AN: I am glad that a lot of people have liked this story so far. Thank you to everybody who has left a review and placed this story on their alerts or favorites list.
It was Prom night and Rachel was slow dancing with Finn. She was also watching as her fellow members of the Glee Club danced with their dates; or in the case of Quinn Fabray, glaring at her as if she wanted to kill her right then and there.
Two months had passed since Regionals and the other girl's anger and hatred for Rachel hadn't gone away. In fact, despite being suspended for two weeks and being forced to take anger management classes, it had gotten worse.
The only reason she hadn't attacked her already was Puck. He had broken up with Lauren, who had actually understood and remained a member of New Directions, and had decided to help Puck keep a closer eye on Quinn. So he had persisted until Quinn had agreed to go to the prom with him.
After a loud confrontation with Finn over it, Puck had admitted that he didn't want to take sides between the mother of his child and his best friend. This was the only way he knew how to protect Rachel from Quinn. It was also the only way he knew how to keep the girl everybody knew he still loved from getting into serious trouble if she ever got close enough to Rachel.
Quinn had been kicked out of Glee Club after she had locked Rachel in the closet. Which had caused everybody some concern for how they would participate at Nationals; but then Kurt had transferred from Dalton back to McKinley a few weeks after Regionals. His issues with Karofsky had been dealt with after Santana broke up with Sam and had started to date Dave.
Then Brittany and Artie had broken up right before the Prom when he had told her to stop acting stupid in regards to Santana. Brittany had taken it to mean that he thought she was stupid and broke up with him before running from him in tears.
Then it had been revealed right before Prom that Sam was homeless and his entire family was living in a hotel room. Kurt and Rachel had found out and were helping their classmate out but before either of them could tell their boyfriends what was going on, Finn and Blaine had become suspicious. Both boys had ended up staking out the hotel where Sam and his family were living. The ensuing confrontation with Rachel and Kurt hadn't been pretty until Sam had finally told them what was going on. The entire Glee club put their money together and bought his guitar, which he had pawned, back for him. They had also put together a package of clothes and other items to help out Sam and his family.
Rachel smiled as she glanced over at Sam and Mercedes having fun together. It didn't matter to them that they were wearing second hand clothes from the Goodwill, all that mattered was they were at their prom and having fun together.
Quinn was still running for Prom Queen but had to replace the posters that had Finn on them with ones of her and Puck. They were competing against Dave and Santana along with Lauren and a member of the wrestling team she was now dating.
Rachel looked up at Finn and saw him smiling at her lovingly before they shared a tender kiss. The feel of him kissing and touching her in the way that only he could was something Rachel had missed in the three and a half months that they had been apart. The past two months since they had gotten back together, it seemed like they couldn't keep their hands off each other. They had been caught making out several times by her dads, Burt, Carole as well as Kurt, who had screamed in horror as he ran from Finn's room the last time he had caught them.
She and Finn were so focused on each other that neither one of them noticed Quinn coming their way until it was too late. Rachel was shoved to the floor and felt the other girl's hands go around her throat and could barely hear Quinn screaming at her as she slowly started to pass out from the lack of oxygen.
"I had gotten him back, you ugly ass bitch but no, you had to run your mouth and tell him a bunch of lies! I hope you fucking die!"
Rachel felt Quinn being pulled off of her and opened her eyes to the sight of Finn throwing Quinn into Puck's arms before kneeling down at her side.
"Get her the fuck out of my sight, Puckerman, before I forget she is a girl and punch the shit out of her," Finn snapped at his friend as he lifted a sobbing Rachel off of the floor and held her. "Oh and just so you know, Quinn, Jacob Ben Israel recorded the conversation that took place between you and Rachel right before Regionals, so I know just who the liar is and it isn't Rachel."
Sue Sylvester, who was chaperoning the dance, told Puck to take Quinn to the choir room and keep her there for when the police got there. He carried her out of the room as she struggled against him, still determined to get at Rachel and finish what she had started.
The cheerleading coach then knelt down next to Finn, checking Rachel's throat, which now had the imprint of Quinn's fingers on it and they were starting to turn purple. She looked at Will, who had walked over to check on Rachel.
"Will, call 911 and tell them we need the paramedics and the police over here. That a student tried to murder another student and that she is still a danger to herself and others."
Will was talking on the phone and explaining to the dispatcher what had happened when a gun shot went off. The doors to the gym opened and Noah Puckerman stumbled into the room, his white jacket covered in blood from the wound in his chest and Quinn Fabray walking in behind him, holding a 9 millimeter handgun in her hand.
Everybody in the crowd screamed and ran from the room as Quinn stalked past Noah, who was lying on the floor in a pool of blood, chasing Finn, who was carrying Rachel in his arms in an effort to get her out of the room.
"You either let me shoot her and get that pathetic hobbit out of our lives Finn or I will kill you, then her."
Finn handed Rachel over to Mike Chang and got between them to distract Quinn while his classmate got her to safety.
The sounds of Rachel screaming his name in terror as Mike carried her away from him broke Finn's heart but he knew that he was the only one that could distract Quinn long enough for Mike to get Rachel away from his insane ex-girlfriend.
"Move out of the way, Finn!"
"Not happening, Quinn!"
"What does that ugly midget have that I don't? Why couldn't you love me the way you love her? We were so happy together before she came along."
"No we weren't. You called me stupid and a moron every chance you got and when I was ready to break up with, you lied to me and told me that Beth was my child and neglected to tell me that you had fucked my best friend. I have since found out from Puck that even if Beth would have come out looking exactly like him, you would have kept up the lie. You didn't have one problem with taking money for me and my mom for the medical bills we paid for a baby that wasn't mine. In fact, you threw a fucking fit and ordered me to pay those bills, knowing that it wasn't my responsibility."
"Yet, even after all of that, you came back to me."
"Yes, I did and I was wrong to do that because it was me running away from the fact that I was still in love with Rachel despite everything that happened last Christmas."
"No! You came back to me because you realized that you loved me and not her."
"When did I ever say that to you, Quinn?"
Quinn held the gun up and aimed it at his chest, tears pouring from her eyes as all of her fantasies fell apart.
"If I can't kill her and get her out of my life, then I will make sure that the two of you don't get a future together. If I can't have you, no one will."
Before Quinn could pull the trigger, she fell to the floor with blood covering her light blue dress from the wound in her shoulder.
During the confrontation between Finn and Quinn, the police had arrived and a sharp shooter had shot her the moment she had raised her gun to shoot Finn.
Finn had ran out of the gym to find Rachel while both Puck and Quinn were being treated by the paramedics that had rushed into the gym the moment Quinn had fallen to the ground.
Rachel was sobbing in Kurt's arms as they stood with their classmates outside of the school. All she could see in her mind was Finn putting himself in the path of Quinn and the gun and it filled her with fear that his possessive ex would kill him.
"Why would she do this, Kurt?"
"I don't know, Rachel," he said, as she sobbed against his chest.
The sight of Puck being carried out on a stretcher made Rachel sob even harder until the sight of Finn running out of the school made her pull out of Kurt's arms and run over to where he was. The kiss they shared in that moment was filled with love, passion and tears from the both of them that everybody else around them left the couple alone and turned their heads away.
It was only the sound of Quinn screaming vicious threats as she was wheeled out on a gurney that made Finn and Rachel pull away from each other. She'd had to be restrained to keep her from getting up and going once again for Rachel's throat, despite the blood that was still flowing from her shoulder.
"It wouldn't shock me if that crazy bitch tested positive for PCP, given how she is acting right now," Santana said harshly as she touched Brittany on the shoulder to make sure she was okay.
The childlike cheerleader had sat in Artie's lap and had laid her head against his shoulder, her ex-boyfriend trying to comfort her at the sight of the violence that taken place at their Prom.
Quinn's shouts of anger had faded away as the door to the ambulance she was in had closed and had left the school. As the sound of the sirens from the vehicle faded away the further it got away from McKinley, Rachel stood in the comfort of Finn's arms, and letting his warm presence make her feel better but not completely. After the events of tonight, Rachel, Finn and their classmates would never feel completely safe again because a piece of their innocence had been taken from them and they would never get it back again.
AN: I know it sounded like I got a little preachy there at the end and I deeply apologize to any Quinn fan that I might have offended with the way I have written her in this story but there was a point in Season 2 when I honestly thought Quinn could do something like that to keep Finn. There were so many things he did in the back half of the season that would have made me slap the fire out of him if I was Quinn and Rachel.
Although our beloved Cory played it to perfection and even now six months later, I still miss him and wish for what could have been with both Finchel and to a lesser degree, Monchele. It is an ache that I don't think will ever go away. I felt a kinship with him over the similarities in our relationships or lack of one with our fathers.
It makes me sick that there are still judgmental hypocrites out there continuing to use the way that flawed angel died to condemn him instead of focusing on how he lived. Lea was right when she mentioned his beautiful heart, handsome smile and amazing talent. He had a beautiful heart that made him use his fame to help several wonderful charities, a handsome smile that could take a person's breath away and an amazing talent for acting that makes me long for the parts I know deep down he would have convinced the rest of the world besides the Gleeks that will never stop missing him just how amazing an actor he was.