Authors note/longer summary: Hey everyone! Just have a few notes... Like I said, this is set in season 1 for now and it will continue through 2 & 3. This will be AU, except for the immediate canon storyline of Quinn's pregnancy.

Eveually, it will be Brittana & Quick relationship, and (sooner than those) Faberry & Faberrittana friendship with protective!Quinn (like, imagine Quinn being Santana-to-Brittany protective, just with Rachel). However, there are several things that need to happen before we get to that.:)

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or the characters. I own all OCs.
Spoilers: Most of season 1
Rating: T

Enjoy. :)

First day of school - Monday, August 10th, 2009

*Cheerios locker room*

Monday morning is hectic. Quinn had a long weekend, and the last thing she wants to do is be up and at school for Cheerios practice before school even starts.

But, that's what she signed up for over the summer, so she can't really complain. She knows what today is, though. It's August tenth. And it just so happens to also be the 10 year anniversary of her and Rachel's friendship.

She doesn't know why she expects to not receive anything from the Diva. Because, come on, this is Rachel we're talking about here. Nevertheless, she's still surprised when she opens her locker, and she freezes when she sees a piece of paper folded in half with Quinn written in Rachel's unmistakable handwriting.

She quickly gets changed into her uniform, and then grabs the note out her locker. Quinn glances around the locker room. It's empty except for her, Santana and Brittany. They're off doing god knows what, and Quinn knows she'll be alone for about 20 minutes or so before the other girls starts to arrive.

So, drops her Cheerio bag to the ground, and sit on the bench in front of the lockers, taking a deep breath. She feels anxious all of a sudden, and hopes that the note isn't as bad as she feels it will be.

Quinn,

First, I know this may come as a shock to you, seeing as we haven't really celebrated out anniversary the last couple of years. And don't worry; I didn't break into your locker. I had Brittany give me your combination and snuck this in this morning before you arrived.

Next, I want to ask that you not throw this note out right away. There are some things that I would like to say to you, and I'm certain I won't ever be able to say them to your face.

This part doesn't help ease Quinn's anxiety at all. If anything, it worsens it, but she shakes it off and continues reading.

I want to start off explaining why this point in our lives wasn't as surprising as probably should have been. See, there was a moment, not long ago, that I first realized you were slipping away from me. You know when that was? It was the summer between fifth and sixth grade, when I went away for three weeks for that summer camp.

Before we get into that, I want to say something else that I could never say to your face. That is, there was always a part of me that wondered, since fourth grade and meeting Santana and Britt, if you would ever get tired of defending me and my dads to all the bullies. If you would look at them and think it would be better, and easier, to just be friends with them and not me.

I hoped you would never feel that way. I hoped you wouldn't get tired of me and my crazy ways, and that we would always be best friends. I guess I was wrong.

Back to what I was saying, though. I remember that summer like it was yesterday. I remember hugging you goodbye, and my dads taking pictures, and promising to talk to you every night on the new phone I had received for my birthday.

I remember the first time my phone call to you went unanswered and I thought you were just busy. I remember the second time it went unanswered. I was my usual paranoid and over-dramatic self, wondering if I had done something to upset you. Then I realized I couldn't have, because we hadn't even seen each other in nearly a week and a half.

But the moment I knew, you were slipping away? Well, that was when I got back home. You had promised me you would be waiting for me on the steps of my house if you couldn't come with my dads to pick me up. You said you would be the first person, besides my dads, to give me a hug and we would hangout just the two of us so I could tell you all about camp.

But you weren't there. That terrified me, Quinn. Because we hadn't spoken in nearly two weeks, and you had never, ever broken a promise before, and I was afraid that maybe, over the last few weeks, you finally realized you didn't need me, and you were better off with just Santana and Brittany.

From then on, I slowly started to lose you. You started trading our weekend sleepovers at my house for shopping trips to the mall with Britt and Santana. You started to speak less and less to me at school. I miss the moments I had with you. I miss jumping around and dancing in my basement with you three. I miss getting in touch with the little kid in all our hearts and catching fireflies in the summertime because Brittany begged us to.

I miss just sitting around sharing secrets. And I miss when you would proudly stand up to whoever was bullying me at the time and declare me as your best friend.

But you know what I miss the most? What I miss the most are those moments when you became my Lucy. When we were alone, and in my room, and a song we both knew would come on the radio. When you would jump up and grab my hands so we could sing and dance along to it.

By now, Quinn is fully aware of the tears streaming down her face. She swipes at them and continues on.

Do you ever bring out our albums and look at our pictures? I do. I look at them and at how happy we were. I wonder if I had done something wrong, if I could have stood up for myself a couple of times and maybe then, you would have stayed with me.

I didn't quite understand at the time why you suddenly began giving me excuses as to why we couldn't have a sleepover this weekend or that weekend. Or why you began spending Christmases sneaking away to Santana's house instead of mine, where we would stay up until midnight and then exchange gifts, just the two of us.

Do you still have our necklace? I do. I wear it sometimes. I remember the day you gave me it. You had saved up all your money and went and bought two, identical 'star' necklaces because you wanted us to have friendship necklaces. You were so nervous that I wouldn't like it. But, of course, I loved it. I loved it because my best friend gave it to me.

Quinn does remember that day. She knew that Rachel loved star metaphors, and most likely already had a star necklace, but it was the only thing she could think of besides the cliché halved best friend necklace.

Anyway, I just wanted you to know that I am realistic. And I know we were naive little kindergartners when we first met, and that our friendship, no matter how much I wished it would, was probably never going to survive.

We were older, more mature when we met Santana and Brittany. I wasn't stupid; I saw how you were slowly becoming like them. You started to get more reluctant to share secrets with me, but you would do it without hesitation with them. You always wanted to go to the park or the mall with me and you less satisfied with just staying at home and hanging out.

So, as you can see, while this day is our 10-year anniversary, we haven't really been friends for a while. And I'm done. I'm done waiting in my room wondering if you will call. I'm done watching you go down the hallway, wondering what it'd be like if I were beside you. And I am done with wondering if you'll ever stand up for me and call me your best friend again.

The ball is in your court. You get to decide now what to do after this. If you want to talk, come to my house. I know what would be at stake if you did that, so I'm giving you the rest of the week and until Saturday to decide. If not, well, just throw away this note, and we can both go about our business like it never happened.

It's your decision, Quinn. You get to choose. Is 6 years of friendship worth giving up anymore?

~Rachel~

It takes several moments for Quinn to get her breathing under control. She never knew Rachel felt that way, even when they were still friends.

She stands, looking at the star necklace hanging on her locker door. She remembers that day like yesterday, and yes, she was nervous because she didn't know if Rachel would like or not.

And she did, of course, because why wouldn't she? Rachel's face lit up and she knew she made the right choice. More tears stream down her face as she remembers all the things she was forced to do to the Diva.

All those movie nights, sleepovers, dance parties, singing together, those were the highlight of Quinn's childhood. In the midst of her world being turned upside down due to the car accident and losing her sister, Rachel was her light at the end of the tunnel.

She made her see that life would go on, and that everything would be okay even it didn't feel like it. Over at Rachel's house, she could talk about her big sister and look through the pictures and watch the home videos that involved Abigale.

She wasn't, and still isn't, allowed to do that at her house. All the pictures that had Abigale in them were thrown away; her room emptied out and made into a guest bedroom. It was like Quinn had been an only child her whole life.

As Quinn continues to inwardly beat herself up, she doesn't hear Santana and Brittany come back from wherever they've been. When the taller blonde sees her tears, Britt drops her bag and rushes over, snapping Quinn out of her thoughts.

She sees the note in Quinn's hand, understanding immediately what has happened as Rachel explained to her what she was going to be doing when she asked Brittany for Quinn's locker combination. She sighs, pulling the shorter blonde into a hug.

Santana looks on, confused. But it takes her only seconds to understand. To realize what today is. To realize just what the piece of paper in Quinn's hand must be.

And she also sighs, moving in to join the hug as Quinn breathes out, "What have we done, B?"

Here is the first chapter! I am excited to get this story progressing. I hope you enjoyed it.

Please review and let me know what you thought! :)