-Chapter 18-Brace-

-Quinn pov-

"Rachel she wrapped her arms around me!" Rachel finally looks at me "Why are you upset?"

"I'm not?" Rachel tilts her head in confusion "What did you say? I was thinking and zoned out"

"Are you mad about this morning?" Rachel shakes her head no "Then who out the angry note in my bag?"

"Hello Rachel" Santana pulls Rachel into a hug "You look so wonderful!"

"Hey baby!" Santana glares at me and walk away "I now understand"

"She can't stay mad" I look at Rachel "She's the one who decided it"

"Yeah" I chuckle "It's not like I extremely liked being held by Brittany"

"You liked being held by Brittany?" I cringe and look at a angry Rachel "If you try to come between me and Brittany I will rip out your throat! She's all that is good for me in this world!"

"I'm not going to!" I put my arms protectively in front of me "Just please don't kill me"

"I won't" I see she's still angry "Just don't be stupid"

"Understood" Rachel walks away and I sigh "Oh I'm screwed"

"Lesbian troubles?" I look at Blaine who's smirking "Let me guess...you did something with Brittany and Santana got mad? You also liked what you did with Brittany and now Rachel is mad right?"

"Bingo bongo" I sigh and lean my head on his shoulder "I need help!"

"Don't whine" Blaine chuckles "It makes you less appealing"

"Ha Ha" I stand up and look at him "What are we going to do?"

"I never agreed to help" I glare at him "But we are going to start by you telling me what happened"

"We all slept over and in my room" Blaine nods and I continue "Santana decided the girlfriends don't sleep in the same bed...Brittany wrapped her arms around me during the night and I couldn't get her off of me"

"So Santana is angry at the cuddling?" I nod and he shakes his head "Alright let's go work on a plan"

-Time skip-Rachel pov-

"Rach wait up!" I turn and see Brittany running up to me "Why have you been avoiding me all day?"

"Did you enjoy cuddling with Quinn?" Brittany doesn't answer and I feel tears form "Did you?!"

"Rachel it wasn't anything major!" I step away as she reaches toward me "Baby?"

"I need to go" I start to walk away as the tears fall down "Don't follow me"

I run to the girls bathroom they added. I run to the last stall and cry. Brittany is going to leave me for Quinn. Of course she is...she's so much more prettier then me!

"Rachel?" I hear Santana get closer to me "Rachel? Are you ok?"

"No" I sniffle and she opens the stall door "Hey"

"Got room for someone else?" I nod and Santana sits on the toilet beside me "So why are you crying?"

"They enjoyed it San" I sigh and wipe my eyes "They enjoyed cuddling together"

"We'll be fine Rachel" Santana wraps her arms around me "I just need to make sure you are"

"Right pocket" Santana reaches in and pulls out the razor "It was a thought before you came in"

"Anymore on you?" I shake my head no "Are you lying?"

"Front left and back right" She pulls out the four razors "That's all really"

"You're stronger then these Rachel" I shake my head no and tears start forming "Yes you are"

"I just don't wanna lose Brittany!" I starts sobbing into Santana's neck "I know it meant nothing but it scared me! She's so much prettier then I am! She could love her or you so easily!"

"You are a beautiful woman Rachel" Santana holds me face up and wipes my tears "You are so much more then what we have said and you deserve Brittany and all of the good in life!"

"How have you gotten better?" I take a deep breath and try to calm down "How did you stop cutting and the depression?"

"The depression will always be there" Santana runs her fingers through my hair "But the stopping of the cutting was because of my support system"

"I need you to be my support system" Santana nods and smiles "What's my first step?"

"Take these" She puts the razors in my hands and helps me up. She leads me out of the stall to the trash can "Throw them away"

"Ok" I hold them above the trash can and shake "I can do this"

I look at the hand the razors are in. I look at Santana and the support and care in her eyes. I look back at the hand and let go. I watch as my razors fall into the trash.

"First step complete!" She smiles at me "How do you feel?"

"Free" I smile back at her "I feel free"

"Good" Santana wraps a arm around my shoulder "Now off to Warblers"

-Small time skip-Santana pov

I'm sitting next to Rachel alone in the room. I look at the clock and see we are on time. Soon acappella starts and warblers filter in.

-Quinn-Brittany-All-

When you try your best but you don't succeed

When you get what you want but not what you need

When you feel so tired but you can't sleep

Stuck in reverse

The warblers start walking in followed by Quinn and Brittany.

When the tears come streaming down your face

'Cause you lose something you can't replace

When you love someone but it goes to waste

What could it be worse?

Brittany smiles at Rachel and I see Rachel tearing up. I look at Quinn confused.

Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

And I will try to fix you

I feel my tears fall down my cheeks and sniffle as the girls get closer.

But high up above or down below

When you are too in love to let it show

Oh but if you never try you'll never know

Just what you're worth

I think back to the first time Quinn was told about everything. She was there for me after.

Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

And I will try to fix you

Quinn stands in front of me with tears falling too. She smiles and holds her hand out toward me. I give a smile back and grab her hand.

Tears come streaming down your face

When you lose something you cannot replace

oh and tears come streaming down your face

And I

Quinn pulls me up and kiss my scar on my wrist. I look over and see Brittany and Rachel holding each other.

Tears streaming down your face

I promise you I will learn from all my mistakes

oh and the tears streaming down your face

And I

The warblers smile as the circle closer. This is a family. These are our people now.

Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

And I will try to fix you

"We didn't mean to upset you two" Quinn looks me in the eyes as she speaks "We know how broken you two are inside and we would never try to hurt you both"

"We may have liked it but that's cause we are close friends!" Brittany wipes tears from Rachel's eyes "We didn't mean to hurt you"

"I believe you" Rachel gives Brittany a kiss "Thank you all for singing that"

"When one of us is hurting, we all hurt" Hunter smiles at us "We are a family here"

"Plus we couldn't have our favorite lesbians angry at each other" We laugh at Jeff who smiles at us "You guys really do mean a lot to us in this short amount of time"

"Thanks" I look at Quinn and smile "Thank you Lion"

"Of course bear" We share a quick kiss "Anything for you"

"I think we also have our duet song for regionals?" The guys all nod and Hunter chuckles "Now we will give time off today so you can find piece to auction for solo and the group tomorrow!"

"Free day!" Nick jumps on Jeff's back "It's a free day!"

"I have the perfect piece!" Rachel starts running out the door with Brittany "I know a great group number!"

"You have awaken a beast Mr. Clarington" He smirks "Just be glad she didn't say solo"

"I wouldn't mind her doing a solo at the next competition" I look at him confused "Think about it! We win regionals and go to nationals...she didn't do solo and now she's going to give it her all to have her final solo in the state she wants to live in"

"That would boost her up in some people's minds if its good" He nods and I look at Quinn "Little Berry could be in broadway"

"What about Brittany?" I sigh "Shes not going to graduate San"

"There's a way" We look up at Sebastian "We have a program that allows you to make up credits here! If she joined it then she could possibly graduate in time"

"Yeah I can talk with the dean today" Hunter looks at me "You think she'd do it?"

"She'd do anything for Rachel" He nods and is off "I guess we need to go tell her"

"How is she doing?" I look at Sebastian confused "The face burn"

"She's doing better" I give him a warm smile "Thank you for standing up to Noah"

"No problem" He smiles "We are a family here and I said what I would do when we met"

"That you did" I grab Quinn's hand "Let's go get our girls"

-Time skip-

"Rachel just calm down ok?" We walk into the room to see Rachel breathing into a bag "Just follow my heartbeat"

"What happened?" I see Fran shuffling her feet in the hall "Fran?"

"I was catching up on the news when she came in" Fran points to the paused tv "They were covering Shelbys accident...they went over what happened"

"Oh" Quinn looks at me confused "Shelby has a back brace and knee braces now...with out them she's pretty much paralyzed"

"You knew!" Rachel is quickly in my face still freaking out "Y-you sh-sh-sh...is the room spinning to you all to?"

"Hang on Rachel" I pick her up and lay her on her bed "Alright I need you to take nice even breaths for me ok?"

I show her what she needs to do and she follows. After a little bit she's breathing fine. Quinn comes up to us with a glass of tea for her. Rachel takes a drink before looking at me.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I see tears forming "Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"Because she didn't want you to have anything else on your plate" I look at the paused tv through the door "She was scared that you'd be overwhelmed and well...this would happen"

"I just wish she would've told me" Rachel gets up and sit down the cup "Is she home?"

"The office" I look at Fran with my hands in the air "They need to talk...it's not good to keep it in"

Rachel walks out of the room and I sigh. Lord please be with them.

-Rachel pov-

I knock on the office door before opening it. I see Beth asleep in a crib and Shelby at the desk. She smiles then frowns as I get closer.

"Hey you doing ok?" I walk up to her and don't answer "Rach?"

"Lift your shirt" She looks at me with a mixture of confusion and fear "Please...just lift it a inch"

"Rachel I'm not raising my shirt" I start pulling on the shirt and she fights against me "Rachel! Stop this! What are you doing?!"

"Just show me the damn brace!" Her eyes widen and I'm able to pull the shirt up and accidentally off her. I freeze when I see the brace wrapped around her midsection "They really are here aren't they?"

"I didn't wanna add anymore pain into you Rach" I see tears forming in her eyes as she speaks "I love you sweetheart! You've been so hurt that...that I'd rather hide mine then hurt you any more"

"You're the strongest woman I know" she gives me a watery smile "I love you mom"

We share a waterworks hug for a while. I feel safe. This is where I belong.

This is where I can become one again.