Title: Queerleaders (4/4)
Pairing: Quinn/Rachel, established Brittany/Santana
Rating: PG-13 (for a little happy times)
Word Count: 2664
Summary: Quinn enlists Rachel Berry's help in trying to make the Cheerios less homophobic.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters but I do own this plot.
Author's Notes: Not any legitimate spoilers (except maybe 1.04 Preggers but only kind of) since the fic is kind of AU. Quinn is not pregnant and is still on the Cheerios because I figured she should still have a little power over the girls to make the story work properly.

part one
part two
part three

_______

By the time 7 actually does roll around, the room has filled up substantially. Not only the whole of the Cheerios squad are in attendance but so are a couple of other students from McKinley and even a few adults scattered around. Quinn begins to relax and settles back a little farther into her chair as Michael stands up at the front of the room to address the crowd.

“I’m happy you’ve all decided to show up for the panel tonight,” Michael starts with a grin. “We’re here to answer any questions you have, of course, but first we’d like to talk a little about our experiences in Lima. We might even grace you with our coming out stories if you’re nice enough.” And with that comment Michael ushers a bit of hushed laughter from the crowd, he smiles a little wider.

“Michael,” Sue interrupts as she stands next to him, “I’d like to say a little something to my Cheerios before we start.”

“Go right ahead, Sue.” Michael says as he sits back down.

“Now girls,” Sue begins, she wrings her hands just slightly in front of her and Quinn can tell by the look on her face that it’s more for control than because she’s nervous. Debbie notices the steam building almost immediately and reaches up to take Sue’s hand loosely in her own, rubs her thumb against the back of it to try and soothe her. It works momentarily as the lines in Sue’s forehead seem to dissipate, but Sue hers a snicker from a Cheerio and her head snaps in the direction of the sound, eye burning holes in the girl.

Debbie tugs on her hand and Sue looks down at her, face softening. When she looks back up she’s not quite frowning but it’s close enough to a frown that Quinn’s face drops a little as well. “Girls, I could not believe my ears when Q here told me what happened yesterday.”

Quinn blushes and Rachel reaches out to take her hand, bringing it into her own lap to cup it with both of her hands without even looking at the blonde. The butterflies perk back up.

“I tell you to leave your personal life out of practice as I do mine, and we’ve done a very good job of doing that so far telling by the way the lot of you are blatantly staring at this lovely lady to my left.” Debbie squeezes Sue’s hand again and Sue looks down to her partner and smiles briefly, then lets the smile fall as she continues.

“But girls, the way you threatened your own teammates, the words you used,” a couple of the Cheerios sink down into their chairs, Sue notices. “Yes, phrases were repeated verbatim to me and I am ashamed of you. You’re stars girls, I know you know that,” some of the girls start smiling cheekily. “But just because you’re stars doesn’t mean you’re allowed to act the way you do. You may be on top but there are plenty of people who can knock you down with the greatest of ease. I’d say Q’s at the top of that list right now.” Quinn’s blush gets deeper and Rachel looks to her this time, a soft smile tugging at her lips, she squeezes Quinn’s hand.

“So girls, you listen up. I want you to hear every last word we’ve got to say. I want you to burn this into those tiny little brains of yours. If you have a problem with me, or Brittany, or Santana, you’re done. I will not tolerate this kind of behavior on my squad.” Sue sits down and Debbie leans in and whispers something into her ear, she settles down, the tension in her face has seemingly disappeared.

And so Eli starts them all off. He talks about coming out in a Jewish family, how his parents had actually been relatively alright with it, just wanted him to be happy. He talks about life in the synagogue, going through college, meeting Michael. The crowd actually ‘oohs’ a little at how madly in love Eli is with Michael.

Debbie follows after Eli, talks about living with her father after her mother’s death at an early age. She talks about her love for baking, going to culinary school but dropping out to start her own bakery. She reveals that she and Sue have been together for nearly 15 years and are still going strong. A couple of the Cheerios start smiling then and Sue seems to smile with them.

Quinn thinks Sue lucky to have found a girl like Debbie to spend the rest of her life with. Thinks about how Rachel probably sings around the house, feels she could definitely get used to that.

Then Sue begins to speak and any whispers by the Cheerios drop off completely. She talks about living on the wrong side of the tracks with dead-beat parents, a barely there father and a drunk for a mother. She talks about only just making it through high school, finding her love for community sports. Tells how she lost both her parents to a house fire before she could even come out to either of them. She talks about coaching softball teams and working for her teaching license online and then meeting Debbie at the bakery.

“Just because I live with a baker doesn’t mean I pack myself full of sweets. Don’t any of you think you’re getting a break from that diet. Fatties aren’t welcome in my pyramid.” And then Debbie slaps her thigh underneath the table and Quinn almost starts laughing, has to bit her lip to stop herself.

Michael goes last and his story is the most emotional of the bunch. He explains how his parents disowned him for nearly 10 years. How he had to work 3 jobs to pay for school and ended up getting a couple of scholarships for disadvantaged gay teens to get him the rest of the way through college. Michael holds Eli’s hand through his whole speech, visibly squeezes it tighter and threads their fingers together as he talks about meeting and falling in love with a stringy little Jewish man with a warm smile and an open heart.

Quinn’s almost convinced there isn’t a dry eye in the house with the way Michael so openly talks about his struggles, his love for Eli, and then surprisingly his love for Rachel.

He talks about their decision to have a child, how adoption wasn’t an option in Lima at the time so they chose a surrogate because they both wanted a child who would be a solid part of them, even though they still didn’t know which part of the duo she’d come from. She sees Rachel tear up almost instantly as Michael starts in about the day of her birth, cradling her in his arms and singing her sweet little lullabies. Quinn feels daring, threads her fingers with Rachel’s and squeezes tightly, hears Rachel sigh and then feels her clutch a little tighter to Quinn. The butterflies congratulate her with a soft and even fluttering.

Then Eli and Michael both start talking about raising their little Broadway star. They speak about ignorant daycare workers, meetings with teachers to explain their ‘situation’. Teaching Rachel when and when not to talk about her two daddies. And then Michael takes back over and tells the audience about how, on a visit to his hometown to visit his sister, his parents happened upon the bunch at the ice cream shop and immediately fell in love with Rachel when they saw her sticky little face smiling up at them from behind a strawberry ice cream cone. Quinn feels a splash of water hit the back of her hand and instantly looks over to Rachel to find the girl openly crying, tears jutting paths down her reddened cheeks.

Quinn has the sudden urge to kiss Rachel. She wants to kiss her and hold her and tell her she’s lucky to have such loving parents, that Quinn would kill to have parents half as good as hers. She wants to wipe the tears from Rachel’s cheeks, cradle her face, kiss that gorgeous mouth and just hold her, most of all Quinn just wants to hold the brunette.

She settles instead for reaching her other hand over and placing it on Rachel’s forearm, strokes the skin there lightly with her thumb. Rachel looks to her, all puppy dog eyes and pouting lips, and Quinn smiles the sweetest smile she has even given anyone in her life. Rachel tries to mirror the smile as best she can but has to bite her bottom lip to stifle a sob as she hears Michael say, “Our life would be nothing without Rachel.”

There are quiet murmurs from the audience before Eli stands, “if you have any questions we’ll be here to answer them as best we can.”

Rachel almost immediately bolts upright and scurries out of the room. Quinn follows without a second thought. She sees the bathroom door swing open, sees a flash of brown and hears a quiet whimper. Quinn approaches cautiously, opens the door as quietly as she can and then speaks so softly it’s almost a whisper, “Rachel?”

She hears a sniffle and turns the corner to find the singer leaning over the sink, hands on either side, head hanging, her hair acting as a curtain shielding her face. Quinn takes a few steps forward and places her hand on Rachel’s back, starts to rub gentle circles when she hears another sniffle. “Rach, it’s alright.”

“I know,” she says as she looks up to Quinn wearing a half smile.

“Your parents love you so much Rachel, and they’re so proud of you.” Quinn can feel her eyes tearing up and bites her lip to stop the tears in place. “You’re just so wonderful, Rachel,” she says with a weak smile as she lets her hand drift down to Rachel’s arm, the brunette frees her grasp from the sink and let’s Quinn take a firm hold of her hand.

Rachel turns to face her completely and Quinn just kind of melts. It’s at that moment, with Rachel’s eyes all puffy, her irises a bright brown, cheeks wet, lips still at a pout, that Quinn realizes she’s got more than a teenage lust crush on Rachel. Thinks that probably, definitely, she would be perfectly fine with spending late nights watching movies all snuggled up with Rachel on the couch, or taking a walk through the park on a blustery day holding hands for all the world to see. Thinks it would be absolutely lovely to be able to kiss Rachel whenever she likes and so she leans forward, curves her free hand around Rachel’s cheek, runs a thumb over the wet trails and kisses the brunette.

Quinn actually isn’t all that surprised when Rachel kisses her back. So they kiss, tug each other close and just meld, hip to hip, under the fluorescents in the girl’s bathroom. Quinn pulls away first, looks at Rachel with a smile, the singer’s eyes still closed, lips slightly parted. She runs her hand along Rachel’s jaw, lets her thumb brush past Rachel’s bottom lip and then places her hand on the singer’s hip. The butterflies are stunned to silence.

“I know I’m good but I’m not used to you being so quiet for so long.” Quinn smiles and laughs, albeit a little awkwardly, as Rachel finally opens her eyes.

“I’m processing. I’m allowed to process, especially when a supposedly straight, stunningly beautiful, captain of the cheerleading squad kisses me in the girl’s bathroom during a panel on homosexuality.” Rachel takes a deep breath, wipes at a couple of tears on her cheeks and looks up to Quinn, her mouth all screwed up to the side like she’s thinking of something to say.

“Not so straight am I?”

“No, I think you’re actually very gay.” Rachel says with a smile.

“I’m pretty gay,” Quinn laughs.

“Very gay,” Rachel corrects her and then leans in to kiss Quinn again, slips in a little tongue and gets a low moan from Quinn in response. Quinn fights right back and nips at Rachel’s bottom lip and gets a throaty little noise from Rachel as her prize. And it’s all lips and tongue and teeth, throaty noises of approval and curious hands until, “hot.”

Quinn’s the first to try and jump away, actually the only one who can because in the process of their little bathroom gay-venture Quinn had pressed Rachel up against the wall, but Rachel holds her tight in place, hands at Quinn’s hips. Quinn turns around to see Brittany just kind of staring, sees Santana standing behind her rolling her eyes.

“Have a thing for Catholic school girls do you?” Santana says as she tilts her head to the side with a smile and looks down to Rachel’s thigh, and Quinn’s hand, halfway up said thigh.

“I, um…,” Quinn bites her lip.

“Hot.” Brittany repeats and smiles at the two girls.

Rachel let’s go of Quinn’s hips and stands up a little straighter, Quinn’s hands drop to her sides and she ducks her head. Rachel sidles up beside her and takes hold of Quinn’s hand. “Need something?” She asks Santana.

“Your fathers were worried about you, you missed the whole Q&A, you pervs,” the Latina smirks.

“Well I’m fine…we’re fine, we’ll return shortly. We just need a second to finish our discussion.”

“Okay,” Brittany says with a bounce as she turns around and drags Santana out by the hand.

“We weren’t really discussing anything,” Quinn says as she looks to Rachel a bit confused.

“Well did you want me to tell them we needed a bit of extra time to suck face? It’s a little vulgar, would probably have done the job yes, but I should like to keep my decorum at its best.”

“Wow, still annoying even after I kiss you, I thought maybe that’d go away.”

“You’re not that good, Fabray,” Rachel says with a smirk.

“Is that a challenge?”

“Only if y-,” but Quinn’s lips are on Rachel’s, silencing the girl mid-sentence. One of Quinn’s hands settles on Rachel’s hip again while the other tangles up in Rachel’s hair as Quinn presses herself flush again the brunette. Rachel moans into her mouth and then Quinn releases the kiss with a loud pop.

Quinn wipes at her lower lip and smiles, “alright then, Rach?”

“Hmm?” Rachel hums, as she stares straight at Quinn’s lips.

“You look a little dazed,” Quinn tries not to laugh aloud but can’t stifle the giggle that escapes her lips.

Rachel narrows her eyes, “It’s all your fault.”

“I was just trying to make you feel better,” Quinn admits with a sly little smirk.

“Leave it to Quinn Fabray to turn cheering someone up into a heated make out session.” Rachel leans up and kisses Quinn on the cheek then grabs a paper towel and tries to fix up the mascara mess under her eyes.

“I’m here to serve.” Quinn chuckles and adjusts the straps of her dress slightly.

“Alright, let’s go then,” Rachel says and grabs Quinn’s hand as the two walk out of the bathroom towards the choir room.

When they get back Brittany and Santana are standing next to Sue, with a couple of solemn-looking Cheerios in front of them. Brittany’s smiling and holding Santana’s hand and Sue has a hand on Santana’s shoulder while the girls in front of them take turns apologizing. Santana looks only half-amused by their attempts and Sue just listens quietly. Brittany, however, gives one of them a hug as the girl starts tearing up. Quinn just smiles.

Rachel tugs her along towards her fathers and Debbie looks at Quinn and gives her a little wink and a nudge. “Got yourself a Berry did you?” Quinn blushes.

“Yea, I did,” she replies and leans against Rachel, squeezing her hand a little tighter.
_______

Author's Note: I hope you all liked the fic. I thought maybe a lighter ending would help balance out all the crying, 'cause man, Rachel is a great crier. I hope that didn't upset anyone. I'm looking forward to doing some more Quinn/Rachel stories so don't worry, this isn't the last you'll see of me. And thanks everyone for the support with the previous parts. ♥