Wow it's been a while! Are any of you still here? Or have you turned into dinosaurs in my absence? It seriously wouldn't surprise me. At all. But anyway I'm here now and if you're reading this then you must be here to! Now for some special mentions: The Lesbian Whisperer – Your review was amazing, it seriously made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! ***val-cb – For sticking with me for all this time, despite the fact I am the world's worst updater!***Anonymous reviewer Charlotte- You have also been there with me from the start, it really means a lot to me! Hopefully you're still around somewhere!***OTHangels, Sarah11650, raeganb123,getyourellieon – Thanks guys for always reading and reviewing, it's always a pleasure to see any one of your names in my emails! ***awsome1000-Since you found this story you've been a constant reviewer, I hope I can count on you again!***VickiiMadd – Your review made me finally get my butt into gear and finish writing this chapter, so thanks for that!
I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this chapter, it's been so long since I've written that I'm not entirely sure if it fits the flow of the story. I think Winnie the Pooh sums it up best with this somewhat confusing but meaningful quote - "When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you sometimes find that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out in the open and has other people looking at it."
A soft knock at the door startled Rachel awake from her dozing state. Stretching her arms over her head she glanced down at the silver watch fastened against her wrist, the small hand pointing somewhere between the five and six. She blinked her eyes a couple of times as she tried to establish her surroundings, a quick glance to her left bringing reality crashing down. She was at the hospital. Santana was sick. Santana was asleep on the bed. The nurse was knocking on the door. She was at the hospital because Santana was sick and sleeping to get better. Now things were starting to make more sense. The nurse was knocking at the door because...Rachel frowned, why was the nurse knocking at the door?
"Sorry to disturb you," the woman spoke with a soft voice as she entered the room. "I know it's early, but Dr Riley's shift is about to end and he wants to talk to you before he leaves. He'll need to speak with Ms Lopez as well."
"Thank you. I'll wake her for you." The soft voice coming from the other side of the room was the first indication that anyone besides Rachel was awake. At the back of the room she could see Mr Schue working on his laptop, but that was definitely not the source of the voice. Rachel turned in her chair to see Natalie Pierce tenderly stroking Santana's dark hair. Rachel could see the strain in her face, the bags under her eyes suggesting that she hadn't slept a wink. The woman gently shook the younger Pierce whose head was resting in her lap, shooting her a loving smile as her blue eyes peeled open.
Brittany yawned as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, her face dropping sadly as she saw her best friend. Her mother noticed her change in expression, rubbing her back as a show of comfort. She looked up to meet Rachel's eyes.
"Do you want to wake Quinn and Noah before the doctor comes in?" Rachel simply nodded in response, leaning over and gently calling Puck's name who was closest to her.
"Puck? Puck wake up."
Quinn's tired voice from the other side of Puck joined in. "You'll never wake him like that." She said as she leaned across and punched his arm, successfully waking the teen. Mrs Pierce watched with a raised eyebrow, shaking her head in amusement despite the situation.
"It always amazes me how much San and Noah are alike. Both are nearly impossible to wake." She said with a quiet laugh.
"Let me wake San mom. It works better when I do it." Brittany's voice was serious, the usual bubbly tone missing. She pulled herself out of her chair and walked over to Santana's bedside, stroking her tanned face lovingly. She leant down and placed a kiss against the girl's forehead, causing Santana's eyelids to flutter slightly.
"San, come on sweetie it's time to get up."
"Sueño" Came the mumbled reply from the bed. "Demasiado pronto para levantarse."
"English San." Brittany reminded gently as she stroked the girl's cheek.
"Hablo Inglés" Santana replied as she turned her head the other way, her eyes still clasped shut.
Brittany shook her head lightly, a soft smile painted on her face. "Still not English San."
This time Santana's voice was confused rather than groggy, "English?"
"That's the one." Brittany confirmed with a light chuckle.
"Mmkay. Sleep now." Santana mumbled out, her words barely intelligible. She nestled her head further against the pillow as she tried to fall back into an uninterrupted sleep.
Brittany rolled her eyes, "San you need to wake up, your doctor wants to talk to you." This caused Santana's eyes to shoot open.
"Doctor?" She questioned, her eyes darting around the room wildly as she tried to shake the disorientation that was plaguing her. Her room seemed to be lighter than normal and her pyjamas were itchier than she remembered, something weird was definitely going on.
"Uh huh. You're in the hospital remember?" Brittany explained patiently, used to dealing with the girl in the morning. She waited as she watched for clarity to pass across Santana's face, knowing as her eyes widened slightly that reality had finally sunk in. If that hadn't been an indicator enough the way the girl subconsciously looked down at her stomach was a dead giveaway.
"Right." Santana whispered softly, her fingers unconsciously winding together as she talked. That explained why the room looked so different from her black walls at home and why she wasn't wearing her usual sleepwear. She chanced another quick glance around the room, noticing several pairs of eyes studying her. She hated the way she was feeling so vulnerable and everyone sitting around and watching her while she lay helplessly in a bed was not making her feel any better.
"How are you feeling Santana?" Mrs Pierce asked gently, drawing the girl away from her thoughts. "Are you in any pain?"
"I'm fine." The girl's reply was soft, the last hints of sleep still dripping in her voice.
"Well that's always good to hear." An unfamiliar male voice entered the room, his presence commanding and comforting at the same time. He walked over to the machinery next to the bed, glancing over the numbers with a critical eye whilst Santana looked up at him with wide questioning eyes. He gave a soft chuckle as he noticed the bewildered look on the girl's face.
"I'm Dr Riley, I was your doctor once you were admitted last night. You gave us all quite a scare Miss Lopez."
Santana looked down at her blanket, lightly pulling at a loose thread. She wasn't sure how to respond to that statement, people didn't normally care what happened to her. Her silence didn't seem to faze the cheerful doctor as he carried on talking.
"Now I'm sure your friends have already told you a little about what happened, right?" He paused as Santana gave a slight nod of her head, not bringing her eyes up to make contact with anyone. "Okay good. So you're aware that what happened was a very serious situation then? If you're fever had of gotten any higher there is a very good chance that it would have killed you. The infection was already causing your organs to shut down, you were in the beginning stages of septic shock."
He turned to look at Santana, obviously waiting for some kind of reaction from the girl. After a moment's pause and no reaction from the girl he continued talking, using a much more serious tone.
"We managed to fix those problems during your surgery. What we are more concerned about now is how the infection formed. The most likely cause is that you have eaten something that has inflamed your stomach lining and allowed bacteria to pass through. This is usually the case with food allergies or something similar, do you have any of them?"
Santana felt several pairs of eyes staring at her as she hid behind a curtain of hair. She couldn't bring herself to look up and respond to the doctor, afraid of admitting her weakness. She wasn't sure where the doctor was heading with these questions and she didn't know if she wanted to find out. Questions nearly always meant bad things, particularly when you have a secret to hide.
Sensing that Santana wasn't going to answer Mrs Pierce spoke up, "She's got pretty severe lactose intolerance, would that cause it?"
"Oh yes, definitely if she has eaten something recently to disrupt it. Santana have you eaten anything with lactose in it during the last two weeks?"
"Snickers." Santana's voice was barely audible as she finally looked up to meet they eyes watching her. She couldn't help but feel like a goldfish having so many people staring at her and she noticed the way her friends' brows creased as she admitted to eating food that made her sick. She immediately dropped her eyes back down to the bed.
"A Snickers bar?" The doctor questioned, his voice purely professional but his eyes betraying his confusion.
"Just because she can't have them doesn't mean her tastebuds change! Snickers have always been San's favourite." Brittany jumped to defend her sickly best friend.
"Santana..." Quinn started in a sympathetic tone as she ran her fingers through her blonde hair.
"Look I know it was stupid! I shouldn't have done it and it ended badly! Whatever." Santana spat out, some of her old fire returning as her mouth twisted into a scowl.
"Okay well all that aside it led to an infection in your abdominal cavity. Normally this would not be the case and your immune system would quite easily be able to fight it off before it became so serious. However it seems that your immune system has been weakened Santana, which tells us that your body isn't getting the nutrients it needs to be healthy. We also noticed in the surgery that your stomach is constricted and tubular, a tell tale sign of malnourishment. Adding to that you are several pounds underweight."
The man gave Santana a pointed glance as he talked, making her duck her head to avoid his gaze. He knew. How could this have happened? She had worked so hard to keep her secret a secret. No one had even thought twice about her eating habits in the last year and suddenly Rachel comes along and everyone knows. She clenched the blanket tighter in her hands as she fought back tears.
"Do you understand what I'm trying to say here Santana?" The doctor's tone was gentle, his eyes never leaving Santana's form on the bed. The girl was now shaking, her eyelids clenched shut and her bottom lip turning white between her teeth. She shook her head as a tear escaped from her closed eyes and trailed down her cheek. Everyone in the room was now watching sympathetically, feeling sorry for the emotional turmoil this was putting Santana through but understanding that it was necessary.
The doctor let out a small sigh as he glanced at Santana, deciding to get back to the important information. "I've arranged for one of our counsellors to stop by later to have a little chat. We'll wait and see what happens after that, but for now strictly medically speaking you will be here for at the very least another three days. We'll keep you in ICU until your vitals are steady and you've finished your intravenous antibiotics, which will probably be later this afternoon or tomorrow morning. After that we can move you to a general ward until you are discharged. Now before I go I need to have a look at your stomach, okay?"
Santana nodded her head slightly, stray tears still running down her cheeks as she stared at the blanket. Dr Riley moved closer to her bed and pulled the blanket down to the girl's waist, gently prying it out of her hand. He guided her gown up to rest below her breasts, revealing the white bandage across her stomach. He peeled the bandage back, displaying a curved line of stitches that stretched approximately the length of his finger, maybe slightly larger. The area around the wound was red and inflamed causing Rachel and the others in the room to wince and Santana to turn her head the other way, her face paling. The man prodded the stitches as lightly as possible, checking that each was still intact. Despite his gentle touches Santana couldn't help but screw her face up in pain, her toned stomach muscles tensing in protest that was clearly visible. She let her body relax as he finally finished, wrapping the incision in a clean bandage.
"Well everything seems to be healing quite nicely, that swelling should go down in the next couple of days. For now I want you to rest as much as possible and try to keep you movement minimal. If you feel any pain just press the morphine button, or call for the nurse. I'll be back later to check on you again." With that the man walked out, finally leaving Santana in peace. She sunk back onto the pillows with an exhausted sigh, allowing her eyes to shut briefly.
Quinn started the conversation in a tentative tone, "Santana you know we're going to have to talk about what happened don't you?"
A frown creased Santana's forehead, her eyes still closed as she answered. "I know Q, I know. Fuck, when did everything get so messed up?" Her voice sounded desperate, almost defeated as she brought her left hand up to rub across her forehead. Her quick movement caused the IV line embedded in her hand to pull sharply, causing her to let out a quick series of words in her native tongue.
Rachel watched from her spot beside the girl, feeling a great deal of sympathy towards her. She knew that they had to get to the bottom of this, but it didn't feel right to corner Santana when she was stuck in a hospital bed, probably overwhelmed by the situation and still not feeling well. Not to mention how vulnerable she must feel with everyone watching her every little move and knowing the secret she tried her very best to hide. Now that everyone knew what was going on there was no way it could be avoided so did they have to talk about it right now?
Mrs Pierce obviously felt the same way, sending a sympathetic smile in Santana's direction. "Quinn's right sweetie, we will have to talk about it but we don't have to do it right now. The only thing you have to do is focus on getting better."
Santana shot a grateful smile towards her, finally allowing her eyes to open. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but then shut it again. A moment later she started to speak in a quiet hesitant voice, not making direct eye contact with anyone in the room.
"Did you...Were you...Did you stay all night?"
"Of course we did sweetie, we weren't going to leave you here alone." The blonde woman smiled down at Santana and her sudden display of shyness, knowing how uncomfortable it was for the brunette to display her softer side.
Santana bit her lip, growing more uncomfortable with each passing second. "Thankyou, all of you."
It was Brittany who broke the tension, her enthusiasm immediately contagious. "San, I almost forgot! We have presents for you!" The blonde scrambled out of her chair and over to the portable table in the corner of the room. She wheeled it closer to the bed as she started inspecting the gifts that were scattered across it, a large grin spread across her face. Even Santana couldn't stop a smile at Brittany's enthusiasm; she was now getting excited to see what gifts she had received.
"Okay first we have some lovely flowers from Mr Schue," Brittany knelt down to smell the fake bouquet. "They don't smell very nice but you don't need water for them!"
Next Brittany picked up the brown teddy bear that Rachel had selected. Santana immediately reached her arms out to receive the toy, cuddling it against her chest as she stroked the dark fur.
"That was from Rachel, she also got you this." Brittany said as she held up the diary and matching pen before placing them back on the table. Santana turned her head towards Rachel, mouthing a silent thankyou before turning back to Brittany's ramblings.
"Quinn and Puck got you a heap of magazines and look San, your own colouring book with crayons!"
"A colouring book?" Santana questioned, her head tilting as she looked first at Puck and then Quinn hoping to find an answer.
"We thought it might be fun, like being in art class or something." Puck replied with a shrug of his shoulders. Santana rolled her eyes before peering back over to see what else was on the table.
"Mom bought you some socks and a new bathrobe to wear. Oh and I got you a heap of balloons but the nurse wouldn't let me bring them in. If you look out the window you can see them!" Santana's eyes followed Brittany's arm as she pointed to the glass window next to the door where a large and brightly coloured bunch of balloons were standing in the corridor. She tried to sit up to see them better, but the sting of pain that occurred in her abdomen caused her to lay back down. Well that and Natalie's hands guiding her back onto her pillows.
A few moments passed in silence and Santana was quite thankful for the peace it gave her. However it couldn't last long, especially when she was going to be the one who needed to break it.
"Rachel?"
"Yes Santana?" Rachel responded, curious as to why the girl had addressed her and not the others. The answer became more apparent when she took a closer glance at her face, noticing the bags under her eyes and the way she seemed to be tensed up.
"Can you, maybe, um press the button on the pain killers for me?" Santana's voice had dropped to almost a whisper at the end, still not happy with announcing her weakness to the room. Rachel leaned down to locate the trigger, finding it resting atop one of the machines monitoring Santana's vital signs. She pressed down on the button before placing it back, waiting for the medicine to have an effect on the other girl.
Santana could feel the medicine start to take its effect. The pain that had just started to get stronger was now turning into a dull throb, causing her to nestle into the pillows happily. She clutched the warm bear closer to her body, her thumb caressing the fur on its ear before moving down to fiddle with the bow. Her brain started to feel heavier, as if thinking simply took more effort. It took her a few moments before she registered that she was being spoken to.
"Did that work?" Rachel questioned, although she was already guessing that it had indeed as Santana seemed to sink further into her pillows, the previous traces of her tense muscles now gone.
"Yeah, it worked." Santana replied as she pulled her blankets up a little higher around her body. She was half listening as Quinn started to read out an interesting article from one of the magazines she supposedly bought for Santana's entertainment. Santana found her voice to be quite relaxing, almost soothing, as she talked. Santana could feel her eyelids getting heavier and harder to remain open, unsure if it was from the drugs or Quinn's voice. After a few more minutes she succumbed completely, allowing her world to fade to black as she drifted off into a deep slumber.
"What do you think San? Do you reckon it would actually work, or is she making it all up?" Quinn asked as she finished the article. Everyone's attention now shifted back away from Quinn to the Latina in the bed as they waited for her answer. Instead they found the girl with her eyes closed and her breathing even, most definitely in a deep sleep.
"I guess she didn't like the article." Puck said, earning him a slap on the shoulder from Quinn with the rolled up magazine.
"Those pain killers really knock her out hey?" Rachel whispered, careful not to wake Santana from her much needed sleep. Her only reply was a soft snore and a muffled sigh as the girl shifted a little in her bed. She reached over and repositioned the blanket that Santana had nearly knocked off already, brushing away a stray bit of hair as she did so.
"Sweet dreams Santana."
Well we reach the end of another chapter! Hope it wasn't a complete waste of your time and you actually enjoyed some of it! I don't think it was a very exciting chapter, not much happened between the characters but it was a necessary chapter. Here are the Spanish translations if anyone wants them:
Sueño – Sleeping.
Demasiado pronto para levantarse –Too early to get up.
Hablo Inglés – I am speaking English.
Okay well I guess that's all from me. Thanks for reading (especially if you made it down to this little author's note). Over and out.