Warning: Graphic detail of self-injury.
Author's Note: You should just disregard the back 9...and some of the front 13. Basically this is kind of AU.
It started the day Rachel got the very first slushie facial. She didn't have an emergency bag and she wasn't entirely sure what to do since she didn't have a change of clothes. She opted to call one of her dads to take her home to shower and change so she could cry in the peace of her own bathroom. Her Dad didn't bother asking her if she wanted to go back to school, he just kissed her on the top of the head and went back to work.
When she was finished with her shower and removing the sticky corn syrup from her hair she changed into comfortable pajamas and tried to get the redness out of her eyes that suggested she'd cried the entire half-hour long shower. She didn't feel much like doing homework so instead she logged onto the forum she'd found through a future Broadway stars forum. Most of the posts on the new forum revolved around advice for teens on how to deal with high school bullies. A particularly large discussion caught Rachel's eye.
Rachel scrolled through the comments talking about self-injury. They talked about adrenaline high and hiding scars and scratches and burns. She'd seen the movie Thirteen and saw the girl pressing the scissors to her arm. It didn't faze her, really. It was Hollywood blood and she knew how they did it but she didn't honestly think people would hurt themselves on purpose.
"It's cheaper than drugs and it won't kill you if you know what you're doing" someone had posted. The more she read, the more she was slightly terrified and intrigued at the same time.
Three days and three slushies later she was listening to the science teacher drone on about the safety of using their scalpels to slice open the dead frogs that were splayed out on their trays. Finn was staring down at their frog not really knowing what to do. Rachel reached to grab the blade from his hand at the same time he moved to give it to her. Cool metal touched warm, tan skin and Rachel shrieked and pulled away. The cut wasn't that deep but blood oozed out of it and it did hurt a little. She grabbed a paper towel and dabbed away the blood, slightly frustrated but a little fascinated.
Another slushie facial and another shower. Rachel cried again when she got home that day. She couldn't figure out why she was suddenly the target of random frozen drinks. The verbal assaults that went along with them didn't help any. She took a deep breath and dug through her sheet music to try and find something to sing that could quite possibly make her feel better. As she was flipping through selections from Wicked her computer chimed that she had an e-mail. She looked to find new comments on one of her MySpace videos. She sighed when she saw the derogatory comments. She clicked the tab over to the teen forum. The self-injury thread caught her eye again and she clicked, again. She read more comments from people, both good and bad. Some said that they regretted it, others said it was the only way to deal with it all. She glanced down at the healed cut on her arm and furrowed her eyebrows. She clicked the tab shut and went back to her music.
...
It was spontaneous the first time she did it. She'd been double slushied that day. Someone else had followed and thrown her books into the puddle of purple drink on the floor. She left her things on the ground and stalked out of the school, walking home. She had to use the spare key to get in but once she did she immediately went to the bathroom and pulled out a disposable razor. She stared at it for a few seconds before smacking it hard on the counter, breaking the plastic barrier away from the blade. She hiked up her skirt and pressed the sharp edge to her thigh. Ten red lines later and she dropped to the bathroom floor, chest heaving, adrenaline pumping. She felt good.
...
Glee club was fantastic, even through the ups and downs. Rachel loved it. The road to sectionals was plagued with baby drama and boy drama but she had her coping mechanism. The pain hurt so good. The adrenaline was doing the trick keeping her optimistic. She convinced herself that it was safer than the pseudoephedrine she had tried and she liked it better. It helped her. She felt more human as opposed to just the insults that were spit at her. She bled. And she was human.
It was Rachel's idea to invite Quinn to stay with her when Finn kicked her out. It destroyed any chance she had with the boy which meant she had a bad day. And bad days were so, so good when she got home to the privacy of her bathroom. The insults and slushies didn't stop and Rachel was pushing deeper, trying to feel more human.
Quinn's baby came and she gave her up for adoption. She started talking to Rachel more since everyone else had abandoned her. Rachel started to ignore the fact that the day was good. It didn't matter anymore. It felt good, she liked it, and that was all that mattered. Quinn started invading her space a little more. Rachel let herself get close to the blonde. Regionals was okay, they took second. Second wasn't good enough, though, and Rachel wasn't happy with it. Even if Quinn did kiss her after they got their trophy. Rachel locked herself in the hotel bathroom.
...
Rachel hadn't thought about summer. Summer was weather for shorts and swimming. Quinn kept urging her to come with her to the community pool. Rachel printed off a list of water-born diseases and refused. Quinn tried to get her to play in the sprinkler in the back yard. Rachel claimed she was allergic to grass. She tried to stop because Quinn was making her feel more human with every touch and every kiss. She really, really tried. She craved it, though. Her skin hurt without it. Her thighs were covered with scars now. One she was particularly fond of was the shape of a star.
It was the beginning of July. Rachel was in the 7-Eleven browsing through snacks while Quinn put gas in her car. A group of jocks came in, rowdy and laughing. Rachel rolled her eyes and grabbed a bag of Gummi Bears. Just as she handed the cashier her money the icy cold corn syrup splashed over her from all sides and there was a roar of laughter. She looked up to see three cell phones aimed in her direction. The video would be on YouTube and all over the world in an hour, she knew. She tried to block out the verbal assaults as she tossed her money on the counter and ran out of the gas station. Quinn wrapped her arms around the frozen girl and Rachel cried into her shoulder and begged the blonde to take her home.
Rachel dared to press deeper that night. She turned her stereo up loud and sat in the bathroom and cried out as metal tore through skin and blood poured out. She kept pressure on the wounds with the towel. It took longer for the bleeding to stop than it ever had before and she definitely felt a little dizzy. She dug through her drawers when the bleeding slowed to find gauze and medical tape to try and close the gashes.
...
"Rachel!"
The brunette woke to Quinn banging on her door. It was two weeks since the incident at the gas station. The gashes had not healed well at all. Rachel knew they probably could've used stitches and that the scars would be there forever as a reminder.
"Rachel, open the door!"
"Hold on," Rachel groaned and rolled out of bed. She rummaged around for sweatpants but before she could trade the shorts she had on for them Quinn had managed to pick the lock.
The door flung open and Rachel grabbed her blanket and held it in front of her. "Quinn, I said to hold on! I'm not decent!"
Quinn stepped forward and ripped the blanket away from her. Rachel froze. Quinn's eyes dropped and darted back and forth between the pair of Rachel's sweatpants she was holding in her hand and scar and scab covered thighs. Rachel looked at the article of clothing in Quinn's hand. There was dried blood on the thigh. She'd slipped up and thrown those in the laundry.
"Oh…God. Rachel…" Quinn started trembling. "Rachel…Rachel no…no…"
"Quinn…"
"Why?" Quinn shrieked. "Why?" She dropped the sweatpants and pulled Rachel in and held her tight. Rachel resisted. Quinn didn't let go. Rachel didn't cry, she just relaxed and waited for Quinn to let go.
"It makes everything better," Rachel said. Quinn's grip relaxed and Rachel pulled away. "You wouldn't understand." The brunette crawled back into bed. She curled up, facing away from her girlfriend.
"How long has this been going on?"
Rachel shrugged. "October."
The bed dipped behind her and Quinn pulled Rachel close to her. "You need help," the blonde whispered sincerely. "Rachel…this…this isn't good. You need help, baby."
"No I don't."
Quinn let go and sat up. Rachel watched out of the corner of her eye as the blonde looked down at her thighs. Slender fingers touched scars and scabs.
"I'm sorry, Rachel."
Before Rachel could ask why, Quinn was gone. She figured it out ten minutes later when Quinn was back with both of Rachel's dads in tow. The brunette remained frozen in place when her Daddy walked around the bed. He glanced down at her legs, then up to Quinn and finally his eyes locked with Rachel's. The bed dipped and Quinn was behind her again. The blonde wrapped an arm around her and held her tight.
"I love you," Quinn whispered. "You're going to be okay." She pressed a kiss to Rachel's neck and held on tighter. "We're going to get help for you, Rachel. It'll be okay."
...
Help came in the form of being checked into a women's psychiatric hospital when after a week of close monitoring Rachel still managed to get a blade and use it. Rachel refused to speak to Quinn or her dads before the nurse took her arm and led her to her room. Even though she never said anything she considered this the end of her and Quinn. Quinn didn't love her enough to leave her alone and let her deal with things the way she wanted to. If Quinn loved her she wouldn't have made her go to a place where the depths of her privacy were violated in the forms of going through her bag or a nurse sitting outside the shower stall. If her dads loved her they wouldn't have checked her in to a place where she wasn't allowed to have anything sharper than a spoon or had to have her nails trimmed down where she couldn't use them.
Two days without it was all it took for Rachel to start getting angry because she'd had too much time to think about all the people that didn't love her. She'd had too much time to think about every single slushie and every single verbal taunt. She didn't know what to do. She'd inspected every single object she could find to get a sharp edge. There was nothing. She settled for physically assaulting a nurse and getting jabbed with a syringe of diazepam and put into isolation for the day.
The psychiatrist told her she feels things too much. Internalizes everything. That she needed to find a healthy alternative to let out her anger. Rachel told him to go to Hell.
It was after the third assault that the nurses figured out she wasn't doing it because she was a violent person. Rachel made the mistake of relaxing before the plunger was pushed. After that there was no more diazepam when she threw a tantrum. Instead she was restrained until she calmed down. Eventually she decided that it wasn't worth it and the psychiatrist told her that it was a step.
...
Three weeks in and she was allowed visitors. Quinn and her dads scheduled to come in on a Saturday afternoon. Rachel didn't sleep Friday night. The three people that hated her the most, more than the jocks and more than the Cheerios, for some reason wanted to see her.
Rachel paced the TV room all day listening to but not watching the Game Show Network. After lunch she was taken to a visitor's room and she waited. Her dads and Quinn came in a few minutes later, Quinn smiled bright when she saw the brunette and opened her arms for a hug. Rachel just glared and shrank away from her.
"How are you sweetie?" her Daddy asked.
"How do you think I am?" Rachel growled. "I have no privacy, no one trusts me, you hate me, that quack keeps forcing pills down my throat. How the hell do you think I am?"
"Rachel," Quinn whimpered. "Rachel we don't hate you."
"Why am I here then? The only reasonable explanation for forcing me to come to this hell hole is that you absolutely loathe me."
"What else were we supposed to do, Rachel?"
"Let me be, Quinn. You could've just let me be. I was doing fine. Everything was under control, I had control."
Quinn shook her head. "You weren't in control, Rachel. You…you're sick. You need help."
"You don't know anything!" Rachel screeched."You weren't tortured!"
"You're right, Rachel. You're right, I wasn't. Not like you were but baby…Rachel…why didn't you talk to someone? There are better ways of dealing…"
"I liked it, Quinn. It felt good…it was so good. I felt…human. Why would you take something away from me like that? Do you know what that's like? To have everything taken away from you?" The last sentence out of Rachel's mouth trailed off as Quinn's face turned from concern to heartbroken.
"Yeah, Rachel. I do know." Quinn turned on her heel and walked out of the room. Rachel didn't go after her.
The next week Quinn didn't come. Rachel cried. She wrote a letter to the blonde for her dads to take back home. Rachel told the psychiatrist she wanted to get better. Because if Quinn could go through pregnancy and being thrown off the Cheerios and kicked out of not one but two houses and giving her baby up for adoption…Rachel could do this. Rachel could get better. A tutor started coming in when school started and Rachel kept up with school work from her teachers.
Quinn sent a letter with Rachel's dads the next week and while it wasn't what Rachel was hoping for she took what she could get. In therapy she admitted she might be sick. The psychiatrist suggested boxing as a way to relieve stress and tension. Rachel shrugged and said she would give it a try. She started going to the recreation room twice a week with a few other women to take a class. She made a note to ask her dads to put up a heavy bag in the basement when she went home.
Two more weekends and two more letters.
...
The next week Rachel sat waiting in the visitor's room fully expecting another letter from Quinn but instead she got the girl herself. She stood up shyly and Quinn slowly stepped toward her with half a smile.
"You look good, Rachel."
Rachel nodded. "I'm getting better." The brunette gestured to the chairs at the table, Quinn took one and Rachel took another next to her. Quinn put her hands up on the table and Rachel cautiously reached out and traced the pale skin on the back of Quinn's hand with her finger. Quinn didn't pull away.
"How's the boxing going?"
"Good. It's good exercise, helps me release tension, good for learning self defense."
Quinn was nervously silent for a few moments.
"But I know when to use it," Rachel said reassuringly. "Some if it is about discipline and control. My trainer is also a counselor; it would be like if Coach Sylvester and Ms. Pillsbury somehow conceived a child. Only Anna isn't psychotic or mysophobic. She teaches at the community center, I'm going to continue with her…" Rachel took a deep breath and looked up at Quinn, "when I leave. Daddy said he's already bought a heavy bag."
Quinn nodded. "I helped him hang it up this week. It was…interesting. He said the beams in the basement would be solid enough that he wouldn't have to use the anchor insert." Quinn smiled. "So we got it hung up and while we were eating dinner we heard this crash in the basement."
Rachel giggled. "He never liked to follow the instructions."
"I made sure he did it right the second time." Quinn turned her hand over and laced her fingers with Rachel's. "I missed that," she whispered.
Rachel arched her eyebrow.
"Your laugh," Quinn said. "I-I missed it. I've missed you."
"I've missed you too, Quinn. I'm sorry…about what I said when you were here. I wasn't thinking. I was so angry, Quinn. I didn't think about you, I just thought about what you were doing to me and…" Rachel dropped her head. "I hated you," she mumbled. "I thought you didn't love me because I thought I was fine. I thought I wasn't angry."
Quinn put her fingers under Rachel's chin and tilted her head up. Rachel blinked and a few tears spilled over. The blonde pulled Rachel in and wrapped her arms around her. "I love you," Quinn whispered. "I love you so much, Rachel. Whatever you need, okay?" Quinn pulled away and gripped Rachel's shoulder with one hand and tucked brunette strands back with the other and let her hand settle on Rachel's neck. "I'm going to be here for you and do whatever you need, okay? I-I might hover a lot…but it's because I care. I just want to make sure you're okay."
Rachel nodded. "I'll be okay. How's school?"
"It's okay. Glee club misses you. I'm making sure Mr. Schue doesn't do anything that you'll like until you get back. So our repertoire is limited to heavy metal and hip-hop. Puck and Mercedes love it but they both admit it's not as good as anything you can do."
Rachel huffed. "They all sit there and talk about how crazy they think I am, I'm sure."
"No one knows, Rach. The only ones that know are me and your dads and your teachers. Everyone who asks me I tell them some outrageous story about how you're on safari in Africa or helping breed polar bears at the North Pole." Quinn giggled. "My favorite one was that you've decided to kayak around the world while singing Barbra Streisand's complete collection, only pausing to sleep."
Rachel gave a half smile. "It will get out sooner or later, like with Suzy Pepper. You might as well tell people the truth."
"It's not my story to tell. And Suzy Pepper really is a psycho. I've been thinking of setting her and JewFro up on a date."
Rachel's lips turned into a full smile and she started giggling, Quinn echoed her and they somehow ended up touching foreheads and smiling. Quinn pushed Rachel's hair back again. Rachel hesitated for a minute before pressing her lips to Quinn's.
"I've missed that, too," Quinn said when they pulled apart.
"Rachel?"
Rachel broke her gaze with Quinn to look at the nurse in the doorway. She scowled at the woman.
"Rachel, don't forget your appointment. You have ten minutes."
Rachel nodded and the nurse stepped out of the room. She turned back to Quinn and sighed.
"Therapy awaits."
Quinn smiled. "I'm proud of you."
Rachel blushed. It was the single most uplifting thing she'd heard since the day she unpacked her things.
...
The next Saturday an orderly followed Rachel and Quinn around the hospital grounds and through the gardens. The pair walked and talked, fingers interlaced. Quinn showed Rachel a little of some of the choreography for one of the songs they were doing for the pep assembly that week. It ended up with Rachel's arms around Quinn's waist and Quinn's arms around Rachel's shoulders with the brunette's head settled on the blonde's shoulder. Rachel pressed a kiss to fair skin and Quinn smiled and squeezed her tight.
"I can't wait to come home. I miss my bed."
"I've kept it warm for you."
Rachel pulled away and looked up quizzically. "Huh?"
Quinn took Rachel's hand and guided her to a nearby bench. They sat and Rachel snuggled into Quinn's side and the blonde slipped her fingers through Rachel's hair.
"The first couple of weeks were really hard, Rach. The house just felt so empty and…I just kind of slept in your room for a few nights and didn't go back to mine."
"I don't know if that's obsessive or sweet." Rachel looked up at Quinn with a smile and kissed her cheek.
...
Rachel was scheduled to go home on a Friday, three weeks after her walk with Quinn through the gardens. She was nervous. The hospital was safe, there were no slushies and taunts. But home was going to feel good. Quinn holding her was going to feel good. She packed her things Friday morning and waited patiently for Quinn and her dads. She greeted them all with hugs and smile. Quinn held her on the drive home and dragged Rachel's bags up to her room. Before Rachel opened her dresser Quinn caught her wrist.
"Wait," Quinn said. "Okay…I know at the hospital they went through all of your things and I'm not going to do that…but I want you to do it. Go through your things and get rid of anything that might be…tempting."
Rachel pulled away from the blonde and opened her drawer. "Quinn, I'm fine. I'm not going to do it again."
"Then you should have no problem getting rid of them."
Rachel stacked her clothes in her drawer and remained silent, Quinn waited.
"Rachel, I really don't want to break our trust but if you don't do it then I will."
Rachel hesitated. She really didn't have any intention of starting again but there was some form of comfort in knowing that she had the option. Regardless of the fact that she really didn't want to do it anymore she didn't deny that it did make her feel good.
"Quinn, you're being irrational. There's no need for this, really. Don't you trust me?" Rachel smiled up at the blonde, absolutely certain she would win her over.
"I'm not backing down. Rachel this isn't some form of punishment if that's what you think. Please…baby, please." Quinn reached out and cupped Rachel's face in her hands. "I just…I really care about you and I want to do everything I can to make sure you get better." Quinn dipped down and pressed a gentle kiss to Rachel's lips. "Please," she whispered.
Rachel turned away and looked at the bathroom door. Quinn took her arm and led her to the bathroom. Rachel hesitated again before opening her third drawer down and reaching in the back and pulling out a small box and handing it to Quinn.
"Is this all?"
Rachel nodded. Quinn pulled her close and kissed her forehead.
"I'm kind of tired," Rachel said. "I usually napped in the afternoons since there wasn't much else to do." She smiled and Quinn nodded.
The blonde led her back to the bedroom and Rachel hopped up on the bed. Rachel's Daddy appeared in the doorway and smiled.
"What do you want for dinner, sweetie?" he asked. "Anything you want…as long as we know how to cook it or what number to call to order it."
Rachel smiled wide. "Chinese? I've missed China Wok. I'm going to take a nap right now though."
"Of course honey, we'll get one of everything!"
Rachel giggled and yawned. Quinn stepped over Rachel's luggage and dropped the small box in Rachel's Daddy's hand. He glanced down at it and back up to Rachel. He only nodded and left the room; Quinn closed the door behind him and crawled into bed with Rachel. The small brunette curled into Quinn's front and wrapped her arm around the blonde's waist. She slipped her hand up the back of Quinn's shirt and traced her fingers over the smooth skin.
"I'm nervous," Rachel whispered. She pressed a kiss to the space where Quinn's neck met her chest.
Quinn pulled away enough to look down at her girlfriend, eyes wide. "Huh?"
"School on Monday. I'm nervous."
"Oh! Oh! Okay, yeah, school."
Rachel furrowed her eyebrows when Quinn's cheeks turned bright pink. "What did you think I meant?"
"Nothing." Quinn's blush deepened.
Rachel blinked a few times and when it hit her what Quinn was thinking her eyes went wide and her cheeks matched her girlfriend's.
"Oh!" Rachel gasped. "Oh…oh that. No…Well, I mean…d-do you want to?"
Quinn shrugged. "I don't know. Do you?"
"Not right now…I mean…my dad's are downstairs. I wouldn't want them to walk in or something. And…I…" Rachel pulled her gaze away from Quinn's eyes to focus on her neck.
"What? You've never done it?"
"I haven't," Rachel said. She pulled her hand out of Quinn's shirt and absentmindedly ran her hand over her own jean-clad thigh. "But that's not what the problem is. It's not really that big of a problem, really. It's just…the scars. They're really bad."
"It's okay," Quinn murmured as she pressed a kiss to Rachel's forehead. "Get some sleep, okay? We can talk later, promise."
Rachel nodded and snuggled closer to Quinn and drifted off to sleep.
...
At breakfast the next morning Quinn was unusually quiet. She had a small smile on her face that told Rachel she was plotting something. She'd stayed in Rachel's room the night before and, yeah, they'd kind of almost gotten to second base but it wasn't that kind of smile. Rachel furrowed her eyebrows when Quinn's phone buzzed and she actually looked at the text. Three months ago Quinn wouldn't have even had her phone at the table. Rachel furrowed her eyebrows. The blonde smiled at the message and dropped her fork.
"I'm going out with Brittany and Santana for a little bit."
Rachel dropped her jaw a little at that. She'd just gotten home and Quinn wanted to go spend time with someone else. The familiar feeling of not being liked very much started slipping over her. Quinn hopped up from the table and kissed Rachel's forehead.
"I'll only be gone for like an hour," the blonde said. "We'll watch Funny Girl when I get back, promise."
Rachel only nodded and picked at her eggs a little bit. She dropped her fork and pushed her chair back.
"I'm going to go back to bed," she mumbled.
"Uh…" her Daddy looked at her with that look. The look that said 'I trust you about as far as I could throw you'. The look the nurses gave her when she stated she wanted to be alone anywhere.
"Sweetie," her Dad smiled innocently. "Why don't you stay down here? You can nap on the couch, I promise we'll be quiet."
"You don't trust me."
"We just…want to make sure you're safe is all."
"God! My girlfriend doesn't want to spend time with me, you don't trust me…I should've stayed in that goddamn hospital, it would've been the same as it is here!"
"Rachel," her Daddy spoke softly. "Honey, please. This is just for peace of mind. If you want to spend time alone then Quinn will check you and I know that's not something you want."
Under normal circumstances she would have just retreated into the living room and dropped to the couch to sleep. This wasn't normal, though. It wasn't normal anymore. She was going to be watched constantly (if Quinn decided to stick around, she thought) and she knew it. And she didn't like it.
"I haven't done anything for months!" she shrieked. She stood up and her chair fell back against the floor. "It's not like I'm going to kill myself! If I had wanted to do it by now then I would have, you know? I took a shower last night and I've used the bathroom twice today and I didn't do it! All I want to do is go upstairs and lay down! That fucking medicine makes me tired all the time, all I want to do is sleep!"
"Maybe we can compromise," her Daddy said. "You can go upstairs and sleep in your room if you keep the door open. And you will watch your language."
This was the best she was going to get and she knew it. She stormed out of the kitchen and up the stairs. She almost slammed her door shut but instead growled and dropped to her bed. At least it was her bed. She drifted off to sleep and was vaguely aware of being covered with a blanket, her quilt that her Grandma Berry made for her fifteenth birthday. Also something else she missed. She fell into a dreamless sleep but was awoken when the bed dipped behind her.
"Rachel? Babe?" Quinn's hand was on her shoulder, pulling her to roll over.
Rachel groaned. "What do you want?"
"I got you something."
Rachel growled. "How are your friends?" She pulled away from the blonde.
Quinn pulled at her shoulder again until Rachel gave up and rolled over. She furrowed her eyebrows and glared at the blonde. Quinn jumped back a little.
"Rachel…Rachel, what's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" Rachel scoffed. "I've been gone for three months and you'd rather spend time with Brittany and Santana, who you see nearly every day, than with your girlfriend."
"It…it's not like that. No, Rachel…I went out to get you something and I needed their help because I wasn't sure where to find it. I wanted to surprise you."
Quinn grabbed a bag that was at the foot of the bed and thrust it toward the brunette. Rachel furrowed her eyebrows and cautiously took the bag. She pulled out the singular item and looked up at Quinn curiously.
"Cocoa butter?"
"Yeah," Quinn said with a smile. "Santana and Brittany gave it to me when I was pregnant for the stretch marks and it did absolute wonders. I had no idea where they got it from and when you said last night…about the scars…I thought maybe it would work on those."
Rachel dropped the jar on her bed and lunged forward to wrap her arms around Quinn's neck and the blonde slipped hers around Rachel's waist and held onto her.
"I'm sorry," Rachel mumbled.
"It's okay."
"It's…it's wonderful, Quinn. Thank you." Rachel pulled away and smiled.
"I promise, I'm all yours for the rest of the weekend. We can do whatever you want."
Rachel set the jar of cocoa butter on her nightstand and snuggled down into bed, Quinn followed and wrapped her arms around the brunette and they fell happily into a nap. The rest of the weekend was filled with snuggling and movies and popcorn and ordering takeout from Rachel's favorite places.
...
Monday morning the pair was up early. Rachel jumped on her elliptical and went through her workout routine, a little more tired afterward from the combination of her medicine and not having done her routine for a while. She enjoyed a long hot shower before gathering up her things and getting dressed. She was about as nervous as a person could get because of what could possibly await her at school. Her fathers had suggested maybe transferring her to a different school but the only other high school in Lima was Catholic and Rachel didn't think that would work out too well and she didn't want to have to leave town just for school. She insisted she could handle it and Quinn assured her that she'd be by her side.
The first stop when they got to school was to Ms. Pillsbury's office to get Rachel's locker assignment and class schedule since she'd missed orientation. Knowing Rachel's situation the redhead offered that her door was open anytime Rachel needed to talk and Rachel thanked her and headed to her locker, Quinn following close behind. Rachel's locker was two down from Quinn's, a request the blonde had made at orientation and it was the best that Ms. Pillsbury could do. Rachel stashed away her emergency bag and her books aside from her chemistry book which was her first period class.
Quinn's history class was on the same hallway as Rachel's chemistry class so they walked together. People gave odd looks at Rachel, very obviously wondering where she'd been. They didn't run into anyone from glee club and Rachel was a little relieved, they would immediately question her and she wasn't sure if she was ready for that. First period went smoothly, no one asked her questions and she acted as if she'd been there the entire time, raising her hand and answering the teacher and volunteering to fill in the equations on the board. Quinn was waiting for her when class adjourned and they were headed back to their lockers when they saw Karofsky walking toward them, hands empty. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked at Rachel with a devious smile before turning down a hallway. Quinn reached over and wrapped her arm around Rachel's shoulder and escorted her to their lockers and then to math, which they shared.
Things ran smoothly through lunch and Rachel was welcomed to the glee club table with open arms and the second that Puck asked where she'd been and Quinn glared at him everyone quickly changed subjects. Artie talked about his family taking Tina with them to the Grand Canyon that summer and how Rachel should go someday just because the echo was awesome. Puck still glanced at Rachel nervously while she listened to everyone's summer stories and Quinn kept giving him glares daring him to say another word.
Their day was almost clear, there was only one more class left before glee club practice. Rachel and Quinn were giggling at Quinn's locker at how their home economics teacher accidentally blew a pot up the hour previous when Rachel glanced over Quinn's shoulder and saw him. Karofsky was making his way toward the pair with a giant slushie in his hand. Rachel gasped and Quinn turned around and growled. Rachel tried to keep Quinn where she was but the blonde pulled away and threw her books on the ground and waited until Karofsky got within throwing distance.
"Don't even think about it," she said.
"Back off slut," he said. "This one's just a little welcome back present to our resident psycho here. That's right," he smirked, "my mom works at that hospital. I saw you there."
A crowd of students had gathered at this point and they were whispering and glancing in Rachel's direction. Quinn stood in front of the brunette and crossed her arms over her chest.
"You're going to have to go through me, Karofsky."
Karofsky quickly moved to the right but before he could toss the frozen drink Quinn moved even quicker and planted her knee right into his groin. She grabbed the slushie cup as he fell and when Karofsky hit the floor she dumped the blue slush on his head and dropped the cup to follow it.
"I warned you," she hissed. "And as for the rest of you," she looked back up to the crowd. "Anyone that even thinks about touching her gets to deal with me."
A few bodies started pushing their way through the crowd, eventually there were eleven people surrounding Rachel, staring at the still gawking and whispering crowds. A growl from Puck and barked orders from Santana for everyone to "get the fuck back to your own business" sent everyone running away.
"We got your back, babe," Puck said, turning to face the short brunette. "And, you know, whenever you wanna talk about it or whatever. No pressure. Because Quinn might kill me or something."
The bell rang signaling that they were all late for class and the group said their goodbyes and scattered off in different directions to get to class. Quinn picked up her books and she and Rachel stepped over Karofsky who was still huddled on the floor on their way to their last class of the day.
"Are you okay?" Quinn asked softly as she slipped her arm around Rachel's waist.
Rachel settled her head on the blonde's shoulder as they walked. "Yeah," she said with a genuine smile. "I feel…really good."