If you had told Santana Lopez a year ago that she was going to be out and proud with Brittany, she would have laughed in your face. She would have down right cackled if you had told her that her Catholic parents loved and supported her despite her sexuality.
If you had told her that Quinn Fabray was as gay as she was. She would have never believed you. If you had told her that Fabray was gay for Berry. She would have punched you in the face for your stupidity. Then slapped you for good measure.
Yet there she stood in front of her dying best friend in a hospital room. Lead in by her supportive father. Holding hands with her girlfriend Brittany. And consoling her ...friend... she shuttered at the thought, Rachel Fuckin Berry.
Judy had already stepped in to see the extent of Quinn's injuries. It was truly as horrible as they made it out to be. Half of Quinn's face was swollen almost beyond recognition. There was a tube down her throat helping her breathe. An army of machines was keeping her alive. Yet Quinn Fabray still looked gorgeous, ethereal even. That Bitch. She was literally in her death bed and she still managed to look hot.
Dr. Shepard, a man they liked to call McDreamy around the hospital, even Santana could understand why, had stepped out with Judy to explain what was going on with Quinn.
Rachel stood right at the foot of Quinn's bed, taking her all in. Glad that the blonde was alive, but the hardest was yet to come. Quinn had many more battles to fight, and if Shepard was right, two more surgeries.
"I can't-" Rachel whispered backing away from the bed. Her breathing speeding up. She clutched at her chest and looked down at what she was wearing. She hadn't left the hospital all night and was still wearing her wedding dress.
"I can't breathe" She choked out between labored breaths. Santana was unsure of what to do, even Brittany stood their awkwardly looking like she was about to run out of the room for help.
"I can't breathe" Rachel choked out more frantically, pulling roughly at her dress. She reached behind her back trying to unzip herself.
"Get this- Get this off of me!" Rachel tugged frantically all over the dress, trying to squirm out of it.
"GET IT OFF!" Rachel said louder. Both Brittany and Santana were quick to oblige. Rachel was in full on panic attack mode. Together the two roughly removed the wedding dress from Rachel. She was left standing there in only her underwear. Santana looked around awkwardly as if a pair of clothes would magically appear for Rachel.
"What's going on here?" Meredith Grey stepped in holding an IV bag. At least that's what Santana thought her name was. She remembered her father mentioning a couple of the fourth year residents that seemed to wreak havoc at Lima General.
"She couldn't breathe" Brittany explained holding up the wedding dress as proof. Rachel was still heaving long breaths, but was finally calming down.
"Do you have any extra clothes?" Meredith asked Rachel as she hung up the new IV bag for Quinn. Santana balled up the wedding dress, not sure what to do with it.
Rachel shook her head, tears streamed down her face, but she didn't seem to care how vulnerable she looked. Standing there, crying in her underwear. Her hair still neatly pinned up.
"Ok, I'll be right back" Meredith left the room, leaving the three girls to stare at Quinn in silence. They watched the forced rise and fall of her chest. They kept their eyes on the beeping machines.
"Just don't go wandering around the hospital claiming you're a doctor" Meredith said lightly, returning to the room with a pair of light blue scrubs. Rachel smiled lightly at the woman and thanked her.
Judy and Rachel's fathers returned not long after with a couple of coffees in their hands. They each handed one to the girls sitting stoically around Quinn. Santana and Brittany took the cups gratefully, hoping the caffeine would work it's way through their system quickly. Rachel refused.
"Rachel sweetie, I think it's time to go home." One of the men said, Santana thought maybe his name was Hiram.
"I'm not leaving" Rachel said in a commanding tone. It's the first thing she has said that really sounded like herself since the wedding. And for some reason Santana smiled, she found it comforting.
"Honey" The other man LeRoy started but she glared at the men so fiercely they shut up.
"It's alright Mr. Berry-s. I'm going to be here. My dad is always here." Santana spoke out, surprising herself with coming to Rachel's defense. Both men turned to look at Judy asking for permission. What both men didn't know was Santana couldn't give a rats ass to what Judy said, she would not leave Quinn's side.
"It's alright." Judy said shying away from Santana's withering look. "The company is nice."
Santana had to hold back laughter when she realized that Judy too, would never have imagined a year ago, that she would literally be standing in the gayest room as her daughter laid near death, in a hospital bed.
"Hello, Judy?" Dr. Callie Torres stepped into the ICU room.
Correction: Now it was the gayest room.
Callie locked eyes with Santana in surprise not expecting to find her there. Callie Torres had helped Santana when it came to coming out to her parents.
"Santana what are you doing here?" Callie asked, almost completely forgetting Judy.
"Quinn's my best friend" Any other day Santana would shy away from being so openly honest about her feelings, but today was not the kind of day to be holding back the truth.
Callie glanced over at the girl she had operated on and then back at Santana. She nodded and returned to her job.
"Mrs. Fabray, can I have a word?" Judy nodded and exited the room with the doctor.
Rachel sat in a chair right next to Quinn, looking impossibly small. She hugged her legs to her chest, resting her chin on top of her knees simply staring at Quinn. She wouldn't move from that position for the next 16 hours.
Brittany had left as soon as morning came. Santana thought it was best, that way her girl could get some sleep. Nobody else was allowed to visit Quinn in the ICU, though many did stop by to check up on them. Rachel stayed in her seat refusing to move. ot to drink, not to eat, not even to go to the bathroom.
Santana on the other hand, needed more caffeine. When she returned from the coffee cart with a cup for both her and Rachel she saw two doctors standing outside Quinn's room.
"Is that the bride of Frankenstein?" One of them asked, nodding over to Rachel who, even from here, looked like she was in bad shape.
"Try Frankenteen" Santana corrected, standing right next to them. Santana recognized Meredith and the other, Yang maybe?
"Santana I'm-" Santana waved off Meredith's apology before she could even get it out.
"It was a terrible idea- In case you couldn't tell she's in love with her" Santana nodded at Quinn. "You're Yang right?" Santana asked the other bored looking doctor, she wanted to make sure she had the name right.
"Yup. You're Lopez's daughter, right?" The doctor asked. Santana nodded.
"Help!" Rachel stepped out of the room frantically, looking at the doctors. "She's-she's choking!" Tears streamed down her face as she ran up to Meredith and pulled her into the room. Both doctors and Santana jumped into action following Rachel into the room.
Meredith quickly stepped over to Quinn, who sure enough was making choking sounds.
"It's ok" Yang assured the teenagers "It means she can breathe on her own."
"Cristina page Derrick" Meredith ordered the other doctor. Cristina peered her head out of the room and hollered "Page Doctor Shepard!"
Meredith removed the tube from Quinn's throat, then started fussing over her to check her vitals. Dr. Shepard quickly stepped in, moving to the opposite side of the bed and pulled out a small light from his coat to check Quinn's eyes.
"Quinn? Quinn, I'm Doctor Shepard, can you hear me?" Santana made her way over to Rachel, the coffee's long forgotten.
Quinn let out a small groan at all the noise and the fussing. Santana could imagine her waking up and slapping their hands off of her.
Rachel gasped at the noise Quinn emitted. She shot forward to the foot of Quinn's bed. Santana instead found herself moving Dr. Grey aside, taking Quinn's hand that was not in a cast.
"Q, you bitch" Santana cried, openly sobbing now, just hearing the sound of her best friend groan.
The doctors and the teens waited in silence for Quinn to have any kind of response. The doctors hoping the lack of oxygen to her brain while her heart stopped beating didn't cause any long term effects. The teens just waiting to here Quinn say something.
The blonde looked to be wincing in pain, she swallowed with difficulty and turned her head at the sound of Santana's voice. Here eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the light, she blinked a couple of times. Hazel eyes just as bright as Santana had always remembered them.
"San?" She croaked out. "I need- I need to Taylor Swift the shit out of..." Her weak voice trailed off, looking at the doctor who was pointing the light in her eye. She furrowed her brow at the man.
"She might be having some difficulties. She's not making any sense" Dr. Shepard said prodding Quinn's head gently. Santana let out a watery laugh and shook her head.
"She's making perfect sense." She argued "God Bitch, you didn't have to go and get into an accident to stop the wedding" Santana was never known for having a filter, having Rachel in the room wasn't going to stop her. Cristina and Meredith stepped closer to the door but made no move to leave. They were eaves dropping, wanting to hear how this story played out.
Quinn's eyes fluttered around the room, taking in her surroundings. Dr. Shepard continued to run tests on Quinn, but when hazel eyes landed on brown ones, nothing else seemed to matter to those two.
"Quinn" Rachel let out with a long breath, like maybe she had been holding it. Knowing Rachel, she probably had.
"Rachel I-" Quinn croaked, looking at Rachel who had tears streaming down her face. Rachel was nodding.
"Me too" Rachel said, stepping closer to Quinn.
Rachel hardly left Quinn's side after that. It was annoying how everyone in the hospital fell in love with the small girl. Even Cristina Yang developed a certain fondness towards the diva and that was saying something. Though Santana could bet it had more to do with Berry's 'Thank you' Cookies. Berry would bring in after the few times she did go home to change and shower and occasionally sleep.
It wasn't all rainbows and butterflies after Quinn woke up. She still had 2 risky surgeries that she had to go through. The only other person that was allowed to see Quinn was Brittany. Other than that it was only Judy, Rachel, and Santana. And even that was pushing it. Though no one dared to kick out the almost teen bride(the cookies were really that good) and Santana would simply laugh if they tried to get her to leave, directing them to Dr. Lopez.
The students of McKinley held a vigil that first night Quinn was in the hospital. Those hypocrites pretending to care. As if they hadn't thrown slushies or uttered unkind words about her.
It was about 2 hours after Quinn's last surgery when Santana walked in to her room. Rachel was at her side, of course, asleep. Her head resting next to Quinn's hip. Her hand holding Quinn's tightly.
The swelling and bruising in Quinn's face was almost completely gone. The cuts were healing. Quinn was really on her way to recovery. But it wasn't those signs that made Santana realize her best friend was getting better.
It was the brightness in her eyes when ever she would wake up and see Rachel at her side. It was the smile that spread across her face (and everyone else in the hospital) whenever Rachel would sing quietly to her. Quinn was in a hospital bed, with the possibility of not being able to walk again (though both Rachel and Brittany agreed that the statistics did not apply to Quinn, that she would be walking again) and she had never quite seen her best friend this happy.
"Hey San" Quinn said, opening her eyes. Almost as if on cue, Quinn's eyes lit up noticing Rachel holding her hand.
"Hey Q" Santana said quietly pulling a chair next to Quinn, on the opposite side of Rachel.
"I've decided I'm going to walk again" Quinn said, a determined smile on her face. Santana chuckled.
"Just like that?" Santana shook her head when Quinn looked over at Rachel and nodded. The sight of Rachel was all she needed to make up her mind.
"Just like that" Quinn agreed. They sat in silence for a while, when Quinn finally spoke up, but she wasn't looking at Santana when she spoke. She was staring directly at Rachel.
"I think I'm an option, San" Quinn said hopefully. Santana's mind flashed back to the conversation they had before Quinn wreck. She too looked over at the sleeping girl grasping tightly onto Quinn's hand.
"Quinn, I think you're the only option"
I'm not sure I'm satisfied leaving the ending like this. Maybe one more chapter? Though I can't figure out whose point of view I would use.
Let me know what you think.
Hope you all liked it -A