AN:

Sorry this is so short and it's been so long, but I just wanted to get this out. This will probably happen again, but I'm hoping I can get another chapter out relatively soon.

Chapter 14:

Santana continued to confront Rachel for what felt like hours, but was only minutes, before gently picking up the girl and moving her to the bed, never releasing her hold on the smaller girl, who only whimpered and clutched at Santana tighter as the Latina removed her from the bath tub.

They moved to the bedroom, and Santana settled down with Rachel still in her arms, although the singer had gone limp during the journey.

Quinn took up residence on the end of the bed while Brittany stood next to Santana, waiting for the silence to be broken. When it did events unfolded quickly, like a gunshot, with shock following like the echo of one.

"Please leave me alone."

"What?" Santana pulled away from Rachel as if she had been burnt.

Brittany quickly took her place behind Rachel and locked her arms around Rachel's midsection. She had seen this coming and had already decided that she was not letting go of Rachel, because right now that is what Rachel needed, even if she did not know it.

Santana continued to look at Rachel in shock.

"Please, just leave me alone." Rachel was begging as she weakly tried to escape from Brittany's grasp.

"You'd be better off without me. There is no reason for me to exist. I am flawed and will only hold you back. If there is a God he made a mistake."

Quinn and Santana stared at Rachel, not believing the words coming out of her mouth.

Brittany's heart broke. She had expected Rachel to push them away; it was why she was holding onto the brunette so tightly. But Rachel's words rung with a hollow inevitability that made her heart hurt as if it had been ripped out of her chest still beating. Rachel truly believed the words she was saying, she thought there was no hope, and the only way to make life better was to take herself out of the equation.

Santana wanted to hunt down all of the people that had ever hurt Rachel and make them hurt just as much. She somewhat understood what Rachel was going through, having been there herself, but was utterly shocked at how low the girl's self esteem seemed to have plummeted.

Quinn chose to actually say something, deciding she could re-examine this entire conversation later.

"Why do you want us to leave?" She asked quietly, laying her hand gently on Rachel's thigh.

Rachel's eyes stayed locked on her hands, which were twisting every which way, the only physical manifestation of the war taking place within her.

"Don't you want me to leave?"

Quinn shook her head slowly as she resolved to find the idiots that had crushed Rachel's self esteem and turn them into less then dust particles.

"No." She took a deep breath. "We want to stay, and we want you. I know it is hard for you to believe, but we want you." Quinn's eyes bored into the curls of Rachel's hair as she still refused to look up.

The four girls sat in silence, the trio waiting for Rachel to respond.

Rachel's hands slowed to a stop and she finally, slowly, looked up, watery brown eyes meeting Quinn's warm hazel.

"Really?" Rachel's voice was shaky and she barely got that one word out. She cleared her throat and continued, her voice still shaky, but a little stronger. "You want me?"

In the second it took Quinn to form her positive answer Rachel had dropped her eyes again and was speaking to herself.

Quinn waited to respond, wanting to hear what Rachel was saying.

"No, of course not. What were you thinking? Even if Quinn did, which she doesn't, Santana never could. Brittany loves everyone but I'm not even close to being worthy. Besides all three of them are together. They don't need someone broken butting in on their happiness, even if they would let me…"

Rachel's muttering degenerated into words isolated in silence that didn't quite make sense so Quinn decided to voice her answer, hoping to break Rachel out of her own head.

"Yes."

It was simple, straight forward. And it snapped Rachel of her spiral into the darkness of her mind.

Rachel's head rose as if pulled by a string, her eyes finding Quinn's before shying away to Santana's then flashing back to Quinn's before studying the bedspread as if it held the answer to life.

Quinn wanted Rachel to believe what she was saying so she ducked her head, trying to catch the brunette's eyes.

"Rachel. Look at me." Quinn's voice was quiet and calm, but an edge of command surrounded her words.

Slowly Rachel's head rose, and her eyes flickered from Quinn's to the patterns on the bedspread before finally locking with Quinn's eyes long enough for the blonde to say what she wanted.

"We want you."

Quinn's hand caught Rachel's chin as she attempted to avert her eyes again.

"Santana, Brittany, and I all want you. You may be broken but you are worthy of love."

Rachel's eyes filled with tears as Quinn's hand continued to cup her chin gently, making Rachel see the truth that was evident in the emotions in her eyes.

Rachel's tears fell, and continued to fall as she started to understand that these three angles really wanted her.

As Rachel's tears sapped her strength and she started to drift off a though flitted across her mind, which made a small smile grace her face as she gave into her body's need for sleep.

Ever since the trio had become her friends she had cried more then she had before, but she had also never felt better.

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