Shelby's POV:
It took about an hour for Rachel to finish getting checked out and as soon as I was able to I made my way back to her room to find her half asleep on the bed.
"Hey." I said as I leaned against the doorframe and she looked at me.
"Hey." She said with a small smile and I walked into her room and made my way over to her bed side.
"So what's the verdict?" I asked and she sighed.
"No internal bleeding, they don't think there is anything broken, but they want to keep me over night for observations. Where is your ice?" Rachel asked and I smiled as I walked over and grabbed her hand.
"I had ice on my head for an hour, I'm fine. Now do you want me to stay with you?" I asked and she shook her head.
"No you need to go tend to Beth and I will be fine." She said and I sighed.
"Are you sure?" I asked and she nodded.
"Yeah, I will be sleeping anyway." She said settling back down on her pillow and I kissed her forehead before I backed away.
"We can talk in the morning alright?" I asked and she nodded.
"Yeah." She said and I slowly backed out of her room and then walked out to where Jesse was waiting being as visiting hours were over.
"So how is she?" He asked and I smiled.
"The only reason she is staying here is for observations, she will be fine but she wants us to get some sleep. We can see her in the morning." I said and Jesse looked behind me and then nodded.
"You're right. Can I just stay at your place tonight? It's closer to the hospital than my place and..."
"Sure, it's no problem." I said as I guided him to the entrance of the hospital and we walked out to my car.
The car ride back to my apartment was silent. Jesse just looked out the window while I drove down the street. Neither of us really knew what to say after the events that transpired tonight and I was not looking forward to the questions that Beth was going to be asking.
I gave Jesse the keys to the apartment while I went to pick up Beth. I was relieved to find that she was asleep when I got her and I picked her up into my arms and carried her back to the apartment without waking her up. I had just laid her down in her bed when she opened her eyes and looked at me.
"Mommy what happened?" She asked and I smiled down at her.
"Nothing sweetie, why don't you get some sleep and we will talk more in the morning." I said and she nodded.
"Alright, night mommy." She said as she rolled over and went back to sleep.
I made sure that Jesse had everything that he needed before I finally retired to my room and I changed into some comfortable clothes before I rested my throbbing head on my pillow.
The morning came too soon and as soon as the light flooded into my room I felt like I was hit by a bull dozer. I sat up in my bed and sighed knowing that I had a hundred things to do before I would be able to get back to the hospital to see Rachel. The first thing I had to do was to call Puck and get him to watch Beth for the day.
It took a while to convince him to watch Beth instead of going down to see Rachel himself but he finally agreed and he was on his way over when I went to go and get Beth up.
"Morning Beth." I said as I walked into her room and she sat up in her bed and smiled.
"Is Rachel home?" Beth asked and I shook my head.
"No, she spent the night somewhere else last night. But daddy is coming over to watch you while uncle Jesse and I go see Rachel. Okay?" I asked and Beth nodded.
"Yeah, I don't get why you won't just tell me what happened but okay." She said as she got out of bed and I rolled my eyes as I walked into the kitchen to see Jesse making breakfast.
"It looks like you've been up for a while." I said as I snuck a piece of bacon.
"I couldn't sleep and you can have more than just that one piece if you want." He said as he handed me a plate and he went back to the pancakes that he had in the pan.
"Did you get any sleep?" I asked as I looked over the huge display of food and he nodded.
"Some." He said as Beth ran around the corner and squealed.
"I knew I smelt pancakes!" She said as she ran into the kitchen and Jesse plated some pancakes for her.
"Here you go Beth." He said as he handed her the plate and she walked over to me.
"Can I have some syrup and whipped cream?" She asked and I chuckled as I walked over to the fridge and got the stuff out for her and put it on the table.
"Not too much." I said as she opened the top to the syrup bottle and smiled at me.
"Of course not." She said in an innocent voice and I rolled my eyes knowing that she was about to drown her pancakes in the sugary toppings I handed her.
I was able to get Jesse and myself to eat something before Puck arrived and luckily with the amount that Jesse had cooked I didn't have to be worried about Puck eating me out of house and home when he watched Beth.
"You will call as soon as she is released right?" Puck asked and I nodded.
"I will call, I promise, now Jesse and I have to go." I said as I grabbed my purse and Jesse and I left.
When we got to the hospital Jesse and I rushed to Rachel's room to find that she was up and talking to her doctor when we walked in.
"Ah, I'm guessing this is the mother and boyfriend that you were talking about." The doctor said and Rachel nodded.
"They are." She said as Jesse made his way over to her bedside and the two kissed for a minute before Jesse pulled away.
"How are you feeling?" He asked and Rachel smiled.
"Sore but okay." She said and the doctor nodded.
"I was just telling Rachel that if she feels fine she will be free to go home this afternoon." The doctor said and Rachel sighed.
"How many times do I have to say I feel fine before someone believes me?" Rachel whined and the doctor had a small smile.
"Sassy are we?" He joked and she rolled her eyes.
"Thank you Dr. White, I will let you know if anything changes." Rachel said and the doctor smiled as he walked out the room.
"Seriously call me if anything changes." He said to me on the way out and I nodded.
"Will do." I said as I shut the door behind him and turned to Jesse and Rachel who were already cuddled on the bed.
"So you said you wanted to talk?" I asked as I walked towards her and she nodded.
"Yeah, Jesse can you go get me something to drink?" Rachel asked and Jesse nodded as he kissed her one last time before he walked out of the room.
"So what are you talking to me about?" I asked and she sighed as she pointed to the chair next to her bed.
"The cops want to take my statement later and I guess it would be easier if you would be with me when I had to give it..."
"If that is what you want." I said and she nodded.
"I also wanted to talk to you about a few other things but I think that they can wait for a little while." She said and I nodded.
"Alright." I said as Jesse walked back into the room with a thing of water for Rachel.
"So what possessed you to go last night?" Jesse asked and I shot him a look.
"Not now." I hissed and he ignored me.
"Rachel?" He asked and she sighed.
"Can we get into this later?" She asked and Jesse shook his head.
"No we can't..."
"Yes we can." I said as I rested a hand on Jesse's shoulder and he sighed.
"Shelby..."
"Jesse this is not the place, we can talk later." I said and Rachel held her hand out to him and he took it.
"I guess I don't want to make you upset." He said taking her hand and she nodded.
"I appreciate it." She said kissing his hand.
I stayed for a few more minutes before I decided to walk around and let Jesse and Rachel have some of their "adult time" together. It was about an hour later that I got a text from Jesse letting me know to come back to the room.
"Hey I got your text." I said as I walked into the room and Jesse nodded and kissed Rachel before he walked out of the room and I walked over to Rachel.
"Officer Diaz called and said she was on her way up, I just wanted you here." She said and I nodded as I sat down next to her as her room door opened the the officer walked into the room.
"Hi Rachel I was the one who called." She said as she stepped into the room and Rachel nodded.
"I'm Rachel." She said and officer Diaz dragged a chair up to the opposite side of her bed.
"I have a few questions to ask you and you can just tell me as much as you feel comfortable telling me, alright?" She asked and Rachel nodded.
"Yeah, it sounds great." Rachel said as she reached over and grabbed my hand and I gave hers a reassuring squeeze before the first question was asked.
"So Rachel do you remember when all of the abuse started?" Rachel was asked and she shook her head.
"I don't remember a specific instance that it all started but I do remember when I realized it wasn't normal." She said and the officer nodded as she jotted something down in a notebook.
"And when was that?" She asked and Rachel sighed.
"Sixth grade."
"So this has gone on for a long time huh?" The officer asked and Rachel nodded.
"As long as I can remember and maybe longer." Rachel stated and I bit my lower lip to keep from showing my anger.
"Have your dads ever sexually violated you?" The officer asked and I looked at Rachel who clenched her eyes shut for a brief second.
"Once. My father James has. My other dad was out of town, it was only a few weeks before I moved to New York and I forgot what I did that time to make him mad but he was beating me and then he just stopped. I guess usually when it was all over my dads would take care of each other but with the one out of town, I was a good substitute. When my other dad got back into town he found out and he was furious. He took it out on me and that was the only time that I remember being touched like that, until last night." Rachel said and I was shocked by her answer being as she told me that they never touched her like that.
"What happened exactly last night?" The officer asked.
"I had run into my dads earlier in the day. They handed me a slip of paper with an address on it and they told me they would be in touch. When I got on my facebook last night I had a friend request from them and they told me to meet them..."
"Why did you go?" The officer asked and Rachel sighed.
"Laura Evans and her family moved to Florida but it wasn't because of her father's job." Rachel said looking at me and the officer gave us a confused look.
"Who is Laura Evans?" She asked and Rachel turned back to her.
"She was my friend in sixth grade, she was the only person who ever knew about the abuse prior to this year." Rachel said revealing something that she had never told anyone.
"What happened to Laura?" Officer Diaz asked and Rachel sighed as she leaned back and closed her eyes.
Rachel's POV:
"I didn't listen to my dads. They told me to stop hanging out with her but I couldn't, we were friends. She was home alone on the last Friday before winter break. Her brother had a soccer game so her parents were taking him there but she was sick so she was at home. She had asked me to come over and my dads were working late so I went...
"Laura I don't think that this is a good idea." I said as I entered her house making sure that the coast was clear before I entered.
"Come on Rachel, we never hang out anymore." Laura pleaded and I sighed.
"My dads don't want me around you..."
"Because they hit you, I know. But like I told you I can keep a secret." Laura said as we sat on her couch.
"I miss this." I said as she turned on the television and she nodded.
"Me too. Do you want to watch a movie?" She asked and I shrugged.
"Sure, but I have to get home before they do." I warned and she nodded.
"We have like an hour, that is a ton of time." Laura said as she put in one of her favorite movies and we settled onto the couch.
The movie was almost over when there was a knock at the door. Usually when Laura was home alone she was not suppose to answer the door but Megan her neighbor was suppose to be bringing over something for her mom so she jumped up to get the door.
"Who is it?" I asked as I followed behind her.
"I can't see, I'm not tall enough to reach the peep hole." She said as she stretched onto her toes and I sighed.
"I guess you should just open it." I said and she shrugged as she pulled the door open to reveal my two angry fathers.
"Rachel I thought we told you not to hang out with her." My dad said pointing to Laura who at this point was pouting.
"I-I..."
"Why can't she hang out with me?" Laura snapped and I quickly turned my head towards her.
"Excuse me?" My daddy asked taking a step towards her.
"Rachel and I are friends, why can't she hang out with me? I mean I'm not the one who hits her." Laura barked and I felt my face fill with terror.
"What did you just say?" My dad asked and Laura realized what she had done.
"Nothing, I-" My dad snatched a fist full of her hair and yanked her face up to his.
"No it sounded like you were insinuating that Rachel's father and I hit her." He said in a fierce tone.
"I-I"
"Leroy take Rachel out to the car, I will be out in a minute." My dad said glaring down at Laura who shot me pleading eyes.
"Daddy..." I was smacked hard across the face by my father before I was pulled out of the house and carried to the car.
"Laura never showed up for school on Monday and by the following Friday her family had moved. I don't know what ever happened to Laura but from that moment on my dads got involved in every aspect of my life. They knew everyone I hung out with and everything about them. The last thing I wanted to do was to give them any reason to hurt someone I care about, that was why I went." I said as I looked over and saw Shelby chew on her lip again.
"Who would they have hurt?" Officer Diaz asked and I remembered the list of people that they had told me last night.
"High school friends, my mom, her daughter. They know everything about the people I care about including where they work and live. Had I of not gone last night they would have done something to one of them and I couldn't let that happen." I said as I felt Shelby's grip tighten around my hand.
"This is the part that I hate getting into but can you give me some specific examples of their abuse?" The officer asked and I clenched my eyes shut as I nodded. This was the last thing that I wanted to be doing right now but I knew that I had to get through this.
The interview last for a good hour before I couldn't take it anymore and the officer kindly excused herself saying that she now had more than enough information for her case. When it was all over I was scared to look at Shelby to see what she thought of everything that she had just heard. It was a lot for anyone to take in, but it was worse for her to take in being as some of the examples I had given resulted in direct correlation with me coming in contact with her.
"So what now?" I asked after a few minutes of silence as I finally looked over at Shelby and she gave me a weak smile.
"I don't know. That was a lot to sit through..."
"Look Shelby I get it if you need a break..."
"That wasn't what I meant Rachel. In the last hour I learned that your dads did something to your best friend in middle school, sexually violated you before you moved to the city, and beat you for countless things, and yet here you are this incredible person. I just don't understand it." She muttered and I sighed.
"I'm not an incredible person in the least..."
"Yes you are and I am going to do what ever I have to in order to make sure that you see that you are an amazing person." She said as there was a knock on the door and we both looked over to see Dr. White waiting for our moment to be over.
"Hey I just wanted to let you know that as soon as you sign these discharge papers you are free to go." He said holding up a clipboard and I nodded and held out my hands and he walked over and handed me the papers.
"I'm going to go find Jesse and bring back your clothes to change into." Shelby said as she got up and I gave her a small smile as she left.
"Tough day?" Dr. White asked and I smirked.
"You don't know the half of it." I said as I signed the papers and handed them back to him.
"Well it looks like everything is in order. Take it easy the next couple of days and we have prescribed some painkillers for you that you can take if you need them but other than that you are leaving with just a few bumps and bruises..."
"And a few mental scars." I muttered.
"What was that?" He asked and I plastered on my show face.
"Nothing, I just said thank goodness that was all that happened." I said as charismatically as I could and he smiled.
"Well I would say that I hope to see you around but one you have a boyfriend and two I would hate to see such a pretty face back here." He said trying to flirt with me and I just laughed as Jesse walked in.
"It would be a shame to have to come back here." I said and he smiled as he went to walk out of the room.
"Take it easy Ms. Berry." He said and I nodded.
"I wouldn't dream of having it any other way." I replied and Jesse smirked as he walked over to the bed.
"Let's get you out of here."
Shelby brought my clothes in and I changed into them and combed through my hair before we finally left the hospital and I was so happy to be heading back to Shelby's apartment, although now that my dads were out of the way I was looking forward to returning to my house sometime soon. It seemed like as soon as we walked through the door I was bombarded by Puck and Beth.
"You said you would call!" Puck said to Shelby as he pulled me into a hug and I saw her grimace.
"That was what I forgot." She said as Puck turned his attention to me.
"I'm so sorry. I know that I promised that I would never let them hurt you again..."
"Puck I'm fine. I've been through worse and it wasn't your fault." I said pulling away from his hug only to be attacked by Beth a few seconds later.
"Never run away again!" She said and I laughed.
"I promise I won't." I said as I returned her hug and she smiled.
"Good now can we play dress up?" She asked and I shook my head.
"I need to talk to Jesse about something but I'm sure your mommy and daddy would love to." I said as I grabbed Jesse's hand and pulled him down the hall to my room, shutting and locking the door behind us.
"What is this all about?" He asked before I could crash my lips into his and he pulled away and sighed. "Rachel..."
"Shut up and kiss me Jesse." I said and he sat me down on the bed.
"Rachel you have been overly affectionate since last night. What is going on?" He asked and I sighed.
"You want to know what made me go last night and I don't have an answer that you are going to like." I said and he sighed.
"Tell me the truth Rachel, that is what I want." He said and I nodded.
"I went because I was afraid that they would hurt someone I loved. I know it was stupid but you mean so much to me and they knew that, I did it because I wanted to protect you and everyone else." I said and he smiled before he pulled me into a deep kiss.
"I thought you said I wouldn't like your answer." He said against my lips and I smiled.
"I didn't think you would." I retorted and he pulled away.
"I don't like that you felt the need to go to them in the first place but I love your intentions and I love you." He said and I smiled before I pushed him down on the bed and I crawled on top of him and sat on his chest.
"I love you too." I said before I lower myself so I could kiss him and he smiled.
"I was pretty sure that the doctor told you to take it easy." He said and I rolled my eyes.
"Is that what you want?" I asked and he smirked.
"Do you want your mom to find out?" He asked and I laughed.
"Who says she has to find out?" I questioned and he pulled me down on top of him and kissed me, slipping his tongue over my bottom lip and into my mouth before he pulled me next to him in the bed and he sat up.
"Not tonight Rachel." He said and I pouted.
"Why not?" I asked and he rolled his eyes.
"Because last night you were being beaten by your dads and tonight is your first night of freedom..."
"And I want to spend it with you, every single moment of it." I said but Jesse wasn't having it.
"And as much as I would love to do that one of your ex-boyfriends is in the other room with your mother and sister. This is not the romantic setting that I had in mind for our first time together." Jesse said and I sighed.
"I guess you are right, but I want to ask you something." I said and he raised an eyebrow.
"And what do you want to ask me?" He questioned and I smiled.
"Move in with me, not here of course but when I go home." I said.
"Alright." He said without hesitation and I smiled as I pulled him into a hug ending it with a quick kiss before he took me into his arms and carried me out of the room and into the living room where Shelby was helping Beth do Puck's makeup.
"Now isn't he just the cutest thing you have ever seen?" I teased as Jesse set me down on the couch and Puck shot me a glare.
"I would watch it Rach, I heard how they got you to participate last time." Puck threatened and Jesse laughed as he sat next to me.
"You wouldn't dare, plus Jesse wouldn't let you." I said and Jesse nodded.
"She's right, now I would hold still or Shelby might poke your eye out with that eye liner." Jesse teased and Shelby shot the two of us a look.
"I don't know why you two are teasing him, you both are going to participate as well." Shelby said and Jesse and I shook our heads.
"No way." I countered and she smiled as she handed the eye liner to Beth and she got up from her chair and started to walk over to us leading to Jesse and I scrambling to our feet to get away from her.
"Stay away." Jesse said as we played ring around the rosy around Shelby's couch.
"Come on it will be fun!" She said but we weren't buying it.
"Mommy it's your turn." Beth said and Shelby sighed as she walked over to the chair that Puck had vacated and took a seat.
"Wouldn't you much rather play with Jesse and Rachel?" She asked and Beth shook her head.
"Nope. I never get to play dress up with you and daddy." Beth said and Jesse and I laughed as we pulled out our phones to document the event.
"If these picture circulate through rehearsal you two will not be happy." Shelby threatened as Beth put the finishing touches on her hooker makeup and moved on to doing her hair.
"Where is Puck?" I asked when Shelby was almost done and Jesse shrugged.
"Probably hiding before Beth starts to pick out outfits." Jesse commented and I nodded.
It was a few seconds too late that we realized Puck was standing behind us with duct tape and was waiting for the right moment to launch his assault.
Shelby just laughed as Jesse was taped to the chair leaving me defenseless against her and Puck.
"You might as well just give in." Puck said as he tried to corner me and I shook my head.
"Never!" I cried a little too soon as I felt Shelby's arms wrap around my own as she dragged me over to the couch and sat with me so I couldn't escape as Beth finished up with Jesse.
"You two are horrible people." Jesse said as Beth fashioned a bow in his hair that Puck had picked out and Puck shrugged.
"I just don't like being tortured alone." He stated and I relaxed into Shelby's arms.
"You know the doctor said to take it easy." I said hoping that she would let me go but she didn't.
"You are sitting on the couch, you are taking it easy." She stated and I rolled my eyes.
"I don't think being chased falls into the taking it easy category." I stated and she laughed.
"We told you to just give in, but no." She said as Beth walked over and sat next to us.
"Are you going to struggle this time?" She asked and I shot her a look but shook my head.
"Nope." I stated and she gave me an evil smile.
"Good, you're a fast learner." She said as she attacked my face with the blush.
When she was finished she went to go pick out outfits while I just sat next to Shelby and rested my head on her shoulder.
"Why is this her favorite game?" I asked and Shelby shrugged.
"I wish I knew. If I could choose any game that she could never play again it would be this." She said and I laughed.
"I don't know, jump on uncle Jesse might be a close second." I added and Shelby laughed.
"That is true but at least I have some new photos of you to hang up." She said scrolling through the pictures Puck had taken on her phone of me being restrained by her as Beth did my makeup.
"Yes those are wonderful family photos." I joked and she smirked.
"They really are." She said as Beth walked back into the room with an arm full of Shelby's dresses.
"Mommy this one is yours." She said handing her a long sleeved black dress.
"Thanks." Shelby said half heartily and I laughed as she handed out Jesse and Puck's dresses.
"And this is for Rachel." She said as she handed me a pair of my pajamas and I laughed.
"What are these for?" I asked and she shrugged.
"You are suppose to take it easy, so while everyone else is playing tea party you can watch some television." She said and I smiled.
"I think I will take you up on your offer." I said as I went off to change feeling the three glares from behind me and I smirked.
A/n: SO I hope that this cleared some things up. Let me know if there is anything else you want to see and like I said for my other story I am thinking of wrapping up a few stories on here so let me know if you want me to continue with this one. If there is a big enough request I will continue I promise!
-Katie :)