Sorry, sorry, sorry. I'm so busy all the time at the moment that if I get 4 hours a week to work on fic I'm lucky. Thank you for all the reviews; they do help focus my mind when I have a million and one other things going on :)

Chapter Nine:

One Can Have A Broken Heart.

[Rachel Barbra Berry] You're being very unreasonable about this. If we could just talk about it I'm sure I can explain satisfactorily.

[Rachel Barbra Berry] I know you're there, Quinn!

[Rachel Barbra Berry]Doesn't the fact that I was chased by a RACCOON while retrieving the umbrella that you so gracelessly tossed outside of school grounds at leastafford me some consideration?

Rolling her eyes, Quinn threw another handful of chocolate covered raisins into her mouth. She'd never thought of herself as a comfort eater when she was younger; truthfully, she'd just been an eater. Because knowing that her only friends were Ronald McDonald and Colonel Sanders, and that the only kisses she would ever get were mass produced by Hershey was hardly comforting. Apparently that had changed with time. She was on her second bag tonight and she didn't even care. Actually she was thinking of hitting up Breadstix before they closed; Monday was All-You-Can-Eat buffet night.

[Rachel Barbra Berry] Quinn, please. I know I shouldn't have said what I said, but I was angry. Can you not offer me the same forgiveness I offer you every time you say or do something mean?

Quinn slowly wiped the chocolate from her fingers before pulling her chair closer to her keyboard. Stop cyber-stalking me. I'm not interested in forgiving you. I'm not interested in you at all.

[Rachel Barbra Berry] I knew you were there! And I know you don't mean that. Look, perhaps my plan was a little too much. I know I have a tendency to go to extremes. Maybe we can come to a compromise, one that suits us both. After which, I will be happy to draw a line under our past and concentrate on our future.

Quinn was curious, obviously, but she didn't want to be so there was no way she was going to ask. Reading the words over again, she wished it could be as easy as Rachel wanted it to be. She wished… she wished a lot of things could be different, like that she hadn't been so impatient with Rachel or that she'd taken her demands – because that's what they were – more seriously, but wishes didn't count for anything. They weren't real, they couldn't make a difference to what was happening now. Only having the will and the determination and putting in a lot of hard work ever changed anything and after the way Rachel had spoken to her earlier, Quinn didn't see the point anymore.

She couldn't face another confrontation with Rachel today; not even a silent, cyber one. She was just too tired and her head was aching and she was pretty sure her heart was broken, so she turned off the computer, before brushing her teeth again and climbing into bed. She couldn't take any more today.

As she reached over to turn out her light, she realized she was being watched from her nightstand.

"What?" she snapped, "At least I have a reason to be grumpy, what's your excuse?"

Snatching the bear around his middle, she turned out the light and settled down, holding him to her chest. It felt weird; she hadn't slept with a teddy bear in years – she'd never slept with a teddy bear as Quinn – but she didn't let him go.

His little, fuzzy body tucked under her chin was probably the only reason she was able to drift off to sleep at all.

Rachel was halfway through typing another hopeful plea when the message appeared on the screen telling her that Quinn had logged out.

Sighing despondently, she shut her computer down and got ready for bed. She hadn't realized how late it was. She'd been "chatting" to Quinn for hours before she'd received proof that she was even there!

How had she made such a mess of things? She'd planned for Quinn's resistance, but that plan hadn't involved shouting those horrible things at her! Not that she had said anything untrue, but that was hardly the point, and she knew that. She'd known that as soon as she'd said them.

Well, all she could do now was wait and hope that Quinn had calmed down enough by the morning to listen to her. Then she could make it up to her somehow.

She groaned as she settled under the covers. Did she even want to try? Rachel Berry didn't give up on the things she wanted – she wasn't even sure she knew how to – but, honestly, she was so exhausted over Quinn. It had been a month of back and forths and ups and downs and they still couldn't get it right. Surely, anyone with any common sense had to know when to just say enough was enough?

She spent a few minutes staring at photo-Quinn in the yearbook – which had apparently taken up permanent residence under her pillow although she couldn't remember when she'd decided that was a good idea; that was sleep deprivation for you – waiting for it to make her feel better.

It didn't. Even the three lipstick marks that had been so exciting before only made her want to cry in frustration now.

She cast the book aside irritably, turned her light out and, surprisingly, fell asleep within seconds.

Quinn woke up the next morning with Grumpy Bear's nose in her mouth.

She wasn't going to think too hard about that.

After drying him off on her nightdress, she set him back on her bedside cabinet and, reluctantly, got up to face the day. The sun was back after last night's rain and the day promised to be warm for fall; which was just about the only good thing she could say for it.

Before she went downstairs for breakfast, she opened the date diary on her desk. It was mostly filled with cheerleading competitions, family birthdays, and class schedules, but today's top line was filled with something else in discreet black print.

Dr. Chin – 10:25am. Lima (East) Family Clinic.

She hadn't told anyone about it – at least not the date and time. It was another thing she'd been hiding from. She'd always planned to go alone anyway. Except now that it was time to actually do it, she was so scared of going at all, let alone by herself.

She fingered the envelope containing her appointment letter as her heart rate picked up and her mouth dried out. It wasn't too late to cancel it. She was only ten weeks, which meant she had months to get the baby checked out before it was due. And she'd been taking her vitamins every day since Mrs. Schuester had told her she should, so everything would be alright anyway, right?

Only this was the third morning in a row that she hadn't woken up sick… what if that meant something bad?

And in the back of her mind, she could hear Rachel telling her how good prenatal care was vitally important and how her class project shouldn't be used in place of regular obstetrician appointments and blah, blah, blah…

God, she wanted Rachel right now! She needed her there to hold her hand; she didn't even care how pathetic that sounded. Rachel would calm her down, make it okay, make it a good experience – as good as it could be – instead of a terrifying one.

But Rachel wasn't an option anymore.

After a few minutes of talking herself down from a panic attack, she found her cell phone.

"Finn, hey. Look, I know this is short notice and I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but we have an OB/GYN appointment this morning."

"Uh, okay… Is that like a Star Wars thing? Because I've only seen The Phantom Menace."

She clenched her eyes shut. She could not deal with this right now! "No, it's a baby-doctor thing. Just meet me at my locker before school."

She hung up without waiting for his answer. Today was going to be a long day.

"Nothing's ever gonna break my stride, I'm running and I won't touch ground, oh no, I got to keep on moving…"

"Sweetpea, are you okay?"

Rachel caught her bagel just as it popped out of the toaster and then twisted to face the kitchen table, "Yes, dad, why?"

"You've been singing the same two lines of that song since you got up this morning."

"I find it very motivating," she bit into her dry bagel. It didn't taste as good as it usually did but she wasn't going to give into the lure of dairy products just because she felt in need of comfort food. Quinn would not drag her down that far! "Are you nearly ready to go?"

"Sure," Leroy finished up his cooked breakfast and rinsed his plate. "How come you're so eager to get to school early again? Quinn waiting for you?" he teased.

Rachel had a hard time swallowing her mouthful and threw the rest away before finishing her grapefruit juice.

"I highly doubt so."

"What did she do?" her daddy asked, instantly over-protective he looked up from where he was shining her dad's court shoes in the corner

"Nothing. It was me. I gave her a few home truths before our tentative friendship was ready for them."

"Well, if she really wants to be your friend, she'll get over it," her dad said as he slipped into the shoes, grabbed his car-keys, and held the back door open for her.

"And if she doesn't, you're better off without her!" Her daddy called after them.

Rachel nodded, determinedly, "My hypothesis exactly!"

Quinn saw Rachel before she saw Finn.

She was standing at her locker, looking fixedly into its depths, but she must have felt Quinn's eyes because her head swivelled like a freaky possessed child's to meet her gaze.

Quinn jerked her head back to her own locker, trying to remember how to open it, and praying Rachel wasn't angry enough to break the rules and come and talk to her… while at the same time kind of hoping she would.

She didn't, and Finn was blocking Quinn's view of her by the time she looked over again.

"So, we have an Obi-Wan Kenobi meeting?"

"OB/GYN. It's about the baby, the first sonogram."

"Sonogram," he repeated like he'd never heard the word before, but then he surprised her. "Oh, like when we get to hear the heartbeat and stuff for the first time?"

She smiled because his grin was infectious, "Yes. It's this morning. You'll have to miss second period but I was really hoping you could come with me."

"Of course I want to come with you! Did you want me to drive? I don't have my mom's car here though… uh…"

"You can drive mine. I don't think I'll be able to."

"Why? Do they, like, pump you full of drugs or something?"

That would be lovely! "No, I'm just a little nervous."

"Why are you nervous?"

"This is the first time we're going to see our baby, Finn. You know, the first time we'll get to see if it has all of the arms and legs it's supposed to."

And make sure it doesn't have a tail like any spawn of Puck probably should!

"Okay, now I'm a little nervous."

She rolled her eyes at him, "I have to get to class. Just meet me in the parking lot at the start of second period, okay?"

"Okay."

He leaned down for their usual good morning kiss but she couldn't stand the thought of anyone else's lips on hers right now, and he wound up kissing her cheek.

American Literature started off beyond uncomfortable and only got more so when they were told to discuss the questions on the board with the person next to them.

Rachel steeled herself, putting on her show face, "So what do you think –"

"I'd rather work through the questions alone, if that's all right with you."

"It's not all right with me, and I resent you allowing your personal feelings about us to put my grades at risk."

"There is no us and you can resent me all you want, I honestly don't care."

Rachel fumed quietly for twenty minutes while she silently worked on the questions and all around them everyone else chattered, until finally she couldn't take it anymore, "You and Finn appeared to be having an intense conversation earlier. Is everything okay?"

Quinn tilted her head to glare at her, "How is that any of your business?"

"It's not," she doodled on her pad for a minute, "But if you wanted someone to talk to about it…"

"I don't, but even if I did, it wouldn't be you."

"Quinn, I know I upset you yesterday, but you can't just pretend there isn't something real between us."

She watched as Quinn's eyes darted around the room, making sure no one was listening.

"I'm not pretending," she hissed, "You killed that reality."

"Don't you think you're overreacting a little?"

Quinn turned to her again, almost but not quite leaning into her personal space as she whispered, "I put myself on the line for you, Berry, and you threw it back in my face. So no, I am definitely not overreacting! Now, stop speaking to me before I'm forced to start cutting this class just to get the hell away from you!"

Rachel nodded, even though Quinn was already looking back down at her page. That was that then. She'd messed it up beyond the point of repair.

Quinn was up and out of her desk the second the bell rang, so Berry wouldn't even have another chance to speak to her. Not that she attempted to, which just made her feel worse.

Finn was already waiting by her car, which was at least something, until… "Uh, after what you said sank in I got a little, um, kind of shaky, too, so I asked someone else to drive us. If you don't mind, that is."

Oh God, she just knew she was going to see Puck when she looked up, "Yes I mind, Finn! What were you thinking?"

"That maybe having an adult around for this stuff wouldn't be the worst idea!" He shot back.

She looked up then, and beyond Finn she could see Mr. Schuester leaning against his own car, playing with his keys.

"You asked Mr. Schue?"

"Well, yeah. He already knows, right? And he's cool. He just wants us to be okay. I don't know why you're getting so mad about it?"

She took a quick breath and let it out slowly, "I'm not. I'm sorry, I'm just nervous. This was a good idea. Come on, let's not keep him waiting."

He relaxed when she took his hand. If only everything could be as simple.

Rachel spent most of her break looking for Quinn. Not to approach her, because that was against the rules obviously, but she'd heard from Tina that Quinn had been absent for second period, and she was worried.

She couldn't find her and was just heading to her locker to get her books for third when Jacob accosted her in the hallway. She was so used to his constant attempts to get in her pants that she just shut him down flat and walked on, but he circled around her until he was back in her face and sing-songing, "Then you'll be pleased to know this time it's not about you; it's about Quinn Fabray!"

"Whatever you've heard, she is not a lesbian!" Rachel defended automatically, trying to dodge past the slimy weasel-boy.

"That's not the word in the halls, but I have something even juicier than that! I'm talking about her little stork situation."

Rachel finally gave him her full attention, "What?"

"Rumor has it that Quinn Fabray – President of the Celibacy Club – is with child!" Jacob said, squirming in his excitement.

"That is not true!"

"So you deny it?"

"Yes, because it isn't true! And my parents happen to have very strong ties with the ACLU, so if you put any of this on your atrocious blog, I'll have you charged for slander!"

Satisfied that she had censored him, Rachel walked passed with her head held high, but she only made it a few steps before he called after her.

"Then I guess that means that my source telling me that Quinn is heartbroken because you, Rachel Berry, were not the one to impregnate her, is a lie, too?"

People had stopped to look and listen now.

She turned back around, "Of course it is!" she snapped loudly for everyone to hear, but she dropped her voice to a harsh whisper as she neared him, "Tell me what I need to do to make this go away?"

They passed in the halls between third and fourth.

"Where have you been?"

"None of your business."

"Rachel!"

Her heart pounded in her chest at hearing her name called. She'd just left school grounds during school hours without permission for the first time ever and then had had a very, for lack of a better word, yucky meeting with Jacob Ben Israel, and her nerves just couldn't take much more.

It was only Finn though, and she waited for him to catch up with her, "You will never guess what I saw earlier?"

She was too frazzled to even try, "What was it?"

"My baby! Or, well, it mostly just looked like a couple of blobs with an arm coming off of one of them, but it'll be a baby eventually."

Rachel wanted to be excited for him but her heart was sinking as she realized, "Quinn had her first sonogram. Was everything okay?"

"Yep, totally, no mutations and we heard the heartbeat. It was really fast, and we even –"

"Excuse me, Finn, I need to borrow Manhands for a second."

Rachel was suddenly encouraged up the hall by a hand – that currently felt manlier than she imagined hers ever could – which then led her around the corner, off of the main student thoroughfare, and into a side-corridor lined with tediously identical classroom doors. Here they halted, not actually hidden from sight, but tucked out of easy view of the heavy foot traffic, and Quinn released her arm.

"Can I ask why you did that?" She felt it was a fair question considering Quinn was only breathing at her.

"Do you want to know the sex of the baby?" Quinn asked the McKinley Titans recruitment poster behind Rachel.

"I guess so," she hadn't really thought about it; as long as it was healthy nothing else mattered, did it?

"Well, do you want to hear it from me or from Finn?" she added impatiently.

"I don't…" Think it matters, she was about to say, but she knew Quinn well enough now to stop herself. "… want to hear it from anyone but you."

Quinn smiled, and then beamed, before tempering it down to a smaller version again, "It's a girl!"

The gender didn't matter, Rachel could see that, Quinn would have been just as excited to tell her it was a boy. It was just the simple fact of having such information about her baby that was making her grin like that.

"That's great, Quinn."

The blonde looked around and so Rachel looked around with her, but there were no lockers down here and everyone was too busy heading to their various lunch venues to glance in and notice them.

"I had my first sonogram."

"Finn told me."

Quinn closed her eyes and exhaled in that way she always seemed to do before a big admission, "It was scary."

What was she supposed to say to that? "I'm sure Finn made it better."

Quinn was able to lean back against the wall in this narrow single-purpose corridor without moving away from Rachel, but she couldn't seem to look right at her now, so she stared down at her feet instead, "Yeah, he tried."

She knew it was stupid thing to say, but she couldn't think of anything she wanted to say more and so she said it anyway, "I wish I'd been there with you."

Quinn didn't look up as she murmured, "Me, too."

Perhaps not such a stupid thing to say then? Rachel felt a surge of hope, and it emboldened her to step forward, placing her hand on Quinn's arm. But as soon as the contact was made, Quinn found the strength, or anger, to meet her eyes again.

"But you threw that away!"

Rachel stepped out of the corridor to watch her go, but she knew it would be pointless to go after her. She would just have to be content with knowing how much significance Quinn had placed on being the one to share the news with her. It proved that she still cared, however much she wished she didn't. And her smile when she'd told her; that pure, radiant, just-for-her Quinn smile that could light up Rachel's whole heart in an instant, that meant something too, she was –

"Hey, I found you, and you're still in one piece! See I told you Quinn didn't hate you," Finn's voice came from behind her, catching her in the act of mooning over his girlfriend, and it was nearly enough to scare the bedazzle out of her. She had to work hard not to give herself away by shrieking and clamping a hand to her chest in true dramatic fashion, "Did she want to get the notes off you for second period? She hates having to miss class. So do you wanna hear about…"

As she started to walk with him she realized she shouldn't have been worried. His excitement about the baby had made him oblivious to anything else. She could have screamed and dropped to the linoleum in a dead faint and he wouldn't have noticed. It was sweet – adorable even – and she hated that it only added to the loaded guilt across her shoulders and stopped her from enjoying this moment with him.

She listened for as long as it took him to amble half the length of the hall and then it was time to burst his bubble. She had to tell him about Jacob's threats. Ideally, she should have told Quinn, but it wasn't like she'd been given the chance

"Actually, Finn…" she cut in, and explained the situation.

"You're really awesome, Rachel," he said after she had told him, basically, everything. "I promise I'll make it up to you one day."

"There's no need, Finn, honestly. We're friends and Quinn's my… my teammate; I'm happy to be able to help."

And it wasn't as if giving that sickening creep a pair of just-purchased and definitely unworn underwear even went a little way to making up for what she'd been doing behind his back recently. In fact, his earnest gratitude was just making her feel twitchy.

"Well, I'm still gonna," he promised with a heart-melting smile almost as devastating as… And before she could even finish her thought, their moment was over, "Crap, I gotta go. I'm supposed to be sitting with Quinn for lunch. See you in glee club."

He picked up his pace until he was dodging around other students to get to the cafeteria and for the second time in ten minutes Rachel just stood there with a tight-lipped frown and a lump in her throat, as she watched someone walk away from her.

With a weary sigh, she turned around, only to squeal in disgust when she found Jacob Ben Israel right behind her, close enough to touch! Ew! He was waving a pair of dayglo green panties in the air.

She stepped back but he stayed with her, "What do you want now?" she demanded, batting them out of her face.

Darn, why hadn't she remembered to take the labels off? She'd just been in such a hurry to get it over with and, in hindsight, a little too pleased with her plan of buying new underwear instead of relinquishing any of her own that she'd overlooked that one small detail and now…

"I want Rachel Berry panties, the ones you are wearing right now so you can't try and trick me again."

"If you think I am taking my underwear off in school just to further your lecherous fantasies of me, you are sorely mistaken," she hissed in his face, pulling back fast when she thought he was about to take advantage and kiss her.

"It's your decision, Rachel," he chirped, squirming around like he needed to urinate. "But if you don't see through your end of the deal, the story of Quinn Fabray's out-of-wedlock bun-in-the-oven is going live this afternoon."

She glared at him, desperately wanting to call his bluff, but she knew the boy would do it. News like this would send his vile blog's hit rate off of the charts and other than tormenting her, that was all that he lived for. Quinn's pregnancy would be common knowledge by the end of the day and she would be shattered.

"Fine! Stay here!"

Quinn nearly stabbed herself in the eye with her mascara when someone burst through the bathroom door so hard it slammed into the wall.

She turned to yell, but the insult died on her tongue when she saw that it was Rachel. It wasn't that much of a surprise; she'd expected to be followed when she'd walked away, but fifteen minutes had passed and now really wasn't a good time.

She cast a panicked glance at the closed stall door to her left before hitting the hand-dryer on and rushing over to Rachel.

The other girl was so agitated that she didn't even seem aware that she wasn't alone until the roar of air from the hand-dryer made her look up, "Oh, hello, Quinn. I didn't know you were in here."

Jeez, and she called herself an actress? That line couldn't have sounded more fake.

"You have to go!" she insisted through gritted teeth.

"I'm afraid I can't right at this second, but if you'll give me a moment, I'll be able to get out of your hair."

"I will kickyour ass, Rachel!"

"No, you won't," Rachel said distractedly as she walked deeper into the bathroom and set the garishly colored folders she'd been carrying down on the counter beside a sink.

Quinn's eyes followed warily, because short of shoving her back out of the door, there wasn't much else she could do. Rachel could surely see the closed stall now and she would realize they weren't alone, which would surely be enough to stop her from making her planned – and probably practiced – attempt to get her back.

Please? You can have me back if you just leave before that door opens! Except Rachel never looked up to notice the occupied stall because she was too busy looking down and fumbling under her skirt.

"Rachel!" she squeaked, she couldn't help it, because Rachel had her hands under her skirt.

"There's no need to be alarmed, this isn't for you. Well, not in the sense that you have reason to be alarmed, anyway."

She supposed Rachel was trying to be comforting, but she didn't hear the words properly because Rachel was pulling her underwear down her thighs and Quinn's eyes were so wide they were blocking off her ears or something.

"Rachel!" Another squeak, or more of a horrified gasp.

Well a gasp anyway. Rachel was… her mouth had gone dry and her brain was cloudy with… thoughts… but she had just enough control to harshly whisper, "Berry, we're broken up, remember? And even if we weren't, this would not be appropriate!"

"Relax, Quinn," she said, as she stepped out of her freaking panties.

Plain white panties – boring, nothing sexy about them at all… except, well, everything! Relax? Yeah, okay, sure, that was possible. In an alternate dimension!

"Rachel," she breathed, face burning, her whole body felt like it was actually. She was two seconds away from undermining everything she'd said, ever, and pushing Rachel back against the door and kissing her, when the noise from the hand-dryer cut off.

The sudden absence of it blaring air brought her back to herself a little and only just in time, because the stall door opened almost simultaneously.

Rachel was just straightening up, panties in her hand, when Santana emerged and stopped dead to stare at the scene before her. After a moment, she crossed her arms and leaned back against the partition between the stalls.

"Well, it looks like I caught you two red-faced and panty-handed. Still gonna deny you got a thing for the troll, Q?" Her expression, even her voice, was unreadable and so she had no idea what Santana was thinking right now, except for the worst, obviously.

And the very worst thing, in a whole world of bad things, was that Rachel didn't seem the slightest bit bothered that they'd been caught doing whatever it was Rachel had planned on them doing.

That, and the fact that they were broken up, and the fact that – after her attack yesterday – Rachel definitely owed her a freebie, fuelled Quinn's reaction.

"I have no idea what she's doing. She just stormed in here and took her underwear off in front of me. And now I'm going to be psychologically scarred for the rest of my life."

"Yeah, sure."

"No, she is telling the truth, Santana. That is exactly what I did. And, I also believe Quinn getting close to my underwear would indeed cause psychological impairment. At least, that's the impression I've been given in the past," and with that dig, she spun on her heel – panties fluttering like a flag before she balled them in her fist – and said, "Now if you'll excuse me, ladies, I have an errand to run before class."

As the door closed slowly behind her, Quinn moved back to the sinks to finish touching up her make-up.

"Did that shit really just happen?"

She met Santana's eyes in the mirror, "Apparently."

"And she really wasn't here to get her freak on with you?"

"San, if I was having some kind of weird lesbo affair with anyone, but especially Berry, do you honestly think I'd risk a tryst in a bathroom at school? And when you're in here, too?"

"You're right; you are way too much of a prude for that," Santana finally pushed off of the panel and came to wash her hands.

Rachel was back at her locker at the end of lunch. She'd never found time to actually eat anything but that was okay because she had no appetite anyway. After her third nauseating meeting with Jacob Ben Israel in one day, she wasn't sure she'd eat again for a week.

She tried to stand still and concentrate on her locker but there was a breeze blowing through the halls today and all of it seemed to be blowing up her skirt! Under other circumstances it might have been arousing, but right now it was just another disturbing reminder that her life truly… blew.

Finally getting the door open, she was surprised to find a note waiting on top of her books. She hadn't expected to get one of these again, and she quickly flicked it open with her thumb.

I am seriously hoping you've put your underwear back on already, but in case not, if anyone drops a pencil in front of you, do not pick it up. And if Puck approaches you at any point, run away. Actually that applies across the board. Trust no one.

And put your damn panties back on, Rachel!

She heeded the first part of the note and grinned at the second because Quinn's written jealousy was palpable. Her grin dropped soon enough, though. If only she could! It wasn't like she wanted to spend her next two classes and glee without underwear! She was feeling extremely uncomfortable already.

It was worth it though, because Jacob had been satisfied that her panties were still warm – yuck! – and had promised not to run the story about Quinn's pregnancy.

It was a sacrifice Quinn would never know about, but that was okay, too.

"Hey, Rachel!"

She turned automatically, because people calling her by her first name was a rarity that afforded a response.

Puck slapped his hand down on the books and folders in her hands without slowing down, sending them scattering across the floor.

Fudge!

"Asshole!" Finn muttered beside her and then looked guilty puppy when she glanced at him.

She looked over to see what had caused his reaction and then rolled her eyes, because for crying out loud, Finn! But at the same time, there were Berry's books strewn all around her feet and any second she was going to have to bend down and get them… and in that skirt, even squatting could be obscene.

She nudged her boyfriend's arm, "Well, go and help her then. You know you want to."

"Uh…"

She put on her most frustrated girlfriend voice, "Just go and do it, Finn, if you have to."

Rachel was planning out the best way to keep herself covered while retrieving her books when Finn appeared in front of her.

"Hey, Rach, I'll get those for you."

As he gallantly dropped to his knees, Rachel slapped a hand to the front of her skirt and stepped back quickly.

"Thank you, Finn!"

Glancing as casually as she could – while he was down there! – over Finn's head, she caught Quinn's eye, who looked beyond annoyed as she mouthed, You're welcome!

Rachel couldn't help but smirk at her, but she kept her knees pressed tight together all the same.

Glee was terrible.

The piano was missing and it was only the five of them, and Quinn was having to try really hard not to notice the way Rachel's skirt swished up every time she twirled as she paced angrily in front of the risers.

"This is completely unacceptable! We have Sectionals in six weeks. Six weeks, Mr. Schue!"

"I'm aware of that Rachel, but there's nothing I can do about it this afternoon."

"How are we supposed to practice without a piano?"

Quinn frowned as Rachel did another about-turn right in front of her and then decided it was better to just turn in her chair and face the other way, towards the wall where the band stored their instruments that were too big to be easily carried around.

"Why don't we use the keyboard for now?"

Rachel stopped stomping to look at her thoughtfully, and Quinn waved in its direction.

"I don't know," said Finn, "the band gets kind of mad when people touch their instruments. They hardly ever let me near their drum set."

"And besides, that guy with the beard ain't even here," Puck interjected, "So who's gonna play it?"

"I can totally play chopsticks with my feet," Brittany informed them, "Tom Hanks taught me."

Finn looked impressed, "Really? That's awesome, how do you know Tom Hanks?"

Brittany looked confused, "I don't."

"Everybody, please concentrate! We do not have time to go off on tangents!"

"Look, the band geeks never need to know, considering they're curiously absent too, and I can play the keyboard if I have the music in front of me –"

"That's another problem, Quinn," Mr. Schue said, tiredly. "All of our sheet music is gone, too."

Of course it had; Coach Sylvester didn't do things by halves.

"Okay, here's what we'll do. Finn, go grab the portable stereo from my office. I have It Takes Two burned on to a CD. You guys will just have to sing over the original voices for now."

"We're still doing that song?" she asked, "How? There's only five of us."

"We'll just have to figure something out."

"He's right," Rachel said with as much positivity as she could muster, "We've worked too hard on this routine to just abandon it, and we don't have time to learn something that could be anywhere near as good as this has the potential to be."

"This has the potential to be nothing," she argued. "It's good with twelve of us, I agree, but with five of us? What?" she turned back to Mr. Schue, "Are we just going to stand in a line while Berry uses us as her personal stripper poles?"

He looked so lost and so out of his depth, that if he hadn't been so good about taking them to the clinic earlier, she would have openly laughed at him. But seriously, how Coach hadn't already crushed him under her Adidas sneakers was a total mystery.

"Well, she's already got the stripping part down, so I hear," Puck leered and Brittany grinned, giving him a high-five. Santana had obviously been gossiping with them since lunch.

"What are you talking about? Rachel's not a stripper."

Puck laughed at Finn's confusion, but thankfully didn't elaborate because Rachel was already blushing so hard that her face would turn a slushie facial into a steam bath.

"My point is, it's not going to work. We have to come up with another song for Sectionals. We need to learn something from scratch, something that's just for the five of us."

"There isn't time, Quinn!" Rachel was nearly screeching now and if there was one good side to all of this, it was that while Frantic-Muppet-Rachel was sometimes cute and amusing, she wasn't in any way sexy. So, it was easy to tune her out until she'd squared her shoulders and made a concerted effort to calm down, "Okay, here's what we are going to do: Mr. Schuester, I propose that Quinn – as the second shortest female here – joins me in dancing along the line, while Noah, Brittany, and Finn – in that order – remain the line. Quinn is right; it won't be as good, but it does mean we can keep the main choreography more or less intact. Noah, Quinn, and Brittany can divvy up the lyrics that were previously assigned to Kurt, Mercedes, and Artie."

Brittany bounced in her seat and clapped her hands once, "Yay, I get to sing a solo."

"Well, it will still be mine and Finn's duet, but you will get a few lines of the backing vocals to yourself now, yes," Rachel said graciously, pleased to have such enthusiastic support.

"That actually sounds like a really good idea, Rachel," Mr. Schue perked up, "You two could go through twice and that way we can still make the sequence last through the whole chorus." He moved to the white board and started to draw circles, crosses and arrows as he spoke, "If Quinn goes through first, and you came in as she reaches Finn… and then we go back the other way… that way, Puck will be releasing you just in time for your next cue."

As he and Rachel continued to jabber excitedly by the board, Finn got up to join them to put in his thoughts, and Quinn started thinking, too.

So now she wouldn't be dancing with Rachel? They would have no interaction with each other at all during the number. It was probably a good thing, all things considered, yet it just felt incredibly… disappointing. Only because she'd put so much work into being able to do this choreography with Rachel in the first place and she was not going to have all of the discomfort she'd gone through wasted. And why should Rachel get to make the decision of whether or not they danced together, anyway? She'd been calling the shots for far too long.

"No," No one took notice of her until stood up, "No! I'm not doing it that way."

Rachel turned to her, "But Quinn –"

She cut her off, "No, I'm not just being difficult. I'm not leaping on Finn and Puck and being spun around. What if I fall? It's not safe."

"Oh," Finn looked sheepish over his previous excitement, "Quinn's right. Rachel's part is kinda full on, stunt-wise."

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes over the thought that any of their choreography could be considered an actual stunt only because he was backing her up. Unfortunately, Rachel was on the same wavelength as her, "You wouldn't be worried about this if it was for the Cheerios and those routines are far more dangerous."

"Yes, well, I trust my squad to catch me no matter what. I can't say the same for these two."

Rachel put her hands on her hips, ready to argue, but Brittany spoke first.

"No, really, she's right. You have no idea how many trust exercises Coach Sylvester makes us do and, no offense Mr. Schue, but you've never made us do any."

"So, what do you suggest, Quinn?" he asked, while no doubt making a mental note to look up trust exercizes on the internet as soon as he had a minute.

"I'll switch with Brittany."

"Okay, I'm happy with that."

"Me too, but I still get to sing, right?"

"I'm not!"

"Too bad, Rachel, that's the way it's going to be or I'm out altogether."

Rachel glared at her before realizing she wasn't going to win this, "Fine, but I hope you know you're going to look ridiculous trying to tuck Brittany in when she's almost a head taller than you."

"No, that's okay, I can totally make it work," Brittany promised, earning her a smile from Quinn and a scowl from Rachel.

Mr. Schue clapped his hands together, "Okay, let's give it a go!"

Finn had already plugged the stereo in to the wall socket and Rachel took the proffered CD and placed it in the deck before hitting play.

"Right, from the top, guys! Puck, get ready to catch Brittany and then Rachel…"

"Hell, yeah I'm ready! You ready to wrap those luscious barelegs tight around my hips, Berry?"

Rachel paled as Puck made one of the most obscene pelvic thrusts that Quinn had ever seen in her direction, and she'd had sex with the guy.

"I don't think we should do the lifts today," unless she got to lift Rachel too, and first, and, well, only.

"Why's that, Quinn?" Mr. Schuester asked.

"Yeah, why's that, Quinn?" Puck echoed in a tone that clearly said, Why-are-you-spoiling-my-fun-Quinn?

Because she didn't want Rachel's bare anything getting that close to him! Or Finn, for that matter.

"It's only fair Brittany has as much chance to get used to the timing as Berry has had. Otherwise we're going to be all over the place."

Rachel nodded frantically, "Quinn is right. Also we should concentrate on making sure everyone is lyrically and melodically perfect in the parts they are now singing. Spectacular choreography means nothing, after all, if one of them bungles the words of the song."

"I suppose you're right. Okay, we'll go back to how we were doing it before until we're up to speed."

Puck's grumbled disappointment covered Quinn's sigh of relief, and then Rachel hit play again, drowning them both out with the opening chords.

It went surprisingly smoothly from there and Brittany did make it work when she reached Quinn, by bending her legs as she was twirled and dropping her head to Quinn's shoulder as they turned together. It would have looked even better with their positions reversed, as Rachel had suggested, but she had to admit it was okay and didn't come across as awkward or clumsy.

Stepping up, she took Noah's hands as she had so many times before now, but unlike before – when he usually just ignored her – he took the opportunity to pull her in close as they spun together and whispered something filthy in her ear.

"Noah Puckerman, my undergarments are none of your business!"

He laughed as he released her, leaving her still mentally spinning as his crude enquiry slithered around her brain like a greased snake. Although she had to admit, as uninvited as such comments were, it was more tantalizing to hear them from Puck than from Jacob Ben Israel.

Stunned as she was, the true performer in her didn't let her miss a step and she was turning, turning and taking Quinn's hand without really being aware of it. Until she was actually holding said hand anyway, and then, as always, she was very aware of it.

Quinn twirled her around and then drew her in close. It was all part of the dance, and Quinn didn't look very happy about it, but Rachel could only feel content as her arm curled around the blonde's neck.

"Hi," she breathed, smiling up nervously as they turned together.

"What did he say to you?" Quinn snapped at a volume low enough to be lost to the others beneath the music.

"I'd rather not repeat it."

"Why did you do it, Rachel?" was the next growled question.

"Why does anyone commit foolish, impulsive acts, Quinn?"

Quinn, as well-practiced in this as she was, twirled her away towards Finn instinctively but the look on her face told Rachel she hadn't wanted to and the questions evident in her eyes made her forget she now had a line to sing.

Until Rachel glared at her as she turned with Finn.

"Uh… it takes two, baby!" Quinn finally sang out, several beats too late.

It threw everyone off and Mr. Schue called for them to stop.

"Sorry," Quinn muttered to him, glaring back at Rachel.

"It's okay," he waved them back to their starting positions. "It's bound to take a few tries before you're all confident with your new parts."

"While that's true," Rachel couldn't help herself, "You do only have three lines, Quinn, so I hope it doesn't take you too long to learn your cues."

"Jeez, Rachel, I won't let it happen again so keep your damn panties on! Oh wait…"

Puck snorted and Brittany giggled and Rachel… well, Rachel glared as Quinn looked smug.

"Seriously, guys, what joke am I missing?"

Rachel took Finn's arm, leading them both back to the other side of the room, "There is no joke, Quinn is merely lashing out childishly because she is threatened by my superior ability to –"

Quinn snapped her fingers, "Puck!"

"Finally!" The boy lunged for the hem of her skirt.

Seeing him coming Rachel squealed, "Quinn!" and jumped back behind Finn for protection.

"Okay, settle down," Mr. Schuester called them back to order, "and let's try this again."

"Come on, Finn," Rachel took his hand as Brittany skipped over to reset the CD player and, with a pointed glance in Quinn's direction, tagged on, "Let's show them how a real love duet is performed."

They began again and if Rachel was a little more demonstrative of their lyrical love than usual as they sang the first verse – eye-contact that lingered for longer, her fingers grazing the back of his hand, his hip, even his jaw as they moved around the room singing to each other, giving a swat to his butt that made him laugh and catch her in his long arms for a few seconds as punishment – well, it was simply perfect showmanship… and if Quinn was bothered by it, she only had herself to blame.

They'd spent so much time feeling sorry for themselves at the beginning of the session, that there had only been time for one full run though of the new routine. Something Quinn would be eternally grateful for, because talk about awkward… and infuriating.

Rachel's behavior…

Quinn let the thought go with a shake of her head as she gathered her stuff and prepared to leave the choir room. Everyone else had already left, including Mr. Schue, the latter vowing to find the piano before tomorrow's session.

Good luck with that.

"I have to stay for football practice, but I can walk you to your car first, if you want."

She turned to smile up at Finn, "That's okay. I need to go to the bathroom, anyway, and then my locker. I don't want to make you late."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow. This morning was really awesome, by the way," she nodded and returned his smile, but once again deflected his lips to her cheek. He didn't seem to mind, though, and after straightening up, he directed his attention over her head, "See ya tomorrow, Rach."

"Goodbye, Finn."

Crap, she'd assumed – because she couldn't see or hear her for once – that Rachel had left when Brittany and Puck had! Quinn collected her bag and shrugged into her letterman jacket as quickly as she could, planning to walk with Finn after all, but by the time she was ready, he was gone.

Crap!

She could just stroll right out of here anyway though, right? Nothing was stopping her.

"Quinn?"

She didn't have to let that stop her.

She wasn't moving, though.

"I wasn't propositioning you earlier."

"I don't care what you were doing, just don't ever do it in front of me again."

"Please let me explain."

"Didn't you hear me? I don't care. If you want to be a slut and walk around school with no underwear on, it's really none of my business anymore. I don't know why I ever wanted it to be my business in the first place."

"You don't mean that."

"I do."

Prepared to let that be her last word, she took a step towards the door. Faster footsteps came from behind her and then Rachel put herself in her way. Side-stepping with Quinn to stay in the way.

"Let me pass."

"This doesn't have to be over."

"Yes it does! You made it perfectly clear yesterday that I'm not good enough for you."

"I never said that!"

"Yes you did, Rachel! A pregnant, closeted bully? Why would you want to be with me? And why would I want to be with someone who thinks so little of me?"

Rachel was fighting back tears and Quinn was pleased that she was too angry right now to be suffering with the same battle.

"I do want to be with you."

"Well, too bad, because all I want to do now is clean up the mess you've made of my life and move on."

"So, this is about your reputation again?"

"What else do I have?"

"Me! Screw your damn reputation," Rachel's yell was contorted by a sob.

"I did screw my reputation, and for what? So you could throw it back in my face and make it all worth nothing? I am a step away from being obliterated out there," she said, pointing furiously towards the door. "Do you get that? I know you don't care because you're already a zero in this place, but can't you at least understand why I do?"

"I do understand. Of course I understand. Just because everyone… just because you thinkI'm a zero, doesn't mean I haven't always longed to be just as popular as you are, Quinn!"

"I don't think you're a…" No, she wasn't going to let Rachel guilt her and make this all about her issues again, "Fine, in that case you know exactly how much I've risked already for you and it still isn't enough. For God's sake, Rachel! I can't shower after gym class, I can't walk down the hall without people whispering about me, and the Cheerios are ready to overthrow me as captain because having a dyke on the squad is bad enough, but one who wants to get it on with Manhands? They value their reputations too and they aren't going to put up with a captain who doesn't make them look good."

Rachel was openly crying now, although they were the silent kind that just made her face wet and her eyes red and her voice hitch as she said, "And, of course, they're more important than me."

"No! They weren't! That's why I'm where I am now, you freaking idiot! But you can't say the same. Your stupid pro and con list is more important than me, you said so yesterday. You're hiding behind it because you're too scared to just trust me and that's the difference between us. I jumped when the time came and you didn't!"

She wasn't going to find a better parting shot and she couldn't watch Rachel cry for another second without turning into a blubbering mess right along with her. She wasn't impeded when she stepped around the other girl this time, at least not physically.

"I'll jump now. I'll jump right this minute. I'm ready."

Quinn closed her eyes as she dug into her reserves of will-power, "It's too late. You don't get a second chance."

"Not even after all of the chances I've given you?"

"I'm not you," she said simply.

"Quinn, please?" Rachel whispered, sounding truly broken for the first time in their conversation.

She paused at the door without looking back; she couldn't look back, "Rachel, it's over. The sooner you accept that, the better it'll be for both of us."

"You're making a mistake."

"No, I'm just fixing the mistake that I already made," she said flippantly as she pushed through the doors and into a corridor that was already blurred around the edges by her tears.