All clichés aside, it really did happen all too fast.
Rachel would strain to remember, when she felt up to remembering at all. Dim lights whizzing past, her own unceasing screams as she groped for the wheel, and the terrifying crash that changed everything. Changed everything more than that piano had two long months ago.
Now, three weeks later, things were a bit foggy. Sometimes she got the events mixed up. Dim screams, unceasing crash, terrifying lights. But eventually it comes back to her.
Most times Rachel doesn't want to think about it. She doesn't want to think of being hustled into an ambulance, still conscious well Jesse lay heartbreakingly still on the bloody hospital gurney by her side.
Rachel had been released from the hospital within three days. To her fathers, three days were not nearly enough in the healing process for their immaculate daughter, but Rachel thought completely otherwise and relished in the idea of getting the hell out of there.
Jesse had now been in a coma for exactly three weeks. She thought about how things might have been if he were paying attention to the road in front of him and not to her. She might have forgiven him right then and there. She might have ordered him to stop driving and to kiss her. What a great idea. But unfortunately, most great ideas don't turn out that well. Take Tina's new haircut for example. God, what a mess! Rachel thought to herself. She was pleased with herself that she could think of things other than Jesse.
Maybe she would visit him today. Yeah, she would visit him! She definitely would. Somehow, as soon as she stepped through the doors to his room, his eyes would miraculously flutter open, he would call out a desperate cry to her, she would run to his side and they would carefully embrace. And of course, they would sing a heartbreakingly perfect ballad about this atrocious experience. She was traumatized, but she was Rachel Berry. And being Rachel Berry, there was always room for a song.
She begged one of her dads to drive her to the hospital. The begging was really unnecessary actually, as her dads spoiled her completely and would do whatever she wanted on a whim. She boarded the minivan and checked that she was buckled at least six times.
She took a deep breath before she got out of the car. Hesitantly, she told her father she'd only be a couple of minutes and trudged to the hospital doors. She told the receptionist who she was and was soon lead to Jesse's room, even though she knew exactly where it was located.
Of course Rachel expected it to be only her visiting. Jesse was unbelievably popular sure, but she really didn't know if people loved him for him, or for his talent. Nevertheless, Rachel was surprised when she noticed an average sized blonde with a baby bump napping in the chair beside her love's bed.
