This was born out of a passing comment made by my LJ buddy, madndizzee. I just kind of pushed the idea out of my head because I was working on Forever Begins with the Ocean's Tides at the time and then got back into the Puppy-verse. I was going through my prompt list the other day because I needed something other than Puppy-verse to work on for a bit to get some variety and this idea made me grin like an idiot because I absolutely love softball. It ended up in a completely different direction than I originally intended but I really do love it and I hope you do, too =)

Title is a play off of the movie title For the Love of the Game.

-Part 1-

"A what?" Puck asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"An amateur softball league!" Rachel said with a grin. "It would be a fantastic team-building exercise for the summer! We'd be competing against other teams from around the area and it would be very beneficial to keeping us all in shape and working together as a team so we can continue to be a tight-knit group throughout the summer and don't lose touch."

It was the last day of school and the last glee club meeting and Rachel Berry, diva of the stage and the last person anyone expected to be interested in sports, had just dropped the bomb that she'd signed up the twelve person group to Lima's sixteen and up summer softball league.

Santana scoffed. "No way, Man Hands. Softball's for lesbos and I'm not into that."

Everyone turned their heads to look at the Cheerio who, at that moment, had Brittany's head in her lap and was playing with the blonde's ponytail.

"Seriously?" Quinn raised her eyebrows.

Kurt smirked. "You might as well get a buzz cut and convert your entire wardrobe to flannel, Santana. We all know you and Brittany are really gay for each other."

"Shut up, Hummel."

"I think it would be fun," Brittany said, looking up at the Latina. "It would totally be fun."

Santana growled. "Fine, we're in."

Matt and Mike both shrugged.

"Might as well," Mike said.

"We don't have anything to do until football camp anyway."

"Wonderful!" Rachel bounced a little. "Artie? Kurt? Mercedes? Tina?"

"Girl," Mercedes rolled her eyes, "you are nuts. I don't do sports."

"You have a hell of an arm, though," Kurt mumbled. "My windshield can attest to that."

"What would I do?" Artie asked.

"You could still play, Artie. I checked the rules and it says that anyone over sixteen can join and if the league officials have anything to say about it I will simply contact the ACLU. With your upper body strength I am sure you would be an excellent batter. Or you could be a statistician and bat boy. Or perhaps a hydration specialist."

"A hydration what?"

"Water boy," Finn piped up. "And I think it sounds like a great idea. I'm in!"

Artie shrugged. "Sure."

"I guess," Tina said. "Sounds like it might be fun."

"Kurt? Mercedes, come on."

Kurt sighed. "I might as well. But I am designing the t-shirts."

Rachel nodded. "The league officials ask that we submit a design by the end of the week so they can have them printed. The only color left was…" Rachel's eyes darted to the four football players. "Pink."

Puck, Finn, Matt, and Mike all groaned.

"Fine," Mercedes huffed. "But I swear if I break a nail, you are toast."

Rachel grinned and her eyes darted up to Quinn who was looking down and picking at her fingernails. The silence ticked on and everyone's gaze eventually landed on the blonde. It had been seven weeks since her daughter was given up for adoption and everyone was aware that Quinn wasn't the old Quinn anymore. She'd moved back in with her parents and dropped even further from her image as head bitch in charge and had become almost anonymous.

Rachel cautiously approached the blonde and sat down in the seat next to her.

"I think you would have a lot of fun, Quinn."

"Whatever," the blonde sighed. "If it will get me out of my bedroom I don't really care."

Rachel smiled and put a hand on Quinn's shoulder. "I'm glad you're doing it."

Quinn rolled her eyes. Rachel jumped back up and re-took her place at the front of the room.

"So, we're all in? Noah?"

"As long as there are other chicks there."

"Wonderful!" Rachel grabbed a stack of papers on the piano and handed out a packet to each club member. "These are the practice and game schedules and also a waiver absolving the league of any responsibility for personal injury that must be signed by a parent or legal guardian since we're all under eighteen. Mail them to the address listed, please. First practice is this Thursday at two o'clock down at the baseball fields. I've reserved field number three for the afternoon. I have already picked up our equipment from the league officials."

"This is very good, Rachel," Mr. Schuester said. "I think you're right, it will keep you guys tight-knit for the summer. Make sure I get a copy of your game schedule so I can be there! Have a great summer you guys."

The club was dismissed and Rachel handed a copy of the schedule to Mr. Schuster before she went to Quinn who was staring warily at the door.

"You don't want to go home, either?" the brunette said.

"Why wouldn't you want to go home, Berry? I bet your two gay dads are waiting to throw you a party."

Rachel shrugged. "They're fighting right now. Daddy's been sleeping on the couch. I keep begging them to reconcile because the tension isn't good for my nerves."

"Try living with it for sixteen years."

"I can only imagine. Would you like to go to Dairy Queen? It's always been a tradition that my dads take me there on the last day of school but I doubt that's going to happen today."

"I…you know, why not? I'm already with you at the bottom of the social ladder. It can't hurt me anymore to be seen with you in public."

"I'll overlook the insult in light of the fact that you said yes."

Rachel and Quinn sat silently across from each other at the Dairy Queen, Rachel with a mint chocolate chip blizzard and Quinn with a small hot fudge sundae. The blonde occasionally smiled at the brunette, Rachel figured it was Quinn's form of a 'thank you' for paying for both of their treats.

"I've been trying to figure out what positions everyone should play in," Rachel said to break the silence. "One of the boys should pitch, I think, since they're the only ones with real athletic experience."

Quinn glanced up and furrowed her eyebrows. Rachel panicked a little.

"Not to say that being a Cheerio isn't athletic!" the brunette scrambled. "Of course you have to have skill and body coordination and you had a rather extensive workout routine. But pitching requires more hand-eye coordination and visual-spatial skill. Or so I've read. I…I actually don't know anything about sports other than the research I've done to find a suitable activity for all of us. I thought about basketball but it would end up being the four jocks and maybe Santana or Brittany on the court and none of the rest of us would have a chance to participate. A softball team requires nine players which is good because it leaves us with reserves and league rules say we can rotate out the positions and everyone gets to bat whether they play that inning or not."

"Did you ever just say one word? Like…were you born talking in paragraphs?"

"My rather extensive vocabulary is due to…"

Quinn sighed.

Rachel shrugged. "Probably."

That earned her a giggle from the former Cheerio before she stopped herself and dug back into her sundae.

"I guess I'll see you on Thursday," Rachel said as the pair slowly walked out to the parking lot, headed for their respective vehicles.

"Yeah, I guess you will."

"If you'd like to perhaps participate in an activity together before then I wouldn't object."

Quinn quirked an eyebrow. "Just ask me like a normal person, Berry."

Rachel nodded. "Quinn, would you like to…hang out sometime?"

"I'll call you," Quinn said, turning to her car door.

"Do you have my number?"

Quinn dug her cell phone out of her pocket and pressed a few buttons, she held up the phone and Rachel read her name on the screen.

"I feel honored that it's not listed as 'Man Hands' or 'Treasure Trail'. Also that it's listed under 'friends'."

Quinn quickly shoved the phone back in her pocket and opened her door. "I'll call you."

Rachel smiled. "Thanks for coming with me."

"Thanks for buying." Quinn dropped into her car and shut the door.

Rachel opened her door and gave a wave to the blonde, Quinn nodded and drove away.

Much to Rachel's shock, Quinn did call her and they did hang out a few times during the next couple of days. Once they joined Brittany and Santana at Denny's for dinner and went to a movie, another time it was just the two of them and they watched TV at Rachel's, and the third time they went to Kurt's to get his t-shirt design and to the sport shop to turn it in and place the shirt order and then out shopping because Rachel insisted she needed something other than her two sets of gym clothes from school to play in.

When Thursday came around Rachel was of course the first person at the fields. She pulled the heavy bag of equipment out of her trunk along with her clipboard and a book she found in the library about amateur softball. The small brunette began dragging the heavy bag toward the field she had reserved. Out of nowhere the bag got lighter and she turned around to see Quinn holding up the other end of it.

"Thank you," Rachel said brightly.

Quinn nodded and the pair managed to get the heavy bag into one of the dugouts. Rachel began rifling through the equipment and pulling out the bats, balls, helmets, and the few gloves.

"I don't think this will be enough," Rachel said, looking at the four tattered gloves. "I would guess the only people that have them are Finn, Noah, Matt, and Mike. I'll call Finn to see if he has extras."

Slowly, the rest of the glee club started showing up, Finn brought his three extra gloves and Mike brought his own bag with more extras. Santana and Brittany were the last to arrive and Rachel groaned.

"You can't wear your Cheerios uniforms to play softball. And it's the summer, shouldn't those be in Coach Sylvester's office?"

Brittany shrugged.

Rachel growled. "Do you have anything else with you that you could change into?"

Five minutes later Santana and Brittany returned in shorts and t-shirts and Rachel gave a satisfied nod.

"Okay, coach," Mercedes said. "What now?"

Rachel flipped through her book to the first chapter.

"It says we need a place to practice, we have that. Equipment, check. At least nine players, check. Here it says we should…"

"Are you kidding?" Puck grabbed the book out of Rachel's hands. "If we're gonna do this, let someone that knows what they're doing do the coaching."

"The field is yours, Noah."

Puck smirked and traded places with Rachel.

"Warm-ups!" Puck growled.

The team stretched and ran a few laps of the bases before they scrambled to get gloves and pair up. Rachel made sure that those with athletic experience were paired up with those who didn't. The first time Finn threw the ball at her she shrieked and ducked. By the third throw she was still shrieking but managed to bat the ball away with the back side of her glove.

While Finn was chasing the ball after Rachel threw it completely over his head for the umpteenth time she looked over at Quinn who was paired up with Matt. The blonde was doing surprisingly well, Rachel noticed. She threw the ball right at Matt and only flinched a little when she held out her glove to catch, but at least she was catching it.

"Rachel, heads up!"

Rachel turned just in time to see a ball coming right toward her.

When the brunette regained consciousness she was surrounded by eleven glee clubbers and her head was throbbing.

"Did it hit my nose?"

"No, just your head," Finn said. "I'm really sorry, Rachel."

"It's okay," Quinn said with a smirk. "Berry's got a thick skull."

Rachel grumbled and Mike offered her a hand to pull herself up. She was a little dizzy once she was upright but it was gone in a few seconds and she smiled chipperly.

"What next?"

Once the four jocks compared notes on who was good at throwing and catching they assigned everyone to a position. Matt at first base, Brittany at second, Puck at short stop, Finn at third, Mike pitching, Santana catching, and the rest would take turns in the outfield.

Puck picked out the smallest bat in the bag for Rachel and tossed her a helmet. She pulled it down over her head and cautiously made her way to the two boxes on either side of home plate. Mike was waiting on the pitching mound with a pile of softballs.

"Which one do I stand in?" Rachel asked Finn, who was behind the plate for the time being so he could coach the batters. Santana was currently standing in at third.

"Are you a righty or a lefty?"

"Right."

"Stand in that one." Finn pointed to the box on his left.

Rachel nodded and stood in the box and tried to remember what the pictures had shown when she had looked up baseball on the internet. She spread her feet apart and looked nervously at Mike and held up the bat.

"Just like that, Rach," Finn said. "Okay, when I tell you to, just swing."

Rachel nodded and Mike tossed the ball.

"Swing!"

Rachel closed her eyes and swung with all her might. She felt the bat fly out of her hands and she immediately opened her eyes again and watched it fly right over to where Santana was standing on third base. Santana screamed and ran away, Rachel covered her mouth with both hands and shrieked.

"I'm sorry! Oh my gosh, Santana! I'm so sorry!"

"If you do that again I swear to God I'll kill you, Berry!"

Puck walked over and picked up the bat from his position at short stop and jogged in to hand it to Rachel.

"Try to hold on to it this time."

Rachel nodded and took her stance again. This time when Mike tossed the ball and Finn yelled swing Rachel did and she felt the ball connect with the bat and watched it fly a little and land just in front of Puck. She shrieked and jumped up and down, Puck threw the ball to Matt at first and Finn chuckled.

"When you hit it you have to run, Rach."

"Oh…I got a little excited."

"That's okay. Just remember, anytime you hit it take off running to first." Finn pointed to Matt. "When we play in the game I'll be there as base coach to tell you to either stop or keep going."

Rachel nodded. "What now?"

"Let someone else bat."

"Okay!"

Rachel pulled off the helmet and put it back on the bench and put her bat with the others before grabbing her glove. Finn motioned for her to stay with Artie in the dugout while Quinn took her turn at bat.

"I think it's going quite well," Rachel told Artie.

"You almost killed Santana."

Rachel rolled her eyes and watched Quinn stand in the box and take the same stance she had. She didn't miss the way Quinn's arms flexed in the tank top the blonde was wearing. She cleared her throat and shook her head a little and clapped.

"You can do it, Quinn!" Rachel cheered.

The blonde looked over her shoulder and shook her head. She turned her attention back to Mike. The first pitch was high, Quinn didn't swing. The second pitch was outside. On the third pitch Rachel watched Quinn's shoulders twitch as soon as Mike let go and the blonde swung. The sound of the ball hitting aluminum echoed and the softball went flying over Puck's head and dropped in the grass. Quinn took off running and Rachel jumped up and down. Tina, from left field, got to the ball first and threw it to Brittany. The ball missed and went past the blonde, Quinn touched second and rounded it. By the time Matt got to the overthrown ball the blonde was standing patiently on third with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Nice hit, Quinn!" Rachel shrieked.

Quinn smiled a little.

"Rachel!" Finn called. "Go stand where Tina is."

Rachel nodded furiously and grabbed her glove. She jogged out to left field and gave a bright smile to Tina as she walked in to bat. Tina hit the ball on the first try, Brittany grabbed it and threw it to Matt and Tina was out. She took a seat on Artie's lap and everyone on the field gave a simultaneous "awww".

Finn grabbed a bat and motioned for Tina to get behind the plate and catch. Rachel shifted nervously and held out her glove. When Finn hit the ball it hit the ground a few feet in front of her and rolled right to her. Rachel grabbed the ball and looked around, entirely unsure of where to throw it. Puck yelled "second" so Rachel threw in Brittany's direction with all her might and fell over. She heard a scream and scrambled back up, Puck was holding his nose and blood was gushing out. Rachel shrieked and ran to him.

"Berry," he groaned. "You're gonna kill someone."

"I'm so sorry Noah…"

Mercedes shook her head. "This was a bad idea."

"No, no," Finn assured them. "It's fine. We just need to practice a little more. Puck, go sit out and Santana, you take short stop. Quinn, you can get on third and I'll go back and catch. Kurt, you go to center, let Rachel go to right and Tina can go back to left. Mercedes, you're up to bat."

The rest of the practice ran somewhat smoothly. Rachel didn't do much of anything but stand there.

"Next practice is Saturday, same time, same place," Rachel reminded everyone as they started to pack up their things. "First game is Tuesday at five on field one. We're going up against Gillis Chiropractic."

Everyone nodded and headed to their vehicles, Puck took the softball equipment with him in his truck. Quinn stayed sitting in the dugout looking out onto the field. Rachel joined her on the bench and sighed.

"I think it went quite well…except for me getting hit…and almost hitting Santana…and possibly breaking Noah's nose."

Quinn chuckled. "You're such a dork, Berry."

"Would you want to do something tonight? Assuming you don't have plans with Santana and Brittany, that is."

"I'm pretty sure they have plans with each other and they're not the kind that I want to be involved in."

Rachel nodded. "I fully understand. Would you want to come over and watch a movie? I think Daddy bought a new box of popcorn."

"I should probably go home and shower. I'll come over after I'm done."

Rachel grinned.

When she got home the brunette immediately took her own shower and took some ibuprofen to combat her sore head. There was a very large bruise and a knot about the size of a quarter showing up. She went through all of the movies she could find and decided on a few that would not only be entertaining but might help her understand the concept of baseball and softball a little more since she rarely ever saw a game. She selected A League of Their Own, Field of Dreams, and Pride of the Yankees and put them out on the coffee table in front of the couch that was in the basement. She sprinted up the stairs when the doorbell rang, her Dad let Quinn in and the blonde smiled and thanked him.

Rachel took Quinn to the kitchen and they got popcorn and soda before heading downstairs. Rachel gestured to the movies she'd picked out and Quinn shook her head.

"You're really into this aren't you?"

"I thought they could be informational."

"This one," Quinn said, picking up A League of Their Own. "It's funny. I used to watch it with my sister."

Rachel nodded and stuck the DVD into the DVD player and dropped down on the couch.

"You were really good today, Quinn," Rachel said while the DVD went through its copyright warning screens. "You were the best girl out there."

Quinn shrugged. "Most of my cousins are boys. I always played baseball with them."

"I believe that having a strong female on the team will be inspirational to the rest-"

Quinn reached up and clapped her hand over Rachel's mouth. "I got it, Berry. I'm good."

Rachel nodded and the blonde pulled her hand away. "You should play for the school team."

Quinn laughed. "The look on my mother's face would be priceless. They kicked me out for being pregnant, do you honestly think they'd let me stay if they thought I was a lesbian?"

"But you're playing now."

"They think co-ed is different. Obviously if there are boys around I can't be gay. That's the only reason they signed that waiver."

"That's slightly…"

"Twisted? I know." Quinn looked back to the TV screen and Rachel hit play.

By the time the movie ended Quinn was asleep with her head on Rachel's shoulder and the brunette wasn't sure what to do. First of all, she was sure she might be crushing just a bit and so she was definitely enjoying the moment of closeness. Second of all she figured Quinn wasn't getting much sleep anymore judging by the fact that it wasn't even eight o'clock yet and she was already snoring. Her problem was remedied when Quinn shifted and her eyes fluttered open.

"'s the movie done?" the blonde yawned and sat up.

"Yes but I was perfectly content to let you sleep. I'm not sure you should drive home, you're very tired."

"Mkay." Quinn leaned back over and settled her head on Rachel's shoulder again.

"Would you like me to drive you?"

Quinn shook her head. "Not really."

"Would you like to stay here?"

Quinn nodded. "I hate it there."

"I'll show you to the guest bedroom," Rachel said softly. "You're welcome there anytime."

Quinn took Rachel's offer seriously. She didn't even entertain the idea of going back to her own house until Saturday when Rachel suggested that Quinn get her own clothes from her house so she didn't have to keep borrowing the brunette's. Rachel didn't complain at Quinn's lack of interest at going home.

Saturday practice went much more smoothly than Thursday. Puck had a splint on his nose and every time Rachel swung or threw a ball everyone flinched a little. They all got used to their positions and the four jocks were even slightly impressed. Artie elected to be the bat boy and statistician. Brittany shocked everyone by out-hitting Puck. After practice the four jocks collaborated with Artie to come up with the batting order for Tuesday's game.

Rachel finally convinced Quinn to go to her parents' house that evening to get what she needed. When the blonde showed up at Rachel's door step with her huge duffel Rachel just shrugged and Quinn went upstairs to what Rachel now considered to be Quinn's room. Rachel watched from the door as Quinn furiously shoved things in her dresser and tossed shoes in the closet.

"Is everything okay, Quinn?"

"They didn't even notice I was gone. I walked in the door and they didn't ask me why I haven't been home or called since Thursday. They don't care. I told them I was leaving and didn't know when I'd be back and you know what I got, Rachel?" Quinn stopped and sat back on the floor, back against her bed. "I got a nod and a 'don't use your credit card too much.' That's all."

Rachel slowly crossed the floor and sat down next to her friend. Quinn looked over at her and Quinn's red eyes and her tears immediately reminded Rachel of the conversation they had just before sectionals.

"They don't care about me unless I do something they want me to do. They hate me if I do something they don't like. Otherwise they just don't care. Santana and Brittany don't care anymore…Sometimes I wonder what the point is."

"I care," Rachel said softly.

Quinn leaned over and rested her head on Rachel's shoulder and sighed.

"Sometimes I want to leave. Just…get in my car and go."

"Where?"

"Anywhere but here."

"Normally I wouldn't object to a road trip but we have a game on Tuesday."

Quinn chuckled and sat up. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and smiled. "You're such a dork, Berry."

"You've mentioned that."

"Thanks…for this."

"It's what friends are for, right?"

"Real friends, anyway."