Quinn slammed the door in their faces.
Rachel had expected that sort of reaction towards her, but towards Santana and Britt? Towards Ms. Pillsbury? They hadn't done anything to deserve Quinn's wrath.
Brittany stared at the door and Santana looked like she was going to cry again.
"Are you girls hungry?" Her dad asked.
Ms. Pillsbury said goodbye as Rachel's dad herded the girls into the kitchen. They sat at the table in silence. What was there to talk about? What was there to do? They were trapped in the worst kind of purgatory, with a girl they all loved in the same house as them but farther from them than ever before.
Rachel picked at the food her dad placed in front of her but couldn't bring herself to eat much. She soon fled to the living room and sat on the couch. Brittany and Santana joined her shortly after, and the three of them stared at the television and watched Plankton control Spongebob with a device stuck into his brain.
"Is that a thing?"
"What a thing, Britt?"
"Someone controlling you with a remote. Do you think someone could do that for me for a bit? I don't know what to be doing anyway, it'd be nice for someone else to control me for a while."
"It's not a thing, B," Santana said.
"Oh. Too bad."
"Yeah."
It was the most any of them had spoken in nearly an hour, and it was the most they spoke for the next few. Rachel ended up falling asleep on Brittany and waking up in the late afternoon to the soft sound of Brittany's snores.
Rachel stood, swallowing away the taste of a midday nap and shaking the cobwebs from her brain. She had woken feeling worse than she had before her nap, but with a certain amount of clarity. She went to her room and grabbed a notebook, staring at Quinn's door too long as she passed it coming and going. Rachel had things to do, plans to create, people to mobilize.
By the time that Santana and Brittany woke up, Rachel had filled two and a half pages of the notebook with schedules and notes. "Kurt is going to head off the martial arts club, don't you think? He likes martial arts."
"Huh?" Santana mumbled, rubbing sleep from her eyes.
"I have him listed for the martial arts club, but I could do someone else maybe. He's got a lot on his plate already, but it's because I trust him with a lot. I just don't want to overwhelm him."
"Slow your roll, Rach. What are you talking about?"
"Tomorrow at school. I'm dividing the work of reigning in the rumors between us. I can't trust just any of the glee club, though of course there are a few freshman I think I can count on. I just don't know them very well, which makes it harder for me to give them good assignments when I'll be more inclined to give them to our closest friends because I trust them most."
"Rachel," Santana said, and Rachel could tell that Santana was starting to get angry. "You can't control this. You can't control rumors."
"Not if I don't try, I can't," Rachel replied. Santana huffed and seemed to want to reply but Brittany leaned forward and held out her hand for the notebook. Rachel handed it over.
Brittany looked at the notes. "This is real smart, Rachel." Brittany gave Rachel a smile. Rachel knew Brittany, and she knew Brittany was being overly nice. Rachel didn't know if Brittany thought it was stupid or just a reach, but she knew that Brittany was being as supportive as possible.
"Can we help?"
"Of course, Brittany."
.
The three girls fell asleep sometime after 2 in the morning. Brittany and Santana had basically had to grab Rachel by each arm and pin her to the bed to get her to finally sleep. She'd been sending out texts since 7 in the evening to everyone in her contact list. She had even sent them to Puck, with instructions to not respond because she was still angry at him and did not want to see his name flash across her screen.
There had been minimal push back. Rachel's friends knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't stop, so they could either go along for the ride and do their best by her or they could step out of her way. All of them wanted to help so even if she was making impossible demands, they would do their best to carry them out.
Rachel, Santana, and Brittany woke up within minutes of one another, a tangle of limbs and pajama flannel. None of them had slept well, but they knew they would have slept worse apart from one another. It just wasn't one of those nights were good sleep was possible.
All three of them poked their heads out to see if there was any sign that Quinn had left the safety of the guest bedroom. There was an untouched plate of food still in front of the door. No signs of any stirrings.
"My dad is taking the day off from work. He's going to stay with her, make sure she has what she needs," Rachel said, as much reminding herself as informing the girls. Both Santana and Brittany nodded their understanding, but knowing them they were thinking of ways to stay at the Berrys house the whole school day, just like Rachel herself.
No, they had things to do. Things just as important to help Quinn, things that wouldn't invade Quinn's personal space any more than had already been done. They had to give her room. And that had to be okay.
Rachel spent twice as much time on her makeup as she usually did, trying to hide the fact that she was a trainwreck. She had to appear put together, capable, or no one would take her seriously. She had to be the perfect version of Rachel Barbra Berry to help Quinn, now. It was the only option.
Santana and Brittany seemed to be thinking along the same lines because they pulled out their best stashed outfits from Rachel's closet and drawers, did their hair in the highest of ponytails, and Santana wore makeup that was borderline inappropriate for school, all blood red lipstick and wingtips on her eyes that could cut through steel. If Rachel's dads had been worried the girls weren't going to eat well they needn't have been, because between the three of them they devoured seven vegan pancakes and three morning smoothies, along with various fruits. They were fueling for war.
Rachel's daddy offered to drive them but Rachel refused, insisting on driving in herself. How would it look to the school if their fearless leader, who was about to go on an all out crusade for justice, showed up holding her daddy's hand? This was the time to not only maintain, but solidify the image of Commander Rachel. There was nothing more important than looking the part.
Santana sat in the front seat and Brittany sat in the middle of the back. They didn't talk about it, they didn't have to. Formation was important. Santana the right hand, Brittany guarding their rear. It was instinctual, and it filled them with a sense of control even as they were marching into the lion's den.
Last night, Tina had expressed doubt that this would be as major as Rachel was assuming it would be. She was wrong, dangerously wrong. Lima was ruled by gossip, by what people thought they knew, by what people knew they didn't. This was big, this was catastrophic, and would rock the foundations of parts of the town. Not every part, of course. But enough parts that people would notice, enough that it would shift the town on its axis.
Lima wasn't tiny, exactly, but it wasn't huge. People knew people. Russell Fabray was a name people knew. A man people worked for.
Kurt wasn't wrong. The residents of Lima would want an easy fix, a simple answer. The adults would mutter to each other, their kids would listen. But Rachel Berry would make sure that for some of those kids, it would be the other way around. The kids would speak and their parents would hear. She would make them hear.
Rachel parked in the McKinley parking lot and with what must have looked like practiced synchronization the girls all got out. Rachel took the lead, Santana just behind her to her right, Brittany to her left. Rachel held her head high, daring anyone to say anything to her yet, to start the ball rolling.
Most kids didn't react as she passed, giving cursory glances, little waves. Rachel knew instantly the ones who had heard from the way their faces went slack, their eyes wide, the way they grouped together and whispered. Rachel shot them each hard looks.
The entire glee club knew. She didn't know how many of the ones she wasn't close to she could truly trust, didn't know if someone had told their friends to check out the headlines. The Cheerios knew, and each one of them knew to be respectful or face immediate expulsion from the team, orders of Sue. Other than that it was just a matter of who had watched the news, whose parents had already talked to them, who had heard through the grapevine. And now that they were at school, face to face, the gossip would spread that much faster.
Their friends were waiting for them by the school entrance facing the parking lot. That caused more looks than anything, the core glee club standing by the doors with varying degrees of seriousness on their faces. Kurt stepped forward as if to welcome Rachel to a diplomatic meeting before reaching out and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Let's do this, captain."
For an instant Rachel let her veneer crack and she lifted her shoulder so that her cheek pressed to Kurt's knuckles. Then it was all business.
"You have your assignments," Rachel's voice rang out, clear as a bell, causing the students passing by them into the school building to look her way quizzically. "I expect status updates at 10, 12, and 2, with follow-up and debriefing at glee practice today. This takes top priority, even if it eats into glee practice time. These first few days are especially important, as word spreads, and we can afford lose a bit of glee prep-time to do this. Remember, do not outright tell people our friend's business. Put feelers out, if you hear people talking about her or her father listen first to see what's being said, then correct it or support it. I want to know what people are saying to one another, but I also don't want misinformation spreading."
There were nods all around. Some of Rachel's friends still looked uncertain, anxious, but they would do what she asked. Ultimately, they believed in her judgment.
"I have to go find some people," Rachel said. "San, can you go check in with Sue, and Britt, could you go talk to Ms. Pillsbury? They're our two adult allies at this point, and we should clue them in on what we're doing here."
"What about Mr. Schue?" Finn asked with a raised hand as if Rachel was a teacher.
"I love Mr. Schue, you know I do, but this isn't his strong suit. Please, feel free to go talk to him if you're feeling stressed or upset, because you know he'll take care of us as best he can, and I know many of you find comfort in his presence and support. He loves us. He doesn't know Quinn, and if he thinks that doing this is somehow hurting us he'll try to get us to stop."
"But Mr. Schue usually knows what to do," Finn tried again. "He might have some good ideas, too."
Rachel shook her head. "I can't take that risk, not yet. He's just as likely to try to convince us to let others handle it. No, our point person for adult advice is going to be Ms. Sylvester. She knows how to mobilize and how to organize. And Ms. Pillsbury knows Quinn. On that side of the coin, we can ask her how to better help her once she's-" Rachel hesitated and swallowed before trying again, "Once Quinn is willing to talk to us again."
"Talk to us again?" Mercedes asked. "She's not talking to you?"
Rachel's fists tightened at her sides as she focused on keeping her commander face in place.
"There's a lot happening for her right now," Brittany said before Rachel had to speak. "I think talking to us is kind of low on her priorities."
"Fair," Mercedes agreed. "She don't even really know most of us. I doubt she'd want much from us anyway." Off Rachel's look, Mercedes held up her hands, "I'm not saying we're not gonna do this, Rach, don't get all up in arms. I'm just saying this is indirect. Direct stuff, she's not gonna be looking to me or Kurt. She'll be lookin' to you."
"I still think we should involve Mr. Schue. He's the smartest guy there is," Finn said. Rachel sighed. She was about to lose her cool when she actually took a good look at Finn. The creased brow, the tight lips. Finn wasn't just angry or motivated. Finn was scared.
Rachel could relate.
She softened her voice a little and said, "Why don't you and Mr. Schue work on something for just us glee kids to de-stress after school? I bet you could make something great."
Finn's entire face relaxed and he beamed at her. "That's a great idea, Rachel! I'll do that after I'm done with my rounds!"
Rachel gave him a nod before putting her hands on her hips and looking each of her friends in the face. "It's up to us to do our best by Quinn. She deserves people in her corner, and there's no better people to have her back than us."
This seemed to inspire many of them. Backs straightened, smiles grew on faces, and they all entered the school as a pack before breaking off one by one. Only Rachel stayed outside. With a last wave to Santana and Brittany, Rachel headed for the football field and the bleachers.
I'd like to thank everyone for their continued support! New job, new fandoms, and just plain life all contributed to me taking a break from writing this, but I have some momentum and the next chapter basically planned out so I'm hoping to get it out sooner than almost a year between chapters. Thank you again for all your kind words! 3