"I said, what the hell is going on here?" Finn repeats his question while still trying to process the scene in front of him. Rachel has her hands over her breasts and this guy is looking rather smugly at him

"Brody, what are you doing here?" Kurt manages to stammer when he finally comes to his senses. He doesn't understand why he would be in their loft and considering the frightening look in Rachel's eyes the thing that was about to go down wasn't something she agreed upon.

Finn's face contorts in confusion "Hold up. That fucker is Brody?"
Before Rachel knows it Finn has Brody up by his collar and shoves him into the nearest wall
"Care to tell me why Rachel's looking so scared, dimwit?"

Brody just shrugs and smiles diabolically "Probably because she didn't expect either one of you home and we were about to get freaky"

Kurt walks up to him and punches him in the face real hard startling Finn "Dude?"

"Nice try, donkey! But I just talked to Rachel twenty minutes ago and she knew we were coming. So care to tell me what really went down?"

"What I said, we were about to get freaky"

Finn releases his hold on Brody only to shove him up the wall higher "Listen up, asshole. I'm only going to say this once. Stay away from Rachel or I swear to god I'll find you, hunt you down and beat the living daylight out of you. Kapish?"

Brody's smug attitude fades and he actually manages to look scared for a change and he silently nods. That's enough for Kurt to open the door and for Finn to throw him out into the hallway and slam the door back in his face.

Kurt takes the Chinese food and nods at Finn to see if Rachel's okay.

"Rachel?" he tentatively approaches her. She appears to be in a state of shock because she's just staring at a blank spot on the wall and doesn't acknowledge his presence. He's actually extremely relieved that they got there when they did because a minute later and things could have turned out very differently

"Rachel?" he tries again and this time she blinks her eyes and turns her head at him. For a minute there he thinks she's going to hug him but she just stands up abruptly, thanks him and retreats into the bathroom.

When Kurt walks back into the living room he asks where Rachel went off to and Finn just points towards the bathroom. Kurt walks up and knocks on the bathroom door twice. It opens and reveals a freshly clothe Rachel smiling at him like nothing happened

"So, how about that Chinese now?"

Kurt just looks at Finn who shrugs his shoulders and stands up to get the food.
"Rachel, if you want to talk about it you know-"
Kurt gets cut off by Rachel's hands on his shoulder "I'm good, Kurt. Seriously. All good. Let's eat"

When Finn returns with their food, he looks at Kurt for confirmation that everything indeed is okay.
Kurt just nods and smiles and Finn looks at Rachel and it's then that he actually really looks at her for the first time that night and notices her change
"Rachel, your hair. You look-"

"Like the old Rachel Berry again?"

Finn nods and smiles "Jeah, I thought so too. After our fight I realized that both you and Kurt were right and that something needed to be done about it, so I did"

"I like it. It's very you" Kurt contributes to the conversation trying to lighten the mood even more

She smiles at both of them. Feeling relieved that they came home just in time. She just doesn't want to think about what could have happened if they didn't come home when they did. She knows she owes them a whole lot
she says "Thank you" and they all know that there's a lot more meaning behind those two words than just the acceptance of the compliment.


This is the forth night in a row that she's waking up with nightmares of what happened with Brody.
She hasn't told either Kurt or Finn about it because she doesn't want them to worry.
Finn has been extra nice to her this week and Kurt hasn't let her out of her sight practically the entire week because he's afraid that Brody might show up somewhere and try something. She feels smothered by him but she's also grateful that he's looking out for her. So, when she hears her door squeak in the middle of the night she gets up takes her hairbrush and silently waits for the figure to walk into the room. When she hears the door click shut she flickers on the light, jumps from her bed and practically attacks the person with her hairbrush.

"Auch, Jesus Rachel what the fuck"

She practically lets herself fall back onto the bed in a fit of giggles when she realizes it's actually Kurt
"I thought you were someone else"

She can tell by the look of recognition on his face that he knows exactly who she's talking about "Brody?"

"Jeah"

Kurt moves himself over to the bed and sits himself down next to her. He takes both of her hands and makes her look at him "Rachel he doesn't have a key to the house. He can't get in. And, I'm pretty sure that Finn scared the living daylight out of him"

Deep down she knows he's right but somehow it doesn't ease her worried mind. Brody is smart; he could be lurking around the house for a chance to get into the apartment "I hope so"

Kurt sighs, he knows that this isn't something she has to deal with alone but he also knows how stubborn she can be "Care to talk about it?"

"Not really but I guess I should huh?"

He knows it's best to talk about things like this because he imagines it eating her up from the inside but he also knows that it might be hard to talk about it with the people that were there "Jeah, if not to me or Finn but to someone"

Rachel looks up at Kurt and just gives him an unexpected hug. He really is the best friend anyone could ask for and she just wants him to know that she loves him for taking such good care of her and looking out for her. But she doesn't know if she's ready to deal with what happened "Can I think about it first?"

He gives her his biggest smile, rubs her back and stands up "Sure"

She sees that he's reluctant to leave her alone and she doesn't really want to be if she's honest so she asks the one question she knows he can't refuse "Kurt? Will you stay with me tonight?"

She doesn't have to ask him twice. He's already halfway across her bed making himself comfortable between the sheets. He pats the side next to him and she curls up into his side and takes a deep breath
"Thanks for everything, Kurt"

"My pleasure, Rachel. Now try and get some sleep"

The rest of the night is a peaceful one without any more nightmares and she can't help but contribute it to the fact that she feels safe in Kurt's arms.


"So, Rachel. Why are you here?"

Rachel is sitting in the office of Dr. Sullivan. She's not exactly comfortable but after talking with Kurt about it a little more she decided that it was best to talk to a professional. Even Finn agreed, saying that it would be good to talk about everything that happened this past year and not only about what almost happened with Brody the other week.

"I've had a rough year. A lot has happened and I think I've dealt with it wrongly"

is taking notes on her notepad and smiling at her reassuringly giving her the courage to go on

"I think I need to begin at the beginning. Last summer I got accepted into NYADA and my boyfriend at the time didn't get into the college of his choice. I told him that I wanted to postpone going to NYADA for a year and help him get into the colleges he wanted to go to"

Dr. Sullivan hums letting her know she's listening and taking notes

"He told me that he couldn't let me do that and the day that we were supposed to get married was the day he put me on a train to New York and he told me he enlisted into the army"

"How did that make you feel?"

She doesn't have to think about that to long because she can still feel the hurt and devastation in her body when she thinks back to that day

"I was mad as hell. He had decided what my future was going to look like and it felt like he didn't want to be in it. I loved him so much and he just shipped me off to New York. Or at least that's what it felt like back then"

"And now?"

After talking to Amanda she understands where Finn was coming from a lot better and she knows that she can rationalize it now.

"Now I know there was a lot more to it than that. He didn't want to hold me back from my dreams and I understand now that if he went to New York with me without having a goal there himself it would have ended very badly for both of us"

She doesn't have to tell Dr. Sullivan that it ended badly anyway because she seems to know

"I was very confused and alone the first few months in New York. I didn't have any friends, I didn't fit in at NYADA and that's when I met Brody. Brody was everything I thought I needed at the time. Handsome, good dancer, flattering and I thought I fell for him. I didn't realize at the time that I was just projecting everything I wanted from Finn onto Brody, in the process creating the unhealthiest relationship ever.
I changed my entire appearance and personality for him because I knew that's what he wanted. I altered myself completely in order to be with him. In the end I just knew that this wasn't what I wanted out of a relationship so I broke up with him"

Dr. Sullivan asks her how she thinks he took that and she has to swallow the lump in her throat thinking back to that faithful night two weeks ago

"Well, good at first. I hadn't seen him for about three months when he suddenly came to visit me at my house two weeks ago. He told me that he wasn't happy with being dumped so that I could go running back to my ex and he tried to rape me but thankfully my best friend and ex-boyfriend came to my rescue just in time"

keeps scribbling down things on her notepad and she wonders if she's writing down everything she's telling her

"That's pretty heavy, Rachel"

That's an understatement. It's extremely heavy. She didn't think it would affect her that much because of the fact that nothing actually happened thanks to Finn and Kurt but she can't seem to sleep at night or even turn a corner without keeping one hand on her pepper spray.

"I know, I'm having nightmares about him raping me, having his way with me and leaving me there to die all because I dumped him"

nods and asks her if she contacted the police. She didn't really think about going to the police "No, my ex threatened him and I never even thought about going to the cops"

"You should consider it. They could keep tabs on this Brody guy and might make you feel safer"

Maybe she's right, if it meant that she could feel safer she would do anything at this point
"Jeah, that might be a good idea"

She sees Dr. Sullivan checking her watch and she knows that the session is almost over
"Our time is almost up, is there something else you want to discuss?"

"No, maybe next time"

She gathers her things and buttons up her coat but Dr. Sullivan has one last thing she tells her to do
"Good, I think it's good that you want there to be a next time. You need to process a lot of things and I think you're on your way and I can certainly help you with that. I'm going to give you an assignment for next week. I want you to write down everything you're feeling this week good or bad. If something happens, write it down. Okay?"

Rachel nods, extends her hand to Dr. Sullivan and thanks her

"See you next week, Rachel"

"Bye"

Yes, she might have been against this whole therapy thing at first but she feels like a weight has been lifted of her shoulders and she knows that this might be the best thing for her right now. There are a lot of things that she's been suppressing this past year and it's time to let it all in and deal with it. Finally getting on route to that fresh start she so desperately wants.


Not a lot of interaction between Rachel & Finn this chapter but I felt like it was too soon for Finn to be the one to comfort her at night. Be patients my loves, it will all be allright.

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