Lookie here, new chapter :D It's kind of a filler chapter, but in a way it will lead up to something that will happen here in about 3 more chapters. This was kind of thrown in, but it was an idea that I had had for a while, but wasn't sure about adding it in. But I was able to evolve my original idea into something more, so I decided to go with it.

Oh yea, I also wanted to address a "Guest" review I received for the last chapter which stated "This story only gets more boring. Would have been better having an abortion. I hope the baby dies somehow." I'm sorry, but if you don't like how this story has gone, don't read it. I won't be offended, I promise :D This story is going exactly how I want it to go. I won't take offense. Nothing is going to happen to the baby, and I didn't really want the baby to die.

To address another one, thank you for finding the typo, I didn't even notice I had typed 67 instead of 57. I'll eventually get around to fixing it.

Anyway, I'm done ranting, enjoy chapter 30 :)

The First 24
Chapter 30

June 2 – 11:00AM

He laughed. How could he not. He knew the media was lying. 'Rachel and Quinn Berry-Fabray Expecting'. It was the headline of the tabloid he held in his hands. The more he read through the article, the more he laughed – the louder he laughed.

"Will you shut up already!" A random man's voice cut off his laughter.

"I wouldn't be laughing so much if this wasn't lying so much."

"What are you reading?"

He held up the magazine so the other man could see the cover. The cover showed a picture of Quinn and Rachel together, both sets of hands on Quinn's large stomach – smiles on both of their faces. "They look so happy don't they?" He sounded a bit bitter. Quinn wasn't supposed to be happy with anybody else. He was her king.

"They're hot." The man snatched the magazine to flip through, looking for more pictures of the couple. "Lesbians are always hot."

"Says they're expecting a baby. Quinn looks pretty far along." He smirked as he thought back to the things he'd done to her. "Also says it was planned." A bitter laugh left his mouth.

The other man glanced up from the pictures. "What are you talking about?" He started to read the article involving the couple in question. "Says right here they started trying to have a baby before she was abducted…" His brow furrowed. "You. I knew you were in here for kidnapping and shit, but why her?" The man threw down the magazine and stood up to look down at Jim. He had known of the man, but never actually knew much about his crimes.

"Because it's her. She's a stupid whore who deserved everything she got. Including my baby." He smirked. "They're lying to the media. It wasn't planned. That child that's growing inside of her is mine."

"How can you be so sure?"

"They're playing it safe. Some stupid shit about Quinn's healing process I'm sure. They don't want everybody to know that that child is mine. But it is. And let me tell you, she enjoyed every second of making that baby too."

What Jim didn't realize, was that a few other men were listening to the entire thing. They'd watched the man closely since he came in. They knew what he had done to Quinn. Granted, Quinn had been the one to put most of them behind bars, but they felt for the woman. They were on the same page as far as how they felt about her treatment. No woman deserved to be raped and beaten within an inch of her life.

"Let me tell you, the things I did to her." He smiled, proud of himself as he remembered everything. "The way she begged for me to stop. The way she cried when I beat her, or screamed when I cut her. She was such a baby over everything. But she didn't make it easy either. She was a fighter… I loved the challenge of breaking her down." He laughed. "She better watch out when I get out of here. I might just have to take my kid from her."

June 3 – 7:00AM

There were days when Rachel absolutely hated her internal alarm clock. It was mostly on days when she found herself waking up naked against her wife. She laid in bed for a few more minutes, trying to force herself to go back to sleep. She didn't want to leave Quinn's warmth. It felt like home to her as she snuggled further into her wife and closed her eyes. Several minutes passed before she finally realized it was a losing battle and carefully rolled onto her back. Her arms flew over her head to stretch out the stiffness she felt from sleeping in the same position all night.

Well, not all night, more like four hours. With a smile gracing her lips she leaned over to kiss the blonde's cheek before fixing the blanket around her and climbing out of bed. She loved how adorable her wife could be first thing in the morning. Rachel was barely out of the bed and Quinn was rolling over onto her side of the bed and reaching for one of her pillows to fill the void she felt in her sleep.

"Rach…?" Quinn's groggy voice filled the room as her eyes cracked open to look for her wife.

"Shh, go back to sleep baby. I'll get you some breakfast made up okay?" Rachel leaned in to whisper to her wife. She took a moment to brush some blonde hair out of Quinn's face before pressing another kiss to her cheek.

"Mmhm." The blonde's eyes closed again and she snuggled deeper into the pillow that was in her arms. Within moments she was back to sleep.

The starlet couldn't wipe the smile off of her face as she wrapped her robe around her naked body. After making a quick stop in the bathroom to fix her hair, she made her way out to the kitchen, flipping on lights as she went. Mornings were easy for her to adjust to. After spending all of her years with early morning rehearsals, and falling into Quinn's morning schedule with her job, being up so early was nothing new to her. She made up a small pot of coffee for herself – knowing that Quinn couldn't drink it now. After it started brewing, she grabbed an apple from the basket on the counter and walked out toward the front door.

Things had been a little less stressful for them since they released an official statement about Quinn's pregnancy. Rachel's manager has suggested leaving out as much of the incident as possible to protect them both. And they did. They stated to the press that they were trying to have a child before the incident and only found out Quinn was pregnant, after she had escaped. There were still rumors circulating them, but things, for the most part, had been alleviated.

Rachel disarmed their security system before unlocking the front door and going out onto the porch to pick up the newspaper. She shut the door behind her and blindly walked back toward the kitchen, apple in one hand, paper in the other. Her eyes skimmed over the front page to see if anything new caught her eye.

The paper ended up on the island in the kitchen, as did her apple as she made herself up a cup of coffee. While taking gentle sips from the mug, she sat down on one of the stools. Rachel bit down on her apple and chewed slowly on the piece in her mouth as she unfolded the paper. Out of habit, she went right for the Entertainment section. Lately, she'd been finding her and Quinn's name an awful lot. That day was no different.

She froze the minute she saw it. Plastered right on the front page of the Entertainment section was a picture of Jim Fields. Right below his picture, the headline read 'Brutal Murder At New York State Penitentiary.'

As she sat, simply staring at the headline, she felt such a mixture of emotions in those brief moments. It was over – there was nothing left to fear. But Jim being murdered, gave him a free pass out. There was no way he was suffering anymore. How come he got to be free, but Quinn has to forever suffer? Before Rachel even realized it, her hand was crumpling the paper. It wasn't fair...

"It's not fair…" She clenched her eyes shut as a few angry tears slid down her cheeks. "It's not fair!"

June 3 – 8:15AM

Rachel hadn't moved from her spot at the island. Her eyes never left the paper. She read and reread the article more times than she could count. Her coffee was long forgotten and now cold. Her apple sat on the countertop with just a single bite taken out of it. She never noticed the figure that was moving closer to her.

"Good morning love." Quinn spoke as she pulled a glass out of the cabinet and started to get herself some milk. She paused and glanced over her shoulder when Rachel didn't respond. "Honey?" She placed the gallon of milk on the counter before moving closer to her wife. Still, the brunette didn't budge. "Rachel, you're scaring me…"

The brunette nearly jumped a foot in the air when Quinn placed her hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry Quinn… How did you sleep?" She placed her hand on top of Quinn's and finally looked up at her.

The blonde's brows furrowed as she continued to examine Rachel's features. It was obvious that something was bothering her wife. Quinn always had a knack for knowing when there was something on her wife's mind, but over the years, she had learned to never push her. Rachel would share things on her own time – when she was ready. "I slept well." She left it at that. Hopefully leaving it at a short answer would open it up for Rachel to talk to her.

"You might want to sit down…"

The tone in Rachel's voice was scaring her. The last time she had heard a tone similar to what she was hearing now, was when she told her the artificial insemination didn't take – that she wasn't pregnant. Quinn knew that wasn't the case this time around as she carefully sat on the stool next to her wife. "What's going on Rach. You're really scaring me…"

The starlet closed her eyes and let out a heavy breath. "Jim's dead."

That was definitely not what Quinn was expecting to hear out of her wife's mouth at such an early hour. Before she had a chance to say anything, the paper was handed to her. Quinn's stomach instantly fell when she found herself looking right at his mug shot. Memories flooded her mind as she looked into his pictured eyes. It wasn't the same as looking directly into his eyes, but it was pretty close in Quinn's opinion. She quickly scanned the article. A rage overtook her as she read of his murder in prison. Without a word she walked back into their bedroom to pull her phone off of the charger.

"Quinn?" Rachel got up to follow her wife. When she saw the Blackberry in her wife's hand, she knew what was happening.

The attorney scrolled through her list of contacts before finding what she was looking for. After dialing the number, she held the phone to her ear and waited for it to be answered. "I need to speak with Sarah Sullivan please…" Her face contorted with frustration at the answer she must have received. "I don't care if she's in a meeting, tell her Quinn Berry-Fabray is on the phone for her." She took a deep breath after her phone call was placed on hold and gingerly sat on the edge of the bed. She needed answers. If anybody would know the answers she was after, it would be Sarah.

"Good morning, this is Sarah Sullivan speaking."

"Sarah… when was he killed…"

"I'm sorry? Who is this?"

Quinn sighed, closed her eyes, and leaned her head back to take a deep breath to calm her nerves. "It's Quinn… I just saw the paper. His face was right on the front page out here… Why wasn't I informed?"

"Quinn…" Sarah sighed on her end of the phone. "I didn't think it would make national news… Let me get into my office. Claudia pulled me from a meeting and I picked up the first phone I could get to. Hold on."

"Yea…" Her eyes were still closed. She wasn't sure what possessed her to call Sarah to find out the details. But something inside of her had to know. She had to know how he died. Had he suffered? Was it suicide? Assisted suicide? The article didn't release many details, other than it was gruesome.

"Okay Quinn, I'm in my office now. You said you saw it in the paper out there?"

"Yes, Rachel saw it actually…" She leaned into her wife, allowing the smaller woman to wrap her arms around her and gently massage her stomach. Quinn could already feel their daughter becoming restless due to her stress levels. "Then when I woke up, she showed it to me. There weren't many details in it. Just that it was gruesome…"

"It happened about 6 last night. He was jumped in the showers."

The blonde took a deep breath again. She was trying everything to remain calm while she listened. "How was he killed?" She wasn't sure she was really ready for the answer, but knew, deep down, that she wanted to know – she needed to know.

"His throat was slit with a broken shower head… by the time the guards got in to stop the attack he had already asphyxiated on his own blood…"

There was more that Sarah wasn't saying. Quinn could tell by the tone in her voice. "Sarah?"

"It was brutal Quinn, are you sure you want all of the details?"

"Yes. Please Sarah, I have to know."

"The guys that jumped him said they were tired of listening to him gloating about what he did to you… they cut off his penis while he was bleeding out from his throat… They said they needed to teach him a lesson."

Quinn's expression instantly dropped. He was dead, and he had suffered in dying. "He's really gone isn't he?"

"Yes Quinn… it's over."

"It's never over Sarah… Thank you for telling me." They said their byes before Quinn hung up the phone. She simply stared at the screen as everything started flooding into her mind. Anger, depression, sorrow, hate, disgust, and an odd sense of loss. Her hand came to rest on her stomach. Sarah may have said it was over, but to Quinn, it wasn't. It would never be over. He would always live on in her mind.

"Quinn?" Rachel couldn't read the look in her wife's eyes. She wasn't able to hear what Sarah had told her, but she could tell it wasn't good. "What happened?"

The blonde just shook her head. Without a word she placed her phone on the bed and went into their bathroom to take a long shower. She locked the door behind her. Quinn needed time to herself to fully process what she'd just learned. It was definitely not how the blonde planned on spending her morning.

Once she stripped off her robe, she took a good look at herself in the mirror. Her face was full of life, as it had been before the incident. Her eyes raked over her features. She was just starting to feel happy and completely relaxed again. Her life was coming back together. She was part of a job that she loved around people that were as compassionate as she was. Her wife had never left her side as she had once feared. Brittany and Santana were just a few miles away. Beth was back in her life now. Everything was almost perfect. As her hand came to rest on her swollen stomach she smiled solemnly. It was bittersweet really, thinking that such a wonderful event could come from something so tragic.

Quinn knew that she would love her daughter no differently than if she were actually planned. It would be hard at first, remembering how she came about. But she was now sure, with time, she'd be able to look past the incident. "I hope you don't look like him…" she looked down and whispered to her stomach before looking back at the mirror.

Her examination continued, her physical wounds had healed. Her fingers came up to trace the rough patch of skin that was near her collar bone. The scar. Scars were all that remained of her plight. She carefully traced every one of them that covered her body. The one on her chest was still a bright pink color, but it had faded over time. The scars that scattered her chest, arms, and stomach were fading even more. Some on her stomach were almost not visible anymore. Maybe with time they would completely fade.

That was the difference between scars and memories. Scars could fade and vanish over time – being completely forgotten. Memories, on the other hand, lasted a lifetime. There were days when the memories seemed forgotten, but it would only take a single word or sight, and everything came crashing back.

"He'll always be here…" she whispered to the reflection before reaching in to turn on the water for a shower.

June 3 – 10:00PM

"I'm sorry about today…" Quinn watched her wife as she crawled into bed beside her. Throughout the day, Quinn stayed between the bedroom and her office. She did anything in her power to avoid being around her.

"Quinn, I understand." Rachel faced her wife once she pulled the blanket over her own body. Her hand came up to rest on the blonde's cheek – thankful that she made no attempt to pull away as she had done earlier in the day.

The attorney only shook her head. "You don't understand… but I wish you could." She closed her eyes and allowed her wife's touch to relax her. "They slit his throat with a broken shower head… he choked on his own blood. He suffered." Rachel only nodded, Quinn couldn't see it, but somehow she knew. It prompted her to continue talking. "They also cut off his…" she couldn't even say the word, but when she opened her eyes and looked at her wife, she knew that she didn't have to. Rachel knew exactly what she meant.

"What made them do that?"

"Sarah told me that they said he needed to be taught a lesson."

"How are you feeling about all of this?"

"Honestly, I don't know… part of me feels lost, but part of me feels relieved. I'm relieved that I – we – won't ever have to deal with him again."

"We won't Quinn. We'll never have to worry about him being released, ever. He can't torment us, or you, or our daughter anymore. He's gone." Rachel leaned in to place a gentle kiss to Quinn's lips before she brushed some of her hair out of her face. "I love you Quinn."

The blonde smiled gently at her wife. "I love you Rachel. Thank you, for everything." Quinn snuggled herself closer to her wife and listened as Rachel began to sing softly to her.

Don't give up
It's just the weight of the world
When your heart's heavy
I...I will lift it for you

Don't give up
Because you want to be heard
If silence keeps you
I...I will break it for you

Everybody wants to be understood
Well I can hear you
Everybody wants to be loved
Don't give up
Because you are loved

Don't give up
It's just the hurt that you hide
When you're lost inside
I...I will be there to find you

Don't give up
Because you want to burn bright
If darkness blinds you
I...I will shine to guide you

Everybody wants to be understood
Well I can hear you
Everybody wants to be loved
Don't give up
Because you are loved

You are loved
Don't give up
It's just the weight of the world
Don't give up
Every one needs to be heard
You are loved

Rachel pulled away to look down at her wife. Relief washed over her once she realized Quinn was asleep. It was nice to see Quinn sleeping a little better over the last few days even though her back was still killing her. "Sweet dreams Quinn." She placed a kiss to the blonde's forehead before fixing the blanket around them and closing her eyes for sleep as well.

Let me know what you think. Ideas are still welcome, since this story will probably run through to about chapter 40 or so.