Chapter 10: Bravery is Our Form

"Can… Can we see her yet?" Rachel asks, breaking the silence.

The nurse frowns for a moment and looks at all the desperate eyes of Sara Walsh's concerned friends and family.

"She's still in intensive care right now so only family members right now, but her room does have a window that you could look through."

"Can you make an exception just this once?" Quinn asks. "The only family she has right now are all younger than ten years old. It might be too scary for them to go in alone."

"She's right, they should have someone that they can trust," Sam agrees.

The nurse bites her lip, she could understand where the young people were coming from, but rules were rules and they could not make any exceptions. She could understand all the friends wanted to see the patient, give her comfort and see for themselves that she was all right. Plus, such intense things are scary for young children, but none of them were related to the patient by blood.

"I'm afraid…"

"What about the father of the baby she's carrying?" Ryder cuts in very quickly. "Would he be allowed inside because technically he is family to it?"

"I… suppose, which one of you is the father of the child?"

Both Ryder and Rory stand up. The anger at not knowing whose baby Sara was carrying comes back, causing Ryder's ears to go red and for Rory to swallow a very large lump in the back of his throat. The nurse becomes very confused, in most normal medical practices, there was usually one father, the exception being same-sex male partners who mix their sperm when using a surrogate, She remembers hearing from a maternity nurse who brought the pregnancy news to the group, two boys claimed to be the girl's boyfriend. It was clear that no one at this point knew who the father was… a detail she could be willing to overlook for the sake of the children in the room.

"Both?" she asks quietly.

"For the moment," Rory mutters.

The nurse gives the two teenagers a sympathetic smile. "I suppose that will be okay... for the time being. Just come to the station at the end of the hall when you are ready."

Rory and Ryder let out sighs of relief. Finally, they were catching a break and they were going to see the girl they loved. Everyone else prepares themselves and the cousins for what is to come. Quinn gently shakes Katlyn awake from her lap, while Sam does the same thing with Julia.

"Katlyn, sweetie," Quinn said. "Time to wake up."

"Hey, Julia…" Sam says, nudging her.

The younger of the twins, Julia rubs her eyes, which were blood-shot from the crying that she had done over the past day or so. She looks fearful at first at the person who was holding her, but then Sam gives her a friendly smile and she calms down a little bit.

"You're going to go see your cousin now," he explains to her. He puts on a funny voice to make her smile, which she does and yawns to wake herself up further.

Katlyn is equally groggy upon being woken up.

"What's happening?" she asks.

"You're going to see Sara,"

"We are?"

"Not we, you, your sisters, Rory and Ryder."

"What about you?" Katlyn asks as Quinn fixes the girl's braid that Unique had created the previous day.

"We're not family, but you are. We'll be watching from the window though."

"I want you to come too," the young girl insists.

"I know, I want to too, but we have to follow the rules. We'll all be right outside the whole time."

"Promise?"

"I promise." Quinn feels a heaviness in her chest from having to be separated from this little girl. She also wanted to be there for her in case she got scared about what she might see. Part of her just wants her mother to adopt Katlyn, so they could be sisters and they could be safe from the abuse they'd been receiving. While she had an older sister, the former Cheerio longed for a younger one now. She wanted to be able to play dress-up with her, share makeup tips and do each other's hair, much like what Quinn used to do with her older sister.

Katlyn then realizes that there are more people than before.

"Who's that?" she asks point to Sue Sylvester. The coach in her bright tracksuit likely stood out for the six-year-old the most.

"That is Ms. Sylvester, she works at our high school. She's here for Sara too."

"And the other grown-ups?"

"We're here for your cousin too honey," Carol says. She and Burt lean down to greet the little girl. "I'm Carol and this is Burt, we're Finn and Kurt's mommy and daddy."

"What's your name precious?" Burt smiles. He was never the greatest with kids, but he was willing to make this one feel special and comfortable around him.

"I'm Katlyn, but my friends call me Katy."

"That's a pretty name," Carol coos happily, loving the opportunity to interact with a young child again.

Meanwhile, Sheldon tries to introduce himself to Julia.

"Hi there, pumpkin," he says smiling.

Julia leans deeper into Sam's arms and turns away in fear. She shrinks as far as she can into his arms to bury herself. A few tears appear in her eyes as she attempts to hide from the new person.

"Don't take it personally," Ryder says, coming up to them. "She's very shy. It takes a while for her to trust anyone."

"And here I thought it was the cologne I was wearing," he jokes, in good humour.

Sam then passes Julia to Ryder, whom she clings to tightly in fear, but also trust. Brittany stands nearby with Santana and the blonde waves to Julia gently, thinking that it was the better way to meet the girl than with an actual formal greeting. Jay only looks at them for a brief moment before changing her gaze.

Rory takes Katlyn's hand in his, trying to prepare himself for what is to come.

Finn keeps Maddy close to him. He can tell from the way she's holding his arm tightly is that she is afraid. She's afraid of what she might see. He can hear her sniffle a little bit, probably crying to herself.

He kneels to the girl's level and gently takes her hands into his.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to," he offers.

"I want to see Sara," Madison whimpers.

"I know you do, we all do, but for right now, only you get to go near her. You can bring her one of your drawings to be put next to her bed and you can tell her that you love her."

"That we all love her," Rachel adds, meeting the girl's gaze.

The former couple feel that spark and connection again as they help this little girl. Rachel now sees Finn as the protective father figure, his desire to comfort and protect the frightened cousins of Sara Walsh… their friend. She could see the gentleness in his voice and earnestness of each word that he said as he tries to reassure the girl. She too leans down and gently wipes the girl's tears from her face.

"We won't be far away, we promise," she promises to Maddy.

"You just have to be brave, even when it seems so scary," Finn adds.

"It's okay to be afraid, but you are a brave girl, the bravest I've ever met," Rachel admits honestly.

Carol comes up to them. "And you can take these to her too." She hands the flowers she'd been carrying to Madison.

The nine-year-old manages a small smile. "Sara loves flowers, she likes the yellow ones because they remind her of the sun and happy things."

"That was my intention," Carol smiles back. She gives the girl a small kiss on the cheek. Finn follows his mother's example by kissing her head. He wishes beyond everything that he was going with her, that everyone could see and touch Sara, give her the comfort she very much deserved. To return the kindness she'd shown them over the years.

"Are we ready?" Ryder asks. Rory stands next to him, holding Katlyn's hand. Katlyn held the card made by Becky Jackson to put next to the girl's nightstand, to make her feel that she wasn't alone.

"I think so," Rachel says. Finn gives the girl her sketchbook, which she tucks under one arm and then Rachel takes Maddy's hand to guide her to Ryder. The eldest of the trio grabs Rory's hand as Ryder had his hands full. The group of five slowly begin walking down the hall, towards the nurse's station. The elder boys and possible father of the unborn baby, whose life also hung in the balance, have a heaviness inside their chests. They were very afraid of what might come next. None of them felt mentally prepared to see their girlfriend in such a fragile state. The worst-case scenarios kept running through their heads. They felt anger in the pits of their stomachs. Not towards Sara for sleeping with both of them less than a week apart, but for the man she was forced to call a brother… the man who did this to her left her in a tragic situation and the cousins being constantly afraid. They could only hear their own heartbeats and the heavy breathing of the little girls with them…

They were afraid of what would happen next, and what they would do when they saw her again.

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