A/N: Hello again! The song in this chapter is "No One Is Alone" from Into the Woods as sung by Bernadette Peters. Please, look up the video of her singing it. It's wonderful.

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.

For Good

Chapter 13: No One Is Alone

The day that Evangeline was released from the hospital, there were two things that didn't quite surprise her.

The first was the fact that reporters were swarming the outside of the hospital the second Noah wheeled her out through the front entrance. Microphones were thrust in her face, questions hurled at her a mile a minute. It was disgusting. Really, she knew it was because she had been in the modeling business. And these people…once they caught wind of a story involving someone who was somewhat in the public eye, they became vultures seeking out their prey until the presses were fired up and the ink dried on the newsstand.

"Get the fuck away from her!" Noah shouted as he helped Evangeline up from the wheelchair. She was fine enough to walk really. It was ridiculous that hospitals still made you exit in a wheelchair despite being almost completely healed, besides some bruises that still lingered and her mangled left hand.

Burt, Finn and Puck made a kind of human shield around her as they pushed through the reporters. Carole was already waiting in the car. Once they loaded Evangeline into the backseat, Carole rolled out of the parking lot, threatening to run over any reporter that got in her way without remorse.

The second thing that didn't surprise Evangeline was that when they walked into the Hummel-Hudson residence, there was the entire glee club, Mr. Schuester and Ms. Pillsbury waiting for them. As they had planned the same thing for Kurt when he returned from the hospital, Eve had been expecting something like this, and though she was tired, she was grateful for the distraction from her own thoughts.

To be fair, there was something that surprised her. Once they had all been fed and spent the afternoon chatting and laughing, Kurt pretended to look at an invisible watch on his wrist before looking at Evangeline. "Oh, look at what time it is. Guys, I think we'd better get Eve to her party."

Confused, she looked at the others. "This isn't my party?"

"Well, yeah, this is part of it," Rachel said. "But we have something else waiting for you too."

Santana grinned. "Something our adult supervisors aren't invited to."

So Evangeline was loaded into Kurt's car, along with Noah, Mercedes, and Artie. The other glee members followed as they took what Evangeline realized was the familiar route to the house she still owned, though no longer habituated. Indeed, when the car stopped, it was parked right outside the house.

It was difficult getting out of the car.

"Eve, are you alright?" Kurt asked, concerned.

She wasn't sure if she was alright. The last time she was here, Jared had been waiting there for her, ready to kill her. He'd broken everything in the house, too, if she remembered correctly. Part of her expected to walk inside to find the exact same scene she'd been in last time, despite knowing that Jared was dead, despite knowing that she was with people who would protect her from anything.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, opening the car door to hop out of the passenger seat.

Kurt smiled, offering his arm until she entwined hers with his. Together they walked to the front door, everyone following behind. "Ready?" Kurt asked. He earned a nod in return.

When the door swept open, Evangeline was greeted with an onslaught of colors, coming from banners, posters and streamers thrown everywhere. There was no broken glass and no empty spaces where her broken belongings had once been. It seemed there was something everywhere. In the kitchen, there was alcohol, the living room had a karaoke machine, and even the bathrooms were filled with decorations. If someone had been walking into the house for the first time, they never would have guessed that anyone had been attacked here.

"Alright everybody!" shouted Santana as everyone walked into the house. "We're, of course, grateful to see our sexy lady out of the hospital. So in honor of Eve, let's get crunk!" Everyone cheered, and the drinks were immediately passed out.

Evangeline would later have trouble recalling most of the events that took place that night.

She would remember a drunken game of spin the bottle. What kind of party would this be without spin the bottle? It was an empty Miller Light bottle that was placed in the middle of their rather large circle, the beer bottle acting as the instrument of what was a strange mixture of fate and physics. And it seemed the bottle was biased enough to pick only same-sex partners.

Rachel and Quinn had caused quite a stir. So did Mike and Blaine.

Santana didn't seem to mind much when Evangeline's spin stopped, facing her. The imprint of this moment on Eve's mind was entirely sensory. She could remember the smell of Santana's perfume, the ironically vanilla flavor of her lip gloss and the sounds of deep, male voices, groaning at the sight before them. Puck was uncharacteristically silent.

Eve would also remember an odd moment when she tried to cut the cast off of her left arm with a butter knife. Finn only just managed to stop her.

Then there was that time when Kurt and Blaine were dancing on her coffee table. Their hips seemed to have been glued together as they swayed with one another. Kurt must have been plastered.

Had they ordered pizza at one point? She vaguely remembered opening the door and laughing at some poor guy's work uniform before throwing some money at him.

And she would remember feeling oddly satisfied when she closed her eyes and finally went to sleep.

When she woke up, she would regret it all. The first sensation was the typical, nearly cliché pounding in her skull. The second was the dryness in her throat, which was what caused her to actually open her blue eyes to see if there was anything nearby that might quench her thirst, anything that wasn't alcoholic in nature. There wasn't. But once she got to looking around the living room of her house, she found herself distracted from her dry throat.

The entire glee club seemed to be sprawled out across the room, all in various stages of undress. She certainly didn't remember Brittany stripping down to her bra and panties or Kurt taking his pants off to resemble Tom Cruise ala Risky Business. Looking down at herself, she was relieved to find that she was still fully clothed.

The same couldn't be said for Noah Puckerman, who lay next to her in nothing but one sock, his left. It was nothing she hadn't seen before, but she was sure the male wouldn't be pleased to find himself naked in front of the rest of the glee club when he woke up. She threw the blanket that had been covering her moments earlier over him carefully.

It was definitely time to make some coffee and get the painkillers ready for everyone.

She was in the kitchen when she heard Sam exclaim, "Puck! Put that thing away!" It made her smile until she saw Jared standing in the corner of the room, staring at her with those dead, gray eyes.

"How is your cousin?" asked Dr. Donovan, crossing his legs to sit more comfortably in the leather chair across from Kurt's.

"She's better, I think. It was good to see her having fun after everything that happened," the brunette replied.

"Does what happened to her remind you of what happened to you?"

Kurt hadn't really thought about it, but he guessed the two incidents were pretty similar, just like him and Evangeline. And it had been after she was attacked that Kurt started seeing Karofsky following him around. "Now that I'm thinking about it, yeah. When Eve first old us about Jared and what he was like, I remember telling her not to let what happened to me happen to her. I feel the same kind of guilt now too, like there was something more I could have done. She was dealing with it all by herself," he explained.

"When you first came to me and I asked you about what happened to you, you said you should have been able to push your attacker off of you. Now you're reliving your guilt. You should have been able to do something. But Kurt, there are things that happen that you can't control. From what you've told me, your attacker was nearly twice your size and a football player at that. And Evangeline…she made a bad decision in not asking for help when she needed it—"

"It wasn't her fault!" Kurt shouted suddenly.

"But she couldn't fight him off."

"She tried to!"

"So did you."

There was a pause between them before Kurt realized what the man was doing. By getting him to admit that Evangeline wasn't at fault for what happened to her, he would be getting Kurt to say that he, too, was not to blame. "That's different," he said.

"Why?"

"I'm a man. I should be able to protect myself."

"Thinking like that won't change what happened. Instead of thinking about what you could have done, think about what happened. Until you can do that, it will be difficult for us to move forward." The doctor looked at him with a serious expression on his face.

"Can we talk about something else?" Kurt asked.

"Of course. How's your libido?"

Kurt sighed.

It was nearly impossible for Kurt to concentrate throughout the school day. Even listening to his friends chat during lunch seemed to be a chore. Besides, they were all Warblers. They were probably talking about the next solo that Blaine would have. He didn't really have to listen.

Instead he dwelled on what Dr. Donovan told him. Was he really thinking about what he could have done differently just to keep from thinking about what actually happened to him? No, that couldn't be true. He couldn't be thinking so much about that because he was distracted by the fact that the apparition of Karofsky was still following him around. Every time he looked at his own reflection, the broad young man loomed behind him, only to disappear when Kurt turned around. Even when he was walking through the hallways at Dalton, he thought he could see the red letterman jacket in his peripheral vision.

"Kurt, are you alright?" Blaine asked, a concerned look on his face.

"I'm fine."

Blaine didn't buy it. "Are you sure? You seem kind of out of it."

"Blaine, I'm fine!" Kurt snapped. Realizing that he had just snapped at his wonderful, supportive, perfect boyfriend and probably would again, Kurt stood up from his spot at the table. "Sorry, Blaine. I-I…just need to be alone for a bit." With that, he briskly walked out of the cafeteria. He was half surprised that Blaine wasn't following him as he made his way back to his dorm, the only place he could think of to be alone at the moment.

It was at times like this that Kurt was glad not to have been assigned a roommate. Anyone living with Kurt would have thought he was insane, what with the way he now entered the room, breathing unevenly and looking around as though fearful that something awful was going to happen any second. Slamming the door behind him, he locked it quickly before leaning against it, his heart racing, his chest rising and falling with each ragged breath.

Kurt pushed himself off of the door, unlocking it just as quickly as he had locked it a moment earlier. He needed water. To drink, to splash on his face. It didn't matter, as long as it was cold. Running into the dorm's communal bathroom, he flipped on the faucet and started splashing water against his face, not even caring that it was completely ruining all of his careful moisturizing. He was so hot, so feverish all of the sudden, his throat parched, his face turning pink.

That is, until he looked into the mirror. Any color in his face was drained at the sight of David Karofsky standing behind him, observing him with a lustful expression. Still dripping wet, Kurt stared at him, speechless for a moment, until he grew angry. It started as a gnawing pain in the pit of his stomach that spread like a cancer, taking over his body and his mind.

"Leave me alone!" he shouted at the apparition in the mirror. "You ruined my life, you fucking bastard! You ruined me!" Before he even knew what he was doing, Kurt sent his fist flying through the glass of the mirror, causing it to shatter, pieces falling into the sink along with Kurt's blood. Nursing the bloody hand, Kurt knelt on the bathroom floor, gasping for air. He was going crazy. That was what was happening. He was going insane.

"Kurt?" Who was that? It wasn't Blaine. That wasn't Blaine's voice. Where was Blaine? "Fuck, Kurt! What happened?" It was Wes, kneeling next to him, grabbing paper towels to cover Kurt's bleeding hand. "Kurt, hold this here and stay put. Don't go anywhere, okay?" Kurt nodded dumbly and watched Wes leave the bathroom.

When Evangeline used to model, she was never too perturbed by the way people looked at her. She was always being styled or photographed or watched on the runway. There were always at least ten different pairs of eyes on her while she was working.

But this was different. Walking the halls of McKinley left Evangeline open to the stares of her peers, their looks of sympathy and awe making her want to turn right around and go back home. Burt had told her to take the week off, but she had refused, wanting to get herself back to a normal schedule before she fell into a week of depression and massive calorie intake. And she thought being around people might take her mind off of…things. Besides, it wouldn't be that bad. It was school. She had been here so many times before. But now it was different. While she'd been able to walk through the halls with ease before, even the sound of a locker closing was enough to startle her.

Luckily, she was surrounded by her friends, led unsurprisingly by Noah. The second anyone came near her, someone was between her and them. In her mind, she knew she was safe. Even without the glee club tailing her like some detail, she would know that she was safe. Jared was dead. She simply wished that the rest of her could understand this, that she didn't see him walking behind her, feel him watching her from afar.

"Evangeline!" Ugh. Eve knew that voice. There was Jacob Ben Israel with his frizzy afro and a microphone, being followed around by his camera man.

"Fuck off, Ben Israel," Noah said.

"Eve, is it true that your romance with McKinley stud Noah Puckerman is back on?" Even as the group continued to walk, he followed, spouting questions. "It's rumored that you're planning on moving back to New York to model now that you'll probably never play the violin again."

This made Eve stop in her tracks. What if she could never play the violin again? Her entire career as a musician would be ruined. She wasn't a strong enough singer to make a career of it. What would she do? She didn't have any other incredible talents. She didn't have knack for numbers or business, and she didn't pay enough attention in biology to go onto be a science major in college. She wasn't into history, and though she liked English literature, she didn't like it enough to study it for four years. She had nothing she wanted to pursue more than music, nothing that was worthy enough to replace it.

But there was one thing she was good at, one thing that would make money. And that was modeling.

"No, she's not going back to modeling. She's staying here. Now get out of her face," Noah said, pulling Evangeline along with him as they started walking again. She hadn't even uttered a word, but she was glad.

She wasn't sure what her answer would have been.

"Kurt?" Now that was Blaine's voice. He was sure of it, even as his eyes remained tightly strewn shut. "Kurt, please. Just talk to me." It was a nice voice that Blaine had, smooth even when he was upset and worried. It wasn't the only thing Kurt could concentrate on besides the pulsing throb of his right hand. Still, he forced himself to open his eyes, only to find that he was in the nurse's office, his hand wrapped, Blaine standing over where he laid. There was that worried expression, the one where Blaine's thick eyebrows made stern lines on his forehead.

"How did I get here?"

"Wes got the nurse when he found you in the bathroom. Kurt, what were you thinking?" he asked, almost like a parent more than a boyfriend, but Kurt could tell he wasn't being scolded. Blaine was just scared, like anyone would be if they were dating someone who was going absolutely insane.

Speaking of which, the whole ordeal seemed to come back to Kurt, the image of Karofsky, punching the mirror, yelling and screaming, the blood and the glass. "I saw him, Blaine. He was in the mirror." Then Kurt started laughing. It all sounded so ridiculous, so crazy. But the laughter quickly turned into tears the moment he looked at Blaine's face again. "I'm not dealing with this very well, am I?"

Blaine sat down next to him on the cot. "That's not true. You're dealing with it a lot better than I would have."

"No, I'm not. Blaine, you don't have to shield me from this. I feel like I'm going crazy some days. When…sometimes when I look in mirrors, I see Dave Karofsky standing there behind me, leering at me. And I know that he's not really there. I just…feel like he's following me," Kurt explained. "I need to talk to Dr. Donovan."

"Right now? You should rest a little while."

"Blaine! I need to see him! This is important." The look on Kurt's face was so absolute that Blaine had no choice but to agree.

This was how Kurt ended up in the nurse's office with just Dr. Donovan. The middle-aged man had the same look he always had, inquisitive but not invasive, concerned but not over-protective. "Could you tell me what happened, Kurt?" he asked.

He tried to think of some way he could explain, some way he could make himself sound sane. But it wasn't the time for that. It was time to be honest, to face what was happening to him. "I…I keep seeing Karofsky. In mirrors. He just looks at me. Sometimes he speaks to me. I just don't know why this is happening. I was fine until…until Eve almost…"

"Until Eve almost died," finished the doctor. Kurt nodded. "Kurt, you're not going crazy. You've been repressing what happened to you. This is your mind's way of saying that you have to face what happened."

"He ruined my life; that's what happened."

"He didn't ruin your life, Kurt. You're going to live a fulfilling life. He's made things very difficult for you, no doubt. But when you deal with this, you'll move on. You might carry it with you for the rest of your life, but you're going to be just fine."

"You think so?" Kurt asked, hopeful but skeptical.

"I know so." The doctor smiled for a moment before continuing. "Kurt, I mean it when I say that you have to deal with what happened. I know you have some trouble remembering some of the details of that day, but focusing on what you do remember will help. Tell me what happened to you, Kurt."

Kurt wanted to tell him everything, but it came down to one sentence, three words total. "I was raped," he replied, grinding his teeth. But as he said it, he suddenly felt lighter, as though just saying it was enough to take much of the load off.

Eve didn't know how she ended up in the girl's bathroom, but there she was, cowering in one of the stalls, trying to force herself out so she could go to glee club. Maybe Burt had been right when he said it might be too early for Eve to head back to school. The noise and the staring and the people whispering to one another…it was all too much. And as she cowered, she mentally berated herself for being so weak, so delicate. This wasn't her. This was someone who lived in a world of fear, someone who couldn't even handle walking down a hallway without jumping out of her skin.

Opening the stall door, she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She wore no makeup and had no plans to any time soon. Why bother? The same went for her clothes. No heels adorned her feet today; no frilly tops or tight skirts were donned. She wore the closest thing to pajamas she could allow herself: a pair of skinny jeans and a slim-fitted sweatshirt and a pair of flat espadrilles. Her short, blonde locks were in a state of disarray.

"Eve?" Evangeline jumped and turned at the sound of Santana's voice. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, of course. I was just freshening up before glee club." She knew she was late, but it was the best excuse she could make.

"Come on. We've got something for you." Santana grabbed Eve's hand and led her out of the bathroom. Just as Evangeline had surmised, they were heading towards the choir room, where the rest of the glee club was already hanging out.

As soon as Evangeline entered the room, Finn took her hands and led her to one of the chairs in the front. "We thought that since you're back, we should put something together for you. It was Tina's idea, really. She picked the song and everything. And, well, it's everything we want to say to you."

The group was assembled so that the girls stood on the right, the boys on the left. Tina was the first to start singing after the piano introduction.

No one here to guide you
Now you're on your own
Only me beside you
Still you're not alone

No one is alone, truly
No one is alone

Finn joined in, smiling at Eve as he sang.

Sometimes people leave you
Halfway through the wood
Others may deceive you
You decide what's good

Everyone started singing now, filling the song with soft harmonies. Eve didn't even jump at their joined voices, as the song they chose was soft and soothing while being encouraging and full of hope.

You decide alone
But no one is alone

Kurt and Blaine laid, curled up on Kurt's bed, Blaine spooning him from behind, as they listened to the McKinley glee club sing. The video was playing in the backroom, but neither of them wanted to watch. They simply listened, holding one another as Santana's voice rang out.

People make mistakes
Fathers, mothers
People make mistakes

And as the others joined in again, Kurt grasped Blaine's hand and held it tightly to his chest.

Holding to their own
Thinking they're alone.

Evangeline smiled, misty eyed as Artie and Rachel sang together.

Honor their mistakes
Everybody makes
One another's
Terrible mistakes

Witches can be right
Giants can be good
You decide what's right
You decide what's good

Just remember…

For the rest of the song, the voices of the entire glee club melded together, creating the choral masterpiece Mr. Schuester always knew they were capable of.

Someone is on your side
Someone else is not
Well we're seeing our side
Maybe you forgot

They are not alone
Cause no one is alone

Hard to see the light now
Just don't let it go
Things will turn out right now
We will make it so

Someone is on your side.
No one is alone

Rachel moved forward to take Eve's hand, pulling her out of her seat and into the group so they could all embrace her the way they'd wanted to when she had been lying in that hospital bed just days ago. Though it was a large, group hug, Eve knew it was Noah who placed a comforting hand between her shoulder blades without looking to see who was where.

She always knew when it was him.

"Hey Kurt," Blaine said in a soft voice. He was still curled around Kurt on his bed, holding him close to his chest.

"Yeah?"

"Did you notice something?" Kurt turned around to look at his boyfriend, not sure what he was talking about. "I've been holding you from behind for almost an hour now."

"So?"

Blaine smirked. "You couldn't see me, but you didn't freak out."

Oh. Kurt suddenly sat up, thinking about it. He wasn't nervous because he knew it was Blaine, the boy that he loved. He knew this before, too, when he'd been freaking out, but this was different. He didn't just know it with his mind. He knew it throughout his entire body, through all of his senses.

And for once, Karofsky wasn't even on his mind, much less in his line of vision as he looked over towards the mirror on the other end of the room.

Blaine sat up next to him, grasping his hand. "Are you okay?"

Kurt smiled, leaning in to kiss Blaine on the corner of his lips before pulling back.

"Yeah, I'm getting there."

The next day, Evangeline stood in front of the glee club, trying to will herself to speak. They all looked at her with a mixture of concern and intrigue, wondering what it was that they had to tell them. "I want you all to know that I really appreciate everything you've done for me. Yesterday meant a lot to me," she started, wringing her hands nervously.

Rachel seemed to take this as a sign that she was finished. "We were happy to do it. I think the song would make a great number at sectionals and I took some notes on how we can make it sound even better—"

"I'm going back to New York." She blurted it out over whatever it was Rachel was going to say next, not being able to wait a second longer to tell them.

In that instant, everyone's face fell. When Evangeline's eyes met Noah's, she could see his pained shock, his utter disappointment.

"What?" Tina asked. "Why?"

"I got a few modeling jobs and now that I can't play the violin…"

"That's bullshit, and you know it!" Noah shouted, getting to his feet. "You'll play again. You just have to give it time. You don't have to go to New York. Please don't go." He was reaching for her, grasping her shoulders, begging her to stay.

But she couldn't, and so she pulled away. "I have to go. Figgins wants my locker emptied by this afternoon…"

"When do you leave?" Mike asked.

Eve looked at them all, trying not to swell with tears. "Tomorrow morning. I…I just want you all to know how sorry I am to leave so soon before sectionals. I know you'll do great without me, but still…" The glee clubbers looked at her, shocked into silence as she backed herself towards the door. "I'm so sorry, but I have to go."

And then she ran.

Evangeline Anne Hummel is packing her bags.

Kurt Hummel: DISLIKE

Noah Puckerman, Finn Hudson and 13 others liked this.

Tina Cohen-Chang to Evangeline Anne Hummel: We'll miss you! Don't hesitate to call!

Rachel Berry to Evangeline Anne Hummel: The team won't be as good without your talents…And I'll miss seeing you every day.

Sam Evans to Evangeline Anne Hummel: Hey, you'd better have an awesome time in NYC. I mean, as awesome a time as you can without me and my James Earl Jones impression around.

Artie Abrams to Evangeline Anne Hummel: Don't forget us little people when you're on the cover of Vogue.

Mercedes Jones to Evangeline Anne Hummel: Girl, you'd better Skype with me the second you get off that plane! Xoxo Merci

Blaine Anderson to Evangeline Anne Hummel: Take care of yourself in the big city! Save a spot for me and Kurt once we graduate.

Quinn Fabray to Evangeline Anne Hummel: Come back soon so we can have another sleepover.

Mike Chang to Evangeline Anne Hummel: Don't get too famous while you're out there!

Brittany S. Pierce to Evangeline Anne Hummel: Watch out for the troll that lives under the brooklyn bridge.

Santana Lopez to Evangeline Anne Hummel: If you ever want some sweet lady kisses, you know where to find me.

Kurt Hummel to Evangeline Anne Hummel: You'd better send me some of your free swag when you're at your big photo shoots! Love you!

Finn Hudson is driving Evangeline Anne Hummel to the airport.

"Nobody is mad at you, okay?" Finn said as they stood right outside of Evangeline's gate. "They all understand this is what you want."

Evangeline looked up at him, tears in her eyes. If only he knew that this was the last thing she wanted. She wished she could stay here, play the violin at Sectionals and see them bring home their trophy. Looking down at her left hand, she knew it was impossible.

She didn't burst into tears until Finn pulled her close. "It's going to be okay, right?" She nodded against her cousin's chest. His warmth was unlike anything she'd ever experienced in a person she'd only met a few months ago. Without a doubt he was family now, and it broke her heart to leave when she felt so wholly loved by the him and the other members of the glee club.

"Alright, my turn," Burt said, hugging his niece. Carol was quick to join in. "Now, you know I don't like that you're living alone out there. So you find a roommate as soon as you can. And the second you want to come back, you give me a call and we'll have everything set up for you."

Evangeline held onto Burt and Carole as though it were the last time she was ever going to see them. Like Finn, Carol had been quick to let Evangeline into her giving heart. "You have to come back for holidays. I don't care how busy you are. I won't take no for an answer." They both laughed through their tears as she said this.

"Evangeline!"

Tears flung as she snapped her head towards the sound of that voice. And there he was, running towards her, the security guards giving chase as he ran to her.

Just as she was about to open her mouth to speak, his lips pressed against hers, his hands diving into her cropped hair. It was the kind of clichéd kiss that left one dizzy afterwards. "Don't go, Eve. You don't have to go. I love you. Please don't go."

"Last call for flight 217."

Evangeline pulled away. What choice did she have? "Goodbye, Noah." With two words, she saw his face collapse into agony, a canvas of the destructive forces of teenage love and separation. It was a face that made her want to forget all of this and stay with him forever, to make him happy again. But she couldn't.

With one more woeful look at her family, she turned and walked through the gate.

And just like that, she was gone.