A/N: This is a semi-prompt from PezberryLuvr who asked me to publish one of the stories from out of my comp books. she asked for a story from book 2. This is the first chapter of that story.
Her brow furrowed ever tighter as she stood in the threshold of the door watching the girl's chest rise and fall evenly. She'd never seen her so pale before. She was usually so tan. Santana remembered thinking that a couple weeks ago when she'd seen the shorter girl at the Lima bean. A green tea frappe and a pair of Ray Bans in her small hands. That trademark smile had spread across her cheeks when she'd locked eyes with her.
The Latina singer also remembered cursing her eyes for immediately locking onto long, toned, bared legs, capped off at the top by unbelievably short shorts. They must've hated her, her eyes, because they were drawn to a long neck that dipped down to meet an elegant collarbone and even lover, to very visible cleavage. Maybe that body was why Rachel was always so confident.
Now though, unconscious on a hospital bed, Rachel was so pale, too pale. It scared her, honestly. Santana walked closer to the bed, cringing when she saw a long jagged lengthwise scar on the brunette's left wrist.
"God, Rachel...what happened?" She turned quick when someone walked in the door behind her.
"There was a car accident. Ms. Berry was hit by a drunk driver. That scar you see is a result of the crash. She lost quite alot of blood. We were lucky she's type AB." Santana grimaced. She should have been here...somehow. Not at home moping over her best friend.
"But she's okay now? There was no internal trauma, no cranial damage?" The doctor shook his head.
"That makes sense now, your name being Lopez. You're Christian's daughter." The doctor extended his hand, but when Santana looked at him like he was insane, he brought his hand to his head.
"Sorry...Yea, she's okay. We'll need to keep her overnight, you know how that goes. Ms. Berry is obviously an intelligent young woman. She had her seat belt on. I can barely get my son to even think about it." The doctor said, keeping his eyes on the monitor as he pulled the tube from Rachel's throat. Santana yelled at him to be really careful with that.
"Thanks. Sorry for yelling. Her voice is just really important to her." She watched as Rachel's breathing evened out again, brushing her hair away from her eyes with a hesitant hand. When the doctor left, she went behind him and out to the desk.
"Hi, what can I do to help you?"
"Hey. I'm Santana Lopez, can you page Dr. Lopez for me? And I need a cot, blanket, and pillow. I'll take all the stuff that needs to be filled out and the patients belongings too."
Twenty minutes later, Santana was just finished with the first few pages of the pages clipped to the board in her hands when she heard the door opening. Her dad walked in, looking more than a little tired. It was a little strange. He worked late nights and Santana knew he was always tired when he got home, but the two of them always spent a couple hours together when he got home. Her dad always tried to pretend he wasn't dying to fall into his bed and close his eyes for a few days.
"Tana? Oh, hey mija." Christian leaned down and pressed a scratchy kiss against her forehead. He seriously needed to shave.
"Hola papi." She stood to hug her dad and looked over to a still peacefully sleeping Rachel.
"So what happened, Santi?" He flipped open the chart, speed reading through the information before he looked down at her again.
"Papi this is Rachel. She's a friend from school. We're in glee club together. I just wanted you to check it out before you went home. Her chart? So I can stop worrying. She's really okay, right?" The latina wasn't completely stupid. She was aware that calling her dad down just to reassure her that Rachel was, in fact, completely okay was probably overkill.
"Her iron's a little low."
"She's a vegan, daddy." Santana rolled her eyes. She knew him too well. The two of them were all they had.
"Why don't they understand, they need the nutrients..." She rolled her eyes again.
"She's taking supplements. It should be fine, papi. She's okay?" She grabbed the chart from his hands as gently as she could, flipping through the pages quickly as she read only what she needed to.
"Yea, baby girl. She's good. Are you?" He put the chart back where it belonged and wrapped his arms around her, dropping a familiar and comforting kiss against the top of her head.
"Doctor Ellison?...said it was a drunk driver." Her dad nodded his head, a grim look in his eyes. "Azimio" was all he said.
Her eyes went wide and anger surged up in her, but before she could ask anything, a tiny, croaking, but still very much recognizable voice spoke up.
"San...Santana?"
She whirled around , wide eyes locking with coffee hued orbs that had just struggled to find her face. She grabbed the water next to the bed and pushed the button to raise the bed a bit so the girl was sitting up. She stuck the straw between chapped but still full lips.
"Shh. Don't talk, just drink a little bit, okay?" The only indication that Rachel could understand was the sound of suction through the straw. Santana cupped the girl's face with her palm an brushed away mussed up hair before setting down the water after a few moments of no suction.
She took the tie off her wrist and pulled the brunette's locks into a loose ponytail.
"San-"
The taller of the two placed her forefinger over those lips to get the singer to stop trying to speak. Santana reached back into her pocket and came out with a tube of lip chap she had bought for Sam, She ripped apart the plastic and pulled off the cap. The latina twisted the dial and puckered up her lips at Rachel until she did the same. Once the lip chap was even over the other girl's lips she set it aside.
"Don't speak Rach. Nod if you're hungry." Santana looked down, flipped Rachel's hands palm up, and caressed her palm with her fingers. All the while frowning and furrowing her brow at the five inch cut now stitched up on the singer's left wrist. The Latina pushed the nurse button when she saw the girl nod.
"How can I help you?"
"Can we get a bowl of broth please? Has to be vegan."
"You got it. It'll be a few minutes Santana."
Absorbed in Rachel, the taller girl didn't notice her father watching her closely. He walked up next her and spoke.
"If you're okay, mija, i'm gonna go home and change my clothes, bring you some, and I'll stay with you, okay?" She shook her head, smiling up at him.
"It's okay, daddy. you've been here for like fourteen hours, go home. I'm fine. I'll take care of Rachel." She said, her hands still linked with the ones that were trying to go back to their normal shade of tan. He smiled warmly at her. As if there was ever any doubt in his mind.
"I know you will, baby girl." He turned and left, a nurse walking in behind him. She set down the broth on the table and left. Santana laid the cloth napkin on Rachel's lap before grabbing the spoon to feed the girl.
When she screwed her mouth shut tight and shook her head, reaching for the spoon with her right hand, the taller of the two gently pushed her hand away.
"Open you mouth now Rachel." She said softly. The shorter brunette frowned, but did as instructed and opened her mouth.
...
She'd been done eating for about fifteen minutes when Santana reached in her bag and grabbed a pen and empty college ruled comp. book. She laid them both on the singer's lap.
'Why am I here? What happened Santana? Why do I have this scar on my wrist? So that was your dad? He's really nice. But so are you, though. I guess it's a family thing.'
Santana laughed loudly before she gently took the pen from Rachel. Writing back and forth like this could be really fun.
'You never change. One question at a time, yea?' She handed the pen and paper back, Rachel writing something quick.
'Answer them one at a time' She nodded okay.
'You're here because there was an accident. A car accident.' She watched those eyes go wide with some combination of disbelief, shock, and belated fear.
'You were hit by a drunk driver.'
'Some part of the car bent back and cut you pretty bad. Really bad. So, that's why you have those stitches.'Rachel looked down at her arm, running her fingers along the stitched up cut covered by fresh gauze that'd been changed not an hour ago.
'Yea, that's my Dad. He's an ER surgeon. You can call him Chris. He'll say that when you see him again...when I take you home with me tomorrow.' Santana didn't look up, afraid to see the no in Rachel's eyes. She refused to let her stay at home alone for two weeks until her dad's were back home from Fiji.
"Seeing you like that...hooked up to an IV with those stitches in your arm...so fucking pale... I just realized that if things had gone differently, that I would've never seen that stupid smile or hear your voice again. But you're okay, and I'm gonna do what I do keep it that way." Rachel flipped the book, the word 'yea' appearing between her fingers, a grin on her slightly less pale face.
"Okay." She said, her voice husky with disuse.
"You tired?" Rachel nodded, shy smile on her face.
"Papi talked to your dads, told them everything was okay. They'll be back next Sunday. apparently they know each other." She put the napkin and spoon from Rachel's dinner on the wheeled table, and pushed it to the wall, about to get up to get in her cot.
"No, stay Tana." Rachel hugged her tight, keeping her on the bed. She lifted the blanket and Santana crawled under.
"This is a bad idea..."
"Why" Rachel asked, intertwining their legs and placing her head on the taller girls chest. Her hand splayed out over twitching abs, the singer's nails scraping over soft skin over hard muscle.
"That gown you're wearing has no back and you're already starting to grope me." Rachel grinned a little, her full bottom lip between her teeth.
"You would take advantage of a girl who's just been in an accident?"
"Shorty, I think we both know it's you who's taking advantage of me." The future actress mocked disbelief, her hand over her mouth.
"I wouldn't take advantage of anyone. Even you. Besides...i'm still not entirely well."
"Yea. I hate that I had to walk in here and see you that...weak. It broke my heart."
"I know you're probably wondering why you're my emergency contact."
"Naw. I'm just glad you're good. If you hadn't been, i'd have had to go and fuck up Azimio and some doctor." Rachel smiled at the other girl's protectiveness,watching as she dug into her purse. She pulled out her phone and pushed play on the album that had already been playing. Imogen Heap's Headlock streamed streamed through the small speakers.
"I broke up with Finn, so he wasn't an option. And, as you know, my adoring fathers are away in Fiji on a vacation I had to force them to take for their own good. I thought should something happen, I should have an emergency contact who was here in Lima."
"And how'd that lead you to me?"
"Well you're the only gleek who isn't even refusing to look at me after Finn essentially physically assaulted me in front of the Nationals crowd and I thought that since we've been spending a little time together for the last couple months that you wouldnt mind. I didn't think anything would actually happen."
"But it did." Santana said, she ran a brush threw Rachel's hair, the tie back around her arm.
"Yes, Tana, obviously. Now what were you saying about Azimio?"
"My dad mentioned his name when I mentioned the guy who hit you. I don't know any details." She squeezed the brunette's hand, more than happy the accident hadn't cost her more than it had.
"But he's alive?:
"Yea. For now, until I get my hands on him."
"No, Santana. No more violence okay. Besides, as far as I'm concerned, those hands belong around me, not around his neck. Speaking of that, we should get to sleep. Do you have a playlist for that? I have one of my own. I've aptly named it twilight tunes."
"I thought we talked about you resting your voice or something along those lines. Yea, i've got a playlist. I'll put it on, and then we should definitely get some sleep. They should be coming to send you home around eight or so. G'night, Rachel." Santana got up from her chair and pushed the wheeled table over to the wall, slipping back in the small bed behind Rachel to wrap her in her arms. Tomorrow, she thought, she'd get Rachel set up at her house.
It was funny really, that it took her getting hurt for Santana to realize how much she would miss Rachel if she was gone. How much she cared about her. Maybe, once she was feeling better she would ask her out on the date she'd been mentally planning since the beginning of the summer.
