The rest of the day was spent with a lot less tension than before, although they had been on the receiving end of a few cautious looks from Santana and Kurt, Rachel and Quinn were still revelling in the other's company. As they hiked back to the campsite after Puck threw Rachel in the lake and was later forced to apologise by Quinn due to her giving him the coldest stare known to mankind.
"Why do you think Kurt keeps on looking at us like that?" Rachel asked with a frown. "I get Santana; I mean she's made it clear to both of us that she's dubious about this. But Kurt hasn't said a word that would suggest he is anything other than supportive of us."
Quinn looked up to the painted orange of the setting sun that creeped through the trees and then to the woman in her arms that she couldn't believe was really hers. Rachel's tan skin was glowing in the fading sunlight and giving her chocolate eyes warmth that made it incredibly hard not to get lost in them. She was in a dry pair of shorts that teased Quinn with the impossibly long legs that came out of them, reminding her of the days back in high school when she'd make sure to throw twice as many slushies when Rachel wore a short skirt. "I'll talk to him tomorrow. The chances are, if he had a problem with you he would have come right out and said it. Plus I think it would be an idea for you to talk to S, you two were close before all this stuff with me came out and I really would appreciate it if you could get that back. I for no other reason then to stop me feeling so guilty."
Rachel frowned. "You know that wasn't your fault, right? I was the one that was being dishonest."
Quinn shrugged and kissed her forehead gently. "You weren't the only one. I let Santana believe everything was your fault when I knew it wasn't, that cost you your friendship and I won't stop being sorry for that."
Rachel fought the urge to ask what she was referring to and settled on laughing at the absurdity of it all. "If someone had told me in high school that the Quinn Fabray would be such a softie then I would have laughed in their face. I mean, look at us! Almost everyone is exactly the same; Sam is still a goof, Puck is still a flirt, Mercedes and Kurt still gossip like there's no tomorrow although now they have Unique, Sugar and Brittany still come out with things that make no sense whatsoever, Santana and Kitty are still bitchy but you! You're cuddled up to me, totally calm, and freaking apologising for not even lying but with-holding the truth! Tell me is there anything of the old HIBIC in there?" She joked with an easiness that only ever had come with Quinn.
Quinn laughed and playfully slapped her shoulder. "Shut up, like you can talk. Rachel Berry is in my arms with bizarrely fashionable clothes and hasn't made one comment about Broadway and sat through numerous extremely stripped back acoustic performances around a campfire without once telling someone that they are pitchy or out-of-practice. Now, that is the true miracle here."
Rachel mock gasped and sat up to face a smirking Quinn. "I wasn't that bad! Plus after being made to live Broadway for almost 10 years the attraction does kind of wear out."
Quinn leant in closer and placed a light kiss on her nose. "You see, that is why you've changed more. The old Rachel Berry would rather die than say the attraction of Broadway could ever wear out. Plus you aren't convincing anyone with the whole "I wasn't that bad" thing, high school Rachel would perform every sentence like Shakespeare."
Rachel's response died on her lips when she felt Quinn's breathy voice resonate through her body. There was an elegance to Quinn's words that hadn't been there in high school, Rachel hadn't realised it until she saw an interview with her on TV last year; the way she had displayed such a controlled passion for what she said was as captivating as it was enthralling and Rachel thought it was entirely unfair that she was using it against her. "Cheat." She all but whispered, too caught up in her to elaborate.
Quinn raised an eyebrow before nuzzling her head into her neck and inhaling Rachel's intoxicating scent. "How is that?" she husked and not-so-innocently grazed her lips against the sensitive skin of her neck.
"Distracting me so I can't defend myself." Rachel gasped as Quinn began to place soft kisses up the column of her neck, up to her jaw.
"Is it working?" Quinn asked with a smile whilst still kissing along her jawline and up to her ear. "Because I wouldn't hesitate to use more extreme methods." She whispered before pulling back to see Rachel's chocolate eyes almost black with want. She grabbed Quinn's face and smashed their lips together in a passionate dance, completely past caring that Puck had seen them and began to wolf-whistle.
Quinn could feel herself begin to slip away as she desperately grasped at the other girl's waist. Her mind became fuzzy and when Rachel pulled away and stood up before leading her with her, she could only follow.
"Jeez, they don't waste any time." Was vaguely heard by either Tina or Mercedes, it was hard to tell because at that point Quinn was so far past caring about anything that didn't involve the girl in front of her who was taking her god knows where to have her way with her.
Once they were far enough away from everyone else Quinn was promptly pushed up against a tree and kissed with a forceful passion she'd never experienced but returned eagerly. Soon she felt Rachel's tongue begging for entrance that she immediately granted much to consumed to worry about seeming too eager. She held Rachel by cupping her face and pulled her closer.
As Quinn lost herself in Rachel's lips she was caught completely off guard when her father's face flashed behind her eye lids.
Slut, she'll never love you. Russell Fabray's voice was clear in her ears and she frantically pulled away with wide eyes.
"No." She whispered with a far off look that worried Rachel immeasurably, she had only seen that look once; Junior Prom night, specifically when Quinn had slapped her.
"What's wrong?" She had asked carefully, placing a tentative hand on the shaken girl's shoulder.
Quinn seemed to snap out of her trance at the touch and her eyes focussed back on Rachel. "Nothing." She shook her head with a smile that was as apologetic as it was genuine. "I just think we should wait until we go much further. I know we've had a pretty long build up, but I'd really rather our first time was a quickie against a tree."
"Of course, I wouldn't want that either. Plus we'd kind of ruin the whole "taking it slow" thing if we were at it before we'd even been on a date." Rachel knew she was being lied to, she knew there was far more to this than it seemed; but she was prepared to drop it for now, she had to earn that particular confession.
Quinn let out a sigh of relief and smiled sheepishly. "I guess we should probably go back to the fire, I mean Santana is probably throwing a fit since she doesn't know where we are. When it comes to her protectiveness she can be just as dramatic as you were or even worse, Mama Lopez."
Rachel shook her head with a smile and entwined their hands as they began walking back. "She can't be that bad. Mrs Lopez always seemed quite calm when she visited us in New York."
"Ah ha, that was because you were dealing with "Mrs Lopez Respectable Lima Housewife" if you had ever been to their actual house, especially at a mealtime; you'd have met Mama Lopez. Mama Lopez is the woman who would call the parents of whoever was hosting a party in High School to make sure they knew Santana and I's allergies and eating preferences, trust me she is totally crazy when it comes to her kids."
"Are you one of her kids?" Rachel knew she was pushing it but she wanted to know Quinn. The real Quinn, not the superficial mask of a girl that she hadn't been concerned to look behind when they were in school.
"Definitely: Frannie too, when she'd come back home in college to see me she'd spend half her time with Mama Lopez being fawned over like she really was hers. In fact I don't think she saw our parents once after she graduated, maybe she saw mom a couple of times but never at the house and certainly not with Russell there."
"Wait, I thought he moved out? You told everyone in glee he was out of your life when we were concerned about you moving back in with your Mom." It had been Rachel herself as well as Mercedes and Santana who had been so reluctant for Quinn to return to the place that had driven her into the cold-hearted monster she was before the pregnancy.
Quinn stalled and her jaw clenched, she really hadn't meant to have mentioned him. There was no way she could go back into that again, she was drained from the past that seemed to drag itself back into her thoughts after years of peace. "He had at the time, look I'd rather not talk about it right now." She snapped, immediately regretting her tone.
Rachel almost flinched at the coldness she had received; she ducked her head unsure why she felt like a teenager again.
"Sorry Rach, it's just these past couple of days have been pretty intense. It feels like I'm rehashing everything that I've only just got over and I'd just like to focus on the positives right now." Quinn felt awful when she saw the flash of hurt in the Diva's eyes and vowed to put it right. "Positives like you not only making it to Broadway but being celebrated as Idina Menzel and Barbara Streisand combined. I couldn't tell you how excited I was when I turned on my TV and saw you with a Tony, talking about how honoured you were. Santana cried, although don't tell her I told you."
Rachel laughed and Quinn couldn't help her triumphant smirk. Though she really didn't want to conceal things from her, there really was no other option at that point; so she settled on making her smile, a feat that she doubted would ever get old.
"You want to trust me with information, knowing full well that I'll be talking to her tomorrow? Jeez Fabray, you're losing your touch." Rachel grinned as she sat in between Quinn's legs by the warmth of the fire. She had noted the wary looks from Santana and Kurt as well as the sniggering from Mercedes, Brittany and Marley.
"Yeah, Quinn, to be honest I'm thinking of kicking you out of the HIBIC club since I believe Coach Sylvester is turning in her grave at your lack of subtlety." Kitty admonished from next to them but with a sparkle in her eyes that Quinn had only seen in her when Marley was close by.
"You know fine well that Sue Sylvester is as active as ever and still trying to control a completely new breed of cheerios' lives." Quinn reminded and laughed at the huff that was let out by both Rachel and Kitty at the same time.
"Let a girl dream." Kitty muttered although she smiled again when Marley wrapped her arms around her and nuzzled into the back of her neck.
"Oh come on, you know you loved Cheerios. Plus those skirts were really hot." Marley added and Kitty leant back into her with a smile.
"She really wasn't that bad. A bit psychopathic at times, but she meant well." Quinn reasoned, after all if it weren't for the distraction of staying in peak physical condition she may have been a lot less stable during high school. And that was saying something.
"Oh please." Kitty scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "The only person Sue favoured over you was Becky Jackson. All of her other cheerios were treated as slaves, even the captain unless it was you. Like come on, you quit twice and left her in the lurch but she still took you back and let you keep the uniform after being in the squad for literally 10 minutes during senior year!"
"Actually Sue's obsession with Becky was a bit weird, Artie told me she tried to stop her from going to college so that she'd stay with her." Rachel frowned, thinking about the enigma that would always be Sue Sylvester.
"Yeah I thought it was just a maternal thing, considering how much she had looked after Jean but then when she had Robin she barely saw her." Quinn mused.
"Tell me about it, the amount of times I had to leave class to tend to her baby I should have flunked everything." Kitty huffed.
"I think writing "Because God wanted it that way" in exams may have been a contributing factor to the bad grades as well babe." Marley teased softly and Kitty ducked her head when Quinn and Rachel laughed.
"Jeez Wilde, even I had the sense to leave the bible behind when it came to lessons." Quinn mocked whilst shaking with laughter.
"At least I didn't start a celibacy club and then become the first pregnant head cheerio of McKinley history. I mean come on girl, you even re-joined after the pregnancy." Kitty retorted although her smile faded when Marley slapped her leg and scowled at her. "What?"
"You know what, that was too far Kit." Marely explained, she loved Kitty but sometimes she could be rather dense when it came to other people's emotions. It wasn't a case of being mean, not usually anyway, but she just never seemed to get where the line was between joking and mocking, teasing and humiliating. Of course they understood each other and never were insensitive to the other's feelings but Marley still had to remind her about other people when they were out.
Much to both girls relief Quinn smiled with a blush and ducked her head down. "I actually joined the second time because I heard Rachel was there. I figured the safest way I might get to spend time with her was in a place where there was absolutely no chance of anything happening."
Rachel reached up and stroked Quinn's cheek gently as the blonde girl kissed her forehead. "Really?" She asked, almost afraid of finding out just how long Quinn had waited for her.
"Of course, I've always." Quinn replied with a nervous smile but their bubble popped when Puck sat himself next to them with a smirk that was the same has the one he had worn in his mohawked hell-raiser days in high school. Sam joined them; sitting by Kitty and Marley with a sweet smile that was identical to the one he had when he gave Quinn the promise ring in Junior year.
"What did we miss?" Puck asked as he wriggled his eyebrows with a rather pointed look at the couple beside him.
"They finally got their shit together and now they're rubbing it in everyone's faces. Plus they literally couldn't keep their hands of each other long enough for them to make it to their tents so they totally just did it out in the woods." Kitty explained in a bored tone.
Marley gasped and hit her leg again. "One more time Kit and I'm sleeping with Santana again."
Puck's eyebrows rose to his hairline and Sam blushed deeply. "You know I should be annoyed that two of many lady-lover exes just got it on but I'm just incredibly turned on. " Puck smirked at the outraged expression on Rachel's face.
"I'll have you know that Quinn and I are waiting to make our first time together special. And I'm not sure about your definition of special but a quickie in the woods is hardly romantic." Rachel huffed.
"Puck's idea of a romantic first time is a few wine coolers and telling a girl she's "totally hot as fuck" or at least that's my experience of Noah Puckermans famous charm." Quinn joked and while the rest of them laughed Puck's face was serious.
"You know I regret the way I treated you that night, I should have made it special, I should have…"
"Puck, I know." Quinn cut him off, not wanting to go through it all again. "If I wanted to I would have stopped us, I wasn't that drunk that I would let you do something that I didn't want. We got Beth out of it anyway and because of her I'll never regret that night, ever."
Puck smiled sweetly, he regretted so much about that night. Luckily Beth wasn't one of them, she was possibly the catalyst for him to not turn into his father and for that he would always be grateful.
"Jeez Fabray, I remember the days when it would be you that was crying all the time but now it just seems you make everyone else cry." Mercedes cut in from behind Sam. "And I'm only saying it because Kitty's too whipped now." She stuck her tongue out at her when she scowled back at her.
"So are you ok then? What with all the stuff that had you both were so upset about before, I mean I don't think we'd make it through the week if you were both on the war path." Sam joked easily and laughed at the glare that Rachel and Quinn sent him at the same time. He turned to Mercedes. "See what I mean?"
"I really wouldn't push it Evans, they were a forced to be reckoned with when they were apart. Imagine the terror they could cause now! A diva tantrum mixed with the ice queen's rage!" Mercedes pretended to shudder. "Speaking of divas why haven't you demanded a performance yet?"
Rachel shrugged and Quinn's eyes widened in shock. "I just haven't felt like it, I haven't sung just because I felt like it in years. I guess singing from someone else's perspective all the time can take some of the joy out of it, plus with Kurt deciding against performing I haven't had anyone to sing with." There was a casual sadness to her tone that made Quinn's heart ache.
"I'll sing with you then." Her voice was soft enough so only Rachel could hear her, she turned with wide eyes and her mouth agape.
"What?"
Quinn ducked her head as a blush crept up her neck. "It's fine of you don't want to, I mean I'm really out of practice."
Rachel cut her off with a searing kiss. "I'd love to; even if you sang like Sugar I wouldn't care. But you don't, I know I put you down a lot for your voice but I always did find it wonderfully smooth especially when you weren't thinking about it."
Sam and Puck began strumming their guitars whilst Ryder tapped the wood of the log to build a beat. They sang Never Let Me Go by Florence and the Machine, they're eyes trained on each other the entire time both desperate to convey the gravity of their emotions
I'm not giving up, I'm just giving in
Kurt watched them carefully, his eyes darted to Blaine and he wondered just how all of his old friends had found happiness in each other whilst he was stuck in a loveless marriage. He knew Blaine had been cheating, he almost did it himself a couple times but he frustratingly couldn't manage it. He'd break it off if he could but most of Blaine's contacts in showbiz were from him and although he didn't love him anymore he still didn't want him hurt like that.
Then he thought back to the girls so reverently serenading each other in front of him, disgust began to creep into his thoughts.
In the arms of the ocean,
So sweet and so cold
Santana couldn't look at them anymore. She couldn't so this, she couldn't pretend she wasn't hurt. Brittany was with her again, this had been what she'd been waiting for since they had said that final goodbye. She'd regretted telling Brittany to be with other people, it had been hard to see her with Sam and even harder to see her with other women but now she was in her arms again, it was all she had ever wanted. But something was wrong, her stomach churned when she looked at the couple in front of her once more; this concern felt an awful lot like jealousy.
Never let me go
"Never let me go." Rachel's voice rang out as she looked at Quinn, her breath caught at the devotion she found there.
Quinn held her gaze and offered a soft smile as the song ended, giving way to the muted round of applause that neither of them heard. She placed her hand on Rachel's cheek and cupped her face and brought her in a searing kiss that was only broken when Puck rather loudly announced that he had a boner.
"I think we should get to bed now guys, considering we're heading over to see the geysers tomorrow it'll probably be an early start." Santana announced as she stood up and proceeded to drag Quinn towards their tent.
"I thought you were staying Britt?" Quinn whined, not wanting to be away from Rachel.
"Do you seriously think you'd be able to not have sex if you and Rachel slept together?" Santana questioned with an amused expression as Quinn shook her head dejectedly. "In which case consider yourself lucky you just got an escape route."
"Can I at least go back and kiss her goodnight?" Quinn hated it when Santana went into Mother Mode, even Bitch Mode could be turned off by Brittany, but like this she was insatiable.
"What did you think that little performance in front of the fire was? A warm up?" She chided and laughed when the blonde huffed. "I'm totally kidding Q, go kiss your girl." Quinn ran off back to the campfire as her eyes lit up. "But if you're not back in fifteen minutes then I won't hesitate to drag you back here!" she called after her with an amused smile.
Twenty minutes later Quinn sheepishly made it into the tent. "You didn't come after me."
Santana rolled over in her sleeping bag so that she was facing the side of the tent rather that the blonde who was climbing in her own. "I figured if I disturbed you I'd see something I didn't want to."
Quinn settled down in bed and huffed at the serious tone her friend was using, she really didn't want this argument. "What is it San? Why are you so against this, even after I tell you everything?"
"Because I care about you Quinn! You never seem to quite understand that! She hurt you and I don't care if you forgive her, she's still hurt you and she'll still hurt you again! Heck it's not as if I'm talking about the stuff before, just last night she attacked you and now your straight into forgiving her?"
"She apologised! I know why she did it, she feels bad about it, so why would I still hold it over her when she can make me happy? Because that's what today has been, I've been genuinely happy with her! I've barely even thought about Russell when I'm with her!"
Santana huffed and turned over to face her, she hadn't yet looked at her because she knew she'd lose her resolve. "But you have thought about him, and you'll have to think about him a lot more because he got his nasty little claws into her that day. Why can't you just be with someone who won't hurt you?"
"What, like you?" Quinn mocked but Santana's silence gave her an answer she didn't want. "San? You know there is nothing going on between us right? It was just comfort, nostalgia right?"
Santana turned over again. "Night, Quinn."
Quinn tried to get an answer from her with no success until she finally felt the exhaustion from the day overcome her.