"So beautiful.."

Quinn heard it. He was in the room with her. She woke up to her wrists being held down and felt a scream build up in her throat but something felt different. The hands weren't forceful.

"Calm down Quinn. It's okay."

She felt her breathing increase as she pushed the body away from her, "It's not okay. He's coming. He's coming for me-"

"No ones coming, I promise."

Everything was a blur. All Quinn knew was that she was breathing. In and out. That's all she really needed to know. The voice that was once so loud in her head stayed quiet as if it were hiding.

The room came into focus as Quinn locked her eyes on Rachel. It was still night.

"What happened?"

"I came to check on you and it looked like you were having a nightmare. When I tried waking you up you had a bad reaction.. Are you alright?"

Quinn turned to the clock by the bed, "It's past midnight."

"Yes."

She took a deep breath and said the first thing that came to her mind, "Vanilla."

"What?"

"I smell vanilla."

Rachel didn't know the relevance of what Quinn smelled but it didn't matter. All Quinn could think of was that she was safe. There was no whiskey in the air or expensive cigars. It was absent for once and it helped her breathe. Vanilla filled her lungs and her heart rate slowed with each breath she took.

"Can you stay with me... please."

It surprised Rachel since not even a few hours ago Quinn felt betrayed and couldn't even be in the same room as her. But she stayed, carefully climbing into the bed and laying down behind Quinn. She ran her fingers down Quinn's arm and locked fingers with her.

"Rachel?"

"Hm?"

"Just because I'm angry with you and feel utterly betrayed doesn't mean I didn't enjoy that date we had earlier. It was nice.. Nice enough to make me brave for once. "

"I'm confused-"

"It means I didn't just stop liking you. Things are complicated but just promise me, no more secrets okay?"

Rachel nodded and let Quinn fall asleep. If Quinn didn't want anything hidden, Rachel would do more than have it all lay out on the table.

When Quinn opened her eyes, she took in the sun that flooded the room beautifully. Everything felt like a dream and that it'd disappear with the slightest touch. She slowly got up and went downstairs to see the Berrys sitting around the table having breakfast. She was about to turn back around when she heard her name being called.

"Hey Quinn, we saved a seat for you."

She walked to the table with hesitation and sat by Rachel.

"So, what are your plans for today girls?"

"We're going to Pucks later and should be home around dusk."

"We are?" Quinn asked with her eyebrow raised.

Rachel nodded and smiled at her fathers who seemed entertained at their daughter planning Quinn's day.

She looked at the time and started getting up from her seat, "I should start getting ready now if we want to get there by noon."

"It's only eight-"

"I have a tight schedule for my morning rituals."

As Rachel left, Quinn looked awkwardly between LeRoy and Hiram, "Thanks for letting me stay here. I really appreciate-"

"You don't have to be formal with us Quinn.. You were part of this family before you even knew it. Now, with our Rachel we should be doing that 'don't hurt our little girl' speech. We don't think you will though. But as long as you're underage, we have to ask to keep the door open if you'll be having more sleep overs."

She nodded and they ate breakfast together in peace. She wouldn't tell them how she thought her father could come any day, maybe any minute, to collect her. She let the feeling pass and suppressed the voice that tried to lure her to the handful of pills in her room. When it came to be near noon, she finally decided to tame her hair that stuck out in all directions and put on some fresh clothes. It took her 15 minutes flat to get ready and leaned by Rachel's door while waiting for her.

Rachel came out as if she were in a rush and grabbed Quinn's wrist to pull her along, "We're late."

"No, you're late. Seriously, it took you 4 hours to get ready?"

"Well I couldn't decide on what to wear." Rachel said as if it were obvious.

Quinn walked with her to the door and huffed, "You're wearing what you usually wear."

"If you're really gonna insult me on what I chose, maybe I should change."

"No, you said we're already late-"

LeRoy loudly addressed his husband while gesturing towards the girls, "This is what I was talking about with the struggle of new couples moving in too soon."

"We're not a couple" Rachel and Quinn practically said at the same time.

They both blushed while her dads looked like they weren't convinced as they smiled at each other.

Rachel crossed her arms and walked out of the house, "We'll be home before it gets dark."

Quinn followed behind her and tried to keep up with her short but fast strides, "Why are you still trying to be mad?"

"I'm not mad, I'm frustrated."

"At what? I only said you're wearing what you usually wear. I never said it looked bad or anything."

"Well-"

Quinn rolled her eyes as Rachel finally slowed down her pace, "You're impossible."

"I wasn't trying to argue, I was going to say that maybe I'm just nervous."

"Over what?"

Rachel mumbled out of embarrassment, "Not keeping anymore secrets.."

Before Quinn could ask what she meant they were already walking in Puck's house. They went down to the basement where he was playing one of his video games.

He didn't notice them enter the room as he talked through his head set, "It's not like you're even considered a dude Finn, you got the smallest dick-"

Rachel cleared her throat and pulled the plug on the video game console. Puck practically jumped up, "Hey! I was on a twelve-hour streak!"

"Noah, we're here for a serious talk, not to watch you shooting at people."

Puck looked at Quinn and nodded, "I know.. You still mad?"

"Some what. I feel better than I did last night." Quinn said.

Rachel took both of their hands into her own, "Quinn made me promise not to keep secrets anymore. I think it's a fair enough request don't you? We're all here for each other so that should mean laying it all out on the table."

Puck sat down in his bean bag again, "Okay.. Should we start with me or you?"

"You can go. I'm hardly a story."

Quinn looked at them both while scrunching her nose, "Story?"

"How we met, what happened to us.. Why we're like you." Puck said.

"I know your story though.."

"Not all of it. I only told you need to know stuff. You know that my dad used to drink. Trust me, our dads could've gone bowling together if he had a bit of money like yours.."

Puck was in his room for the third day in a row without leaving. He liked hoarding in there to stay out of his father's way but being just close enough to listen if his mom needed him. Usually there was no need for him during the day but he couldn't stand being anywhere in his house but his room. He quickly stood up when he heard the front door slam shut.

"You've been drinking-"

He heard silence and ran downstairs to find his father standing over his mom, "Don't touch her!"

"And what are you gonna do about it?"

Puck tackled him and brought him to the floor. His mother screamed for them to stop as his father scrambled on top of him and continued hitting him and kicking his ribs. His mother got thrown back a few times for trying to come between them. Eventually His father stopped and turned to his mother. Puck's face was an utter wreck and there wasn't a spot that wasn't bloody or bruise but he saw his dad still try to pursue his mom and didn't let his mangled face or ribs bother him just yet. He got back up and grabbed the lamp. He whipped out the chord from the socket and choked his father from behind until his mother stopped him.

"You don't need to go to jail because of him."

"He was going to hurt you! He deserves to die!"

"If you're my son, you'll never think like that again. My son doesn't try to kill people, even if they deserve it. Never. Understand?"

Puck nodded and let his mom call the cops for the first time.

"I think she called the cops because even though she told me not to kill him, she could see in my eyes that I wanted to. I would have." He snapped out of his reverie and really looked at Quinn, "Just like I would've killed your dad. If I didn't hear my mom's voice in my head, I would've done it with my bear hands."

"I don't think you would've, not in front of Quinn" Rachel said. She cleared her throat and turned to Quinn, "Now personally, things for me were different. My mom wasn't a drunk. She knew what she was doing. Well you see, she's an actress. Her first priorities were acting. She'd always tell me that I was lucky that she chose to keep me. But if she ever had an audition or a call back when I was younger, she'd leave me with just about anyone who would take me in. Many different men would be at my house and.." Rachel cleared her throat again and shook her head, "It doesn't matter but obviously everything has a breaking point."

Rachel's mom came back from another audition gone wrong. She saw 13 year old Rachel curled up on the beaten couch with her chin resting on her knee. The regular stranger that watched her seemed to be fixing his pants as he walked out of the apartment. Once again, Shelby acted like there wasn't a musty smell in the air or that Rachel's shirt looked a bit untidy.

After a few minutes of silence Shelby spoke up, "My audition went terrible. Thanks for asking my perfect little girl."

Rachel scoffed, "I wonder why. Was it the fact that you're still aiming for young roles or that you always do too much?"

"You think that you've got it all figured out. You really think you know how it works out there? I can hear you sing those stupid Barbra songs as if you've got a voice. You're nothing special."

"Is that the same thing they told you after your audition?"

Shelby strode over to Rachel and smacked her across the face, "Never talk to me like this again."

Rachel then got up without saying a word and left the apartment without looking back.

"I stayed at a friends until their parent's started getting suspicious. That's when they called child services and it took a few months before I got assigned to my dad. I told him she didn't want me back and a few days later she signed the papers to confirm it."

All three of them had a shameful glint in their eyes but they didn't look away from each other. They felt closer to each other after Rachel and Puck told their story but nothing was said of the connection they felt grow stronger.

"How'd you become the overly bossy and loud Rachel Berry then?" Quinn said with a bit of teasing in her voice.

"If there's one thing I'm good at, it's singing. Give me any stage and I'll blow anyone out of the water. Just knowing that, I have hope and it gives me confidence."

They sat there bonding while Quinn's little friend in her head tried catching her attention. She ignored it thinking that it'd eventually just go away. She was away from her dad so she didn't need the pills right?