Sam stood in the choir room, silently hating Jake for drawing attention towards Sam.

It was the day before Regionals and Tina was having everyone try on their outfits so she could make any last minute adjustments if they needed.

All the glee guys were changing behind a curtain in the back right corner and all the girls had a changing curtain in the left corner. Most of the guys had already changed, so Sam went behind the curtain and began to change, knowing because of his cuts and scars, he couldn't change with anyone else in the room. He was down to his boxer-briefs when Jake walked in.

"What the fuck Sam?" Jake said louder than he should have. He was honestly confused about what he was seeing. Both of Sam's thighs were covered in cuts, scars, and scabs. It scared him to see such horrific injuries on his friend that he'd just hung out with that weekend.

"Dude, get out." Sam nearly snarled at him. This was not how he wanted this to be happening.

It was far too late though. Tina and Mr. Schue were already moving up behind Jake. Sam made a move to grab his jeans, but Jake blocked him.

"Guys? What's going on here?" Mr. Schue used his best calm but authoritative voice but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Sam.

"Seriously, don't be screwing around, we don't-" Tina stopped speaking when she too approached the situation and saw the problem. "Oh…"

"Just let me get dressed please…" Sam was practically begging. He didn't need people to see what he had done.

Mr. Schue sighed and ran his hand over his face. "Sam, you need to have those looked at."

By this time, most of the other glee kids had made their way over towards the curtain. Mr. Schue should have probably stopped them all, but he was far too worried and couldn't take his attention off of the angry red cuts that contrasted Sam's white skin.

Luckily Blaine could see the desperate pleading in Sam's eyes. He stepped in front of everyone and grabbed Sam's jeans from Jake's hands before handing them to Sam.

"Get dressed. We'll talk in a minute." Blaine told Sam quietly. He then turned to the group of glee kids and Mr. Schue and pushed them past the curtain, allowing it to fall closed.

Mr. Schue seemed to snap back to his surroundings. "Ok. Everyone go to the auditorium and go over the choreography. We'll finish the fittings in half an hour."

No one seemed to move. They all just looked at each other and then back at Mr. Schue.

"I said, go." Mr. Schue tried to be authoritative again, but his voice shook slightly. He didn't want it to show, but he was scared for the boy. He had just flashed back to finding an unconscious and bloody Sam only a year before.

Everyone slowly left the choir room and went to go practice, wishing they could stay and find out about Sam.

Blaine was the only one that stayed behind. Once everyone had left, Mr. Schue shut the doors to the choir room and Blaine walked back towards the curtain.

"Sam, you gotta talk to us now. It's just Mr. Schue and I." Blaine assured.

Slowly, Sam walked out fully clothed and took a seat in the front row. Blaine and Mr. Schue pulled seats up near him so they were in a small triangle.

As soon as they were seated, Sam began to speak quietly. "I'm sorry guys. I know I shouldn't-"

"Sam, stop." Mr. Schue said firmly but gently. "Apologies aren't what we need right now."

Sam stared at the space between Blaine and Mr. Schue, not knowing what else to say besides sorry.

Blaine looked at Mr. Schue, not knowing if he should start asking or not. Luckily, Mr. Schue took the lead. "When'd you start again?"

It was a simple enough question, but Sam didn't want to answer. He waited a moment, but Blaine placed his hand on Sam's shoulder and Sam opened up. "A couple days after the shooting."

Mr. Schue was mentally kicking himself. He should have paid more attention. The appearance of 'Evan' had been a cry for help and Will missed it. He was too caught up in his own stuff to really think about what the kids might turn to in order to cope with their fears and stress.

"I'm sorry I missed it Sam."

"It's not like I told anyone… I made sure to keep it hidden. I knew I shouldn't have been doing it… but nothing else was helping anymore. The panic attacks were bad and it was the only thing that helped again."

Blaine stared at Sam, wishing he had known. "Why didn't you tell anyone though? You know you have tons of people who are here for you."

"I don't know. I just… everyone has their own stuff to deal with… and I didn't want to burden everyone again… and I just…don't know."

Tears began to fall from Sam's eyes and Mr. Schue hated that Sam was still struggling so much.

"It's okay Sam. We're going to help you with this. You've had a lot happening this year and we just need to readjust."

There was silence for a while until Sam spoke up again. "What are we going to tell everyone else?"

"That's up to you Sam. Some of them were around last year; others have just seen the scars. You don't need to say anything you're not comfortable sharing," Mr. Schue said gently.

Sam thought about it. Now they'd all seen the cuts, and their questions were bound to be endless…again.

Meanwhile, no one had practiced anything in the auditorium. As soon as they got on stage, Jake began with the questions.

"What the fuck was all of that about? Why is he hurting himself, and why are we being sent away?" Jake definitely had the Puckerman anger that rivaled his older brother's.

Tina wanted him to shut up, but she knew that he was only worried. So they all sat on the stage and the story began to unfold.

No one mentioned the prostitution. Everyone who knew about it, also knew it was something that Sam would tell to the people he needed to. The only ones who didn't know were Kitty, Marley, Unique, and Jake. But Tina began with the story that couldn't be avoided.

"Last year…when we got Sam to come back, he came back different. He had been through a lot while he was in Kentucky and the only way he was able to get through it was by hurting himself."

Jake was about to interrupt, but Tina kept going. "It doesn't make sense, but it helped him. He said the pain is something he can control."

She sighed and continued. "Sam has had a lot of issues… but after…we didn't know…" Tina began to cry and Artie took it as his cue to pick up the story.

"Sam was in the hospital last February because he went too deep… He almost died, and that kind of brought everything out and made him get help. As far as any of us knew, he hasn't hurt himself since then… but now something must have changed."

No one said anything. They just sat there, trying to comprehend the new information. Kitty was the first one to say anything. "Well that's just dumb. If he almost died, why would he start again? And if we're all so close, why couldn't he just say something?"

"Girl, you need to learn how to shut your mouth," Unique interrupted. Kitty looked insulted, but Unique didn't hesitate. "Things aren't always that simple."

"Look, none of that matters. We're all here to support him because he's always here to support us," Ryder said decisively.

"No he isn't. He was a jerk to you when you needed support the other week," Kitty interjected.

"At first, yeah, but he came and talked to me later. He's actually a really amazing guy. He apologized and offered help. He gets me. He gets all of us, a lot more than we realize."

Tina wiped her eyes and chimed in. "He always knows how to help people, even if it's going to set him back."

Mr. Schue walked in right as Tina was finished talking and looked at his group of kids. "I take it there was no dancing for the past 20 minutes?"

"Sorry Mr. Schue, we just needed to talk-" Marley began.

"I know, don't worry about it. Sam and Blaine are going to join us in a minute. Just listen to Sam alright, don't push him."

Everyone nodded and waited for their answers.

Sam and Blaine walked in and sat down on the stage with everyone else. Blaine squeezed Sam's shoulder gently, letting him know he had support.

"I'm sorry you all had to see that. I was doing better for a while… but then the… shooting… and I started having panic attacks and nothing helped… so I went back to what I knew would calm me down…" Sam took a deep breath, trying not to look at anyone directly.

"I know I should have talked to someone about it. I could have gotten help, but I didn't. We were all dealing with that whole thing in our own way and I didn't want to make a big deal about it."

"Sam… we're always going to want to help you. No matter what we're dealing with on our own, you're always there for us and we're always here for you." Marley spoke softly.

Sam accepted what she said, but still didn't seem to believe it. He could only remember the times where he screwed up.

"She's right dude," Jake picked up. "You've been able to help everyone here with something. I mean, I know you've helped Marley so much more than any of the rest of us. You helped me sort shit out with Puck-"

"And seriously man, I've started seeing a therapist now 'cause you talked with me." Ryder added.

Sam wiped away the few tears that had fallen from his face and stood up. "Thanks guys. I… I need to go home and deal with stuff, but I'll see you all tomorrow and we'll dominate Regionals. Okay?"

Everyone nodded and Artie smiled. "Group hug?" He asked with a smirk.

Sam laughed and they all joined in for a group hug, happy that Sam was going to be okay again.

Blaine drove Sam's car back to the Hudson-Hummel's. Sam was in no shape to drive and he was now intending to spend the night to help Sam through things.

"You're going to be fine again Sam," Blain assured his best friend.

"Sometimes it doesn't feel that way." Sam confessed. "Like, even the days that are good, I still think about hurting myself… and the longer I go without it, the worse the relapses get… I just am so sick of being broken."

"We'll get you through it man, just like we get through everything else together."

The two teens arrived at the house and Blaine parked the car in the driveway. As soon as they walked in the house Carole came out with a tray of cookies in her hand.

"Boys, don't you have glee practice until late tonight? Regionals are tomorrow…"

"Yeah, Sam and I had to leave early. There are some things we need to deal with that are more important than Regionals," Blaine told her, adding a look that told her this was serious and she was needed.

"Oh. Well, let me get the rest of the cookies out of the oven. Come sit at the table." Carole turned and led the boys back into the kitchen. They sat down as she placed the plate of cookies down in between them and went to get the tray out of the oven.

"I'm baking these for tomorrow for you kids. Go ahead and try them, make sure they're perfect."

Both Blaine and Sam took a cookie and began to eat. "They're amazing." Sam said softly.

"Alright," Carole said lightly as she turned off the oven and sat down with the boys. "What's going on?"

Blaine looked at Sam but knew he wouldn't want to admit what he'd been doing again. "We found out that… Sam has been cutting again."

Carole sighed, but didn't show her slight disappointment and frustration. She loved this boy like her own and hated that he was struggling so much under her own roof.

"I see… Sam, can you talk to me, please?"

Sam nodded and finished his cookie quickly. "I guess I just couldn't put everyone through this again, but I needed it… After the shooting… none of the things that usually helped were working anymore. The panic attacks were intense and… I didn't want to be sent back to the hospital…"

Carole felt some tension shift in her shoulders. She too had been having trouble after the shooting. She knew everyone probably was, but she never imagined Sam would start hurting himself again. She was sure he would ask for help. He should know better by now.

"Alright Sam," she thought for a moment. They needed a plan. "You see your therapist once a week right now?" With a nod from Sam, she continued. "Okay, we're going to see if there's anything she can give you to help with the panic attacks… are you okay with medication?"

Sam wasn't really sure about it. He'd never really thought about being put on medication for anything going on in his mind. "I don't know. I guess I would be okay with it."

Blaine could see Sam was mentally debating it. "You know Sam, before I transferred to Dalton, I was on some anti-anxiety meds. They helped a lot. It could only be temporary, you never know, they might help."

Carole nodded, she understood his slight hesitation. "Well we'll see what she says, okay? Also, you need to talk to your parents about this again. I want you to go visit them for spring break."

Sam stared at his hands on the table. He dreaded disappointing his parents again. He still talked to them every other day per their agreement from last year, but they would hate that he hadn't told them about this. "Yeah," he said meekly.

"Alright. Well, dinner will be in a couple hours. Why don't you boys get some homework done or watch some TV." Carole stood up and walked back over towards the stove.

Sam walked into the living room quietly, wondering what he should do next. Blaine waited a moment and then approached Carole.

"Carole, is it cool if I spend the night?"

"Oh honey, I just assumed you would." She smiled and pulled Blaine in for a hug. "Thank you for looking out for him."

The boys didn't really talk about things that night. They did practice a bit for the competition tomorrow, but mostly they played video games and watched TV before going to sleep early, knowing they had a long day tomorrow.

When New Directions won Regionals, the next day, Sam could barely believe it. He was so amazed that they had done it again. This team was unstoppable and as they stood in the choir room watching Mr. Schue getting married, Sam couldn't tell what would happen next. He was losing Britney for good, but he still had all the other glee kids and he still had an entire future to plan out.

So this is it. I will write another story at the end of season 5. Hopefully you liked it. I don't think it's as good as the first one, but I couldn't just not write it. So let me know your thoughts. Anything you'd want to see in the next story? I love feedback, good or bad. Thanks :)