I did not intend to write a sequel to Cheerio's & Froot Loops but…sadly my muse has decided otherwise. In fact I'm pretty sure that ever since I let my muse out of her cage she has decided to kill me by working me to death! Anyway this takes place towards the very end of their senior year with their college decisions on the horizon so you'd think everything is sweetness and light…until Jesse comes back to town…Not to mention the family upheaval, all of which gives you guys a cracking story (if I translate it from my muse properly that is) with plenty of action, romance and a little bit of angst…just enough to make the romance taste all the sweeter! BTW I still suck at smut so you may want to give the last thousand words or so a miss! lol love ya all xxx

Quinn could feel her calf muscles burning as she rounded turn nineteen of the course. Again, she pondered if it was at all possible to kick yourself in the ass while running; she knew that letting Sue bloody Sylvester talk her into cross-country running as well as track was a mistake! However as this was the penultimate race it was kinda late in the game to be playing the regret card. Avoiding a patch of overgrown poison ivy that the ground crews had obviously missed when they went over the course earlier, the blonde grunted slightly when her cross trainers impacted the dirt track again. Half a mile to go and there was one runner behind her close enough to catch up, actually Quinn would have to fall pretty hard and stay down for a while to lose the lead. However, one thing you learnt quickly in any competitive sport was that anything could happen.

In an attempt to take her mind off her aching muscles, the athlete let herself think about what was waiting for her at the end of the track. A small smile crept across her face and to anyone watching it probably looked like the twelve-mile run had driven her nuts. However, anyone that knew her personally would just roll their eyes knowingly, Rachel Berry was at the finish line and despite Sue's various and continued protests was in her full Cheerio get up. Firstly, because she considered herself to be the blonde's very own personal cheerleader, and secondly, because she knew Quinn found her undeniably hot in it. There was also the fact that, due to a lost bet with the ex- convict, Santana and Brittany were also there in their cheerleader outfits. And the fact that Rachel was making them actively cheer caused the smile to turn into a wide grin and Quinn found a little more energy to push herself a little faster.

At least her lungs weren't burning yet, that was the worst pain one could experience whilst running. If your muscles started hurting, they eventually went past that barrier and sent you into the zone. But once your breathing went to shit you were fucked, in fact ninety percent of long distance running came down to breath control. Luckily, Quinn had damn good breath control, though she wished that had come from extensive aerobics or a sporty outlook. Sadly it had not, when she was in Juvie she learnt to take deep breaths and hold them for a damn long time, long enough that she didn't end up choking when held underwater. Still, considering NYU was on the verge of offering her a full scholarship to join their athletics division, she safely considered herself to have gotten the last laugh. Her grades were more than good enough and although her father had left her some money, she would definitely be much better off with a full scholarship, otherwise she would need to take an almost full-time job on top of track team commitments and the workload of a mechanical engineering course.

Rachel and her mom were over the moon that she had finally relented when it came to attending college. Until that less than graceful admittance of defeat on Quinn's part, she had found herself in several fiery and vocal disagreements with both of them. A part of her was still desperate to blow off the whole idea of college and join up as soon as she walked away with her diploma. But the one thing her mother told her that clinched it was the fact that her father had always encouraged her interest and love of engineering. Apparently, he wanted her to have more to her name than a pilot's licence, although he knew she would always follow in his footsteps, he had regretted the fact that he had never accepted his college offer. So if only for him, Quinn finally agreed that she would attend college so long as it was in New York so she could stay with Rachel and her other friends at least.

Both Mike and Artie had gotten into MIT, and although Mike's heart was actually set on dancing and he would have preferred Julliard (where he was also accepted), he also wasn't feeling strong enough to fight his father on the decision…though he still hadn't turned them down. Rachel and Kurt had defied expectation and both gotten into NYADA, which is why for the last several weeks, they had driven the rest of their friends nuts with talk about what shows they would see and when. Brittany and Blaine had both gotten into Julliard as well, Brit for the dancing and Blaine decided to pursue acting as a career. The only one of them who had been tight-lipped so far was Santana, no one had found out what was going on with her, not even Brittany. Puck surprised everyone by getting a football scholarship to UCLA (Though the fact his mother had gotten Rachel to tutor him extensively over the last year had no doubt helped) no one really knew about Finn but word was he was planning to take a job assisting coach Beiste.

The pain in her legs had passed finally and now she just felt the odd floating invincible feeling that came afterwards. She hoped she would have a chance to sneak off with Rachel and ease her muscles in her hot tub before dinner that night. Thoughts of dinner made her frown as despite spending the last few days trying to work out what it was about she had no idea. At the start of the week, her mother had told her and Rachel to keep Friday evening clear and free, as she wanted them to eat with her. It couldn't be about college because they had gotten past that. It certainly shouldn't be about safe sex as that conversation had taken place the morning after they slept together for the first time. On a scale of embarrassing moments it had to rate a good ten out of five! It included Rachel having to confide to Quinn's mom what her birth control method was and Quinn revealing the brand of condom she would be using during her 'time of the month'.

After thoroughly researching both items on the internet while both girls sat on the sofa wondering when the idea of being open with your parents had turned into a bad one, Judy had finally smiled, agreed they were reliable methods and then offered to cook them breakfast. The athlete rolled her eyes at the memory as she ducked a low branch with a frown. Only about a quarter of a mile now and she had still had one last burst of energy left in reserve for the home stretch. That last quarter mile however included a sharp corner which dipped down into a steep decline, one you had to perfectly balance yourself for and it was famous for causing last minute upset's. In preparation however, Quinn had come out here with Rachel for the past three weeks to run it from every different angle just to make sure of the best one. She was fairly confident she would be able to take it without any risk of going head over heels, she hoped so anyway as it was a popular place for the race viewers to gather.

She had no idea what her time was for the race however, the one and only time she had tried to wear a watch while running, she had chosen the wrong time to glance at it and ended up running smack bang into a tree. She only wished that Santana hadn't been watching it and caught it on her I Phone, especially as it got several thousand hits on You tube. She took solace in the fact that Rachel had made the next two weeks of cheerleader training sheer hell for the Latina. Letting out her breath and adjusting her breathing for the steep drop ahead, Quinn looked up briefly towards the gathered crowd. Steve had said he might be able to make it for this one, he tried to go to as many of her races as he could, whether they were the track ones or the cross country. In fact he'd been around a lot this past year, she worked with him a few afternoons and on Sunday's, but he had been to several meals and even a parent teacher conference.

She smiled slightly thinking her dad would probably be pretty happy that his best friend was keeping such a close eye on her, and if she were honest it was kinda nice to have a father figure around sometimes. A flash of something caught her eye in the assembled crowd and she almost lost her footing. It wasn't Steve but she could have sworn for just a minute that she had seen that asshole Jesse St James. The gradient was moments away but Quinn's mind was now anywhere but the run. That flash of brown curly hair, the insufferable grin…she was sure she had seen it! Peering closer between checking her footfalls, a couple of track-suited adults parted and she knew she hadn't been wrong. He was standing there with his arms folded as he stared down at her. Swearing, she realised as she looked away that the turn was a step away…and she was definitely not in the best position to take it anymore.

It took some fancy footwork and maybe more hopping than a runner should generally use but she managed to keep her feet under her right up until the halfway point where the roots of a long ago felled tree still stuck out from the earthy wall which the course had been carved into. In an effort not to get the toe of her sneaker caught under it, she shifted her weight too far to one side and didn't need the audio cue of the onlookers gasping as she started to go over. Bracing as best as possible, she managed to get her forearm out in front of her face as she hit the ground. There was a sharp and persistent pain along the edge of it and at her temple as she rolled. In an attempt to try and regain her feet as soon as possible the blonde literally stood straight away, something her ankle protested and she went down again. This time she didn't get her arms up in time and her knee took the brunt of the impact, as a searing pain shot from her knee through to her ankle Quinn bit down on a curse.

Behind her she could hear the next runner approaching the bend and with a Herculean effort hauled herself back up and started a half limp half jog to try and find a rhythm her body wouldn't protest too much. She could hear the onlookers cheering her on and very faintly, she was fairly sure she could hear laughter. She didn't need to be a genius to work out whom the laughter would be coming from and internally she swore and pushed herself harder when the previous second place runner took her over. Well she could take a second place finish as it wouldn't hurt her overall standings too badly, but if she had hurt anything major, she would have to pull out of the last cross country and that would cost her.

She knew if Rachel was there she would want her to take it easy, citing the fact that the risk of extensive injuries was not worth the difference. Quinn however reminded herself that Rachel wasn't there and what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her. Squaring her jaw, she pushed the pain to the back of her mind and started running again instead of jogging. Behind her she could vaguely hear the third place runner approaching and with the first runner only a hundred or so yards in front of her she was damned if she was dropping another place. As they turned the last corner and went into the final straight she could faintly make out the forms of the Cheerio's. Time for the final push and with grim determination, the blonde swiped at the sweat dripping from her forehead, cringing when she realised it was blood. Great Rachel is going to go ape shit at me now! Piling on the power, she dug deep for that last reserve of energy and just ran like hell.

It wasn't neat, and it sure as hell wasn't graceful because despite the athlete's reserve of power and drive she was hurting. It was however just enough to push her back into first place…by about an inch! Rachel was cheering the loudest of all (as per usual) but she was pretty sure she could hear some cheering come from Brittany and Santana as well. Sue was standing there with her arms crossed looking less than pleased and again Quinn wondered why the accursed woman had to oversee track this year. As she finally came to a stop, she also became aware of how much her leg was hurting. Feeling slightly wobbly, she collapsed on the benches that had been laid out. Rachel was there in a second and her face was not reflecting the proud girlfriend look. It was instead reflecting the half concerned, half stern look that Quinn knew she shouldn't find sweet but did anyway. Grinning dopily, she held her arms out.

"Come on Cheerio, gimme a hug already, I just won!"

Raising an unimpressed eyebrow, the brunette instead took the first aid kit from the Red Cross guy that had just run up. When he opened his mouth to protest the action, she glared so hard at him that Santana tried not to laugh. Quinn had no compunction however and chuckled slightly.

"Sweetie, I'm fine I just took a tumble on that damn steep incline. I got…distracted by something and next thing I knew, bam!"

Huffing, Rachel pulled the large bottle of antiseptic out of the kit and Quinn blanched. Even the thought of complaining however froze in her throat when she was pinned by slightly hurt brown ones.

"Quinn Fabray you may find it amusing to get injured but when I saw you running in with blood on your face and down your leg…you scared me you big jerk!"

Opening her mouth to apologise, she instead emitted a high- pitched yelp as Rachel squirted the disinfectant into the open wound. Beside her, Santana smirked at the athlete's reaction.

"Christ suck it up Q, you're meant to be a badass, what badass can't take a little disinfectant?"

Narrowing her eyes, Quinn waited till Rachel wasn't looking then flipped off the Latina who merely rolled her eyes while Brittany looked between the two of them disapprovingly. She then turned back to her girlfriend and reaching out, caught her hand to still the movements of the brunette who was wiping at the blood to clean it enough to see the actual wound.

"Hey…I'm sorry okay? I just didn't want to blow my chances at that scholarship and it doesn't hurt that bad. Couple of Advil and some ice and I'll be fine."

Her soft tone got through to the diva, as did her reason and the brown eyes softened as she squeezed Quinn's hand in return.

"I'm sorry too…and it was a fantastic win baby. I just can't help it, when I see you bleeding, it tends to make me nervous?"

Smiling crookedly, Quinn shrugged one shoulder and leaning down kissed Rachel softly while masking a wince.

"I think my knee's the worst. I just grazed my head and elbow when I went down but my knee took a hell of a crack."

Sue walked over and even Rachel knew enough to back up a little so the borderline insane coach could look the injury over.

"Looks like you might need a few stitches in that Q, what did you do fall on a spike? I expected better of you I have to admit. You think navigating that hillock of an incline was hard? Try doing it with landmines going off all around you and grenades flying at your face…THAT'S hard!"

Unable to work out quite how to respond to that statement, Quinn opened her mouth and glanced at the three Cheerio's who all imperceptibly shook their heads, she closed it again and just waited. After a moment, Sue turned to Rachel and the head Cheerio straightened under the gaze unconsciously. Sue smiled to herself; good to see she still had these girls where she wanted them.

"Berry, take Q to the hospital…and by hospital I don't mean back to your place where you can play whatever lesbian- based Dr and Nurse games it is you two normally get up to, I mean a real hospital where hopefully more healing than screwing goes on."

Despite becoming used to the eccentric coach's out of left field statements, Quinn couldn't quite stop the bright red flush that spread oh-so-tellingly across her face. Behind her, Santana smirked at the giveaway sign and Rachel shuffled whilst trying to glare at the same time, Brittany just looked confused. Sue turned her eye on the Latina, enjoying the familiar straightening of the spine.

"And you can stop laughing fun bags, don't think I don't know what you and cheerleader Barbie get up to in my showers!"

At that Brittany smiled and it was Santana's turn to turn crimson. Not that she felt even the slightest embarrassment at the act, itself; the fact that Sue knew however definitely unsettled her! Quinn smirked at her friend while Sue wasn't looking at her but quickly blanked her expression when the coach turned back to them.

"Berry, do you understand or do I have to get tickle me dough face and the rainbow warbler to sing it for you?"

Bristling slightly at the coach's nicknames for her friends Kurt and Blaine, Rachel nevertheless managed to nod and with a brief nod, Sue stalked off. Brittany immediately skipped over to the two and sat down next to Quinn who was wincing as Rachel wrapped a bandage round her knee.

"Hey Q, do you want me to carry you to Rachel's car? I can do it easily and Santana would probably drop you!"

Santana grinned evilly confirming that fact and Quinn just rolled her eyes as she turned to face Brittany with a smile.

"It's okay Brit, I think I'm fine to walk to the car, it's only a little cut."

Rachel promptly looked up at her with pleading eyes and with a heavy heart the athlete prepared herself for a lecture she knew she wouldn't be able to resist. Luckily, or maybe unluckily given your viewpoint, Santana was getting impatient for some alone time with her girlfriend so with a heavy sigh she cleared her throat pointedly getting all their attention.

"Let me save you all some time here okay? Rachel is going to look beseechingly at you with her Bambi eyes and come up with about fifty different reasons why you should let Brittany carry you to the car. You will be stubborn and obstinate at first because your pride get's in the way but you will eventually succumb to Rachel when she bites her lip because you always do. So let's save some time and then you guys can get to your family meal and I can get me some Brit time!"

Quinn and Rachel looked at each other for a brief moment in shock then the blonde ran her hand through her hair and smiled shyly at Rachel, who did indeed bite her lip as she smiled. Brittany leapt up and efficiently lifted the athlete into her arms, Quinn yelped slightly in shock then realised that was the end of things as far as the blonde dancer was concerned. Santana's word was law! Rachel sighed as she half glared at her 2IC.

"I should be mad at you, we like our little debates you know. However, I am thankful for your timely intervention."

Sighing, the Latina just watched with a fond smile as Brittany walked along in front of them telling Quinn a story about two ducks on the pond that she and San kept trying to adopt.

"Yeah well, as much as it sickens me to admit it, you and the prize fighter over there are sort of meant to be together. Although you really need to learn to talk like a real human rather than in your own little Rachel fashion."

Rolling her eyes, Rachel turned round and assumed her 'in charge' pose as she drew breath to begin her lecture. Before she could get started however, Santana bolted forwards to walk beside the two blondes, stamping her foot in irritation, Rachel ran forwards as well and Quinn smiled at her.

"Hey baby…I hope mom doesn't freak out at this, we need to be home in time for that dinner she keeps harping on about."

Smiling back, the brunette reached out and ruffled the messy blonde strands for a moment.

"Don't worry I'll see if I can get daddy to look at you. Sometimes nepotism is a good thing! We will definitely make it to the dinner though, for whatever reason your mother has been really anxious."

Blowing her hair out of her eyes, Quinn waited while Brittany helped her into Rachel's car, almost as soon as she was seated, Santana grabbed her girlfriend's hand and yelled a goodbye over her shoulder as she pulled the smiling dancer away with a wave. Once the doors were closed, Quinn reached over and catching Rachel by the collar of her Cheerio's top, she pulled her in for a proper kiss. After a moments shock, Rachel more than happily returned it.

"What's that for?"

The blonde smirked slightly and shrugging one shoulder, leaned in so she could whisper hoarsely to her girlfriend.

"You needed to congratulate me properly, I did win after all, plus…you know how damn hot I find you in that outfit."

Nipping the lobe of the ear underneath her lips, Quinn kissed it lightly before moving down the slope of Rachel's neck to bite gently at the diva's collarbone.

"This is not fair…and it will not deter me from taking you to the hospital to get the stitches…y…you need to…um sort out your kn…knee!"

Despite her protestations, her eyes fluttered shut and grinning in triumph, the athlete moved over her girlfriend until she was more on the driver's side of the car than her own. Making sure not to knock her throbbing knee on the dashboard, she gently manoeuvred Rachel until she was underneath her. Leaning her left arm on the seat in order to brace herself, she slid the right one very purposefully up underneath the incredibly flattering Cheerio's top. Even with her eyes closed and mouth busy keeping Rachel from talking, she managed to slide her hand to the soft skin underneath the diva's breast. Scratching lightly, she mentally fist bumped herself when she felt Rachel shudder underneath her. Knowing a person's weak spot's may be considered an unfair advantage but if it kept her away from needles and stitches she was all good with that.

Unfortunately, Rachel was also well aware of weak spots and thanks to having to live up to her HBIC reputation to keep McKinley a tolerant school, she had no qualms about using that knowledge either. The scratch on the sensitive skin was the step too far that let her know Quinn was stalling in an attempt to avoid a hospital encounter. As the blonde athlete moved her mouth across the brunette's jaw and towards the sensitive skin just behind her ear, Rachel made her move. She ran her hand down Quinn's side lightly, bypassing the ticklish spot (the accidental discovery of that particular area had resulted in the athlete yelping in a shocked giggle and falling out of bed at a highly inopportune moment) the diva headed lower, past supple hips and down. She almost hesitated when she felt even white teeth nip at the spot behind her ear that made her eyes roll to the back of her head. Almost but not quite, and she subtly ran her hand down until she brushed ever so lightly across the top of the heavily bandaged knee.

The reaction was immediate and unequivocal. Quinn sat up sharply hissing in pain and biting down on her lower lip to keep the profanity to a minimum. She had learnt early on the little diva had no tolerance for swearing…unless it was a highly exceptional circumstance. Quinn had a feeling that being caught out lying so you could avoid needles was not an exceptional circumstance. Waiting until she had both her breathing and expression back under control, the athlete finally opened her eyes. Yeah…Rachel did not look at all impressed at the failed seduction and blowing out a breath, Quinn had the dignity to at least shrug.

"Can you blame a girl for trying?"

Huffing slightly, Rachel pushed the blonde firmly but carefully off of her and sat up straight again. She kept her brown eyes fixed firmly on her girlfriend. Sighing, Quinn sat back up carefully and rolling her hazel eyes in what could be construed as a child- like sulk, clicked her seat belt on and folded her arms. Although Rachel would never confess it to the girl herself, she found the athlete's pout unbearably cute. Managing to keep her expression stern, she started the car and pulled out before talking.

"Quinn you're eighteen now and the thought of getting stitches and possibly a shot should not be reducing you to a pouting three year old."

Unable or unwilling to come up with a retort, the blonde instead sank lower in her seat and muttered.

"You are…"

Raising a sharp eyebrow, Rachel turned to glare.

"Don't sulk like that. I'll be right there and if you promise not to give the doctors and nurses a hard time…I'll reward you later."

Against her wishes, a smirk snuck across Quinn's face and glancing out the side of her eye, she saw the small but genuine smile mirrored on her girlfriend.

"So…this reward, would it be something I might get to enjoy while lying down?"

Laughing softly, Rachel chewed thoughtfully on her lower lip. She didn't answer however until they were stopped at the lights, then she turned her head and with a distinctly lascivious edge to her voice whispered.

"Eventually yes, though I prefer if we start standing up, I enjoy testing your stamina that way."

Embarrassed to admit that she felt light headed just at the thought, Quinn cleared her throat and fiddled with the zip on her warm up jacket while she remembered how to talk.

"Rachel, this is completely unfair, I hope you realise that, I mean…I'm pretty sure it counts as emotional blackmail or something."

Grinning widely at that point, Rachel thanked God or more appropriately in this case, Satan for blessing her with a friend like Santana. If not for her she would have felt a little intimidated at the skill's Quinn displayed. However with a little advice from Santana and a lot of research on certain websites, Rachel had proceeded to quite simply blow the blonde's mind, amongst other things.

"I don't seem to recall you doing much complaining last time, in fact all I remember was being ordered to speed up…or go harder."

Flushing slightly, Quinn actually looked around as though worried that someone might be in the back of the car that would hear them. Realising what she was doing she cleared her throat and then smirked slightly.

"Enjoy it while it lasts Cheerio, only a couple more days till I'm due my time of the month. Then we'll see who's begging who."

Now it was Rachel's turn to pout, that was something of an unfair advantage. Especially as there wasn't any way she could ask her friend for advice on that, not without revealing her girlfriend's secret, which was something she wasn't prepared to do. Although they had started out with hostility that had gradually given way to passion and respect, their relationship had continued to evolve. It was safe to say the two were each other's rocks and were rapidly becoming inseparable. Since their first time when Rachel had used slightly direct methods to gain the blonde's attention, the two had agreed to slow it down a little in the physical sense, in order to get to know each other better. And it had worked, amazingly well in fact as not only did they date properly as a couple, they also found that Quinn's mother and Rachel's fathers got on like a house on fire. As a result, the two families had spent numerous holidays together over the last year including Thanksgiving, Halloween and Easter.

There was even talk of a joint Christmas celebration, something Rachel's daddy (Leroy) was very eager for as both Hiram and Rachel weren't big celebrators of that holiday. Quinn was generally relaxed about most things, she got angry still if Jesse St James was mentioned or anyone started slamming teenage mothers. Apart from that however, she had a surprisingly relaxed approach to most of the things that stressed Rachel and her friends out. She wasn't phased by exams, peer pressure or the occasional rounds of heckling she and Rachel sometimes got from opposing teams when Rachel was cheering or Quinn was running. There was one time a guy thought it would be funny to try and dress up like Rachel and imitate her but he had somehow fallen from the bleachers and broken his leg. Something the athlete had sworn she wasn't involved in, even though Rachel was sure she had seen her girlfriend and Santana exchange a subtle fist bump shortly after the guy's fall.

Shaking herself from her memories, Rachel just sighed and glanced across at the all too smug looking blonde before smiling innocently.

"Well I guess that depends on how many stitches you end up having in your knee doesn't it? You may not be up to much if you're told to keep it elevated and rested!"

Sighing dramatically, Quinn couldn't help but smile at the gentle teasing and she leant across to steal a quick kiss before the lights changed.

"You're lucky I love you Berry."

Smiling back happily Rachel nodded in agreement.

"I know…now remember not to look at the needle when they inject you okay, if they inject you that is."

Hazel eyes widened in mild panic.

"If they stitch me up they have to don't they? I don't want a needle going in and out of my skin if they don't numb me…that would kind of hurt, as in a lot and I can't be seen to faint as I have a reputation to protect."

At that, the tiny diva chuckled and although Quinn attempted to glare at her girlfriend reprovingly, she failed quite epically.

"Sweetie, I hate to remind you of this but the whole school saw you cry when that cat got hit by a car. Until then you had a reputation, after that, they all know you're just a regular girl with a massive heart."

Caught between another sigh and a smile, Quinn settled for rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly.

"I hate how you manage to word things so that I can never take offence at them. It's infuriating; I hope you realise that."

Shrugging slightly, Rachel turned into the hospital car park and began the hunt for a space close to the entrance.

"It's part of my charm, the ability to out talk Socrates. And anyway I thought it was amazingly heroic of you to dash out amongst all those cars to rescue the poor thing."

Quinn blushed and tried to shrug it off as she muttered.

"Yeah well anyone would have done the same Rach, it's just that I was nearer than most."

Sliding into a spot an elderly couple had just vacated, Rachel killed the ignition and turned to face Quinn with an expression of pure disbelief.

"Quinn Fabray may I remind you that you actually leapt over a car and were subsequently hit by one on your way to rescue Oliver Twist, and then you spent the money you had saved to take your pilot's licence test to make sure he had the operation he needed."

Wincing slightly at the brunette's words, Quinn sighed.

"Rach honey, that isn't his name! I keep telling you he's too tough and gnarly to have a wimpy name like 'Oliver'! His name is Tom, as in the F14 Tomcat. It's a cool and tough name for a cat that got hit by a car, lost a leg but still soldiers on."

Huffing slightly, Rachel held down the urge to stamp her foot in irritation and crossed her arms stubbornly instead.

"Oliver Twist was a stray too, and he survived a lot and ended up living with really kind people just like Oliver the cat ended up living with you and your mom. Not that I think she likes it or him as much as you do."

They both shared a slight wince as they remembered Judy's reaction when she found that Oliver/Tom had shredded the back of the couch by using it for a scratching post. Or the fact he always snuck into the laundry room and got black hairs all over the clean folded clothes. Even the fact he brought her regular presents of mice and birds didn't overly endear him to Quinn's mother…of course they were still alive at the time, which didn't help. Quinn had lost count of the amount of times she had been woken early in the morning by her mother's shrieking. Inevitably, the athlete would spend the majority of her school preparation time chasing down whatever little gift the three- legged black cat had brought home.

"Well we had a talk about that and I think he knows that those kinds of gifts are definitely not cool! And we can discuss his name more later…I guess seeing as how he's sort of both of ours really. I mean you did buy his bed and toys and stuff, plus I kind of like the idea of him being both of ours…is that dumb?"

Finishing shyly, Quinn rubbed the back of her neck and glanced at Rachel curiously. Smiling widely in response, the diva took one pale hand and gently kissed the knuckles.

"I think it's something I love the sound of too baby. Now come on the quicker we get you in there and stitched up, the quicker we can get home and cleaned up for your mom's dinner."

Sighing, the blonde nodded and tried not to look like she was being led to her doom. It wasn't that she hated hospitals so much as she hated needles. She hadn't confided it to anyone but Rachel but she was kinda (or a lot if she was honest) phobic when it came to injections. Therefore, the thought of stitches was enough to turn her stomach and leave her feeling faint before they had even gotten in there. Leaning heavily on the HBIC, Quinn made her way into the E.R and tried not to pout too much as they went through the filling out of the paperwork. Eventually, she went in to see a doctor who looked exhausted, Quinn smiled winningly as the raw mess that was her kneecap was revealed.

"You look kinda tired there Doc, I mean if you want to just clean it and send me on my way I would totally understand!"

The doctor raised an eyebrow before running a hand over her long hair and turning to face Rachel with a small smile.

"So is she scared of Doctors in general or is there something specific?"

Rachel grinned while Quinn huffed and muttered to herself whilst being ignored by both the other occupants of the cubicle.

"You could say she has a slight phobia of needles yes."

The doctor turned back to inspect the gaping wound and pulled a face as she inspected it.

"Well…it needs cleaning out, you did a good job but there's still some dirt in there. I think it's going to be a cleanout and then maybe nineteen odd stitches to close it over. After that you'll be good to go."

Despite the cheery tone in the weary doctor's voice, Quinn groaned and paling, let her head fall into her hands. Rachel chuckled and laying a conciliatory hand on the blondes shoulder, nodded for the doctor to continue. Despite the shaking from nerves, Quinn managed to make it through the procedure and by the time she was given a prescription for the pain later, she was nice and comfortably dozy. Rachel helped her into the car and when they got back to the athlete's home she made sure she got in okay before heading back to her own place to dress for that evening's dinner. By the time she got back to Quinn's house, the blonde was alert again, showered and dressed in loose jeans, a soft white button down shirt and some worn western style ankle boots. Rachel raised an impressed eyebrow and gave a low whistle.

"Nice, you scrub up fairly well Fabray."

Rolling her hazel eyes, Quinn could not quite hide the amusement they held. With a small smile, she bent down to place a kiss on the smirking lips of her girlfriend.

"You're not looking so bad yourself there Cheerio."

Glancing pointedly at the tight fitting but flattering deep green dress, Quinn smiled happily. Shrugging a shoulder as though she was well aware of how good she looked, Rachel flipped her hair with one hand.

"I know, it's all part of maintaining the HBIC image. Look hot, maintain the best GPA in the school and date the biggest jock."

Folding her arms and leaning on the wall beside her, Quinn raised one eyebrow in its most impressive arch ever.

"Well, firstly, you only have the second highest GPA in the school, and that's a joint second place with me let me remind you. Mike has the highest GPA and there are so many jocks that are like…way jockier than me!"

Rachel tried not to laugh as she regarded the blonde in front of her.

"Well in answer to your assertion about my GPA, I was referring to the female students so Mike doesn't count. Secondly, if you keep using words like jockier instead of more obvious and oh…real words like athletic or physical, then we won't be joint top for much longer. And while they may be jockier, as you so eloquently put it, they are most certainly not as goddamned gorgeous."

She walked closer to Quinn as she talked and by the time she uttered the last few words, she was toe to toe with the rapidly reddening athlete whose back was now against the wall. Glancing around to check that her mother was not in view, she smiled shyly and rested her forehead on Rachel's.

"You're just biased, you know that right…plus isn't your ex like a total jock as well?"

Brown eyes rolled slightly and small tan hands reached up to tangle in the short choppy blonde locks.

"I'd rather not be reminded of him when all I can think of is tearing those jeans off and shoving my fingers so far inside of you that you won't be able to walk straight for a week."

It always turned Quinn on like nothing else when she heard Rachel talk this way, even without the profanity it made her weak at the knees and she was glad for the wall at her back. Biting her lip to hold in the whimper that was trying to get loose, Quinn looked heavenward and murmured a prayer. Rachel chuckled and nipping lightly at Quinn's chin, she finally pulled back.

"However, for now we have a meal to sit through though, after that I expect you to drive me home and then let me have my way with you."

Managing to regain the use of her legs at the same time as she re-grasped the concept of language, Quinn shook herself and rushed to catch up with Rachel's swaying hips. Skidding to a stop next to the diva, she bent her head slightly until she could whisper hoarsely.

"That was so not fair Berry! All I'm gonna say is when my co pilot gets here, you are definitely going to regret that."

Turning around so she was facing the athlete and away from Judy she allowed her pleasant smile to turn mischievous again and winked slightly. One hand reached out and ran purposefully across the crotch of Quinn's jeans as she half growled out.

"Not that you need that particular appendage to fuck me into a coma, I have to say that I was hoping you would say that."

With one last smirk, the tiny diva turned on her heel and headed towards the counter where Judy was frantically trying to put the finishing touches to the side dishes. Effortlessly, Rachel 'conversed' in ASL while the blonde teenager watched with a half fond, half exasperated smile. It delighted and also surprised her that no one knew the real Rachel Berry. Everyone just saw a sweet yet determined girl with an extensive vocabulary and an extremely fair mind. What they never even guessed at was the fact that Rachel Barbra Berry was perhaps one of the horniest people Quinn had ever met, and while she rarely if ever swore, she got her point across very concisely using other methods. Even Santana who knew Rachel better than anyone, assumed that when it came to anything relationship wise Quinn would be the boss though , she couldn't have been more wrong!

However, as Quinn watched how easily her girlfriend interacted with her mother and genuinely cared for both Judy and herself, she couldn't help but feel incredibly grateful. It was actually very liberating in a way for Quinn to let go of the reins for a while. Her life this past year had been wonderful but ever since the incident with Jesse that landed her in Juvie, she found her temper was on a much shorter leash. Wrestling with it had become a daily task of Herculean proportions, as much as Rachel tried to understand Quinn could sense that it was a side of her that the brunette was actually a little afraid of. That was when she became thankful for her friendship with Santana, if anyone was going to understand how difficult it was to control their anger, it was the hot headed Latina.

Not that she had been open to the idea of confessing anything that is, not at first. In fact it hadn't been until Quinn was about to get her second warning for brawling that things came to a head. Before she could punch Amelia in the face for calling Rachel a freak, Santana had pulled her to one side. She was so angry she was unaware of just who it was that was holding her still, eventually though she calmed down and realised that instead of the judgement or pity she expected, the Latina just looked…nonplussed. Once she let her muscles relax, Santana had let her go and quietly just shrugged a shoulder and confided that if Quinn managed to get herself kicked out of school, Rachel would make the rest of the school year hell for everyone.

At the half joking half serious tone, Quinn had sighed and confessed that since she had gotten out of Juvie she had been finding it hard to control her temper. With a wry smile the Latina just nodded understandingly, after an awkward silence the two of them got talking and Santana offered to take Quinn with her to boxing. Although the idea seemed spurious at first, it quickly became a place of salvation for both of them. It was not uncommon for Santana to turn up at Quinn's in the middle of the night with a gym bag, or vice versa. The two had gotten a spare key to the gym they used and in exchange for a few odd jobs round the place, were granted 24-hour access to the place. They had even put on a couple of display matches for charity nights the club had, they always ended up against each other because they were well matched in ability and frame.

Rachel hadn't liked the idea at first, not because of who it was with but because the idea of encouraging any sort of violent behaviour felt wrong to her. After a private talk with Brittany however (one Quinn wished she or Santana had at least been privy to), she had relented and instead made them both promise not to hurt each other too much. Rolling their eyes, the two boxers had agreed and that was that. But it did mean that in the dynamic of their relationship, Quinn got to let go and Rachel got to take the control she found she needed. Shaking her head of her musings, the blonde smiled happily and loped towards the counter where she tried to sneakily snag an asparagus spear from an unattended dish. It wasn't that unattended however and she winced as a spoon cracked down lightly on her knuckles. Looking up, she smiled sheepishly at her unimpressed mother.

"Mom I'm hungry! That was a challenging run today…and I hurt myself so I need to get my strength back up?"

Seeing that her excuse had had about as much effect as flicking a dried pea at a charging rhino, Quinn changed tactics and turned to her loving and loyal girlfriend…who also remained unimpressed. Relinquishing her hand, the blonde sank into her seat at the table with a pout. Rachel sat next to her and it was then that Quinn noticed there was a fourth place laid out next to her mother. Frowning she caught Rachel's eye and gestured to the setting with her chin before raising an eyebrow, the diva shrugged and they turned to Judy who looked at once shy and giddy. Putting down the last of the covered serving dishes, the elder Fabray fiddled with her hands for a moment before forcing them to still and plastering on a smile before finally speaking.

"Well, we're almost ready, I'm just waiting for our guest then we can start…I hope you're hungry Quinn because I cooked extra chicken for you. And Rachel I did that vegan lasagne you like so I hope that's okay?"

Quinn just looked puzzled, partly by her mother's nervous behaviour and partly because everything about this dinner seemed so formal. Rachel however smiled pleasantly and kicked Quinn's shin under the table so she smiled too.

"That's lovely Judy, though I keep telling you not to cook a whole dish especially for me, I'm quite happy to bring something with me."

Judy rolled her eyes in a way that reminded the tiny diva yet again how like her mother Quinn was.

"Don't be so silly, you're one of the family now Rachel and I will always make sure you feel welcome enough here that you never have to bring your own food with you! Besides which, unlike some people at the table, you don't speak with your mouth full and you recognise the concept of dinner conversation."

Quinn mirrored her mother's eye roll and shrugged exaggeratedly as she grinned despite the criticism.

"Hey it was one time! You asked how the film was after all, is it my fault we went to watch Saw 3D and that you had cooked Bolognese? And the whole mouth full thing is just…well I sometimes forget that's all."

Rachel and Judy looked at each other and in an unspoken agreement, both reached out and ruffled the girl's carefully styled bed head hair. What followed was two set's of laughter and one annoyed yelp as Quinn tried to avoid her styled hair being messed with. The tussle was short lived however and quickly broken up when a throat cleared itself pointedly from the doorway. Three sets of eyes looked up and lit up with pleasant surprise, well two with surprise while one set softened noticeably. Quinn was the first to speak as she ducked out of the way of hair ruining hands.

"Thank god you turned up when you did…this hair takes like half an hour to style and they're ruining it!"

Stephen blew a raspberry of disbelief and looked at it as though it were a dubious piece of art. After a long and very deliberate pause, the older guy snagged Quinn into a gentle choke hold while he finished effectively ruining what was left of the careful style. Sighing exaggeratedly, the blonde just dropped her hands and gave up, when he was finally finished, he let her go and grinned at the other two.

"Now you have that proper bed head thing going on Q."

Rolling amused hazel eyes, Quinn slumped back into her seat and grumbled under her breath about annoying guardians. Rachel squeezed her thigh comfortingly under the table as she sat down next to her and leaned in close enough to whisper.

"I could have told him what your real bed head looks like but I don't want to give him a cardiac arrest."

Smiling quietly to herself, Quinn shook her head before replying.

"Listen up Berry, sex hair is way different to bed hair…besides which I don't term this style as bed head, it's more the kinda…relaxed shaggy look."

As Stephen sat down opposite the girls and next to Judy, he grumbled loud enough for them to hear.

"More like a bloody mess Fabray, they won't let you get away with hair like that in the Air Force kiddo."

Rachel's eyes shot towards Judy and as usual she saw the brief but quickly smothered look of pain and worry. Quinn always missed it but Rachel was very aware of Judy's and if she were honest, her own fear when it came to Quinn's choice of career. Catching Judy's warm green eyes, Rachel smiled reassuringly at her, after a moment the elder Fabray smiled back and tipped her a very slight wink. Oblivious to the silent conversation Quinn and Stephen were bickering over how much the blonde could get away with when it came to hair styles in the forces. Once Judy had taken her seat and the main dish and side dishes had been divided between them, the athlete spoke. Or to be more accurate, she opened her mouth to speak and then quickly closed it and swallowed her mouthful first when Rachel nudged her side sharply.

"You could have said it was only Stephen coming over for dinner mom, you were acting like it was the Queen of England or something!"

She then delved back into her chicken and vegetables missing the very brief look the two adults shared. Rachel never missed the subtle art of body language though, especially around Judy as she had watched her carefully when she first started to learn to sign. Though it didn't take an expert in ASL to interpret the warm look she shared with Stephen before he took and squeezed her hand lightly. The tiny diva found herself biting down on a gasp of surprise when she realised that Judy had moved her wedding ring to her right hand leaving the left one bare…she had a feeling the second part of this dinner was about to go either very well, or very, very badly. Judy waited until her daughter had finished what was in front of her but before she reached out to help herself to more corn, Judy cleared her throat.

"Actually Quinn there was something I wanted to tell you. Well, something we both wanted to tell you actually. And Rachel of course as she is practically one of the family now."

Frowning, the athlete rubbed the back of her neck and glanced at Rachel, that was when her worry started to blossom. She admitted that spending a year amongst a bunch of delinquents had made her slightly paranoid…but if Rachel also looked wary then it wasn't all in her mind.

"What is it, you aren't ill or something are you mom?"

Judy smiled and shook her head before giggling slightly nervously.

"No honey I'm not ill, in fact I'm feeling really good these days. And well I wanted to share the main reason with you, as you know Stephen has been spending a lot of time around here lately."

Quinn snorted relaxing slightly again as she drained the last of the soda from her glass.

"That's because he seems convinced that I'm going to go out and cause more trouble. When in fact I'm behaving like a model student."

Stephen sighed and shook his head at the assertion. Judy tucked a strand of hair nervously behind her ear and Quinn's face dropped slightly as she saw how the older guy squeezed her hand. Suddenly her appetite dropped off ,completely; in fact she was feeling a bit nauseous.

"What…mom what's going on?"

Rachel set her cutlery down gently and lay a hand on her girlfriend's thigh trying to ease some of the tension she could feel in the taut muscles. The blonde watched her mother carefully as she began to speak.

"Quinn, the last few years have been quite lonely for me, especially when what happened with you…happened. And I know that you're sorry and it wasn't meant as a dig. But I just want you to know that while I was so happy to see you home again and the way you settled in at your new school…I was still feeling a certain loneliness."

She paused and Quinn shifted awkwardly in her seat, partly from residual shame about her time in Juvie, and partly having to consider her mom's sex life. Judy let out a nervous breath and carried on speaking when Quinn didn't say anything.

"One of the things that has come about is that I have grown particularly close to someone recently. And things are developing to the point where I feel it is only right to let you know. Stephen and I are…well we have been dating and recently we started to talk about maybe progressing to something more serious, which is why I wanted to have this dinner."

A silence fell over the room that was deafening in its intensity, Rachel glanced at Judy and Stephen who looked cautious. Quinn looked confused…then, well then she started to stiffen up and her eyes narrow, Rachel winced internally.

"What…is this meant to be some kind of sick joke? Because if it is then it really isn't funny!"

Judy sighed and looked at her daughter beseechingly.

"Quinn please try to understand, it's been three years since your father died now and he always said he never wanted me to be lonely. You know Stephen and I'm sure your father would…"

Quinn stood up so abruptly; the chair fell over with a bang loud enough to make Rachel jump even though she could see it coming. Her attention was abruptly returned to her girlfriend when two-fisted hands smacked into the table. Leaning forward angrily, the blonde almost snarled with her words.

"Would what? Approve of you fucking his best friend because guess what mom, I don't think he would. I think he'd be upset enough that you spread your legs for the first man that came along, let alone in finding out it was his best fucking friend!"

Stephen glowered and got to his feet as well, matching the angry teenager's glare and then some.

"I can understand this news might be upsetting to you but don't you dare talk to your mother in such a disrespectful way ever again!"

Hazel eyes narrowed and Quinn tried desperately to control the rage she could feel growing in her chest like some sort of emotional volcano.

"And you! What the hell kind of man sleeps with his best friend's widow and thinks it's okay? You have the balls to lecture me on honour and respect when you do something like that!"

Judy was visibly upset and trying to get herself together enough to speak to her infuriated daughter. Swallowing, Rachel lay a gentle hand on Quinn's arm and tried not to shy back when the athlete swung round abruptly at the touch. She relaxed when she saw it was Rachel and behind the anger, the tiny diva saw the utter anguish Quinn was trying to hide.

"Quinn baby…please calm down okay? Your mom needs your understanding right now, it's understandable you're upset by this but if you just calm down and talk…"

Wrenching herself away from her girlfriend's hand, the blonde felt a whole other level of betrayal and suddenly it was far too hot for her in the house. And far too small, she just needed to get out and she needed to do it alone as obviously Rachel sided with her…whore of a mother. She knew that was harsh but when she looked at her mom she could still see her walking hand in hand with her dad, arguing good- naturedly over whose turn it was to do the dishes…and Stephen was ruining it all. Backing away from two wounded expressions and one angry and disappointed one, the athlete barked a sharp laugh that held no humour.

"I don't fucking believe this…you agree what she's doing is right? Well you know what…fuck you too then Rachel! You stay here and play happy fucking families with the home wrecker and the harlot because I'm out of here!"

Before anyone could say another thing or make a move, Quinn stormed out via the back door. She closed it so hard the entire frame shook and Judy let her face fall into her hands with a muted sob. Stephen moved to comfort her and looked over at Rachel who suddenly felt very awkward. Part of her wanted to go and help comfort the older woman whom she really did feel sorry for. But the other part was conflicted with a mixture of anger and hurt at her girlfriend's actions, she wanted to head out after her and demand an apology before trying to get her to see some sense. Stephen solved the dilemma for her by looking up from where he had his arm wrapped around Judy.

"Rachel can you please go after her and try and sort things out. Text me when you know where she is or Judy will only worry herself sick. And if she finds some way to get drunk don't let her back here until she's sober."

Rachel frowned slightly at that but nodded and with a brief squeeze of Judy's shoulder in reassurance, she grabbed her jacket and headed out of the house. As far as she knew Quinn had never touched a drop in the entire time she knew her, even at Puck's glee parties she avoided the alcohol and stuck to soft drinks or juice. The brunette's eyes widened as she realised that Quinn in fact had never even tried it, (something that even the squarest of high school kids did at least once) she avoided it like someone in AA…well shit!

Quinn was so angry she had no idea where she was going or what she was going to do when she got wherever it was! Rubbing her forehead in irritation, the blonde swore and kicked vaguely at the sidewalk as she stalked the streets angrily. How the hell dare her mom do that to her husband, to Quinn's father…it was disrespectful, it was disgusting! She realised vaguely that she was headed towards Santana's house and figured that actually made some kind of sense. Despite the fact that the Latina had told her in no uncertain circumstances that Friday evenings were off limits, Quinn found she didn't care. In fact, she hoped that it would rile the cheerleader up enough to start an argument with someone who'd shout back at her.

She knew she had been out of line to snap at Rachel that way; the little diva had always tried to play the role of peacekeeper no matter what the situation. But the blonde couldn't help it, she was so bloody angry and upset that she just couldn't even think straight and when Rachel had tried to be reasonable she just…flipped. Reaching the grand door of the Latina's house, that was on the very edge of Lima heights, Quinn skipped knocking and went straight to banging on the door with the side of her fist. After a short time the door was yanked open by a pissed off Latina dressed in nothing but a bathrobe. Scowling, Santana went to shut the door but the athlete put her foot out to stop it.

"Don't close the fucking door on me S! Not tonight not after…"

She stopped abruptly, growing even more angry at the hint of a tremor in her tone. After a brief moment when she realised this wasn't for some trivial reason, Santana swore and opened the door wider to allow Quinn to come in. Glancing up, the blonde saw the half naked form of Brittany peering from the back of the sofa and quickly averted her eyes before she saw anything else that S would kill her for mentioning. The Latina sighed and snapping her fingers in front of Quinn's face to get her attention again spoke harshly.

"Have you and my captain have an argument, because if you upset her Fabray…"

She let the threat trail off, expecting Quinn to sputter that of course it was not that but when she instead just lowered her gaze and thrust her hands into her pockets, Santana's eyes narrowed and she turned to Brittany.

"Brit, Brit will you go and find Rach for me please? Let her know Q is here with me okay and then make sure she gets home and doesn't worry. I'll take care of whatever the fuck this is."

Nodding, Brittany dressed quickly while Quinn stared at the ground steadfastly. She looked at the athlete with a trace of disappointment and then kissed Santana softly before heading out the front door. As soon as the door clicked closed, the Latina grabbed Quinn by the front of her shirt and hauled her into the lounge. Before the blonde could react to being manhandled, she found herself shoved into an armchair with a very pissed off cheerio in front of her. Planting her hands on her hips Santana glared so hard that Quinn forgot that the Latina was wearing an entirely too short silk gown.

"What the hell did you do Fabray! Rachel is one of the most forgiving and understanding people I know. If you pissed her off to the extent that you disturbed me on a Friday night instead of begging for forgiveness, then you really must have fucked up."

Wanting to argue her case, Quinn instead found that she was unable to talk at all. She looked away and swallowed the lump in her throat before trying again but all that came out was a strangled croak before she clenched her fist angrily. She wouldn't cry damn it, there was no way she was crying over this, it was dumb and…okay so she wanted to cry but it didn't mean she was going to. In an effort to stop herself from bursting into tears, she dredged up the righteous anger that had fuelled her earlier and slammed her fist into the wall beside her. There was a tan blur and Quinn found her fist caught in one of the Latina's strong hands while the other gripped her jaw and forced her to lock eyes with curious and slightly worried brown ones.

"Talk to me Q, you know you gotta unload this right?"

Finding it hard to talk with the grip on her jaw, Quinn just looked off to the side and swallowed again. After a moment she felt the hand relax on her jaw and Santana sat on the small coffee table to face the athlete.

"Come on, I know we don't do this talking shit but this time…there's something else going on that a few rounds in the ring wont solve. So come on and spill it Fabray, before I assume you broke my leprechaun's heart and I break your kneecaps."

The very real threat sounded odd when spoken by a tiny (God, not that Quinn would ever say that word out loud to Santana) girl dressed in a silk robe. Knowing however that it was more of a promise than a threat, the blonde blew out a breath and recounted the evening in detail. She wanted to leave out what she had actually called her mother and Stephen, even the way she had pulled away from Rachel. But Santana was very good at pulling every last detail from her and the athlete wondered if she had ever considered a career in the CIA. When she was done, Santana blew out a breath and then looking her straight in the eye, slapped her. Hard. Once the room stopped spinning, Quinn touched a finger to her split lip and muttered in a slightly stunned manner.

"Okay…what was that for?"

Crossing her arms and legs Santana shrugged.

"Take your pick, you know damn well you earned that and more with the way you acted. But as I can't speak for either your mother or your guardian let's say that one was for hurting Rachel the way you did. We both know as commanding as she can be, she would never slap you even when you need it."

Working her jaw to double check it was undamaged (hey, Santana can hit really hard and Quinn was all too aware of that from their sparring sessions), she sighed and looked away again.

"I was thinking you should work in the CIA but now I'm revising that opinion and think that perhaps you'd make a good dominatrix."

She was only half joking with that suggestion but as the Latina raised a cool eyebrow, she swallowed down a sudden fear and when Santana surged forward abruptly she barely kept in a yelp of surprise.

"Not a bad suggestion Fabray, maybe I'll mention it to Rach. Because you Quinn Fabray have acted like nothing but a spoiled brat tonight and you damn well know it! If it were up to me, when I was done with you, you wouldn't be able to sit for a week. Maybe then you would grow up and realise your mother and Stephen have been there for you since your dad died and if he could see you now he would be nothing but ashamed."

Quinn wanted to look away but when she tried the hand was back on her chin and she was forced to face the angry brown eyes in front of hers. She knew there was no justification for her behaviour other than shock and…god did she have to talk about this? Looking into her best friend's unyielding eyes, she knew that yes, she did.

"I…know I just freaked out. I wasn't expecting it, or okay maybe I was. If I'm honest, a part of me has known for a while but it just felt like if it was real then… he was really gone. I mean I know he is but…it would be final. With him always being away for months at a time, I could fool myself that he wasn't dead, just on a really long posting. But now it's gone, the last stupid string of hope I had just burned and sent me tumbling to the ground and I can't…I just…"

Despite her resolve, she ended her sentence in a choked sob and Santana slipped off of the table to sit next to the distraught blonde. Quinn just cried herself out into the sheer fabric of the Latina's robe as she accepted her father's death finally and completely. It was stupid because she had been to his funeral but…she had always held that childish hope that one day he'd turn up with his dazzling smile and declare it had been just a mistake. Then he'd pick her mom up and twirl her round as she giggled then he'd kiss her while Quinn pulled a face and pretended it grossed her out when in fact it made her heart glow. But now she had to accept the fact that would never happen. Russell Fabray was dead and when her mom had finally looked as though she might be able to smile that way again…Quinn had acted the way she had. She was mad at herself and half wished someone would punish her for lashing out and hurting the people closest to her. When she finally felt cried out enough to talk she sat up exhaustedly and wiped her nose on her sleeve. Santana pulled a face.

"Gross Fabray, at least use tissues."

Accepting the box of tissues, Quinn cleaned herself up and sat back in the cushions. She felt awkward now; she and Santana had never had the sort of relationship where they could talk to each other about sensitive stuff. She had always had Rachel for that, until tonight when she pushed her away. Santana's phone beeped and she looked briefly down at it before tucking it away with a small nod.

"Brittany took Rachel home and sat with her while she cried. She's asleep now."

Quinn winced and looked away before catching Santana's eyes.

"Don't sugar coat it for me will you Lopez?"

Snorting, the Latina inspected her nails idly before looking back up and with serious intensity ground out.

"You're lucky I love you Fabray, and if you ever repeat that you'll be picking your teeth out of your shit for the next year at least."

Swallowing slightly, Quinn just nodded. She had no doubt that if she were anyone else she would already be in the E.R again.

"I know and I appreciate the lack of bodily harm. I just…I don't know how to fix this. I mean Rachel will forgive me like you said but I need to earn it. I know she was trying to reach out to me tonight and I just shut her down cold. I promised I'd never do that and I did…Jesus I almost wish I was still young enough to go over someone's knee."

Santana just smirked, but it didn't look exactly amused. In fact, it made Quinn highly uncomfortable and she felt the need to explain herself.

"I just mean…that I feel like I messed up bad and…you know what? Never mind. And stop smirking at me like that it's kinda…creepy."

At that, Santana laughed outright and punched Quinn's shoulder lightly before pulling her up and led the way to the kitchen. Reaching into the fridge, she pulled out two beers and proffered one. Normally the blonde refused all alcohol but this time she hesitated and had to reach up and rub her jaw before finally shaking her head reluctantly.

"No…a soda's fine, I'm not in the mood to drink."

Raising a disbelieving eyebrow, Santana closed the fridge door with her hip and after taking a sip of her beer, watched Quinn chug half of her soda with a thirst that stemmed from more than dehydration.

"So, how long have you been on the wagon?"

Santana watched as hazel eyes widened in disbelief before a sigh escaped Quinn's tightly closed lips. Running a hand through her hair, she leant on the counter behind her and half smiled without any real humour.

"How did you know?"

Shrugging, the Latina set her beer down and just tilted her head slightly to one side.

"My papi has problems with drink. Not so much now because he attends regular meetings but I kinda guessed by the way you never touch the stuff. That and the fact you just chugged that root beer like you wished it was a real one."

Toying with the lip of the can, the blonde rubbed the back of her neck and muttered her reply softly.

"After things with Gabby…I was under house arrest waiting for the trial and I just kept thinking about what he had done and what I had done. So I just…it made me stop thinking about it altogether. At first it was easily hidden but when I was sentenced, things got real pretty fast. They could get hold of anything in there…for a price and for a while I willingly paid what I had to, to get a drink. I hated myself and a part of me wanted to drink until I didn't wake up. But then one of the girls in there, she sort of helped me straighten myself out…I haven't touched a drop since."

After a long moment of silence between the two of them, Santana walked towards her and Quinn almost closed her eyes, half expecting another slap. Instead she found herself wrapped in a genuine and not at all awkward hug. After a moment she returned it and when they broke the embrace there was a new level of comfort and understanding between the two hot-headed girls.

"Once you finish that you need to go and make things up with Berry. She'll only worry herself sick if you don't. Then you're going to tell your mom what an ass you were and everything that you told me tonight…okay?"

Rolling her eyes slightly Quinn nevertheless smiled and nodded her acquiescence.

"Yeah, of course."

They both drained their drinks and then Quinn remembered something else she wanted to ask the cheerleader. Strictly speaking, she should ask Rachel but she didn't want to distress the little diva any more. But that afternoon at the race, she could have sworn she'd seen St James and if anyone was in touch with the gossip around Lima it would be Santana.

"S…have you heard anything about Jesse being back in town?"

Santana frowned and looked at Quinn curiously as she drained the last of her beer.

"No, not a word but that's hardly surprising, I mean Rachel stopped ringing him or taking his calls after she found out about your best friend. I think he must have gotten the message that he's not exactly wanted around here…why do you ask?"

Rubbing the back of her neck Quinn felt a throbbing start up again in her knee as her mind returned to the moment she thought she had seen that arrogant smirk

"It's just at the race this afternoon…right before I fell, in fact it was the reason I fell, I thought I saw him. He was standing on the bluff and it threw me off enough that I fucked up the steep drop…hence my Frankenstein knee."

The Latina looked thoughtful as she tried to recall if she had heard anything on the grape vine about the young actor's return to his hometown but she couldn't recall anything.

"I can't think of anything, but I can put out a few feelers…if you're that convinced that you saw him."

Reaching up to rub her jaw, Quinn winced when she touched the tender skin that Santana had slapped. As the Latina smirked, the blonde dropped her hand and then nodded.

"I would like to know yeah but…can you do it without telling Rachel? And before you get all defensive and angry at me, let me explain."

Crossing her arms, Santana raised an eyebrow and tilted her head for Quinn to continue.

"If it's nothing I don't want to upset her, she already feels bad that she never thought that his actions would hurt someone like they did. If he's still sunning himself in L.A then there's nothing to worry about is there? And if he is then at least we can both tell her and it will be less of a shock."

Letting out a breath Santana threw her hands up.

"Fine but if it backfires then you take all the blame Fabray."

Grinning slightly, Quinn punched Santana's shoulder lightly this time and deliberately softened her voice.

"Thanks for like…listening to me and slapping some sense into me, though maybe not the literal slapping part. That really hurt in fact, but ya know, thanks for the rest."

Acknowledging the thanks with a slight inclination of her head, Santana leant on the doorframe as she watched Quinn head out into the unseasonably warm evening.

"Yeah well don't mention it…seriously, unless you want to revisit that whole picking teeth out of your excrement thing then never mention it again."

Nodding in understanding, the athlete held a hand up and headed down the street towards Rachel's house. She only got a few steps before Santana called after her.

"Oh and Fabray…you hurt my captain again and that punishment thing won't just be theoretical. I'll talk to Rachel and get her to agree. Understood?"

Swallowing the very real lump of cold panic, Quinn nodded her understanding and shivered at the smirk on Santana's face as she closed the door. Somehow it didn't sound like an idle threat, and while some people thought the idea of punishment was a turn on Quinn was not one of them. And something told her that at Santana's hand, it would be anything but enjoyable. Sighing, she sent a quick text to her mom to say she was okay and would be home soon; she received a curt acknowledgement and winced as she slipped the I Phone back in her hip pocket. That was going to be a very difficult and awkward conversation. It was past midnight when she got to Rachel's house and the windows were all dark except the diva's.

There was a little glow from the window, which meant the bedside lamp was still on. Knocking on the door at this time of night was out of the question and for a moment she wondered why she had listened to Santana's suggestion. Sighing, she ran her hands through her hair and eyed the tree opposite Rachel's bedroom window. It wasn't exactly in line with it but if she was careful she could reach over and climb onto it safely. She was here now and the thought of going to sleep with the brunette still thinking that she hated her was unacceptable. Swearing under her breath, she boosted herself into the tree and started to climb. Once at the right level, she started shimmying out on the branch that pointed towards Rachel's window.

When she was in reaching distance, she made the tiny half leap and grinned in triumph as she latched on safely. Fate seemed to be on her side when she realised the window was already open an inch; reaching down she pulled it up gently and then moved inside. The careful entrance she had planned went awry as she belatedly realised that the elliptical had been moved to in front of the window. With a strangled yelp, she fell the last couple of inches and was then blinded by the sudden light of the room's main bulb coming on. Just when she could blink away the dazzle, she felt fire explode in her eyes, or at least that was what she swore it was. As she screamed at the pain, she heard Rachel's much talked about rape whistle being blown and all hell broke loose.

Twenty minutes later saw Quinn sat in the kitchen on a straight- backed chair while Leroy cleaned the mace out of her eyes and tried not to laugh. Rachel was apologising profusely as she paced back and forth, interspersed of course with the odd 'What on earth did you think you were doing!' or the ever popular 'You could have knocked on the door!'. Hiram had made a pot of cocoa for them all and when the blonde's eyes had finally been cleared of the last of the pepper spray; she was confronted by two amused men and one slightly worried girlfriend. Leroy cleared his throat as he picked up his mug.

"Well, I suggest you two talk about whatever it was that made you attempt a Romeo, Quinn and then either sleep here or get home before your mother panics. Are we clear?"

The athlete blinked bloodshot eyes and nodded with a subdued 'yes sir', both Rachel's fathers managed to make it upstairs before laughing into each other shoulders.

Downstairs Quinn found herself suddenly shy as she was alone with her girlfriend.

"Rach I…I was an ass tonight, to you and my mom."

The little diva sighed slightly and taking Quinn's hand led her to the sofa, they settled down and Rachel finally spoke. It broke the athlete's heart how lost and hurt the brunette sounded when she talked.

"I understand you were shocked Quinn but what you called your mother was…it was horrible and ugly and she didn't deserve that. Stephen has always been there for you as well and what you accused him of…how could you do that?"

Swallowing, the blonde ran a hand through her hair and wondered how, or even if she could explain her actions. It occurred to her that while she and Rachel had known each other a fairly long time now, it was the first time the little diva had witnessed the nasty side of the athlete's personality. It was a side of her that Quinn herself hated but sometimes, mostly when she was angry, she couldn't stop herself from saying everything that occurred to her. She turned so she was facing Rachel and took one of her small tanned hands into both her calloused ones, rubbing it gently as she began to talk stiltedly.

"I…okay, this is hard…I spoke to Santana and she slapped me for being a douche. Don't yell at her because she was right, I was a douche and I hate that I hurt you by doing what I did. You are the most amazingly understanding person I have ever met and I sometimes worry I won't ever be good enough for you. And then I do something like I did tonight, you were trying to comfort me, get me to see sense when I was refusing to…and I pushed you away. I'm sorry for that, more sorry than you will ever know in fact. I can only apologise and hope you give me the chance to explain. I can promise you I will also be apologising to my mom and Stephen tomorrow."

After a long moment of peering into the hazel eyes in front of her, Rachel realised that she could see no trace of the angry and hurting girl that had been in there hours before. Relaxing, she smiled softly and leaning forward pressed a very gentle kiss to the small split on the swollen lip that Santana had caused.

"Of course I forgive you…even if you are a gigantic idiot, just don't ever push me away again Quinn! I'm never going to stay away from you no matter how hard you push…so just let me in and we can cut down on a lot of stress okay?"

Smiling slightly, Quinn nodded and pulled Rachel into a gentle but loving embrace. From her muffled shoulder, Rachel couldn't help but remark.

"Also I don't particularly like making you hurt baby, nor do I like giving my fathers a heart attack with the rape alarm…but you really do know how to make an entrance don't you Froot Loop."

Smiling fondly, Quinn kissed the top of the diva's head and nudged her lightly with a shoulder.

"Yeah well, I figured I had to make a grand gesture…though the mace and your fathers weren't exactly meant to be part of that grand gesture."

Against her will, she found herself giggling slightly at how it must have looked, after a half-hearted slap at her side, Rachel giggled again and soon they couldn't stop. The laughter was a good dissipation of the stress they had both felt and by the time the laughter stopped they were both tired. Stifling a yawn, Rachel struggled to her feet.

"Come on Fabray, take me to bed and let's try and get some actual sleep before the sun rises hmm?"

Quinn struggled upright and firing off a quick text to let her mother know she was staying over at Rachel's that night (with her fathers' permission of course) then she allowed herself to be dragged upstairs. She had a pair of sleep shorts and an old T-shirt left over from one of her previous sleepovers which she changed into and soon enough they were snuggled up under the duvet. As she closed her eyes, Quinn felt another pang in her chest as she realised she could have lost this tonight. All because she couldn't keep her temper in check, she could have lost the most important thing in her life. She never thought she would feel as protected and safe and loved as she had when she had been a little girl in her father's arms but now,…now she had more than that. She had Rachel and even if she had to saw off an arm to keep her she would do so. Though even at the thought she grinned, imagining Rachel reprimanding her for not being prepared for such an eventuality as possibly needing to saw off a limb. She really shouldn't have made Rachel watch the Saw films with her. Rather than either enjoy them or be grossed out or even frightened by them, the little brunette had insisted on pointing out all the inaccuracies. It had made Quinn laugh so hard that she almost wet herself, though people looked at her oddly whenever the films were mentioned in conversation and she started giggling. But thanks to a sobering conversation with her odd but amazing best friend and the forgiving nature of her girlfriend, she had another chance. Pulling the diva closer to her, she pressed a kiss to the back of her neck and smiled as Rachel giggled tiredly.

"That tickles, go sleep okay…tomorrow we make things right with your mom. Then maybe I will let you take me to the movies to watch the new version of the Thing."

Burying her nose in the crook of her little spoon's neck, Quinn rumbled a slight laugh before yawning.

"Well, I shall make sure that I pencil that in."

A small hand reached back to slap her ass lightly and Rachel managed to mutter sleepily.

"Damn straight you will Fabray, now go to sleep."

Smiling tiredly, Quinn pressed another gentle kiss to Rachel's collarbone and muttered a sleepy 'yes ma'am' before starting to snore softly. In front of her, Rachel smiled happily and closed her own eyes, quickly following Quinn to sleep.

The next morning, Quinn woke first and for a moment couldn't remember why she was in Rachel's bed instead of her own. Then with a sinking feeling in her stomach, she remembered what had happened with her mom and Stephen. Thinking that Rachel was still asleep, the blonde reached up under her T-shirt and clasped the dented dog tags tightly as she closed her eyes and muttered.

"I'm so sorry dad…I know you would have wanted mom to be happy I just…it hurt, I'm so sorry, I'll make it up to both of them, somehow."

She was mildly surprised but infinitely comforted when one of the little diva's smaller and delicate hands brushed gently across her stomach to wrap around the one that was clutching the squares of damaged steel.

"He knows you love him baby, he knows you didn't mean it. Now all you have to do is make sure your mom knows you didn't."

Opening her eyes, Quinn turned to face her girlfriend, Rachel's warm brown eyes were peering into hers with love and trust. So much of it in fact that the athlete felt dizzied by it and she closed her eyes again.

"I don't get how you do it, how you always manage to see the best in me."

Smiling softly, Rachel reached out with her other hand and caressed Quinn's face softly until she opened her eyes again.

"Because you refuse to see it for yourself, you made a mistake because you were hurting…I hate to break it to you but that means you're just an ordinary human."

Pouting slightly, Quinn allowed some humour to lighten her mood and let out an exaggerated sigh.

"You mean I'm not a prime physical specimen with the brain power of six Einstein's and the physicality of Aphrodite?"

To her credit, Rachel tried to keep a straight face but failed miserably and gave in to the giggles. While she convulsed with humour, Quinn deliberately deepened her pout and crossed her arms in feigned annoyance.

"You know…I could begin to take this personally! Especially after you maced me in the face last night."

Rachel slapped at her girlfriend's abs lightly and half glared as she attempted to wipe the tears of mirth from her eyes.

"Well really, you have never snuck into my bedroom before so what was I supposed to think when a stranger attempted to gain entry to my house via the window."

Rubbing the back of her neck and trying not to blush at her aborted attempt at off the cuff romance, the blonde shrugged.

"Yeah well…I know to text next time I guess. Also, I mean I don't particularly object if you felt like making it up to me?"

Propping herself up on one elbow, the tiny diva raised a dark eyebrow and regarded the blonde athlete stretched out beside her.

"Oh you wouldn't huh?"

Deliberately stretching out so her T-shirt rode up to reveal her abs, Quinn shook her head and arched with a yawn. Inwardly, she grinned in triumph when she saw the look of hunger in the brunette's eyes that she quickly tried to smother. Pushing the hem of the worn material a little further up her chest to ostensibly scratch at her midriff, she couldn't miss the way brown eyes flickered upwards to take in the barely there swell of one breast. Rachel looked into those playful hazel eyes and smirked; if Quinn wanted to play…then they would play! Moving so she was looming over Quinn, she bent down and placed an almost there kiss against the already pursed lips of the athlete. When the blonde tried to deepen it however, Rachel pulled back teasingly and moved her lips to a strong jaw line. No matter how Quinn moved, she could not get her girlfriend to increase the force of the kisses. Soon, she was whimpering with a combination of her growing arousal and frustration, it didn't help that Rachel knew her body all too well. Eventually pulling back enough to peer into frustrated hazel eyes almost obscured by the expanded pupils, the diva smirked.

"Not enjoying yourself baby?"

After a moments deep thought, Quinn managed to remember how to talk and growled out between gritted teeth.

"I swear to God Rachel Berry if you don't kiss me properly…!"

She never got to finish the sentence as two hands fisted in her already rumpled T-shirt and yanked her upwards by the material. Rachel crashed her lips powerfully into the blonde's, it left Quinn feeling as though she were being devoured…and she loved it! Her hands gripped the diva's hips and attempted to pull her closer, Rachel gasped as she felt Quinn's blunt nails dig into the skin just above the waistband of her sleep shorts. She needed no further encouragement and her own hands went up and under the top that covered the blonde's back. Rachel loved marking Quinn as hers; she had no idea if it was a residual effect of her HBIC personality or because she wanted to make damn sure that no one mistook the athlete as available. But whatever it was, every time they got like this Quinn wore the marks for days afterwards.

She knew it was going to be one of those times when Rachel took her lower lip between her teeth and bit hard enough to draw blood. Rather than flinch at the small pain, Quinn groaned and arched into the diva whose nails dug into the athlete's shoulder blades and gripped. What she didn't expect however, was for Rachel to then abruptly let her go and move off of the bed. Panting slightly and glad the appearance of her co pilot wouldn't be for a few days, Quinn managed to drag enough stray thoughts together to construct a sentence.

"Rae…what, I mean…where are you going!"

The brunette just smirked and slipped her dressing gown on before fastening it and shrugging. Leaning down to where Quinn was just a bundle of trembling nerves on the bed, she reached out and slowly but deliberately dragged the nail of her forefinger gently down the seam of the athlete's sleep shorts. Her smirk widened as she saw the shudder that rippled through her girlfriend's body.

"Oh, well I need to go and get a shower…and you don't get any more of this until you make an extremely heartfelt and genuine apology to your mother and guardian."

Letting her head fall back onto the pillow with a deep frustrated groan, Quinn double face-palmed and ground out from between gritted teeth.

"This is one of those actions have consequences things isn't it?"

Chuckling lightly (or devilishly if you happened to consult Quinn), Rachel nodded and nipped lightly at the blonde's defined abs before straightening up again with a cheerful smile.

"Yep, it sure is! Now get your ass home and so long as you behave yourself properly, I'll come pick you up later."

Letting her arms drop limply from her face, Quinn sighed and levered herself up to a sitting position.

"Why do you always pick me up, I could come get you instead."

Turning back around, Rachel's face was stern as she propped her fisted hands on her hips pointedly.

"We have been through this before Quinn Fabray! I will not be going anywhere with you on that death trap. When you get a car I'll think about it, but not on the bike!"

Sighing, the blonde started picking up her clothes from off the floor so she could get dressed.

"You should give it a try before you judge Rach and I have been driving it for ages and haven't had even one accident."

Picking up and passing Quinn her shirt, Rachel smiled softly and shrugged.

"Yes and I would like for it to remain that way. It worries me when you ride that thing, it scares your mom too."

Trying her best not to roll her eyes at that, the blonde lay on the floor and scrambled under the bed to drag her left boot out.

"Yeah well…she's my mom she's sort of always worried about me. It's in the contract I think, she's still freaking about me joining the Air Force. She loves you for talking me into college though."

Reaching behind the door to find Quinn's right sock and boot, Rachel passed them over with a smirk.

"Well I had powers of persuasion your mother most definitely did not have! Besides which you know as well as me that you made the best decision for you. Plus I'm sure that three years of partying and building and messing with engines won't exactly be a hardship for you."

Finally dressed, Quinn snagged Rachel as she passed and wrapped her up in a big hug nuzzling slightly into the crook of her neck.

"Actually it was the fact that we will have three years of parent free time in New York that really swayed me."

Snorting slightly, the diva turned around so she was facing Quinn and kissed her again. Properly this time, no teasing, just a gentle but firm affirmation of their love and commitment to each other.

"Good now go make amends, build bridges and whatever else it is you need to do. Then tonight we'll go see a movie and have some of that adult free time you've been craving."

Smiling happily, Quinn nodded and made her way downstairs, luckily Hiram and Leroy had already left so she didn't have to face the embarrassment of another apology about last night. Blowing out a breath, she snagged a bottle of water from the fridge and then started the walk home. She was both dreading and in a way looking forward to the talk she had to have with her mom. She dreaded it because it was never easy to face someone you had hurt, not when you loved them deeply and once again she felt that odd twist in her stomach when she remembered her mom's expression. But…when they finally had this talk she just hoped they could both move on. She accepted now that there was no way (outside of an episode of Sunset Beach) that her father was coming home.

Her family had changed and she had to accept that, she actually did accept that in fact. She still had her mom, an amazing woman she couldn't even think about not having in her life. And of course Stephen, she did have to admit she still felt a little betrayed, but the fact was she probably had known that he was becoming closer to her mom. Known but chosen to ignore just because it was easier, although in the end she had still ended up lashing out and hurting all three members of her new family. Swallowing the last of the now warm water in the bottle, she dumped it in the recycling and walked in through the kitchen door. Her mom looked up, eyes still red-rimmed from crying and Quinn felt her own tears welling as well. Biting her lip, she managed to squeak out an apology.

"I'm so, so sorry mom. I didn't mean any of that stuff, I was being an ass."

She started to walk forward at the same time as her mom got up from the chair and they met in the middle. Crushing her daughter in a hug, Judy felt the girl's tears soaking the collar of her dress where she was holding her. Smiling slightly, she fought her own tears down and rubbed soothing circles on Quinn's back, trying to help ease the crying that she could feel as the shoulders under her hands shook with the sobbing. Looking up, she saw Stephen leaning in the doorway and as much as she wanted to keep this moment between her and her daughter, Stephen was also owed an apology. Once Quinn's tears trailed off, she pulled away gently and reaching out, wiped her face with a tissue she produced from her pockets. The blonde smiled at the very familiar and childlike gesture as she allowed her mom to clean her face for her. When she was done, Judy leaned forward and kissed her forehead gently.

"I realise we could have approached telling you a different way, but what you said Quinn. It hurt and it was unnecessary. However, I want us to move on from this, I love you baby and I always will and I still love your father. I just…it's not fun to be alone sweetheart and Stephen is a good man. He has helped us a lot and you owe him an apology as well."

She peered into her daughter's hazel eyes worriedly and wondered what reaction that would get. Quinn blew out a small breath of air however and looked back into her mother's eyes with a small nod of agreement.

"I know, I lost my temper last night when I had no right to. Both you and he have done everything you could for me. And when I…when the attack happened you didn't make me break the trust I had even though you knew it would hurt my case. You accepted that I had to do what I had to do and you both backed me up. And if not for Stephen, I wouldn't have gotten early release or had much of a home to return to. I know he helped with the bills while I was in Juvie mom, until the government finally paid out dad's insurance."

Taking a deep breath, she turned and faced Stephen, she was aware he had been standing there for quite some time. She fiddled with her hands and almost shoved them in her back pockets but finally let them hang loose by her sides. It was hard to meet his eyes but one thing her father had taught her was that respect was all in the eye contact, and the least she owed this man was her respect.

"I…you didn't deserve my attitude last night, no one deserved that and I'm sorry. What's worse is I know that dad wouldn't be angry at either you or mom but at me. My reaction and the way I spoke to you both last night was shameful. Mom is lucky to have you…we both are."

She trailed off and tried not to flinch under his scrutinising gaze. Sighing, he brushed a hand through his grey buzz cut and walked forward. Tilting his head slightly to the side, he half smiled and gestured to her split lip as Judy came to stand by his side.

"Who belted you one? Rachel?"

Flushing slightly, Quinn shook her head and then when it was clear that both he and her mom wanted an answer, sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Um…no, Santana told me I was being a douche and then slapped me because she said I deserved it and Rachel was too nice to do it."

Judy smiled slightly and shook her head fondly; it was just like Santana. And although she didn't appreciate anyone smacking Quinn about she could see the point the Latina had tried to make. Stephen just laughed softly however and then gestured to her eyes.

"I see…and the pepper spray burns?"

At that, the athlete flushed a bright red and tried to avoid both their inquisitive gazes. To no avail however and they all moved to the kitchen table and the fresh juice and coffee that Judy had already laid out. Armed with fresh orange, Quinn reluctantly told them about her failed attempt to romance Rachel for forgiveness. After the laughter had finally died down, they relaxed and began to talk, really talk about what the recent developments would mean for their family. It was an exhausting talk and there were tears, when Quinn admitted the childlike dream she had of her dad's coming home, and laughter. But at the end of it, they had all reached a point where the bitterness of last night had passed. They were three broken individuals finally forming a family unit again, it wasn't going to be all hearts and flowers, not at first but they would get there. Finally with a wide yawn, Quinn excused herself and decided to head upstairs to shower and catch a quick nap before getting ready for her date night with Rachel. Remembering their last date night ensured she fell asleep with a huge smirk on her face.

Rachel was just getting out of the shower as well, fresh from a very successful dance class. Humming happily to herself, she went through her wardrobe while she carefully selected an outfit for that night. A grin spread across her face as she discarded several items that were far too racy for a movie visit. Eventually, she settled on a pair of black jeans that were so tight fitting they looked painted on. She'd just have to make sure she always walked in front of Quinn and knew the girl would follow her anywhere. After some deliberation, she dragged out one of her girlfriend's faded T-shirts from the back of the closet. It was one of Quinn's father's old Squadron T-shirts and it was perhaps the most wonderful gift the blonde had given her. Plus she knew Quinn really liked seeing her in it. She was just finishing up applying a few traces of make up when there was a knock on her bedroom door.

"Come in daddy, I'm just putting my makeup on."

Her smile quickly vanished when it wasn't her father that opened the door and strolled in, but Jesse St James. Her jaw hardened and she stood immediately, setting her mascara to one side and placing her hands on her hips.

"Jesse what are you doing here! I thought I made myself clear."

Instead of looking shamed or contrite, the arrogant actor just folded his arms and leant back on the wall.

"Nice to see you too Rachel, I was hoping we could actually talk about this, you were always very fair minded before so what's different now?"

Snorting, she mirrored his pose, only where his was relaxed and confident, hers was angry and confrontational.

"What's different now is that you have absolutely no shame do you? You don't even care what you did to that poor girl!"

He did narrow his eyes at that and pushing off the wall, took a few steps closer to his former best friend.

"You used to trust me Rachel, we used to be friends, and now before you even get my side of the story you decide to believe some slut and that Neanderthal Fabray over me!"

Rolling her eyes, Rachel threw up her hands angrily before placing them on the edge of the counter behind her.

"Now you listen to me Jesse St James, I know for a fact how you treat all of your conquests so yes I find it very believable that you would do such a thing. If you honestly think you had any justification to do what you did then by all means. Feel free to enlighten me!"

Blowing out a frustrated breath, Jesse took a seat on the edge of the diva's bed and after a moment shrugged and mustered up his most convincing smile.

"Look I didn't do anything she didn't want me to Rachel. She liked me and I liked her and we did what two people who like each other do…well except for you and your 25 rule anyway."

Ignoring the blush she could feel rising on her cheeks, Rachel retorted.

"Be that as it may you should have taken precautions to prevent any unwanted pregnancies! You had a responsibility to her and yourself."

Jesse scoffed.

"No I didn't, what I had was a responsibility to myself and I did that. I get regular checkups Rachel, she was the one who was risking pregnancy so she should have ensured she was protected. It certainly wasn't my job to make sure she didn't knock herself up."

Rachel's jaw actually dropped in shock when she realised that he wasn't joking but was in fact deadly serious. She sputtered a few times as she tried to think about how to word her next sentence while retaining her PG rated vocabulary…but couldn't.

"You amazing insufferable ass! It takes two people to get pregnant Jesse and you were one of those two. Failing that, you were responsible for helping her sort herself out once she was. But not only did you not do that you refused all knowledge and called her a slut!"

Again, Jesse rolled his eyes and allowed himself to slump back into the diva's soft mattress.

"Rachel please, think about it! You have as much ambition as I do and we both know what would happen if our names were ever tied to some sort of scandal like that. It's the sort of thing that can return decades later and ruin careers. There was no way I was going to let that happen so I told her to get rid of it, and I told everyone else that I never touched her like that. I won't let her mistake drag me down with her. But I came back to see my folks and figured that if I explained it to you in a way that you would understand we could move past this stupid little argument."

There were very few times in her life that Rachel Berry found herself truly speechless but this was one of them. She couldn't order her thoughts enough to decide what was the most insulting thing about this idiot's speech. The fact he thought she would understand, the fact he was convinced it truly had nothing to do with him or the fact he had the gall to sit there and act like it was just a 'silly argument'. Balling her hands into fists, she started calmly enough.

"I want you to stand up and get out of my house Jesse and I want you to do it as fast as you can! I never want to see your fatuous features again after today, and quite frankly even today was one day too many! That girl had a name it was Gabrielle, she was all but destroyed by you and your callous disregard for anything but your own pleasure. Quite frankly, you were lucky Quinn didn't hit you so hard it sterilised you and if you don't get out of my house right this very second I will do so myself!"

His casual grin turned into a vicious sneer and he surged upwards to his feet with a growl. Taking two steps forward, he was towering over the little diva angrily.

"Quinn? You call that bitch by her first fucking name? Just how close are you to that thug disguised as a girl? Hmm? Maybe it's her I should be having this discussion with because believe me Rachel Berry…if I was unwilling to let that stupid little slut ruin my reputation then what do you think I am willing to do to the whore that beat me up…especially if she's still spreading those lies about me!"

Suddenly, Rachel's anger turned to worry but not for her. Instead her thoughts went across town to her girlfriend, and to the shell of a girl still residing in Twin Peaks rest home. Swallowing hard, she flipped her hair back and tried to hold onto her anger.

"Don't you even think about hurting Quinn or Gabrielle, you have done more than enough and if you so much as go near them, I will have my daddy arrest you for something spurious until we can prove something greater!"

Jesse's eye twitched ever so slightly at that, Leroy Berry had always intimidated him through his sheer size alone, but the thought of Detective Leroy Berry coming after him was something else altogether. Rachel smiled slightly and crossed her arms as she saw the twitch but it faltered when he just smiled back coldly.

"I would like to see you try, besides which there won't be anyone about to spread rumours soon enough. And when you're holding that bitch Fabray's hand as she cries…just remember that she won't be sad for long because it will be her next!"

For a moment, Rachel thought he was actually going to hit her but he just smirked, turned on his heel and marched out the door. She didn't move until she heard the slam of the front door, at that point she rushed to her window and saw him pull away in his BMW. Swallowing her own nerves, she picked up her cell phone with a shaking hand and rang Quinn. Swearing when it went straight to voice mail, she then left an urgent message for the blonde to call her back before dialling Santana. It took a moment but eventually the phone was answered very gruffly.

"Berry this better be fucking important because between you and your wife in training I'm losing some serious sexy times!"

Rachel's next words however secured the Latina cheerleader's attention effortlessly.

"Jesse St James was just here…we need to get to Quinn, fast!"

Quinn was woken from a pleasant dream by her phone blaring at her, fumbling for it with one hand, she felt a familiar pain in her groin and groaned. The damn thing had only arrived early a handful of times but it looked like today, or to be more accurate tonight was one of them. Clutching one hand over her groin with a wince, she used the other to silence the phone which was blaring Glen Miller at her. Holding it up she could vaguely make out the words on the screen. What she saw made her sit up abruptly and slide the bar across with a fumbling thumb.

"Hello?"

There was a pause and in the background she could make out the familiar bustling sound of a busy evening at Twin Peaks.

"Hi, Miss Quinn Fabray? This is Dr Winfield…we have your number as an emergency contact for Gabrielle Armaro if we can't get hold of her parents?"

Running her free hand through her hair in mild anxiety, Quinn swallowed and nodded before remembering it wasn't a videophone. Cursing her idiocy, she cleared her throat.

"Yes, yeah I mean yeah I'm her, what's happened…her parents are abroad right now I think."

The truth was she had no idea where they were, they had been growing closer and closer to a nervous breakdown and the last time she had seen them they were heading to Europe to visit relatives.

"Well there has been an incident…and ah well we need someone to be here for her and as you are over 18 and a named contact it's fallen to you."

Half falling off of the bed, Quinn threw on some shorts and rummaged in the drawers for clean loose clothes as she put the phone on speaker.

"Just…tell me what's happened and I'm on my way!"

There was another hesitation before the doctor carried on talking in a gentle tone that was meant to sooth. To Quinn it just meant that there was bad news that needed to be broken gently. She struggled into some track pants and a USAF hoody before beginning to slide on socks and search for her track shoes.

"She…had a visitor and seemed to feel better, she even spoke a few words just after we served dinner. She asked if she could have a bath so we organised a bathroom for her, when she was in there the nurse left to go and fetch more soap. When she came back it became apparent that Miss Armaro had tried to take her own life."

Quinn stilled for a moment with one shoe on and the other half laced, swallowing the bile in her throat she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"How…I mean how did she…is she going to be okay?"

There was another small hesitation as the athlete forced her hands to complete the motion of lacing her trainers and tucking the laces away.

"It would be best if you were to come here so we can discuss it in person, she's in our intensive care unit at the moment."

Standing up and fumbling for the bike's keys from the dish on her nightstand, she grabbed her phone and took it off speaker before half running down the stairs,

"I'm on my way, be there as soon as I can."

She hung up without another word and looked towards her mom and Stephen who had come out of the kitchen frowning at her hurried footsteps down the stairs. Keeping it simple, she shrugged into her leather jacket and grabbed the crash helmet from the side.

"Gabrielle needs me, can you tell Rachel I'm sorry but I can't make tonight. I'll ring you later Stephen."

Pausing to kiss her mom's cheek, she ran out of the house and leapt onto the bike revving the engine a few times before taking off hurriedly, so hurriedly she was still fastening the chin strap with one hand as she drove.

She couldn't get the image of Gabrielle out of her head as she had last seen her. She had been pale, her long brown hair carefully styled by one of the nurses into a French braid. Quinn had sat for a while talking to her about her new school, running track and of course Rachel. Gabby hadn't replied but she had squeezed Quinn's hand, which had held onto hers throughout the visit and she smiled every so often. Now, now she was back to square one according to the doctor, had tried to kill herself again. It didn't make any sense and the one phrase that kept echoing in Quinn's head was 'she had a visitor' she had to find out who that had been. As far as she knew there was only herself and the girl's parents that ever went there.

Increasing the speed Quinn was so upset she didn't notice the bike was not behaving as it should. Her only thoughts were on Gabrielle, the best friend she had failed to be there for who now may finally have succeeded in killing herself. The Twin Peaks home looked deceptively peaceful from the outside and for the most part it was. It was only if you knew the stories behind the patients that stayed there that you began to get a hint of the turmoil the place hid. Pulling up outside the home, she killed the ignition and hurled herself up the stairs letting the bike fall onto its side as she ripped the helmet off. Skidding literally into the reception desk, she winced and managed to pant out.

"Gabrielle I'm here to see Gabrielle Armaro, a doctor um…shit I forget a lady doctor rang me and told me to get here ASAP!"

The receptionist was young, wide eyed and looked slightly terrified as she rummaged on the counter top looking for the relevant file. Quinn was about to snap at her and no doubt cause a scene when the doctor in question appeared. She was new to the home and Quinn hadn't dealt with her before, she looked kindly enough and definitely older than she sounded over the phone. Relaxing in the woman's presence almost immediately, the blonde trudged over after tossing the crash helmet to the receptionist who caught it with a yelp.

"Please just let me see her, talk to me on the way but take me to her."

Regarding the flustered teen in front of her for a long moment, Dr Winfield nodded her grey head and started to lead the way past the comfortable looking rooms that the general public spent time in. They passed through a set of heavy doors and headed down towards the medical wings.

"Gabrielle had been showing signs of improvement for a while, not huge leaps mind you but progress nonetheless. She spoke of you a few times, she cares for you greatly Quinn. Anyway, after the young man visited her she seemed to relax and asked for a bath as I told you before. It was only when she checked later that the nurse realised that Gabrielle had hidden the soap so the nurse would leave her alone. She…tried to drown after knocking herself unconscious. We got to her in time to prevent her from dying but…"

She stopped just outside the intensive care room and gently took hold of Quinn's elbow until the troubled hazel eyes finally focused on her. Taking a deep breath, the doctor knew this was going to be hard for the young woman and wished she could spare her this. But with Gabrielle's parents out of the country it fell to Quinn.

"Although we stopped her from dying and got her breathing again I'm afraid it isn't good news."

Quinn took her arm from the doctor and ran both hands through her hair leaving them grasping at the short blond locks before closing her eyes and forcing out the words.

"Just tell me Doc, just say the words."

Dr Winfield looked through the glass into the room where the seemingly tiny girl looked swamped by the machinery keeping her breathing.

"I'm afraid when she hit her head the damage was extensive…she's technically brain dead. The machines are keeping her alive Quinn, in spirit she's already gone."

Swallowing hard, Quinn felt her legs going out from under her. Luckily the doctor also noticed and caught the athlete swiftly. With Quinn clinging to her, she manoeuvred her into the seats just outside the room and knelt down so she was still eye level with her.

"I'm so sorry to have to break this news to you kiddo. You can see her but you'll need to put on some scrubs and a mask…okay?"

Unable to speak Quinn just nodded dumbly and sat back in her seat. She was unaware of when the doctor left or how long it took for her to return before she handed the required clothing to her. One thing occurred to her as important however and as the doctor turned to go again Quinn caught her wrist.

"Wait…this visitor she had, can you describe him. It's just that I'd like to talk to whoever it was and see if she said anything that might give us a clue as to why now."

She forced a sad smile despite the sickness in her belly and she waited hoping the doctor would believe her reason. Eventually Dr Winfield nodded and gave a half shrug.

"He was fairly young, white, tall, handsome and had light brown slightly curly hair. Drove a nice car too, a red BMW convertible. Does that help you at all?"

Inside, Quinn felt a hand of ice grip her heart and kill off all the emotion as she forced herself to assume a puzzled look. After muttering that it didn't remind her of anyone, she looked down at the scrubs in her hand and gripped them tight. She didn't want to do this, but she had to, she had to say goodbye to her best and oldest friend, even though in a very real sense she was already gone. A part of her ached to ring Rachel and to accept the comfort she knew the brunette would offer her in spades. But no…not now, now she had to say goodbye and let Gabrielle go and then she had to finish this, once and for all. Shaking her head, she quickly put the scrubs on over her tracksuit and then the mask. Knocking on the door to intensive care, a nurse smiled gently before letting her in.

"Take as long as you need Miss Fabray, there's no rush."

Nodding faintly, Quinn made her way over towards the bed where Gabrielle was lying hooked up to so many machines she looked like something out of the Terminator. Swallowing down her tears, the athlete took the seat next to the bed and for a moment her mind rebelled. It insisted on showing her the last time she had been in a hospital with Gabby. Just after her first attempt to take her own life, she was pale and lying curled up in a tiny ball in the middle of the expansive hospital bed. Her cheeks were damp and mottled from so much crying, eyes red rimmed and nose swollen. Quinn hadn't known what to do so she just sat in the chair next to bed and started to read. Both herself and Gabby had a huge love of the Sherlock Holmes novels and with nothing else to say to her that she hadn't already said, Quinn started with the first story and just kept on going. Every day she came back to the hospital and carried on reading until one day Gabby's hand had reached out and held hers. Nothing was said but it wasn't needed, the two girls had just looked at each other and smiled faintly before Quinn carried on.

Looking at the shell of her childhood friend, Quinn could easily believe it when the Dr had told her that Gabby herself had long since left. Nevertheless, Quinn was determined to talk to her, to say her goodbye's. And knowing her old friend, she was probably still here just watching what was going on while she waited to be reunited with her unborn child. Wiping at the tears in her eyes that she hadn't even realised were falling, the blonde took in a deep breath and holding it long enough to try and compose herself, eventually let it out. Glancing around the room, she smiled wanly and with a half chuckle half sob she reached out and took one warm but lifeless hand in her own.

"All this effort just to get a little peace and quiet huh Gabby? I can't say I think much of the exclusive dress code though. Although I guess out of the two of us I always did have the worst dress sense so you probably think I actually look okay for once."

Smiling at a memory from junior high, Quinn chuckled and laced her fingers through her friends as she spoke.

"Do you remember that one year I became obsessed with the idea of becoming a Private Detective? I drove you mad all summer by making plans to open my agency to find missing kids. I think you about had a heart attack the day I turned up to walk to school with you and I had that trilby on. Do you remember that? You even offered me your Holmes DVD's to take it off. Of course I didn't, in fact the next day I wore suspenders and a tie as well, but no matter how much you whined about it you still walked with me. And don't think I don't know that it was you that punched Jimmy Boyle in the nose when he stole my trilby."

She shook her head as she remembered both of them getting a day's suspension for that as neither told on the other. Rubbing the hand linked with hers with the pad of her thumb, Quinn smiled lightly.

"However there was that Christmas you got Spice Girl fever! That was worse than my P.I phase, do you remember how many shops we had to trudge through to find you that Doll. Everywhere we went they had everyone but Victoria…I think I must have burned through three pairs of sneakers with the amount of walking we had to do to find you one. I mean…I guess I can tell you now ,but that shop that coincidentally had one? Yeah I sort of rang them, as well as about a hundred others. And you would not believe the sob story I had to feed them to get hold of it! I have never churned out a performance to equal the one I gave that day. But it was worth it when you smiled that dopey smile of yours…plus I know who organised my secret Santa present at girl scouts that year."

Girl Scouts was something she had both loved and hated, she loved it because her and Gabby had been good at the badge part of it and they liked helping out. But they hated the scouts-obsessed mom's and so tried to stay out of their way. When it was time for secret Santa, Gabby was always okay because she liked normal girl things but Quinn invariably ended up with something she gave her best friend. Until that lone Christmas where somehow her friend had managed to ensure that whoever chose Quinn got her something she actually wanted.

"I'll never forget the faces of all those other mom's when I opened mine. I knew straight away it had to be you because there is no way on earth one of those uptight women would have brought me a disguise kit and a Sherlock Holmes dressing up outfit. What I do remember is spending all Boxing Day round yours wearing a false moustache, deerstalker and blowing bubbles with my pipe. You're a fucking amazing person Gabby and the world is going to be much poorer without you in it."

She squeezed the hand under hers and blinked back tears as she tried to concentrate on more happy memories.

"I can't pretend to know what it felt like for you to…lose your child the way you did Gabs and I wish that there was something I could have done to try and help you. But I'm not angry with you, in a way I hope that you actually find some happiness again. When you get up there and find your child, give her a huge hug and tell her that her aunty Quinn never met her but would have spoiled her rotten. And you know I would have done that Watson."

She smiled slightly as she used the old nickname for her best friend. Unable to stop the tears any longer, she let her head rest on the bed next to her hand which was clasped with Gabby's.

"I know wherever you are you're probably telling me to stop being so sad but as your best friend I reserve the right to cry and wail as much as I want. Because I'm going to miss you, you have no idea how much you stubborn wonderful idiot. Just be happy okay wherever you are now I want you to damn well promise me that you'll be happy. And check in on my dad for me…tell him we're doing okay, we miss him but we're doing good. And don't be a stranger you hear. I mean I don't know how ghosts and spirits do it these days but you better damn well show up when I marry Rachel. Assuming she agrees when I get round to asking her that is. I mean if she finds out about the P.I fetish she might not."

Sitting up, Quinn wiped her eyes and blew out a breath before smiling softly at the shell of what was once her best friend. Peering around the room, she brushed her hand through Gabrielle's hair and then pulling her mask down she leant carefully over and placed a gentle kiss to the side of her mouth which was wrapped round the respirator.

"I told you I would get you to kiss me one day…and this totally counts!"

Closing her eyes, she could almost have sworn that she felt a swipe of air go past her shoulder as though someone had swatted at it. Smiling again, she finally looked down at her hand and gently extricated her hand from her friend's. Taking one last long look at Gabby, she replaced her mask and muttered one last farewell.

"Just…find peace Watson, I'll keep fighting the good fight for both of us, pinkie promise."

Linking her pinkie finger with Gabby's, she then smiled and turning around headed out. She made sure to nod to the nurse on the way out who smiled back sympathetically. Dr Winfield was waiting for her when she came out and as she stripped off the disposable scrubs, Quinn quickly wiped the last of the tears from her eyes.

"So…what happens next, I mean do we have to wait for her parents to get in touch or…well um do I have to…"

The doctor smiled kindly and pulled Quinn down to the seats again gently, once she was sure she had the girl's attention she spoke steadily.

"Her parents have rung they…say they trust you to make the right decision but that if they were here they would want her to find some peace."

Quinn's eyes widened slightly and she ran a hand through her already rum pled hair, any kind of style it had had long since fell by the wayside.

"Are you telling me that they want me to decide whether or not I…let her die."

Dr Winfield shuffled in her seat uncomfortably, she personally thought it was far too much responsibility to place on an eighteen year old but she had seen it happen far too many times. Parents got crushed under the weight of responsibility and did what they could to avoid it. Taking in a deep breath, she tried to make it as easy as she possibly could for the kid sat in front of her.

"In a very real sense she is dead already Quinn, it's only her body that is alive, she won't wake up from the coma she's in. Her parents are on their way home now and should be here in a couple of days. If you want you can wait and leave it up to them, it might be easier."

Letting her head fall into her hands, Quinn closed her eyes and thought of the years Gabrielle had been unhappy. So unhappy that she had tried to end it twice now, and now peace was within her grasp. Her parents had already been through this once and to ask a parent to turn off their daughter's last hope was a lot tougher than asking her best friend to do it. Swallowing hard, she dropped her hands from her face as she recognised Gabby's parents' decision for what it was. A cry for help, they would do it but they would forever live with the fact they had in a sense killed their daughter. Breathing through her nose for a moment, Quinn nodded.

"Okay…I'll do it, she wanted to rest, and we should at least let her have that. I'll sign whatever you need and then…we'll let her go."

Dr Winfield stood and squeezed Quinn's shoulder lightly as she moved off to get the necessary paperwork. Fisting her hands for a moment, Quinn pushed aside the sadness and fanned the flames of her anger once more. After she let Gabby go, she was going to find Jesse and then she was going to end this, end him.

Rachel was pacing frantically on her driveway waiting for Santana to get there and pick her up. Unluckily, her car had decided to die promptly when she tried to go to Quinn's so Santana was on her way. Pushing the sleeve of her letterman jacket up to check the time, Rachel Berry actually cursed and kicked at the gravel in the driveway. She looked up as a screech signified the Latina taking the corner with speed in her Mercedes. Wincing at the tire marks left on the road, the Cheerios captain nonetheless rushed to the car and jumped into the back seat as Brittany was predictably in the passenger seat.

"We need to get to Quinn's place and fast…Jesse told me in no uncertain terms that he was going after her. Also I think that he might have done something to Gabrielle up at Twin Peaks."

Swearing in both English and Spanish, the fiery cheerleader performed a high speed and highly illegal u- turn as she sped off towards the blonde's house.

"Did you know he was back before tonight Rachel!"

Blinking in shock at the accusation, Rachel then frowned and glared at her 2IC.

"How could you even suggest that! If I had known he was here, I would have told Quinn straight away!"

Holding up a hand in a conciliatory gesture, Santana quickly replaced it as the car swerved and Brittany squeaked.

"Okay calm yo tits cap! It's just that Quinn asked me to find out because…well she thought that she saw him at the race."

Rachel sighed and sat back in her seat massaging her temples while she muttered under her breath about stubborn irritating blondes. Santana smirked slightly but then frowned.

"Look what exactly did he say maybe it doesn't mean anything, it could just be posturing I mean you know he was always good at that."

Rachel shook her head.

"No he was very obvious about his intent and Quinn hasn't been answering her phone so I'm scared. Jesse may be an egotistical asshole but he has an ambition with less scruples than mine!"

Arching a sardonic eyebrow and despite the seriousness of the situation, Santana couldn't help but mutter.

"And that's saying something."

Glaring at her, Rachel swiftly turned her eyes back onto the road and pushed down on the floor of the back seat as though she had the gas pedal in front of her. Taking the not so subtle hint, the Latina skirted the very edges of the speed limit and they pulled into Quinn's mom's driveway with such a loud shriek that Stephen was out the door before the girls had even spilled out of the car. Rachel literally tripped and stumbled in her haste to reach the man.

"You…Quinn where is she is she here?"

Stephen held her steady with both hands and frowned slightly before replying.

"No I tried to call you but your line was busy, she got a phone call from Twin Peaks to do with Gabby. Her folks are out of town and now that she's eighteen, Quinn is officially a legal guardian."

Rachel frowned even deeper and bit her lip before spilling everything she had heard from Jesse and confiding her fears. Stephen's face grew grave and he told the girls to stay where they were before disappearing inside for a moment. When he came back out he had his coat on and led the way to his truck, Santana pouted at no longer being the driver but hauled herself in anyway. After all, if Jesse was determined to cause trouble for Quinn then she would need all the backup she could get.

Up at Twin Peaks, Quinn was standing outside and wiping her eyes of the last of her tears, for tonight at least. No doubt there would be more at Gabrielle's funeral but for now she had business to attend to, if she could work out where the little weasley-assed mother fucker was. Picking the bike up, she cursed as she saw the dents but once it was on it's wheels again she figured it was the least of her worries. Fishing her phone out and turning it on again, she realised she had several missed calls from Rachel as well as voicemails. Swallowing, she paused with her thumb over the message button wondering what she was going to say. Confiding that she was off to beat the ever-loving shit out of Jesse again wouldn't be the best conversational opener. The dilemma was solved for her when the phone lit up with an unidentified number. Frowning, she looked around and eventually swiped her thumb across to answer.

"Hello?"

The chuckle that sounded on the other end caused her to tighten her grip on the handset to the extent she heard it creak.

"Well, well if it isn't my favourite thug. How you doing Fabray? Heard you found out about my visit to your slut of a friend, how is she now? She fin ally manage to finish the job of killing herself?"

Forcing her voice to reveal none of the pain and anguish she felt over Gabrielle's death, the blonde forced out a casual tone.

"You should be more worried about your own welfare St James. Because right about now your life expectancy just shrunk to that of a turkey on December 24th."

Another arrogant laugh was the only response at first. Then a happy sigh before Jesse's tone also dropped in temperature as he spoke evenly.

"You want to see me and believe me when I say I really want to even the score with you, so here's the thing Fabray. If you really want to finish this then meet me at the Carmel bleachers. I figure there's a certain poetry to ending it where it started."

Grinding her teeth, Quinn was too angry to think about why he wanted a confrontation after all this time. Instead, she just saw Gabby's pale face hooked up to a machine that was doing the breathing for her.

"Oh I'll be there St James! And you know what, even if I do end up in fucking jail again…it will be worth it!"

Disconnecting the call, she fastened her crash helmet again and vaulted onto the bike. She was in so much of a hurry to reach the boy responsible for all this pain that she failed yet again to notice the pool of dark liquid gathered under the bike. It was a while before the odd noise of the bike drew her full attention, it wasn't anything specific just a different tone. If she didn't know as much about engines as she did then she probably wouldn't have noticed it at all. Frowning, she checked the dials and gauges but they all appeared normal, cursing under her breath she made a mental note to check it over after she got to Carmel and dealt with Jesse.

She was about a half mile from Carmel when she realised what it was that was causing the problem. When she came up on a sharp bend, she noticed the wheel didn't turn as sharply as it should and she had to stamp down on the brake to make the turn safely…except the brake refused to comply. Swallowing down her instant fear she suddenly wished that Rachel hadn't shown her all those graphic shots of bike crashes in a bid to get her to stop riding. Instead of the brakes, she downshifted the gears trying not to wince at the clanking sound as the bike fought against itself to try and slow down. She managed to make it round the corner but only barely. On a sports bike, this would be a hell of a lot easier to try and control but on a cruiser like the Indian she was courting trouble.

So it was safe to say the brake line was compromised, and there was something wrong with the hydraulics as well. The road was unfortunately downhill, not much of a slope but enough to stop her being able to slow the bike down to a safe enough speed to get off of it. It seemed intent on sticking at around thirty miles an hour and at that speed even a controlled skid would hurt like a bitch if the bike tipped. Unfortunately, the road into Carmel was downhill and if she didn't stop the bike before she reached it then she would most likely end up doubling the speed by the time she reached the bottom. Wishing like hell she had taken the time to put leathers on, Quinn thought fast and remembered the field of horses just outside the school. So long as she avoided the animals and tried to stay in the seat she'd be fine…she hoped.

By the time the edge of the field came into view, she had managed to shave another five miles off the maximum speed. Holding a breath in, Quinn steered the bike off the road wincing at the solid bump that jolted her almost out of the seat as she mounted the curb and smashed through the fence. There was a sharp pain in her shoulder that made her entire arm go numb but she managed to keep it on the handlebars. Mounting the curb however had buckled the frame of the wheel and she lost control of the front half of the bike. Despite her experience in riding, she couldn't keep the bike under her and it fell onto it's side with a crash carrying on it's sideways skid until it smacked up against a tree. Luckily, Quinn had managed to move her leg enough that it didn't get squashed when the bike fell on it's side but in doing so she was flung from the seat and sent hurtling towards the fencing opposite the one she had smashed through.

She figured she must have blacked out for a moment or two because the next thing she was aware of was admiring the stars above her and wondering why her left shoulder and right knee hurt so much. With a groan, she rolled onto her side and tested each limb gingerly, everything moved but her knee was agony and her shoulder did not want to move if given a choice. Pulling her helmet off with her right hand, she winced at the blood splattered inside the visor and touching a hand to her face realised her nose was bleeding. It took another moment for her to remember why she had driven the bike into the field in the first place. Squaring her jaw, she struggled to her feet, it hurt to walk but she could do it and she would. Fumbling her cell phone out of her pocket, she groaned as she realised it was smashed beyond usage. Throwing it back into her pocket in frustration, she started a half hobble half shuffle towards Carmel High school, she was determined to get there no matter what.

In the pick up Stephen was cursing as he watched Rachel and Santana emerge from the entrance of the rest home. Quinn wasn't with them but he didn't like the look on either girls face, Rachel was in tears and even Santana's eyes were red-rimmed. They climbed back into the truck and it was the Latina who spoke as Rachel was trying to control her tears.

"She was here but she left a half hour ago…after turning off Gabrielle's life support machine. The doctor she spoke with said she was upset but seemed okay enough to drive or she wouldn't have let her go. We tried her cell again but this time it just went to the out of service message."

Brittany frowned and pointed to a dark puddle on the floor in front of the trucks headlights.

"What's that, it looks like a puddle of oil or something? Could Quinn's bike be sad too?"

Rachel just hugged Brittany not realising the significance of the question. Santana looked at Stephen and together they leapt back out of the truck to inspect the pool. The ex-pilot swore as he touched his fingers to it and sniffed it before wiping his hands on his jeans leg.

"Brake fluid and traces of hydraulic fluid as well…not good, if the bike's been leaking then she could have crashed anywhere."

Santana looked back to the truck where Rachel was looking at them worriedly through the windscreen.

"Is there anyway you can find Quinn through her phone? I mean does she have some kind of tag as part of her early release?"

He shook his head then pulled his phone out abruptly, glancing at Santana he gestured with his chin to the pick up.

"You should get back in the truck and tell them we'll have the location in a minute. I uh am about to do something highly illegal and the less you know the better just in case this comes back to bite me in the ass."

In a rare display of understanding, the Latina just nodded and headed back to the truck, she climbed in and clearing her throat let the lie flow from her lips reassuringly. She was pretty sure that for once Rachel's moralistic side wouldn't rear it's head with Quinn's safety hanging in the balance but the less she had to worry about the better.

"Quinn's phone has a tag system on it and Stephen is just ringing to get the location, any minute now we'll know where she is."

Several minutes later and luckily just before Rachel started asking any more astute questions, Stephen jumped back up into the cab and nodded.

"Looks like she's headed to Carmel."

Rachel's eyes narrowed and she wiped the tears out of them as her hands tightened into fists and she growled out.

"Jesse, that son of a bitch is luring her into something, he must be, there's no way she would go back to that place otherwise."

Nodding his agreement, Stephen stamped down on the gas pedal and took off in a hail of gravel that made Santana smile grimly, Brittany squeak again and Rachel scramble to hold onto the grab bar.

By the time she limped onto the sports field at Carmel High, Quinn's nose had stopped bleeding and her shoulder no longer throbbed. Her knee however was pure agony, she almost wished it had been the same one she'd hurt while running so only one was messed up. Sadly it wasn't to be and trying not to curse, she headed for the bleachers where sure enough Jesse was lounging like he owned the damn place. Sadly it wasn't far from the truth in his case, the faculty loved the money his fame brought to the school and so they let him get away with anything. She glared at him angrily and the smug grin on his face grew slightly when he took in her dishevelled state.

"Wow, okay well I was hoping the bike crash might at least break a limb but I'd say the advantage is still mine. You look like shit Fabray."

As the knowledge that this asshole had tampered with her bike settled over her, she felt the white hot anger inside her help her focus past the pain of her bruised body.

"You tampered with my bike, with my father's bike. You son of a bitch!"

Jesse frowned and pretended to think for a long moment as she continued to make her way over to him.

"Your father…oh yeah the guy that got himself killed in Afghanistan. I remember your solicitor trotting out that story in an attempt to gain you some sympathy…didn't work though did it?"

Gritting her teeth angrily, Quinn made her way steadily towards him while he carried on looking completely nonplussed and smirking at her.

"Don't talk about him, you don't deserve to mention his name, just like you had no right to go and visit Gabrielle. Hadn't you done enough damage?"

He shrugged nonchalantly.

"Well I thought so but apparently not, it took a second visit for her to finally finish the damn job. The fact I pointed out that I would destroy you if she even so much as thought of going public with her little story helped I think. And now I get to take care of you, though I have to admire you for actually having the balls to show up…but then again, word has it you do actually have balls Fabray?"

Quinn tried not to react but she couldn't help it and her left arm that was held close to her side unconsciously cupped herself and she swore internally at the fates' bad timing.

"None of your fucking business and from what I remember last time I don't need balls to kick the shit out of you anyway St James!"

He sat up for a moment his face tight with fury then he stood up and started walking down the bleachers and towards her.

"No you didn't but then you cheated last time didn't you. Launched an aggressive attack with no warning. I at least have invited you here and given you fair warning of what's to happen. Plus of course, I intend to repay the favour and cheat."

As his eyes flicked to a point just behind her, Quinn felt the bottom of her stomach drop in fear and tried to turn. She only made it halfway before a baseball bat smashed into her already damaged right knee. Letting out a strangled cry, she collapsed to the ground in a haze of pain. She felt Jesse's expensive and uselessly soft Gucci shoe turn her onto her back and she fought for the ability to just glare at him. Looking at the guy beside him, she recognised his best friend from Vocal Adrenaline and let her head fall back onto the grass. Jesse grinned down at her and after a moment hunkered down and placed his hand over the left shoulder.

"Hmm, this looks painful Fabray, little bit of blood and if I'm not mistaken it looks a little dislocated…shall we check?"

His grin turned savage and he dug his fingers in cruelly and twisted them to the extent Quinn could actually hear the bone grating. Fighting the nausea welling up in her stomach, she locked her jaw on a scream not wanting to give him the satisfaction. Jesse however wouldn't be happy unless he got her to scream so gesturing to his friend (vaguely Quinn seemed to remember his name was Mark) she watched with pain- fogged eyes as the guy took aim at her knee again. And as Jesse twisted one more time the bat connected with her leg again and her scream came out long and loud. He backed off then and watched as she rolled onto her side to throw up. Smiling grimly, he took the bat from the other guy and motioned for him to hold Quinn's hands. Mark or whatever his name was grinned sadistically as he took hold of both wrists and wrenched her arms above her head ripping another scream from the athlete. She was in so much pain she couldn't have fought even if she wanted to but Jesse seemed not to care about that fact. Kneeling down in a way that effectively pinned her legs as well he raised his eyebrows and placed his free hand on the waistband of Quinn's track pants.

"I want to see if what I read in Rachel's diary is actually true but if it is…well damn I'm going to have some fun Fabray. And the best bit is you only have your precious girlfriend to blame for it! It actually sickens me how much she loves you, I had to go through pages of overly sweet declarations of love before I found the good stuff."

With another smirk, he pulled her pants down enough to see for himself what he had read in the pages of Rachel's supposedly secret thoughts.

"Jesus Christ it's true, you're a fucking freak Fabray! Damn if I had known about this I'd have humiliated the shit out of you before killing you."

Quinn's breath caught in her throat at that and Jesse raised an eyebrow as he let her track pants snap back into place.

"What? You hadn't figured that out yet? But of course I'm trying to kill you, I wouldn't lure you out here just for a beating. You ruined my singing career and made me look weak Fabray, tonight is about payback…and ruining Rachel as well of course. No one refuses me."

Strangely enough, accepting her death came rather easily, especially when she made up her mind that if she was going out tonight then she was damn well going out in style. She laughed hoarsely and watched happily as he got off of her legs in preparation to swing the bat again.

"Do what you fucking like St James…but it won't ever wipe out the fact you got your ass handed to you by a cheerleader!"

He scowled angrily and as he swung back she made her move and lashed out with her good leg, mentally high fiving herself as she made contact with his testicles. Hard contact.

He dropped to his knees and the bat rolled away under the bleachers, in his surprise, Mark let go of her arms and she used the right one to promptly smack him in the throat the way her father and Stephen had taught her to. As he fell back gasping for breath and clutching at his throat, Quinn tried to move. She knew neither of them would be down for long but hopefully long enough for her to get to her feet at least. Trying her best to ignore the pain that kept trying to drag her under, she managed to sit up, but there was no way her right leg was going to support her now. She was pretty sure her kneecap was currently residing somewhere other than its designated place.

Mark had passed out and the bat was out of play now but Jesse was already staggering to his feet again and Quinn used her right hand to pull herself up and into a seat on the bleachers. That was as far as she got before Jesse found his way back to her, he slammed a fist into her gut and screamed angrily.

"You just won't fucking stay down will you, you unnatural freak!

Winded, Quinn nevertheless managed to raise her hand and flip him off as she laughed painfully. He howled angrily and returned the favour she had bestowed on him earlier by slamming his foot into her nuts. That Gucci shoe may have been soft but with enough force behind it, it fucking hurt! Doubling over with a pain she hadn't felt before Quinn heard rather than felt herself hit the floor. For a few minutes there was nothing but the pain and a dull buzzing sound in her head. When her vision cleared enough, it was to see Jesse standing over her with the bat.

"Enough with the fun…time to leave the stage Fabray! I'm sure the world won't mourn the loss of one more freak."

Smirking, he raised the bat to bring it down on her head, Quinn refused to close her eyes and give him the satisfaction of hiding from the blow. A second later she was glad as she did. A rock suddenly flew into the side of his head and sent him tumbling off to the side; frowning, Quinn opened her mouth to wonder aloud what the hell had happened. Until she saw Rachel appear, chest heaving hard from a run and growling.

"Don't you dare call my girlfriend a freak!"

She kicked at Jesse's unconscious form once and then sank to her knees beside Quinn, the blonde smiled dreamily and let out a breath as she felt her girlfriend's warm hands trying to sooth away her aches and pains.

"Rach are you really here…cos I'm not sure what's real right now?"

Wiping the tears from her face, Rachel nodded and smiled tremulously as she wiped the dried blood from the athlete's upper lip.

"Well Stephen is calling the police and an ambulance for you, that's real. As is the fact that Santana just almost ripped Jesse's balls off of him while he was unconscious. Oh and Brittany is twisting the other guy's arms behind his back pretty hard."

Smiling dopily again, Quinn felt safe at last and started to let the pain drag her under, she figured a quick sleep would help her feel better, although she couldn't help but murmur.

"I always thought Brittany was too nice to be mean?"

Speaking softly, Rachel just continued to gently clean the blood from the blonde's face.

"Unless someone she loves is threatened, and you are someone she loves…just accept it, it's easier. And you should be resting, the ambulance will be here soon and they can fix you right up."

Drowsily, Quinn hummed her agreement and finally allowed Rachel's gentle touches and her bodies need to rest to pull her into blessed unconsciousness.

It took several days for the whole mess to be sorted out and Quinn was the lucky one in that she was out of it for the majority of the time. When she did wake up Rachel was there in the same clothes she had been wearing when Quinn was found on the field at Carmel High school. At first, Jesse had of course tried to claim self defence and that Quinn had been the one to come after him yet again when she had heard about Gabrielle's suicide. Luckily, several things had countered that story. The first being that there were four witnesses who had seen Jesse attacking Quinn when she was unable to fight back (those being Stephen, Brittany, Rachel and Santana of course). The second being that for some reason, Jesse's partner in crime had broken down and confessed everything, including the fact that Jesse had slept with Gabrielle and driven her to suicide. The third reason and the one that no one could explain was that while Quinn had thought her phone broken beyond use, it hadn't been. In fact it had gotten stuck on record mode and held a record of the entire encounter between Jesse and Quinn. The crime scene guys couldn't explain it but Quinn had just smiled and sent a silent prayer of thanks up to Gabby. Knowing he had no chance of getting away with the attack this time, Jesse had decided to plead out to avoid the publicity of a trial. Last thing Rachel or Quinn had heard was that he was settling in for a nice forty-five year sentence.

After two days in the hospital and surgery to get her shoulder back in place and her knee reattached, Quinn was allowed to go home on the condition that she was under one hundred percent bed rest. Rachel had taken the hospital at their word and had made up a rota that Judy, Stephen and her were to stick to. Apart from occasional pain pills Quinn was fine, it both relieved and sorrowed Rachel that when she asked why Quinn was taking it so well, the blonde had just shrugged and explained that Juvie had heightened her pain threshold. Everyone from school turned up on her first day back and despite feeling fine, Rachel didn't allow them to stay for long, even when Quinn pulled out her super secret weapon in the shape of the special pout. The upshot was that the athlete got very bored very quickly; she couldn't even start physio until the knee was out of plaster. She had the use of her arm again after her hospital stay as despite the way it felt, it had remained just a dislocation.

It was the fourth day out of hospital and the pain was nicely nonexistent thanks to the kick ass painkillers the hospital gave her. Rachel was still at school and Stephen had a flight that afternoon, her mom had worried about leaving her alone but after rolling her eyes and protesting she was perfectly capable of going to the toilet if she needed it thanks to her crutches, Judy had finally agreed to go to work. Quinn lasted exactly forty-seven minutes before boredom set in, she rubbed her jaw and put down the Hound of the Baskervilles impatiently. She was on the last day of her 'period' and she always got…hormonal at that point. Rachel had been very strict about fun time and despite the several hints Quinn had dropped, the brunette remained insistent about not risking it. However, she was on her own right now and if Rachel didn't want to help her…well. Leaning across to the night stand, she rummaged in the drawer and pulled out one of the playboy's and the box of tissues.

Slipping her hands inside the checkered boxers, Quinn's hand found her cock and she let out a breath of relief as she started to stroke it gently, closing her eyes for a moment she thought about Rachel…how she'd stormed in to rescue her that night looking all fierce and unbelievably hot. Like some comic book superhero. At the mental image of her kick ass girlfriend, she felt her cock hardening nicely and she bit her lip as she rounded her thumb over the slit at the top. A throat clearing itself caused her to yelp in surprise and the playboy went sliding off one side of the bed and the tissues off the other. Checking to make sure she didn't look too guilty, Quinn didn't at first take in her girlfriend's appearance as she rambled.

"Rachel! For crying out loud…you didn't need to sneak up on me like that! And shouldn't you…be at…!"

Quinn was glad she couldn't see her own expression at that moment because her jaw seemed to have become unhinged and she was pretty sure her eyes could rival the sweetest anime kid's in size. Rachel, her lovely moralistic girlfriend Rachel Berry was wearing…well if she was channelling Puck she would call it a slutty nurse uniform but she wasn't so…swallowing hard she took in the short but official looking white dress, the small hat perched on loose and slightly curled hair that fell around the open neckline, topped off with the long, long legs encased in knee high leather boots. Clearing her throat, Quinn gestured with a hand vaguely.

"You…um…nurses don't really wear those…but I like it!"

Making her way to stand next to Quinn, Rachel bit her lip shyly and then purposefully let her eyes drop to the small tent under the bedclothes. After she was sure Quinn's hazel eyes had followed hers, she looked back up and reaching a hand up gently cupped the blonde's face before pulling it to hers for a brief but thorough kiss.

"Well I was in physics class and I realised that while I've been doing my best to care for you, there was one part of you I had neglected."

Swallowing on a dry throat, Quinn managed to make some sort of noise, she had no idea what it was but smiling widely, Rachel just carried on talking softly while one hand moved slowly down the athlete's chest to gently squeeze a breast.

"I forgot you got hit in the co pilot and what kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn't check that everything was working okay down there?"

Having given up on speech completely by this point, Quinn just nodded and allowed Rachel to gently push her back into the sitting position she had been in before Rachel interrupted her.

"So…while I conduct an examination, I need you to tell me if everything works as it should work, is that clear Miss Fabray."

Another wordless nod and Rachel slowly slid onto the bed next to the blonde, taking care to avoid the casted leg. Removing the covers from Quinn's waist, she smiled at the straining erection the athlete had obviously been trying to cover up.

"Well that part seems to be working fine doesn't it?"

Without waiting for an answer, Rachel wrapped her hand around the straining member and began to stroke it gently at first. She waited for a moment then ran her thumb over the tip collecting the pre cum and bringing the pad of her thumb to her lips. Licking in an exaggerated fashion, she had to fight not to grin when she heard the strangled moan coming from her girlfriend.

"Hmm it seems to taste the same but I think I need to produce a larger specimen to be sure."

Quinn frowned as she watched Rachel remove her hand from her cock and slide it up her own thigh. Although she hadn't thought it was possible, her eyes grew even wider as she watched Rachel's hand slide up and under the skirt and realised that she had no underwear on. Mouthing a silent prayer, Quinn swore she couldn't get any harder if her life depended on it! Until of course she saw her girlfriend cup herself and collect her own lubrication before reaching out to place her hand around Quinn's straining cock again.

"Rachel…are you trying to kill me?"

Shaking her head with an entirely far too innocent sounding chuckle, the tiny diva just started working her hand up and down smoothly.

"Of course not baby, I just didn't want to give you friction burns and I brought my own lubrication, now lie back and let me work."

Quinn didn't exactly have a choice because her body was listening to Rachel while her brain checked out for the rest of the day. The hand on her cock moved expertly but annoyingly slowly, denying her the quick release she had been planning for herself. Every so often when she thought she was getting close, Rachel's other hand would move and squeeze her balls to stop her from coming. When she did it for the third time, Quinn actually whimpered and pleaded.

"Rachel…please, I need to cum! I feel like I'm going to explode."

Smiling, the brunette repositioned herself and angled the blonde's cock so it was pointed at the open neck of the white dress and the very pronounced cleavage. Then raising her eyes to lock with Quinn's half lidded ones she began to move her hand rapidly, and this time, this time when Quinn felt the pull in the pit of her stomach, it didn't stop. With a yell of relief, she gripped the sheet on either side of her tightly and watched as she finally was allowed to cum. The stream of her release splattered against the skin of Rachel's breasts and the athlete was pretty sure that just the sight of her cum dripping down her girlfriend's cleavage lengthened her release. Eventually, Rachel let go of her softening cock and moved upwards until she caught Quinn's lips with hers and ravished her mouth.

Fighting for breath, the athlete eventually had to gently push Rachel away from her just to draw a full breath. After several deep breaths, she let her hands drop to grip her girlfriend's hips and smiled lazily.

"What the hell prompted you to do that Cheerio…not that I'm complaining, believe me!"

Chuckling slightly and snuggling up to Quinn, Rachel just shrugged and nibbled at the shell of one of the delectable ears that were right next to her mouth.

"I missed you and I figured after everything you have been through lately, it was the least I could do."

"Does that mean I get to return the favour?"

Wriggling blonde eyebrows in what she hoped she was an enticing manner, Quinn licked her lips. Rachel however, shook her head and gently tapped the cast covering two- thirds of the blonde's right leg.

"Not until this is off you don't, in the meantime you'll just have to get used to being looked after won't you?"

A part of Quinn was very happy with that idea, very happy indeed! But it was a small part of her and so she turned onto her side as she much as she could and brought out the pout.

"There are some things we can do, I mean you could ride my tongue for a start, you know I love that. And that is nowhere near my leg! Or you could let my fingers do the talking for me, so long as you stay on my right side it's all good…right?"

Rachel peered at her thoughtfully for a moment before smiling happily and pecking the tip of her nose in a gentle kiss.

"Let me think about it, but for now Miss Fabray…I'd say you're about ready for your oral examination?"

She glanced pointedly down at Quinn's crotch where her co pilot was standing to full attention. Flushing slightly, the blonde rubbed the back of her neck and shrugged her left shoulder ever so slightly.

"What can I say, it has a mind of it's own…and in my defence, that was because of thinking about what I want to do to you."

Lowering herself down the bed and towards Quinn's very alert cock, the brunette raised an eyebrow and muttered.

"We'll talk about it later Fabray."

As she felt the first few inches of her cock enveloped in the wet warmth of her girlfriend's mouth, Quinn lay back and couldn't help thinking that this was the first time she had ever looked forward to being laid up in bed!

So there we go! Another part to this verse, initially it was meant to be about them in college but I wanted to bring an end to the reason Quinn had gone to Juvie. That way there's no unfinished business if there were to be another part…which I am by no means certain of, there wasn't even meant to be a second part lol! And um yeah…if anyone else wants to write the X rated stuff for me please drop me a line because me and that stuff don't seem to work very well. Too much of an old romantic I guess lol, and no one likes a romantic except in theory *sigh* hope you enjoyed but please feel free to let me know either way. As always thanks to my wonderful editor who actually worked on this on her birthday! She really does rock! Love to you all xxx