"Kurt!"

Kurt froze, his finger poised to strike the y key. He looked over at Rachel on the other couch.

"Why are you making so much noise?" she demanded.

"I'm," he hesitated, "typing."

"Well it sounds like a machine gun, and do you have to breathe so loudly?"

Kurt sighed, and tried to press the keys on his laptop more softly. Rachel had been insufferable for a week, ever since Quinn had come home with the news she was taking someone else to tonight's benefit.

She kept insisting that she was fine, but it was obvious that she was hurt and confused. He tried a few times to get her to talk about what was going on with Quinn but she refused, both out of denial and because of his role in starting this debacle.

So he had endured Rachel's irrational outbursts, and the strained politeness between his roommates, as they had gotten progressively worse. He hoped for their sakes that it would reach breaking point soon so they could sort it out. And maybe for his sake too. But mostly theirs. Yes, mostly theirs.

That evening Rachel was sitting on the couch staring blankly at the television.

Kurt had escaped, gone to Duplex on a date with some guy he met at a work party, which just left Quinn, who was upstairs getting her hair and makeup done.

'I should be getting my hair and makeup done too,' Rachel thought bitterly. She wasn't sure where the negative feelings were coming from, probably because there were many meaningful industry connections she wouldn't be making tonight.

'You idiot,' she thought to herself. She knew exactly where the negative thoughts were coming from.

Would Liam know that Quinn needed to take three deep breaths before walking in to the room? Would Liam know when to divert a conversation, lest Quinn's death glare be fixed upon an unwitting person? And who would accompany Quinn to the bathroom and help her fix her lipstick, or adjust a fallen strand of hair?

Mostly Rachel felt like she was being replaced by someone who didn't deserve Quinn.

'Deserve her how?' she thought, but was interrupted almost immediately by Jules walking through the lounge room with her suitcase of supplies and a smile.

"Quinn will be down in a few minutes. Hope you're feeling better soon, Rach," Jules called to her as she let herself out the front door.

Rachel waved, then screwed her nose up in confusion at Jules' farewell.

'Do I look unwell?' she thought, before realizing that Quinn must have given 'illness' as the reason Rachel wasn't accompanying her this evening.

Anger bubbled up in her throat. Hot tears sprang to her eyes. She heard the click-clack of heels on the wooden floor and drew herself up off the couch.

"Sorry I'm too sick to go to the benefit," was hurled at Quinn before she had even registered Rachel's presence.

Quinn sighed deeply.

"What reason should I have given Rachel? That I have to take Lucas-"

"Liam," Rachel interrupted.

"Whatever. It's not like it matters."

"It mattered enough for you to ditch me for him."

"I am doing what's best for both of us, Rachel," Quinn exclaimed as she pushed past the brunette and walked towards the door.

"Oh I'm sorry Quinn, obviously I should thank you. Have fun on your date."

Quinn abandoned her calm at that, spinning back around to face Rachel.

"You know it's not a date."

Her eyes blazed into Rachel's for several seconds until she spun on her heel and walked out the door, slamming it behind her.

All the fight left Rachel's body at the sound of the slammed door. She leaned heavily against the wall of the entryway, fighting back tears.

She hated fighting with her best friend. In fact, she couldn't even remember the last time they had fought. Not like this. Not just silly arguments about who hadn't done the dishes, or how long her third favorite musical ran on Broadway, like a real fight.

The front door swung open, and there was Quinn, looking every bit as upset as Rachel felt.

Rachel brushed her hair back and stood up a little straighter.

"Aren't you going to be late?"

Quinn took a step through the door.

"I didn't want to leave things like that."

"Me neither."

"Rachel," Quinn started, taking a step closer. "I…"

"It's okay Quinn, I will accept your apology."

Quinn stopped, her face hardening.

"I wasn't going to apologize," the fire was back in those hazel eyes. "You don't understand at all, do you?"

"Understand what Quinn," Rachel closed the remaining distance between them and glared right back.

Quinn laughed humorlessly.

"You don't understand what would happen, what I'd lose,"

Rachel scoffed, disgusted at Quinn's cowardice and about to tell her so, but Quinn wasn't finished.

"You just don't understand that I can't take my best friend any more," she was full blown yelling into Rachel's face at this point, "because they've figured out that I'm in l-," Quinn froze.

"In love with me?"

Quinn's recoiled from Rachel's words, stepping back once, twice, three times.

"Is that what you were going to say?"

Rachel stepped forward once, twice, three times.

"That you're in love with me?"

Rachel had backed Quinn against the wall of their hallway, and was leaning closer.

"Stop," Quinn begged.

Rachel paused inches from Quinn's lips.

And then as quickly as she had appeared in the doorway, Quinn had pushed Rachel away and fled down the hall.

Rachel turned to see Quinn disappearing around the corner and towards the stairs that would lead her out of their building and into Liam's waiting car.

Taking a deep breath, Rachel went back into their apartment. She made it to the couch then promptly burst into tears.

Rachel hadn't moved from the couch when Quinn quietly pushed the door open at 1:48am.

Quinn was taken aback when she saw Rachel sitting, still as a statue, illuminated only by the light from the iPad that held her attention.

"Hey," she called tentatively, taking a few steps into the living room.

She was greeted by silence.

Rachel stood, crossed the floor towards Quinn and thrust the iPad into her hands.

"There. Are you happy now?" she asked, her eyes blazing into Quinn's for the first time since she arrived home.

Quinn looked down at photos of her and Liam at the benefit and tweets speculating that they were a hot new item.

She looked back up at Rachel, whose face was a mixture of anger, hurt, and overwhelming sadness.

Rachel waited for a response, waited for Quinn to fix it.

A beat passed.

Rachel shook her head and walked away, closing her bedroom door behind her.

When Rachel's alarm went off at six the next morning, she groaned as the memory of the previous night came flooding back.

She dragged herself out of bed, threw on some sweats and pulled her hair back in a loose ponytail. The last thing she wanted to do was go to rehearsals for sixteen hours, but at least it got her out of the house and away from Quinn.

She walked into the kitchen, grabbed a banana and slipped out of the house. She wanted a day of losing herself in something that had nothing to do with Quinn.

She wanted a day where thoughts of Quinn didn't invade her consciousness.

She didn't get it.

No matter how many times she tried to put it out of her mind, her mind kept going over and over their conversation the previous night.

She kept hearing Quinn's voice.

'They've figured out I'm in l-', as she was executing a kick ball change into fan kick.

'They've figured out I'm in l-', as she was supposed to be listening to the director's feedback on her solo.

'They've figured out I'm in l-', as she was trying to eat her lunch.

But she could never get Quinn to finish the sentence, even in her head.

'They've figured out I'm in l-', as she packed up her bag at the end of the day.

"They've figured out I'm in love with you," she heard from behind her.

She spun around, coming face to face with a head of blonde hair and shining hazel eyes.

Quinn took a step forward, and reached out ever so slowly for Rachel's hand. Giving her every opportunity to pull away.

But Rachel's hand instinctively reached back.

Their fingers brushed lightly.

"And last night did not make me happy."

One more step.

"It was one of the worst nights of my life."

Her hand touched Rachel's cheek.

"I wanted you beside me. I want you…"

She captured Rachel's lips.

Rachel's surprise came out in a whimper, but it less than a second before she launched herself into Quinn's arms and kissed back with fervor.

Kissing away every ounce of sadness from the last day, confusion from the last week, and tension from the last, well, decade.

When they finally pulled apart the studio had emptied completely.

They looked at each other and laughed.

"I guess I'll have some explaining to do on Tuesday."

"Just tell them Faberry is canon."

Rachel's jaw hit almost hit the floor.

"You looked it up?"

"Yeah well, I was determined to prove that they were all wrong," she smiled ruefully.

Rachel grabbed Quinn's hands and pulled her towards the exit.

"Well it wasn't the Empire State Building," Rachel giggled when Quinn slapped her arm.

"It was better," she grinned, leaning up to kiss Quinn again.

Quinn smiled that Quinn smile and they walked hand in hand down the street towards the subway station.

"Hey Rach? Now I'm happy."

POST SCRIPT

Kurt's phone buzzed on the table.

He stopped writing to check and saw that it was a text from Nathan, one of Rachel's costars.

He opened it, and momentarily thought he was imagining things. But no, there on his screen was a picture of Quinn and Rachel kissing.

The sound he made then was definitely not human. He jumped out of his chair and spun around, wishing he had someone to share his excitement.

And then he remembered, he did.

Bookmark: faberryforevr ask box

He had to be anonymous of course. He was always anonymous.

The End.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. Eternal thanks to my best friend and beta, without whom this would not have been possible.