Chapter 3: Family Recollection

The minutes felt like hours in the waiting room as doctors and nurses rushed about, past the shell-shocked Glee club, all ins silent contemplation. The only time the trance was broken was when a nurse came to check on Rory, give him a new ice pack and fresh tissues

Finn is so caught up in his own thoughts that he doesn't notice the first time a young girl tugs at his shirt sleeve. He turns to meet wide blue eyes of a girl. She has dark hair pulled back into two small braids and wore a pink shirt underneath a dark sweater, with leggings and a matching skirt. She looked about to be nine or ten years old at the most. Behind her stood two other girls, who were about the same height and looked the same age to each other. One was slightly taller than the other with strawberry blonde hair, that grew almost fully down her back, and similar blue eyes. She had many freckles sprouting across her tiny nose and wore a light pink plaid shirt with buttons and small jeans with holes in them. The last child had the same dark hair as the older one, she too had blue eyes and a very shy expression with curly locks reaching past her shoulders. She wore a dark blue shirt and black pants. All three of them seemed very nervous and slightly on edge. They also had a sort of dishevelled look to them with dark circles under their eyes and timid facial features like they were afraid of this very big man or the hospital in general.

"Excuse me?" she says in a quiet voice.

"How can I help you?" Finn asks.

"Are you Finn?"

"Yes I am and who are you?"

"I'm Madison," she introduces her self. "And that's Katlyn," she points to the light-haired girl "And this is Julia, but we call her Jay for short. We're looking for Sara."

Rory and Ryder seem to snap out of their trances at the sound of these little girls. Immediately, they stand up and goes towards the trio of children talking to Finn.

"Rory!" Katlyn practically squeals, running up, to which Rory picks her up with ease. He fits the girl on her hip like he'd done so many times before. The rest of the Glee club look up in confusion. None of them had met these children before, but they seemed to have some relations with Sara and knew Rory. Several members smile at the youthful faces, others just look confused.

"Ahoy Katy," Rory says as cheerfully as he can.

"I missed you," the girl says.

"I missed you too."

"Where did you go?"

"I had to go home back to Ireland because I missed my family too. But I missed our little dance recitals and the secret food fights."

Katlyn giggles and hugs the Irish student with much love and enthusiasm.

Madison and Julia follow suit, hugging Rory before the youngest, Jay runs into Ryder's arms, to which he also scoops her up with ease. The girl immediately rests her head on his shoulder and puts her thumb in her mouth.

"Still have that habit, don't you?" Ryder says gently.

"Uh… Ryder? Rory? The rest of us need an explanation," Kitty says.

"This is Madison, Julia and Katlyn, they're Sara's cousins," Rory says.

"We live with her because our mommy and daddy went to heaven," Madison blurts out suddenly.

The adoring smiles fade into concern that a nine-year-old child would know this.

"Their parents were killed in a car crash several years ago so Sara's been raising them with her brother," Ryder explains. "But for all the times we've been to the park with them, we've gotten to know them really well."

"Where is Sara?" Julia asks, taking the thumb out of her mouth.

The waiting room goes quiet, wondering what to say to young children, tell them that their so-called "guardian" is intensive care.

"She… she got hurt," Marley says quickly. "But the doctors are taking care of her.

To everyone's surprise, the trio doesn't react the way one might expect, with shock and tears and more questions. Instead, their faces go quiet and they sort of shrink into themselves.

"How did you three know that Sara was in the hospital?' Finn asks, kneeling to Madison's level.

"When she didn't pick us up from school. We spend about an hour at daycare after school and Sara comes to get us after Glee club."

Finn nearly smiles, surprised and pleased that these young kids knew about the New Directions.

"Our teacher told us that Sara got hurt and she brought us here."

"And she just left you here?" Tina asks in confusion.

"She thought Joe would be here."

The colour drains from everyone's faces at the mention of the name.

"J-Joe?" Finn swallows. He does his best not jump to conclusions right in front of everyone, Joe was a common name. It could just be a coincidence and for all they knew, Joe was Sara's concerned father, perhaps held up at work and couldn't reach any of them for information.

"Who's Joe?" Jake asks quietly.

"Joe is Sara's brother…"