Summary: "Like in any fairytale, it all comes down to a kiss after all. "
A/N: Joining the "Faberry Month" challenge, this is my take for the Prompt #1 "First Kiss
I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairy tale
You don't know how many hours have gone since you have walked through the automatic doors of the Lima General Hospital. Everything has felt like a dream. Like a bad dream you want to wake up from in which you can just forget and move on.
You don't know if it's been minutes or hours, but you sit there with your head low and your hands clasped together in your lap. You must probably look like a fool to anyone passing by.
You would frown at yourself in someone else's shoes, and be left wondering who in their right mind would sit in an uncomfortable hospital chair in a wedding dress.
You don't know if it's been minutes or hours and you don't keep track. You can't think straight. Your heart is still beating hard in your chest, but you're in the best place to have a heart attack, no? Then, you wonder if they'd even notice if you had one. Or that maybe they'd think you deserve it, after all. You have put her there. You have done this to her. You have almost killed her.
"Rachel?" You look up and the last person you expect to see is actually standing there. She is there, in front of you.
"Mrs. Fabray." You find your voice but it's hard not to burst into tears.
"Do you want to see her?" She holds her trembling hand out. Maybe it's the lack of sleep. Maybe it's the need for alcohol. Maybe it's the fact her daughter is dying behind some hospital door. Maybe it's all of that, but you take her hand and walk with her.
The room is quiet and bathed in a dimmed light that makes you shiver and not in a good way. There is a low beeping sound coming from the machine to the right. It is steady but not as strong as you imagine a normal heart would need to beat to.
"She looks like an angel, doesn't she?" Judy stands by her left side of the bed. She is carefully stroking her hair away from her forehead, mindful of the cut across the hairline. She is bandaged all over, with tubes and pipes coming out of her chest. It's Quinn, but it's not really her.
"I am so sorry." You hold a hand over your mouth to catch the sob escaping you. To strangle it in your throat but it is too late. The tears fall and your body wrecks with each sob.
"Oh honey, it's not your fault." Judy's arms are around you before you know it and you sink into her. You sink into an embrace that doesn't feel familiar but it's all you need right now. You look over her shoulder, almost scared of Quinn's reaction to you hugging her mother but she is still. She is unmoving and perfectly posed, like a sleeping princess.
"Thank you." You pull back to wipe your cheeks with your hands. You're sure your makeup is all messed up and you must look horrible. You look like a mess. You look like the mess you have made.
"I need to call Frannie. Can you keep her company?" She nods to the door and you must have nodded without even thinking about it. She is out the door and you cross the remaining space between you and Quinn. The closer you get, the harder it becomes. Every step reveals a new cut or bandage or tube that you hadn't noticed before.
"Oh, Quinn…" You have to hold onto the bed railing to keep yourself up. You hold onto it and lean over the bed to take a closer look. She looks so pale and fragile. She looks so thin. She looks so beautiful. She is still the prettiest girl she has ever seen. She will always be the prettiest girl. "Please wake up." She leans down before she can talk herself out of it.
You lean over until your lips drop between the skin of her eyebrows. You find an unmarked slot to linger on. You do it again until you barely part from her cold skin and it's a continuous featherlike touch.
Like in any fairytale, it all comes down to a kiss after all. You lean over for one more when you hear footsteps down the hallways and you have to pull back. You have to, but not without one last kiss.
One last kiss.
You linger a little longer and then pull back hovering over her. You hold your breath, hoping to see those eyelids flutter open and those hazel eyes meet yours.
Nothing happens and for a second, just for a second, you let your eyes linger on her lips. Maybe you could try again. Maybe you could lean forward and breathe the life in her lungs. Maybe you could bring her back to life.
Maybe you could bring her back to you, but when you lean in something stops you. It's not Judy. It's the beeping sound becoming a little louder.
Your eyes move onto the screen and, even if you lack the medical knowledge to get all those numbers right, you see her heart picking up.
Maybe it isn't a lost battle after all. Maybe it's not a fairytale, but there's still hope for a happy ending.
RQRQRQRQRQRQRQRQ
You don't know how time goes by so fast. One moment you're sitting by Quinn's bedside in the aftermath of her accident, the other you're in the backyard of Santana's house celebrating your ticket out of Lima.
Things haven't been the same since that accident, but how could they? There was no way to pick up from where you had left things off with; Finn, with New York, with her…
"There you are." She finds you sitting on the edge of the pool, with your toes in the water and a lukewarm drink beside you.
"Here I am." You look up at her. It's odd to see her in anything but pretty summer dresses or her cheerleader uniform, but shorts do suit her. They do nothing but accentuating her athletic silhouette, even after weeks spent wheeling herself around and going through painful therapy.
"Is everything alright? They're doing a karaoke contest and not seeing you there got me worried." She carefully drops beside you. You catch the grimace on her face when she bends down. If she notices you watching, she doesn't say anything about it.
"I can still beat them with my eyes closed and a hand behind my back." You chuckle softly.
"That's the Rachel Berry I know." She laughs softly. She looks up at the starry night and a soft smile blossoms on her face. "Can I tell you a secret? Just promise me you won't take it bad."
"I am getting worried now." You nudge her gently. "Go ahead, tell me." You're kidding and she knows it.
"I have dreams about you." She doesn't look away from the sky above your heads. "Actually, it's just one dream."
"Is it bad?" You look at her profile and hold your breath. You don't know why, but you just do.
"Not at all." She closes her eyes, furrowing her brows. She is probably trying to remember as much as she can about it. "It's like when you're falling asleep and you feel like falling? You have this feeling that is a mix of both. It's like a limbo." She looks at you. "Does that make sense?"
"Yes, it does." You nod softly. You're not indulging her and she knows it.
"I'm like sleeping and I can't seem to open my eyes. But I feel you there…" She closes her eyes and points to her forehead. "I feel you here and then I wake up."
"It's just a dream, Quinn." You look away and turn around to get to your feet. You need to be anywhere but there. "You know? Maybe I should just go home."
"What? Why?" She struggles to get on her feet, so you have a fair advantage but you don't escape her fast enough. She is quick to catch you by the hand and to turn you around, until you're in front of each other. "It wasn't just a dream, was it? You were there."
"Quinn…" You try to look away from her. You try to look away from the eyes that you had wanted to see so badly that night. Those eyes that have haunted your dreams for weeks. That still do.
"You weren't there when I woke up. But you have been there, right? My mom told me you were around almost as much as she was." Quinn brushes her thumb over the back of your hand. "You brought me back, Rachel."
"The doctors did the job. If it hadn't been for them, you would…" The words catch themselves in your throat. You feel the tears fill your eyes and the sorrow fill your soul. "You almost died, Quinn."
"I am still here, Rachel." Quinn takes you by the hand and you find yourself pressed into her shoulder, sobbing against the fabric of her t-shirt. You have cried for her. You have cried yourself to sleep for her for days. You have cried in front of her and in front of your friends. You have never cried in her arms, though. You have never let her hold you up, while you cried for what could have been. "I am here." She kisses your forehead. She does it right where you had kissed hers. Right between your brows.
"Quinn…" You tilt your head back when her lips brush your left eyebrow and then the corner of your eye, to catch the tears before they trail down your cheeks.
"You broke up with Finn for me." Quinn whispers against the apple of your cheek.
"I couldn't get married without you." You sigh and grip her a little tighter. She is firm under your touch and you wonder how she would feel wrapped around you, holding you safely. "You gave up your crown for me."
"You deserved to win more than I did." Quinn follows the trail left behind by the tears. You just tilt your head to the side to give her more room. To give her access to all she wants.
"I got into NYADA." Your forehead comes to rest against hers. You're not able to look in her eyes properly so you just close them. You shut them closed and so she does. She knows where you are. You know where she is. You're both not going anywhere. "You got into Yale."
"We've got Metro North Passes." Her nose brushes yours. It's an odd thought, but you're happy you haven't put her nose on your face. It would have been too awkward to touch hers with yours, knowing they were the same. "Rach…"
"Yes." You nod when she pushes against you. You don't recall so much anticipation with your first boyfriend or those who have come after him. "Yes, please." Your hands get lost in her hair and she leans down to close the remaining gap between your mouths.
When your lips touch for the first time, you're not sure if the fireworks are in your head or they're exploding around you for real.
When your lips touch, you realize that even if it's not a fairytale, it sure feels like you got to have a happy ending.
THE END
