Our Year to Get It Right

-Chapter 5: The Fabray and the Berry-

"I do love you, Quinn, even if not in the way you want."

Those words bounced around inside Quinn's head long after Rachel was picked up by her dads and taken home.

Quinn couldn't even wrap her mind around the idea that Rachel actually once had thoughts about the two of them being together as a couple. It was true that Quinn had hopes of such a thing, but she had never seriously expected it. Yes, Quinn had often wondered if Rachel had ever meant anything deeper by her almost flirtatious comments, but she was still blown away by the revelation that the other girl had a crush on her.

But a crush was not love. Rachel didn't feel that way about her. Quinn had no illusions about that. Even so, Quinn couldn't stop smiling to herself. Because Rachel had told her that she loved her, and while that may not have been as great as Rachel telling her that she was in love with her, it still felt pretty great.

This might seem like a strange thing to be excited about, but Quinn was a very insecure girl deep down. Rachel obviously cared about her and meant it when she said they were friends, but Quinn had never been quite certain whether their friendship was the kind that would survive outside the walls of the high school and Glee Club. Why would Rachel Berry want to continue being friends with a nobody like her, especially once they went to their separate colleges in their separate states?

Quinn pulled a well-worn copy of Anne of Green Gables off her bookshelf and flipped

to a page that had the corner of it folded over like a dog's ear.

Anne tipped the vase of apple blossoms near enough to bestow a soft kiss on a pink-cupped bud, and then studied diligently for some moments longer.

"Marilla," she demanded presently, "do you think that I shall ever have a bosom friend in Avonlea?"

"A-a what kind of friend?"

"A bosom friend-an intimate friend, you know-a really kindred spirit to whom I can confide my inmost soul. I've dreamed of meeting her all my life. I never really supposed I would, but so many of my loveliest dreams have come true all at once that perhaps this one will, too. Do you think it's possible?"

Quinn had always dreamed of finding a friend like that. Someone who wouldn't judge her like her family did and who would accept her as who she was. Someone to go on adventures with and to share her secrets.

Santana and Brittany were two of her closest friends, but Quinn had always known that she would never have the type of friendship with them that Santana and Brittany had with each other. And that didn't have anything to do with their romantic relationship either. Brittany and Santana had been best friends and family to each other long before they had developed romantic feelings for each other.

Quinn wanted to believe that she and Rachel could have that type of relationship even if they never did become girlfriends. It seemed like they could, and that made her very happy.

Maybe Quinn should have been satisfied with that, but humans always wanted more than what they already had, and Quinn was no exception to that. So Quinn would be honest with herself. She did not have entirely altruistic motives when it came to her desire to stop Rachel and Finn from getting married.

She still wanted Rachel.

And when Quinn Fabray wanted something, she did everything in her power to try to get it. It was an integral part of her personality. It was that part of her that drove her to become Cheerios captain twice, that tried to take Beth away from Shelby, that made her succeed in totally transforming herself, and that somehow convinced Finn that he had impregnated her via hot tub. She managed to maintain a straight A average both when she was pregnant and when she was pretending to be a delinquent. Despite believing that she was destined to be a Lima loser, she had done everything possible to give herself a shot at getting out of Ohio.

Quinn was not proud of some of her past actions, but they did prove that she was not a quitter. She would use that crazy, obsessive part of her to find a way to stop Rachel from marrying Finn. After that...

She had no idea what would happen after that. But at the very least she would have a chance to get it right with Rachel.

So she was going to do the most insane thing she could come up with. She was going to talk to Rachel's dads.

The idea actually made her a little queasy. She had seen the Berry men at the show choir competitions and school events like the performance of West Side Story and she had even causally interacted with them in group settings before, but she had never actually talked to them in private. She had no idea what they really thought about her. Quinn had gotten the sense that Rachel's parents was curious about her but they had never approached her with the offer to have a real conversation about her past and her treatment of Rachel. She didn't know if that meant that they wanted nothing to do with her or if they were waiting for her to make the first move.

Even after they had become friends, Rachel had never extended an invitation for Quinn to come over to her house. Was it because the girl had sensed that Quinn would be uncomfortable with the idea or because she knew that her parents would be against it?

Quinn wasn't afraid that the men would be hostile toward her. She could deal with hostility. She would even welcome it as a just punishment for her crimes. But she really didn't want to see the disappointment in their eyes. How could she be so worried about disappointing people who were almost complete strangers to her? Because she knew that Rachel hadn't been the only member of the Berry clan that she had hurt with her actions.

The guilt of hurting the girl she loved had been too much to bear, so she had chosen the coward's way and done everything she could to avoid interacting with Hiram and Leroy Berry as much as possible. That strategy was going to have to change now.

Quinn went back to school the next day and the rest of the week flew by as she formulated one mental scenario after another of what she was going to say and do. She had been a little worried about it being awkward interacting with Rachel after everything they had discussed, but, if anything, Rachel seemed more determined than ever to spend time with and talk to Quinn.

The blonde cheerleader had wondered at first if Rachel was overcompensating, but she had come to realize that the other girl was just happy that the two of them had reached another level in their friendship. Maybe Rachel had always longed for a bosom friend as well. Someone to whom she could bare her soul. And even though she had Kurt and Finn to confide in, it was still Quinn that Rachel usually turned to when she needed to talk. It was probably just because there were times that Rachel needed a female friend. Quinn refused to harbor any deeper hopes than that.

Buoyed by the fact that Rachel didn't hate her, Quinn found herself just going with the flow. It wasn't until another week went by and she had accidentally walked in on Finn and Rachel making out in the choir room that she finally realized that she was dragging her feet on the whole 'stop Rachel's madness for her own good' plan.

So after Glee Club was let out for the day, Quinn summoned her willpower and pulled Kurt aside before he could leave.

"Hey! Watch where you're gripping the jacket. You'll wrinkle the fabric!" Kurt complained as he shook off Quinn's grip and then started inspecting the sleeve of his black designer jacket for damage.

"Kurt, I need a favor from you," Quinn said.

Kurt must have heard something strange in her tone because he looked up at her with a curious expression. He said, "Uh oh. I recognize that look. Do I detect a hint of scheming in your eyes, Fabray?"

"A little bit," Quinn acknowledged.

"Then count me out," Kurt replied firmly.

"Why?" Quinn asked, startled. The boy had always been fascinated by drama and intrigue, so she hadn't expected him to turn her down.

Kurt gave her a pitying look. He replied, "I hate to say it, but your plans don't have the best track records for success."

Quinn's mind immediately flashed to her past plots of convincing Finn that he was Beth's father and trying to get Shelby declared an unfit mother. Okay, she had to give Kurt a point on that one.

"Just hear me out. Are you still opposed to Finn and Rachel getting married?"

"Of course I am," Kurt replied.

Quinn raised an eyebrow. She said, "Really? Because your actions of helping Rachel pick out her floral arrangements during lunch suggests differently."

Kurt gave her an affronted look. He said, "Just because I think the marriage of Finchel would be the biggest disaster since Kris Humphries married Kim Kardashian that doesn't mean I'm not going to be a good friend and respect their decision."

"So you wouldn't be interested in helping me stop this wedding from happening?" Quinn asked.

"I'm in," Kurt said immediately. "What do you need me to do?"

Quinn gave him a disbelieving look. She asked, "What's with the change of heart?"

Kurt shrugged. He said, "I thought you wanted me to help you run for Prom Queen or something like that."

Quinn blinked in surprise. She hadn't even realized that senior prom was a little more than a month away. She... actually didn't care about that at the moment. Trying to get the conversation back on track, Quinn said, "I don't need you to do anything major. Just keep Rachel away from her house for a few hours today. Take her shopping. Go see a movie. I don't care."

Kurt's face turned wary. He asked, "You're not going to burn down her house, are you?"

"What? No! What do you take me for?" Quinn said, outraged.

"Sorry!" Kurt said, holding up his hands defensively. "Just checking that you haven't fallen back into your rebel punk psycho princess phase."

Quinn rolled her eyes. Just because she set one purple piano on fire at the start of the year everyone thought she was a pyromaniac now.

"I'm not crazy at the moment, but don't push me, Hummel," Quinn growled. "If you really must know, I'm going to talk to Rachel's dads about stopping the wedding."

"Oh. That's... boring," Kurt said.

"Welcome to being an adult," Quinn said dryly. "On that note, I was also thinking that you should talk to Finn about whether he's really ready to get married."

"I've tried talking to Finn!" Kurt protested.

"Try harder. Rachel's convinced that Finn will break up with her if she calls off the wedding, but I don't think she'd mind too much if Finn was the one who got cold feet," Quinn said.

"Rachel is ridiculously understanding like that," Kurt agreed. Then his eyes widened. "Wait, Rachel told you that? Wow, you girls are really taking this friendship thing seriously."

"I'm really starting to get angry here," Quinn said with a frown.

"No, no, no. I didn't mean it like that. Your friendship with Rachel is a wondrous miracle that is a joy to behold. Almost as adorable as Brittana, I would say. I've never seen Rachel happier than when she told me that you became her friend. And you've become much less of a sourpuss as well. I just hadn't realized that you two had gotten to the point where you're comfortable sharing your innermost, private feelings."

You have no idea, Quinn thought. Then she mentally slapped herself on the forehead. She said, "Kurt, it has just occurred to me that I shouldn't have told you what I just said about Rachel's feelings."

"My lips are sealed," Kurt reassured her. "Not even Mercedes will hear a word of this from me."

"That better be the case or you'll find out exactly why I was the HBIC around here," Quinn said in a low voice. The threat probably wasn't necessary as Kurt was Rachel's best friend, but Quinn didn't like to take chances.

Kurt looked appropriately subdued. Then he asked, "Do you also want me to work on dad and Carole?"

Quinn thought this idea over then she shook her head. She replied, "Not right now. You guys are still a new family and I don't want to cause trouble. Also, Finn's mom has always been lenient with Finn. If she suddenly turns against him along with you and Burt then Finn will think you guys are ganging up on him and he'll just dig his heels in further. Just talk to himself yourself, Kurt."

"I'll try. I warn you now though not to expect any stellar results. I wish you better luck."

Quinn reflected on Kurt's parting words as she stood on the doorstep of Rachel's house trying to summon the courage to ring the doorbell. She hadn't visited this place since Rachel's disastrous party last year. She remembered how Rachel had lighted up at seeing her which had been odd since Finn had recently chosen Quinn over the brunette. Quinn had figured that Rachel had simply been happy to have a popular girl like her attend a Berry party. Now Quinn wondered if there had been more to Rachel's reaction than that. Because Rachel hadn't reacted that way to the arrival of Santana or Brittany. Maybe it hadn't been about popular girls like Quinn showing up but about Quinn herself coming to her house.

Quinn had always been flattered by Rachel's obvious admiration for her, but she was slightly bothered by it too. What was there to admire about her? She was a horrible person who lied to and used others. And she was about to face two people who probably knew that better than anyone. That was why she had been staring at the Berrys' door for about ten minutes now. Because she was afraid.

The door suddenly opened, and Quinn was too startled by the motion to give into her first impulse to run away.

The face of a dark-skinned man, Leroy Berry, appeared from behind the door. He smiled at her and said gently, "I apologize for pushing you into a decision, but Hiram and I are about to start making dinner and we need to know if we need to set another plate aside."

"That's perfectly all- I don't need- Rachel didn't invite me over," Quinn said hurriedly. Her words ran over each other as she tried to figure out what to do or say at this moment.

If Rachel's father was bewildered by Quinn's word salad, he didn't show it. He simply said, "We'll set a portion aside in case you change your mind."

Quinn was about to protest, but the older man had already turned back into the house and she was forced to follow him.

In the kitchen, a bespectacled, pale man was dicing carrots. He looked up as Quinn entered the room.

"What brings you to our humble abode, Miss Fabray? Perhaps you've heard of my world-famous ginger veggie stir-fry?" Hiram Berry said. He was smiling, but Quinn noticed a slight wariness in his eyes.

"Honey, I believe that the girl has something important she wishes to discuss with us."

"I'm all ears," said the Berry cook as he put his knife down on the cutting board.

Quinn didn't know what to do with her hands all of a sudden. After a moment's hesitation, she firmly clasped them in front of her. She began, "The reason I'm here, Mister and Mister Berry-"

"Leroy and Hiram, dear," Mister Berry -no, Leroy- gently chided. "But if you insist on being formal, then I will call you Miss Fabray like my husband here."

"Quinn will be fine," Quinn said with a gracious smile as she tried to call upon the etiquette lessons that had been drilled into her since childhood. But this particular situation had probably not been covered in the lessons of Emily Post.

Screw it. She was just going to start talking. She asked, "How much has Rachel told you about how she's treated at school?"

"If you're referring to her being bullied, Rachel has told us everything," Hiram said stiffly. "We place a high importance on open communication. Granted, in this case, it would have been impossible for our daughter to hide it even if she wanted to as there are only so many excuses she could have come up with for why her wardrobe was taking on a multi-colored hue."

Quinn grimaced and she felt her face flush with shame. She looked down at the counter as she said, "Then you know that I had a big part to do with that. I didn't start the slushy tradition, and I wasn't even the first person who ever threw them at Rachel, but I was the one who painted a target on her back. Before that, Rachel may have gotten slushied maybe once or twice a week but that changed to once a day after I became head cheerleader and made it quietly known that one way to curry my favor was to mistreat Rachel."

She could feel tears building up behind her eyes and she forcefully pushed them back. She was not going to cry. Quinn said, "I'm not going to offer excuses for what I did. It doesn't matter why. What I did was wrong. Your daughter is an amazing person, and I regret that it has taken me so long to see that. It took me even longer than it should have to apologize to her for my past behavior. What's worse is that I never properly apologized to you."

The stern look that had been on Hiram's face softened. He asked, "What made you decide that now would be the time?"

"Because Rachel has done so much for me. She has stopped me from doing things I would regret forever so many times. I want- no, I need to do something for her. High school is almost over. I want everyone in Glee Club to enjoy the last few months of this year, and that includes Rachel. I want her to have a happy ending to her high school career. And, this may be selfish of me to say, I want to be a part of that happy ending."

Hiram carefully studied her. He turned to look at his husband, and the two of them stared silently at each other at moment then nodded as if they had arrived at some mutual decision. Hiram turned to Quinn and said, "I believe you care about Rachel very much, and I believe you're sorry for what you did. That's enough for me."

"I agree," Leroy said.

Quinn was startled by this. She had expected to do much more groveling to get to this point. "How can you just...?"

Leroy replied, "My husband here said a few minutes ago that Rachel tells us everything. I don't think you understand exactly what that means. We know all about you, Quinn Fabray, both the good and the bad. For the past few years, we believe that there has been more good than bad."

Quinn found herself leaning forward to hear what the older man had to say.

"I remember the day that Rachel came home talking a mile a minute about this girl that she admired very much. Our daughter kept going on and on about how this girl was so beautiful and smart and how she wished they could become friends. Of course we encouraged her to extend a hand of friendship instead of just sitting around and talking about it, but she refused to try. She insisted that she didn't have anything to offer someone like you."

"You must be exaggerating," Quinn said shaking her head in disbelief. "You're making it sound like she thought of me as a celebrity or a role model or something."

"It was a surprise to us as well," Leroy said with a smile. As you may have noticed, our daughter has a very high opinion of herself. Usually, a person would have to be an EGOT winner to get this level of adoration from her. Then one day she suddenly stopped talking about you. Out of blue, she started talking about this boy who had helped her pick up her books when some of the other students had knocked them out of her hands."

"Finn Hudson," Quinn said with a sigh.

Hiram pushed up his glasses with his finger then he said mildly, "You got it. It was quite a change when Rachel suddenly wouldn't stop talking about this Hudson boy. I think this was about a week after she informed us that this supposedly wonderful girl she had idolized so much had joined in on the name-calling and slushying."

"That must have been quite the disillusionment," Quinn muttered. She tried to imagine having a person who she admired very much turn against her. Then she realized that she didn't have to imagine it. She had lived through that with her father. She would never forget the feeling of disbelief and betrayal that ran through her body when he had looked at her with contempt and anger.

"Oh my God," Quinn said as she buried her face in her hands. She shouldn't have come here. She was as bad as her father. No, she was worse. She had done her best to crush a girl who had never done anything to her and who had even believed that she was a person of value.

But Rachel was wrong. During their freshman and sophomore years, Quinn could have used her newfound popularity to make life better for people like Lucy and to set an example for all the 'cool kids' who thought only of themselves. She hadn't done any of that. In the end, a nose job and gymnastics regimen didn't change how ugly she was. She had simply found a better looking package to hide in.

Quinn suddenly remembered the look on Rachel's face the first time Quinn had thrown a slushy at her. It had been the saddest, most pathetic thing she had ever seen and that sight had haunted for Quinn for days because she had not understood it. Rachel got slushied all the time and she had always either accepted it with resignation or snapped back at her tormentors with a spark of defiance in her eyes. But she had never looked so hurt before. And now Quinn knew why.

She thought about her father again and the sense of betrayal she had felt. Then she burst into tears.

Great heaving sobs wracked her body. Quinn was horrified by her loss of control, but she couldn't get the tears to stop. This failure only made her cry even harder. She had to stop. She couldn't do this here. She didn't deserve to have a breakdown in front of Rachel's dads. She could only imagine the disgust they must be feeling at her for feeling sorry for herself like this.

Quinn felt a presence standing behind her. She looked up uncertainly with tear-streaked eyes and saw Leroy looking at her with kind eyes. He gave her a slight nod and she fell into his arms with a sob. She knew that it should feel strange to be embracing a stranger but it didn't. It reminded her of how her father used to hold her after a nightmare when she was younger. She felt safe and warm in Leroy's arms. She used to feel that way with her father, but she couldn't remember the last time he had hugged her.

"I don't know how... I'm such a horrible person... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

Quinn didn't know how much time had gone by before she managed to wrestle control of herself. She slowly released her hold on Leroy's shirt and backed a few feet away. She eyes the wet stains on Leroy's satin shirt with distaste then she said, "I'm really sorry about that. I can get that dry-cleaned for you by tomorrow. Coach Sylvester has a deal with-"

Quinn broke off when she saw Leroy raise his hand in a calming gesture. He said, "That's not necessary, but we can talk about that later if you really want. But I don't think you really want to talk about dry-cleaning right now."

"Have a glass of water, sweetie," Hiram coaxed gently as he wrapped her fingers around the glass in front of her. Quinn managed a small smile as she remembered Rachel telling her that the response to tears in the Berry household was the quick replenishment of lost fluids.

"I'll leave now," Quinn said, looking down. Her cheeks were red with shame.

"We won't stop you, but if you leave now then you won't hear the rest of the story," Hiram said with a sly look in his eyes.

"What more is there to say?" Quinn asked morosely.

"How about the fact that Rachel never stopped believing that you were a good person?" Leroy asked.

Quinn sank down on a nearby stool with a weary expression. She thought about the Myspace comments and the drawings in the bathroom stalls. She said, "No offense to either of you, but I don't think that I will ever understand your daughter."

Hiram smiled. He said, "The thing about Rachel is that while she can certainly be selfish and self-centered -don't think that we're blind to her faults just because we're her fathers- Rachel is a truly compassionate young woman. She believes in the goodness of people and in giving second chances. She was disappointed in your actions, but she still thought you were too good a person to keep up this mean girl act forever. She said there were two kinds of bullies. There were the kind who grow up and look back on their past acts with shame and regret and the kind who never truly understand what the big deal was about a few 'harmless' pranks. She insisted that you were the former."

Leroy took over as he said, "For what it's worth, I think she was correct."

"Really?" Quinn asked.

"Rachel told us about your ups and downs and the exciting drama of a girl trying to find herself. She told us about your pregnancy and how that changed you. She was very happy when the two of you bonded over Beth. She was sad that you two drifted apart during junior year, but she understood that trying to return to your old life was something you had to do. To your credit, you did not resume bullying her and you stayed in glee club. Rachel told us about how you've supported and helped the other members of glee club over the years. How you helped Sam with his family problems or how you were there for Santana when she was outed to the school. You've clearly been through a lot, but our little girl is still proud to call you her friend."

"I had no idea that Rachel spoke about me so much," Quinn said with a touch of awe in her voice.

"You have no idea," Hiram said with a chuckle. "She was so happy for you when you got into Yale and when you agreed to be her friend. And we think you've been a very good friend. We know that you've been trying to convince her not to get married."

Quinn asked tentatively, "Did she tell you why?"

"No, she didn't tell us why you felt so strongly about this. She just said you were being a good friend. I'm not going to speculate on your motives, but I believe her when she says they come from a good place."

Quinn studied the faces of the two men in front of her. It didn't look like Rachel had told them about her confession. Quinn didn't know whether to be relieved or a little disappointed by that.

Hiram leaned forward slightly and said, "Just between you and me, your opposition to the marriage shows that you have impeccable judgment. A definite plus for you in my book."

"Hiram," Leroy said with a hint of warning in his voice.

"What?" Hiram asked, spreading his hands and shrugging. "Are we supposed to pretend that we're ecstatic about this in front of Rachel's friends too?"

This was probably the best opening that she was going to get so she took it. She said, "Actually, the reason I'm here today is because I wanted to talk about Rachel's plan to get married at the end of the school year. I'm against it. And it sounds to me that you're not too thrilled about the idea either."

Leroy replied, "We do have some reservations but only because we think the two of them are so young. We think Finn is a wonderful boy-"

"Boy being the operative word," Hiram muttered.

"And we are not against him marrying our daughter someday but not now. Not when she's on the verge of reaching out for her dreams. We want Rachel to have it all -love and a career- but we don't want her to lose sight of what's truly important to her either. We're not convinced that marriage is what would truly make her happy at this point in her life."

"Have either of you told her how you feel?" Quinn asked.

Leroy said, "We don't want to be the stereotypical parents who try to stop their daughter from marrying the boy of her dreams. We also couldn't stop her even if we wanted. Rachel is almost eighteen, an adult. If her heart is really set on doing this then we can only support her. We don't want her to feel that her only option is to elope."

"We also don't want her to hate us," Hiram said quietly.

"Rachel could never hate you," Quinn said with conviction. "I see how much she loves the two of you every time she stands up to the bigots at school who talk badly about you. And I hate to say this but I think you need to trust your daughter more. You just finished telling me about how mature and understanding Rachel can be. You're right that Rachel will be an adult soon. That means you have to treat her like one. She deserves to know how her parents truly feel about her decisions. How else can she make an informed one? She might not agree with what you say but at least she'll know that you care enough about her to tell her the truth."

After she finished talking, Quinn felt a little embarrassed. She hadn't meant to start lecturing two grown men about what they should do with their daughter.

"She's right," Hiram said suddenly. "We've never lied to our daughter before and this game-playing is unworthy of the Berry reputation for honesty and forthrightness. Yes, the truth will set us free! It may hurt, but Rachel will understand. This is much better than my ideas to abscond with Rachel to New York or to fake an epilepsy before the wedding."

Leroy's eyes widened. He said, "You were thinking of- Hiram, you're not even an epileptic!"

"And that's why I would be faking it," Hiram said slowly as if he didn't understand what his husband's problem with his idea was.

Quinn quirked an eyebrow in amusement. It was extremely easy sometimes to see where Rachel got her traits from. Her manic energy and dramatic nature clearly came from Hiram while her surprising patience and gentle empathy came from Leroy.

As if they could sense what she was thinking, the two men turned to her and smiled. Leroy said, "We apologize for getting you involved in our family drama, but we do appreciate what you're doing for our daughter. Rachel is lucky to have a friend like you."

Quinn was not a person who blushed easily, but she could feel herself turning red from Leroy's words. She mumbled a quick 'thank you' then she pulled out her cell phone to check the time and to use it as a buffer against any further awkwardness.

To her surprise, Quinn saw that she had ten missed text messages and three missed voicemails. They were all from Kurt. Her phone had been on silent, so the male diva had been unable to reach her. She quickly scrolled down and selected the first message.

Quinn, we have a problem. Rachel is on her way home RIGHT NOW! I took her to the mall like you suggested, but then she got slushied by Azimio in the food court. Rachel insisted on going home to get changed and refused my offers to buy her a new outfit. You have about 15 minutes before she gets there, so you'll want to finish whatever you're doing PRONTO!

Kurt had sent that message almost twenty minutes ago.

Quinn hadn't even begun to process the words she was reading, much less figure out what to do next, when she heard a door open and a voice say, "Dad, daddy, I'm home! I know I'm back early but I had a little mishap at the mall. I don't want you guys to be upset but I'm going to have to run the laundry tonight and..."

Rachel's voice trailed off after she entered the kitchen. Seeing that her mental wish to become invisible had obviously not come true, Quinn gave the other girl a tiny wave and a strained smile. Kurt was not with her. The coward had probably ran away to avoid Quinn's wrath. And he hadn't been lying about Rachel being slushied. The brunette looked like she could be an extra in the next Smurfs movie.

"Quinn! What are you doing here?" Rachel asked with an astonished look on her face.

"We asked her to stay for dinner," Hiram said. "We know you two are friends now and we thought it would be nice to get to know her better. You talk about her all the time after all."

"Dad!" Rachel said with a horrified gasp. "Don't say it like that. Quinn's going to think I'm creepy!"

Quinn had to admire Hiram's deviousness. Nothing he had said was a lie, and Rachel had been perfectly distracted from wondering about how and why Quinn was here in the first place.

"I could never think you were creepy, Rachel," Quinn said reassuringly.

"I'm glad you're here. I never thought you'd ever come to my house again," Rachel said excitedly.

"You've never invited me again," Quinn pointed out.

"There is that," Rachel said with a shrug. Then her eyebrows furrowed. "Wait, did my dads invite you over? I didn't know they knew your number."

So much for distracting her. Quinn figured that she owed Rachel the truth. Or at least part of it. She said, "No, they didn't invite me. I'm here because I needed to apologize to them. I felt that I owed them that much."

"Apologize for what?" Rachel asked.

"For things like this," Quinn said, gesturing at the blue stains on Rachel's sweater. "For everything I've ever said and ever done that made you feel like less than the beautiful human being you are."

"That was very kind of you," Rachel said in a near whisper. Her eyes glistened with tears.

Quinn suddenly felt very awkward. She didn't know what to do or say at the moment. But, as usual, Rachel Berry was never at a loss for words. She reached out and grabbed Quinn's hand and said very quickly, "You're going to enjoy this evening, Quinn. It was actually very fortuitous timing on your part because not only does Daddy make a mean vegan stir fry you will also be partaking in our ritual weekly pre-dinner entertainment. You may have heard about our infamous Tuesday night dinner theater events. We will be performing selections from the Broadway musical Wicked tonight, which you are of course familiar with from our time in Glee Club. I've actually always thought that you would make a wonderful Glinda. Perhaps you might consider joining us next time. But don't feel obligated. I would never want to pressure you into doing anything that you would not wish to-"

"Remember to breathe, dear," Hiram said casually as he turned his attention back to the sizzling pan on the stove.

Rachel obediently took in a deep breath and then slowly released it.

"Let's go get you changed, honey," Leroy said gently as he started to pull Rachel out of the room.

"I wish I had gotten some advance notice about such a momentous event," Rachel babbled to her father as she was led out of the kitchen. "Do you think I should put on the full Elphaba costume or would that be too much?"

A fond smile came over Quinn's face as she watched Rachel energetically leave the kitchen. There was just something about seeing Rachel so happy that brought a sense of wonder and peace to Quinn's heart. She wished she had known before how good it felt to make Rachel smile.

Quinn then noticed that Hiram was staring at her with a curious look. He asked, "You really care about Rachel, don't you?"

Quinn had many responses she could have made to that question, but in the end she simply said, "She's the best friend I've ever had."

Hiram seemed to consider his next words carefully. He said, "Do you plan on continuing friends with my little girl even after you've both graduated from high school?"

Quinn thought back to the words Rachel had said in the auditorium the other day and she knew her answer. She said, "I"m looking forward to being friends with her for the rest of my life."

"Good," Hiram said with a broad smile. "Then I'm trusting you to take care of her."

"I will," Quinn promised with widened eyes as she absorbed the older man's words.

Quinn still had hopes of her and Rachel becoming more than friends but even if they didn't she would still feel blessed to have the brunette in her life. Quinn had every intention of remaining friends with Rachel Berry. The distance between New York City and New Haven was not that great. She began to idly wonder how much it would cost to buy a pair of train passes for making that journey.