Guess what? Another trigger warning. But this chapter won't be graphic.

Rachel made no effort to get up. Her legs lay curled underneath her and one hand was flat on the floor, keeping her in a sitting position, but her head was bowed, her hair falling across her face to hide it from the stares she was beginning to attract. She did not look at who she had bumped into, she didn't even apologise. She just sat there, the tears pouring continuously down her face and drenching it until someone crouched beside her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. Without meaning to, Rachel tensed.

"Come on," said a familiar voice. "You need to get up, Princess." Rachel didn't fight the arms that slipped around her waist and half lifted her to her feet. She stumbled along beside them as they led her along the crowded corridor, the eyes of half of the student body following them. Everyone was so transfixed on the way Rachel had just remained on the floor, crying too hard to notice a thing around her, that they didn't even comment when the two went into the girls' bathroom.

As soon as they were alone, Kurt sat her gently down on the low sinks and took a paper towel from the rack before wetting it under the hot tap, testing the temperature with his wrist first in the same way a mother would check her baby's bath water. Gently, he began to dab the tears away from her face in a way that wouldn't damage her skin, but more just followed them. Eventually Kurt gave up and sat down beside her and allowed her to cry into his shoulder, for once not caring about messing up his shirt.

For several minutes, Kurt did not ask the questions he desperately wanted to, he just let her cry for which Rachel was extremely grateful. She didn't want to answer anything, not yet. She was struggling to take it in herself, Karofsky's leering face still burned in her mind. She cried harder and buried her head into Kurt's neck, sobbing onto his shoulder. It was as if every pent up emotion was pouring out at once, she cried for all the times she wanted to tell him everything, but had stopped herself before she could, she cried for every cut, every insult, every knock down and she cried especially hard for every scar he was responsible for.

If Rachel was honest with herself, that was the one reason she held all along for not wanting Kurt to know. She didn't want to drag him down with her, she was ashamed and afraid, all of those were true, but none held her words back more than knowing more than one scarred onto her skin were Kurt's own. Of course, none had been his since the pair became friends, but everything he had said about her clothes, her hair, her general personality were etched onto her stomach. And then there was the neat row of cuts for what he had said to her when she pointed out the two of them had a lot in common, reaching out to him through compassion. That's a terrible thing to say.

But Kurt was gently beginning to tug her away from his shoulder as her cries eased off, and she knew she couldn't get away with it any longer. He had suspected something was wrong for a long time, she didn't need Finn to tell her that. Why else would he ask if she had done the 'fan' incident to herself? That was not most people's first through when their friend hurt themselves, and nine out of ten people would accept the explanation without question, but Kurt had questioned it, even after she had lied. And although their regular outings had something to do with their new found friendship, Rachel also suspected he was trying to cheer her up.

"Rachel, I'm going to ask you what's wrong and you are going to tell me. You're going to tell me now because I've avoided this for too long waiting for you to come to me. You're clearly not going to do that so I think I have every right to ask and actually receive an answer." Kurt glared at her with such a determined blaze in his eyes, that Rachel knew there was no arguing. He couldn't physically force her to tell him, but he'd come up with devious and creative ways until she felt it was no longer worth keeping it from him.

She chewed on her bottom lip and took a deep breath before settling her emotions to the pit of her stomach where they ached dully, but she could focus. She allowed her mind to become blank and just let her heart lead the conversation. She didn't think about what she was going to say, or plan what to tell and what to leave out. She just spoke.

"Karofsky knows something about me. Something no one else but Noah knows, and he promised not to tell. David, however, was not so kind. And-he-he threatened me. He said if I provided him with sexual favours, he wouldn't reveal to the rest of the student population what I had been doing." At the horrified expression she could feel had formed on Kurt's face without having to look at him, Rachel quickly reassured him. "I didn't oblige of course. I kicked him and ran, although I do not condone violence in any way...I was scared."

"And that was why..." Kurt's voice trailed away as he become lost in his own thought. What on earth could be so bad that Karofsky would actually see fit to try and force Rachel to do that, just so he wouldn't tell? What could be so bad that Rachel wouldn't tell him herself, period? He knew her, and if something upset her, the entire Glee Club was aware of it, along with the rest of the school. The man in the kebab shop probably knew about it.

"Rachel, I don't understand sweetie," he said, softly, reaching for her hand. She did not curl her fingers around his in return, but she didn't pull away either. "What does he know?" Rachel hesitated and Kurt squeezed her fingers, gently.

"He-he knows what I-that-I-my c-" Rachel swallowed and drew a deep, shuddering breath. She couldn't do this. The words were impossible to form, even without thinking. She could feel them pressing on her throat, but they wouldn't leave her mouth. She wanted so badly to tell him. She wanted him to understand and most of all, she wanted him to still love her.

But the words were too long silenced to come, so Rachel slid off the sink, breaking their clasped hands. She closed her eyes, unable to bear to see his expression, or her own face reflected in the mirror behind. With a trembling hand, she fumbled with the hem of her top and before she could think over it, before she could analyse the pros and cons and stop herself, she pulled it to her ribcage.

Kurt did not gasp. He did not shout. He did not scream. He didn't speak. He didn't even breathe. Rachel waited, her own breath lodged in her throat for his reaction, but one didn't come. He said nothing at all as she dropped the material, and she could only hope he hadn't had the time, or the composure, to read the scarred words. When she could stand the silence no longer, Rachel fled. Or she tried to, but before she could so much as reach the door, a hand shot out and seized her wrist, fingers wrapping tightly around her bones so she could not move.

Rachel swung around, although there was only one person it would be. There were tears swimming in Kurt's eyes, and several had already escaped down his cheeks. He was staring at Rachel with such a look of pain in his eyes, that she wished she had never shown him, because no amount of lessening her own pain was worth causing him that. She tugged her arm, trying to pull away from him so she could run and not have to look at the hurt that tore through his eyes anymore, but he yanked her back with more aggression than Rachel could ever remember him using.

"No. You're not going anywhere. We are. We're going to Mr Schue right now." Rachel gasped- the sound was strangled and horse as it caught in her throat with the rest of her breath. She shook her head, the only way her body would allow her to communicate and tugged her arm, uselessly.

"I'm not arguing about this Rachel!" snapped Kurt, much to her surprise. He hadn't spoken to her like that in a while. Not since they had become friends. But one look at his expression contradicted his angry tone, it was still so full of pain, and the guilt she had dreaded so much. She couldn't let him take her. Kurt knowing was one thing, and that was terrifying enough, but him, she could push out. How was she supposed to tell her teacher to leave her alone? She had opened her mouth and all at once, her world was spiralling out of the control she had fought so hard for.

Kurt was dragging her out of the bathroom, her cries and protests fell onto deaf ears as he held her wrist firmly and took her other arm too as soon as they were out of the bathroom. Rachel wasn't sure about her ability to fight him off, but as much as she didn't want him to lead her, she didn't want to hurt him in the process of escaping. So she just sobbed. She sobbed and begged as Kurt marched her through the halls, earning herself several stares. It was only when they stood outside Mr Schue's office that she began to struggle. She twisted her wrist out of his grip, shoving angrily at his chest to get him away from her.

Having not expected her sudden fight, Kurt stumbled backwards and his fingers lost their grip on her wrist. She turned away from his tear streaked face and ran, colliding headlong into Puck before she could even reach the end of the corridor. His own hand shot out and grabbed her by the shoulder before she could fall and he swung her around without a word, pushing her back towards Kurt and their teacher's office. It was there and then that Rachel decided all the forces of the universe were against her. What was he even doing there? Well, she knew what he was doing there, it was his school, but why did he just happen to walking down that hall at that moment?

"I followed you and Kurt," he explained, as if he could read her mind. Rachel lashed out at him with her foot, struggling to get away, but Puck held on fast, and Kurt rushed to help him. She had no chance at fighting the two of them, especially not half blinded by her tears. Why were they doing that to her? Why wouldn't they listen to her pleas? She gabbled away, promising to stop, to tell her dads herself so there was no need for anyone else to get involved. The tear stains on Kurt's cheeks grew, and something flashed behind Noah's eyes, but neither of them caved.

Rachel felt the anger burning inside her, a fury that she knew was not going to go away. In that moment, she hated her two friends. She hated that they had taken the only element of control she had left, she hated how they didn't care about what she wanted, what she needed, but only about themselves and how telling Mr Schue would take the weight off their shoulders. Because that was what it was all about really. They just didn't want the burden, they didn't want her. As soon as she'd been parcelled off to someone else like an unwanted package, they'd forget about her. Even Noah wouldn't be on the other end of the phone like he had promised.

Mr Schue glanced up as they burst into his office, his casual expression soon turned into one of shock and concern as he caught sight of Rachel and Kurt's tears, and Puck's hard, determined face. Rachel once again tried to back out of their grip, but they both tightened their hands and pushed her forwards. As soon as she was in front of Mr Schue's desk, Puck dropped her arm and left, because as much as he liked to pretend he didn't care, he hated to see Berry hurting, and her tear stained face wasn't something he wanted to look at any longer. Kurt stayed, knowing she had to have someone with her to stop her from falling apart completely.

"Guys, what's going on?" Mr Schue asked, his words speed up with panic, and he leapt up immediately from his seat, looking from Kurt to Rachel, as if they could tell him just with their eyes.

"Tell him Rachel," said Kurt, gently, his hand still locked around her wrist. He rubbed the front of it soothingly, but Rachel only cried harder, knowing there was nowhere for her to run. She couldn't tell him. She just couldn't. She hadn't even been able to tell Kurt, and she actually wanted him to know. Noah had found out by accident. So far, she'd never had to say the words, never verbally voiced what she had done to herself.

Rachel shook her head, and tried to pull her arm out of Kurt's grip again, but he continued to hold on, not to keep her there, but because he knew she needed a hand to hold. "Come on Princess, if you can't tell him, show him. You've already shown me, you can do this." He rested his free hand on the side of her face and wiped away her tears with his thumb, but more just followed. She couldn't seem to stop crying, and his own tears were showing no signs of stopping.

"Kurt, Rachel, what is it? Has someone hurt you?"

"Rachel," Kurt prompted. Mr Schue's gaze settled on her, noticing that she was trembling as well as crying. It was then that he knew there was something very wrong. It wasn't just Rachel being her usual over dramatic self. Not only was Kurt crying too and pleading with her, but she had actually left Glee. She hadn't come back like he thought she was going to do the very next day, she had stayed gone, and everyone had noticed her empty seat.

The girl stood in front of him was not Rachel, and she hadn't been for a while.

Mr Schue walked slowly to the other side of his desk, closer to Rachel and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. He couldn't remember the last time he had really tried to talk to her, not even when he knew how much she was struggling after her break up with Finn. Not even to convince her to come back to Glee. "Rachel?" He said, gently. She was clearly terrified. "If someone's hurt you, you've got to tell me. I can help you, but it has to come from you."

Rachel nodded through her tears, and she pulled her wrist away from Kurt's grasp so she could settle her hand in his, holding onto it tightly. "I need you to say it Rachel, you've got to tell me." She squeezed her eyes shut and more tears spilled out of them. Just one word. That was all it was going to take, one word and it would be over. No, not over. It wouldn't even be close to being over, but it would be out of her control. She wouldn't have to be so careful, scared and alone all the time. She could share the weight, let someone else take over. But what if it didn't work that way?

When Rachel finally did speak, the others barely heard her, despite standing so close. But they did hear it, and it was the confirmation that Kurt needed, the one word that told him there was no going back from that day and set out a long, shaky and uncertain road ahead. One that he was determined to accompany her on. And when Mr Schue realised what he had said, it was all he could do to stop himself from shaking her, because it just didn't make any sense.

"Me."