AN: I of course do not own any of the characters or the world that they live in. First time publishing reviews and critiques welcome however if you are going to slam the story just for the sake of slamming it, please don't waste your time or mine in doing so. As this is un beta'd all mistakes are mine. Thank you so much for all the follows, my phone has been blowing up all day and night since first posting. I hope that I can meet y'alls expectations.

Groaning Rae opened her eyes to harsh white light.

"Ugh What happened?" Rae muttered to herself

"You passed out." Quinns soft voice answered her.

Whipping her head around, Rae sees the head cheerleader, her secret crush, sitting in a visitors chair beside her bed. "I passed out?"

"Yeah. The paramedics said that after the adrenaline rush faded your body shutdown. Currently we are waiting for the doctor to come back, you have already had x-rays on your shoulder and they want to stitch up the cut above your eye next."

"Ummm ok, not that I'm not appreciative but why are you here with me?"

"Coach gave me strict orders to make sure you got looked at right away and make sure that you got patched up. To be honest, I'm glad I'm not at school right now Coach is uber pissed about what happened."

"Will you tell me?" Rae asked quietly

"After Becky came running in looking for you, and you tore out of the weight room, Santana and I helped clean Becky up and got her into a fresh Cheerios outfit and Britt went to go get Coach. As we were being lead back to where she was slushied, Becky told Coach how she had been cornered by those two morons and the degrading things that they said to her and, that Puck of all people, was the one who stood up for her. He told her to find you and run as fast as she could before he shoved Karofsky into Azimio."

"Is she ok?"

"Becky?" At Rae's nod Quinn continued "She's fine. A little shook up but she is surprisingly tough. Coach was livid and began running down the hall to the sounds of you guys fighting. We got there in time to see you drop Karofsky and then Azimio after he grabbed you from behind."

Before Rae could ask anything else the doctor came in.

"Hello Rae nice to see you awake, I'm Dr. Johan. Now I'm here to cause you more pain unfortunately. I have to put your left shoulder back in place and you are in need of six stiches above your right eye. But first I'm going to give you a shot of morphine for the pain. Is there something wrong?" Dr. Johan asked Rae as she had gone very pale at the sight of the needle.

"I have a phobia of needles." Rae whispered

"Well we could administer it in pill form, but it wont take effect for at least an hour where as this will affect you right away and help you with the setting of your shoulder."

"Ok." Rae answered very quietly and closed her eyes.

Rae opened her eyes a few minutes later looking a bit confused "I'm not getting the shot?"

Dr. Johan laughed softly, "I already gave it to you Rae. Im very gentle with a needle."

"Oh."

"Ok so now what im going to do is prep for your stitches in order to give the morphine a chance to kick in before setting your shoulder."

"Wont that cause more damage to wait?" Quinn asked before she could stop herself.

"Actually no." Dr. Johan answered. "With the amount of pain that Rae is in now it would actually be worse to try and pop it back in place while she is all tense. Ok Rae this may pinch a little." Dr Johan warned as he began injecting the local anesthetic that would freeze the area to be stitched.

At Rae's grunt of pain and small whimper of fear, without thinking about her actions, Quinn covered Rae's hand with her own and began to rub her thumb over Rae's knuckles to help calm the pint sized scrapper down.

"Now normally I wouldn't allow non family members in the room as treatment is administered, however your Coach is a rather frightening individual and that was just over the phone." Dr. Johan began lightly. "However, I have seen the basketball games when not on call and can understand why she would want the best for her star player. And she did warn me about Rae's little phobia. Alright Rae, just about done with this last suture then on to the more painful part of your treatment."

Cleaning up the area around Rae's newly stitched wound, Dr. Johan removed the little paper blanket that had been covering her face and tossed it in the waste basket and had his patient sit up.

"Ok Rae you ready to do this?" Dr Johan asked noticing that the girls eyes were becoming glassy a sure sign that the narcotic was working. At Rae's nod the Dr. continued "Ok big breath in on three.. 1...2...3!" A sick popping and grinding sound was heard along with Rae's grunt of pain as the doctor forced the joint back in place.

"And we are done. I'll have the nurse come in and fit you with a sling. You will have to wear it for a minimum of 7 days and will have to begin physio therapy next week."

"Ummm..." Rae began hesitant at first glancing over at Quinn before continuing "My Senseis will most likely help in that department after I explain how I ended up in this position in the first place."

"Ok well I'm going to leave a prescription of pain killers for you, and it will only be for a few days, again a week at most that you will need to take them. However with your disciplines I'm guessing that you will not even need them beyond today but please fill it and they will be there if needed ok."

20 minutes later Rae was fitted in her sling, Quinn had filled the prescription for her and the two teens were sitting in Quinns car.

"Quinn?"

"Yes Rae"

"Thank you. For this morning. I know that you don't like me much and will most likely tease me about my phobia and that the only reason you are here is because Coach ordered you to, but still I thank you. It was nice to not be alone for once." Rae stated quietly leaning against the window with her eyes closed.

Looking over at Rae, Quinn couldn't help but notice the undercurrent of a sad bitterness that laced the girls last words about being alone. Feeling a pang of pity and regret Quinn shook her head and focused on the road.

"I started taking karate lessons when I was 10, right after Karofsky... well you know, you were there and saw all that I am." Rae began softly. "I excelled at the discipline and with a lower center of gravity and smaller center mass it made it near impossible for opponents to land strikes against me. Also because of my size I knew that it would be next to impossible to have the brute strength against guys like Karofsky and Azimio and that's when I started Aikido it's all about fluidity and using your opponents/attackers momentum against them."

"That's how you were able beat Karofsky. And what Britt meant about your special classes." Quinn muttered.

"Yes to both. Britt's dance class is next to one of the do-jo's I attend. I never thought Britt saw me there though." Rae absently fibbed.

Nothing else was said between the two girls as Quinn drove back to school. Quinn was lost in thought evaluating her feelings and horrible actions towards the smaller girl. Quinn had recently admitted to herself that the reason she had tormented Rae was to suppress and hide her feelings for the tiny guard. She had been told for so long that what she was feeling was wrong and that it was an abomination in the eyes of the lord. But now that her father was no longer in the picture, Quinn was finally able to feel like she wasn't being judged all the time, that she no longer had to be the picture perfect daughter. Quinn had finally realized that the whole reason that she slushied and bullied Rae was that she had had a huge crush on the pint sized player that had developed into more, and had finally started to accept who she was over the summer and was ready to make amends and do whatever she had to, to make it up to Rae. Sooner then expected they had arrived. Quinn pulled into her parking spot and killed the engine. Looking over she smiled to herself when she saw Rae was asleep.

"Rae.." Quinn called softly "you need to wake up half pint."

".. Don't wanna." mumbled Rae, who sounded stoned.

Laughing softly Quinn shook the girls leg. "You have to. Coach wants you in Figgins office for a full report as to what happened. And no you cant have a shower first, besides it will look better for you if you go in looking as you are."

Groaning Rae sat up and opened the car door and slowly got out of the car. Swaying slightly the smaller girl made her way across the parking lot and through the doors. Quinn followed at a slower pace and noticed Becky running towards Rae.

"Rae, Rae you're ok." Becky cried out as she hugged the petite guard.

Laughing softly Rae hugged the down syndrome girl with one arm. "Of course I am pretty girl, you know I could never leave you and you're beautiful smile."

"Rae I have told you many times, I don't swing your way." Becky giggled pulling away from tiny guard.

"Awwww, well I keep hoping that one day..."

Giggling Becky hugged Rae one last time before running off to her class. Smiling softly Rae watched until the girl was out of sight before continuing her way to Figgins office.

"That was sweet of you" Quinn remarked causing Rae to startle.

"What?"

Quinn smirked before answering "The way you were with Becky. Its sweet. I don't think I have seen anyone interact with her the way you do... other than Coach come to think of it."

"She's just a teenager like the rest of us Quinn, and just wants to feel pretty and normal like any other girl at this school. She didn't ask to be born the way she was and if I can help her feel pretty and just like any other girl then that's what I'm going to do." Rae shrugged before wincing at the movement. "Despite what you think of me Quinn, I am a human being, that cares about others and not what they can do for my popularity. I don't put others down or call them names like Man-Hands, Hobbit, RuPaul, treasure trail or other derogatory names just to make myself feel better."

Rae walked through the doors to Figgins office leaving the head Cheerio stunned. Rae had never spoken to her like that before, had never given any inkling that the names or slushies had any effect on her. Deep down Quinn knew it was wrong and childish of her to do such things but unfortunately if she wanted to remain at the top, childish things were expected of her. Schooling her face into her HBIC mask, Quinn walked through the doors to Figgins' office.