Rachel heard the phone ring in the other room and looked up from the World Civ chapter she was reading. She and Finn were sitting on the couch in the living room, her legs in his lap. He absently ran his thumbs around the inside of her knee, something that drove her crazy. She knew that she was still torn up about the attack, but she'd been thinking about planning her own attack on him since he'd started making those little circles against her skin. Did he really not realize what he was doing to her? And how cute was he, trying to figure out his Spanish homework?
Finn's hand moved up her leg a little and her gaze quickly moved to his face. He was smiling but he didn't take his eyes off of his book. Rachel opened her mouth to say something when Hiram rushed into the room. Finn's immediately moved his hand and Rachel sat up straight. "What's wrong, daddy?"
Hiram looked torn. "Honey…" he said as the doorbell rang.
"I've got it!" Leroy yelled.
Rachel and Finn stood up. "Daddy, what's going on?"
Puck ran into the room. "Did you guys hear?"
"What's going on?" Finn demanded.
"Jewfro's missing," Puck said. "His parents called Mom a few minutes ago. They're calling everyone they know to see if he's with them. He's not."
Hiram nodded. "That's who was on the phone," he told Rachel and Finn.
Rachel felt dizzy. Finn reached out and steadied her, lowering her to the couch. "Did they get him?" Finn asked Puck. "Do you think they did something to him?"
"Dude, Jewfro-" Hiram glared at him, "Jacob doesn't really have anywhere to be, you know?"
"We have to look for him," Finn said. "What would they have done with him?"
"I'll call everyone," Rachel said. "They can help too." She jumped up and ran up the stairs for her phone.
Leroy came into the room. "Hiram said that his parents are organizing a search party."
Hiram nodded. "We can all go…" he looked towards the steps. "I don't want to leave Rachel alone, though."
"I'm not staying here," Rachel told him, walking down the steps and texting. "I'm going too."
"Rachel," Puck, Hiram and Leroy all said at the same time.
Rachel looked up at Finn. He nodded to her. "If Rachel wants to come, then she can come," he told the other three men. "I'll protect her."
Rachel smiled at him. "I know you will."
Puck sighed. "I'll help keep an eye on her," he said.
"What are we doing?" she said.
"They're starting a search party at the school," Leroy told her. "Tell your friends to meet us there."
Rachel nodded and sent out the message. When she'd finished, she looked up. "Are we going or what?"
"Yes ma'am," Hiram said, turning around to grab his stuff.
"Puck, you can ride with us," Finn told him. Puck nodded. Rachel leaned over to grab her bottle of water, wincing a little as she stretched her arm out. Finn walked to her, taking her face in his hands.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked, searching her face for any signs of doubt.
Rachel nodded. "I'm sure." She rose on her toes and kissed him. "Thank you for sticking up for me."
"I've got you, babe," he told her. Taking her hand, he led her out of the room to where Puck and her dads were waiting. "We're ready."
"We'll meet you kids there," Leroy told them. He kissed Rachel's forehead.
After they'd gotten into Finn's truck, Puck leaned his head against the back of the seat. "Are you okay Noah?" Rachel asked him.
"Not really," he told her. "I thought I was going to die when they locked me in that port-a-potty last year and I'm a pretty strong dude. I just hope it's something like that, though, you know?"
Rachel nodded. "You hope that he's irritated, not hurt."
"Pretty much," he told her.
Finn put his hand on Rachel's leg. "We'll find him," he told her, not taking his eyes off the road.
Rachel covered his hand with hers. "I know," she said, but she was worried. These guys had obviously gone over the edge. Who knew what they were capable of?
When they got to the school they were surprised to find so many people gathered there. Kurt and Blaine quickly walked toward the truck. "Rachel," Kurt said, pulling her in for a hug. "Why did you come?"
"I needed to," she told him.
Blaine smiled at her. "Hey beautiful," he said. Rachel hugged him.
"What's the plan?" Finn asked them.
"From what we can tell, they're going to search the whole town. They're asking students to search the school grounds because we know it better," Kurt told him.
"That makes sense," Finn said. "Figgins here?"
Blaine nodded. "He's over there," he said, nodding towards a large group of people, "with Mr. Schue and the other teachers."
"Let's go," Finn told them. They walked together, surrounding Rachel without realizing it. When they got to the crowd, the principal was dividing them into groups. "Hey, Figgins!" Finn called. Everyone around them quietened down. "Who's doing this?"
"Mr. Hudson, we're unsure of what's happened to Jacob. Until we know for sure, there's no point in speculating."
"School's safe now, right?" Finn said.
"Let's get into our groups now," Mr. Schue stepped up and said. "We need to find Jacob."
"Calm down, baby," Rachel told him, squeezing his hand comfortingly.
"Sorry," Finn told her, sighing.
The rest of the Glee Club members (including Artie) joined them. "I guess we divide up and search?" Mercedes said.
Finn nodded. "I think that we should go in large groups, though." Puck nodded in agreement. "Rachel, Puck, Artie, Kurt and Blaine will go with me. Sam you, Mike, Tina, Mercedes, Santana, Quinn, Brittany and Lauren can go together. Does that sound okay with everyone?" They nodded. "Let's find him," Finn said. "And keep in mind that we're all targets."
"Great," Tina mumbled, hugging Rachel. "Be careful," she told her friend.
"I will," Rachel said. She looked at Santana and nodded. The other girl smiled slightly in response.
Finn and Puck decided to start around the football field, for obvious reasons. Rachel felt a bit odd being back at school, and wondered if anyone would be upset if she didn't want to go inside the school. She figured they would understand.
They searched for hours, everyone growing tired and frustrated. "I hope someone's having better luck than us," Blaine said.
"Maybe someone found him and they just forgot to call and tell us?" Kurt said tiredly.
Rachel sat down on one of the bleacher seats. "Can we sit for a minute?" she asked. She hated to hold them back, but she was literally exhausted.
Finn nodded, sitting beside her. "Sorry," he said, looking out over the field. "I should have thought about how tiring this would be for you."
"Some of us don't have football practice every day," she said with a smile, then looked at her group. "Well, I guess it's just me that doesn't have football practice every day." Both Blaine and Kurt were on the football team now, too.
Puck shook his head. "I really felt like we'd find him around here."
Finn nodded in agreement. "I did too."
The group sat in silence for a while. "Who could be doing this?" Artie finally asked. "I think we're all in agreement that it's some of the jocks, right?" Everyone nodded. "As Rachel pointed out, we're pretty much all jocks. Why do they hate us?"
"Because we're different," Blaine told him. "And they don't like anything that's different. It scares them."
"Why Jacob, though?" Rachel wondered out loud. "I thought it was us they were after?"
"Jacob's different too," Kurt told her. "Plus, he was part of the Glee Club for a brief moment."
Rachel put her head over on Finn's shoulder. "I just hope he's not hurt," she said lowly. "I don't want anyone else to be hurt."
Finn wrapped his arm around her, kissing her head. "Me too."
"My brain doesn't seem to be working anymore," Puck said, sitting down beside them. "We've looked everywhere I can think of."
"The entire school was searched, right? The inside of it?" Blaine asked.
"I'm assuming so," Finn told him.
"Where would a bunch of jocks put him," Rachel wondered out loud.
Puck and Finn looked at each other and then quickly looked up at the scoreboard. Finn jumped up. Jacob was hanging from the scoreboard. "Call Mr. Schue!" Finn yelled at Kurt, running toward the scoreboard. The rest of the group followed him and Puck.
When they reached the scoreboard, Rachel turned around and put her head in Blaine's chest, sobbing. Kurt was telling Mr. Schue what they'd found and to bring an ambulance. Jacob had been hung from the top of the scoreboard. Because he was covered in black, he'd blended in with the board. "Shhh," Blaine said, rubbing her back.
Finn and Puck climbed the sides of the scoreboard, each walking along the front of it carefully until they reached the boy in the middle. "He's alive!" Finn called down. The rope holding him was around his neck, but it was also under his arms.
Such a wave of relief washed over Rachel that her legs failed to hold her up. Blaine caught her, lowering her gently to the ground. Artie rolled to her side, taking her hand.
"Barely, dude," Puck told Finn lowly. "His breathing is pretty shallow. We need to get him down from here ASAP."
Finn nodded. "How are we going to get him down?" he asked Puck.
"Can you lower him to us?" Blaine called up to him.
Puck shrugged. "We can try." He looked down. "I don't want to fall off of this thing, Finn."
Finn nodded. "Jacob?" he said to the boy. "He's out. Let's not drop him."
Puck pulled his pocket knife out of his pants and started cutting the rope from the top of the score board. Finn held on to the board with one hand, the other arm around Jacob. When all of the ropes were cut, the weight of the other boy knocked him off balance. "Finn!" Rachel screamed.
Finn righted himself, not looking down. "Fuck man, I almost lost it," he told Puck.
"Lower him down with the ropes," Kurt told them.
"Yeah, yeah," Puck said, resting his forehead on the scoreboard. He took a deep breath and looked at Finn. "Can we do this?"
"Yeah," Finn told him. Each boy holding one of the ropes, they slowly lowered Jacob down.
Blaine and Kurt stood under them with their arms up to grab the boy. Finn and Puck were both shaking as they worked. "Fuck!" Puck yelled, the rope slipping out of his hand. He fell forward, catching the edge of the scoreboard with one hand. The added weight surprised Finn and he almost dropped Jacob, grabbing onto the scoreboard to keep from falling.
"Puck!" Finn yelled.
"Shit shit shit," Puck said, grabbing the ledge with his other hand. He tried to pull himself up but the rope had cut his hand open as it slid out of it and he couldn't use it. "I'm going to fall," he told Finn, fear in his eyes as he looked at his friend.
"No," Finn told him. "Just hang on." Finn kept lowering Jacob, every muscle in his body straining.
"Drop him, Finn," Kurt told his brother. "We can catch him."
"Are you sure?" Finn demanded. "He's in bad shape."
"We can catch him," Kurt repeated. "Drop him."
Finn let go of the rope, praying that Kurt was telling the truth. He walked slowly over to where Puck was hanging. "Grab my hand," he told his friend.
"It's cut open," Puck told him.
"I don't give a shit," Finn told him, leaning down unsteadily. "Grab my hand."
Puck swung his hand up, almost touching Finn's outstretched hand. Missing it, his body swung back downward. "Fuck," he yelled.
"Grab his hand Noah!" Rachel screamed tearfully. Blaine and Kurt had removed the duct tape from Jacob's mouth and were watching their two friends fearfully.
Puck took a deep breath, looking up at Finn. Finn nodded. Puck swung up again, this time reaching his friend. He hissed as Finn clamped on to his injured hand, but helped pull himself up. When he was again standing on the small ledge he leaned against the scoreboard. "Thanks, bro," he said to Finn, breathing hard.
"Any time," Finn told him. After they'd regained their composure, they made their way down the sides of the scoreboard. Reaching the bottom, they realized that emergency personnel had reached Jacob.
Kurt grabbed Finn in a hug as soon as he touched the ground. Letting him go, he walked over to Puck, doing the same. Rachel stood in front of him, tears streaming down her face. "Finn," she said hoarsely.
Finn moved towards her, grabbing her up in his arms and burying his face in her hair. "I love you," he told her. Rachel shook her head, holding him tightly.
"Finn, Puck, are you guys okay?" Mr. Schue asked them, running up. "We saw what happened but we were too far away to help."
"I'm fine," Puck told the group.
Santana ran towards him, hugging him tightly. "Don't you ever do anything stupid like that again," she told him forcefully.
Puck hugged her back, realizing that both of their bodies were shaking. "I won't," he said, closing his eyes.
Jacob was being loaded into the back of an ambulance that had made its way onto the field. "Is he going to be okay?" Finn asked one of the attendants.
"Hopefully," the guy told him.
"Mr. Hudson," a police officer said, walking towards Finn and holding a paper out. "Did you see this? It was taped to the victim's chest."
Finn flinched when the man said "victim." "What is it?" he reached for the paper but the man shook his head.
"Please don't touch it," he told Finn. "Just read it."
US: 4 HUDSON: 0
WANNA KEEP PLAYING?
"Son of a bitch," Finn said, reading it. "Who's doing this?" he asked the cop.
"We don't know, son," the man told him. "But we're going to find out."
"School will be cancelled until Monday," Figgins was saying to some students. "We'll be making the calls tonight. Hopefully by then the perpetrators will be caught."
Finn shook his head. "Can we get out of here?" he asked the police officer.
The officer nodded. "I'll be coming by your houses tomorrow for statements," the man told the group.
Finn looked at his friends; the rest of the Glee Clubbers had caught up with Santana. "We don't have to worry about meeting up tomorrow, but this is a different level of danger we're dealing with. I want you to all be careful, even around your homes." He watched the ambulance drive off, sirens blaring. "These guys are crazy."
"I'm going to stay at your house," Santana told Puck. He nodded. Santana was dealing with a lot of things right now, but Puck would always be one of her closest friends. When she'd thought he was going to fall, her heart literally stopped beating.
"And I'm going to stay at yours," Rachel told Finn softly.
"Do you think your dads will mind?" he asked her.
Rachel shook her head. "Let's go ask them."
Finn looked at his friends one more time. "Please be careful," he said again. "I don't want any of you to be hurt."
"You either, man," Sam told him. "You guys stay safe."