A/N: So, I've decided to put all the prizes in one story, so you guys can add it to story alert and you'll be able to tell when more prizes are released. This one is for gleek06216, who requested a one-shot where Mike discovers that Rachel is in a harmful relationship/environment and he takes it upon himself to save her from it, and from herself.
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.
The thing is... he has a girlfriend. He's happy with Tina – he really is – and it's not like he's looking for an escape clause or seeing if there are any other options out there. That's just not how he operates.
He likes being in a relationship.
Tina may only be his second girlfriend (and he's not sure if Brittany really counts as the first considering she was cheating on him with Santana) but he knows that he's not supposed to notice other girls. He can wave at them, or chat with them when Tina (or a third party) is around but anything more than that is forbidden, and he really doesn't mind that.
Or he didn't mind that, until Rachel walks into Glee one day wearing jeans. If that isn't a sign that the world has been turned upside down, he doesn't know what is. The really crazy thing is that no one else seems to notice. Finn's got his arm around Quinn and Puck's trying to hit on Lauren and no one else ever really pays attention to Rachel.
He's not ashamed to admit that he stares, and it wasn't in a leering sort of way like Tina believes. He was merely curious about why Rachel Berry was wearing jeans instead of one of those small skirts and knee socks that Puck is always commenting on.
When Tina elbows him and gives him the cold shoulder for the rest of Glee practice, he promises himself that he'll never look at Rachel Berry again.
Now that he's not allowed to look, he finds himself drawn more and more often to the little diva. Sure, he's looked at her before (who hasn't?) because her legs go on for miles and she can sing and dance really well and she looked amazing in those little red shorts she wore for their funk number, but now it's like a hobby.
He can't stop looking at Rachel.
It's not always in that wow, she's gorgeous way. Sometimes he wonders why her make-up looks extra heavy that day or why she winces a little bit when they're doing choreography. Sometimes he finds himself asking Finn or Puck if anything is going on with her, and he always finds himself frowning when neither of them have any insight, despite the fact that Finn supposedly loves her, and Puck calls himself her best friend.
She's a mystery and that's what makes her so enthralling.
(It's odd because Rachel had never been a mystery before).
It's a Thursday and Tina's sick but he still goes to Glee rehearsal instead of skipping and bringing her soup. Mr. Schue decides that they should take a ten minute break and Rachel leaves as soon as the words have left his mouth.
Without thinking, he makes his way over to Rachel's bag, and unzips the front pocket. He doesn't know what he's looking for but when he sees her phone, he can't help but pull it out and flip it open. Within seconds, he's scrolling through her inbox and frowning when he sees that over eighty percent of her messages are from a guy that he's never heard of.
Luke.
Rachel walks back into the room before he gets a chance to read any of the messages and her eyes narrow when she sees what he's holding. Instead of making a big show like the old Rachel Berry would have, she walks over to him, snatches the phone out of his hand and shoves it into her pocket.
"Whose Luke?" he asks, his voice low, understanding that Rachel wants to keep it quiet for some reason.
"He's my boyfriend", she replies, her eyes trained on the floor (he must be imagining the tears in her eyes because Rachel never, ever cries real tears, especially not over boys, and especially not in front of people).
"No, seriously, who's this Luke guy?"
"He's my boyfriend. I met him at the dance studio one day when he came to pick up his little sister and the rest is history", she responds, her voice monotone.
"How come none of us knew you had a boyfriend? You always broadcast everything!" he exclaims.
"I didn't feel like making a big show of it. He's in college and doesn't want to meet any of my high school friends anyway, so I didn't see the point of talking about it... and why do you suddenly seem like the Rachel Berry expert?" she asks, her tone doubting his credibility.
He mumbles something that sounds suspiciously like 'I care' before clearing his throat and looking away. "How long have you been going out with this Luke guy?"
"Two and a half months"
Two and a half months ago, Rachel walked into Glee wearing jeans. That can't be a coincidence.
Over the next two weeks, he watches Rachel more and more. He just knows that something is wrong but he has no idea what it is. He's always been a master observer but his skills are failing him this time and it's driving him insane.
He cancels dates with Tina to stalk Rachel and her new boyfriend, and spends the weekends hanging around with Puck, drilling him for information, or loitering around Rachel's dance studio.
Puck doesn't even know that Rachel has a new boyfriend, and no matter how much time he spends at the dance studio, he never sees Rachel. All that happens is Tina gets more and more annoyed, until she eventually explodes outside Glee practice.
"Michael Chang, I have no idea what you're playing at but you better stop it right now", she screeches, "I'm your girlfriend, not Rachel, so you better start remembering that or we're finished"
It probably wasn't the best time to ask if she had Rachel's mobile number because he was getting really worried.
"Ask her yourself because we're finished Mike", she growls before storming into the choir room and ignoring him for the entire hour and a half. He probably should be more upset but he can't see anything but the bluey-purple mark on Rachel's side, just visible in the gap between her jumper and jeans.
He can't believe it took him so long to put the pieces together.
"Rachel, we need to talk", he whispers after glee is over, ignoring the glare Tina sends his way on her way out.
"No, we don't. If you want to win Tina back, you have to stop talking to me, Mike", she says softly. "I don't need another person hating me", she adds under her breath.
"I don't care about that right now. I need to get to the bottom of this", he informs her before pulling her jumper up to reveal the mass of bruises on her stomach. "How long has this been going on, Rach?"
"These are just dance injuries Michael. Dancing can be very tough on the body"
"Rachel, I'm here to help. You just have to let me", he pleads, his eyes still focused on the bruises.
"While very flattering, I don't need help. Whatever conclusions you have jumped to are wrong, as these are just dancing injuries", she repeats, her eyes focused on the wall over his shoulder. "Now, I must be heading off"
"I'll walk you to the car park", he offers, grabbing her bag and ignoring her protests. His heart sinks when she snatches the bag off of him as soon as they are out of the school and he's forced to watch her walk over to the truck containing a man who he's certain is her abusive college boyfriend.
Sighing, he makes his way back inside to grab his own bag. His back turned, he doesn't see Rachel's face fall as her boyfriend starts yelling at her as he tears out of the car park.
Even though Rachel doesn't want help, he's determined to give it to her. His mum used to work at a hospital and she told him that many women aren't strong enough to get themselves out of an abusive relationship and that they often need someone to save them.
He wants to be that person.
He doesn't care that everyone in Glee must think that he's a stalker, and he can't bring himself to care that Tina isn't speaking to him and has officially declared him another one of her ex-boyfriends, because whenever he closes his eyes, all he can see is Rachel's bruised stomach, and her sad, sad eyes.
He tries researching ways to help people in an abusive relationship but he can't find anything that will help him with Rachel. He tries talking to Puck, dropping hint after hint, in the hopes that Puck will connect the pieces and realize some jerk is hurting his best friend. He tries setting up situations so that the other Glee club members will walk in on Rachel stretching or groaning, and see her bruises.
He fails again and again. Puck remains oblivious and the Glee clubbers stop reading his text messages ordering them to go to the choir room immediately after nothing interesting happens the first five times.
Rachel's avoiding him on top of everything else and it's driving him insane because he needs to know that she's okay. He needs to know that Luke hasn't snapped and introduced her to a whole world of pain.
He needs to know that she's still breathing, and he can't do that if he never sees her at school. He just needs to know that she's alive.
She misses a Glee rehearsal. Rachel Berry never misses Glee, no matter what happens in her personal life. That's just another sign that something is wrong.
"Tina, I know you hate me know but we were together for a long time and I need you to believe what I say next... Rachel is in trouble. Big, big trouble and she needs our help. I wasn't staring at her because I wanted to see what else was out there, and I wasn't obsessed with her because I thought she would be the perfect girlfriend. She's in trouble, T, and we have to help her", he whispers frantically in his ex-girlfriends ear when Rachel doesn't show up to Glee rehearsal one afternoon.
"Mike, please. Just stop this. Rachel isn't in trouble. She's not at practice because she has a doctor's appointment. She e-mailed Mr. Schue and told him so that he wouldn't be surprised when she didn't show up today", Tina says softly, her eyes looking at him with pity. "Why don't you just ask her out? It's obvious you like her... everyone knows"
"She has a boyfriend"
"No way... if Rachel had a boyfriend, we'd all know about it. She would show him off like he was god's gift to the world and she wouldn't stop singing all these loved up songs", Tina reminds him.
"Now do you see that something's wrong?"
"Maybe Rachel's just grown up", Tina replies, but he can tell that she's thinking about it now, remembering all the changes Rachel's made recently.
She doesn't know it yet but he's finally recruited someone else to the 'Save Rachel Berry' cause.
She's at the next rehearsal, but her make-up is heavy and her eyes just scream that she's exhausted. No one even mentions the fact that she wasn't there for the last session, let alone ask her how her doctor's appointment went.
"How did your appointment go?" he whispers in her ear as she sits down next to him.
"What appointment?" she whispers back, her eyes startled.
"You weren't at Glee on Tuesday... Tina said you were going to visit the doctor. How did it go?"
"Oh... It went okay", she responds, but he can tell that she's hiding something. Her eyes keep avoiding his and he swears he can see a tear burn its way down her cheek.
They're practicing a dance routine in the auditorium, and she misses a step and trips over own feet, wincing as she hits the stage. The rest of them grind to a halt, unsure about what to do next. Rachel never misses a step, and she definitely doesn't fall over.
He rushes to her side and Tina follows him, only a pace behind.
"Rach, you okay?" he whispers softly, his hands gently touching her wrists and ankles to make sure that there aren't any breaks. She doesn't get a chance to respond before a furious looking Quinn and a half-concerned, half-angry Santana start yelling.
"Mr. Schue, this is just getting ridiculous. We already have Finn as a lead despite the fact that he can't dance, we can't have Rachel on lead if she can't freaking dance anymore", Santana growls, her eyes narrowing at the thought of them losing at competitions yet again.
"Yeah Mr. Schue... to win this competition, we need decent choreography and what we have now isn't going to cut it", Quinn joins in, her tone leaving no room for argument.
"Guys, we'll talk about this later", Mr. Schue says warningly, "right now we have to see if Rachel is okay"
She clearly isn't. She's fighting back tears from her spot on the floor, trying desperately not to cry as she's surrounded by all of the glee club, minus Santana, Quinn and Mr. Schue. "What happened Rachel?" Mr. Schue calls as he makes his way onto the stage.
"I'm just tired. Dance rehearsals last night were really tiring and I guess I wasn't paying enough attention and missed a step"
"That's not true Rachel, so stop lying. You haven't been to the dance studio in months", he explodes from his spot next to her, ignoring her pleading looks and Tina's warning glare. "I'm tired of hiding this from everyone and going insane with worry because you won't answer my calls or text messages. I'm tired of being terrified that one day you won't make it to school because you're lying alone somewhere, unable to call for help".
"Michael, please", Rachel whispers, as Tina hisses out a warning for him to stop talking.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Puck growls from his place next to Rachel's head. "You're making no freaking sense Chang"
Without saying anything, he slowly pulls Rachel's shirt up as Tina leans forward to wipe at some of Rachel's make-up, revealing bruises around her eyes and cheeks. "Do you want to explain Rachel, or should I?" he asks, his voice cold.
She doesn't say anything, and neither does the rest of the group who are staring at Rachel's stomach in horrified silence.
"Rachel has this college boyfriend Luke who seems to enjoy taking his frustrations out on her", he explains, before looking around at the rest of the group to take in their reactions.
Brittany's crying in Santana's arms, and Santana looks like she's ready to murder someone, while Artie just looks shocked over what's happening, and curious over why Brittany is in Santana's arms instead of his. Quinn's eyes are wet and her hands are clenched into fists, while Finn looks confused, like he doesn't understand how this could possibly be happening. Puck's crying, large, fat tears rolling down his cheeks while Lauren pats him awkwardly on the back in an attempt to comfort him. The rest of the club are either crying or looking speechless, like they can't believe this is happening to Rachel.
"I don't need your pity... none of you were ever there for me before and I definitely don't you need you now. You don't deserve to feel bad now because this has been going on for a long time, and none of you ever gave a damn before now", she screams, her eyes wide as she shakily gets to her feet and yanks down her shirt.
Brittany tries to reach out for her, but she yanks her hand away and storms out of the auditorium. Santana doesn't even attempt to berate her for being mean to Brittany, which shows just how serious the situation is.
Where do they go from here?
He texts her multiple times, asking relentlessly if she's okay, or if she needs him to come and pick her up. He tells her that Puck and Santana are planning on tracking down this Luke guy and beating him into the ground so he knows what it feels like, but even that doesn't get a response.
She misses the next four glee rehearsals and none of them have seen her in over two weeks, ever since that day in the auditorium.
Santana reports that she wasn't in any of their joint classes, and Quinn, Artie, Tina and Kurt all confirm that she wasn't present in any of their joint classes either. Ms. Pillsbury comes into all the Glee rehearsals and sits in the corner watching them. They have no idea what she's looking for and none of them dare to ask.
Mr. Schue stops the insane amount of rehearsals they were having for Nationals and he shakily explains that all these rehearsals were Rachel's ideas and that it makes no sense to rehearse the set-list without the female lead. They all read between the lines and realize that it doesn't feel right to practice without Rachel.
The next time Rachel misses practice, Mr. Schue announces that they have to pick a new set-list and new people to sing the leads because they can't waste anymore time. "It's what Rachel would want", he says softly, and that's when the madness erupts.
"Stop talking about her like she's dead", Brittany screeches. "She's not dead", she adds, her eyes wild. Instead of calming her down, Santana joins in, yelling in Spanish and gesturing fiercely. Quinn, of all people, stands up next. "We may have been too stupid to notice but now we know what's happening, there's no way in hell we're taking something else away from Rachel"
"But... national's guys! We've been training for this for months" Mr Schue reminds them.
"No... Rachel's been training for this. We've shown up for half the rehearsals but she's been here for every single one. God, I know for a fact that she showed up to summer training sessions that you weren't even there for Mr. Schue", Puck adds. "I don't know about you guys but I'm not going to New York without Rachel. New York is Rachel's dream and there's no way I'm going without her"
There are nods of agreement around the room, and the rest of Glee practice is silent as everyone thinks about their missing captain and just how much they had neglected her over the years.
(As he goes to walk out of rehearsals, Mr. Schue pulls him to the side and practically begs him to get Rachel back. He doesn't know when he became the one who was accountable for Rachel but he doesn't care).
He goes to Rachel's house straight after school that day because he can't live with the unknown anymore. A tall guy with black hair opens the door and glares at him.
"What do you want?" he growls, his voice menacing.
"I'm looking for Rachel Berry... we're in Glee club together", he answers, his voice polite. He doesn't want to give this guy any reason to hurt him. "You must be Luke"
"How do you know who I am?"
"Rachel talks about you all the time. She's always rambling about how much of an amazing boyfriend you are and how you make her feel so loved", he says sarcastically.
"Whatever Rachel told you is a lie", Luke states, his tone cocky and confident.
"She didn't tell me anything. I discovered it by myself, and now I'm here to get Rachel and take her the hell away from you"
"How about we let Rachel decide?" he offers, his eyes narrowing as he calls for his girlfriend who obediently comes jogging to the door.
"Michael!", she says breathlessly, her eyes shocked. "What are you doing here?"
"He thinks that he's rescuing you Rachel. Why don't you tell him that you don't need rescuing? After all, you're happy... right?" he says threateningly.
"I don't know what you think you know Michael, but I assure you that you are wrong. I do not need rescuing, especially not from Luke. We're extremely happy together, I can promise you that" Rachel says softly, her eyes begging him to understand.
"See? She's fine, and I don't appreciate you barging in and interrupting our alone time, so I suggest you get out of here now before I lose my patience", Luke hisses as he takes a step outside.
"Well Rachel, you know my number if you want to call me. I'll always be there if you need me" he says softly before turning and walking away.
(He breaks down completely as he climbs into his car, knowing that he's just made everything a million times worse for Rachel).
He doesn't sleep that night, instead choosing to lie on the couch and watch TV. His parents aren't home and Rachel hasn't answered any of his texts, and he's never hated himself more.
There's a soft knock on his door at around 1am and he knows its Rachel. No one has ever been to his house before unless it was for a video game marathon, and no one has ever had the need to knock on his door at 1am.
What he's not expecting is the state that Rachel's in.
He opens the door and she practically falls into his arms. She doesn't have any make-up on and some of her clothes are torn, and the bruises are obvious. Her lip is bleeding and her hair is wild and there are new bruises erupting all over her face.
"Rach... what the hell happened?"
"He went crazy after you left. He accused me of sleeping with you and wouldn't listen when I said we were merely friends. I tried to defend myself but that just made it worse and when I told him that I couldn't be with him anymore, he pushed me into the glass coffee table and told me that he didn't care that we were done because I was just a slut and the only reason he was with me in the first place was because he felt sorry for me. He stormed out and left me on the floor and you were the only person I could think of turning too", she whispers, tears rolling down her cheeks and sobs threatening to choke her.
"Shhh... it's going to be okay, Rach. I'm going to call Puck because his mum is a nurse and she can come over and get all of this glass out of you. I know you won't want to go to the hospital so this is the only option", he says quietly, his hands gently stroking away the tears.
She just nods, and rests her head on his shoulder, her body shaking.
"I'm sorry that I made it worse Rach. I just needed to help you. I didn't think that it would get worse... I just thought that you'd come with me and that you'd be safe"
"Don't be sorry", she whispers, "you trying to save me is what finally gave me the courage to leave"
Of course, Puck isn't the only one who shows up. He arrives with his mum, who quickly sets to work cleaning up Rachel, and Santana, Quinn, Brittany, Kurt, Finn and Tina all trail in behind him.
"Yeah, I called them Rach. They were going crazy worrying about you and they ordered me to call them if I ever heard any news about you, so when Mike called, I had to call them, or they would have..."
"Cut your balls off the next time we saw you", Santana finishes sweetly, her voice dripping with faux innocence.
They sit quietly while Rachel gets cleaned up, Puck holding one of her hands while he holds the other.
"Thanks Chang", Puck says softly when Rachel finally drifts off to sleep the moment Mrs. Puckerman has finished pulling glass out of her body. "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't noticed, so thanks. She's my best friend, you know, and even though I was so caught up in other things, it doesn't mean I care about her any less"
They all leave at about 4am and he's left with a sleeping Rachel. Watching her chest rise and fall steadily as she sleeps finally allows him to get some rest.
She's up early the next morning, bustling around the kitchen making breakfast. Her hair is still a mess, her bruises are on show and there's still blood on her clothes from the millions of little cuts she received courtesy of the glass coffee table.
"Rach... you have to tell me how this started", he says softly as he sits down on a stool in the kitchen, watching as she prepares coffee and croissants.
"Well, I met Luke at the dance studio when he was picking up his sister. He asked me for my number and I gave it to him because I felt like I was finally ready to move on from Finn. He courted me, texting me good morning and good night every day until he asked me to be his girlfriend. I said yes, and that's when everything changed"
He doesn't say anything, instead sipping at the coffee she places in front of him and picking at the croissant, no longer hungry.
"He didn't like it when I wore skirts because he didn't like other guys staring at my legs, so I started wearing jeans. He found out that I hadn't thrown away my skirts like he'd asked and he hit me. He apologised afterwards and I forgave him, and we threw away the skirts together but it got worse. He saw me talking to Puck when he came to pick me up from Temple and you in the school car park, and he saw how I danced with other guys at dance class, and he hit me for all of those things. He banned me from talking to other guys and forced me to quit dancing because he didn't like the way those other guys looked at me, and it just kept spiralling out from there"
"Rachel, this isn't you. You aren't that girl who lets a boy take pieces of her, and you definitely aren't the girl that lets a boy hit you and get away with it"
"He said he loved me", she sobs. "He said that I was his whole world and that he didn't know what he would do without me in his life. All I wanted was for someone to love me, and he said that he did"
"Rach, he isn't the only one who loves you. All of Glee loves you. They've been going crazy because you haven't shown up to rehearsals... they even refused to create a new set-list, and they refused to go to Nationals without you"
"They did?"
"They did", he reassures her. "Now, how about you go and get showered and we'll spend the rest of the weekend watching crappy romantic comedies?"
"It sounds perfect", she whispers back, a small smile stretching across her face.
She comes back to school on a Tuesday after the majority of her bruises and cuts have healed over. It's a week after Nationals, and they placed twelfth after she reassured them that they should go to Nationals without her because they'd all worked so hard for it.
When she walks into the choir room, the entire room falls silent.
The newly single Puck (who decided that chasing after Lauren was causing him to miss way too many things) is the first to embrace her in a hug, his arms circling her waist and squeezing with all his might.
Brittany's next, running to the brunette and gently wrapping her arms around her, and Santana prises her away to have her turn, which is cut short as Quinn claims the brunette as her own. Artie pulls her onto his lap and places a kiss on her cheek before Mercedes and Kurt pull her up into a three-way hug. Tina pats her gently on the back and whispers that she's a really good listener. Finn stands awkwardly, and tells Rachel that he's glad she's back, and Mr. Schue beams a bright, brilliant smile as his star walks back into the room.
She takes the seat next to Mike, reaching for his hand instinctively. "You okay, Rach?"
"It's a little overwhelming but I'm fine. I have counselling appointments set up with Ms. Pillsbury and my dad's are furious with me for not telling them, and furious with themselves for not noticing, but I'll be okay. Eventually... I'll be okay"
"I'm glad", he whispers as he squeezes her hand, "I was really, really worried"
"Thank you Mike"
"What for?"
She just smiles a secretive little smile and squeezes back. "Just thank you"