The four girls laid sprawled out in the living room, Santana and Britt sitting on the couch feet tangled together. Quinn had moved the coffee table and was sprawled out on the floor and Rach was leaning against the TV stand.
"Who wants to start?" Santana asked, setting her dessert bowl on the side table.
"Well…" Quinn said slowly. "No one."
Santana frowned, "Do we need to have this conversation with you over my knee?"
"No ma'am."
"If it's not the punishment giving you pause, what is?" San asked.
"What I did was very out of character, and I don't want you to be…" Quinn trailed off.
"Disappointed?" Santana asked, trying to rip off the band-aid. She worried for a moment if their conversation from before would make Quinn hesitant to tell her things moving forward, but at the same time, Quinn shouldn't be doing things she that she knew were wrong.
"Yes." Quinn breathed out.
"Well…" Britt said, in the matter of fact way only she could. "What ever happened is done now…"
"I'm not sorry." Rachel blurted out.
Quinn rolled her eyes. God this girl was gonna be the death of her. " You rarely are…" Santana said, unimpressed. "Are you sorry, Quinn?"
Quinn tilted her head to the side, "I am sorry, yes, but part of me isn't sorry too…" She started pulling at the carpet.
"You still have a lot of mixed feelings?" Santana asked. She hated seeing Quinn have to work so hard through something. All she wanted to do was pull her girl in her arms and kiss away the anxiety.
"Yes ma'am." Quinn said, her eyes already starting to fill with tears.
"Alright, well lets talk it out, baby." Santana said gently. "Sit up when you speak to me."
Quinn nodded and sat up. "Yes ma'am. I don't know where to start."
"I saw Quinn's wrist, Santana." Rachel trudged in. "Not cool."
"You're right," Santana agreed. "Not cool. Tell me how it plays into this story." She tried to keep a level head, even though Rachel's statement felt like a curveball.
"Seriously?!" Rachel said incredulously, "How do you put up with this?"
Quinn giggled at Rachel's question. "She is a little thick headed sometimes."
"Hey!" San called, tossing a pillow at each of them.
"Anyway I heard some tea around the school court yard…and…" Rachel hesitated.
"And she came to me with it." Quinn picked up.
"About Amy?" Britt asked.
"Yes ma'am." Quinn said.
"What was the tea?" Britt asked.
"It was that…" Quinn mumbled out the rest.
"Excuse me?" Britt asked. "Did you catch that, S?"
Santana shook her head, "Can't say that I did." Santana was watching all of the emotions play across her girls face. "Quinn, my love, look at me…" Santana commanded. Quinn looked up at her. "Such a good girl, now take a deep breath for me." Quinn obeyed, instantly feeling more relaxed. "Good job, Baby, I'm so proud of you. You may say something that is disappointing, but you will always have my whole heart, my love."
Quinn nodded, rolling her shoulders. "Okay."
"Do you need to come sit in my lap?" Santana asked.
"No, I don't want you to be that close when you hear." Quinn said.
"Fair enough." San said, "are you ready to get into it?"
"Yes ma'am." Quinn said shakily.
The previous day…
"Alright, are we alone?" Rachel asked as she crashed through the front door.
Quinn looked up, annoyed at the intrusion when she was trying to cook muffins and sort out her math papers. "Yeah, why?"
"I just heard something that will solve our problems!" Rachel said excitedly.
Quinn looked down at her fitbit, "Did your classes end early?"
"I didn't go today." Rachel said, pulling off her jacket and throwing it on the couch.
"Rachel!" Quinn scolded.
"It was one day, Quinn, well two I guess, because I will need to miss tomorrow too. Anyway it's not a big deal." Rachel assured her. "And you are about to thank me for solving all of our problems!"
"I don't have any problems," Quinn said looking back down at her math homework.
"I beg to differ. I saw your wrist." Rach said, throwing herself down into a stool. "Which is fine, because Amy is both of our issues."
Quinn felt the blush start to run up her neck at that statement. "What could possibly be your solution to a person? Murder?" Quinn joked.
"Well…." Rachel dragged.
"Rachel!" Quinn scolded, alarmed. If someone would kill someone it would be Rae.
"Kidding, kidding, Quinn!" Rachel said. "Anyway, I heard something about a second job that Amy has…"
Quinn would be lying to say that her interest wasn't piqued, but Rachel's tone let her know that they were headed for trouble. "I'm not interested, Rach."
"I need help, Quinn!" Rachel half whined-half demanded.
"That's too bad, Rach." Quinn said, pulling her math book in front of her to prove that she wasn't listening.
"Alright, " Rachel sighed, "I guess I will have to go to Huntspoint on my own tomorrow…"
Quinn's eyes shot up at the mention of the most dangerous neighborhood in New York. "You will not."
"Great!" Rachel beamed, "Then it's settled."
"No Rachel, neither of us are going." Quinn said firmly.
"Quinn, I heard that Amy is dancing at a club there, we just need to take a cab down there really quick, take some photos and meet up with her early tomorrow and let her know that if she doesn't leave us alone we will leak them to the school." Rachel said.
"Uh…no, we just need to stay out of Amy's way, and she will stay out of ours." Quinn said firmly.
"Santana isn't letting that happen, and you are paying the price. Come on Quinn."
"Telling her that she needs to stay away won't matter because you're right San will want us to keep going to her classes." Quinn tried to reason.
"Right…" Rachel said slowly, "See this is why I need you as my accomplice."
"I am not your accomplice!" Quinn said quickly. Best not to establish that train of thought.
"If you aren't on my side, you are on Amy's. So whose side is it?" Rach asked, crossing her arms.
"Humanities and you are a menace." Quinn said firmly.
"Am not!" Rachel said, sticking her tongue out.
"Rachel, please let this go." Quinn said. "In twelve minutes, you can enjoy a muffin with me and we can both relax, maybe watch a TV show."
"No!" Rachel snapped, "This is important!" She turned on her heel to leave.
"Stop, Rae, where are you going?" Quinn asked. "Don't make me tell…"
"Tell who Quinn, I'm not going to get in trouble for this. I have no reason not to do this, and all the reasons to do it." Rachel said.
Quinn guessed that was true. She equally knew that she would be dead if she went along with that plan. "Rae! Be rational."
"I am. I am ending this tonight."
"Okay, wait!" Rachel turned around and looked at Quinn, still hesitating by the door. "I will come too, but I am literally mid these muffins and I cannot just leave. You need to wait until they are done."
Present Day…
"You went where?" Brittany asked, anger drenching each clipped syllable.
"We we're clearly safe." Rachel countered, gesturing to herself and Quinn.
Quinn chanced a look up at Santana, who didn't look angry just confused. "What are you thinking?"
"You knew you would be in trouble…" Quinn nodded. "And you went anyway…"
"Well I didn't want Rae to go alone." Quinn said.
Santana shook her head slowly. "If that were true, you would have called me or Britt.
"No…" Quinn started.
"Quinn, you have amazing deductive reasoning skills, and I've had to learn to keep up. So, my love, I say again that you would have called one of us if you had just not wanted Rae to go…"
Quinn shifted uncomfortably, "What are you thinking?" She repeated.
Santana actually laughed, "I'm honestly not sure." Quinn stood up and started pacing. That seemed to snap San back and she opened her arms. "I know I love you. I just need to process."
Quinn threw herself into Sans lap, and San cuddled her close and whispered all of the love from her soul into her ear.
"There is still a lot to go, Rae, keep talking…" Britt said.
