Quinn feels morning light creeping up on her face and groans. She dares to peek one eye open and sighs, remembering that she's not in her own room. Sitting up, she shakes her head at herself and the memory of all that happened the night before.

She doesn't know in what world she thought it would be a good idea to come see Rachel while she was drunk. But luckily, she remembers enough to know that she didn't let anything slip. But still, she can't do this again. It was stupid and reckless.

Quinn carefully climbs out of the bed and stretches. She then picks up the discarded dress on the floor but not before blushing. After quickly making up the bed, she leaves the guest bedroom.

There's no sign of Rachel in the living room, so Quinn decides to sit on the couch for a bit. She looks at the clock and sees that it's only eight in the morning, which is pretty early to be up after a night of drinking.

She thinks back and remembers how surprised Rachel was to see her. Why wouldn't she be? What kinds of niece comes knocking at your door in the middle of the night? Quinn knows that she can't keep behaving like this. It hurts, but she knows she's going to have to try to stay away from Rachel before something happens.

Quinn jumps in surprise when she hears the front door unlock and open.

"I'm forever yours...faithfully," Rachel sings as she walks in the door. Quinn smiles, she's never heard Rachel sing before and she actually sounds pretty amazing.

Rachel turns the lock on the door and spins around only to be caught off guard and immediately stops singing. Quinn assumes that she just got back from running as she's wearing a t-shirt and shorts and is completely covered in sweat.

"Quinn! You're up early," she smiles.

Quinn nods. "You have a nice voice," she can't help but say.

Rachel's cheeks turn a light shade of pink as she walks over and sits down on the couch. "I used to sing all the time growing up and actually wanted to do that for a living. I even majored in Musical Theatre in college."

Quinn is honestly surprised because she wasn't aware of what Rachel studied in college. How much about Rachel does she not know? "Then why did you stop singing if you love it so much?"

Rachel doesn't answer, and instead gives a warm smile. "How are you feeling? Hungover I bet?" she changes the subject.

Quinn wants to press the matter, but decides not to because it's none of her business. "No, just tired actually."

"Well I'd say so, considering you only slept for a few hours."

"Yeah...and listen, I'm so sorry about last night. It was stupid to come and wake you up like that."

"Quinn, I already told you last night, don't worry about it. I'm glad that you came here of all places because at least I know you're okay."

Quinn feels her heart swell for a moment. She clears her throat and suddenly stands up.

"I should probably get home," she says.

"If you want, I can make breakfast," Rachel offers as she stands as well.

Quinn shakes her head and starts walking towards the door. "I'm not hungry. I just need to shower and get some more sleep."

"You know you can do that here."

She stops and turns around to look at the hopeful woman. Rachel definitely wasn't making this easy for her. She smiles softly and says, "I really should get home."

Rachel looks down slightly embarrassed. She didn't mean to come off as needy again. "Of course. You're right. I'm sorry."

Quinn nods and opens the door. "I'll see you later."

Quinn hadn't seen Puck or Santana since the night of their graduation, so the three of them decided to spend the day together and found themselves at the mall. After listening to Quinn and Puck argue for fifteen minutes about which store to go to next, Santana became fed up and forced them all to sit down at the food court for a while and chill out.

Puck is going through all of the t-shirts he's bought so far while Santana types away on her phone.

Quinn feels her own phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulls it out and frowns.

Rachel: You doing okay? I haven't heard from you in a few days...

She sighs. It's already been three days since the last time she saw Rachel. And each day she's received a text that she's left unanswered. This whole staying away from her thing was a lot harder than she expected it to be. She was really missing the other woman.

Going against her plan, she replies back this time.

Quinn: I know. I'm sorry. I've just been really busy lately.

What a lame and cliché excuse, she thinks.

Rachel: It's okay. I just miss you :(

Quinn decides not to play with fire and puts her phone away.

"Who are you texting?" Quinn is startled by Santana's question.

"No one!" she answers quickly.

Her friend doesn't look convinced, and gives her a knowing look. The one that says 'I know you're hiding something'. Quinn hates that look.

Luckily, her phone starts ringing and saves her from further interrogation. Quinn sighs and looks to see that it's a call from her mom.

"Hello?"

"Quinn, your father and I are both off of work tonight. So we're all having dinner at the house," she says quickly, like she's in a hurry.

"All right, sounds good."

"Why don't you invite Santana and Noah over to eat?" Judy asks.

Quinn shrugs. "Yeah, I'll ask them."

"Great. Rachel is coming too so it should be fun. See you later!"

Quinn takes a moment before she pulls the phone down from her face, still trying to process her mom's words. Rachel would be there. Fantastic. Of course avoiding her wouldn't be this easy. And it's not like she can blame her mom for wanting to spend time with her own sister.

"What's up with you?" Puck asks.

Quinn takes a breath and turns to her friends.

"My mom wants to know if you guys wanna come over for dinner later?"

"Free food. You know I'm down." Quinn rolls her eyes at Puck. "And this fatty is probably thinking the same thing," he jokes as he pulls a struggling Santana into a playful headlock.

Quinn nods. "I'll let her know."

"Is Rachel going to be there?" Santana asks.

"Yeah, apparently."

Puck's face lights up. "Nice! I like her. I went by to clean her pool yesterday."

"Excuse me?" Quinn grits through her teeth, ready to rip his fucking head off.

The terrified boy's eyes widen. "No! Nothing like that! Chill out, Quinn."

She continues to glare at him.

He tries again. "I know you'd probably have my balls if did anything. But I swear, I'll never try anything with her. I know she's your family and shit and I respect that. But she actually is pretty cool and fun to be around."

"How did you even get her information?" Quinn questions angrily.

"What's your problem?" Santana interrupts, her question directed at Quinn.

"Yeah. You're making me out to be the Anti-Christ or something," Puck points out. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing," she snaps. "I'm sorry, okay? I'm just not in a good mood today."

Puck decides that it's in his best interest not to say anything more to his friend. So he goes back to organizing his shirts.

Santana is giving her that look again and it makes Quinn want to crawl under the table and hide forever.

Quinn is helping Judy in the kitchen while Russell, Puck, and Santana hang out in the living room.

"Can you set those plates out?" Judy asks as she pulls a tray out of the oven.

Quinn nods and does as she's told, carefully setting each plate down on the table.

Just as she's finishing, there's a light knock at the front door.

"Can you get that? I've got my hands full. It's probably Rachel."

Quinn swallows and makes her way to the door. She takes a breath and mentally prepares herself before she opens it.

And of course, she still wasn't prepared. Seeing the completely perfect woman standing before her brings all of those poorly repressed feelings back to the forefront of her mind.

"Oh! Hey Quinn." Rachel obviously wasn't expecting her to answer the door.

She steps forward to hug her niece and Quinn has no trouble meeting her halfway. She lets the moment sink in, but not for too long or it would look weird. She gently releases the older woman from her embrace.

"I missed you," Rachel says softly, gazing up at her with those eyes that she loves.

"I missed you too," Quinn nearly whispers.

Rachel smiles. "Let's eat! I'm starving."

Quinn steps aside to allow her in. As she closes the door, she sees her friends approach Rachel. She can't help but scowl when her and Puck embrace in a quick hug.

She hears a throat clearing beside her and looks over to see Santana staring at her strange. Quinn doesn't say anything and goes to the kitchen.

Dinner went surprisingly smooth, or at least in Quinn's mind it did. She knew that Santana was suspiciously glancing at her every so often. So she didn't dare once to look at Rachel and give away any hint of what she was thinking. She thinks a good job. And Rachel being on the other end of the table by her parents definitely helped. Yeah, she's got this.

"How do you like the pool?" Puck calls out to Rachel.

"Oh, I haven't gotten a chance to use it yet. But you did a great job cleaning it," she says politely. "Maybe I'll try it out when I get home."

"I'll go swimming with you later if you want," he offers.

Quinn picks her head up and looks at him sharply, but he doesn't notice.

But Santana does, and nudges him in the side.

"Or wait, why don't we all go?" he says looking at his two friends. "That'd be cool, right?"

Rachel beams. "Of course. That'd be fun."

"Yeah! That's sounds like an absolutely wonderful idea." Quinn can make out Santana's fake excited voice and it's making her uneasy. "What do you say, Quinn?"

"Yeah, Q. Are you down?" Puck asks.

She looks at the smirking Santana. Fucking instigator. And she can't say no to the hopeful look Rachel is giving her.

"Yeah, that sounds fun," she answers them.

All three smile triumphantly and Quinn rolls her eyes. They're such children.

"All right. Well you guys have fun. Me and Judy are gonna turn in early tonight," Russell announces.

They all say goodnight to the couple before leaving the Fabray house excitedly. Well, all of them are excited except for Quinn.

Quinn comes out of Rachel's guest room after changing into her swimming trunks and bikini top. She normally passes on swimming at social gatherings to avoid..specific questions about the trunks. But everyone that's here knows about her anatomy, so she was comfortable. For the most part.

As she leaves the room, she can already hear Santana yelling at Puck in Spanish. She smirks and chuckles lightly, but immediately stops she hears Rachel's bedroom door open. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the older woman walking out in a dark blue bikini. Quinn keeps her head straight and walks faster to the back door, worried that all of the blood in her body will rush down to the lower region.

"Quinn."

Of course she wouldn't get away that easy. She turns around. "Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?" Rachel looks so timid and Quinn finds it adorable.

"What's up?" she asks, doing her best to keeps her eyes focused above the neck.

Rachel looks down and frowns, trying to form words. She nervously shifts from one foot to another.

"Rachel?"

"Did I do something to upset you?" she asks finally.

Quinn sighs. "No, why would you think that?" Rachel doesn't need to answer. She knows exactly why. And she feels like the biggest jerk right now for playing stupid.

"I don't know. I just feel like you've been avoiding me since the other night. Are you really that embarrassed for being drunk? Because it's fine, Quinn. I told you I'm not mad or anything."

Quinn looks away in shame. "No, that's not it."

"Then what's going on? It's like you can't even look at me anymore. I just want to know what I did wrong." Quinn's heart breaks at the hurt evident on Rachel's face, knowing that she was the one to cause that hurt.

She stares at the other woman, trying to convey how bad she feels right now. "You didn't do anything wrong, Rachel. I'm just going through a hard time and I can't talk about it. At least not right now." And it wasn't a lie. Quinn knows that she'll hate herself even more if she lies again.

Rachel nods in understanding. "Okay. But just so you know, I meant it when I said you can talk to me about anything. All right? I'll never judge you. So please don't ever shut me out."

Quinn smiles. "I won't ever shut you out."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

And she means it. She can't avoid her anymore. She can't live with herself knowing that Rachel is upset because of her. Quinn knows she's going to have to make an effort and push whatever she's feeling aside.

And the way Rachel is hugging her right now reminds her that it's easier said than done.

It's not too long later when it's already completely dark outside. Quinn hasn't gone swimming in a while, so she's actually enjoying herself for once. And being around the people she cares most about makes it all the better.

She climbs out of the pool and grabs a towel, then heads back into the house.

"I'm going to get some water," she calls out to the others.

"Hurry your ass up!" Santana yells.

Quinn ignores her and goes inside. She walks to the kitchen and grabs a water bottle out of the fridge.

As she makes her way back outside, she sees Santana getting out of the pool and heading towards her. The other girl takes the water bottle out of her grasp and starts chugging it.

"You're welcome," Quinn says dryly.

Santana dismisses with a wave of her hand before bringing the bottle down. "Come sit with me," she says, gesturing to the pool chairs off to the side.

Quinn doesn't question it and follows her friend to sit down. They hear a loud splash and look up to see Puck attempting to do a perfect swan dive. The only thing he seems to be achieving is looking completely ridiculous.

Rachel howls in laughter and Quinn smiles. She loves seeing that expression on Rachel's face.

Puck laughs too and climbs out of the pool to try again.

"You know Puck's right for once. Rachel is pretty awesome," Santana says quietly by her side.

"I know," Quinn hums her agreement without really paying attention.

"And she seems like a decent person, for the most part."

"Mhmm."

"She might even be good enough for you."

"Yeah."

Santana smirks at her oblivious friend. She waits for a moment. Any second now...

Quinn whips her head around with wide eyes. "What did you just say?" There it is.

"I think you heard me," Santana says calmly.

"I know but why would you say that?" the blonde panicks, her voice shaking.

"Q, you're feaking out."

"No, I'm not," she squeaks.

"Yes, you are."

"Why would you say that?" Quinn repeats in a harsh whisper, looking over her shoulder to make sure the others can't hear them.

"Really, Quinn?" Santana scoffs. "Fine. Let's do this the hard way. If the fact that you're always staring at her longingly doesn't give it away, the way you perk up like a kid at the zoo whenever she talks probably does. Or maybe when you flip your shit whenever Puck so much as looks at her. And let's face it, I really doubt it's because you have a thing for Puck."

"Okay! I get it! Please stop now," Quinn sighs and leans her forehead in her palm.

"Look, I'm not judging you or anything. I really do like her. And she is pretty hot."

"Shut up! This whole thing is wrong and I'm not supposed to feel this way."

Santana grins, "So, you admit it? You like her in that way?"

"Yes, alright? How could I not? And I fucking hate myself for it." Quinn looks on the verge of tears, but trying so hard to hold it back.

"Stop beating yourself up, Quinn. It's not wrong," Santana says softly.

"Really? How? Because Rachel is my aunt, and last time I checked, that's incest," Quinn whispers.

"Oh please. You're not even actually related and she's hardly your aunt. And you're both adults. On paper, there's technically nothing wrong with it and you know it."

Quinn doesn't say anything, because she knows her friend is actually right. But the situation still seems wrong to her.

"I'm actually a little hurt that you weren't gonna tell me," Santana jokes.

"I thought you would judge me and think that I was a pervert or something," Quinn tells her.

"I wouldn't judge you. I, of all people, have no right to judge anyone," she laughs.

Quinn smiles and shakes her head.

"And who knows, maybe you actually have a shot with her."

"Yeah, I doubt that. At least not in this lifetime."

"I'm not so sure," Santana says. "Because I'm pretty sure that she's been watching us ever since we sat down."

Quinn stares at her friend, trying to catch her bluff. But the girl just lifts an eyebrow in challenge.

She turns around and quickly looks towards the pool. And sure enough, Rachel is looking right at her, only to turn her gaze to Puck when she realizes she's been caught.

Quinn furrows her brow. There's no way Santana can be right, can she?

Her friend stands and puts a hand on her shoulder. "Try not to think about it too hard. I'm not saying I know for sure. I just think that you maybe have a shot."

She then leaves Quinn to her thoughts and goes back to the pool.

Quinn stares at her ceiling fan in boredom before checking her phone for the millionth time. Still no messages. She had text Rachel hours ago and still hasn't gotten a reply.

She stand up and starts pacing. She's become incredibly anxious. She hasn't heard from the woman since that night at the pool, and it's been a couple days now.

If she's being honest, she's completely paranoid that Rachel might somehow know about her feelings for her and wants nothing to do with her now. Maybe she heard her and Santana talking? No, that would literally be impossible. Not with how far and how quiet they were.

It's also crossed her mind that Rachel is completely tired of her by now. That doesn't seem too far-fetched. Definitely plausible. But she still can't stop thinking about what Santana said.

She hears her phone go off and leaps onto the bed for it.

Quinn beams. Rachel finally replied!

Rachel: Can you pick me up at Breadstix?

She frowns. That's an odd request. Why would Rachel be there so late? It's already past ten o'clock. Maybe she had a late dinner with someone? But Quinn can't think if who. Maybe she had dinner by herself? No, that sounds even more odd.

Rachel: ?

Quinn ignores her thoughts and types out a reply.

Quinn: On my way.

She pulls into the restaurant parking lot and kills the engine. The place is already closed and there's only a couple other cars there.

Quinn sends a quick text saying that she was there.

She only waits a couple more minutes until she sees the woman's small figure coming out of the building. As she gets closer, Quinn is able to get a better look at her.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," she laughs.

Wearing a white button down shirt and red tie, it would seem that her aunt just got off a waitressing shift.

The woman opens the passenger door and climbs in without a word, looking at her niece expectantly.

"So..." Quinn starts.

"Surprise?" Rachel shrugs.

Quinn laughs again. "I'll say." She starts the car and begins the drive to Rachel's house.