Chapter 6

Quinn sat in Rachel's kitchen. It wasn't that early that Saturday morning, but she was surprised that Rachel wasn't already up. She was on her second cup of coffee, and in the already in the Opinions section of the Times, when Rachel came out in a pair of yoga pants and a sports bra. Quinn couldn't help but quirk her eyebrow at the tiny diva in approval.

"You're up early," Rachel commented as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

"Couldn't sleep any longer."

"Anything good in the paper?" Rachel asked.

"Not really, but I haven't got to the arts section. Thought I might take in another play while I'm in town. But, then again, that is going to depend on what Santana feels like doing," Quinn told her.

"She got sick again last night, didn't she?"

"She did, but she didn't want you to know. I thought I got everything cleaned up in your bathroom. Sorry, if I didn't. But, I think that I've got her convinced to go to a doctor to get checked out."

"Do you think that it is stress?"

"I don't know," Quinn lied. "I hope that is all it is, but with Santana, you never know. She's very strong willed, but I know that this affected her more than she wants to admit. I hope that she'll open up more about it. I know you've been trying, but San's a very private person. You know that."

"I do."

"I just don't know how to push her without pushing her this time," Quinn said.

"I don't either. I know that we aren't as close as you two are, but I was hoping that she would talk to me. She hasn't really. Everything that I know about what happened either her boss Alex told me or I figured out on my own from staying with her."

"Does she know about you and Sabine?" Quinn asked her trying to prove a point.

"No, she doesn't."

"Has she been with anyone since the divorce?"

"No, not really."

"What about you? Seeing anyone? And, if you are, does Santana approve?"

"I am not really. My hours are kinda erratic. I need to date someone in the industry, but I can't find anyone outside the musical I'm working on at the moment. I just..."

"What?"

"I want to be there for her, Quinn. I want her to know that even though we aren't the greatest of friends, I can be the person that she comes to when she needs someone. She was there for me when I didn't know who to turn to. Of course, she kinda bullied her way into that position, but I was grateful for her being there in the end. If she hadn't been there..."

"You would have found someone else to talk to, Berry. Kurt or me, but that doesn't matter because she was there for you. She's a good friend like that. And, as annoyed at the fact that the hospital called you, I am sure that she was grateful for you coming to get her. I am sure it meant a lot to her to have a friendly face there for her, even if you did threaten to call us Gleeks in to help her," Quinn stated.

"She never told you about what happened after Shue's non-wedding?" Rachel asked her.

"What do you mean she never told me? I was there. I remember distinctly what happened."

"No, I mean with me. She never told you? I thought you told each other everything."

"Wait, what? Something happened with you at the non-wedding? Did you ever tell me about it?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I was ashamed of it," Rachel told her.

Quinn cocked her eyebrow and smirked. She could tell what ever it was something more drastic than Rachel almost doing the nude scene for the indie film project for a senior. So, if Santana ran intervention then and didn't call her, it might have been something that even Santana thought shouldn't be broadcast among all the Gleeks and Quinn knew that there were only so many things that included.

"Ok...do you know what doctor she sees?" Quinn inquired changing the subject.

"No, she's hardly ever sick. And, when she is, she uses her Abuela's home remedies, which scarily work and very quickly. I guess that is why her being sick scares me so much."

"I'll talk to her, Rach. I'll get her to see someone. I don't know how, but I'll do it. She said something about she was supposed to see someone yesterday. That she promised you or something."

"She did, but I didn't want to push her too much because you were coming down."

Quinn picked up her cup of coffee and drank some before looking back at Rachel. She was curious, but now wasn't the time to bring up past problems. They needed to be there for Santana.

"When did she finally go to sleep?" Rachel asked as she got up to get another cup of coffee and refill Quinn's cup again.

"I think it was after three, but I wasn't wearing a watch, so I really don't know."

"She's not been sleeping well."

"Nightmares?"

"Partially. Some nights, I think that she just can't get comfortable. And, before you ask, it doesn't matter if it's here or her place. I've tried singing her to sleep, warm milk, relaxation techniques, even massaging, but nothing seems to work."

"I know how she feels," Quinn murmured remember the first few months that she was pregnant with Beth.

"What?"

"Nothing," Quinn quickly answered.

"You want to ask me, don't you?"

"Ask you what exactly?"

"What Santana didn't tell you," Rachel stated.

"It was obviously something that you didn't want me to know. She's loyal like that. She's kept more secrets than she's told. Even when we hate each other, we still look out for each other. It's just how we work. I know that she thinks of all us, Gleeks as family. She'd help any of us out if we needed it, but she would use snark and sarcasm the entire time. It's just who she is."

"I know."

"I just want her to be happy, Quinn. I don't think that she's been happy since the divorce and who could blame her. But, then this happens... I feel like its my fault for not pushing her more to move with Brittany," Rachel told her.

"She didn't go, Rach, because she didn't want to go to LA. She's happy working here. Sure, she could have gone to LA and worked for the DA there, but she likes the way New York moves. The City suits her and she suits it. Brittany is an LA girl. She was made to dance and tour. Santana let her go because she loves her."

"I know she still loves her, but I can't imagine just letting her go like that..."

"Yes, you can," Quinn answered.

"Why do you say that?"

"The same reason that I can. You let Finn go and he came back, but then he died. I left Puck, but he came back for me. And, then he died in the war. We both let those we love go because it wasn't the right time for us to be together. Brittany and Santana have always had this push pull love. They break up, and get back together. They're kinda like magnets. But, I think this time..."

"They aren't going to get back together?" Rachel finished for her.

"I doubt it. Santana is a fierce and passionate lover. She is so giving almost to the point of masochism, but she doesn't care. She is actually a very selfless lover. You just have to get passed the scratchy and bitchy exterior to see it," Quinn told her.

She stopped there and took another sip of coffee. Rachel's mouth was hanging open as she looked over at Quinn. When she finally dropped the paper to the table, she saw the look on Rachel's face. It was then that she realized what she'd actually said.

"What?" Quinn asked as she sat down her cup of coffee.

"Oh...my...Barbra...you've slept with Santana!"

"Well, yeah, I thought everyone knew that."

"No, we didn't," Rachel said, with a small huff.

"Well, Sam knew...but that may have been because I told him. Anyway, does that matter? It doesn't really change anything between the three of us, does it?"

"Well, no, I guess not."

"You guess?" Quinn asked with a cock of her eyebrow and a quirky smile.

"I just..."

"Don't worry about it, Berry. It's old news, like Shue's non-wedding night old news. I might have dabbled a little more at Yale, but then I went back to Puck. If I go after someone to be my lover, it would be another man. But, I can't say that I've never discounted going after San again, until she married Brittany. We were the Unholy Trinity, but something about being with San after they married just seemed wrong to me. She's more like a sister to me, now," Quinn explained.

"I am just wondering what Santana really wants. You were her best friend with Brittany and she's slept with both of you. I'm her best friend and I doubt that she'd ever looked at me like that," Rachel stated.

"Don't feel bad. I don't think we would have slept together had we not been a little drunk, lonely, and on my part wanting to see what the big deal about sleeping with a woman was about. Thankfully, things weren't weird between us after. We're still friend. Time and distance hurt us more than that ever could have. But, now, I hope to rectify that since I'll be in town now," Quinn told her.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be worried about that right now. We should be worried more about Santana. I just...I'm sorry. I got lost in my own thoughts."

"No worries, Rachel. I know that this has been hard for you, too. She doesn't open up easily and you two have been friends since she moved in with you and Kurt. I get it. I was a little jealous of you for a while until I realized that Santana wasn't replacing Britt and me with you and Kurt. She was just trying to survive here. She needed someone that knew her and would be on her side. I was proud of her for finally letting down some of her walls to let you and Kurt in. After coming up here to see y'all, I realized that she was happy and cared for. That was all I wanted and I knew that you were here when I couldn't be. You were what she needed. You pushed her to go back to school when I couldn't. I was so wrapped up in myself at Yale, that I didn't see what was going on with her at the time. You did and you stepped up to help her. Like you are doing now. She might not tell you, but I know that she appreciates it," Quinn explained.

"Was that the shower?" Rachel asked.

Quinn got up and walked across the apartment back to the guest room. She turned back around and nodded at Rachel. She went into the kitchen and began to raid the fridge. Rachel didn't say anything as Quinn started making them some sort of breakfast. She just smiled at Rachel while she made bacon and eggs, surprised that the diva actually had the real thing in the fridge to begin with. By the time that she was done making bacon, fakon, eggs, and vegan pancakes.

She was plating it all when Santana made her way to the table. She grabbed the finance part of the paper and sat down. Quinn handed her a cup of coffee, doctored very little, to Santana's liking and then sat down at the table.

"I'm going home today, Rachel," Santana told her as she turned the page of the paper and went back to reading.

Rachel knew that it was Santana's way of dealing with stress. She didn't want to deal with it, so she wouldn't. Rachel was a little hurt, but Quinn had prepared her for that. She just smiled as she ate her breakfast. Quinn however was a little taken aback by San's nonchalance about it all. She wanted to say something to San about it, but she caught the look in Rachel's eyes and the shake of her head.

"Since we're going back to your place tonight, San, is there something that you wanted to do today?" Quinn asked instead, hoping that it would get Santana to actually engage them.

"I don't know. We could do something touristy, but I doubt that you want to be around that many people. Is there something that you want to go do?" Santana asked her.

Quinn sat her fork down. She didn't want to but she knew that she was glaring at Santana. She was closing up. She'd opened up to her last night, but now in the light of day, she was rebuilding those walls. Quinn knew that as soon as she got her alone that she'd be able to get through them again, easily, but this wasn't fair to Rachel.

"Not really. I thought we could go take in another show, but I know that it might be hard to get tickets this late for a show tonight. Besides, I've already seen the city. You've both taking me out and shown me the sites on my visits. I thought we could do something that you wanted to do, San," Quinn tried again, hoping that she would take the bait.

"I need to go to the office and pick up some files," San replied.

It wasn't much, but it was start. Quinn decided to roll with it. Getting San to interact with people more was going to be hard, but she hoped that it would help. If they had to start with her office, Quinn would be on board for it.

"I haven't seen your office, so that'd be cool."

"Okay, I'll go get dressed," San replied as she put the paper down on the table.

She stood up and took her plate to the sink. She dumped the little bit that she hadn't eaten. She was worried that she'd throw it up later, and she didn't want to think about it. She knew that having something on her stomach was better than nothing. Plus she had actually been hungry. She knew better than to push it, but she knew that Rachel and Quinn would say something to her if she didn't eat enough for them. Happy with herself and the situation for now, she left the plate in the sink after rinsing it and went back to the guest room to change.

"Well, she's closed off again."

"She's still frightened, Quinn. She doesn't know what to do. She's pushing us away."

"Well, she should know that I'm as stubborn as she is. We both are. We aren't going to let her do this to herself again. I am not going to let her suffer alone," Quinn declared.

"Good."

"Okay, so what are we going to do?"

"I thought you were going to take her back to her place and talk to her?"

"I will, but we need to united in this, Rach."

"Well, then, we'll just have to talk to each other more often. We need to make sure that we each do what we can for her. We need to let her know that she isn't alone. And, we need to make sure that she knows that she can call us for anything, anytime, and one of us needs to be available at all times," Rachel told her.

"I guess that means that you take days and I'll take nights."

"Sounds good."

"I need to go get dressed," Quinn stated.

"Take care of her, Quinn."

"I am going to do my damnedest, Rach. I am not going to let her suffer anymore. And, hopefully, I can get her to go see someone, too," Quinn told her.

"Good luck with that. You're going to need it. Don't worry about me. I'll do somethings I need to do around the loft and if you...she decides that she wants to be social, call me and I'll come over for dinner. I don't want to crowd her. I just want her to be our Santana again. And, I know that it might take awhile for that to happen, but ..." Rachel started.

"I know, Rach. I know. I'll talk to her. I'll see what I can do. Our friendship is different than yours. With me, it'll be like how she is with you and I think she needs that. She needs your support and softness as much as she needs my stubbornness and brashness. She is about to get a dose of her own medicine," Quinn told her as she cleaned up her plate.

"Don't worry about the dishes. I'll handle it. The only thing that you should be worried about is Santana, today," Rachel told her as she moved towards the sink.

Quinn gave her a nod and left the kitchen. When she got to the guest room, Santana was sitting on the edge of the bed. She looked upset and angry. Quinn didn't want to push her, but she wanted to know what was wrong.

"Have a nice chat with Berry about me?" San almost hissed at her.

"We did talk about you, but only because we're worried about you."

"This is exactly why I didn't want either of you to know about this."

"San..."

"No, Quinn...just no. This is not your problem. I am not your problem to take care of," Santana told her.

"What if I make you my problem?"

"Why would you do that?"

"Because I love you, Santana Diabla Lopez," Quinn stated simply.