Important: Just quickly want to say last chapter it said they lost to Warblers at Sectionals but I'm changing it to they lost to them by one spot in nationals, I liked the way the show did the episodes since I made this story. So Kurt is with them just not at school atm and they came the same place they did in the show just Warblers were one spot higher.

Also I promise the next chapter will be up faster- been having life issues and this just got pushed back but I have a lot of ideas for this so stick with me! I promise it'll be good!

Big thank you to those who reviewed, your lovely people. Thank you very much 3 And I got stuck at the end, its not as long as last chapter but next chapter will be longer and things because I have ideas, just got stuck at the end! Hope you enjoy and please review!

Chapter Two: Getting To Know You

Alyssa's eyes flickered open, her head pounded like no tomorrow and every inch of her body hurt. She knew her father didn't hold back this time, she had blacked out in less than five minutes; that was a record and not even the good kind. It had taken her a moment to realise she wasn't in her bed, she wasn't anywhere she was familiar with.

"Thank goodness you are awake." The voice caused her to jerk upright in surprise, but the pain of the movement forced her back down with a groan. "Hey now, don't move."

She turned her head to look towards the door. "Mister Schuester?" the words came groaned out and her hand instantly went to grab her right side.

"Please be careful, you have a broken rib." He moved towards her slowly with a damp towel. "Alyssa I'm so sorry I let him take you into the house."

Alyssa groaned once again. "…So then you know…"

He grabbed the wooden chair and pulled it towards the bed he had placed Alyssa onto. "Alyssa," he took a seat and stared at her. "How long has this been happening?"

She turned to look up towards the ceiling, it was an off-white colour. It hurt every time she drew a breath "How long has what been happening…" she turned her head to look back towards William.

"Alyssa, I won't pressure you to talk about it but I broke down that door because of the things I heard coming from inside." He saw her turn away again but continued. "I have never seen so much blood in my life."

There was a silence that came over the room, she hadn't moved and he wasn't going to either. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable but he did want her to feel like she could trust him. "If I go back, now…" she turned back to look at him, her bright blue eyes connected with his and he felt his stomach summersault. "He will kill me… I don't have anywhere else to go…"

He found it hard to take his eyes off hers, even with the fresh bruises, the stiches on her forehead, busted lip, nose and dried blood, she was incredibly beautiful… He quickly shook that thought out of his head. "Then you will stay here, until you can find a place."

"Miser Schu-"

"I'm not going to change my mind."

"But Mister Schu-"

"I'm not letting you go back there. Not again."

She stared at him with shocked eyes. "… Alright…"

William smiled politely at her as he got to his feet; he placed the damp towel across her forehead. "The doctor said you need to rest. I need to go to school; I'll be back at the end of the day."

He gave her a small smile before turning to head out the door. "Mister Schuster…" She gave out a loud moan and grabbed at her side, arching her back.

He moved back to her side in an instant. "Is it your rib? Or your left arm?"

"My rib." Alyssa groaned struggling to breathe. "Wait…" She swallowed hard and slowly relaxed her back. "What's wrong with my arm?"

"It's fractured."

"Shit."

"Alyssa."

"Sorry Mister Schuster." She looked up at him; he seemed to have so much concern on his face that a small smile appeared on her lips. "I'm okay… I've had much worse."

He felt himself become instantly sick, how much worse could she have been through? He thought what she had just been through was really bad. "We'll talk about this when I get home." She opened her mouth to reply but quickly shut it, pulling her bottom lip back with her teeth; nodding in agreement. "Good, see you then."

William found himself wanting time to hurry up, not so he could go to glee club, but so he could check up on Alyssa. Seeing her the way he had … he wasn't prepared for it. Just thinking about the amount of blood that was on the floor and walls made him queasy. He had heard a lot of yelling and loud bangs, then when he had finally broken down the door he had found Alyssa's father kicking her repeatedly while she lay on the floor, forehead, nose, lip, mouth bleeding.

He felt guilty.

He should have never let her go with him after he saw the fear in her eyes. "William."

He glanced up towards his office door. "Emma."

She smiled at him as soon as he had said her name and entered the room. "Am I interrupting anything?" She questioned as she clasped her hands in front of herself. "You seem much focused on something."

"I…" He looked at her, he wasn't sure if he should tell her about Alyssa. It wasn't his place, but not only that, she was a student and she was staying at his place. "Just thinking about the kids, what songs to do." He answered with a sigh.

"I was wondering if you knew what happened to Alyssa. She was doing so well with coming to school and now she's cut again." Emma shook her head in a disappointed way. "If she has more then three more days off she has failed this year again."

"Wait, what?"

Emma reached up and gently pushed strands of flaming red hair back behind her ear, sighing. "She has taken too many days off school in the last few years. Principal Figgins can't pass her if she exceeds four days off this whole year."

"Oh." He looked down at the papers scattered across his desk blankly, the black words nothing but blur. "She's sick."

"Oh?"

His attention turned back onto her and he noticed the odd look she was giving him. "She sent me an email."

"Oh." She replied her hand moved up to once again fiddle with her hair as she stood in front of his wooden desk.

"How is it going?" He asked before softly adding. "You're OCD."

Emma stopped playing with her hair and clasped her hands back together. "Good." She answered plastering her smile back onto her face.

"That's good news, Emma." He smiled at her politely.

The bell sounded through the school corridors, Emma and William stared at each other for a moment until it stopped sounding. He pulled his papers together before standing and grabbing his bag. "I hope Alyssa will return to school soon, perhaps you could speak with her."

"Yeah, of course." He replied pulling the bag over his shoulder. "Bye Emma."

William placed the folder in his mouth while his free hand dug into his pants pocket for his keys, head rested against the door in exhaustion. The rest of the day dragged out then in glee club fights just broke out between them, mindless bickering and jealousy that he didn't want to deal with, not today. He still had to cook dinner, clean the house and do some washing; not to mention make sure Alyssa is content. He sighed while he pulled the keys out and placed them into the door, unlocking the door and pushing it open.
A wonderful smell filled his nose before anything else managed to come into focus. He stood in the doorway for a moment, confused. The house he had left in a mess was tiny and not only that but there was a smell that made his stomach rumble in anticipation.

"Oh." A voice spoke snapping his attention back to reality. "Welcome home Mister Schuster. You're early?"

He looked up at her, confusion still all over his face. "Alyssa? You're up?" He scanned over her, her once bloodied dress was clean, her arm was re-bandaged and her hair was up in a ponytail. "Did you clean?"

"I … I hope you don't mind." She said nervously. "I know I didn't get to finish…" She looked down at her dress and tugged at her jacket nervously with her good hand.

"N…no it's alright… More than alright. You didn't need to do this, Alyssa." He said placing down his brief case next to the floor lamp beside the door. "You're injured." He added tugging off his jacket.

"I'm okay. I didn't want to stay in bed and do nothing." She ran a hand across her ribs. "It hurts less when I don't think about it… it's… not my first broken rib after all…" She stared down at the carpeted floor. "I'm sorry if I wasn't supposed to do this. I've… I've never been over someone's house."

He looked at her in shock, she didn't move from her position, not even her eye site; she looked so young and vulnerable right now. "Never?"

She shook her head and he could tell just how embarrassed she had become, then in the smallest voice she said. "I've never had a friend."

He draped his jacket over the back of the lounge with a heavy sigh, not sure of what to say. The smell of the food made his stomach rumble once again, it smelt like heaven after living off cardboard meals and noodles.

"I'll sever dinner." Alyssa said softly, turning and heading for the kitchen.

He had to admit to himself that it felt nice coming home to this kind of thing; it almost reminded him of having his wife around. Although it didn't hurt as much now to think about what she did to him, he still didn't like to be reminded. He collapsed onto the lounge, undoing his top button on his shirt before moving down to his shoe laces.

Alyssa walked into the room with a plate in her working hand, she handed the plate to him. "Its satay chicken noodles, I hope you like it. " She stated before heading back to the kitchen for her own.

"It smells delicious." He called out to her. "You enjoy cooking?"

She entered the lounge room once again, her own plate in her hand. "Not really." She answered carefully taking a seat next to him, holding back the groan that tried to escape. "Its habit I guess. I used to love it… but I was forced to do it too much…"

She went silent and William turned his head to look at her staring down at her food, she was clearly a trouble young lady. "I appreciate it." That seemed to shock her, she jerked to look up at him with wide eyes. "Thank you, Alyssa."

A smile crossed her face, one he hadn't seen before, a true smile. Even in her bruised and battered state he found her incredibly beautiful for a teenage girl, but that thought quickly made all other thoughts disappear; he couldn't think she was beautiful, she was a student.

"… It's okay."

"Tell me a little about yourself."

"Like what?"

He thought for a moment as he twisted the noodles around his fork. "What are your hobbies?"

"Um… I love video games, baking and um, music."

"Music, really?"

"Yeah I guess. My mother used to force me to practise the piano when she was alive, I loved it but when she died my father hated hearing me play; called it wretched noise. I used to practise when he was at work…"

"Used too?"

She went silent once again and that forced him to stop eating and look at her, she was staring at nothing in particular and her eyes glazed a little. "I lost track of time playing once… My father came home from work… he was sick of telling me not to play." She breathed harshly and tightened her grasp on her plate. "So he broke each one of my fingers… too 'teach me a lesson'… I haven't touched one since." She swallowed seemingly the same time William had managed to. "I don't… I don't know why I told you that…"

"It's… okay… well not the situation but that you told me."

She moved up and tugged her hair free from its restriction; it fell down her shoulders and around her face. "What about you?" She asked softly. "Why did you give up your chance on the stage?"

"… How did you hear about that?"

She shrugged leaning back onto the white sofa, melting into it. "Heard, so why?"

He placed the empty plate onto the wooden coffee table which sat in front of the lounge. "I love my kids… I couldn't do that too them just before nationals."

"And what happens at the end of this year? When they move on?"

He stared at the empty plate that he had just placed down; he never really thought that far ahead. What would happen? His kids were going to grow up and move on soon enough, what then? "Well… If we win… hopefully more people will join the glee club." Alyssa knew he was still thinking about it by the look on his face; she fiddled with her necklace unconsciously. "What's that?" He asked.

"This? Oh… It's a 'key blade' from a game I used to play. It's Alice's… in wonderland…" She flushed and looked down at her dress. "Someone… that used to be very important to me gave it to me."

"What happened to them?" He knew he was prying but he wanted to find out as much as he could about her, she was lonely and awkward, anyone could tell that.

"Their dead to me now." She replied harshly. "That's all there is to that."

"Alright, you pick the next topic."

The two had stayed up talking for most of the night, about anything and everything; he found out she had the cutest laugh, even if it was rare. She found out quite a few things about him as well and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. He had never found it so easy to talk to someone before.

Suddenly he jerked away; it hurt because his body had become stiff in his awkward position. This lounge had become more uncomfortable then he remembered it, or maybe he was just getting too old to get a good night sleep on a lounge. He moved up to rub the back of his neck with a groan but it was cut short when he noticed a girl asleep just beside him.

She was curled up in the tiniest little ball, her fractured hand across her ribs while her other hand gripped tightly onto the necklace she had around her neck. He smiled and slowly got to his feet, running his hands over his back, stretching. He turned and carefully pulled her into his arms and carried her towards the guest bed.

Carrying her like this reminded him of when he dragged her out of the way of her fathers rage, she was semi conscious, whimpering for it to stop; blood stained his clothes as he pulled her into his arms and ran from the house.

He should have caught on sooner… the signs were there, he just refused to pay attention to them; oh how guilty he felt for letting her go into that house.

He gently placed her onto the bed, pulling the blankets up over her. "… Thank you… Mister… Schuster." she whispered softly as she cuddled up to the blankets. "For everything…"

He smiled at her before turning and heading for his room.

"Mister Schuster." Alyssa said softly, giving his arm a shake. He groaned and turned over, a frown formed on her face and she shook him harder. "Mister Schuster!"

"What? Yes?" He opened his eyes sluggishly and he could see a blurred Alyssa staring at him.

"I don't have any clothes." She said blankly.

"What time is it?" He groaned reaching for his alarm clock, hitting the bedside table in his sleepy state.

"Six." She answered with a huff. "I can't go to school in these clothes. The back of it is ripped."

He sat up with a yawn, bringing his hands up to rub his face. "No clothes, right?" She nodded in reply. "We need to go get some then…"

"I have some at…" She cleared her throat. "Home."

"No." He growled pulling his sheets off his body. "We'll go to the shops; otherwise we'll be late for school."

"I don't have any money." She stated but he was already up and heading out his door, she quickly got up and scrambled after him, but the quick movement hurt her rib and she toppled over herself and hit the floor with a yelp.

He ran back to her as fast as he could, bending down to help her. "Alyssa, you can't move like that." He said helping her into a seated position. "Are you okay?"

She leaned up against his chest; her breathing was deep and strained as she held her side in pain. "It hurts." She whimpered.

"I'll get your pain killer medication." He got up off the ground and ran back out the room.

Alyssa tried to regulate her breathing, she'd been through this before, and she just needed to stick it out; like she always did. Suddenly William was back behind her, letting her use him to rest against. He put an arm around her stomach while trying to pull off the small yellow lid on her pills bottle.

She griped onto his arm and leant back against him once again, William pulled off the lid and took out a pill; placing it in her hand. She swallowed it straight away holding back the noises of pain she wanted to let out.

Part of his brain was telling him he shouldn't be this close to her but he was too concerned about her to care. He wrapped his arms around her securely, "its okay, and the pain will pass in a minute…"

It felt weird for her to have someone help her through something, anything. But it felt nice as well and moments later the pain faded away. She relaxed into him and let go of his arm. "I'm sorry."

He kept his hold on her firm. "For what?"

She stayed silent for a moment, glancing around his room. His room was neat, tidy, white. There weren't any photos on the walls, hooks, but no photos. His bed stayed made on one side, she guessed that was the side his ex-wife slept on. "I… don't know…"

"Nothing to be sorry for." He replied.

"I can just go home to get my clo-"

"No." William interrupted angrily.

"Why…?"

"I'm not letting you back into that house. I made that mistake once I won't do it again."

She turned her head enough so she could look at him, she suddenly felt herself overcome with nervousness and she wasn't sure why. "… It wasn't your fault, Mister Schuster…what… what happened I mean…"

"I let you go into that house; I saw all the signs; the bruises, the withdrawal… I saw it all and I even got back in the car. I am so sorry, Alyssa. I won't ever make an error like that again."

"Well you're keeping me hostage here anyway." She joked lightly, giving him a small smile. He returned the smile slightly and that made her feel a little better. "I need to go back… Chocolate needs me. I also need my laptop."

"Chocolate?"

"My cat."

"Your cat…"

"Is that a problem?"

"… Not at all…"

"Mister Schuster?" She spoke softly and in response he turned to look down at her, his face inches from her; she felt her heart pound against her chest as she stared into his eyes. "I… I er… I need help up…" She flushed.

"Sure." He smiled.

He got to his feet before gently pulling Alyssa to her feet, she hissed in pain when she was in an upright position but gave him a forced smile when she saw his concern. "Perhaps we could… drop by on Saturday to get my things… He works weekends…" She rubbed the back on her neck; she hated talking about her house life.

William heisted weighing all the options in his head before sighing and running his hand through his hair. "Alright."

"Thank you." She said she limped towards the doorway. "So, shops right?"

"Yes, I'll be ready in just a minute."

Once William had showered and got dressed he helped Alyssa wrap her arm and checked over her wounds. She was healing faster then he thought she would, which was a good thing; but even more than that, she was slowly opening up to him.
William drove to the closest clothes store but gave her money and let her go choose what she wanted by herself, being seen with her outside of school by someone they knew this close to school would be bad.

He leaned his drivers' seat back, enough for him to become comfortable and shut his eyes. His mind was battling with itself, having her stay with him wasn't a good idea on any level but he couldn't let her go back to that house or on the street.
But if he was being honest with his self he enjoyed her company, even if it had only been a few days since he first really met her, he found her interesting, smart, funny and incredibly strong mentally.

Suddenly the passenger side door flew open and Alyssa sat back down in a huff. William opened his eyes and turned to look at her, she was in a thigh length checked skirt with a tight black singlet top; her hair was left out.

"Looks great." He said pulling his seat back up in the proper position.

Her annoyance disappeared and a smile crossed her glossy lips. "Thanks." She pulled the seatbelt across her before clipping it in. "You've been so kind to me." She looked down at her fingers which were placed on her lap. "I… I don't know what I would have done without your kindness."

She continued to look down at her fingers, unable to look back up at him. She knew he was just being kind to her because he felt guilty for allowing her father to beat her but she couldn't stop the butterflies in her stomach whenever he looked into her eyes.
She had a crush on her teacher.

"I'll have to drop you off a couple blocks from school." He spoke up, disrupting her thoughts. "We'll talk more about what we're going to do with your living arrangements after school; I'll pick you up from where I drop you off, after glee club."

"Sure." She said before clearing her throat.

"Are you going to be okay?" He asked, glancing at her quickly.

"Nothing really hurts." She answered turning her head to look out the window as William drove.

"…What are you going to say happened?"
"Fell down stairs." She said blankly and far too fast for his liking.

"Fell down stairs?" He repeated.

"It worked before." She sighed, she was agitated, he could tell.

The rest of the ride was silent, she didn't move from looking out the window regardless of how many times William glanced over to check her. He stopped a couple of blocks from the school and Alyssa quickly got out of the car, shutting the door behind her. He watched her make her way over to the footpath before he continued on his way to school.

This whole situation was complicated.