Chapter 17

A story about genetically programmed soulmates.

Rachel sat in Sue’s office. The woman had called her in a few minutes ago over the school intercom. Everyone assumed that she was in trouble, but the brunette knew what this was about. Quinn. Her mate. Her mate that she hadn’t seen or heard from in almost four months. 

At first Rachel had been hopeful in their search. Sue always had connections in high places and Rachel hoped that it would help them find Quinn. But so far, it hadn’t helped with anything. The woman had contacted every correction facility in the nation. At this point she had moved on to international facilities. But still no signs of Quinn. 

As the months wore on, Rachel began to feel the effects of being separated from her mate. Her joints began to ache and getting out of bed in the morning had become a bit of a task. The brunette wanted to believe it was just depression due to Quinn’s absence, but she knew it was more than that. 

Rachel was showing definite signs of PEA withdrawal. She knew that soon she would lose her physical strength, her immune system would break down, and after that her organs would most likely begin to shut down as well. But Rachel refused to see her fathers. She couldn’t stand to look at them after what they had done. 

Rachel was shaken from her thoughts when Sue entered the room briskly. “Hello, Rachel. Thank you for coming. I have some news about Quinn. Some good, some bad.” 

Rachel nodded her head eagerly. “The good news is that I have been talking to your sorry excuses for parental units. They keep begging me to tell you that they are sorry, and that they miss and love you. Not that those traitorous jack asses have any right to say so. However, they have also told me that they are willing to help us from a distance. You won’t have to speak to them. I will do all of the dirty work.” 

Rachel gave Sue a small smile, she appreciated everything the woman had done for her in the past few months. Since Quinn’s disappearance, Sue had let Rachel move in with her. The woman couldn’t stand to see Rachel go back to a pair of fathers that let Quinn’s father take her away and on top of that pay for the facility that Quinn had been sent to. 

Rachel was relieved that she wouldn’t have to see her fathers, but it didn’t end the pain that came from the loss of her mate. She missed Quinn more than anything and she knew it was beginning to show. Rachel had dark circles under her eyes that seemed like they would never go away. She wasn’t sleeping very well and when she did sleep, she dreamt of Quinn-when she woke up, it just made reality that much more painful. 

“Rachel, I still have some bad news,” Sue said, folding her hands on the desk in front of her. “The bad news is you will have to receive treatments from your fathers’ facility. I know how much you must hate them. I personally would love to test out my Sicilian Bull on at least one of them, but you need to be treated. You need to stay alive.” 

Rachel’s small smile fell from her face, just the mention of her fathers brought rushes of anger back to her. “No Sue, I won’t do it. I don’t want to go back to that place.” Rachel folded her arms over her chest and looked away from the woman before her. Her voice faltered “I can’t.” 

Sue rose from her seat and walked around her desk to stand closer to Rachel. “Look, I know you don’t want to see them, or talk to them, or even be related to them right now. But you need help. I need you to help me find Q. And I need you to be healthy to do that. You don’t need to respect them, or like them, but you need their help. Please just take the treatments,” Sue pleaded, placing a hand on Rachel’s shoulder, “If there was another way to help you, I would try to find it, but they are the only possibility.” 

Rachel sighed in defeat. She knew it was true. Her fathers were good at what they did. And she did need their help. She was sick and only getting worse every day. “Fine. Make an appointment, but I’m only doing this for Quinn.” 

Sue smiled down at the brunette, “Fair enough. I’ll make the arrangements.” 

XXX

Quinn sat in her room and stared at the wall. It seemed to be the only thing she had been able to do lately-stare at the wall and think about Rachel. Even though she had been on the island for four months, the blonde still hadn’t made a decision on the status of her mark. So instead of moving on with the kids who had decided to change their signs, she was left in the very small wing of kids who wanted to keep them the new kids. 

Since Quinn had arrived on the island, she had fully gone through the ‘welcoming process’. But it really felt like being welcomed to a prison. She was informed that she was not allowed to speak to anyone or bring anything in from the outside. She was allowed to wear her normal clothes, but anything they deemed ‘suspicious’ was burned. She was only allowed to go outside for an hour a day and on a daily basis there were bunk checks.

Quinn had been told what she would be given if she transferred to the reassignment wing. She would have a personal chef, a comfortable bed with a window that looked out to the ocean, she would get to mingle and make friends with kids who were being given the same dose of PEA she was. Basically she would get to be treated like a human instead of being locked in a cage like an animal. But she would rather spend the rest of her life in this prison than give up her mate.

Every day a nurse came to her room gave her a shot of Phenethylamine (PEA) and left. The first few days had been difficult, the drug to burn her veins. It almost felt the way it had when she had imprinted with Rachel. Except instead of giving her a euphoric hum it gave her a painful sting. After a few weeks the shots stopped burning and seemed to just make her feel numb instead. She was afraid they were actually trying to force her to change her sign but everyday the same two letters stared back at her. “RB”.

She had to meet with Charlie, her counselor, once a week, and every week he would try to convince her to change her mind to be assigned a new mate. But every week she would say the same thing, that she wasn’t ready. She just couldn’t do it no matter how hard she tried.

Quinn was miserable. She missed Lima, she missed her friends, and she missed Rachel. 

Her next meeting with Charlie would be today; she wasn’t in the mood to deal with him, but she also knew that she didn’t have a choice. “Quinn Fabray?” A young counselor had opened her door, “Are you ready?” Quinn nodded her head and followed the woman down the hall to Charlie’s office. 

When they arrived, Charlie was sitting at his desk with a bright smile on his face. “Quinn! Hello! Please take a seat,” he said gesturing excitedly to the chair in front of him. 

Quinn took a seat and leaned back in the chair, ready for the same speech the man gave her every time she was there. 

“So Quinn, how are your treatments going? Well, I hope,” Charlie said with a tight smile. 

“They are going fine,” Quinn said calmly. 

“Good. Have you thought about getting your sign changed yet?” Charlie asked. 

“Yes, I have, and I’m still not sure,” Quinn said nervously, shifting in her chair. 

“Oh, alright. Well, we could move you out of that old outdated wing and into the new wing if you make the right choice,” Charlie offered, “You’d be much more comfortable there.” 

Quinn rolled her eyes without comment. “Quinn…you’re going to have to make a decision eventually,” Charlie pressed on. 

“You mean, if I do what you want you will take me out of the makeshift prison you created?” Quinn said folding her arms over her chest. 

“No, it’s simply outdated. You are completely free here,” Charlie recited. 

“Oh really? If I was completely free, I’d be able to call Rachel, my friends, anyone! If I was free I’d be allowed outside for more than an hour. If I was free, I would be allowed to keep my picture of Rachel and the “suspicious” clothes that you burned,” Quinn argued. 

“Okay, so maybe we have some tough policies, but they are in place for a reason,” Charlie said raising his hands in defense. 

“So no one finds out you are holding kids against their will?” Quinn spat back. 

Charlie ignored Quinn’s words and continued on with his explanation, “Some of the patients in the reassignment ward need these rules for a full recovery. Just because you have decided that you didn’t want to get reassigned doesn’t mean you get special treatment.” 

“No, because I don’t want to get reassigned it means that I should get special treatment. I should get the kind of treatment I need and deserve. Just giving me the bare minimum of PEA shots is not right. The kids in the reassignment ward get luxury treatment but I get nothing! How is that right? You are basically trying to force us to decide to change and let go of our mates!” Quinn shot up from her chair and began walking towards the door. “I think this meeting is over.” 

Quinn was reaching for the door when Charlie spoke again, “Quinn, if you would like to be treated like everyone else, you need to change. That’s all I can do for you. You’re not going to see Rachel again. Yes, we undid all of the damage your father did. You can go back to Ohio legally. But you will not be allowed to just do whatever you want because you are choosing not to change your sign.”

Quinn didn’t bother turning around, simply turning the knob and leaving the room. She didn’t bother to listen to Charlie any further. 

Quinn stormed back to her room and slammed the door behind her, leaning on the broken and splintered wood and letting her chin fall to her chest. How dare he do this to her. Screw Charlie, screw Russell, Screw her mother. Screw everyone. Everyone but Rachel. 

Quinn pushed head back against the door and closed her eyes. Maybe it was time to forget Rachel too. Maybe this was a lost cause. Trying to get out of here with the dream of being with Rachel again was proving to be much harder than she had planned.

The blonde sighed and had begun to shuffle towards her bed when she heard a knock on her door. She assumed it was another nurse and she really wasn’t in the mood. “Go away!” Quinn yelled as she sat down on her bed. Plopping on her back, she stared at the ceiling. Another knock. “I said go away!” Quinn yelled again. She closed her eyes and tried to relax for a moment before she heard a third quieter knock. The blonde hopped off the mattress and swung the door open, ready to attack, but instead of being met with a woman dressed in white, she was met with a boy. 

“Hey. No need to be so angry, I was just stopping by to say hi..” he said leaning against the door. “And I sure am glad I did..” the boy bit his bottom lip between his teeth and smirked holding out his hand. “Puck, and you are?” 

“Quinn.” The blonde scanned the boy with her eyes. The boy stood at least six inches taller than Quinn, his broad shoulders took up most of the door frame. His smirk alone made her want to slam the door in his face. He had that ‘I-know-I’m-good-looking’ smirk that made you want to punch him in the face because he really was handsome. His hair was ridiculous, both sides of Puck’s head were shaved only leaving a strip of hair down the middle. It was a sorry excuse for a mohawk. But what bothered Quinn the most was the way he kept his hand stretched out as if he really expected Quinn to shake his hand. 

“What do you want?” Quinn asked folding her arms over her chest, effectively avoiding his handshake. 

Puck shoved his hand into his pocket, ignoring the rejection, “Well, rumor has it that you are the newbie here and I just came to say hello.” 

Quinn scoffed, “I’ve been here four months. Just get to the point. What do you want?” 

The boy straightened up and nodded his head, “Okay, short and to the point, I like that in a woman.” Quinn raised an eyebrow, causing Puck to laugh nervously, “Okay, okay,” he said putting his hands up defensively. “I heard you were having some troubles. You want to get back to your mate and I can help you,” Puck said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Would you be interested?”

Quinn looked the boy up and down once more before she responded, ignoring the pounding in her chest. “I’m interested.” 

“Follow me.” 

….

“You’re joking, right?” Quinn asked as she looked down at the open case of pills sitting on Puck’s bed. “You’re telling me that if I take of these I will be able to see Rachel, or whatever…” 

“Yeah. Babe, it works. I take one once a week to talk to my girl back home,” Puck assured the blonde. “Look, I’m trying to help you. Do you want one or not?” 

Quinn shook her head, unsure as to whether or not she should believe the boy. “Where did you get these?” 

“I stole them from the lab. It’s not hard, they don’t pay attention half the time. At least not in this wing.” 

“This is too easy. There’s a catch. What do you want? Sex? Money? I don’t have any money and I am not sleeping with you,” Quinn said, taking a step away from the case. 

“What? No, babe, I’m really just trying to help you out. I got them for free so you should too.” Puck answered quickly. 

“Why are you doing this? Why now?” Quinn asked, looking Puck in the eye. “Why didn’t you come and do this for me four months ago when I first got here?” 

The boy looked away for a moment before letting his shoulders sag in defeat. “Look, a lot of kids come through here. Most of them give in and change mates. I haven’t seen anyone stick it out. Not until you got here. I was waiting to see if you would make it, and you’ve lasted this long. I’m sure you miss your mate and I’m just trying to help.” Puck rubbed the back of his neck nervously and looked down at his feet. “I don’t need anything from you, but it would be nice to have a friend.” 

The blonde didn’t know what to say. Puck seemed genuine. He really did seem to want to help her, even if he was strange with his cocky smirk and tacky mohawk. She could only imagine how lonely he must be in here, or how long he must have been here to have seen so many people come and go. “Okay, can you show me how these things work?” 

“Sure!” Puck snatched up a pill and placed it in Quinn’s open palm. “All you have to do is take it...I mean, swallow it. This is synthetic PEA. It’s basically a controlled overdose.” Quinn looked down at the white capsule and turned it around a few times, it didn’t look like much, “You don’t have to worry about imprinting on someone else. This is what they use to stabilize us, just in a much higher dosage. It’s designed not to affect your sign. The Berry corporation started to make them about three years ago when the regular injections weren’t being produced quickly enough, but they still aren’t on the market. They are only sold to correction facilities.” 

 

Quinn faltered when she heard Berry, but tried not to show any recognition towards the name. The blonde nodded her head in understanding. “That’s it? I just take it and I can talk to her?” 

“Well, no. It does take some practice and it takes about fifteen minutes to start working. You can take it now if you want. You’ll know when it’s working. When you feel it you have about three hours to talk to your mate. They will either hear you, see you, or both. But since this is your first time, I wouldn’t expect too much.” 

The blonde still wasn’t too sure that this would work, but she didn’t have too many options and she was already thinking about what she would say to Rachel. “Okay. Here goes nothing,” Quinn popped the pill in her mouth. “That’s it?”

“Yeah.” Puck nodded, taking a pill himself. 

“Now what?” Quinn asked.

“Go back to your room and wait.” Puck closed the case and sat on his bed. “Tell me how it goes when you’re done.” 

“Okay…” Quinn said walking towards the door. “You’re sure about this?” 

“Positive, babe. Now get out of here before you collapse on my floor.” 

….

As Quinn walked back to her room, her vision had already become slightly blurred. She pressed one hand against the wall to keep her balance as she walked back to her room and when she finally got to the door she took a few wobbly steps and collapsed on the bed. 

The blonde looked up at the light trying to focus her vision on anything in the room to make the world stop spinning, but it only became faster and faster until finally everything simply went black. 

Although Quinn was in her bed, she wasn’t sure where she was mentally. She was just existing-at peace for the first time in months. She felt like she might be smiling, but she couldn’t tell what her body was doing anymore. 

Quinn lay there for a few moments, hoping that this would last as long as Puck had said it would. Even if she didn’t get in contact with Rachel, it would be worth it to have escaped from this hell for at least a short time. 

...

After what Quinn guessed was a half hour, she had given up on the prospect of Rachel. Maybe Rachel broke their bond and chosen someone else. It was possible. Four months was a long time to be away from your mate. 

But what if…

Quinn felt a panic rush through her as she thought about what else could have happened to Rachel. If it really had been four months since they had been separated, Rachel could be sick, or dying, or..dead. 

The blonde felt her chest tighten struggling to breathe as she thought of the possibility of being completely alone in this world. Never even having a chance to find Rachel again because the girl was nowhere to be found. Because she was gone. 

Suddenly this high wasn’t so kind to Quinn and she fell into darkness. She felt her body betraying her and assaulting her with images of what might have happened while she had been away. Russell could have gone back, Rachel could have confronted the man. Or maybe Rachel had even - “Quinn where are you?” 

The blonde froze as she heard that familiar voice. She could never forget that voice. “I’m going to find you.” 

“Rachel?” Quinn hoped the girl could hear her, she wasn’t sure if that’s how it worked, “Rachel!” Quinn said a little louder, hoping to catch the girl’s attention. “Can you hear me?” 

Nothing. 

Quinn couldn’t see Rachel, but she could hear her. She could hear the gentle hum of the girl’s computer. She could hear her quietly breathing. She could hear the tv quietly playing in the background. But she couldn’t see anything but darkness. “Why did it have to be you? Why did I have to be so stupid and tell you about your stupid father.” Quinn heard Rachel’s voice cracking as she quietly spoke. Rachel didn’t say any more after that. All Quinn could hear were quiet sobs and sniffles. 

The blonde didn’t want to hear anymore. She didn’t want to have to see-hear Rachel like this if she couldn’t help her. All she wanted to do was reach out and hold the brunette until they both felt safe. Until all of the guilt and pain was gone. But she couldn’t, all she could do was sit in the dark and listen to her mate cry. 

…

Soon after Quinn had heard Rachel the darkness had began to fade and Quinn slowly came back to the facility. She squinted as the bright light assaulted her eyes and quickly turned to her side to blink it away. 

Quinn wasn’t sure how she felt about her experience. She got to hear Rachel, she got to hear her mate’s voice for the first time in four months and it was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard. But Rachel was sobbing. The brunette blamed herself for what had happened and Quinn felt guilty for letting Rachel feel that way. 

Quinn rubbed her eyes and swung her legs over the bed slowly coming back to reality. She needed to find a way to make this right. She needed to get back to Rachel. 

XXX

Over the next few days Quinn and Puck became closer. The two spent almost every second together. They talked about their life at home, the life they hoped to have when they got off the island, and anything else they could to fill the time. 

Puck had lived in California before he had been sent to the island. His father had died when he was young and his mother was left alone to raise him and his younger sister. He had been on the football team during the short time he was in high school. 

His problems began when he met Lauren, his mate. His mother had a problem with the fact that Lauren wasn’t ‘like them’. ‘Them’ being Jewish. Puck’s mother wanted Puck to find a nice Jewish girl and settle down. The woman was convinced that Puck’s sign was a mistake and immediately looked for the first solution she could find. 

Quinn sat on Puck’s bed as she listened to Puck’s story. It was nice to hear that she wasn’t the only one in the world whose parents seem to want to ruin their life. 

“So how’d you end up here, babe?” Puck asked wanting to find out more about his new friend. 

Quinn bit her lip nervously and played with the comforter in her lap. She wasn’t sure she wanted to tell Puck all about the mess she had left at home. 

“Don’t get me wrong, I loved hearing about how short those Cheerio’s skirts were. And I really wish you could have brought one with you..but what about the real you? The girl behind the uniform?”

The blonde couldn’t help but smile at Puck’s words, “You’ve only known me for a week, how do you know there’s a girl behind the uniform?” 

Puck rolled his eyes, “Look, I’ve been around the block. I know women. There’s always a girl behind something. It might be make up, or ugly sweaters, or even just a smile. There’s always something a girl is hiding.”

“Well, the girl behind the uniform...and what brought me here are very different things.” Quinn wrapped her arms around herself suddenly feeling vulnerable. 

“That’s fine with me.” Puck laid down on the bed and propped his head up on the heel of his palm. 

“It’s a long story.” Quinn tried. 

“I’ve been here for a long time, babe, a long story isn’t going to phase me.” Puck said with a grin. 

Quinn sighed and gave into Puck, “Alright, don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.”

Quinn told Puck about Finn and Rachel and the mystery sign between the two. She told him about the night she went to Rachel’s for a second chance, and the room she painted for the brunette. She told him about the music store and the first time they bonded. She told him about her father and the lies he had told her. She told him how she had been ripped away from her own life only a few hours after her childhood accident had been revealed to her. And when she was done she was left with a boy with his jaw dropped to the floor. “I told you.”

“Your mate is the Rachel Berry and you are the Quinn Fabray?” Puck put a hand over his mouth and stared at the blond in awe, “Holy s**t.”

“Is that really all you heard from everything I said? How do you even know who we are?” Quinn asked, irritated by the boy’s reaction.

“No! Of course not. I heard every word. I was going to study to become a doctor in college. I was kind of obsessed with PEA. You two are in almost every study ever done on reassignment. You’re basically a celebrity. Well in the medical world. “But you two seemed like the perfect couple. It’s a shame your pops is such an a*****e.” 

“I think that’s a bit of an understatement…” Quinn said flatly.

“Well, yes, but it doesn’t matter, this changes everything, we have to get you two back together.”

“And how do you expect to do that? I couldn’t even talk to her the last time I tried the pills.”

“That was your first time, babe, we’ll get it. And when we do we’ll make sure she can find you.” 

“This is your bright idea? Use some pills to rescue me from this hell hole?” 

“Do you have a better one?” 

“Touche.”