Author's Note: Special thanks to Mechhasylum for helping me out. :) By the way, you guys were out of control with the reviews! I love it. I appreciate it. I love it some more.
Terror
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
-From Maya Angelou's Still I Rise
Will ran down the hallway of McKinley High, glancing into doorways as he passed by them. He repeatedly called out Rachel's name, searching desperately as he ran by locker after locker. Suddenly, he paused. He could hear a loud, almost panicked knocking. He stood still in the corridor, whipping his head back and forth, trying to figure out where the knocking was coming from.
'Rachel? Is that you? I'm going to find you Rachel, hold on!" He took off running again, sliding on the waxed tile as he took a corner too quickly. The knocking was getting louder, more frantic, when suddenly-
"Will! Open the god damn door!" Emma's voice cut sharply through Will's haze of sleep and he spastically lifted his head from where it had rested against his kitchen table. He cringed as he realized he had slept like that throughout the entire night. He rubbed his neck roughly, trying to work out a kink as he rose from the table and threw open the door. He barely had time to register Emma's casual sweatpants before he was accosted by her slight figure.
"They found her!" Emma bellowed when she threw herself into his arms. "Ken called me, she escaped! She's a little banged up but she's alive!" Will's arms automatically tightened around Emma's petite waist as he lifted her and spun her around. She tightened her grip on him, revelling in the first genuinely happy moment she had experienced in days. Will lowered her to the floor and looked at her in awe.
"I'm on my way to offer my assistance to Rachel and her parents, she's at the high school. Let's go!" Will darted into his bedroom and threw on some sneakers before grabbing his keys and wallet and ushering Emma into the hallway. As he turned the key in the lock, he couldn't help but send a wide grin in her direction.
"Em, what on Earth are you wearing?" He asked her cheekily. Emma rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Ken called me at 6 am, Will, I was still in bed," she said with a small smile tugging at her lips. It felt so good to be happy, even if it was caused by Will's teasing. The last few days had been so emotionally draining that even the smallest sliver of a smile felt out of place. He pocketed his keys and gave an experimental tug at her t-shirt.
"Shut up," she said as they made their way down the hallway.
-GLEE-
Quinn listened to Brittany's idle chatter as she tossed her backpack onto the floor of Santana's car. It had been nice to spend the night with her girlfriends, even though much of it had been quiet and somber when one of their thoughts drifted to Rachel. Her mom was being as supportive as she could, but she was still reeling from her own personal issues and could only offer Quinn an occasional pat on the back as she went to and from therapy. It was depressing being in the home she had once shared with family, and even though she and her mom were trying to regain some normalcy in their routines and their new lives, it was still hard sometimes. Once in a while it became too stifling, too burdened with bad memories, and Quinn relished the chances she had to escape for a night here and there. She realized that they were quickly approaching McKinley High and pulled her cell out of her purse so she could set it to vibrate. The last thing she needed was to forget it was on and have her mom call her with some asinine request in the middle of her Chemistry final. She looked up from her phone and felt her stomach drop as Santana turned her car into the school parking lot.
"Shit," Santana said under her breath. Quinn didn't even bother to scold her for her language. It was early, almost a full 30 minutes before school was supposed to start for their last day of finals, but the lot was already almost completely full. There was police tape blocking off the football field, and after Santana pulled into a space the girls sat in silence as they took in all of the activity.
"Why are there so many dogs here?" Brittany wondered aloud. Quinn's mouth filled with saliva as she tried to fight off her sudden nausea. She swallowed carefully, trying not to gag as she wondered if they were cadaver dogs. Something was going on, and she was both dreading and hoping that it had to do with Rachel. There were cop cars, ambulances, and uniforms everywhere she looked. She pulled her backpack into her lap and put her hand on the door handle before turning to face her friends.
"We need to try to find out what's going on," she said as she pushed the door open. She didn't wait for them to agree with her, but breathed a sigh of relief when she heard their footsteps behind her and the beep of Santana locking her car. She couldn't handle getting bad news alone. As they walked through the parking lot, Santana suddenly yelled out to a freshman, causing the two blonds beside her to stop walking. A short, stocky kid walked over with his hands in his pockets, his McKinley football jersey slung over one shoulder.
"What's going on?" Santana barked at him. The kid shrugged and motioned towards the woods at the end of the football field.
"I don't know, they found that missing girl in there," he said nonchalantly before walking away. Santana stared after the kid, stunned. Quinn unconsciously took a step away from the direction of the field, a hand over her mouth. Without warning, she bent at the waist and threw up her breakfast. Brittany stood between the two girls, unsure of what she should do. Brightening, she waved as she saw Mercedes approaching, Tina and Artie at her side. Brittany didn't notice the apprehensive looks on their faces as they took in Santana's dazed eyes and Quinn wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand.
"What's going on?" Mercedes asked tentatively. Much like Quinn before, she wasn't really sure she wanted to know the answer to her own question.
"All we know is they found Berry in the woods. We don't know if..." Santana's voice trailed off as she found herself unable to verbalize what they were all thinking.
"Oh, god," Tina said, horrified. Artie reached up and placed a hand over the one Tina had laid on his shoulder. He couldn't help but feel his eyes tear up as he realized what may have happened. He cleared his throat.
"Come on, we need to find out for sure. I can't stand not knowing anymore," he said definitively. The group stayed silent as they began making their way towards the police barrier. They had barely made it halfway to where answers were waiting when suddenly a bored reporter and bored cameraman appeared out of nowhere and began pulling microphones and equipment out of the back of their van. Brittany was the first to have the microphone thrust in her face after the reporter said her spiel into the camera.
"Can you tell us your relationship to Rachel Berry?" Brittany looked at the heavily made up woman in confusion for a minute.
"I'm not related to Rachel," Brittany said honestly. The reporter looked baffled for a moment before turning away from Brittany and shoving the mic into Tina's face next.
"Have you known Rachel for long? How did you feel when you heard the news of her abduction?" Tina's mouth dropped open in shock. She sputtered helplessly for a minute before her eyes filled with tears. Quinn patted her arm and gave the reporter a dirty look, but before she could say a word Santana stepped in, raising herself to her fullest height.
"Listen, you nosey little bitch," she started, her voice laced with fury. She took a step towards the reporter, who immediately took one backwards in response. Santana was about to advance on her again when Brittany put her arm in front of her, effectively ending her attack. Santana was so caught off guard by Brittany taking control of anything that she immediately backed down.
"Look, lady. We aren't relatives of Rachel's, we're her friends. I don't know why you think it's okay to ask us these questions. What I do know is that we love Rachel very much, just as much as I love my Uncle Mickey and he only has one eye. We may not be a real family but we feel like one and we are all really scared right now about where Rachel might be. I don't know if maybe you don't have family that loves you so I guess you don't understand. This isn't a time for questions, and it's never the time to make Tina cry. So I think it's best if you leave now. After you say you're sorry to Tina. Otherwise I'm going to let Santana go. And then you're going to know what it's like to feel as scared as we feel right now." Brittany removed her arm from across Santana's torso and was glad when she only lurched forward to intimidate the crazy lady instead of actually attacking her. She wanted to make sure Tina really did get her apology first. The reporter slowly dropped her arms to her side as she looked uncertainly at her cameraman. Her face was bright red, and Brittany felt a little bad when she saw tears in the lady's eyes. It wasn't nice to make her cry, either, but she had hurt Tina first so Brittany thought she was even.
"I apologize," the ashamed woman said stiffly. She turned on her heel and ushered her cameraman back into the van. Santana felt a burst of pride when the van was not only packed up, but soon left the parking lot. Brittany had single-handedly done what no doubt the police had not been able to do since the Channel 3 van had pulled into the parking lot. True, people deserved to hear the news, but Santana hated when microphones were thrust into the faces of unsuspecting, grieving families just hours after they experienced tragedy. For once, Brittany had gotten it right. This was not the time or the place for someone to behave so insensitively. She pulled Brittany into an affectionate hug and whispered into her ear.
"You did good, B," she said. Brittany beamed at her as she pulled away and turned to give Tina a quick hug before beginning to walk towards the field again. She didn't know why they were going over there, but there were still a couple of dogs so she didn't mind.
As she walked, Quinn brought her hands around her slim waist, shivering as a soft breeze blew over her clammy skin. She couldn't even bring herself to be embarrassed for throwing up in front of everyone. She was just glad she wasn't a blubbering mess as they approached the police, she didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to herself or the Gleeks. They stood outside the tape, waiting for someone to notice them and give them answers. The calm, patient exterior she was desperately clinging to instantly disappeared when she was the first to see her. It was Puck she noticed first, and then realized he was standing in a semi circle with Matt, Kurt, and Finn next to an ambulance. Quinn's eyed finally landed on Rachel seated in the back of it, wrapped in a blanket and contentedly sandwiched between her fathers.
"Oh thank God," she burst out. The group looked at her in alarm as tears began pouring down her face. She was soon sobbing so hard that her breath was hitching in her throat and all she could do was point. Immediately, shrieks and screams carried out over the field as police and detectives and various other people whipped their heads towards the group in shock. Rachel's head snapped up from her father's shoulder when she instantly pegged the voices of the Gleeks. Pushing the blanket off of her shoulders she gave her fathers a reassuring look before leaping out of the ambulance and running full speed towards her friends. She ducked under the tape and was urgently pulled into the biggest group hug she had ever had. She was passed from person to person, arms wrapping and re-wrapping themselves around her repeatedly. Quinn pulled Rachel to her for her third hug when things finally began to calm down. Everyone was crying and giggling, laughing hysterically through their tears. Eventually, the footballers made their way over to the rambunctious group and their presence started a new round of everyone hugging and laughing.
"Everyone stop!" Mike suddenly called out. The actions of every single Gleek halted in a flash as they all turned to him with questioning looks. He pointed to the ground with a stern look on his face. Bloody footprints covered the parking lot.
"Didn't the EMT's tell you that you needed to go to the hospital and get stitches?" He demanded. Rachel looked at him sheepishly and immediately took the pressure off of her bloody, injured foot by putting all of her weight onto the right one.
"Oops?" Rachel guessed, shrugging her shoulders innocently at Mike. The small smile on her face dropped as her father's walked up and stood behind Mike. Her daddy planted his hands on his hips and her dad crossed his arms over his chest.
"Mr. Chang is right, honey. You need to get back into the ambulance. The detectives said they are done for right now, they will meet us at the hospital once everything is finished up here. Now, lean on my shoulder so you don't hurt yourself anymore. You can call your friends when you're home from the hospital and we'll figure out appropriate visiting times while you are home resting, okay?" He reached a hand out towards Rachel but was pleased when Mike stepped up and swung her into his arms.
"I got her, Mr. Berry," he said. Rachel huffed indignantly, but wrapped her arm around Mike's neck anyway. Her foot was throbbing now. Running towards her second family probably hadn't been the best idea she had ever had, but there was no way Rachel Berry was going to turn down a dramatic moment. The exhilaration of her reunion with everyone was wearing off and she could no longer ignore the facts. She was hurt. As Mike carefully carried her across the parking lot and back to the waiting ambulance, Rachel's exhaustion returned. She laid her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes.
"I'm really glad you're safe," he whispered into her hair. "I was a wreck without you around, you know. We all were. I couldn't even dance," he said in horror.
"Don't worry, I wasn't dancing either," Rachel mumbled. Mike chuckled, knowing Rachel didn't mean anything by it, she was just telling it like it was. He swallowed nervously. He knew hitting on a girl hours after she escaped her kidnappers wasn't the smoothest way of going about things, but he had thought a lot while Rachel was missing. He had felt like the sun had disappeared when Rachel did. He had never noticed all of the things he loved about her until they were gone. Everything had felt wrong and out of whack. Nothing tasted the same, he hated every song on the radio. He couldn't even dance. The thought of never seeing her again had kept him awake night after night, and when he had seen her running towards him that morning he had instantly felt like his world was back into alignment. Even if she didn't feel the same, he had to let her know. If he had learned anything over the last few days, it was that life could be short. He had nothing to lose.
"Well, when you're foot heals, I think you're going to owe me a dance," he said cautiously. Rachel wrapped her other arm around him as she dipped her face closer into the crook of his neck.
"I think I'd like that," she said softly.
-GLEE-
Rachel nervously played with the hem of her blanket as she tried to keep her eyes focused on an old episode of Saved by the Bell. Her daddy had clicked it on before running down to the cafeteria to grab a couple of sandwiches. He had conveniently left the remote on the seat of the chair he had been sitting on and Rachel was a bit miffed since she could not reach it from her bed. If she could survive a kidnapping, surely she could handle watching the 12:00 news and deal with whatever they said about her. Unfortunately for her, due to her severely sprained ankle and 67 stitches she was completely bedridden until her dad returned from home with her gold sticker-adorned crutches from when she tore her meniscus last summer.
She couldn't help but feel a little apprehension about being alone. She wasn't scared, exactly. She knew she was completely safe. When the detectives had arrived as she was getting the shard of glass removed from where it had embedded itself in her foot, they informed her and her parents that her captors were in police custody. Even her car and their belongings had been recovered. Rachel had mixed feelings about knowing Brian and Todd were behind bars, but she shrugged it off. She was too drained to really think much about it other than that she was sad Brian wouldn't be able to start fresh now. Frustrated over her lack of ability to do anything or know anything about her own story, she leaned back on her pillows and closed her eyes.
As her thoughts drifted off, stopping on random moments of the last few days, her head suddenly swung towards the door when she heard the click of the knob turning. She felt her body instinctively tense as the sight of Dave Karofsky standing in the doorway of her hospital room. He looked as shocked as she felt, as if he couldn't believe he had actually opened the door to her room. Rachel dropped her hand to her side and cautiously gripped the call button in case she needed to summon a nurse. She took note of the cast on his right hand and furrowed her brown in confusion.
"Can I...help you?" She asked, her voice laced with uncertainty. Dave looked like he was about to throw up and Rachel desperately wished one of her dads would reappear.
"May I come in?" Dave suddenly blurted out. His face reddened visibly and she realized he was gripping the doorknob so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. Slightly afraid of what he would do if she turned him away, Rachel silently nodded and subconsciously pulled her blankets up around herself. Dave shut the door behind him, causing Rachel's heart to begin pounding a painful rhythm in her chest. She fought the urge to give in to her panic and set her lips into a thin line as she stared at the stranger standing in front of her. She had no idea what was about to happen. She watched as he shuffled over to the chair her daddy had vacated and she watched as Dave looked at everything except her.
"It was never about you, you know," he said softly. He still wasn't looking at her, and Rachel realized that whatever he was about to say to her was probably going to change everything she had ever thought about him.
-GLEE-
Author's Note: Oy. Was Cherry too cheesy? As Mechh knows, I was super concerned about the cheese factor in this chapter. I don't want it to feel completely out of place. So now you have a glimpse of what I decided for Karofsky, and that I've decided to focus on him and drop Azimio. Here's my newest inquiry: how far should I take it? Should he truly redeem himself? Or should he be in Rachel's room for an entirely different reason?
What would YOU like to see happen to Brian and Todd? I am pretty sure I'm set with where I'm going on that one, but ideas and suggestions are always appreciated! If your idea is better than mine I'll give you all the credit : P
Anywho. Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed : )
