Author's Note: Well, as promised, here is chapter 24... enjoy! :)

Chapter Twenty-four: Acceptance

Quinn Fabray was happy. As she caught sight of herself in the mirror on her vanity unit, she couldn't help but grin at her reflection. Behind her, tangled in the sheets of her rumpled bed, her beautiful girlfriend lay sleeping. It was the early hours of Sunday morning and the girls had not left Quinn's dorm room since Friday night except for comfort breaks and emergency food runs. Quinn had woken up thirsty, and she'd reluctantly torn herself away from Santana to get a bottle of water from her fridge.

Quinn put down the water bottle and opened the top drawer of her dresser, pulling out a crumpled envelope bearing the Columbia University logo. She pulled out the manila paper and held it thoughtfully in her hands for several seconds. Her acceptance letter to the university had arrived in her mailbox at Yale during the time she was back in Ohio and it had weighed on Quinn's mind ever since.

She wanted nothing more than to be with Santana twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, but she knew that it would mean a lot of pressure on their relationship, and she didn't want to risk losing Santana ever again. It was too soon for them to take that step; Quinn knew that in her heart. When she'd applied to the university back in September, she'd been doing it for all the wrong reasons. She'd rushed headlong into proving her feelings for Santana, because she was trying to assuage her guilt over sleeping with Puck. Her counsellor had helped her to see that over the past several weeks.

Quinn knew that she had a tendency to cling onto those things she wanted so tightly that she risked smothering them. She didn't want that to happen with Santana. She wanted to give their relationship a chance to grow and flourish on its own. She had no doubt that one day, and hopefully soon, she would be ready to make that move, but it wasn't time yet. She took the letter and tucked it beneath a pile of papers in her dresser drawer; then she climbed back into bed beside Santana and cuddled up against her.

The movement stirred Santana who stretched lithely as Quinn watched appreciatively.

"Whatya doin'?" Santana asked with a yawn, rubbing her eyes.

"Ssh," Quinn whispered, brushing stray strands of mahogany hair from Santana's forehead. "I was thirsty, that's all. It's the middle of the night, go back to sleep."

"Nuh-uh," Santana murmured, her lips brushing lightly over Quinn's and eliciting a little shiver down Quinn's spine. "You woke me up, and I don't want to go back to sleep."

Quinn giggled.

"You're insatiable," she said, shaking her head.

Santana just laughed in response.

"I have to leave in... eleven hours," she said, pausing mid-sentence to check the time on the illuminated digits of Quinn's alarm clock. "I can sleep in my US history class next week, I don't want to waste time now." And with that, she turned her attention back to Quinn's body, until Quinn was gasping and writhing between her, chanting her name.

All too soon, it was time for Santana to leave and Quinn was saying a tearful goodbye at the train station. The girls kissed intimately and held on to each other until the low rumble of the train's engine as it prepared to depart forced them to let go of each other.

Quinn had not even made it back to her car before her phone vibrated in her pocket and she took it out to read Santana's message.

I miss you already. Call me later… and remember what you promised me on the open mike night? Well, it's time to deliver xxxxx

Quinn chuckled and blushed, remembering what she had whispered into Santana that night when her girlfriend had asked her if she'd talk dirty to her on the phone. Laughing to herself as she thought about what she could say that would make Santana as red as she'd been that night, Quinn headed back to her dorm.

"What are you doing for Thanksgiving?" Santana asked her over Skype a few days later. Quinn shrugged.

"I haven't really thought about it," she admitted. "I'm going back to Lima for Christmas, but I really don't want to go home for Thanksgiving as well. My mom's still giving me a hard time about going to see our priest." She rolled her eyes and Santana smiled sympathetically. "I know she's worried about me," Quinn continued with a sigh, "and I really wish I could tell her that I'm okay, that I'm happy, but she'd never accept it."

Santana looked thoughtful. She'd been incredibly understanding to Quinn about her reluctance to tell her mother about their relationships and Quinn was grateful for that. Quinn's family bonds were already so fractured, and she knew that Santana had no doubt that what she'd told her was true – she would lose her mom altogether if she were honest with her about who she was.

"Well, Rachel, Kurt and Blaine will be gone but I'll be here," Santana said after a moment's hesitation. "I have to work either side, but I have Thanksgiving off, so you could come down to New York. I'm not up to a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings but I can make a mean turkey sandwich."

Quinn laughed at the image.

"How can I resist such a tempting offer?" she said, shaking her head.

Thanksgiving morning dawned bright and cold, and the clouds held a definite promise of snow as Quinn set off to New York. By the time she arrived at the loft, a couple of inches of powdery white flakes had fallen, and Quinn shivered against the cold as she hurried inside.

As she knocked on the door to the loft, she could smell a delicious Thanksgiving dinner that must have been coming from one of the neighboring apartments. There was a strange scuffling sound from inside the loft before Santana opened the door halfway, looking strangely ruffled.

"I thought you were going to call when you were about twenty minutes away," she said, a slight frown marring her pretty features. Quinn felt a twinge of uncertainty.

"I would have," she explained, "but the snow's coming down pretty heavy and I just wanted to get off the road as quickly as possible."

Santana's expression relaxed. She knew how paranoid Quinn was about safe driving ever since her accident.

"So, did you, um, have a good journey?" Santana asked her absently, glancing over her shoulder into the apartment. Quinn was starting to feel uneasy.

"Santana, what's going on?" she said nervously. "Let me come in."

Santana checked over her shoulder again, and then inexplicably beamed.

"Sure thing, Q," she agreed amiably, opening the door wider and stepping aside.

The reason for her stalling was immediately apparent to Quinn. The loft had been festooned with Thanksgiving decorations. Twinkling fairy lights fell in curtains, candles covered every surface, and the kitchen table had been set for a lavish dinner party. Rachel, Kurt, and Blaine all stood by the table grinning at Quinn, pleased with themselves for pulling off their surprise.

"What are you guys doing here?" Quinn asked, as Santana wrapped her arms around her from behind and kissed her cheek. "Not that I'm not thrilled to see you but Santana said you'd all be back in Lima."

"I lied," Santana murmured into her ear with a chuckle. "We wanted to surprise you."

Quinn shook her head, her eyes sparkling with wonder.

"But why?" she wanted to know.

"Because we're a family," Rachel explained, beaming at Quinn. "All of us. We love each other unconditionally, we accept each other's flaws, undoubtedly irritating as some of them may be," she shot Santana a look and Santana snorted derisively. "You're part of our family, Quinn, and we love you and accept you."

Quinn's eyes filled with tears at Rachel's words, and she opened her mouth but couldn't think of the words to express how she felt. Instead, she grinned at her friends as Santana wiped away the tears that fell down her cheeks.

She took a deep breath to pull herself together, and looked around at the beautifully decorated loft. Then, she turned around in Santana's arms without breaking the embrace. Smiling at her girlfriend, Quinn kissed her slowly and deeply, not caring that their friends were watching.

"Thank you," she whispered to Santana when they parted. "I just have one question though," she continued in a louder voice, so that the others would be able to hear. "Who's cooking the turkey, because Rachel's a vegan and I'm looking at the girl who doesn't even know how to make scrambled eggs?"

Her friends chuckled as Santana pouted and pretended to be offended.

"You're safe, Q," Santana promised, planting a kiss on the tip of her nose as their friends snickered. "Lady-Hummel's been channelling Martha Stuart since about six o'clock this morning."

That night Quinn lay in bed in Santana's arms, feeling safe and warm as they watched the snow continue to fall through the window.

"You're amazing, you know?" Quinn said softly and she heard Santana chuckle behind her. Quinn rolled over to meet her gaze.

"I know," Santana said unabashed. "But I still like hearing it. Did you have a good day?"

"It was almost perfect," Quinn acknowledged, smiling softly.

"Almost perfect?" Santana queried, frowning slightly.

"Uh-huh," Quinn nodded, her fingers twirling strands of Santana's silky hair idly.

"Why only almost perfect?" Santana pressed. Quinn sighed indulgently.

"Because," she explained, "when I was a little girl, after we'd eaten Thanksgiving dinner my dad used to go around the table and ask us all what we were thankful for that year. You haven't asked me what I'm thankful for."

"So, what are you thankful for?" Santana asked her.

Quinn giggled.

"Well, I'm thankful I got straight As in my mid-terms," she began, "and I'm really thankful that Rachel and Kurt didn't let you anywhere near the kitchen today. I'm thankful I didn't have to go back to Lima and spend Thanksgiving with my mom, and I'm thankful we didn't let Rachel play any of her musical Berry-family games tonight."

"Is that all?" Santana asked her pointedly. Quinn shrugged.

"I guess so, unless you can think of anything else I should be thankful for," she said with a smirk.

Santana captured her mouth in a passionate kiss as her fingers trailed up the inside of Quinn's thigh.

"Oh, I can think of a few things," she promised. Quinn laughed out loud.

"I love you, Santana," she whispered happily into her girlfriend's ear. "And thank you, for today, for everything."

"You're welcome," murmured Santana, her lips brushing against Quinn's collarbone. "And I love you too."

The End...?

Author's Note (2): So, this is the end of this particular part of my Quinntana story. When I started writing this I had a clear end point in mind, as, to me this story was all about Quinn's acceptance of herself, but I'm already thinking about writing a sequel as there are a number of other avenues I want to explore with the two of them, for example, what would happen if Quinn ever did tell her mom about Santana? How would Brittany react to the relationship? How would Quinn and Santana cope with living together full-time? And, what would happen if Shelby and Beth came back into Quinn's life? I'm not saying I'm definitely going to go down all of these roads, but they're the ideas I'm currently working through in my mind.

Update: I've now started posting chapters of my follow up story, titled "Becoming Quinn Fabray" - if you liked this story, please check out my new one! Thanks in advance!