A/N: So, the Time Warp story-line has taken off C:
By the way, submit some song ideas that would fit into the next chapter, por favore!
COCO: It gets easier to understand, doesn't it?
Latina: Please be serious when reviewing.
A thousand lies have made me colder
And I don't think I can look at this the same
But all the miles that separate
They disappear now when I'm dreaming of your face
I'm here without you, baby, but you're still on my lonely mind
3 Doors Down — Here Without You
Sam stretched her body as she waited for Cheerios practice to start. She could feel the eyes of everyone on her and she tried her best to ignore them.
"Samantha Devine!" she heard Jacob Ben Israel call as he ran over to her, microphone in hand. "A word, my lady?"
"Oh, no," Jessica muttered. "Get lost, Jew-Fro. This field is for Cheerios only right now."
"How does it feel to know your popularity and status is in jeopardy because of one meeting with the glee club?" he asked, shoving his microphone in Sam's face, skillfully ignoring the other Devine twin's request.
"My popularity and status are still perfectly intact. I heard that the glee club was doing one of my favorite songs, so I stopped in to hear it," Sam replied, swatting the microphone away in annoyance.
"What about rumors with you and one Noah Puckerman?" he asked, undeterred from the annoyed cheerleader.
"False. There is nothing going on between me and Puck. Now, would you get that damn microphone out of my face before I shove it up your ass?" she snapped, grabbing the microphone and chucking it across the field. "Go interview an ant-pile or something!"
She hated this alternate universe. Everything was turned upside down and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
When she walked by the mirror in the girls' locker room, she caught a glimpse of two people in her reflection. Sam stopped in her tracks before backing up.
A tall, lanky teenage boy and a short redheaded girl stood in the mirror, staring back expectantly. She recognized Jerry Baker as the boy.
The girl was herself in the other time.
"What do you two want?" Sam asked. The redhead smiled broadly before looking up at Jerry.
"'Bout time she noticed us. I thought she'd be too caught up in her new-found popularity to notice us," she said, her arms crossed over her chest. "Think she's ready to hear why she's here?"
"I think so," Jerry replied somberly. "I'm here because you feel guilty for my death and the loss of your sister. We're showing you what your life would be like at McKinley with Jessica."
Sam rocked back on her heels in astonishment.
"That's why everyone hates me," she murmured. Redhead Sam nodded.
"You're a raging bitch to everyone, your so-called friends only want you because you're popular, your real friends want nothing to do with you...yeah, because Jess never died, we never changed. Because we never changed, we never got to meet everyone in New Directions. Finn is back with Rachel and hating himself for it, Quinn's pretty much mad at the world, Mike McAllery's back with his bitch of a mom, Jana's here because she believes that we'll change, Orion killed himself because we never helped him settle into school.." she trailed off.
"Orion's dead?" Sam asked in shock. Redhead Sam nodded again.
"Closeted bisexual that believed no one cared. No one had been nice to him before us and that had given him a sense of belonging for maybe once in his life. Because we're such raging bitches, he couldn't handle it anymore. Sound familiar?" she said.
Sam gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.
"As much as I'd love to let you live in your semi-happy little world with Jessie, you have to come back to reality and accept that she's gone and isn't coming back," Redhead Sam stated.
"So, because it'll make it easier on everyone else, I have to let my sister go again?" Sam whispered.
"Do you want to see us right now? We got the shit beaten out of us! Mama's going out of her mind, we can't leave her like this. Our real friends are so worried, everyone's trying to figure out what happened," Redhead Sam snapped.
"What happened?" Sam asked. She stopped and put her phone to her ear as Santana walked into the bathroom. The reflection in the mirror changed to a hospital room at Lima General. A mess of tubes completely swarmed a young girl on the bed, machines beeping. "Oh, my God."
"You don't come back to this world, you'll die. And because you were the only one to look my father in the eye, they'll let him out and he's gonna get away with murder," Jerry said. Sam looked up at him with sorrow. "You were the only one who was semi-nice to me. I hated what my father did to everyone, I didn't want that to happen."
"I'm so sorry I didn't stand up for you. You didn't deserve that," she whispered.
[To the real world!]
Santana had hated hospitals since she was a little girl. They were what kept her father for such a long time. Usually, she avoided them like the plague.
But Brittany wanted to see Sam and watch the little robots and scientists make her better.
"I think Lord Tubbington is a wizard. He's been practicing a lot of magic lately and I caught him reading my sister's Harry Potter books, but the doctors won't let me bring him here to heal Sam, which is totally stupid because she loves cats," Brittany said.
"She's in the ICU, Britt. They don't let pets in the ICU without the permission of the patients' families," Santana replied patiently. Sam looked even smaller and more doll-like than usual when her makeup was gone and she was sleeping. Even if they were at each other's throats more often than not, Santana counted Sam as a friend and she was going to be there for her.
"Sam's not gonna die, San. She's Irish, so that makes her a leprechaun. It's really hard to kill one of those, so the scientists are gonna make her better," Brittany said brightly. Santana envied the innocence her best friend had. She wanted to believe that their friend would pull through. She wanted to believe that Sam had nine lives. "But I want to thank the robots, too. They're working, like, really hard. And Lord Tubbington. I'm going to help him practice his wizardry from afar, or like, outside the hospital. It might help. Plus, my mom says that friends that are there for you live forever, so she's gonna live."
Santana squeezed Brittany's hand affectionately, blinking back her tears. "You're right, Britt. We just gotta have faith in robots, scientists, and Lord Tubbington." She looked up when she heard a knock on the door. Jesse St. James lingered in the doorway. "Come on, Britt-Britt. Let's get Sam that stuffed cat from the gift shop."
She moved past the older boy, hand in hand with her best friend.
[From Rachel's point of view now]
The last time Rachel had been in the hospital, she had had laryngitis. Now, she was standing in one of her closest friends' ICU room. She had always admired Sam. She was brave, sassy, and quirky. When Rachel had a problem, Sam was there to fix it. Now the little redhead was in a hospital bed because of someone else's actions. The police was looking into it heavily. All of New Directions had come to 'stand guard' over their fallen friend.
"They say that you can hear me, but I don't know what to say except that you can't give up," Rachel said softly. She now knew why her fathers had kept her away from family members in the ICU. She didn't want to remember Sam as some broken, beaten doll that someone threw away after they were done playing. Rachel's eyes drifted over the photos next to the bed. There were pictures of everyone in New Directions there. Her favorite was the one taken at Regionals. Kurt in his Warblers' uniform, herself, Mercedes, and Sam were standing with their arms around each other. Then there was one of Sam and Jesse taken at some sort of function. Rachel picked it up carefully, examining them. Jesse had explained his and Sam's history, but it had taken Rachel some time to get over it.
"That was taken at my junior prom," a voice from the doorway said. Rachel looked up to see Jesse standing in the doorway, a bottle of water in hand. "I didn't really care who my date was, but...she made it memorable in her own way."
"I just can't believe someone would want to do this to her. She's just..." she trailed off, biting her lip. She played with a lock of her dark brown hair and stared at her navy blue Mary Janes.
"Sam's a pain sometimes, but she's a tenacious little thing. Halfway through our performance of 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' at our Nationals in 2008, she sprained her ankle when she came down on it wrong and she gritted her teeth and danced through the pain. She didn't tell anyone what happened until we made it back to Carmel. I try to be in here as much as possible because the last time something like this happened, I was there when she woke up," he said. Rachel watched the affection crossed his features as he looked down at the still figure on the bed. She had no doubt that he loved Sam in a small way that wasn't as brotherly as he tried to show.
"It seems so bleak. Finn tries to keep up a tough front, but we can all see that he's suffering," Rachel admitted. "But it's nice to see that so many people care about Sam. She hasn't been left alone for a minute."
"Not a lot of people like her, but a lot of people respect her," Jesse replied. Now it was difficult to keep the tears at bay. Rachel sniffled and tried to tilt her head back to will them from falling down her face.
"She can't die, Jesse, she just can't. We have Nationals and we have prom coming up..." she babbled on, trying to keep her nerves from breaking down. "I can't lose her, she's my best friend. Kurt and Mercedes have each other, but I had Sam."
Jesse rubbed her back soothingly as Rachel cried harder.
[AU time!]
Sam watched the scene from the mirror, her eyes welling with tears of her own. "I can't let them down, but I don't wanna leave Jess. Why can't I have it all? Why does it all have to be on me?" she said. "It's not fair!"
"Unfortunately, that's the way life is. Because of one life lost, a lot were saved. You helped Orion make friends and you helped Brittany pass math, which isn't easy to do, believe me," Redhead Sam replied. She looked over her shoulder at the still figure on the bed. "I don't want to let them down. We have so much to live for here. Mama's gonna have a breakdown if we leave her."
"So, if I choose to stay here, I die on the other side?" Sam asked. Jerry nodded.
"It's a tough choice, but it's ultimately your call," he replied.
[Real life told from Jana's point of view]
Jana slipped in after Kurt left. It had been difficult to find a time when Sam would be alone. She had known Sam her entire life. Every early childhood memory had her in it.
"Oh, you're in here," she heard someone say behind her. Jana looked over her shoulder from her perch on the chair to see Orion standing in the doorway. She gestured him in. "Thanks. I wanted to see how she was doing. Finn said her brain was responding better, so I wanted to see her when she was less wack."
"Yeah, Sam bleeds hell-fire. Scientists are using her blood, sweat, and tears to make an immortal army," she said bitterly.
"Don't do that," Orion told her. Jana quirked an eyebrow. "Don't do what I do. Don't use humor to cover this up. You've known Sam a long time and this is the first time you've seen her like this."
"You use humor for, like, everything," she pointed out as she tucked her legs under her. He shrugged.
"Yeah, but no one's ever really called me out on it. My aunt's a counselor and she doesn't even try," he replied as he took a seat in the chair opposite her.
"Welcome to reality," she said. She fiddled with the sterling silver charm bracelet attached to her wrist. A horseshoe charm twisted in her fingers and she squeezed it tightly.
"I haven't known Sam for long, but she's pretty cool. I'd hate to see her go like this," Orion commented.
"Yeah, join the club," Jana muttered.
"Well, I joined glee club. Will that work?" Orion snarked. When Jana didn't flinch, he nudged her. "Oh, come on, that was funny and you know it."
He continued ribbing her until a smirk crossed her face.
"See? Come on. We've gotta get to the waiting room. Mr. Schue wants to do a group song for Sam and go around and say sappy shit about what we like about her. It's supposed to make us feel better. After, I'll get you a slushie," he offered. He stood up and held out his hand. Jana looked up into his big brown eyes and sighed. Reluctantly, she slapped her hand into his and stood up.
"Can it be purple?" she asked shyly. He laughed and led her out of the room.
"It could be lime green if you want," he promised.
To Jana, it was amazing how a few jokes by the new kid could make her laugh and brighten an otherwise depressing day.
[Told from the bird's eye point of view]
The kids in the waiting room had circled the chairs, all sitting down. An awkward silence filled the room before Mr. Schuester lifted his hand.
"All right, I'll go first, then. What I liked about Sam was that she was such a unique individual. She was never afraid of being herself and she was very passionate," he said.
A silence ensued for a few more minutes before Jesse spoke up.
"She was a pain in the ass most of the time, but I liked her tenacity. Whenever someone asked her to do something, she didn't quit until it was done to her satisfaction. She is the hardest working person I know."
A few more people went around, admitting they didn't know her very well and wished they had.
"What I loved most about Sam was that she loved with her whole heart. She was beautiful inside and out and she never tried to control me. She wasn't even mad when I backhanded her and she had a concussion. I loved that she didn't want to go out a lot and was happy to just...be together," Finn said.
"I liked how she didn't take shit but wasn't afraid to dish it out. She was like this little ball of energy. Sam was like this ninja crossed with a Jedi," Puck submitted.
"Sam never called me stupid and she helped me go from an F to a D+ in math. Plus, she's, like, the luckiest person I know, so it sort of makes her magical. And she's Irish, so I guess she's a leprechaun. I don't know why she gets so worked up over being called that. Leprechauns are super awesome and magical and they grant wishes, which is something she sort of does. I mean, I wanted a better grade in math and she granted that wish. Besides, the scientists and robots are working overtime to fix her like I told San. Sometimes, it just takes longer," Brittany declared.
"She does know we're in a hospital and not a lab, right? They aren't scientists, Brittany; they're doctors," Sam Evans stated.
"If Brittany wants to believe they're scientists, let her, Trouty Mouth. Look through some mouth-reduction pamphlets while they're here and put some Chapstick on that salamander mouth of yours," Santana snapped, wrapping a protective arm around the blonde girl's shoulders. Brittany patted her knee in thanks.
"Has anyone thought of a song they'd like to sing for Sam?" Mr. Schuester asked. Rachel tentatively raised her hand.
"I think Sarah McLaughlin's song 'I Will Remember You' would be appropriate for this setting," she suggested.
"I thought of 'How To Save A Life' by The Fray and that one song she sang for her 'Born This Way' assignment," Finn added.