Summary: The piano scene. Just another take on it.

Spoilers: S02E16 Original Song spoilers.

Characters: Quinn Fabray, Rachel Berry.

Pairings: Faberry unrequited.

Notes: It was such sheer, heart-breaking lemony goodness for those who wanted to see the subtext, that I just had to write something. Probably a one-shot. Point out typos.

"But you don't belong here, Rachel. And you can't hate me for helping to send you on your way." She could handle anything from Rachel, but not her hatred.

"I'm not giving up on Finn. It's not over between us."

"Yes it is! You're so frustrating," she said, her voice cracking as she saw the brunette flinch, "and that is why you can't write a good song, because you live in this little school girl fantasy of life... Rachel, if you keep looking for that happy ending, you will never get it right." And Quinn wouldn't let her get it wrong.

She could feel the tears in her eyes, the sting reminding her of why she tried so hard to never speak to Rachel. To never come in front of the one person in her life who she admired beyond belief.

Quinn took a deep breath and a step back. She was not going to break down in front of Rachel Berry. This girl wouldn't get to see how each word she'd said had physically hurt her. Because she knew that it was all true. No matter how hard she tried to make herself better than all of them, to get the grades and become prom queen, fact was that they weren't people you aspired to become better than. They were a bunch of losers, and she was the queen of them all.

She knew that she would stay in Ohio, and that she would marry - if not Finn, then some other nice, boring man. They'd have exactly the life that she'd just described, the kind of life that made her feel suffocated at the mere thought, and there wasn't anything she could do about it.

But Rachel - Rachel was different. With a flair for the dramatic, talent that couldn't be contained in that tiny body of hers, and enough optimism to cure cancer. Rachel didn't belong in the jaded little life that she knew over ninety percent of them would end up living, and she was not going to stand aside and watch as that sparkle in Rachel's eyes got snuffed out in this God-forsaken hell hole.

Even if it meant Rachel thinking she was a selfish, stereotypical bitch. Quinn hoped that wouldn't happen, because Rachel wasn't one to think like that, no matter how compelling the evidence. But if she did, it wouldn't matter. Even if Rachel never understood how desperately Quinn wanted her to shine, to be better than the best, to achieve all her dreams, it was fine.

Because somehow, Quinn knew that if she did understand, if she really knew that Quinn worshiped the ground she walked on, Rachel would get caught in her downward spiral, and that just wasn't supposed to happen.

Rachel Berry was not a Lima Loser, and Quinn would not let her become one, even if the cost was to let her go without ever having her.

And so she made Rachel walk away. From her and one day, from everything that tied her to this place.