It was the after school Glee rehearsal. Mr Schuester came running through the door, late as usual, with a huge grin on his face.

'Okay, kids,' he announced proudly to the class. 'This week's assignment is dreams.'

The group began discussing ideas noisily, thinking about what the teacher had meant by dreams. Will scanned the room.

Wait a second. There's someone missing. Rachel.

He knew he had missed Rachel's annoying list of song suggestions which normally hit him as he entered the choir room. Then again, come to think of it, truthfully, that hadn't really happened much recently.

'Wait a sec, guys,' he asked. 'Has anyone seen Rachel?'

The room was silent; no one had noticed the absence of the resident diva.

I need to get away from it all

'Damn it Berry!' Puck shouted, whacking his hand to his forehead

'What is it, Puck?' asked Mr Schue

'I know where she is,' he replied, beginning to stand up. 'She's somewhere she goes to escape, but also somewhere where she can really harm herself.'

'What? The auditorium?' Quinn remarked scathingly.

'No, somewhere more private,' he retorted, getting more and more frustrated with all this time wasting. 'Look, I can't explain right now, just come with me.'

Puck ran out of the choir room, the rest of the intrigued club following behind him as he ran to the nearest set of stairs and climbed up, skipping every other step, until he reached the door which opened out onto the school rooftop.

'She's on the roof?' Mr Schue asked.

'Mr Schuester, you should know that Rachel is in a bad place at the moment, a really bad place. She likes coming to the roof, because she likes to see the sky and stars, which makes it seem that she is closer to her dream, or some crazy shit like that.

'She's one of the bravest people I know,' he continued. 'I don't know anyone else who could deal with the level of crap she has to deal with at the moment and now she's finally starting to crack. In school, she doesn't deserve to be bullied and tormented by those who hate the Glee club, let alone those in the Glee club 'family'. What has she ever done to them? Even you, Mr Schue, you turn a blind eye to what everyone in this group, this family, does to her. What type of family treats its members like shit? She's the best singer we've got, and yet we punish her for it!'

Mr Schue and the rest of the listening Glee club started to look slightly ashamed of their actions, faint traces of guilt appearing on a few faces.

'Have you ever noticed,' Puck continued, getting stronger, staring each member of the club in the eye, 'that her Dads, whom she loves, never come to watch her stunning performances? No? That's because they're too busy with their work to really bother with her any more. She is home alone for most of the term. They are too wrapped up in their own lives to spare a thought for her! Rach has spent the last week at my house, crying her eyes out to my mum - the nearest thing to a mother figure she has ever had - since her real one abandoned her.'

'I'm really sorry Puck. I did'nt know. I don't think any of us knew - ,' Tina appealed to her fellow group members for support.

'Well, now you do.'

With that, Noah opened the door to the roof garden, only usually used by the school's horticulture society in the summer. Most of the time it was abandoned, the perfect place to hide out. Rachel and Noah had discovered it while they briefly dated last year.

'Rach, where are you?' he shouted with a sense of urgency.

He caught sight of her leaning over the railings which ran around the perimeter of the roof, a feeble attempt to stop students falling off the five-storey building. Her eyes were closed and he could hear she was whispering a prayer to herself in Hebrew.

'Berry, step back!' he cried. 'Rachel, please!'

'Why should I, Noah?' came the reply. 'Tell me, why should I, when nobody wants me? No one would miss me.'

'The Glee club would. We need you for Nationals!'

'They only want me for my voice, not because they like me!'

'Your parents would miss you.' He was trying to keep his voice from shaking, hoping Rachel wouldn't hear the faint quake in his words.

'My dads and I haven't really conversed with each other properly since the beginning of the summer, when they told me that they were going on a two month cruise which would hopefully fix their relationship for the whole summer.'

'Think what it would do to my family,' Noah pleaded, taking a step closer to the crying girl.

'They could survived without me.'

'Really? Think what it would do to my Mum and Dani. Dani would miss you. Who else would sing with her and do maths homework at the same time?'

'I just can't do this anymore!'

'Damn it, Rach!' Noah implored desperately. 'I need you.'

'Why Noah?'

'Because, Berry,' Noah said almost hesitantly, to the shocked Glee club, who had now gathered around to watch the scene unfold, too scared to get involved. Some had unnoticed tears running down their cheeks. 'I love you.'

'You love me?' Rachel asked, turning round to face Noah and taking a subconscious step away from the edge.

'I love your passion and your craziness.' he continued more confidently. 'The way your smile can light up a room, the way you try to help everyone and are so stuck on your dreams, dreams that will make you fly all the way out of Lima.'

With this declaration, Rachel ran full force into Noah's opened arms 'I'm so sorry No-No,' she cried, calling him by his childhood nickname.

'I was so fucking scared, Berry,' he said, wrapping his arms tighly around the tiny girl and burying his nose into her sweet-smelling hair. 'Just never do anything like that to me again,' he whispered softly.

With that, Noah leant down and gave Rachel a very passionate kiss, right on the roof top of the school, under the setting sun, right in front of the amazed Glee club.

It was next week in Glee; a lot had happened between that incident and the present meeting. Noah and Rachel had officially started going out and she had moved in with his family, to the delight of Mrs Puckerman. The Glee club had also started being nicer to Rachel, realising what she had done for all of them in their own times of need.

Rachel now stood, somewhat shyly at the front of the choir room ready to sing. She closed her eyes.

Everything was not going to get better over night, she realised, but it was a start, and now she knew that there was somebody looking out for her, who genuinely loved her. Hearing the opening chords, she started to sing, getting lost in the music.

I follow the night
Can't stand the light
When will I begin to live again

One day I'll fly away
Leave all this to yesterday
What more could your love do for me
When will love be through with me
Why live life from dream to dream
And dread the day when dreaming ends

One day I'll fly away
Leave all this to yesterday
Why live life from dream to dream
And dread the day when dreaming ends

One day I'll fly away

Fly fly away...

Thanks to everyone who has read, alerted and reviewed, it means a lot to me.
Please drop be a little review to let me know what you thought and what you think I could improve!
Thanks again! ~Cherry

Glee and 'One day I'll fly away' from Moulin Rouge do not belong to me :(

Edited 04/25/11