Sweetly Wicked
Chapter 05 – Something Bad
TW: Child abuse.
Sunday - 01:25 AM
It's getting colder and darker and I can barely feel my legs now. My whole body hurts and I can't move. No-one will find me here. Not in time, anyways. And it's all my fault. Oh God, why can't I be stronger? At least until he's safe.
"Lord, spare my baby. Keep him safe."
Quinn was on the verge of unconsciousness, murmuring hopeless prayers in between tears. The darkness grew around her, her eyes unable to see the pool of blood around her.
"Rachel," was the last thing she said before the darkness consumed her.
xxx
"This has been a lovely night, Judy," Mrs. Peterson praised the host, "You have a beautiful family."
Judy returned all of her guests' compliments with a charming and humble smile.
"Alice, dear, I'm just grateful you and your family could join us tonight. I hope we can have tea together as soon as possible so we can exchange those recipes!"
"Call soon, Judy. Oh, and congratulations to your precious Quinn. I'm amazed by her talent! Such a darling girl."
Judy's smile didn't reach her eyes, but Mrs. Peterson didn't notice. Being a Fabray meant being able to camoflage any emotion. Usually.
"She is our darling little angel," Judy replied.
Judy hurriedly shuffled the last of the party guests out of the house when she heard the echo of her husband's booming voice upstairs. Judy wore a stern, unsavory expression as she smoothed down the front of her vintage '50s house dress and walked upstairs, into Quinn's bedroom. Her daughter's face was streaked with tears as Russell yelled.
"Am I to believe that I am spending a fortune on piano lessons so that you can sing songs by filthy negros? I thought I was very clear when I specified to your instructor what kind of music you were to play," he said, pacing back and forth, slapping a leather belt against his palm. Suddenly, he turned to his wife. "Did you know about this, Judith?"
Judy trembled visibly, shaking her head. "I supervised all her classes, just like you asked, dear. She never learned that song in her lessons."
Russell turned to his daughter, who was huddling against a wall.
"Where did you learn that song, Quinn?"
"Rachel…" she spoke, almost inaudible, "She's my special friend from school. She likes that song and I asked her to sing it for me. She has a beautiful voice, daddy…"
Quinn thought that maybe if she could explain to her father how lovely Rachel was, he would understand.
"Special friend?"
"Yes. Ms. Amber says she's special-"
"Rachel?" Russell's eyes widened, "Rachel Berry, that abomination?"
Judy shuddered and glanced back at Francine, who was at the end of the hall, peeking out of her bedroom door and biting her nails.
"You think that abomination is special?" he asked, almost spitting out the word.
Quinn didn't know what to say. She didn't understand where her father's anger was coming from. Rachel was special, wasn't she?
"Y-Yes."
Quinn cried out and Judy hugged herself when Russell bent the small girl over his knee and lashed at her with the belt.
"I'm teaching you what happens to people who give in to these sinful abominations, Quinn. No daughter of mine is going to mix with the freaks and the unsavories."
Xxx
Saturday Morning
Rachel burst into Dr. Palmer's office, ranting, completely desperate.
"I'm a boy! How could you not tell me that I'm a boy?!"
The doctor stood and approached the girl, glad that none of her patients were present. "Rachel, what's going on?" she asked, holding the girl by the shoulders.
"I'm a boy! How could you lie to me?"
She shook away from the doctor's grip and paced the room.
"Rachel, sit, please."
The brunette complied, still huffing.
"Listen to me, Rachel," said Dr. Palmer, taking a seat in front of her, "You're not a boy. You're a girl."
Rachel looked exhausted, with puffy, red eyes.
"No. No, no, no, no. If I were a girl, this wouldn't be happening to me."
"What do you mean? I thought we'd made this clear, Rachel. You're just as much a girl as any other. Yes, you have external male genitalia but you have female reproductive organs. You are capable of carrying a child-"
Rachel laughed humorlessly. "I'm already having a child! But guess what?! Someone else is carrying it?"
The doctor flinched, a bewildered look on her face before she quickly composed herself. "You had sex?"
"How else am I going to get a girl pregnant?" she asked bitterly, a wild look in her eyes.
Dr. Palmer crossed her arms over her chest and sat back in her chair, attempting not to look rattled. "Why didn't you come to me about this?"
"I'm not going to talk to you about that! It's personal!"
"Rachel, you know that you can trust me-"
"Can I?! Because you made me believe that I was a girl. Girls can't do this! This doesn't happen to girls! You lied to me! Everyone at school is right, I'm a freak!" Rachel began to yell.
"No, Rachel-"
"Yes, I am!" she continued to yell, tears running down her face, "I trusted you!"
"I didn't lie to you Rachel. You should trust me-"
"I want to! I want to trust you. I haven't even told my dads. I decided to only tell you because you're the one I needed, Mom-"
Rachel's eyes widened and she smacked her hand against her mouth. Dr. Palmer's mouth fell open. Even she couldn't hide her surprise.
"I mean-" Rachel stammered, tears welling up all over again.
The doctor reached over and embraced the small brunette in a hug.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that," Rachel sobbed against the doctor's shoulder, "I'm sorry. I know this is weird and unprofessional."
"No, it's okay," said Dr. Palmer, gripping Rachel's shoulder and holding her at arm's length, "It's natural for you to latch on to a mother figure. In this case, it's me. I can handle that. It's okay."
Rachel gave Dr. Palmer and forlorn look before her face crumpled and she burst out into tears again. "Nothing's okay."
xxx
Quinn craned her neck to look at the clock above the headboard while her cellphone rang incessantly on her night stand. It was one o'clock in the afternoon and her hair was still mussed from the pillows on her bed. She had decided not to train with the Cheerios that Saturday morning and instead stay in her room all day, not having to explain or justify what happened in the choir room that day. She had used up enough energy convincing her mother that she felt fine. Santana's name flashed on her cellphone screen. Quinn switched off the phone and buried her face in the pillows again.
xxx
Santana stared at her cell phone, annoyed. This time, the call routed straight to a dial-tone. She shoved the phone into her gym bag.
"I was trying not to be a bitch about this, Fabray, but you leave me no choice," she mumbled heatedly to herself. Brittany wrung her hands together as she leaned against a wall of lockers and stared at her friend.
"San, please?"
"Not this time, Britt. You have no idea how much she's fucked things up now."
xxx
Santana didn't like hanging out in the playground during recess. To her it seemed stupid and childish. She would have preferred nap time, especially since she stayed up late with her abuela last night watching re-runs of Mexican soap operas. That was what she called real entertainment. Why did her teachers insist that she spend time with these baby morons?
"Malditos tiranos. If I could take them all straight down to Lima Heights…" the little Latina murmured as she paced the playground.
She looked around, contemplating the best place to curl up and take a nap uninterrupted. A large blue tube had been abandoned in the middle of the courtyard and Santana walked up to it only to hear weeping coming from the inside. She leaned over and looked inside to see Quinn 'The Sun Shines Out Her Ass' Fabray crying into her balled fists.
Santana rolled her eyes. "Did the baby get hurt? Or was Daddy mad that his darling angel was showing off last night?"
Quinn jumped at the sound of Santana's voice, raising her head too high and too fast and smacking her skull against the top of the hard rubber tube. She raised her arms over her head and winced at the dull pain, only for the sleeve of her sundress to ride up, revealing a line of purpling welts on her pale skin.
Santana's brown eyes widened and she hurriedly got down on all fours, fitting half of her body into the tube and unceremoniously pulling the sleeve up. "What's this?"
Quinn gasped at the feel of Santana jerking at her sore skin. It looks like the welts continued on to Quinn's back, and Santana wondered how far they went.
Santana's expression turned cold. "Why did he do this to you?"
Quinn continued to cry, turning her face away from the other girl, hugging herself. Quinn just wanted to forget. She'd handled the pain all morning. And when Rach-... when that freak gave her a 'good day', she decided to let off steam. Daddy said she would go to Hell if she talked to the abomination. She bit back tears at the thought of what she said to Rachel that morning. Leave me alone, you freak! You're not special! You're an abomination! I'm not friends with you.
It wasn't Quinn's fault. She would have been a sinner for not doing it. God would punish her for being friends with Rachel Berry. She told herself not to cry. That crying was weak and that she was a Fabray and Fabrays weren't weak. She was a good girl. Even if she'd made Rachel cry.
Quinn sniffed and willed herself to stop crying. She wasn't going to look weak, especially in front of Santana Lopez.
"Don't touch me," she spat, "We're not friends. I saw how you looked at me yesterday. You hate me and I hate you, too."
Santana was surprised by not only Quinn's anger, but how easily cruel words spilled out of her mouth.
"My abuela told me that sometimes you have to pack a punch to get respect," Santana said, sounding much older than she was, "So if someone bothers me, I bite them."
Quinn didn't look at Santana, but she listened.
"I could tell he was upset when you played that song," Santana continued, "Why?"
Quinn looked at Santana, her eyes widened. How had Santana picked up on her father's emotions when she couldn't? Was Santana more astute than she was given credit for? Quinn's face crumpled.
"I don't know," she began to cry.
Santana put her arm tentatively on Quinn's shoulder and Quinn inched forward, letting the dark-haired girl hug her. It was a strange embrace, especially because the girls had never liked each other, but Quinn needed simple comfort, even if it was from a virtual stranger. Her own mother had averted her eyes when the welts started to bruise and her sister pretended to sleep as Quinn winced from the pain at night. Her father couldn't even look at her.
xxx
Saturday - 19:40 PM
Quinn changed out of her musty pajamas. She'd spent the entire day in her bedroom and even though she was reluctant, the Cheerio decided to go downstairs to get something to eat. She grabbed her cellphone from her night stand and turned it back on. Several missed call messages appeared on her screen. Some were from Brittany and Finn, but the vast majority were from Santana. She sighed.
"I am not ready to deal with you right now, Lopez," she grumbled under her breath.
"Too bad, Q. I'm not leaving until we work this shit out."
Quinn gasped and whirled around to see Santana leaning against her door jamb.
"What the Hell are you doing here?" asked the blonde.
"I'm waiting for an explanation. So you're hiding from the world now because you have Berry spawn growing inside of you?"
xxx
"Rachel, breathe," Dr. Palmer calmly commanded.
She and the brunette had been standing on the porch of the Berry household for a few long minutes. Rachel shivered as the key fell from her hand. Dr. Palmer furrowed her brow with concern. She had canceled all of her sessions for the day to be with Rachel when she told her fathers the news. She wouldn't have done it for any other patient, but Rachel was special.
Regina Palmer had been there when Rachel was born. In the past, she and Shelby Corcoran, Rachel's biological mother, had been inseparable, but things had changed a lot since Rachel's birth. Shelby had made it clear that she wouldn't let a child - especially such an abnormal child - come between her and her future on Broadway. At the time, Regina hadn't been old enough to adopt Rachel herself, but it didn't stop her from visiting the baby at the hospital - and then at the temporary foster home - every day for almost a month until the Berrys had filed for adoption.
Soon after Rachel had been adopted, Regina went to Stanford University, where she got her PhD in child psychology. She'd never shaken the image of the small, pink, innocent Rachel from her mind. Four years later, Regina returned to Lima to find herself helping that same baby girl she had loved from the moment she saw her.
"I'm not getting any younger," Regina said playfully.
Rachel threw her a glare. She slid the key into the door and went inside. They found Hiram and LeRoy in the kitchen, drying dishes together. Hiram's eyes shifted nervously between Regina and Rachel as they entered.
"Hello," he said, wiping his soapy hands against a dish rag, "What's going on?"
Regina looked over at Rachel, who was practically paralyzed with fear.
"Rachel wanted me to come, so we could all have a calm conversation," she explained to the men.
Hiram and LeRoy exchanged looks. "What is this about, Rachel?" asked LeRoy.
Regina cleared her throat. "Perhaps a pot of coffee? It's probably going to be a long evening."
Xxx
Finn glanced at the small bouquet of red roses in his right hand. He took a deep, cleansing breath and knocked on the front door of Fabray home. Mr. Schuester was right. He needed to take responsibility and forget his attraction to Rachel. He needed to bury his feelings and be a man. He had to remind himself that he was dating the hottest girl in school - maybe the hottest girl in Ohio - and she was pregnant with his child. It didn't make any sense to be attracted to a girl who wasn't even a real girl.
This time, he would get things right with Quinn. He couldn't understand why she had run from the choir room like that yesterday, but he could only assume it was something he had done. She probably noticed how eagerly he was staring at Rachel during her performance. His girlfriend probably thought he was a pervert.
"Finn?"
Finn looked down at Judy Fabray, looking as inviting and elegant as ever. He took another deep breath and gave her a crooked smile from the porch. He had to impress his future mother-in-law, after all.
"Hey, Mrs. Fabray. Is Quinn home?"
The woman smiled at him and then at the flowers in his hand before gesturing for him to come in.
"Yes, dear, she's just upstairs. Her friend, Santana, is with her. I think it'll be a nice surprise for her to see you."
Finn didn't like the idea of sharing this moment with Santana, but he followed Judy upstairs, anyways, toward his girlfriend's bedroom.
xxx
"What?!"
"Oh, cut the crap, Quinn. After your little show in the choir room, you still have the balls to lie to me?"
The images of Santana grabbing seductively at Rachel filled Quinn's mind and she gritted her teeth in anger.
"My little show? I was the one putting on a show? From what I remember, you were the one grinding Rachel. You were the one putting on a damn show, Lopez."
"Oh, now she's Rachel, and I'm Lopez, huh? I think it's obvious how you really feel, Q."
Quinn narrowed her eyes. "What are you doing here, Santana?
Santana took a few steps toward he blonde and Quinn lifted her chin, holding her steady gaze.
"I'm tired of being your pitbull," Santana sneered.
"My pitbull? What the Hell does that mean?"
Santana smirked. "I'm done."
"What the Hell are you talking about? Done with what?"
"What am I talking about?! All this time I have put all of my energy into making sure you didn't get hurt again, but this time you have really screwed the pooch and there is nothing I can do to stop it."
"I-"
"Shut up. Stop talking for once, okay? Everyone knows you're pregnant. Puck practically threw it in our faces yesterday."
Quinn felt her legs lose balance and she quickly took a seat at the edge of her bed.
"How could you?" Santana asked, "We tortured her since grade school. You were the ice queen and I was your pitbull and I ran over anyone who stood in your way. And you have no idea how hard I worked to keep Rachel Berry away from you. I knew what you two being friends would mean for you. So did you! I tortured her to protect you. You know that."
Tears streamed down Quinn's face. She could barely hear Santana. The thought that everyone knew she was pregnant was making her head pound.
"How could you never tell me that you were in love with her?"
"I'm not-"
"Stop lying to me, Quinn. Don't you dare."
Quinn stood up, crying angrily. "What am I supposed to do? I can't be in love with someone like her. I can't. She's an abomination. I'm not a sinner. I don't want to be a sinner!"
"Oh, fuck you, Fabray. You're carrying her goddamn child. I thought I was protecting you but I was just helping you turn into your father. I helped you torture someone for years because I thought it would keep you out of trouble but it was just because you couldn't bear the idea to be in love for someone who wasn't suitable. And now you tell me that you're worried about being a sinner? Well, guess what? You already are. You lied to me, you lied to Rachel and you lied to Finn! Fuck! You even lied to yourself! You're a fucking liar, Quinn, and you keep hiding behind God when you have no idea what God is."
Santana was beginning to struggle not to cry out of frustration.
"You know, I always knew that the only reason your parents even let me in this house was because my parents are rich. Otherwise, I'm a hundred percent sure your dad would have said adios to the dirty Mexicans. But I didn't care about your racist bible-thumper parents because I never thought you were like them."
"Santana-"
"No. I'm going to make this right. I'm not going to torture Rachel Berry anymore and I'm not going to let you do it either."
"Santana, please," Quinn sobbed, "I need a friend…"
"No, Quinn. You don't want to be friends with a sinner. Which is what I am, now, I guess. Now that I'm in love with Brittany. You're supposed to despise people like me, right?"
Santana turned around and left the room, brushing right past Finn and Judy, who had been standing, shell-shocked in the hall. Quinn had her face buried in her hands when Finn asked, "Is it true?"
Quinn gasped and looked up, her heart dropping. Finn stood in the doorway with a bouquet of roses limp in his hand.
"Is it true?" he asked again, "Answer me!"
He threw the roses on the ground, making Quinn shudder.
"Yes," she meekly uttered.
Finn stared at her, disbelieving. "It's Rachel's…?"
"Finn, please-"
"Is it?!"
Quinn swallowed. "Yes."
Finn barked out a shocked laugh. "Damn it. Damn you. I'm done with you!"
He turned and left, leaving Judy staring into the room from the hall, in total shock.
"Mom…" Quinn sobbed.
Judy shook her head. She had known when she'd woken up that something bad would happen that day, but nothing like this. All she could think of was her husband. What would he do when he found out?
"Quinnie," she began to say in a whispered voice when the front door slammed shut with a boom, shaking the whole house.
"Sinner!"
Panic gripped at Judy as Quinn's face paled in complete fear.
"My own flesh and blood!" Russell's booming voice echoed through the house.
His heavy footsteps leapt up the stairs and he appeared in the doorway, a look of animalistic anger on his face. Quinn felt the blood freeze in her veins. Judy held her breath and the girls met eyes. Judy quickly looked away. Russell sprung forward and raised his fist.
The thud of flesh hitting flesh was horrifying. Judy turned away from the room as Quinn hit the floor, her mouth starting to fill with blood.
"Get your stuff and get out of this house. You're not my daughter anymore. You have fifteen minutes. And you can thank God that's the merciful punishment I decided to give."
xxx
"Quinn Fabray?" LeRoy stared at his daughter from across the kitchen table, "I… I just thought we raised you differently."
Rachel lowered her head in shame.
"Had you and Quinn been drinking?" Hiram asked seriously.
Rachel looked up at him. "No. I mean, Quinn was little tipsy-"
"Rachel! How could you-"
"I didn't take advantage of her, Dad, if that's what you're implying," Rachel said angrily, "I wouldn't have done anything if I didn't think…"
She shook her head. "Look, you don't know how persuasive she can be. And that's hardly… It doesn't matter now, okay?"
Hiram bit his bottom lip. "God, Rachel, couldn't you have at least used protection?"
Rachel blushed and muttered something.
"What did you say, young lady?"
"That she didn't think this could happen," said Regina, who had been sitting beside Rachel, sipping on black coffee.
"I never looked at the tests," Rachel sighed.
"Which tests?" Both of men asked.
"The fertility tests," said Regina.
LeRoy threw up his arms and Hiram angrily rolled his eyes.
"Well, it doesn't matter, because now we know!" Rachel exclaimed, frustrated.
"Rachel," Hiram sighed, "We're… surprised. And I'm not going to lie, we're disappointed. But we love you and we're going to support you and Quinn with this… responsibility."
Rachel sniffed as her fathers gathered beside her to hold her in an embrace. Regina smiled subtly at them. She knew everything would work out now that Rachel was part of a loving family.
xxx
Saturday Night – 11:35 PM
"You did what?"
"She lied to me, Puck! I wasn't going to stay there!"
Puck rose from the couch and looked at his friend, stunned. Finn had arrived hours ago, manic and close to tears. Puck had offered him a reluctant shoulder a couple of cold ones, trying to figure out what had happened.
"You heard he say all of that to her and you just left her there? Alone?" Puck asked, starting to feel enraged when Finn had relayed the dramatic story of what had happened in the Fabray household.
Finn had angrily spilled Quinn's secret to Russell Fabray as he pulled his car up into the driveway and heard the furious father roar as he bound into his home. Finn had been walking away with his back to the home when he'd heard Quinn scream from inside.
"She cheated on me and lied to me, Puck! The baby isn't mine!"
"And so you walk away while that Christ crusader is probably beating her? What if he hurts the baby?!"
"Who cares, Puck?! It's not my baby!" Finn yelled manically, "It's not yours either, so why are you-"
Puck grabbed Finn by the collar and pulled him up in a fraction of a second.
"He probably kicked her out, you idiot. And it's freezing. I get that you're hurt, but a beaten, homeless pregnant girl? We have to help her."
"Are you kidding me? Quinn Fabray does not need a hero, Puck. Definitely not you. Not me…"
Puck stared at him for a second, buckling his brow, before he let go of the boy's collar and walked out of the house. Finn ran a hand through his hair, shaken, before he picked up one of the beers and threw it at the wall. The glass smashed and the frothy amber liquid spilled down the floral wallpaper.
xxx
She didn't have time to grab a coat. She had barely managed to shove some clothes into a plastic bag. She'd also been too shaken to remember to grab the wad of cash she had saved in one of her dresser drawers. She'd grabbed a few dresses, her Cheerios uniform, her favorite paperback book from under her pillow and her small red jewellry box. Nothing more.
Now, Quinn was wandering through Lima's streets in the cold, carrying a plastic bag and a white cotton pillowcase. She was limping, after falling on her leg in her bedroom. Her knee and her right ankle were scuffed up after she'd thrown all of her weight on her leg in an attempt to cover her stomach.
Her face was still sore and her left eye twitching. Her father's hand had been large and calloused, as always, and he wore a brass ring. She was willing to bet the side of her face was pink and raw. She wondered how she would explain a mark on her face, but she realized that it didn't matter anymore. All that mattered now was her son. She tripped over her feet and fell to her knees on the sidewalk, gasping as she put an arm over her stomach. She gulped and rose again.
xxx
Saturday - 11:58 PM
Rachel was exhausted, but she had calmed considerably. Talking to her parents had taken the weight off of her shoulders. The only thing they wanted her to do was to talk to Quinn. They were unhappy that Quinn didn't tell Rachel about her pregnancy, but Hiram knew her parents, and wouldn't hold it against the girl for being too scared to come forward. They still wanted to offer Quinn their support.
Rachel wasn't expecting Quinn to be grateful or to even accept their offer, mostly because she didn't think that Quinn was ready to handle any earnest feelings between the two of them. She was getting ready for bed when someone knocked loudly on the front. She heard one of her fathers answer and then quickly call her name.
Panic shivered through her body and she made it out to the landing, when Noah Puckerman had begun bounding up the staircase. Puck grabbed her by the arm, looking terrified. LeRoy had followed him up and calmly put himself between the boy and his daughter.
"It's Quinn! Rachel, please, tell me you know where she is."
LeRoy was holding the boy back while Hiram worriedly asked if he should call the police.
"No!" Rachel snapped, catching the attention of the three men. She inched closer to Puck, whose arms were being held close to his sides by her father. "What are you talking about? What happened to Quinn?"
Puck swallowed. "Her family found out. They kicked her out of the house."
Rachel exchanged looks with her fathers as LeRoy let go of his handle on Puck.
"Who told you?" LeRoy asked Puck.
"Finn. He heard everything."
Rachel balled her fists, her cheeks turning red. "This is all your fault!" she yelled at Puck, "You decided to let the world know she was pregnant rather than coming to me and telling me what happened. You shouted it from the rooftops and exposed her because you were stupid and jealous. Noah, if anything happens to her or the baby, I will kill you."
Puck had never seen Rachel so furious. Hiram put his arm over his daughter's shoulders.
"I know, okay?" Puck said desperately, "I know, I'm a jerk and she doesn't want me… I just want to find her, please."
Rachel took a deep breath. "I'm going to get my coat."
LeRoy pulled out his cellphone and dialed 911. He had some friends in the police department who could organize a patrol.
"Quinn's probably not far away," said LeRoy, as he got off the phone and Rachel returned from her room with one coat on and one resting in the crook of her elbow, "We should start looking around her neighborhood."
"Which friend of hers lives nearest?" asked Hiram, "She probably went to stay at someone's house."
"I sent a message to everyone in glee club," said Rachel, furiously thumbing at her phone, "So far, only Kurt replied. He doesn't know where she is, but he and his dad are going to help us look."
LeRoy left with Puck in his pick-up truck and Rachel went with Hiram. Rachel's eyes anxiously roamed the streets as the car weaved through the neighborhood. Quinn was alone, probably stunned and terrified. And when Quinn is scared, she goes into attack mode. She puts on her bitch mask and isolates herself from the world. Rachel had realized that a long time ago. Quinn won't be asking for help. And not because of pride but because the world she used to live in has collapsed. She was feeling lost. She wouldn't be looking for a resolution. She would be looking for clarity.
"Church," Rachel exclaimed, turning to her father, "She's at St. Rose."
"How do you-"
"Dad, please, hurry. It's on the corner of North West Street and McKibben."
Hiram gripped the steering wheel and headed toward the church while Rachel practically bounced in her seat.
xxx
Sunday 01:28 AM
"Rachel," Quinn gasped before the darkness clouded her vision.
The car braked with a squeal next to St. Rose's Church at the sight of the blonde, collapsed on the steps leading up to the front door.
"Quinn!" Rachel yelled, slamming her hands against the car window, "Oh my God!"
Rachel spilled out of the door with her father following behind, their eyes widening at the sight of blood on pavement. Hiram took out his cellphone and started dialling for paramedics. Rachel ran toward the unconscious blonde and knelt on the sidewalk, her eyes wandering over Quinn's body. The bruise on her face, the marks on her legs and the blood dripping down her thigh, leaving a dark red trail on the ground leading up to her. Rachel slapped her hand over her mouth.
"Dad, she's bleeding," Rachel started to sob in a panic, "Oh God, the baby."
Hiram threw off his wool trench coat and draped it over Quinn's body, kneeling down and checking her pulse.
"The paramedics are on their way," he said urgently.
Rachel leaned closer in to Quinn. "Quinn, can you hear me? Everything's going to be okay. I'm here now. I'm here."
Rachel heard the sound of tires screeching to a halt and looked over her shoulder to see LeRoy and Noah running toward them. Kurt and a few kids from glee club had shown up as well, their eyes bugging out at Quinn's body.
"Rachel…"
Rachel looked down at Quinn's out of focus but slightly open eyes.
"Quinn, it's okay. I'm here. I found you," Rachel said, holding back tears.
"It's a boy," Quinn replied in a hoarse whisper before close her eyes again.
"Quinn? Quinn?! Stay with me, please, Quinn, please. Please, someone help! HELP!"