Disclaimer: See last chapters.
"Never give up on life, or life will give up on you."
Finn watched as the pale brunette opened her eyes, groaning in pain and discomfort, her hand lifting out for an invisible thing that nobody else could see but the girl. He sighed and then slowly and carefully put a hand on her forehead, whispering words of comfort that he knew would do no good. He could hear her muttering incoherently beneath the oxygen mask as she turned her head from him to her parents and then back again, her eyes fluttering occasionally – fighting the sleep he knew she desperately needed to fall back into.
He could tell by the look on her face that she didn't think she would weak up and she didn't believe she would have ever been found. Finn had no idea if she ever actually wanted to be found. He sighed and put his hand in hers, smiling when she didn't flinch from his touch, his smile only growing when her eyes found his and she completely relaxed beneath his touch. He shook his head at the tears forming in her eyes, brushing some hair from her eyes before using his thumb to gently wipe away the tears that had found their way down her pale, bruised cheeks.
He watched her from a distance later that evening, watching as she was being checked over. From where he stood, he could see her body shaking as he found himself thinking she may never be the girl that left them nine months ago – she may never be Rachel Barbara Berry ever again.
"Do you think she will recover from this?" Quinn whispered from behind him, putting a hand on her ex-boyfriend's arm as he tried his best to give her the smallest of smiles, both of them looking over at the tiny girl who could have easily been mistaken for an eleven year old girl, rather than a seventeen year old woman.
"Honestly? I doubt it.. I don't know the details but it's been nine months. How do you begin to move on from that?" He looked at the floor, biting his lip to stop the tears he knew were about to fall,
"I think she can." Kurt murmured, smiling as he looked at his best friend – her dads were trying to comfort her as she shook, assuring her it would all be okay. Blaine was the next to speak, "You really think so?"
Everyone heard the hope in his words, their eyes lighting up when Kurt nodded, "With our help, and come on.. this is Rachel Berry we are talking about – she's the strongest out of all of us."
Puck nodded, "It's going to take a while, but we'll be here.. she has all of us. Especially you, Finn." Finn bit down on his lip, giving them a small smile – thinking about how if one good thing were to come from this mess, it would be the new friendships the Glee Club had made with each other; true and loyal friendships for the first time in the almost three years they had been together.
"We will make sure we're here every single step of the way, she will never have to worry about anything." Kurt smiled at all of them and took Blaine's hand, pulling him towards the best friend they had both missed so much. Finn grinned when he saw Rachel reaching out for Kurt, the way she laughed when Blaine said something, her shaking body relaxing when they both placed their hands in hers, the three all smiling at each other.
"I take back my answer, Quinn... she is going to be just fine." He nodded at the remaining Glee members before going back into her room, his eyes lighting up and sparkling when he heard her laugh. They knew it would take so much time for her to heal but it would be okay, she would be fine.
He kept his distance, watching as she nodded along to Kurt's 'catch up' stories, he noticed the way her eyes sparkled every now and again as she listened intently, her hand clutching at Kurt's as though he was her only lifeline. He heard a whispered 'thank you' from her mouth when Kurt gently kissed her cheek, "What for, princess?" He watched the boy he had grown to call his brother, instead of his step-brother lately, how he gently brushed the girls hair back, smiling at her.
"For.. treating me like I'm normal..." She finally said, biting down on her lip, not noticing the guilty looks on her parents faces as her focus completely remained on Kurt's face, tears falling down both their faces.
"You are normal, Rachel.. well as normal as you could possibly be.." He laughed and kissed her forehead, "You're still my best friend, you're still my main competition, you're still amazingly talented.. remember that, okay? He took a lot from you, he took nine months of your life from you.. but he couldn't take away your talent, Rachel.. he couldn't take away what makes you, you." He grinned down at her when she nodded.
"We prepared something special for you.. a welcome back, if you will." He gestured for Blaine to go get the others, having already cleared it with the nursing staff and Rachel's doctors. He kissed her cheek and winked at her before joining the rest of the club as they organised themselves around her bed.
Kurt smiled when Puck stepped forward to play the song softly on his guitar, before he stepped forward and looked directly at his best friend who was watching them all, "It's amazing, so amazing how I survived this road.. feel the fever, I can feel it down inside my soul and I will the one to build you up, I'll build you up. I'll be the one to never doubt, I'll never doubt."
Quinn held his hand beside him as she, Mercedes, Tina, Brittany and Santana blending their voices perfectly as they continued, "Can you see how, can you see how far we've come? Such a miracle, everything is, everything is clear and you are such a wonder and I will be the one to build you up, to build you up. I'll be the one to never doubt, I'll never doubt.."
Blaine, Puck, Artie stepped up next, each member of the Glee club taking it in turns to hold Rachel's hand, and kiss her forehead as they harmonized. "It's amazing, so amazing how I survive this road.. feel the fever, I can feel it down inside my soul. I'll be the one to build you up, I'll build you up.. I'll be the one to never doubt, I'll be the one to hold your hand, I'll hold your hand.. I'll be the one to understand, yeah, I'll understand."
Rachel wiped her eyes as they all joined in together, "I'll be the one to build you up, I'll build you up. I'll be the one to never doubt, I'll never doubt, I'll never doubt, I'll never doubt, I'll never doubt.. I'll never doubt."
Finn was the last to step forward as he took her hand in his, holding it close to his chest, "It's amazing, so amazing how I survived this road.." She smiled up at him when the music stopped playing lifting her hand to wipe the tears that fell down his face as she quietly thanked them, her eyes not leaving Finn's as she sobbed gently.
"Hey guys, could you leave us alone for just a minute? I'm sure Rachel will fill you in on some constructive criticism later on.." He smiled at them all and they nodded, saying their goodbyes before walking out with Rachel's dads, leaving the two teenagers on their own for the first time. "I love you, Rachel."
"H-how?" She took a deep breath, her hand clinging to his shirt, "How can you still love me? I'm ruined.. I might never heal." He let a tear slide down his cheek, her voice sounding so broken as she looked up at him with big, brown eyes, tears falling down her own face as she bit down on her lip.
"Listen to me, you are not ruined.. what he did to you.. it was.. horrible, it was.. worse than horrible but it doesn't define you, and I will not let it. Okay? You will be able to move on from this one day, I promise you.. and you will do so with me, your family and your best friends by your side because we all love you, and we missed you.. and we are so sorry that it took so long." She shook her head and sniffed,
"We never gave up, Rachel.. I promise. Not a day went by without a thought of you, hell.. some of us have to re-do senior year because we all stopped going.. so it looks like you're stuck with us for another year." She smiled and nodded,
"I-It was horrible, Finn... I.. he was so kind, and so... gentle to begin with.. he wanted me to love him, like he loved me.. but I wouldn't and I couldn't pretend. He was so sick, he told me he's been watching me for two years, waiting for a time when I was old enough to understand what love is. But he had to take me from you, because you were never part of the plan." She closed her eyes tight and gripped onto him tighter, "He.. he read my diary, he saw what I wrote, how I really felt about him and I pushed him too far... he lost it then. He was.. violent, volatile... hateful... everything he did was to hurt me and it got to the point I just wanted to die. It took me a while to give up, it's not that I gave up on you.. I just gave up on myself. I stopped being strong, he hurt me so many times.. I couldn't do it anymore."
He listened, not saying a word as he played with her hair and waited for her to get it all off her chest, "... I.. I wanted to take the one thing I still had control over... I could choose whether I lived or died.. I could choose how I wanted to and there was nothing he could say about it. It was the one thing I had left to control myself, so I took it. I'm so glad you saved me. Everything still hurts, I don't think it will ever stop hurting but.. I'm glad I'm back home, I'm here with you and everyone I love so much."
He nodded and kissed the side of her head, "I want to sing for you." He whispered, pulling away to pick up the guitar Puck left for him. "If you ever find yourself stuck in the middle of the sea, I'll sail the world to find you. If you ever find yourself lost in the dark and you can't see, I'll be the light to guide you. Find out what we're made of, when we are called to help our friends in need. You can count on me, like one, two, three.. I'll be there.. and I know when I need it, I can count on you like four, three, two and you'll be there 'cause that's what friends are supposed to do."
He found himself grinning as she smiled, her eyes sparkling as she listened to him, "If you're tossing and you're turning and you just can't fall asleep, I'll sing a song beside you. If you ever forget how much you really mean to me, everyday I will remind you. You find out what we're made of, when we are called to help our friends in need. You can count on me like one, two, three.. I'll be there. And I know when I need it, I can count on you like four, three, two and you'll be there.. because that's what friends are supposed to do."
He put the guitar down and moved himself to lay next to her, his arms wrapping tight around her, "You'll always have my shoulder when you cry, I'll never let go, never say goodbye. You can count on me like one, two, three and I'll be there... and I know when I need it, I can count on you like four, three, two and you'll be there 'cause that's what friends are supposed to do."
She smiled up at him and cuddled into his shoulder, missing the feel of human contact after nine months of nothing but loneliness and pain. Finn held her close to his chest, playing with her hair as he continued to hum in her ear, moving his hand down to rub her back when she fell asleep finally. "I love you." He whispered in her ear, not wanting to ever let his girl go ever again.
A/N: This is the last chapter – although an epilogue will be up soon! How far in the future would you like it to be/think it should be?