She could hear the screaming, the fighting, the harsh words and angry tones. She heard words like 'pervert' and 'sicko', 'wrong' and 'immoral'. She heard him shout back, yelling about 'love', and 'it doesn't matter!', all the things they had whispered to each other to make it all seem okay.

Then she heard silence, silence too quiet to be safe or comforting. The worst wasn't over, of that she was sure. If anything, she was sure it had just gotten worse, but still she sat in their shared bathroom where she had fled after Blaine said he would take it upon himself to talk to them, he would do his duty as older brother and face the music. "Stay put," he had told her firmly, "no matter what happens, or what you hear, or what gets said. Don't move." She had merely nodded before he disappeared, a look on his face she never wanted to see again.

Footsteps running up the stairs brought her back to the present, and she could hear their father shouting again, yelling at how Blaine had to get out, how it could never happen again, I don't have a son! echoing around the entire house. Rachel let out a few tears, wanting nothing more than to comfort Blaine, but as her fathers voice neared closer, she stayed where she was, keeping her promise to Blaine.

"I want you out of this house!" he yelled, and she could hear Blaine's scoff, hear as he stormed around his room.

"Like I wanted to stay around you anyways," Blaine retorted, his closet opening and closing nearby.

"You're never allowed to see her again," their father screamed, his voice angry and terse in a way Rachel had never heard before, in a terrifying way that made her want to cling onto Blaine tighter, don't take him away from me flashing through her mind.

"I think she can decide that for herself," Blaine shot back, and she could picture all too well what happened when she heard a loud crash, Blaine's resounding noise of shock and pain painting a visual she never wanted to envision.

The door slammed a moment later, and she could hear Blaine muttering under his breath, trying to clear her mind before she walked in on him. When she finally stood, hesitantly opening the door that separated their bathroom to his room, he didn't look at her, too busy shoving clothes and items in a suitcase he had from their last family vacation.

"Blaine?" she asked, her voice quiet as she watched him move across the room, her arms wrapping around herself with the sudden realization of what was going on.

"Not now Rachel," he snapped, facing her momentarily, enough to see his eye blackened, a bruise already forming there as her mouth fell open.

"Blaine-" she cried out, moving towards him, but he just dodged her as he passed her to go into the bathroom, grabbing his toothbrush and such before putting it in the bag. "Blaine, what are you doing?"

"I have to go Rachel, I can't-I can't stay here anymore."

"You can't leave," she whimpered, her hands reaching out to grab his arms and pull him towards her. He was a lot stronger than she, but he still let himself be lured towards her, his forehead resting against hers while she whimpered, trying to climb into his skin as she pulled him close. "You can't just leave me."

"I have to," he said quietly. "I-you heard dad, I know you did. I can't be here, not anymore."

"We'll explain it better, explain that we love each other, and we don't care about stigma and-"

"Rachel," he interrupted, shaking his head as he pulled away from her a bit. "Rachel they'll never understand."

Just because she understood what he was saying, didn't mean she liked it any, but as their parents started shouting at each other downstairs she had to accept it as the truth. He had to leave, had to abandon her in the worst time.

They were quiet for a few moments, his fingers stroking lightly at the skin on her back just underneath her shirt, her hands woven tightly around his neck as they soaked each other in. "I don't want you to go," she whined after a bit, moving her hands to his chest and clenching her fists tightly in his shirt as if it would keep him closer to her, as if it would stop him from disappearing.

"I have to," he reminded her, his eyes flickering towards her bedroom door momentarily where they could still hear their parents shouting, screaming at each other as if it was their fault their children were sick, not ready to accept what they had walked in on, what they had witnessed. "They'll…Rachel they'll separate us anyways, and at least this way, I can come back. In a few years, once the memory has been erased…" he winced, both knowing the memory would never be erased, and now the tears started falling from her eyes again as she relished these last few moments she knew she'd be guaranteed. His scent, his arms holding her tight against him, his voice. "I'll figure something out, and in three years' time when you're 18-we'll meet in New York. That was always your dream right?"

"I can't not see you for 3 years Blaine!" she cried out, louder than intended as he shushed her quickly, their parents voices quieting down from the kitchen below. "I can't go through that, not without you here."

"It's the only way," he assured her, squeezing her hand in his own. "And you're going, Rachel, listen to me carefully. You have to lie about this."

"I can't really-Blaine they walked in on us, it's not like I can be like 'I was just helping him with his homework' or something-"

"About the fact that it was consensual," he explained, and her face felt stricken with the realization of what he was asking her, the implications of what he was saying.

"No," she shook her head, adamant. "No, Blaine, I won't lie about that! I won't make them think that you're-"

"It's the only way Rachel," he repeated, his voice quieter as he tried to level out from her near hysterics. "Rachel, you have to tell them it was rape, or they're going to judge you and you can't leave, not yet-you have an entire future ahead of you, you're supposed to make it and I'll be okay, I promise-I'll hide at Mike's for a couple days before I can go, just please do this one last thing for me." She was too emotional to even respond at that point, the tears clouding her sight and making it hard to breathe, let alone talk. "I love you," he promised, leaning in to kiss her lips softly, gently, the goodbye so much stronger than it would have been with words as he grabbed his bag, slinging it over his shoulder, and headed out the door, leaving her alone to pick up the pieces.

"Happy birthday beautiful," Finn said as he came up to her locker, swooping down low for a quick kiss. Rachel beamed up at him, her hand opening to accept her present as he placed it in her hands. "We're still on for Breadstix tonight, right?"

"Of course," she said as she opened up the box, smiling at the earrings located inside. "They're perfect, thank you," she murmured, standing on her toes to kiss him gently.

"It's not every day your girlfriend turns 18," he grinned, and Rachel could only force her grin in response, the reminder of her age, that Blaine hadn't contacted her in nearly three years, it was almost enough to push her over the edge.

But she wasn't that fifteen year old girl anymore. She was stronger than the one who spent weeks crying in his bed while their parents erased any evidence of his existence, planned their move, forced Rachel into therapy when they found her crying on his bedroom floor that night he left, the word 'rape' never leaving her mouth, their parents just assuming.

And over time, Rachel got used to life in Ohio, used to referring to their parents as her parents, used to being the only child. She missed Blaine every day, the hole he left behind in her heart present but closing the more she threw herself into projects and friends.

But today it was loose, frayed, making her nervous. He had promised her, all that time ago, that he'd come back for her when they were 18. She didn't know if that meant on her birthday, or when she was to graduate, or how he could even find her-their parents had done a good job at keeping their secret hidden, resorting as far as changing their name from 'Anderson' to 'Berry', but she knew that now was the time a whole new wave of remorse and sadness would wave over her.

Every day that Blaine didn't appear, her heart was sure to break a little bit more.

She didn't necessarily need to get ready for Breadstix-it was where they spent most Friday nights, after all-but she felt that since tonight was her birthday she might as well. She had spent the better part of her afternoon shopping with Kurt before waving her parents off on their weekend getaway trip, their accommodation to Rachel's social life verging on alarming had it not been for the circumstances.

She was sure, had they not walked in on her and Blaine mid-coitus, they would not be as willing to leave their child home alone for the weekend of her eighteenth birthday.

When the doorbell rang, twenty minutes earlier than Finn had announced he was coming over, Rachel stood frozen at her bathroom mirror, glancing at the clock on her nightstand just to be sure. Finn was never early, if anything he ran late. And with Kurt off on a date with Sam-she couldn't let herself hope, but the seed had been implanted, and when she opened the door only to be faced with Quinn or Santana, she was sure it was only going to make things worse.

Still, she couldn't help but practically run to the door, flinging it open without bothering with the peep hole to make sure it wasn't a serial killer or a murderer, her mouth falling open faster than the door did at the sight of him.

"Blaine," was all she could whisper before his arms were around her waist, his mouth on hers. She didn't fight him off, would never dream of it-but it was only when he had pulled back enough to whisper 'happy birthday' against her mouth that her senses came back and her tone became sharper. "Blaine, what are you doing here?"

"I came back for you," he answered sheepishly, and she tried to take a moment to take him in-how he had grown, changed in the three years he had left her alone to clean up their mess. Alone, she remembered, how alone she had felt all this time, and all of a sudden she was pissed.

"No!" she screamed, and now she did push him away, so quickly her emotions could change when he was around, and he looked startled but backed away, a hand up in defense as she struck out at him. "No! You can't just-I had to restart my life Blaine Anderson! I had to become an entirely different person!"

"Rach, I know-"

"No, you don't know," she hissed, lashing out at him. "You don't know. We moved, and we erased you from our lives because you abandoned me, and we had to change our name, Blaine I'm not even Rachel Anderson anymore-I haven't been for two and a half fucking years!"

"Rachel," he tried again, but now she was storming past him, not even caring that the front door was wide open, that Finn was due any moment to pick her up as she let out a loud scream, so frustrated and upset and hurt.

She was hurt, more than anything.

He followed her, moving quickly as he tried to apologize, "Please, just talk to me," and "Rachel, I want to fix this," coming out of his mouth, but she shook her head, nearly slamming her bedroom door in his face only to have him stick his foot in the jam and push it open.

"Rachel Barbra Anderson, you talk to me right now!" he yelled, and she whirled around at him, so un-used to hearing her original name nowadays.

"I'm not Rachel Anderson anymore!" she screamed at him. "I'm Rachel Barbra Berry, Rachel Berry. Don't you see what happened when you left? I had to go through everything, everything on my own. I had to lie, I had to go through therapy until I was 'better', until I stopped sobbing every night with one of your sweatshirts in my hands. I had to rebuild my life in a whole new town, a whole new state! I have friends Blaine, I have a boyfriend who is supposed to come take me out for a birthday dinner!"

"Cancel," Blaine said nonchalantly, though she saw his flinch at the word 'boyfriend'. It had hurt him just a little bit, just as she had intended it to.

"You think you can just demand my attention because you deem it an acceptable time for us to be around each other again?" she scoffed, shaking her head. "That's not how it works."

"You tell me how it works then Rachel, because all I know is that I've spent the past three years wishing I could be here to make everything better for you while I changed my own life to keep you safer! I was the one who had to find a place to go, a home to live in and a way to survive completely on my own the past three years! And I was the one who managed to track you down, managed to find you-despite your changed last name-to surprise you on your 18th birthday. Who managed to get our parents to disappear for the weekend so he could actually see you," he raged, fists clenching. They had never yelled like this in the past, had never gotten so mad that they screamed in each other's faces. It was just more proof that so much had changed. "You tell me what to do."

"I don't know," she finally whispered, curling up into a ball on the floor and fighting off tears as Blaine let out a soft sigh, coming over and wrapping himself around her, caressing her hair out of her face. "I just don't know."

She remembered too late that Finn was on his way to take her out to dinner, and by the time she heard him climbing the stairs with a loud "Rachel?" she could barely disentangle herself from Blaine quickly enough. "What's going on?" Finn asked warily when he appeared in her doorway, Rachel now pulling Blaine off her floor and trying to compose herself.

"Um," Rachel began, not really sure how to introduce Blaine-she never mentioned his existence, never mentioned she had a brother in her past life.

"I'm Blaine," he finally said, offering a hand to a confused looking Finn after a moment. "I'm an old friend from Rachel's old school."

"Rachel never talks about her old school," Finn said, his eyes focused on where Rachel stood, helpless to the situation. She hated not being in control, hated not knowing what to do, hadn't felt like this in so long and now everything was crashing down around her once more. "I didn't know she kept in touch with anyone from there."

"She didn't," Blaine said, his gaze turning towards her now, "but I remembered that it was her birthday and wanted to surprise her."

"Is that true?" Finn asked, his tone a little more accusing than Rachel would have liked, but she merely nodded in response. "Oh, well…" Finn trailed off, looking hopelessly awkward.

"I know you two were supposed to have a date tonight, but do you mind if I steal her for the evening? I'm not sure-I'm only here for a day or two," Blaine said, and Rachel steeled herself against the wave of sadness that statement held for her.

"I mean, I'm her-" Finn tried, but Rachel shook her head.

"I'm sorry Finn, but I just haven't-Blaine and I have a lot to catch up on. You understand, don't you?" she asked, hoping beyond hope that Finn would understand, would go peacefully and she could have the time with Blaine that she had been longing for for so long. Finn looked awkwardly between the two once more before letting out a low sigh, nodding in agreement.

"Happy birthday anyways," Finn said, grabbing Rachel by the hand and kissing her far more passionately than he normally would have, Rachel squirming out of reach and just barely catching the annoyed look on Blaine's face before it flashed back to a calculated smile.

"I'll talk to you later," she said quietly, waving goodbye to him in a way that symbolized that he was done, gone, pushed to the side now. Whether Finn understood the full implications or not, she didn't know, but he left regardless, leaving Rachel and Blaine alone for the first time since she was 15.

They didn't talk for awhile, sitting silently and taking the other in. She had missed his curly hair, his eyes that held her attention for longer than she should ever admit until she'd allow her own to trail down to his lips, taking in the stubble covering his face-he clearly hadn't shaved, and it wasn't a look she thought she'd find attractive, but did.

Then again, Blaine was an enigma of things she shouldn't find attractive anyways.

"I missed you," he finally said, and she felt a smile tug on her lips regardless of the leftover resentment and pain.

"I missed you too," she admitted with a shrug, looking down at her hands to keep her eyes on anything that wasn't him. "I thought about you all the time."

"I thought about you every day," he told her, his voice earnest as his hand lunged out to touch her knee, the spark she always felt with him returning, the urge to jump on top of him and kiss him nearly causing her to act out. "Shit, Rachel, you don't even know how bad I felt for leaving you there, with them, having to deal with-"

"But you did," she said, her tone harsh at the reminder that she had been left all alone.

"I had to, and we both know it," he said quietly, brushing a piece of hair from her face as she leaned unconsciously into his touch. "I didn't want to-at least, not without you. But until I could be sure that I could take care of myself, I needed you safe. I needed to know that when I could come back to get you, you'd be okay."

"And now you're-what? Here to come get me? Don't you think maybe I gave up hope of ever hearing from you when years went by and I didn't get a text? A phone call? An email?"

"What was I supposed to say Rachel? I was trying to have you go through the mourning process so our parents would think you'd moved on. And if you actually moved on-" his face hardened, a lingering pain behind his eyes as he forced out the rest of the sentence, "it'd probably have been for the best. But if there's any chance, I'm not letting it pass this time Rachel. I'm not letting you go."

"What about mom and dad?" she asked quietly, and he looked just as scared and helpless as she felt for a moment, but he had learned early on in life to pave over it, to save face in front of her.

"We'll figure it out. It's up to you Rachel, if you still want me-I'm yours."