AN:

The next chapter or two will be the end of this. I want to finish this properly but am having a hard time continuing so I'm going to end it and then maybe pick it up again if I ever feel that I can continue.

For right now that means my plan is to wrap up some things in the next chapter but if it takes two chapters it takes two chapters. I had an idea of where I wanted to go with this and that has changed a lot so I have to figure out in which direction I would like to take it or if I'm too far gone to write more.

Chapter 17

Waking up was hard. Rachel was too warm, she did not want to move. She hummed as she stretched, trying to piece together her memories of how she had ended up in bed with her girls.

Rachel quickly remembered the night before, still not quite knowing what to do or how to deal with the talk that had happened but for once feeling…safe.

This new feeling was conflicting, a very nice feeling but still something that she didn't think would last.

Wriggling her way out of the people pile the bed had become Rachel stood at the edge of the bed, looking at the three girls still snuggled into one another peacefully sleeping. A smile spread over her face before she crept out of the room, deciding that she could get started on breakfast.

The trio woke to the smell of bacon. Well, Q woke first and her crawling out of bed woke the other two. The instinctual grab for the missing brunette by all of them came up empty but all quickly realized that the bacon smell had to come from somewhere. So they rubbed sleep from their eyes as they stumbled down stairs and into the kitchen.

Brittany stumbled in first and wrapped Rachel in a hug, resting her chin on Rachel's head, Santana and Quinn following Brittany in but leaning against the counter instead of crowding Rachel more.

Rachel flinched at Brittany's first touch but relaxed into the hug, humming softly in contentment.

"Whatcha making?" Santana mumbled from where her head was leaning on Quinn's shoulder. "It smells good."

Rachel smiled. "I decided to experiment with omelets, bacon and biscuits are cooling over by the sink, gravy is here," she tapped the other pot on the stove with her spatula, "and cinnamon rolls need to come out of the oven in 5 minutes."

Santana and Quinn gaped at Rachel while Brittany laughed.

"Wow. Between you and Rachel we'll never go hungry." Quinn said teasingly, poking Santana.

Santana chuckled. "Hey what can I say, I like to cook."

Rachel smiled. "It's not something that I like to do all the time but sometimes it feels good to create something."

Brittany nodded as she gave Rachel another hug and backed up to help Quinn set up the table for breakfast.

"I think we get what you mean." Quinn said from where she was setting down plates.

Breakfast was spent bantering back and forth, no one really wanted to bring up the discussion they had last night until they had to. Just enjoying the time with each other.

Cleaning the kitchen was a quick task and the four girls fell into an awkward silence for a few minutes. Quinn was the one that finally spoke up.

"Ok. We need to talk more about everything we brought up last night. Any objections to continuing that conversation curled up in the bed?"

Santana and Brittany just started making their way upstairs while Rachel shook her head before slowly following them. Quinn followed, and was happy when Rachel allowed her to slip her hand into the brunette's, trying to offer support.

However upon reaching the bedroom Rachel separated herself from the trio, still scared and unsure of her place and their relationship with her.

Santana started this conversation.

"Do you believe that we love you? We said it last night but I want to know if you understand that we mean it."

Rachel slowly shook her head while searching for the right words to respond.

"I don't think I can really believe that you love me. I just don't see how it is possible." She took a deep breath before continuing. "But I can tell that you believe it and that helps me believe that at least you guys believe that I can be loved."

Quinn nodded, Rachel's reasoning something she could kind of understand, and asked the next question.

"Do you think that eventually we could convince you that you are loved?"

Minutes of silence followed as Rachel thought about the question. Finally she sighed. "I really don't know."

Quinn gave her a small, sad smile. "That's ok. We'll just have to do our best at convincing you."

##RQSB##