Nah, I wasn't about to kill Rachel off! What would happen to all of the future fluff to come? ;)

Thanks x 1,000,000 for all of your fantastic reviews. I'm so thrilled that you like this fic!

Disclaimer: Glee isn't mine. If it were, I'd be rich.

Chapter 8

Jaws dropped. Eyes bulged. Jacob's parents were standing five feet in front of them.

Jacob's mother was a rather heavyset woman, dressed in a tacky floral dress that touched her sandaled feet. She clutched a large, bulky, outdated purse in one hand and a white handkerchief in the other. Her face was as red as her curly hair, probably from all of the crying she had done. Jacob's father, however, was a lanky, tall fellow, with hair as reddish brown as his son's. He had on a shabby, almost Hawaiian like shirt with brown shorts that were two sizes too large. Suffice to say, it wasn't a stretch to assume that Jacob was their son.

Hiram Berry spoke up slowly yet clearly. Finn could tell there was a hint of hatred in his voice that he was trying to suppress. "Why are you here?"

"We're here to see how Rachel is doing," Jacob's mother responded casually with a grin on her face, moving forward to pat Rachel's legs which were still covered with the hospital blankets.

"Don't even come near her," Finn threatened, preventing the woman from touching Rachel. He didn't understand why he was so protective of Rachel all of a sudden. It was as if this whole experience had connected them in a way that no one else would understand.

Jacob's mother immediately backed off, stepping right by her husband's side, her smile disappearing from her face almost instantly. The tension in the room was palpable.

She brushed off Finn's warning, repeating in her head he's just a boy, he doesn't know any better, and continued, "We know what Jacob did was horrible. We would have never imagined our little Jakey doing something like this. It's so not like him."

"Well maybe you should have gotten to know your son better," Finn muttered coldly.

Disregarding Finn's input once again, she said, "We never meant for this to happen. Heck, we never even expected it. You see, my husband and I went out for an evening together that night for our anniversary. We had pre ordered some alcohol and kept the bottles in the fridge for later. Jakey must've gotten to them when we left. We came home and…that's when we got the call."

"Your son needs to learn a little something called self-control," Finn said angrily under his breath.

"Don't you dare say anything bad about my son!" Jacob's father, suddenly enraged, shouted, taking everyone in the room by surprise. Finn immediately retaliated, screaming at Jacob's dad.

"He deserves it! He almost killed the both of us!" Finn was equally as mad, pointing at Rachel and then at himself.

Finn stopped when he heard someone sobbing softly. It was Jacob's mother. She was clinging onto her husband's shirt, bawling her eyes out. Finn realized he might have been just a tad too harsh but he meant every word he said.

Jacob's mother slowly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and looked at everyone around the room, her puffy red eyes lingering on Rachel.

She began again, speaking to only Rachel in particular, "I know what Jacob did was wrong. I guess we're slightly to blame because he is our son but—" She hesitated for a brief moment, collected her thoughts, and picked up from where she left off, "I just want one thing from you. Just one. I want forgiveness. Can you give me that Rachel? Forgiveness? I can't bear living when knowing that someone is hurting partially because of me."

Everyone turned their heads to face Rachel. Leroy placed a protective arm around her shoulders as Hiram inched closer towards his daughter. Finn clenched his jaw and balled his hands into fists. Rachel, still sitting up in bed, stared at Jacob's mother with a tentative look on her face. She looked uncertain…but most of all confused. Could she truly forgive the parents of the person who almost killed her? The person who sexually assaulted her? The person who was the very reason she was in the hospital? She glanced up at her fathers, hoping they would give her some sort of strength to respond. They only nodded and urged her to answer.

Instead Rachel, looking down at the blankets that covered the lower half of her body, responded quietly, "I'm sorry. I don't know if I can."

"Oh, okay," Jacob's mother's face fell. She turned towards her husband and said solemnly, "Okay, come on, let's go. Coming here was a lost cause."

She dragged her husband, who was still fuming at Finn, out of the room. The door clicked shut and the room was silent once more.

Finn had left the hospital room for the first time that day so he could go home to shower and eat. His mother had been waiting for him at the door and nearly knocked him down as she jumped into his arms. He chuckled, saying things like "I'm fine, mom, seriously!" and "Mom, it's getting hard to breathe. Can you let up a bit?" She smiled, relieved that her only son was safe, and hurried him inside the house.

Rachel, on the other hand, was nowhere near fine. She tried to be brave and struggled to keep from appearing weak but once her fathers left her hospital room to go get food, she let her façade slip and crumbled down. She let her head fall back onto her pillow, wet tears sliding from the corners of her eyes. She wasn't used to feeling like this. She was used to being Rachel Berry, the confident and determined future Broadway star. The girl who didn't care about what others thought of her, the girl who wouldn't let anything get in her way. But after the incident, she was reduced to this. A crying, pathetic mess. After the surgery, she was in pain and had to take loads of medication to get better but that wasn't the source of her crying. Rachel cried because she was simply afraid.

She didn't trust men anymore. After Jacob had restrained her to the chair at her own home, she wasn't sure if all men weren't douche bags. What if another person showed up at her house and forced her to endure another round of unwanted contact? What would stop them from doing that? Nothing.

The only person she found that she could trust was Finn. He knew what she had been though; after all, he had been there with her. She knew he wouldn't take advantage of her. Relieved that there were still some people in her life that she could truly believe in, Rachel wiped her tears and drifted off to sleep.

Sunday came and went quickly. Finn visited Rachel briefly that day. He had football practice and had to squeeze in time to do the homework he had been stalling. Rachel appreciated that Finn took time out of his hectic schedule to be with her. It just reaffirmed her beliefs that he could be trusted and that he did care. She realized that he was a pretty special guy.

Monday seemed to come sooner rather than later. Finn headed off to William McKinley High; Rachel was still stuck in the hospital. She was still attending therapy sessions but was already tired of the hospital and eager to get back into her normal everyday schedule.

Walking through the halls was strange for Finn. The news about Rachel and Jacob had spread fast like a wild fire; nothing could be kept secret for long even in a small town like Lima. Throughout the whole day, random students and teachers, whom he had never even spoken to, came up to him and tried to say comforting things. Even though Finn appreciated the kind gestures, he couldn't help but feel awkward being back at school while Rachel was still at the hospital.

Then it was time for Glee club. Walking down the hallway to the choir room, Finn debated over how to act. Should he act as if nothing had happened? Should he be himself, let the emotions that he had been feeling this whole day out? How would his fellow students, his friends, act? These questions ran through Finn's head, making him even more conflicted than before.

He had reached the end of the hallway and turned towards the choir room. Finn poked his head in the doorway and quickly walked towards a chair. Mr. Schuester was already giving a speech to the class about the importance of having fun while performing but once he spotted Finn coming in, Mr. Schue paused for a moment.

In order to make things a little less awkward, Finn mumbled a small "hi" and plopped down in a chair in the corner.

Mr. Schue sensed Finn's discomfort, pitying the poor boy, but continued nonetheless.

"Okay, well, now that we're all here, there's something I want to talk to you guys about. I'm sure you've all heard about Rachel." Everyone fidgeted uncomfortably, some looking down at their feet, others looking at Finn.

"I thought it would be a good idea to go to the hospital and cheer Rachel up by performing some of our songs. I've got the bus that Artie can ride in ready to go." He looked around at his students, motivating them some more. "Let's go you guys!" He motioned towards the door.

The kids nodded excitedly, determined to help Rachel feel better. The Glee clubbers hurriedly ran outside where their bus was waiting. Climbing aboard one by one, they chatted excitedly about the songs they were going to perform. No one would openly admit it but they did all love Rachel…deep, deep down. They were friends and they all helped each other up when one was down. This case was no different.

Rachel was propped up in bed, flipping absentmindedly through a magazine that she had no interest in. She sighed, bored out of her mind. She had only been in the hospital for a couple days and was already sick of lying in bed all day. I can't wait to get out of here, she mumbled to herself.

All of a sudden, a loud knock on the door was heard, startling Rachel. She hastily straightened her covers and daintily crossed her fingers before saying "Come in!" to whoever was at the door.

She was pleasantly surprised to see her entire Glee club, all eleven of them plus one Mr. Schue, lined up to visit her. She grinned widely as they all filed into her small, and now suddenly cramped, room.

Finn moved towards the empty chair by Rachel's side, reclaiming his usual seat. As she walked towards Rachel's other side, Mercedes leaned over and touched Rachel's shoulder as a friendly gesture; Rachel smiled back in return. Tina and Kurt soon followed, scooting closer towards Rachel. Artie was forced to stay near the door as his wheelchair wouldn't allow him to move forward but he smiled nonetheless. Mike and Matt wandered towards the foot of Rachel's bed with Puck and Quinn behind them. Even Santana, linking arms with Brittany, advanced towards Rachel; she and Rachel were never the best of friends but she did feel for Rachel (even though she would never in a million years admit it). Mr. Schuester stood in the back corner of the room, beaming with pride as he saw each and every one of his Glee club members rally up in support of their fellow teammate and friend.

With one click of the stereo, Mr. Schue turned on the music. But just as Mercedes was about to belt out the first note, two men burst through the door, causing everyone to jump and stare at them.

They were Rachel's dads.

Leroy Berry looked surprised to see them all there and then guilty for ruining their special moment, but his news could not wait any longer.

"I'm sorry for interrupting but Rachel, sweetheart, there's something you should know."

"What is it Dad?" she asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

Hiram Berry spoke up, "We just found out that Jacob's parents took his body in for an autopsy. It turns out that—"He hesitated for a moment before starting again. "It turns out that he had a tumor. It could have affected the way he was thinking."

Rachel felt everyone around her tense up but she was busy trying to wrap her head around this startling new piece of information.

"So…what you're saying…is that all of this…," Rachel moved her arms around in a circle for emphasis, "…wasn't Jacob's fault?"

"No."

Gah, writer's block. Don't you hate them? Really sorry for the extremely choppy chapter! –scolds self- I was really apprehensive about writing about the Glee clubbers as you can probably tell! :p Next chapter will be much, much better :)

So at 2:45 am, my evil, twisted little mind comes up with a new plot twist that really changes things up a bit. I really, really hope you guys will like it. Just a sneak peek: it involves lots of danger, suspense, and Finchel! :D