A/N: Mistakes are mine. I've been on a roll lately so I hope this came out ok, rather than the jumbled mess im afraid it to be lol.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chap 10
The mourners gathered in small groups. Some twos and threes, others stood alone. The sky above them darkened, becoming ominous and frightening, like it would break apart and shower them in grief much like what they felt now. A soft breeze circled them, gathering up voices and heartfelt cries, sweeping them past the onlookers and into nothingness. Places where no one wanted to go. Places like the in-betweens of memories and the present. No one moved. They just stood stalk still, watching the minister as he spoke, reading from a small black book.
Puck looked on, a small pressure weighing his chest down. He tried to breathe evenly, calming his chugging heart. He felt the anger now, the pain and remorse he had so often chose to ignore this past week come full circle. He couldn't take it. No, this was a mistake. He shouldn't be here, no one should be here. It was wrong- so wrong. He turned to leave, tearing his swollen eyes from the mound of dirt in front of him.
"Please stay." A voice pleaded with him. He stopped, turning his head to look at the crying girl in front of him.
"I don't know if I can. She's gone, and I'm not needed here." He tells her. The girl shakes her head, taking his hand.
"That's not true Puck. Stay, for me?" She squeezes his hand tightly. He sighs, bowing his head sadly.
"For you." He tells her.
Flashback
With an overwhelming weight of sadness, the Glee club sat impatiently in the waiting room. Brittany, who after she detached herself from Santana and ran to into the arms of Kurt, Mercedes and Tina, rushed to call the Berry's. She knew the hospital would be calling anyways, but she wanted to make sure they knew, and that they also knew everyone was here for Rachel- including Mr. Shue whom had been called by one of the boys. Hiram and Leroy thanked her profusely and told her that they were already on their way and should be there very shortly.
Puck and Quinn sat side by side, their hands gripped in each other's. Quinn would let an occasional tear go, swiping at it furiously. She felt useless, like she was out of her element and she was scared to death. What if Rachel died? What if she got amnesia and couldn't remember the past 24 hours, let alone the blonde herself? Quinn bit her lip tersely, contemplating charging the nurses desk again for any new information.
Puck on the other hand sat stock still. His mind replaying the events over and over and he couldn't help but blame himself. What if he had walked faster? What if instead of throwing his anger around at Finn then maybe the oaf wouldn't have run out like he did? What if he had stopped Rachel from being the better person and followed the quarter back out instead? What if….no, no matter how many what if's he thought of, the reality is and was that Rachel was lying on a surgical table somewhere in this hospital. Her tiny and broken body was suffering and he could do nothing to stop it. He growled and let go of Quinn's hand, standing up and marching over to the nurse's desk. A large woman with soft caring eyes looked up at him from behind the registration computer. He scowled at her, feeling no remorse.
"You promised us an update an hour ago." He stated. She frowned at him looking past his shoulder.
"I'm sorry but I cannot disclose any information to you at this moment." She apologized. He clenched his fists, clenching his teeth in frustration.
"And just why not? I'm her brother, her family. You can tell me!" He shouted. She looked sympathetically at him and shook her head.
"I'm sorry, but if you just take your seat I'm sure her fathers will be here any moment and you can have the details then." He grunts and walks back to the waiting room. When he returns he stops dead in his tracks.
"Mom?" He inquires. Shelby turns around to face him, her eyes shining with unshed tears. She makes a move to hug hum but he places his hand in between them, stopping her mid stride.
"Oh Noah!" she exclaims sorrowfully. He flinches at his given name, reminded of his tiny sister. He takes a step back, shaking his head.
"What are you doing here Mom?" he asks tersely. Her face crumbles and she starts crying, her voice grave.
"I got a call from a friend who saw you getting in an ambulance. She couldn't tell me whether or not you seemed to be hurt, so I rushed over here as fast as I could. Then when I got here I heard about Rach-"He growls and steps closer to her.
"Do not say her name." He warns her. Shelby flinches and looks at him with badly hidden surprise.
"Noah…" She leads. He shakes his head furiously. Shelby gives him hurt look.
"You…you don't get to talk about her. This…I wouldn't have hated her for so long if it weren't for you. I can't listen…you have no right to be upset." He grounds out. He grabs her arm and pulls her to the side. She goes to speak again but at the moment Hiram and Leroy walk in. Brittany launches herself at the two men and cries loudly. The Berry's pat her back soothingly, whispering soft words. They scan the room, their eyes lighting up as they take in all of Rachels friends. They barely cover up the shock when they spot Shelby.
"Is she okay? Have you heard anything?" Quinn steps forward, coming closer to Rachels fathers. The men nod their heads smiling softly at the girl.
"Quinn is it?" Leroy asks. She nods her head at him, shuffling from foot to foot. He places a hand on her shoulder, looking from her to the rest of the room.
"She's in a private room now. They had rushed her into emergency surgery to repair a tear in her spleen, other than that she has a small concussion." He tells them, they look at him with blank faces and he chuckles a bit.
"She's going to be fine. A few days stay for observation and healing and she should be out of here and good as new." He says. He watches as everyone bursts into happy tears, Quinn hugs him tight and Brittany launches herself at Hiram again. Puck steps forward nervously. The men look at him curiously.
"I'm Puck." He tells them. Rachel's fathers look at one another and then him, smiling softly. Puck goes rigid when they hug him.
"We were so happy to hear you two made nice." Leroy laughs. Puck looks at him sheepishly, his guilt and shame tying knots in his stomach.
"I'm sorry I…" he trails off and they shake his shoulder a bit.
"Don't worry about it…the situation we put you kids in wasn't very pleasant." Leroy tells him. He sees Hiram nod in agreement, reaching out to pat him arm.
"Listen, the Doctors gave us the okay to send in a visitor or two at a time. It has to be very quick, but we know how much you all want to see for yourself that she's okay." Leroy addresses the room. Everyone nods and he smiles.
"We've already seen her, so you guys are welcome to start visiting okay." He turns to Brittany, smiling softly.
"Room 201, go." Brittany gives them a watery smile, reaching over to grab Quinn's hand, dragging the blonde away with her. Quinn giggles in response, following the blonde down the hall.
Jogging down the hall, Quinn tried to gather her thoughts. She had no idea what she wanted to say, what she felt Rachel might need her to say. Things like this just didn't happen that often and she wondered briefly if her relationship with Rachel would always be this exciting. So when they approached the room, she takes her hand back from the bouncy blonde, slowing to an almost complete stop. Her heart skipped a beat when Brittany opened the door and she caught a glimpse of Rachel's hospital bed. She had to harden herself a bit, prepare for the onslaught of emotions she frankly wasn't ready for. She took a deep breath and walked through the door. What she saw gave her slight pause, a soft aching tug drew at her heart and she swallowed hard.
Brittany lay curled up at Rachel's side; her head snug in the space between Rachel's shoulder and head. She was obviously crying, a soft hiccup escaping the distraught blondes mouth every once and a while. Rachel, whose head was slightly bandaged, winced slightly, bringing her hand up to play with her best friend's hair. Quinn walked closely, feeling the prick of oncoming tears.
"Oh, Rach." She cried. Rachel looked up then, her eyes glistening as well. She held out the hand that was stroking Brittany's hair, beckoning Quinn closer.
"It's okay baby, it's okay." Rachel assured. Quinn wasn't sure whom she was talking to, but it gave her comfort to hear anyways.
"I'm sorry." Quinn wept. Rachel looked at her confusedly for a second, before shaking her head.
"This is not your fault Quinn." Quinn shook her head furiously, gripping Rachel's hand.
"You're my girlfriend. I should have been there. I should of…." Rachel shook Quinn's hand, grabbing her attention from her sorrow.
"No. This. Is. Not. You. Fault." Rachel punctuated each word with another shake. Quinn sighed, excepting defeat. Brittany hiccupped again and began to weep once more. Rachel bit her lip, looking down at her emotional friend.
"It's okay Britt, it's all okay. Shhh, go to sleep…." The tiny girl soothed Brittany, instantly humming a soft tune. Quinn looked on in awe.
"Ever since I've known her she's always been so strong." Rachel starts, directing her gaze towards Quinn. Her hand comes to play with Brittany's hair, the blondes both have stopped crying by now.
"So, it didn't come to any kind of shock to me that she placed herself as my….warrior I guess you could call it. She always protected me, for as long as I can remember. So I guess this accident…well I guess you can say it showed her a reality that she isn't quite ready for." Rachel looks down at the blonde, seeing that she was fast asleep. She looks back up to Quinn whose watching them intently.
"A reality in which one day I may no longer be around anymore; that she can't always protect me." Rachel see's Quinn grimace and takes her hand.
"She's the most innocent person I've ever met." Quinn admits. Rachel smiles softly, placing her head on top of Brittany's.
"And I try my hardest to keep her that way." Rachel sighs. Her eyes fill quickly wish tears and she sniffles.
"But one day it'll be her down fall. I'm afraid…." She trails off. Quinn grabs her hand.
"I'll help you. Santana and I will help you." Quinn promises. Rachel smiles, her eyes drift close and soon she's asleep. Quinn rubs at her eyes and gets up, leaving the room feeling like a ton of weight lifting off her shoulders.
The next few hours are filled with tears and relieved smiles. Everyone hugs Rachel and careful avoids waking up her blonde best friend. Quinn comes in and out; making sure the diva has everything she needed. Surprisingly the hospital seemed very lax on the visiting hours, and Santana is thankful because she spent the next half an hour trying to wake up her blonde-almost-girlfriend. Rachel reassures her that Brittany can stay and she is no harm to her, giving Santana gentle orders to leave the girl.
It's almost midnight when Puck finds the strength to visit. He smiles when he sees Quinn immerge from the room with a small grin. She tells him she'd be right back and that she had strict orders to buy his sister a strawberry smoothie. His chest feels lighter at the blonde's good mood and stops at the door. His fist comes up to knock on the door, hesitating for a second. He decides to just go with it and pushes the door open with no knock at all. When he enters the room he raises an eyebrow at Brittany whose still sound asleep on Rachel.
"She's exhausted." Rachel tells him when she sees the look he's giving her best friend. He nods, his mind going back to the deep sobs of agony that came from the blonde earlier. He shutters, never wanting to hear that again.
"How are you?" he asks, his throat tightening. Rachel shrugs her free shoulder, looking away briefly. He steps forward, taking the empty seat next to the bed.
"You Dads are around here somewhere, do you want me to go get them?" He asks gently. She bites her lip, looking down.
"No, I'll see them later. I….I heard your Mom was here." She whispers. Puck clenches his jaw, a small lump forming in his throat.
"I'm sorry about that. I had her leave." He tells her. Rachel's bottom lip quivers and he reaches forward, holding her hand. She looks down, a tear dropping from her eyes.
"Thank you." She tells him. He nods, his thumb drawing soft circles on her hand.
"Please don't ever scare me like that again." He pleads, hot tears stinging his cheeks. She sobs, tightening the grip on his hand.
"I was so scared." She cries. He lunges forward, carefully taking her in his arms. The sob openly, gripping each other tight. Brittany whimpers and Rachel places a soothing hand on her back.
"Do you remember anything?" He asks. Rachel sniffles, nodding her head.
"I remember the lights…I remember you…you told me…you told me to hold on. And I did. I tried so hard Noah." She cries, her voice is raspy and she hiccups slightly. She nuzzles herself into his shoulder further, feeling him shake with tension.
When the break apart she wipes at her eyes, then takes a hand and lovingly wipes his. He takes her hand and kisses it gently. Quinn emerges then, smiling at the scene. She hands Puck and Rachel a smoothie, sipping her own. She places a fourth one next to Rachel's bed for Brittany, knowing the blonde would be ravished when she got up. Rachel smiles widely at them, feeling a bit tired again. She yawns, then takes a small sip of her drink.
"She died." She tells them. They looked at her confusedly for a second, waiting for her to continue. She purses her lips tightly, avoiding the looks form her brother and girlfriend. She glances back down at Brittany to make sure she was still sleeping.
"The woman that hit me, she had a heart attack. That's why I was hit…she died and lost control of the car." Puck and Quinn's eyes widen, they never actually put too much thought on whom it was that hit Rachel. All they were concerned about was the tiny brunette. Now that they've been told this information it just seemed all too real.
"I'm so sorry to hear that." Quinn says. Puck agrees, taking a sip of his smoothie. Rachel glances from the blnde to the mow hawked boy.
"Will you go with me?" she asks them. They blink at her, staring at the girl un moving.
"I want to go to the funeral. But I don't want to go alone. So will you go with me? Please?" she begs. They look at each other than the tiny diva.
"Yeah sweetheart, If your doctors say you can, then I will okay?" Quinn bargains. Rachel smiles at her, then looks at Puck.
"I guess." He shrugs. But in reality he wasn't all too comfortable with going to the funeral of someone who almost killed his sister, accident or not.
After an 'okay' from the doctor, both Quinn and Puck picked Rachel up at her house. The all sported matching black attire, their somber looks somewhat diverse.
"Ready to go, short stack?" Puck guides a slow moving Rachel to his truck. She shakes her head, grabbing his hand.
"This is going to be hard, isn't it?" she asks him. He sighs, knowing full well he couldn't lie to her.
"Yeah, it is. But don't worry, we got your back." He says. Quinn opens the door for Rachel, smiling at the beautiful girl. She slides in next to her, grabbing her hand.
"Hey sweetheart." Quinn coos. Rachel scoots closer to the blonde, laying her head on her shoulder.
"Thank you for doing this baby." Rachel whispers. Wuinn kisses her head, laying her cheek on top of the brunettes' hair.
"Anything for you." Quinn divulges. "Anything for you."