Finn sat in the hospital chair, staring out the window at the parking lot below. Rachel still hadn't talked to anyone; she hadn't even moved from her position facing the wall in hours. Her dads had left to shower and grab some food, encouraging Finn to do the same. He couldn't, though. He needed her to know that he was here, even if she didn't want to see him.

"I'm heading out, man," Puck said from the seat against the wall. "I'm going over to Santana's house for a little while."

Finn nodded to his friend. "Thanks for hanging out, bro."

Puck slapped Finn on the shoulder. "I love you guys," he said gruffly, looking over at Rachel. "Call me, okay? If there's any change or if you need me or anything."

Finn smiled slightly. "I will."

Puck left and Finn looked back out the window. He wished it would rain. If lightning split open the sky, thunder shook the ground and rain pounded against the windows, he thought he'd feel better. He wasn't sure why, but he thought he would.

"Finn," Rachel said softly from the bed. His gaze flew to her.

"Rach?" he said softly, getting up and moving to the bed. Rachel's body shook with her sobs. Finn sat down cautiously on the edge of the bed. "Rachel?"

Rachel slowly turned to look at him. "It hurts," she told him, tears moving down her face.

"Oh, baby, I know," Finn told her, his hand brushing the tears away from her cheek. "I'm so sorry."

Rachel turned her face into his hand. "Will you hold me?"

Finn climbed awkwardly into the bed. "Are you sure, babe?"

Rachel nodded. "Please?" She raised her head and Finn put his arm under her, pulling her gently to him. She felt so tiny.

"I love you so much," he whispered. "I wish I could take all the pain away."

Rachel cried into his shirt as he held her. Her dads came quietly into the room and then backed back out. Finn nodded to them as they shut the door, then closed his eyes and whispered soothing words to her. "How's Santana?" she asked when her tears slowed.

"She's going to be okay," he told her. "She's worried about you." He sighed. "And blaming herself."

Rachel looked at him and it took everything he had to not flinch at the sight of the horrible bruises on her beautiful face. "Why would she blame herself? None of this was her fault."

Finn kissed her on the forehead, so glad that Rachel was still Rachel. "That's what I told her."

Rachel was quiet for a few moments. "I know the police have wanted to talk to me," she told him.

"Are you ready to talk to them?"

"I don't want to," Rachel said in such a small voice Finn struggled to hear her. "I don't want to think about it."

Finn's arms tightened around her. "I'll be with you," he promised. "You can lean on me."

"The things he said, Finn…" she shuddered. "He hates me and I've never even met him."

"It has nothing to do with you, Rach," Finn told her. "He hates everyone."

Rachel looked up at him. "He told me that he would hurt you if I told anyone," she told him. Shaking her head, she bit her bottom lip. "I would have let him do anything to me to keep you safe."

Finn let go of her and wrapped his fists in the bed sheets. "No, Rachel. Don't ever think like that. I can take care of myself."

Rachel shook her head. "Finn, he's insane. You can't protect yourself from him all of the time."

Finn looked into her eyes. "You have to trust me, Rachel. I can't…" he broke off, his throat tightening so much he couldn't speak for a moment. "If something happens to you, it hurts me worse than if it happened to me."

"That doesn't make any sense," Rachel informed him.

"Says the girl who was willing to be raped to protect me!" Finn said, frustrated.

Rachel was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry," she told him. "You have a point."

"Baby, there's no reason for you to be sorry," Finn said, rubbing her arms. "None of this, Rachel, is your fault. None of it is something you could have stopped. But please, Rach, for me…please don't think like that anymore. You fight, okay? You don't ever let someone take advantage of you because of me."

"I feel so stupid," she whispered, crying again. "I just didn't know what to do. I couldn't believe it was happening."

"I should have been there. I should have skipped practice and drove you to school."

Rachel shook her head. "You can't be with me all the time, Finn."

"But I want to be," he told her honestly.

"Life doesn't work like that," she told him. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Finn asked her. "Maybe it will be easier if you talk to me about it before you talk to the cops."

Rachel turned her face into his neck. "I don't know," she whispered. Every part of her body hurt and she knew how bad she must look. "I look awful, don't I?"

"You're beautiful," Finn told her, kissing her hair.

"He didn't rape me," she told him suddenly.

Finn breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't know if a rape kit had been done or not and he hadn't wanted to ask. The thought of it made him sick to his stomach and if he thought about it he couldn't breathe. "God, Rach," he said, crying again. "Thank God."

"I wanted to surprise you," she said, pulling her head back to look at him. "I baked you some cookies and was going to take them to you." She frowned. "I wonder what happened to the cookies?" She shrugged. "I heard a noise in the bathroom and realized something was happening to Santana. I couldn't just stand outside and let it happen."

"You should have come found me," Finn told her.

Rachel sighed. "I didn't think about it. All I thought about was wanting to stop someone from hurting her. I didn't realize how bad it was," she said softly. "I don't even like Santana. I'm pretty sure she's the devil."

Finn smiled slightly. "She's not the devil," he told her.

"I know," Rachel said, letting out a breath. "She's just always so sure of herself and so strong. I'm nothing like that. I wish I was."

"You are strong," Finn told her. "You're the strongest person I know."

"They were hitting her," Rachel told him. "Calling her names, threatening her. I couldn't believe it, Finn. I'd never seen anything like it. And Santana was crying, like she was broken." Rachel was quiet for a moment and Finn didn't say anything. "I'm not sure what happened next. All I remember is that Santana and that other big guy were gone and I was trapped in the bathroom."

"How long were you in there?" he asked her.

Rachel shook her head. "I don't know. It seemed like a long time. He kept hitting me." She shuddered. "And he kept touching me, everywhere. His hands were everywhere and I couldn't get away from him." Her breathing became harsh and she let out a soft cry. "He hurt me."

Finn wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, kissing her tears away. He changed his mind. "We don't have to talk about it," he told her, not sure if he could listen to anymore.

Rachel looked at him. "I had given up," she told him. "I was just lying there, letting him hurt me."

"Rachel-"

"And then I heard your voice," she continued. "It woke me up. I realized what was happening and I knew I couldn't let him do it."

"And you fought him," Finn said. "You were fighting him when I got into the bathroom."

"I couldn't let him win," she said simply.

Finn smiled at her through his tears. "You didn't. You won, babe. You beat him."

"I did," Rachel said, smiling a little.

Finn kissed her cheek. "I was so afraid that you wouldn't want me to touch you, that you would be afraid of me."

Rachel stared at him with wide eyes. "You would never hurt me," she said. "I feel safe with you." Rachel had wanted nothing more than Finn's strong arms around her for as long as she could remember. Nothing would ever change that.

He saw a look of doubt creep into her eyes. "What?"

"Do you still want me?" She ducked her head.

Finn put his fingers under her chin and forced her to look at him. "Of course I still want you," he told her. "I'll always want you."

Rachel's chin quivered. "He touched me in places I've never let you touch me," she said, closing her eyes against the shame she was feeling.

Finn stared at her face for a moment, unsure of what to say. "Rachel, nothing that's happened has made me love you any less. If anything, I've realized how important you are to me and that I can't stand the thought of losing you."

Rachel smiled at him, grimacing when a cut on her lip stung. "You always know what to say to make me feel better," she told him, putting her head back on his shoulder. "I'm tired," she mumbled sleepily.

"Go to sleep, babe," Finn told her, pulling the blanket up over her with his free arm. "I've got you."

She was out before he finished talking. Finn laid in the bed holding her as a storm brewed outside. It matched the one inside his heart. He'd never felt so angry- or so powerless. He wanted to go back and finish what he'd started on that Josh kids face.

He tried to be strong for Rachel, but in truth he felt a little broken himself. In one moment, his entire life had changed. Things got real. Instead of the world revolving around him, he realized that there were things that could happen that he couldn't stop. He can't just go back to the happy but clueless dumb jock; that innocence had been taken away from him. While a part of him wanted it back, another part of him was grateful to realize he was growing up.

"Finn," he heard from behind him. He'd dozed off sometime during the storm.

"Yeah?" he asked groggily.

"Honey, the police are back to talk to Rachel," his mom said from beside the bed. "Do you think she'll be able to talk to them?"

Finn looked down at the sleeping girl. "I don't know, Mom, she's sleeping."

Carol nodded. "I'll tell them they'll have to wait or come back."

"Wait for a sec, will you? I need to run to the bathroom and I don't want to leave Rachel alone."

"Of course," she said, putting her hand on his arm.

Finn carefully slid his arm from beneath Rachel's head, kissing her hair. "I'll be right back," he told his mom, kissing her cheek for good measure. Carol nodded.

When he returned to the room he found his mom stroking Rachel's hair, crying softly. "Mom?" he asked, standing at the door.

Carol jumped up. "Oh, Finn, I'm sorry," she told him, wiping her face. "I didn't realize you'd come back in."

Finn walked to his mother and hugged her. He felt Carol grab onto his shirt. "She's so tiny," Carol said, crying. "So young. Something like this shouldn't happen to someone so young."

Finn held his mother and looked at Rachel, still sleeping. "She's going to be okay," Finn told her. "She's like you, Mom. She's strong."

Carol pulled away and smiled at him. "I'm so proud of you baby," she told him. "You've been amazing."

Finn shrugged. "I haven't done anything, really."

"You sat down with Principal Figgins and you told him about the anti bullying policy and you demanded he make it happen. You've spent hours reassuring all of your friends that everything is going to be okay. You've been here with Rachel, taking care of her, only leaving her side once." She shook her head. "You're an amazing man, just like your father."

"I don't feel amazing," Finn told her quietly. "I feel like I'm losing my mind."

"What's going on?" she asked him.

Finn sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. "I'm so pissed that someone would hurt her. When I think about it my ears start ringing and my heart beats so fast that I think it's going to come out of my chest." He looked at Rachel. "And when I look at her and I see all of the marks and bruises on her I want to cry. I get this weird feeling in my stomach and I feel like I'm going to be sick."

"I think you're feeling exactly how you should be feeling," she told him. She took his hand and led him to the chairs. After he sat down she did too, then looked straight into his eyes. "I wanted to die after you father did," she told him simply.

"Wait, what?" Finn asked her, shaking his head.

Carol sighed. "I did. It hurt me so much that he was gone that I didn't think I was going to make it. I didn't know what to do with myself; my entire life was misery. I could barely look at you," she said, then stopped, upset. "I could barely look at you, Finn, because you looked so much like him."

"Mom," Finn said, reaching for her.

Carol shook her head, waving him off. "Just listen, okay? I know how you feel, Finn. I know the hurt and the pain associated with a loved one being hurt. And I need you to know that you'll get through it. You, Rachel, Santana, everyone. You'll all come out of this stronger."

"I feel…different," Finn told her.

"You are different," Carol told him. "So is Rachel. And it will take some getting used to, but you have to stick together."

"I'll never leave her," Finn said softly, looking at the girl on the bed.

Carol smiled slightly at him. "Young love," she said, standing up. "It's a beautiful thing." She walked towards the door. "I'll go out and tell the police to come back later."

Finn stood up and hugged her. "Thanks, Mom," he said, squeezing her tightly. "For everything."