AN: This was written for Quinntina Week, Day 2: Distance.
This went in a direction that I didn't see coming at all.
Lots of thanks to ProfessorSpork, Snix (No relation to Santana or Naya Riveria) and Bec for all their help.
Regionals was over for another year and another win to add to the collection. How we managed to get through with all the drama surrounding the group will always be a mystery. With that off our plates, it was time to prepare for Finn and Rachel's wedding.
In the process of laying out the hideous pink bridesmaids dresses that Rachel seemed to be fond of, Tina had a suspicion that Rachel picked them to downplay the fact she has way too many attractive friends, as well as getting everything else ready for tomorrow, when there was a shout that came from downstairs.
"Tina! You have a friend here, I'm sending her to your room," came the bellowing from the lower level. With an eye-roll, Tina figured she should at least meet this friend in the hallway, if not all the way downstairs. Going through the mental checklist of who it could be in her head, Tina thought it couldn't be Rachel or Mercedes since her Mom knew who they were.
The mental calculations came to a quick end when she saw Quinn standing in the hallway looking lost. "Uh, hi Quinn, what are you doing here?" She asked as she nervously approached Quinn to guide her back into her bedroom. Quinn looked around the hallway at pictures that were on the wall, but she stood at the threshold of the door and went into her bag to retrieve a DVD.
"I thought we could watch a movie together, because... "
Tina stared at her not believing this was happening. Last time Tina had seen Quinn look this lost was just after Santana announced that she had come out to her parents, and Quinn had ignored her voicing her concern.
"... you said that during sectionals that we need to stick together for girl power or something, so I bought over Spiceworld. It is full of girl power and songs about girl power and we could get our girl power on."
Tina had no idea of what to make of any of this, but just moved the dress off the bed so they could make use of it as a sitting space. She put in the DVD and went downstairs to make some popcorn, leaving Quinn briefly alone in her room. Allowing to give them both some time to process the oddities that seemed to be occurring that night. "I do love this movie," Tina announced as she came back into the room with a bowl of popcorn and some sodas, ready to hit the DVD Menu, "I think I'd make an excellent Ginger Spice, I think you'd be Posh." Quinn just smiled, before adding, "Not Baby Spice because of the blonde?"
"Quinn, some days you need to look beyond the stereotypes."
The opening song started and Tina noticed that Quinn began to take longer sips of her drink as her jaw tightened. 'Too much of nothing is just a touch...' the TV continued to sing out as the opening credits rolled on.
Tina got a feeling that this was the beginning of a terrible idea, but went with it because it is what Quinn seemed to want.
A couple of times, Tina was called out of the room to help her parents with various chores, leaving Quinn alone, clutching on to her bag for dear life each and every time.
Towards the end of the movie, Quinn broke the relative silence in the room, other than the voices coming from the TV.
"She was singing to him. Why would she ever sing to me?" she said in a broken whisper. Tina, was confused, since it was Meat Loaf singing Mama, "Quinn, is this about Beth and how Puck used to say that Beth was going to be a heartbreaker through her voice alone?"
Quinn let out a sob, but continued as if Tina didn't say anything. She continued in a slightly stronger and angrier voice, "Why are you the only one to support her? Why are you the only one that agrees with this stupid wedding? Why can't you see she belongs with me?"
Quinn collapsed further into the bed. Tina had gathered it was about Rachel, and how apparently Rachel belongs with Quinn.
"I believe in love, Quinn. I know what it is like to be in love and have no one else agree with it. I believe that they believe in their love, and sometimes that should be enough. "
Quinn didn't look convinced, "No one disagrees with you and Mike, why would they? You are perfect together, so perfectly Asian and heterosexual, what's not to love?"
"A question you'd need to ask Mike's parents, and Principal Figgins. They think I'm a bad influence and already tried to break us up."
"Well, they are right. You are a terrible influence. If it wasn't for you, Rachel would never marry him. She'd marry me, and we'd make beautiful music together all day, every day." Quinn seemed to be making less and less sense and it was becoming increasingly obvious that Quinn not being in her own mind wasn't just to do with regret and lost love.
"How is Rachel not being with you my fault? Does Rachel know how you feel?" Tina tried to keep calm, but it wasn't as easy as it seemed.
"We have moments. We will look into each other's eyes and the entire world falls apart" Apparently, Tina needed to work quick to be able to make some kind of sense of these revelations.
"But does she know about them? You said she wasn't singing to you earlier and you asked her…are these moments actually yours?"
"You're wrong Tina, we are going to be together. We have to. If not, what else do I have?" Quinn sobbed into her hands. "It has to be your fault, Tina, it can't be hers. She has to want me too."
The answer of why Quinn had picked Tina's had become clear, she was a scapegoat who had left open a window so they'd be able to hang out back when they were only girls in New Directions.
Tina's musings were broken when Quinn pulled out of her bag a bottle of vodka and started to drink, shivering with the burn as the liquor hit her throat.
"Quinn, have you been drinking?" Quinn scoffed at Tina's obvious question.
"Really Tina? Come on, you're supposed to be smart"
"Oh my god, just tell me it is your first for the night. How did you even get here?" Tina ran to the window and saw Quinn's little red bug haphazardly parked on the street.
"God, you could have had an accident. You could have been killed! Does anyone even know you are here? It doesn't matter you are staying here tonight. We'll sort it out in the morning. Quinn, Quinn... Quinn!" Tina's comments seemed to go unnoticed as she saw Quinn was dead to the world, apparently she had taken to looking at photos on Rachel's Facebook on her phone while Tina feared for her safety.
Just as Tina was moving an uncooperative Quinn to a better sleeping position on the bed, Quinn's phone began to ring and she saw that it was her mom.
"Great. Just great" Tina mumbled to herself, but steeled herself to answer the phone anyway, "Quinn's phone, this is Tina speaking."
"Oh, Tina, you are part of the Glee Club with Quinn, correct?" It was clear that Mrs Fabray wasn't expecting the phone to be answered. Just where had Quinn been before she ended up on the Cohen-Chang doorstep?
"Yes, that's right Mrs Fabray. I'm just with Quinn now, she's staying the night after celebrating at Regionals. She's just in the shower now but I'll let her know that you called." Tina hoped that had covered all the information, and would lead to Mrs Fabray ending that call and not asking anymore questions that Tina might not be able to answer.
"Ok, just tell her that I'll just talk to her tomorrow, so no need to call back tonight. Thanks for looking after her, Tina."
"It's no problem, Mrs Fabray. Have a good night." Tina ended the call with a sigh, and went back to dealing with Quinn, who was now fast asleep in her bed.
She got a glass of water and some aspirin and put it next to the bed and gathered her pillow and a spare blanket to sleep on the couch.
When Tina woke up, she saw Quinn standing there awkwardly over the couch.
"I'm really sorry for last night. I don't know where any of that stuff came from, but I'll see you at the wedding this afternoon," and left before Tina could say another word.
Tina figured it was best to let Quinn be and talk to her before the ceremony started, or at least just be there for her, and watch Quinn once again learn the lesson that love doesn't conquer all.
Except Quinn wasn't there before the ceremony and no one had heard from her. Every path of communication seemed to be ignored. Tina was wondering if she could get homing pigeons or smoke signals to get in touch with Quinn. She even got the Fabray home number from Brittany to make sure that Quinn got home all right to get ready. It seems that Quinn had been home and got her dress and was on her way. She left her cell number with Mrs Fabray, so when she next heard from Quinn she'd be able to pass on a message. The amount of panic in Tina's voice seemed to placate Mrs Fabray on such a strange request.
Still, she just wasn't here yet.
As Rachel argued with Finn to wait for Quinn, the Justice of the Peace informed them that they had run out of time and would be unable to get married that day. Mr and Mr Berry tried hard to look disappointed at this outcome, but failed and invited everyone to what was to be the reception to celebrate a Regionals victory, as opposed to a wedding.
Tina spent the entire time alternating between looking at her phone for missed calls or messages, to stalking Quinn's Facebook to see if she had updated. She watched Rachel look at her phone, assuming she was doing the same thing. Mike would come up and ask her to dance, but she would send him away, and he'd dance with someone else. The stretches of time between Mike coming over became longer and longer
After a few hours, Tina had enough of the tension and everyone seeming to ignore that Quinn wasn't with them. She decided to go home and watch her phone from there to let everyone celebrate without looking at her in concern and wondering why she couldn't relax. They all assumed it was because Tina was the only one in favor of the wedding and not because of the increasing dread of what could have happened to Quinn.
She bid farewell to the group and headed home.
After changing out of her bridesmaid's dress, her cellphone rang. It was Mrs Fabray. An incoherent Mrs Fabray at that. She managed to get out that Quinn had been in an accident and she was at Lima General.
Tina ran to the car and started to drive, wandering if she should call anyone or if Mrs Fabray had done that. She tried to think of the practical things and not if Quinn was laying there dead in a hospital because she loved Rachel Berry way too damn much.
In what seemed like an eternity, Tina ran into the emergency ward, expecting the Glee Club to be waiting just like the last time she remembered Quinn being in hospital.
Except this time, there was no one.
The nurse at the triage seemed to be busy with other patients so Tina took a seat to wait.
Wait for what, she wasn't sure.
Would someone run into the room to announce that the unstoppable force that was Quinn Fabray had finally been stopped?
Would heavenly chords start playing to either welcome an angel or pronounce a miracle?
Would nothing happen and would Quinn just fade out of this life, like she faded out of society during the summer?
Why couldn't Tina just think positive about this? Quinn was a survivor.
She could beat anything, because that's just what Quinn did.
A minute later, a disheveled Judy Fabray emerged from the washroom.
Tina cautiously approached, closing the distance slowly.
"Mrs Fabray," she called out softly. "I'm Tina Cohen-Chang, we spoke on the phone earlier."
Mrs Fabray nodded. "She's in surgery. We don't know. No one knows. I couldn't get in contact with anyone else and you gave me your number because you were looking for her and we found her, and maybe you'd care."
Tina and Mrs Fabray waited for hours, until they were told Quinn was in recovery and they'd have to wait to see what the results of the accident were going to be. All they could do was keep waiting.
Tina sat with an unconscious Quinn, while Mrs Fabray went to fill out paperwork and tried to get in contact with Mr Fabray again.
After sitting in silence, just watching Quinn's chest rise and fall as she breathed and machines beeped reminding her that, no matter how pale and lifeless Quinn looked, she was still alive, Tina finally broke the silence.
"She didn't get married, Quinn, she wanted to wait until you got there."
Tina didn't know what to make of that information. She knew that she supported love. She believed in love. She had to believe in love, because that is what Quinn was going to need to make it through whatever these consequences were. She had to believe that Quinn loved Rachel, because why would have Quinn fought so hard against the wedding? It's really the only thing that made sense about all of this.
Tina leaned back in the chair and sent a message out to everyone in the Glee Club letting them know about what happened to Quinn. To Rachel she sent a message that Quinn was going to come to the wedding, and it was the accident that stopped her, not a lack of support for Rachel.
It came as a surprise that Rachel came rushing in half an hour later.
"This is all my fault," Rachel cried into Tina's shoulder, as Tina hugged her.
"It was an accident, Rachel, just an accident. She's alive and blaming yourself isn't going to do Quinn any good now," she said with more confidence than she had, seeing Quinn broken two nights in a row was breaking her.
Tina and Rachel took their seats in quiet vigilance over Quinn. "She loves me, that's why she was coming to the wedding. That's the only reason. She hated it, but loved me anyway." Rachel whispered
"I know. She told me. You don't love her, though?"
"Not in the way she wants." Rachel admitted, watching Quinn as if the confession would be the thing that finally destroyed her.
"I could see it in her eyes, the way she looked at me it was like we were the only people in the world. She told Glee that she was going to Yale, but she was telling me not to let anyone hold me back. I didn't want to know. I thought it would be easier not to know." Rachel idly played with the sheets on either side of Quinn's hand, never actually reaching out to touch her.
"She never does seem to get the things that she wants," Tina noted absently, wondering just how much strength Quinn had left to fight for all of these.
"Guess you'll find, it's you that she needs", and with that Rachel left the room.
"I have Mike," Tina pointed out to the retreating Rachel.
"Your friendship, Tina."
Tina decided to attribute Rachel's weird exit, to a lack of sleep or a misinterpretation of what she said.
'Friendship, I can do that.' Tina thought to herself.