WWBY 9

DISCLAIMER: I do not own glee. The song is I want to save you by Something Corporate(take a listen if you havent heard it)

Three weeks later

Rachel woke to the sound of her cell phone sounding into life. She groaned, and searched with her hand for the guilty object pulling her from sleep. She had been having a rather awesome dream about stepping out on her first broadway stage and she was just about to start singing when wakefulness stole her. She blinked a couple of times trying to adjust to the light on the screen that seemed impossible bright in her darkened bedroom. Puck?

" Noah whats wrong?" She said, even though since they had been pretty close lately she still found it strange to find his picture flashing on her screen at 2AM! She thought. What the hell was he calling for at this time of night.

She could hear music in the background and something that sounded like crying and her heart sank.

Without him having to say anything Rachel said, " I'll be right there"

" Thanks Rach" He told her quietly into the phone before hanging up.

A few minutes later she pulled up in front of the Puckerman house, some kids she recognized from scholl were in the process of leaving, and she nodded her head at Tina and Mike as she made her way into the house. In the kitchen she braced herself before opening the door to Pucks basement and game room.

Walking down the stairs she saw both Puck and Quinn pointing to a spot deeper in the room. Rachels breath caught when she saw Santana sitting on her knees, rocking back and forth gently while humming to herself. Fat tears slid from her eyes as she murmured the words to some song that Rachel couldn't identify. The Latina girls hair hung down the way it had that night they had found her with Finn and she wore the Jacket that Rachel had given to her to wear that same night. Rachel looked to Puck and Quinn with a sigh.

"She just showed up" Quinn told her as if in her defense.

Puck shrugged and said, " She wanted to blow off some steam, I gave her a beer I don't know where she got the bottle from"

Rachel nodded and returned her attention to Santana. She found it strange that she was standing there although in some ways it made perfect since.

She looked up at Puck who had come to stand beside her.

" I tried to get her to stop but you know the only person she will listen to is you"

Rachel told him yes she knew, and it was true, had been since the night Rachel bought the other girl home. That week had been intense and emotional, she had had to say and do things she hated herself for but Santana had become so brain washed from Finns abuse it was hard to get her to do anything unless it was in command form. At first she had tried to be affectionate but the idea frightened Santana so much that Rachel backed off immediately.

Rachel gestured for Puck and Quinn to go upstairs and after a few minutes both of them trooped up the steps.

"Santana" She said in the voice she hated to use.

Santana frightened eyes turned to hers then fell to the floor.

" what are you doing here?" She slurred and Rachel stepped closer noticing all too well the way Santana seemed to shrink in on herself.

Rachel sighed, and crossed her arms across her chest, " I was told you needed help"

Santana shook her head but said nothing and Rachel knew she was waiting for some kind of punishment. She didn't know how to get it through to the girl that she didn't have to ever be afraid of that again and she silently cursed Finn for doing what he did.

" look I-"

Something in Santana snapped. Rachel watched with wide eyes.

" No you look" Santana threw back at her, the old Santana coming to the surface; If it were under different circumstances Rachel would of cheered at the reemergence . The former cheerleader swayed a little on her feet but her eyes burned with a fury, and they looked like storm clouds ready to break. ' this is what we've been waiting for' she thought and she squared her shoulders preparing to take whatever Santana had to say.

" you don't know me, you don't know anything about me !" Santana screamed. Rachel noticed that Puck and Quinn followed by Brittany, Kurt and Mercedes had made there way back to the basement and were watching the whole scene unfold, " you think I wanted what he did to me"

Rachel couldn't tell if that last part was a question or a statement but she motioned for Puck to stay where he was when she saw that he was heading there way. Santana needed to get this out.

" you think because im a slut I deserved what h-happened, that because I bullied people I-" Santana stopped her eyes focusing on a spot behind Rachel, she turned to see what caught Santanas attention and realized the other girl was staring at Brittany, " I had to keep you safe" Santana said, her head tilting to the side. She furiously wiped the tears from her eyes.

" oh San" Brittany said stepping forward with her arms stretched. Santana was having none of it though and jumped back as if being burned, " Don't touch me"

The blonde dancer dropped her arms to the side, tears filled her own crystal blue eyes as she watched her friend breaking down in front of her and for the first time not being able to calm her down. Quinn came up and wrapped her arms around Brittany, and Rachel realized that the entire glee club stood around them.

They were a family, albeit a dysfunctional, often times squabbling family but family none the less and Rachel knew that they all wanted to be there for Santana, or at least let the other girl know they were there.

"I had to protect you" she slurred her eyes going from Brittany to Quinn then sliding to Rachel as if doing a silent head count. It was Something she had seen Santana doing a lot.

" protect us from what S?' Quinn asked her voice softer then Rachel had ever heard it.

Santana scoffed, " I couldn't let him do that to you" She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world,

Quinn paled and Brittanys tears slid down her cheeks.

" Do what ?" Rachel asked, although she was sure she already knew the answer. She looked over at Kurt who looked like he was about to be sick. Mercedes was praying.

Santana closed her eyes and started humming again

" Do what Santana?" Rachel asked using the tone again. Her own eyes brimmed with tears, and her stomach turned and she promised herself and Santana silently that if she could just get this out of Santana then she would never have to use it again.

Santana eyes flew open and Rachel could tell the anger was dissolving and her mood was switching. Santana had always been an emotional drunk. The girl dropped her eyes to the floor again in a familiar show of submission, " make you dirty like me"

Mike Chang closed his eyes wincing slightly at her words. Sam was staring daggers, and Puck seemed to shake with silent rage. Quinn and Brittany were both crying freely now.

Rachel wanted to pull the Latina into her arms but knew Santana would freak so she stayed put and did the only thing she could do. Listen.

Santana wrapped her arms around herself, eyes still down cast, " He said he would hurt you, that what he was doing to me would be nothing compared to what he would do to you" She lifted her eyes again and did her silent head count. Quinn. Brittany. Rachel.

" Why didn't you say anything to any of us?" Artie asked angrily but Rachel knew he wasn't angry at the girl but at what had been done to her.

Santana flinched at the new voice, and the boy had the decency to look guilty.

" He said you would think I deserved it because Im a b-bitch"

The members of New Directions looked stricken at this. Of course Santana was a bitch but she was their bitch, and nobody deserved to be treated like that.

Rachel turned to face the glee club and realized they were all looking at her. She was their leader.

Rachel did the only other thing she could think of. She started to sing.

" Standing on the edge of morning, scent of sex and new found glory playing as shes pulling back her hair" Her voice cracked a little and for the first time she didn't care. All she cared about was Santana.

" she drives away, she's feeling worthless used again but nothings different she'd stay the night but knows he doesn't care"

It was one of the songs she had sung to Santana that first week, Santana seemed to quiet down, her sobs becoming whimpers. Rachel gestured for everybody to go upstairs and except for Quinn and Brittany everyone listened.

Rachel continued, " home by three deafening quiet, the porch lights off yes they forgot it, she'd cry herself to sleep but she don't dare"

Rachel took a few steps forward stopping when she saw Santanas body tense up, " and she wants to be a model, she wants to hear she's beautiful, she's beautiful"

For the moment she forgot everything, she didn't care that Quinn and Brittany were watching, or that all of glee was upstairs, she didn't care if Santana took what she said the wrong way, she just wanted the girl to hear her.

" I want to save you, I want to save you" Rachel tried to use the most soothing tone she had, turning the song into almost a lullaby of sorts. She saw Santana relax and moved a little closer.

She glanced back at Quinn and Brittany, both blondes also seemed to be consoled by her voice, before turning back to Santana, " Dressed by dawn and out the door, no light she memorized the floor so she can leave without being detected"

Santanas chest hitched every now and then but the tears seemed to have stopped, even though she kept her eyes on the floor Rachel knew she was listening, " She works til three its uniform, she dreams that he'll come by the store, she prays for days when boys mean shes protected"

" and she wants someone to see her, she needs to hear she's beautiful, she's beautiful" she brought her voice down, and put all her sincerity into it, hoping Santana would know that was how she saw her. Absolutely beautiful.

When Santana didn't flinch or move away Rachel pulled the girl into her arms, in her ear she sang softly, " I want to save you, I want to save you"

Rachel said a small thank you to who ever was listening when Santana laid her head on her shoulder. They stood like that for along time. Rachel softly humming while rubbing tiny circles on the other girls back

TBC…okay, so thoughts?