This was a one shot in my collection 'The Game or The Girl', but i got pretty positive feedback on it, so i'm going to continue it on. It will still probably end up pretty short, but i hope you enjoy what i have anyway.

DISCLAIMER: i do not own glee.

Rachel POV

She could barely recognize herself as she stared at her own bruised and bare figure in the mirror.

She pressed her index finger to the tender, discolored flesh, wincing at the pain made by the contact. She remembered when it first happened, when Jesse first hit her.

She stared at him in shock as she pressed her own palm to the sore spot on her cheek. Had Jesse just hit her? He had. One moment they were arguing over a stupid, drunk jock hitting on her at the party they'd attended, the next, her skin was burning where he'd slapped her. Anger still shone in his eyes and she wasn't whether to be shocked or scared. No. She wasn't going to be a victim, she'd been raised to stand up for herself. She wouldn't let Jesse bully her-there was enough of that at school. She's seen the stories on the news and enough movies to firmly state that she would never be one of those girls. The girl who was secretly being abused, the girl who couldn't stand up for herself, the girl who lied to everyone and pretended everything was okay, the girl who was just as disgusted with herself as she was with her attacker, the girl who was afraid of everything.

"Leave." was all she said, but unfortunately that wasn't what he did.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Rachel." He told her with what looked like sincerity. "I love you Rachel, i didn't mean that. Please, just forgive me. I love you, I can't lose you. I will never do anything like that again. I promise. Forgive me, Rachel. Please, you have to forgive me."

She's not sure why, but she did. She forgave him. Maybe because he was the first guy to tell her that he loved her, and she just melted. It never even occurred to her he could be lying or acting or whatever it was that he was truly doing.

That's how it started. He'd hit her once, and apologized, promised to never do it again. But he did. The next time he hit her, he apologized and she's not sure why, but she forgave him. Again. Every time it happened from then on, he apologized, proclaimed his love, and she forgave him.

Then, slowly, it started happening more and more. And eventually the apologies ceased to exist, and he'd make Rachel feel like she'd been the one in the wrong. She would do something he didn't like, and he'd punish her. She had accepted it as a part of life soon enough. He'd gotten more and more violent as time passed. And she'd gotten better and better at hiding it from everyone else.

She never told a soul. Only she and Jesse knew, and from the threats he sent her way, she knew that's how things had to stay.

And somehow, she became that girl. The one she never wanted to be. The scared girl who pretended life was great but felt like she was dying inside. The girl that hated herself, because she couldn't stand up to him. The one with the fake smile, who was secretly fearing for her life. The victim.

Oh, how she hated that word. But that's just what she was. She was a victim of domestic violence. And she just lived with that.

She lived with the lie. She lived with the violence. She lived with the pain. She lived with the bruises. She lived with the fear.

Every day she woke up and stared at herself naked in the mirror in disgust. She hated that she'd let herself get to this point. She hated herself for not standing up against Jesse.

Why didn't she though?

Because you'd do anything for the one you love. But the thing about that... she doesn't think she loves Jesse, and she's certain he doesn't truly love her. Because if he did, he would never do the horrible things he does to her. Would he?

She keeps telling herself that she'll stop it next time, that she won't keep taking the abuse. She internally promises herself that it will all be over soon, and that things will be better, but it never happens. Things don't get better. They just keep getting worse actually. She always breaks that self promise, and just takes the abuse, covers it up, and pretends it never happened. And she hates herself a little more.

So here she is, covering up the multi-colored bruises with plenty of clothing and make-up. And no one ever suspects anything, or at least they didn't... until today.

It's the first time she's slipped up since it started. She doesn't usually let herself make these kind of mistakes, because they will always mean more punishment. More abuse.

So she'd gotten slushied, nothing new, obviously. She kept calm as she picked up her drenched belongings and made her way to the nearest bathroom. She made sure no one else was in the stalls before she began stripping off her sticky clothing and wiping her skin clean with a wet towel, just as she does every time. She erased the thick makeup from her face with the damp towel and looked at her bruised body in the mirror.

Her mistake? She forgot to lock the door.

How stupid of her!

Thats when she heard the gasp from behind.

She twirled around quickly and met the shocked gaze of Santana Lopez. Santana let her gaze run over Rachel's discolored skin, then quickly shut and locked the door.

"What happened to you?!" She demanded.

Rachel of course lied, "Nothing. I-I fell."

"Fell my ass!" Santana shrieked.

Then Rachel picked up her belongings and ran into a stall. Ignoring the Cheerio's questioning, she rushed to get dressed and apply her makeup to cover her bruises, before hurrying past Santana on her way out the door.

Somehow, though, she knew, this was not the end of this. Santana might just be on to her little secret, one that she was desperately trying to hide. And Rachel was almost as afraid of what her tormentors could do to her with this information, as she was of what Jesse would surely do when he inevitably found out about Rachel's slip up. Almost.

Santana POV

"I think Rachel's being abused or something." She told Quinn only moments after the scene in the bathroom.

"What are you talking about San?" the perky blonde asked back, both annoyed and confused.

"I walked in on her in the bathroom a bit ago, and she was... i don't know. Beat up and covered in bruises. She said it was nothing and ran out, but, you should have seen it Quinn. That was not nothing."

"Who cares? It's just Ru' Paul." Her friends reaction shocked her. Even Quinn couldn't be that cold hearted. Could she?

So Santana questioned her carefully, "You can't mean that, right?"

"Why shouldn't i? She's probably just making it up for attention or something."

"And if she's not?" She asked, beginning to get angry at Quinn's response.

"Well then she probably deserves it." Quinn said simply, applying a thick coat of lip gloss.

Santana was outraged. Turns out Quinn really is that cold hearted. Here Santana was, telling her that someone they knew-granted someone they didn't always (99.9% of the time) like-was getting abused, and Quinn went on doing her makeup as though it was nothing.

"Are you kidding me right now?!" Santana shrieked. "I know you don't like her, but not even she deserves that. I can't believe you Quinn. Who would've thought you'd be a bigger bitch than even me?" with that, she walked away, she wouldn't be like Quinn. She wouldn't sit back and let this happen when she knew about it-not even to Rachel Berry.

Puck POV

Puck was more than a little curious when he walked into Glee that afternoon to see Rachel and Santana talking quietly in the corner. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could clearly see both of their expressions. So, he took his seat in the back and, along with the rest if the gleeks, watched the scene.

At first it seemed like Santana was mad and Rachel was scared, which is nothing new. But then, Santana's expression softened and she rested an arm on Rachel's shoulder, as though she was comforting her-which of course confused the hell out of Puck because really? Santana Lopez comforting Rachel Berry? No one would believe it. Then Rachel was suddenly the one looking angry. She shook off Santanas comforting hand, and started whisper yelling something. Santana wouldn't take any of it though, and started whisper yelling right back. Suddenly and randomly, Rachel began to cry, and fell into Santana who embraced her in a hug (Okay SERIOUSLY, Santana and Rachel hugging? Did hell freeze over while he was skipping out on math class for his daily nap in the nurses office, or what?!).

And watching Santana comforting Rachel as she cried, all he wanted to do was run over and take Satan's place. Why? Probably cause he's liked Rachel for well.. close to forever actually.

Soon enough though, Rachel sniffled her last few tears and Santana and her spoke for only a minute more before walking over to the group and sitting together. They ignored the gossip and questioning from the other gleeks, and the glares of an especially angry Quinn Fabray.

He wondered if this all had anything to do with the way Rachel's been acting really strange lately-yeah, he's noticed.

But before he could talk to Rachel to find out, Mr Schue walked in, and Puck was left wondering: Seriously, what the hell was going on?

Rachel POV

"Hey Rache, you got a second?" It was Puck asking as they all packed up at the end of glee.

"Um.. yeah. What can i help you with, Noah?" She asked with a fake, bright smile.

"I just, uh.. wanted to make sure you were okay." He seemed nervous. "You know, cause you were crying and all. And you've been acting really strange lately, like not yourself and uh.. yeah. So is everything alright?" She was tired of lying to everyone. She wished she could just tell Noah everything right here and now, but if she did she'd be paying for it later. And that wasn't something she was willing to do.

"Y-yeah, Santana and i were just talking about some stuff. It's nothing you need to worry about."

"Are you sure, Rache? You seemed pretty upset and-"

"I'm positive, Noah. Everything's fine."

But everything wasn't fine. And that was the night that her whole situation really hit her... literally. That was the night that she finally stood up to Jesse and almost payed for it with her life.

"I can't do this anymore." She told him quietly, trying to stay strong. "I can't live like this."

"Live like what, Rachel?" Jesse asked, pretending to care, though he seemed more interested in the video of another Vocal Adrenaline performance that was playing on his laptop.

"I can't live in fear anymore. I can't pretend i love you just to avoid another beating. You need to get out of my house and out of my life Jesse."

She's not exactly sure what happened after that...

Puck POV

He'd thought all night about his conversation with Rachel yesterday, and he'd come to the conclusion that something was most certainly going on. And he swore he was going to confront her and find out what it was.

Only... Rachel didn't show up for school that day. Well that's odd, doesn't she have like perfect attendance or something?

It seems he'd have to get his answers elsewhere... Santana! She knew what was going on, so that's who he looked for next. But she was nowhere to be found either.

Must be a coincidence, right?

Just before lunch he saw Rachel's dads exiting principal Figgins' office. Why were they here?

He approached them but was taken aback by what he saw.

Her fathers looked like they'd been crying for days, and gotten little to no sleep last night.

"Mr and Mr Berry? Is everything okay?"

"Oh, Noah." Hiram said, surprised. "What ever do you mean?"

He'd actually gotten along with the Berry's when he'd been dating Rachel earlier that year. They were pretty cool guy's, and seemed to approve of him, which was totally weird, and a first for Puck.

"Well, Rachel isn't in school, but you are... Is everything okay with her?"

"We might as well tell the boy, Hiram. He's going to find out soon enough."

"Yes i suppose you're right." Puck was seriously starting to get worried.

"What am i going to find out? What happened? Is Rache okay? I knew she was acting strange but-" Puck rambled until he was cut off.

"Calm down, son. Rachel, she's.. she's in the hospital."