Rachel nervously walked through the hallways of Mckinley High School with her arm securely wrapped around her sheet music binder, in the direction of the choir room. She didn't really feel like going, but she knew that she didn't really have a choice. Don't get her wrong, she loved singing, but she didn't really like the consequences that followed each glee practice. She entered the choir room with a smile plastered on her face and took her usual seat in the middle of the front row. The practice went rather uneventful as the last few members of the club presented their assignment for this week, which was: passage through time, they each had to come up with an older song that they could still relate to. Rachel had presented her song the prior practice so she could just relax and listen to her teammates' performances. They were all pretty good, but she could never possibly tell them that. She had to be the star of the club and had to have all the solos, even though she was the youngest member. Once practice was over Rachel quietly picked up her things and left without saying a word to the people in the room, not that they would mind since she was not particularly a loved member of the club. Apparently people tend to dislike obnoxious people that believe they are better than anyone else… Who would have thought.

Once in the parking lot, she noticed her father almost immediately, since he parked at the exact same spot since the beginning of the school year. Rachel hurried over to her dad's car so as to not make him wait any longer. Hiram, as always, waited patiently as his daughter climbed into the car and smiled down at her tightly. Any person who would have looked at their interaction would see a loving and dedicated father picking up his daughter from school, but Rachel knew that this gesture was only to keep up the image of their family. Hiram was born and raised in Lima, Ohio and was the third and last son of a long legacy of lawyers. Most people knew the Berry's name and knew to fear and admire it, so Hiram was not about to make anything change that.

"So… How was glee club Rachel ?", said Hiram as he drove off the parking lot in the direction of their home.

"Oh.. um… not much happened , we have finished this week's assignment and those who had not yet presented their solo got to do so", Answered the teenager with just a hint of hesitation.

"So what do you sing ? "

"Well, yesterday I san-"

The young girl was not able to finish her sentence before her father interrupted her, "I already know what you sang yesterday Rachel, I am asking you what you sang today."

"I didn't exactly participate today since I had already completed the assignment ."

"So you're telling me you did absolutely nothing and you could have been at home doing something productive instead."

"No.. that's not what I am saying i-"

"Well, what are YOU saying Rachel, to me it doesn't really seem like your time was well spent in the last hour. We do not fund your high school glee club for you to sway in the back. You need to step up and prove that we did the right thing when we named you after Berry's name."

"I-I know dad, I will do better next time. I am sorry"

"I don't want to talk to you anymore, we will see how we deal with you later."

And with that Hiram stopped the discussion. Even though Rachel had still lots of things to say in her defence, she knew it didn't matter and that she should not have an argument with her father over this, it wasn't worth it.

Several hours had passed since the two last talked and Hiram was still not talking to Rachel despite her effort to start a conversation during dinner. Her papa, Leroy, had stopped long ago to try and mend things out when his husband was in this mood. He had tried multiple times in the past and the only result he got out of this was getting in a fight with him. He finally came to the conclusion, after a few disastrous experiences that it wasn't worth it and that this was a matter between Hiram and their daughter.

Rachel was finishing up her homework for the night when her father called her from his office. She didn't know if she was more relieved that he stopped giving her the silent treatment or if she was more nervous as to why he decided to stop giving it. Once she entered his study, she saw him unbuckling his belt and knew what was coming, there was no point in trying to run from it or fight back, it would only make it worse. She slowly took off her shirt and faced the wall that she had come to memorize every detail of over the years, and placed both hands flattery against its smooth surface to brace herself. She took a deep breath as she heard the swishing sound the belt did as it ran toward her naked back and flinched in pain once it finally made contact. No matter how many times it had happened the first hit was always the most painful. You would have believed that she would be used to it by now, but she always seemed to forget the feeling of the leather against her skin.

After 13 hits on her back, and Rachel knew it was exactly 13 because she kept count on them, Hiram finally stopped his well practiced movement. Without a word or a single glance in her direction he put his belt on his desk and left the office. Rachel stayed against the wall for a few seconds, relieved that it was finally over. It wasn't the worst punishment she ever received, but it was hurting pretty badly. She slowly turned around and picked up her shirt. A part of her wanted to put it back on to preserve the little bit of dignity she had left, but she knew that the scratchy material of her sweater would hurt too much. Then, she went back to her room to finish her homework like the past 30 minutes never happened.

It was now 10 pm and the young girl was lying on her stomach trying to fall asleep, but the welts on her back were still throbbing. She was about to finally succumb to her exhaustion when she heard her bedroom door creak open. She lifted her head up to see her papa Leroy enter her room quietly with several medical supplies in his hands. He started working on her battered back with an astonishing precision, and a slight frown in his brows. He always seemed concerned when he was putting bandages on his daughter's welts but he would never speak of his concern. It bothered Rachel ,at times, that he would never speak in her defence, but she knew that putting those bandages was his way of saying he cared and that he was not completely on Hiram's side. He made sure that her injuries would never get infected and that they were well tended to, and he knew how to do that.

Leroy met Hiram as they were both in college, they were both young men with a bright future and a whole lot of ambition. Hiram wanted to follow his family's legacy while Leroy wanted to help as many people as he could by becoming a doctor. They didn't come from the same environment either. While Hiram had everything he could imagine, except loving parents, as he grew up, Leroy's family had barely enough to go around, but they were happy. The pair quickly fell in love and moved in together after graduation. They decided to have a child when Leroy was still halfway through residency and it only made sense that he would be the one to stop working to tend to their children's needs and with that being decided they adopted the beautiful Rachel Barbara Berry.