Decided to give everybody a treat and post another chapter before Sunday. Part of my decision was also based on the fact that this is a little bit of a shorter chapter. Next chapter will still come on Sunday. I'm trying to get this story written faster so I'll feel more comfortable with posting two chapters a week. I do hope you enjoy :D

Again, edited by me, myself, and I. So therefore, all mistakes are my own and nobody else's.

The First 24
Chapter 6

December 25 – 11:30 PM
-6 days, 5.5 hours missing-

Rachel was sound asleep on the sofa. Santana had just finished covering her up. Brittany was sprawled out on the recliner. On the TV was A Christmas Story. The volume was low so it wouldn't wake up the exhausted brunette. It was nearly midnight. Christmas was almost over. They were about to go into calendar day seven of Quinn being missing.

Santana made her way into the kitchen to get both herself and Brittany a glass of milk and some of the cookies they'd baked earlier. She sighed as she remembered trying to get Rachel to join them. It was to no avail though. The diva simply sat in Quinn's chair and stared blankly at the tree.

Once she had two glasses of milk poured and six chocolate chip cookies on a plate she turned to go back into the living room. Her body froze though, when she heard one of the cell phones start to ring. The sound of Broadway music told her that it was Rachel's phone. By the time she made it back to the living room she saw Brittany grabbing it.

"Hello?"

"Hello, I'm looking for a Mrs. Rachel Berry-Fabray please."

Brittany felt her heart stop beating for a moment. "Can I ask who's calling?" She locked eyes with Santana before standing and approaching Rachel's sleeping form.

"Of course. My name is Doctor Sanford. I'm calling from Plattsburgh General Hospital in reference to her wife, Quinn."

"Oh my god…" Brittany's eyes grew wide. Her hand stretched out to start shaking the brunette. "Rachel… Rach wake up!" Rachel's eyes slowly opened, but she shot up when she saw Brittany on her phone. "Here…"

"He – Hello?" Rachel ran her fingers over her face, trying desperately to wipe away the sleep.

Brittany hurried to Santana's side just as the attorney had put the plate and glasses on the nearby shelf. "They're calling about Quinn…" Santana's eyes shot open. The blonde wrapped her arms rightly around Santana's neck. Both of them listened closely to Rachel's conversation. They couldn't pick out much other then Rachel's occasional words of understanding.

"Yes, thank you so much." Rachel hung up her phone before making a bee-line toward her bedroom. "Quinn's alive!" She called out. She pulled a suitcase from her closet to pack some clothes for both her and for Quinn.

"Where is she?"

"Plattsburgh. It's 5 hours north of here. If I leave now I can get there by morning."

Brittany and Santana exchanged a knowing look before she went out to the kitchen, leaving Santana to help Rachel pack some clothes. "You're not going alone. That's a long drive."

"I couldn't ask that of you guys."

"Rachel, she may be your wife, but she's also our friend." The Latina closed the gap between them when she saw Rachel's bottom lip tremble. "Hey, come here."

Rachel did as she was told and soon found herself wrapped in Santana's strong arms. "She's alive." Tears overtook her. And for the first time in nearly a week, they were happy tears. "She's alive Santana." She clung to the Latina's sweater for dear life, her salty tears soon soaking through the thick fabric.

They just stood there for several minutes before Santana finally pulled herself away and wiped a few of her own tears off her cheeks. "Come on. Let's get packed so we can get going."

Within the hour there were two suitcases loaded into the back of Quinn's SUV. Brittany had also gathered some drinks and snacks for the five hour drive. Rachel had programmed the built in GPS before relaxing into the passenger seat.

Santana had refused to let Rachel drive. The smaller brunette was in too high an emotional state to be able to drive safely through the night.

December 26 – 6:00 AM
-6 days, 12 hours missing-

Quinn sat up on her hospital bed. The television was on but she wasn't paying attention. There was too much going on around her. Several nurses had been coming and going since she'd woken up. Doctors had been asking her questions for just as long. She really didn't want to talk to anybody. But she had told them what they needed to know. Her own name, and who to call.

"Excuse me…" Quinn asked gently. She was almost afraid to speak. A few hours ago she would have gotten beaten for asking a simple question. When the nurse looked at her with a friendly smile, she relaxed just a tiny bit. "Can I ask you a question?"

The older woman came up beside Quinn's bed and placed her tray of food on the movable table. "Of course you can dear."

"Where am I?" She never made eye contact with the nurse. There was still that fear taking over her every time she spoke.

"A hospital in northern Plattsburgh, New York." The woman helped Quinn open the packet of plastic utensils then lifted the lid on her breakfast.

She turned to leave so she could deliver meals to everybody else on the floor. "Can I ask something else?" Quinn's voice was barely above a whisper.

"Sure, go for it."

"Did… Do you know if somebody called me wife?"

The nurse nodded. "As far as I know the doctor did last night when you gave her the information."

Quinn nodded, lowering her eyes to her food. She was starving, yet at the same time she wasn't hungry at all. She was exhausted to top that off. She'd only been able to sleep for a few minutes at a time since she initially woke up. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw him. Every little sound caused her to jump. It caused her entire body to tense up. The only sounds in her room coming from the television that she hadn't so much as looked at and the various monitors hooked up to her.

On instinct, her muscles tensed up at the sound of her door opening. She looked up half expecting to see him coming to reclaim her. Instead, the sight made her heart jump.

"Quinn? Oh god Quinn." Rachel entered the room. Tears were flowing freely now that she saw her wife. In the few seconds she looked at the blonde, she almost didn't recognize her. Her left eye was bruised and swollen shut. Her lower lip was busted in two separate places. Rachel's hand came up to cover her own mouth when she saw the bandages that covered most of Quinn's exposed chest and her lower arms. What was exposed was heavily bruised. "My poor baby…"

Quinn pushed her food aside to accept the hug that her wife gave her. She tried her hardest not to tense her body at the touch. But it was no luck. It was going to take some time to get better. A lot of time to get better. Every little touch, every voice, everything reminded her of him. "You came…" It was a tone so soft that Rachel barely heard it. She almost didn't believe that someone would spend so much time traveling just to see her.

Rachel pulled back to examine her wife's facial features. "Why wouldn't I come?" Her hand lifted up to wipe away her own tears, she gently reached out to touch the blonde's face but frowned when she recoiled away from the touch. "What happened to you?"

She just pulled completely away from her wife and turned to look out the window. She knew what happened to her. She just wasn't sure whether or not she could tell anybody. Ever. She didn't want to relive every single moment of it. It was something she didn't think she'd ever be able to get out of her memory. How would she ever even be able to sleep again?

"Quinn?" Brittany's voice rang through the small hospital room. She made her way to the bed. The moment she touched Quinn's bandaged hand, it was pulled away. Brittany only frowned. "Quinn?" Her voice was soft. She couldn't stop her tears from falling down her cheeks.

Quinn just shook her head. She continued to stare out the window. Why hadn't she just died in the snow? She was prepared for it. She was wanting death to take her. It would have been easier. Now… now she had to live with Jim's constant reminder of how easily she'd given up. It only took her three days to start begging for death. Three short days before she started to believe that the only way she'd be reunited with her friends and wife was in the afterlife. She'd been so lost in thought that she hadn't even realized that Santana had entered the room. It wasn't until she heard talking and looked toward the sound that she spotted her closest friend standing along the wall. Tears threatening her eyes as well.

"Can I have a word with you please?" Quinn recognized the woman as her doctor.

Rachel looked at Quinn one more time. She frowned when her wife looked back out the window. "Alright." Her hand brushed against Quinn's when she stood up. The simple touch caused the battered blonde to flinch away. Her lower lip trembled as she followed the doctor from the room.

"I'm Doctor Sanford. I spoke with you last night." She spoke only after they entered a private room.

"What happened to her?"

The older woman sighed. "We're assuming she was kidnapped and tortured. She hasn't spoken anything other than her name and your phone number. While she was still unconscious we ran several tests… blood work and whatnot. Also during our initial exam we discovered dried blood on her upper thighs, as well as lacerations and bruises." She saw Rachel's eyes go wide, the smaller brunette was already following what she was leading to. "There was some evidence of vaginal tearing. We suspect rape, but as I said, Quinn hasn't spoken much more than a few words to any of us."

"Is – Is there anything else?"

The doctor nodded. "She was severely dehydrated, but that can be attributed to the weather and we don't know how long she was actually walking before she collapsed. There were two broken ribs on her left side, and one on her right. She survived quite a beating ma'am." The doctor, on instinct wrapped her arms around the smaller woman when she broken down in tears.

The broken bones were nothing in Rachel's mind. Broken bones heal over the course of a month or two. Cuts and bruises heal over a few days, maybe a week… But such an emotional and physical thing like rape… that takes a lifetime.

"How can I help her?" Rachel wiped the tears from her face and looked up at the doctor.

"Police officers will be coming in tomorrow to talk to her. She's going to need to stay here for a few days. The best thing you can do is to be there for her. The best treatment in this case is just time. It'll take a lot of time for her to heal." She placed a gentle hand on Rachel's shoulder. "Do you have any more questions for me?"

The diva just shook her head. "I just want to be with my wife." She exited the room before the doctor could say anything else to her.

All Rachel wanted was Quinn. Even if Quinn was hurting in the worse possible way, she was alive. She would be there for the blonde through every step of the healing process. No matter how long it took.

"Hey Rach… Britt and I are gonna go find a McDonald's or something to get some breakfast. We'll get you one of those fruit salad things." Santana spoke softly to Rachel when she entered the room.

"Can…" Quinn's voice cracked as she spoke. She instantly sank back further into her bed and waited for the backlash. A backlash that never came. "Can… you get me a sandwich?" Her eyes were locked with the bed sheets she gripped in her hands. She feared talking because she wasn't talked to first. Every time she opened her mouth to Jim, he would strike her.

"Of course. Bacon and egg?" Santana knew her fetish with bacon. She'd had it ever since high school. Quinn just nodded. "Alright, we'll be back soon. Once we find one in this tiny little place."

Rachel watched her best friends leave before taking the seat she recently vacated. "It's going to be alright baby. We're all here to help you." Those words were so hard for her to say. She wanted to believe that everything would be alright, but it was almost impossible.

Don't forget to review! Reviews give me the urge to write faster. Which is a huge deal, considering I'm into chapter 11 ;) Time won't start actually skipping until probably around chapter 12. I'm looking to make 12 the move, then once they're settled, time will start to move faster, instead of 1-2 days a chapter. More reviews = faster writing!