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Babygate came out. No big surprise there. Quinn knew that she couldn't keep it a secret forever, no matter how hard she'd tried to pretend that she could. She hoped that by ignoring the issue, it would never come up, but... yeah. Stupid hope. Puck had wanted to tell Finn the truth from the get-go, that Drizzle was his (and what kind of lame-ass name was "Drizzle", anyway?) and Finn didn't need to worry about paying for all the medical stuff. But Quinn was emphatic that they keep it a secret, and Puck figured he'd already screwed up Quinn's life enough that he wasn't going to force her to do this, too.
They weren't expecting Rachel to be the one to spill the beans. Mercedes, yes, since Puck had been stupid enough to run his mouth off at her. Kurt, probably, since everyone knew that telling Mercedes was as good as telling Kurt, and those two loved their gossip. Everyone knew before Rachel (well, everyone but Finn), and once Rachel knew, she couldn't keep it a secret. She sent Quinn and Noah texts letting them know she was sorry, but she had to tell Finn. If they'd checked their phones, Puck would have had some warning before Finn's fist met his face -- and who knew that Finn could actually fight? Everyone knew that Finn was, like, the only kid in school descended from Care Bears or something, though the only reason they didn't think Rachel was part Care Bear was because they'd decided that she was descended from Disney characters a long ass time ago -- but even if he'd had the warning, he wouldn't have fought Finn back. Finn punched, and Puck just took it, because he deserved it. He deserved to have the snot beat out of him, and Finn deserved to be the one to do it.
As far as Finn was concerned, Rachel was his only actual friend in Glee, because the others had known and hadn't told him. That conclusion didn't last long, because Quinn was tossed out of Finn's house the day of Sectionals, and Rachel was the one who took her in, and once Finn found out about that part, Rachel was on his persona non grata list.
Yeah. Rachel brought Quinn home with her.
Quinn had her suitcases around her, waiting for the school bus to come. She'd been the first to arrive at the parking lot, though not by much, because Rachel was anal about always being at least half an hour early to anything.
When Rachel arrived, and saw Quinn sitting on her suitcases, the brunette walked over and sat next to her. "Which one is actually for Sectionals?"
Quinn turned and raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
Rachel gave Quinn a small smile, as though she were afraid to be shot down again. "Because I do not want to load the suitcase you actually need into my car. It is obvious that this is all you have; no one, not even me, could need all this stuff for a competition. That means that you are no longer staying at Finn's, and I can not help but feel that that is most likely my fault for telling Finn about the true paternity of your baby. That means that I am responsible, and I like to fix my mistakes whenever possible and take care of messes that I create. Besides, no one else is likely to have extra rooms available, and you need your privacy right now."
Quinn couldn't help but smile at the barrage of words; they'd learned a long time ago that Rachel's style of arguing was to get as many words in as possible, preferably large ones, in the hopes of confusing her opponent and rendering them unable to form an argument against her. Quinn pointed to the suitcase underneath her. "This is the only one I'm taking."
Rachel's response was to simply start picking up the other bags around Quinn and carry them to the trunk of her silver X-Terra. "Lust let me text my dads and let them know, and they will go ahead and pick my car up. If you would like, they can go ahead and unpack your suitcases in the guest room, but if you would rather do it yourself, I understand, and they will simply put your bags in your new room. What would you like for dinner? I have not had any dairy for the last three weeks, preparing for this competition, so we plan on having ice cream sundaes for dessert, either for consolation or for congratulations, depending on whether we win or not, but I refuse to entertain the possibility of losing."
Quinn knew that years of vocal training had granted Rachel the amazing ability to not need breaths as often as most people, which meant she could fit a lot more words in. When Rachel did have to take a breath, Quinn interjected. "I'd rather unpack my own bags; I'm sure your fathers would rather not see my thongs in relation to the little girl that used to spend the night at your house. And I'm good with anything, really, but Drizzlet is partial to beef. Ice cream sundaes for a celebration sounds fantastic." Quinn touched Rachel's shoulder, before pulling away. "Thanks. I appreciate it. Really. Especially after everything."
Rachel smiled widely. "You'd do the same for me."
Quinn shook her head slowly. "No. I wouldn't."
Rachel's smile dimmed a bit. "I guess not. But we were friends, once. And that means that you always have a place to stay with me and my dads. They would never forgive me if they found out I had allowed you to be homeless. Especially with you being with child."
That was the difference between Quinn's family and Rachel's. Quinn knew that if Rachel were suddenly kicked out of her home (which would never happen, because the brunette's fathers loved her something awful), Quinn wouldn't be allowed to bring Rachel home, even when they'd still been friends. Her parents thought Rachel was loud, albeit polite, but she was Jewish, and she had two dads, and either one of them just wasn't natural in the elder Fabray's opinion.
But Quinn also knew that Rachel was correct, and Hiram and LeRoy would be very disappointed in Rachel if they found out that she'd left Quinn to sleep in her car.
Not for the first time, Quinn wished she'd been born a Berry instead of a Fabray.
