Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Glee. I do not own the quotes taken from this episode, or any future episode, of Glee.
Spoilers: Spoilers for season 1.
Rating: T

Reply to reviews: (chapter 16)

Boris Yeltsin: Thanks for the review! Yes, Russell certainly is a biggot. He is a very controlling and manipulative man (narcissist). Shelby will come in soon, I just have to figure out my version of the season 1 timeline. She will come in before Jesse eggs Rachel, which will happen sooner than on the show. I think Shelby will enter like she did in the show, but the interaction will be longer and involve Santana, Brittany, and Quinn more. :)

chloe2007: Thank you for the review. :) Will, Emma, and Sue find out in chapter 19, so only 2 more to go!

GLEE111: I will include the Glee Club more, as soon as we get through the next several chapters. There are just people who need to know before them, y'know? But yes, they'll all be involved in some way. :)

Syanyde: Welcome, I hope you're enjoying the story. That was quite a bombshell I dropped on everyone, but I was not just blowing by it. More like, setting up for the big reveal. It is mentioned somewhat in this chapter, and then more directly in chapters 21, 22, & 23. :)

Gwennie49: I'm glad you're all caught up. And I may or may not have something about that about Judy… you'll just have to wait and see. ;)

Thanks to the others who reviewed. I got 6 on the last one! Ties with chapter 12 for second most-reviewed. :) And welcome to my new followers nrazeto and WorkingGirl27 (favoriter). And my new favoriters hazelbutton2002 and iceskatingprincess.


Notes: Slow day so I decided to update. Last one dealing with Ballard, then we move on! Also, Rachel is going to have the nickname 'duckie' for Britt. She'll have one for Noah and San, too, I just haven't figured them out yet.

David is an officer as is Brittany's dad, and Jacob's father and aunt. They have the authority to put Russell Fabray away for life, and he will never hurt the girls, Quinn, especially, ever again.

Enjoy! :)


It's 2:30 in the morning when the girls get through telling David and Josiah, and in turn, Rachel, everything about the whys and the what happens and the because ofs, for the past four years.

Rachel's Dads leave the girls in the living room while they go to the kitchen to discuss things.

They are going to let everyone get as much sleep as they can throughout the night, then check Quinn's injuries over thoroughly tomorrow.

Also tomorrow, they are going to get Carlos and Carmen Lopez, and Jennifer and Michael Pierce caught up on what is going on.

Then, they will all go down to the police station, and make a formal complaint and get Russell Fabray arrested for child abuse.

He will probably be charged with several other things, like coercion, for what he did to Quinn, Santana, and Britt, but right now, the important thing is to get him off the streets.

Quinn needs to know that he will be punished for what he did to her, tonight, and for the rest of her childhood before now.

Also, they need to find out just how much Judy is a part of this.

If she was aware of the blatant abuse, and did absolutely nothing to stop Russell or protect Quinn, especially if she knew how he was "punishing" her when she and the girls did not do Russell's dirty work (bullying Rachel), then she can, and will, be charged as an accessory to the abuse.

If somehow, she did not know. If she did not see the bruises on her daughter after Russell grabbed her arms. Or the cuts on her skin, back when Russell used the belt before Abby and Becca stopped him…

Or the slaps in the face, the way he forced his daughter and her friends to treat Rachel, the way he punished her when they did not do as he said…

If somehow, all of this went unnoticed by Judy, then she will not be charged but given a very strict speaking to by a judge, about how she should have been more aware of the things going on in her house.


While David and Josiah get a solid plan of how the rest of the weekend is going to go, the girls and Jake are still in the living room.

Santana stares into the fireplace, as she listens to the sniffling of her best friends. Quinn is wrapped up in Rachel's arms, as best as they can be without touching her back. And Brittany has turned in a way that her face is pressed into San's stomach.

Both girls are trying so hard not to cry because they should be happy. They told someone. Someone who is not Rachel. Someone with the authority to do something about this.

Brittany raises up from her position, and she looks first to San, who watches her girl closely, but then she looks to Rachel. The Diva senses eyes on her and looks up also.

She is sitting so that Quinn's face is pressed against her neck, with one of her hands running through the blonde's waves. She makes eye contact with Britt, and the dancer breaks, her bottom lip trembling.

"Oh, Duckie," Rachel whispers in one second, holding out her arm in the next as Brittany scrambles over to her. She throws herself into Rachel, careful not jostle Quinn in a way that bothers her back, but gets her attention enough that she reaches over to Britt, also, and the three hold on to each other tightly.

"It's all over now, right, Rachie? He can't make us do that anymore, right?"

Rachel frantically shakes her head, trying now to break down herself, and she looks at Santana. The Latina looks absolutely destroyed emotionally.

"No, Duckie," The shorter girl whispers. "No, he can never do any of that to anyone ever again. Okay? My Dad is going to take care of it, and Lucy, – you – will be safe now. Okay?"

Out of her peripheral vision, Rachel notices Santana storming out of the room. She sighs, sniffles, and then gets Brittany's attention.

"Duckie, I need you to do me a favor, alright?" Brittany nods. "I need you to sit here, with Lucy, while I go and check on Santana, ok?"

Brittany nods again, understanding that Santana probably should see Rachel instead of her, and untangles herself from the shorter girl, but Quinn is not so willing to let her go.

She panics, Rachel notices, and so she shushes her before she can even do, or say anything.

"I'm going to right back, LuLu, I promise, but I need to check on San, okay? I'm going to be ok. If anyone tries to hurt me, they'd have to get past you and Britt first. And if they did, then they would have to deal with my Dads. Okay? Can you let me go for just a few minutes?"

They keep eye contact, and Rachel hopes she understands. Brittany decides to help.

"Q?" The two look at their dancer. She chews on her lip for a moment, unsure, but then says, "Can… Will… Can I have a hug, please?"

She holds her arms out, to which Quinn immediately nods, so Rachel maneuvers out from in between them, and waits until they are in a more comfortable position, with Brittany asking to put an arm around her before she actually does, and Quinn laying her head on the taller blonde's shoulder.


Rachel finds her in the basement, sitting in one of the oversized chairs, staring at the wall. She goes over, pulling the other chair next to her. She sits and stays quiet.

They sit there together.

They stay quiet.

Santana says absolutely nothing – she… she does not know what to say. Should she be relieved that someone, an adult, knows? Pissed off because she was unable to keep Brittany and Quinn safe?

She feels like this is her fault.

Although, in the back of her mind, she knows enough to realize that Russell Fabray is at fault for 100% of what has happened, Santana still feels like, back when all of this started, if she had stood up to him, if she had been firmer when telling him, he was not the boss of her nor the boss of Britt…

She beats herself up, internally, mentally, scolding herself for not telling someone sooner. Now her other best friend, Quinn, has literally been beaten by her father.

By the man who is supposed to love her, care for her, protect her, show her how a dad, a husband should treat their daughter or wife.

Since Quinn was only friends with Noah, who had a single mom as a parent, and Rachel, who had two dads, it was not until the fourth grade, not until she was nine fucking years old, that Quinn got to see a wife and husband, two sets of them, interacting with each other, in the way a wife and husband should.

The first time she came over to Brittany's house. The first time she witnessed a father lovingly pick his daughter up, spin her around in a circle, before playfully throwing on the couch…

She had cried, or, at least, she had tears in her eyes.

Santana saw them, and at 9 years old, she was awfully confused as to why her new friend would be crying over seeing something like this.

But she did not have time to question it, as she was being picked up herself, and spun around, and she was giggling, and being thrown on the couch, on the opposite end to Britt.

Later, she found out…

That the mantras, crying is weak, and Fabrays are not weak and needing help is showing weakness, Fabrays take care of their problems themselves, were frequently said at Quinn's house.

Her daddy refused to except a grade lower than a 100. Her mom barely smiled at her, or did anything with her, that a 9-year-old little girl might want their mom to do.

And her daddy had never hugged her, rarely, if ever, told her he loved her, he was proud of her, or any of the other things that Santana, Noah, and Rachel, and now Brittany, heard from their own parents on a daily basis.

Right now, Santana cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like, how terrifying, and anxiety-inducing, that living in that house must have felt like.

Whenever she and Britt were there, a couple of hours each day after school, sometimes even on the weekends, her heart never stopped pounding, Brittany had a forever tenseness about her, and she felt like she could hardly take a deep breath.

But after a few hours, they got to go home while…

Well, while Quinn was stuck there.

My god, she should have fucking done something. Why the fuck didn't she?

She has no idea when Rachel leaves, but the next thing she is aware of is being pulled out of her thoughts by…

Brittany.

Sweet, sweet Brittany, who wraps San up in her arms, and hugs her, leaning her cheek on the top of Santana's head. She stays quiet, but runs her fingers through Santana's now messy hair, up and down her arm, and over her back.

Just trying to comfort her in any way possible.


*Meanwhile, in the kitchen with David and Josiah*

After hearing everything that the Unholy Trinity had to say, David and Josiah had gone to the kitchen to discuss their next move.

And after getting a tentative outlay of how the rest of the weekend is going to go, David sighs and brings up the one thing that he, his husband, and his in-laws, Josiah's parents, Malachi and Lydia Brown, have been keeping from Rachel, and by extension, from Quinn.

"It's time, honey," He says. "It is time we told her. I do not think it will be a good idea for this to come up, unexpectedly, in the next few weeks. We owe it to her to give her a heads up."

After thinking about it for less than a minute, Josiah nods in agreement.

And then…

Well, then he goes to call for his daughter, so they can tell her something that is going to change her whole life.

*10 minutes later*

She stands in the kitchen, hovering in the doorway so that she can see Quinn, and the blonde can see her, but her attention is on her two dads, who are standing in the center of the room.

They called her in here, saying they had something they needed to discuss with her.

"Rachel," Josiah exhales. "We have something that we would like to tell you – no, actually, it is something you need to know."

She nods, confused because her fathers are acting strangely and they even said that Rachel needed to come to the kitchen alone, instead of speaking to her, the girls, and Jacob, who had come back just as Rachel was coming in here, as a group.

"This is something we have kept from you for, well, your entire life." David speaks next.

"Your Daddy knows about it, as do I, as well as your Nana Lydia and Papa Kai."

She furrows her brow, as that is a very specific number and list of people.

"What–… What is it?"

Instead of either of them answering, Josiah walks over to the refrigerator. He tiptoes up, grabs a box from the back on top that Rachel had no idea was there, and then places it on the counter.

It is a plain, brown shoebox. It's covered in dust and bares no label of any kind.

Josiah looks to his husband, and David nods, so he opens the box, and reaches in for something. He takes out a handful of… pictures?… and lays them beside the box.

Shuffling them around, he comes to what seems to be a very particular photograph, what it shows, Rachel has no idea, as she has not moved from the doorway.

After picking up said photograph, Josiah moves over to his daughter.

He looks her straight in the eye, and she is struck by the… the seriousness they hold.

"We want you to know, Rachel, that, yes, we did keep this secret from you on purpose. We, your Dad and I, and Nana and Papa, we were waiting until you were old enough to understand everything. We planned to tell you soon, however, given the circumstances, it needs to be said now."

A pause, and then…

"Please do not tell Quinn about what I am about to show you, we need to wait a little bit to let her know, ok? You can tell Santana and Brittany, but please wait before you tell Quinn."

He waits for the nod, which she gives, and she is so fucking confused but…

"One last thing… whatever happens, with Quinn, and Russell, just know that everything will be ok."

Josiah holds out the photograph, and Rachel takes it, numb, confused…

She looks at it.

It takes her no time to recognize four of the eight people in the photo, which looks to have been taken in a hospital room, – her Daddy, her Papa Malachi and Nana Lydia, and, god, a little girl, with blonde curls, who is no older than 2 years old, and looks just like… Abigale Fabray.

What she does not understand, is…

Why the woman in the hospital bed, holding an infant in a pink blanket, looks just like Quinn's mother, Judy. Or why the man standing next to her…

Resembles a much younger Russell Fabray.

She flips the photograph over and reads the cursive handwriting – Rebecca Annabelle Fabray; July 12, 1982.


Du-dum! There it is! You got to see interaction between Rachel and Britt for a moment; I will be doing more of that. Also, I did Santana and her thoughts – I figured she would blame herself, especially since Brittany has been… hurt, and made to do that stuff, and she would think it was her fault, that she should have done something more.

Why do you think the Berrys have that photograph? Any ideas on why Josiah and his parents would be in a family photo of the Fabrays, taken on the day Becca was born?

Was it canon that Britt's favorite animal were ducks? Or did everyone just collectively decide to make them her favorite?

Please review and let me what you thought! :)