"Rachel."
Looking up from her sheet music, Rachel Berry found Mr. Shuester standing before her. The way he said her name made her nervous, he'd said it so cautiously, almost as if he was afraid to even be talking to her at the moment. Something was definitely up.
Wearily, she placed her music on the piano. "Yes, Mr. Shue?"
"I have some bad news."
Her mind started racing with all the possibilities of bad things that could have happened. Did he take away another one of her solos? Did someone quit the glee club because she had no problem tracking them down and talking them right back into rejoining (even if that meant talking until they simply were too annoyed with her not to agree). Did Sue get them suspended again? She'd burn all her track suits. Was Figgins giving the club trouble again? She was definitely going to talk to her dads about suing the school (him) if that was the case.
Refocusing from her ongoing thoughts, she noticed that Mr. Shue wasn't the only person in the room. To say she was astonished to see the other person was an understatement.
"Mom?" Shelby was standing several feet behind Mr. Shue looking quite distraught. "What are you doing here?"
Shelby didn't speak, just nodded towards her teacher. Taking the hint, Rachel refocused on her Spanish/glee instructor. He was still looking at her in that weird afraid way.
"Mr. Shue, what's going on and why is my mom here?"
She saw him tense before a pained sad look crossed his features.
"There's been an accident." He replied quietly still watching her closely.
She felt the air rush from her lungs, accidents were never a good thing. Looking at Shelby again, she couldn't help, but wonder why she was here for this. Unless…
"My dads aren't hurt are they?" That would explain Shelby being here. If here dads were hurt and unable to take care of her, Shelby was the closest relative that could take care of her. That had to be why she was here. 'Oh god.'She thought starting to hyperventilate, 'What if they're not just hurt they're…'
"It's not your dads, Rachel." Mr. Shue cut her off before she was too consumed by her thoughts. "Rachel, you need to slow down your breathing." He said placing his hands on her shaking shoulders. "Deep breaths."
Apparently, the hyperventilating had not subsided yet. Take a few large and deep breaths she managed to regain control over her shaking body and breathing. Her dads were safe, everything was okay, her dads were perfectly fine, she would see them as soon as she went home after rehearsal today. Looking back up she saw the worry etched on Mr. Shue's face. Everything wasn't fine.
"Rachel, honey." Mr. Shue didn't remove his hands from her shoulders as Shelby finally spoke, the same worried scared look in her eye, but Rachel noticed that the sadness also tingeing her eyes was far more prevalent than the sadness reflecting in Mr. Shue's. They were really starting to scare her now.
"Mom." She whispered, not moving away from her current position. "What's going on?"
It was only then that she noticed tears in her eyes, dried tear tracks on her cheeks.
"Jesse's been in an accident."
Rachel felt her knees buckle and was suddenly very glad Mr. Shue had not released her shoulders, she was pretty sure she'd have collapsed, probably hitting her head on the floor rendering her unconscious because everything was overly dramatic when it came to anything she did.
"What, what…" She was fumbling over her words. "What do you mean he was in an accident? What kind of accident?"
She was vaguely aware of Mr. Shue sitting her down in one of the choir room chairs.
"There was a car accident." Shelby said with a far off look in her eyes and Rachel knew she was reliving the memory. "I had just let the kids go from practice and Jesse stayed behind to discuss some personal matters. He was walking to his car when it happened." Shelby was starting to shake, fists clenching at her sides. "Some idiots were driving around the parking lot dangerously, Jesse didn't even see them coming it happened so fast."
Rachel could only sit there in horrified silence. Someone hit him. Even before Shelby could finish telling her, she knew that's what must have happened. Whoever those people were in the car had hit Jesse.
"They were going too fast and sent him flying about fifty feet." Rachel could feel herself starting to hyperventilate again before Mr. Shue starting rubbing her back, reminding her to breathe. "He was unconscious when the ambulance came, but because I'm not family or part of his emergency contacts I can't find anything out. He's still at the hospital now."
Rachel just sat there as Shelby finished speaking, not quite sure how to feel about everything. She had not spoken to Jesse since their messy break up a few months ago. Things had been said and done that neither could take back and she was still angry with about everything, but that didn't mean she didn't still care about his well being. She was dimly aware that her previous thoughts of the New Directions boys actually getting a chance to beat him up would bring her satisfaction, was dead wrong. As her chest continued to tighten painfully at the thought of his current state, she realized had the situation with the boys ended up happening, it only would have hurt her in return.
She didn't understand why her mom felt the need to inform her of Jesse's accident though. Rachel was sure she knew about the break up and everything that followed so why even come here to tell her about the accident at all.
"Okay." Her voice was a little shaky. Taking a deep breath she spoke again. "I don't know what you want me to do. You do know that Jesse and I broke up months ago, don't you?"
"I need you to help me find out what's happening with him?" Shelby said desperately. Rachel furrowed her brows.
"I'm not family either though. I can't do anything more than you can." Shelby didn't look phased at all by her response. "Have you tried getting in touch with his parents or his uncle?"
Shelby visibly bristled, all sadness leaving her eyes as anger flashed across her face.
"Like they'll actually do anything to help." She spat. "They're too busy with their own affairs to even notice whether Jesse still exists and don't even get me started on his uncle. He's never around either and could hardly give a damn about anything concerning his nephew."
"Are they really that bad?" Mr. Shue asked speaking for the first time in awhile. Rachel would have entirely forgotten he was there if he had not been rubbing her back still trying to keep her calm.
"They're worse." Shelby responded. "Why do you think Jesse is so cold and guarded? His parents don't care much about him. They've never once been at a Vocal Adrenaline performance. The only reason I even met them was because as freshmen we have a mandatory meeting with all the new student's parents."
"That's terrible." Shue said slightly shocked at how terrible Jesse's home life seemed to be.
"I still don't understand why you had to come tell me about all this." Rachel interrupted, getting back to the matter at hand. "How am I supposed to help you with him?"
Shelby refocused on her smiling sadly. "You're still one of his emergency contacts."
"What?" Rachel was stunned, she figured he would have removed her as one when they broke up. "We broke up though."
"I know, but that doesn't change the matter that you're still listed as a contact along with your dads."
She remembered how touched her dads had been when he had asked them to be listed as a contact. They were no strangers to Jesse's home life and how his family saw him as a nuisance more than anything else. Jesse had even shared that her and her dads were the closest thing to a family he had. He had given his doctor permission to share medical information with them if anything ever happened to him, knowing that her family would do more to help him than his own would. He still had to have his parents sign off on it, but they were more than willing knowing they wouldn't have to deal with him, someone else could do it.
"Rachel?" Shelby apparently was getting worried at her silence.
"I," she didn't really know what to do, on one hand Jesse had hurt her and she was more than content to stay out of his life, but on the other hand he was hurt and needed help, and as fate would have it she was the only person (save her dads) that could do anything about it. "I'll call my dads. They're just about to get off work anyways, I'm sure they'll meet you at the hospital to find out about Jesse."
Shelby didn't miss the you instead of us in that sentence.
"Aren't you going to come with? Don't you want to know if Jesse's okay or not?"
Rachel shook her head, pulling her cell phone out to call one of her dads as she did so. She could see the confusion on Shelby's face as the phone rang and what she thought might be disappointment mixed in, but really what did her mom expect? Her heart had been broken by the boy and she just wasn't ready to see him again, she didn't know if she ever would be. She had loved Jesse so much and even with all the time passed from their breakup, it still hurt to think about. Her thoughts were cut off as her dad answered his phone.
She turned away from Mr. Shue and Shelby as she relayed the information about Jesse to her dad and could hear her daddy's voice in the background saying they would get to the hospital right away. They had been a little worried when she said she wasn't going to be there, but understood. Saying a quick goodbye she turned back to her teacher and mother, putting her phone back in her bag as she did so.
"They should be there in fifteen minutes so you should probably go if you want to arrive around the same time." She expertly kept her eyes away from her mother's knowing she was more than likely going to put up a fight to get her to come with her.
"I know why you don't want to come, but don't you think you should be there?" Rachel could hear Shelby's footsteps drawing near to her. "You two may not be close anymore, but he's going to need the people that care about him there. Even with everything that happened, I know you still care about him."
She closed her eyes tightly, face still turned down towards the ground, shaking her head vigorously back in forth in an attempt to ignore the feeling her mother's words were causing to stir. She wasn't suppose to care about him, she didn't want to.
"Rachel." Mr. Shue said, lightly touching her shoulder to get her attention. "It's okay to care."
She stopped shaking her head, staring at her teacher. How could he say that, she thought. He was wronged by Jesse, in a way, too.
"I know how much he meant to you. That doesn't just go away and I know you meant just as much to him. You should be there." She still didn't say anything choosing to just sit there and stare. "If what Shelby said is true, you know, about his family and everything, he's going to need someone."
"Why does it have to be me though?" She asked, tears starting to form.
"Because even though you're still hurting, you still care about him." Shue said. "I know you well enough now Rachel to know you would regret not going and that you'll be beside yourself in worry just waiting around to hear what's happened to him."
She knew he was right. She would worry too much and probably drive herself insane not knowing how he was doing when she had it within her power to find out. Sighing, she turned back to her mom, the club was going to kill her for this, Finn especially. She pushed him from her mind, she would deal with him as soon as she could, but right she couldn't think about him.
"Okay. Let's go mom."
Shelby's face swelled with relief.
"Thank you." Rachel was surprised by the hug her mom was bestowing upon her.
"I'll let the club know you've had a personal matter you need to deal with and not to worry about your absence." Mr. Shue said, interrupting their hug.
"You won't tell them that…"
"No." He shook his head. "If you decide to tell them, that's fine, but I won't."
Rachel quickly hugged him, gratitude swelling in her chest at his understanding.
"Thanks, Mr. Shue."
He smiled. "You should get going if you want to meet up with your dads as soon as they get there."
Nodding, she turned back towards her mom.
"Ready?" Shelby asked.
"Yeah." She really didn't feel ready though.
The ride to the hospital was eerily quiet, neither knowing what to say. Rachel was anxious, scared, worried, and a whole range more of emotions as they drove on. She tried her best to calm her nerves knowing it would be helpful to anyone if she spiraled into a panic. The second she saw her dads (she'd called them again on the way out of school to let them know she and Shelby were going to meet them at the hospital after all), she'd never been more relieved. Hopping out of the car, she ran straight into their open arms. They always seemed to know just what she needed. Nodding to Shelby as she released them, they turned towards the hospital doors.
Rachel felt a chill run down her spine as they walked towards a nice looking lady sitting behind the information desk, she hated hospitals. Burrowing into her daddy's side, she waited as her dad retrieved the information about Jesse's whereabouts and who he could talk to about his current physical state. It wasn't long until her dad returned to the three of them saying a doctor would be by soon to update them on Jesse's wellbeing.
Waiting those few minutes were almost unbearable. Rachel wanted answers and she wanted them now, but more than that, she wanted to see Jesse. Looking slightly to her left, she noticed Shelby standing stoically, trying to stay strong in the face of this mess. Tentatively, Rachel reached for her hand before firmly grasping it. Shelby shot her a look of gratitude, only Rachel seemed to understand the degree of worry her mom was going through, mostly because she was feeling it herself at the moment.
"Are you here for Jesse St. James?" The doctor had finally arrived and before anyone could say anything Rachel was firing off questions at a rapid pace.
"Is he okay? What exactly is wrong with him? Where is he? Can I see him? Why aren't you answering any of my questions?"
She felt both her dads rub her back.
"Calm down sweetie. Take a deep breath and let the doctor speak."
Tightening her grip on Shelby's hand, Rachel took a deep breath and waited for the doctor to speak.
"Jesse is going to be fine." Rachel felt the relief wash through her. "He's definitely lucky, with as far as he flew through the air before impact there should have been more damage. All we know so far is that he took quite the blow to the head which we will be able to better evaluate when he wakes up. He dislocated his shoulder slightly, but we were able to reset it without any complications, he cracked some of his ribs, and has some pretty mean scrapes and bruises."
"Can I see him then?" Rachel asked again. Hearing Jesse was good, but she still knew she had to see him before she could completely let go of all her worry.
"You can, but I have to warn you." The doctor started.
Warn? Warn was not a good thing. Warnings implied that something was wrong and the doctor had just said Jesse was fine.
"He's unconscious at the moment." Rachel could feel the worry gripping her chest once again. "We're keeping him sedated so that he has time to heal and because we're worried about the head injury he sustained. As I said earlier, he took quite a blow and we won't fully know how much damage he's taken until he's awake."
"When will that be?" Shelby asked, still gripping Rachel's hand tightly within her own.
"We'll be taking him off sedation in a day or two and then it's up to him when he wakes up. After that, we will evaluate his physical and mental state and if he's well enough we will release him into your care I presume?" He looked towards Rachel's dads as he said the last bit.
Her fathers glanced cautiously between one another before her dad responded.
"By care, do you mean you'll need us to sign release forms or do you mean to actually take care of?"
The doctor smiled somewhat sadly. "Both. Jesse is going to need help at least for a little bit of time while his injuries heal."
Rachel could tell this conversation was about to go down the long path of medical details and how to care for Jesse once he was released from the hospital. Not being able to stand waiting anymore she interrupted the doctor once again.
"Can you please tell me where he is? I understand this conversation is important and everything, but I really want to see him now."
The doctor shot her a sympathetic look before calmly giving her the directions to Jesse's room.
Looking to her fathers, she silently asked if it was okay that she go. They both nodded at her. Turning to Shelby, she was about to ask if she was coming with when her mom shook her head.
"You go on ahead." She gave Rachel's hand a gentle squeeze. "I'm going to stay here with your dads, find out more, and then I'll be right behind you."
Rachel nodded once before releasing her moms hand and wandering down the hall. On the way there she could feel her nerves flaring up in anticipation. 'Jesse.' She thought. 'You have to be okay. You just have to be.' It wasn't long before she found herself staring at the door to his room. Had she really traveled that fast?
Taking one last long deep breath, she pushed the door open.
A/N: I'm excited for this story, it's my first multiple chapter St. Berry fic so you'll have to bare with me. It took me awhile to get this chapter finished to my liking and it will probably be at least another week or so before the next chapter is out, but I'll try and get it out as soon as I can. I already have an idea of where I want this to go, but I'm always open to ideas and suggestions.
Hope you enjoyed so far and thanks for reading!