This chapter takes place 2 weeks after the last one.

The Sound That Silence Makes

*cough cough*

"Someone is clearly not happy today." Kurt sensed quickly upon his meeting with Rachel they walked down the hall to head home after a long day.

"I'm always happy Kurt."

"Mhm. what's wrong?"

"Well aside from the fact we have a English test next week, and my head hurts, I have a dance residual on Wednesday and haven't gotten enough practice in." Kurt smirked, lightly bumping Rachel with his elbow.

"And why is this?"

"No reason."

"No there's a reason."

"Its nothing!" Rachel assured him, lifting her bag further up her shoulder. "I just haven't had a lot of time these past couple of weeks…"

"Ever since your date with Quinn." Kurt sung playfully ignoring Rachel's shocked expression.

"It wasn't a date Kurt, we just ate popsicles and watched old movies, we're buddies and we're roommates, so its normal that we would hang out."

"I'm sure." Rachel rolled her eyes at her friends smile, and would have liked if he had dropped the issue entirely. But of course he didn't. "I'm assuming your Sign Language lessons are going good?" Kurt added, but the slight smirk on his face told Rachel that wasn't what he was asking about.

"Okay, okay I know. I already got chewed out by Quinn, but come on Kurt I'm not a toddler, learning languages is hard when you're older…" She trailed off, knowing her excuse was not good enough, she could learn anything in a month if she had the mind set and Kurt knew it.

"You just need motivation and obviously communicating with your hot roommate isn't good enough."

"Why does everyone constantly need to mention that she's hot?" She grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. "No one ever just says 'your roommate' I'm sure she knows she's hot."

"Do you know it?"

"What kind of question is that Kurt, of course I know it. Quinn is very attractive and her wild pink hair definitely suits her face- why are you smiling at me?" Kurt waved his hand, shaking his head.

"I'm just always happy Rach." He mocked and Rachel realized it was a nod to what she had said a minute earlier. "Anyway, how was your lovely Friday?"

It wasn't actually that lovely. The snow was picking up fast and there were talks of an approaching blizzard, but they were safe so far. Rachel thought she could handle whatever weather came into her sights, but obviously the snow of Ohio was nothing compared to the wrath of whatever angry clouds where above New York. She groaned when she saw what was going on outside the window, turning back to face Kurt. "

"Well if I was able to see where I was going all day I probably would be able to tell you, but I want to know what you had in mind about the 'motivation' stuff!"

"Well I don't know, what do you want?"

"A Tony."

"Something easily attainable in the next couple of months Rach." She sighed, twirling her fingers in her pockets. What did she want? She always got asked that question and the easiest thing was always to simply say- New York, Broadway. But now she was in New York, on her way to Broadway soon enough she didn't really want anything else.

"I don't know…" She settled on, pushing the doors to the outside with her shoulders, not wanting to take her hands away from the warmth of her pockets.

"Well maybe that's something to think about."

"You sound like a therapist." She teased, pulling her hood up to cover her hair as she squinted her eyes to the cold winds.

"Well I guess that means you really are crazy." Kurt smirked, quickening her pace to match with Rachel's. "We've been here almost three years and we're still sledding our way to the subway station."

"You should really get a car."

"Why don't you get one?" He replied after nearly slipping on the sidewalk.

"Well I don't have any money."

"We should start a lemonade stand, you know 'a glass helps a good cause.'"

"I doubt the population is going to help two college kids buy a car, especially for a glass of lemonade." Rachel shrugged, jogging down the stairs of the subway station, pulling her hood down and shaking the lose snowflakes and water droplets from her coated body. They walked together in silence as they scanned their passes and waited for the subway, until Rachel spoke up again.

"Its not like I'm apposed to the idea of trying to earn money and stuff, and I guess I should really get a job. Student loans aren't exactly easy to pay off. My dads have been super generous in donations but eventually even they are going to get sick of me."

"So you're going to get a job?" Rachel shrugged, she had her share of failed job attempts, but she hated mediocre work. She was made for bigger and brighter things, which hopefully brought in bigger and brighter paychecks.

"I don't know, its kind of the same scenario with Quinn you know? I really want to talk to her I just-"

"Don't want to put in the effort to do so." Kurt suggested, passing by his sighing friend to check the time, seeing a train approaching he quickly said his goodbyes.

"Bye Rach."

"Bye!" She waved as the doors closed.

…

The next day Rachel was feeling more then less eager to spend the weekend studying. And the recent sore throat she had obtained did not help. It was only when she got out of bed and over to the fridge that she realized it was twelve in the afternoon, and the fact that Quinn was up and laying on the floor before her told Rachel just how late she had gotten up.

"The day is already half gone, how did I sleep so late?" She mumbled to herself fishing through the fridge to find what she was looking for, before a note caught her eye. She turned back around, yelling in Quinn's direction. "Quinn why is all my non-dairy yogurt replaced with a sign saying 'yuck' and about thirty cups of pudding?" She walked over to her roommate, holding a cup of pudding in her hand. Quinn was rested in her normal spot on the floor, a pile of Lego's and her sketch book in front of her and the start of what looked like a red dragon's head in her hands. Laying on her stomach and legs swinging in the air she looked like a child, minus the pink hair and ripped jeans.

"Quinn why did you-" Rachel stopped herself, looking down and for the first time since she had started ranting noticed what Quinn was doing. "Oh my god did you make that!" She tapped her shoulder causing Quinn to turn around confused, squinting her eyes. "Did you make that?" Rachel repeated less enthusiastically. Quinn nodded, pointing to her sketchbook with an open drawing of a dragon diagram colored in red. "How did you even do that?" She shrugged, her eyes flicking to the pudding cup in Rachel's hand.

"You can have it if you want." She said handing it to Quinn, who took it with a small smile. "Quinn smiling? That's new." Rachel joked, sitting down next to Quinn, pushing a Lego towards her when it was just a little out of reach. Quinn lifted her gaze, tilting her head, waiting for Rachel to speak. But shook her head when she noticed Rachel's slightly red eyes. Pulling the pen from her ear she wrote a message on the back of her hand.

Are you sick?

"What? No, I don't get sick. I'm just tired is all." Rachel smiled, trying to ignore Quinn's raised eyebrow.

"But I have dance rehearsal in an hour, you want to come?" Quinn shrugged. "There's a cupcake place-" Quinn's eyes widened and she rushed to her room, running back out with her coat.

"Its in an hour Quinn." Rachel giggled, coughing a little. "Well I'm going to go get ready." Quinn nodded, already going back to working on her Lego sculpture, clicking in a new piece. Rachel assumed she was trying to make a nose.

…

"Thanks for coming with me to my rehearsal Quinn, it was really nice of you." Quinn nodded, more focused on the light snow fall then Rachel's talking. Rachel sighed, holding in a cough. "But I'm wondering if its because you wanted to see my dance or because I mentioned the cupcake place next door." Quinn gave a soft smile, it changed into a raised eyebrow when Rachel rubbed at her nose with the back of her hand.

"What? No, I'm fine." She lied, sniffing slightly. "Its just cold." She rubbed her hands together, before pointing to a building. "That's it, and next to it is the cupcake palace."

The two entered Rachel's dance studio, and Quinn instantly scowled when a woman approached them.

"Hey Rachel, oh who's this?"

"This is Quinn, my roommate, I thought maybe she could come see us practice." The woman smiled at them, Quinn watched as her curly blonde hair flew across her shoulder.

"So this is the infamous Quinn? Hi, I'm Lily." Quinn turned her head away, crossing her arms and walking over to a bench at the back of the room. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's just…cranky I guess." Rachel shrugged, looking back at Quinn who was drawing things on the back of her hand. "Well I'm going to go change."

"Alright, hey you look a little out of it. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Rachel nodded.

"Alright…see you out there." Lily smiled, waving at Rachel as she went into one of the back rooms. Lily walked over to Quinn, tying her hair in a ponytail before speaking.

"Hey Quinn, how's it going." She was ignored, as Quinn continued to doodle on her hand. "Okay then…" Rachel came jogging out, pulling her hair into a ponytail, and rubbing at her nose again.

"Are we starting now?"

"Yeah in five minutes." Lily replied, walking over to the other dancers scattered around. Quinn had a good time watching the dancers. They were good. She watched carefully, doing quick sketches of some of them when they were still enough for her to remember their movements. Rachel smiled over at Quinn every time she had a second, making sure she hadn't left and was still interested in everything that was happening. The minute class was over and the other dancers dispersed into conversations and grab-bagging Rachel walked over to Quinn, out of breath and sniffling.

"I'm actually going to stay a little longer, you can go get cupcakes if you want." Rachel panted, feeling and looking worse then she did before practice. Quinn shrugged, setting her sketchbook down on the bench and stuffing her hands in her pockets, walking out the door. Rachel grabbed the open sketchbook from the bench, smiling at it.

"I didn't know I looked so good dancing." She giggled to herself, regretting it when she started coughing.

"Hey Rach, aren't you going to get changed?" A girl with short brown hair asked when she came out of the changing room, a larger group of other dancers following her.

"Oh I think… I'll stay for a little bit more, I haven't gotten enough practice in." Rachel said in between slight coughs, almost completely out of breath.

"You don't look so good? Are you sure that's a good idea?" Another girl with black hair questioned.

"Don't push yourself, we don't need you getting sick." The brown hair girl added.

"I'll be fine." She smiled, waving at the brown haired girl who quickly walked off with her friends.

"Where's your friend?" Lily asked when she returned from changing.

"She went to go get cupcakes, she'll be back." Rachel said with a smile, coughing slightly.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just making sure I know the routine."

"Alright… see you tomorrow."

"Bye." Rachel sighed, turning back around to continue her routine. Quinn came in ten minutes later, a box of cupcakes in her hand and snow covering her pink hair.

"Hey Quinn." Rachel smiled out of breath, rubbing her eyes softly. Her face was red and she seemed completely out of energy "Um, I have to practice a little bit more… If, if you wanted to." She took a deep breath, leaning back against the wall and slowly sliding to the floor. "You can stay for a few minutes if you wanted to... um, I have to stay." Quinn set her box of cupcakes on the bench she was sitting on early and walked over to Rachel, kneeling next to her and placing a gentle hand on Rachel's forehead.

"No Quinn don't do that, if you acknowledge the sickness it only makes it stronger." Rachel sniffed, rubbing at her nose. Quinn have her a disapproving frown, but Rachel who was weakly rubbing her eyes ignored it.

"Its fine Quinn really, I've pushed through being sick before, it's no big deal." Rachel shook her head weakly. Quinn sighed, getting up to get Rachel's coat and bag, sticking her sketchbook in it and grabbing the cupcakes she left on the bench.

"A-are you leaving? Don't take my bag Quinn… I- I have to…" Rachel closed her eyes, out of breath; she opened them again when she heard Quinn next to her. Sliding Rachel's coat over her arms and slipping Rachel's bag over her own shoulders Quinn crouched on the ground.

"W-what are you doing?" Rachel coughed out, pulling the jacket Quinn had just pulled over her arms closer to her body. Quinn rolled her eyes and Rachel could just imagine her saying 'idiot'. But to her surprise Quinn rested her arm under Rachel's and slipped the other one under her legs, hoisting her up.

"Quinn your not seriously going to carry me home are you?" Quinn nodded, already walking towards the door. "Your really strong…or I'm just really tiny…" Rachel whispered, leaning her head into Quinn's arm.

"Are you sure Quinn I can walk home-" Rachel's coughing stopped her from arguing. She fought the urge to close her eyes and fall asleep, not wanting to have Quinn carry her and be asleep. But she had no energy left, and fighting urges was hard when she was sick. So she closed her eyes softly, feeling light snowflakes fall on her nose.

…

Both of them didn't say a word as they made their way home. Rachel because she was sick and asleep and Quinn because she couldn't anyway. They got a few looks from people, and why shouldn't they? A pink haired girl in ripped jeans carrying a hopefully just asleep girl at eight at night in the cold, wasn't exactly normal. Rachel had started to wake up when they got back to their hotel lobby.

"Thanks Quinn, I can uh…" She expected Quinn to let her down but she didn't. . In fact Quinn didn't put her down until she was in her bed, shoes off and under the covers with a cup of Quinn's hot chocolate in her hands. She smiled to herself, looking over to check the time on her phone. It had been thirty minutes since Quinn brought her home and she hadn't seen her. A soft knock on the door got her attention.

"Quinn?" Rachel chocked out, regretting speaking when she irrupted in a coughing fit.

"Nope just me." Kurt answered, walking over to his friend and placing some books on the floor next to the bed. "Why would it be Quinn? I assume she wouldn't knock."

"Right…" Rachel sighed, feeling a little disappointed.

"Why is it so hot in here?" Kurt groaned, fanning himself with his hands.

"Sorry I don't…" Rachel looked up when she saw Quinn, a plate of crackers in her hands. She was wearing a T-shirt and jean shorts, her hair in pigtails.

"Well I brought your homework from school, seeing as you'll probably be out for a while."

"Thanks…but-"

"Quinn called me, from your phone I might add. Well actually she texted but still." Kurt smiled, Quinn nodded. "Guess I better go." He smirked, waving goodbye to both girls.

"Bye Kurt thanks." Rachel called out, coughing again. When Kurt was gone, Quinn entered her room, setting the plate of crackers on the desk next to Rachel's bed. Rachel noticed she was sweating a little.

"Why is so hot?" Quinn pointed to Rachel's phone, turning her head. "Oh yeah, you can use it." Quinn nodded, typing in a message and holding it up for her to see.

I didn't want you to be cold

"T-thanks." Quinn nodded again, giving Rachel a soft smile and walking towards the door, shutting off the lights before closing the door softly behind her. Rachel smiled taking a sip of her drink. That was all the motivation she needed.

Wow haven't updated in FOREVR. Sorry guys. I've had a bad case of summer laziness, but I'm back in the writing mood. Hope you guys are enjoying the story. And if you think Rachel now has a crush on Quinn don't be too sure, Rachel can be a little difficult (and so can Quinn) Hope you're liking so far. THANKS FOR READING!