Note From The Author—Okay, so this was the first thing that occurred to me when I realized that we really and truly have no idea what could happen with Quinn when the show comes back in April. Unfortunately I tend to lean towards the angst ridden, so this is a story of what could be the aftermath if Quinn dies, and how the loss would impact the club. Being a die-hard Rachel and Puck fan, it also occurred to me that something so traumatic could have the potential to eventually bring the two of them together. I'm not positive yet where this will lead, but I want to see it through, wherever it goes.
Disclaimer—I do not own the characters of Glee or the song Tears In Heaven, from which the title comes
Prologue
Later she'll realize that the call must have come as she was walking down the aisle. One moment she was gazing happily at the man she was going to marry, and the next it was chaos. Of all the people in the room she had never expected Mr. Schue to be the one to answer in the negative to the question of objections, but there it was.
The world turned upside down in less than a minute as their teacher told them what had happened. Quinn was in an accident, the other driver had found her phone and called the last person to speak to the girl while he waited for the authorities. Will had answered the phone Rachel had haphazardly tossed at him moments before walking down the aisle in hopes that Quinn was trying to let them know she was there. God, he wished that had been the case.
Bouquets crashed to the floor as the entire McKinley family rushed from the room. People piled into cars and tires squealed as soon as the seatbelts clicked in, barely even realizing who they were with or what car they were in. In all honesty it was a miracle that they made it to the hospital without any more wrecks, and when they got there they were into the ER in what seemed like the snap of a finger.
They couldn't decide if fate was kind or cruel, because they saw Quinn as they wheeled her gurney towards what must have been an operating room; but what dominated their view was blood. Without a second thought Rachel took off running, catching her newfound friend's hand even as the paramedics tried to shove her away. The last thing she managed to say before the doors swung shut was that everything was going to be okay.
They waited for what seemed like days, but would later find out was barely an hour. Rachel refused to leave for even a second to clean off the blood, the doctors and nurses refused to tell them anything, and finally Sue went full on Coach Sylvester on them and they let her back to talk to a doctor. When she came back her face was grim.
In the end, nobody had to say anything; the look on her face and the tears in her eyes told them everything they needed to know. For a moment time seemed to stand still, and then Tina's broken sob seemed to echo through the room. Brittany and Santana clung to each other as Sugar and Rory clutched at each other's hands. Mike and Tina had all but collapsed into a chair, Kurt and Blaine caught Mercedes between them as she fell, and Artie couldn't seem to do anything but cry. Rachel looked to Finn, but he let go of her hand and walked to his mother, refusing to meet his fiance's eyes. Emotions swam through her as she watched him go, but then she heard a whispered 'no' and she remembered who had been standing on her other side.
Puck had slid down the wall, his legs collapsing under the weight of everything that had gone so wrong. That one word kept passing his lips as he shook his head over and over again; no, no, no. Then the word changed, and there was a glimpse of the little lost boy she had met at Temple years before when his eyes met hers and he said his daughter's name. Then it really hit her.
Quinn was gone.
She would never get to see Beth grow up, and her little girl would never see how her mother turned her life around to become a strong, amazing person. She would never go to Yale or get married or have more children. This was it.
Her knees going weak, Rachel dropped next to Noah, her hand groping for his through the blindness brought on by her tears.
They sat motionless and wept; the Glee Club and their family members, the pregnant Cheerios Coach, the man who had just lost the first girl he had ever loved and the mother of his child.
And the bride in her bloodstained wedding dress.