Voting for how this story will go, has officially ended. I must say though, I'm a little concerned now that you guys aren't voting for anything I'm worried I won't get as many reviews :( Please keep the reviews coming even though you're not voting for the outcome of this story.

Final Tally:

Yes - 32
No - 12

Please keep in mind that even though it's going to lead to more angst, the last few chapters WILL be happy ones. I'm currently into chapter 9 with where I'm currently writing... I don't wanna post too much at a time because I don't want to risk falling behind, those of you who've read my other stories know all about that horrid habit of mine.

Anyway! On with Chapter 4 :D

Beta'd by me, myself, and I. So all mistakes are my own... If someone's interested in beta-ing for me... Feel free to send me a PM or leave a review about it or something. I'm mainly after someone to bounce some ideas off of and to help pick out any spelling mistakes. I'm NOT a stickler for absolutely perfect grammar, it's how I write and people don't seem to ever have any complaints about it. Just remember when messaging me. This is an emotional story. Highly emotional. I'm only looking for one beta. Preferably someone with MSN messenger, since that's what I use all the time.

The First 24
Chapter 4

December 24 – 10:00 AM
-4 days, 16 hours missing-

"Where are we going mommy?"

The older woman helped her youngest child into his shirt and knelt down to fix his pants. "We're going to see Auntie Rachel."

His eyes instantly lit up. They hadn't gone to see Rachel since Thanksgiving. "Can Aunt Quinn show me how to throw a spiral if I take my football?"

Eileen frowned. She hated the fact that he didn't understand that Quinn was gone. "She went away for a little while, don't you remember? We talked about this a few days ago."

Alex's eyes narrowed as he tried to remember the conversation. At five years old, it wasn't uncommon that he forgot things within minutes of talking about them. "Where did she go?"

The woman bit her lower lip. It was times like this she wished her children weren't so inquisitive. "Someone took her honey."

"Where did they take her?"

She felt tears sting her eyes. Her mind started to wander to what her own life would be like if something happened to Jeff. She couldn't even begin to imagine what Rachel was going through. "We don't know sweetheart." Her arms wrapped around her son. "I need you to do me a favor alright?"

Alex nodded and pulled away from his mom to sit on the floor to put his shoes on. "What's that mommy?" He began concentrating on tying his shoes.

Eileen knelt beside the boy and began to help him. "When we get to Aunt Rachel's, don't say anything about Aunt Quinn okay?"

"Why?" He frowned.

"It makes Rachel sad to talk about it." And it did. Ever since they found out about Quinn's disappearance they never brought it up. They'd talked on the phone a few times in the last 4 days. Mostly it was Jeffrey checking on Rachel and how she was doing. Every time they'd talk about everything but Quinn. Instead, they just waited for the tiny diva to bring it up. Which has yet to happen. It would be the first time the kids have been around Rachel since Quinn vanished.

Alex hesitated for a minute before smiling. "Okay mommy. I don't like Aunt Rachel sad."

Eileen let out the breath she'd been holding. She was thankful he agreed without an argument. "Come on, go wash your hands and face so we can go."

He nodded and ran out of his room toward the bathroom. Eileen got to her feet and went off in search of her husband.

December 24 – 12:00 PM
-4 days, 18 hours missing-

"Rachel, hurry up. Santana made sandwiches. And she's getting antsy because you're taking so long." Brittany called through the bathroom door.

Inside, the shower shut off then Rachel pushed the curtain open. She cursed herself when she realized she'd forgotten her clothes. Today was supposed to be a day where she could relax. She'd agreed to let Brittany take her wedding photo out of her hands and she'd agreed not to touch it while Jeff and his family were there.

"Hey Brittany…" Rachel cracked the door open to look at her friend. "I forgot my clothes in my room. Would you go and get them for me?"

"Of course."

Rachel closed the door again and started to dry her body off. She was trying everything to keep her mind off of Quinn. Quinn… If Quinn was there she'd be standing at the sink brushing her teeth. She would watch as she dried herself off. Rachel smiled softly at the memories. Quinn always seemed to think that Rachel didn't know she was watching. But she knew. She knew every single time. No… She had to stop herself. No thinking about Quinn today.

"Here you go Rach." Brittany helped herself to just walking into the bathroom. It wasn't the first time she'd seen the shorter brunette naked and she doubted it would be the last. "You don't look too good." Brittany frowned. Her eyes washed over Rachel's bare back. She knew the diva hadn't been eating much be she hadn't realized how bad it was until she saw the outline of Rachel's ribs.

"I'm fine Britt. I promise." She wrapped the towel around her body before turning around and grabbing her underwear to start getting dressed.

"Promise me you'll eat a sandwich with me?" Brittany simply waited until Rachel nodded before showing a bright smile. "Great! Hurry up though, Jeff and Eileen are gonna be here soon."

Again Rachel nodded. She looked at herself in the mirror. Brittany was right. She didn't look good at all. If anything, she was starting to look her age. That was one thing she always strived for, to keep her youthful appearance. Over the past five days since she'd last seen Quinn, she stopped caring. She hadn't eaten a thing since the toast Santana basically shoved down her throat the morning prior. She didn't bother with her make-up anymore. Why care? She had nobody to impress. Her hair, though still full and wavy, was dull and lifeless at the same time. With Quinn missing, she just didn't care anymore.

Just as her mind started to wander again to thoughts of Quinn, she heard two very distinct squeals from her living room. Alex and Jessica were there. She hurried to finish dressing and took a deep breath before she opened the door.

"Since someone took Aunt Quinn, can you teach me how to throw a spiral Santana?"

Rachel froze at his words. In the distance she saw Alex look up at the Latina with hope in his eyes. She couldn't be mad at him for such a thing. She knew that Jeff and Eileen had tried to explain it to him. But he was only five. He didn't understand. "Why don't you wait until Quinn comes back? I think she'd get upset if Santana showed you."

Alex looked up, his smile just grew wider at the sight of the brunette. "Rachie!" He ran toward her, his older sister Jessica was hot on his heels.

Her eyes lit up for the first time in nearly a week at the sight of the kids. "Hey guys." She knelt down on the carpet and was nearly knocked over when the children ran into her arms for a hug.

While she was occupied with each of the children's tales of school and friends, Jeff approached Santana. "How's she doing?"

Santana sighed. "She's bad Jeff. This is the first time her eyes lit up like they used to. Thanks for bringing the kids over. She needs this." She turned on her heel to go into the kitchen area.

"No problem at all, the kids love her as much as she loves them." He took a step closer to his friend before speaking. "Is there any word on her?" He made sure to keep his voice down. The last thing he wanted to do was draw Rachel's attention.

"Not a bit. In fact, the search has basically been called off. The trail's run cold." There was a hint of anger and bitterness in the lawyer's voice. "We're all starting to lose hope."

"It's only been five days since she was reported missing. How can they do that?" Jeff gratefully took the sandwich that Brittany offered him. "I can't even begin to imagine her pain."

"That's why we haven't left her side. Not even once. One of us has always been here with her." Santana glanced at her wife, watching as she walked into the living room. In her hands she carried two sandwiches, no doubt one for her and one for Rachel. "Brittany or I have even alternated in holding her as she slept at night. There's some nights both of us have to stay with her to get her to sleep. If not, the nightmares of Quinn are too much and she's up screaming."

Jeff opened his mouth to speak but was cut short by a little girl's question. "Why did someone take Aunt Quinn?" Santana's eyes shot over to the girl who was looking up at Rachel with confusion on her face. The Latina bit her lip. As did everybody else over the age of 10. They watched with baited breath, anxiously awaiting her response.

Rachel knelt back down to look the girl in the eye. The sandwich Brittany had just handed her was long forgotten. "I don't know why sweetheart. I wish I did though."

Jessica frowned and wrapped her slender arms around the older woman's neck. "Do you miss her?"

"Every second... of every day…" She whispered. Her face was hidden by the girl's hair. She was thankful for that because she couldn't control her tears anymore.

"I miss her too. She's okay though. I just know it." As if the little girl knew Rachel's plight, she tightened her arms around her neck. "You can cry if you want."

And she did just that. She cried silently on the young girl's shoulder while everybody else just watched on.

December 25 – 1:28 AM
-5 days, 7.5 hours missing-

"Merry Christmas Quinn!"

The blonde slowly looked up at him. She was barely able to hold her head up because she was so tired. No matter how hard she tried, she found she couldn't force her left eye open. She struggled to be able to breathe. Every breath burned her lungs, just like the one before. She was starting to pray each evening for God to take her life while she slept. She didn't want to wake up the next day to face him again.

"I said…" He suddenly clutched her jaw in his hand, forcing her to look at him. "…Merry Christmas!" He spit down in her face, smirking at the whimper that it drew.

"Merry Christmas." She weakly pulled her head away and closed her eyes. It was a vain attempt to stop the headache that shook her head.

He started doing something unexpected. His hands slowly unhooked the shackles from her wrists. "You've been such a good girl Quinnie." He cooed at her. Her few seconds of freedom were gone in an instant when he started placing looser chains around the badly bruised and bleeding skin of her wrists. "Why won't you talk to me?" He started trailing his fingers down the front of her damaged body. He was not happy when he didn't receive a physical response.

A sharp slap to her bare breast drew a harsh hiss from her. "I'm hungry." She spoke. Her voice was weak. She hadn't eaten anything since the morning before. It had to have been after midnight.

"Such a shame, I had a great dinner. You should have been there."

"Fuck you." She weakly pulled on the chains and was pleasantly surprised to find them very loose around her wrists.

He suddenly burst into laughter. "Fuck me? And here I thought you wanted something to eat. Tsk Tsk. Talking to me like that won't get you any food anytime soon." He decided to sit on her upper thighs, causing a wince of pain from the battered blonde. "I'm not going to take your Christmas present from you though. At least you can move around a little bit more. That's it though." He replaced the shackles on her ankles with chains similar to the ones around her wrists. "Shame you only have until New Year's to enjoy it."

"Wh – What?" Her eye cracked open to see a devious smirk on his face.

"Oh poor little Quinn. I'm getting bored with you." He slapped her face a few times, harder than any playful smack before standing up. "Good night Quinnie."

Tears stung her eyes again. According to Jim it was Christmas Day. It was probably only a few minutes past midnight. Even though she prayed nightly to not wake up in the morning, she really didn't want to die. It was conflicting. Quinn wanted nothing more than to go home to her wife. She wanted to go home to a place where she was loved. Yet at the same time she didn't think she could face Rachel or any of her friends after the things Jim had said and done to her.

Finally making her decision, she started to tug on the loose chains. Part of her wondered how stupid he really was. The years in prison made him careless. She realized something, with one more tug on her chain… her hand came free…

December 25 – 1:30 AM
-5 days, 7.5 hours missing-

She was powerless to do anything to stop it. Her hands stretched out in any attempt to stop it. But she couldn't. She was powerless to do anything but watch the knives cutting into her wife. Her eardrums were stuck with the unforgettable sounds of Quinn's screams of pain.

"Stop it!" She screamed at the man hovering above her wife. All he did was let out an evil cackle before plunging his knife deeper into Quinn's bare chest.

"Quinn!" Rachel shot up in bed. Her entire body was covered in a cold sweat. Fresh tears streamed down her cheeks. In an instant Brittany was up and had her arms wrapped around the smaller girl. "Oh god Quinn!" She hadn't blinked since waking up. Fearing that every time she would close her eyes she would see the torture her wife was being put through.

"Shh. Rach, I got you."

Santana opened the door. From the living room downstairs, she heard the echo of Rachel screaming out the missing blonde's name. She just stood in the doorframe and watched. Brittany was doing all she could to calm down the distraught brunette. The only thing she could do was hold her and wait for her to calm down and slip back into sleep.

"Quinn's not dead."

"How do you know?"

Rachel pulled her head up to look at Santana. "I can still feel her Santana… I can still feel her…" She placed her hand on her chest to feel her own heart beat. "In here, I can still feel her." She turned to look at Brittany. "I just know it Britt." Her eyes closed and she leaned into the blonde's embrace again.

"San will you stay?" Brittany's voice was soft and hopeful as her eyes locked with her wife's. When the Latina nodded she carefully shifted over with Rachel still in her arms to give Santana room to lie down behind her on the king sized bed.

Santana wrapped her arm around Brittany's waist to scoot closer to her. She pressed a loving kiss to the blonde's tank top covered shoulder.

Not another word was spoken between them as they all drifted back to sleep.

Next chapter will be a little happier. I promise you will all like the next chapter :D

Review for me, tell me what you thought. Give me ideas for later on, you never know what I might use and what might spark some entirely different idea. If you give me something that I like, I'll give you credit.

Also, it doesn't necessarily have to be for much later, it could be an idea for the next chapter, because I've been trying to add more to the chapters to make them longer for you guys.