Chapter 21

A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting. This chapter somewhat grew a life of its own. I kept debating about whether or not I needed to delete and revamp the whole thing. So please be gentle. If I get good reviews, you might get another chapter later tonight. (It's 8:45am here.) Please please please please review. Tell me what you think. And be nice.

Quinn was baffled. She had found Puck and apparently the rumors were active. People actually thought that Rachel had wanted to have sex with her. No one knew she was in the hospital because all she was to people was the loud annoying freshman, sister of head bitch Santana. People had chosen to forget about Karofsky's run-in with Santana. Quinn sighed, let's face it, this gossip was much more preferable than the reality. People don't want to accept the violence in one if they can blame the promiscuity of the other. Quinn folded her arms and watched a select group of Cheerios practicing in the crowded gym. This was the first time that Quinn noticed that there were actually other legitimate things going on in the gym in addition to Cheerios practice. Was there always an actual gym class going on? And what were all these people doing here on the bleachers with her. Didn't they have somewhere to be? She then realized why she was here. Free period.

Her attention broke when she saw Kurt speed-angry walking around the track. Then it was as if the world went in slow motion. She saw the bat…. And then she saw Kurt pick it up. Quinn ran down the bleachers, but not fast enough to not hear the two hits that Kurt delivered. The gym went up in chaos. Everyone began to gather around. It was difficult to make it to the front of the crowd, but Quinn managed it. Kurt was yelling at Karofsky and swinging at anyone who came near him.

"You all are idiots! Rachel Berry never asked for the horrible things that he did to her," Kurt pointed at him with the end of his bat. "She's in the hospital!" Kurt swung back to hit him.

"He's lying. Rachel wanted it! She's just another slut!" Karofsky announced trying to stand up from his pained kneeling position. Kurt took the bat and hit him in the knees.

"Kurt!" Mr. Schuster yelled aghast as the other students yelled egging him on.

"Schuester, go get Figgins, but do it slowly," Sue barked quietly at the poodle-haired man she detested. Mr. Schuester looked at her shock but then finally followed her command.

"Look at this pathetic boy!" Kurt announced staring Karofsky in the eyes. "He beat on me because I'm gay. –"

"That's not news!" someone from the crowd called out.

"Yeah! Get to the point," another yelled.

"Hit him again!" Jacob Ben Israel screeched.

Kurt went on ignoring them. "But what everyone continues to fail to notice is that he kissed me!" Karofsky growled and tried to stand up again just as Kurt brought the bat back and then underneath him, hitting his balls again. Karofsky double back over. "So he needed to prove himself, and he did so by brutalizing Rachel. He raped her and put her in the hospital. That's why we can't use the auditorium. The police are still investigating! Crawl out of your asses everyone!"

"The police aren't investigating," Karofsky growled. "You and Berry need to stop framing me!" He scanned the other students. "I wasn't here after school. I was at hockey practice at the rink. It's on tape."

Kurt's bat fell back a bit as he stared at Karofsky in shock. "That's not true…. That can't possibly be true. …."

"But it is, lady," Karofsky moaned as he tried to stand.

"That's it. Everyone out!" Sue roared. "GET OUT!" The students that had gathered in the gym started to leave. Bambi was helping to usher them all out into the hallway. Sue saw the Quinn had stayed behind.

"I said leave, preggo," Sue barked.

Quinn looked up at her defiantly. "No!" She then turned her full attention back to Kurt. He look so defeated. His bat was still raised as Karofsky tried to stand up. Kurt picked up his bat higher, but Quinn could see that it was trembling. He was losing all of the adrenalin that had been driving him before. He was melting; it was all falling apart.

"You did this, I know you did." Karofsky moved closer to Kurt as he stood up. He towered over the boy.

"You won't be able to prove anything," he whispered. He caught sight of Sue Sylvester's glare. He backed away. "Aren't you going to suspend him or something?" Karofsky yelled indignantly holding his groin still.

"I'm sorry, I've just experienced short term memory loss," Sue said aggressively. "Did you hit yourself in the balls?"

"Are you kidding me?" Karofsky yelled.

Kurt frowned deeply gripped the bat harder. I couldn't hear what Karofsky was screaming about, but he felt his rage build more. He wanted it all to end. He wanted justice. Karofsky had his back to Kurt. Kurt saw his opening and raised the bat.

"Kurt," Quinn called out. Kurt ignored her. "Kurt," she called again. Kurt finally glared at her as Karofsky and Sue turned to look at him.

"I want to kill him too," her voice was broken and said. "I want him to feel the pain that he's caused, but this isn't going to help. It'll only get you in more trouble."

Kurt stared at Quinn and then back at Sue and Karofsky. He started to walk away. Karofsky saw Sue follow him and took his chance. "You tell that fucking faggot that he has it coming, for him and that slut friend of his."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt a fist in his face, another knee in his groin and a second fist straight in his nose.

"I dare you to try," Quinn whispered in his ear as she cradled her fist.

Sue and Kurt turned in surprise at a newly fallen Karofsky. Figgins and Mr. Schuester ran into the gym as Quinn pushed Karofsky's doubled form to the floor.

"Sue! What the hell happened here?" Figgins asked enraged.

"Self-defense," Sue shrugged.

"Mr. Karofsky, are you alright?" Figgins asked leaning down to the groaning ball on the floor.

"No!" he hissed. "Those two attacked me."

"Fabray, Hummel. My office. Now!" Figgins bellowed leading the two off.

Quinn and Kurt shared a confused, shocked look but headed out of the gym. Figgins turned back to the boy and lent him an arm up. When Karofsky was standing, he was surprised that Figgins hadn't let go of his hand. Karofsky looked down at the small man. Figgins was no longer looking sympathetic.

"If I hear about you harassing one more student, you're expelled."

"Wha- I …."

"We're examining ever surveillance tape on this campus. We're going to find a flaw in your story." Figgin's face changed back to one of sympathy. "Now, if you need to go see the nurse, Mr. Karofsky, please let your next period teacher know."

Karofsky was not only left alone in the gym with a deafening pain in his groin but an slight flicker of worry in his chest.

….

Santana sat against the wall in the hallway waiting for Dr. Griffin to emerge. She had been asked to leave the room. Her father had to come out too. He was puttering in his study. Rachel hadn't spoken for a great deal of the day. Dr. Griffin had to wait until her shift was over before she could make this house call. Santana could hear her voice clearly from the other side of the door. "Alright, Rachel," her voice was sympathetic and gentle. "I need to look to make sure that everything is healing okay. I want you to breathe deeply and focus on me." Santana knew why Rachel had asked her to leave, especially after Rachel found out what needed to be done in order to check on her incisions from her surgery. A small part of Santana was even thankful that she didn't have to be in there for the exam. It was the first one that Rachel had to have since … And Santana didn't know how she would hold up.

"Okay, Rachel, focus on me," Dr. Griffin's voice said more quietly and even more gently. Santana felt tears pour down her cheeks as Rachel let out a pained sob. "You're doing a great job, Rachel. Shhhhh. We're almost done." Rachel's sobs fluctuated in volume as Dr. Griffin, Santana guessed, moved the medical tools around. "Okay, Rachel, okay. I'm going to take this out now. Breathe with me, you're okay." Rachel let out another loud sob of pain. "Good girl," Dr. Griffin soothed. Santana suddenly heard footsteps.

"Okay, you can come in now."

Santana walked into the room and saw Rachel's face was red and tear stained. She frowned even more when she saw Santana's face and she looked down trying to pretend that she was fixing her nightgown more. Santana willed her tears back in and her sorrow back into her chest and gave a weak smile. She walked over to the bed and sat down next to Rachel as she wrapped her arm around her. "Good job, monkey," she whispered as she kissed Rachel's temple. Santana looked to Dr. Griffin for answers.

"Everything looks okay, girls, but Rachel, you are very fragile right now," Dr. Griffin said rather sternly. "You need to stay in bed. I don't even want you walking downstairs. We don't want any complications, okay?" Rachel just gave a pained nod. "I'll be leaving some more pain medicine with your father. I'll stop by tomorrow okay?"

Santana felt Rachel cringe in her arms at the last part. She knew that Rachel couldn't imagine having another exam tomorrow. Santana noticed her father for the first time in the door. "Can I speak with you please, Leroy?" Dr. Griffin didn't walk away far enough. She didn't know that everything in this house could be heard from the hallways. Dr. Griffin's voice was angry. "Here's more pain meds for her. You need to keep her in bed. Also, you're an idiot. I could have reduced her pain for that exam if I had all of my supplies and equipment as I do at the hospital and you know it! You've made this worse for her. I'll see you tomorrow." Santana pulled Rachel closer to her, unconsciously putting her hand over one of her ears.

Fairly soon after Dr. Griffin had left the doorbell rang. Santana had shifted her weight back onto the bed and Rachel was leaning her head against her chest and her small bruised arm was wrapped around Santana's midsection. Santana hoped her father could get the door. She glanced at the side table. 7:03pm. Who could be here? She perked her ears up to listen.

"Good evening, Mr. Berry. I'm Detective London. Could I speak with you please?"

Santana felt Rachel tense in her arms. Rachel shifted painfully and looked up at Santana. Santana noticed that the bruising was going down slightly, but only slightly. "I don't want to, San. I told you I don't want to." Santana tenderly touched Rachel's face, which was beginning to tear again. "I know. I'll try my best." Santana untangled herself from Rachel and headed downstairs, making sure to close the door behind her.

Santana walked into the room hearing the conversation.

"I don't understand."

"He has an alibi," the detective sighed. "There's no way that he could have been at the school."

"Rachel's friend Kurt swore it was him," Leroy said agitated his voice rising. "Or any of the other boys that he mentioned."

"After, a thorough interview with Kurt, we discovered that while he might have been present for some of the supposed assaults. He never saw anything. He never saw Rachel get assaulted. He thinks that he heard her get assaulted. Those are two different things. It's all speculation. Same thing with Ms. Fabray's testimony." Detective London sighed again. "As for the other boys, they have the same alibi."

"And what the hell is that?" Leroy roared.

"They were all at hockey practice. The coach was filming the practice to study the boys' strategies. They are all on tape."

"But they were all in uniform!" Santana said frustrated coming into the room. "It could be anyone underneath there. It only takes one idiot to put on his jersey."

The detective looked sympathetically at the girl. "I understand that, but the rest of the team said they saw him there."

"Are you kidding me? Of course they did!" Santana practically screamed forgetting that she was trying to keep her voice low for Rachel. "Can't you see what a cover up this is?"

"I can't assume anything," Detective London responded apologetically.

"There has to be more that you can do! This attack took place at a public school. It's your obligation to continue you to investigate because the attack was in a public arena," Santana scolded. She didn't notice Leroy raised a surprised and impressed eyebrow toward his daughter.

"We can't move forward if we don't have her testimony!" the detective was clearly getting frustrated. "If she won't talk to me, then she better get used to seeing him in the halls every day when she returns to school."

Santana started toward her angrily but felt herself being pulled back.

"First of all, don't threaten my kids! Secondly, don't talk to my daughter like that!" Leroy snapped.

The detective put up her hands in defeat. "I want to help you here," she sighed. "But I can't do anything if Rachel won't speak up. I understand that she's frightened. I do, but the longer we wait, the more inaccurate it can get."

"Are you saying she won't remember the horrific things that he did to her?" Santana snarled as she felt her father hold her back.

"Yes, the longer she has to ponder and replay it in her mind, the more we've discovered that testimonies become more fabricated," the detective said matter-of-factly.

"Well, she's not giving it to you today, she can't even get out of bed," Santana snapped.

"Then why isn't she still in the hospital?" the detective challenged. "The fact that she left so early makes her injuries appear less severe."

Leroy's face fell. "But they aren't, she's fourteen she just wanted to be at home."

"Try your best to see this from everyone else's point of view. Your case doesn't look great. It is now dependent on her testimony."

Santana relaxed in defeat. She felt her father's arms on her shoulders.

"We'll try," Santana finally said quietly. "But you need to try to get the school to do something more about the bullying. It's out of control."

"Do you really want to go there, Santana?" the detective asked looking down at the girl. "From what I've heard, you are the head bitch in charge. All of you who were at the hospital yesterday were apart of the … what did everyone call it? ….Oh yes, the 'Hierarchy.' And you're lucky Mr. Karofsky isn't pressing charges for what you and your friends did to him yesterday."

Santana scowled in fury. "He told me what he did to Rachel! What was I supposed to do?"

"I don't know, but what you did do," the detective looked at her with a slightly tilt of her head, "was make your testimony look questionable."

"She is lying upstairs clearly beaten and raped! And you're telling me you can't do anything about it?" Santana yelled.

"I'm trying, but you all are making this very difficult." The detective looked at the family. "Call me if Rachel changes her mind."

"Don't let the door hit you on the way out," Santana grumbled.

Santana and Leroy stood there in silence. Santana felt so defeated and she could see that her father did too as they both realized that he might get away with it. Their thoughts were interrupted when the doorbell rang again. Santana stomped over, hoping it was the detective so she could punch her square in the nose. She opened the door and it was surprised to see who it was. And who it was together.

"What are you guys doing here?" Santana asked. "Together."

"We thought we'd see how you two were doing," Quinn replied.

"Together?" Santana asked again her shock mildly wearing off.

"Yes, Satan, together," Kurt said annoyed with the redundancy. "Can we come in?" Kurt asked.

Santana shook her head but opened the door anyway.

"Daddy, do you remember Kurt and Quinn?" Santana asked as she brought them into the living room. Leroy nodded and they all sat down. Quinn took in their appearances and exchanged a look with Kurt.

"Is she okay?" Kurt asked suddenly worried. "What's wrong?"

"We need Rachel to give a testimony. But she doesn't want to," Santana said quietly. "Karofsky might get off."

"We know," Quinn replied. Santana looked at her in surprise. "He was at school today."

"What happened?" Santana asked sitting up.

"Kurt hit him in the balls with a baseball bat," Quinn chuckled, but then contained herself when she saw Leroy's look of surprise.

"Did you get in trouble?" Leroy asked.

"No," Kurt said with a shocked air. "We only got detention… which is kind of weird."

"Why am I sending you girls to this school?" Leroy asked Santana rather rhetorically.

Santana shook off his question and gaze off. "Wait, we? Quinn why did you get detention?"

"Because I kneed him in the balls and punched him twice…" Quinn said with a shrug.

Santana laughed. "I knew you were my protégé."

"Wait a minute," Leroy said frustrated standing up to look at the three of them. "So all three of them beat him up?" They nodded unsure of what the point of this was. "How does that make this okay?" They looked back at him shocked. "It didn't help. She's still up there. Who knows Santana, what you did to him might have helped fuel this." Leroy's words weren't meant to be harsh and hurtful, Santana knew that. But they were. "Explain to me this "hierarchy" and explain it to me now!" The three of them exchanged glances. "And don't leave anything out."

After about twenty minutes, Leroy knew about the slushies, the dumpster, the port-a-potty, Santana's assaults into school and in the locker room, and Quinn's pregnancy.

"What are your parents doing about this Quinn? Have you started prenatal care?" Quinn looked at him puzzled.

"No, Mr. Berry," Quinn said with gritted teeth. "My parents don't know about this. And you cannot tell them. They will kick me out –''

"I'm sure they won't do that. Parents say a lot of things they don't mean to scare their kids." Leroy didn't notice Santana's darted eyes.

"You don't get it. They will disown me."

"I'll go with you. We'll talk to them," Leroy assured.

"Stop!" Quinn said rather harshly toward the adult. She recovered. "I'm sorry, but this isn't about me. They shouldn't have told you that." She glared at Kurt who was the one who let it slip. "My pregnancy doesn't have anything to do with the hierarchy."

Leroy gave a nod. "But we're talking about this later, Quinn. You're not off the hook here." He turned to Santana who suddenly felt like a deer in the headlights. "Why did they attack you twice? Detective London said you were 'head bitch,' is that right?"

"Well, …." Santana looked at the other two. "I wasn't for a little while. And then Quinn got pregnant and I was promoted again."

"And why were you demoted in the first place, Santana?" Leroy egged on.

This wasn't the way, Santana pictured telling her father. She wasn't even ready to deal with this herself. Leroy could see that Santana was getting physically distressed. He put his hand on her hers gently. "Does it have to do with you and Brittany?" he asked softly. Santana looked at him baffled. He gave a little grin. "I may have been angry at the hospital, but I can still put two and two together." Santana looked at him again shocked. "Don't look so surprised, San. I'm your father. Plus you and Brittany have had this attraction to each other since she moved down the street five years ago. Your papa and I were just waiting to let it happen." Santana looked at him again unsure of what to say. She shook her head. This was too much for her. "I need to go check on Rachel," she muttered and she left the room.

Quinn and Kurt watched her leave sympathetically. Kurt felt as if he had witnessed something he shouldn't. It all felt so intimate. He looked at Mr. Berry. "Can I ask you something, Mr. Berry?" he nodded. "What exactly are you going to do about all of this? You know now that high school is a jungle."

"Well I can't pull you all out of school, but I can go in there and demand some changes," Leroy said straightening.

"Like what?"

"A zero tolerance system. Once people start getting suspended then others will realize it isn't a joke."

"With all do respect, Mr. Berry, if you do that they'll find ways to haze us more." Quinn gave a weak nod.

"Have you tried to change the system?"

"Have you tried to make cats walk on their hind legs?" Quinn retorted surprised again that she was breaking her normal respectful behavior toward adults. She felt Kurt tap her on the leg. "Ignore her. It's the hormones."

"Life is so much bigger than high school. I know you guys will figure something out but please stop beating each other up," Leroy said was a small smirk. "Not that I'm not grateful, of course."

"I know that life is bigger than high school, Mr. Berry," Kurt said genuinely. "But right now, it's still our lives."

"Can we see Rachel?"

"I don't know. You have to asked her bouncer," Leroy said standing up. The two headed for the stairs. "Quinn, come and see me at the hospital. There's a free clinic. We'll start you on the care that you and your baby need."

Quinn just gave a nod and headed upstairs behind Kurt. As soon as the two rounded the stairs the back door opened. "I'm home," Hiram said as he came to the base of the stairs. "What's up?" Leroy turned to his husband.

"We don't know a lot about our kids," Leroy said glancing toward the stairs. "We need to talk."

….

"Who's here?" Rachel asked as Santana came back into the room.

"The detective left –''

"I know," Rachel said quietly. "I heard you."

"Quinn and Kurt are here."

"Why?"

Santana gave a deep sigh as she straightened the blanket at the edge of Rachel's bed. "They wanted to see you," she said with a small smile, but it faded. "They also wanted to tell me … us that Karofsky's back at school." Santana watched for Rachel's reaction, but her eyes only stared down at the end of the bed. "He has an alibi, Rachel. They can't arrest him without your statement. It was him, right?" Rachel didn't respond. "Come on, monkey. Talk to me." Santana leaned down and laid next to Rachel, but she still didn't respond. "Rachel?"

"I think you should go back to school tomorrow," he voice was distant but clear.

"No, Rachel, I'll stay here with you."

"It's your senior year. You can't risk falling behind, especially with all of those out-of-state schools you're applying to."

"I've been meaning to talk to you about that," Santana started.

"Just promise me you'll go back tomorrow?" Rachel asked ignoring her statement and still looking away from her.

Santana hesitated but gave a nod. "Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"I'll be fine."

Santana was about to stay something else, but there was a knock at the door. Santana lingered slightly at Rachel's bedside but got up and answered it. She gave a weak nod to Quinn and Kurt. "Hey, what's up?"

"Can we say hi?" Kurt asked hopefully.

"Rach?" Santana asked.

"Yeah, come in," Rachel murmured.

"Hey there, squirt," Kurt nudged as he sat down next to Rachel. She was still facing away from them.

"How are you doing?" Quinn asked.

"Peachy," Rachel replied with a bit of a grin as she turned over with a small pained grunt to look at them. "So he's back at school?" Kurt and Quinn looked surprised. "This is an old house. You guys talk loudly." Her face was still fairly still even though there was a bit of her old humor in the tone of her voice.

"Yeah, he is."

"You didn't have to kick him in the balls," Rachel said cracking a smile.

"No, big," Kurt laughed. "Quinn's hormones forced her to." Kurt's voice and look changed. "Rachel, if you give a statement. He can get what he deserves."

Rachel immediately looked away. Santana noticed her retreating into herself. "Kurt, stop it. Don't push her," Santana hissed moving closer to the three of them.

"You can get justice," Kurt said even more gently.

"Kurt, stop!" Santana said louder.

Rachel suddenly looked at them with hallow, sad eyes. "It's not about courage and justice. It just is. I'm not doing it."

….