Disclaimer: i do not own glee. No copywrite infringement intended.

thank you all for the well wishes. i'm still recovering and still getting stronger.

AN: technically this is ch.9 I believe but for the sake of my confusion I'll just call it ch. 11. This isn't my best work. Parts of it were written before my surgery and I couldn't really remember where I was going with things. Parts of this were written between three different hospital stays and an extended "vacation" in a nursing facility that doesn't really lead towards long moments of alone time to concentrate. So needless to say I'm not at all happy with this disjointed effort. But it's going out there so I can move on.

thank you to oracleismyname for writing Sue Sylvester for me.

extra shout-outs to whomever can tell me what movie one of Sue's quotes came from.

Chapter 11

"Hey Karofsky!" Sam yelled while making a beeline towards the giant oaf. It's not that Karofsky had done anything to Sam specifically. It's the jock constantly slushied Rachel, and he was big. That made him a target for Sam's anger.

"Well if isn't the Bieber wannabe." Karofsky laughed in Sam's face. "They let you out of juvie."

"I wasn't in juvie." He bit out, his fists clenching tightly. He'd been suspended for a few days for putting his fist through a locker. Well he tried to put his fist through a locker. The green cast on his arm itched and annoyed him. Plus, he had to listen to his mother lay into him three days straight about taking her away from his sister while she had to deal with his actions. He felt ashamed and that made him even angrier.

"I wasn't in juvie," Karofsky mocked. "Well isn't that special. Like your sister." He was leaning way into Sam's space.

"Don't you dare talk about my sister!" He was going to wipe that smile so far off the idiot's face that he would need plastic surgery to eat! He reared back.

"Bieber my office now!"

Karofsky broke out in a fit of laughter, his smirk firmly in place still on his face.

"Coach, not now." She had ahold of his arm.

"Yes. My office now Bieber!" His arm was yanked behind him as Sue marched him down the hall and into her office.

He yanked his arm away once inside the confines of the elaborate space.

"Sit down." Sue motioned to the seat.

Sam crossed his arms best he could and leaned against the wall defiantly instead.

"Bieber. Sit. Now."

"My name isn't Bieber. It's..."

"Samuel Jameson Fabray-Evans. Twin to Quinn Nicole Fabray-Evans. Brother to Stacey Lucille Fabray-Eva..."

"Okay!" Sam held out his hand to stop her. That was a little freaky. "How do you know that?" Other than Rachel he hadn't told anyone about Quinn.

"I'm Sue Sylvester. I know everything."

"What are you God?"

Sue waved her hand around in the air. "The ebb and flow of the Atlantic tides, the drift of the continents, the very position of the sun along its ecliptic. These are just a few of the things I control in my world!"

Sam didn't say anything, just stared at her totally befuddled. He knew about Coach Sylvester. He had been a cheerleader in Ohio after all. Everyone new about the crazy coach. He had no clue that she was this crazy.

"That jerk," Sue motioned out to the hallway. "He's not worth it. Your sister, she's worth it."

"What do you know about my sister!"

"Cut the attitude Bieber."

"I was there that night," she didn't need to explain any further.

"You were there?" His jaw dropped open and then clamped shut as the anger washed through him. "I ruined my whole family's life that night." His mind drifted back to the horror he felt as his father dragged him away from his sister as she lay on the court unmoving and not breathing.

"Oh, please spare me the sacrificial lamb sentiment," Sue's attitude then changed as she saw the look on the boys face. "That's not how I remember it and I don't think Q remembers it that way either."

"Quinn doesn't remember it at all."

"Maybe. It was a simple cheerleading accident. It's sport and sometimes things happen that we just can't control. You wouldn't have dropped her if your arm hadn't been caught by that other ... untalented girl." Sue had seen it in real time but still spotted the mistake hadn't been Bieber's.

"If you say so," he mumbled. "I still feel responsible."

"Well then you get to win the 'Martyr of the Year' Award; that's going to make your sister real proud." Sue stood up suddenly and motioned towards the door for Sam to leave. Sam wasted no time bee lining towards his freedom. He wasn't fast enough. As his hand closed around the doorknob she derailed his escape.

"Bieber, catch." A wad of clothes slapped him in the side of the head. "You need to get back on the horse, Kemosabe." She flashed a grin at him.

He picked them up and stared at them like he couldn't quite process what he was seeing. He held the red pants and the too tight shirt in his hands, limply; they mocked him like his sisters blood pooling on that gym floor.

"I, uh..." Words escaped him.

"See you at five am, Bieber."

He was shoved out the door and it closed behind him.

"Wait!" He finally managed. "I'm not a cheerleader!" The door was locked. "Coach?"

He jiggled it some more. "Coach?"

"Five am and not a second late or I'll stick Snix on you."

Sam scratched his head, "who?"

-GLEE-

"I said no." Sam was still riled up over being forced onto the Cheerios when he arrived at his sister's room that afternoon. His scowl was enough to darken even Brittany's constant bubbly mood.

"Come on, Sam." Quinn moaned. She didn't want to deal with the hassle of being moved over to the bed, just to be moved back into her chair in a little while. She especially didn't want the three year olds to see what it took to move her. So she was reclined flat in the power chair resting until her parents returned with Stevie and Stacey. Her father had a day off from work and they were going to eat as a family in the dining room. She didn't like it as she was one of the youngest there and only one of two quads at the time. A big table had been reserved for them. Subsequently she was stuck staring at the ceiling. It was too hard to lift her head any while reclined but she could turn it as she narrowed her eyes at him as he crossed over the room to sit in the chair near her.

"I don't want to see any girly movies, Quinn."

"You just don't want to be seen with me, I get it."

"What?" He jumped to his feet. "Why would you say something like that?"

"Because I look like Frankenstein and I can't move." She challenged. Her brother had been acting very weird since the accident and that was the conclusion that Quinn's mind came to. It was the only conclusion she came to. "You're embarrassed by me and don't want to be seen with me."

"No, that's not it. I love you and it's just some stupid girly movie. What does it matter why I don't want to go?" He looked like he was going to cry. Of the twins, Sam was the hyper happy all the time one But with a temper that easily emerged. Whereas Quinn was thoughtful, contemplative and usually fairly laid back.

"Fine, then I'll think of something else to do for my day pass."

Rachel pushed herself away from the wall that she'd been leaning against. She'd overheard the conversation, but decided to not let on just yet. She was pretty excited about it, Quinn had talked to her about wanting to get out of the hospital and how nervous she was. The girl was growing stir crazy.

Rachel may only be five foot nothing, but she wasn't too short to give Sam a piece of her mind. She would wait until he was away from Quinn though.

"Hey guys," she said brightly as she knocked on the door. Sam looked up and gave her a little smile before his scowl returned. Rachel wondered if he'd been this way before the accident too. He seemed the complete opposite of his twin. Quinn wasn't exactly bubbly, but she almost always had a smile on her face. Even the days that were bad, she was pleasant to be around. No one would blame her at all if she was grumpy, but she hardly ever was.

"Hey Rach," Quinn breathed out a little breathlessly.

Rachel watched as Quinn bumped the right side of her headrest and then took the little straw in her mouth. The back of the chair started to rise slowly. When she made it to about 45 degrees she stopped to catch her breath while her blood pressure adjusted to the new position.

"How's it going today?" Rachel inquired.

"It was going fine until..." Her eyes darted to Sam, but she was smiling to indicate that she was just teasing. Sam tried to look offended, but eventually he gave in and smiled back.

The chair raised again.

"It's not my fault Coach is being unreasonable," Sam defended himself.

"Sam is on the Cheerios," Quinn supplied a little breathlessly after raising the chair again.

Rachel's face fell, she couldn't stop her gut reaction to the news that another member of Glee was now a Cheerio. She didn't trust them at all.

Quinn was watching Rachel and noticed the shift in the brunette's attitude. She wanted to ask her new friend what was going on, but now wasn't the time. Her brother was oblivious as usual.

"Hey sis, you're squishing your hand," Sam interrupted the tension.

"What?" Quinn stopped her chair movement.

"Your hand." Sam motioned, but he stood also ready to help.

Quinn followed her his gaze back to her arm and sure enough the right one had fallen from where it was resting on her lap when she was reclined. Quinn closed her eyes in frustration for a moment.

"It's alright, sis."

Rachel watched the exchange between the siblings. She didn't want to interfere with the moment.

"Hey." Sam tugged on her ear like he was prone to do as a child. There was no response, save for a slight quivering in Quinn's lips.

Sam gently held her slender hand in his. Her arm was so heavy as he positioned it on the arm rest, uncurling her fingers and smoothing them over the molded end. A tear escaped her closed eyelids.

He glanced at Rachel like a deer stuck in headlights completely frozen. He hated whenever anyone cried and the fact that it was Quinn crying made it so much worse. He didn't know what to do.

"Please don't cry," he begged. His own voice sounded wobbly, making Quinn cry harder.

She gasped out of breath. The muscles in her neck forming a deep v as she tried to get more air in through the tears.

-GLEE-

The twins were sound asleep. One was zonked out on Sam and the other asleep on Dwight. He smiled over Stevie's sleeping head at his wife and daughter. Mary was sitting right next to Quinn, whom had just finished adjusting the angle of her power chair. She had a small smile on her face and was feeling content, despite having to be fed in front of people, and with the way the evening had transpired. Her breakdown earlier definitely wasn't forgotten, but she didn't want to dwell on it any longer than she had to. She was pretty sure the psychologist she was seeing as part of her rehab would make her analyze it to death. However there was one person she needed to apologize too.

"Mom," Quinn whispered.

Sam looked up from his phone and the game he was playing. His scowl deepened but his eyes held concern.

"What is it, sweetie? Are you okay? Do you need something?" The chair squeaked as the older blonde leaned towards her daughter.

Quinn rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Mary, honey, don't hover. Quinn will tell you if she's not fine."

Quinn smiled at her grandmother for intervening.

Mary wasn't so sure. When she walked into the room earlier, her daughter's eyes were puffy, Rachel was beating a hasty retreat and Sam looked like he wanted to both implode and explode.

Quinn wanted to scrub her hands over her face in annoyance. She was reminded yet again of what she couldn't do. She disappeared into her own head, feeling the frustration at being dependent on everyone around her. Even the littles weren't as dependent as she was.

"Quinn?" Mary stroked the blond hair. Her daughter abandoned the pInk beanie that covered her surgical scars as soon as she rolled into the room. She was trying to draw her daughter back from wherever she went in her mind. Perhaps they were pushing the depths of Quinn's stamina too far.

"I'm fine, mom."

How many times would she say those words to calm her family even when she really didn't feel fine?

She nodded her chin towards the over bed table. "I need the mouthstick. Could you bring it over please?"

Mary turned to look and there sat on the table was what looked like an elongated iPad stylus that attached a Y-shaped mouthpiece. She picked it up and headed towards her daughter.

She was a little clumsy with it still but this little stick gave her connection to the outside world. It was her ticket to being a normal teenager.

Unlike Mary neither Dwight or Sam had seen the little gizmo before and watched on as Quinn took the stick In her mouth and moved her head forward until the stylus poked the screen of the iPhone that was mounted to her power chair.

Mary smiled at them, her eyes shining just a little too brightly.

-GLEE-

Rachel sat on her bed replaying her afternoon and wondering, worrying, that she hadn't made things worse like she'd been prone to do.

"Please don't cry," he begged. His own voice sounded wobbly, making Quinn cry harder.

Sam looked at Rachel like a deer caught in headlights. Rachel but her lip and then rushed forwards with a hanky out. She always carried a spare hanky in preparation for inevitable slushy attacks.

"Get out." She still had to work to regulate her breathing and her words came out fairly weak caught up in a sob. Rachel tried to wipe at the tears but Quinn jerked her head to the side, hissing in pain as she did. "Get out! Both of you," she hissed.

Quinn might as well have slapped her. Rachel recoiled at the venom in the blonde's voice. Suddenly it wasn't her new friend yelling at her, but Karofsky or Santana or any of the multitude of teenagers going to McKinley that thought of her as nothing other than road kill.

Rachel's phone buzzed and she picked it up more than a little puzzled. No one ever text her.

Quinn's name popped up and Rachel dropped the phone in her attempt to answer it.

"Hello?"

There was a muffled sound and then Quinn's voice broke through. "Hi, Rachel. You're on speaker phone."

"Oh, um, hi Quinn and anyone else listening in." There was a little laughter in the background.

Mary's voice broke in over the hum of background noise, "Quinn do you want me to hold the phone for you."

"No. It's late and I'm tired, but just a sec." Rachel was a little confused as to whom Quinn was directing her conversation to. "Rachel?"

"Yes, Quinn."

"I need to apologize for earlier."

"No, you don't. None needed. I butted in when I shouldn't have and it won't happen again..."

"Wow, um, slow down and breath, Rach."

Quinn chuckled and Rachel found herself smiling into her empty bedroom.

"So just because my brother is a dick,"

"Quinn!" Three adult voices reprimanded at the same time.

"Okay, just because Sam is a jerk doesn't mean I am. I'm sorry you got caught in it and before you apologize again I was wondering if you'd like to hang out with me on my day pass."

It took several deep breaths, but Quinn managed to get it all out before Rachel could interrupt.

Mary was looking at Sam, Sam was looking at the floor and Dwight was alternating between looking at his wife and two oldest children. There would be some explaining to do before the night was over.

"Rachel?" Quinn looked at the iPhone screen. It was still connected and on speaker phone. "Rachel?"

"Ohmygodyess, Yes! Of course. There's this no revival of Funny Girl The Movie that just released and YOU have to see it. I've seen it three times already and oh..."

"Goodnight Rachel."

-GLEE-

"We're going to take off now. These two are done for and your brother," Dwight looked at Sam, "is grounded and has a curfew." The situation had been explained about the day pass and Sam was now in a little more hot water with his parents than before.

"Dad I'm with you," Sam moaned. "That can't be used against me if I miss it."

Dwight just stared blankly at Sam.

"Ugh! Never-mind." He stormed out the door, then paused and came back in. "Night sis." He pecked her gently on the forehead and then stormed out again.

"Night, sweetie." Dwight took a little more care as he bid his daughter a good night.

"Dad?" Quinn called out just as Dwight started through the doorway into the empty hospital hallways. He stopped and turned back. His eyes trailed up the massive power chair that was his daughter's only means of independent movement, past the headrest that cradled such precious cargo to the silky blonde hair that was so prominent in all his children. His face crumbled for the briefest of moments and yet when Quinn turned her chair to face him, there was no trace of the inner turmoil that ran through him.

"Yes, pumpkin." He deposited the sleeping Stacey into Mary's arms and met his daughter halfway. He ducked down not wanting to tower over her.

Quinn smile at him.

"Um," she bit her lip. "Is he going to be okay?"

Quinn's eyes darted out into the hallway and her brother. He had Stevie up in his arms, but the scowl from earlier was back and there was something else deep in his eyes that made Quinn want to wrap her arms around him and tell him that everything would be okay. They would be okay. She didn't know if even she believed it anymore. She felt so broken.

"Your brother will be fine. Please don't worry about him. Just focus on getting better and leave your brother to mom and I."

"I'm not getting better. Am I daddy?"

The question broke Dwight's heart. The movement and feeling seemed to have stalled just south of Quinn's shoulders.

"Of course you are. You've come so far."

"I can't keep him from doing something Stupid when I'm like this." Her head bobbed down to indicate her whole body. She knew her brother and knew what he was capable of. She'd been bailing him out her whole life and while everyone kept it a secret from her that he was in the hot seat already, the cat was now out of the bag.

-GLEE-

"Kemosabe!"

Sam groaned and stomped towards the tall lunatic known as Coach Sue Sylvester. He'd had all night to sit and stew on it and he was not joining the Cheerios.

"Your Cheerios uniform is impeccable."

Sam looked down at his jeans and black leather jacket, "I'm not in a uniform."

"I hadn't noticed. I mean really, I hadn't noticed because I was so distracted by that bleached blonde hair of yours." Sue frowned at him. "I think you must have me confused with someone else though, because I'm pretty sure you are a cheerleader and I invited you to join, which is less of an invite and more of a death sentence if you refuse." She gave him an odd grin that made a chill run down his spine.

"I'm pretty sure teachers aren't actually allowed to murder their students." Sam was fairly sure she was just messing with him.

"Tell that to ol' Bony Tony over there," the tall blonde pointed to a skeleton hung on a stand over in the corner. There was a pair of sunglasses on the bones of the face and a curly red wig on top of the skull. It looked both macabre and bizarre. "That's what happened to the last student who turned down a place on my Cheerios squad. Damn shame, he was pretty athletic too."

Sam eyed her. It was true that she couldn't actually make him join, or murder him, but somehow he missed it.

"I can't be a catcher okay," his voice trembled as he said it. "Please don't ask me to do that."

She stared at him and for once didn't have a sarcastic comment. "Go get changed into your uniform and look like you belong to this school rather than some weird loser stage school for Bieber wannabes."

Sam glanced down at the unfamiliar red and white. His old school had been blue and yellow and somehow it felt wrong to be wearing anything else. Still at least he didn't need to think about the colors anymore; he could only think about the flash of blue that went past as his sister had fallen. He swallowed the bile that rose to his throat each time he remembered.

"Hey Trouty Mouth, get your ass in gear. You're late. For that you get extra laps after practice until you puke."

Santana seemed even more fierce than she did when she was bitch, usually at Rachel it seemed, in Glee practice. Not for the first time, he wondered why the cheerleaders seemed such bullies. It hadn't been like that at his old school. Then again, it turned out that they were cowards instead; the prolonged absence from visiting with Quinn had shown them for what they really were.

She looked at him and something flashed through her brain that seemed oddly familiar about him. Snix was at the forefront of her persona right at that moment though so logic wasn't really in control and she shook off the recognition of something familiar and started the Cheerios through their paces.

It was halfway through practice and Snix was bossing the guys into position for a lift when everything suddenly became clear. Santana had been relieved for the new guy because they were always one guy short and that usually meant Brittany had to fill in, meaning she got the least glamorous role. Santana wanted Brit front and center with her, but none of the other girls were strong enough. Sam's appearance had surprised her, but Coach Sue had confirmed he was good.

It was when she asked him to help lift her that she saw his face go white as a sheet and his head shake. She had seen it somewhere before and for a moment it had escaped her.

"Holy shit!"

The Latina suddenly remembered where she had seen that look before.

"Sam Fabray-Evans, why didn't I think of that before?"

Everyone else stopped and it went deathly silent as Sam, still ashen, saw the look of recognition on the captain's face. His head fell forwards and he found himself unable to make eye contact with her anymore. Surely they wouldn't want him around once everyone knew.

"Shit!"

Brittany was puzzled. "Santana? What's up?"

Their captain didn't respond to the tall blonde, instead she kept her eyes on Sam's bowed head.

"You're Quinn Fabray-Evans' brother."

There was an audible gasp from the rest. They'd been there at sectionals when the accident had happened. The other school's loss had been their gain. Arguably the risky moves teams were making these days was in part down to Coach Sylvester's repeated success and constantly pushing the envelope. It had been on the news a couple of days later as well and though they had been horrified at the fall, the consequences had shaken every cheerleader in Ohio and beyond.

"I'll just go," he mumbled. "I told Coach I didn't want to do this anyway."

He turned but then found a small hand grip his uninjured forearm and pull him around.

"Wait." Santana's voice changed and Snix was gone. "We all saw it. We talked about it. We're all more careful because of that now, but ...it wasn't your fault. That girl caught your arm."

"Yeah but she's not the one paying the price is she?"

"Sam," it was the first time the Cheerios captain had ever called him by his name rather than the unfortunate nickname he had earned. "Your sister, Quinn, is she ... you know...still." Santana couldn't actually bring herself to say the words. "Is she any better?"

Sam looked at her then. He shrugged. "She's breathing on her own now, she's still in the hospital. It's why we moved here, for her to go to rehab." He knew what Santana was trying to ask and couldn't. "She's quadriplegic; paralyzed from her shoulders down."

There was collective disappointment at his words.

Santana's heart was hammering in her chest. They all knew the risks but you just never imagined that it would happen to anyone you knew or even sort of knew.

"Look, you can tell Coach you just don't trust me okay. She'll know why and I don't have to pretend I want to be here then."

He started to walk away.

"Sam!" Santana called after him but he didn't turn around. "Get back to work you lazy idiots!" She yelled at the rest of them as the anger rose inside her at the situation. "Brit take charge and no slacking or I'm a gonna go all Lima Heights!"

She ran after the blonde boy and caught him just before he disappeared into the locker room.

"Sam wait, please."

He stopped but didn't turn around or reply.

"It's not your fault, but I get now why you seem pissed all the time and I heard the comments that jerkwad Karofsky made and they make sense to me now. He's going to get kneed in the balls if he says anything like that around me. Coach Sue must have a reason why she wants you on the squad though so why don't you come back and try again. We trust you. If anyone is going to be ultra careful now it's you."

He shook his head. "Thanks, but you have too much faith in me. Besides.." he waved the cast on his arm at her, "until I get rid of this I'm only semi-useful."

"Come back tomorrow, okay?"

"I'll think about it," he hung his head and disappeared into the locker room.

TBC