Disclaimer: See last chapter.

"Look at me." Rachel watched Jane as she walked over to her, turning her head to see the woman, but she didn't move. She didn't even flinch from the woman's cold touch, she just sat there, staring ahead but not really seeing anything. She slowly got down to the girls level and shook her head, "Don't you dare blame yourself."

Rachel doesn't say or do anything, she just stared ahead of her, never really listening, never caring, never really seeing. She thinks it's all her fault, that dream she had... blood on her hands.. Lady Macbeth.. Rachel was never going to move on from this. She would never forget Gemma, and that guilt would never leave.

"Gemma was in a lot of pain and she felt like this was the only way out." Rachel just nodded, and she seemed surprised by her first reaction at all since the death.

She whispers, "Let me go home."

"Not yet, you're not ready."

"I'm never going to be ready, there's too many bad memories here. Please.. let me go home." She looked at the woman, pleading, desperation in her eyes and she could see the distrust in Jane's eyes. She knew that she wasn't going to let her go home, not until she can accept the fact she wouldn't try anything.

Rachel knew she owed it to Gemma to move on, she knew she would never let it get the way it was before. Not again. She sighed, and got up off her seat, slowly able to ease herself out of the shock that had taken over since Gemma's death over a week ago.

"I'm sorry, but not yet."

"When then?" She looked out the window, walking away from Jane as far as she possibly could, afraid of losing her temper as she clenches her first. She closes her eyes and think of her best friends and Finn for a moment, a time when she was happy and had everything she had ever wanted. She ruined it.

"I don't know when, Rachel. As soon as I believe you to be ready."

"I'm ready now, I can promise that. I can't be here any longer."

"I'm really sorry." Jane just shook her head, sitting down and looking through some papers. Rachel sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair, biting her lip,

"Look, Gemma had real problems, major problems that she could never escape from. But I.. I.. my problems are not the same. I made my own problems, I cam break away from my predicament.. and I can move on with my life. She is never going to be able to do that, but I want to do this for the both of us. I was being selfish, making issues out of stuff that were never there, that were never important." She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts, finally feeling like the old Rachel Berry, who used to speak too much for her own good,

"I really did think I had problems at the time but I never did.. I only thought I did, does that make me a bad person?" Jane shook her head and sighed,

"It doesn't but there are some issues you have yet to address. The behaviour you have shown, here and back home, that doesn't start for no reason. I know that Gemma and many others here may have different, perhaps more severe issues than yourself but that doesn't make their reasons to be here any better than yours. Gemma killed herself, it wasn't the best option but.." Jane paused, about to speak again before Rachel interrupted;

"She thought it was the best option, okay? She did what she thought was best for her, for the first time. She couldn't handle coming in and out of this place for the rest of her life. You were killing her and so was her dad, if he had believed her then none of this would have ever happened. She would still be the happy girl she was before, and she would be alive." Rachel looked away, biting her lip to stop herself from crying,

"She wanted to die, she always wanted to die the moment he called her a liar. She never thought about anything else, and with every failed attempt.. she died a little more inside and it carried on and then she did it. I understand now that it was not my fault. If I hadn't have been here, she may have done it sooner. Just don't talk about her, you have no right to talk about her. None of you do." Rachel turned around to look at the woman, who looked a little hurt by the speech but she didn't care, Gemma had tried to tell her how she really felt but she never felt like she could.

"I'm ready to go home now."

"I don't think you are."

"Just listen to me.. please.. Gemma is happier now. She didn't have any hope and she didn't have a home to go to but I do. Please let me go there." Rachel watched as the woman shook her head, and she lowered her head in defeat, not uttering a word as she grabbed her bag and runs out of there.

That night Rachel packed her bag as quickly as she could, not leaving anything behind this time. She wasn't planning on getting caught and she wasn't planning on ever coming back. She was going to be okay, she was ready and even if Jane couldn't see that, her parents would. And if they didn't.. her friends would. Finn would. Someone would see. Someone had to realize how far she had come; she knew someone would realize.

She escaped, the same way she had before and she ran. She ran as far as she could, not knowing where to go. She wandered around for days, not really knowing where to go without any money. She hoped she wouldn't attract any attention to herself, because it would mean a one-way trip back to that hell.

Finally though, luck is on her side and she can feel Gemma with her. She finds a poster for a local runaway helpline centre – it was the answer she had been looking for, she could finally go home. She could phone her parents, tell them she was okay and then ask them to pick her up. She wasn't that far from Ohio anymore. She was just going to beg for them to let her come back home, inform her of how ready she was and how much she just wanted to forget it all.

"Daddy?" She whispers down the phone, clutching it as though it's a lifeline. She can hear the sigh of relief, and her dad and Shelby in the background, talking to her daddy. "Daddy? Please don't send me back, I know I'm in the wrong for running away but I swear to you, I'm ready to come home. I promise you that if I do anything wrong, you can take me straight back. I promise daddy, dad... please." Tears fall down her cheeks as she hears a sniff on the other side,

"I heard about your friend, we're so sorry baby."

"Daddy, I need you to believe me when I say I'm ready.. you have to believe me. No one else does."

"I do, my beautiful star. I know you want to and we want you home, too."

"R-really? You do? Can I come home now?" She looked around the room at the other teenagers, most of them on the phone to tell their parents that they were okay, but they can't go back home. "How can I get home?"

"Finn is on his way to pick you up."

"Finn?"

"Yeah, he's right here, honey. He's been so worried about you, he's been here every single day since you left, he misses you just as much as we do."

"I miss you all, too." She smiled and looked around, "I'm about four hours from home." She can hear her daddy tell Finn, and then asks for the exact location. Rachel closes her eyes, smiling as she tells him. She was going home, she couldn't wait.

"Rachel?" She looked up from the seat she had been sitting in for over four hours now, and grins at the boy in front of her. "I missed you so much." He whispered, gathering her up in his strong arms and kissing her with so much more passion than she ever thought possible. She gasped a little when they both pulled back and then wrapped her arms around his neck, and she knew what real happiness felt like. "I won't let anyone hurt you again. I won't let them take you." He says as he takes her hand and pulls her to the car, she nods and watches him climb into the drivers seat.

"I love you, Finn Christopher Hudson."

"I love you too, Rachel Barbara Berry." He smiled a little and then shook his head before driving off, "We need to get you home, your dads are waiting to wrap their arms around you." She nodded and looked out of the window.

It was over, the worst part was finished, complete. She was going to be okay, her life was going back to normal. Happiness would be found, even if she seemed like she fought so hard to achieve it. But in the end, she knew she had achieved one thing she had been looking for – true love.

She finally found the one person she had been looking for, the person she loved more than anything else in the world, she was just a little late realizing it. She laughed at the grin on his face and she realized – she was finally home. And she was going to stay there this time.

"Love is always patient and kind, it is never jealous, love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it never does take offence and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other peoples sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes. Love does not come to an end."