Sadly, I do not own Glee. I am not Ryan Murphy (don't let the Kangol fool you.) I am just a super fan with slightly weird fanfic ideas that don't go away until they're posted online.
Trigger Warning:This story deals with the topics of pedophilia, ephebophilia, sexual abuse, and domestic abuse.
Kurt Hummel hated Will Schuester. He didn't like that he never listened to his suggestions, he didn't like that he had to play third-fiddle to the endless Finn and Rachel-plus Mercedes's wailing the last note songs, and he didn't like his horrible collection of Grandpa sweater vests. But what he didn't like most of all was his attitude towards Rachel. Kurt noticed his longing glances, Kurt noticed that he would constantly give Rachel solos despite there being other singers who were better suited for it, and Kurt noticed how he would go out of his way to touch Rachel. Even when it was something as small as brushing her hands with his as he passed out the sheet music. It wasn't normal, and it wouldn't end well.
Most of all, Kurt remembered him. He remembered when Will toted out that terrible former incarnation of New Directions back when he and Rachel were elementary school. He remembered telling Will about Rachel. He remembered seeing something weird in the guys eyes, that he just pretty much mistook for gas at the time because he was a kid. But now he knows, Will Schuester is the guy your parents tell you to "watch out for." Will Schuester is the guy that they do "America's Most Wanted" profiles on. But he couldn't just make allegations like that. Not without proof, he'd be accused of doing so because he gave Rachel all the solos and everyone would think he was a liar. He could kiss broadway and his friendship with Rachel goodbye. However, he could tell Rachel to watch out for him.
He tried to corner her after practice, but she was too busy talking to him about sheet music. Her laugh filling the room over some lame joke he was spouting out of his mouth, his button-down rolled up to his elbows in a sad attempt to show teenaged girls that the was still in shape, her hand resting on his shoulder as she looked over at whatever it was he had in the song book. Rachel seemed happy, happier than he thought she could ever be stuck in a school where his own step-brother bullies him and where Glee club and their dreams of New York were all they had. He couldn't ruin this for her over some sinking feeling he had. Not without concrete proof. Not without a victim.
Rachel Berry had been on the highest cloud possible since Glee club started. Like she expected, she got almost every solo, her dad's were proud of her for making the most of her being stuck at McKinley instead of Carmel, she had more friends than just Kurt (although she didn't think she could really consider Mercedes a friend when she was more like a constant rival,) and liked her. He listened to her pointers, he listened to her talk about her parents and her dreams, and most of all he actually taught something that she could use in her life. was hands-down her favorite teacher. And it didn't hurt that he was easy on the eyes.
She didn't think it wasn't a shock that she would develop a crush on him. Afterall, he was attractive and nice to her and she surely wouldn't be the first McKinley girl to do so. Hell, even her own dad Hiram thought was attractive (of course he wouldn't say so around her daddy, LeRoy.) She never experienced someone who would shower her with attention and praise over everything she did besides her dads and occasionally, Kurt. And he even gave her the solo for the Pep assembly. Sure it was a group song where everyone got a line or two, but she got the most.
The day of the assembly, Rachel couldn't have been happier. She picked out her favorite pale pink cardigan with the gold stars all over it and her signature skirt + knee-hi combination. She felt like a star, and she looked like one too. Today was the first day she walked through McKinley with her head held high. Nothing and nobody was going to ruin the day for her. She seamlessly made it throughout her classes without a single slushy incident. She did however get Santana asking her what preschooler she stole her cardigan from, but comments like that were the norm from her.
Finally after what seemed like a lifetime to her, it was time! She would be taking the stage to a school of her bullies and showing them she had talent. Showing them that her MySpace videos were in fact of her singing and not someone else's voice.
The entire glee club donned their "signature" Red shirt and blue jeans combo. But Rachel still wanted to stand out. She begged to let her wear her cardigan and luckily for her, he obliged. She heard Mercedes mutter something about her "wanting to steal the spotlight" but she deserved it. She woke up at 6AM to work out for two hours to make sure she could give peak performances in Glee club. She practiced the numbers every day before bed, and she even took the time out of her busy school + dance + piano + homework schedule to select songs for everyone to perform. Without her, they would be performing "Journey's greatest hits" until graduation. They should be grateful for her. They shouldn't mind if she wanted to feel and look like a star.
"Don't Stop Believing" went off without a hitch. Everyone was on key, every step was perfect, and they even got applause from the crowd. looked proud of them, and everyone in the club actually smiled and congratulated each other without snide backhanded compliments. It wasn't until they stepped down from the stage to the gym floor that all hell broke loose.
Coming from pretty much nowhere was the entire hockey team equipped with slushies. No member of New Directions was safe. No one ever thought they would see a Cheerio face a slushy facial, hell they created by the Cheerios years ago. No one ever thought they would see golden boy Finn Hudson covered in the same sugary syrup he would sling in his own brother's face. Fists started flying, swear words in Spanish flew out of Santana's mouth along with her proclamations of "Going Lima Heights" on them, Quinn's nails went clawing into one of the Puck heads, and Puck himself was busy hitting anyone in a Hockey Letterman jacket he could get his hands on.
Kurt, Mercedes, and Tina ran off to the bathrooms to clean off. Kurt surely respected that they messed up his Glee costume and not one of his expensive garments again, cause his dry cleaning bill was becoming too high to pay for with his hours from the shop. Rachel just stood there in the middle of the gym, dripping red slushy everywhere. Chaos was all around her and she couldn't even move. Her favorite cardigan, the one her birth mom gave her for Bat Mitzvah was ruined. There was no way she could get all the slushy out of it without her dads noticing it. There was no way it would ever be the beautiful shade of soft pink again.
The crowd grew larger to watch the brawl between the Glee club males + the Unholy trinity VS the hockey team. Teachers couldn't even attempt to break it up (nor did they care to.) Figgins ran off to his office to call the police to come and break it up, which was a bit much for a fight that would eventually resolve itself, but he didn't want to step in the middle of all that rage and the two little school security guards were pointless for a fight that big.
An arm whipped around Rachel and removed her from the gym. She couldn't even compute what was happening or where she was going, all she could think about was her favorite thing ruined. By the time she snapped back to reality, she realized that she was in 's office.
"Rachel, I'm so sorry about what happened to you all out there. I'm sure Figgins will come up with the proper punishment for those students." Will tried to tell her in his attempts of coming off as a concerned teacher.
What he was really looking at was that being soaked with slushy made her clothes cling to her body. What he really wanted to do was peel the wet clothes off her and have his way. But he couldn't. This was Rachel Berry, the girl he waited years for. He wasn't going to ruin it with his selfish desires.
Instead, he allowed for her to cry in his arms. Sure he thought it was a bit trivial to cry over a sweater, but it doing so meant he could hold her in his arms then he didn't mind it not one bit.
Kurt looked around the Girl's bathroom, waiting for Rachel to come in. He knew she would be torn up about her cardigan because for some odd reason Rachel loved her terrible sweaters, he knew that she would need a shoulder to cry on and for someone to help her attempt to get most of the slushy out. Girls came and gone out of the bathroom, none batting an eye at him being in the girl's restroom in the first place, but Rachel never came in.
So he went out to go search for her. First, he stopped at her locker to get her spare clothes because there was no way she wouldn't want to change as soon as possible. Then he checked the gym to see if she was still there. He didn't find her, but he did get to see the hockey team getting chewed out by Figgins and the cops they sent to the school. He also got to see his "loving brother" nursing a black eye, but no Rachel.
As he stepped out into the hallway, something in him clicked as he looked around the halls to see most of the kids at their lockers talking to their friends, Rachel wouldn't be anywhere else but the Choir room. It was her comfort zone, and wouldn't be anywhere else but near Rachel.
It was in that moment that he had to run to her before he had the proof that he didn't really want to have. As he got closer to the door, he could hear Rachel sobbing and his heart dropped. He hoped nothing had happened. He hoped he didn't allow for something to happen to his friend because he was too worried about getting dye out of his hair. He looked through the little glass to see Will holding Rachel. To anyone else it would be a teacher comforting a student in an inappropriate way, but it would be brushed off. However to Kurt it was more than that. It was confirmation for his suspicions. Especially when he noticed Will's hand resting too far on Rachel's lower back.
He opened the door which sprung Will away from Rachel. If his intentions were good, he wouldn't have jumped that far away from her. If his intentions were good, he wouldn't be pretending to look for something on his desk.
"Rachel, honey. I have your clothes here, let's go get changed and watch Funny girl." Kurt spoke to her in a soothing voice as he went over to lead her out of the room.
He wouldn't allow Rachel alone with him again. Not if he had to become her bodyguard.
Later on that night, it was like Rachel's emotions did a complete 180. Kurt had shown her how to get the stains out of her sweater, and she didn't have to explain to her dads that McKinley wasn't as supportive of her talents as she told them. To anyone else her little freak out over the cardigan was a bit much, but they didn't understand it. They didn't know that it was the only gift she had from her birth mother.
The flat pink box sat on the coffee table the morning of her bat mitzvah. She didn't fully understand why her daddies wouldn't give her all the gifts at the party, but she didn't mind an extra one for her to unwrap. As she descended down the stairs, she saw her daddies sitting on the couch waiting for her.
"Rachel, would you mind sitting down here for a moment?" It was a tone her dad Hiram would only use in sensitive situations. He would use it to tell her one of her hamsters died or her Barbra CDs were scratched beyond playing, but over a present? Rachel didn't get it.
Her other dad LeRoy passed her the box as she sat down on the couch, "Sweetheart, when you were born, your birth mother asked us to give you a gift when you turned 13. She wanted you to have something to remember her by. Something that meant a lot to her."
Her birth mother was a quiet topic around the house. She didn't even know the woman's name or what she looked like. She didn't know if she had other children or if she was her only "child." But now, she knew that her mother loved her. She knew that her mother loved her enough to not only give her excellent parents, but she loved her enough to leave her gift for her milestone event.
Rachel lifted the top off the box to show the prettiest thing she ever saw. In it wrapped around white and pink tissue paper was a pale pink cardigan with gold stars over it. Gold stars were her thing, how could her birth mother know that? Even the buttons were stars. Rachel picked up the little white card that rest on top of it and read it aloud "To Rachel - This was my favorite piece of clothing. It has brought me lots of joy and I hope it brings you the same. My mom sewed me this for my Bat Mitzvah because I loved gold stars and because she called me "her little star" and I wanted to give you something special for such a special occasion. Love, your mother."
She looked up at her dads who were surprisingly teary-eyed and gave them a hug. She had three people in the world that loved her no matter what, even if she didn't know the third too much. And from that day, that Cardigan was a staple piece for Rachel when she had a special event.
Whenever she was sad, she would look at that note. Kurt was busy in the bathroom doing his facial routine and she was tapping the edge of the note card between her hands. Once Kurt stepped out of the bathroom, she had to let him know. She told him the story about the cardigan, ignoring his little quip about terrible fashion choices being genetic, and she thanked him for dealing with all her crazy. Then she dropped a bombshell on him.
"Kurt, I think I want to find my mother."
So I took like forever to update, my apologies. Writer's block + Netflix = no work getting done. This chapter is longer than most and it set up another side storyline that I want to approach. But the Rachel + Shelby plus Kurt being suspicious of ties to the main plot of the story. So don't worry about me running off into a tangent that doesn't lead to Wilchel. So I hope you all liked it and reviews + favorites are amazing!