A/N: Hello lovelies! Update is here and it comes with the message that there will be NO were!peen in this story, so you can all stop freaking out :) Next thing is just to thank everyone who is reading and reviewing this story, it makes my day every time i read one of your comments or ideas for what should happen in future chapters.

I really hope you enjoy this chapter as I found it rather hard to write! Anyway, thanks for all your support. Follow me on tumblr: hellyeahfaberryforever if you want to ask me anything, I'll answer :)

Chapter Nine: All important phone calls

Rachel was sat in the middle of the stage in the auditorium, on her knees with her arms wrapped around her stomach. Frantically trying to calm her rapidly beating heart and catch her breath. The teacher hadn't moved from that exact spot since Jesse left her there, without so much as an explanation for him being in the possession of a letter she'd been waiting for since the day she left New York.

Everything event into overdrive, reality set in and she realised just how much she'd messed up. Her life wasn't supposed to go like this, she'd had it planned out since she was just a child. Her dream was to be a star on Broadway and win a Tony by the time she was twenty five, in this time she'd have also gotten married to the man of her dreams and was living the life of a celebrity.

That obviously hadn't gone to plan.

"Rach, what the hell happened?" Emily shrieked upon seeing her best friend alone and gasping for oxygen.

"Did you find her?" Ethan asked, poking his head around the door.

They'd been waiting at home for her to arrive and when she never did they came looking for her, this wasn't the first time that the pair had found her in this state. It was a well know fact that Rachel had been know to over think things and worry to the point where she'd end up having a panic attack. Normally one of her friends were there to talk her through it, but this time she'd been alone. Ethan scurried after Emily as she sprinted down the steps, heading towards his other roomate. He only stopped when he was crouched beside the two women, watching as Emily held Rachel in her arms.

"It's okay, It's okay." Emily cooed, "I've gotcha, just breath Rachel."

"I... Can't... Breath." She cried, her breaths short and quick. I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die. She repeated over and over in her head. Her body was trembling as she tightened her grip on her friend, needing something to steady her.

"Rachel Berry, listen to me." Emily said softly, "I need you to take deep breaths for me okay? Think happy thoughts or something. I don't know, think about Quinn."

"Think of Quinn, really?" Ethan shook his head, "That's the best advice you've got when your friend if having an panic attack."

"It's the best I've got, shut up and help me." The girl slapped his chest with her free hand.

"Rachel, we're here and we need you to take some deep breath's for us, slowly." The boy had helped her the last time she'd had an attack. "Now listen to me okay, you're fine, everything's fine."

It was another few minutes of the young man repeating himself before Rachel managed to control her breathing and relaxed slightly. Yet the tears still streamed down her cheeks for several more moments afterwards, the three just sat there together. Rachel was leaning into Emily's side, her head resting on the other woman's shoulder with her eyes closed. Everything had gone so terribly wrong. Thankfully, she had her friends to help her, she had no idea what she'd do without them.

"Sweetheart, can we take you home now?" Ethan asked warmly, a small comforting smile on his lips.

"Please." Was all Rachel responded with.

oOo

Quinn opened her eyes slowly, blinking rapidly to clear the blurring scenery. Everything hurt, near enough her body was screaming out in pain. She writhed on the floor, clutching her waist as she attempted to sit up, but she didn't make it more than a few inches off the ground before she felt an overwhelming feeling of dizziness. The teenager collapsed backwards for force, she'd almost gave up trying to save herself, that was until she heard the familiar buzz of her phone coming from just beside her head, she felt hope.

The skank turned her body just enough so she could reach for the mobile, hissing loudly at the sting rippling through her arm and side as she moved her hand out and back in. She ignored the text from Rachel and pressed the dial button and holding the phone to her ear, praying for the girl to answer.

She was in luck.

"What's up, Q? Miss me already?" Santana's voice teased her.

"H-help me," Her voice croaked, her words barely audible. She knew it was all the girl needed for her to understand she was in trouble and so she closed her eyes and waited, hoping that Santana would get there before her father returned.

"I'm on my way." The Latina replied instantly and then put down the phone, not sure if it whether it was the anger of fear that made tears well up in her eyes.

All she could think about was her friends desperate tone and how she needed to get to her as quickly as she could, there was no way she was going to lose Quinn now, now when she'd just got her back. The head cheerleader text Puck as she pulled up the Fabray house, telling him it was an emergency and that's all the boy needed before he was in his car himself and driving over at a dangerous speed.

Santana burst through the front door and headed straight for the living room since it was the first room she thought of. The head cheerleader froze in the doorway, seeing Quinn lay in a small pool of blood by her head, the gash on her forehead still had the red liquid trickling out.

"Holy shit." She fumbled for her phone, calling 911.

oOo

Puck was the next to be informed, having been on the receiving end of the text from Santana. Since then he'd been freaking out, Quinn was his best friend. Yes they'd fallen out but in the end of the day, they'd been though so much together and the girl was like a sister to him. So when Santana told him what'd happened he knew exactly who was responsible, because he had see it all before. Next thing he knew he was speeding to the Fabray house. But as the boy argued with the Latina over who got to accompany their friend in the car, a thought washed over him. Russell was going to get away with this again and this time he was older and stronger, he could take him and knew knew it. He chose to stay behind and waited by the side of the road until the business man arrived home from from wherever he'd been and the moment he did Puck walked up the front yard.

"Hey, Mr. Fabray?" Puck raised his eyebrow, trying to copy the way Quinn did it.

"That's me." The man straightened out his tie, shutting his car door, "How can I help you, boy?"

"Well..." The jock paused and then without thinking twice, balled his fist and took a swing at the older man's face. The punch connected just under his eye, Russell stumbled backwards, groaning in pain. "That... That was for Quinn."

"You son of a bitch!" The Fabray man yelled, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"She didn't deserve this." Puck spat, "All Quinn has ever done is try to make you proud of her!"

"She's a disgusting little dyke, how the hell is that making me proud?" The man yelled, sneering at the the meer thought of his daughter being with another woman, that wasn't the way he raised her. It wasn't the Fabray way, so he fully believed it was her own fault.

"What difference does it make? You're her father, you're supposed to look after her!" The Mohawked boy could feel his anger building once again, the memories of his own father taking his anger out of him and eventually leaving.

"This has nothing to do with you."

"You're beating on my Lesbro," Puck cracked his knuckled, "It has everything to do with me."

Russell could see that the teenager wasn't planning on leaving any time soon, so he moved forwards to try and attempt to tackle the footballer to the ground. It was a clumsy attack and Puck was quick to counter it, dodging the man just before slamming his foot into the back of Russell's knee, bringing him down to the floor.

"Dumb ass, I've been in more fights than both you and I can count." The Jew said darkly, kneeling down next to the man. "Don't you ever go near her again."

"I can do what I want, she's my daughter!" Russell growled.

"Yeah, well she's my best friend and I'm not going to sit by any more and watch you hurt her. Ever again." Puck threw his fist towards the man's nose, this time there was a loud crack and the rebel boy knew he's broken it, the sheer amount of blood that started to pour from it and the loud cry from the man made it clear. "That's for hitting a girl, rule one dude."

Then he left, getting out before he got himself arrested again and got back in his truck, next stop Lima Hospital.

oOo

On the other side of town Rachel was called down from her bedroom, of which she hadn't left since coming home from work, to find Brittany on her doorstep. She wasn't sure exactly what to do. The biggest question running through her mind was how all her student's somehow knew where she lived, but when she noticed the tears in the dancers eyes she figured something had happened and something bad. She'd been so wrapped up in her own trouble's she'd forgotten all about Quinn and her trouble at home, she just prayed that maybe, just maybe it was something entirely different.

"Quinn's hurt." The blonde said, her thumb stroking the small stuffed duck in her hands.

No no no, this can't be happening! The teacher blinked, not accepting the words coming from her students mouth, "I'm sorry, what?" She silently prayed for her to have misheard the girl, although she knew it was very unlikely.

"She's in the hospital, Sanny said you have to take me."

"Let me grab my keys." Rachel said, she didn't need any more of an explanation. It only took a few seconds for her to run into the kitchen, grab her keys off the side and returned to the front of the house this time to find Emily stood with Brittany. "What are you doing?"

"I'm coming with you." The woman replied with a chuckle, throwing Rachel her shoes which she quickly slid on, "There's nothing good on TV and lately your life is like a freaking soap opera, so I'm just gonna tag along with you today." Rachel rolled her eyes, knowing that her friend was just trying to lighten the mood and stop her from having another panic attack in the same day.

"I'm glad you find this enjoyable."

Emily just grinned and headed towards the vehicle, taking the passenger's seat next to Rachel whilst Brittany sat in the back. The drive was excruciatingly slow, there was so much traffic on the road that the teacher actually contemplated the thought of just walking to the hospital.

She's going to be okay, it has to be okay.

Rachel was out the car door the second they parked, leaving it to Emily to lock up. The brunette stopped when she was stood before the front desk, looking around for a nurse that could direct her to Quinn. Only none of them were stopping, even after she cleared her voice multiple times. It took a clap of her hands, right in the face of a nurse to get her attention.

"Hello, can I help you?" An older woman, around her mid sixty's asked.

"Yes, could you tell me where Quinn Fabray's room is please?" Rachel arched her brow, leaning over the desk to look at the computer.

The nurse paused as the teacher did so, turning the screen before she started to type again only this time she modelled an irritated expression. "Are you family?"

"Yes... I'm her aunt?" Rachel bit her lip, knowing the lie was completely unbelievable.

"Sure you are." The woman shook her head and made one final click on the mouse, "Okay, she's in room 108, you're not squeamish are you?"

"Why would you ask that?"

"Your girlfriends in a pretty bad shape."

"I told you, she's my niece."

"And I don't believe you." The nurse whose name tag read: Kim told her.

Rachel huffed, "Can I still see her?"

"I suppose so." Kim gave her a fake smile, and pointed to her left guiding her to the room. When the brunette arrived she saw Santana asleep in the chair to one side of the room and Puck was curled into a little ball just by her feet. They're so loyal, I'm glad she had friends like that...

"You made it." Rachel's head snapped to the side when she heard the breathless mumble from the hospital bed. Lay under the covers was a severely beaten Quinn Fabray, her eyes gazed over the visible parts of her students body. The bandage wrapped around her head, the stitches right below her left eye and the deep bruising covering most of her skin. The nurse was right, she looked like hell and the worst part was that everyone knew this was coming and yet nobody had stopped it. I could have stopped this, If I wasn't thinking about myself and Jesse then I could have stopped it from happening.

"Holy Moses, I'm so sorry Quinn." Her eyes welled and she scurried to her side.

The girl shook her head, wincing slightly, "Don't be, It wasn't your fault."

"I should have been there, I should have protected you!" Rachel sniffled, trying so hard to be strong and not let her tears get the best of her.

"Quieten down, I don't need those two waking up." Quinn chuckled softly, "They've been a pain in my ass, treating me like I'm dying since the moment I woke up."

"You look like you are." As soon as Rachel said it, her hands flew over her mouth and her eyes opened in disbelief. Did you seriously just tell her that?

"I think you've been hanging around me for too long." Quinn's tongue flicked out over her bottom lip, gently.

"Where's your father?"

"I don't know, he was gone before I woke up." The teenager shrugged, she didn't care where he was if she was honest, all she wanted was to be left alone.

"What about your mother?" Rachel asked, taking Quinn's hand into her own and rubbing gentle circles into her palm.

"Gone too." She said nonchalantly.

"Where are you going to live?" The singer gasped, the thought of the teenager on the streets nearly made her start crying all over again. You're so damn emotional, If Emily was in here right now she'd beat you with a bloody stick. Get it together!

"My Aunt and Uncle live just outside of Lima and I'm going to stay with them and my Cousin, they're coming to see me in the morning." Quinn explained, taking a deep breath every few words, not able to get through a full sentence without wheezing.

"They're not like..." Rachel stopped herself, unsure of how to finish her sentence.

"No, they're not like my parents." The skank smiled slightly, "You'll love them and my Cousin Sam is really cool too."

"So, you're happy?"

"As happy as I can be about this." Quinn said with a broken smile, her hand tightening around her lovers.

"I'm just glad you're okay," The teacher brought the hand to her lips, "I rushed right over here with Emily and Brittany."

"I kinda figured about the rush." The teenager laughed quietly, giving Rachel a once over.

"Wha-" Then she stopped as she noticed that she was dressed in her favorite star pyjamas, "Oh my god."

"You look hot, stop worrying."

"Stop it."

"Listen, you're beautiful."

"I look like a child." The woman groaned, wishing that she'd brought something to change into.

"You really really do, but I love it." Quinn argued, pulling Rachel closer, "Sleep with me?"

"I don't think that's very hygienic and you're also in a lot of pain, we should probably wait until you can at least walk again..." The singer trailed off as she saw the huge grin that the younger girl was sporting, "You meant actually sleeping, didn't you?"

"Yeah, now get in here and cuddle me." She tugged at the hand again and lifted the covers so that the woman could slip inside.

"I can't, I'll hurt you." Rachel stepped backwards.

"No you won't, just get in I'm tired and want to sleep." Quinn ordered her with a look that told the teacher not to argue. Rachel stole a quick glance back at the door and when she saw that it was closed, she crawled onto the bed and pulled the covers back up. They moved around until they were both comfortable, being cautious of Quinn's injuries.

Then there was a long and awkward silence, until the older woman broke it, "I have to tell you something."

"...I know, this is the quietest I've ever seen you, so I figured something was up." The teenager said quietly.

"I got a letter from my ex today."

"Why did Jesse write you a letter?" Quinn frowned.

"It wasn't from him, It's another ex." Rachel spoke into the teens neck, "I-I haven't read it yet but I know it's something bad."

"How do you know that?"

"Because Jesse gave it to me and he's always trying to hurt me." The diva fumbled with Quinn's fingers, her nerves getting the best of her.

"What's he got on you, Rachel?" Quinn mumbled, pulling her lover closer.

"I... I can't say." The singer whispered, kissing the skanks neck slowly, making sure to only touch the patches of skin where she wasn't injured.

The younger girl hummed in pleasure and tilted her head upwards. Leaning in slowly, the two's lips barely touched at first until, just relishing in the feeling of each other. Quinn knew she couldn't hold herself up much longer and so left Rachel with a lingering kiss before lowering herself back down, "Trust me, please."

The teacher mumbled something unintelligible under her breath that Quinn couldn't hear.

"Rachel." Quinn said, looking into her eyes and in that moment the teacher she'd lost, "You can tell me."

"...A-sex-tape." The woman rushed, blushing brightly.

"Please tell me I heard that correctly and you just said sex tape!" Quinn's jaw dropping open when Rachel nodded, "No way... But you're such a prude!"

"I. Am. Not."

"Are too."

"Quinn please." The diva whined, pushing her face into the pink haired girls pillow.

"Will you calm down, It's not that bad, why are you freaking out so much?" Sure having a sex tape, probably wasn't a good move in your career but the teenager didn't understand why Rachel had given up her dreams over it.

"It was with a girl."

"What difference does that make?"

"The girl was a co-star from Broadway, she's married Quinn." Rachel had never meant to be involved in an affair but the girl was just so beautiful and hers and Jesse's relationship wasn't working out so after a late night of reading through lines together, they ended up making out and from then onwards they saw each other more frequently. One night they'd gone back to Rachel's apartment and got caught by Jesse and from that moment onwards the boy pledged to get back at her for betraying him.

"You both cheated, so why should you have to suffer with the consequences and not her?" Quinn knew she probably should be discussing such a topic whilst in the hospital, under a hell of a lot of sedatives but she couldn't just sit by whilst Rachel was going out of her mind in worry.

"I can't break up a marriage, I just can't." Rachel sighed, "Plus if it comes out, my fathers will see it or at least hear about it and they'd be so disappointed in me."

"It's a freaking sex tape, I don't understand the issue."

"The issue is I don't want thousands of people to see me like that, I'll be humiliated and there's hardly any chance that anyone will ever hire me again if Jesse revealed the video to the public." The brunette tried to get her point of view across.

"I guess we need to find a way to get that tape then." Quinn said, more to herself than to Rachel.

"Jesse will never let it go, it's his leverage, he looses that and he has nothing." The woman replied, taking her free hand and entwining hers and the skanks fingers together.

"Well... What if we found something to blackmail him back with?"

"Impossible, he's never does anything wrong." Rachel had been with Jessie since the start of college up until she obtained her first role on Broadway and never once had she known him to break any sort of rule. Either that or he was brilliant at covering things up, which sounded a lot like him.

"We'll have to change that then."

"How do you suggest we do that?"

"Leave it with me, I'll come up with something." Quinn told her stongly, wanting to show her how able she was at protecting the woman.

"You're perfect you know that?" The teacher kissed her student on her forehead lovingly.

"Yes I do." The younger girl agreed with an overconfident smirk.

"Of all things, I have to get a girlfriend with a bigger ego than me." The teacher laughed, not noticing the way that Quinn's breath hitched.

"Girlfriend? I'm your girlfriend." The teenager asked quietly, biting her lip, even though she deeply regretted the action when she remembered that her bottom lip was split on the left side.

"Obviously." Rachel stated, matter-of-factly.

"Oh..." Quinn trailed off.

"What? Did you not think we were?" Various different thoughts flashed through the singers mind, as she continued her voice came out as a high pitched squeal, "Oh god, you haven't been seeing other people have you?"

"No, no, it's just-It's stupid." The hospitalised girl tried to calm her, hoping she wouldn't be asked to explain as she was embarrassed by the truth.

"What is it?" Rachel asked stubbornly, although a little afraid of the answer.

"...Um, I kinda wanted to ask you properly after I had taken you on a real date." The punk's cheeks turned a light pink.

"Quinn..."

"It doesn't matter." She waved off, "Can I call you my girlfriend now then?"

"Nope." There was a teasing tone to Rachel's voice as she spoke, making her student give her a look of bewilderment. The brunette waited for a moment before she continued, knowing that waiting too long may cause Quinn to be upset with her, "...Because that date sounds perfect, where are you taking me?"

Quinn released her breath that she didn't know she'd been holding and pecked her future girlfriend's lips, "It's a secret."

The diva bit on the teenager's bare shoulder, just hard enough so she could feel it but careful not to hurt her any more than she was and then secured her arms around the punks waist and the two closed their eyes and relaxed into each other. Soon they both drifted off, falling into a soundless sleep. Neither hearing the door opened or Emily and Brittany as they stepped in, they'd been waiting outside until the voices had stopped, not wanting to interrupt. The blonde dancer walked straight up to her girlfriend and sat on her lap, her head resting in the crook of the latina's neck. Emily on the other hand leant in the doorway a smile on her lips as she looked over at Rachel and Quinn.

"What a couple of cuties..." She said into the dark, switching off the light and walking over and lay next to Puck, slapping away the boys hands as he tried to grope her in his sleep.

A/N: There it is, Russell is gone... For now.

Next chapter: I'll be introducing Sam, because I always thought he looked too similar to Quinn to date. Rachel will read the letter. And more, let me know if you have any ideas! Should be updating again in the next few day's hopefully! :)

Review maybe? Just a little one?