A/N: It's been a little bit, but not as long as it could have been lol. I've actually been trying to update this for like four or five days, but work said no. Luckily, it's Saturday and I don't have to listen and I can update! That entire rant was pointless, I'm beginning to notice... so, here's the update. Working for the next week and then vacation! Hopefully, I can squeeze in an update before then! Until next time, keep your Faberry Love alive. (I'm still not okay because Quinn got hit by a truck and what the...)
Oh yeah, I own nothing... bla bla bla. And all mistakes are my own. Enjoy!
Chapter 2:
Quinn had spent the rest of her day in that bathroom. She'd cried so much that she believed she was probably somewhat dehydrated and she'd screamed so loud that her throat was sore. No one else had come up to that bathroom after Santana left and she could only assume that the fiery Latina used her attitude to scare everyone by threatening them within an inch of their lives if they did. She'd have to apologize and thank her later.
As though she was on autopilot, the blonde made her way through the halls and out to the parking lot. Before she knew it, she was in the driver's seat and making her way across town. Within twenty minutes, she was parked in the parking lot of the hospital, engine cut off and staring out the windshield. The sound of the rainfall and her ragged breath still weren't enough to drown out the brunette's voice. She inhaled sharply, tightly gripping the steering wheel before throwing her door open and running to the awning, trying to avoid the rain.
Her arms instinctively wrapped around her waist as she watched the automatic doors slide open and then closed and then open again. She could faintly make out the movement of people walking past her, the movement within the doors, but she couldn't bring her feet to move. Her body was betraying both her head and her heart. This was the first time that she'd come to see Rachel since the news spread around the school. She couldn't bring herself to do it, afraid of what she'd see. Scared to death that something would happen while she was there. So many thoughts ran through her mind as she stood there, contemplating whether she should just turn around and go home.
"Miss," Quinn heard as she turned around to face a woman in teddy bear scrubs, "are you okay?"
Quinn could only nod, not trusting herself to speak without completely breaking. Her tears hadn't stopped since she'd made her way to the front doors and she had a feeling they wouldn't stop any time soon.
"Do you need help?" The lady asked, placing her hands on the blonde's shoulders. "Are you looking for someone?"
"Rachel..." Quinn whispered before taking a deep breath, fighting the urge to completely break in front of this stranger. Closing her eyes, she steadied her breathing before trying again. "My fr-friend, Rachel Berry. I'm here to see her."
"Okay," the woman smiled before ushering her through the same doors she'd been watching for at least twenty minutes prior. They made their way up to the desk, the lady mumbling something to the woman behind the desk before making her way back over to Quinn, "come on, honey. I'll take you to where you're going."
The elevator ride up to the eighth floor was quiet and completely uncomfortable for the blonde. She could see the nurse chancing glances at her from the corner of her eye. Her arms, on instinct, wrapped around her own waist as she focused on the numbers. Four. Five. Six.
"You'll be okay, honey." Quinn heard the woman speak as she felt a hand on her shoulder once again.
Seven. Eight. Ding.
The door opened and Quinn found herself staring at the white wall in front of her. She could hear the woman coaxing her to move. She could hear her own voice inside her head screaming for her to run. Conflicted. But before she could even think twice, the woman had taken her by the arm and lightly guided her to the chairs outside of a room with the blinds half open. She couldn't allow herself to look, to focus. She could barely breathe.
"Your friend is in that room right there. I believe her father is in with her now, but you can wait out here until he comes out." The nurse spoke before reluctantly making her way back to the elevator. Quinn looked around, again she was surrounded by an eerie silence that chilled her to the bone. She let her gaze find the white door that led to the inside of Rachel's room and tears sprang to her eyes, yet again.
She couldn't stop crying. No matter what she did, she couldn't stop her tears from falling.
Without warning, the door flung open and a tall, yet kind of lanky black man appeared before her. Disheveled and wiping away stray tears, he closed the door behind him before his chocolate orbs found her clouded hazel irises.
"Can I help you?" He asked. His voice tender and full of emotion. And that's when she realized that she'd never met Rachel's fathers. Leroy and Hiram. She'd only heard about them when Rachel would mention them in glee, but she'd never taken the time to meet either of the two men that had raised that beautiful girl.
"If you're lost, we can try to find someone who can assist you in the right direction..." his voice trailed off as though his words were being taken over by pure emotion and Quinn realized that they were feeling the same things. Neither of them trusted their words; trusted their voice enough to speak to one another. His brown eyes held something...something she would recognize in a room full of a million people. They were Rachel's eyes.
"Leroy?" She asked in a whisper as she could only guess his name.
"Yes?"
"I'm- I'm Quinn. Fabray."
His features immediately softened at the mention of her name. He'd only heard about her from his daughter for the past four years, almost every day. And while most of it was heartbreaking, within the last few months it had seemed that things were turning around for Rachel and Quinn. Rachel had explained to him their situation, how they'd been enemies but Rachel had never given up on the girl because she believed that there was a reason. She believed that Quinn needed her and even with everything that had happened, she'd needed the blonde, too. It had taken he and Hiram a little bit, but they'd finally come to understand the situation more. They'd spent a night talking about and hashing out the details and they'd come to the conclusion that the reason their daughter had stuck around this girl for so long was not because she simply believed that she needed someone, but that it was quite possible that Rachel was falling in love with Quinn. It sounded insane to most, but to them, nothing sounded more true. They'd seen the change in their daughter when the blonde had finally accepted their friendship and it made them happier than ever.
"Quinn?" He whispered with a wavering voice and watched as she nodded before he took three strides and engulfed her in his arms. "I was wondering if you'd ever come to see her."
As the two pulled away, Quinn reclaimed her stance, hands around her waist. "You - you know who I am?"
"Of course, I do." He answered with a chuckle that lacked the actual happiness it should have had. "Rachel has spoken about you on many occasions."
"She has?" Quinn questioned. Her voice was hoarse and her throat was dry and she wondered how, if Rachel had spoken about her, this man was so welcoming. Then again, he was Rachel Berry's father and if her actions proved true then it was completely understandable.
"She has." He confirmed as he guided her to a chair before sitting across from her. "Her new friend, Quinn Fabray. The prettiest girl she's ever seen, but you're also so much more than that." He smiled.
"She told you that?" The blonde asked, a bit shocked and a bit confused by the words coming out of his mouth. Those were words that Rachel had spoken to her, on prom night in the girls bathroom.
"I'm her father, she tells me everything." He noticed her becoming slightly uncomfortable and decided a change of subject would be good. "I'm surprised you're here." He spoke, looking right into hazel eyes.
"I," she started but again, words were failing her. Her emotions were all over the place and she couldn't trust herself to speak.
"It's okay, you know. You don't have to speak." Leroy turned his head to the door before speaking again. "I think she'd be elated to know that you're here, Quinn."
"I'm not-I'm not ready." She forced out, shaking her head. Her eyes closed as the feel of tears stung behind her eyelids.
"Well, whenever you're ready, okay?" Her head snapped up and wide hazel eyes looked at the taller man as the warm tears she'd been fighting off began to fall. He immediately noticed and rushed to speak, "I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?"
"No, no," Quinn reigned in her emotions with a sharp intake of breath, "It's just... that's twice that you've said something to me that Rachel's said to me at one point or another. It's …"
"Unsettling?" He asked and watched on as she nodded and sat back in the cloth-covered chair. "I understand."
A bout of silence surrounded them as Quinn actually took the time to look at the man sitting before her. His eyes were focused on the white door; that same white door that was haunting her every second she sat there. His eyes were sad, his chin quivered slightly every couple of seconds or so. She watched as he inhaled deeply and desperately tried to blink away threatening tears. She wanted, on first instinct, to lean forward and place a supportive hand upon his knee but after a second of consideration, she decided not to. Would it even be reciprocated? Would it be weird?
"I'm really glad you chose to come here, Quinn." Leroy spoke just above a whisper. "I think she will be happy to know that she has a friend here." His eyes turned to her and his stare was so deep, Quinn felt as though he was looking straight through her and into her soul. He was reading her, she could feel it and it only caused her to coil into herself, trying hard to hide everything that she truly felt. One look into those brown eyes and she knew, without a doubt, that her efforts were futile. "I'm going to get some coffee. Can I get you anything?"
She watched him stand and shook her head, declining. As he walked off, she stood on shaky legs and they carried her over to the window. She squinted, peering through half open blinds and allowed her eyes to finally focus on the image before her. She needed to go in. If not for herself, then for Rachel. For the both of them. But what would she see? When she entered the room, what sight would meet her eyes? Her heart rate sped up to an impossible speed, her hands clammy and clenching the bar in front of her, holding her steady.
In. Out. In. Out.
Two words were on repeat as she tried with everything inside her to calm herself. She knew that Leroy would be returning soon and as much as his presence, his eyes calmed her, she couldn't witness looking into those broken brown eyes. It would take only two, maybe three, glances before she too would break. She didn't want to break. She needed to be strong. She was Quinn Fabray, strong was her mantra. Unless it came to the brunette who lay just on the other side of the window.
With a hand on the cold silver door knob, Quinn clutched it tight, eyes fluttering shut before pushing the door open and making her way through. She turned quickly, closing the door, the sound of the beeping monitors, calming and melodic. Resting her head against the cold door, she couldn't turn around. Not yet.
She wasn't ready.
Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, she bit down hard enough to bruise before letting out a shuttering breath. She had come this far. She had come from screaming at Santana in a bathroom, to standing in front of the hospital doors, making her way to the waiting area, sitting with Leroy, to standing inside the room with her head pressed against the door. She could turn around. She had to turn around.
Pivoting her back foot, she allowed her body to turn slowly and as her eyes trailed from the floor to the side chair to the bed, her breath caught in her throat, a hand immediately clasped over her mouth and the tears... the tears were present again. There she was, Rachel Berry, lying in a hospital bed. She allowed her eyes to take in the girl from where she stood. Her face was bruised slightly on the left. That bruise sat around a laceration that contained at least fifteen stitches. Her left arm, set in a cast, lay beside her and a thick white bandage sat around her head. It wasn't as bad as she thought, right? Flesh wounds, Quinn thought to herself before pushing herself off the door and practically flying into the chair that sat beside the bed.
Ever so slowly, she slipped her fingers beneath the palm of a tanned hand before allowing her fingers to slip between Rachel's. This was never supposed to happen. Rachel should have been walking through the halls of McKinley, head held high, going on and on about whatever was on her mind at the moment and making sure that everyone was listening. She wasn't supposed to be here...in this bed...hooked up to these machines. Quinn sighed deeply as she allowed her head to rest next to nimble fingers laced within her own. Her chest suddenly felt devoid of air and she found herself breathing in as deep as she could. It would never be enough.
Once again, a voice played throughout her mind like a broken record which only aided in making her breathing more shallow. She felt everything all at once. Anger. Pain. Remorse. Sorrow. Sadness. Weakness. Fear.
How could she have treated Rachel so badly all that time? On countless occasions, she'd tormented the smaller girl, called her names, slapped her, made her feel like less than nothing and for what? All because she couldn't come to grasp her own identity. All because the brunette was sure, without a doubt, where her life was going and had the talent to get there. A part of Quinn had been jealous, a part of her envied Rachel for how hard she worked toward her goal. She envied the fact that she was quite sure where her path lead and the way she worked, day and night, to make sure it was the path she would take. She wasn't a coward. She wasn't afraid. She took the bullying in stride, head held high. She shook off the hateful words, she forgave those over and over again without a second thought, and she fought for everything she wanted. She was everything that Quinn wanted to be and because the blonde found herself constantly stepping off path, constantly being turned around and forgetting her way, she lashed out and treated her like shit. Every time the two of them had a civil moment, Rachel would say that she'd forgiven her and then offer her a smile that would stop the blonde's world in mid-orbit. She never failed to amaze Quinn.
And this year, this year was their year to get it right. The brunette had even reminded her of such when she'd come to Quinn beneath the bleachers, once again reminding Quinn that, no matter what, she was more than ...than what? More than a Skank? More than a fuck-up? She sighed to herself because that was the moment... that was the moment, standing there and looking into Rachel's eyes as the Skank's stood behind her, that she'd fallen completely in love with the brunette.
Bringing her head up, tears stung at the corner of her eyes as she took in Rachel's sleeping form. Is that what it was? Was she just sleeping? What was she dreaming about? Knowing Rachel, they're were probably lots of gold stars and show tunes...The thought made Quinn laugh quietly to herself before she swiped at the now falling tears. Her eyes focused on the brunette's closed eye lids and she prayed. She prayed harder than she had ever done in her entire life for those lids to lift and reveal to her the biggest and most beautiful brown eyes she'd ever seen.
"Please..." she whispered into the air around her. "If you can hear me, Rach, please come back to me. I need," her breath caught in her throat and she fought against her emotions to keep her composure, "I need you to open those beautiful brown eyes."
After ten minutes...or twenty, she wasn't really sure of the time, Quinn sighed heavily. No matter how hard she wished, the beeping from the monitors never changed, Rachel's brow never even moved. Rubbing her fingers delicately over the back of the shorter girl's hand, Quinn spoke, "I...I can't stay long. But I'll be back, okay? Because every time that I've needed you, whether I wanted to admit it or not, you were there. So I'm going to be here for you."
She rose to her feet, reluctantly unclasping their hands, and smoothed out her dress. As she leaned over, she softly placed her lips to the brunette's forehead and closed her eyes as she allowed the kiss to linger for a few moments. "I'll be back, Rach. I promise." She whispered before placing another quick yet soft kiss to the same spot and turning to walk out of the room.
