This chapters actually pretty long. There's gonna be a lot of looking into characters minds at Rachel's situation. Why I chose to look into Santana's mind first? Not sure, but I guess the fact her dad's a doctor might have had something to do with it. I'm gonna clarify something here. Like I said before there is going to be Finchel in this, but I will have a lot of Puckleberry friendship, because although I don't romantically ship them, I do kind of think if events had happened differently they could have ended up a good pair, so I like them being good friends. Also a lot of Kurt and Rachel friendship, and maybe Blaine and Rachel too. Y'know I think I might just take suggestions as to who you guys would like to see have close relationships with her if you want. Whatever works.

Disclaimer: Glee ain't mine :/

Song: After The Fall- Journey

Santana had had her sneaking suspicions as soon as she'd seen the hobbit walk into school that day, flanked by her father. After all Santana's father was a doctor. She'd heard from her father about an accident, causing a girl around her age to lose both her eyes, and that they'd had to replace both of them with prosthetics. Santana would have never imagined it would have been Yentl, though. She thought maybe it was some random chick in the school she didn't know. Well, she actually more like hoped it would be that. But as soon as she saw the girl in the hallway, with her father obviously guiding her through the crowds of people while trying to look like he was just following her with a grip on her shoulder? It couldn't be anyone else. She noticed in the few classes she had with her, she didn't take notes or even really look at the teacher. Yes, she'd stare in the general direction of the teacher, but her eyes would never be actually on the teacher themself. Berry always took notes, Santana recalled dully, so this was another anomaly. Another clue was the fact all the staff members were treating her so nicely. On a normal day most of the staff hated her just as much as the student body. But what she got instead today were sympathetic looks and offers of help. Santana hadn't meant to be so observant, really. She was just kind of… intrigued? No that wasn't the word. Well whatever, the fact that Berry could be blind got Santana all curious. She hadn't asked her dad how it had happened, she never did with that kind of thing, cuz he got all morbid and shit and it made her want to vomit. But the last piece of evidence that convinced her it was true was when her father had gone to the bathroom momentarily; the hobbit was left alone for just 2 minutes. And so of course the hockey team took advantage of this and slushied her. And she didn't flinch when she should have seen it coming. She just stood, and when it hit her she jumped a lot more than she should have. And when she went to wipe it off her face, she wiped it off her eyes like it was nothing. Of course nobody else noticed, nobody ever noticed Berry. By the time her dad got out of the bathroom and saw her stained clothes Santana had been long gone. She wasn't sure what was going on in her head. She almost felt…. sorry? Yeah okay, sorry. She almost maybe a little felt sorry for the munchkin. I mean nobody deserved to go blind, and whatever had caused it hadn't been very pleasant from what she'd heard. But to go so far as to feel sorry for the midget was almost uncalled for. So of course she didn't say anything as the other glee club members who had somewhat befriended the dwarf continued to stew and boil over the fact the girl hadn't said a word to any of them all summer. Santana could have pointed out that, she couldn't. Hell she couldn't text anymore period, or use a computer or watch TV. And Santana figured it'd take her some time to figure out how to do things like answer a phone now. She could have said, the girl was busy trying to adapt to living life with no sense of sight. But why would she do that? She hated Berry. She did, finally speak up, when the club erupted after Puck asked the question she already knew the answer to. But it wasn't to defend the girl. She just was curious about something else.

"How'd you figure it out?" was all she asked. And the glee club fell silent as soon as the words left her mouth and she cursed herself for her damn curiosity. Puck frowned.

"Well uh…. David told me who heard it from his mom who heard it from some other dude's mom who heard it from that dude's girlfriend's mom who happens to be a nurse at the hospital. But I mean, look at her, she's not even looking at me, she's like looking through me or something and it's seriously weirding me out." Puck said. Santana frowned, she should've known the word would spread fast. She wondered if anyone else had known. Looking at Mike she figured he at least had, and Brittany surprisingly had a knowing, sympathetic frown on her face. Santana tried not to dwell on that. She was surprised however when she noticed Frankenteen looked completely blown out of the water.

"Hold on wait, what are you saying here Puck?" Mercedes said, looking between the two Jews. This caused a new outbreak of wild chatter, and it looked like Mr. Schue was about to call for order when someone else beat him to it.

"Could you all please end your ranting long enough for me to answer the question?" Rachel said, raising her voice for what probably anyone might just now realize was the first time that day. Everyone shut up immediately, and the few that were still standing sat down. Slowly, Rachel got to her feet. Mr. Schue rushed to her, apparently checking to make sure she wouldn't fall over or something. Santana watched with a critical eye as the girl took a few steps out and about facing. She overshot it a little, unfortunately, and ended up only looking at the far left side of the club. It would have been fucking hilarious, if it hadn't been so damn sad. Mr. Schue corrected her, turning her back so she was facing the club dead on. She starred at them, sort of, kind of moving her head around as if she was sweeping her gaze over them, but it didn't fool Santana, and now that the others knew it probably didn't them either. Then Rachel did something you almost never saw her do. She visibly gulped. She couldn't see their stares, obviously, but Santana figured she definitely knew they were scrutinizing her every move.

"Yes, I'm blind." said the short girl strongly. Or she tried to pull it off that way, but Santana heard the slight quiver in the girls voice, and Santana almost for a split weird ass second swore she'd never seen the girl more vulnerable and in need of a hug. Hug Rachel Berry? Had she gone insane? There was yet another outburst, a lot of people asking things like how, when, why hadn't she told them, and even the occasional outraged claim that she was lying like the attention seeker she was. (Santana wasn't sure who that had been, just that it had been female, and Santana almost felt maybe that certain female should have her eyes clawed out to show her just how serious this shit was). Rachel just stood there, and didn't say a word. Santana couldn't figure out what the hell the chick was waiting for, and frankly she was getting tired of their yelling shit. So again she spoke up.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LET THE MIDGET TALK!" she shouted. Everyone went silent immediately, starring at Santana with wide eyes. Santana swore she saw a small smile on Berry's face.

"Thank you Santana. Now, like I was saying. Yes, it's true I'm blind. Yes, I have been blind for the majority of the summer. I won't go into details, but, long story there was an accident, and I walked away with mostly minor injuries. Except my eyes had been virtually destroyed. These are prosthetic before you ask. But because I'm blind doesn't change me, so just try to forget about it. Treat me like…. well like you normally would… I guess." she mumbled at the last part, and Santana realized it was probably cuz she knew what all that entailed.

"Rachel why didn't you tell us?" asked Tina. Santana recalled that Tina had seemed pissed off at the hobbit, but was one of the only people who seemed almost maybe concerned as to why the midget could have possibly cut off communication. Berry was about to say something, and Santana guessed it would have gone along the lines of 'I didn't want to worry you guys' or 'I wanted to stay as normal as possible for as long as I could without anyone knowing', but before she could get anything out, Brittany stood up.

"She shouldn't have had to. How many of you really tried to find out why she wasn't calling back and stuff? I mean I hardly ever talk to her, but the minute I saw her I could tell she was blind. And I'm not even really close to her…." Brittany stated. Santana looked at her with surprise, as did the rest of the club.

"But how…?" Tina asked. Brittany shrugged.

"The Berry Sparkle isn't there anymore. Her eyes don't have that little sparkle they always used to. And she's not strutting like she owns the place anymore either." Brittany said matter-o-factly. Everyone starred, and Santana was surprised Brittany could be so observant.

"What? I notice things." Brittany said. The room was silent for a very long time, until finally Berry broke it.

"That actually means a lot, Brittany. But I wasn't expecting everyone to burst through my doors demanding to know why I wasn't returning any calls or texts. The truth is, I was a little busy adapting, for one, and second, I kind of wanted to you all to hold on to the image you had of me… And besides, it's more than a little difficult to call someone up and engage in a friendly conversation in which I proclaim 'Oh, by the way, I'm blind now.', after all." Berry said. Santana spared a glance at Finn, wondering how he was taking this. The poor boy looked like he'd been stabbed in the neck. His eyes were wide, and mouth gaping. If a fly had flown in he probably wouldn't have even noticed, Santana thought to herself. Eventually after a little more questioning on the glee clubs part about how it had happened, which mostly ended with the girl saying she wasn't really sure she could talk about it. At some point Mr. Schue stepped in and actually got them focused, claiming he was going to push them this year harder than ever. Santana kind of zoned him out. She, along with most of the club, was focused on the now blind brunette. Santana could admit now that she was worried for the midget. Not to the point she wanted to become best buds with her, god no. But maybe, she thought, she could possibly maybe be a teensy weensy bit nicer to the girl. After all, the chances were the girls tormenting would only increase when the entire school knew tomorrow about her new condition.

Dunno when the next chapter'll be up. Hopefully soon, but our performances are this week and we've only had three weeks of rehearsal, plus my cousin is visiting. Soo yea, we shall see. Review please :D