she couldn't do so with Quinn by her side and so she lashed out. No better than old Quinn...Rachel scowled with self-loathing. What about what she said about bullying? Had what she had done to the jocks only the other day, not been considered bullying? She had justified it as giving those boys comeuppance, was that not what Quinn going to do too?

"Shit Rachel, look at me!" Rachel startled at the sudden presence of Dave and lowered her hands from her eyes, frowning as the pain lessened to a dull throb radiating through her eyeballs. "What did you do to your hands?" Dave gasped, gently taking one and cupping it.

Rachel followed his gaze and her eyes widened in surprise. "It was an accident. I didn't mean to... I didn't notice." Rachel whispered. There were little trails of blood coming from underneath each of her fingers. She carefully unfurled her fingers, cringing as they made an audible sound as the nail exited the skin. There were eight bloody crescent shapes marking her hands. They would only be noticeable in someone was actually looking at her hands soothed be easily concealed- thank goodness. Rachel blinked herself out of her funk. "And this gives you no reason to use expletives David."

The footballer shook his head in disbelief, "It's a good thing Quinn texted me to get home. Who knows how deep you would have gotten."

Rachel couldn't help but find relief in the fact that Quinn still cared for her, "I should speak to her, and I was rather unfair earlier." Only that feeling was quickly followed up by guilt at the recollection of how Rachel had dismissed her.

"Well she's going to Puck's party tonight, you could try then?" Dave suggested as he led her over to the sink and cleaned her hand with surprising tenderness.

"I already told you both that I'm not going. I'll just have to wait." Noah had informed them of the party a few days before everyone else but Rachel was adamant that whilst she wouldn't be going Dave should. It would do him good to let loose a little.

"Will you be okay on your own Rachel? I can stay if you need me to." Rachel knew that he was worried about her, due to what she had unintentionally done to her hands.

"I'm okay now Dave, I was just overwhelmed earlier." Rachel went over to where her kitchen roll was connected to the wall and pulled off a few squares, dabbing her hands dry. The skin around the cuts was predictably tender but she would be able to withstand it… it also helped her keep focussed. It would be best to let them air as they would only get infected bandaged up, all sweaty.

"Are you sure?" Dave asked, as he watched her dry her hands. It freaked him out to see Rachel so out of it, was that how he had been when she found him? It just made him even more determined not to let anyone get to him, or his friends. It also hurt his heart to know that Rachel had been like this longer than him. And no one stopped her before, he was infinitely grateful that she was strong enough to not have tried to end her life and damn determined to help her stop with the nail thing. It was disturbing how she didn't realise it was hurting her.

"I'm perfectly stable now David. Go and enjoy yourself," Rachel smiled, as her hands flexed by her sides.

Dave nodded, acquiescing at her insistence; he didn't want her to think he was going to coddle her. He shifted his wait as his curiosity returned, "Why did Quinn bring you home anyway?"

Rachel paused, "It doesn't bear thinking about." A shiver passed through her. "I'm going to go do some homework, dinner's in the fridge if you want to heat it up."

Dave watched her small retreating form with narrowed eyes. No way in hell was he going to just drop this.

-/-

Rachel was just about to head upstairs to bed when her mobile rang. She awkwardly fished it out of her back pocket of her jeans, glad that no one could see her.
She frowned at the Caller ID. Dave had informed her that he would be 'crashing' at Noah's, she hoped nothing was wrong.

"Hello?" Rachel answered, grimacing at the horrid repetitive bass pounding through the speaker into her ear. Why did her peers find this acceptable to subject their ears to? She moved the phone away from her ear slightly- she'd be damned if she lost her hearing for a stupid call.

"Hey Rach?" A slightly slurred response came from her footballer friend.

"Hello David, what might you be calling for?" There was a rustling sound and Rachel could only assume that he was turning around.

"Uhm. Could you drive over? Quinn's here and she's had a little too much to drink. We'd rather not send her home like this because I'm not sure how things sit with her mom. Plus, you have your chance to talk."

Rachel immediately agreed to drive over and they promptly said goodbyes and hung up. The brunette couldn't help but be concerned. Was it her actions that caused Quinn to intoxicate herself? Was the blonde okay? And how was she supposed to explain to Judy Fabray that her daughter wouldn't be home tonight? She was pretty positive that the elder Fabray would notice that her child hadn't come home.

Grabbing her keys from her bowl near the door, Rachel quickly hurried to her truck, (ensuring that the doors of the house were locked prior to entering her vehicle of course), and did a U-turn in the road. She hoped Quinn wasn't an angry drunk...

Pulling up outside Noah's house she spotted the aforementioned boy and David, holding Quinn between them. When they spotted Rachel pulling up they lead the drunken girl over to the car, both hiding a smile at how the brunette leapt from the car and dashed round to check of the cheerleader.

"Is she okay?" Rachel asked frantically as she gave Quinn the once over, barely restraining herself from letting herself hug the girl.

"She'll be fine Rach. She just needs to sleep it off and maybe have a painkiller in the morning."

Rachel nodded, accepting the advice, "Do you have her phone?"

Dave pulled it from his letterman and handed it over. "She was pretending it was a plane for about five minutes before we got her outside." Dave chuckled and Rachel couldn't help but smile at the girl who was swaying on the spot despite being held up by two football players.

"If you guys get her in the truck I'll handle getting her back to the house."

"You sure Rach?" Puck asked, once she nodded the pair opened the passenger door and eased her into the seat, then Dave buckled her in. "I'll see ya tomorrow then?"

"Sure thing Noah. I'll see you tomorrow too David."

"Night Shark Bait."

Rachel shot off a quick text to Quinn's mother informing her that she wasn't going to be home but was staying the night at Rachel's house.

Rachel was slightly refused by the 'that's my girl' response but shrugged it off, starting the engine and heading out onto the road again.

-/-

Rachel guided the drunken Cheerio up to the guest room and sat her on the bed. She stretched out her back and quickly assessed that it would not be a good idea for Quinn to sleep in one of Sue's outfits. "Quinn? I'm going to get you some clothes to sleep in, okay?" The blonde nodded her head, whilst concentrating her gaze to the floor, and trying to work out if the room was spinning or not.

Rachel quickly ran to her room and changed into her pyjamas, tossing her clothes over her chair, (she would fold them up later); then she headed to her dresser, pulled out a pair of her sweats and her oversized rugby shirt that had been an old gift from her fathers. Then she went back to tend to the boozed up blonde.

When she returned to the room, Quinn was failing miserably at untying her shoe. Rachel set the clothes beside the girl before kneeling in front of her and removing the white gutties.
Rachel paused. This could get awkward...

"Quinn, can you take your top off?" The blonde chewed her lip thoughtfully as she swayed in her spot.

"Mhm." She clumsily fumbled with the hem of her shirt before pulling it up; unfortunately she was most certainly not at all coordinated and ended up getting stuck.
Rachel stifled a giggle at the sight of the usually composed girl, with her arms stuck in her sleeves and her head wrapped in her shirt. She had certainly not found it amusing that the girl was also wearing a superwoman bra. Not at all...
Rachel gently eased the shirt off the poor girl's shoulders and replacing it with the Rugby shirt. She smiled as Quinn snuggled into it.

"I need to take your skirt off Quinn, you're wearing spanks right?" Another nod. "Okay, lift your hips, please." The blonde did as she was told and merely watched as Rachel slid the skirt off her legs. Quinn moved to take of her spanks too but Rachel stopped her. Yes, she found the blonde incredibly attractive and enjoyed admiring her body; but she also wanted to keep doing that, if Quinn remembered this in the morning and recalled Rachel letting her give her a free show, then Rachel would most likely be six feet under before you could say, "RuPaul."

"Just put the sweats on okay?" Quinn frowned but did as she was told, albeit with excess flailing.

Rachel helped Quinn get under the covers and went to leave when a hand grabbed her wrist. "Stay. Please." Rachel gulped at the softness of her voice and could only slip in beside her as a response.
Quinn laced their fingers together as Rachel lay stiffly on her side, simply watching. "You don't have manhands." The quiet admission catching Rachel by surprise. She didn't know where this conversation was going to go. "You have soft little girly hands."

The blonde frowned, "My daddy hated you. He hated you and your daddies. He told me how it was a sin, how it was wrong and disgusting..." Rachel blinked away the tears pricking her eyes and fought to keep the anger rising in her at bay- she wanted to hear this," I always wanted to make him proud. He was always so proud of Frannie, I was just second best. Following her footsteps." Quinn sniffled and Rachel wiggled so that she could put her arm around her. "My daddy kept saying about how you were going to hell, how you needed punished." Rachel got the idea of where this was heading now, "I- I told the Cheerio's about your family, they said it was sick and told me to slushy you but I couldn't- so I called you what my dad said instead. I felt sick about it. When I went home and confessed what I had done he actually smiled and hugged me, telling me I did the right thing. He hadn't hugged me in years. It was like he was my daddy again. I didn't want to lose that. I just kept going and going... I knew what I was doing was wrong and not very Christian but my dad was proud of me for once and I just couldn't help it." Quinn was fully crying now and the hit tears were soaking Rachel's pyjamas top. She could fully understand wanting to make a parent proud, how she went out of her way to appeal to Shelby and got it thrown back in her face.

"Then... Then my mom found out he'd been having an affair." Quinn laughed without humour. "The man who had preached about god, pushed me to create celibacy club, to go to stupid chastity balls had been committing adultery with a tattoo artist half his age. My mom... She kicked him out, we were lucky enough to get the house and my mom is actually the higher earner so we're fine but... The last day I had you slushied, I came home and my mom gave me this look. I'd felt awful when it had happened because I knew that you had already used your last slushy kit and and I just needed something to be normal, but without my dad there it just felt even more wrong. It was cruel. My mom knew I had done something bad so I told her. I told her everything." Rachel was nearly crying herself now. She was also surprised at how eloquent she was for being drunk. They do say alcohol loosens the tongue...or maybe she is sobering up?

Quinn's reddened eyes locked with Rachel's. "She was really really angry. She grounded me. Then she wouldn't speak to me for days. Eventually we sat down and talked everything through. Things are better now... She wants to meet you too, now were friends." Quinn's voice was nearly a whisper as she nuzzled her head into the crook of Rachel's shoulder. "If we still are. I'm sorry for being a meanie." Yeah, no. She was still drunk...

Rachel smiled, "Apology accepted." She pressed a light kiss into Quinn's hair and was rewarded with a lopsided smile the blonde tightening her hold on her. "Good night Quinn."

"Night Rach."

-/-

So as requested, Rachel blew up at Quinn… oh and in response to Colgate Cavity Protection's question, of course! Any preferences?

Reviews much wanted… five more and I hit one hundred!