MTJA: First Glee story starring my favorite character, Tina Cohen-Chang. Check out my profile for details on the Ohanaverse.

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or anything you recognize.

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"Talking"

Flashback

~Sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. – Steve Jobs

Click. Clack. Click. Clack.

The sound of a pair of expensive high heels echoed in the hospital corridor. The owner of those shoes was an Asian woman in her mid-twenties who was pacing back in forth as she waited for news about two of her friends who had been in a serious car accident. The woman paused in pacing to look in on those friends and frowned as she took in their less than stellar physical conditions. As she leaned against the window, she remembered the first time that she met her two friends, before she knew of the impact that they would have on her life.

The first week of college was flying by and a younger version of the Asian woman was walking quickly across the campus to grab some lunch before hitting the library. As she dug in her purse for her phone, she didn't pay attention to where she was going and suddenly she knocked into someone.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." She looked up and met the gaze of a handsome male student. He had dark brown hair and grey eyes. "No, it was my fault. The name's Evan Lennox and may I enquire as to the name of this vision of loveliness that I had the pleasure of bumping into?" As she shook his hand and returned the bright smile, she gave him his answer. "I'm Tina, Tina Cohen-Chang and it's a pleasure of meeting you, Evan." Tina caught him looking over shoulder so she turned to look as well and saw a red haired female making her way over to them. Afraid that this was a jealous girlfriend, she automatically took a couple steps backwards in order to put some space between her and Evan. However, she was caught off guard when said female smacked the brunette male on the back of his head before turning to her.

"So, what did my fool of a boyfriend do now? He didn't hurt you, did her?" The red head turned to Evan and glared at him. "O-o-oh no, nothing of that sort. We just bumped into each other but it didn't faze me at all. " The other girl dropped the glare then smiled brightly at Tina. "In that case, I'm Reese Monroe, it's nice to meet you." Unexpectedly, Reese threw her arms around Tina in a hug and she awkwardly returned it. "My name is Tina Cohen-Chang and it's nice to meet you too." Once she was released from the hug, she started chatting with the couple and found out that they were freshmen too as well as Evan was in one of her freshman starter courses. The couple invited her to join them for lunch and she accepted. It was a strange start to what would be an incredible friendship.

As she continued to look at her friends through the window, Tina was brought out of her memories by a nurse coughing to get her attention. "Miss Cohen-Chang, the doctor will see you now to discuss Mr. and Mrs. Lennox' conditions." She nodded her head then followed the nurse to the doctor's office when she was offered a chair and sat down. The doctor looked grave and she had a really bad feeling about the news that she was going to receive.

"I'm sorry to say but we have done all that we can for Mr. and Mrs. Lennox. As they had suffered tremendous head trauma in the crash, there is no brain activity in either patient despite them still breathing with a beating heart." She froze after hearing that statement from the doctor. There was no way that she was losing two of her best friends, it just wasn't possible. "I'm afraid that there is more that you need to be aware of. As you know, neither of your friends have any living relatives to speak of, so you were listed as their next of kin and granted power of attorney in their wills." She nodded her head because she was familiar with all of this as she had discussed it with the couple on several different occasions. "This means we need your permission to shut off the life support because that is the only thing keeping them 'alive', if you will." "I want to say good bye to them first" she said. The doctor nodded his head. "Of course. There is one other thing, the matter of the couple's young daughter, Cassandra Lennox. As stated in their will, if anything should happen to them, you would gain sole custody of her. Are you aware of this?" She nodded her head, unable to speak because she was thinking of how this was going to change both her charge's and her lives.

After arranging with the doctor an opportunity for both her and Cassie to say good bye, Tina called the baby sitter and informed her of what had happened as well as to tell her to bring the young child to the hospital. Fifteen minutes later, she was standing out front of the hospital where she greeted her goddaughter with a small smile. Her heart went out to the young girl who was going to have to grow up without either of her parents but she couldn't help remembering the moment she first laid eyes on the girl after she was born.

Ever since she had gotten the call that Reese had gone into labor, Tina had been rotating between pacing up and down the hall way, sitting on a chair as she tapped her foot and watching the random program that was playing on the television in the waiting room. She had been there for most of the time that her friend was in labor but she did go to the cafeteria for some food at one point and a couple other times for something to drink, not that she was thirsty but so her hands could have something to do. It was kind of annoying to be the only one there waiting and not have anyone to talk to but Tina understood her friends' reasoning. As she was about to go back and get something else to eat, she caught sight of a nurse making her way over to her.

"Miss Cohen-Chang? Your friends have had their baby and are ready for visitors now." Tina nodded her head then followed the nurse to the room that her best friend had been moved to. The door was already opened so she walked right in and smiled brightly as she did so. She paused at the door to take in the scene before snapping a picture of the happy little family all wrapped up in each other. Evan heard her take the picture and looked up.

"Hey CeeCee. Come on over here and meet your new goddaughter." Tina rolled her eyes at the nickname that her friend came up with long ago but did what he said anyways. "How are you feeling, Ree?" The other woman gave her a tired smile. "Exhausted but it was worth it." As she stood at the side of the bed, she looked down and smiled when the baby looked up at her and took her in. 'Tee, meet Cassandra Jasmine. Cassie, this is your godmamma, Auntie Tina." Reese held out her child for her best friend to take and she did, carefully cradling the child in her arms causing the baby to giggle lightly. In that moment, she knew that she'd do anything for the child.

When she felt something tug on her, Tina shook her head and looked down. "Are mommy and daddy with the angels now, Auntie CeeCee?" The Asian woman squat down before pulling the young child into a hug. "Yes little one, they are. You have to remember though, that they didn't want to leave you, never." Cassie bit her lip but let her new guardian lead her into the hospital and to the room where her parents bodies were waiting, just hooked up to the machine is all. When they arrived at the room, she took a deep breath before opening the door and followed Cassie in. The young child only stayed in the room for a couple minutes before leaving with her babysitter following her. Tina walked over so she was standing between the beds and took another deep breath. "I promise the both of you, that I'll take care of CJ as if she was my own daughter." Unable to say anything else, she nodded her head at the doctor and held one of each of her friends' hands as the machines were turned off.

Once the doctor told her that everything was done, Tina grabbed her new charge and headed back to her house after filling out all the necessary paperwork. She knew that it was going to be a long road to heal from this loss especially for Cassandra but she knew that in time, things would get better. However, at the moment, she had a child to comfort and a funeral to plan. The first order of business was to get the child home so that she could sleep because it was getting late though she didn't know how much sleep she would be able to get after all of this. No matter what happens though, that little girl was going to be her first priority for the rest of her life. As it is, the Asian woman had several calls to make after getting CJ settled in for the night.

Back in high school, if someone had asked Tina how she thought her life would turn out, she would have never imagined this- a mother-figure to a child under five before she turned thirty and single at that. However, she has her parents and the mutual friends she shared with Cassandra's parents but no one from her high school days and in the end, that made her sad because she missed them all but that was life and it never worked out how one would want it to.