Disclaimer: See Chap 1
A/N: This is a shorter chapter than the other two, but I didn't want to make you all wait too long. I know I tend to lose some interest if it takes longer than a couple of days for updates, and I tend to forget what had happened in the last chapters because I read several fics at the same time.
Looks like my update is every 2-4 days now. It takes so long because I handwrite everything first, then edit it as I type but I work basically all the time, so I work on this at random times. Let me know of any ?s, comments, suggestions or requests.
Next chapter should be all cutesy and stuff. It might move a little faster after next chapter. Thanks again to quinntanarivergron4life for your review, and thank you to rainbowbright108 for being a new reviewer! I'm glad you think they are cute together as well. I can't wait for them to start being romantic either! It shouldn't be too long now!
Any mistakes are my own because I have no beta, and I really only edit it once as I am typing it. If I notice any problems, I will go back and edit it ASAP. Feel free to point anything out. And here we go!
It all happened so fast. Too fast. They had just been racing on the trails in the forest, as they had done thousands of times before, then, suddenly, out of the blue, Quinn's favorite and most reliable horse, Justice, had stumbled and sent Quinn careening head-on into a huge branch.
Justice was the most beautiful, most sure-footed steed that Quinn had. Quinn had many horses, so many, in fact, that Santana and her father had to stop giving her horses, or really, animals in general, as she already had more than two gigantic stables full of them.
Quinn always had a way with animals that Santana never understood. Well, truthfully, no one understood how she was so good with animals. She had quite the reputation with the worst of all the animals, so much so, that everyone in the kingdom with animal problems would bring their animals to her for help, or just give them to her if they just did not want to deal with them. She was given animals that people assumed were possessed by demons, and gentled them, no matter how long it took, with words and touches. Sometimes, she worked her magic in minutes, other times it took up to months or even years. Somehow, she always seemed to make them "normal" and "happy" again. Many people actually speculated that she possessed magic powers. Who knows? Maybe she did.
All animals seemed to adore her, and some wouldn't let anyone touch them but her. Others were overprotective of her in such a way that they could be labeled attack dogs. They would let no one near her if they sensed that she was uncomfortable with them, feared them, or even just wanted to be alone. Santana believed most of them would even die to protect her.
Sampson, the German Shepherd that accompanied them today, as he did on almost every single one of their rides and was even permitted into the castle (as well as any other pets Quinn desired to be with her), was one such animal. When he had come to them, he had been a vicious, snapping, and, in general, terrible wild and seemingly untamable beast. Quinn had taken him off of the streets where people had been threatening to kill him if she could not take care of him.
Now, he was Quinn's faithful, quiet, kind, and most loyal companion. He would defend her if any threat arose, as he had proven by taking on an entire pack of wolves by himself to protect them when they had been surrounded by the snarling creatures one day while she and Santana had been riding in the woods. More often than not, though, you would find him sleeping peacefully and contentedly by her feet or snuggled up with her.
At this moment, he was whimpering, nuzzling her, licking her hands, and not allowing anyone, other than Santana, near to her.
Quinn was out cold. Blood was gushing from her head and covering her cheeks. Santana knew that head wounds tended to bleed dramatically, even if they were tiny. What truly worried her was Quinn's lack of consciousness and responsiveness.
Brittany was rushing back to the castle, Sam following closely behind her, as Santana and Sampson tried to awaken Quinn.
"Come on, Quinn!" she gently stroked Quinn's bloody cheek, afraid that shaking the girl would only cause further injuries. At this point, she wanted to slap Quinn and yell at her for not waking up to tell Santana that everything was going to be alright or for getting injured in the first place. "You and I both know that, without you, I probably would've allowed my inner demon to destroy the world. You can't leave me alone in a world of brainless idiots. No one knows me like you do. Not my father. Not even Brittany and Sam. I… I need you." Threatening and joking had turned into pleading and crying.
Quinn didn't even stir. After what seemed like hours, Brittany and Sam returned on fresh horses with Santana's personal carriage and every single one of the royal doctors in tow. Santana had quickly composed herself upon hearing their approach, grabbed Sampson by his neck to allow the doctors to get near Quinn without him attacking them, and watched silently as the doctors gave Quinn a quick examination, opting to perform a much more thorough analysis of her condition at the castle.
Once they had all agreed that Quinn would be alright to make the short journey in the carriage back to the castle, they loaded her into Santana's carriage, trying to ignore the insults she hurled at them for their inability to be gentle, screams about how they knew absolutely nothing, and threats to allow and even aid Sampson in tearing them limb from limb if Quinn received any further injuries from their sheer stupidity.
Santana climbed into the carriage and allowed Sampson to ride with them so that she could cradle Quinn and try to protect her from any rough bumps on the way back.
Brittany shot a concerned look at Sam as they gathered their friend's horses.
The ride back to the castle had never seemed so long or bumpy before in Santana's life. She didn't care about the blood soiling her dress and the floor around her. She just wanted to know Quinn was going to be okay.
Thankfully, the bleeding had ceased near the middle of the journey, which gave Santana a little hope, but Quinn had still not awakened, which terrified her more than she would ever admit.
When they had unloaded Quinn and taken her to her room, once again thankful that the princess had grabbed a rope to put around the snarling beast's neck, but wishing that the could mute the Santana soundtrack, they insisted that she leave the room so that they could carry out thorough exams without distraction.
Brittany escorted the princess and the unusually quiet and submissive dog to her room. She bathed and dressed the princess, and cleaned up the large, intimidating beast. Santana and Sampson were both unnervingly quiet. The large dog followed Santana obediently, and seemed to follow her unspoken orders. He even jumped up to lie down on the bed next to her as she sat on her bed, staring at the floor, and stroking his head involuntarily, as she waited for news on Quinn's condition.
Brittany didn't know what to say, so she just watched the two of them interact differently than they ever had before. Normally, Sampson was nice to her, but he never allowed her to pet him, nor did she ever attempt to pet him on a normal day. She wondered if both of them were clinging to each other for their special connection to the beautiful girl lying broken in the next room over.
There was a knock on the door that sounded entirely too loud in the silent room. Santana wasn't even sure how much time had passed. She felt like it had been an eternity, and yet, entirely too fast.
Brittany opened the door once she had obtained a quick blank stare and nod from the princess as she wrapped her arm around Sampson's neck, just to be sure, and stared down into the dog's eyes as he brought his face up to look directly into hers. She began to understand why Quinn had a soft spot for creatures. His eyes were deep, and voicing to her that he was worried, too, but she could trust him to be there with her the whole time.
The head physician slowly made his way into the room, which seemed too small but also entirely too large to Santana. Nothing was right without Quinn, she silently noted.
She jumped when the physician cleared his throat. She didn't even remove her gaze from Sampson's as he spoke. "She should recover. She lost some blood, but it wasn't enough to put her in danger, and the small cut should heal quite quickly. She will have some bruising, and be extremely sore, but all we really need to do now is watch her injuries, keep her warm, and wait for her to wake up."
Santana gave a half-hearted smile and sighed with relief, which seemed to sooth Sampson a little as well, as she began to rub his soft ears with the hand not around his neck. Their girl was going to be alright. "When will she wake up?" she looked up at the physician.
The doctor cleared his throat, began shifting from foot to foot, and looked anywhere but at the princess, which made her frown as she narrowed her eyes at him, awaiting an answer. He mumbled something that Santana could not hear, but panicked and repeated himself so that she could understand him when both Sampson and Santana growled at him simultaneously. Brittany had to stifle a smile and a chuckle as he rushed to answer her. "We don't know. We're also not sure what she will and will not remember when she does. She might be completely fine, but she might have many memory problems at least for a short time, and hopefully not permanently."
"What good are you?!" she screamed as Sampson snapped at him, still in her arms. "Get out before I personally tear you limb from limb and feed you to Sampson and the tiger!"
He rushed out of the room at lightning speed, and Brittany shut the door after him.
Santana felt the tears coming, but she cried before no one's presence but Quinn's. "Britt, go take care of Quinn until I come. I need a little time alone." She was stroking Sampson and looking deep into his light brown eyes again. He seemed sad, too.
She heard a "Yes, Your Highness," followed by the sound of footsteps and her heavy door opening and closing.
She pushed Sampson onto his side toward the middle of her bed, lay down, buried her face in his fur, and silently let her tears escape as Sampson gave small whines occasionally. She refused to let out any noises louder than an a random gasp for air now and then. She didn't want any sound to carry through to Quinn's room. The person she needed the most in the entire world to hold her right now, was the person for whom she was currently crying. She needed Quinn to hold her and tell her everything was going to be alright, but she couldn't. She was in the adjoining room, lying on her bed, asleep for the time being. Who knows when she will wake up, or what she will remember.
Santana felt panic arise in her chest as she had three thoughts that resounded through her head before her breathing matched Sampson's and she cried herself into a fitful sleep. What if the Quinn who woke up wasn't her Quinn, what if she was different, or, worse yet, what if she was the same, but didn't remember Santana?
