Three hours later

''Well as much as I enjoyed talking to the four of you and listening just how much you care about the teen in question, I can't take any decisions before having talked to him myself.'' Mr Carter tells the four adults settled on the couch in front of him, Brittany nods her head with a soft sigh and stands up.

''I will wake him up.'' She turns on her heels as he nods his head and jogs out of the living room, she walks up to the guest room softly knocking on the door and walks inside biting her lip as she sees Jake stir. ''Hey kid.''

''Is it morning already?'' Jake asks tiredly slowly rubbing his eyes, Brittany shakes her head walking over to him grabbing his hand as she sees him wince the second he rubs his blue eye and sighs sadly.

''No but we need to talk to you for a few minutes, after that you can go back to sleep.''

''You called child service.'' Jake breaths out suddenly sitting up, Brittany places her hand on his shoulder as he yelps in pain and sits down on the edge of the bed.

''We had to Jake.'' She mutters sadly, she looks at him and smiles sadly as she sees the tears in his eyes. ''And we did it while you were asleep because we knew you would run away if you found out, but please join us in the living room for a talk and you might be surprised at the outcome.''

''What that they will take me away from everything I love?'' Jake asks sadly. ''Dammit Brittany I want to stay here with my friends and at the studio.'' He murmurs hitting the bed ignoring the pain shooting through his body.

''Hey calm down.'' Brittany mutters placing both of her hands on his shoulders. ''I will promise you that no matter what happens you won't lose your friends or your spot at the studio, please come with me and hear him out.''

She bites her lip as she sees the struggle in his eyes and sighs dipping her head to lock eyes with him. ''Please.'' She whispers softly.

Jake gulps seeing the trust and protection in his dance instructors eyes knowing she is the first adult he ever trusted and slowly nods his head. ''Okay.'' He whispers softly, he smiles slightly as she helps him stand up and gulps as she slowly leads him out of the room with a strong arm wrapped around his waist so he doesn't strain his ribs too much.

He gulps as they walk into the living room his eyes falling on the stranger sitting on the love seat and glances over at the couch, he forces a small smile as Santana shoots him a kind grin and thanks Brittany softly as she leads him over to the chair standing beside the couch. ''Hello.'' He whispers softly with a nervous smile.

''Hello Jake, I am Eric Carter from LA Dcsf.'' Mr Carter introduces him while leaning forward to shake his hand.

''Jake Ryan.'' Jake mutters nervously.

''How are you feeling?'' Mr Carter asks, he smiles sadly as Jake just looks at him and sighs. ''I heard that you are afraid what will happen, but I can assure you that we are here to help you.''

''I want to believe you, but I can't.'' Jake tells him with a sad sigh. ''I really don't want to lose the two things meaning the most to me here in this city.''

''And what are those two things?'' Mr Carter asks curiously.

''My friends and Brittany's dance studio, my friends are the reason I didn't give up yet and the studio is like my second home, I can be myself there and I love dancing because I can use that as an outlet for all the emotions bottling up inside of me.''

Mr Carter nods his head noting it all down and looks at the boy sitting in front of him. ''How old are you Jake?''

''Fifteen but I will turn sixteen next month.''

Mr Carter nods his head having heard that from the tall blonde on the couch already and sighs looking at the teen in front of him. ''Can you tell me what happened today Jake?''

Jake immediately slams his eyes closed as he thinks back to what happened and starts trembling as his parents yelling at him immediately enters his mind again, Brittany watches him in concern and turns to Mr Carter silently asking him if it's okay for her to go to him.

She stands up after squeezing Santana's hand as he nods his head and walks over to Jake, she crouches down beside him and places her hand on his leg. ''Hey kid it's okay, you are safe here.'' She whispers gently as she sees the terror in his green eyes the second he turns his head to look at her.

''But for how long?'' Jake asks sadly. ''I can't stay here forever, you all have your own lives and family to care for.''

Brittany just squeezes his leg softly and sighs. ''Believe me, I won't let you go back to them and even if I am busy with my own life you can always come to me whenever you need me okay?'' She nods her head to Mr Carter and smiles slightly. ''Want me to stay near?''

Jake nods his head and looks up at Mr Carter sighing. ''I um came home from hanging out with my friends late in the afternoon and the second I walked into the apartment I noticed they had a party.''

''A party?'' Mr Carter asks curiously hearing the disdain behind the word, Jake nods his head and gulps.

''They call getting drunk and pardon my language fuck slash cheat on each other with the other enjoying the view a party.''

''Excuse me?'' Mr Carter asks in shock seeing the other adults in the room all glance at each other in shock.

Jake nods his head and shrugs. ''I got used to it because they did it ever since I can remember but they always kicked me out of the house and told me to come back in the morning.'' He takes a deep breath looking down at the light skinned hand placed comfortingly on his leg and gulps. ''At first they just dropped me off at my grandparents but they passed the year I turned eight so they just send me out and told me to sleep in the backyard if I had to, whenever I came home earlier because I was freezing I would face their aggression because their 'Friends' would immediately quit and leave the second they heard me.''

Santana gulps seeing the anger overtaking Brittany's blue orbs and glances at their best friends, she bites her lip as she sees the same anger in Puck's eyes and shoots Quinn a forced smile both exchanging a concerned and painful glance as soon as they realize just how much pain Jake had to go through in his life.

''And you came back home early today?'' Mr Carter asks softly after scribbling everything down, Jake nods his head and chuckles humorlessly.

''Yeah I didn't even know that they were home, but the second I walked into the apartment and got pushed aside by two guys running past me hiding their faces I immediately knew what would happen next.'' He pauses as his voice cracks and leans into Brittany's side as she pulls him in her arms running her hand up his back to calm him down, he looks at Mr Carter and sniffles. ''Before I even had the chance to turn on my heels and make a dash out of the apartment, my dad had already grabbed the collar of my jacket and slammed me against the door his fist immediately connecting with my ribs.''

Brittany closes her eyes hearing the pain in Jake's voice and drops her head. ''God damn J.'' She whispers softly.

Jake just shrugs his shoulders and locks eyes with Mr Carter. ''The last thing I remember before waking up in an empty apartment is my mom running to me holding a bottle of wine.''

''You were unconscious?'' Mr Carter asks seeing the others all exchange shocked glances, he sighs as Jake nods his head and drops his notepad in his lap. ''Okay seeing the reaction of everyone in this room this bit of information is new, so please, please go to the hospital right now.''

''After our talk I will.'' Jake tells him softly, he runs a hand through his hair and smiles sadly locking eyes with him once again. ''What will happen now?''

Mr Carter breaths out a sigh and leans back against the love seat looking at the teen, he forces a small smile as he sees how he remains to be calm as the blonde beside him gently runs her hand up his back and folds his hands in his lap. ''How well do you now Miss Pierce, Lopez, Fabray and Mr Puckerman?''

''Well Brittany.'' Jake pauses and shoots him a small sheepish smile. ''Sorry Miss Pierce is my dance instructor since about seven months now, Miss Lopez is Miss Pierce her fiance and joined her occasionally at the studio which made us interact too and Miss Fabray and Mr Puckerman are their best friends we didn't have the chance to interact much yet but I know Miss Pierce trusts them so I know I can too.''

''You really trusts Miss Pierce huh.'' Mr Carter remarks smiling kindly, Jake slowly nods his head glancing at the blonde beside him and gulps.

''She is the first adult I ever trusted and I know she won't hurt me like my parents do, she always showed me that she will hear me out if I want to talk even if I didn't take her up on that offer yet and that if I ever need her help that she will be there.''

''I definitely will Jake.'' Brittany promises him softly, Jake shoots her a small smile and turns to Mr Carter.

''That is why I am so afraid of what will happen now after I told you everything, I don't want to lose anything I love dearly and I definitely don't want to leave Miss Pierce's studio or lose the safety I feel right now.''

Brittany notices Mr Carter turn to her and tilts her head, she smiles as he slightly nods his head and glances at Jake as Mr Carter clears his throat. ''Well I think we can take this angst from you, Miss Pierce, Lopez, Fabray and Mr Puckerman may have a solution that will help this case and after seeing you interact with Miss Pierce I am convinced that it will definitely will be the best way to have you enjoy your life again.''

''What solution?'' Jake asks in confusion looking at the four adults sitting near him, Mr Carter nods his head to Brittany and smiles gently.

''Why don't you ask Miss Pierce? She had this idea.''

Jake turns to Brittany and frowns in confusion. ''What solution Brittany?'' He asks softly.

''Well.'' Brittany starts leaning back on her heels to look at him with a small smile. ''How do you feel about having your own place?''

''You mean living on my own?'' Jake asks his frown deepening. ''I am still underage, there is no way that I can live on my own.''

''Well yeah but with Mr Carter's permission you can Jake.'' Santana tells him smiling gently.

''You lost me.'' Jake tells them rubbing the back of his head, Brittany chuckles softly and pats his leg.

''One floor up there is a small apartment free, Santana and I will sign the lease for you for the time being and Mr Carter will help you set up the financial aspect.'' She explains slowly. ''Even though you are underage there are certain circumstances that will allow you to live alone and this is one of them but under some conditions.''

''Anything, I will do anything if that means that I can stay near my friends, go to school and stay at the studio.'' Jake tells her while also looking at Mr Carter.

''Well that's good kid because you will not only stay at school, the studio and near your friends but you are also stuck with the four of us.'' Puck tells him smiling slightly.

''Huh?'' Jake asks in confusion, Quinn chuckles and mentions her hand at herself, her boyfriend and their best friends.

''Santana, Brittany, Puck and I will be your legal guardians, we will help you with anything you need and check up on you frequently.'' She explains him smiling slightly, Santana nods her head in agreement and looks at him with a grin.

''Before you even think about trying to change our minds, you just can't.'' She tells him softly. ''We want to do this for you Jake because you are still young and you deserve to live your life in happiness, but we do have a few conditions of our own so we can make sure that you are really okay.''

''And those are?'' Jake asks softly tears filling his eyes as he looks around at the four adults who just made sure that he can finally live his life happily.

Quinn leans forward placing her arms on his legs and looks at him. ''First things first, we want you to go with us to the hospital the second everything settled down today.'' She glances at her best friends and smiles slightly. ''Well Brittany and Santana will go with you, we don't want to wake Beth from her sleep.''

Jake nods his head and smiles slightly. ''I will promised.''

''Good second thing is.'' Puck starts locking eyes with him. ''We know you are a teen and you have a mind of your own, we will all give you our cellphone numbers and create a Whatsapp group. No parties in your apartment and while we won't forbid you to party with friends, no drugs and keep drinking to a minimum if you break that promise we have to call Mr Carter.''

''I understand where you are coming from but I definitely won't do anything that will harm the trust the four of you put in me.'' Jake promises while locking eyes with each of them, Santana nods her head seeing the truth in his eyes and smiles.

''That's good Jake, further we would like you to join the four of us for dinner once a week but it's no must just text us if you are not feeling like it and we won't be mad.'' She tells him softly. ''You will be a part of our family the second the papers are settled kid, so don't be surprised when we text you to come down or ask if you are up to hang out with any of us for a bit.''

Brittany squeezes his leg and smiles slightly. ''And last thing is, holidays are coming up and we don't know what you planned but we would love it if you would join us to celebrate the holidays with our family.'' She shoots him a wink as she sees his eyebrows raise in surprise and shrugs. ''Just like San just said, you will become a big part in our lives kid and we would like to have you join us so you will meet the rest of our family.''

''I honestly did not expect this at all.'' Jake breaths out sniffling, he stands up walking over to the couch and leans down hugging the three sitting there. ''Thank you so much for the trust you put into me and I will promise you to not break any promises made today.''

He smiles as they all just tell them that they just want to help and turns around walking to Brittany, he hugs her the second she stands up and chokes back a sob as he feels her protective arms wrap around his shoulders. ''Thank you so much Brittany and I will definitely love spending the holidays with all of you.''

''Don't mention it kid.'' Brittany whispers with a slight smile, she pulls back looking down at him and ruffles his hair. ''Now with that all being said, I just called our landlord and we can sign the lease in three days so you can either stay with us or with Puck and Quinn.''

''Will it be okay if I take up the guest room for a few more days?'' He asks softly, he shoots Quinn and Puck a small smile and runs a hand through his hair. ''No offense but my school is only a block away from here.''

''Don't worry about it J, we already thought such.'' Puck tells him chuckling.

Brittany hums in agreement and shoots him a small grin. ''Of course you can but you might have to move to the living room the last night you are staying here because we want to set up the nursery or well just paint it first.''

''That is no problem at all, I don't think I can thank you all enough.''

Brittany chuckles and shoots him a wink. ''Well you will thank me more in a bit.''

''Why?'' Jake asks frowning in confusion once again, Brittany shrugs her shoulders seeing her fiance, Puck and Quinn also look at her in confusion and locks eyes with Jake.

''You will be living on your own soon and while Mr Carter will help you settle down financially for the time being I think you would like a bit more money to spend on yourself, how do you feel about becoming a part of the dancing lily crew for a few hours a week?''

''Are you serious?!'' Jake asks his mouth falling open in shock, Brittany nods her head and smiles slightly.

''I am, you are fifteen so you are allowed to work around eighteen hours a week while still going to school and forty whenever you have a school break, I won't be needing you for that much hours but if you are up for it I would like you being my partner to think of dances for other classes and maybe be my partner during a few classes a week.''

''Hell yes!'' Jake exclaims smiling brightly, Brittany laughs and nods her head.

''Well that's settled too, I will pull up a contract to go over with you tomorrow alright?''

Mr Carter stands up with a small smile as he sees the teen brightening up and looks at the adults in the room. ''Well I think we found the best solution for Jake, I am glad he has four adults he can lean on now and I will definitely work on making sure that his parents won't come near him ever again.'' He turns to Brittany and holds out his hand. ''Miss Pierce thank you for your call and I will contact you the second I have everything we talked about written down for all of you to sign.''

Brittany shakes his hand and smiles. ''That is fine Mr Carter, you have my number so call anytime.''

Mr Carter nods his head shaking Santana's, Quinn's and Puck's hand thanking them for having the best interest of Jake in mind and turns to the teen in question. ''Well Jake we will definitely stay in contact and I hope your life will be looking up from now on.'' He shakes his hand and smiles gently. ''I hope your injuries aren't that bad and we will see each other soon.''

Jake nods his head and smiles. ''See you soon Mr Carter, and thank you.''

''Don't mention it Jake.'' Mr Carter tells him smiling gently, Jake bites his lip watching Puck lead him out of the apartment the second he wished them all a nice night and turns on his heels tackling Brittany in a hug ignoring his ribs protesting at the quick movement.

''Thank you, thank you, thank you.'' He breaths out sobbing.

Brittany stumbles back slightly and quickly wraps his arm around his shoulders, she runs her hand through his hair feeling tears wet her shirt and smiles slightly as Quinn and Santana both join her both running a hand down his back. ''You really don't have to thank us for anything at all kid, we just love that it turned out like this and we hope you can finally enjoy your life.''

''I feel like I have to thank you for anything happening right now, are you sure I won't be a bother?'' Jake asks tearfully as he pulls back slightly feeling a strong hand fall on his shoulder while two others gently run down his back.

''You will never be a bother and we don't want to hear that again Jake.'' Puck tells him softly, he turns him around in Brittany's hold and locks eyes on tear filled green orbs. ''Believe me when I say that I know how it feels to grow up in a fucked up parental household, if it wasn't for Santana's parents and Brittany's mother I would have never become the man I am now.'' He tells him softly. ''I felt like a bother too because they took me under their wings when I was around your age but they always reasured me that I wasn't and now that I have the chance to do what they did for me I jumped at the chance because I know what kind of pain you are going through and no child deserves that.''

''But you have a child and Brittany and Santana are expecting.'' Jake murmurs sadly while glancing down at Santana's bump, Santana slowly grabs his hand and squeezes it softly.

''Yes that's true but that won't hold us back from doing this for you, we can still live our lives like we did but now we just have one more person joining our weekly dinners sometimes and it's no problem at all to just step in the elevator going one more floor up to drop by at your apartment before going to our own.'' She mutters with a gentle smile.

''The second Brittany introduced us to your small dancing crew we knew we would all talk to you more than to other students, that it would go like this is something none of us expected but now that it did it just changes nothing.'' Quinn tells him with a smile. ''You won't be a bother to any of us Jake so please, please get that out of your head okay?''

''I will try, can I do anything to thank you at all?'' Jake asks softly looking at the four adults surrounding him.

''Cook us something nice and we'll be happy bud.'' Puck tells him snickering, Brittany looks at him as he chuckles and smirks.

''You love drawing right?'' She asks softly, she smiles as he nods his head and shrugs. ''Beth and baby boy could use a nice designed nursery, you up to use some magic and create something amazing?''

''Really?'' Jake asks in shock, Brittany slowly nods her head as she sees Quinn, Puck and Santana both shoot her a smile knowing that will settle Jake's mind while their little ones will love watching the creations on the wall and chuckles.

''Yeah you take requests?''

''You have anything in mind?'' Jake asks tilting his head.

''Not yet but we will think about it, but for now we are driving to the hospital and Puck will order us a late dinner.''

''Are you staying here?'' Jake asks turning to Puck and Quinn. ''I can sleep on the couch so you can take the bed.''

''Oh don't worry, Britt and San have a nice pull out couch we can crash on tonight while you take the bed you will need that more with your ribs Jake.'' Quinn tells him smiling at his thoughtfulness.

Brittany pats his back softly and nods her head to the door. ''Off we go kid.'' She kisses Quinn and Puck's cheek as she leads him to the door knowing Santana will follow and grabs her car keys, Santana slips on her jacket intertwining their hands and walks out of their apartment.

She runs her thumb over the back of Brittany's hand and lifts it up kissing it softly as they watch Jake push the button of the elevator. ''Today just made me fall in love with you all over again.'' She chuckles softly as she turns to her with an eyebrow raised and nods her head to Jake as they stand slightly behind him keeping her voice low so he can't hear them. ''Watching you be so thoughtful and loving with him and doing your best to keep him out of harms way, shows me exactly what I knew from the very beginning.''

''What?'' Brittany asks softly as they step into the elevator pushing the button for the garage.

Santana leans back against the wall shooting Jake a smile as he looks at them smiling shyly and tilts her head up kissing Brittany's cheek as she pulls her against her side. ''That you will be the best mother for our baby boy.''