Fic: Gleedazzled (Part 2)
Title: Gleedazzled
Rating: R (for adult content, no smut here)
Pairing: Rachel/Quinn, Pezberry friendship sorta, mentions of Fabrevans and Brittana
Prompts:This is my Big Bang fic.
Summary: Rachel would do anything to be with Quinn. Anything.
Length: 16,0000
Disclaimer: I don't own them. If I did, they'd probably go at it like bunnies.
A/N: Well, I'd pretty much stopped writing fanfic before this endeavor, but gleek23 asked me to do this and I'm glad that I did. If you couldn't guess or didn't know from the title, this fic is based on the movie Bedazzled and was an idea I'd had a while back, but didn't know what to do with it. So, with the help of my sister, mirandyscrow, I was able to bring it to fruition. I hope you enjoy it. Special thanks to Meg and aroo4life for beta'ng this beast. And special dedications to gleek23, an_an0maly and gilligankane for the continued support and not allowing me to give up before I finished.
Rachel sped down the road along the coast. She’d never really understood the appeal of convertibles, but as she maneuvered the cherry red Lambourghini Diablo, wind in her hair, she felt something she’d never experienced before. She felt...cool.
She checked her reflection in the mirror, smiling when she saw her Christian Dior shades and her freshly cut, now ear-length locks. It was shorter than she’d have ever imagined going, but she had to admit she looked hot.
Pulling up in front of a bar just off the side of the rode, she parked near a gang of motorcyclists. They cat-called and whistled as she climbed out of the car, dusting off her formfitting jeans. She winked at them and headed into the building, walking directly up to the bar and taking a seat.
The air in the bar was thick and muggy. She was lucky that all she had on was a beater because she could feel a fine sheen of sweat break out on her skin. She turned to the bartender, offering her a charming smile. “The usual?” the bartender asked her.
“The usual,” Rachel repeated, she said eying the girl. She knew better than to just call her “Brittany” this time. “What’s your name?”
“Have there been so many that you’ve started to confuse me with them as well? I’m Heather,” she said patiently before smiling and pulling a beer out of the cooler.
“Heather, right.” Rachel repeated, grabbing the frosty beer as Heather set it on the bar. Spinning back around, Rachel took in the other patrons. There were couples dancing around on the floor. Both pool tables had intense games in progress and the few tables the bar had were packed. A few girls caught her eye, but when her dark gaze settled on the familiar blonde sitting at a table alone, she quickly discarded the other women.
“What’s the deal with the blonde?” She asked Heather casually.
“Who? Elly May Clampett over there?” Heather eyed Rachel skeptically for a moment. “I don’t know. This is the first time I’ve seen her in here.”
Fresh meat, Rachel thought as she took a sip of her beer. She watched as the girl bobbed along in time with the music. Though, as she saw the young man with a mohawk walk up to the table, she guessed she wasn’t the only one that’d had that idea.
“Hey, I’m Puck and I think I could show you I’m a good fuck,” He said to the girl with a grin. Rachel cringed from across the room.
She looked on, watching as the girl gave off clear signs that she was not interested. However, Puck didn’t seem to be taking the hint and when Rachel saw him grab the blonde’s arm, she was on her feet, striding to the table.
“Is everything okay over here?” She asked when she reached the pair.
Puck turned and looked at the source of the interruption. “Berry, back off. This doesn’t concern you.”
Rachel’s gaze flickered down the blonde who was silent, but whose eyes seemed to be begging the brunette not to leave. “I don’t think that’s true. The lady said no, Puckerman. Why don’t you leave?”
“You don’t get to speak for ‘the lady.’ I think she wants me to stay,” Puck sneered.
“Actually, I’d like you to go,” the blonde piped in.
The brunette smiled down at the blonde before giving him a smug look. “I guess I wasn’t speaking for her after all.”
Clenching his jaw, Puck looked between the two women and his eyes turned cold. “Whatever, Berry. You’ve stolen the last girl from me. This isn’t over.” He strolled away from the table and out of the bar.
“Thank you so much for doing that,” the blond said. “Sit down and at least let me buy you a drink.”
Rachel flipped the chair around before straddling it. “Hey, I’m Rachel Berry.”
“Quinn Fabray,” the blonde...Quinn said, flipping her long wavy blonde hair over her shoulder. Rachel smiled as she heard a slight Southern twang in the other woman’s voice. She motioned the waitress over and smiled at Rachel. “Give the lady whatever she’d like.”
“I did, but then she never called me again!” The waitress said before stomping off.
Frowning, Rachel turned to Quinn. “Um, I’m sorry. I don’t know what that was all about.”
Quinn shrugged. “It’s all right. We can just find someone else,” she said, looking around.
When similar things happened with the next three waitresses, Rachel started to feel embarrassed and Quinn looked at her strangely. “I really don’t know, but how about I go to the bar and just get the beers myself?” She stood quickly and moved back over to the bar. “Heather, do you have any idea why none of the waitresses will serve us?”
The bartender nodded. “Well, I think that when you sleep with a girl, but don’t call her again she gets pretty mad. When you do it to most of the girls in the bar you frequent, they form a pact.”
Rachel sighed. That so didn’t sound like her, but just as she was about to thank Heather for the beers a new waitress walked by. She had red hair and doe-like brown eyes. Rachel did a double take. “Who is that?”
Heather shook her head. “That is Emma. She’s the new girl and before you get any ideas, she’s straight. She’s even got a husband.”
“Most girls are straight and then they meet me.” The words flowed from Rachel’s lips before she could seem to stop herself.
“I thought you were into the blonde,” Heather countered, smiling at one of the nearby patrons.
“I’m just looking,” the brunette frowned again. Maybe her reputation was well earned.
“Uh huh...I’ve seen you just look before. Now, shoo, get back to your pretty lady and leave my employees alone.”
Rachel moved back to the table, stopping along the way to pick a song on the jukebox, and handed Quinn a beer. “I’m sorry about the wait. I wanted to buy you a song.”
“Well aren’t you a charmer, Rachel Berry?” Quinn said with a smirk before taking a sip of her drink.
Dark eyes traveled up the smooth column of the blonde’s neck as she swallowed. Rachel felt her mouth go dry and her pulse begin to race.
Quinn caught her gaze and grinned. “See something you like?”
“I definitely do,” Rachel said smoothly before tilting the beer bottle to her lips and letting the cold, malted liquid slide down her throat. The song she picked came over the speakers and Rachel set her beer down. “I hope you like this song. It made me think of you.” The blonde’s smile grew but faded away as soon as Rachel started to sing. ”Under a lover’s sky...wanna be with you and no one gonna be around...if you think that you won’t fall...well just wait until...the sun goes down...” She croaked out, completely out of tune. Her eyes snapped open and she felt panicked. My voice! What happened to my voice?
“Is this what you’ve been doing, Rachel Berry?” Came a voice from just off to the left. “You leave me home taking care of your three small children so that you can serenade cheap tramps all over town?”
The brunette reluctantly looked up to see an older, angry blonde. “Terri, what are you doing here?”
“Excuse me?” Quinn fumed. “Just who do you think you are?”
“Well, at least this one can string a sentence together,” Terri said to Rachel before turning back to Quinn. “I am Terri Berry, Rachel’s loving and very beautiful wife. I’m guessing she didn’t tell you about me.”
The younger blonde looked over at Rachel with wide eyes. “Your wife?”
“Quinn, I can explain...” Rachel began as the door flew open.
“Berry, you’ve stepped in my business for the last time!” Puck said, pulling out a gun and aiming in her direction.
“WAIT!” Rachel exclaimed, standing from the table and shoving a shaky hand into her back pocket to pull out her keypad. She typed the numbers fast and squeezed her eyes shut. “Okay.”
~*~*~*~
Rachel looked around until she spotted Santana just off to her left. The other girl was locked in a heated embrace with someone Rachel couldn’t see, but she didn’t care. She strolled over to the coupled and tapped Santana on the shoulder. “Excuse me, Santana. You and I have some business to attend to.” When the girl appeared to be ignoring her, Rachel nudged her.
Santana pulled away, leaving the boy pinned the metal of the underside of the bleachers. “It can wait,” she hissed. “I’m busy.” Turning back to the blond-haired boy, Santana pulled him against her and nipped his bottom lip.
This would not do, Rachel thought indignantly. She cleared her throat and tapped Santana again. “No, this cannot wait. What you did during that last wish was just inexcusable.You made me some sort of gigolo...a womanizer! And you took away my voice. Nobody messes with the voice! Who do you think you are? Ursala from The Little Mermaid?”
“Beat it,” Santana said to the boy as she moved away and turned to face Rachel. He nodded and scrambled to steady himself on is feet before running across the field.
“Ohmygod was that Jeremy from science?” Rachel asked in surprise once she realized exactly who it was she’d just seen.
The other girl shrugged and straightened her uniform. “In my many years of research, I’ve found that nerdy, teenage boys are the perfect minions. They’re much more reliable than bitchy cheerleaders who generally let a little power go to their head.” Santana stopped to smooth her skirt and then looked up at Rachel with a smirk. “Plus, they’re really eager to please and a girl never has to put out unless she wants to. They’re usually happy if you let them get to second base. Though none of this is helping you, I’m sure. You’re trying to get into Quinn Fabray’s panties and those things are locked up tighter than the Pentagon.”
“Believe it or not, there is more to life than sex, Santana.” Rachel crossed her arms and stepped away from the girl.
“Yeah, like greed and anger and gluttony and vanity and envy...” Santana rattled off each word seemed to bring her more delight than the last.
“No, like humility, compassion and helping out the less fortunate,” the shorter girl said patiently. “Not that I expect you to understand these things.” And she really didn’t. She’d been on the receiving end of Santana’s particular brand of bullying for years. She was pretty sure that Santana didn’t have a single caring bone in her body. No wonder she was the devil.
Santana’s dark eyes narrowed. “Are you saying I don’t now how to be compassionate and help others in need? I’m helping you, aren’t I? Though, given how ungrateful you’ve been throughout this entire process, I’m starting to wonder why.”
Rachel rolled her eyes. “Please, you’re not helping me out of the goodness of your heart. You’re helping me because there’s something in it for you. None of it matters because I’m starting to think that perhaps Quinn doesn’t have any clue what she wants and you just mess up everything I wish for anyhow. I shouldn’t be resorting to cheap tricks to win Quinn over. None of that will give me what I want. I’ll never know if she really loves me because I’m who she wants or if it’s just because I made a wish that she did.”
“Berry, save the sob story for Oprah. You’re starting to make me gag and that is no easy task. Just ask Jeremy from science.” Santana’s wink and Cheshire Cat-like smile turned Rachel’s stomach.
“I’d rather not if it’s all the same. I shouldn’t be saving my story for Oprah,” Rachel enthused, pacing as she struggled to gather her thoughts. “I should be living like Oprah. She’s generous and intelligent...self-sacrificing and people everywhere admire her. They love her. All I’ve been focusing on is myself. I should be helping others.”
“What about Quinn?” Santana stepped in front of her, forcing her to stop moving.
“I want to be someone she can respect. I want her to take me seriously. I want to do something that can help others. I want to change the world. I want to go down in history for doing something really important.” Maybe if she could that, stop focusing on herself for once, Quinn would love her for who she really was.
There was a gleam in Santana’s eyes that should have made Rachel apprehensive, but she was too caught up in her thoughts to notice.
“Is that another wish forming?”
With a determined grin, Rachel nodded. “I wish that I could be more like Oprah and change the world.”
~*~*~*~
Rachel looked out at her studio audience with tears in her eyes. “I want to send out a heartfelt thank you for all your letters and words of support. As most of the world knows, I’ve struggled with the disease of obesity for many years. And I’m just glad that I could use my sickness to shed some light on the growing epidemic in this country.” She could hear the sniffles from a few of the people in the audience and tried to stifle her own. “I’d like to hear from a few audience members.” She looked out at the crowd and pointed to the pretty blonde in the front. “Yes, you.”
“Hi, Miss Berry, my name is Quinn and I’d just like to say that because of your journey, it gave me the courage to face my own family’s struggles with obesity. We got my sister checked into your program recently and she’s already lost 120 pounds.” The blonde began to clap as did the rest of the audience.
Rachel smiled, her heart filling with insincere inspiration. “Would come up here? I’d like to give you a hug.” Quinn made her way down to the stage amidst the applause and Rachel struggled to stand from her seat. Suddenly her left arm had shooting pains and she couldn’t breathe. Her vision started to get a little fuzzy and she tumbled forward, landing on the stage with a loud thud.
When she came to, she was in the back of an ambulance. The blonde EMT smiled at her. “Welcome back, Miss Berry.”
“Brittany...” Rachel tried to say, but her voice was nothing more than a faint whisper.
“No, don’t try to talk. We’re going to get you to the hospital. Everything is going to be fine.”
Shaking her head slightly, Rachel reached up and pulled at the oxygen mask. “My pocket...can you...get the...keypad...please?”
Frowning slightly, the blonde nodded and wiggled her hand into the Rachel’s pocket, pulling out the slender, black device and held it up. “This?”
“Yes...” Rachel rasped. “Hit...6...6...6...please...”
The other woman pushed the buttons just as Rachel felt her breathing getting labored and the shooting pain return.
~*~*~*~
“Come se dice ‘Rose and Michael went to the store and bought three shirts?’ Clase, por favor?” Mr. Schuester asked, looking around the class. Rachel started at the sound of his voice, but exhaled in relief when she realized she was no longer in her wish.
“So, how did it feel to change the world?” Santana asked from the seat beside her.
She jumped, clutching her hand to her chest before looking over at the demon cheerleader. “That wasn’t quite what I had in mind and you made me so obese that I almost died of a heart attack. Now, if you could just leave me alone, I have work to do.”
“Hey, what’s with the tone?” Santana took a balled up piece of paper and threw it at Sam’s head, hitting him on the back of his neck. He turned around and glared at Rachel. The tiny girl shook her head and tilted it towards Santana. She saw his blue eyes shift, but then his brow furrowed in confusion. Well, no one ever accused him of being terribly smart.
“I will use whatever tone I choose,” Rachel hissed. “That last wish was just awful and now I need to get back to my work, though I will undoubtedly be spending the remainder of this period and the next, plotting out the details of my remaining two wishes meticulously.”
Drumming her fingers on the desk, Santana nodded along like she cared about what Rachel was saying. “Well, if that’s how you want to spend your time then don’t let me keep you from the fun, but there’s just one problem with that. You only have one more wish.”
Rachel turned to her, brows furrowed. “There’s no way I missed one of my wishes. I have been keeping track.”
“I have no reason to lie about this,” Santana said before catching Rachel’s dubious expression. “Okay, I have about a thousand reasons to lie about this, but I’m not. Count them off if you don’t believe me. There was the Oprah wish, your womanizer wish, the roller derby wish-”
“Where you gave me a giant penis!” Rachel exclaimed loudly, drawing the attention of the rest of her class. Dammit, they can hear me in this one too, she thought.
“Rachel, is everything okay back there?” Mr. Schuester gave her his best “concerned about my student’s face” mixed with an expression she couldn’t quite read.
“Yes, I’m just very enthusiastic about Spanish, Mr. Schuester. I’m sorry for the interruption.” Rachel forced a bright smile until he sighed and turned back around to the bored.
“Nice save, loser,” Santana mumbled next to her.
“Don’t!” Rachel’s dark eyes narrowed and she looked down at her notebook, pretending to take notes. “There was the wish where you made Quinn straight and the one where I was famous, but everyone hated me. So, that’s five wishes, see?”
“You forgot your first wish. The one where you asked for something new to wear.” Santana shifted to the left and crossed her legs, smirking over at Rachel.
“That doesn’t count! I hadn’t even agreed to this ridiculous deal yet.”
“It does count. You said, ‘I wish’ and I made it happen. Do you think I just go around handing out wishes for free or something? What kind of business do you think I’m in?” Santana scowled.
Rachel was affronted. “How can that possibly count? You took someone else’s sweater and then you slushied me again! That isn’t fair!”
“Fair? I’m sorry was there something in my job title that led you to believe that I would be fair? Because I’m pretty sure no one has ever accused the devil of being just or fair. I was the cause of original sin. I don’t know if you got that memo.” Santana stood and glared down at Rachel. “Now you listen to me, midget. You have only one wish left and according to the contract you have exactly one more day to take it or you forfeit it and your soul is mine. Well, your soul is mine regardless of whether you take the wish or not, but I would think you’d want one last parting gift. Think very carefully about just who you’re dealing with, Rachel Berry. If you think I was bad before, just wait until I make your life a real living hell.”
“I am well aware of who I’m dealing with!” Rachel yelled back, but it was too late, Santana had already disappeared. Panic began to set in slowly and she could feel herself starting to become hysterical. There had to be a way out of this. There just had to be.
“Rachel, I think you need to see the school nurse,” Mr. Schuester said, looking at her with wide eyes. “Quinn, will you please escort Rachel to Nurse Jennings, please?”
The blonde looked like it was the last thing she wanted to do, but she stood quickly and walked over to Rachel, reaching out her hand awkwardly to take hold to Rachel’s wrist. “Come on.”
Rachel followed behind her slowly, her mind still racing with half-formed ideas of what she could do. Who could she talk to about the devil? It wasn’t like she had a boss, but there had to be someone she could talk to. Someone like...God. That’s it! She needed to speak to God.
Pulling Quinn to a stop before they reached the nurse’s office, Rachel grabbed both of her shoulders. “Quinn, you’re super Christian aren’t you? I mean I know you kind of fell off the wagon last year, but I heard from a number of sources that you’ve decided to become some sort of recovering sinner or something. Is that true?”
Quinn’s eyes widened before narrowing in suspicion. “I have decided to put last year behind me and start working towards rebuilding my relationship with God, yes. I mean-” She stopped herself and looked down at the other girl. “Why? Are you like trying to recruit people to Judaism or something? Did Puck put you up to this because I’ve already told him once before that I’m not raising Bethany Jewish...”
“Well, that’s not a very enlightened approach to raising a child of two different faiths, but we can certainly discuss that at a later time. Right now, your faith is what I need to help me. This is going to sound crazy, but I think you, or at least your pastor, are the only one that can help me.” Rachel’s hold on Quinn tightened and the blonde looked down at her hands and then back at Rachel’s face before raising an eyebrow. She let her hands drop to her sides immediately. “I need to speak to God.”
“So pray,” Quinn answered bluntly.
“No, I don’t think that will be enough. I think...this is bigger than that. I need you to take me to your church like right now,” Rachel begged.
“First of all, I only agreed to take you as far as the nurse’s office. Second, you’re Jewish. Why would you need to go to my church?”
“I can’t tell you,” Rachel said, though she was beginning to think that maybe she wouldn’t have a choice.
“Well, then I don’t think I can help you. We should definitely get you to the nurse where you can lay down and maybe she can call your parents or something.” Quinn tugged at Rachel’s arm, pulling her towards the office again.
Rachel stood strong, shaking her head. “No, Quinn, the very matter of my soul is at stake. I really need your help.”
“Your soul is at stake?” Quinn asked slowly. “Just what kind of witchcraft are you trying to pull here? I’m sorry. I don’t mess with black magic. My parents wouldn’t even let me watch Harry Potter until I was in high school.”
“It’s not witchcraft! It’s...look you believe in the devil, right?” Rachel asked, deciding to try a different tactic.
“Devil worship? Really Rachel?” Quinn stepped away from the other girl as if she thought she might be struck down at any second.
“I do not worship the devil!” Rachel yelled before taking a calming breath. “I didn’t even believe in the Devil until just recently. There’s no time to explain this properly because I really only have until tomorrow. So, I’m just going to give you the facts here. I made a deal with the Devil. I give her my soul and she gives me seven wishes. Only she cheated me out of one of them and I’d like to argue that point with her, but she disappeared and I figured God could help me out.”
Quinn gaped at the other girl for a moment. “Let me get this straight. You think you sold your soul to the Devil for seven wishes and now you want God to help you renegotiate with the Devil for a wish you believe you’re entitled to?”
“It’s slightly more complicated than that, but essentially yes, this is why I need you to take me to your church.”
“O...kay...well, I think you definitely need to lay down in the nurse’s office and have her call your fathers and maybe an exorcist or something because you’re clearly more delusional than we all originally thought. Perhaps you’ve taken one too many slushy facials and the brain freeze has caused some sort of trauma.” Quinn went to reach for Rachel’s hand but seemed to think better of it.
“I’m not possessed or suffering head trauma, Quinn. I just really need your help.” Rachel dropped to her knees and grabbed Quinn’s hand. “Please, just take me to your church. I’ll do anything. I’ll pay you. I have money. How much do you want? I can give you fifty. I brought that much to school with me today.”
The blonde looked around the halls and then down at her. “Rachel, get up. Get up!” She said in a stage whisper. “Fine, for fifty bucks, I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”
Rachel scrambled to her feet quickly, relief flooding her. “Oh thank you, Quinn. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“Yeah, yeah...just come on before we get caught.”
~*~*~*~
The drive to Quinn’s church was quiet, save for the one time the blonde told Rachel not to say or touch anything. Rachel found her tone a little harsh, but she kept her thoughts to herself. After all, Quinn was sort of doing her a favor. They pulled up in front of the church and Quinn escorted her inside. She introduced Rachel to the older woman named Pastor Lucy and then left.
Pastor Lucy was a nice older woman that led Rachel to her office and gave her juice and shortbread cookies before sitting behind her desk and asking Rachel how she could help. Rachel relayed the whole story to Pastor Lucy, who listened intently, only interrupting once or twice for clarification. She kept the details of all of the wishes to a minimum. After all, this was a church, Quinn’s church, and she didn’t know how well her love of the blonde would be received. Once Rachel was finished telling the story, the pastor expressed that she thought she might be able to help Rachel and excused herself.
Rachel looked around the nicely decorated office. There was a nice couch and a wall where photographs and children’s artwork was displayed. It was warm and welcoming, albeit a lot smaller than Rabbi Greenburg’s office. She wondered if the two knew each other. Lima was pretty small and she had a cousin who’d married a Christian man. They’d had an interfaith ceremony and she knew for a fact the two officiants of that union had known each other for years prior to it.
The door to the office opened again and Pastor Lucy stepped inside, followed by a police officer. Rachel felt her heart sink. There was no way this was going to end well. Pastor Lucy plastered on a sweet although slightly patronizing smile and moved aside for the officer. “Rachel, this is Officer Brady. He’s going to take you to the hospital to get checked out before they call your parents”
“The hospital? I feel fine,” Rachel said with a frown.
“I’m sure you do, dear. It’s just a precaution. Officer Brady just wants to be sure. They’ll have your parents meet you there, okay?”
Great, there goes my one shot at fixing this mess, Rachel thought as she stood from her seat and followed the officer.
~*~*~*~
Sighing, Rachel sat up in her hospital bed. The doctor and her fathers had both agreed she was suffering some sort of mental breakdown due to stress. She supposed it wouldn’t matter. Tomorrow she’d become one of the Devil’s minions and wouldn’t have to worry about it anyhow.
Santana materialized in the room dressed like a demonic nurse, wearing a red and black skimpy nurse’s uniform and holding a clipboard. “Turn over. I want to take your temperature.”
“Very funny, Santana. It’s your fault I’m in here. I don’t really have anything else to say to you.” Rachel crossed her arms and looked away.
“Now, don’t be like that. I thought we were friends.” Santana moved to the bed and sat on the edge. “There’s a reason I picked you, Rachel. You could do really well down there. I’ll need to replace my second in command. Sue’s just getting too big for her britches lately. I thought that somebody could be you. I already own your soul there’s nothing you can do about that, but don’t you think you should be nicer to me? It couldn’t hurt to have me on your side.” She stood as there was a knock at the door. “I can’t wait to hear your final wish. Tick tock.”
The door opened and Brittany walked in wearing a candystriper’s uniform. She smiled at Santana as she walked out of the door before turning her smile to Rachel. “Her uniform looked really cool, kind of like the Devil dressed as a nurse.”
Rachel scoffed. “Well, you’d be surprised. What’s your name this time?” She asked.
“It’s Brittany, silly. We’ve like been in the same grade since the sixth grade, remember? Usually, I am surprised a lot. It’s nice that I got to surprise you this time.” Brittany moved over to the bed and pulled out a deck of Uno cards. “Do you want to play? This is one of the games I’m really good at. Besides Candyland.”
Rachel sighed and nodded. It was nice to see a friendly face and Brittany just had this calming presence. Rachel felt more serene around her than she’d been feeling in days. “Sure, I haven’t played Uno in a long time.”
The blonde sat on the bed, smoothing a space for them to set up the deck. “I heard you weren’t feeling very well. What’s wrong?”
“I don’t think you’d want to hear what’s wrong, Brittany,” Rachel said as she grabbed her hand and fanned it out.
“You should try me. I’m a really great listener. It’s just a lot of people only want to talk to me with then expect me to do something for them. They never seem to think that sometimes just talking about it will help them figure it out for themselves. Plus, I just like to hear what people have to say,” Brittany replied, putting down a card on the pile.
“This is going to make you think I’m crazy,” Rachel warned.
Brittany shook her head. “I promise that I’ve heard lots of stories you couldn’t even imagine. I won’t think you’re crazy.”
Rachel studied the blonde for a moment. Something about Brittany just made her want to tell her things and she guessed it couldn’t hurt. She was already in the hospital. “Well, you see I’m in love with Qu- this person and I sort of promised the Devil she could have my soul if she helped me get the person I’m in love with. Only every time I made a wish it would all get messed up.”
“Uno!” Brittany said excitedly before she tilted her head to the side and look at Rachel. “You must really love that person a lot. Giving your soul away sounds pretty serious.”
“I do love her. I love her a lot.” Rachel could think of at least twenty things she loved about Quinn right off the top of her head.
“That’s great, but maybe the reasons your wishes didn’t work is because you can’t make someone love you back. God made love to be unconditional, right? I don’t think you loved your someone special just because you thought she’d love you back, did you?”
“No, I fell in love with her because she’s just...I don’t know. She’s more amazing than she ever gives herself credit for. I mean she’s not perfect or anything, but she tries and I just love her for it.”
“She sounds really wonderful, like she deserves lots of love and happiness,” Brittany said softly.
“Yeah, she does. She deserves it all.” Rachel let the words trail as she considered what Brittany was saying.
“I win!” Brittany exclaimed, clapping happily.
Looking down in surprised, Rachel grinned back. “So you did.”
“I told you I was really good at this game.” The blonde stood from the bed and straightened her uniform. “Do you feel better?” Rachel nodded. She did feel a lot better. “Good. I have to go see some of the other patients now. You can keep the cards. I have a lot of decks.” She took her cart and wheeled it to the door before looking back over at Rachel. “I wouldn’t worry about your soul. No one can buy something from you that isn’t even really yours. Also, Santana isn’t as mean as she pretends to be.” With a wink, the blonde walked out of the room.
~*~*~*~
“Santana!” Rachel called out a few hours later. She’d needed time to figure out her last wish and make sure it would be worded correctly. It was very important.
The girl appeared suddenly by her bed and crossed her arms. “You bellowed?”
“Yes, I’ve decided on my last wish,” Rachel said resolutely.
The familiar gleam appeared in Santana’s eyes as she rubbed her hands together. “What will it be? Fortune? Fame? Unrivaled beauty?”
The shorter girl shook her head. “None of that. I just wish for Quinn to be happy. I want her to have everything she could ever want and be happy even if it is without me.” Rachel had been so selfish in her wishes and Brittany’s visit had served to remind her just why she’d fallen for Quinn in the first place.
Santana stared at her for a moment. “Dammit! Really?” Santana groaned and stepped away.
“What?” Rachel asked with a frown. “What is it?”
“Of course you didn’t read the contract. No one ever does. In the contract is a nullification clause. Selfless acts of redemption render the whole contract null and void. You just gave your last wish to Quinn. Dammit, Berry.” Santana punched Rachel in the arm lightly.
“Hey!” Rachel rubbed the spot on her arm and gave Santana a disgruntled look. “Wait. Does that mean I get to keep my soul?”
“Unfortunately,” Santana answered with a scowl. “You know, I’ve been doing this for like two billion years and not once has anyone ever given up their last wish. I really hope this isn’t going to become some sort of fad. Anyway, now I have to go do paper work. Congrats on keeping your soul or whatever.” And with that, she was gone.
The knock on the door drew Rachel’s attention. “Come in.”
The door opened and she was surprised to see Quinn walk in. “Hi...”
Rachel smiled softly. “Hey.”
“Well, I just came by to see how you were doing. They said you have to stay here for a few days. I’m not going to lie. You completely freaked me out earlier and I was sure that I would never want to come near you again, but Brittany called and said you were feeling better. She thought for some reason you’d want to see me.” Quinn walked towards her but stopped at the foot of the bed.
“I do feel better. I’ll have to tell Brittany thank you, later.” Rachel said quietly.
“I just...I’m not even sure why I came. I guess earlier when you came to me asking for help. It reminded me of last year when you were the only person that came up and reached out to me when I’d been so awful to you. I thought maybe it was my turn,” Quinn explained, biting her bottom lip.
“Well, you did help me earlier, but I won’t say it wouldn’t be nice to have you as a friend at least.” Rachel would always love Quinn, but if all she could have was friendship, she’d gladly take it.
Quinn nodded and moved a little closer, taking Rachel’s hand. “I think friends would be a good place to start. Maybe you could...teach me a few things about being Jewish so that I could teach them to Bethany?”
“I could definitely do that.” Rachel agreed, squeezing Quinn’s hand.
~*~*~*~
Somewhere up above two beings watched as the two girls spoke. “I think you’re going soft, S,” Brittany said with a knowing smirk.
Santana glared. “No, I think you’re just making them smarter.”
“Maybe I am or maybe you just recognized true love when you saw it. I’m not surprised. I’ve taught you a lot about it.” Brittany pressed a soft kiss to Santana’s lips and grinned.
The brunette pulled her closer and took another kiss before stepping away. “Yes, you definitely have.”
Rating: R (for adult content, no smut here)
Pairing: Rachel/Quinn, Pezberry friendship sorta, mentions of Fabrevans and Brittana
Prompts:This is my Big Bang fic.
Summary: Rachel would do anything to be with Quinn. Anything.
Length: 16,0000
Disclaimer: I don't own them. If I did, they'd probably go at it like bunnies.
A/N: Well, I'd pretty much stopped writing fanfic before this endeavor, but gleek23 asked me to do this and I'm glad that I did. If you couldn't guess or didn't know from the title, this fic is based on the movie Bedazzled and was an idea I'd had a while back, but didn't know what to do with it. So, with the help of my sister, mirandyscrow, I was able to bring it to fruition. I hope you enjoy it. Special thanks to Meg and aroo4life for beta'ng this beast. And special dedications to gleek23, an_an0maly and gilligankane for the continued support and not allowing me to give up before I finished.
Rachel sped down the road along the coast. She’d never really understood the appeal of convertibles, but as she maneuvered the cherry red Lambourghini Diablo, wind in her hair, she felt something she’d never experienced before. She felt...cool.
She checked her reflection in the mirror, smiling when she saw her Christian Dior shades and her freshly cut, now ear-length locks. It was shorter than she’d have ever imagined going, but she had to admit she looked hot.
Pulling up in front of a bar just off the side of the rode, she parked near a gang of motorcyclists. They cat-called and whistled as she climbed out of the car, dusting off her formfitting jeans. She winked at them and headed into the building, walking directly up to the bar and taking a seat.
The air in the bar was thick and muggy. She was lucky that all she had on was a beater because she could feel a fine sheen of sweat break out on her skin. She turned to the bartender, offering her a charming smile. “The usual?” the bartender asked her.
“The usual,” Rachel repeated, she said eying the girl. She knew better than to just call her “Brittany” this time. “What’s your name?”
“Have there been so many that you’ve started to confuse me with them as well? I’m Heather,” she said patiently before smiling and pulling a beer out of the cooler.
“Heather, right.” Rachel repeated, grabbing the frosty beer as Heather set it on the bar. Spinning back around, Rachel took in the other patrons. There were couples dancing around on the floor. Both pool tables had intense games in progress and the few tables the bar had were packed. A few girls caught her eye, but when her dark gaze settled on the familiar blonde sitting at a table alone, she quickly discarded the other women.
“What’s the deal with the blonde?” She asked Heather casually.
“Who? Elly May Clampett over there?” Heather eyed Rachel skeptically for a moment. “I don’t know. This is the first time I’ve seen her in here.”
Fresh meat, Rachel thought as she took a sip of her beer. She watched as the girl bobbed along in time with the music. Though, as she saw the young man with a mohawk walk up to the table, she guessed she wasn’t the only one that’d had that idea.
“Hey, I’m Puck and I think I could show you I’m a good fuck,” He said to the girl with a grin. Rachel cringed from across the room.
She looked on, watching as the girl gave off clear signs that she was not interested. However, Puck didn’t seem to be taking the hint and when Rachel saw him grab the blonde’s arm, she was on her feet, striding to the table.
“Is everything okay over here?” She asked when she reached the pair.
Puck turned and looked at the source of the interruption. “Berry, back off. This doesn’t concern you.”
Rachel’s gaze flickered down the blonde who was silent, but whose eyes seemed to be begging the brunette not to leave. “I don’t think that’s true. The lady said no, Puckerman. Why don’t you leave?”
“You don’t get to speak for ‘the lady.’ I think she wants me to stay,” Puck sneered.
“Actually, I’d like you to go,” the blonde piped in.
The brunette smiled down at the blonde before giving him a smug look. “I guess I wasn’t speaking for her after all.”
Clenching his jaw, Puck looked between the two women and his eyes turned cold. “Whatever, Berry. You’ve stolen the last girl from me. This isn’t over.” He strolled away from the table and out of the bar.
“Thank you so much for doing that,” the blond said. “Sit down and at least let me buy you a drink.”
Rachel flipped the chair around before straddling it. “Hey, I’m Rachel Berry.”
“Quinn Fabray,” the blonde...Quinn said, flipping her long wavy blonde hair over her shoulder. Rachel smiled as she heard a slight Southern twang in the other woman’s voice. She motioned the waitress over and smiled at Rachel. “Give the lady whatever she’d like.”
“I did, but then she never called me again!” The waitress said before stomping off.
Frowning, Rachel turned to Quinn. “Um, I’m sorry. I don’t know what that was all about.”
Quinn shrugged. “It’s all right. We can just find someone else,” she said, looking around.
When similar things happened with the next three waitresses, Rachel started to feel embarrassed and Quinn looked at her strangely. “I really don’t know, but how about I go to the bar and just get the beers myself?” She stood quickly and moved back over to the bar. “Heather, do you have any idea why none of the waitresses will serve us?”
The bartender nodded. “Well, I think that when you sleep with a girl, but don’t call her again she gets pretty mad. When you do it to most of the girls in the bar you frequent, they form a pact.”
Rachel sighed. That so didn’t sound like her, but just as she was about to thank Heather for the beers a new waitress walked by. She had red hair and doe-like brown eyes. Rachel did a double take. “Who is that?”
Heather shook her head. “That is Emma. She’s the new girl and before you get any ideas, she’s straight. She’s even got a husband.”
“Most girls are straight and then they meet me.” The words flowed from Rachel’s lips before she could seem to stop herself.
“I thought you were into the blonde,” Heather countered, smiling at one of the nearby patrons.
“I’m just looking,” the brunette frowned again. Maybe her reputation was well earned.
“Uh huh...I’ve seen you just look before. Now, shoo, get back to your pretty lady and leave my employees alone.”
Rachel moved back to the table, stopping along the way to pick a song on the jukebox, and handed Quinn a beer. “I’m sorry about the wait. I wanted to buy you a song.”
“Well aren’t you a charmer, Rachel Berry?” Quinn said with a smirk before taking a sip of her drink.
Dark eyes traveled up the smooth column of the blonde’s neck as she swallowed. Rachel felt her mouth go dry and her pulse begin to race.
Quinn caught her gaze and grinned. “See something you like?”
“I definitely do,” Rachel said smoothly before tilting the beer bottle to her lips and letting the cold, malted liquid slide down her throat. The song she picked came over the speakers and Rachel set her beer down. “I hope you like this song. It made me think of you.” The blonde’s smile grew but faded away as soon as Rachel started to sing. ”Under a lover’s sky...wanna be with you and no one gonna be around...if you think that you won’t fall...well just wait until...the sun goes down...” She croaked out, completely out of tune. Her eyes snapped open and she felt panicked. My voice! What happened to my voice?
“Is this what you’ve been doing, Rachel Berry?” Came a voice from just off to the left. “You leave me home taking care of your three small children so that you can serenade cheap tramps all over town?”
The brunette reluctantly looked up to see an older, angry blonde. “Terri, what are you doing here?”
“Excuse me?” Quinn fumed. “Just who do you think you are?”
“Well, at least this one can string a sentence together,” Terri said to Rachel before turning back to Quinn. “I am Terri Berry, Rachel’s loving and very beautiful wife. I’m guessing she didn’t tell you about me.”
The younger blonde looked over at Rachel with wide eyes. “Your wife?”
“Quinn, I can explain...” Rachel began as the door flew open.
“Berry, you’ve stepped in my business for the last time!” Puck said, pulling out a gun and aiming in her direction.
“WAIT!” Rachel exclaimed, standing from the table and shoving a shaky hand into her back pocket to pull out her keypad. She typed the numbers fast and squeezed her eyes shut. “Okay.”
~*~*~*~
Rachel looked around until she spotted Santana just off to her left. The other girl was locked in a heated embrace with someone Rachel couldn’t see, but she didn’t care. She strolled over to the coupled and tapped Santana on the shoulder. “Excuse me, Santana. You and I have some business to attend to.” When the girl appeared to be ignoring her, Rachel nudged her.
Santana pulled away, leaving the boy pinned the metal of the underside of the bleachers. “It can wait,” she hissed. “I’m busy.” Turning back to the blond-haired boy, Santana pulled him against her and nipped his bottom lip.
This would not do, Rachel thought indignantly. She cleared her throat and tapped Santana again. “No, this cannot wait. What you did during that last wish was just inexcusable.You made me some sort of gigolo...a womanizer! And you took away my voice. Nobody messes with the voice! Who do you think you are? Ursala from The Little Mermaid?”
“Beat it,” Santana said to the boy as she moved away and turned to face Rachel. He nodded and scrambled to steady himself on is feet before running across the field.
“Ohmygod was that Jeremy from science?” Rachel asked in surprise once she realized exactly who it was she’d just seen.
The other girl shrugged and straightened her uniform. “In my many years of research, I’ve found that nerdy, teenage boys are the perfect minions. They’re much more reliable than bitchy cheerleaders who generally let a little power go to their head.” Santana stopped to smooth her skirt and then looked up at Rachel with a smirk. “Plus, they’re really eager to please and a girl never has to put out unless she wants to. They’re usually happy if you let them get to second base. Though none of this is helping you, I’m sure. You’re trying to get into Quinn Fabray’s panties and those things are locked up tighter than the Pentagon.”
“Believe it or not, there is more to life than sex, Santana.” Rachel crossed her arms and stepped away from the girl.
“Yeah, like greed and anger and gluttony and vanity and envy...” Santana rattled off each word seemed to bring her more delight than the last.
“No, like humility, compassion and helping out the less fortunate,” the shorter girl said patiently. “Not that I expect you to understand these things.” And she really didn’t. She’d been on the receiving end of Santana’s particular brand of bullying for years. She was pretty sure that Santana didn’t have a single caring bone in her body. No wonder she was the devil.
Santana’s dark eyes narrowed. “Are you saying I don’t now how to be compassionate and help others in need? I’m helping you, aren’t I? Though, given how ungrateful you’ve been throughout this entire process, I’m starting to wonder why.”
Rachel rolled her eyes. “Please, you’re not helping me out of the goodness of your heart. You’re helping me because there’s something in it for you. None of it matters because I’m starting to think that perhaps Quinn doesn’t have any clue what she wants and you just mess up everything I wish for anyhow. I shouldn’t be resorting to cheap tricks to win Quinn over. None of that will give me what I want. I’ll never know if she really loves me because I’m who she wants or if it’s just because I made a wish that she did.”
“Berry, save the sob story for Oprah. You’re starting to make me gag and that is no easy task. Just ask Jeremy from science.” Santana’s wink and Cheshire Cat-like smile turned Rachel’s stomach.
“I’d rather not if it’s all the same. I shouldn’t be saving my story for Oprah,” Rachel enthused, pacing as she struggled to gather her thoughts. “I should be living like Oprah. She’s generous and intelligent...self-sacrificing and people everywhere admire her. They love her. All I’ve been focusing on is myself. I should be helping others.”
“What about Quinn?” Santana stepped in front of her, forcing her to stop moving.
“I want to be someone she can respect. I want her to take me seriously. I want to do something that can help others. I want to change the world. I want to go down in history for doing something really important.” Maybe if she could that, stop focusing on herself for once, Quinn would love her for who she really was.
There was a gleam in Santana’s eyes that should have made Rachel apprehensive, but she was too caught up in her thoughts to notice.
“Is that another wish forming?”
With a determined grin, Rachel nodded. “I wish that I could be more like Oprah and change the world.”
~*~*~*~
Rachel looked out at her studio audience with tears in her eyes. “I want to send out a heartfelt thank you for all your letters and words of support. As most of the world knows, I’ve struggled with the disease of obesity for many years. And I’m just glad that I could use my sickness to shed some light on the growing epidemic in this country.” She could hear the sniffles from a few of the people in the audience and tried to stifle her own. “I’d like to hear from a few audience members.” She looked out at the crowd and pointed to the pretty blonde in the front. “Yes, you.”
“Hi, Miss Berry, my name is Quinn and I’d just like to say that because of your journey, it gave me the courage to face my own family’s struggles with obesity. We got my sister checked into your program recently and she’s already lost 120 pounds.” The blonde began to clap as did the rest of the audience.
Rachel smiled, her heart filling with insincere inspiration. “Would come up here? I’d like to give you a hug.” Quinn made her way down to the stage amidst the applause and Rachel struggled to stand from her seat. Suddenly her left arm had shooting pains and she couldn’t breathe. Her vision started to get a little fuzzy and she tumbled forward, landing on the stage with a loud thud.
When she came to, she was in the back of an ambulance. The blonde EMT smiled at her. “Welcome back, Miss Berry.”
“Brittany...” Rachel tried to say, but her voice was nothing more than a faint whisper.
“No, don’t try to talk. We’re going to get you to the hospital. Everything is going to be fine.”
Shaking her head slightly, Rachel reached up and pulled at the oxygen mask. “My pocket...can you...get the...keypad...please?”
Frowning slightly, the blonde nodded and wiggled her hand into the Rachel’s pocket, pulling out the slender, black device and held it up. “This?”
“Yes...” Rachel rasped. “Hit...6...6...6...please...”
The other woman pushed the buttons just as Rachel felt her breathing getting labored and the shooting pain return.
~*~*~*~
“Come se dice ‘Rose and Michael went to the store and bought three shirts?’ Clase, por favor?” Mr. Schuester asked, looking around the class. Rachel started at the sound of his voice, but exhaled in relief when she realized she was no longer in her wish.
“So, how did it feel to change the world?” Santana asked from the seat beside her.
She jumped, clutching her hand to her chest before looking over at the demon cheerleader. “That wasn’t quite what I had in mind and you made me so obese that I almost died of a heart attack. Now, if you could just leave me alone, I have work to do.”
“Hey, what’s with the tone?” Santana took a balled up piece of paper and threw it at Sam’s head, hitting him on the back of his neck. He turned around and glared at Rachel. The tiny girl shook her head and tilted it towards Santana. She saw his blue eyes shift, but then his brow furrowed in confusion. Well, no one ever accused him of being terribly smart.
“I will use whatever tone I choose,” Rachel hissed. “That last wish was just awful and now I need to get back to my work, though I will undoubtedly be spending the remainder of this period and the next, plotting out the details of my remaining two wishes meticulously.”
Drumming her fingers on the desk, Santana nodded along like she cared about what Rachel was saying. “Well, if that’s how you want to spend your time then don’t let me keep you from the fun, but there’s just one problem with that. You only have one more wish.”
Rachel turned to her, brows furrowed. “There’s no way I missed one of my wishes. I have been keeping track.”
“I have no reason to lie about this,” Santana said before catching Rachel’s dubious expression. “Okay, I have about a thousand reasons to lie about this, but I’m not. Count them off if you don’t believe me. There was the Oprah wish, your womanizer wish, the roller derby wish-”
“Where you gave me a giant penis!” Rachel exclaimed loudly, drawing the attention of the rest of her class. Dammit, they can hear me in this one too, she thought.
“Rachel, is everything okay back there?” Mr. Schuester gave her his best “concerned about my student’s face” mixed with an expression she couldn’t quite read.
“Yes, I’m just very enthusiastic about Spanish, Mr. Schuester. I’m sorry for the interruption.” Rachel forced a bright smile until he sighed and turned back around to the bored.
“Nice save, loser,” Santana mumbled next to her.
“Don’t!” Rachel’s dark eyes narrowed and she looked down at her notebook, pretending to take notes. “There was the wish where you made Quinn straight and the one where I was famous, but everyone hated me. So, that’s five wishes, see?”
“You forgot your first wish. The one where you asked for something new to wear.” Santana shifted to the left and crossed her legs, smirking over at Rachel.
“That doesn’t count! I hadn’t even agreed to this ridiculous deal yet.”
“It does count. You said, ‘I wish’ and I made it happen. Do you think I just go around handing out wishes for free or something? What kind of business do you think I’m in?” Santana scowled.
Rachel was affronted. “How can that possibly count? You took someone else’s sweater and then you slushied me again! That isn’t fair!”
“Fair? I’m sorry was there something in my job title that led you to believe that I would be fair? Because I’m pretty sure no one has ever accused the devil of being just or fair. I was the cause of original sin. I don’t know if you got that memo.” Santana stood and glared down at Rachel. “Now you listen to me, midget. You have only one wish left and according to the contract you have exactly one more day to take it or you forfeit it and your soul is mine. Well, your soul is mine regardless of whether you take the wish or not, but I would think you’d want one last parting gift. Think very carefully about just who you’re dealing with, Rachel Berry. If you think I was bad before, just wait until I make your life a real living hell.”
“I am well aware of who I’m dealing with!” Rachel yelled back, but it was too late, Santana had already disappeared. Panic began to set in slowly and she could feel herself starting to become hysterical. There had to be a way out of this. There just had to be.
“Rachel, I think you need to see the school nurse,” Mr. Schuester said, looking at her with wide eyes. “Quinn, will you please escort Rachel to Nurse Jennings, please?”
The blonde looked like it was the last thing she wanted to do, but she stood quickly and walked over to Rachel, reaching out her hand awkwardly to take hold to Rachel’s wrist. “Come on.”
Rachel followed behind her slowly, her mind still racing with half-formed ideas of what she could do. Who could she talk to about the devil? It wasn’t like she had a boss, but there had to be someone she could talk to. Someone like...God. That’s it! She needed to speak to God.
Pulling Quinn to a stop before they reached the nurse’s office, Rachel grabbed both of her shoulders. “Quinn, you’re super Christian aren’t you? I mean I know you kind of fell off the wagon last year, but I heard from a number of sources that you’ve decided to become some sort of recovering sinner or something. Is that true?”
Quinn’s eyes widened before narrowing in suspicion. “I have decided to put last year behind me and start working towards rebuilding my relationship with God, yes. I mean-” She stopped herself and looked down at the other girl. “Why? Are you like trying to recruit people to Judaism or something? Did Puck put you up to this because I’ve already told him once before that I’m not raising Bethany Jewish...”
“Well, that’s not a very enlightened approach to raising a child of two different faiths, but we can certainly discuss that at a later time. Right now, your faith is what I need to help me. This is going to sound crazy, but I think you, or at least your pastor, are the only one that can help me.” Rachel’s hold on Quinn tightened and the blonde looked down at her hands and then back at Rachel’s face before raising an eyebrow. She let her hands drop to her sides immediately. “I need to speak to God.”
“So pray,” Quinn answered bluntly.
“No, I don’t think that will be enough. I think...this is bigger than that. I need you to take me to your church like right now,” Rachel begged.
“First of all, I only agreed to take you as far as the nurse’s office. Second, you’re Jewish. Why would you need to go to my church?”
“I can’t tell you,” Rachel said, though she was beginning to think that maybe she wouldn’t have a choice.
“Well, then I don’t think I can help you. We should definitely get you to the nurse where you can lay down and maybe she can call your parents or something.” Quinn tugged at Rachel’s arm, pulling her towards the office again.
Rachel stood strong, shaking her head. “No, Quinn, the very matter of my soul is at stake. I really need your help.”
“Your soul is at stake?” Quinn asked slowly. “Just what kind of witchcraft are you trying to pull here? I’m sorry. I don’t mess with black magic. My parents wouldn’t even let me watch Harry Potter until I was in high school.”
“It’s not witchcraft! It’s...look you believe in the devil, right?” Rachel asked, deciding to try a different tactic.
“Devil worship? Really Rachel?” Quinn stepped away from the other girl as if she thought she might be struck down at any second.
“I do not worship the devil!” Rachel yelled before taking a calming breath. “I didn’t even believe in the Devil until just recently. There’s no time to explain this properly because I really only have until tomorrow. So, I’m just going to give you the facts here. I made a deal with the Devil. I give her my soul and she gives me seven wishes. Only she cheated me out of one of them and I’d like to argue that point with her, but she disappeared and I figured God could help me out.”
Quinn gaped at the other girl for a moment. “Let me get this straight. You think you sold your soul to the Devil for seven wishes and now you want God to help you renegotiate with the Devil for a wish you believe you’re entitled to?”
“It’s slightly more complicated than that, but essentially yes, this is why I need you to take me to your church.”
“O...kay...well, I think you definitely need to lay down in the nurse’s office and have her call your fathers and maybe an exorcist or something because you’re clearly more delusional than we all originally thought. Perhaps you’ve taken one too many slushy facials and the brain freeze has caused some sort of trauma.” Quinn went to reach for Rachel’s hand but seemed to think better of it.
“I’m not possessed or suffering head trauma, Quinn. I just really need your help.” Rachel dropped to her knees and grabbed Quinn’s hand. “Please, just take me to your church. I’ll do anything. I’ll pay you. I have money. How much do you want? I can give you fifty. I brought that much to school with me today.”
The blonde looked around the halls and then down at her. “Rachel, get up. Get up!” She said in a stage whisper. “Fine, for fifty bucks, I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”
Rachel scrambled to her feet quickly, relief flooding her. “Oh thank you, Quinn. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“Yeah, yeah...just come on before we get caught.”
~*~*~*~
The drive to Quinn’s church was quiet, save for the one time the blonde told Rachel not to say or touch anything. Rachel found her tone a little harsh, but she kept her thoughts to herself. After all, Quinn was sort of doing her a favor. They pulled up in front of the church and Quinn escorted her inside. She introduced Rachel to the older woman named Pastor Lucy and then left.
Pastor Lucy was a nice older woman that led Rachel to her office and gave her juice and shortbread cookies before sitting behind her desk and asking Rachel how she could help. Rachel relayed the whole story to Pastor Lucy, who listened intently, only interrupting once or twice for clarification. She kept the details of all of the wishes to a minimum. After all, this was a church, Quinn’s church, and she didn’t know how well her love of the blonde would be received. Once Rachel was finished telling the story, the pastor expressed that she thought she might be able to help Rachel and excused herself.
Rachel looked around the nicely decorated office. There was a nice couch and a wall where photographs and children’s artwork was displayed. It was warm and welcoming, albeit a lot smaller than Rabbi Greenburg’s office. She wondered if the two knew each other. Lima was pretty small and she had a cousin who’d married a Christian man. They’d had an interfaith ceremony and she knew for a fact the two officiants of that union had known each other for years prior to it.
The door to the office opened again and Pastor Lucy stepped inside, followed by a police officer. Rachel felt her heart sink. There was no way this was going to end well. Pastor Lucy plastered on a sweet although slightly patronizing smile and moved aside for the officer. “Rachel, this is Officer Brady. He’s going to take you to the hospital to get checked out before they call your parents”
“The hospital? I feel fine,” Rachel said with a frown.
“I’m sure you do, dear. It’s just a precaution. Officer Brady just wants to be sure. They’ll have your parents meet you there, okay?”
Great, there goes my one shot at fixing this mess, Rachel thought as she stood from her seat and followed the officer.
~*~*~*~
Sighing, Rachel sat up in her hospital bed. The doctor and her fathers had both agreed she was suffering some sort of mental breakdown due to stress. She supposed it wouldn’t matter. Tomorrow she’d become one of the Devil’s minions and wouldn’t have to worry about it anyhow.
Santana materialized in the room dressed like a demonic nurse, wearing a red and black skimpy nurse’s uniform and holding a clipboard. “Turn over. I want to take your temperature.”
“Very funny, Santana. It’s your fault I’m in here. I don’t really have anything else to say to you.” Rachel crossed her arms and looked away.
“Now, don’t be like that. I thought we were friends.” Santana moved to the bed and sat on the edge. “There’s a reason I picked you, Rachel. You could do really well down there. I’ll need to replace my second in command. Sue’s just getting too big for her britches lately. I thought that somebody could be you. I already own your soul there’s nothing you can do about that, but don’t you think you should be nicer to me? It couldn’t hurt to have me on your side.” She stood as there was a knock at the door. “I can’t wait to hear your final wish. Tick tock.”
The door opened and Brittany walked in wearing a candystriper’s uniform. She smiled at Santana as she walked out of the door before turning her smile to Rachel. “Her uniform looked really cool, kind of like the Devil dressed as a nurse.”
Rachel scoffed. “Well, you’d be surprised. What’s your name this time?” She asked.
“It’s Brittany, silly. We’ve like been in the same grade since the sixth grade, remember? Usually, I am surprised a lot. It’s nice that I got to surprise you this time.” Brittany moved over to the bed and pulled out a deck of Uno cards. “Do you want to play? This is one of the games I’m really good at. Besides Candyland.”
Rachel sighed and nodded. It was nice to see a friendly face and Brittany just had this calming presence. Rachel felt more serene around her than she’d been feeling in days. “Sure, I haven’t played Uno in a long time.”
The blonde sat on the bed, smoothing a space for them to set up the deck. “I heard you weren’t feeling very well. What’s wrong?”
“I don’t think you’d want to hear what’s wrong, Brittany,” Rachel said as she grabbed her hand and fanned it out.
“You should try me. I’m a really great listener. It’s just a lot of people only want to talk to me with then expect me to do something for them. They never seem to think that sometimes just talking about it will help them figure it out for themselves. Plus, I just like to hear what people have to say,” Brittany replied, putting down a card on the pile.
“This is going to make you think I’m crazy,” Rachel warned.
Brittany shook her head. “I promise that I’ve heard lots of stories you couldn’t even imagine. I won’t think you’re crazy.”
Rachel studied the blonde for a moment. Something about Brittany just made her want to tell her things and she guessed it couldn’t hurt. She was already in the hospital. “Well, you see I’m in love with Qu- this person and I sort of promised the Devil she could have my soul if she helped me get the person I’m in love with. Only every time I made a wish it would all get messed up.”
“Uno!” Brittany said excitedly before she tilted her head to the side and look at Rachel. “You must really love that person a lot. Giving your soul away sounds pretty serious.”
“I do love her. I love her a lot.” Rachel could think of at least twenty things she loved about Quinn right off the top of her head.
“That’s great, but maybe the reasons your wishes didn’t work is because you can’t make someone love you back. God made love to be unconditional, right? I don’t think you loved your someone special just because you thought she’d love you back, did you?”
“No, I fell in love with her because she’s just...I don’t know. She’s more amazing than she ever gives herself credit for. I mean she’s not perfect or anything, but she tries and I just love her for it.”
“She sounds really wonderful, like she deserves lots of love and happiness,” Brittany said softly.
“Yeah, she does. She deserves it all.” Rachel let the words trail as she considered what Brittany was saying.
“I win!” Brittany exclaimed, clapping happily.
Looking down in surprised, Rachel grinned back. “So you did.”
“I told you I was really good at this game.” The blonde stood from the bed and straightened her uniform. “Do you feel better?” Rachel nodded. She did feel a lot better. “Good. I have to go see some of the other patients now. You can keep the cards. I have a lot of decks.” She took her cart and wheeled it to the door before looking back over at Rachel. “I wouldn’t worry about your soul. No one can buy something from you that isn’t even really yours. Also, Santana isn’t as mean as she pretends to be.” With a wink, the blonde walked out of the room.
~*~*~*~
“Santana!” Rachel called out a few hours later. She’d needed time to figure out her last wish and make sure it would be worded correctly. It was very important.
The girl appeared suddenly by her bed and crossed her arms. “You bellowed?”
“Yes, I’ve decided on my last wish,” Rachel said resolutely.
The familiar gleam appeared in Santana’s eyes as she rubbed her hands together. “What will it be? Fortune? Fame? Unrivaled beauty?”
The shorter girl shook her head. “None of that. I just wish for Quinn to be happy. I want her to have everything she could ever want and be happy even if it is without me.” Rachel had been so selfish in her wishes and Brittany’s visit had served to remind her just why she’d fallen for Quinn in the first place.
Santana stared at her for a moment. “Dammit! Really?” Santana groaned and stepped away.
“What?” Rachel asked with a frown. “What is it?”
“Of course you didn’t read the contract. No one ever does. In the contract is a nullification clause. Selfless acts of redemption render the whole contract null and void. You just gave your last wish to Quinn. Dammit, Berry.” Santana punched Rachel in the arm lightly.
“Hey!” Rachel rubbed the spot on her arm and gave Santana a disgruntled look. “Wait. Does that mean I get to keep my soul?”
“Unfortunately,” Santana answered with a scowl. “You know, I’ve been doing this for like two billion years and not once has anyone ever given up their last wish. I really hope this isn’t going to become some sort of fad. Anyway, now I have to go do paper work. Congrats on keeping your soul or whatever.” And with that, she was gone.
The knock on the door drew Rachel’s attention. “Come in.”
The door opened and she was surprised to see Quinn walk in. “Hi...”
Rachel smiled softly. “Hey.”
“Well, I just came by to see how you were doing. They said you have to stay here for a few days. I’m not going to lie. You completely freaked me out earlier and I was sure that I would never want to come near you again, but Brittany called and said you were feeling better. She thought for some reason you’d want to see me.” Quinn walked towards her but stopped at the foot of the bed.
“I do feel better. I’ll have to tell Brittany thank you, later.” Rachel said quietly.
“I just...I’m not even sure why I came. I guess earlier when you came to me asking for help. It reminded me of last year when you were the only person that came up and reached out to me when I’d been so awful to you. I thought maybe it was my turn,” Quinn explained, biting her bottom lip.
“Well, you did help me earlier, but I won’t say it wouldn’t be nice to have you as a friend at least.” Rachel would always love Quinn, but if all she could have was friendship, she’d gladly take it.
Quinn nodded and moved a little closer, taking Rachel’s hand. “I think friends would be a good place to start. Maybe you could...teach me a few things about being Jewish so that I could teach them to Bethany?”
“I could definitely do that.” Rachel agreed, squeezing Quinn’s hand.
~*~*~*~
Somewhere up above two beings watched as the two girls spoke. “I think you’re going soft, S,” Brittany said with a knowing smirk.
Santana glared. “No, I think you’re just making them smarter.”
“Maybe I am or maybe you just recognized true love when you saw it. I’m not surprised. I’ve taught you a lot about it.” Brittany pressed a soft kiss to Santana’s lips and grinned.
The brunette pulled her closer and took another kiss before stepping away. “Yes, you definitely have.”