Big thank you to my wonderful Beta/Glee drinking partner/Friend, achelefan24.

Thank you to everyone who has placed this story on either alerts, favorites or both. And I can't forget all those reviews I received for my previous 2 chapters I uploaded.

Hope you all enjoy the next installment.


Chapter 2: Memories, Part 1:

"I've never tried to block out the memories of the past, even though some are painful. I don't understand people who hide from their past. Everything you live through helps to make you the person you are now." - Sophia Loren.

Haruki Murakami once said, "Memories are what warm you up from the inside. But they're also what tear you apart." Do you believe that?

Memories can be both good and bad, but it seems like whether they're good or bad, it's the meaningful memories that we hold onto the most. They're the ones that we don't want to let slip out of our minds because whether they are good or bad, they pull on your heartstrings to hold onto. It's like meeting your first love and breaking up... your pain and suffering may slowly go away but all of the memories you hold will never leave... you always have a small place in your heart to be filled by those memories.

Holding onto memories can have a good or bad effect on you. You can look back and realize the things that you missed, or you can look back and see the things you wished you changed. Memories can even influence the choices you choose to make in the future.


Present Day:

"Rachel..."

Quinn whispered out, while laying in her hospital bed.

Judy immediately stood up and ran over to her daughter. "Quinnie? Quinnie?"

But there was no response... until the monitors began to beep. A team of doctors and nurses quickly came over to her. One of the nurses asking Judy to leave the room immediately. Judy started crying thinking the worst – something was wrong with her daughter. The older blonde stood outside the room while the team of doctors and nurses assessed and worked on her daughter.

Then they unlocked the hospital bed's breaks and started moving Quinn outside the room. "What's going on?" Judy cried.

A resident doctor came up to the distorted mother, "Mrs. Fabray, it looks like Quinn hasn't recovered from her abdominal wound. It may be a result of her spleen not functioning properly but we have to open her up and assess the situation straight away; she needs to go back in for surgery."

Judy nodded away. As the doctor was about to leave she remembered what happened just before the monitors started beeping. "Excuse me, Doctor?"

The young male turned around. "My daughter... before the monitors went off, she said someone's name."

The doctor stood there stunned. "What does that mean?" Judy asked.

"I'm not sure... but we will assess the situation once we get her out of surgery and she's stable."

Judy nodded and the doctor turned and walked off, obviously heading to the OR. Judy walked into Quinn's room and opened up the drawer where the younger girl's possessions were. The police officers on the scene of the accident brought all of Quinn's possessions to the hospital and handed them over to Judy, making everything all too real. She opened up the zip lock bag and pulled out the girl's cell phone.

The older blonde turned on the phone and searched for a name, she then clicked a button to call.

It only rang for two rings before the person answered. "Quinn? Quinn, is that you? Are you okay?" Came a worried voice from the other end.

"Is this Rachel?" Judy asked.

"Yes... who is this?" Rachel replied.

"This is Judy, Quinn's mother. Could you please come down to the hospital?"

"Is Quinn okay?"

"I'm not sure... but could you please come down?"

"Yes... absolutely. I'll leave right now!"

"Oh, Rachel?"

"Yes, Mrs. Fabray?"

"Tell the nurse you're Quinn's half-sister. They won't let you into the ICU if you aren't a family member."

"All right. Thank you, Mrs. Fabray. See you soon."

Both ladies disconnected the phone call.


Quinn's Dream State:

She opens her eyes and looks around to find that she's in the choir room, but everyone looks older than she remembers. She feels older. Her hand subconsciously goes to her abdomen.

Better.

The pain has subsided… it may even have gone away.

The older blonde shrugs and then again looks around, trying to figure out what memory her mind has brought her back to.

Quinn looks over at her younger self and she sees herself doing the same thing, observing the room, but not looking at anything in particular. The older blonde scrunches up her face, confused.

'What is this supposed to mean?'

Older Quinn then tries to take everyone else's appearance in and notices Rachel. Pain shoots through her heart and she grabs her chest.

'I remember now.'

It's Britney Week during their junior year and Rachel is sporting a very different appearance to her usual style of argyle and sweaters.

'Rachel looks… hot.'

Quinn shakes her head realizing what she just thought. The older blonde then looks back up at her younger self. Rachel's chatting away, yet she sees herself not staring down at Rachel.

'Why not?'

Then the memory fades into a new one.


Quinn takes in her surroundings and sees herself with Finn at his locker. She's dressed in her Cheerio uniform.

"Congrats Finn. You're back on the football team. I'm head cheerleader again. Some kind of symmetry, don't you think?" Older Quinn hears her younger self say. "With all the nastiness between you and I behind us, I think we should be together. We'd be a shoe-in for Prom King and Queen. So what do you say? You and me, 8 o'clock, Breadstix?"

"Look I'd be lying if I said I didn't have feelings for you, I always will..." Finn shuts his locker. "But I'm not gonna get back together with you... there's someone else and you know who that is. I'm asking that you respect that. I'm sorry."

Younger Quinn watches Finn walk off; older Quinn watches herself turn and walk in the opposite direction, walking up to Rachel who's waiting at the corner of the cross section of the hallways.

"I said what you wanted me to. He shot me down... so congrats. Looks like he really loves you," younger Quinn tells Rachel.

She watches herself walk away from Rachel and notices a hurt look in her eyes... Was it because Finn doesn't want her or was it something else?

Then things go black.


She sees her younger self in the bathroom putting on eyeliner at a sink, now. The door swings open and in walks Rachel Berry.

"Hi Quinn... can we talk?"

Quinn then grabs her blush and starts applying it to her face. "What do you want to talk about?"

"About Sam... I-I heard you backed out of doing a duet with him." Rachel pauses and then speaks again, "Look, I understand that your reputation is important to you, but wouldn't you wanna do whatever it takes to be on the proverbial pyramid in every aspect of your life?"

"Singing with Sam won't change that." Older Quinn sees herself place her makeup in her bag and picks said bag up.

"But winning the competition will." Quinn puts her bag over her shoulder and then starts to leave. "And partnering with Sam is really your only shot at it."

Older Quinn sees herself stop just before opening the bathroom door to exit and turns around. "What's your angle?"

"Angle?" Rachel asked dumbly.

"What's your angle? Me winning means you losing and you'll do whatever it takes to make sure that doesn't happen. So what is in it for you?"

"Look, I agree. You're probably not gonna beat Finn and I... but I just thought that... as... as the team captain it would good for the team to have some healthy competition for second place."

Older Quinn scrunches up her face confused as to why she was having the memory.

'The only things these memories have in common are… Rachel. She's been in all of them.'

But why?


Present Day:

Rachel found her way to the ICU stating to one of the nurses that she was Quinn's sister. She was born to be an actress, after all. The nurse escorted her to Quinn's single room. The brunette looked into the room and found Mrs. Fabray sitting in a chair flicking through a magazine. She wasn't really looking at it; she had a lost look on her face. Rachel looked around but there was no one else in the room. Where was the bed? Where was Quinn?

Fear consumed Rachel. She wiped away a tear that escaped her eye and lightly knocked on the door, interrupting Mrs. Fabray. The older blonde looked up to the door as Rachel entered. "Mrs. Fabray, I'm Rachel Berry," the brunette whispered lightly walking over to Judy as the older blonde stood up and shook the brunette's hands.

A tiny smile reached the older blonde's lips. "Rachel... It's lovely to officially meet you. However, I wish it was under better circumstances."

The brunette forced a small smile and nodded. As they let each other's hands go, Rachel grabbed a cup coffee off the tray she was holding in her other hand, holding it up and handing it over to Judy. "I'm sorry I didn't ask you if you wanted me to bring you anything but I thought you might like some coffee."

"Thank you, Sweetie. I would actually love a coffee," the older blonde said as she took the coffee out of the brunette's grasp.

"So... ummm where's Quinn? Is she okay?" Rachel whispered.

"Why don't you take a seat, Sweetie," Judy said pointing to the chair that was located right next to the one she was just sitting in. Rachel nodded and followed the older blonde's hand and sat down where Judy was still pointing. Judy then walked over and sat down in her original seat.

"Quinn's in surgery..." Judy trailed off, tears starting to fill her eyes. Rachel just sat there shocked. She didn't know what to do or say so she just held onto her coffee cup with both her hands and waited for Mrs. Fabray to continue. "...The doctors said that she still had internal injuries from the crash that didn't heal..."

"Is she going to be okay?" Rachel asked as tears filled her eyes.

"I'm not sure yet... The doctors haven't come in to tell me how the surgery is going..."

"I'm sure Quinn will be fine. She's strong. I know she will be able to get through this," Rachel said trying to sound positive for the older women.

Judy nodded and wiped away her tears. She then looked up at Rachel. "There's a reason why I called you..." Rachel nodded. She had to admit she was shocked when she heard Mrs. Fabray's voice on the other line. She had no idea why the older blonde would have called her. Did she know that Rachel was the one that texted her daughter and was she going to yell at her and blame her? Rachel felt like she deserved it.

"Just before Quinn's monitors started to go off and before the doctors and nurses came in… she called out your name, dear…" Judy trailed off.

"She did?" Rachel asked surprisingly.

Judy nodded, "I'm not sure why she would. She's spoken to me about you before stating you too are close friends, and that you have helped her through her hard times at the start of this school year... but I still don't understand why she would say your name."

Rachel eyes started to fill with tears, she knew why Quinn would be saying her name. "It's all my fault..." Rachel trailed off as she burst into tears. Judy sat their wide eyed, shocked at seeing the little brunette burst out crying with more force than she thought possible from such a small frame. "...It was my wedding she was going to... I was rushing her… She was texting me before she had the crash... It's all my fault."

Judy sat there not knowing what to do. The police informed her that they thought the cause of the crash was from Quinn texting while driving, so once the police handed over the younger blonde's possessions, Judy looked at her daughter's phone and saw the text she had between Rachel. She knew Quinn was texting the brunette before the accident.

"It's not your fault, Rachel..." Judy softly said. The older blonde already had time to process this. Once she knew that Quinn texted Rachel and then had the accident, she was angry at the little brunette, but then she realized that it was Quinn's fault. Not Rachel's. Quinn chose to look at her phone while driving. It was her choice.

Rachel looked up at the older blonde and shook her head, "No... Mrs. Fabray, this is all my fault..."

"Rachel, it was Quinn's choice to text you while driving. She didn't have to do it, but she did. It could have been anyone she was texting back. Don't blame yourself, Sweetie."

"Well Quinn obviously does... That's why she said my name, right? She's already blaming me while unconscious," Rachel said as she looked down and started to cry again.

Judy sat there and took in what Rachel just said. The older blonde never thought of that... But there was something about the way Quinn said it that made her think that it wouldn't be out of anger. So Judy spoke up. "I don't think she is, Sweetie. The way Quinn said your name... it didn't sound like she was angry. It sounded like a soft whisper... like she was asking for you... like she wants you here."

"Really?" Rachel said looking up.

Judy nodded, "I don't know what's going on in her head right now... but I know my daughter and I know she called out your name because she wants you here."


Quinn's Dream State:

She now finds herself watching the other Glee girls perform their mash-up of Start Me Up/Livin' on a Prayer.

Quinn smiles at this memory. She enjoyed doing the mash-up.

Older Quinn watches herself dance and sing. The girls are all dressed up in leather outfits. Her eyesight shifts to the other girls and soon gravitate to watching – observing – Rachel... the brunette is crawling on the ground like an animal...

Her eyes go wide and she sucks on her lower lip...

'Crap... That's hot!'

Before she realizes what she said, everything goes black.


Quinn pops up in the auditorium and she sees her younger self sitting next to Kurt. She then looks up on the stage and notices Rachel and Miss Holiday dressed in a skimpy red outfit singing a mash-up of 'Nowadays/Hot Honey Rag.'

Older Quinn drags her eyes away from Rachel and Miss Holiday and looks down at her younger self. She smiles at seeing herself so carefree and happy. Quinn then lifts her eyes back up to the stage and watches Rachel perform the rest of the song with the substitute teacher... but she can't take her eyes off of Rachel...

Once the song is over and the Glee kids start to clap, the memory slowly fades away into a new one.


Quinn opens her eyes and sees herself sitting in between Tina and Brittany on stools in the choir room. Rachel's standing up near the piano talking to them.

"Ladies, the Kurt-Karofsky bullying situation is getting way out of control. Kurt's miserable. He's loosing weight, and not in a good way, and he's barely even fighting me for solos anymore."

"We've all been teased but something that Karofsky is doing is so much worse," Tina says.

"We're all lucky enough to have boyfriends on the football team and I say we band together and demand that they confront Karofsky," Rachel adds.

"Okay, first of all I'm not dating Sam, and second of all, I think you personally just set the feminist movement back 50 years," Older Quinn hears herself say to Rachel.

"Guys like Karofsky only respond to muscle."

"So, we're going to fight violence with violence?" She says, obviously pissed off.

"No! Look, I'm not saying... Th-That they should hit him, what I'm saying is that we need to defend Kurt and there's strength in numbers," Rachel voices.

Why are all these memories showing her talking to Rachel, or even just looking at Rachel? Does this mean something? Before she can think, everything fades to black again.


"Mr. Schuester, I have an announcement. I have selected the perfect moving ballad for Finn and I to sing and to launch our performance at Sectionals," Rachel says enthusiastically as Mr. Schue walks into the choir room, late as usual.

Quinn sees herself roll her eyes at Rachel's statement and laughs at herself. Mr. Schue starts going off on a rampage about what he wants for Sectionals and because Rachel finds out she's not getting a solo, and that Quinn and Sam will be singing the ballad, the brunette lashes out.

"Ken and Barbie... A-Are you trying to throw this?"

"You used to be just sort of unlikeable, but now I pretty much feel like punching you every time you open your mouth." Older Quinn laughs at her backlash at Rachel. Then she shakes her head as the memory starts to fade away.


Quinn opens her eyes and finds she's in the auditorium. Tina and Mercedes are singing 'Dog Days Are Over' while the rest of the Glee members are jumping and dancing around. The song is just about to end and she finds herself up on one of the steps dancing next to Rachel. She sees her younger self look over at Rachel, as they were about to jump down to join everyone else they both pulled out their hand to grab the others. Older Quinn watches her younger self latch her left hand around Rachel's right hand.

Older Quinn felt an electric bolt shoot up from her fingertips to the rest of her arm. It was the hand that her younger self currently had in Rachel's grasp.

'Rachel.'

Then everything goes black.


Present Day:

Two hours later, in Quinn's hospital room, a doctor walked in and interrupted Judy and Rachel. They both stood up and waited for the doctor to tell them what happened in surgery.

The doctor walked over and held out his hand to Rachel. "I'm Dr. Bennett one of Quinn's doctors."

Rachel shook his hand, then Judy spoke up. "I'm sorry Dr. Bennett. This is... ummm Quinn's sister, Rachel."

Doctor Bennett nodded then looked back at Judy. "Mrs. Fabray, your daughter's out of surgery, we were able to stop the internal bleeding, as we mentioned before about her spleen... we didn't remove it. Dr. Murphy believes the spleen is fine and still working as well as it can. However, if there is another re-bleed we will need to remove it."

Judy nodded, "Can we see her?"

"She's in the recovery ward, but a nurse will bring her up shortly."

"Are there any other changes?" Judy asked, silently asking if Quinn is out of her coma.

The doctor shook his head, "No, I'm sorry. It seems like Quinn is still working on recovering from her injuries before she wakes up."

Tears filled the older blonde's eyes, "About what I said before surgery... she said someone's name... does that mean anything?"

Doctor Bennett nodded, "It's a good sign that her brain is still functioning and able to process proper speech, but we won't know anything else until Quinn chooses to wake up."

"When will that be?" Rachel asked as tears filled her eyes, too.

"We aren't sure, Miss Fabray... it's up to Quinn on when she wants to wake up." Rachel tried not to looked shocked when the doctor called her Miss Fabray, she was meant to be Quinn's half-sister anyway. They were kind of related if you thought about it... her mom did adopt Quinn's daughter, Beth... so Beth would be classified as Rachel's non-biological half-sister, too. Does that mean Quinn would be... mmmm... too hard to work out. Rachel shook her head to concentrate back on the conversation.

The doctor was talking to Judy, "The nurses will continue to do their check ups on Quinn, and I'll come back this afternoon and check her status."

Judy nodded and thanked the doctor as he turned to leave.

Just as he left, a nurse pushed Quinn in the room. Rachel's eyesight landed on the girl laying on the bed and her eyes began to fill with tears. Quinn had cuts and bruises all over the left side of her face. She was sporting a black eye. Her right hand was encased in plaster. Quinn Fabray looked so fragile.

Judy wrapped her arms around the little brunette as Quinn was pushed into the room. Rachel just watched the nurse set all the monitors and IV drips back up. Once the nurses were finished they did a check on all vitals and wrote it down on Quinn's charts and exited the room. Rachel was still wrapped up in Judy's embrace as she continued to cry. "She looks a lot better. How about you go sit down next to her? I'm sure she'd appreciate another voice she knows."

Rachel nodded and then pulled out of the embrace from the older blonde. She then moved her chair and pulled it around to Quinn's left side and sat down. The brunette just sat and stared at the fragile girl laying in the hospital bed before her. She slowly lifted up her right hand, hesitating whether she should even touch the girl. Judy saw the brunette's hesitation. "It's okay, Rachel, you can touch her."

The brunette nodded and then placed her right hand on Quinn's left hand. She gasped out loud at feeling the fragile blonde's hand in hers. It felt so cold, yet warm at the same time. The contradictory feelings shot up her whole arm. She then wrapped her fingers securely around the blonde's. She stared down at their hands embraced for a few seconds and then looked up to Quinn. "Hi Quinn..." she trailed off as tears started to flow from her eyes as she continued to talk to the blonde.