Hello everyone, I hope everyone is doing well! I am back with a new story! With help from two of my best friends I was able to finish the first chapter of this story, so thank you Reina and Angel for your help! The idea came to mind when I heard "Piece by Piece" by Kelly Clarkson on my way to work one morning, I had set the idea aside but then I heard "She Used to Be Mine" by Sara Bareilles and I knew I had to start writing this story, needless to say this story is inspired by both of these beautiful songs.

I don't own any of the Glee characters, just the characters I created as well as the plot!

I hope you enjoy the first chapter!

And then she'll get stuck and be scared
Of the life that's inside her
Growing stronger each day
'Til it finally reminds her
To fight just a little
To bring back the fire in her eyes
That's been gone but it used to be mine

She used to be mine- Sara Bareilles

Chapter 1- Broken Pieces

"Funny how one night, one second, one decision can change your life forever"

New York City, at last, Rachel Barbra Berry had made it this far and now there was nothing that would ever be able to stop the ambitious brunette. This was her home now, after spending all her life in Lima, Ohio she had made the biggest decision of her life thus far by separating from her dads to follow her dream, to become a Broadway star. She had been in the city for a little over a year and knew pretty much everything there was to know about the greatest city in the world. Except, she was practically alone. She didn't have close friends, the only people she knew were her classmates at NYADA who she loved but in no way had connections with outside of school. She liked to keep to herself and so far she was doing pretty great, after all her dad's had raised her to be independent and strong, yet Rachel was fragile in many ways she didn't know herself to be.

It was a beautiful summer day in New York City, Rachel loved to walk through Central Park admiring everything it had to offer, the calm of the morning air, the beautiful songs the birds would play, the smile of strangers just going through their day, it was her absolute favorite part of the city. That morning she had taken upon herself to go on a bike ride, yes she loved those too. She took the ride on her light pink bike with a gold star attached to the front wheel, stars are a metaphor. She had taken a break and sat down on the grass as she enjoyed her green juice when a random stranger suddenly sat by her, he had green eyes and light brown curly hair. He made small talk with her with the usual "What nice weather we are having." His name was Gabriel and from then on everything changed. They began by taking walks in the morning together, staying up to talk all night, to dinner dates and eventually moving in together.

Gabriel asked her to move in with him a year after they had met. They didn't want to take things too fast because after all they were still very young. Rachel and Gabriel were 20 years old, they were in the middle of their junior year in college and they had gotten accustomed to living together pretty fast. The apartment was a gift from his parents for graduating with honors and the highest GPA from his class; they wanted him to have a light load as he entered the college life. The pair worked a few hours after classes, nothing too crazy but enough for their necessities. They had talked about pretty much everything future related, moving to a better apartment, Broadway, and even children to complete the family she had always wanted, but everything at its given time.

Recently things started to get a little rough for them. Their communication suffered immensely from school stress and trying to make ends meet. As a result; arguments between themselves increased drastically within the last couple of months. A few days ago they both had gotten news that Mark, one of Gabriel's friend, found out that his girlfriend was pregnant. Rachel had always been in love with the idea of becoming a mother, but she could never imagine becoming a mother at that age, and so she felt a lot of sympathy for the couple as they were about to undergo an incredible change in their lives, however Gabriel had no sympathy towards their situation…

"I can't believe Mark would be so stupid, how can you be so irresponsible knowing that things like this can happen?" he said

"Well, all we can do is be there for them, they are going to need all the support they can get and they are our friends!" Rachel said sitting next to Gabriel

"No way. He got in this mess alone, he can do it alone. Unless they get rid of it, which is what I would do." Gabriel said, not measuring his own words before he spoke

Rachel immediately changed to gave him a look of shock after listening to what he said and her body shifted away from him with disbelief, where was this coming from?

"No baby, I, it would be different if it was us. But we are responsible and we know that right now is just not the time for that." he said taking her into his arms "I love you Rachel." He whispered as she tried to relax in his embrace and remember that he didn't mean what he had said.

One Tuesday afternoon Rachel was making dinner and waiting for Gabriel to get home from class. She suddenly began to feel lightheaded and the whole room seemed to be spinning around, she slowly lowered herself to the ground laying her heard against the kitchen counter, breathing in and out. "Oh my God" she said to herself pressing her hand against her chest feeling that her heart was beating incredibly fast. Suddenly a wave of nausea hit her as she quickly got up and made it just in time to the bathroom and emptied everything into the toilet. She sat in silence taking deep breaths to get her body back to normal.

"Rachel?" Gabriel called out her name as he came into the apartment seeing that there was food on the stove. He turned it off and walked towards their room.

"Rachel, where are you?" and suddenly he heard her as she began to get sick once again. He ran towards the bathroom seeing his girlfriend sitting on the floor, she was very pale. "Oh baby" he said as he rushed to the kitchen and poured water into a glass.

Rachel was weak after she had emptied her stomach, Gabriel kneeled on the ground and brought the cup close to her mouth as she took a sip of water and after laying her head on his chest in exhaustion.

"Baby, are you okay? Did you eat something bad?" He asked her helping her up from the floor.

"I don't think so" She said as she brushed her teeth.

Once she was done he took her in his arms and laid her down on their bed "You stay here and get some rest, I'll finish up in the kitchen" he kissed her and walked away. Rachel remained in bed, wondering what caused her to become sick all of the sudden. When she focused her vision on the calendar they kept on the wall. There was a red circle on a Monday… two weeks ago! She slowly sat up feeling sick once again.

"Oh no, no this cannot be happening." She said, her hands were shaking at the thoughts that came to her mind.

"We've used protection every time, we've been careful," she said, almost trying to convince herself of something she wasn't so sure of anymore. She then was taken back to that night a couple weeks ago where all she said to Gabriel was "I trust you."

"No, no, no what am I going to do?" she whispered as tears started to flood her eyes in realization of the mistake they had made that night.

Gabriel finished Dinner and made soup especially for Rachel, he grabbed a bottle of pills that were meant to help with nausea and made his way to their room seeing her curled up into a ball on her side of the bed.

"Feeling better?" he asked as he placed the tray in front of her

"A little" she responded as she gave him a faint smile.

"Do you want to try to eat?" he asked her as he wiped a tear from her eye and she shook her head.

In reality, she hadn't lost her appetite because she didn't feel well; she had lost it at the thought that inside of her there could be a life that she hadn't planned for, at least not yet.

She wasn't sure at what time she had fallen asleep, but when she woke up there was no one beside her, she walked into the living room to find a note from Gabriel

"You looked so peaceful this morning I didn't want to wake you up, I hope you're feeling better gorgeous. I love you and I'll see you later"

She smiled at the note and placed it back on the coffee table, and then a second wave of nausea came around as she ran once more to the bathroom.

Once she was sure she had nothing left to bring out she laid her head on the bathroom wall staring into space with worry. She needed answers, she needed to know if she was pregnant or not so she quickly got back up brushed her teeth and showered.

About 10 minutes later she left the apartment to the nearest pharmacy. When she walked in she passed by a woman with a beautiful baby girl in her arms.

"Good morning" the woman greeted

"Uh, good morning." Rachel responded as she smiled nervously and kept on walking. Seeing that child stirred within her a realm of possibility that she had not realistically considered before. She herself could be holding child just as gorgeous, and her own!

Setting aside the thought, she quickly found the isle and suddenly became overwhelmed. There were so many options of tests she could choose from, a variety of boxes that were all meant for the same thing and she was sure she looked completely lost. She picked up a box, it read "No Brands MORE Accurate, Clear blue, digital pregnancy test" Then she looked at another "First response pregnancy, early result pregnancy test." She was so overwhelmed and lost in the sea of options that she jumped at someone's voice behind her.

"I'm sorry ma'am, didn't mean to startle you, do you need any help" the pharmacist asked Rachel

"Y-yes please" Rachel said giving the pharmacist a look of desperation. The pharmacist alleviated the tension and gave Rachel the second box she had looked at, and she was ready to head over to the apartment for the moment of truth.

As Rachel walked home a million things came to her mind, school, future, her boyfriend… They didn't want kids, at least not yet, they weren't ready for this and she wasn't sure how he would react if she were to be pregnant. She arrived at the apartment, grabbed the box and made her way to the bathroom. She read and followed the instructions, three minutes was all it was going to take for her to find out if their lives would be changed forever. She placed both her hands on her stomach as she tried to breath in and out slowly to control the anxiety reigning over her.

Beep beep beep, She jumped at the sound of the stopwatch she had set on her phone. Before reaching to grab the test she swallowed hard

"Okay, Rachel just look at it then we will go from there." she said to herself. She reached for the test with her shaking hand, looked at the two lines in the results window. A huge sob escaped her mouth followed by more she couldn't control.

"What am I going to do?!" she thought as she slowly fell to the ground bringing her head in between her legs as tears fell onto the carpet

She looked down and touched her stomach; she had never been so scared in her entire life, knowing now that there was a life inside of her that she was now responsible for.

Hours had passed, in those hours she had thought about how she was going to break the news to Gabriel. She was sitting on the couch watching TV, well not really watching, more like staring at the screen while thinking about every possible way this could go; good or incredibly horrible. She remembered the conversation they had about Mark and his girlfriend and how she was completely terrified at what he said. Gabriel walked in as he saw Rachel completely lost.

"Rachel, earth to Rachel!" as he came closer to her

"Oh, hi" she said, not making eye contact

"Hey baby, feeling better?" he asked her bringing her into his arms

"Yeah" as she felt tears flood her eyes, but quickly changed the subject. She wasn't ready to tell him, but would she ever be?

Two days went by, it was now Friday; she was acting differently. She wouldn't talk as much, she was always tired, her appetite was barely there, if there at all and Gabriel became concerned at that fact.

"It's trash night, can you go get the one from the bathroom? I forgot to get it" she asked Gabriel

"Sure thing" he walked over to the bathroom, under the sink is where they kept the trash bags for the garbage can and so he opened it noticing a pink box, he picked it up as it read "First response pregnancy, early result pregnancy test" He noticed the box was already opened so he took a look inside grabbing one of the pregnancy tests, he saw there were two line on the little window so he flipped the box over to read the instructions and he felt his heart drop to the floor.

"RACHEL!" he yelled as he walked towards the kitchen trying to remain calm at what he had discovered

"What is this?!" as he moved closer to her. Not hearing an answer he repeated himself in a much less friendly tone.

"I, it's a pregnancy test" she stuttered, as she had no words to begin to try to rationally talk. He had never spoken to her in this tone, it terrified her.

"I know what it is, I'm not stupid" he answered "What the fuck Rachel, you're pregnant and you didn't think to tell me?! He yelled in complete anger.

"I just found out two days ago" she explained trying to remain calm and trying to reason why he would speak to her as he was.

"Really, two days ago? Oh" he suddenly realized that's why she has been so quiet and different

He nodded "It's okay, tomorrow morning we will resolve this little problem and we'll go back to normal baby, don't worry" he said as he attempted to resume his usually gentle composure and hug her.

Rachel gave him a look of confusion "What?" as she moved back and avoided his embrace. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on Rachel, you understand me perfectly, we're not ready for a baby, I don't want a baby" he tried smiling, tried reminding her he was good, but she didn't buy it.

She began to cry at the words that were coming out of his mouth "And you think I wanted for this to happen? Do you think I planned this?!"

"This is your fault, I knew it was a bad idea to go on that night" he yelled.

"You knew it was a bad idea? So if you knew it was a bad idea why did you continue?!" she said to him with tears filling her eyes.

"You told me to continue Rachel" he walked away from her in anger.

"But like I said we will resolve this problem tomorrow morning and we can go on as this never happened" he started to type onto his phone "Nearest abortion clinic."

Rachel took the phone away from as she read what had been typed.

"No" she shook her head "You are not killing my baby" placing her hands over her stomach as a sign of protection. 'my baby' she thought, she wasn't sure before but now seeing Gabriel like this, she was certain that she wouldn't let a bad thing happen to her baby. She would defend it from whomever.

"Your? It takes two to make a baby so my decision on getting rid of it should count; I have as much rights as you do over that thing."

The words ached in her heart…. That thing

"No you do not, it's my body, I'm carrying our baby"

"Rachel we are 20 years old, we go to school! Our small jobs aren't going to cut it! There's no option here!"

Rachel couldn't believe this was the man she had fallen in love with, what happened to the loving sweet guy she had fallen for? She was scared for her life but more for the life inside of her.

"I'm not letting you kill my baby" she yelled at him sobbing "We can figure this out!" She begged .

"We won't figure anything out!" He yelled "I want no part in this unless it's to get rid of it!"

She fell to the ground as pain quickly made it to her heart and feeling like it had broken every bit of her.

"I'm not, I won't" she said quietly looking up at him as he was hovering on top of her.

He quickly grabbed her and led her to their room.

"What are you doing?" She asked him in fear trying to loosen his grip on her arm.

"I want nothing to do with this, absolutely nothing; I told you already if you're not willing to get rid of it I don't want anything to do with you either. I'm going out for some air when I come back I swear to everything Rachel you better be gone" as he walked away from her.

She fell to the ground once again and let everything out "He wouldn't do this" she tried to tell herself. He couldn't, he loved her! She trusted him and she knew he was just as scared as she was. She knew he would come back, apologize, and they'd make up. He wouldn't ask for her to harm an innocent child, their child. She didn't follow his orders in hopes that he would come back and had thought things over, and that they could actually talk this out. She had stayed in their room sitting on their bed trying to control her emotions when she heard the apartment door open. She stood from the bed as her heart started to beat faster and faster.

"I told you I didn't want to see you here!" he yelled.

"Please! Let's just talk!" she begged trying to reason with him and holding on to her last shreds of hope.

"We already talked, Rachel you have five minutes to get your stuff and get out of my house" he spat.

"Gabriel, please I have nowhere to go" she cried out realizing it was true, she had no one and nothing.

"Well that's not my problem, I suggest you hurry up before I lose my last bit of patience with you" he walked out.

She walked over and grabbed her suitcase in which she started to pack everything she owned, she tried to do this as fast as she could but she was terrified as it was late and had no one to turn to. Fear was in every part of her body. How was this happening?

She heard footsteps come closer and her heart started to race again.

"Are you done?!"

"I can't leave, I don't know anyone"

"For the millionth time that's not my freaking problem, we're done here" as he tried to grab her and she moved back, this action only made him angrier, he grabbed her by her arm as she used the other to protect her baby

"No, please! You're hurting me!" She cried

"Forget I ever existed to you" as he pushed her and her belongings out and slamming the door

She curled herself into the corner and let out a few loud sobs and being unable to breathe correctly by them. What was she going to do? She had absolutely no one in New York, the only person she knew was Gabriel and he didn't want anything to do with her or the baby.

Where do I go? She thought to herself. She had strength to get up and she walked outside of the apartment building still letting out tears, her cries still came in so hard and breathing in the cool air was getting harder as she walked with absolutely no direction, it was dark and cool and she was scared, terrified. She accidently bumped into someone while trying to get her thoughts together.

"I'm sorry" a tall man apologized.

Rachel sniffled "I'm, I'm sorry"

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked as he noticed the girl's swollen eyes and tear stained cheeks

"I-I'm" she began to feel dizzy, everything around her was spinning and closing in on her fast as she quickly tried to hold on to his arm but it was too late and everything went black.

The tall man caught her in his arms before she had the chance to hit the ground "Someone call 911"

"Hey… uh" he saw the tiny necklace that read 'Rachel' around her neck

"Rachel can you hear me?" he was captivated by her beauty and all he wondered was what could have happened to her that she looked so broken in his arms.

Once arriving at the hospital, he was asked a million questions but all he wanted to know was if she was okay.

"Are you related to the girl" the nurse asked him.

He knew if he said no that would ruin all the chances of ever seeing her but more important the chances of knowing if she was okay.

"She's, uh she's my girlfriend."

"Very well come with me." She responded, slightly concerned from his hesitation.

The nurse lead him towards Rachel's room. When he walked in he saw her lying on the big hospital bed, she looked so tiny. The lights were dimmed, the room was quiet, and the only sound was a quiet beep that went along with her heartbeat. There was a chair next to her bed so he took a seat admiring the pretty girl that was sleeping in front of him, her hair was brown and long, she smelled like roses and as crazy as it may sound, something about her told him she needed someone, she needed him.

She slightly moved her head as her eyes began to flutter open.

"Hi" he said giving her a smile to assure her that she was safe

She looked around the room, sleepy, disoriented and scared, she placed her hand on her stomach and fell back to sleep.

He heard a knock on the door "Come in" he said quietly, making sure she didn't wake up.

"Hi, my name is Dr. Montgomery, I'm your girlfriends OB-GYN" she said shaking his hand.

"Rachel and the baby are okay!" Dr. Montgomery said

"Baby?" he was caught by surprise as he looked back at her

"Her blood pressure dropped which is what caused her to collapse; she is also dehydrated so we are giving her fluids to help with that."

He kept his focus on the girl who he had just met.

"Has she been under any stress lately?"

He looked at her and didn't know how to answer, he didn't know her or her situation all he knew was her name.

"I strongly suggest she tried to avoid stressful situations, it isn't good for her or the baby, she needs plenty of rest, I'll be back later on to check on her, but for now everything is fine, congratulations" she smiled and walked away.

He smiled back and once she had walked out he went back to sit next to her, putting his focus on the hand she had placed on her stomach… on her baby.

So many thoughts started to flood his mind as he saw tears were coming out of her closed eyes. He started to wonder if she was in pain or was she having a bad dream, with his thumb he brushed the tear away and her eyelid fluttered slightly open.

He just looked at her as her eyes traveled everywhere, not knowing where she was or what happened, she took her hand and tried to pull the tube from her nose which was providing her with oxygen.

"Oh, hey, no." he said as he gently took her hand away from it "You have to keep that there."

She looked at him, "My baby!" Was the first thing she said, with worry in her voice.

"Hey, it's okay, you're okay and your baby is okay" as he stood to press the call button on the remote.

The nurse came in "Welcome back" she said.

"What happened?" Rachel asked confused as Dr. Montgomery walked in.

"Hi Rachel, I'm Dr. Montgomery your OB-GYN, you're okay and the baby is okay. I explained to your boyfriend that you collapsed due to low blood pressure and you are also dehydrated."

Rachel looked at her "Boyfriend."

"Have you been under any stress lately?" Dr. Montgomery asked.

Rachel looked around the room avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room.

"Take it slow, stress can have many effects not only on you but on your baby and I'm sure your boyfriend wants both of you to be okay, you need plenty of rest and a stress free environment"

Rachel knew that was impossible, she was alone with nowhere to go, her priority was her baby now, but she didn't know what she was going to do, panic began setting in again. She looked at this stranger who had stayed with her to make sure that she and her baby were okay, tears started to flood her eyes and he looked at her having no words to say.

"We're going to keep you overnight just to monitor both of you and make sure that everything is okay, but you should be good to go in the morning, oh and you are more than welcome to stay with her" Dr. Montgomery said looking at the man sitting next to her placing her hand on top of Rachel's "You get some rest now" as she smiled and walked away.

Rachel finally let herself cry and let out all the pain she was feeling, he looked at her and his heart ached because one, she looked so hurt and he had no idea why and two because if it wasn't for him God only knows how things would of went when she fainted… would she be alone?

A couple minutes later after crying out everything she felt she started to drift off.

"It will be okay" he whispered to her.

Sleepy she asked "Who, who are you?"

"My name is Finn, Finn Hudson" he said offering her a friendly smile.

"F-Finn" she said quietly falling into a deep sleep.

He stayed with her for 5 minutes until he noticed he had 5 missed calls from his mother who had told him she would call that night.

"I'll be right back" he said to the sleeping girl.

He walked out closing the door very gently behind him.

"Hi mom" he Facetimed her.

"Hi honey, you haven't answered my calls I was worried… Finn are you at the hospital?

"I am, but I'm okay, it's a long story and I promise I'll explain later, I'm okay but I have to go" He said to her quietly as the floor was very quiet and the only people there were a couple of nurses.

"Okay honey, take care okay?"

"I love you ma" he said as he hung up.

He went back to the room sitting down next to her, he watched her sleep with her hands on her tummy, he could tell she loved her baby. Finn knew this was out of line, he had absolutely no idea why he was still there, she was a stranger so why did he feel the need to protect her?

"Where's your father?" he thought to himself as he looked at her hands and getting comfortable on the chair.

"Does he know you and your mommy are here? Does he love you the way I can tell your mommy does?" he shook his head falling asleep

He had made assumptions that whoever the baby's father was didn't want the responsibility "Why would he leave you on your own?"

Almost asleep the last words to come out of his mouth were "I-I'll take care of you"