Summary: In which being in the wrong place at the wrong time one dark, wintry night wipes the slate clean for Rachel, changes everything and destroys all that she and Santana have built over the years. It is now up to Santana to bring her back. But will Santana succeed? Or is Rachel lost to her? Part 5 of Loop/Space/Learning/Opus verse.
Pairings: Rachel Berry/Santana Lopez
Rating: Rated T ~ M
Spoilers: Mentions of canon, mentions previous stories in this verse. (Best to read from Part 1 first)
Warnings: Possible character death/s. Possible intense emotional situations.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the prose.
Moving quickly through frozen ground in boots is difficult.
Rachel Berry had, almost a few times slipped, had it not been for Jeffrey Murray, Quinn Fabray's husband, being able to catch her and hold her through the ice. Rachel giggles as Jeffrey laughs. Rachel's boots sink into the snow, hears the crunch of her boots against the snow, clings to Jeffrey more tightly, one gloved hand tightening around Jeffrey's arm, the other holding on to the bag of groceries that they'd bought as they walk on the sidewalk, on their way to Santana Lopez's car. The night is still and silent, dark and misty. Snowflakes fall softly on the ground, a slight breeze blows, making Rachel draw Jeffrey closer. It's not even seven o'clock in the evening, but it looks like midnight, the streets look deserted and lonely, save for Rachel and Jeffrey.
Jeffrey and Quinn had gone to New York on business, and had visited both Rachel and Santana in Brooklyn Hill Gardens. The couple had prepared dinner for Jeffrey and Quinn, but they'd run out of wine and Jeffrey had offered to go buy some. Neither Quinn nor Santana wanted to accompany him, because it was too cold so Rachel had volunteered to go instead. "Don't want you getting mugged now," Rachel had joked to Jeffrey.
It's the middle of winter, it's the end of January, and so far everyone's having a great start to a New Year. Both Rachel and Santana are celebrating a flourishing career in the music industry, Rachel has just signed on to do an independent film that was apparently a cross between "August Rush" and "Once", which Santana thinks is a step up from her obsession with musicals. Jeffrey and Quinn are celebrating opening a branch of "Q's" in Detroit. They'd been approached about franchising their restaurant and making it go national or even global, but Jeffrey and Quinn had long ago decided that they wanted to maintain the quality of their restaurant and had only opened two other branches – one in Detroit and the other in Cleveland. Quinn had run for Senate and lost, but she'd been named adviser to the new President, and that was saying something. The couple were dividing their time between DC and Ohio. Aidann had gone and flown the coop, working for a company in Michigan. Blue is still single and working as a conductor for the New York City Orchestra, as well as music adviser for MILF, and doing some work on the side conducting music for movies. Ever since the success, the year before, of her work as guest conductor for the European International Music Festival, she's been offered a few jobs, which is good, considering it is hard to work in a very male-dominated arena of the music industry. Suzie and Mike Chang are thriving as co-owners of a dance music studio and as volunteers for MILF.
So it's been a good start to the year.
Santana had texted Rachel a few minutes ago, wondering where they are, so Rachel had taken out her mobile phone to call her wife, but predictably the phone call went to voice mail – Santana and Quinn were probably busy arguing or catching up or whatever it is the best friends do, so she leaves a quick message, ending it with an "I love you" that earns her a grin and a wink from Jeffrey. Rachel blushes. It should be ridiculous, how much she loves Santana and how much Santana loves her back, but they've been married a long time, and have been through their own ups and downs, but at the end of the day, they still loved each other, and that was all that mattered.
As they chat and laugh quietly, Jeffrey unlocking his side of the car and opening the other car door for Rachel, they don't notice the couple of hooded guys with ski masks approach them.
Rachel and Jeffrey don't see it coming.
One grabs Rachel, slams her against the side of the car, brandishes a knife so close to her face she sees her reflection on it, sees it glint against the light, as the other one quickly pulls Jeffrey out of the driver's seat, slams him against the other side of the car and screams for him to give them their money.
Rachel sees it all as if in slow motion. She doesn't remember what happens next, but there are shouts, she senses Jeffrey fighting back, letting his small-town, chivalrous sensibilities get the better of his usually big city sensibilities. She feels her person being manhandled, gloved hands searching for money, for jewelry for something, there are more shouts, then she hears a shot, like in the movies, and she moves, as if moving in water, and she doesn't realize it's a gunshot, and that their muggers are running away from them, and that the snow has gotten heavy and hard, and she hears Jeffrey hoarsely and laboriously trying to shout for her to get in, and she does and she doesn't notice Jeffrey's been shot until they're in the middle of the road, and in the next stoplight, the car slowing down to a crawl right in the middle of the red light, and then a big truck hits them from behind and Rachel can feel herself being slammed against the dashboard, feels herself hit the windshield, feels the glass shatter, feels wind and snow and then darkness.
She wakes up to the steady sound of beeping and clicking and a steady rhythm and finds herself on a bed, in a room, covered with a blanket, lying on her back. She sees a white ceiling, white surroundings, equipment humming, sees herself in wires and tubes and she doesn't notice the people standing by the foot of her bed, looking at her.
"Hey, how are you?" an olive-skinned woman in a white labcoat asks, smiling at her as she glances at a clipboard in her hand. "I'm Dr. Paulson. How are you feeling?"
Rachel is unable to speak, feeling confused and disoriented.
"Are you okay? Do you remember where you were before you got here?" Dr. Paulson asks, voice gentle and concerned.
Rachel stops to think about that, but realizes she can't actually recall anything.
When she doesn't answer, Dr. Paulson asks, "What's your name?"
"What?"
"Your name."
"I...my..." Rachel starts to say something, but realizes that she can't recall it either. A sudden panic seizes her and she looks at the doctor, anxious and nervous. She starts to shake her head.
"That's okay, take a deep breath," Dr. Paulson says now. "Shall we try again...?"
Rachel takes that deep breath, thinks and she remembers. "Rachel. Rachel Barbra Berry."
"Do you know your birthday?"
Rachel nods. "Of course I do."
Dr. Paulson turns to the woman beside her. "I think she's fine." She then turns to Rachel again and says, "You gave us quite a scare there, Rachel."
"Where am I?What's going on? What's happened?" Rachel croaks now, feeling pain, feeling like there is cotton in her mouth, feeling a headache coming on.
Dr. Paulson nods and says, "Brooklyn General. You've been here since Monday and..."
"What happened?"
Dr. Paulson hesitates, but the other woman, who was about five feet four, looked to be around her age, beautiful dark eyes fringed with long lashes, skin tan, hair dark and long and falling in waves on her shoulders and back, interrupts, looks worried and anxious and concerned, as she says, "You've been in an...accident...and you've been...in a coma for almost...three weeks? Four weeks? And..." she stops, chokes, visibly swallows, and Rachel can swear she looks like she is almost crying, holding back the tears. Rachel wonders why this other doctor seems more concerned than the other one.
"I'm sorry, are you...the other doctor?" Rachel asks now, wondering.
The woman looks at her, as if in pain and confusion and anxiety and nervousness and looks towards Dr. Paulson, who looks a bit confused at first, before realization hits her.
"Rachel, she's not your doctor," Dr. Paulson says, carefully.
"Oh, she's my nurse or carer or something?" Rachel asks. "Where are my dads? Where's..."
"Rachel," Dr. Paulson says now. "You don't remember Santana? Santana Lopez?"
Rachel starts to shake her head, before she screws up her brows, and a rush of memories come back and her face lights up and she says, "Santana...Santana Lopez? Yes! I remember you! You were with me...in high school...in Lima, in Ohio! We were in Glee together and you...you used to bully me and...I think we were friends? When we graduated and...you haven't really kept in touch with me and..."
Dr. Paulson smiles. "Oh, I think she's more than that to you, Rachel."
Rachel looks at Dr. Paulson then, even more puzzled.
Rachel asks, "Should I be remembering more?"
Santana looks like she's about to cry now and there's panic and nervousness and fear in her eyes as she looks at Dr. Paulson for help. Rachel notices that Santana has dark circles under her eyes, her eyes puffy and red, like she's been crying. She looks exhausted, looks haggard, looks like she's lost a lot of sleep. She looks thin. Now she looks afraid. Rachel wonders why Santana looks afraid.
"Rachel," Dr. Paulson says carefully now. "Santana's...Santana's your..." she clears her throat, feeling uncomfortable, before she continues, "Santana's your wife. She's your next of kin...she's..."
Rachel stares at Dr. Paulson for a moment, before she smiles slowly and says, "You're kidding, right? Santana and I can't possibly be...together in that way...I mean, she hated my guts...and...she can't stand me...well, we can't stand each other...so...that's just...impossible..."
Dr. Paulson asks, "You don't remember anything... more?"
Rachel shakes her head.
Santana looks hurt, like someone has just kicked her in the guts. Tears have pooled in her eyes and she swallows, trying to keep them from falling. Rachel wonders why Santana should feel so intensely about everything, and why the doctor claims they're married. That can't be right, right? How can she be married to Santana Lopez? She was supposed to marry Finn Hudson, be a Broadway star, be everything that she's ever dreamed of. The one thing that never crossed her mind was marry Santana Lopez. That had never crossed her mind. No. She would never marry her, not in a million years.
Santana doesn't even say anything and just walks out of the door, followed by Dr. Paulson.
Rachel didn't remember Santana being her wife.
Rachel didn't remember her life with Santana at all.
Outside the hospital room, Santana sees Quinn, who looks as exhausted and lost as she does. They rush to each other, in the middle of the hallway, and cry.
A/N: That's it for this chapter. Kind, objective reviews welcome and much appreciated.
I know a number of you requested a sequel to "A Lesser God's Opus" and this was the story that came to mind. Points for you if you recognize the movie/s referenced as inspiration for this story. I know some of you probably expected something different, but I hope you like this one anyway. This probably will only take 10 chapters.
Again, many thanks to those who reviewed, favorited and followed "A Lesser God's Opus".
Many thanks as always to beta DragonsWillFly for the assistance.
