A/N: So sorry for the monster delay of yesterday's chapter, but things were mad here and... yeah ;)

"The Benevolent Doctor"

22. The Blue Thing

March 2012 – Lima, Ohio

Quinn had taken to looking at them lately. Knowing what she did now, it was hard to believe how she had completely missed seeing what they were up to. They'd all known about the Doctor, even before she'd met him, and they'd met him… her… all of those Doctors that were in fact one person… How had she not realized they were up to something? Now that she knew, it was so blatant.

She'd thought to use this as her way in, knowing what Ginny… Gemma… had asked her to do, but all it guaranteed her was that they might feel trapped, or they might lie to her. No, it was better to ease her way in, start wedging a crack of possibility, then let them widen it, so that she could deliver the last blow and find herself in their circle before they knew what was happening. She knew just what to start that wedge with, too.

She had it in her bag, and now all she needed was an opportunity. It came the next afternoon, as she rolled into the choir room and found Brittany there, with Sugar and Artie not far off. They were the only ones there so far, which would make it easy to be discreetly obvious.

"Britt, can I talk to you?" she asked, her voice low as she tipped her head to the side.

"Sure," Brittany came forward with a smile, and Quinn motioned for her to crouch.

"I wanted to ask you about this," she reached into her bag and pulled out one of her textbooks.

"On history?" Brittany blinked, surprised.

"No," Quinn smiled, reaching into the book to pull out the thing she'd stuck inside. It was a card, handmade, covered in crayon drawings. "This thing, here," she pointed to the blue square which, on closer inspection the night before, revealed itself as being familiar. The moment Brittany's eyes fell on it now, there was the tiniest flicker of panic, darting to the other two, who hadn't really been paying attention. But finally Artie did look, and when he saw what was happening, he closed his mouth to guard against the gasp threatening to escape him, and he clamped his hand on Sugar's arm. She followed his gaze and saw, too. Quinn was pointing at the TARDIS-looking thing on Brittany's get well card.

"What about it?" Brittany asked, attempting to keep cool, not give anything away. She could have done better.

"What's it supposed to be exactly?" Quinn asked.

"It's a T…" she started, feeling Artie and Sugar's eyes and clamping shut for a second before trying to turn her thoughts around as fast as she could. "… orch… Torch," she breathed out, nodding, proud of herself. She'd had the presence of mind to draw lines around the light at the top, it was plausible.

"It is?" Quinn looked back at the card, frowning.

"Yes," Brittany continued nodding.

"Oh… Right," Quinn was playing, too, and the emotion she was going for was 'disappointed.' Artie motioned at Brittany, who frowned, not catching on, and thinking maybe he was propositioning something else entirely.

"Why did you want to know?" she asked, unaware of the sudden relief on Artie's face; that was exactly what he wanted to ask.

"Nothing, I just…" Now Quinn put forth every bit of her abilities in play, putting on the face of someone remembering something fondly, as she looked to the blue thing on the card. In doing so, she couldn't see the others' faces, but if she played her cards right, then right about now they would all be staring at each other, putting the pieces together and realizing what she was attempting to suggest.

"What…" Artie started, and inwardly she smiled victoriously. As dubious as it could all be, misleading her friends, it was for a good reason, and further on, after everything she'd been through, she was actually enjoying herself… "What did you think it might be?" he went on asking, and she turned to him, the smile gone, unseen, and replaced with hesitation and doubt.

"Nothing in particular."

"Then why did you want to know?" Sugar couldn't help pitching in.

"Well, I…" Quinn looked back down to the card, letting them bait her as they liked.

"Have you seen something like it before?" Artie asked.

"It's a torch," Brittany kept to her explanation, frowning at him for diverting from it. But he wasn't paying attention. His eyes were on Quinn, and hers were trying not to be on him and failing.

"But it's not, is it?" he asked, "Not according to you."

"I shouldn't have said anything, really, forget…" she shook her head, slipping the card back into her book.

"A phone box, maybe?" The book slid shut. "Except not a phone box. Police box, maybe?"

"What's a police box?" Quinn played someone playing.

"Yeah, what is it though?" Brittany blinked, briefly brought to asking herself the same question.

"Except not a police box, either," Artie carried on. "Looks small, but it's not? Especially on the inside?" he went on, and now Quinn veered her act into 'hey wait a second.' Artie sat up in his chair, looking at her in utter disbelief. "Don't tell me…"

"Wait, you too?" Sugar was stunned as Artie was, though very possibly for very different reasons. "You've met him, haven't you?"

"Me…" Quinn blinked as though she'd just realized what Sugar was suggesting. "You've met…"

"… the Doctor," Sugar spoke, and now feeling Artie staring at her, she thought she might have said too much and bowed her head.

"I… yeah… All of you?" she looked at the trio. Brittany looked to Artie, silently asking him what she should do, if she could tell the truth. He sighed and nodded.

"We did, all of us, not at the same time though. Well, I met him when I was with Santana. And Puck's met him, too," Brittany blurted out.

"When did you meet him? Was it a him?" Sugar asked.

"Well… I met him right before my accident… literally right before."

TO BE CONTINUED (SUNDAY)