Thanks again for everybody still reading, reviewing, favoriting, doing the damn thing… A lot of you are very good guessers, but the truth will soon come to light and Rachel will soon realize that she has a lot more people rooting for her than she thinks. All I will say for now is that there is a reason for everybody doing what they are doing.
Thanks again! See you all soon.
Chapter 8:
On Tuesday morning, Quinn meets Genesis at her locker and slips her a $100 bill from the envelope of saving she keeps under her mattress with instructions to meet at Rachel's house today after school. The other half of the money will come when Genesis gives them what they are looking for.
"That looked sketchy."
Quinn just manages to convince herself that her interaction with Genesis had gone largely unnoticed when Puck comes up behind her.
"Was that a drug deal? Because I know a guy who could probably hook you up for cheaper."
Quinn rolls her eyes. She never should have told Puck her secret about Rachel. He hasn't stopped bothering her since.
Noah Puckerman does not commit to a lot of things, but he loves to play match-maker, and that is a role he will commit to no matter what.
"Now isn't a good time, Puck," Quinn attempts to wave the boy off. "Unless you've decided to enroll in AP Bio with me."
"I already know everything I need to know about biology," Noah wags his eyebrows at Quinn, who only rolls her eyes harder.
"You're pathetic."
"Speaking of pathetic, have you talked to Rachel yet?"
"Will you keep your voice down?" Quinn cringes. Puck has not said anything implicative, but Quinn is understandably wary. She doesn't want so much as a hint of the truth about her feelings towards Rachel getting out. "It's not a good time, alright?"
"If you wait for a good time, you'll be waiting for the rest of your life," Puck points out. He doesn't lower his voice one iota.
"Ugh, isn't your remedial math class that way?" Quinn rolls her eyes, pointing down the hallway in the opposite direction from where she is heading. The last thing that she needs right now is Puck's voice in her ear.
"And isn't you dodging everybody's questions starting to get a little bit old?" Puck counters.
Quinn frowns. She hates that Puck always seems to have a retort for everything. Mostly, she hates that she has no way to defend herself. He's right every time.
"I'm working on it, Puck," Quinn snaps between clenched teeth. "Just give me some time, alright?"
Despite the promise to Puck, Quinn goes the entire school day without talking to Rachel.
Instead, both Quinn and Rachel exist on their own terms. Quinn avoids Rachel when she can and in turn, Rachel avoids Quinn. The only time they interact is when Quinn tells Rachel that Genesis is coming over after school.
At the final bell of the day, Rachel is at her car practically before the bell even stops ringing. She wants to go home. She hates being at school lately, where she has developed a particular intolerance for jocks and Cheerios and Skanks and even her own friends; where she risks running into Shelby around every corner… Besides, Genesis and Quinn will be over any minute. Rachel wants to be ready.
"Skipping our rehearsals today?"
Rachel is fumbling with her car keys when a familiar voice cuts in from behind her. She freezes, but she doesn't bother to turn around. She knows who that voice belongs to. She just doesn't want to talk to it.
Rachel takes a deep breath, begging the universe to give her a little bit of patience before she turns around to finally face Shelby.
"Clearly, you weren't expecting me at rehearsal if you knew to come find me out here," Rachel tells the woman. Her voice is cool and Shelby actually takes a step back in response to it.
"Call it a gut instinct," the woman forces.
"I told you that I can't sing this week," Rachel reminds Shelby, refusing to give her an inch.
"And I told you that I would still come up with something for you to do," Shelby points out.
Rachel doesn't respond. She refuses to entertain Shelby in that manner. Shelby waits for a moment, but when she realizes that Rachel isn't going to say anything, she frowns.
"Listen Rachel, I'm not going to beat around the bush anymore," Shelby finally sighs after a moment. "I want to talk to you about last night."
Rachel turns to face Shelby fully, placing her hands on her hips as she transforms her face into stone, waiting.
"I know that I didn't give you a lot of explanation yesterday," Shelby presses through Rachel's silence. "To be fair, though, you kind of blindsided me."
"So, are you going to answer my questions now?" Rachel asks. She doesn't sound like she is expecting this, and when Shelby only sighs in response, Rachel realizes that she was right to do so.
"I told you yesterday," Shelby breathes. "You need to talk to your fathers."
"Why would I talk to the people who have been lying to me from the very beginning?" Rachel asks with a tone that makes it very clear that she has decided to include Shelby in this category of people who she considers liars.
"Your fathers love you very much," Shelby insists seriously. This only irritates Rachel further. "I'm sure that if you only expressed your concerns to them, they would be more than glad to answer your questions."
"Are you going to tell them what I know?" Rachel asks sharply, crossing her arms tight over her chest. She feels her jaw twitch in a way that irritates her bruised cheek, but forces herself to ignore it.
Shelby studies Rachel for a long moment, considering her closely.
"I don't know yet," the woman insists, although the second the words are out of her mouth, she realizes that she may have been better off keeping that to herself.
The truth is that Shelby has been going back and forth between calling Rachel's fathers ever since Rachel left her apartment last night.
She had scrolled past the telephone numbers that Hiram and LeRoy had left with her after they quietly sought her out Rachel's sophomore year about a hundred times. She chickened out of actually hitting the call button ever time.
"So, what's so bad then?" Rachel presses. "What's so bad that you can't tell me anything at all?"
"Talk to your fathers," Shelby reiterates, shaking her head slowly. "I know that's not the answer that you want to hear, Rachel, but you need to speak to your dads about this. Maybe we can schedule something. We can all have a conversation together."
"I'll consider it," Rachel tells Shelby with a cool tone that tells Shelby that she will do nothing of the sort. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an important meeting to get to."
Thanks to Shelby holding her up, by the time Rachel gets home, Quinn and Genesis are already waiting on her front porch.
Genesis looks bored already, Rachel notices, propped against the front door, tapping her feet gently.
Rachel tries to read the girl's face. She doesn't know Genesis. Quinn seems to trust her, but Rachel isn't sure that that's enough for her.
"You're late…" Quinn hisses as Rachel fumbles with her house keys to unlock the front door.
"Shelby cornered me in the parking lot," Rachel whispers. "I think she's going to tell my dads about all this. It'll take her a few days to build the nerve to do it, but we have to move quick."
Quinn looks at Rachel somberly, but nods her head as Rachel pushes through the front door and guides Quinn and Genesis straight into her father Hiram's personal office.
She is convinced that Hiram's computer is their best bet to find answers. He's a lawyer. He is also the one who taught Rachel to take such meticulous care and attention to everything she has ever done. He documents everything, keeps every scrap of paper he has ever received filed into storage.
If she is going to find anything, it's going to be in here.
"Do you want anything to drink?" Rachel asks skeptically as Genesis starts to make herself comfortable at her father's desk. The brunette has no idea what she is supposed to be doing. She's never done anything like this before.
"I'm good," Genesis waves Rachel off.
Rachel swallows as she watches the home screen on her father's computer explode with a burst of light. She was hoping to be able to distract herself in the kitchen for a few moments, keeping herself busy. Instead, she watches as Genesis takes less then thirty seconds to get past the lock screen on her father's computer, offering her full access.
Rachel doesn't bother asking how she'd done it. Instead, she watches Genesis work with an increasing feeling of anxiety bubbling inside of her stomach until she can no longer bear to sit still.
The brunette starts to pace; back and forth and back and forth like a big animal in a small cage until even Genesis has had enough.
"You need to chill, Berry," the girl comments over her shoulder. She never stops working, like a true professional.
"Leave her alone," Quinn defends Rachel. Genesis just rolls her eyes.
Genesis quickly gets back to work, but Rachel continues to be hyper-alert, listening for any signs that her fathers are coming home from work early.
When Rachel hears what sounds like a car door slamming in front of the house, she freezes and perks like a deer that just got trapped in a set of headlights.
"Did you hear that?"
Genesis ignores her. Quinn only shrugs. She hadn't heard anything.
"It sounded like a car door," Rachel insists. "I'm gonna go check."
Rachel shuffles quickly out of the room towards the front of the house.
"Your girl is high strung, Fabray," Genesis comments over the sound of her rapid typing the moment Rachel is out of the room.
"She's not my girl," Quinn retorts, but the denial only makes Genesis laugh.
"Whatever," she comments under her breath. "What's the name of the guy we're looking for again?"
"Peter Gabbanelli."
Genesis turns over her shoulder, raising a very skeptical eyebrow towards Quinn. "How do you spell that?"
Quinn sighs and pulls the William McKinley 1994 yearbook that she had stolen from the school library out of her backpack. She flips through the pages until she finds the man's senior photo and slides the yearbook in front of Genesis.
"That's him," she tells her, tapping her finger against the photo.
"Handsome," Genesis comments off-hand. Quinn can't tell if she's being serious or not as she starts to type the name into the search engine without even having to look at the keyboard like Quinn still has to do whenever she is typing.
"Got it," Genesis nods to the computer screen the moment she hits the enter key.
"How did you find him so quickly?" Quinn asks, astonished.
"I typed his name into the search bar," Genesis rolls her eyes, indicating that it didn't require a certain level of genius or $200 to find what she had just found.
Quinn rolls her eyes, standing up to look over Genesis's shoulder as the girl double clicks a link that reveals a scanned document that looks so old, that it had been typed on a typewriter.
"What is that?" Quinn asks, squinting at the old document in an attempt to decipher it.
"It looks like a restraining order," Genesis breathes.
Quinn takes a closer look and realizes that Genesis is only half right. It is not a restraining order, but a motion to file a restraining order. It had been filed against Peter by Hiram's law office on behalf of Shelby in September of 1994.
At the very bottom is a large, red stamp where the judge had rejected the motion. Quinn can't help but wonder why it had been rejected, but that doesn't make her feel any better about what Peter may or may not have done to Shelby to trigger its necessity in the first place.
"Shit…" Quinn breathes. "What's that about?"
"It's redacted," Genesis answers, scrolling through the document where the reason for the requested petition is entirely blacked out. "It looks like you and Berry might have a genuine conspiracy theory on your hands, Fabray."
"Is there anything else you can search?" Quinn asks, almost desperately.
"I can look into the police database," Genesis answers, "But it looks like the reason the judge rejected the petition for a restraining order was because no police report was ever filed. It might be a dead end."
Quinn nods as Genesis gets back to work and Rachel rounds back into the office.
"The coast is clear," Rachel informs them. Quinn notices that she is still whispering despite her assurances. "It was just a neighbor. Have you found anything?"
Quinn and Genesis shoot each other a quick look. They both silently agree not to tell Rachel about the restraining order until it becomes absolutely necessary. Rachel is already high-strung enough.
"I'm just getting ready to look into the police database," Genesis answers quickly. "If Peter Gabbanelli is in here, then all of his information will be too; from his address to his grandmother's maiden name."
Genesis plugs a flash drive into Rachel's father's computer. When it opens, an encryption key appears across the screen that looks to Rachel as though it is written in some alien language. But it must be familiar to Genesis, because with just a few strokes of the keyboard, she bypasses it and the database appears across the screen.
"Why would Peter be in the police database?" Rachel asks. Genesis flashes the brunette a look as though to tell her not to be so naïve, but she decides to keep her mouth shut.
"If he's not, I have other ideas too," Genesis says instead. "This is just the easiest source of information if Peter's ever been arrested."
"Will my dad get in trouble if you're doing this on his computer?" Rachel asks, pulling her lower lip between her teeth nervously.
Quinn watches the girl from the corner of the room, sensing her losing her cool. She has never seen Rachel so nervous before. Normally, the singer was the portrait of calm. She hadn't even been nervous when they'd taken the stage for Nationals in front of the entire country last year…
"No, I masked his IP address," Genesis answers casually.
"Woah…" Rachel breathes, fascinated as Genesis types Peter's name into the search engine.
"Is this him?" she asks after a moment, moving aside to show Rachel the picture of the man.
Rachel stares at the boy in the picture. There is no mistaking Peter Gabbanelli, even though this alleged mugshot of him lacks the grace and poise he'd had on display for his senior yearbook photos.
Here, he looks wired and gaunt. There are dark circles under his big, brown eyes. His hair is longer and wild, sticking up in every direction. The only similarity is that he still has that same boyish face. He doesn't look any older than he had in the yearbook.
"That's him," Rachel confirms with a sharp breath. She was hoping that Genesis wouldn't find anything on Peter in the police records, but there is no mistaking what she is looking at.
"He was arrested in July of 1994," Genesis informs Rachel.
"For what?" Rachel asks, appalled.
"Petty theft," Genesis answers, scrolling through the page. "At some gas station in Lima. I don't recognize it. It must have closed down years ago."
Rachel leans in close, reading the description of Peter's arrest over Genesis's shoulder. Even Quinn stands up to see.
The blonde takes in Peter's mugshot closely. The man looks like Rachel; a lot like Rachel, in fact. Quinn used to think that Rachel and Shelby looked so much alike that there was hardly room for anybody else's genes, but here she is proven wrong.
Spending so much time comparing Beth between her and Noah has made Quinn somewhat of an expert at identifying quirky, minor features. Rachel and Peter have the same naturally wavy hair, and the same frown, which unfortunately, Quinn has become quite familiar with on Rachel lately. Most stunningly of all, Rachel has Peter's eyes down to the very last detail. The longer Quinn stares at Peter's eyes in that mugshot, the more she feels like she is looking at Rachel…
Quinn forces herself to turn away from the photo and towards the description of Peter's arrest.
He had been arrested for petty theft in July of 1994. Two months later, Shelby had filed a restraining order against him. Quinn wonders if the two events are interrelated, and what had happened in that two-month time span to warrant Shelby taking such drastic action.
"What happened with the case?" Rachel finally asks Genesis.
"Peter got two years of probation," Genesis answers.
"Was he arrested any other time?"
"Once for possession," Genesis asks, continuing to scroll through the page. "Marijuana, less than an ounce. It was in Nebraska three years ago. He got probation for that, too."
"Nebraska?" Rachel breathes.
"It looks like that's where he lives now," Genesis answers. "Foster, Nebraska."
"Where is that?" Rachel asks. Genesis only shrugs.
"No idea," she answers. "But I think you've got everything you need."
"Wait, you're leaving?" Rachel asks, watching as Genesis starts to pack away her equipment.
"I printed a copy of his records," Genesis nods. "It'll tell you everything."
"You printed that on my father's printer?" Rachel asks, appalled as she rushes towards the printer in the corner of the room just in time to watch it chug out all of its secrets about Peter Gabbanelli.
"Just make sure you take everything out of the tray," Genesis shrugs, unconcerned. "I can see myself out. And don't forget, Quinn, you still owe me a hundred bucks."
Genesis shuts down Hiram Berry's computer, showing herself into the hallway as Rachel continues to collect the pages on Peter from the printer.
Quinn cringes as she watches Genesis leave. She wishes that she had kept quiet about the money Quinn had paid her to get her here today. She hardly wanted Rachel to know how much she was willing to spend on her.
"$100 an hour is a pretty steep price," Rachel finally comments after they hear the front door open and close again.
"It was $200 actually," Quinn responds. Now that the cat was out of the bag, she might as well be honest. "And it was your money from the DNA kit, anyway. What do the papers say?"
Quinn changes the subject quickly as Rachel glances down at the generous stack of paperwork in her hands.
"Peter was born in Brooklyn," she answers, reading quickly. "He moved to Lima in 1992."
"Me and Genesis found something else while you were out front checking to see if your dads were home," Quinn tells Rachel hesitantly. "Shelby tried to file a restraining order against Peter in September of 1994. A judge denied it though."
Rachel looks up at Quinn. She tries to hide the concern in her eyes, but fails.
"Why did she do that?"
"I don't know," Quinn shakes her head. "The entire document was redacted. We couldn't read the description."
"Maybe it had something to do with him getting arrested?" Rachel speculates. "I mean… she was only a few months away from giving birth to me then. Maybe she got freaked out by the arrest?"
"Maybe…" Quinn sighs, but she doesn't sound convinced. The more they learn about all of this, the stranger it gets.
"This paperwork gives an address," Rachel tells Quinn, quickly changing the subject. "310 Schneider St. Foster, Nebraska. There's a phone number too."
"Are you gonna call him?" Quinn asks.
"I don't know," Rachel shakes her head. "I feel like I have to do something with this information… With all the money you gave Genesis to get it, and all."
Rachel's eyes flicker up to Quinn, bearing into her hard. Quinn forces herself to look down at her feet.
"It's not a big deal," Quinn responds. "We got this far. At this point I think I want to know the truth almost as much as you do."
Rachel nods in agreement.
"You're a good friend, Quinn," Rachel smiles at her. Reaching over, she grabs onto Quinn's hand and squeezes it gently like she is trying to prove that she means what she says.
At the touch, Quinn feels a warm shiver travel up her spine, one that she certainly does not associate with just friendship.
Quinn looks down at their interlaced hands and then back up at Rachel. Maybe it is just Quinn making things up in the heat of the moment, but she thinks that Rachel is looking her funny, like she too had just felt that spark that Quinn had felt.
Rachel is staring at Quinn like she would one of the wonders of the world, and suddenly, Quinn wonders if Puck had been right with all of his unsolicited advice; maybe there is hope for the two of them after all.
Quinn's heart begins to flutter hard against her ribs. The sparks radiating between Rachel and Quinn start to pinch and bite the longer Quinn goes without responding to them and suddenly, like a magnetic force, Quinn feels her body pull towards Rachel's.
She leans into Rachel, seemingly devoid of all control. When Rachel doesn't immediately pull away, she feels her confidence pick up. She leans in closer and closer and is finally starting to think that this is it when –
"Rachel?"
The front door snaps open and Rachel turns away from Quinn and towards the sound of her father's voice so quickly that Quinn almost falls on her face.
"Come on…"
Like the last several seconds never happened, Rachel grabs Quinn by the wrist and drags her out of her father's office.
Rachel sounds rushed, frightened even. Quinn is still so caught up in what almost happened that she lets Rachel drag her along like a ragdoll. She manages to pull the both of them into the kitchen, where Rachel busies herself in pretending to be preparing an afternoon snack just as her father LeRoy appears in front of them.
"What are you doing, Star?" he asks the girl, sounding more than a little suspicious.
"We were just getting something to eat, Daddy," Rachel smiles, but she is acting.
"Do the two of you have more group projects?" LeRoy asks. He tips his eyebrows up, nodding towards the thick stack of paperwork in Rachel's hand.
The brunette nods, but falters. She tucks the papers tight into her chest so that LeRoy cannot possibly catch a glimpse of what they actually say.
"Yup," Rachel nods, popping the p at the end of her word sharply. "Quinn was just leaving, though."
Ten seconds ago, Quinn had been on the cusp of kissing Rachel Berry for the very first time. She had honestly thought that Rachel was going to reciprocate, but now, she is shoving her through her house and out the front door like she was some intruder. By the time she is out on the front porch, she wonders if the almost-kiss ever really happened at all.
"Thanks for everything, Quinn," Rachel whispers. Her voice is tight and rushed. "I'll see you in school tomorrow, okay?"
"Sure…" Quinn breathes. Her voice is stunned and her face even more so. She has no idea what just happened, but before she can even think to ask, Rachel slams the door in her face, leaving her alone on the Berry's front porch.
Quinn doesn't want to go home, but she doesn't know where else to go.
The blonde spends a long time circling the city of Lima in her car until the late afternoon bleeds into the early evening and she starts to get caught in rush hour traffic.
She hardly wants to sit in traffic, so Quinn pulls off the main road and drives without even realizing where she's going. When she ends up on the other side of Lima, into a familiar parking lot, she is not all surprised that this is where her subconscious has sent her.
"Quinn…" Shelby breathes, surprised when she answers the door to her apartment only to find the blonde on the other side. "I wasn't expecting you. Is everything alright?"
"Kind of," Quinn shrugs as Shelby steps out of the doorway to make room for Quinn to come inside.
"What's going on?" Shelby demands. She sounds worried.
"Nobody is hurt or dead or anything like that," Quinn clarifies, but that does nothing to ease the tension on Shelby's face. "If you're busy I can come back."
"No, it's fine," Shelby waves off Quinn's suggestion. "I just dropped Beth off at the sitter. There's a conference tonight for all of the glee coaches in northwestern Ohio."
"I didn't know they did stuff like that…" Quinn stalls, sitting down on Shelby's couch. She looks around Shelby's apartment. Now that the older woman has mentioned it, she can tell that Beth is not here because there are no toys or anything strewn across the floor. This is the cleanest Quinn has ever seen Shelby's apartment.
"It's a complete waste of time if you ask me," Shelby rolls her eyes as if to emphasize her point. "They call it a social hour, but it's more like a lion's den. Everybody is scoping out the competition, looking for ways to one up each other. I'm proud to say that nobody has managed to outwit me yet."
Quinn swallows. She can't help but to think that if her and Rachel have it their way, they will be the first.
Shelby glances at Quinn, looking for a reaction. When she doesn't get one, the woman frowns and lowers herself into the chair across from Quinn.
"Why did you come here today, Quinn?" she finally asks. She is still staring at Quinn, watching as the blonde bows her head and takes a deep breath, trying buy herself time to figure out what to say next.
"I know that you know about what Rachel found out about her dads," Quinn finally says. She doesn't look at Shelby when she says it, but hears the woman take a sharp breath and knows that she is surprised by the news.
"How do you know about that?" Shelby asks.
"I was kind of the first person she told," Quinn admits, fidgeting with her fingers, still not looking at Shelby. "It all started with some stupid biology project about blood typing. I was Rachel's lab partner. She figured out that neither of her fathers could possibly be related to her through that."
"Did she tell you that I told her that she needs to speak with her fathers about all of this?" Shelby asks Quinn seriously. The blonde girl folds her lips together and nods. Shelby takes a deep breath. Quinn cannot read what she's thinking.
"I appreciate you helping Rachel, Quinn, and I am glad that she has somebody who cares about her as much as you do, but that doesn't change anything."
Quinn shakes her head. Shelby is missing the point she is trying to make, and although Quinn knows that Rachel would kill her if she knew that she had run straight to Shelby after everything they found out about Peter today, something about the information that Genesis had given them isn't sitting right with Quinn. She has the information, but no clarity, and clarity is exactly what Quinn is going to need before she can decide what her and Rachel are going to do next.
No computer hacker or biology lab could give them what they need. There are only two people on this planet who know the truth, and one of them is sitting right in front of her.
"Why did you file a restraining order against Peter?" Quinn finally asks.
The comment throws Shelby off guard. She stares at Quinn for a long moment, but slowly, the shock wears off of Shelby's face, replaced with a small smile, much to Quinn's surprise.
"I don't know why I keep underestimating the two of you," the woman shakes her head with a soft chuckle.
"Please, Shelby," Quinn begs. "Why did you have one?"
Shelby's face hardens.
"Peter Gabbanelli is not a good person, Quinn," Shelby tells the blonde seriously. "I said this to Rachel and I will say it to you too; you two are both better off just forgetting all of this."
"I don't think Rachel will stop until she has the answers she's looking for," Quinn admits.
Shelby nods in agreement before leaning back against her chair, crossing her arms over her chest.
"She certainly is stubborn," Shelby admits. "She gets that from Peter. You can tell her that luckily, that is the only thing that she got from that man."
"She looks like him," Quinn points out before she can stop herself. Shelby folds her lips together, but forces herself to nod.
"I prefer to think she looks like me."
"Did he do something bad to you?" Quinn asks before she can consider that it might be rude to do so.
Shelby pauses, considering her answer, but her face remains stoic.
"He gave me my daughter, Quinn," she finally settles. "I was young and stupid. I thought that I was in love, but things didn't work out that way. I know that my relationship with Rachel is far from what I ever imagined it would be, but she's here. She's happy and she's healthy and she's destined to have more success in this world than either one of us could ever imagine. No matter what happened, or how she came to be, I will always be grateful for her. You can understand that, can't you?"
Quinn feels her head bob slowly up and down. She certainly can understand. There had been a time not so long ago where she had been young and stupid too. Hell, she still is young and stupid.
Embarrassed, Quinn looks down into her lap. Shelby had spent the first several weeks of the school year trying to relate to Quinn only to have Quinn try to push her away. Now, Quinn realizes that Shelby was being truthful with her when she told her she had battled the same demons that she had.
Had her filing a restraining order against Peter been Shelby's stupid ploy to savor a relationship with her daughter like attempting to get CPS called on Shelby had been Quinn's? Had Shelby, like Quinn seen how foolish her plan was and had given up on it halfway through? Had Shelby, like Quinn had anybody to guide her through it? Or had she done it all on her own?
Quinn doesn't know, and suddenly, she's too embarrassed to ask.
"Why can't you just talk to Rachel?" Quinn finally sighs. Her voice is much more desperate than she intends, but the pain inside of it is astounding. "You had no problem breaking the contract you have with her fathers before. Why is it such a big deal to you all of a sudden?"
"This has nothing to do with the contract, Quinn," Shelby shakes her head. "It's for Rachel, and it's for her fathers."
"You're gonna tell them, aren't you?" Quinn asks. Shelby sighs. She almost looks apologetic.
"I think that I have to, Quinn," she admits. "I know it doesn't sound like it, but I am doing right by Rachel telling them. You two have gotten too far into this. I hope you can understand. We both only want what's right for our children."
Quinn looks up at Shelby, surprised by her comment. The woman is speaking airily. When Quinn looks at her, she realizes that she is not looking directly at her, but past her. Her eyes are glazed like she is stuck inside of some distant memory.
"The choices we made weren't always easy," Shelby continues after a moment. "But we made them. Just wait a few years. Wait until Beth is old enough to look you in the eye and tell you that you ruined her life. You'll never understand how badly that hurts until you experience it. I hope to God you never have to."
Quinn swallows. She has never felt particularly sympathetic towards Shelby Corcoran before, but tonight, she feels that she actually does feel bad for the woman.
"Like I said Quinn, I'm not stupid enough to believe that Rachel will just drop this, I just want you to be wary about what you find. Whatever research you're doing on your own, you're only hearing a part of the story. If Rachel's fathers agree to tell Rachel what happened, that's up to them, but until then… I'm sorry I can't give you or Rachel the answers you want. Just know that I do not regret one decision I made when I was pregnant with Rachel. Not one."
Quinn nods her head emptily.
"You're a good friend, Quinn," Shelby smiles at the blonde, silently emphasizes just how much she appreciates this fact about Quinn.
"Rachel is a good friend," Quinn sighs, standing up from her seat, indicating that she thinks it might be time for her to leave. "I'm just trying to learn to stop screwing up all the time."
Later that night, Quinn sits on her laptop in her bedroom.
The room is completely dark with the exception of the dull glow from her computer screen. One hand props her tired head up. The other clicks absently through a series of Google results she had accumulated trying to do her own research on Rachel's father.
She has been at this for hours. Halfway through, she had been interrupted by a phone call from Genesis. She thought the girl had found out more information about Peter Gabbanelli, but the call hadn't been informative, it had been a warning.
The Skanks were planning on jumping Rachel and Quinn tomorrow after school. Genesis had heard them planning their revenge when she had met up with them after leaving Rachel's house earlier. She doesn't know the details, only that it's going to happen.
She hasn't told Rachel yet; she doesn't know how to. She feels far too guilty knowing that if it hadn't been for her, the Skanks never would have been after Rachel in the first place.
To avoid her guilt, Quinn distracts herself on Google.
She clicks through the Wikipedia page for Foster, Nebraska, the small town that Genesis had told her that Peter Gabbanelli had last been known to live in.
He still lives there as far as Quinn knows. She had finally built up the nerve to call the phone number that Genesis had left with the address about an hour ago, and while nobody had answered, the voicemail was set up, confirming that it belonged to Peter. Quinn had hung up without leaving a message.
The small town's Wikipedia page is just about as dull as the town itself seems to be. Foster is a small village in northeastern Nebraska that bolsters a population of 51 people. Peter Gabbanelli is that one.
Before Quinn can stop herself, she turns to Google Maps. Foster is a twelve-and-a-half-hour drive from Lima.
The blonde swallows. She knows that what she is thinking about doing is crazy, but time and secrecy are no longer on their side. Shelby said it herself, she is planning on telling Rachel's fathers what they're up to and she would likely do that sooner rather than later. Rachel seems to be under the impression that her fathers would put an immediate end to their search if they found out, and Quinn can't help but to agree. Finding out what they need to know from Peter Gabbanelli himself would not only solve Rachel's father problem, it would also solve their Skank problem...
Her car would get them there. Quinn has plenty of cash for gas and food and cheap motel rooms. If they left early in the morning pretending they were going to school, it would be hours before their parents even knew they were gone. By the time they did realize it, they would be long gone and nobody would know where to look.
Sure, Rachel and Quinn would have a lot to answer for when they did come back home, but then again, so would Rachel's fathers. As for Quinn, she is an expert at getting into trouble. Her mother might ground her for a few weeks, but she doesn't care.
Now, she would just have to convince Rachel.
Quinn stares at the map still glowing in front of her on the computer screen as she picks up her portable house phone; the one she has been forced to use ever since breaking her cell.
She dials Rachel's cell number, hoping that the brunette will not ask her why she has her phone number committed to memory.
"Hey Quinn."
Rachel answers the phone and knows that it is her before Quinn can even say a word. The idea makes the blonde's heart flutter momentarily before she remembers that in the age of technology, this is not fate as much as it is Rachel's contact list.
"I have an idea," Quinn breathes quickly, blowing through formal greetings.
Formalities terrify the blonde when it comes to Rachel. There is nothing formal about the brunette, which is likely why she is about to propose to the girl that the best thing for them to do right now is to drop everything, not tell a soul, and get in Quinn's car together and drive west until they reach Foster, Nebraska to find Rachel's estranged, possibly dangerous biological father.
But Quinn's conscious is blinded to all of the things that can go wrong by Rachel. The only thing she can think about is their interaction from earlier; the moment Quinn knows she saw Rachel's eyes swimming for her just as much as hers were for Rachel.
For a split second, Rachel had seen something in a lost cause like her, Quinn knows it. She had missed her opportunity then, but knows that she can create a chance for it to happen again.
Twelve-and-a-half hours in a car together seemed like just the opportunity she is looking for.
"What is it?" Rachel asks.
"How do you feel about a road trip?" Quinn suggests, and the way that Rachel pauses, the blonde can tell that she has no idea what she is implying.
"A road trip?"
"Yup," Quinn swallows, and then decides to just go for it. "Have you ever been to Nebraska, Berry?"