P I- We Could Have Had It All
I was seething as my hands clenched the steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles turned even even paler that usual. At least this time it wasn't all my fault. No, this time is was Finn-freaking-Hudson's and his big, thoughtless mouth.
It should have been easy. We could have had an excellent start and been in a winning mood by now. Then Wednesday had happened. . .
It was just another stupid argument, no different than their arguments usually went. The set list for Nationals was still up in the air (like it had been the year previous) and everyone was supposed to board the plane for New York the next morning. Original songs had been proposed and shot down or put on a list for further consideration, but nothing had been set in stone and competitions began Friday night.
"You guys!" Rachel yelped, although her voice was more frustrated than whiny. "We absolutely cannot wait until last minute like we did last year. Our procrastination might have aided in our tragic downfall."
"Or," Santana began pointedly, and Quinn had a feeling she knew where this was going, "it might have been that little lip-lock stunt that Finnocence and you pulled." Rachel's face became full of guilt and she was about to say more, but Santana held up the hand that wasn't intertwined with Brittany's. "Look, I'm not blaming you, Berry," the Latina added, sending a glare in Finn's direction. "All I'm saying this that. . . maybe it's time to, I don't know, switch things up a bit?"
It was the first time in a long time that Quinn had heard Santana sound so unsure and kind in front of so many people, but then again, the glee club was closer now than they'd ever been before. And it helped that Quinn herself had given Santana another reason to show Rachel a little respect.
Rachel nodded thoughtfully, like she was taking Santana's suggestion into serious consideration. And then Finn spoke up.
"What exactly are you saying, Santana?" the boy demanded hotly. And not 'hot' in the good way because, well, ew!
"Finn, perhaps it would be wise to take Santana's opinions into account," Rachel told him lightly. "After all, there's so much talent in this club and it may be go-"
"God, Rachel! Whose side are you on anyway?" Finn snapped, getting to his feet and walking to where Rachel stood in front of the rest of them. He was angry and it made Quinn slightly nervous and protective of the girl.
"I'm on the side of reason, Finn!" Rachel returned with equal anger. "Strange as it is more me to say, Santana has a valid point: our very public kiss in no way helped our improved our chances at Nationals!"
From her seat on the second tier, she could see the minuscule motion of Finn clenching his right fist, and she nudged Sam with her elbow from beside him. The blonde haired boy caught on quickly to what she was gesturing to and stood up, walking to the front to try and diffuse the situation.
"Finn, calm down," Sam told him, stepping between the two and sending Quinn a look that clearly said 'this might not end well'.
"Dude, back off," Finn retaliated, pushing Sam's shoulder. "This has nothing to do with you." The giant boy turned back to his girlfriend, "What is with you lately, huh? You're always taking everyone else's side but mine, it's not okay with me!"
Quinn rose from her seat when she saw Rachel's face begin to flush slightly purplish. She knew that sign, in fact she'd been the one to provoke it so many times over the years that it made her sick to think about it. Rachel was angry, upset, and feeling defensive—she was emotional and she was about to start crying, but she was holding it in as best she could.
Rachel's hands balled into fists at her sides. "What's up with me?" she mimicked him incredulously. "What's wrong with you, Finn Hudson? Just because we are in a relationship does not mean that I must always share your opinions! And as for taking sides, this is a club – we're a team, we're all on the same side. Santana's or Sam's or Puck's or Quinn's opinions and preferences are just as important as yours and mine."
Stealthily, Quinn knelt down on her way to the floor to whisper to Puck and Santana, "He's getting angry at her, if Finn starts anything with either Sam or Rachel – you have my full approval on going all Lima Heights on his ass." She shared a knowing look with the Latina and the Mohawk-haired boy, before continuing her way into the tense argument.
She lightly touched the back of Rachel's arm, willing the smaller girl to unclench her hands and calm down. "Okay, guys," she said to all of them, "look, we're all a little stressed out and frustrated about Nationals. Let's just take a deep breath and step back for a second, alright?" As she said this, she tugged Rachel's elbow to literally make the diva take a step away from her furious boyfriend.
Obviously that was the wrong move to make because Finn grabbed Rachel's wrist and pulled her behind him as he rounded on Quinn. "And what are you trying to get at here, Quinn?" he asked in a dangerously low voice. "I don't know why you suddenly have this weird obsession over Rachel-"
"Finn!" the brunette exclaimed in shock.
"But it needs to stop, now," Finn continued as if Rachel had never objected. "Just because Rachel's blind to the fact that you're a manipulative bitch who's preying on her because she has no friends-"
"Excuse me?" Quinn replied, trying to control her HBIC temper that had never seemed to change even as her other traits had.
"A year ago you could've cared less about glee club or Nationals or Rachel. In fact, I know that you were planning on sabotaging us before we even started," he yelled.
Quinn glanced to Santana and Brittany and both of them looked just as confused as she was, then she looked at Rachel and what she saw there made her stop breathing – betrayal.
"So why try to keep the peace now?" Finn continued to rage. "You've never done anything unless there was something in it for you. So what do you want now, huh? To win? To get back on everyone's good side so you can screw it all up again?"
She could feel something shattering inside of her. What that really the way they all saw her? And how the hell had Finn known about Nationals last year? The only people who had known were Brittany, Santana, and herself. Tears were welling up in her eyes now.
"Finn, man, just leave her alone, alright?" Sam said, stepping between the two to defend Quinn. "She's just trying to help. We're not getting anywhere by fighting and tearing each other down."
"Nobody asked you," Finn said to the boy, shoving him away and causing him to knock Quinn backwards.
Even as Quinn hit the linoleum tiled floor, she was getting back to her feet, as a chorus of 'Oh my God' s and 'Finn, what are you doing?' s rang out over the room, but two voices were louder than the others.
"Quinn!" Rachel tried to rush toward her but Finn captured her wrist and held her back.
"Are you okay?" Sam asked, gripped her forearms and helping her up.
"I'm fine," she said, brushing his hands away gently.
"Finn, let go of me this instant!" Rachel yelled as she tried to free herself from Finn's grip.
Sam stepped forward and grabbed his wrist just as Quinn took Rachel's, and tried to push the tiny girl behind her protectively. The diva would have none of it and only stood beside Quinn as Finn shoved Sam yet again.
Except Sam fought back this time. "Dude, whatever you issue is, you need to get over it!" he told Finn, pushing him back and harder. Sam was strong and solid, not as tall as Finn but in no means gangly either.
Finn brought his fist up to swing at Sam, but Santana and Puck decided to finally cut in. Santana stopped Finn's fist from colliding with Sam's face just in time, and Puck put the boy in a straight-jacket lock from behind.
Everything was silence for a few moments before Finn started yelling, "Dammit, Rachel! What is wrong with you? Are you honestly so naive that you think that Quinn- the girl who's always hated your guts- really wants to be your friend? Look around, Rach, all anyone in here has ever tried to do is hurt you. I'm the only one who's always cared about you!"
Quinn could see that the strong front which Rachel had been putting up was now falling to pieces and tears spilled from her eyes. All Quinn wanted to do was tell her that that wasn't true, that they all cared about her, but she and everyone else were still too stunned into silence to say anything at all.
"You know what?" Rachel spat. "You forget you, Finn! Forget all of you! I hope you get all you deserve at Nationals." The brunette threw her bag over her shoulder and picked up her folder of sheet music. "Have a nice life." Then she turned on her heel and left the choir room.
Quinn was the first to move, and she whirled around and smacked Finn across the face harder than she'd slapped Rachel on prom night in the bathroom. She raced out of the room just as Mr. Schue and Shelby Corcoran were walking in, and she ignored their attempts at stopping her in favor of chasing Rachel down.
She burst through the doors to the student parking lot and spotted Rachel hurriedly trying to unlock her car as tears blinded her vision. "Rachel!" she yelled, running toward the girl just as she'd finally managed to unlock her car.
"Go away, Quinn!" Rachel screamed at her as Quinn approached her. "God, how could I have been so stupid! Thinking that you'd changed, that you really wanted to be my friend!" She turned around to face her car and grabbed at the door handle, got into her car and started the engine.
"Rachel!" Quinn yelled out to her. "Rachel, stop!", but Rachel was already taking off and all Quinn could do was stand there and watch her drive away.
That morning when they all met up at the airport, Quinn was praying that she'd find Rachel. She stood next to Santana and Brittany, the former sending Quinn (what she still considered to be) uncharacteristically sympathetic glances. Her hazel eyes kept watching the door, waiting for the diva to come striding through the doors with all three of her pink, bedazzled suitcases and that soft look on her face.
"Quinn, may I speak to you?" Shelby called her attention away from the door and back to reality. The blonde just nodded in return and followed her away from the others.
The two had been getting along lately, Shelby and Quinn. It was a strange feeling, becoming close with the adoptive-mother of her daughter who she'd tried to sabotage and ruin, but she was and Shelby was allowing her a second chance to do that. And Shelby becoming closer to her seemed to have made the older woman realize that she wanted another chance to be close with Rachel as well.
It was a strange situation Shelby and Quinn had gotten themselves into. The adoptive mother of her biological daughter was also her friend's biological mother, and therefore Quinn's biological daughter was Rachel's adopted-sister. But they made it work, all three of them together, along with Puck and (strangely enough) Judy Fabray.
Shelby looked at her with a concerned look that no longer seemed patronizing. "I know you ran out after Rachel yesterday," she began. "Did you speak to her?"
Quinn shook her head guiltily. "I couldn't stop her," she managed to croak out, because A) it was seven am and she was exhausted from tossing and turning and thinking about the hurt expression on Rachel's face all night, and B) she kind of wanted to cry just then.
She nodded her head, hearing Quinn's words. "I tried to call her last night," Shelby told the blonde in a pensive tone. "Hiram picked up the phone. He said she didn't want to talk to anyone."
Quinn knew what she meant. Last night, when she'd gone home, Quinn had left Rachel so many texts and voicemails that her fingers had begun blistering and her voicemail box was finally too full to leave any more messages. Then she'd called Rachel's house and Leroy Berry had told her the same thing that Hiram had told Shelby.
Panic started attacking Quinn's lungs as she realized the situation they were in. They were nearing the end of their senior year and New Directions had made it to Nationals – and this time, it was their last shot at being the best. And their biggest, brightest star was too broken to even face them, let alone take them to the top like all the other times. Then it hit her, there was no way she was doing this without Rachel Berry, no way they were doing this without Rachel. They just couldn't shine bright enough without their personal sun.
"I can't do this," Quinn said, vaguely recognizing that Shelby had dragged her numb body toward the terminal with the others. She looked up at the stunned faces of all of her friends, and their two mentors. "Guys, I think I have a plan, but it kind of involves not getting on that plane."
"Quinn," Mr. Schuester began tiredly, "what are you talking about?"
Quinn took a deep breath. "Mr. Schue, we got extraordinarily lucky at Sectionals, but we all know that we can't take Nationals without Rachel and this is our last chance. It's her last chance, and I won't let her miss out on it because Finnept was a hurtful, moronic dick."
"Hey, I just-" Finn began, but Mr. Schue held him back.
"What are you suggesting, Quinn?" their teacher asked half-hopeful and half-suspicious.
A small smirk worked its way into her face. "I'm suggesting that the rest of you get on that plane," I began, "and I'll get Rachel- even if I have to drag her to New York- and we'll meet you there. With a set list."
"What if this doesn't work out, Q?" Santana asked, but not in her usual bitch-tone. "I mean, it's bad enough if we don't have Berry, but we're screwed without a set-list."
"Improvise like we always do," she suggested with a shrug, "but I will get Rachel and we will be there on time."
Mr. Schue looked torn, technically, everything she was suggesting was not only against protocol but also against all rules and regulations. "Quinn, I really can't let you do this," he sighed. "But I'm going to anyway."
Quinn's face lit up like the fourth of July. "Thank you, I won't let you down, I swear."
Santana wrapped her arms around Quinn's shoulders and whispered in her ear, "Go get her, bitch."
In the next instant, Quinn had pulled her keys from her pocket and begun sprinting toward her car.
P II- No Stop Signs or Speed Limits, Nobody's Gonna Slow Me Down
Quinn was pounding on the Berrys' door nearly as hard as her heart was pounding in her chest. And she was still knocking and out of breath when the door swung open and two bleary-eyed men in robes opened the door.
"Can we help you?" the African-American man asked her. This was Hiram, if Quinn remembered correctly.
"I'm am so sorry for waking you both, Mr. and Mr. Berry," Quinn told them sincerely, "but I'm looking for Rachel. It's really important."
The two men looked at each other with indecipherable expressions, but it looked like they were fighting not to smile. The shorter, bespectacled man- Leroy- pulled the door back and stepped aside so that Quinn might enter.
"It's nice to finally meet you officially, Miss Fabray," Leroy told her, smirking just like Rachel did when she didn't want to show amusement but couldn't contain herself. "Not to be rude, but would you mind telling us the nature of this rather early visit?"
Quinn tore her eyes from the pictures of Rachel on the mantle. She'd only been to Rachel's a handful of times and had never really appreciated the quaint, cozy feeling of the house. Usually Rachel invited her over when Leroy and Hiram were both out on dates or business conferences.
"Yes, Rachel," Quinn remembered, ashamed that she'd gotten distracted in the first place. "She needs to come to Nationals, sir. This- it's. . .. I mean, this is Rachel Berry we're talking about here, Rachel Berry and National Show Choir Competitions. We need her, but even more than that, she needs this." She looked at both of Rachel's fathers in turn. "She's a star, you both must know that," Quinn continued, "and this is her moment to shine."
Hiram sighed and rubbed his left temples with two fingers. "Believe us, Miss Fabray-"
"Please, Quinn."
The dark-skinned man smiled. "Quinn, believe us when we say that we've tried, but we've never seen her like this."
Quinn nodded. "I don't know how much you know about what happened yesterday, sirs, but I don't blame her. Finn said a lot of really terrible things, and- although I know that Rachel is an advocate for non-violence- I could have killed that boy," the blonde admitted. "We all too shocked to say anything, we were taken off-guard and none of us had enough sense to tell her that he wasn't right, that it wasn't true.
"I just. . .," Quinn breathed out a shaky breath, "I just know. . . that nothing I say will change her mind." And here came the awkward part. "So I'm kind of here to ask you both. . . if it would be alright . . . if I kinda. . . kidnapped Rachel, and took her to New York with me?"
Leroy's expressive eyes lit up, but not in a bad way. Perhaps a bit taken aback, but not angry like Quinn had expected.
"So let me get this straight, Quinn," Hiram began uncertainly, "you want to. . ." He couldn't even finish the statement, so Quinn finished it for him.
"I want to drag Rachel on a road trip to New York with me," she reiterated for him. "It's too late to catch a flight. But I've had my license for nearly two years – no accidents, speeding tickets, or traffic violations, but a parking ticket because I lost track of time and left my car in a two-hour parking spot for three hours. My fuel tank is full, my oil has been changed, I have two spare tires in my trunk. There's a cooler packed with food and drinks—non-alcoholic, of course—in my backseat, along with an emergency kit-"
"Quinn, Quinn!" Leroy laughed. "We can clearly see that you've thought this through very impeccably." He smiled at his husband and took his hand, the two exchanged a look that made them seemed as if they were having some sort of telepathic conversation.
They turned back to her and Leroy finished, "If you want to 'kidnap' Rachel and take her to New York, then her suitcases are- if I'm not mistaken- still packed and upstairs in her room. She's at the school, most likely in the auditorium."
Quinn let out a breath that she hadn't known she'd been holding and shook both of the Berrys' hands. "Thank you, thank you so much."
"Take care of her," Hiram instructed Quinn seriously, "if anything happens to her. . ."
"You won't have to hunt me down, Mr. Berry," the blonde told him solemnly, "I'll be standing on you front-porch again, waiting for you to do what you will."
Quinn ran up the stairs with a gigantic smile on her face.
Leroy turned to his husband and wrapped his arms are the man. "I like that one," he commented. "She seems to have grown up quite a lot in a fairly short amount of time. Rachel will be safe with her."
Hiram kissed the top of his husband's head. "Yeah, I like her too."