Heavy chapter.

RCV

In the bathroom, Sue placed a band-aid over Quinn's right eye..

"Your mother wasn't always like this, you know," she said softly. She threw away the trash and wiped her hands on her shorts.

Quinn rolled her shoulder around with a wince and said, "I know what she was like. She told me all about how she was such a wild soul before she met Russell. That doesn't change the fact that the woman she was and the woman she is are two different people, and I'm not happy with either one at the moment."

"You have to give her time to come around."

"How much more time does she needs? Until I'm dead?" Quinn snapped.

Sue held up her hands and said soothingly, "I'm only saying that your mother needs to see what she has to lose. She might not be the same woman, but she is a mother. Mothers will pick their kids ten times out of ten. Always."

Quinn said nothing. Instead, she focused on the brace keeping her shoulder in check. Sue took the hint and left the bathroom, leaving the girl in peace. She closed the door behind her but paused when she saw Santana walking through the living room. Her eyes narrowed on the busted lip Santana sported. It seemed as if everyone was wearing battle wounds that night. Even LJ and Tori had little cuts and bruises courtesy of a couple of thugs they ran into at the store. Sue could sense the tension rising with every passing moment and decided to go help Emma out in the kitchen. When Santana passed, Sue was able to see a bruise forming on the girl's cheek, barely there unless you were up close and personal. She refrained from stopping and asking if she was okay, knowing that for the moment, all Santana needed was Quinn.

Glancing across the room, Sue caught Rachel following Santana with longing eyes, and added that one day, Santana would need them both.

Rachel got up from the couch, her instinct telling her to go towards the bathroom, but instead, she went and joined the others in the kitchen. Rachel found Sue and Emma whispering with Puck, all three of them with matching frowns, and she cleared her throat.

"Does someone want to tell me what else has happened in my absence? I don't remember Russell being this brutal. I knew he was hard on her, but not like this," she said.

"It's complicated," Puck began, "Someone, and I think I know who, messed around and told Mr. Fabray about Quinn and Santana. This someone set it up so that Mr. Fabray saw Quinn and Santana making out at the end of the summer bash. No one but the Glee Club knew she was in the hospital because Finn overheard Santana talking to her father over the phone."

"Why wasn't I made aware of this?" Sue asked.

"Because it happened at the beginning of August. Quinn was out of the hospital by the time we started school, and she wanted to forget about it. So we never brought it up again."

"You said you think you know who it was?" Emma asked.

"I do."

"Who?"

"Sam."

"Sam? Why would Sam do that?"

"I don't know yet. But back then, he was real jealous about their relationship. He said some pretty mean shit to Quinn and Santana when they came out at one of my pool parties."

"The same pool parties I shut down?" Sue asked.

"Of course not, Coach."

"Unhuh."

"Are you saying Quinn is routinely being beaten by her father?"

Puck nodded and said, "I've tried getting the police to look into it, but they tell me to mind my own business before I got caught up in a case."

Rachel wanted to say something, but it would be hypocritical to condemn Quinn for not saying anything. She barely reacted to LJ and Tori joining them in the kitchen. Rachel fought through the cloud of rage to form a sentence. "What about Santana?" she asked through gritted teeth.

Puck shifted and sighed. "Ever since her Mom died, her Dad's been at the hospital and spending the night at hotels. When he does come around, he's angry and they always argue. He gives her an allowance and shows up every other month or so to make sure she hasn't destroyed the house. I don't know all the details, but she seemed upset when she called me earlier. I've learned not to ask questions about it just like with Quinn."

"Did they tell you this themselves?" LJ asked.

"In a way," he said. "They come to me because I know what it's like, and I'm the last person on Earth to put them in a position they don't want to be in when it comes to this. Sue and Emma are still teachers, educators, and they are legally obligated to inform the authorities about certain things. Santana and Quinn purposely give them the bare minimum for plausible deniability."

Rachel said softly, "I can't fault them for not wanting anybody to know. It's not an easy topic to broach."

"Why does that sound like you know more about the subject than you're letting on?" Sue asked.

"Because she does," LJ said.

Rachel glanced at LJ, head cocked, and her brother tapped his left forearm. Rachel put her arm under the table though it, and the bruises underneath, were hidden by her shirt.

"Since we've just jumped right into this conversation, how about everyone pick up a slice and a drink, and we go back to the living room?" Emma suggested quickly, anxious to get settled before secrets start coming out.

Everyone nodded, and by the time they spread out in the living room, Santana and Quinn had exited the restroom, both looking better and calmer. Rachel ducked her head, focusing on the marshmallows in her drink, and she tried to think of anything other than the jealous thoughts racing through her head. She wished she could've been in there with them, offering them both comfort but it wasn't time for that yet. She had to wait, court them, show them that she was as serious about them as they were about her.

Or, she hoped they were that serious about her. Rachel couldn't tell. That conversation still wasn't finished.

"Can we sit with you?"

Rachel's head jerked up, and the objects of her thoughts were standing in front of her. She nodded shakily, and they sat on either side of her, their arms wrapping around Rachel's middle comfortably, while their hands intertwined over her stomach. She swallowed the rock in her throat, forced her heart to stop trying to beat its way out of her chest, and took a deep breath.

"This okay?" Santana whispered, her breath ghosting over her ear.

"Perfect," Rachel whispered back.

Two heads dropped on either shoulder, and Rachel hid her smile behind her mug.

"Not to break the happy moment, but Tori and I need to confess something," LJ said slowly.

"Okay, what?" Sue asked.

Tori and LJ shared a look before Tori said, "We lied earlier. Those thugs that we mentioned earlier weren't random."

"You knew them?" Rachel exclaimed, trying not to move too much. "You just moved here. How is that possible?"

Tori cleared her throat and said, "Correction, we only saw their jackets, but we knew they were from the school. McKinley."

"People from McKinley jumped you?" Quinn asked.

"Yeah. Two beefy guys, one white and one black. The other was tall and skinny with red hair," LJ said. "We saw them after they ran away."

"Beefy?" Quinn said. She twisted to look at Santana. "You don't think it was-

"There's a lot of beefy on that team, but I know tall, skinny and red hair any day," Santana growled. "Fucking Seamus."

"If it was Seamus, then it was Dave and Azimio with him," Quinn said.

"Why the hell would they come after them?" Rachel asked. "LJ and Tori are like dangerous snakes. Leave them alone and they'll leave you alone."

"That's not at all what we're like," Tori said.

"This is ridiculous," Emma said, cutting off Rachel's response to Tori. "We have to tell someone."

"Or let me handle it," Puck said.

"Not a chance. Two strikes, remember?" Quinn said.

Puck huffed. Sue sat forward and stapled her fingers under her chin. "I'll figure something out," she said.

"Are you advocating for non-school punishment?" Emma asked, a slight smile on her face.

"Oh, hush."

Rachel was fuming. It seemed as if the entire town had lost its already diminished mind.

"Have you told Daddy yet?" Rachel asked.

"Not yet. We were going to tell him when we stopped by the house, but he was having an argument with Hiram. We didn't hear much, but it sounded like Hiram isn't too happy with you right now and Leroy was trying to defend you."

"When isn't Hiram happy with me?" Rachel grumbled.

"He seemed really angry, and we overheard him mention Santana and Quinn. I don't think he wants you hanging around them anymore."

"It doesn't matter whether I hang out with them or not. He's going to be upset and angry and do the same things he always does."

"Which is?" LJ pressed. "Already knowing the answer."

She glared at him. "Don't," she said.

"Either you tell everyone, or I tell Tori in private."

"Tell me what?" Tori asked.

Rachel clenched her jaw and took a big gulp of her drink, ignoring the liquid burning her throat. She took great pleasure in knowing there was alcohol mixed with the chocolate because she was not looking forward to talking about her relationship with her father.

"Wait," Tori said. "Does he fucking hit you?"

All eyes turned to Rachel. She placed her mug down on the coffee table and stood up from the couch. She immediately missed the warmth from Santana and Quinn, but she didn't want to be around them at that moment. She needed space to think, to decide if she wanted to lie and force a conversation change or be upfront. Her conscious eventually wore out, and she rubbed her face.

"I'm sure you all noticed my relationship with Hiram is a complicated one?" When everyone nodded, Rachel continued, "Fine. Yes, behind closed doors, Hiram has a tendency to...overreact to certain things."

"I knew he was verbally aggressive, but I never knew he was-

"He isn't. Not all the time," Rachel interrupted Emma.

"The night you attacked Issacs, did Hiram…you know?" Sue asked.

"He didn't physically hit me, no," Rachel said blandly. "But, he found out something and tore me a new one while Daddy was working late."

"Was it you being gay?" Puck asked.

Rachel made a face and looked to the ceiling. "No, I came out to them when I was fourteen. That night," she paused, "that night he went off on me because he found me packing a bag. I was planning to run away," she said.

No one said anything to that, but she could see the looks on their faces. She chewed on her lip and told them that her decision came from being tired of having to deal with the same bullshit every day. Glee was beginning to weigh on her, she couldn't focus during class because she was worried about the next time that she would get a slushy to the head, and she was falling behind because of it. Rachel admitted that it was all a lot to handle, and with the pressure from her father weighing down on her every time he got the chance to remind her of the legacy she came from, she felt like running away and never coming back.

"I didn't hear the door open. He was early coming home. Had he stayed on schedule, I could've made a clean getaway, but he burst in and saw the bag. He also found the note I was writing for them, and he lost it. He trashed my room, destroyed my trophies, called me every name he could think of, and by the end of it, he told me that the only reason he kept me was because Shelby wanted me, not him. He would've been happy dropping me off on a doorstep somewhere and never looking back. Then, of course, Shelby changed her mind, and he got stuck with me."

After she'd finished, she knew she'd confessed more than she wanted. The room was deathly silent. Emma was glancing between Santana, Quinn, and Rachel with an unreadable look on her face. Sue was staring hard at the floor while Puck had his hands running over his head repeatedly.

"What are the odds the four of us have really shitty fathers?" Santana asked, breaking the silence.

"Daddy doesn't know Hiram said that, does he?" Tori asked.

"No," Rachel whispered.

"You have to tell him, Rae," LJ said. "What Hiram said to you wasn't fair."

"LJ's right," Tori co-signed. "You have to tell him."

"Trust me, I want to, but I don't want to break up their marriage."

"If this is how Hiram treats you, I doubt it's a marriage Leroy wants to stay in," LJ said.

"Even though Daddy uprooted his whole life for that fucking prick," Tori scoffed. "He left behind his family for him and some stupid ass fairytale."

"She didn't mean that, Rae," LJ quickly amended.

"Yes, she did, but it's okay," Rachel sighed.

Tori shot Rachel an apologetic grimace, and the moment passed, but it was short-lived. Emma coughed and cleared her throat, bringing up a topic Rachel was hoping they would avoid.

"Since we're talking about touchy subjects, I would like to know what happened that night, with you and Issacs," she said slowly. "And how Officer Simmons became involved."

Rachel tensed. Her right eyebrow twitched violently. "I'm going to need something stronger than Bailey's for that conversation," she said.

"Coming right up," Sue said, popping up from her seat.