priscilla Thank you. I'm glad that you're enjoying the story. I hope that you continue to. :)

DameonCain I'm glad you enjoyed the Brittany time, even if it's not your favorite.

LaurenKnight13 I'm glad to hear that. Although, to be honest, I've never particularly cared for Brittany. I think that they made a mess out of her character, to be sure, but even in the beginning seasons, she just never really interested me. I just felt like if I was going to write about Quinn re-connecting with old friends, I should include some Brittany interactions as well. There will definitely be a glee girls gathering. Soon. & I'll see if I can find a way to work some of the guys into the story at some point.

Fabraygron I'm glad you liked it. :) Yeah, I've noticed there's not a lot of interactions between Quinn and Brittany, especially not one on one, and I thought it would be an interesting dynamic to explore.

icesk8er I'm glad you enjoyed it.

CarolineSC Thanks. And, this next one is all Faberry so that should even things up a little.

gllover22 lol. Yeah, a little bit of epicness there as well. Well there is definitely Rachel in this chapter. I like exploring the different friendships, but I'll never go to long without including Faberry.

Guest Thank you.

Harley Quinn Davidson Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.

wkgreen Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it.

Chapter 34

Quinn leaned against the wall of the building opposite the stage door and watched the growing crowd waiting for the cast to emerge after the show. She listened with half an ear to the chatter about the performances, the music, the costumes, and was pleased to hear that all of it was positive.

She caught Rachel's name a lot, and smiled to herself every time someone gushed praises. She just hoped that everyone waiting around outside for an autograph or a photo with the cast members would be equally as vocal about their enthusiasm when Rachel emerged.

One by one, or sometimes in pairs, the cast members started to emerge. All of them, right down to the chorus members, were greeted with cheers and enthusiasm. Quinn's head popped up each time the door opened, and then her eyes dropped back down to the game on her phone every time it wasn't Rachel. Until, finally, it was Rachel stepping through the door into the halogen spotlight to whistles and cheers.

Rachel hesitated in the entrance for a moment, her gaze flitting over the crowd until she spotted Quinn. A broad grin spread out over her face as their eyes held for a minute, then Rachel's attention turned to the crowd before her, clamoring for a photo, an autograph, a moment or two of her time.

Quinn tucked her phone back into her pocket and watched, smiling softly at the site of Rachel working her way through the crowd of admirers, smiling, laughing, posing for pictures, giving hugs and signing everything thrust her way.

Her progress through the group was slow, and even though Quinn was beyond exhausted and impatient to get back to Rachel's apartment and curl up under the covers with her girlfriend in her arms and get some sleep, she didn't begrudge Rachel a moment of the attention she was recieving right now.

Quinn knew that these were the moments Rachel lived for, that this was what made the strenous training, and rehearsals and insane hours worth it. This was what she had been working for her entire life. She loved getting to meet her adoring fans just as much, if not more, than the fans loved meeting her.

"Oh, my God. It's Rachel Berry. Can I have an autograph?" Quinn thrust a playbill that she'd gotten from an usher at the end of the show in Rachel's direction once she'd finally made her way over.

Rachel laughed and shook her head. "You're so weird."

Quinn shrugged and offered up a grin. "So, how was your show?" she asked as she rolled the playbill up and shoved it into her back pocket, not quite sure what to do with her hands. She wanted to pull Rachel into a hug and give her a kiss hello, but she was mindful of the crowd still lingering, their eyes on Rachel. They hadn't discussed their relationship in terms of Rachel's career. Quinn didn't even know if Rachel was out. She didn't know what would be an appropriate greeting. A hug? A kiss?

After a moment's indecision she wrapped her arms around Rachel's waist for a light, loose, hug. She contemplated brushing a kiss against Rachel's cheek but at the last minute decided against it and pulled back.

"What's this?" Rachel said, gesturing between them, her brow furrowed slightly. Before Quinn could answer, however, she looped her arms around Quinn's neck and rose up onto her toes to press a soft kiss to Quinn's lips.

Quinn tightened her grip on Rachel's waist, pulling her in against her body, and returned the kiss.

Rachel hummed softly against Quinn's lips and then pulled back and dropped down onto her heels. She eyed Quinn once again, clearly expecting some sort of explaination. Quinn's gaze went automatically to the crowd gathered behind them, watching with rapt attention. Rachel noticed the direction of her gaze and turned her head, glancing behind her before facing Quinn once again.

"Since when are you adverse to pda's?" she asked. "I seem to remember making out on a street corner in front of my building a few days ago."

Quinn shook her head. "It's not that. I just wasn't sure how much you were comfortable with them seeing." She nodded her head in the direction of their audience. "I mean, are you even out, professionaly?"

Rachel cocked her head as she considered the question. "I don't know. I guess not."

Quinn nodded, validated in her initial hesitation.

"But, that's just because I like to keep my private life, private," Rachel continued. "If I'm doing an interview and am asked about my love life, I'll say that I'm single or that i"m in a relationship and I'm happy, that's it. I don't give away details. Those are for me and the person I'm seeing. Male or female."

Quinn nodded. That was fair enough. But it still didn't answer the question of, what was acceptable behaviour in public?

"But, if we're out somewhere and a fan recognized me, I'm not toing to pretend I'm not on a date," Rachel added. "I'm not hiding anything. I don't want you to act any differently with me in public than you would with anyone else you were in a relationship with."

It was definitely reassuring to hear. If Rachel had wanted discreet, if she had requested that Quinn act like just a friend when they had eyes on them, Quinn would have done it. It would have been challenging. She would have had to curb her natural instinct to touch, would have had to be mindful of when it was okay to hold her hand or put an arm around her or give her a kiss. But she would have done it.

She was just relieved that she wouldn't have to.

"So, you wouldn't be upset if I kissed you hello?" Quinn asked, ducking her head so that her lips brushed against Rachel's with every word.

"I'd be upset if you didn't." Rachel craned her neck up, increasing the faint pressure against Quinn's lips as she spoke.

"And I can hold your hand and walk with you?"

"You better."

Quinn couldn't help grin that tugged at her lips as she captured Rachel's lips in a soft, sweet kiss. Rachel sighed softly against her mouth and melted into her, her hands sliding around to the back of Quinn's neck. One slid up into her hair, fingers tangling lightly into the strands, the other cupping the back of her head and pulling her down, deepening the kiss.

Quinn's hesitation melted away at the feel of Rachel's body pressing lightly into hers and the gentle scrape of nails against her scalp as Rachel's tongue slid deftly against her upper lip. She hummed at the sensation, and felt Rachel smile into the kiss before pulling away.

"Hey," Quinn murmured, pressing her forehead against Rachel's and peering, slightly cross-eyed, into the other woman's eyes.

"Hey," Rachel echoed softly. "So, I've been looking forward to doing that all day."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Me too."

They shared a smile. Then Quinn's attention was divereted from the moment by a flurry of movement behind them. She pulled back just far enough to glance over Rachel's shoulder to see an array of cell phones turned in their direction. What had captured her eye was a dozen flashes going off simultanously, at random.

"Your fans are recording this," she whispered into Rachel's ear.

Rachel shrugged.

"This is probably going to end up on TMZ."

"You think so?" Rachel sounded excited by the prospect.

Quinn shook her head. "Come on," she said, dropping her arms from around Rachel's waist and taking on of her hands instead. "You've proven your point," she said as she gave a little tug to start them walking. "So let's just get out of here."

Rachel laced her fingers through Quinn's as she let herself be guided down the street. "You know, I didn't kiss you just to prove a point. Right?" she asked as they left the crowd behind. "I kissed you because I wanted to kiss you. I always want to kiss you."

Quinn couldn't help but smile at Rachel's words. "I know," she said, giving Rachel's hand a gentle squeeze. "And the feeling is mutual," she added as they walked. "I spent most of my life pretending to be something I wasn't. Or trying not to be what I was." Quinn wasn't quite sure exactly which of those things it was. Maybe both. "And I don't want to go back to pretending. But, I do would understand if you wanted to keep a lid on this, on us-"

"Hey, I told you where I stand on this. If you're worried about-"

"I'm not worried. Why would I be worried?"

"I don't know, Quinn. What possible reason could a young, up and coming playwright have for wanting to keep their sexuality under wraps?"

"It's not even like that."

"No?"

"No. For one thing, I'm out, Rach. And I have been for awhile. Most of the plays I wrote when I was at Yale had gay or lesbian characters. My senior thesis was on religion and sexuality. I've written articles for academic journals and a couple of Boston papers. Anyone doing even a cursory search on my name is going to know that I'm gay. And that includes any potential investors in future projects. So, no. I'm not worried about how that's going to affect my career, because it hasn't effected me doing all right for myself so far."

"Okay," Rachel murmured softly.

"And secondly, it's not the same thing, your career and mine. I'm behind the scenes. I'm background. But you, you're the name attatched to the play. You're the draw that's going to get people into the seats. And you're just just on the cusp of making it. You've got a big audition coming up soon and -"

"I don't care about that."

Quinn glanced over, one eyebrow raised

at Rachel, who smirked and shook her head.

"You know what I mean. I care about that. But, I'm not interested in playing the game. I'm going to guard my privacy as much as I'm able, but I will never lie, will never hide who I am for the sake of a role. For the sake of fame. My father's taught me better than that."

Quinn should have known better. Rachel had never been one to conform to other people's expectations. High School certainly would have been a lot easier for her, if she had. But Rachel had stubbornly refused to let anyone else dictate the person she should be.

"You're right. I'm sorry."

Rachel nodded, and squeezed her hand before swinging it gently between them. "So, I did laundry today," she said in an obvious attempt at a subject change.

"Oh, yeah? I had a veggie wrap for lunch. What?" Quinn asked when Rachel huffed and turned her head to shoot her a raised eyebrow glance, clearly not impressed. "I thought we were exchanging random facts about our day."

Rachel shook her head and sighed. "I did laundry today," she repeated, her stare daring Quinn to interject. "I washed everything that you've left at my place since Friday," she continued.

"Oh, Rachel, I'm sorry. I never meant for you to clean up after me. I-"

"That's not even the point I was making. Would you please let me finish what I was saying?"

"Sorry. Go ahead."

"Thank you," Rachel said, a haughty little shake of her head that had Quinn biting her lip to refrain from laughing. "So, as I was saying, I did laundry today and I washed all of your stuff so that tomorrow you would have something fresh and clean and, well, your own, to wear."

Quinn opened her mouth to offer her thanks, then snapped it back shut again, not sure if she was allowed to speak again. Rachel caught the motion and rolled her eyes.

"And then I started thinking, maybe you should pack a bag for next time, a change of clothes, toiletries, whatever other essentials you require. That way you won't have to get up so early. It would make your morning routine easier and maybe this way we'd get to spend a little more time together. Becase then you wouldn't have to be so rushed."

Logistically, it just made sense. For the better part of the week, the bulk of their time spent together would be in the early morning and late night hours. Their conflicting schedules meant that they didn't have the luxury of going to lunch or dinner or spending quiet evenings in together. If they wanted to spend time together, they were going to have to carve a few hours out of their days that worked for them.

And this, Rachel's idea, it would allow them some, not many but a few, precious moments together at the beginning and end of their days. And what could possibly be better than going to sleep and waking up in the arms of the person you were with?

It was what they were striving for, after all wasn't it? To eventually meld their lives together into one. So it seemed a bit counter productive to put distance between them, to spend entire days and nights apart when they could be spending them together, building something, creating their own routines.

Since the night they had met up again, Quinn had been looking forward to the days when they were tripping over each other in the kitchen and jostling for counter and outlet space in the bathroom as they tried to get ready. And bickering about who's turn it was to make coffee or who was the one who forgot to pick up the milk. Going grocery shopping and cleaning and doing laundry and other mundane chores. Getting irritated with Rachel when she ran lines too loudly while Quinn was trying to read. And getting snapped at by Rachel when she tuned out of a conversation because an inspiration had struck. All the little things that spoke to a much larger, more signifigant thing. A connection, a bond, a life. She'd felt it, that first night. The possibility. And now it was more than just an abstract idea, it was something tangible. Something that was actually within reach.

It was a pretty big step. One that she was sure most relationships wouldn't be ready for after only a few days. But, her and Rachel's relationship had never exactly been typical. And she wasn't about to let societal conventions dictate how their relationship should progress.

Rachel seemed to be under the mistaken impression that she had to sell Quinn on this idea, if her rambling and rationlizing was any indication. Before she could start quoting stats about travel times or something absurd like that, Quinn dipped her head, silencing Rachel mid-sentence with a soft kiss.

Rachel made a muffled, startled gurgle against her lips at being cut off and huffed indignantly when Quinn pulled away.

"I think it's a great plan, Rach."

"You do?"

Quinn nodded. "Yeah, Rachel. I do."