-Chapter 6-
Quinn looked down at her clock, it was two in the morning. New Directions was scheduled to fly to the Springfield-Branson airport from Columbus later that day. Quinn was pacing her bedroom floor and rubbing her lower back when there was a knock on her door.
"Come in!" she growled.
Rachel opened the door and stepped into the bedroom. "Hey," she said quietly. It was Rachel's white flag. She stood looking down at the floor with her bottom lip between her teeth. "Listen, I…"
"You should be in bed, Rach. You've got an early morning."
"You're coming with us to the airport, right? To see us off?"
"Of course, but I can come back home and go to bed. You'll be on an uncomfortable plane."
"I wish you were coming with us."
"I checked online and they'll have DVDs. I've already got mine on pre-order." Quinn groaned when she felt another muscle spasm in her back and she resumed pacing and rubbing at the offending muscle.
"Take your shirt off."
Quinn whipped around and stared at Rachel who looked at her innocently.
"Not like that." Rachel rolled her eyes. "Just…Sit on the bed and take your shirt off."
Quinn didn't ask questions. Rachel shut the bedroom door and Quinn sat down on the bed and pulled over her head, baring her back but keeping her front covered. She felt the bed shift behind her and then Rachel's warm fingers pressed against her back and started massaging.
"Oh…my…God," Quinn moaned. Rachel's hands pressed right onto her muscle spasm and worked it out, Quinn was sure she had somehow landed in heaven.
"You're really tense."
"Carrying around an actual human – oh…right there – in your uterus can do that to you."
"I should've given you a back massager for Hanukkah although they're not as effective as an actual massage." Rachel's hands moved over Quinn's back and pressed in all the right places eliciting moans from the blonde's mouth.
"Your hands are magic, Rach. And I mean that in the least perverted way possible."
"It's not that difficult to learn how to give a good massage. Just replying to the instincts of the person you're working on is the best way to do it."
"Whatever it is you're doing it's amazing."
Quinn moaned again when Rachel worked out a knotted muscle she didn't even know she had until it was relaxed. After a few more minutes Rachel pulled her hands away and Quinn whimpered.
"Quinn…there's something I want to tell you. I mean, I'm not sure if you want to hear it or not but I feel as though I'm hiding something if I don't tell you…"
"If this is about anything to do with having sex with Finn you can stop right there."
"How…how did you know?"
"Why else would he be throwing things at your window and have you sneak out in the middle of the night?" Quinn hissed. She pulled her shirt back over her head and turned to face the brunette.
"I told him you would hear it! You…you didn't tell my dads, did you?"
"You're allowed to leave your room, what do you think?"
"Thanks," Rachel whispered. "I know you could've easily told them."
"Just be careful, okay? I don't want you to go through this." Quinn held onto her stomach.
Rachel nodded. "We are. It's…I mean…with his problem it doesn't really last…"
"Stop. Please."
"Sorry." Rachel sighed and there was a silence for a few minutes. "I really do care about him."
"Go to bed, Rachel." Quinn pulled the blankets back on her bed.
"Quinn…I…"
"Out!" Quinn pointed at the door and narrowed her eyes. "I don't want to hear it, okay? Just…please just leave."
At the airport the next day Quinn didn't hug Rachel goodbye. She just looked at her and dug her fingernails into Finn's arm.
"Ow! What the hell, Q?"
Quinn pointed her finger up at him and narrowed her eyes. "Finn, I swear to whatever God there is that if you ever hurt Rachel I will kill you, do you understand me?"
"I…uh…"
Quinn dug her nails in harder. "Don't. Hurt. Her."
Finn nodded and Quinn released him. She hugged Brittany and Santana and watched the glee kids go through security. Jim and Chuck escorted her back to the SUV and she silently let the tears flow the entire way home while trying not to think about the sporadic bursts of indigestion she was having. When they finally arrived back in Lima, Quinn looked longingly at Rachel's door. She quietly tiptoed into the room and looked around. She hadn't been in Rachel's room in quite a while since they'd been ignoring each other. There were two new pictures on Rachel's nightstand, one of Rachel and Finn, the other of the entire glee club with their trophy after regionals and with one of Quinn's sonogram pictures stuck in the bottom corner. She furrowed her eyebrows at a strange sensation in her stomach and then it happened.
"Oh…oh no! Jim! Chuck! God…oh God!" Quinn started screaming when her water broke all over Rachel's bedroom floor. She panicked for a moment, knowing Rachel would be angry that her floor was ruined and that Quinn was in her room without permission. Her fears were cut short when first major contraction hit her like a brick. Chuck and Jim appeared in the doorway and looked at the floor and back up to Quinn who was holding her stomach.
"Not yet! It can't happen yet! She has to wait!" Quinn gasped. "Make it stop! She has to wait until they come back!"
"Honey, you kind of don't have a choice in the matter!"
"No, Chuck…no! She has to wait!"
"I don't know much about obstetrics, Quinn, but I am pretty sure that once your water breaks it's a no turning back kind of thing."
Chuck guided Quinn downstairs and sat her down on the couch while Jim got her hospital bag from her room. Chuck went back upstairs to halfway clean up the mess in Rachel's bedroom floor. Quinn practiced the breathing exercises she'd found online and tried hard not to panic too much. When Chuck gave the okay the three piled back into the SUV; Jim was in the back seat with Quinn and Chuck broke at least three traffic laws as he drove to the hospital.
"Call Rachel…" Quinn mumbled after another contraction. They'd been in the maternity ward for an hour.
"Their plane takes off in less than an hour, sweetie. There's nothing they can do." Jim dabbed her forehead with a cool cloth.
"She told me she'd kill me. Well, Puck told me that she'd kill me. She told Finn, Finn told Puck."
Jim nodded at Chuck and he took out his phone.
"Hi honey...I know, we agreed we wouldn't check up on you but we're at the hospital and…No, no sweetie nothing's wrong…Yes, Quinn went into labor…About an hour ago...About five centimeters…Yes, I am aware that's quite fast since it is her first child…Daddy is giving her ice chips…They're still about ten minutes apart…Rachel, the doctor doesn't stay in here the whole time, he's got other patients…I know Quinn's important…No, I will not go find him so you can talk to him…Rachel, he knows what he's doing…No, you can't talk to the nurse either…Or the orderly…The housekeeping staff won't know what they're talking about…Yes, the sheets were clean when we got here…Rachel, it's all okay…Hold on, I'll ask."
Chuck took a deep breath and shook his head. He looked at Quinn and the blonde was holding back a smile. "She wants to know how you're feeling."
"Tell her not to worry about it and to just break a leg tomorrow. Baby and I will be just fine and when they get back it had better be with a huge trophy."
Chuck repeated what Quinn said to Rachel and he talked to her for a few more minutes before finally hanging up.
"Everyone sends their love and Mr. Schuester said to try singing scales through the contractions to see how high up you can get. Rachel agreed with him saying you could use the practice anyways since you haven't been at rehearsals."
Quinn giggled but it was cut off by another contraction. She forgot about scales and rehearsals and only wanted Rachel to be there next to her.
……………
"You can't all go in there! Only a few visitors to a room!" Quinn heard a nurse yell. It had been just over four hours since the call to Rachel and she'd just finished yet another contraction, they were now five minutes apart.
"Back off, woman!"
Quinn sat straight up in bed upon hearing Mercedes' voice.
"We're all family," she heard Artie say. "Brothers and sisters."
"Get out of my way!" Rachel's familiar shriek echoed through the halls and the brunette appeared in the doorway followed by the rest of the glee club. Rachel rushed to Quinn's beside and threw her arms around the blonde.
"You're supposed to be in Branson right now!"
"Yeah, right," Puck said. "I'm not missing the birth of my kid."
"You really think we'd miss this?" Rachel asked. She finally pulled away from Quinn and smiled. "That baby is going to be living at my house, I'm not missing this either." She tucked a few strands of Quinn's hair back and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"But…this is nationals!"
"Quinn this baby will only be born once. We'll have other shots at nationals," Mr. Schuester said.
Quinn opened her mouth to start ranting but all that came out was a yell when another contraction hit her. Rachel grabbed onto her hand and talked her through it.
"In and out, Quinn. Breathe."
"I hate you, Puck!" Quinn growled.
"She doesn't mean it, Noah."
"Yes, I do!"
Quinn relaxed and Rachel grabbed the cool washcloth from Jim and dabbed Quinn's forehead.
"Good job, Quinn."
Quinn nodded. "After this is over with…I'm killing Puck."
"You realize if you do that then it will be up to me and my dads to raise the baby since you'll be in jail. And she'll turn out just like me."
"Okay, I'll just have him castrated."
"Hey!" Puck covered his crotch. "Don't even think about it."
Quinn growled and turned her attention back to Rachel. "Rachel?"
"Hm?"
"I uh…my water kind of broke…in your bedroom."
Rachel's eyes widened. "It didn't get on my sheet music, did it?"
"No. Just the floor."
Quinn waited for Rachel's rant on personal space and privacy but before Rachel could open her mouth the fetal monitor next to Quinn's bed started beeping and all eyes fell on it until a nurse came shoving through the crowd of kids. She tapped the screen a few times and looked at the lines.
"What? What is it?" Quinn asked. Rachel's thumb was sliding over the back of her hand.
"Out! All of you out, now!" the nurse said. She pushed the page button that was on the wall above Quinn's head. Everyone quickly shuffled out of the room save for Puck and Rachel.
"I told you to get out."
"I'm the father!" Puck growled.
"I'm the…I…"
"She's the godmother," Quinn said quickly. "They're both staying."
The doctor rushed in and went immediately to the fetal monitor. He watched the lines on the screen and looked at the nurse.
"What's wrong?" Quinn asked shakily.
"The baby's heartbeat is irregular, Ms. Fabray."
"Well fix it!" Rachel demanded.
Quinn's eyes darted back and forth between her stomach and the doctor, trying to find her voice. She glanced up at her own monitor to see lines moving rapidly. She looked at Rachel who looked like she'd just been told Barbra Streisand wasn't real.
"Wh-what's that mean?" Puck asked. "What do you do to fix that? Like…medicine or something?"
"It can mean several different things but I can't give any definite answers based solely on the vital signs. Ms. Fabray, I am seriously recommending an emergency Caesarean. It could be nothing but it could be serious and we need to find out quickly."
"Do it," Quinn said. "Whatever you have to do, just do it. Just make sure my baby girl is okay."
"Someone will bring you the consent forms and we'll get you prepped and ready to go. One person can come with you if you like."
"Only one?"
"Hospital regulations, I'm sorry."
The doctor left and the nurse pushed the call button again and ordered the transport team to take Quinn to the operating room.
"I'll go tell everyone what's going on," Rachel said. "Noah should be with you."
"No, dude…no. Sorry Q but I don't do the whole blood and getting sliced open thing. I can handle it at fight club but I've seen videos of this shit and I can't get through them without tossin' my cookies. I'll go tell the other gleeks what's going on and I'll see you later, kay?"
Quinn nodded and Puck kissed her forehead. He left the room leaving just Quinn and Rachel. Quinn was silent for a few moments, still slightly panicked. She had to focus on something else. If there was one thing Coach Sylvester had taught her that was useful it was focus. Rachel was a good target.
"Why did you come back?"
"After I told everyone what was going on there was no argument. Mr. Schue called the bus driver and he came right back and brought us straight here. Kurt had a screaming fit at the luggage counter and finally got them to give us all of our luggage back. We shouldn't have wanted to go in the first place. It's just not glee without you."
"I'm so sorry about last night Rachel…and ignoring you this morning. I'm so sorry."
"It's okay, don't worry about it," Rachel said. "I know you didn't mean it."
The focus didn't work. She tried to think about something, anything, to get her mind off of what was happening or could happen with her baby. She lost.
"I'm scared, Rachel." Quinn felt her eyes start burning and the tears spilled over. She held onto her stomach and cried. "I'm so scared…"
"It'll be okay. I'm here, alright? I'll yell at whoever I have to, to make sure everything is okay." Rachel crawled up in the bed closer to the blonde and Quinn buried her head in Rachel's shoulder while the brunette rubbed circles on Quinn's back.
As soon as Quinn signed the consent forms everything seemed to blur together. The orderly came in with the gurney. Rachel was momentarily separated from her so she could scrub up and get ready to go into the operating room. When Rachel was finally back at her side Quinn held on to her hand tightly. Rachel ran her hand over Quinn's forehead and the blue surgical cap that was holding her hair up.
"You okay?" Rachel asked.
"Yeah, I think so. Can you see what they're doing?"
Rachel peeked around the curtain that was blocking Quinn's vision and her eyes widened. "You don't want to know," she said when she looked back at Quinn.
"Thank you for being here, Rach."
Quinn squeezed Rachel's hand and the brunette smiled. Quinn took a few deep breaths and the next thing she knew the single most beautiful sound she'd ever heard echoed through the large room when her daughter cried. Rachel looked around the curtain again and gasped excitedly.
"Can…can you see her?" Quinn asked. "Rachel…Rachel…"
Rachel turned her attention back to the blonde and watched as Quinn went pale, her eyes closed, and her head dropped to the side. Quinn released Rachel's hand and the brunette panicked.
"Quinn? Quinn, wake up!" Rachel looked over to the doctors. "Something's wrong with her! Someone do something!"
The monitors up by Quinn's head started beeping loudly and Rachel watched as the lines jumped sporadically. A nurse shuffled over to Rachel and grabbed her arm. "Come with me, miss. Come on."
"No!" Rachel yelled. "No! What's wrong with her!" She fought hard against the grip of the nurse. The doctors were shouting about clamps and bleeding and the alarms on the monitors were still going off.
"We've got to get out of their way. Come on honey, we've got to get out of the way." The nurse continued trying to pull Rachel away.
"No!" Rachel shrieked again. "Just…please…" Rachel leaned down and touched her forehead to Quinn's. She cupped the girl's jaw with her hand. "Quinn please…Please stay with me Quinn…please, I'll do anything…I'll do anything, please just stay," she begged.
