Santana followed Puck's lead into the choir room where she saw Quinn sitting on the floor behind the piano and Mr. Schuester in a kneeling position a safe distance away. His hands were held out in front of him as if to say 'I mean no harm'.

Quinn was shaking, much like she did that first day at the Pierces and after the orange juice episode when Claire took them to see their mother before moving back home. Santana knew this would lead to a full panic attack if she couldn't get through to Quinn quick enough.

"What the hell happened?" Santana demanded. She made her way towards Quinn, but her sister turned away, curling her knees up as far as she could, humming. Santana felt a string of hope snap somewhere inside her.

Mr. Schue's smooth voice answered Santana's wild one. "I was dropping off some sheet music for Glee later and she came running in. Puck was right behind her."

Santana rounded on Puck. "What the fuck did you do, Puck? What did you say?"

His regular cool cucumber attitude was long gone. If Santana wasn't so caught up in blaming someone, she would have seen the genuine concern on the boy's face. As it were, she would not leave the rage place until she could place the cause of Quinn's outburst.

"Whoa, chill out, Satan. I didn't say anything! I got her out of that Cheerio mess and she took off here," he said earnestly. "Quinn?" he said, trying to get some reaction from the girl. She continued to violently shake next to the piano bench.

"Santana," came the calm voice of Mr. Schue, "try to calm down. Let's not draw attention. Puck," he turned toward the boy, "close the door."

As Puck moved to do so, he was met by the faces of Sue Sylvester and a woman who he could vaguely recognize from his long ago childhood, who he placed to be Shelby Lopez. "Uhhh," he managed to get out. It was half as a warning to Santana and Mr. Schuester and half a genuine response to two intimidating looking women barging through the doorway.

"William, given the circumstances, I wanted you to meet - " Sue stopped talking when she stepped in the room and took notice of the situation.

Shelby let out a gasp and made for Quinn on the floor. "Quinn, are you alright?" Santana saw the shakes increase.

"Get away, Mom! All of you, just leave! There's too many people," shouted Santana, but no one made to leave. They remained rooted to the floor all casting glances at each other, unsure of what the right thing was. Santana turned back to Quinn as if they were the only two people in the room. Quietly, she began talking. "Hey, Q, it's me. Look at me." When Quinn did nothing but try to bury her face in her arms, Santana turned around again. "I swear, you all need to leave right now. Get out!"

"Santana, you can't talk to people like th-"

"Oh please, Mom. Don't lecture me now. If you would have just stopped her from leaving this morning, none of this would even be happening." She felt her face getting hot and she knew she should stop talking before she took things too far, as she always inevitably did. "If you would ever just care-"

Sue interjected. "Do I need to remind my captain that I have no problem demoting her to the bottom of the pyramid? Cool it, Lopez. This isn't the time."

Santana laughed and stood up, leaving Quinn to herself on the floor. "Not the time?! When is the time, Coach?"

"Santana, enough! You cannot talk to adults like this..." Her mother was trying to do the responsible thing and scold her child, but she clearly felt odd doing so in the presence of two adults who knew her child better than she did. "You're upset at me, and that's fine, but you can't take this out on other people. Quinn, honey please look at me," Shelby begged. Santana's emotions were in overdrive. She purposefully turned so that even if Quinn tried, she wouldn't be ale to meet her mother's gaze. She focused her attention back on Quinn.

"You're okay, Quinn. You wanna go home? Let me take you home."

"No, I'll take her home, Santana. You need to finish the day, it's still early." came Shelby's voice.

A soft knock came on the choir room door and Santana cursed under her breath. There were already too many people in the room and Quinn was far too vulnerable. She knew she'd be mortified if more people saw her in this state. Upon looking up, she was somewhat relieved to see the knock came from Brittany. Santana knew she and Brittany weren't exactly on good terms, or any terms at all, but she thought the tall blonde would always have a calming presence over her whenever she graced a room.

The dancer hesitantly entered the room. "Is everything okay? I overheard some of the Cheerios talking about Quinn and then saw your mom and I guess... I just wanted to make sure everything was okay."

"Well, it's not," spat Santana, once again cursing internally at herself for taking things out on people who didn't deserve it. "Can everyone just please go? I can help her, but not with everyone staring." The request came as a demand and since no one else could propose a valid argument and were becoming more concerned by the blonde ball by the second, they murmured their compliance and left the choir room. Brittany and Shelby were the last to leave. "Quinn..." Shelby tried once more. When nothing happened, Santana thought she saw the woman wipe a tear from her eye. She watched her mother go and her eyes shifted to Brittany. Something passed between them that felt like a truce. "I'm right outside if you need me," Brittany said. She left and Santana turned toward Quinn once more. She too sat on the floor behind the piano and faced her sister who was still humming a song unknown to Santana's ears.

"Q? It's just me," she tried. "What happened?"

Quinn continued to hum, but raised her eyes. Santana watched as Quinn's hazel eyes scanned over Santana's face looking for something. Santana wasn't sure what.

"It's just me," she repeated.

She listened as Quinn stopped humming and watched as she took in a deep breath, letting it out with shakes. She was always amazed at Quinn's ability to hold in tears during a situation where they were totally valid.

"It's just me," she repeated for a third time.

Quinn nodded, but it seemed less at Santana's words and more at her whatever her own inner monologue was saying to her. Santana yearned to know what was happening in Quinn's head. She wished she could hear if the voices in Quinn's mind were angels or devils. Given that the humming had stopped and she had found a moment to breathe, Santana let the silence fall over the choir room.

"I never told you," came the blonde's cracked voice. Her head now resting on her arms, which remained holding her knees close.

Santana felt her heart start to race and her palms start to sweat much like they had before finding her mother in the tub, and before opening the door to reveal her father buried inside Quinn. She shuddered at the visual memories and wiped her hands on her Cheerios skirt.

"Told me what?"

Quinn began to hum again, but rose to her feet and tried to peer out the door to make sure no one would interrupt. Seemingly satisfied, Santana watched as Quinn made her way over to the second riser and sat on a chair, tracing the back of it absent-mindedly. "I should have told you," she whispered.

Unable to calm the pounding her chest, Santana stood up and sat in a chair closer to Quinn on the riser. "It's okay that you didn't. Do you want to tell me now?"

Quinn nodded and Santana remained silent, giving her the chance to speak. No words came and Santana was beginning to feel antsy and unnerved knowing there was a strange cluster of people waiting for them outside the room, one of which was bound to barge in sooner or later the longer they took to come out. She reminded Quinn again by looking right into her eyes, "it's just me."

"When Rachel fainted that day.. in the..." Quinn trailed off. Santana remained locked in on her sister and helped her finish the sentence. "In the hospital, yeah," Santana said gently. Quinn twitched.

"I went to the bathroom and..." she swallowed. Her eyes looked anywhere but at Santana. "And he went to see Mom..."

Santana nodded slowly, "I remember," she said, encouraging Quinn to continue. She herself began tracing the back of her own chair to keep herself grounded. Genetics were weird.

"Except that isn't where he went," Quinn said in a voice so small, Santana had to strain to hear it.

The pounding in the older girl's chest continued to thump at a rate Santana couldn't stand. The sweat in her palms still coming profusely. She didn't like where this had the potential to go. "Mhm.." Santana managed. She wanted to encourage Quinn to keep talking, but she didn't trust her own voice or words.

"He-um-h-he," color was draining from Quinn's already pale face. Santana could almost see the gears in Quinn's head searching to put on the Quinn mask and get herself out of the situation. It's what always happened when things hurt too much.

"Hey," Santana said gently, careful not to touch Quinn even though all she wanted to do was give her a reassuring squeeze, "it's okay. It's only me. No one else is here. No one else will know. Just.." Santana cleared the lump in her throat. "Just tell me."

The hazel eyes continued to look anywhere but at the chocolate ones in front of her. "He snuck in after me. It was a one person bathroom and-and he went in after I did. He- um- told me not fight back or yell and he.. touched me... through my underwear." She stopped talking and Santana's mind was so full it was blank. She had so many questions, she didn't know where to begin. Luckily for her, Quinn kept going.

"I-I knew it was wrong obviously, but I didn't say anything because I thought- I thought it was just something new. Something he did because I was older now and that was going to be my new normal. I knew if it was you, you would've sucked it up and taken it for my and Rachel's sake so.. so that's what I did. I thought I was helping...I thought I'd draw less attention to us.." her eyes were now closed and her brows furrowed in such concentration that it could've been mistaken for pain. "I didn't think anything of it really, until after he... But I should have said something because now, I've... I've been researching s-sex. And- had I known that .. touching could be a .. a substitute, I would have been more scared and told you... I'm so sorry.." Quinn looked up at her sister finally and Santana saw guilt flash on her face. "You're crying." Quinn noted. Her own face starting to scrunch up.

Santana hadn't realized the silent tears that were falling down her face. She had been so enraged when Rachel had told her about Leroy's possible attempt at touching, but that had blended with being angry at Quinn for missing glee that day and getting to the hospital to see their mother, that she didn't put two and two together. If Leroy had attempted anything on Rachel, his pride and joy, he surely would have tried something on Quinn. How could she have been so blind?

Santana quickly wiped the tears away and looked at Quinn. "No. You have nothing to be sorry for. You understand?"

"But if I just told you when you asked! You asked me a thousand times that day. I thought about it when you caught me with the sheets, but I didn't want to make something out of nothing," said Quinn. She had now brought her legs back to her chest. Her small form curled into the chair.

"Quinn..." Santana began, but didn't know what to say. She didn't have an answer. She was hurt, angry, and sad. Not at Quinn, just the situation. It felt like within the last week she had asked herself how their life had gotten so messed up hundreds of times. This was now thought one hundred and one.

"I'm sorry.." came Quinn's whisper.

"No," Santana said. "You didn't do anything wrong. You just - you did what you what thought was best." She looked at the clock above the door and saw there were only a few minutes before the bell would ring signalling the change of periods. She briefly wondered if anyone still waited outside the room. "What brought this on, Quinn? Did someone say something? Was it Puck, because I swear"

Quinn violently shook her head. "No. No, Puck has been... really good, Santana. He helps. He.. his mom was there and.. well, he knows. Like he knows." She emphasized the last word so that Santana understand he knew not only that something had happened to her, but what and by who.

Santana's mouth hung open. Of all the people in the student body to know, Puck, the biggest womanizer and sex shark in the school knew? "I would just keep a distance from him Quinn. I don't think you can tr-"

"I'll decide who I can trust," Quinn bit quietly. "Can I trust you not to tell Brittany all of this?"

Santana was quiet as she realized she couldn't be sure. Brittany was her person, and now that she knew so much, Santana hoped to be able to confide things in her. Would that be betraying her sister?

The bell rang and the two sisters continued to look at each other. One pleading, the other blank. Santana couldn't seem to wake her mind up and sort through her thoughts. The stare continued and Brittany and Puck slowly entered the room.

"Are you guys okay?" Brittany asked. Both she and Puck hung back by the door, not wanting to intrude if the moment wasn't right. "Coach and Mr. Schue took your mom back to Sue's office. I don't think she's going to leave without Quinn.."

Quinn broke eye contact first and looked at her shoes. Santana turned toward the duo by the door. "Yeah, okay just.. can you give us two minutes? Stand in front of the door and make sure no one comes in here." The two nodded and made for the hallway. "Puckerman," Santana called. She wasn't really sure why. She wanted to thank him for being there for her sister, but also threaten him if he so much as made an advance. "Threaten whoever you need to," were the words that followed. It was the best Santana could do. She could tell Puck was surprised that her own threat didn't follow. He nodded, looked at Quinn, and turned to attend to his post at the door.

"Can you tell me what set you off? It's scary, Quinn and I just... I'm afraid of what would happen if you got that way and I wasn't around..."

She could tell Quinn wanted to retort. She was a defensive bitch, it was in her nature. The weight of the conversation and the emotion took its toll on her though. She took a breath.

"Just.. the girls were saying they heard rumors. Bree said the furthest she ever got was someone dry humping her and.. touching her through her underwear and... everything just kind of snow balled. I remembered it and I hate myself."

"Do not hate yourself. This is on him, you understand?"

Quinn ignored the question. "Why did I come here? Why did you let me? Why did mom let? Rachel.."

She was on the road to shutdown mode again. Santana grabbed Quinn's face in her hands. Quinn jumped in surprise but didn't pull away. "Shhh. Calm down. Let's go find Mom. If you're okay with it, she can take you home. We'll make sure Sue or Schue walks with you to the car if it makes you feel better. Less people will question it probably."

"Do they know?" came the small nasal voice again.

Santana sighed. Quinn's heart had been broken enough, she didn't want to be the one responsible to break it more. "Yeah, they do."

The tears were there in Quinn's eyes ready to fall. Again though, she took an unsteady inhale and blew the breath out through puffy cheeks. "No one else can know."

"No," Santana agreed. "And we'll make sure they don't."

Quinn wiped her eyes, tightened her ponytail, and Santana linked their arms together as they exited the room. She gave Brittany and even Puck a thankful look that essentially relieved them of their duties.

The hallways were still aflutter with students rushing to their next class or gossiping around lockers. Santana knew that she and Quinn always drew stares whenever they were spotted in the halls. Power and popularity bought you a lot of attention. This time though, linked arm in arm, the stares felt different. She tried to tell herself the stares came because the two were rarely seen together save for a Cheerio pyramid, but something deep within her knew these stares carried a different curiosity. Putting on her invisible blinders, Santana walked with purpose towards Sue's office, Quinn's slow feet a half step behind her.

Shelby Lopez was embarrassed. She sat uncomfortably in Sue Sylvester's office in tears. No one could understand what she'd been through throughout her adult life. How could she tell people she loved and cared for her children if she couldn't show it? Surely, no one in their right mind would believe her. Leroy had drilled so much into her over the past twenty years, it was hard for Shelby to determine what was true and what was a manufactured lie. He had tried to kill her, and yet she still let him win by allowing the brutalization of her own daughter. All three of them, really.

A good mother would have been able to get through to her catonic child. One look at their mother and said child should be lunging into their arms for safety and security. That didn't happen today. Had Quinn ever actually sought solace in her mother's embrace? Rachel, yes. She still dad. Santana had as a very small child, but became wary of her mother at too young an age to long for that affection. She couldn't remember the last time she'd held Quinn since her toddler years. She was still their mother though, and nothing could take that away from her. Right?

"Mrs. Lopez? Shelby? Is it okay if I call you that?" the voice was that of who she now knew to be Will Schuester. "Did you hear what I said?"

Shelby blinked back to reality. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

She saw a look pass between Will and Sue and knew the must be judging her. Did she now come across as a distracted daydreamer who couldn't be present?

"I was just saying that I'm grateful you called me the other day. I was able to talk to Santana and, well I think she needed an outlet. I know your family is going through a lot right now, but Sue and I.. we're here for your girls. They're special. I just wanted you to know that we can be here for you too."

Shelby wasn't quite sure what to make of statement. She was not used to people extending a helping hand. Usually, there was something in it for them, or she assumed they were plotting to take her children away from her. Despite how it appeared to the outside world, Santana, Quinn, and Rachel were her reasons for being.

"Thank you, Mr. Schuester," she managed to say.

"You can call me Will," he said. She nodded uncomfortably and the bell rang. "Should we.. can we go check on Quinn? I need.." she began, but finished with "she needs me."

Sue stood up from behind her desk and came to sit on it from the front. "No. Those girls will find us, and frankly Lopez mother, your girls have done quite the job of looking out for themselves," she said harshly. "It's a rare occurrence, but I agree with Will. I admire and respect your daughters very much and will always keep an eye out for them, but that includes watching out for you too as both someone who can help or hurt them."

"Sue," Will interjected.

"Now William," she held up a hand, "I may not know the whole story here, but I've been made aware of enough to know that this woman hasn't exactly been mother of the year. We can help your girls, but you're the one who can help them the most."

Shelby felt like a helpless child. Is this how Santana has been feeling all these years? "But how can I help them when they don't want my help? Santana... Santana doesn't even look at me. And Quinn will take the cue from Santana. I still have Rachel, but I can feel her slipping away too.."

"If I may," Will began, "I think it would be wise for all of you to talk to someone, but in the meantime, and even in addition to that help, Sue and I can try to soften Santana into giving you more of a shot. I do agree with Sue though, I don't feel comfortable encouraging young girls to respect someone who can't... well frankly, who can't prove they are stepping up to the plate. I made a promise to Santana a few days ago. I told her I'd do whatever it takes to help get her and Quinn and Rachel through this. I stand by that."

Shelby felt equal parts attached and helped. Could she trust these people? Surely, they knew her daughters better than she did. Maybe she was better off without them. She silently wished Leroy would have finished the job and offed her. It was too much too wrap her mind around. She craved a drink.

"I.. I appreciate that." she said. Her lips stiff.

"Speak of the devils," said Sue as her eyes moved to the glass entrance of her office.

Santana entered the office, Quinn in tow. Shelby noticed how thin they both looked. Sue noticed how determined they looked. Will noticed the weight of the world on their young shoulders.

"Mom," Santana said. Her voice tried to be soft, but was always hard when directed at Shelby. "I think you should take Quinn home."

She wasn't sure if her daughter was saying that because she felt it was best, or begrudgingly because she had no other choice, but maybe if she could get Quinn home in one piece, she'd begin the trek to recovery with her daughters in tow.

There you go! As always, massive apologies for the delay. The first half of this chapter was difficult for me to get a handle on and I must've rewritten it twenty times. I hope everyone is staying well and safe during this pandemic. Very scary times!

KalenCaelli - Poor Quinn is right. You'll probably think that again after this chapter (sorry!) Tried to begin to get a look inside Shelby's head at the end. I was hesitant to go there, but felt it necessary.

Guest - Here's more! I hope you're still reading and enjoying!

Spawn - Thank you for the wonderful review! Quinn is most certainly fragile. She's a teeter-totter and merry go round combined. There's a lot she's trying to understand and deal with. Hard for any adult, let alone a 14 year old girl. Santana will always be on Shelby's back. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

KStoryteller - YES! Santana needs to take care of herself. I came close to including something in this chapter, but it just didn't flow. Santana will be forced to deal with everything she's carrying around eventually. Will she crack before that happens...? Stay tuned!

bproofmgmt - Thank you for reviewing!

MaudeLebowski - I will always continue this story, even if the updates have long waits! Thank you for continuing to read!

Guest - Thank you so much for rereading! I hope enjoy this update!