N/A Hey you lot. I know the last chapter was quite short compared to normal updates, so that's why I'm updating again for you guys; because you are all awesome.

Enjoy, my little story buddies. xxx

The drive home had been a little different today, as Ella said that she wanted to stay at school to do some homework, even though as Quinn and Rachel walked out of the school together they spotted Ella looking very sheepish as a brunette boy was looking down at her with a small smile on his lips; that's homework is it?

Quinn just laughed because Ella had always had a crush on Jack, the brunette boy. Rachel had giggled as well because Quinn had shouted over to the pair.

"Do you need help with your homework?!" Quinn grinned over at Ella.

It was the first time that Rachel had really heard Quinn raise her voice. The blonde was always so quiet and polite; it was good to see her having a laugh.

Ella had just poked her tongue out and pulled Jack towards the school field with her.

Quinn had turned the radio on when she got in the car and tuned it until a song came on that she liked.

"Ooh, this one's good," Quinn let a small smile take over her face as she momentarily looked at Rachel, before looking back at the road.

"What is it?" Rachel asked shyly.

"You've never heard of King Charles?" Quinn asked, not really being surprised.

"Nope," the brunette answered.

"He isn't that famous really. He's from England and just does gigs and things, but I really like his music," Quinn smiled, slowing for a red light, "this one's called Bam Bam. It's quite catchy."

Rachel had to agree it did have a catchy beat; she could imagine dancing to this in the rain and sun.

"I like it," Rachel smiled, as her left foot began to unconsciously tap to the beat.

To acknowledge Rachel's reply, Quinn simply smiled back as she leant over and turned the volume up. Rachel was glad for the music; she didn't really listen to music anymore… not since she stopped singing anyway. The loud beat and the flow of the words managed to successfully erase the bad memories of the day.

The brunette was deep in her thoughts and hadn't realised the song had changed to a much slower one. She was thinking about how she needed to catch up with Dave, how she needed to arrange a day for Santana to tutor the girl and how she needed… that was when she heard it; the soft melody of words coming quietly out of Quinn's mouth.

Rachel subtly casted her eyes to her left, not wanting to spook Quinn and make her stop.

"And maybe I'll work out, a way to make it back some day. Towards you, to guide you, through the darkest of your days."

Quinn's singing voice was soft and slightly nasally, but in the most tuneful way. Rachel was mesmerised.

"If a great wave shall fall, it would fall upon us all. Well I hope there's someone out there, who can bring me back to you."

Rachel had fully turned her head now, her eyes glistening as Quinn's pink lips moved with the shapes of the words.

"If I could, then I would, I'll go wherever you will go. Way up high or down low, I'll go wherever you will go."

Quinn slowly ended the chorus as her voice died down. The song still played calmly in the background, Charlene Soriaia's voice filling in the words that Quinn was previously singing so well.

"Why are you staring at me?" Quinn asked, with a small nervous laugh at the end, as she pulled her car into the home's small car park.

Rachel didn't realise she was just staring at the blonde; her mouth agape as her ears were accustoming to listening to Quinn's talking voice again.

"Th-that… that was beautiful," Rachel smiled, looking back to the front window as Quinn shut off the engine.

The blonde felt the blood rush to her cheeks. She was never this embarrassed about singing in front of the Glee club. Hell, she had sung in front of the whole audience at Regionals!

"Thanks," Quinn said, taking her keys out, "I sung that once in Glee."

Rachel didn't want to comment on the Glee part, because her last experience there had not been a pleasant one; that stupid curly haired man.

"Your voice is so… soft and different," the brunette said, picking up her bag between her legs.

"I would say the same, but I've never heard you sing," Quinn replied casually, trying to give a compliment back but then realising her mistake.

Rachel had frozen in her seat, biting her bottom lip.

"I-I'm sorry, I forgot, I didn't mean that," Quinn stuttered, scared that she had just insulted the girl she wanted to call her friend.

"It's okay," Rachel interrupted the blonde's apologies, "honestly, it's fine."

The brunette smiled a grin in Quinn's direction, not hiding her sadness very well at all, as they both exited the small car and made their way to the front door quietly.

As Rachel went to put her key in the lock, Quinn spoke up from 4 steps behind her.

"Rachel?" Quinn asked, biting the inside of her cheek.

Rachel turned around on her heel.

"Yeah?" she asked.

She wanted so badly to ask Rachel why the petite girl didn't sing; why she got so sad when it was ever mentioned. She wanted to ask Rachel where she had been before she came here. So many questions, so many unanswered things, but as the brunette turned around with a fake smile and sad glistening eyes, Quinn knew that it would just have to wait.

"I-I," Quinn sighed before smiling up at Rachel, "I can lend you my King Charles CD if you want?"

Rachel smiled back at her friend, thankful for the topic change but knew deep down that she couldn't keep things away from the blonde for long if they were to become better friends.

"I would really like that."

~O~X~O~X~O~X~O~

"Iron Man? Iron Man?!" Ella was shocked as she stared Anna down, "you can't be serious? Thor is so much better than Iron Man!"

Dinner had been… loud and interesting to say the least. Rachel and Quinn had sat in their normal spaces but hadn't had a chance to get a word in. Anna had come in with her Iron Man pyjama slacks on, having had the day off school because she had had a migraine and Ella had come to dinner with her Thor top on.

Apparently Anna was better now; she was certainly putting up a good fight.

"Iron Man has to have his stupid suit on to be able to do anything, Thor is naturally powerful… he's a god damn god!" Anna grinned, believing she had firmly just won.

"Nu-uh! Thor has to have his weird hammer thing; otherwise he is just an extremely fit man with no powers!" Ella said back, crossing her arms.

"Iron Man has a piece of shrapnel going near his heart, if that thing protecting it ever breaks… he dead!" Anna said back.

"Thor has a bad guy as a brother!" Ella said, as she moved to get near Anna.

"Iron Man is gay!" Anna shouted, struggling for anymore come backs.

"How?! Thor is the one with long, blonde hair and a hammer!" Ella said, as they were practically nose to nose.

"What's his hammer got to do with him not being gay?!" Anna asked back.

"Guess what he uses the hammer's handle for? His. Big. Gay. Encounters. With…" Ella was getting a bit too into the argument when Toby stood up, affectively getting between the two girls.

"Woah! That's enough… remember that some of us are a bit younger than you two. We still want to hold onto the little innocence we have left," Toby said, his high-pitched boy's voice cutting out Ella's last words.

Everyone else around the table was laughing or clapping at Toby for ending the useless, sort of fun, argument.

Ella shoved her chest in Anna's face trying to be all gangster, as Anna double tapped her fists in front of her, like they used to do in F.R.I.E.N.D.S. to tell Ella to back off.

They were both doing it all in good fun, well, people assumed they were and it soon went back to being a normal dinner time.

Rachel was picking at her food. She really didn't feel hungry. As she looked at her hand that was trying to grip her fork, she realised that her knuckles were starting to bruise. Great, a reminder of her shit day.

"Hey, you okay Rachel?" Toby whispered in her ear.

The brunette hadn't even seen that Quinn had disappeared, having slipped into the kitchen to give her plate to Sally.

Rachel twisted in her seat, so she could see Toby a little better.

"I'm okay, just had a rough day at school, that's all," Rachel said, giving him a little smile and a shrug.

"People were mean to you?" Toby asked, settling on the bench in Quinn's space.

"You could say that," the brunette nodded back.

She knew Toby wouldn't ask specific details, so it seemed okay to tell him; plus, he seemed really kind and it was kind of refreshing to talk to him.

"I don't like mean people," Toby shook his head, "did they use words to hurt you?"

"Some words, yeah," Rachel nodded along.

"Ignore them," the small boy nodded, his bandana shifting with the movement, "don't let the words get to you. I know it's hard, but at the end of the day, they are nothing to you if they don't accept you for who you are. When life throws crap at you, throw it back."

This made Rachel giggle a little. It was such a simple way to look at things; if people are mean, ignore them. It was a little harder said than done, but Toby had a point. Rachel liked this kid.

"Thanks Toby," Rachel said, "you make me smile."

"Well then," Toby grinned back, "mission accomplished."

Rachel leant in and gave him a quick hug round the shoulders.

"You're a good kid," the brunette smiled, as they all passed their plates along as Quinn was now standing at the end of table collecting them.

"I know," Toby raised his head high, "but seriously, if you ever need to talk or anything, I'm here. As I like listening to you, you're really nice."

Rachel grinned back, giving his upper arm a little friendly punch, as Toby smiled back before walking out of the dining room with Anna; most probably going to hang out in the lounge area.

The brunette gets up off the bench, swinging her leg fully over the bench, like she has done every day since falling on her ass, before making her way to the door.

Quinn is coming out of the kitchen door and smiles in Rachel's direction.

"You can go on up, I'm going to just talk to Sally for a minute," Quinn smiles, as she starts to wipe the table with the cloth she was holding.

"Okay then," Rachel says back, making her way up the stairs.

Quinn does that a lot. Most nights after dinner, before she hangs out with Rachel, she spends time with Sally in the kitchen. Rachel knew she must be really good friends with Sally, but they seem to hug all the time and Sally is always asking Quinn if she is okay with school and if the blonde needs help with any homework. Rachel wouldn't lie to herself and say she didn't feel a little jealous about how close they were; it made Rachel miss having that special adult in her life, the one you could talk to whenever you needed it. Maybe she would be speaking to this Jay sooner than she thought.

As Rachel locked her door behind her, she plopped down on her bed, sprawling out into a star shape. She let a big sigh fill the air; today had been tiring.

Pulling her fist to her face, she inspected her knuckles. They were going a little purple. She groaned as she put her arms back down; no doubt there will be questions about the bruises tomorrow.

Turning her head to the side, she looked at her clock and realised that Quinn would probably be downstairs for a little longer, so she let her eyes close and her breathing to even out; she really needed a nap.

~O~X~O~X~O~X~O~

"Fuck you! You told me it was okay!"

Rachel bolted upright immediately having heard raised voices outside. She looked over to her clock and her eyebrows furrowed a little worryingly. It said it was half one in the morning. How long did she nap for?!

Rubbing her eyes and looking down at her clothes, she realised she probably should get into some pyjamas.

"I never said to take the god damn money!"

Another voice shouted. Rachel recognised the voice as being Justin's.

Silently slipping into her pyjamas, she moved a little closer to the door.

"He was making fucking moves on me; I didn't know what to do!"

Rachel couldn't quite recognise the other voice; she knew she had heard it before but she just couldn't put a person to the voice.

"Walk away! For fuck sake Amber!" Justin shouted back, seemingly completely pissed off.

Amber. That was it; the coloured girl that had made the 'loser' comment on her first day here. Rachel nibbled her lip; she really didn't like the shouting.

"Fuck you then! God!" Amber shouted back, before a thump was heard and Justin shouted back again.

"Get out of this home! Right now, fuck off!" Justin sounded angry, worse than Rachel had ever heard him before; it scared her a little.

"You can't do that you prick! You don't own me!" Amber was getting fierce, her voice reaching new levels.

Rachel wrapped her arms around herself, starting to soothingly hum into the room.

"I own this fucking house! Get out!"

The brunette slowly slid down her wall until she was hugging her knees to her chest, humming a tune she didn't know.

"No! Fucking make me!"

She closed her eyes, willing the shouting to stop; it was making her mind wander. It was wandering to places she didn't want it to go.

"I will in a minute if you don't fucking leave now!"

Her humming was getting louder but she refused to start singing the words. The humming would do. It could make the shouting and hitting go away. Justin and Amber will be fine… they will, they will make up tomorrow and be fine.

"Go on then! Make me! Fucking touch me once and I'll sue this whole god damn place!"

Silent tears were making their way down Rachel's face without her evening knowing it.

Her mind was nearly there; nearly at the point of making bad memories come back.

"Piss off! We don't need you here anymore!"

Rachel was rocking back and forth.

"Fuck you! I've never liked you anyway! I'll fucking leave then!"

And with that Amber stomped down the hallway, ran down the stairs and Rachel faintly heard the front door slam before a car was revving off outside.

"Fuck sake!" Justin shouted one last time before obviously hitting something very hard.

The brunette's mind was swirling.

"No! Go away, please, just go away, it wasn't my fault," Rachel was whispering to herself.

It was too late; the memories had made their way to the front of her brain. She let the tears openly fall as her mind worked through her past.

"Night sweetheart," Michael said as he tucked seven-year-old Rachel into her pink bed.

The brunette was young but she wasn't stupid. She could tell her dad was finding it hard lately to call her sweetheart or to even tuck her in with feeling. She felt like he was sad.

"Night dad, say night to daddy for me when he gets home," she smiled at him, trying to make him happy.

"I will, now get off to sleep you," Michael tried a smile, but even within himself, he knew Rachel could tell it was fake.

The brunette pretended to close her eyes as her dad made his way out of her room, closing the door behind him but leaving a small gap so Rachel could see the hallway light.

Two hours had passed and she still wasn't asleep. She never really did get to sleep until she knew that both her fathers were home and safe.

Everything seemed a little off lately though. Rachel was too young to pin-point exactly what was going on, but something seemed weird. Dinner times were tense, breakfasts were always very quick and her dads barely said anything to each other.

As her thoughts were turning into sleepy ones, she heard the front door open and close downstairs.

Daddy was home.

She smiled to herself before she snuggled into her pillow further and went to let herself finally fall to sleep.

That was until she heard shouting, like, real shouting. Not the kind that her dad would use on her when she was about to lick her knife or when she nearly walked into the road. No, this was loud, scary and fierce.

She opened her eyes again and slowly sat up in her bed, the duvet seeming too big for her tiny little body.

"I just can't anymore Jason!" she heard her dad shout.

"What can't dad do?" Rachel thought.

"Well then, screw you!" daddy shouted back.

"Why would daddy say that? Dad isn't a screwdriver," the brunette pondered.

"No, you made this happen! We could work this out!" Michael shouted back.

"I'm really good at problem solving, I can help you dad," Rachel said to herself, feeling a little scared about how loud they were.

"No! Fuck this! Everything's screwed up!" Jason shouted back.

Rachel couldn't understand why they kept mentioning screws. She also knew that her heart was beating very fast and her palms felt sweaty and hot. She felt like she wanted to cry but she didn't want them to hear her; she didn't want to get shouted at like that.

"God Jason! Just get out! I can't bare to look at you right now!" Michael shouted, slamming something hard on a table.

Rachel flinched, her eyes closing tightly. She made herself hum quietly, but as the shouting continued in volume, she began to sing; very quietly under her breath she began to sing her favourite song. But she couldn't help the tears that made their way down her cheeks.

"Fuck you! I've never liked you anyway! I'll fucking leave then!"

With that, Rachel heard the front door slam incredibly loudly before she heard her dad cry powerfully from downstairs. Her dad never cried. Her daddy never slammed doors. They always liked each other.

Rachel didn't know what was happening, but as she sang under her breath and gripped her knees close to her chest, she knew for one thing that she didn't like scary shouting.

As her mind slowed to a halt and her breathing evened out, Rachel looked up from her knees and saw the picture of her and her dads, before everything messed up.

She needed someone. She didn't want to be alone right now. She would have gone into Dave's room in her last home or into Izzie's room in her first home, but here, she hadn't really gone into anyone else's room apart from Ella's, but she didn't feel close enough to the girl to ask if she could spend the night.

She knew one person who she would really like to have around right now; Quinn. The blonde was so caring and nice and Rachel knows she wouldn't ask any questions about her tear stained cheeks. But it was now two o'clock in the morning and the home was silent.

Choosing to do it anyway, Rachel got up off her floor and made her way to her door. Unlocking it as quietly as she could, she tip-toed out of her room and made her way down the corridor; Quinn's room wasn't that far away.

She could faintly hear noise coming from the blonde's room and furrowed her eyebrows when she realised the girl must still be up.

Knocking three times, she waited outside the door, looking down the corridor every now and again hoping that Amber didn't decide to come back. The brunette suddenly felt very cold in her pyjamas; she really needed new ones.

Just as she was about to leave, thinking that maybe Quinn had fallen asleep, the door opened a little bit, leaving a gap of about two inches.

Rachel spun back around on her heel and forgot why she was even at the door, as Quinn's sleepy eyes looked at her surprisingly.

"Rachel?" Quinn asked, obviously not expecting to see the brunette outside her room at two in the morning.

"Umm, hi?" the brunette ducked her head and leaned in closer to the door.

"A-are you okay?" the blonde said, as she slipped through the door and closed it behind her, not letting Rachel in.

"Um, yeah. I just… did you not hear the shouting?" Rachel whispered as she fiddled with the ends of her hair.

"Yeah, that happens from time to time, Justin and Amber don't exactly agree on things," Quinn whispered back.

Rachel suddenly felt very shy for acting the way she had. Quinn didn't seem to be bothered by the shouting.

"I-I just felt a little, well a little s-scared really," Rachel said as she looked up into Quinn's sincere eyes.

There was no judging or arrogance about Quinn's eyes, just complete sympathy.

"You want someone with you?" Quinn asked, wanting to reach out and touch Rachel's arm but didn't want to scare the girl even more.

"If that's okay with you," Rachel said back.

Quinn contemplated things in her head. Of course she wanted to be there for Rachel, she really liked the girl and something was just pulling her towards the brunette, but if Rachel came into her room there would no doubt be questions about 'how come she has a TV' and 'how come you have so much stuff in here' and 'what are all these carvings in your walls', so she made the decision that she would sleep in Rachel's room instead. But that's when she realised it would be silent and dark in there, but she had a plan.

"That's fine. I'll grab my laptop so we can watch a movie or something to get us to sleep," Quinn said quietly, hoping Rachel would agree.

Of course the brunette did agree, not seeing anything wrong with that, before she made her way back down to her room and waited by the door for Quinn.

The blonde quickly went into her room and grabbed her laptop, a couple of DVDs and her duvet and pillows before turning her light out and making her way into Rachel's room.

Immediately as Quinn entered and set her laptop up on the desk, she turned Rachel's desk lamp on, filling the dark room with a low light.

"Why do we need a light on?" Rachel asked a little sleepily, glad that she now has company and inwardly noticing that Quinn has really nice hair when it's messy.

The blonde panicked a little. Why do they need a light on? She can't exactly tell Rachel the truth, not yet anyway.

"Um, watching the laptop with no background light on makes my eyes hurt," she said back, sitting on the floor and snuggling in her duvet.

Quinn realised how lame her excuse was but hoped Rachel would ignore it.

"Okay," the brunette replied, eyeing the back of Quinn's head questioningly.

The movie was about twenty minutes in and neither of them had fallen asleep yet, but Rachel had stretched out on her bed and was now watching the movie from a lying down position and Quinn had spread out on the floor, cocooning herself in her duvet.

Quinn hadn't been watching the movie. Her mind was racing over everything. Why the shouting had got to Rachel this badly; of course she had noticed how red Rachel's eyes were, it was clear the brunette had been crying a lot, but why? Why doesn't she want to sing? Why does she never eat with the others? Why are the knuckles that are currently holding her pillow bruised and red? Why?

Rachel hadn't been watching the movie either. Her mind was racing over everything and anything. Why does Quinn not let anyone in her room? Why was she made to scratch things into the doors? Why does she know Sally so well? Why does she always turn her radio on as soon as she gets in the car? Why?

If at the same moment, they both went to speak.

"Rache-"

"Quin-"

They both stopped when they heard the other talk.

"You go-"

"Please, you go firs-"

Rachel couldn't help a little smile come onto her face, as unknowingly to her, Quinn did the same.

"I was just going to ask a question," Rachel said quietly, not ruining the music that was coming from the movie.

Quinn stilled. She wasn't a fan of questions.

"Um, okay," the blonde whispered.

"You don't have to answer," Rachel said reassuringly; the low light and quiet music making this moment seem so fragile.

"Go on," Quinn replied, nibbling the edge of her duvet.

"How do you know Sally so well? Is she a relative?" the brunette asked, clear interest lacing her words.

Quinn relaxed. That wasn't such a bad question; she had a million other questions in her head that Rachel might have asked. She could answer this one; she would just be quite vague.

"Um, no, she isn't a relative. I've known her quite a long time; we've just managed to bond well," Quinn replied quietly.

She knew Rachel would want to know more, so she was ready with a question of her own.

"But how long have you been here-"

"So, can I ask you a question now?" Quinn cut off Rachel's reply.

The blonde sounded so desperate and vulnerable with her interruption that Rachel knew it was time to leave it be. She could ask the blonde more at a later date, but for now the brunette knew that Quinn had definitely been here longer than everyone else.

"Yes, you can ask me one," Rachel replied shyly, hoping that her question was as easy to answer as Quinn's.

The blonde knew the question that she wanted to ask, which she had wanted to ask since two Monday's ago, so now she chose to ask it and hoped to dear God above that Rachel would be okay with it.

"Why don't you sing?" the blonde asked softly and timidly.

Rachel froze.

Okay, this was not as easy to answer as Quinn's one was.

She made herself speak. She didn't have to lie but she didn't have to say the whole truth either.

"Um, it's a long story," Rachel started, "but let's just say that someone said something one day and it made me realise that singing wasn't a good thing."

Quinn disagreed with that. Singing was good for the heart.

"I'm guessing that's not the whole story but I think we've both had enough for today," the blonde replied sensitively, not wanting to push Rachel further.

"And I'm guessing there's more to this Sally woman and you," the brunette said in a whisper from her bed.

It was fair to say that they both knew each other was not telling the whole truth. But they both also knew that they didn't mind. If they couldn't tell the full truth just yet, then they can't blame the other for doing the same. But they felt like they knew each other just that little bit more; it somehow felt right talking to each other.

The movie was only half way through, but Quinn wasn't even watching it anyway, she was turned towards Rachel's bed. The brunette was finding it a little hard to sleep with the bright light on, so she quietly got up and turned the lamp off and closed the laptop so that the light of the screen went off but the music from the movie still played, effectively plunging the room into complete darkness.

Rachel didn't mind the music because it sort of soothed her, but she definitely wouldn't get a good nights sleep with the light on. She thought Quinn was asleep so she quietly stepped over the still body and curled into bed.

The blonde was still but her heart was moving wildly and out of control. She was trying so hard not to breathe loudly, but she was panicking. She was now in the dark… complete darkness. The tears were already prickling at her eyelids. Why did Rachel have to turn the light off? Mainly because most people sleep in the dark, Quinn remembered.

She turned onto her back and wrapped her arms around herself, willing the tears to stop and for her heart to stop beating so hard; it hurts. At least she has the noise, the noise was good and it meant she wasn't alone. She tried to listen to the words, to the music and sounds that were coming from the laptop, while she tried to ignore the fact that she couldn't see a thing.

She ended up letting the tears fall as she quietly sniffed and every so often a little sob would ring out from her closed mouth. She realised her past would never fully leave her alone. At the time she was too young to do anything about it, but now she would forever be utterly and completely terrified of the dark.

"I'm okay," she whispered quietly into the gap between her and the duvet.

"It's okay," she said after.

She repeated this every minute, until she realised that half an hour or so must have passed, because now the movie had gone on to its title screen, repeating the same piece of music over and over again. She didn't care; it was sound, that's all that mattered.

She knew her face was going to be puffy and red tomorrow morning from the crying but she couldn't help it. It came naturally.

She listened out to see if Rachel was asleep yet. By the even breaths that were coming out from her parted lips, Quinn assumed she was in deep dreamland by now.

She got up onto her knees and silently scuffled over to the desk, leaning up a little and tapping the lamp once to turn it on. The room was flooded with a low light immediately and Quinn sighed in relief, her heart slowing down and her mind relaxing. She quickly looked over to Rachel and luckily saw that the girl hadn't woken.

Turning the volume of the music on the laptop up a little by pressing the button on the side of it, she collapsed back down onto the floor and snuggled under her duvet, letting the music and light send her off to sleep, while her tears dried in the air.

Brown eyes finally opened again, having closed when Quinn looked her way.

Rachel had heard and watched everything.

She wasn't asleep.

How could she sleep when she was listening to Quinn cry quietly to herself and mumble vulnerable words under her breath?

She had just witnessed something sad and she really wanted nothing more than to slide off her bed and hug Quinn until the blonde felt safe again. She shouldn't have turned the light off; it clearly wasn't what the blonde liked. She should have known not everyone liked sleeping in the dark, but why was Quinn so absolutely petrified of it? And then turning up the volume of the title screen? Rachel bit her lip. She needed to know more about the blonde, not just for her own worries and thoughts but for Quinn. If Rachel knew what was hurting her inside, then maybe she could help.

She also felt like she could use a good friend as well.

Closing her eyes, she let the music repeat itself over and over again.

As Rachel was falling off into dreamland, she whispered out into the night air.

"You're okay Quinn. It's okay."