Another update! I'm trying to get these out as soon as I can, my already written/ planned chapters are done and now I'm just writing them as I go, so I hope you like the way they are coming out. Thank you for all who take the time to review even for just one chapter and read through the long chapters and the short alike. Enjoy!

Together they rise and together they fall

They stand as one proud and tall

Ready to fight in any brawl

Ready to fight until the Berry men have their own cell wall

Ready to help until bad memories, Rachel can barely recall

Ready to shout, to sing, to cry out their battle call

The teens, it seemed, were ready to do it all

The hazy blond woke to warm sheets and gentle light flooding in from seemingly every direction. As her hands stretched out cautiously they weren't met with the body of the girl she had spent the night next to and for a minute she was so worried her heart seemed to stop. But she realized this was a safe place and for the first time in a while there was no need to worry.

Clothes were thrown on haphazardly as she made her way out of the room to find the rest of her crew, following the scent of bacon, eggs, all the morning food. On the stairs she practically ran into the sweet blond boy talking quietly on the phone with what must have been his mother. He paused, oceanic blue eyes looking over her before mouthing a sleepy good morning. She gave the boy the sincerest smile she could muster before continuing.

She walked in met with the smells of tea, hot chocolate and coffee in the air mingling with the chirping of the people around the disheveled dining room. The finally cool Latina sat munching on a piece of toast before catching hazel eyes and letting her ever-welcoming tone out. "Nice of you to join us Q"

Molten eyes froze over unsure. Sam piped up walking quietly back into the room. "Give her a break she deserved the rest." He rested a feather light hand on her shoulder before walking back to the table.

Hazel eyes closed for a moment at the reassuring touch reveling in the faux calm that had overcome the group. Among the chaos keen eyes rested on the wooden chair empty in between the girl she had saved and the devil she called her best friend. Earning that name the Latina's searching eyes clashed with hazel as the most mischievous of smiles engulfed her. She spoke then eyes and smile set in place, her tone was softly knowing ending in amusement "Yeah yeah, anyway I saved you a seat. No need to thank me, I know it's the perfect spot."

Sculpted eyebrows came down hard on the practically porcelain face, jaw clenching at the implication, the amusement, the truth that she didn't need floating about right now. Throwing caution and anger to the wind with a quick shake of the head dispelled the she took the seat quietly, facing the girl she had come to adore and ignoring the one she could hardly stand. "Hey Rachel"

Shadowy brown eyes rose from the intricate table and state of thought as a small smile spread at the sight of her newfound friend. "Good morning Quinn"

The delicate response solicited a heavenly grin from the enamored blond before she turned to her own resident evil. She eyed Santana cautiously as the girl simply smiled back, so relaxed. Quinn had never seen that sly smile come so often from her friend and it made her uneasy. "Do you know where my mom is?"

And suddenly the grin was gone; the young woman went rigid sitting up as straight and tall as a new sense of authority set in. Even in the calm there was still a crisis, they hadn't forgotten, Santana most of all. "Let me debrief you here Quinn. Your mom had to go to work early. Told me to tell you she loves you and all that precious stuff you two share. "

A roll of the eyes was issued at the ironic statement. Her mother had never shared that precious stuff. And now that it was, she wasn't sure. She saw the understanding in her mother's midnight blue eyes. She practically saw the change as her mother had studied Rachel. "Nice Santana, go on."

At the softened command she nodded toward the attentive boy sitting down the table next to his fellow diva and the two Asian lovebirds. "Alright, Hummel show Chief here what you found."

"We made the front page" It wasn't the celebratory tone you would expect from the ever-confident young man at the exciting news. He picked the paper up the picture of the glee club front and center. Before Quinn could ask a paper was handed to her by the second in command.

Her trained eyes scanned the paper picking out words she didn't want to read but the sense of calm persisted. It didn't frighten her, it didn't shock her, and compared to everything it didn't seem like an issue. "Not the way I wanted to get into the newspaper, not the way I expected, but what's the big deal?"

Relaxing eyes began to burn in disbelief as she leaned in closer feeling the odd chill that always seemed to radiate from her best friend. She kept her voice low the old sarcasm weaving its way into the words. "The big deal is Q, Berry's parents happen to get the newspaper and now they know we're home, it's just a matter of time before they come to find us."

Before Quinn could level her friend with a sharp reply the former diva spoke up, her voice unusually sharp, unexpectedly angered. The young blond had almost forgotten the emotion that the tiny girl could bottle up but she was reminded in the following words. "You don't need to whisper around me I can still hear you. I'm not oblivious."

The girl's fire was put out, as she seemed to shrink a bit in her chair letting out a practically sheepish apology that must have felt foreign on the stubborn lips. "Sorry Rachel."

The apology was met with a cold nod before she stood up to her full height, not much but enough, not willing to give a second glance before walking off into the kitchen area.

Walking away wasn't something that sat well with the anxious blond and soon she was ready to stand before a heated hand grabbed at her wrist, and an infuriatingly reasonable voice found it's way in causing her to sit down. "Sometimes you need to just let her go." Before letting the awkward silence swallow the room whole Santana continued on with the debriefing. "Anyway to the last order of business. We are going to the police station in, well thirty minutes."

Mind still contemplating the girl that had walked off she asked in the voice that Santana knew far too well, so distant. "Are the parents coming to pick everyone up?"

"No they think it will draw too much attention, some cop is coming to pick us up and then they will meet us there. Star treatment"

A small chuckle escaped at her friend's persisting humor and way of looking at things. "More like fugitive treatment."

The Latina wasn't amused though in fact the smile had slowly drained from her face, her words were rushed and shallow, and for the first time in a long time she seemed afraid. "Anyway the thing is we are all getting questioned. And not together like we've been this whole time. What do we tell them?"

The question was met with raised eyebrows and a tone of pure disbelief. The words came out with barely any thought, harsh and forward. "We tell them the truth Santana."

The discussion opened up to the group as attention caught onto the raised voices and unfriendly tones. The other end of the table contributed through the questioning voice of one Finn Hudson. "Don't we need to like a plan, a story or something?"

Hazel and Mocha stopped their cold war for a moment as they both warily eyed the boy at the other end. It was Santana who spoke loudly never missing an opportunity to reprimand the one that seemed to always speak at the wrong time. "Dumb ass Finn stop you need to stop watching so many police shows."

Mercedes spoke next in a tone of pure velvet eyes closed in a sort of revelation. "The truth will set you free"

Surprisingly enough it was her gay friend that argued the point in his prim and proper tone always ready to input a taste of reality. "Thank you for that inspiring quote but I've watched many a documentary where the truth sent people to jail for 30 years before others even figured out they were innocent.

Before anyone could mull the words over the swinging door was heard and light footsteps pattered to the table. Her voice was loud enough to be heard but quiet enough to portray the sense of guilt she seemed to feel, the blame she had put upon herself. "Perhaps if I had told the truth I would have been free a while ago"

Like the many other times people didn't know just what to say the jumpy cheerio had the right words. Airy blue eye locked with brown as the tiny girl sat Brittany spoke, in an almost questioning tone. "Some truths you can't face alone."

The group accepted the silence that came and went before Quinn spoke palms facing up in a gesture of peace. "So it's settled. We're going to tell the truth all right. No planning or scheming necessary. The full story as each of us knows it from start to finish. We aren't the main characters in this story that would be Rachel."

The words came and settled in just in time as a harsh honk jolted them out of the moment and a rapid knocking on the door caused chairs to be pushed in, jackets put on and anxiety to take over. Santana allowed her signature smirk as she took her loves hand looking out the window. "So we got that settled just in time. Look alive ladies and gentleman our police escort has arrived"

Together they marched through the kitchen putting dishes away as they passed, the odd melody of boots on the tile floor echoing throughout. It wasn't a police car they saw; instead one by one they got into a pitch-black van. The ride was long, longer than the ride to the inn, longer than the ride back home, the quiet seemed to drag on for hours and no one dared to speak, not in the company of the mysterious driver.

As Puck reached to open the door and let some air, some sense of freedom into the claustrophobic truck once they had stopped they heard the driver's voice for the first time. It was rough around the edges. "Stop, there will be someone who comes to get each of you."

Some jumped at the tone, the sudden noise while others rolled their eyes and crossed their arms waiting. But Santana Lopez wouldn't be spoken to that way so she put on her most pleasant smile and leaned forward to ask "And where will these wonderful men be taking us?"

The middle-aged man looked back, hard eyes shining with amusement at the challenge the teen set before him. His voice lightened up as he looked at the group and gave them the explanation demanded. "Each of you will go to a separate interview room where your parents are waiting."

The unasked question of where would Rachel go didn't have much time to hang in the air as police men came down the steps one by one calling out names and taking their charge to the correct part of the building. Rachel was the last to be called, and it seemed like it had been forever since the last time she had sat alone like that. No one got to see who took her or where and more than anything that put the group on edge.

And The Questioning Began

It was a clean-cut young man who walked through the door, suit nice and pressed, a light scowl in place as he looked over the file. He didn't even bother to look up at the young man and father sitting with arms crossed before he said the name almost fatally. "Kurt Hummel."

It was Burt who spoke slow and deliberate. "Yes that's his name."

Those words were enough to get the wicked green eyes to look up and they focused squarely on the boy, trying his best to tone the older man out. He laid his folder down on the table the thud echoing in the tiny tin room and he gave his signature smile, softening his voice. "Well, Mr. Kurt Hummel how is it that a group of every day teens gets wrapped up in all this?"

The veteran was surprised at the look he received from the young boy that said he didn't understand the world around him. The laughter that flew around the room shocked him to a point of near anger and the edge that made it's way into his voice couldn't be controlled. "Something funny?"

Glassy eyes looked up from the table calmly and it was in his matter of fact tone that he politely told the officer "You're already on the wrong track."

"How is that?"

Delicate hands folded on the chilling table and his voice took on a new tone, a new sense of wonder. "The Glee club, the boys and girls you have in your interrogation rooms right now are anything but every day teens. They are special. We are special."

The pristine officer had moved on to his next charge, a bit disheveled after his run in with the confident young man. Mercedes Jones and her mother had humored him, a bit of a kinder reception. "How long has the group been together?"

The dark haired girl gave a shrug, not willing to commit to any answer. "People came and people went and the cycle repeated a few times, it's hard to really say."

Once again he was confused and he knew it wouldn't be for the last time. This group was different, this crime was different and it would be one of the bigger things to happen in the small town. "So how is it that you are all stayed together up to this point?"

The tone shifted to a bit more somber, a touch of guilt tainted with sadness took over. "As much as a lot of us used to hate to admit it Rachel Berry was our glue, for whatever reasons she had she took the time to make us realize our talent, and our potential as a group. She kept us together always."

Brittany was something else; even he had to admit. And as he questioned the cheery girl with her father's guarding hand on her shoulder he had to keep from letting a smile loose. "What stood out to you, made you worry about Rachel?"

Precious eyes danced around the room soaking in the new environment even though there wasn't much to see. She didn't take the time to stop and look at him as her answer came out light and free. "We all noticed different things. Kurt saw she missed a note. Mike noticed stiffness while dancing, I saw her cry."

A sigh was let out as the man decided to take a rest from this mess of a group and inexplicable answers. His hands hit the table as he sat and he watched her, he couldn't understand. "Those are all little things though".

Then her eyes were on him and he was drowning in a sea of electric blue waves of knowledge, understanding that he couldn't grasp almost drowned him. She spoke slowly, so he could catch up. "But you can't have the big things without the little things can you?"

An odd realization seemed to be injected into him by those eyes and he spoke out loud thinking through it. "I suppose not."

The eyes were off again voice full of pride at teaching her student what she had intended. "Exactly! Quinn saw that before all of us, she was always pretty good with puzzles."

The Asian girl seemed to be the most quiet of the group. With a father to one side and mother to the other she was well guarded, arms crossed, eyes cast downward, and she was protecting herself. "Have you always been close to Rachel?"

"No" It was short, sweet, and right to the point. A nice change.

The simplicity of the word surprised him after having talked to her peers and the way they spoke, but the answer didn't. He had gathered the group hadn't always been such a dynamic team. "No?"

She issued a shrug at the question wondering if the man had some sort of hearing problem, or if asking things twice was part of the police investigation requirements. He seemed to have done it a lot for the time that they spoke. "We talked, we were friends, but I don't think the club as a whole ever saw what she did for us, how much she helped us and how much she cared."

"What changed that?"

A small smile spread across the shy face at that question. It tried to fight off the sadness that was creeping into it but the sadness won as it had many time with the teens. It mingled with the smile and the words she spoke next. "When they say you don't know what you've got till it's gone they're right. I didn't realize how much Rachel meant to all of us until she started to change. Until we didn't really have Rachel anymore. It's funny you know?"

"What's funny Tina?"

Another shrug was let out but it wasn't a symbol of not knowing. It was a symbol of knowing but not believing, not having a way to truly describe the phenomenon that had taken place. Her voice was quiet, all three adults had to strain to hear the wondering statement. "It took two girls that couldn't stand each other to bring us together truly. Quinn Fabray and Rachel Berry, no one would have thought."

Artie Abrams. He remembered the boy, the story of his accident was some of the biggest news in town and it never truly went away, the wheel chair was a sign of that. "It was as a group you decided upon all this, without anyone else's knowledge correct?"

A tired nod accompanied the single word answer, the addition to the many others he had been giving. "Yes"

"And it was as a group you decided to go to the Berry House?"

"Yes"

He leaned against the Plexiglas looking the stubborn boy over and wondered out loud. "How does such a big group of conflicting personalities come to agree on all this?"

His eyes were met and that is how he knew, how he had been able to tell with each person the honesty of the answers. They weren't afraid to meet his eyes, not one of them. "Every group has their leader, and we were lucky enough to have Quinn Fabray as ours. She made harmony out of what could have been a cacophony."

This is where things started to get a bit shady. He knew from previous questioning that not everyone had seen the horror of the Berry home and for that they should all be glad. But a select few did and as he stared at the bad boy he had met many a time he knew this wouldn't be easy. "What did you see upon entering the house?"

His calloused fists sat clenched on the icy table as he could feel the nerves from his mother radiating onto him. He had been in this seat before but for once he wasn't the one in trouble. He was angry, a fire hotter than that in hell had begun to build since the questioning began and the question opened the gates. "Rachel up against the wall with that son of a bitch you people call her father on top of her and the other just watching like a jack ass."

"Noah" His mother gave him a reprimanding look, not at the words per say, but out of fear of what trouble they might get him in this room.

And he looked at his tired mom with eyes of burning embers. His voice softened to a whisper as he shook his head. "No mom, they don't deserve politer words than that. Anything else and it would be disrespectful to Rachel; after all they've put her through."

"Seeing that made you mad?"

The soft voice and stupid question from across the room tore his eyes away from the one who had kept him here for so long, on the right path even if it was a beaten one. He warily looked at the officer responding without a second thought. "Of course it did."

The harsh tone was ignored as he flipped through the hefty file in front of him and without looking up he asked the question he knew might just cause an explosion. "But aren't you also known for beating up on people Mr. Puckerman?"

Jaw clenched, legs tensed, fists ready and the boy would have pounced if his mother's bony hand hadn't landed on his wrist to calm him. He blew out steam, staring at the table and the table only before answering. "I was known for that, but I've changed. And don't even try to compare me to them."

He came closer to the table then, an almost mocking shrug. "Why not?"

And in that moment the boy truly scared him. Puck stood to his full height leaning across the table and looking the man right in the eyes, his hot breath pushed out. He gave an almost devilish smile before shaking his head and answering deliberately calm. "Because I never took a small girl who depended on me and loved me, half my age and not even half my size and beat her. Maybe I didn't have many morals back then, but I had some." And with that he took his mothers hand and walked out, because he wouldn't let himself be walked all over when he was finally doing something right.

Questioning Finn Hudson had been a bit like questioning a little boy about something he had broken in the house, there was such honesty and care in such a simplified way and as they got into the final scene of the Glee club's tragedy it showed even more. "And what did you do upon entering the house?"

"Well I threw up a little bit in my mouth to be honest, I think it might have been the taco I had eaten..."

Before the boy could continue on his somewhat inappropriate rant he heard his mother cry out. "Finn!"

His darting eyes gave her a quick look before turning back to the officer. He put his hands on the table and sat up straight with furrowed brows and a determined expression. He spoke slowly, trying to get it right. "Oh I'm sorry. Puck and Santana took one father and I took the other just holding them, keeping them away from Rachel."

"Do you think that was necessary, grabbing them like that Finn?"

The answer didn't anger the boy like it would have Puck, instead he looked at his mom almost lost. And then his eyes were back to the man in front of him and confusion sat in them uneasily. He leaned forward and offered another question as an answer. "That's like asking if you should just walk by when you see a puppy being kicked by its owner. You don't do you?"

"No, no you don't."

He had a firecracker in the next interview room, he could tell easily. Her answers were faintly reminiscent of Noah Puckerman's, but they were a bit more clever and that was something that worried him. He took a seat across from her, hoping a calm approach would appease the girl and her well-known father and mother. "Was anyone hurt?"

Her eyes burned with a sitting rage that had followed her into the room and grown with every question. She didn't think twice about the parents she had in the room before answering. "I fucking hope so"

The words were shrill, practically hurled at him and they made him chuckle. "You know that's the kind of attitude that will get you in trouble."

An eyebrow was raised at that and the girl contemplated the words for a moment, but not for too long. Her reply was quick, but it held a certain pride, an unwillingness to apologize for the way she was. It seemed to sink in the walls "That's the kind of attitude that will keep me from getting walked all over by people like you and Rachel's fathers for the rest of my life."

"You want people to fear you?"

At those words the rich eyes came to life as a light took them over. The Latina beckoned the cop in and they both leaned forward meeting in the middle of the table. She didn't give him a smile, but she wasn't rude, she wasn't angry. She was in control. "No, but I know you want me to fear you. You come in here like some big man right? But I'm not afraid because me and my friends, we didn't do anything wrong. We saved a girl who had been wronged all her life, by us, by her fathers, by the world. And we won't let her be wronged by you too."

The startled man was given a moment to recollect his thoughts as Santana's father quietly chimed in. "Calm down Santana."

"No I understand. Santana Lopez I know who the heroes are, who the victim is and who the assailants are. I know, just like you and your clan knew but in here it needs to be official. I don't want you to fear me; I want you to trust me. Do you?"

The carefully placed words were shrugged off. The young woman had seen more than her share in this world and words meant close to nothing to her, especially from this man. "I guess we'll see."

Mike Chang's behavior mirrored that of his love as he sat quietly, respectfully between two cautious parents. "And after going to the house you went where?"

His gentle eyes closed as flashes of the night came back to him, the darkness, the merciless rain and Rachel Berry so cold, so broken in the back of the van. "We just wanted to get away, so I drove through the storm and we found this little inn we stayed there for the night."

"Was there any trouble there from anyone?"

"No it was just a time to relax, to calm down, to try and understand what had happened."

"And do you understand now Mike?"

A solemn shake of the head was given before the boy decided to answer verbally too. His voice cracked mid way in, as his body tensed at the frustrating admission. "I'm not sure I ever will. I don't think you really can."

The long day of questioning was coming to a close as the sun began to set. It had been a day of tears, shouts, tense muscles and anxious parents, and now the man had two blond's to finish interviewing, one of which, sat across from him at this very moment. "Then you decided Sue Sylvester would be the person to go to for help correct?"

The boy spoke politely with a respect that must have been taught from a young age and a tenderness that could only come from a pure heart. "Quinn, Santana and Brittany thought she would be the woman to go to, they knew her better than we did from the cheerios."

These were the answers he had been getting all day and they didn't sit well and he didn't' understand. How could teenagers put so much trust in such few people, people who had hurt them before and might just do it again? "And you just went along with it even though she hadn't treated you guys well at all? "

He received a positively heart warming smile from the boy who took the question in stride, and as he answered his parents looked on with pride. "I trust Quinn Fabray and after all that had happened I trusted Santana and Brittany, every kid you have in these rooms I trust, I'd trust them with my life."

The man looked hard at the hazel eyes that were attempting to burn right through him as her mother's royal blue simply looked on ready to step in. This leader of sorts had been at it with him for what seemed like hours, asking and never answering. He decided to go in for the kill now to end the misery. "Each person's answers bring me back to one thing. Why? Why did you notice, why did you above all people notice Quinn Fabray? We've heard about the bullying, the pain you had caused, why did it suddenly change?"

The copper eyes continued churning as a sinking feeling took hold of the young girl, the why had never been asked, she had barely asked herself and she didn't want to have to in front of this man and her mother, not in a tiny tin room like this. Her voice had hardened and she fired back. "Why does it matter?"

He kept his temper under control as the rising tension spread into every inch of the room almost suffocating. "Why can't you just answer my question Miss Fabray?"

And under those words a bit of her control was lost. She had spent the past days calling the shots with people who knew what was going on, the danger and the risk. As golden eyes watched the maddeningly relaxed man the blond haired beauty lost her temper "Because it's not important, it doesn't matter. I noticed, and all this happened and now you and I are talking about this when you should be putting two men in jail. Can't you see what's important here?"

With those words he stepped up to the table looking down at the girl, not the first one today, to question him. He leaned in close, laying down his law, demanding an answer the girl opposite him wasn't ready to give. "I see what's important and in this room I decide what's important. Why did you notice, Quinn Fabray, why did you change?"

The invasion of space didn't scare the girl, didn't pull out the guarded answer she was keeping close to her heart. She gave the man a pitying glance before sitting back in her chair and pushing away from the table, taking a breath of the air free of his infuriating presence. Her voice was soft, beautiful in its frigidness. "I haven't changed at all."

The screeching of a chair turning is what was heard next as Judy Fabray shocked her daughter and the officer in charge. She turned to face her daughter and her daughter only. When warm questioning eyes were on her she took the strong pale hand in her own before speaking quietly. "Yes you have honey and it's a good thing and I'd like to hear from you why this good thing happened?"

Fear seized the flawless girl's rapidly beating heart because her mother knew. She could see the knowing light flashing behind the blue and she knew, she knew. The hand holding her own felt warm, and for once her mother's attention was all on her, she knew. She knew but she was waiting to be told. The nervous girl faced her waiting mother letting the blue calm her as color began to creep into her cheeks. Her voice was soft, so hesitant and vulnerable with the sense of young love that she didn't understand just yet. "I guess love really does do funny things to people."

The words received a warming smile from the knowing mother at the normalcy, the shyness that had taken over her little girl. She knew what it was like to be cold and she knew what it was like to love and be loved. And as a smile of relief flooded into her daughter's eyes and lit up her face she was thankful that her daughter had found love. She was thankful that her daughter had found someone who might have melted the icy fortress around her heart. She was glad that she had found her daughter.

The group watched in awe as Quinn Fabray walked out a bashful smile on her face and her mom's arm reassuringly around her shoulders. The parents and children alike waited for the one missing member. But they didn't have to wait long.

The tiny girl was soon brought up, sandwiched in between two guards; the beaten tracks of tears were evident on the face of innocence. Everyone knew what had been asked, the gruesome details that had to be brought back up. As they neared, the guards looked at the young girl with a sense of sympathy and almost guilt for not having been here sooner. "We'll be in contact Miss Berry. Kids you are free to go home. Parents I'm going to need you to stay here we have some logistics to deal with."

Once again goodbyes were said, yet there was more ease this time. The kids walked back out to the black van that had brought them to a day of hell. The darkness swirled around them, an odd glow the only light, with a nipping cold. It was in that dark that Rachel was bumped into and when she looked up she issued a scream that stopped those in the front of the line, getting into the car, and stepping down onto the street, in their tracks. The little girl stood there looking at the smiling face of her father, the shine of the handcuffs lighting up his empty eyes.

It was then that Quinn ran grabbing the tiny hand and pulling her away almost too roughly. It was only a step or two later when the call echoed in the night. "I thought you loved me Rachel. If you love your daddy then come help me."

The brunette almost turned to the voice calling out in the dark but before she could she was frozen as pale hands found her face, gentle but firm holding it in place. All the auburn eyes could see were dizzying hazel. All she could feel was the chill of her savior. All she could smell was the warmth of vanilla and home traveling with the wind. And she didn't hear the officer put the Berry man in his place; she didn't hear Puck and Santana's shouting. No, the only thing she heard, the thing she would never forget, was Quinn's urgent whisper almost lost in the chaotic night. "Don't look back."