AN:
So. This is a little early, I was planning on posting on Saturday, but I have some free time so here you are. There's a lot going on here, and it is the longest chapter I've written so far so I hope you enjoy. I will probably not get another one up until Thanksgiving or maybe even after. I'm now working close to twenty hours a week, and taking something like seventeen credits in college. Ideas are still coming, writing not so much.
Oh, and check out my profile page please, I have a poll up for this story, and if somebody doesn't vote soon I'm gonna assume nobody cares. Peace out.
Chapter 8:
After Rachel had stopped sobbing, Quinn had resumed tending her cuts, same as before.
Once the cuts were clean and bandaged Brittany came over, Santana had gone downstairs to make dinner, and knelt by the bed, arms open. Rachel bit her lip and glanced at Brittany's face before burrowing herself into Brittany's body and clutching at her. Brittany held Rachel close, hugging the brunette as tight as possible without being restrictive.
Quinn cleaned up the medical supplies and headed downstairs, closely followed by Brittany, with Rachel still clinging to the tall dancer, and cradled in the blonde's arms. Dinner found Rachel on Santana's lap. All three were taking turns caring for Rachel.
The blondes tucked Rachel into bed, while Santana confiscated all the razors she could find.
All four slept fitfully and woke the next morning still tired.
Rachel had ignored the trio that morning and continued to ignore them the rest of the week.
#RQSB#
For the rest of the week Rachel ignored the trio.
Everything stayed the same at school, but Rachel did not initiate contact and she was standoffish when they were in the house. Quinn and Brittany gave Rachel her space, having gone through this before, Santana was not quite as thoughtful.
Santana spent time trying to get Rachel to talk about what was going on, and after the first night Rachel knew that the Latina had taken all the blades she could find. It wasn't that Santana was trying to be forceful, she just did not know how else to act.
One question was plaguing the trio as they stumbled through the week, trying to give Rachel her space while staying supportive.
Why did Rachel pull away?
#RQSB#
Come Friday afternoon the three Cheerios finally confronted her.
They arrived home after school and Santana blocked Rachel's access to the stairs as Brittany gently tugged Rachel toward the living room, Quinn following behind so as to block any escape through the front door.
Rachel sighed, exits blocked and grim determination on every face. Time to face the music. Rachel allowed herself to be guided into the living room and prodded into a couch.
The three cheerleaders had rearranged the furniture so that a trio of chairs formed a semi circle around the couch. Quinn sat in the middle, with Brittany closest to Rachel, and Santana trying to look as non-threatening as possible as she leaned back in her chair.
Silence reigned for minutes. Rachel still refused to look at the trio, and the three Cheerios examined Rachel, trying to figure out how to start.
"Was there something you wished to talk to me about?" Rachel finally asked, cutting through the silence that had been stretched beyond breaking.
Santana and Brittany nodded. Quinn took a deep breath.
"We want to know why you hurt yourself."
Rachel tensed slightly shifting her eyes between the four pairs of shoes she could see. Focusing on her own shoes Rachel spoke.
"Umm…Because it makes me feel good?"
Rachel's voice was shaky, and pauses littered the few words she had spoken, while a stutter could be heard behind the words, and it came out sounding a lot more like a question then a statement. Her eyes never left her shoes.
"Hey," Quinn said softly, drawing out the word. "We're not judging you, we're not angry, and we're not going to leave you. We just want to help."
Quinn's voice had not once wavered. She was calm, but the words resounded through the quiet room and embedded itself in Rachel's brain.
The small diva glanced into each of the girls' eyes, not seeing hatred or anger she relaxed slightly, still not daring to hope that she had seen anything other than concern and sadness.
"I'm fine."
Santana snorted and small smiles flashed across Quinn and Brittany's faces.
It was only momentary lightness, but it made everyone feel better.
"You may be a lot of things Rachel, but you are not fine."
"Ok. I'm functional. What more do you want?"
The words held a bitter edge and bit into the cheerleaders' psyche, embedding themselves there.
A light bulb went off and Brittany realized the fundamental problem.
Rachel really believed that no one cared about her. They wanted her abilities, not the actual person. So Rachel had turned to the only way she could feel alive instead of feeling like an inconvenient, but necessary, machine.
Brittany's heart ached and she wondered how long Rachel had felt unloved.
"Functional is not what you should be Ray. You're a person, not a machine."
Rachel looked up from her shoes at Brittany's quiet words, fire in her eyes.
"But what if it's what I'm supposed to be?"
The words were filled with anguish but Rachel truly believed what she was saying.
At the trio's disbelieving looks Rachel continued.
"I know I'm not a machine," she scoffed. "But I'm not human. Humans are supposed to have friends and families, people that care about them. They're not supposed to follow a routine that never changes and be a lonely tool used to win competitions."
Rachel's voice had picked up, her volume rising, but emotionally blank. Rachel believed what she was saying, and worse, she believed that she deserved whatever she got.
The trio knew high school could be cruel, but they also realized that high school had just reinforced something that Rachel had already been taught.
Santana and Brittany wanted to find whoever had made Rachel feel this way and turn them into a bloody splotch on the floor.
Quinn felt sad that Rachel had been sucked into believing that she was worthless. Living in her father's house Quinn had been through something similar, and had even believed she was worthless for a time, but to believe as Rachel did, that she was worth no more than the actions she could perform? ! Quinn's heart broke for Rachel, not able to imagine who would be horrible enough to make the sweet singer ever believe she was virtually worthless.
Rachel's voice had turned slightly ragged at the end of her small rant so she took a few breaths before adding,
"But that's what I am, so can you please let me get back to at least a semblance of normalcy?"
The trio gaped at her in silence, processing everything that had occurred in the past few minutes.
Rachel sighed, stood up, looked at each Cheerio with a fondness reserved for them alone, and walked out of the room.
The trio heard Rachel walk up the stairs and the click of her bedroom door shutting.
Santana was the first to move. She got up slowly and marched over to the computer in the corner, each step a loud, echoing thud that reverberated in the ears of Brittany and Quinn, pulling the blondes out of their thoughts.
"What are you doing?" Quinn asked, still pinned to her seat from her inability to comprehend Rachel's ideas about herself.
Santana's voice was deadly calm and her words clipped.
"I'm going to find those fuckers and kill them slowly."
"We'll help." Brittany's normally sunshine and kittens demeanor was gone and replaced with a dark scowl.
She walked over and sat in Santana's lap for comfort. The Latina just smiled and placed a kiss on Brittany's head before going back to booting up the computer. Brittany laid her head on Santana's chest, needing to hear the brunette's heart beat.
Quinn made her way over and rested her hands on Santana's shoulders, needing human contact as well.
"Rachel won't like it if we kill her family. And we don't know for sure if they're the ones that caused this."
Santana growled as the menu screen popped up and asked for a password.
"The world's conspiring against me again."
The blondes laughed.
Santana had said it enough times that multiple inside jokes were attached to that phrase. Santana chuckled too as she leaned back in her chair.
The Latina wrapped her arms around Brittany, holding her tight, as Quinn started to softly massage Santana's shoulders.
"So what's the plan now? Confrontation didn't work. Do we have a Plan B?" Santana asked.
Quinn and Brittany were the planners. Santana considered herself a glorified bodyguard, the muscle of the group.
The blondes shook their heads.
"More talking though. Rachel won't do well with a physical intervention I think." Brittany said, still snuggled further into Santana's chest.
"Yep. Physical is a last resort, if things get really bad. I don't want a mad diva after me for the rest of my life."
Quinn and Brittany shuddered and nodded in agreement.
#RQSB#
The rest of the weekend ran as normally as possible with Rachel smoothly changing the subject anytime the cheerleaders attempted to bring up the Friday afternoon conversation again.
That Monday after school Rachel got her brace off, and the week went by quickly. Finn paid more attention to Rachel than the trio thought necessary, or healthy, considering that he had dumped Rachel not long after summer started and had pretty much ignored her existence since.
But apparently the big idiot was pining away again, and it had the trio foaming at the mouth to do something about it. Preferably something harmful to the boy's health.
The fact that Rachel just might kill them kept the three girls in check until the man-mountain crossed a line.
#RQSB#
Finn Hudson was not the smartest boy to walk down the halls of WMHS, nor was he the stupidest, but he was definitely closer to the dumb side of the spectrum.
So when he did something really stupid most people didn't even notice, and fewer still knew what he had done wrong.
It started off fairly innocent. Finn had been following Rachel around all week, even though she had told him multiple times to stop. Outside of the choir room Finn stepped on her foot and Rachel blew up.
"Leave me alone Finn. You were the one that terminated our relationship so please refrain from attempting to do whatever it is you are attempting." A deep breath later, slightly calmer, "If you wish to be friends I have no objections, but you will have to earn my trust again."
Finn frowned.
"But Rachel, I want you back," the man mountain whined as he tried to look cute. He looked like a six foot toddler throwing a tantrum, not a good look on him.
Rachel sighed.
"No Finn. I have moved on, so should you. It was infatuation, not love, that guided us."
Santana, Brittany and Quinn rounded the corner on their way to Glee in time to see Finn's transformation from trying to be charming to angry.
He grabbed Rachel's wrist as she turned away and tugged her back, making her fall into him. Finn then grabbed her shoulders and shook her as he talked, or rather yelled.
"No! ! ! ? That's not the right answer Rachel. You are in love with me and always will be."
Rachel managed to stutter out, "Stop, Finn," in between teeth chipping shakes.
Jaws dropped when the trio saw Finn grab Rachel. Bags fell when he shook her. And the three Cheerios shot into motion less than a second after the word "stop" left Rachel's mouth.
Finn found himself flat on his back, with Brittany of all people, standing over him. The blonde just stared at him for a second before turning away and letting Santana take over the intimidation of the tall moron.
Quinn had caught Rachel when Finn's grasp disappeared and she had fallen from lack of balance. A snarl formed on Quinn's lips, but a purr, not a growl, emerged from the blonde's mouth because Rachel burrowed into her.
Brittany took Rachel from Quinn so that the head cheerleader could join Santana. Quinn smiled softly before joining Santana, the sight of Rachel in Brittany's arms, with the dancer wrapped around the singer, enough to break through the red haze of her anger at Finn.
Santana and Quinn just stared down at Finn as the boy tried to figure out what had happened. As he pushed himself up two hands jabbed at his shoulder joint and he collapsed again. Looking up Finn saw Quinn and Santana, one on either side of him.
"You knocked me down," he snarled. "I'll have you both suspended for this!" His voice had grown louder with every word, alerting the Glee club, who had gathered in the choir room before the altercation, that something was going on.
They crowded into the doorway of the choir room as the confrontation was happening basically on the doorstep of the room, creating an invisible barrier in front of the door.
"You'll be lucky if you're not arrested!" Quinn shouted, her face contorted in rage and tinged a shade of red.
"Do you like beating up girls? Is that it?" Santana questioned menacingly, growling deep in her throat and glaring at Finn.
Finn smirked up at the two girls standing over him.
"She liked it. She loves it when I'm rough."
Rachel whimpered and Brittany clutched her tighter, sending a glare Finn's way.
Having a hot Latina straddling you was usually a good thing for whoever was underneath said girl. Except for when said Latina is beating your face into unrecognizable mush.
By the time Quinn pulled Santana off of Finn the brunette had broken his nose, ensured that he would not see straight for at least a week, and added so much color to his face you could not tell if Finn was black or red, definitely not his normal pinkish color, but maybe purple.
Santana was flailing and shouting in Spanish as Quinn pulled her off Finn and wrapped her in a hug to calm her down and keep her contained. Santana's harried breathing returned to normal and she continued to glare at Finn as she went from fighting Quinn's embrace to relaxing into it.
Rachel was now sitting in Brittany's lap as the blonde ran fingers through the brunette's hair and hummed softly to whatever tune traipsed through her head.
Mr. Schuester looked on in shock. He would have to show up on time more often if this is what was happening before he arrived. The teacher went to help Finn up, but was brushed off as the boy got to his feet by himself.
"What's going on here?" Mr. Schuester asked, looking first at the Glee kids still gawking in the doorway of the choir room, and then to Finn who stood to the side, completely ignoring the four girls in the hall until Quinn broke the strained silence.
"Finn decided it would be ok to manhandle Rachel. Santana doesn't like it when others are hurt so she stepped in and went a little over board."
"Not true Mr. Schuester. Me and Rachel were just talking when out of nowhere I'm tackled to the ground."
There were snickers from the Glee club at the absurd nature of the quarterback being beat up by a cheerleader. But most of the club and Mr. Schuester seemed to believe Finn's story.
When Mr. Schuester nodded in response to Finn's story Santana went berserk and it took every ounce of strength Quinn possessed to keep the Latina contained.
"How do you explain the bruises on Rachel's wrist then Mr. Shue?" Brittany asked, both arms now wrapped around Rachel's midsection.
With a little prompting from Brittany Rachel showed the group the bruises on her arm.
Gasps could be heard and a confused look appeared on Mr. Schuester's face. He turned to Finn for an explanation.
"I didn't know I grabbed her that hard."
Nobody but the four girls seemed to see the gaping hole in Finn's story.
Finn said that they had been talking; he had never said anything about physical contact. As Mr Schue bought into Finn's lies the trio had a silent conversation.
Brittany sighed as she whispered in Rachel's ear.
"Rachel." She waited for Rachel to respond before continuing. "I know you love to sing, but we can't let you be by yourself in Glee club, and even if we quit Cheerios we wouldn't be able to be here all the time, so we're taking you out. Ok?"
Rachel nodded slowly in understanding, but frowned a little because the cheerleaders were essentially telling her what to do.
"I'm sorry. But until we can guarantee that you would be safe we can't in good conscious let you be in Glee club. It's too dangerous. If you really want to come back that's your decision, but Quinn's going to quit for all of us right now."
Rachel could not see Brittany's face but she could see Santana and Quinn's. They were not trying to patronize her, they were not trying to take away one of the few things that made her feel safe and valued, they just wanted to protect her.
The only thing she saw in Santana and Quinn's eyes was love. And it took everything she had to not burst into tears on the spot, but she bit her lip and nodded to show her understanding and agreement.
The Cheerios smiled for all of a second, before Quinn and Santana turned back to the Glee club, HBIC faces on and ready to rumble.
"If you're going to believe Finn's lies then we're leaving!" Quinn said, standing with her arms crossed. She had let go of Santana so they could face down the Glee club.
"Wait. Finn do you want to take this to the principal?"
Finn shook his head, knowing that if he went to the principal the trio would have him arrested.
"Ok then. We'll meet back here on Tuesday. Take the weekend to cool off and relax a little."
Quinn sighed. She should have realized he would not get it the first time.
"No. I mean we're leaving as in quitting Glee. Until we feel it will be safe for us to be here without getting harassed. I mean if Finn can do that much damage to an object of his obsession I'd hate to see what he could do to someone he really hated. So the four of us," she gestured to Rachel, Brittany, Santana, and herself. "Are quitting. We'll come back when we feel it's safe."
Santana helped Rachel and Brittany up and the quartet walked out, Quinn leading the way with Santana and Brittany each with an arm around Rachel.
Shocked expressions were on everyone's face and almost all were speechless, but Mercedes managed to sum up the group's thoughts pretty well.
"What the hell just happened?"
##RQSB##