MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Okay, now that that's out of my system, I can go on to tell you that this is basically just a filler chapter. I'm sorry it's kinda short, buuuuut. My Christmas present to everybody, is not having to wait a full week for an update. Look for one Wednesday/Thursday night.

Was Santa good to everybody this year? I got Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, the guide for said game, and my parents are helping with my rental car when I go on my trip in May, so I'm quite happy :D

Thanks to Jennception for reading over this for me...well the first 3/4 of it anyway, since my geniusness never sent her the entire chapter then my internet wouldn't connect last night to send her the rest of the chapter...

The First 24
Chapter 14

January 21 – 3:15AM

"Fuck you!" She spat in his general direction. Due to the darkness coupled with her busted eye it was a pure guess as to Jim's exact location.

She saw his shadowy form wipe at his cheek before letting out an amused laugh. "Quinn… Quinn… Quinn… when will you learn?" He finished his question with a swift kick to the battered woman's side. "Let me show you a thing or two about respect."

Quinn shot straight up in bed and clamped her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. She remembered – with grueling detail the feeling of that knight carving into her skin. The sensation of every ridge slicing through the flesh of her thighs was fresh in her memory. With blurry vision she glanced over at her bedmate. Rachel was still asleep – peaceful. Good.

Her hand remained clamped over her mouth, tears sliding down her face as she quietly climbed out of bed and walked across the still bare bedroom to the bathroom. Once the door was closed she found herself collapsing to the floor in front of the toilet. It only took a few seconds to lose the contents of her stomach.

No, it wasn't anything new for Quinn. Every detailed nightmare put her in this exact same position. On her knees. Face planted in the toilet. When her stomach finished doing it's summersaults she simply sat against the opposite wall after flushing the toilet.

It was times like these that she allowed her mind to drift back to the happier times.

February 20, 2017

Quinn giggled at the squeak her wife let out. "But Rachel!"

The brunette pushed the taller woman further away from her… which only added three inches of space on the bed. "Your hands are like icicles Quinn! I will not be used as your person-ah!" She squeaked again when she felt a pair of frozen hands on her bare stomach.

"Baby… warm me up." Quinn whispered against her wife's ear causing a different kind of shiver to run over her body. "It's still early. I don't have a meeting until 2 and you don't have a show until tonight at 6…" she trailed off as her lips pressed down on Rachel's pulse point.

"Mm… I like how you think."

Quinn took a deep breath as she stood up to begin a very familiar routine. One that over the past few weeks she'd come to perfect. Lord knows she's had a lot of practice. It wasn't new to anybody that she didn't sleep much anymore. Jim haunted her. He was no longer able to continue the physical abuse but the mental and emotional continued.

Quinn slowly made her way to the bed to start her routine. Fix the blankets on Rachel.

Yes, Jim continued on in her dreams. Torturing her, beating her… killing her. Just like a real life Freddie Kruger. She giggled softly to herself as she remembered back to the one and only time she was able to get Rachel to watch a horror movie with her.

July 1, 2011

The lights in the Fabray living room were out. The curtains were pulled tightly shut. The only light in the room was coming from the television.

"Oh god!" Rachel covered her eyes for the hundredth time during the movie as the man was pulled down through the center of the bed. Moments later blood poured out from the gaping cavern in the mattress to cover the ceiling, the bed, and most of the walls. "Quinn turn it off. Please?"

The blonde tossed a piece of pop corn into her mouth before glancing at her girlfriend. "You do know it's fake right?"

"I don't care," she pleaded. "Turn it off!"

"Rachel you could have told me you didn't like horror movies." Quinn made her way to the television to shut off the DVD. Soon the entire room went dark and a horrible idea crossed her mind. One she just couldn't resist. "One, two, Freddie's coming for you."

"No he's not! Quinn Fabray that's not funny!" Rachel couldn't see a thing. She had no idea where her girlfriend was and it was starting to scare her.

"Three, four, you better lock your door."

"The door is locked. I'm serious Quinn, knock it off!"

The blonde smirked as she stepped closer to the sofa. Her eyes had adjusted quickly in the darkness and she could see the brunette slowly curling herself into a ball. "Five, six, grab a crucifix."

"I'm Jewish and you know it!" Rachel continued to bounce back after everything Quinn had said in an attempt to show the jingle from Nightmare on Elm Street wasn't getting to her. In reality though, it was making her skin crawl.

"Seven, eight, you better stay up late."

"It is late. Would you stop it already?"

What Rachel hadn't realized was Quinn was standing only a foot in front of her. "Nine, ten, you'll never sleep again." Quinn's voice faded to nothing as she stood there for what felt like an eternity before she made her move. "He's here!" She screamed as she grabbed Rachel's shoulders.

When the smaller girl let out a high pitched scream, Quinn found herself doubled over with laughter.

She truly felt horrible after that because Rachel didn't sleep that night. The night after that… or the one after that either. It took Quinn all that time to convince Rachel that Freddie wasn't real, and that dreams couldn't kill you.

Quinn placed a gentle kiss on Rachel's cheek before exiting the bedroom and making her way down the hallway. Next stop, start coffee. She'd be the only one to drink any of it until the next person woke up. Which was always a tossup between Rachel and Brittany. Santana… she was another story all together. She hardly ever woke up early on her own.

After the coffee was brewing, she made her way into the living room. She took each step carefully, trying not to make too much noise. Brittany and Santana were sleeping in the second bedroom that was just off of the living room.

"Hi mom…" Quinn whispered to a picture of her and her mother from Quinn's high school graduation. She missed her mom. Sometimes even her father was missed.

November 24, 2010

"Everything will be fine Quinn."

The Cheerio let out the breath she'd been holding since she put her car into park beside her mother's car. She was ready for this step. It helped that Rachel would be with her throughout the entire ordeal. The blonde nodded, gave Rachel's hand a squeeze and climbed out of the car.

"Hey mom."

"Hello Judy."

The older blonde looked up from her book. "How was school girls?"

"Uneventful. As always." Quinn placed her backpack on the floor by the front door before stepping further into the house.

"Are you staying for dinner Rachel?" Judy started to stand but was stopped when Quinn motioned for her to sit back down. "What's wrong?"

Quinn glanced down at Rachel before taking a deep breath. "I need to tell you something. And I don't want you to panic or freak out or anything."

"Quinnie. Calm down. Come sit and talk to me." She had a worried expression as she watched her daughter and one of her daughter's best friends sit on the couch across from her.

After taking their seat, Rachel leaned up to whisper in the blonde's ear. "You can do this."

"We need to tell you something." Summoning every ounce of courage, she wrapped her hand around Rachel's before locking eyes with her mother. "Rachel and I have been dating… for about a month now."

When nothing but silence filled the room, Quinn began to panic. She quickly looked away from her mother as she felt tears begin to blur her vision. Quinn couldn't stop herself from breaking down the minute Rachel's fingers laced with her own. The silence reminded the teenager of the calm before the storm that she felt when she revealed her pregnancy.

"I know."

Those two simple words drew the attention of both teenagers. "What?"

Judy smiled before moving over to the other side of Quinn. "Honey, I've known you were gay for a while. I was just waiting for you to tell me. As long as you're happy that's what matters to me in the end. Seeing the way you've changed since school started… Quinn I know Rachel makes you happy. Honey, when you're happy I'm happy."

Quinn placed a kiss to the picture before placing it on one of the built in book shelves in the room. She'd have to question Rachel later to see if it was alright being there. The blonde pulled a few more pictures out of the box to place them on the various shelves. Everything had to be unpacked, and the best way to do it was a little bit at a time.

She stopped on a picture of both of her parents. Granted, Quinn loved both her mom and dad… you only have one set of parents after all. But there were a lot of times that she wished things with her father would have been different. He was a typical Fabray. When something bad happened, or something that risked the family's reputation, it was ignored. Once he absorbed the new information, he never spoke of it again. Ever.

It all got a little bit better once Judy kicked Russell out. A little over two years of separation before her father admitted his mistakes and agreed to go into counseling. Things were a little tense at first with him handling his daughter being gay and getting ready to head off to New York for college.

"The fuck are you doing up?"

The sudden voice caused Quinn to nearly jump out of her skin. "Jesus Santana… Don't do that!"

Santana cringed as she pulled the door shut behind her. "Sorry." She really was, she wasn't awake enough to think about Quinn and how bad scaring her would actually be.

"I should ask you the same thing. The fuck are you doing up? You never wake up on your own before the sun."

The Latina shrugged her shoulders before going into the kitchen. She knew there would be coffee. Whenever Quinn was awake, there was coffee. "Saw the light, heard the noises. What do you expect?"

"Sorry I woke you."

"S'ok. Couldn't sleep again?" Santana stirred sugar and creamer into her coffee as she sat at the table. Her eyes watched as her best friend made up her own cup of coffee before sitting across from her. "I wouldn't be able to sleep next to Rachel either." She smirked at the glare the blonde gave her.

"What is so wrong with Rachel?"

"She talks too much. She's loud…" Santana trailed off, still smirking at Quinn's glare. "Like that shit really scares me Q, you know better than that."

"It's a habit. You drive me nuts sometimes."

"Oh you love me you know you do." She winked at the blonde who just continued glaring at her. "Britts and me are going out this morning. Have appointments starting at 10 and going through like 4… you coming with us?"

She'd already thought about it. Quinn knew that for the next few days Brittany and Santana would be spending most of their days out looking at houses. She really did enjoy spending the day with them, but in reality she hadn't had much time to herself since getting out of the hospital. The mornings when she woke up before everybody else, she valued the peacefulness that it brought her. Granted, her thoughts weren't always pleasant, but it allowed her the chance she needed to try and figure things out in her head.

"I think I'll pass. Somebody needs to unpack everything and Rachel's busy every day with the studio."

Santana nodded. She remembered everything with Brittany after she had dealt with her own ordeal. Brittany had days where she just wanted to be alone, and as much as Santana didn't want to leave her she knew she had to. "It's cool, there's always tomorrow."

"Yea. Since you're up…" Quinn abandoned her coffee cup as she stood up. "You can help me unpack some."

The Latina grunted her disapproval but stood up anyway and followed the blonde back into the living room. "You're lucky I love you Fabray."

Oh yea, to address a review I got for last chapter calling me selfish because I wanted reviews. I'm the type of person who thinks that if very few/nobody comments on the chapter then it was a bad chapter. I will be the first to admit that I'm a review whore :D Reviews help me to breathe each day.

So, all I'm asking for for Christmas, is reviews :D