Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Glee.
Spoilers: Spoilers for season 1.
Rating: M

Reply to reviews: (chapter 13)

chloe2007: Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked it! I am having so much fun writing Quin/Rachel's friendship in this. :) Will is definitely going to be a good father figure for Q, especially for at school, when she needs a teacher who understands everything that is going on. As of now, that all begins to happen in chapter 19.

Gwennie19: Thank you for the review. :) I honestly don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that chapter, but I ended it that way, and then everything kind of snowballed, and the episode Ballard ended up being 5 parts long! And yes, Jacob going to step up and take care of Quinn, although not directly (as she will be weary around men). He will stay with the girls until, and after, Josiah and David arrive home. :)

Thank you to the others who reviewed, I really, really appreciate. Special shoutout to Boris Yeltsin, who reviews on each chapter. Also, welcome to my new followers TopNotch44 and faith trust and pixie dust15. And my new favoriter ortexida.


Notes: Just going to go ahead be honest with everyone – child abuse. It is a real part of my story, and now? Now it is going to be shown. The rating has moved to M. This is for the next several chapters, until otherwise stated.

Notes 2: I will be busy with my family this weekend, so here is #14! Expect 15 around Monday-Wednesday of next week. :)

Here we go…


Previously on… Is It Worth Giving Up?…

Brittany's phone dings and it's so sudden and loud, that they all jump. She picks it up, frowning before standing and moving towards the doorway of the kitchen.

"Britt?" Rachel and Jake follow her to the front door, which she opens… "Rachel! Get over here!"

Santana is standing there, with a Cheerios bag slung over one shoulder, and…

Quinn, bruised, bloody, and shivering, leaning on her other side.

"They found out." The blonde whimpers, making eye contact right away with Rachel, and she wonders if it meant as the pregnancy, or the other thing, or both.

They all stand there, stunned, unsure of what to do, or what to say.


Can one of you please help me?" Santana questions sarcastically after several moments of no one saying anything.

This snaps them out of their shock, and Jacob is the first one to reach towards Q and Santana.

He doesn't expect Quinn to flinch when he goes to take the Cheerios bag, and neither does Santana, if her stumbling a little in reaction is anything to go by.

Rachel steps in front of him, having seen this.

"Jake, step back."

The commanding tone in his cousin's voice alarms him just enough to listen, and Brittany must understand whatever it is that Rachel saw in Quinn's eyes, because she gets between Rachel and Jacob, pushing him further backwards.

"You two," Rachel continues. "Get in here. Give me the bag, Santana." Once its handed over, she gives it to Brittany.

"Britt, I need you to take this upstairs and get Quinn some clothes. We need to get her in the shower to warm her up. Jacob, go with her and put out some towels."

Brittany nods, looking from Rachel to Quinn and then to Santana, and she sees in her best friend's expression that something has happened, something big, because her friend is bloody and bruised, and she certainly was not this way at school, nor should it have had happened during the dinner she was having with her parents and boyfriend.

The dancer is about to head upstairs when another thing happens, – Quinn reaches for Rachel's arm, a desperate look in her eyes, and Rachel freezes for just a moment before her body language changes drastically, and she reaches towards the blonde's face.

Santana seems to react to this first, straightening up even more than she was.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," She warns, but Rachel is either ignoring her or understanding something the rest of them do not yet, because she still goes forward with her hands.

It's a staring contest between the five of them, Quinn and Rachel, Brittany and Santana, and Jacob, watching all of them.

The Diva touches Quinn's left cheek, – the one that is bruised, – and, surprisingly, Quinn flinches very little, and Rachel shakes her head, her voice breaking when she whispers, "God, what did he do to you?"

The question leaves the room tension filled and sends chills through Brittany as she realizes that… fuck, the only men Q has been around in the last few hours were Finn… and her own father.

Quinn's bottom lip trembles, but she does not respond. She doesn't take her eyes off Rachel and they are left standing there, because no one wants to speak, or move, or maybe they don't know what to do in the first place.

Finally, Rachel speaks again, this time softer, and though she does not look away from the blonde in front of her, she directs her statement to Brittany.

"Britt, take some sweats and a sweatshirt from that bag if they are any in there, and go and put them in the dryer. Jacob, I need you to go and get a couple of warm, wet washcloths."

They leave and then, "San," She looks at her Latina best friend, and she understands that Santana is not fairing in her emotions any more than the rest.

"I need you to take Quinn upstairs to my bedroom. I'm going to start the fireplace, so it will be warming up down here, and then I will call my Dads, and ask them to come back home."

Even without the protest from said girl, and before Rachel finishes speaking, Santana is shaking her head. "You should take her. I can do whatever you need me to do."

She does not argue this; Quinn hasn't let go of her wrist. So she nods, and she whispers to Santana to go start a fire in the living room, and then to get the house phone and call her Dads, who shouldn't be too far away, as they were going to have dinner with some friends before they left.

:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/

They go upstairs, and Rachel calls out for Jacob. He sticks his head out of the half bath in the hallway, and she instructs him to go through the guest bedroom, and leave the towels on the counter in the bathroom that is shared between the guest and her own bedroom.

He nods and then does this, leaving the room so he is not around Quinn, and does not make her any more uncomfortable than necessary. Rachel directs the blonde into her bedroom and over to her bed.

She has an odd posturing, as though she is unable to stand up straight, or maybe as if she is in… pain? And honestly, Rachel is a little scared of what she is going to find when Quinn takes her shirt and pants off to change into the warmer clothes Britt will have for her.

"Alright, Angel," Rachel says. She stands in front Quinn, and then bends down to her height. She reaches up, just slightly; making sure her hand is in clear view of the scared girl, she moves it towards Quinn's face.

"Oh, baby," She whispers as she runs her thumb as gently as she can, over the cut on Q's lip. "What happened?" She sighs and tries not to think too hard because if she does, if she lets her mind go there, then she will begin crying and that just cannot happen right now.

Quinn hates the painful look on her best friend's face. She wishes she had the ability to speak right now; if she did, she would explain every last thing that has occurred in the several hours of after school and until now.

She shivers, her body not yet used to the warmth of the house. She was outside for possible half an hour, just walking around, after escaping the Fabray household, and her father. She was just wandering around until Santana spotted her, and then brought her here.

Rachel immediately takes note of the shivering, and starts to pull away from Quinn, so that she can go check on Britt and see how long until she has Quinn's clothes warmed up from the dryer.

However, Quinn just tightens her hold on Rachel's wrists, and she gives up on that. She can see the blonde is panicking, for whatever reason she does not want to let Rachel out of reach, and so she just nods and shushes her and then moves to sit beside her on the bed.

"Alright, it's ok. I won't move, alright? I won't move." She lifts her hand and barely is able to touch Quinn's back, before the girl is flinching, more harshly than she did earlier; this is followed by jumping up and running into the bathroom.

She winces at the sound of Quinn being sick. Santana comes into the room then, followed by Jacob. She can tell Santana is concerned at the lack of Quinn being in the room, but then understanding crosses her face as she hears Quinn in the bathroom.

"I'm going downstairs to check on Britt," Rachel tells her. "Jacob, stay here in case you are needed; San, will you go make sure she is okay?"

She knows that she should probably be the one to go to Quinn, but she just… she needs a moment to gather herself. She needs to be able to take just a breath and center herself and pack all of her emotions into those tiny little boxes she has accumulated over the years.

And Santana can see this.

Even as she knows, without a doubt, that Quinn would prefer Rachel in there with her. For whatever reason, her best friend needs Rachel more desperately than is normal; but she can also see that the Diva needs a minute to get herself together.

So she nods, and she moves towards the bathroom, and she closes the door a little to give them some privacy.

"Hey, Q," She takes one of the washcloths that Jake left them and hands it to Quinn, also getting a cup of water, and another cloth. While Quinn rinses her mouth out, Santana goes to wipe the blood from her face.

"Alright, babygirl, let's get the blood cleaned off, hmm?" She reaches forward, copying Rachel in that she makes sure Quinn can see her hand and can understand that she is reaching towards her face, but…

She does not get that far.

Santana can see the look.

She pauses, her brow furrowing at the look of fear and… worry… in the blonde's eyes.

She wonders whom Quinn is worried about. She can understand the fear; no one knows what she went through earlier that ended with these injuries, but it had to be bad, it had to be frightening enough that Quinn ended up wandering around outside in below-40° weather.

But the worry seems to be for someone instead of about something.

She just does not make the connection between now and earlier, until…

"Where's Rachel?"

It takes several moments for Santana's mind to catch up, and realize that… Quinn spoke.

"Santana," Quinn stresses her name and it snaps her out of it, and she tries gets a good look at the fear and the worry, and she tries to make a link to… something.

"She's downstairs with Britt. How about we clean you up, and then we can go–"

Santana doesn't expect the distraught look to flit across the blonde's face, or for her to go paler than she already is.

She decides to forget trying to clean the blood from Quinn's face and instead, stands up, sighing deeply, and then bending down a little.

"I'm going to go find Rachel, okay? Would you like to brush your teeth while I'm gone?" Quinn nods so she moves towards the cabinet where Rachel always kept the extra bathroom supplies, including the toothbrushes.

She opens the door, and immediately, she is met with a sight that has her smiling, despite the serious situation they are all facing – on the right side of the second shelf, lay three unopen toothbrushes, one that is blue, one that is an orange-red, and the last one being a light green.

"Of course," She mutters. Her smile grows as she reaches for the green. She remembers exactly when these toothbrushes were bought – summer of 2005. Rachel and her dads always bought new toothbrushes every three months ("it's recommended by the dentist, Santana!" Rachel had said when she complained about "just having bought one!").

They all picked out a different colored one. Pale yellow for Rachel, dark blue for Brittany, the orange-red, which Britt called "sunset", for Santana, and the last one, the light green, was for Quinn.

Santana gets all three out, and then turns to face Quinn. She holds up the green one.

"Green was always your color, wasn't it, Q?" And apparently, Quinn understands what she meant, because she faintly smiles also, having recognized it. Santana opens the toothbrush, and then gently helps Quinn to stand up.

"Alright, you do this, and I will go and get Rachel. Ok?" Quinn nods, but she still seems… worried and anxious and so Santana quickly goes to do that.

:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/

"Rach! B? Where you guys at?"

She follows the sound of talking down the hall and to the kitchen, where she finds both girls. Rachel is putting grocery items up and Brittany is just sitting at the counter, talking to her.

"Hey, San," Rachel greets. "Britt, why don't you go check on the clothes? I bet they are warm enough now." Once Brittany is gone, Rachel turns to Santana.

"What's going on? Why are you down here, is Quinn all right?"

Santana can see she is beginning to panic, so she holds up a hand, and comes closer.

"First off, is there really an answer to that right now?" She jokes, because she is certain there is no clear 'yes' or 'no' answer as far as if Quinn is ok or if she will be any time soon.

But Rachel's facial expression changing to one of annoyance tells her it is too soon for jokes, so she sighs, and she shakes her head, and…

Instead, she says, "No. I am not sure what has happened, but I don't think you being out of reach of Q is a good thing right now." Rachel goes to say something else but the Latina holds up a hand to stop her, "I tried to help her clean the blood off her face, and… and she actually spoke to me, Rach."

She shakes her head, the look of shock on the Diva's face one she can understand. "It was only to ask where you were, but when I told her you were down here, fuck, Rachel, she looked… she looked so fucking terrified."

She sighs again, "I don't what happened or what is going on, but–"

A sound to their right startles both girls, and they whip around, alarmed and on high alert.

It's Brittany and Jacob, the former having a bundle of clothes in her arms, and the latter looking… fuck… scared and distressed.

"One of you needs to get up there. I don't–it… Quinn is freaking out, and she's already almost thrown up again, and she needs to be calmed down." As Jacob speaks, Rachel makes a beeline for the staircase, her cousin, and Britt and Santana following.

Jacob continues, "This stress is not good for the baby! You need to get her calmed down, and we need to check her out, to make sure she has no other injuries than what can be seen on her face."

In the back of her mind, Rachel vaguely registers that Jacob is using his 'Doctor Holiday" tone of voice. She ignores him, however, in favor of taking the stairs two at a time and getting to her room in record time.

The door is open, and as she steps through it, she is tackled in a hug by someone. She jumps back, but then realizes who it is.

Quinn…

The girl is shaking, either from being cold or being so fucking scared, or maybe a combination of both, and Rachel has to rest her hands on Quinn's hips, instead of her back, because she remembers at the last second how Q reacted to her touching her there earlier.

"Oh, Angel," She whispers, walking them backwards so that the other three can get into the room. "It's ok, LuLu. I'm okay. Nothing happened to me, alright?" She does not know why she's saying it, but some part of her brain is telling her that it is important for Quinn to know this.

"I'm right here, Lucy." She runs her hands up Quinn's sides, and then draws her fingers through her blonde waves, before resting them on Quinn's arms, which are around her neck. Basically, she is trying to give her any comfort through physical touch that she can, without touching her back.

After a couple of minutes, Rachel draws back, and shushes her gentle as the blonde tries to protest, panicking at Rachel letting go.

"I'm not letting go, LuLu. Okay? Britt has your clothes, they are nice and warm, how about we get changed into them, yeah? That way you can warm up faster."

She knows she also needs to check on Quinn's back, just to be sure the injuries to her face are the only ones she has.

"B," She looks over to the three still standing at the doorway. "Will you lay those on my dresser right over there, and then maybe go downstairs and wait on us? I will help Quinn get changed, but I think it is best if she does not have audience right now."

Brittany does exactly that, and then they all leave, with Santana making sure Rachel knows they will be right downstairs and to yell out if it's needed. Rachel nods her understanding and then turns to Quinn.

"Alright, Angel, let's get changed." Rachel hands her the warmed-up sweatpants and she puts them on without any help, but once she goes to take her shirt, they start to have problems.

Quinn winces as soon as she moves her arms in a way that her back is brushing against her shirt. She tries to cover it up, and to readjust her position so Rachel maybe does not see it, but no such luck. Rachel was watching her like a hawk to begin with, trying to categorize all, if any, of her injuries, and sees it happen right away.

"Quinn!" She reaches out, stopping the blonde from moving. "Let me help you, ok? What's going on here?" She slowly gets both Quinn's arms out of her shirt and moves it so it is hanging around her neck.

She looks at Quinn, and Quinn meets her eye, but only for a moment, and then she is looking away, knowing that Rachel is going to want to see her back, and also knowing that she wouldn't just walk around the bed, but is going to make her turn around so she can look at it.

"LuLu," She whispers. "Can you turn around for me, please?"

And Quinn sighs, her shoulders drooping, and she hesitates for a moment, because part of her is still scared, is still thinking that this is just a dream and that she is at home, or at least, the place that was supposed to be her home.

She hopes the past hour has actually happened, and that she will not get in trouble for doing this, won't be "punished" for letting someone know just exactly how Russell "disciplines" her.

Quinn takes a deep breath, steeling herself, squeezing her eyes shut, and then, very slowly, she stands up, letting Rachel take a step back, before she turns and faces away from her.

She hears a sharp intake of breath from Rachel, but does not say anything. She wonders if her back looks as bad as it feels.

This is not something that has happened in a long time. It did occur spontaneously throughout her childhood, but her sisters always made sure that Russell knew they'd take this to the police if he continued. There is a difference between disciplining a child for misbehaving, and leaving marks of abuse disguised as "punishment".

Therefore, it turned into smacking in the face, and other forms of "discipline" that would not leave much evidence behind, except a scar on Quinn's emotional wellbeing.

With Abby and Becca both out of her life, Russell was free to do this, however, she had become accustomed with the "lead up" such as, what would warrant such "discipline". So, he never really had a reason, as she hardly ever disobeyed.

She learned not to react. She learned not to tell. And she learned not to act as if she was in excruciating pain, and could not do anything that she would have been able to do before her "punishments".

Now, though, here, at Rachel's house, at the one place where she feels as if she can be Lucy again, the one place that those rules don't apply, she can feel herself breaking down.

It's a mix of all of the stress from the past 4 months, the pressure of having to pretend around her father that she and the girls were not speaking to Rachel. The stress of having to watch Rachel be slushied, and having to call her names in the hallway.

The stress of pretending it doesn't matter, of pretending that the heartbreakingly confusing look on her best friend's face each day does not bother her.

The stress of having to keep it together, Quinn, just a little bit longer.

And mostly, the strain of being three months pregnant, but unable to tell her parents, because god the things they would do if they found out.

Not that it matters now.

They know about everything as of 2 hours ago.

"Quinn?"

Rachel's voice snaps her out of her thoughts and she spins around. Quinn feels her bottom lip trembling and she doesn't even try to stop the tears. They fall at the sight of Rachel looking more distraught than Quinn has ever seen her.

She wants to tell her she is ok. That she is used to it; that it's not Rachel's fault.

It's Quinn's fault. She should have been able to deal with all of this. It should not be… hard to talk to Rachel and then act as if they weren't; to keep her pregnancy a secret, to pretend to hate the girl she has loved as sister from the day they met.

Quinn's inner beratement is broken by Rachel's sharp, "Don't you dare, Lucy Quinn."

And she blinks, once again pulled into the present. Rachel is giving her a stern look, although it is weakened around the edges by the tears in her eyes.

It's been a long time since she's heard that.

She swallows roughly and wrestles with herself, with whether she should take Rachel for a fool, and pretend she does not know what she is talking about, or if she should be serious.

"LuLu," It's whispered this time. She has a hard time looking Rachel in the eye.

"Look at me, Quinn."

It's different for her. Rachel calling her that. It's like when your mother yells out your full name across the house. You know you're in trouble.

It's always been Lucy for her. Or LuLu.

She was Quinn in kindergarten. Because Lucy was the girly-girl preschooler who loved princesses and sparkly colors and wearing dresses.

Quinn was the kindergartener who preferred jeans or shorts, and t-shirts, and tennis shoes, and running around with Noah having mud wars in Rachel's backyard.

With Rachel, though, it's always been her first name.

Always.

"Oh, LuLu," Rachel whispers. She has nothing to say that would make this better, so instead, she just pulls her in for a hug, which Quinn takes full advantage of. "I know it does not feel like it right now, Angel, but it will be ok. You will be ok."

She isn't even sure Quinn is processing what she is saying, and… it's apparent why about 10 seconds later she when hears it.

Quinn starts coughing, which forces her to pull backwards away from Rachel. She looks as if she is trying to take in large gulps of air, and failing at it. The Diva curses because she almost forgets what to do.

"Quinn," She reaches for her face, and tries meets the blonde's wide-eyed, frantic look. She's having a panic attack.

"Quinn, hey, it's ok. You're okay. It's Rachel. Can you look at me, huh?"

She adjusts them so that Quinn is sitting on the bed, and she is bent down in front of her. Her hands are on Quinn's face and the blonde is gripping her wrists.

She remembers that Quinn had said once that this grounds her, even if it does not show immediately.

"I know it's scary, Angel, but I need you to focus on my voice, okay? Focus on my voice. Just listen to my voice, Angel. It's ok. You're ok. I'm going to get you through this, all right? Just breathe with me."

She imitates taking a breath in and letting it out.

Listening to Quinn gasping for air hurts her heart, but she knows it is so much scarier for the blonde, so she pushes that thought away and focuses on getting Quinn to focus.

The two go through the breathing exercise that Rachel's daddy showed them the first time this happened.

"Breathe with me, just like we used to. In…and out. Focus on my voice, LuLu. Take a breath in…and let it out… in… and out…" She exaggerates the breathing motions, and just keeps repeating, in…and out… yes, like that. In…and out.

He explained that she needed to be told that she was safe, who was with her, and where she was. Once her brain calmed enough to process this, it would be very helpful.

"You're safe. You are here, with me. No one else is here, just breathe."

Whatever else Quinn needed to do could be figured out as they went along; hence the whole part of Rachel putting her hands on Quinn's face with her hands on Rachel's wrists.

It takes several moments, but eventually, Quinn meets her eyes.

"Can you take a deep breath in for me, LuLu?" Rachel whispers, just to be sure that Quinn is with her completely now. She does it perfectly and Rachel nods along.

"Good. Okay, see?" She lets out a breath and tries to calm her own racing heart. "It's all good now, alright?"

:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/

The two sit in silence for a few moments, until both are breathing somewhat normally again. Rachel knows they need to do this, so she takes a deep breath of her own, and then says,

"Angel, I know you are not going to like this, but I assume you do not want to go a hospital to get checked out?"

She gets an answer through Quinn's eyes turning panicky again.

"Ok, so the best thing to do then, would be… to, well…" Rachel sighs. She hates this. She hates knowing how Quinn will react to her next statement, and she just wants the girl to be as comfortable and calm as she can be, but…

"Your back needs to be checked out. Those cuts need to be cleaned. And since going to the hospital, at least right now, is out of the question, then, I'm sorry, LuLu, but… I am afraid that Jacob is going to have to check you over. Okay?"

She says it with a more… firm tone of voice, but still gentle and soft, letting Quinn know that it will be happening. Rachel knows that if it were solely up to the blonde, then she would simple put her sweatshirt on and go about pretending nothing bad has happened.

She tilts her head to the side, trying to catch Quinn's eye when she looks away. "I wouldn't do this if it did not really need to be done. I… I hope you know that, Quinn."

Her eyes flit around the room. She has no idea why she is nervous all of a sudden, having to say this, when everything else came to her with a sense of ease.

Rachel sighs, "One your back is… addressed, then we will get some food in you, and we can ice your cheek. Then…" She shrugs, smiling, and then laughing quietly when Quinn starts giggling. "Honestly, I don't even know. I guess… we can just decide when we get that far, yeah?"

Quinn nods, albeit reluctantly, and Rachel stands up, leaning over to press a kiss to the blonde's forehead. She stays in that position for a moment, before whispering, "I am going to walk to my bedroom, and open it, and then I will call out for Santana. You can still see me; you just will be unable to… touch for a few moments, okay?"

Again, she does not know why she feels the need to say this, but…

Quinn is nodding again, tightening her grip on Rachel's wrists minutely for just a second before releasing them suddenly. It throws Rachel off but then she understands, the look in Quinn's eye saying it all. So, she walks a straight line to her bedroom door.

She opens it and calls out for Santana and Jacob, then turns back around to face Quinn, to check on her. When she faces away again, she jumps, startled to find Santana standing there.

It probably was not a good idea, though, to not be completely aware of her surroundings because as she spins back around once more to look at Quinn, she actually yelps this time.

Quinn is standing right beside her.

Her heart racing, she mutters "Fuck," before just trying to breathe and calm her racing heart.

It's autopilot almost, reaching a hand out for Quinn; some part of her brain is telling her to physically and verbally let the blonde know she is ok.

Santana must sense the disturbance, too, because she is backed away from the two girls.

Rachel goes to speak, but instead just ends up laughing, as she leans her head on Quinn's arm. She can see Santana smirking in her peripheral vision, but Quinn is still tensed up.

"God… ok. Let's try this again, shall we?" She turns to Quinn first, "LuLu, I'm ok. She just startled me is all. I didn't hear her come up the stairs." She waits until Quinn is relaxing, even if it is just so.

Then to Santana, "San, are B and Jake still down there?"

Santana watches the two for a moment, trying to understand something that she just… isn't seeing, but then she shakes her head, and says,

"I called your dads. They are about 6 hours away, although it is almost nine now, so actually they are five hours away. Papa Josiah said they had dinner earlier than originally planned so they also left earlier, but will be here as soon as possible."

Rachel nods to this.

"And no, B and Jacob are not down there. We are going to stay the night so he took her to my house for some clothes."

She eyes the two, from Rachel, who looked ragged and tired, to Quinn, who… does not have a shirt on?

"What's going on?"

At this, Rachel loses her smile, and suddenly looks more serious than Santana is comfortable seeing her be.

"Rachel? Q?" Her friend does not meet her eye, and Rachel is more turned towards Quinn than Santana, so she cannot get a read on the Diva's facial expressions. "Okay. This is the time that someone, one of you, both of you, either of you, needs to answer me."

Finally, Rachel sighs and presses on Quinn's arm, which gets the blonde to move backwards. Santana follows. Once inside the room, she shuts the door, and only then, does Rachel speak.

She suddenly gets the feeling that things are a lot worse than she, or the others, originally thought.

It's confirmed by Rachel saying, "We need you to look at Lu's back." And then, Rachel reaches up again for Quinn's face. "Can you turn around for me, baby? Let San see your back, ok? Then we'll go down and ice your cheek."

The Latina winces at that. She knows that while 'LuLu' and 'Angel' were frequently used nicknames between the two girls, 'baby' was only used at the worst of times, during the moments where they were all more grownup than they should have had to been at their age.

With Quinn's focus solely on Rachel, the two having some kind of conversation with their eyes, Santana checks her over for any injuries, coming up with only her bruised cheek, split lip, which still has blood on it, and the bruises on Quinn's wrists and right arm.

With that in mind, she wonders why in the world Rachel would need her to look at Quinn's back.

Unless…

No.

Santana straightens up.

No, no, no, no, no.

He wouldn't do that… would he?

It has been so long since it's happened. Quinn figured out quickly what the "triggers", if you will, were and learned how to not do them.

But now?

Now… God. She doesn't even know. Quinn said, "He knows everything".

She had stupidly thought, and even actually believed, that Finn was the one to do this. That maybe he got angry because Quinn told him the baby is not his.

I mean, a few bruises and a split lip and yeah, ok, that is bad, but her back? Finn wouldn't do anything to her back.

So that leaves one person.

It leaves one he.

Jesus Christ, how did their lives get so screwed up?

Why was Quinn dealt the abusive and homophobic parents?

Her mind still reeling, Santana is pulled out of her thoughts by the exact girl who's occupying them.

Quinn is turning around, exposing her back to both of them, and she can't help the gasp of… of shock and fucking anger that leaves her.

They are crisscrossed this time. Long, angry red marks scattered from her shoulders down to her the waistband of her sweatpants, only broken up towards the top, by Quinn's sports bra. Usually… Usually, they would… this is new, she realizes. Used to, they'd only go one direction, but Quinn must have been moving this time, for them to end up as painful 'xs' across her skin.

They look raw and it makes her sick to her stomach for Santana to try and not imagine how painful they must be.

Several of them are becoming welts already, others a bleeding, while still some are just red marks. She will definitely have scars to remind of her this time.

"Quinn…" In shock, and trying to contain her anger, Santana's voice comes out as broken, as she reaches out, but then Rachel stops her, shaking her head, and Santana realizes…

Anything other than the necessary words will come across as pity and she knows, even right now, that Quinn is not going to want that. Even if it the last thing Santana would do.

So instead, she clears her throat, and she pushes her feelings and thoughts of what she'd like to do to Quinn's father aside, and she says, "Alright, umm… we need to… we need to clean these with alcohol. And we may need to bandage a few of the uh of the cuts and well, let's do that and then see how they look."

Rachel nods. "Okay, then you go get the alcohol from my bathroom, please, and LuLu, hey, can you look at me for second?"

"I am going to have to go downstairs, okay? San does not know where our First-Aid kit is, alright, so I am going to go down there, and it will be for just a few minutes. And hey, nothing will happen to me, ok? I am going to be just fine… LuLu? Quinn, look at me…"

Santana tries to figure it out again. That something that has happened to make Quinn so panicked when Rachel so much as mentions being out of her sight.

She watched her this time, as Rachel was speaking, watched as she grew more and more anxious and Rachel had to cut herself off because of Quinn's grip tightening on her wrists.

"Angel…"

She knows she shouldn't be taken aback by the softness of her friend's voice, but it's just been… so long.

"I need you to stay up here, okay? I am going to go downstairs. I am going to get the First-Aid kit, and then, then I will come right back up here. Okay? Hey," Rachel brushes something from Quinn's cheek, and it's then that she sees the tears. "Please don't cry, sweetheart. There is no one down there, ok? And the doors are all locked, the back door is, and the front door…"

She stops here, turning toward Santana as if to check, and the Latina nods. "I locked the door behind B and Jacob when they left."

Rachel nods to, although more to Quinn than anyone else. "Okay, see? The doors are all locked, and I know exactly where the kit is, and I am going to be just fine, alright? I promise."

She stops there, and Santana watches as her eyes flit around Quinn's face, and she wonders… is Rachel looking for the something that happened to make Quinn react this way, too?

"What did he do to you?" She whispers finally. "What happened to scare you like this?"

Of course Quinn does not answer, nor does she let go of Rachel's wrists, except with one hand, which she uses to reach up to… to the side of Rachel's face, and to thread her fingers through brunette tresses. She keeps it there, and then leans forward, and Santana's heart aches as she catches sight of the tears on the blonde's face before it is covered with her own hair.

She leans her forehead against Rachel's and the shorter girl sighs as she lets Quinn do this. She has no words right now. Nothing she could say is going to make anything better.

They stand like this for several moments, with one of Quinn's hand wrapped around Rachel's wrist, the other still on the side of her head, now covered with Rachel's own hand.

Rachel finally whispers, "I don't know what has happened," and Quinn does not react, at least, not that Santana can see. "I wish… I wish I knew what to do to make everything better. I wish I knew what happened earlier. But I don't. I don't know what happened, or how to make this better. You need – I need you – to help me out, okay, baby? Tell me what to do to make this better, please, LuLu."

Santana watches with bated breath and waits for their next move. To be told to do something, or for one of them to do something.

She knows that Rachel said it, but she honestly did not expect the raspy, "Please don't go down there, Star. Just… stay with me, please. Okay? I can't-there-it… please. Ok?" to come from Quinn. She blinks in surprise. It's the third time Quinn has spoken tonight.

She realizes all three times have either been to Rachel, or a question of her whereabouts.

Rachel's shoulders droop, and all the air just seems to… leave her. But she nods and she oks it.

"I'll stay up here; San can go and get the kit and I will go to the bathroom for the alcohol. Okay?"

Quinn nods, not quite relaxing, but her shoulders do lose their tension just the tiniest bit.

Rachel turns to Santana, but before she can say anything, they hear someone calling out for them from downstairs. Quinn tenses up and spins around but stays close to Rachel while Santana does not react as strongly.

"It's ok, Q. That's just Britts and Jake." Santana goes to the door, checking before she leaves, "You good up here? Does Jacob know where the First-Aid kit is?"

Rachel steps in front of Quinn, ignoring her protests, and says, "Yes to both of those. Please go tell them to stay downstairs and that we will be down there in a few minutes."

Once Santana is gone, she turns back, "LuLu, its ok. Sit down for me and I will go and get the alcohol. Once Santana and I are done with… treating your back, we can go downstairs and maybe get something to eat."

Reluctantly, Quinn lets her go and she grabs the bottle of rubbing alcohol from the bathroom. Santana comes back up to her room, and the two address Quinn's back as well as they can. Josiah will have to do a more thorough look over, once he and David arrive home, but for now, this should be fine.

:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/

Once that is finished, there is one thing that needs to be done before they can go downstairs. Santana gives her a washcloth so she can wipe the blood off Quinn's lip.

"Angel," Quinn glances up at the whisper. Her own heart breaks because the distraught look on her best friend's face is the last thing she wants to see or even be responsible for putting there.

"I need to ask you something, LuLu," Rachel whispers again. Quinn nods, because she knows what the question will probably be.

Rachel takes a deep breath, and she steels herself to say the words that she never wanted to actually have to say aloud…

"Did Russell Fabray do this to you?"

She already has a sick feeling in her stomach, and out of the corner of her eye, she sees Santana watching them.

Quinn's bottom lip trembles and fresh tears join the dried tracks on her cheeks, which Rachel brushes away with the warm washcloth. She nods her head.

Rachel presses her lips together, because what she has to say probably will not be what Quinn wants to hear. She does not have a choice, though.

"I need you to answer with words, Angel." She whispers. "San needs to witness hearing you say the words, then, you do not have to say anything else until you are ready, alright?"

Quinn nods, so she repeats the question, "Did Russell Fabray give you these injuries?"

It's silent, and Rachel fears that Quinn will not actually answer… but then she finally opens her mouth and, for only the fourth time tonight, she verbally replies with…

"Yes. Russell hurt me. He gave me this split lip, bruised cheek, bruised wrist, the bruises on my arms, and the… injuries to… to my back. He did this to me."

She breaks immediately afterwards, crumbling in Rachel's arms, and once she has Quinn in her grip, Rachel is looking to Santana, and sees her nodding, meaning she heard her say the words.

"Okay, LuLu, that's good," She soothes. "I'm proud of you, Angel. You're okay, I promise. No one is going to hurt you ever again."


So, lots of stuff happened in this chapter. I broke it up so it was not an overwhelming amount of info.

You got a glimpse into Russell Fabray's full-force abusive nature. And something did happen between Quinn and Russell, in order to make Quinn panic when Rachel leaves her sight. This will not be revealed for several more chapters, though.

Also, I kind of threw everyone in headfirst in regards to how… touchy-feely, the girls are with each other, especially Quinn and Rachel. That is going to be the norm (but a teensy bit less than here) for my story. :)

Anyway, please review and let me know what you thought! Any ideas as to what has Quinn so scared and panicky for Rachel? What do you think will happen to Judy/Russell now that his abuse has become blaringly obvious? Part 4 is when Rachel's fathers find out everything!