A/N: Sorry this took a little longer than usual, I had a difficult time writing Kurt, and fitting the information in that I needed to. The beginning of this chapter is happening simultaneously with the end of chapter 12. Enjoy!

KPOV:

As we walked out of the choir room, we heard Mr. Schue call Finn back. Rachel turned to look back and Puck leaned down to whisper something in her ear.

"Okay Noah, be careful okay?"

"Rach, are you seriously scared that Finn is gonna hurt me?" She gave him a look, obviously indicating his bleeding lip from the recent fight with Finn. He rolled his eyes at her and walked back towards the choir room. She stared uncertainly after him and I walked toward her, slinging an arm around her to lead her to the gym. She leaned into me as we walked. It hurt to know that she was mostly doing it for support.

"Rach?" I asked uncertainly. She looked up at me with a questioning look on her face. "What, I mean, like what's, what's, like?"

"What's wrong with me?" She said bluntly.

"Yeah."

"My right ankle's severely sprained, hence the fact that I have to lean on you like this. My left wrist is broken and I have multiple broken ribs. Other than that its 'severe malnourishment and post-traumatic stress disorder'." She made air quotes as she stated the medical terms. "Which of course really means that I haven't eaten enough and I jump at sudden noises or movement."

"I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for, it's not like it's your fault."

"I know, just, I'm sorry."

"It's okay." She smiled at me. I smiled too; gosh it was good to have her back.

"So how'd you get out?" Santana suddenly asked. I'd almost forgotten that the rest of the glee club was still walking with us. Rachel bit her lip.

"Well, there was this little gap in the security. Noah's cell phone finally got service. I called Finn and he came and, well yeah. Then we ended up talking to the police at the hospital and they managed to get in and shut the place down." There was finality to her words, the short sentences that said that that was all the information we would get on the subject. I suspected that any questioning about the last year of her life would get similar results.

We all entered the gym slowly, noticing that many people were already there. There were multiple tables set up, with place settings on them. The largest table, in the center of the room had a small sign on it, "New Directions." I smiled at the sight, long ago were the days when we had to fight to even be recognized.

We walked to the table and sat down, on one side Artie, Tina, Quinn, Rachel and me, leaving a space for Finn on the end. On the other side Santana, Brittany, Mercedes, Mike, and Matt sat, leaving space for Puck in the middle. There was a chair waiting for Mr. Schue on the end by Matt. Shortly after we all got settled, Finn and Puck walked in, followed by Mr. Schue.

"Hey Kurt, budge over and let me sit by my girl." Finn said easily, all traces of his earlier anger gone. I shrugged and stood up to trade places.

"No way Finn, you can't hog Rachel all the time!" Quinn said sharply. A small scuffle ensued which resulted in Rachel sitting between Finn and Quinn, with Me, Puck, and Mercedes opposite, Matt having traded sides with me. We were all laughing; this was the way everything was supposed to be.

"Hello students, well you're not exactly students anymore are you?" Principal Figgins let out a nervous laugh.

"He's still a big of a douche as ever." Puck whispered.

"Puck!" Mr. Schue admonished him, but he was smiling to himself.

"We are so glad to have many of our taken students back, and we would like to thank McKinley's very own heroes who made it all possible." Rachel slammed her head down on the table. "Rachel Berry, Finn Hudson, and Noah Puckerman." Rachel didn't lift her head. Finn shrunk down in his seat and Puck looked like he wanted to sink into the floor. "The graduation for all of you will take place exactly a week from today. We'll discuss more details after the meal." He waved and a bunch of underclassmen walked around, placing bowls of spaghetti and plates of garlic bread on each table.

We passed the food around, Finn and Puck of course taking the largest portions and digging right in.

"Rach, you might want take your sweatshirt off, the sleeves are going to get covered in sauce." I pointed out.

"Oh. Yeah." She muttered, not doing anything. I watched her out of the corner of my eye. When she thought no one was looking she quickly pushed the sleeves up. I gasped when I saw her arms. They were covered by long, deep, painful-looking welts. She tried to pull the sleeves back down but I quickly caught her wrist gently, examining her arm closer.

Someone had done this to her, to her deliberately! I couldn't, just; the starvation was one thing; that had obviously been done to everyone. But seeing the evidence that someone had stood, looking at her. Looking into those beautiful brown eyes that I took so much pleasure in decorating with makeup, looking at her face, someone had purposely hurt her, Rachel. I just saw red. I just wanted to find the person who had done this to her and rip them to shreds. Finn reached over and grabbed my hand, carefully detaching my fingers from her wrist. I looked up at him and could see a mirror of my fury in his eyes despite the fact that he'd obviously already seen it.

Looking around I could see shock and anger on all of my friends' faces, except Puck. I noticed for the first time that he was also wearing a long-sleeved shirt and jeans and I realized that they both probably had these marks all over their bodies. I couldn't believe it. This was just, so wrong, and awful.

"Guys, your food is going to get cold." Mr. Schuester said shakily, clearly also affected by the sight. Rachel sighed gratefully as the attention was deflected from her and everyone began scarfing down the food. I leaned toward her to whisper in her ear.

"You're beautiful Rach." She smiled at me weakly and Finn shot me a grateful look and slipped his arm around her as she ate.

We all ate quietly, well for us anyway. Halfway through the meal, Puck sent a meatball flying at Finn, who easily caught it in his mouth, knocking Rachel into Quinn in the process. Quinn jumped, spilling her drink all over Matt who cursed at Puck and lobbed a piece of garlic bread at his head. Finn cheerfully threw a meatball back at Puck and Rachel ducked as a piece of garlic bread went flying over her head. We all started laughing hysterically and Quinn ended up tipping backwards in her chair.

As we were sorting Quinn out, Principal Figgins walked up and cleared his throat. We all stopped laughing and looked at him, wondering whether he was about to yell at our antics.

"I was wondering if the glee club would like to sing a couple of songs at the graduation, two I think. We would appreciate if one of the songs relates to the events of the past year whether by featuring the two or lyrics. The other can be your choice. Also, Rachel, you and Miss Quinn Fabray were tied for valedictorian. So we would like you both to speak." Rachel nodded. As he walked away Mr. Schue looked at us.

"So what songs should we sing?" he asked.

"Well, I think that to properly demonstrate…" Rachel was off with the familiar look in her eyes that meant that she knew the "perfect" song and we were all going to sing it, or else! I laughed quietly. Finally, this was the way everything was supposed to be.

A/N: I hope this chapter cleared up some of your questions.

Still polling for the baby name; Eliza Noelle or Noelle Caroline. And question, do we know Noah's mom's name?

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