Chapter 7:

AN: A bit of a filler chapter for the drama next time but hope you enjoy. Thanks for the support :)

Despite the fact that Rachel had asked Santana not to lash out at the jocks, it seemed she hadn't listened, as usual. She came into health class with another black eye, having only just recovered from the last one, as well as a split lip.

Rachel took Santana to the bathroom and helped sort her out. She was used to this as Santana had always been a fighter so she and her friends were adept at nursing by now.

"Before you say anything," Santana said through her sore lip. Maybe it was just that she sounded different with a slight lisp, or maybe she was trying to get Rachel to listen, but something about her voice sounded different. "Before you lecture me or whatever, I'm not going to stop protecting you, or Q or Britt, because we're best friends and we SHOULD protect each other. I'll always be there for you guys, and I know you guys will always be there for me." Rachel smiled as she nodded her agreement.

"She said that?" Quinn was still recovering and was stuck in her room but it felt like a completely different place without her father there. Judy was at work part time, at Quinn's insistence that she would be fine alone for two hours, but today Rachel had dropped by with the homework for the day, and some information about what had happened that day. She had just told Quinn why Santana had said she had protected her. "That was nice. What did those guys say to you anyway?"

"Oh, you know, the usual," Rachel sighed.

Quinn looked over at her. "I wish I could have been the one to protect you, babe. Those idiots don't see how strong and amazing you are."

Rachel scooted closer to Quinn. "You don't need to do anything, I just want you to heal." She felt the butterflies in her stomach that she had been feeling recently and guided Quinn's hand over to her stomach. "He or she does too."

Quinn grinned. "I've had a lot of spare time recently and I've been thinking about baby names." Rachel nodded for her to continue. "For a boy I like Joshua, Tyler and Ryan, and for girls I like Savannah, Hailey and Brooklyn. What do you think?"

"Those are really nice," Rachel scribbled them down in her notebook. "I don't know how to choose between them. Maybe we could have one as the first name and one as the middle name."

Quinn shifted to get comfortable as a shot of pain went through her shoulder then swiftly disappeared. "Joshua Ryan sounds good, I don't know about the girls though…"

"Brooklyn Savannah, Savannah Brooklyn, Hailey Savannah, Hailey Brooklyn, Brooklyn Hailey, " Rachel murmured under her breath trying to find a perfect combination. "We'll just keep thinking about the girls names." Quinn giggled, then stopped, feeling the pain in her throat. "Are you alright?" Rachel asked. Quinn nodded. Rachel wasn't convinced and started racing around, getting Quinn painkillers and water and asking her concerned questions. Quinn smiled faintly.

The doctors said that Quinn would be okay to go back to school by the end of the week. That was too long for Quinn. She was entirely exhausted of lying on her bed pretending to be asleep when her mom announced that she wanted to 'talk'. Well she couldn't avoid it this time. Judy had walked into the room as Quinn was reading American Cheerleader and sat down on the edge of Quinn's bed before her daughter could fake sleep.

"Your father's trial was today," Judy said and Quinn turned to her. That was what she had wanted to talk to about? "Is today. It's still going on." She looked at her daughter as if for support but then thought better of it and took Quinn's hand. "We're going to be okay Quinnie." Quinn hesitantly let her mother hug her. "I'm going down there as a witness later today. Will you be okay here?" Quinn nodded.

Brittany and Santana were at cheerleading so Rachel decided to watch. She was waiting in the bleachers when Noah came over and sat down next to her. Neither of them said anything for a moment as they watched the practise. Quinn was the head cheerleader in Rachel's place but now that she was out for the week Sue had decided to put Santana into her place. Santana's extension was better than Quinn's Rachel had to admit as she watched her best friend lift her leg to her head in a scorpion move as she stood precariously at the top of the pyramid. Then Santana did a double full basket toss. Rachel was stunned as she covered her eyes; Quinn couldn't even do that one, Rachel could of course. The music stopped suddenly as Sue pointed the remote at the player to turn it off and then screamed at the team, "sloppy, sloppy work. Regionals is next week. Anyone who doesn't manage to clean up that routine by the end of today's session is out!" She called Santana over as the others grabbed their water bottles.

Noah took the time to talk to Rachel. "How are you doing?" He asked. "You said you were going to talk to me yesterday but I couldn't find you. It was strange for you not to be at Glee."

"Yeah," Rachel agreed. "Sorry, I completely spaced. I went to go see Quinn."

"How's she doing?" Noah asked a little awkwardly. Quinn was after all one of the reasons she wasn't with him now.

"Better." Rachel said just as awkwardly. This was probably going to be a mistake, but there was only one thing she could think of to talk about right now that they had in common. "We talked about names for the baby."

"Oh." Yep, it had been a mistake. Noah forced a smile. "Got any good ones yet?"

Rachel smiled back, glad he wasn't just dodging around talk of the baby anymore. "We've chosen our name for a boy but we haven't decided on a name for if it's a girl yet." She explained. Noah prodded a little to try and found out the name but he was unsuccessful. "I want you to be involved in some way." Rachel decided suddenly. "That is if you want to."

Noah nodded. "I would, but are you sure? You were right, I'm too irresponsible to look after myself let alone a kid."

Rachel nodded her agreement. "You are, but you're still the biological father and that should count for something. You need to clean up your act though Noah." She said. Noah just nodded.

"Thank you," He said, touching her shoulder in a friendly gesture and then he left. At one time that small gesture would have sent angry shivers down her spine, but they were past that now, they could be friends she hoped. Anyway, even if they weren't friends it wasn't about them anymore, it was about the baby. She didn't want her child to not have a father, she loved her fathers but it had been hard at times without a mother and she would never put anyone else through that if she could stop it.

"Hi it's Rachel!" Rachel called. Judy had given her a spare key for the house so that she could come and see Quinn but it was unlocked today, oddly. She poked her head around Judy's office door where the older woman could often be found but the room was empty. "Mrs F? Quinn?" Rachel hung up her coat on a hanger and then walked up the stairs. All the doors except the one at the end of the corridor were closed. That one was left ajar and Rachel could hear whispers from in the room. At least they were both okay. That was a huge relief, she was starting to worry Russell was back or something.

Rachel pushed the door open a little more and slid in. Neither Fabray woman seemed to notice her though. Judy was pushing Quinn's hair behind her ears and saying something while Quinn looked confused at what reaction to have. The floor creaked as Rachel took another step forwards and they both turned to look at her with the same lost expression on their faces.

"Rachel!" Judy said. "Oh, come sit down." Rachel took the bean bag and pulled it closer to the bed.

"I'm sorry I interrupted," Rachel started. "But the door was-"

"its fine," Said Judy. "I think you should be the next to know." She glanced briefly at Quinn and then back to Rachel. "Russell was found guilty of child abuse, and of abusing me. He has six months in jail, and when he gets out we have a restraining order."

Rachel was breathing heavily. She took one of Quinn's hands as Judy explained how she had gone to the trial instead of work and she had been there when Russell was convicted. She looked as weak as her daughter, even more so in fact. "Mrs F you know that you and Quinn are always welcome to me and my fathers' house especially today, I can see that it would be hard to go about normally, making dinner and things."

"Thank you for the offer Rachel," Said Judy. "But I don't think we should move Quinn." Steadily, Rachel suggested that she bring food over instead and Judy relented, knowing her daughter's girlfriend and knowing that Rachel wasn't going to back down.

Rachel went home and then returned later that evening with cold dinner to heat up in the microwave. She apologised for it being vegan, to wish Judy said there was no reason to apologise, and then helped Quinn's mother take the food upstairs to Quinn's room. They watched some bad romance TV show that Judy liked as they ate and then Judy went downstairs saying that she wanted to get some work done, although Rachel suspected she wanted some cry time alone.

"Please, just say something, anything that will make me laugh," Quinn pleaded after Judy left. "I really need to laugh right now."

"Jenny got kicked off the cheer squad today," Rachel announced and Quinn spluttered suddenly.

"Why?" The blonde asked between gasping breaths from the laughing. That girl was a bigger bitch than Santana. She was dating Dave Karofsky of all people and she acted just like him. Plus in third grade she told the girls they were sluts. They hadn't even known the word then. Well Santana had, and Russell had called Quinn one, but she hadn't known what it meant.

"Her performance was sub-par." Rachel said, doing a posh accent as she said it. "Sue said at the break that she would be kicking people off the team if they weren't perfect and that stupid bitch didn't even listen," She continued. "She had her phone in her pocket as well and it rang during practise. Santana was a little too thrilled to see her go, although she did seem a bit subdued as well. I saw Sue talking to Santana during the break-" Quinn bolted upright. "Careful!" Quinn told her to continue, terrified. "I couldn't hear what Sue was saying though, I was talking to Noah."

"Puck?" Quinn felt an unreasonable bolt of jealousy go through her. Rachel loved her, she was even helping her name her- their- child. "About what?"

"The baby," Rachel said. "I was just saying I think that if he sorts himself out, I'd like it if he would see the baby occasionally so he or she doesn't have to live without a father, like I had to live without a mother." She saw Quinn's not well concealed jealousy and touched her girlfriend's hand. "Hey," She said. "I love YOU. YOU'RE the one who I want to be the second parent to my child, he's just third."

"I love you so much," Quinn whispered.

"I really want to kiss you right now," Stated Rachel, then settled for carefully brushing her lips against Quinn's forehead before she headed home.