Hi everyone,

I hope you're all doing well. I also hope you're all enjoying the story. I hope there was not so much confusion in the last chapter and that all all went back and read the updated A/N. Here is this week's update.

Warning: Marley retells some of her story, and Terri is still around.

As always, many thanks to my supporters, encouragers, REVIEWERS, readers, and followers. I can't believe the story has made it all the way to Chapter 29 so far. That's very encouraging.

Be well friends.

Beth walked into the small room where Santana, Rachel, and Kurt were waiting. She knew that they were all exhausted and so she smiled when she saw the three of them curled up in the corner of the room together, seemingly asleep. Three sets of eyes popped open as soon as it registered that the door had opened. "She's ready my loves, we can all go home now," Beth smiled.

The three of them practically sprang to their feet and began rushing off to get Marley. Upon seeing their baby girl, they found a withdrawn, trembling, quiet, version of Marley. It was almost exactly how she looked when they first met her in the hospital.

"Are you ready to go back to Miss Beth's house baby? I don't know about you, but I am very tired and I want to go back to bed," Santana told her kindly. Marley nodded, not prepared to say anything just yet. She wanted to be held. She wanted to cry. She wanted to sleep and yet she wanted to remain awake forever. Her nightmares were going to come back in full force pretty soon. "Who am I baby girl?" she asked her kindly.

"Mommy," she whispered.

"I love you Marley and I'm so proud of you. We still have a few rewards to get for you and this is another one. We'll look and shop online later today. But right now, time to go home and we can all cuddle in the big bed," Santana said.

They made it home around five am and Beth was the one who ushered everyone inside and insisted that they all go straight to bed. Santana took Marley into the bathroom, had her sit on the toilet and changed her diaper as well. She noticed that Marley looked off. Something wasn't right, so she knelt down in front of her and pet her face gently. "I am so proud of you my sweet baby girl. You did the bravest thing you could have ever done today," Santana told her.

Marley gave a tired smile and Santana forced herself to not frown. Marley looked awful, but Santana couldn't place why. She continued to pet her face and let her finish her business on the toilet before putting her in a new diaper pull up and taking her to bed. "You're my best baby girl and I'm very proud of you lovely," she told her. Marley simply nodded and held on to Santana tightly as she was lead back to the bedroom. Rachel and Kurt were already waiting for them, both yawning heavily as their bodies started to sink into the comfortable mattress.

"There's our baby girl," Rachel smiled. "Are you ready to cuddled my sweet girl?" she asked and Marley simply crawled into bed, forcing herself against Rachel's body while Santana got in behind her. Marley didn't say anything, she just took Santana's hand and pulled it around her body. She fell asleep rather quickly and Santana reached her hand over and tapped the top of Rachel's head. Rachel looked up at Santana with raised eyebrows.

"Hot to you?" she asked, her eyes flicking down to Marley.

"I love you baby girl, we all love you," Rachel told her and she leaned in and kissed Marley's forehead gently and her eyes sent a look to Santana that was pure panic. Santana shook her head so that Rachel would stay calm and Rachel spoke kindly. "Shall we sing to our baby girl?" she asked gently and the three of them started to sing softly. The song finished and Rachel turned her head to whisper to Kurt. "We need to check her temperature," she said.

"Now?" he hissed at her.

"I can fry eggs on her forehead," Santana hissed back.

"How do you want me to do this exactly?" he asked on a yawn and both girls looked stumped. They knew they needed to figure out how hot Marley was, but neither of them knew exactly how to do that without waking her and they weren't sure of all the supplies in Beth's medicine cabinet.

"Okay, you know what, she's asleep, but if I leave, she's going to wake up," Santana sighed. "Go down the hall and knock on Miss Beth's door. She's probably still up. Tell her Marley is very warm and we want to check her temperature," Santana said.

"You both owe me big time. I get all the cuddle time with her that I want and she wants, and you do not get to wake me up until noon at the earliest," he grumbled and then he got up and did as asked.

"Don't look so upset, I'll make him pancakes and bacon in the morning," Santana said.

"He'll like that," Rachel grinned. "I'm worried about her though," she said honestly.

"You are not the only one," Santana said seriously and Kurt returned with an ear thermometer and handed it to Santana before getting back into bed. "Thank you," Santana told him and she carefully put it in Marley's ear and clicked the button. After the five seconds passed, Santana pulled it away and frowned. One hundred and three.

Marley was pinned to her place with fear. Terri was standing over her. Marley marveled at how Terri's body covered in bruises and Terri began screaming at Marley. "You did this to me. You made me this terrible woman when all I wanted was to love you as my little girl," she'd screamed. The screaming was getting louder and louder with each word until finally Terri was standing over Marley with a gun. "All you ever wanted was your precious mother. I wanted to give that to you, and you ruined my life. So now I'm going to end theirs and yours," she said. Terri turned quickly and shot Santana, Rachel, and Kurt in the head. Their bodies fell to lifelessness and blood began pouring out of their chests, and Marley had screamed out in pain, but she didn't really hear herself screaming, she was just crying. Then Terri turned and pointed the gun at Marley. The shot sounded and Marley screamed.

She was sitting up in bed, sweating heavily, panting and screaming, bringing all the ladies of the house running to find out what the problem was. Kurt had been the only one to steadily remain in bed with Marley since they returned from the police station. Marley fell forward on the bed, face buried in the sheets, as the rest of her family came to help her. The bed sagged and she only felt it for a second. Then she screamed again as arms drew her up and into them. Something was warm and safe about them, but she didn't know what it was. Finally reality caught up with her and she started wailing for Santana. "Mommy!" she wailed and it was a cry that no one had heard before.

This was the cry of a little girl who had lost her mother. This was the cry of a little girl who had lost the person she trusted the most in the entire world. It was also the cry of someone who lost a friend. She wasn't stopping though. She wasn't focusing and Beth moved over to see if she could help a bit. "What can I do to help you my loves?" she asked as she watched Rachel move onto the bed near Kurt.

"We don't know, that's a new sound," Rachel said honestly. Finally the fog lifted and Marley wailed again for her Mommy, and Santana pulled her into a tighter hug.

"Mommy Santana is right here sweetheart. Mommy has you, you just have to open your eyes and know that you're with me and completely safe and loved. I'm right here Marely. Kurt rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and laid back to just watch. He would know if he was needed and right now he knew Marley just wanted her Mommy. Beth watched Santana carefully and smiled when Marley started to stutter and get her breathing under control. However Marley was not returning to them like Beth had originally thought. Marley started to cry harder, her entire body shaking, and Santana looked at Rachel.

"Come in behind her. Wrap her as best you can," Santana told her.

Rachel scooted in close and stopped just shy of Marley, trying to figure out how to do this. "Lean back against me," Kurt said and she gave him a funny look but leaned back. "Open your legs so they're on either side of her," he said and she groaned as her body stretched but did as Kurt suggested. Then she put her legs down on either side of Marley and Kurt pushed her up to sitting. She scooted in even closer and wrapped herself around Marley and her heals dug slightly into Santana's hips.

"Not my hips please" Santana said and Rachel leaned to the right to look. Beth smiled and watched as Kurt struggled to sit up and then fixed Rachel's legs so they were in a better position and not digging into Santana's body. He checked on her feet, nodded, and laid back down. "Calm down baby girl. Mommy's here and Mama is right behind you," Santana soothed and Rachel pressed her body into Marley's back. If they could pin her in place, so to speak, her body would begin to relax faster. Her nerves were running wild at the moment, so they had to do everything they could to calm them. Marley's head finally went to Santana's shoulder and she just cried.

"I'm right here baby. I don't know what has you so upset, but Mommy and Mama are right here and we're going to sit with you for as long as you need. Papa is on the bed too. He's been with you while you were sleeping. Mama and I were up and restless so we didn't want to stay and wake you up or disturb you," Santana said.

Marley pushed back and tried to speak, but it came out in gibberish and tears were spilling down her cheeks. A closer look revealed that Marley wasn't actually awake. "It's okay baby. Keep breathing, you're okay and Mommy's right here, and Mama's behind you," Santana said gently. "Do you want to turn around and look at Mama and Papa?" Santana offered. Marley's teeth were chattering at this point, she was so shaky and upset from her dream.

"Mommy," Marley said softly.

"Yes, baby, I'm right here," she told her gently and she pet her face softly, using her thumb pad to brush away the tears that were still falling. Santana frowned deeply when she felt how hot Marley was. She seemed hotter than the one hundred and three degrees she'd been early.

"Mommy, gun, dead," she pushed out and Rachel's eyes went wide and Santana quirked her mouth slightly indicating for Rachel to stay quiet.

"Mommy is perfectly okay, and so are Mama and Papa," Santana told her. "We're very safe and alive and there was no gun," she told her. Marley cried softly and put her head back on Santana's shoulder, taking in the comfort and Santana squeezed her tighter. "Go on sweetheart, rest against Mommy," she said gently hoping that she would get through the fog of Marley's brain. She needed Marley to stay calm.

Marley was back to sleeping pretty quickly Rachel looked at Santana. "A gun?" she asked her.

"Don't!" Santana said.

"Santana," Rachel protested.

"I said don't! I know what she said. I heard the same damn thing you did. Do not go there. I'm not ready and neither is she. None of us are prepared to talk about death and guns. End of conversation," Santana said seriously and Rachel pouted.

"Is she back to sleeping?" Kurt asked, interrupting the girls.

"Yes," Santana said feeling the heavy weight against her.

"Good, then she is no longer a raw nerve ending, so please leave her with Papa while her Mommies go squabble else where," he said and he carefully pulled Marley into his arms, down to the bed, and cuddled her tightly so she would remain asleep.

"I suddenly don't like you," Santana said.

"You never did, nothing has changed," he said poking his tongue out at her. Both Santana and Rachel kissed his cheek and Marley's forehead before leaving the room where they did indeed squabble elsewhere.

Marley was finally awake but she wasn't talking. She and Santana were seated on the couch and Marley tried to eat whatever food Santana offered her, as well as sips of water every so often. "You're doing so well baby. I'm so proud of you, can you please have another bite for me?" Santana asked her and she helped her have another sip of water. "Okay my love, sit with Papa, he can help you feed yourself with dessert, and Mommy will be right back," she said.

Kurt moved to sit next to Marley with a small cup of chocolate pudding that Beth had made earlier in the day. As soon as Santana stood up, Marley started screaming in fear. Her body let go of whatever it had been holding on to, messing herself, and reaching for Santana, and her back went into spasm and she fell into Kurt, screaming. "Go to the bathroom Santana," Kurt said and he carefully pulled Marley into his arms. He carefully rubbed her back in all the right spots and tried to calm the muscles that were now shaking. "Calm down baby. Mommy's coming back. She just has to go to the bathroom. She'll be right back, and then you'll get to sit with her," Kurt told her. "She'll be right back," he soothed.

"What happened?" Rachel asked moving to sit down with Kurt and help him rub Marley's back and work out the spasm. Marley was still screaming bloody murder while Kurt worked on her. Her head was on Kurt's shoulder, but she was still screaming bloody murder since Santana was gone.

"MOMMY!" she screamed.

"Shhh, inside voice baby girl," Kurt told her kindly but she continued to scream while Rachel worked on her muscles to help relax them.

"Where's Santana?" Rachel asked.

"Awww, does everyone miss Mommy?" Santana teased and she kissed Rachel's cheek, sitting down on the couch and taking Marley carefully into her arms and working carefully to get Marley's muscles to relax.

"MOMMY!" Marley screamed.

"No baby girl, no screaming," Santana scolded gently.

"Yes, I missed you, but I don't know what happened?" Rachel said and she helped Santana and Kurt work on Marley's back. Finally her back relaxed and Santana looked at Marley. "Look at Mommy sweetheart," she said kindly. Marley shook her head no and held on to Santana as tightly as she could. "I need you to see me baby. You aren't in trouble. I just need you to look at me, that's all," she said kindly. Marley again shook her head no and gripped Santana tighter still. "You're body is going to lock out again baby, just look. It's nothing bad. I just want you to know that it's Mommy and Mama and Papa with you. I want you to know your family is here with you and that you're safe," Santana said but Marley shook her head no a third time. She wasn't having any of this.

Rachel held up her hand and looked at Santana for moment. She leaned in and carefully rested her head on Santana's shoulder. She very softly began to sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. They hadn't sung to her today yet. Rachel was hoping that it would work and so she sang it as a very slow and soft lullaby and Santana smiled. At least Marley had turned her head to look at where the voice was coming from. Her eyes focused in on Rachel and Rachel gave a small smile and continued to sing. "Mama?" Marley asked softly.

"Yes baby. It's Mama," Rachel told her.

"Mama dead?" she asked.

"No, I'm here. Very alive and so are you. So are Mommy and Papa. Here, do you want to find Mama's pulse?" Rachel asked and she held out her hand for Marley to feel her wrist. "Right here love. If you touch right here, you'll be able to feel it," Rachel told her kindly.

"It's very strong, isn't it love?" Kurt asked gently and Marley didn't acknowledge that anyone was talking to her, she simply touched Rachel's wrist, very delicately, as if it were glass that would shatter her own skin. "See baby, that's Mama's pulse. It's good that it's strong. That's how we know she's still alive when she sleeps," Kurt said.

"What are you talking about?" Santana asked.

"I check on you all at night when you're all sleeping sometimes, just to make sure you're not tangled in sheets, or having bad dreams, or what have you and Mama Rae over there, she looks like a doll. I get concerned about her breathing, so I check her pulse on her wrist, and she's got a very strong pulse," he said.

"That's creepy," Rachel said.

"Creepy or not, I make sure my girls are taken care of," Kurt said.

It had only been a few hours, but to Santana it felt like months. Marley hadn't left her side. She cried and begged to stay next to Santana, but had shut down a little more with each passing second. She hadn't said a single word in the past two hours. Beth tried to engage her a few times, but Marley wasn't having any of it. She wasn't rude, but she was terribly shy, only pointing and not speaking. She'd done enough talking for a while and being a big girl was exhausting lately. She figured if she didn't have to be a big girl, maybe she wouldn't be so tired. She did however fall against Santana and decided to take a little nap at the moment. Her head went to Santana's shoulder and then she tried to close her eyes, but every time she did, Terri was right in front of her, holding something threatening. The first time it was a paddle, the second time it was jar of suppositories, and the third time it was a gun. She shrieked in fear and jumped in Santana's arms startling her slightly.

Marley pushed back and looked at Santana with pure fear, shaking her head no and crying. "What happened love?" Santana asked gently, going to pet Marley's face, but Marley shrieked and pulled away. She tucked her chin, and started to sway and fight, needing to get away from the person holding her. "Shhh, it's just Mommy Santana, Marley," Santana told her kindly. Marley shook her head and her eyes fell heavy with sleep, but Marley would shake her head and force her eyes open, but she was keeping her head down so Santana never noticed.

Beth was watching from the kitchen, playing cards with Kurt. He had ben thumbing through a deck and so she sat down across from him, picked it up, and started dealing out hands for texas hold'em poker. She happened to look toward Santana and noticed something wasn't quite right with Marley, so she looked to Kurt. "Can you help with that too?" she asked him.

"Sometimes. I can always try, but Rachel and I like to wait to offer help. Santana is a Mama Bear at times and it's only cool if we're part of her little cub pack too," he smiled.

"How long before you do that?" she asked.

"I can hear you!" Santana called politely and Beth poked her tongue out at Santana from behind. The kitchen was behind the sofa, so anyone could make all the faces they wanted as long as the person on the sofa wasn't looking.

Rachel had been in the bedroom, taking her own nap for the afternoon and decided to finally get up and go be with her family. They were all exhausted and going through emotional crap, so she figured they should be together. She moved to the living room and took a seat next to Santana who was once again holding Marley as she tried to sleep and Rachel watched as Marley's eyes closed and then flew open and Marley jumped when she saw Rachel there.

"It's just Mama Rae baby, you're okay," Santana said kindly feeling the tension run through her body.

"Something is haunting her," Rachel said kindly.

"Marley baby, look at Mommy please," she said but Marley whined and cried and couldn't do as asked. She couldn't look at Santana and see nothing but disappointment in her eyes. It was too painful and she knew Santana was definitely disappointed in her. They all were and why shouldn't they be? She told her story. She didn't mention that these people had saved her life. She didn't mention that these three people whom she called Mommy, Mama, and Papa, had been the most patient and supportive people when it came to her needs and wants. They bent over backwards for her ever day and she didn't tell anyone at the police station about them. She couldn't look at Santana.

Rachel took a deep breath and looked at Santana, she took her hand and began to sing very slowly a song that they knew very well. "Fresh cut grass, one cold beer," she sang softly. She was keeping her voice soft and low, turning the original uptempo song into a lullaby. She and Santana kept singing until Marley finally started to fall asleep and when she wasn't quite there, Rachel started the song all over again. They sang it three times and Beth was grinning.

"You've never heard Santana sing?" Kurt asked.

"No, this is a first. She should be called Miss Songbird," Beth smiled.

"I have to ask. Why did you bring us all here?" he asked politely as he gathered all the discarded cards and began to reshuffle the deck.

"I treat all my employees as if they were my children, so to speak. That is my club, and they need to follow my rules, but if they make me look good, I will always take care of them. The people who work for me know this. They are also, all very stubborn, and won't ask for it. When I heard what was happening with you, I knew that you all had to come here."

"I mean this respectfully, but Rachel and I are not your employees," Kurt told her.

"That is very true, but you are an intricate part of Santana's life, and Marley's as well. It means you are all a family and I will not break up a family. You know Nanny Susan. She has two boys. If I needed to protect her in some way, all three of them would come under my care, and my receptionist Nicole, who you ordered around," Beth said pausing for a moment, enjoying the blush that was rising on Kurt's cheeks, "she has a girlfriend, and if I needed to protect Nicole, then her girlfriend and their dog actually come too," Beth said.

"It's very kind of you," Kurt said kindly.

"Think nothing of it my boy," she smiled.

On the couch Marley was finally calm. She wasn't thrashing around anymore, but she was still not asleep and Rachel could see her fighting something. She studied her face carefully and then began speaking kindly to Santana. "I had a good nap in the bedroom, did you want to try it?" she offered kindly.

Santana gave her a curious look but decided that she was trying to do something so she went with it. "A nap?" Santana asked.

Rachel nodded and gently stroked the back of her hand over Santana's cheek and then Marley's. "Mmm, as soon as I laid down, I felt all warm and comfy and snuggly and safe. I think you should try it too," Rachel said and she carefully nodded toward Marley.

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Santana said and she felt Marley wiggle around and snuggle in closer to her, still fighting sleep.

"What if we tried it and I sang you a lullaby," Rachel said and Marley's eyes popped open and she gasped in fear and then had trouble catching her breath. "She needs to see you, let me have her please," Rachel said softly and with some hesitation, she passed Marley over. Marley shrieked in fear but Rachel held firm. "She's fighting something. If I hold her, you can get in her face and she needs that right now," Rachel said seriously and she gathered Marley as close as she could.

Santana sunk down and made sure to look at Marley. "You're okay baby, you are. Look at Mommy," Santana said gently taking her face and petting her cheeks and forehead, still not thrilled that her baby girl was so feverish. "Look at Mommy honey. I just need you to focus in on me, and as soon as you do, maybe we can calm your nerves and get you to actually sleep," she said.

Rachel was very careful and very gentle, but she began to restrain Marley slightly, so that eventually she would have no choice but to look at Santana. Marley was fighting though. She had to get away. Everyone was after her. She couldn't move, so she tried to hide, but even that didn't work. She was stuck in her spot and someone was pushing against her head. That was new to her. She'd never really felt that feeling and had she been able to calm down, she would have learned there was no actual pushing going on. Rachel simply had her hand behind Marley's head and when Marley tried to move, Rachel kept her hand in place. Marley responded well to touch most of the time. What Rachel was trying to do was pull Marley out of her state of confusion by giving her a constant touch.

It finally connected and Marley looked directly at Santana and started to cry. "Shhh, you're okay baby. Mama's holding you, I'm right here, and Papa is in the kitchen with miss Beth. It's still early afternoon baby, do you want to try and take a real nap with Mommy?" she asked her. Marley simply whimpered and then started to cry. "I'm right here sweetheart. It's just Mommy and I only want to keep you safe my love," Santana told her. Marley leaned over, letting Santana hold her again and just continued to cry. "You know what my baby. I'm not mad, I'm not even going to stop you. If you want to cry while Mommy holds you, you can do that," she said gently and she just rubbed her back and gave her several kisses. "I love you so much Marley Rose," she told her.

Ryder sat at the table and sighed, he was nearly done with is graveyard shift. Jake was coming in to relieve him and he was just finishing up the notes on Marley, when he heard Jake and looked up to see him plunk down in a chair across from him and hand him a coffee. "Man you look like you just lost your best friend," he said. "And I just got here so I know you didn't. What's up?" he asked.

"I want to lock up that bitch for what she did," he growled softly indicating Terri who was in the small lock up room and pacing continually, shouting occasionally.

"I told you not to get on that case. I told you it would be too difficult to hear. That case is one of the worst this precinct has seen in the last ten years I was told. Dude, you gotta pass that case on now. It's getting to you."

"Did you just call me dude?" Ryder asked and Jake shrugged. "First of all, I can't just pass it on, and neither can you. Secondly, I sat with her, and there's something about her. I have to help her now. I have to make sure that we do everything we can to lock that bitch up."

"First off, we can't call her a bitch to her face, so get it all out now. Secondly, we you and me, or we the police force as a whole."

"Whatever will work," Ryder said. "Here listen," he said and pressed play on the tape recorder and Jake listened to Marley explain how the Terri would give her ice cold pacifiers.

"It started out very cold, like ice. The ice would go away though and the cold would start to turn sour. She'd been storing them in the freezer I think. It's the only place I can think of that would make them that cold. The sour would eventually turn warm and pretty soon, it was just warm and sour and then it would sting. Not the first time, but as she kept doing it, it would get worse. It dried out my mouth and I had to have speech therapy for all the sores that had developed. Once I think I was bleeding, but that could have been because the food was too hot," she said thoughtfully.

"That's her! That's my baby!" Terri screamed from the lock up section that she was in, waiting for her lawyer to show up and release her as the judge had set bail already. It was set to two hundred thousand dollars. She could set the bail at whatever she wanted and having been woken up at three in the morning made it just a tad higher. She also thought it would be good to set it high so that Terri couldn't leave. Judge Chang and her husband had three children. Having read what this woman did, she didn't want Terri on the streets if at all possible, so she set a reasonable, yet high bail.

"Shut up!" Ryder yelled angrily.

"You can't talk to me that way!" Terri bit back and then started to cry. "I just want my baby! Bring her to me. You know where she is, and I have to know she's safe! Where is my lawyer! I'm her mother. I need to see my baby. Those people have brainwashed her! Everything she's been telling you is a pack of lies!" Terri babbled.

"She talks too much," Jake said softly to Ryder and to Jake's delight, Ryder actually laughed.

"She does; and this Marley girl, I don't think she was brainwashed," Ryder said.

"I think she was," Jake said honestly, "but I think she was brainwashed by that woman and not the people she's with now. Who is she with now? Did you even see who she came with?"

"Two women and a man."

"What about your dominatrix friend?" Jake grinned. He loved that Ryder had a friend who was heavy into domination and ran a business out of it. It was never clarified how Ryder knew Beth, but in Jake's mind Ryder was the kinkiest man he knew and that was how he knew Beth.

"Yeah, she came too," Ryder said dryly.

"I need my baby! I'm her mother!" Terri yelled.

"I'd love to shoot her with a tranquilizer dart," Ryder sighed, being sure to keep his voice low. Jake smiled and nodded his agreement while Terri went on to scream about how she needed her baby.

"They are hurting her! I heard her crying when she talked to you!" Terri yelled. "Why the fuck aren't you going after her? They have my baby girl," she yelled at the two men.

"Maybe you should have treated her better and we could have avoided this whole complicated situation that we are now in, thanks to you," Jake said evenly, not really talking to Terri, but talking loud enough that he could be heard by anyone within ear shot and Terri definitely was.

"That's my little girl! Let me out so I can find her!" Terri yelled.

"Judge Chang will be the one who decides if you get released," Jake said calmly.

"Well get the judge on the phone, right now!" she yelled.