Little Ghouls | Glee

25 | Choke You Later

25 | Choke You Later

East Village, New York City

✩───✩───✩

"She doesn't need to go back to Dr. Paul right now."

"Then let's find a better doctor."

"She doesn't need that either. Change on top of change is too risky."

"She's killing birds again." Santana repeated, rolling her fork through the pasta in front of her. She glanced to her right, where Grace was trying her best to avoid her gaze, and sighed. "Gracie, babe, we have to do something. I get you don't want her to be stuck in therapy, but she needs help. Her meds are obviously not working. Luca said she's been in her head constantly."

Quinn glanced between the two women as Grace stared down at her plate. She tried not to let her face reflect her thoughts as she watched the glossiness of Grace's emerald eyes deepen and shift slightly to the right past Brittany. It was a familiar movement. So tiny and so slight that Quinn almost didn't catch it, despite seeing this a lot when they were dating in high school. All the signs she missed, Quinn wouldn't take chances anymore.

"Gracie." Quinn leaned forward and lowered her head slightly, raising her brows when the woman's eyes shot to hers. "Just us?"

Grace laced her fingers with Brittany's across the table and hummed, glancing to the right and forcing her eyes away. She took a few deep breaths and slipped her hand away from the blonde to run her fingers through her hair.

"I am more worried about her feeling like we think there is something wrong with her. She's already uncomfortable about this move and the school. Too much at once will overload her. Little things are setting her off." Grace confessed. "When my parents had to put me in the hospital, I felt hopeless. I felt like they didn't believe I could be a normal, good kid for so long and...and..."

"El put you in the hospital because you hurt yourself, Dovey." Santana whispered, glancing down at the tattoos covering the deep, aged scars on Grace's wrists. She reached over and brushed Grace's natural waves out of her face, tucking them behind her ear. "We don't want to get to that point. When she might feel like that right now. She's killing animals. These are the psychopathic tendencies they warned us about when she was younger and we have to do things."

"She can't feel things like a normal kid. Her processing concerns me." Quinn added.

"Because she's autistic, Quinnie." Brittany quickly jumped into the conversation when Grace's eyes flashed in warning. "You have to remember we are raising a—" She glanced at Grace. "—hyper aware schizophrenic child with extreme sensory and processing issues. She doesn't feel extreme emotions, but you can't ignore how she feels over little things. This is just like Wiley, but Lilly knows how to mask incredibly well until she can't."

"I'm not trying to forget that, honey." Quinn shrank slightly as Brittany's fork aggressively stabbed the chicken on her plate. She looked at Grace and shook her head. The last thing she needed was both the woman upset with her over their children again. "Lilly is already terrified we're turning her over to CPS. It took me hours to calm her down at the cabin when she got into that fight with Luca because—"

"You use it as a weapon?" Grace cocked her brow, stabbing her plate and looking up at Quinn. "Don't think I haven't heard that before. My kids tell me things after they had their time with you."

"It was only a few times. I-I stopped." Quinn insisted, heart pounding as Grace's sharp eyes backed her into a corner. "She just...I think she feels like there isn't a reason to trust us."