Note: Thank-you so much for your reviews and alerts on the previous chapter- it made my birthday waking up to that :) I'm not going to rewrite the last chapter as I wanted to move on with the story and so here, as promised a few chapters ago- this chapter is longer and what happens in the end will be explained in more detail if you want me to continue? Also thank-you to those who wished me a happy birthday! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

"Happy birthday! I hope you have a great weekend. I don´t know how it´s like where you live, but where I´m from it´s customary for the birthday girl to gift something instead of receiving...sooooo, how about another chapter?"- from 'erw-fan'-most definitely- here it is...

I only own 'Glee' if I am also a unicorn who rides to work on a giant whale... like a massive pink one... so yeah... I kind of don't own 'Glee'...

'It is all going to be okay...'

With those words echoing through her head, Quinn drifted back into the world of sleep. For the past few months, sleep was never appealing to the blonde; it was a terrifying time never knowing what was going to happen. This caused her to get into a routine of waking up every ten minutes on the nights when she gave into the tempting haven. Most times, it was her father's face which she awoke to ready to give her whatever he wanted to do. Relief was all that washed over her as she woke to still see Rachel at her side, allowing her to be calm and careless for once- well, at least a little bit.

~/*\~

Rachel had been sat watching Quinn since they arrived back at her house, her cheeks stained from the tears she had been crying for the blonde. She didn't know how long they had been like this, Quinn laying on the couch with Rachel's quilt covering most of her damaged body and Rachel sat on the floor deep in thought, both still clutching each other's hand firmly. Whatever was going on, Rachel was taking the initiative to make it her business and they will make it through this together no matter the consequence. Rachel's thoughts were interrupted abruptly by the fidgeting girl on the sofa. 'Quinn, what's the matter?' Rachel's eyes were alert as she felt Quinn's grip tighten around her hand. 'Quinn... Quinn, what's going on...?' Rachel's face was now just inches away from Quinn's as her tears splashed onto Quinn's delicate features. 'Come on, wake up... please...' Rachel's voice sounded desperate, despite the girl who was concerning her was only moving slightly, almost as if she was twitching. She brought up her hand again to stroke it through Quinn's blonde hair remembering how this had calmed her down before; it sort of worked as Quinn was no longer moving in the same state, however, now her eyes were wide open as they darted around the unfamiliar room, barely noticing the bloodshot ones right in front of her face. 'God Quinn, you scared me so much.' Her sleepy eyes had now found Rachel's, but her ears hadn't settled on the brunette's voice as she asked concerned,

'Why have you been crying?'

'What?' Rachel asked, putting more space between the two of them. Quinn slowly sat up to allow Rachel the room to sit on the couch too. As her back whacked slightly into the armrest, Quinn winced concerning Rachel again. 'Careful.' Rachel helped her sit up gently, hoping that she would not cause her pain. 'Quinn, what happened to you? You are covered in blood and bruises and are definitely not yourself. That was why I... was crying. You are why I was crying.' Rachel's quiet tone became shy towards the end of her spoken thoughts.

'You don't need to cry over me. You don't need to be upset because of me, you don't even need to think about me. I'll just take up too much wasted space if you do.' Quinn gently used her hand to raise Rachel's chin making her look her in the eyes. 'I'll be fine, I promise.' Quinn dropped her hand from Rachel's chin as she now looked awkwardly away. 'I've taken up too much of your time already.'

'Quinn...' Quinn looked back over to only see tears fall from the other's warm eyes. She shifted her stare back onto the carpeted floor.

'It's okay Rachel.' She wrapped her aching arm around Rachel, hugging her sideways. 'You have nothing to cry about, I promise.' Rachel wiped her tears as she felt almost embarrassed that Quinn was now comforting her.

'Quinn, you're hurt... who did this to you..? What happened?' Rachel asked mater-of-fact-ly.

'Nothing.' Quinn blatantly lied, she couldn't even be bothered to try and hide it now.

'It's not nothing... you can tell me?' Rachel smiled one of her friendly smiles to Quinn who could only feel bad from holding back the truth.

'I don't want to talk about it.' Quinn closed her eyes as she took in a deep breath. She had actually considered telling Rachel but these words were so much easier to say, even if the consequences weren't easier to deal with.

'Okay, well, whenever you're ready, I'm here if you need to talk okay?' Quinn slightly nodded her head gratefully as she smiled a slight thank-you. 'Why don't you come out to the kitchen- I'll make some of my famous hot cocoa?' She asked cheerfully.

'No thank-you, I'm not a massive fan of vegan cocoa.' Quinn smiled playfully, however her eyes and voice still seemed lifeless.

'I could get you some water, or juice?' Rachel smiled back, happy as she saw the ghost of a smile toying with Quinn's bruised lips.

'Water will be fine thank-you.' Quinn's throat was sore, causing this as well as her other words spoken so far to come out slightly croaky.

'One water it is then!' Rachel jumped up off of the couch as she started to head towards the kitchen. 'You coming?' Rachel asked as she flicked on the kitchen light glancing back at the motionless Quinn. Quinn glanced down at her visible skin and torn dress fearing how much more would be revealed in the bright light- so far they had only been seeing due to the dim lamp placed by the couch, which she fretted had revealed more than she had wished. Yet she knew Rachel knew. She remembered the petite star already saying something about blood and bruises. Quinn stood up with a long sigh before slowly slightly limping towards Rachel. The brunette reached into the cupboard and pulled out two mugs, turning to see Quinn struggling to pull out a chair at the table. She was gripping it with one hand, with the other just making contact with the wood. 'Here, let me get that for you.' Rachel put the mugs down on the counter as she rushed over to pull the chair out for Quinn, noticing her swollen wrist through her tight cardigan, but choosing not to mention it. Once she had the taller girl seated, Rachel headed back to the counter, pouring them both some water before sitting back down opposite Quinn- mistake number one. 'Sorry, our dishwasher's broken, so these are all we have.' Rachel apologized as she gestured towards the mugs.

'Its fine thank-you.' Quinn placed her most painful arm on top of the table as she brought the mug to her lips with the other. The liquid soothed her throat momentarily before she blinked back more tears as a memory she would rather forget appeared in the front of her mind.

Rachel studied Quinn's wrist again 'You should get that looked at, your wrist, I mean, but-'

'It'll be fine once the swelling has gone down.' Quinn interrupted Rachel as she placed her mug down on to the wooden surface of the table so that she could use her good arm to move the other gently onto her lap.

'I can take you up to the hospital, your injuries look quite painful, but I'd stay wit-'

'I do NOT need to go to the hospital. I will be fine.' There was mistake number two as Quinn crawled back into her shell. Rachel placed her mug down as she stood up and approached Quinn.

'You don't look fine...' Rachel reached out to put a hand on Quinn's shoulder as she brought the other back up to the side of Quinn's face. Mistake number three. 'Listen, it will be okay, we will jus-'

'GET YOUR FREAKING MAN HANDS OFF OF ME BERRY!' Quinn shouted as she stood up, immediately regretting the movement, but she just continued backing away from Rachel unsuccessfully like earlier in the courtyard. 'I DON'T WANT YOUR PATHETIC LITTLE 'IT WILL ALL BE OKAY'S OR YOUR STUPID LITTLE HOT COCOAS IN YOUR LITTLE PINK MUGS! AND FOR THE LAST TIME, I AM FUCKING FINE!'

'Quinn... yo-you need to calm down... you are obviously a littl-'

'YOU CAN NOT TELL ME TO CALM DOWN! YOU HAVE NO IDEA THE KIND OF PRESSURES I AM UNDER! DO YOU THINK I WANTED YOU TO COME AND FIND ME TONIGHT? I DIDN'T ASK FOR YOU TO FOLLOW ME AND THEN DRAG ME BACK TO YOUR FRIGGING COSY HOME WITH YOUR PERFECT LIFE AND YOUR PERFECT FAMILY! You don't know me and so don't think for one second that you do, 'cause you don't...' Hot tears were once again trickling down her cheeks as they spilled over the wall she was failing to keep up.

'I was the one that found you tonight Quinn. I was the one that brought you home so that you didn't die on those steps tonight. I saw the tears you cried tonight and I cried with you as the real Quinn Fabray was beginning to shine through. Because I don't know who I'm talking to right now, but I don't like her very much. I don't like her at all.' Rachel new that her dads would be awake right now due to both of their outbursts, but she didn't care about that one bit.

'Thanks for the water Rachel.' Quinn's voice cracked as she held back as much emotion as she could. With that final sentence, Quinn turned and left, leaving Rachel stood in the kitchen staring at the front door. Rachel cried more than she had in a long time as the door slamming echoed in her ears. All she wanted to do was to help Quinn, but she couldn't even do that. It took twenty minutes before Rachel raised her head off of its place on her arms. Her fathers were both sat opposite her with a mug of steaming cocoa in front of her.

'Hey sweetie' The lighter skinned man smiled.

'What's up with our little Berry, hey? We heard shouting coming from downstairs and came to find you like this- what happened?' The taller man spoke.

'It's nothing' Rachel sniffed whilst realising that she was using the same words which Quinn had not too long ago. 'It's just... when I came back from dropping Qui-Quinn's bag off, I wasn't tired and so I sat and watched TV for a bit. Then one of my friends from school came knocking at the door asking to stay the night. I didn't think you would mind so I said to her that she could sleep on the couch and then we got into a massive argument because we both over reacted. That was all, I'm just tired which is probably why I am still blowing things out of proportion now.' Rachel stared at the steam growing out of her drink hoping that her fathers wouldn't be able to tell that she was lying.

'Okay honey.' The Berry man wearing glasses spoke. 'Now drink your cocoa and then we can all get off to bed okay? I think we all need some sleep.'

'Thank-you dads.' Rachel sipped slowly at her hot cocoa before going to 'bed'.

Once Rachel reached her room, she began searching for various objects and within ten minutes was back outside with a heavy bag on her back. She had packed a flashlight, mace spray, her phone, a jumper and a blanket, knowing that if Quinn was still out on the streets then she would be frozen- if and when she found her. Quinn couldn't have gone far, Rachel knew that remembering the girl's slight limp earlier as well as her tiredness. The equally tired teen powered on through the night as she searched the school and other locations around Lima. Quinn was no-where, no-where at all. Rachel didn't know how she had got here, she didn't even know where she was as everything appeared different at night. She knew that she was walking along the side walk of a major road going somewhere far from Lima- signposts constantly alerted Rachel to this. It was a while until Rachel heard noises other than those common around Lima at night along with the speeding cars that occasionally flew passed. But when it did come, the haunting sound was the best thing of the night so far- or morning? The slight whimpering seemed like a faint light to Rachel, beckoning her to come nearer and nearer. Rachel sprinted down the road, the noise loudening with every step. The panting girl came to a stop under an underpass where the noise rang through her ears.

'Quinn, it's me...' Rachel noticed Quinn curled up in a corner. Quinn wanted desperately to be able to apologize to Rachel, to make everything better, but all that she could do was cry. 'I'm so sorry about what I said and did to upset you. I shouldn't have done that... I'm really, really sorry.' Rachel spoke from the hysterical girl's side. Quinn softened at Rachel's body as she pulled her into her embrace. Both girls laid there and cried; that was all they could do- no speech was involved at all, just tears. Rachel had pulled the blanket over the two of them in the hope of sheltering them from the worst of the cold night air. The smaller girl was laid with her back pressed up against the wall whilst Quinn rested her head on Rachel's stomach, the rest of her body curled into Rachel's side. This was how they eventually cried themselves to sleep...

~/*\~

'Wake up! I said wake-up.' Quinn awoke as fear ran down her spine- that was definitely not the voice she wanted to hear first thing in the morning. It was him. Rachel woke as soon as she felt Quinn's body leave her side.

'Wha-' Rachel's vision cleared revealing the man in front of her 'Mr. Fabray? What are you doing here?'

'I've come to collect my daughter.' He spat. Rachel felt Quinn's hand grip her own- she was now by her side. He turned to Quinn, 'What were you thinking of? Running away.'

'I'm sorry daddy.' Quinn looked down, knowing what the punishment would be for even looking him in the eyes when he didn't want her to.

'Listen, if you don't want to be grounded you need to not get detentions. Maybe you are too distracted with that stupid little singing club...' Lies. All lies that Rachel was learning to see through.

'I'm sorry daddy.' Quinn repeated again, tightening her grip on Rachel's hand.

'Now come on, you need to pack your bags; we're leaving.' He looked down at Rachel with disgust before turning his focus back to Quinn. 'Now say goodbye to... this thing...'

Quinn stood up pulling Rachel up with her. 'Goodbye Rachel.' Quinn enveloped Rachel in the first hug she had properly given someone in a while. 'Thank-you...' Quinn kissed Rachel's forehead, never wanting to let her go.

'That is enough! We are leaving.' Russell grabbed Quinn's still swollen wrist as he dragged her away from Rachel, who stood watching the pair of Fabrays. As they were about to disappear around the corner, Quinn turned her head over her shoulder, looking back at Rachel. The stationary brunette swore she saw tears welling in the other's eyes. They stared at each other for one last time until Quinn whipped her head back round to stare at her feet. It appeared that the man had said something to Quinn as her body froze as his jaw moved. He had also pulled down sharply on her wrist too. Rachel had tried to be strong for Quinn all night, but it had failed every time. As it did now as the blonde silently disappeared.

~/*\~

Glee club was weird without Quinn the next day- her transfer also meant that there were not enough members. The club performed a number which they had been working on for a few weeks- 'Use Somebody' by Kings of Leon (minus two of the glee club members. Obviously Quinn was one of them (Rachel sang the whole song thinking of nobody but Quinn) and Santana was the other missing- she had taken it upon herself to do some investigating.

The Latina was stood now in Quinn's room as she muttered 'Holy sweet mother of hell...'

Note: Thank-you so much for reading this! I'm really sorry for any mistakes and such, but hopefully there weren't as many as in the previous one... :L The song will be explained next chapter as will what Santana has found... if you want me to continue? So this part is kind of the start of when everything is sort of revealed... to the reader that is. Please let me know what you thought of this chapter/this story so far- it would mean so much to me? Please also let me know if you want me to continue or not? Have a great day and thank-you to you all again! Much love Xx