A.N. Like, woah. I actually updated. It's been over a year. I'm a worthless worm (no offense to worms).
I am so, so so so so sorry guys. I really meant to have a new chapter for you guys up right after the last, but literally days after I'd posted that I got my acceptance letter for my Master's degree in Ireland. It's been a whirlwind ever since. I haven't given up on Angel Girl (or my other stories, for that matter), I swear.
Soo...yeah I have to say I got the most amusing responses to the last chapter. Horrified is a good way to describe them, and it made me cackle with pure evil glee (pun not intended) and amusement. I am so glad no one expected that! Muahahahah.
Major, major love to people who still follow, favorite, read and review. AG has 400 followers! Holy fuck guys you're amazing. Also, shameless bit of self promotion here, I've recently started a tumblr, found here: b00ksandcleverness dot tumblr dot com. Come follow me! We can be tumblr friends, although I will warn you my blog has nothing to do with Glee. Right now I'm fangirling (hard) over Orphan Black, so...yeah.
Anyway, now is when you (and our other lovely ladies) begin to see why Rachel has never tried to escape, as well as where her issues stem from. This was, for some reason, an incredibly difficult chapter for me to write, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.
Chapter 6: Angels and Demons
A fucking police officer. Rachel's tormenter was one of the people who had sworn to protect the innocent. Santana saw red. Luckily, it was Quinn who spoke first.
"Hello Mr. Berry, my name is Quinn Fabray and this is Santana and Brittany. We're classmates of Rachel's. We ended up being picked for a group project in English and we wanted to get started on it so we were wondering if Rachel could come over to my house for a bit to study." She glanced quickly at Rachel, who still hadn't looked up from the ground, and back at the man observing them.
"I see," he commented, now looking at Rachel. "Rachel?"
The diva seemed to shrink even further into herself as she forced herself to answer. "I was just telling them that I would of course need to ask for your permission first, father, and that I wasn't sure what time you would be home from your shift, since Mondays are usually quite hectic for you."
Rachel's father didn't take his eyes off of the small brunette. "I see." He repeated. The girls shivered at the sound of his voice. "Do you have any other homework to do, Rachel?"
Rachel stared in apparent shock at her father, before subtly shaking her head. "No, father, all of my schoolwork was completed during my lunch break."
The man's cold, dead eyes glanced at the three cheerleaders, and then back to Rachel, his face expressionless. The silence was deafening.
"I suppose, then, it would be alright if you went. But Rachel, study only and I expect you to be back here before dinner, am I understood?"
Rachel blinked, looking a bit like a fish out of water. "Y..yes, of course, father. Um..Th-thank you." She looked back at the girls and caught Santana's eye. "Um, if you would excuse me for a moment, ladies, I will gather my school work. I won't be longer than a moment."
And with that, she disappeared once more into the depths of the house, leaving Santana, Quinn and Brittany alone with her father. Quinn, not wanting the situation to get more awkward than it was and give Rachel's father an excuse to keep her from them, stepped forward with her hand outstretched.
"Forgive our manners, sir. My name is Quinn Fabray, this is Santana Lopez, and Brittany Pierce. Thank you so much for allowing Rachel to come study with us; she's very intelligent and we're happy to be her study-partners."
They all shook his hand and tried not to shudder in disgust. He merely nodded with a grunt. "Ronald Berry. This group work thing, that new? Rachel has never had to participate in one before."
The girls glanced nervously at each other, but it was Santana who finally spoke up. "Yes, Officer Berry," She internally gagged at the title, but knew that buttering up this despicable human being was perhaps one of the most important things she'd ever done, "The English teachers from both senior classes decided to team up for an assignment. We're studying Shakespeare's Hamlet right now, so we were all paired off to study different acts."
"I see." Ronald Barry was apparently a man of few words.
At that moment, Rachel reappeared with her schoolbag in hand.
"Remember, Rachel. Not a minute past 7:00. I'll see you later." Rachel nodded demurely.
"Of course, father. 7:00 pm. Thank you." and followed the girls towards their car.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
It was nearly 20 past 5:00pm by the time they had arrived at Brittany's house. The car ride had been awkward and silent, none of the girls knowing what to say or how to start a conversation, and Rachel seemed to be in some sort of shock. Or maybe she was being stubborn. The Cheerios weren't quite sure which.
As Santana pulled into the driveway, she turned to face Rachel, who'd been given the front passenger seat. "Thanks for coming, Hobbit." She paused, thinking about going on, but remembered they were still in the car. "You, uh, you hungry or something? Britt's dads always have some snacks ready for us."
Rachel looked at her blankly. "Um. I, um. I would appreciate refreshments, yes. Thank you."
They all made their way out of the car and into the house, where they found two men waiting for them in the kitchen.
Michel and Daniel Peirce were both tall with athletic builds, kind eyes, big smiles, and were two of the nicest people you'd ever meet. Michel had immigrated from the Netherlands when he was attending NYU, where he had met Daniel, a student in the pre-med program. They had been together ever since, and had made the decision to move to Ohio when Brittany had come along. Dan had been offered a position at the ER in a nearby town, and Michel was able to secure a position at a small but respected law firm.
This was one of the few days when both men were free from work, and they both greeted the group as they walked in.
"Hey Mr.'s P!" Santana greeted with a grin. Brittany gave both men a hug and Quinn echoed Santana.
"Daddy, Pa, this is Rachel Berry. She's a friend from school and we're all working on a play together for English. Rachel, this is my Pa, Michel -" She pointed the blonde man on her left , "And my daddy Daniel." She gestured to the brunette man behind her.
Rachel, ever mindful of her manners, shook both of their hands. "Hello Mr. and Mr. Peirce. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Daniel playfully smacked his husband on the shoulder. "So polite! We should keep her around, teach these three a thing or two." He was met with various exclamations of protest. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Rachel. And please, feel free to call us Dan and Mike; we're not very formal around here. Will you be staying the night?"
The brunette looked positively terrified at the very thought. "No, I'm afraid I must be back by seven this evening. But thank you for your offer and hospitality."
"Well, that's a shame, but we're glad you could come over for a little while. Here are some snacks for you girls; have fun studying!" It was Michel spoke with a subtle accent that Rachel didn't recognize, which intrigued her. Maybe she'd ask Brittany about it later.
Santana eagerly grabbed at the plate of oddly assorted snacks - cookies, a fruit salad, and carrots and celery with ranch dip - and led the group up to Brittany's room.
Rachel had never seen such a wonderful room. The walls and carpet were cream (Rachel was honestly surprised not to see pink covering everything), with assorted posters and pictures. Brittany had a huge four poster bed in the middle of the far wall, against a window, and a desk, dresser and some bean bags scattered around. She wondered if rooms like this one were what normal girls had.
"Here, Rachie." Brittany gestured to a purple beanbag she had dragged over. The three other bean bags were soon positioned around the plate of snacks in a circle and each girl had plopped into a fluffy seat. Well, the Cheerios plopped. Rachel sat primly and was surprised to find that the bean bags were actually very comfortable to sit in.
"You have a lovely room, Brittany." Ever one for manners, Rachel wouldn't let her discomfort with the situation allow her to be a rude guest. Britt beamed at her.
"Rachel," Quinn spoke up then, directing her attention to the shorter blonde. "I know we made you uncomfortable, and we're so sorry about that, but after Santana saw your bruises yesterday...Rach, we just couldn't leave it alone. We wanted to get you out of there."
"Thank you for your concern, ladies, but truly I'm -"
"Don't you dare say you're fine." Santana fiercely cut her off. "I know it may seem like we never cared about you Rachel, but that's a lie, and you're not fine. We're gonna help you get away from him, I promise."
Rachel was overwhelmed. "And how do you suppose to do that, hm? As you saw, my father is an officer of the law. If you were wondering why I haven't run away from him before - other than the fact that he is my father, and he's all I have - well, now you know. It's my word against his."
"Rachel, it's not just your word! Any doctor would take one look at you and call the cops."
"Exactly."
Santana, Quinn, and Brittany were shocked again into silence.
"My father...may not be kind to me, but he always talks about how well liked he is at the precinct. How he always tells them what a trouble maker I am. If the cops are called, it would be years of his words and his friendships and his reputation against mine. I would lose, every time, and then I would lose everything, don't you understand? And I'm still unsure of why you would care so much. I was under the impression that you, at the very best, disliked me immensely."
Santana and Quinn had the grace to look ashamed. Brittany gave them tolerant glares. "We never hated you, Rachie, but we made really bad decisions to care more about our reputations than the people around us."
"No, B," Quinn corrected her gently, "It was never you. It was me and Santana. More me than Santana. I'm so sorry, Rachel. I...I was so scared of not being at the top of the food chain that I didn't care who I stepped on to get there. And when I realized what a bitch I was being, I couldn't bare the thought of losing my place to apologize to you and everyone else. Reputation is everything to my father, and I couldn't disappoint him."
Rachel wanted to trust them, she really did, but she also wouldn't put it past them to pull a horrible prank on her. So she stayed silent, looking down at her folded hands.
"Listen, Rach, we really want to try and prove to you that we're sorry, and we also want to help you get away from that monster, but we don't want to make you uncomfortable, either, so if you want we can just work on our English project?" Santana was looking hopefully at the tiny diva, who immediately relaxed a minute amount.
"Yes, Santana, I think that would be lovely. Thanky you."
They worked in relative peace for the next hour until they had to drive Rachel back, though she vehemently protested until they pointed out that she'd never walked from Brittany's house before, and that she would be late if they didn't. She'd paled at that and acquiesced to letting them drive her.
They all hated themselves a little for letting her walk back through that front door.
It's short, I know and again I'm so sorry guys; my muse kind of deserted me for a while, and she's started to like me again. I've been writing a bit for Orphan Black, so I'm getting back into the swing of things. I'm going to try and update my other published stories this week as well, so maybe keep a lookout. Thanks for reading!