A/N: From the scene in the bathroom – Prom – Pairing Rachel B & Quinn F

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Rachel looked to Quinn for reassurance. The gentle nod was all she needed before she lifted the towel to the girl's eyes and wiped the last traces of mascara away.

"You don't have to you know" Quinn looked up at her

"I know" she nodded and carried on

"I shouldn't have done that. I don't know why I did and I really am sorry Rachel"

"It doesn't matter Quinn, we move on. Clearly you have a lot of things on your mind at the moment and I…well I just got in the way…again" Rachel took a step back, happy that she had fixed Quinn's makeup, she stared at the blonde. They had been sharing a lot of moments like these lately, although not ones that included a slap to the face, but time on their own talking. Rachel could feel Quinn opening up to her, but then back in the classrooms or in the hallways it was just the same as ever. Quinn barely acknowledged her and when she did it was to stake her claim to Finn.

Rachel had tried to stay away from Finn, he was with Quinn now and she wasn't going to make any moves on him. She had felt awful for what she had done last year and she now knew only too well about the consequences of cheating.

It didn't seem to matter though; Quinn was still on her back about it.

"What are you thinking?" Quinn interrupted her thoughts as she moved to fix her own hair

"That maybe I need to find better ways to stay out of your way. I mean perhaps following you into the bathroom was silly. I mean it's not like we are friends or anything?" Rachel couldn't hide the questioning tone and hope in her voice, she couldn't ever help herself around Quinn. She wanted a friend and she knew that Quinn needed one, but Finn just kept getting in the way and well it seemed that Quinn didn't really like her all that much anyway.

Quinn just looked at her. Her face as blank as ever, but Rachel saw something flicker in her eyes and it looked a little like hurt, but Quinn shook her head as if trying to erase whatever thoughts were in there and she dropped her eyes from the intent gaze that Rachel had her locked into.

"It's not that Rachel" her voice was soft and gentle. "I just need to get back out there now and I need to find a way to make sure no one laughs at me and I need to find a way to enjoy myself now that my date has been kicked out and I am here a…alone"

"You're not alone Quinn. I have no date either"

"Yes and we all know why" Quinn could not hide her annoyance

Rachel flinched as the anger grew in the blonde once again

"I didn't make Finn hit Jesse. I didn't get them kicked out"

"Oh but you did Rachel, don't you see it? They all fight over you! Why did you bring Jesse? You knew he'd stir up a lot of emotions. You must have known that we were still angry over what he did to you"

"Well I didn't think, not really. I mean no one is nice to me. What did you mean we? You said we were angry, I find it hard to believe you could get angry about someone causing me harm, not after the slushie agenda"

"Well….um….yeah….I meant Glee" Quinn managed to stutter out. It wasn't the first time; Rachel seemed to cause her to stutter when they got into these issues. That's why Quinn tried to avoid them and never engaged with the other girl around others. She knew they would see how her guard would drop and she didn't know why it kept happening or why she couldn't control it, but Rachel had something that made her be open and honest. Something about Rachel made Quinn want to be true to her own self.

"Oh right" Rachel sighed an edge of disappointment that was not lost on Quinn. "I guess people need to let me make my own decisions. I mean you for one told me I needed to move on, that Finn wasn't for me, that this town wasn't for me. Well Jesse is better than this just I am. We will both be stars one day" she walked towards the door, letting out a deep sigh, time with Quinn was nothing short of exhausting and she needed to get away to gather her thoughts.

"Rachel, Wait!" but it was too late the brunette had gone and Quinn was left with that same feeling that never went away around Rachel.

Xxx