The Ticking Clock
The clock stares ominously down at them, the second hand moving silently as Rachel lowers her head. She helplessly covers her eyes while Santana brings her to rest against her chest. Her head swirls with the sounds of the flurry of professional sounding voices exchanging on the other side of the glass. Her small body begins to tremble as Santana's heartbeat echoed into her.
How long does it take to save a life? Seconds...? Minutes...? Half an hour...?
She gripped her phone in her small fist. Come on Quinn. Please. She looked at the clock, and then back to Finn, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth.
'Rach, we're running out of time…'
She looked up at the tall boy. 'I know Finn, just please. She said she's on her way. She won't be long.'
Finn looked at the clock. 'That was nearly fifteen minutes ago Rach…'
He sighed and stepped back over to Kurt. 'Can you talk to her? You're…y'know…good at talking to girls…'
Kurt kept his arms folded. 'She's your future wife, Finn.'
He gave him a pathetic smile. 'Please…?'
Kurt huffed and rolled his eyes. 'Fine.'
Kurt approached Rachel carefully. 'Rach…?'
Rachel looked up from her phone screen with sad eyes. 'Kurt…I…'
He looked into deep brown eyes. 'Do you want to do this Rachel? Ignore everyone else, what do you want, Rachel?'
She looked to her phone once more. 'I…can't do this without her Kurt…'
He nodded. 'Okay.' He answered quietly. He retreated and looked up at Finn. 'Just give her a few more minutes.'
Rachel turned around and Santana watched her toy with the silver ring on her finger. Even Santana knew there was something wrong with the normally gabby diva. She shook her head and stood abruptly, handing her bridesmaids bouquet to Brittany.
'Okay,' she announced to the room making Rachel's head snap up to look at her. 'If Quinn said she was on her way fifteen minutes ago, that means she must be close and really there's only one route she could have taken from town out here. Rachel,' hopeful brown eyes met hers. 'You and I are going to look for Quinn.'
Finn's mouth gaped and flapped a few times, nothing but air coming out. 'Don't worry Flubber, I'll have your Juliet back in no time.'
Leroy, Hiram, Carol and Burt all looked encouragingly between themselves.
'I don't think we're gonna need the plan…' Leroy whispered to the other three.
'You guys stay here,' Santana ordered. 'Call one of us if Quinn turns up before we get back.'
Before Rachel could say anything to Finn, she was yanked by the wrist out of the room by a tanned hand.
Santana kept her right foot firmly fixed on the accelerator as they streamed past long passages of trees and farmland.
Rachel cleared her throat, eyes fixed on her dark phone screen. 'Thank you Santana, for…'
Santana cut her off. 'Keep your eyes out for Quinn's car.' Rachel went quiet again. Santana sighed. 'Do you really want to marry him Rachel?' She looked over and Rachel was playing with her ring again.
She almost smiled. 'He's…nice.' She nodded trying to convince herself. 'He's safe. You need some who's going to keep you safe.'
Santana tried not to laugh. 'Rachel, even you've got to know that marriage isn't based on just keeping each other 'safe'?' She looked down at that ring again. 'Even I would know to get you gold…'
Rachel's eyes met Santana's before they moved back to the track in front of them. 'What…?'
'You're Rachel 'gold star' Berry.' She shrugged. 'Not Rachel 'some silver ring my boyfriend could kinda afford' Berry. Even I knew tha…'
Santana was cut off by the sight in front of them. Rachel turned to look at Santana and saw a horrified expression plastered across her dark features. The Latina ripped off her seatbelt and scrambled out of the car, running towards the field on their left.
Rachel moved her head and finally saw what had halted the bossy Latina. She opened the passenger door and threw herself out of the car, running as fast as she could towards the upside down red Beetle leaking steam.
She watched as Santana kicked off her heels and tried to open the door of the upside down car. She heard Rachel's footsteps behind her.
'Rachel – call 911!' She tried to yank the red handle, seeing the blonde covered in glass and blood.
She turned to see a frozen Rachel standing with her precious cellphone dangling from her fingertips. 'Rachel!' she screamed. 'Call 911!'
She turned her attention back to the car as she heard Rachel's shaky voice talking to the operator. She kept trying to pull at the handle as hard as she could but it wouldn't budge. She looked down and saw pale fingers twitch.
'Quinn…? Quinn can you hear me…?' She heard a groan. 'It's okay Quinn, it's me Santana. Rachel's here too. We're gonna get you outta here okay? Don't give up on me now Quinn okay?' She spoke breathlessly trying to keep tears at bay.
Rachel approached the car at Santana's side and Quinn half opened her eyes. A single tear fell from Rachel's eye. 'Quinn…'
Ghostly pale blood soaked fingers stretched towards her weakly. A pale pink mouth tried to curl into a half smile. 'You…' She spoke quietly, fighting to catch a breath. '…look b-beautiful…Ra…' And with that she became lifeless again. She ripped off the veil from behind her head and dropped it into the churned up mud beneath their feet.
Rachel's phone began vibrating in her palm. With bleary tear stained eyes she looked down at the flashing screen. She raised it to her ear with a quivering hand.
'Quinn's still not here, have you and Satan found her yet?' Kurt chirped.
'Meet us at Lima General.' She simply answered before hanging up.
The doors opened and a team dressed in purple scrubs and yellow plastic overalls breezed through the door around the gurney. One of them turned to look back at Santana and Rachel. She nodded behind them. 'Please wait in the waiting room just through those double doors while we see to your friend.'
Rachel tried to walk forward but Santana restrained her. 'Quinn!' Rachel called out as the woman began to walk away. 'Her name is Quinn!'
'Caucasian female, 17 years old, involved in heavy vehicle crash. Sustained injuries to both legs, head trauma and suspected internal injuries.' A tall thin dark haired doctor spoke reaching to grip the side of the stretcher underneath Quinn's arm as the rest of the team got into place. 'On three. On my count, ready? One, two…'
Santana and Rachel watched as the team shifted Quinn's lifeless body onto the waiting hospital bed. Rachel's small fingers left perspiration marks against the glass separating them from Quinn.
'Santana…' A small voice spoke softly from behind them.
Santana turned to see Kurt and Finn standing behind them while Rachel still kept fixed to the glass.
'How is she…?' Kurt spoke again carefully, while Finn continued to look down at his feet.
A high pitched tone sounded on the other side of the glass.
'She's crashing – we're gonna need to clear an airway, get the paddles on standby.' The dark haired doctor ordered. 'Push two of epi.'
He felt the side of Quinn's neck when the shrill sound continued and looked concerned back up at the thin red line running across the screen. 'Charge to 200.'
Rachel thumped on the glass, tears cascading down her face. Kurt nudged Finn.
'Go on…' He whispered.
Santana turned and glared at Finn, and both boys froze on the spot. Santana wraps a slender hand around Rachel's petite shoulder, peeling her away from the glass. Rachel helplessly covers her eyes while Santana brings her to rest against her chest. Her head swirls with the sounds of the flurry of professional sounding voices exchanging on the other side of the glass. Her small body begins to tremble as Santana's heartbeat echoed into her.
After a few more minutes, the frantic voices quietened as the harmony of machine beeps were restored. A brunette head jerked up and she saw green lines appear back onto the screen. Rachel fought past Santana and pushed past the double doors separating her from the blonde. She heard footsteps behind her and a voice calling her name but she didn't stop until she was standing beside the thin doctor.
'Rachel, come here, you can't…!' Dull voices called behind her but it didn't matter. It didn't matter because she saw that chest rise and fall. It didn't matter what any of them said now because she heard those beeps telling her that Quinn was alive.
The thin doctor checked Quinn's vitals again, and then the team disbanded, leaving Rachel at the foot of the bed. She wrapped a small hand around the bar at the foot of the bed to steady herself.
Voices started to echo around her head.
'You and Finn are a lovely couple. But if you really want to be happy, you're going to have to say goodbye…'
She looked down at her left hand, rubbing her thumb against the underside of that ring.
'You're Rachel 'gold star' Berry. Not Rachel 'some silver ring my boyfriend could kinda afford' Berry.'
She looked back up at Quinn's unconscious body before her.
'It's now or never…'
'You can't change your past. But you can let go, and start your future.'
A male voice broke through her thoughts. 'Rachel?' She turned and Finn was standing, still in his wedding suit, a few feet behind her.
She wiped a tear threatening to fall away with the knuckle of her index finger. 'Finn...? What are you doing here?'
'Kurt told me you'd be here…' he shifted uncomfortably and looked back to her. 'The Justice of the Peace said that he'd still marry us if we can get back there within half an hour…'
She looked slowly back down to the ring, and then over to Quinn, secretly hoping she would wake up and tell her what she should do. She walked over to Finn and touched the palm of her right hand to his cheek, pressing a soft kiss to his left cheek. She discreetly took off the silver ring and opened his big right hand, and slipped it back into his palm.
'I'm sorry Finn. I can't.' She spoke softly as he looked dumbfounded down into his palm.
She walked back over to Quinn's bed, moving round to her right side. She looked down, and she could almost swear there was a small smile curved into the corners of those pale delicate lips. She slipped the fingers of her right hand down Quinn's right forearm, admiring the way their skin tones complemented each other.
'I don't know if you can hear me Quinn, but I'm here.' She spoke softly watching the blonde's features, willing them to change. 'I couldn't do it without you there.' She slipped her index and middle finger into Quinn's partially open fist and squeezed slightly. 'If you left me here alone, I could never forgive you.' She spoke honestly, another tear slipping rudely down her cheek.
Thinking she was hallucinating, she felt a squeeze around her fingers and she looked down to see hazel eyes smiling up at her. 'So I didn't miss it…?' Her soft voice croaked.
She giggled through the falling tears. 'I'm here Quinn…'