For all disclaimers, see Chapter 1.

TrulyBoston: Thank you, I'm glad that you're enjoying the story. And that you think I've managed to capture the characters. And I agree with you, on how you think they would age. I wasn't actually trying to make Quinn shy though, more like humble. Or maybe...demure? I'll have to re-adjust some of her reactions I guess, so she won't come across as quite so shy. This will be a short story, four or five chapters maybe but it will definitely be longer than a one shot.

Thanks for taking the time to review.

BlackShip007 Thank you, I'm happy that you're enjoying it so far. And, here's some more. I hope you continue to enjoy it.

Chapter 2

A brisk, ten minute walk found them stepping into a twenty-four hour diner that looked like it had seen better days but Rachel assured her that the food here was amazing. Quinn glanced around at the worn, patched up booths and the dull, scratched table tops and sceptically agreed to give the place a try.

She allowed Rachel to guide her across the room to a table by the window and without thinking, pulled a chair out for the other woman.

"Quinn Fabray, chivalrous?" Rachel teased lightly. "Color me surprised."

She ducked her head, feeling a blush heat up her cheeks. She had no idea why she'd done that. It was the sort of thing that you did on a date. And this wasn't a date.

Sure, her body had been reacting to Rachel's touch all night. And the moment she'd laid eyes on her from across the room she felt the pull of attraction but this was Rachel. An old friend from school who she was having a wonderful time getting caught up with, nothing more. And it would be best if she could remember that.

Not trusting herself to speak she simply rounded the table and slid into place across from Rachel, picking up a menu and hiding her face behind it until the heat in her cheeks faded.

"So, what's good here?" she asked, eyeing the restaurants selections.

"Well, I'm partial to the french toast. But the pancakes here are quite good. Especially the banana ones. They also have a small selection of actual meat products if you'd like some bacon or sausage with your meal."

Quinn's stomach roiled at the thought of anything greasy right now. "I think I'll just stick with pancakes," she said after a moment and laid her menu down.

No sooner than she had, their waitress appeared, flashing them a wide, fake smile and inquiring if they were ready to order then dissapeared a few minutes later with their meal choices in hand.

"So, I take it from your friend's comments at the bar that you're not seeing anyone?" Rachel asked as soon as they were alone again.

Quinn shook her head. "No, I'm currently single."

Rachel nodded. "But, you're dating, right? I mean you... you're..." Rachel trailed off and looked across the table at Quinn, as if she expected her to be able to help out and finish her thought but Quinn wasn't sure what exactly what she was trying to ask.

"You're going to have to help me out here, Rach,"

She watched, equal parts amused and curious as Rachel bit her bottom lip and worried it between her teeth for a moment in hesitation then let out a deep breath and visibly squared her shoulders.

"You've had relationships?" she breathed out, the words running together slightly. "Even if you're not currently in one now you...You've been with women?"

It took a moment for Quinn to decipher just what it was that Rachel was trying to ask. And another to fight back the wave of laughter at how utterly petrified she looked at having asked it. She was adorable, sitting there with her jaw set and her brow furrowed but her eyes wide and slightly wild as if she expected Quinn to go off on her.

"Yes." Quinn allowed a slight chuckle to leave her throat. "I've had a few relationships."

Rachel nodded. "Good. I'm glad. I just..I want you to be happy. You deserve that. So much."

Quinn thought it was sweet that Rachel was worried about her, even if it was unwarranted and she couldn't help the warm smile that tugged at her lips at the obvious concern and relief in Rachel's voice.

"I am, happy, she said, reaching out to lay a gentle hand on Rachel's arm and giving it a gentle squeeze. "And believe it or not, out of everything that I've struggled with my sexuality wasn't one of them. There was so much more going on, so many other things that I was trying to come to terms with that who I was attracted wasn't really an issue."

She watched, amused as Rachel tried not to let her surprise and maybe just a little bit of disbelief play out across her features.

Quin offered up a wry smile, which Rachel returned with a genuine, albeit sheepish one of her own.

"Sorry, Quinn I-"

"No, it's okay," Quinn interrupted before she could go about apologizing. As adorable as she looked and sounded rambling, there wasn't any need for it. "Considering my parents and how I was raised it I can see where you'd get that impression. But then, there was a lot of stuff my father spouted that I never really believed in."

Even as a child she'd always (silently) questioned her father's views on a lot of things, considering that they were Christian and God's teachings told them to be tolerant and compassionate and that they were all His children. One of the many things she'd questioned had been the "sin of homosexuality" because she, especially when she had been Lucy, had never really understood how love could be wrong. Love was the thing of fairytales and happy endings. And, wasn't it supposed to be blind? So, what did it matter if it was between a man and a woman, two men or two women?

"No, really, I shouldn't have assumed. Especially when past behaviours would indicate that sexuality isn't really a concern of yours."

Quinn raised a quizzical eyebrow, not quite sure what exactly Rachel was trying to say. "What do you mean?"

"Well, in high school when...we were having our difficulties, you never once made fun of me for my dad's being gay."

Quinn couldn't help but chuckle at Rachel's tactful phrasing of what had actually been a pretty concentrated torture campaign.

"And you never seemed to have a problem with Kurt being gay, even in the early days of Glee club when you still kinda hated all of us. And when Santana came out, you were right there supporting her. All things that, now looking back on it, should have seemed out of character considering like you said, your parents and your upbringing. So, like I said, I'm sorry for assuming things."

Quinn just nodded her head, accepting the apology even though it really wasn't neccessary. She knew Rachel well enough to realize that any other repsonse would just have them talking circles around the issue.

"What about you?" she asked, attempting to steer them away from the topic. "Seeing anyone?" She tried to tell herself that the faint twisting her stomach was hunger and not an anxiousness to hear the answer to her question. Because it didn't matter whether or not Rachel was dating anyone.

Rachel grimaced slightly.

"What's that face?" she asked, enjoying the way the other woman squirmed under the sudden attention.

"Well, I've been...I recently...it's all rather complicated."

"Ooh, do tell." Quinn leaned forward, her interest piqued.

Rachel rolled her eyes and shook her head lightly but slid forward in her seat slightly, clearly gearing herself up to tell this particular tale.

"Okay, well I mentioned earlier how I started a new show recently, right?" Quinn nodded. "A couple of weeks into rehearals I messed up my knee. Nothing too serious but I had to take a few days off and fell a little behind on the choreography so the director set me up for some one on one time with one of the choreographer's assistants. One thing led to another and we started dating."

Quinn nodded, following along but not quite sure where the complicated came in and hoping that Rachel would get to it soon.

"It went good for awhile and then..." Rachel trailed off with a sigh and a shake of her head. "It imploded. It started off slowly. Finn came into the city to visit for Kurt's birthday and the two of us had lunch which led to some arguments and hurt feelings. Admittedly, I could have handled it better but in all honesty I stopped thinking about Finn as my ex-fiance years ago. Now he's Kurt's brother and an old friend. It didn't even occur to me that it might be problematic."

Quinn could understand that line of thinking. Though Puck was the father of her child, she no longer thought of him as the first guy she'd slept with instead he was just her friend. Yet she could understand how someone with an outside view of their relationship, especially someone she was dating, might feel threatened by them interacting.

"Things evened out for awhile and then it was another argument, this time over the amount of time I was spending with a magazine writer who was doing a feature on the show."

She didn't want to interrupt Rachel's narrative but she felt compelled to acknowledge just how great of an achievement she thought that was, so she tightened her grip on Rachel's arm, squeezing gently. Rachel smiled softly and brought her free hand up, placing it over Quinn's and patted it lightly.

"Then, there was another argument over a girl's weekend I spent with Santana. Britney's was away for a few weeks, touring with the show that she was choreographing so Santana and I rented a place upstate for a few days just to get out of the city."

Quinn could now see the theme that was emerging.

"I started to realize then that things weren't working out. Jealousy over me spending time with my ex, I could understand. It was just lunch and my feelings for Finn are purely platonic but I can understand how it could be deemed innapropriate and was willing to compormise on that. And I sort of wrote off the argument over the amount of time I spent working with Issaac on the article as just general relationship issues. We'd both been really busy, working on our shows and a lot of times had conflicting schedules and didn't get to see each other all that often. But then, when it became about Santana I started to see that it wasn't about who I was spending my time with as it was more about trying to control my time."

Quinn nodded, it seemed more like a control issue to her as well. Jealousy over Rachel spending time with anybody and that was a dangerous path to go down in a relationship.

"So, I ended it.. And we didn't see each other for a month or so. Then we ran into each other at Starbucks and started talking and all the chemistry just flared right back up."

"Oh, no. You didn't."

Rachel nodded, shrugging sheepishly. "I did. And we lasted about three weeks before we got into a huge blowout about me going out for dinner and drinks with one of the dancers from the show. So I broke it off. Then a week later we saw each other at a party and we hooked up"

"Rachel!"

"I know. I know, okay?"

"It was stupid and I knew better. But, the sex was really, really good. So I let it happen. And, that brings us to now. We've hooked up twice since then. Technically we're not back together but I know that's what she wants."

Quinn felt her eyes go wide and she choked on a breath. She?