DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I don't own Glee.

AN: I really REALLY like this chapter. It took me a long time to write but I am finally happy with how it sounds. It does contain several references to Rachel's old life- however it is nothing graphic. Please read and review with care.

Hope you like it!

Elle xo

A few days after Christmas, Will took Rachel back to the hospital to have her cast removed. The technician asked if Rachel wanted to keep the cast but due to the circumstances in which the cast was put on, Rachel was undecided. On one hand, she didn't want to keep it because she didn't really need the reminder of how her wrist was broken in the first place. But on the other hand, this is the first cast (and she has had a lot) that has ever been signed by her friends. Will suggested that she keep it and if she decided later she didn't want it, they could throw it out.

The doctor took a look at Rachel's arm and gave her a brace to wear for a week or so while the strength was re-building. Rachel knew the drill well. This was about the sixth time she had broken her arm. She desperately wanted to go back to dancing and gymnastics the following week so she did everything she could to get her arm ready. Rachel was also glad to be able to wash her hair properly. She had covered her cast in cling-wrap before she showered but hair washing wasn't an easy task one handed.

Rachel was braiding her hair when her dad knocked on her door and pushed it open, "Phones for you," he smiled.

"Hello?"

"Hi Rach, it's Santana!" came the cheery voice on the other end.

"Oh… Hi!" Rachel smiled. She missed seeing her friends everyday now, "Did you have a good Christmas?"

"Si, Christmas in the Lopez house is like a national affair," she said in a thick Latina accent, "It's pretty full on. I always forget how crazy my family are."

Rachel laughed.

"So do you have plans for New Year on Friday?" Santana asked her.

"Nope… Noah and I talked about doing something, but I don't know what. Why?"

"My parents are letting me have a little get together. It's not a huge thing. Mostly just the Gleeks but my sister said we can hook up her Singstar and battle it out until midnight… What do you say? You in?" Santana asked hopefully.

"Uh I'd love to. Let me check with my dad," Rachel smiled and threw the phone down on her bed while she went to find Will, "Daddy can I go to a New Years party at Santana's house Friday night?"

He smiled at her, "I suppose Emma and I can break in the New Year by ourselves," he said with a laugh, "Go ahead."

"Thanks," she laughed and picked up the phone again.

"Yeah I can go," she told Santana, "Have you asked Noah yet?"

"I thought I would leave that up to you. I figured you would be doing something together anyway and you probably have a better chance of getting him to come to this than I would have."

"I'll call him in a minute. Thanks for the invite." Rachel hung up and rang Noah's number.

"Hey Baby," he answered, "I missed you."

"Hi. I've missed you too," she smiled, "Santana just rang. She's invited us to a New Years party on Friday."

"Cool. That sounds better than anything I could come up with. I have to watch my sister until mom gets home from work though so I'll have to meet you there," he told her.

"It's okay. I'll ask dad to drive me. Umm Noah?"

"Yeah?"

"Is your mom home? I want to talk to her about something," Rachel said hesitantly. She wasn't even really sure if she wanted to bring up this topic yet but she wasn't sure how her dad would take it and thought Rebekah might have a better insight.

Noah smiled. He loved that Rachel was so comfortable talking to his mom. He was the first to admit it was awkward sometimes that she couldn't talk to him but he understood Rachel was always going to have things in her past that she found difficult to share with him.

"Yeah she is… Hang on, I'll go find her," He walked out of his room and downstairs to find his mom helping his sister in the kitchen, "Ma? Rach wants to talk to you… I'll help Hannah," he said to his mom before talking back into the phone, "here she is… love you."

Rebekah took the phone out of the room so they could talk privately, "Hi Sweetheart," Rebekah smiled as she greeted her son's girlfriend. She was still giddy that the pair had finally declared their love for each other, "What can I do for you?"

"Umm… I was thinking earlier about… well about the Berry's house and stuff," Rachel muttered quietly, "I know I have a new life and a new family and I really don't ever want to go back there but… It's just, I have a few things there that I left behind… and I don't know what they did with any of it and it really has no value but..."

"It's okay Rachel, I know what you're saying. The things you left behind were yours… Have you told your dad any of this?" Rebekah asked tentatively, "You know he can organise for you or someone to go and get your things?"

"I know but, I don't want him to think that the things he gives me aren't good enough because they are more than I could ever ask for," Rachel explained quietly.

"Do you want me to talk to him for you?" Rebekah asked.

"I don't know," Rachel replied, "… Would you mind?"

"Not at all… put him on and I'll talk to him now," the woman smiled.

Rachel walked out into the living room with the phone in her hand. She handed it over to her father, "It's Rebekah," she explained and then quickly left the room.

"Rebekah. Hi," Will said into the phone.

"Hello Will. Look Rachel has wanted to talk to you about something but she has been a little hesitant to do it so I volunteered… " Rebekah explained the situation to Will who was very understanding. Will promised that he would make the arrangements with Social Services straight away and then the three of them (Will, Rachel and Rebekah) would go together.

"Thanks for talking to her Rebekah. I appreciate that she has someone she feels comfortable discussing this with," Will said honestly.

"It's not a problem. Let me know when everything is sorted."

Will hung up and immediately rang Melanie at Social Services. He explained the request and she said she would arrange with the police to have the house unlocked tomorrow so they could pack up all the belongings. After hanging up, Will walked down the hall to Rachel's room and found her sitting on her bed, her head hung low as she stared into her lap.

"We're going to go tomorrow afternoon," He told her with a smile, "Rebekah is going to come with us."

"You're not angry are you?" Rachel said in a whisper.

He crossed the room and sat next to her on the bed, "Not one bit. You have every right to want the things you left behind and I'm proud of you for having the guts to ask about it." He slung his arm around her shoulder and kissed her forehead.

"I love you Daddy," she said, returning his hug, "thank you."

"Noah honey!" Rebekah called through the halls the next day, finding her son in front of the computer, "I'm just going to Will and Rachel's house for a while to help out with something," she said, "Can you look out for your sister for a while."

Noah nodded, "Is Rachel alright?" he asked his mom.

"She's fine honey. She just wants to get some of her things from her fathers house and wasn't sure how to ask Will. We've organised with Social Services to let us in today."

"Are the Berry's going to be there?" He asked, concern evident through his tone. He knew Rachel's dads were out on bail until the court hearing in a few weeks.

"I don't know Noah," his mom said honestly, "but it is policy that the police are present… Don't worry we'll all be fine but Rachel might need you later on… this isn't going to be easy for her."

Rachel stood outside her childhood home with her father and Rebekah. Melanie was standing off to the side. Rachel couldn't take her eyes off the door to the house she once loosely called home.

"Are you sure you want to go inside?" the social worker asked her, "We can collect your things for you if you like and you can stay out here."

"No. I want to go in," Rachel replied bravely, "… are they… are they in there?"

Melanie shook her head, "No, they were escorted off the premises by the police a little earlier."

"Okay," Rachel walked towards the house. She stepped through the door and looked around. Things hadn't changed much. A few bit and pieces had been moved and since Rachel had been the only one to clean in the house, it was messier than it had been. Will got the chance to see the house his daughter had been raised in and he was less than impressed. When he walked into his parents house even now, there were pictures and memories of him growing up thrown across the walls. From what he had seen in this house, there was not a single piece of evidence to suggest that a child once lived here.

Will, Rebekah, Melanie and a police officer followed Rachel through the halls and upstairs to her old room. Will had to hold back his comments at seeing the numerous locks that would prevent someone from getting out of the room as well as ones that stopped you from getting in. She tried twisting the door handle but found it locked. Rachel sighed and walked a few metres back down the hall to another room where she picked up a door stop, sighing again when she realised her key was gone. Everyone looked at her confused and in shock as she opened the window of the other room and climbed out and onto a large tree branch. Will stood in the window and watched as she easily climbed into her old room and returned a minute later with a key.

"I uh… I wasn't allowed out of my room much…" she admitted quietly, "I found a couple of their keys and hid one in the doorstop in case I got locked out one day. Apparently they found it." She let them into her room, "It's not the first time I've had to climb through the window."

She opened the door to her room and sighed. It looked like her fathers had pretty much dumped anything that had any relation to her in the room. Curiously, Will opened one of the boxes piled on her bed and was surprised to find old school pictures and reports.

"Oh! I always wondered where they went," Rachel said, "I didn't think they kept them." The group set about boxing up the belongings that Rachel wanted to take with her. There wasn't a lot but then again, she was never given a lot. Once the men had taken the boxes down to the car, they all looked around the room again. Rachel took a movie poster off the wall near the door and rolled it up. She frowned when it revealed a hole in the wall and she ran her hand over it.

"I broke my hand doing this," she declared to the group. No one needed to ask her how or why she felt the need to punch the wall. They all just accepted that it was part of Rachel's old life. They were about to walk out the door when Rachel suddenly remembered something.

"Oh!" she cried, running back to the nightstand and pushing it away from the wall. Will moved closer to see what she was doing and watched as she lifted a few floorboards to reveal a hiding space underneath. Rachel pulled out a few bags and boxes, "I can't believe I nearly forgot these." The hole under the floorboards had been Rachel's hiding spot for many years. She had kept anything sacred there, including her diary, a small stash of money, photos, letters, music and much more. In her rush to pack she had forgotten them.

Finally they were done and without a second glance, Rachel walked out of the house, straight to her Dad's car and climbed in. An hour later, everyone had left Rachel to sort through her belongings by herself. Slowly everything was put away in its new home, except her diaries and the box that Will had found earlier. She gathered them and carried them out to the living room where Will was watching TV.

They flicked through the old school photos together, "Weren't you a cutie," he laughed at a picture of an eight or nine year old Rachel smiling with gaps in her teeth, "I think some of these need to go up on the walls… would that be okay?"

Rachel smiled and nodded. She ran her hands over the front of her diaries, "Umm… you can read these if you want," she told him, "… I know you are curious about certain things and that I don't talk about it much… but I think you should read these if you want to know. I explain a lot in them."

"I don't want to invade your privacy Rachel…" Will hesitated, "Kids generally don't want their parents reading their diaries."

"I want you to read them… I think you of all people should understand exactly what happened," Rachel put the books in her father's hesitant hands. She kissed his forehead and walked out of the room.

That night when Emma climbed into bed, Will was sitting up reading.

"What are you reading?" She asked him quietly.

"Rachel's diary," he replied. Emma gave him a strange look that made him laugh, "don't worry, she told me to read it. They are her old ones, from when she was living with the Berry's." He explained, "I can't believe how much she has been through… I mean, this diary is from when she was ten or eleven and she is talking about how she has been locked in her room for two days because she didn't have dinner ready on time… She says she wonders whether they forgot they locked her in there and whether she should climb out the window and let herself out because she is starting to get hungry… When I was eleven, all I had to worry about was who my favourite cartoon character was. I didn't even know how to turn the oven on."

"Rachel is a brave girl… she probably won't ever completely get over what happened to her as a child but she is already making tremendous progress at working around it. She has been so happy over the last few weeks and her letting you read her diary is her way of reaching out to you because she knows she can't talk about it yet," Emma reassured him.

Will sighed, closed the book and turned off the light.

AN: What did you think?! Please review!