Brittany woke them up as expected, flopping on them with her entire body to wake them up.

She didn't seem at all surprised that Rachel and Quinn were practically cuddling in their sleep. They shimmied away from each other as quickly as they could.

Mami Maribel had already made their smiley pancakes, special vegan batter for Rachel and a smile made of blueberries instead of bacon and sliced banana instead of eggs for eyes. Brittany picked off half the blueberries with her fingers, which Rachel allowed.

Santana's jaw dropped when she found out Rachel invited Quinn to the Sadie Hawkins dance and she'd looked at Rachel and Quinn as if they were aliens. Brittany had just squealed happily and started scheduling their whole night. Then Santana and Quinn got into a small fight, and Maribel put Santana and Quinn in the backyard with only their pjs on to sort out their problem.

The sleepover ended a rousing success, all four girls happy and already making plans for another one, as well as dress shopping for Quinn.

All was going swimmingly, and Rachel kept her promise not to tell Santana or Brittany about what Quinn had divulged.

But as soon as Quinn had pulled out of her spot and driven out of sight, Rachel had texted Sue Sylvester, "New information, we should talk."

And Sue had texted back shortly, "Meeting 8 AM Monday."

Rachel had felt a spark of anxiety at this demand, since school started at 8. Coach Sylvester would surely give her a note, but she must be especially worried about Quinn to order Rachel to skip part of her first period.

Not that Sue cared much about other people's time or other teacher's lessons.

Rachel went early, she was so anxious, and she ended up watching the back end of Cheerios practice. Santana and Brittany noticed her on the bleachers and sent her matching looks of confusion. Despite knowing that it would only make them more alarmed, Rachel ignored them. She had promised not to tell them, and the only way she could stomach the betrayal of trust she was about to perform was to at least keep that one small promise. Santana and Brittany were not going to hear about Quinn's father starving her and throwing out Quinn's mother from Rachel Barbra Berry.

Coach Sylvester saw Rachel and after giving her a long and, frankly, terrifying look, she looked away again and chose to ignore her. It was one of Sue's power plays, her need to be the one in control by keeping others on their toes. Rachel wasn't surprised by it. Sue Sylvester had her eccentricities, and they were at times seriously crazy but they were the reason Cheerios had retained the title of national champions for the extended period that they had. In many ways, Sue was a genius. Rachel, who also considered herself somewhat of a genius, understood that eccentricities came with the gig. For better or for worse. But unlike many other people, the power play did nothing to spur any kind of anxiety in Rachel and she was able to ignore it.

Besides, she had enough anxiety already rolling around in her. Anything Sue could do to her was small in comparison to the guilt and fear already battling it out in her head.

When practice ended Sue gave her orders to her Cheerios and then, with a swift turn Rachel's way and a jerk of her head, motioned for Rachel to follow her to her office. Rachel complied, scurrying down the bleachers and following in Coach Sylvester's footsteps even as she ignored the confused calls of her best friends.

When Rachel caught up with Sue Sylvester the cheerleading coach was already sitting behind her desk, straight backed and stern. Rachel closed the door behind her and Sue said sharply, "Sit down, pipsqueak."

Rachel complied, her whole body hot with anticipation. This was it. She was going to trod all over Quinn's trust. She was going to be a tattletale.

She was always going to be the tattletale.

"So, dish Rachel," Sue demanded. Rachel shrank a little in the chair, still bracing herself to perform this betrayal of trust.

She exhaled.

"Russell Fabray is abusive."

Sue Sylvester's nostrils flared and her lip curled in disgust and anger. She flipped open a notebook, pen in hand, and in a venomous tone she demanded, "Shoot."

"U-um… he's starved her…"

"When, how long. Details, Berry, now."

"I don't- she was, um, eight?"

Sue groaned, shaking her head. "Rachel, I can't use that. That's nearly a decade ago, and unless there's a physical CPS report, that fact will do diddly. What else?"

"He… kicked her mom out of their home."

Sue's eyes were sharp as glass and as the silence dragged on her expression became harder. "That's it? That's all you have? We have nothing!"

"There's more, I know there is, Coach, she just won't say!"

"And until she does we have jack! Berry-" Sue stopped and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.

"There has to be something you can do with that, Coach. Starvation is abuse!"

"Abuse we can't prove and might as well be Fabray Senior withholding a candy bar as far as the police would be concerned. Do you know how hard it is to get parents like him checked out with proof? Rich, white, Christian parents with community ties and money to burn? Without proof will just end up pissing people off, pissing Papa Fabray off, and making Quinn close off on all sides." Coach Sylvester threw down her pen, causing Rachel to jump, and she put a hand on her forehead.

"…I know there's more. You know there's more. We can't just do nothing."

"And when have you ever known me to do nothing, Twinkles," Sue said harshly. She drummed her fingers against her desk. "I'll set some wheels in motion, now that you and I know for absolute fact that something is going on in that house. But you have to give me more, and do it soon. Am I putting too much faith in you, Berry?"

"No, Coach." Rachel shook her head so hard her hair went flying.

"Good. Go. Now."

Rachel fled from the office.

How could she have failed so thoroughly? Coach Sylvester had every right to be furious with her. She hadn't done anything! And she'd been so proud of herself, too, for getting Quinn to even talk. How pathetic. And so below the Rachel Berry bar that it was preposterous. She had to do better. She had to.

"Hold up, chica!"

Rachel turned to find Santana and Brittany running up to her. "What was that about?" Santana immediately asked.

"Manager stuff," Rachel lied.

Santana glared at her. She obviously didn't believe her. Brittany shrugged, but Rachel knew her well enough that she could tell Britt didn't believe her, either. But Britt didn't seem phased by the lie, even though Rachel was not at all accustomed to lying to her two best friends. Maybe that was why Brittany didn't mind: it wasn't a habit of Rachel's to lie. Brittany must believe she had good reason.

God, Rachel hated lying. It felt stupid, and beyond that, it felt pointless. Why shouldn't Santana and Brittany know what was going on in Quinn's life? They cared about her! They loved her so much that they had waited years for her to come back to them! Didn't that mean anything?

Rachel knew she was being unfair, that she was only being so petty and thinking such things because of her own discomfort in lying, but knowing that didn't banish her thoughts or make them any more constructive. And the way that Santana kept glaring at her…

"Well, we'd better get to class. You two are skipping!"

"Chillax, Berry. We're five minutes late. Your meeting with Coach was, like, two minutes long." Santana rose an eyebrow. "I assume you expected it to go longer."

"Oh… yeah." Rachel nodded and took off quickly, letting her two friends follow behind her. She could hear Santana's angry muttering and Brittany's calming voice. Santana wasn't dumb. It was a safe bet that she suspected that Rachel had found out something about Quinn's family and had reported to Coach Sylvester about it without telling her or Britt. Since they'd agreed to try and find out what was going on with Quinn together, Rachel refusing to share was a small betrayal.

Classes were awkward, with Santana alternately glaring at Rachel accusingly and refusing to speak to her, then snapping at her. Brittany gave up trying to reign in Santana's wrath by third period, and all of them ended up moody. When they saw Quinn in Spanish, she gave them all a wide birth after sensing that they were fighting, and before Rachel could grab her after class she vanished. After such a nice sleepover weekend, everything was falling apart again, and it made Rachel want to cry.

Glee Club was not as fun as normal, and when Mr. Schuester stumbled in the lesson plan Rachel didn't even step in to help. She sat with Kurt and Mercedes, Santana and Brittany all the way on the other side of the room. It was miserable. When Kurt and Mercedes asked what the heck was going on, Rachel could only helplessly shrug.

And when all the Cheerios phones buzzed, announcing weekend long practice for the lot, Santana threw her phone straight at Finn. He caught it, lucky for him. Santana tended to throw things at him when she was in a fit of rage, and woe be to Finn Hudson if he didn't stop her phone from being smashed to pieces.

Santana stormed out of glee without a word. Brittany lingered just long enough to say, "I'm sorry we can't go shopping with you and Quinn this weekend," before hightailing it out of there herself, running after her storm of a girlfriend. Rachel felt everything start to unravel.

Then, something rather unexpected happened.

Kurt, who had been standing by Rachel when Brittany had delivered her apology, quirked an eyebrow at Rachel and asked, "Shopping with Quinn Fabray for what?"

Rachel hadn't told anyone that she'd invited Quinn to the Sadie Hawkins dance, but she'd forgotten this as she glumly replied, "For her dress for the dance. She doesn't have anything."

"She's going?" Kurt asked with unmasked incredulity.

"I invited her."

Kurt's jaw dropped to the floor. "And you were going to tell me this when?!" He practically shrieked, causing the heads of anyone still lingering in the classroom to turn his way.

"I don't know. I didn't think about it," Rachel said almost defensively.

"You used to tell me and Cedes almost everything, after you told S and B. You've been ignoring us completely since Fabray came around. And now this?" Kurt looked actually hurt, his bright blue eyes accusatory.

Rachel realized that he was right. Since Quinn had entered the picture, she'd spent less and less time with her friends who weren't Santana or Brittany, and even they had gotten the shaft sometimes. Sure, Santana and Britt were her best friends and she had always spent the vast majority of her time with them, but when they would wander off on their own as they so often did Rachel would go hang out with Kurt and Mercedes, or with Finn or Puck, Tina or Artie. Now, now she either looked for Quinn or just… went off on her own to plan anti-bullying crusades or other ways to make Quinn open up.

"You're right, Kurt. I've been neglecting my friends. I'm so sorry."

Kurt huffed and lifted his chin, crossing his fingers over his chest. After a second of pause he said, "Well, I suppose it's to be expected. Crushes do that to people. Make them single minded and all that."

Rachel shrugged helplessly and didn't deny it. What was the point? Kurt knew her too well to be fooled by any more denials of it. Rachel had a crush on Quinn, and after inviting her to the Sadie Hawkins dance most of her friends would figure it out.

Not Finn, though. It might take him a while yet.

"Just don't go forgetting about us, okay?" Kurt asked, lowering his head again to give her a worried look.

"I could never," Rachel replied passionately.

"Good. Now what was that about shopping and losing Santana and Brittany's company?"

"We were going to go to the mall this weekend with Quinn, but Coach Sylvester seems to have scheduled a full weekend of practice. They aren't going to be able to come with us."

"Well, that's brilliant news."

"Huh?" Rachel raised an eyebrow, honestly confused.

"You can make it up to me by letting me come on the trip. Come on, you know that I'll be just as good at helping you shop as Santana and Brittany. Plus I want to get to know Quinn. It seems like everyone else has had occasion to talk to her except for me."

"I wouldn't go that far…"

"Oh, you know what I mean," Kurt said with a haughty glare. "Mercedes talked to her once and Quinn almost smiles at her now. And Puck and Finn are both very proud of having carried a full conversation with her. Puck and Finn. A full conversation! I haven't even gotten her to glance at me, let alone offer a word. It's just insulting at this point, that someone you're so attached to hasn't said mum to me and has talked to Noah Puckerman."

"I'm sure she didn't mean to offend you," Rachel said hesitantly. The truth was, of course, that Quinn wouldn't have thought either way about it. Quinn was in her own space, a space she'd let Rachel into marginally, and she wasn't about to extend the invitation without some reason to. Kurt had never approached her, and Quinn wasn't going to do it first. Either way, Quinn probably wouldn't have cared if she'd offended Kurt. But she hadn't gone out of her way to do it.

"Still, I deserve a crack at her, if she has my good friend so smitten."

"Kurt," Rachel started, a warning in her tone and in her eyes. "You will not have a "crack" at her. You can get to know her, but I won't permit you to interrogate her or anything so foolish in an attempt to make sure she's "good enough" for me. I get to decide if she is or if she isn't, and I won't have you trying to intimidate her just so you can feel like you have some sort of say in my love life."

Kurt looked genuinely hurt, and for a moment Rachel felt bad. Kurt was her friend, he was protective of her like friends could be. But at the same time Rachel knew laying down the rules clearly was something that she had to do. Kurt could get aggressive. Still, she made her voice gentle when she said, "I appreciate your concern. I know that you haven't gotten to know Quinn, and I can imagine it to be a strange sort of relationship from the outside looking in. I've heard the rumblings in the club, that Quinn takes our help for granted and she's rude and mean, and that she doesn't deserve me as a friend with the way she treats me. But to put it bluntly, none of you have seen her when we hang out together. None of you know what she's like when she's taken out of a situation that makes her uncomfortable, because the very presence of glee club members she doesn't know makes her uncomfortable. You have to give her time to adjust. So, yes. You can come shopping with us. If she says that's okay. And you can be your usual, charming self. And you can be on your best behavior, and she might actually start to warm up to you."

Kurt's lips were pressed thin and finally he said, "Rachel, that sounds like a lot of bending over backwards for a person who looks at everyone around her as if she's contemplating the best ways to get away as quickly as possible."

Rachel nodded. "It does sound it. But Quinn needs to feel safe, and sometimes when a person has had a rough time of it you give them a little bit of leeway. I'm not asking you to become her best friend, I'm just asking you to give her a little bit of wiggle room to figure out that we aren't out to screw her over."

At this, Kurt actually seemed to soften. When he'd first joined glee club, it had been after a freshman year of torment, and he'd come in sarcastic and snarky, eyes narrowed half the time as if expecting someone to try and snatch everything away from him. Only after a few weeks of friendship and welcome had he started to become more at ease, and his friendship with Mercedes and then Rachel had really been the things to make him relax, make him feel like he might actually have gained the respect and love he'd been missing. Kurt could understand being distrustful, even if in Quinn it presented more aggressively than it had in him.

He'd almost forgotten what it was like to be the outcast. Well, in school anyway. Out in greater Lima, Ohio, he was still the queer boy. But that didn't matter when you had a team to back you up, and a father, stepmom and brother who would fight for your right to be who you are.

If he didn't have that, he might be just like Quinn. Angry and scared and alone.

"Alright, Rachel, I get it. I'm sorry for being testy. I just never thought I'd meet a girl so miserably angry she was in competition with in-the-closet Santana. And that was hard enough."

Rachel laughed, giving Kurt a hug before peeling away and kissing his cheek. "Thank you, Kurt! I really do mean it. I can't wait to go shopping with you and Quinn!"

Kurt smiled and rolled his eyes. "Well, duh."

.

No.

Why not? It'll be fun! Kurt is great, you'll love him.

I said no.

Quinn didn't wait for a reply. She shut off her phone and threw it in her drawer, leaving her room entirely, down the hall and down the stairs, calling a quick, "I'm going for a jog, Daddy!" before slamming the door behind her. It was dusk, the sun already mostly set. The Fabrays had already eaten dinner, and unless Quinn stayed out for more than an hour, Russell Fabray wouldn't even notice his daughter was gone. Quinn was expected to keep to a schedule, and she followed it to the T. If she was out of step by one second, her father noticed. Between dinner and bedtime she had roughly an hour and a half of free time. Most of the time she just did her homework then, but tonight she needed air. She needed air badly.

Sunday had been nothing short of Hell. After a great sleepover with Rachel, Santana and Brittany, she'd come home to an empty house and been blissfully free until her father came home from mass.

She hadn't thought about the consequences of dyeing her hair back to blonde.

Her father hadn't been angry, oh no. He'd loved it. And his hands had spent over an hour tangled in her hair, pulling so hard that her scalp still hurt more than twenty-four hours later.

It was like a nightmare, after Rachel lovingly applying the dye, Brittany's gentle hands stroking her hair as she rinsed it, even Santana's aggressive drying that was still full of affection, and then her father- the contrast almost made her feel like she was breaking in half. It was almost worse, like the girls being gentle and kind and loving her hair had amplified her father's lechery.

Quinn had spent most of Sunday night sobbing and sobbing, harder and more desperately than she had in years.

She had hoped… that somehow, at school, maybe Rachel and Santana and Brittany would have been able to make her feel better, if only a little.

But she'd gotten to school on Monday and hadn't seen them til Spanish, and when she'd seen them… they were fighting. They were angry and frustrated and somehow, Quinn felt let down. Betrayed, almost. She'd been dependent on them to make her feel better, and they hadn't.

She shouldn't have depended on them. Or on anyone. It was stupid to depend on people.

And besides all that, Quinn had this weird suspicion in her gut that they'd been fighting about her. Maybe they really hadn't all had fun. Maybe Santana wanted Quinn to never come over again, and she and Rachel had gotten into it.

Quinn avoided them the rest of the day and she'd been quiet and withdrawn in Celibacy Club. Ms. P had tried to coax any kind of conversation out of her and had only gotten one word or two in reply.

So when fucking Rachel Berry texted her asking if fucking Kurt Hummel could come with them shopping because fucking Santana and Brittany had fucking Cheerios (which was probably a lie, they just didn't wan to go anymore), Quinn had said 'no'. She didn't like Kurt, she didn't want to deal with Kurt, she didn't even want to go shopping now. She didn't want to go to the dance. She just wanted- to…

Not be around anymore.

Or something.

Quinn started to jog, running until her lungs burned and her limbs ached, until she had to sit down on the sidewalk and put her head in her hands. Sweat ran down her back and into her eyes, even as the sky grew dark and the air grew cold, and she immediately started to shiver. But there was no Rachel to wrap a blanket over her shoulders and sit with her. There was only Quinn, alone, how it always ended up for her.

How life could go from "happy and great" to "the worst" was a mystery to Quinn. Or, no, no it wasn't. The universe was again reminding her that she couldn't have happy or great. She couldn't have friends without equal parts misery, she couldn't have happiness without her father looming like a specter, his hands around her neck.

She stood and stumbled getting back onto her feet, nearly falling into the road. A car driving by swerved and honked at her. Quinn just stared blankly after it.

Things were getting bad. Her head felt heavy and thick.

And she'd lost track of her count on how many days left until college. A year and… something. She was pretty sure it was almost summer.

Maybe it didn't really matter.

I am so so sorry about the wait. There are a lot of reasons this chapter was hard for me to finish, but they don't matter, and all I can say is that I hope some of you stuck with me through the period! I can't promise updates will be weekly like they were but they'll be coming again.