Welcome to My Nightmare
A Glee Horror Story
Introduction

The Victim:
Rachel Berry was baking. Literally baking, with a bowl full of doughy goodness made from eggs, butter, milk, flour and sugar. A bowl that would later become some sort of delicious dessert or pastry that would be devoured by Noah Puckerman later on that day.

Santana Lopez, Rachel's newest best friend, was propped up on the kitchen counter, her long, tanned legs crossed at the ankle with her black open toe ankle boots tossed by the back door to Rachel's house. Her glossy, jet black hair was draped around her shoulders in a loose, wild blow out as the girls relaxed, enjoying their last day of summer vacation before senior year would begin. Of course, the other three members of their little group were there as well, but the three boys were sitting in the living room and their yells and cheers could barely be heard over the action that was a part of the game they were watching on TV.

"You know, I have to use that counter for food that I make and feed you and the gang. It's kind of awful to have your ass there," Rachel teased Santana with a sigh as she placed her next tray into the oven with the removal of another one, setting it onto the cooling rack she had placed on the counter besides Santana. The tiny brunette had her light brown hair pulled onto the top of her head in a high, messy bun, with no make-up brightening her dark brown eyes. She lacked any mascara to lengthen her lashes and she was dressed in a simply pair of yoga shorts with a navy and white stripped waistband, folded down with PINK printed across her butt in gold with a navy racer back tank top paired with it.

Santana, of course, was fully dressed in a pair of dark denim cut-off short shorts with a white off the shoulder tee shirt revealing a sliver of her toned stomach.

"As much as I admire your swearing and all that, we both know that Puckerman's going to eat whatever the hell you bake for us to snack on, so I could care less about the sanitary logic behind me not sitting on the counter. It's not like it's going into my system. And if it were, well, it's already my own germs, so what's the harm?" The latino shrugged.

"You suck. You come over uninvited and sit on my counter while I'm trying to bake and just rudely ignore everything that I-"Rachel began, crossing her arms as she turned around to face Santana.

"I suck? Wow, those are strong words. Besides, you're always baking. I'll be lucky if I'm not pushed to the bottom of the pyramid with all the weight you've caused me to gain with all this shitty fat. Not that I'm complaining, of course, because it's all one hundred percent delicious and it keeps Puckerman from making us go to some greasy fast food place, but couldn't you bake something healthy without all the fat content?" Santana whined, crossing her own arms at Rachel with a fake pout on her face.

"Everything I made is healthy. I have to use special ingredients in order to make it vegan, and besides any of that, I also only eat gluten free and kosher." Rachel said, watching as Santana's mouth dropped open in amazement, clearly shocked that Rachel did, in fact, trick them all-especially the bad ass football player-into eating healthy food, and begging for more of it.

Rachel's fathers had, despite their weary feelings about the situation, gone on a cruise that summer to celebrate their wedding anniversary, leaving Rachel home alone for the entire summer. Her fathers would be returning in a few days, but during their absence, either Puck, Santana, Kurt Hummel, or Blaine Anderson had stayed with her to make sure she was alright. After the awful situation the diva had gone through where her obsessed stalker with the creepy crush on her, her jealous teacher and glee club director, and her ex-boyfriend who had done nothing but lie to her throughout their relationship had teamed up and tried to kill her, murdering a fair number of their fellow friends and glee club members.

Santana and Puck had vowed to never allow Rachel to be left alone for too long after that.

Of course, Rachel was constantly telling them that their obsession with her safety wasn't necessary. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, and her fathers had installed a new home security system. Rachel also took self defense classes. And the three men who had been out to hurt her and cause her so much pain and suffering had now been put behind bars-or, in Finn Hudson's case, they were dead. Santana had taken care of Rachel's asshole of an ex boyfriend, murdering him right when he'd been about to do the same to the girls.

Of course, that pained Puck to know, because he'd wanted to be the one to kill Finn and bring him to his knees for all that he'd done to Rachel. But, none of that mattered. In Rachel's eyes, she was safe and all of her fathers' and her friends' extra safe measures to make sure that she was safe from whatever harm could come her way were useless and a waste of time and energy.

Besides, it was nice to get some alone time and she rarely ever got that with her new built in body guards that had come with having the local bad ass as a best friend who was constantly on the look out for ways to make sure she was happy. Noah Puckerman would hurt anybody and kick anybody's ass if they made Rachel cry. Even if he didn't know who the actual culprit was. Santana Lopez was known for keeping razor blades in her hair-they were just all up in there and sometimes they fell out when she shook her hair out. Blaine Anderson was tough, and everybody knew of his strength. It was obvious just by looking at him. As for Kurt Hummel...well, he could insult a person to tears in a second.

Rachel didn't need friends who could defend her via words, weapons, or strength, but that was what she had. And she honestly wouldn't trade them for the world. Besides, it was quite nice to know that no matter what happened, she'd always have some kind of safety net.

She didn't realize she'd be needing them all eventually.

The Broken-Hearted:
"This sucks!" Noah Puckerman complained as he and Santana stood alone in the kitchen about an hour later. Rachel was up in her room getting ready so that they could actually leave the house to celebrate their final night of summer vacation while Blaine and Kurt were enjoying their lovely little coupledom that had started a few months prior in the privacy of Rachel's living room. Puck had no problem with either of them being gay, but he couldn't really stand being around the two of them making googly eyes at one another when he was the only other person around. And it was something that he felt uncomfortable with even when he was with a straight couple. It felt like he was intruding.

"What? How the bitch has been tricking us all into eating healthy shit and telling us they were cookies or brownies or cake and making them sound all delicious with those high tech, fancy names with words we couldn't understand? Because I'll admit, that totally sucks, but it's probably good for us, being athletes, with how much sugar we've consumed in the past few months," Santana shrugged, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear as she picked up a chocolate chip cookie and took a large bite, marveling in the gooey goodness of the cookie.

"I really couldn't care less about the calorie intake or the fat content in the cookies Rachel's been filling the house with since all that stuff happened. I'm talking about the fact that I'm single and haven't hooked up with a single girl since sophomore year and Rachel's single and we aren't together even though we're both into one another!" Puck sighed.

"Oh, that?" Santana shook her head. Puck glared at her and she raised a single, perfectly plucked eyebrow at the boy who was her ex-flame and current best guy friend. The two were like siblings.

Of course, they fought like it as much as they got along like it.

It drove Rachel crazy, but they both knew she loved and appreciated it.

"Well? What were you expecting? Her to just decide she wanted to be with you? Finn was her boyfriend and he tried to kill her. He helped two other people-one of who wanted to be with Rachel-try to kill her," Santana rolled her eyes.

"I can't believe this. I mean, you do realize what you're saying right now, right? I can't be with Rachel because of Finn Hudson. The kid's in a freaking grave right now six feet under and he's still causing troubles for me and my girl. The guy tried to kill her and he's still standing in the way of Rachel and I. I thought I was done with him causing problems for me," He sighed.

Puck started to pace, something he'd started to do a lot of as of late. He ran a hand through his mohawk, clenching a fistful of the short, dark brown curls and yanking at it slightly as he walked the length of her kitchen one way before turning and walking back. Then he repeated the process. He shook his head, running his hands across his round, somewhat-of-a-baby face with his hazel eyes shut tight. This entire thing was messed up, if anybody bothered to ask him what his opinion in the matter was, but clearly nobody cared what he thought.

If people actually gave two shits about him and his needs towards his relationship status and his feelings towards Rachel, the two of them would be together. Puckleberry would be back on, despite the lameness behind the name that he was sure would only act as a way to destroy any street credit he still had as a residential bad ass who could bring teacher's to their knees in fear of him. He and Rachel would be ruling the school if he had any say in how their relationship could move on from their current friendship stand sill. They would be that Jewish power couple with two gorgeous teenagers. The overly cliche-d relationship between the good girl and the bad boy.

And with his stupid mohawk-her words, not his, of course-and his leather jacket...with his motorcycle and his grades, on top of his reputation, he was nothing more than the classic bad boy. Nobody could argue that he, Noah Puckerman, was the baddest bad boy to ever walk the halls of McKinley. He was the original bad ass and he defined what it meant to be a bad ass at that school. Anybody after him would have to live up to him, and he over ruled anybody before him, making them all be forgotten for their lame, mediocre attempts. And Rachel, in her tiny little plaid skirts, knee high socks, plaid headbands, and sweaters that hid away her incredible figure, played the part of a perfect school girl.

She starred in more of his fantasies, acting exactly as herself, than any other girl in the school ever had. She never changed into a different person when he was fantasizing about his sexual encounters with her. She was just her, with her annoyingly large words and her tendency to never shut up. Sometimes she talked too much and normally he didn't understand a word she said, but she was hot. And when they were alone together and she remembered she was still a teenager, she was hilarious and they had fun together.

Sometimes he wondered, though, whether he had the real Rachel Berry when the two of them were alone together or if the real Rachel Berry was revealed only when the rest of the world could see her. He liked to believe that he got to see the real her in private, because she trusted him enough to let her walls come down, but he couldn't be too sure. It was too hard to understand Rachel and try to predict her character.

"He's not standing in your way. He's just ruined her views on relationships. I mean, that one ended in the worst way possible, Puck. She's a little afraid to start over with somebody else." Santana rolled her eyes.

"I don't get what you're trying to say. We were practically together be-"

"It doesn't matter! A part of her was holding onto him and he broke her trust."

Puck knew that no matter how long he remained best friends with Kurt and Blaine, who were as similar to a girl as possible, or as long as Santana and Rachel were his closest friends, he would never understand girls.

"And, besides any of that," Santana sighed, lowering her voice a little bit and tilting her head downwards, blocking her eyes from meeting his own. He knew from her posture that he wouldn't like what was about to come out next. "She's really not ready to be in a relationship with a guy like a reputation like yours. A rep for breaking hearts," She whispered.

"You know what, it doesn't matter. She doesn't want to be with me just yet, that's fine. She will be, eventually. I'll make her see reason. She and I belong together. But know this, Santana, no matter how afraid she is of getting into a committed relationship with another guy, well..."Puck sighed, looking up at her with a slight smirk, but also a broken hearted smile that showed he knew how she felt. "It's still not going to make your chances of being with her any better." He said, proving once again how well he could read her.

"Well, that doesn't matter. Neither of us really stands a chance of getting with her, if you think about it. You know her as well as I do. I think we both know quite well that all she wants right now is to get as far away from Lima as possible and find somebody new that she doesn't have any type of history with. A guy who doesn't know what she was like when high school began and doesn't know what happened to her last year. She wants to start out fresh with her next relationship, and that ruins my chances just as much as it ruins yours. We're just going to have to deal with that, because I know that you just want her to be happy, no matter how much you like her-no matter how much you love her," Santana whispered with a sad smile.

The Best Friend:
It was amazing how well Noah Puckerman could read Santana Lopez. The tall, leggy and curvy, glossy haired Latino girl was always amazed at how well her ex-hook up and her best friend in the entire world-with the exception of Rachel Berry-could understand her. He always knew what was going on with her, even when she hadn't decided that she was going to admit it to herself just yet.

Take her crush on Rachel for example. Nobody was supposed to know about that. It would cause Rachel to freak out, and never trust her best friend the same way again, because she'd always wonder what Santana was really thinking. Blaine and Kurt would probably either give her one of their interventions about liking a straight person when she was playing for the other team-and if they didn't do that, they'd decide that it was time to play matchmaker. She knew that Puck wouldn't judge, of course, or do anything stupid, but she also knew that Puck was in love with Rachel and she didn't want to cause any trouble between the two of them due to their feelings towards the same girl.

Of course, Puck had figured it out. Santana didn't know if she'd somehow made it obvious-to at least Puck-with her looks or her comments, or some other small action-Puck knew each and every one of her tells, after all, when it came to being interested-of if Puck just somehow knew.

He wasn't as stupid as people thought he was, after all. He really was excellent at figuring out what was happening with the human mind. He could understand any person, if he knew them well enough and could figure out their reasoning for acting a particular way. He knew the real reason Santana had always been a bitch. He knew why Rachel had always been trying to improve other people. He knew why Quinn had lied about the baby. And the thing was, he understood. He didn't get mad or try to change them. He just got it.

Santana sometimes envied that quality in him.

And then she remembered how much she hated people and really couldn't stand dealing with their petty problems.

It was times like that when she felt bad for Puck and his constant desire to try and help people when he knew they were going through a rough patch and needed somebody to talk to.

After all, he'd always been there when somebody had needed a friend, even if most of the school considered him the number one bully. Most of his victims were people who were bullies themselves, in some way or another. And when it had come to Rachel, he'd always been doing his absolute best to look out for her, because he loved her and all that.

But, still, sometimes with his background, it was very hard for him to play the nice guy all the time. So he did his best, and while he sometimes came out looking like a jerk, an asshole, a bad-ass, a bully...sometimes he failed and looked like a loser who was destined to be stuck in Lima forever...even when all of those terrible things happened to him and all of his plans backfired, he never gave up. Santana would always admire his patience. She would always admire the fact that he was really good at heart.

Of course, if he knew that she even thought those things in the safety of her own private thoughts, let alone actually sometimes voiced them aloud to Rachel when they had their rare, few, private sleepovers with just the two of them, he would never let her live it down. He would mock her relentlessly for being such a softy. He would quote her words and descriptions of him as he followed her around, and she would never be allowed to forget calling him sweet. Because he would need to appear mad about the entire thing for tainting his image. But, besides that, he would also want to show Santana in his own Puckerman way that he was grateful she really knew him. And that, with playful teasing, was the Puckerman way.

The Drama Queen:
"So, what happened to Rachel last year?" Blaine Anderson asked his boyfriend, Kurt Hummel as the two sat on the couch in the Berry's living room, waiting for Santana and Puck to finish whatever discussion they were having in the kitchen and Rachel to finally conclude getting ready for their day out somewhere other than her perfectly air conditioned house.

Blaine had been a part of the group for just about a year now, and he'd heard many hints, whispers, secrets, and bits and pieces of the story of what Rachel and the gang had gone through at the beginning of senior year. He'd seen the tiny pieces that had been released to the press on the news. But he wasn't even close to understanding the entire story and he would be a fool if he believed that he knew every last detail of what they'd gone through.

Kurt slowly turned his head towards his boyfriend, his eyes growing wide. If there was one unspoken rule of his friendship with the popular head cheerleader, and tough boy bad ass and the talented little diva that made up his best friends, it was that nobody ever spoke of what had happened at the beginning of their junior year. They didn't talk to their families, the press, the school-they didn't talk to anybody about it.

After all, their reactions were not exactly ideal. Santana normally got up and started to pace, muttering things that Kurt was sure were swear words under her breath. Puck clenched his fists as tightly as possible until his knuckles turned white and his teeth were clenched even tighter than his hands. Rachel lowered her head and stared at her folded hands resting in her lap sadly.

And then there was Kurt. He would immediately start to babble on about some topic that none of them cared about. He would start a long ramble about nothing of importance, trying to change the topic. None of the foursome enjoyed talking about the terrible, heartbreaking events that had occurred during their junior year, after all, and Kurt hated to see anything taint his new friendships.

Of course, it was clear that Puck's feelings towards Rachel were threatening to ruin their bonds.

And Kurt was getting a little suscpicous about the looks Santana had been giving Rachel.

"Don't worry about it." Kurt shook his head, finally answering Blaine's question.

"Come on, you know you can trust me." Blaine pleaded.

"It's over with, alright?" Kurt protested.

He really hated withholding information from Blaine, but it was really the only thing he could think of in order to hold onto the one thing that really mattered to him-his friendship with the group of people that nobody would have ever suspected him to be friends with. He didn't want to lose the protection from bullying and assaults that Puck's friendship offered him. He would hate to lose the fashion advice that he received-as well as the free items while shopping-due to his closeness to Santana. And if he ever lost Rachel, who's bond was not just strengthened by their secret of junior year, but by the fact that they'd been friends long before that, if he would die.

Sure, it was a dramatic response, but he needed a best friend who understood his dreams. He needed to make sure he always had at least one friend by his side who loved him and understood him. He and Rachel could talk about their shared goals and plan their futures together all day long. Puck couldn't do that, despite the fact that he would be accompanying them. He was only going with them out of his love for Rachel. It didn't mean much or say anything about his own goals in life. And Santana understood his desire to make something of his life and use his talents, but she didn't understand the wonder that was Broadway. Even Blaine wasn't the right person to discuss his future with.

"Rachel and I are friends. I'm sure she wouldn't mind you telling me what happened to her last year. I understand that it was hard on her and she doesn't enjoy to talk about it herself, but I don't think she would mind if you told me. Besides, it's not like Puck and I aren't friends. We go to the gym together once a week. And Santana and I are quite close as well," Blaine said, cutting into Kurt's confusing thoughts as he indignantly tried to get the story out of his boyfriend once again. After all, Kurt always loved to share stories with Blaine about what McKinley had been like before his arrival, especially the drama filled horror stories of bullying. "Perhaps if you just asked them if-"

"We don't talk about it, alright?" Kurt said, cutting him off quickly. He knew Blaine was probably thinking that something was wrong with the scrawnier boy, as he normally loved sharing gossip and secrets. Kurt was all about spreading rumors and trying to analyze whether or not the information was true or not. Yet, not at this moment. Not when it came to Rachel. That was pushing things a little bit too much. This particular Rachel Berry horror story hurt her too much when it was openly discussed and nobody wanted a repeat of what she had been like after the terrors of their junior year. That had been almost as hard on them as the actual incident itself.

Rachel had locked herself away in her bedroom, refusing to allow anybody inside with the exception of Santana. And when Santana was allowed in, all the girls did was eat ice cream for a few hours before Santana was pushed rudely out of the room with door slammed shut behind her. Rachel didn't leave her room for anything, and she was barely eating. She refused to answer phone calls, and there was no singing coming from her bedroom. There wasn't even any music. When she finally allowed herself to leave the room, she was quiet and wore sweats in dark colors-completely unlike Rachel Berry. When she allowed Kurt and Puck back into her room, they noticed all traces of Finn were gone.

"I just don't understand why you can't tell me. It's not like it could be that bad. We're talking about Rachel here!" Blaine sighed, but he knew that Kurt wasn't going to give in. His begging any further would only prove useless.

Kurt sighed in relief at Blaine's defeat, grateful for the few seconds to clear his head from the remaining thoughts of the previous year. He wanted to enjoy his last day of summer vacation with his friends.

Because, for the first time, Kurt had friends. And not just a few select friends who he sometimes hung out with and occassionaly sent texts to or called up on the phone. He had real friends now.

He had friendships that involved hour long, whispered phone calls and late night texting sprees. Spur of the moment shopping trips and last minute sleep overs were a part of the deal. And inside jokes as well.

He was part of one of those friendships that seemed like they were movie ready. They weren't actually real. They only existed in TV shows. Yet, he now had one and he wasn't planning on letting anything ruin that.

"Kurt," Rachel appeared in the living room in a pair of light denim shorts with a pale pink, off the shoulder crop top with a gold star printed on the chest. "I'm all ready to go," She said, running a hand through her long hair, pulled back with a pink headband. She was wearing pink flip-flops and neutral make-up. "Are you two ready? San and Noah are waiting," She explained, carefully and slowly reaching up to wrap a strand around her finger tip, twirling it slowly before releasing it. It was clear she was nervous that she might be interrupting a private couple moment between them.

"Yeah, we're all ready." Kurt blurted, jumping to his feet. Rachel raised a skeptical eyebrow, frowning at him slightly. Kurt knew as well as she did that he only blurted things out quickly and without thinking when he was lost in his thoughts. And he was only lost in his thoughts when he knew he had to be careful not to speak said thoughts aloud. "I'm fine, don't give me that look. Now, are you ready to go or not?" He said, adjusting his skinny leg jeans and his vest over his tee shirt. Rachel shrugged, shaking her head slightly.

Kurt knew that he wouldn't be able to fool her very long, and there was no way his bull shit was going to sneak by Puck. As masculine and guy-like as Puck might be, he always knew when something was bothering Kurt and he typically knew what the matter was. That was why he and Kurt were such best friends and had instantly bonded as the very best of friends. It didn't matter what their labels at school were or what their sexuality was. They shared a special bond that neither could explain.

And Santana would probably threaten him with all of the razor blades that she kept hidden in her hair. When she'd first threatened Karofsky with that stupidity, he'd laughed it off and rolled his eyes at Karofsky for believing it. But then he'd started to wonder exactly why she never allowed Kurt or Rachel to do her hair before brushing it out herself first. And then he noticed how there was typically a soft clank against the floor when she did wear her hair down and shook out her mane of glossy locks. And one day he saw the glass hit the ground.

After that day, he'd decided that he was just a little bit afraid of Santana and what her wrath could have in store for him if he ever got on her bad side. He knew how she was about being lied to and he understood that she hated to be kept out of the loop. So he'd made a mental promise to himself after it had been proven that he had every reason in the world to be petrified of her that he would never do that to her. He would always be honest and truthful, and he would always tell her what she wanted to know. Santana was too scary for lies.