"It's Always Darkest Before the Dawn"
Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing of Glee!
"Hey babe, what's up?" Mike greeted Tina as he opened his front door. Tina immediately closed the gap between them and threw her arms around his neck.
"Thank you," she said into his shoulder, pressing herself tightly against him and barely letting him close the door.
Mike smiled into her hair as he wrapped his arms around her waist and said, "For what?" As soon as he heard her sniffles he pulled back and asked, "What is it, what's wrong?" His eyebrows furrowed in concern, having been with her long enough to distinguish which type of crying she had been doing, though truth be told at the moment he was having a hard time deciphering.
"It's just - Beiste," was all Tina could choke out before burying her face in the crook of his neck again. She breathed in his familiar scent, and it soothed her right away.
"Beiste?" Mike questioned. "What happened? Did she not like the performance?" Mike wondered, referring to their rendition of Cell Block Tango. He couldn't help but half smile at the memory of it. He had been happy that Tina had asked him to be in the performance, while endearingly reassuring him repeatedly that it did not reflect her personal views on him.
Mike had enjoyed participating in the number, but not half as much as he enjoyed watching Tina up onstage in lingerie. Watching her perform was always amazing and he felt sorry that everyone was missing out on her immense talent; he could watch her sing and dance every day. Though having been distracted by his scantily-clad girlfriend onstage had rendered him oblivious to anyone else in the auditorium at that time, so he hadn't been paying much attention to Coach Beiste's reaction, and the thought of her not enjoying the performance baffled him. Coach Sylvester and Washington, he understood, but not Beiste.
"No it's not that," Tina shook her head with a small chuckle. She wrapped her arms around Mike and hugged him tightly again; since he had been busy with the rest of the boys helping Puck study for his test she hadn't been able to spend time with him privately.
"Shhh, calm down," Mike said once he felt her tears soaking into the shoulder of his shirt, he brought her close and rubbed her back soothingly as he led them up to his room.
Tina sat down at the edge of his bed where Mike immediately joined her side, placing his hands over hers, rubbing her knuckles softly. He waited patiently for her to gather herself until she was ready to talk.
"Well, remember how I said we were doing that performance because they wanted us to learn about domestic violence after Santana made that inappropriate joke?" Tina prompted.
"Uh huh," Mike nodded encouragingly.
"Well, that bruise Coach Beiste got," Tina began before her lip quivered and she began tearing up again.
Mike pulled her close and stroked her hair, simply waiting for her to continue. It didn't take long before she spoke up again. "It was from her husband," she whispered into his neck. "The bruise," she clarified.
"What?" Mike said in disbelief, pulling back to look at Tina directly. When Tina nodded solemnly he asked, "A-are you sure?"
"Coach Beiste told us today in the choir room," she explained. "I just can't believe it, that it would ever happen to someone we know," she shook her head.
Mike could tell she was trying to hold back more tears but he was currently in a state of shock. He knew Cooter and had talked to him several times in the locker room; he just couldn't believe he would do something like that. White hot anger boiled up inside Mike. Through gritted teeth he said, "She has to get out of there! Is she going to press charges?"
"I asked her and she said yes," came Tina's soft reply.
"Good," Mike said bitterly, thinking no one, no matter how friendly and professional they seemed, deserved to get away with something like this. "What is she going to do?" he wondered solemnly.
"Luckily she said she's going to stay with her sister," Tina shrugged. "She – she said we maybe saved her life," Tina said as fresh tears began to roll down her cheeks.
Mike turned to Tina once he heard the sobs again and said, "Hey, it'll be okay. You did help her out and she'll be safe soon, thanks to you guys. She'll press charges against him and he'll get what's coming to him," he kissed her temple.
"I know it's just, I'm so - happy to be with you," Tina choked out, clutching at his shirt. "After seeing the entire glee club date each other and watching them fight, and hearing Coach Beiste's story…I'm just so - I got lucky," Tina looked up at him through watery eyes.
At this Mike cupped her face and kissed her tenderly. "I love you so much, you know that?" he told her. He kissed each of her tears away, licking his lips of salt before pulling her close and kissing into her hair once more. "But you shouldn't feel lucky to be with me," he shook his head, pulling back slightly to look at her once more. "I'm just a normal boy, madly in love with his girlfriend. I've just been showing you common decency, treating you the way any guy should treat a girl, it's nothing to celebrate," he explained, hoping she understood what he meant.
"I know, but with the way everyone else has been treated in their relationships…" she said cautiously, looking down at her lap. "I mean even Blaine thought Kurt was cheating on him last week!" she exclaimed, shaking her head; she was pretty close to both Blaine and Kurt, so the thought of even them having trouble had really shaken her up. "It's just made me realize how grateful I am for you," she smiled up at him softly.
Mike instantly returned the smile and said, "Babe, if anything I'm the lucky one here, you're amazing, and I'm grateful for you every single day," he cupped her face again and placed gentle kisses all over her face and her lips.
Mike felt Tina finally relax in his arms and leaned against him. "We sang Beiste another song," she sighed.
"Which one?" he asked, running his fingers down her arm softly.
"Shake It Out, by Florence and the Machine," Tina replied.
"Oh that's a good song," he nodded. "And you sound absolutely beautiful when you sing it," he hummed into her hair as she chuckled bashfully into his shoulder. "You do," he reassured her. "Did Coach Beiste like it?"
"I think so," Tina half shrugged against him. "She cried, so I think that's a good sign."
They both laughed softly together before letting a comfortable silence take over them. After a while Mike could tell something was still on Tina's mind.
"Hey," he nudged her slightly so she'd look up at him. He cupped her face gingerly and looked into her eyes, seeing nothing but vulnerability and hope in them and it made his heart swell. He loved that even after almost two years together Tina still made him feel this way and he loved how beautiful she looked when she cried. He will admit when they first started dating it freaked him out a little, but now he had come to admire how open and honest she was about her feelings; she wore her heart on her sleeve, and he'd never want to change that. "I would never do anything to hurt you, ever, I promise," he said seriously, kissing her between each word for emphasis. "You know that, right?" he asked, he needed to be sure she knew that.
"I do," Tina nodded, with a small chuckle, leaning up to kiss him tenderly.
"Good," he smiled against her lips.
"Besides, if you do I'd just shoot you anyway," she said playfully, before giggling as Mike pulled her down against the bed with him.