A/N: How could I not attempt to write another chapter of this after last night's episode? Takes place right where the episode left off. Normally I think this story focuses on Quinn's perspective a little more but this chapter focuses on what Puck is going through. I hope you guys enjoy it! Xoxo-Katie
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.
He waits. Impatiently, he checks the clock on his phone for what must be the tenth time that afternoon and paces the floor of the courthouse. He thinks she should be there by now and begins to wonder if she decided not to come after all. He could text her but Rachel seems to be doing a good enough job of that right now. He figures that she probably got caught up checked herself in the mirror, making sure she looked just perfect before she headed out.
They decide to go on with the wedding without her, assuming she'll make it in time to celebrate the reception with them. In a stroke of luck or fate or something else, a phone goes off just as the justice of the peace is about to begin. Mrs. Hudson begins to apologize profusely as she searches through her small handbag for her cell phone, ready to switch it off when she does a double take at the caller ID.
"It's Judy Fabray," she says, sounding every bit as surprised as everyone else looks.
Puck can feel his heartbeat speed up and his palms grow sweaty as he watches the scene unfold before him. Everything is moving in slow motion and he thinks he comprehends the words Quinn, accident, and hospital strung together in the same sentence and he feels like he wants to run away and throw up at the same time. He's only brought back to reality by Finn shaking his shoulder and telling him they should get to the hospital to try to find out more information.
He vaguely remembers how he got to Lima General. He thinks he recalls Mr. Schue instructing Burt to take his keys from him and drive his truck instead and he readily climbs into the passenger seat and pulls out his phone.
"What are you doing?" Burt asks him.
"I'm texting Quinn," he replies monotonously. "I need to know if she's OK."
"Puck, she was in a car accident. I don't think she's gonna answer you."
"Yes she will! She will if she knows it's from me, OK? She's gonna answer me because she's fine. It was probably just a fender bender or something."
"I sure hope so."
"This is my fault," Puck mutters under his breath.
"What are you talking about?"
"I offered to drive her to the wedding after Regionals but she had to go home to get her bridesmaids dress so I said I'd meet her there. If I had just…damnit, if I drove her to her house to her house instead of meeting her there none of this would have happened. This is my fucking fault."
"Puck, you listen to me. This is not your fault. They're called accidents for a reason, hear me? You can't control things like this. I know you love Quinn and no matter how things are when we get there, she's gonna need you. You gotta be there for her."
He bolts out of the car before Burt even puts it into park and is quickly following Carole through the hospital, scarcely noticing that Finn, Rachel and Santana are close on his heels. They all turn a corner and come up to a near hysterical Judy talking on her phone in the waiting room. Ending her call she stands up and allows Finn's mother to wrap her in a hug.
"I'm so sorry for calling, Carole," she says as if she's apologizing for being late to a luncheon. "But I just thought you should know since she was on her way to the wedding and I didn't have anyone else's phone number."
"That's alright. How-how is Quinn?"
He doesn't know if it's when he hears the words collapsed lung or spinal cord swelling that has Puck taking a step back before making his way up and down the hallway, peeking into the different rooms.
"Excuse me," a nurse says once he's almost made his way back to the small group made up of the glee club members that has gathered in the waiting room. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I-uhh…I'm looking for a patient? Quinn Fabray. She was in a car accident and she was just brought in today. I need to see her."
"Are you a member of the family?"
"No," Judy answers before Puck has a chance to. "He's not and I don't want him seeing my daughter."
"Mrs. Fabray please," he pleads. "I just wanna make sure she's OK. I just need to see her."
"No. I think you've done quite enough to hurt my daughter through the past three years and I don't want you to see her."
"Oh I'm the one who hurt her? I'm not the one who let her get kicked out of her home and I sure as hell didn't turn my back on her the way you did. You don't give a shit about her unless she's making you look good."
"Puck," Mr. Schue said, placing a hand on his student's shaking shoulder. "Take it easy."
"No! I need to see her!"
Shrugging off Schue's hand Puck begins to make his way down the corridor again before he's being pulled back by a transported and a male nurse. He hears the nurse asking for security to be called but he's too busy trying to keep his feet firmly planted on the ground while he fights the grip against him to care too much.
"Stop, please," he starts to beg. "You have to let me see her."
Before the security guards can arrive, Finn and Sam and trying their best to get him to calm down and stop fighting against the hospital staff. Tired and defeated he sinks to the floor and buries his face in his hands.
"I just want to make sure my girlfriend is alright, OK?" he says quietly and he doesn't give a damn that he can feel a few tears fall down his cheeks. "I love her and I just want to see her. I just need to see that she's gonna be OK and then I'll leave. Please let me see her."
He doesn't see Carole, Burt and Mr. Schue all speaking with Judy but he figures that whatever they said got through to them because Burt is pulling him off the floor moments later and leading him in the direction of Quinn's room.
"Her mom said she's pretty banged up," the older man says just before they reach the door. "I don't wanna freak you out but I wanna be real with you. She's got some broken ribs, a collapsed lung, some spinal swelling and cuts and bruises. They're gonna have to do surgery to fix her lung but they don't think she's going anywhere anytime soon. Like I said, you need to be there for her and you need to talk to her mom at some point, alright?"
"Yeah, thanks Burt."
Puck takes a deep breath before entering the dimly lit room and checks himself when he sees her lying in the hospital bed. If he didn't know better he'd say she looked like one of those Disney princesses who's just under some wicked spell, but he does know better and he knows now how bad everything is. He doesn't know what kind of machines she's hooked up to but he knows enough to know that she's got oxygen on her nose and the steady beeping is monitoring her heartbeat. To be honest, hearing it is almost reassuring to him as he steps further into the room and pulls up a chair next to her bedside.
He eases himself down into it and reaches out to gently take her small hand into his own. She's got cuts and bruises scattered over her face but even the black, blue and red marks can't mar her beauty to him. Puck strokes his thumb over the back of her hand before placing a kiss to the spot. He doesn't really remember the last time he actually prayed for something, maybe it was when Burt was in the hospital, but he's praying now to a God he's not always so sure he believes in. He's praying that she'll be fine, that she'll make it through the surgery alright and that this is all just a bad nightmare when he feels the fingers he's holding in his hand move ever so slightly.
"Quinn?" he asks hopefully and breathes a huge sigh of relief when he sees her eyes flutter open.
"P-Puck? What are you doing here? How did you get in here?"
"They let me come through the door because the windows don't open."
"Please don't say anything else funny, it hurts to laugh."
"I'm sorry I'm just so so glad you're awake. You scared me so much babe."
"Yeah, well I'm pretty sure I look like a hot mess right now."
"No. You look beautiful."
"Puck I've had doctors coming in here and my mom petting me, telling me everything is going to be alright and that after I have this surgery I'm going to be as good as new. I don't need you lying to me, too."
"Quinn, you are going to be OK and I do think you're beautiful, no matter what. How do you feel."
"Like I got hit by a truck," she replies dryly.
"Now who's trying to make the jokes?"
"I think right now they've got me so hopped up on painkillers to feel much. My head and ribs kinda hurt but the drugs are so strong that I can't really feel anything below my knees."
Puck swallows the huge lump that's formed in his throat and just kisses Quinn's hand again, trying to push away the daunting thought that's passing through his mind.
"That's good, I guess. I just don't want you to be in too much pain."
"I can't believe my mom let you in here."
"Yeah, it definitely wasn't easy but Mr. Schue, Burt and Carole talk to her and she let me in for like twenty minutes, which is almost up."
"Don't you even think about going anywhere. If she has a problem with it, she can come in here and I'll tell her to let you stay. I don't want you to leave."
"Good, because I wasn't planning on going anywhere."
"This medicine makes me feel so tired."
"Then you should go to sleep beautiful. You need to build up all of your strength. I promise I won't go anywhere."
Quinn pulls Puck's arms closer to her so that it's draped across part of her body and he has to scoot his chair closer to the bed. He props his arm up on the mattress and rests his head on it as they both drift off to sleep.
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