A small wounded animal

Rachel and Quinn took in the gym: "It looks good, considering the limited time we had." Rachel commented. "Yes, this will have to do, come on let's get ready." They turned away from the gym, where already a few people were dancing, waiting for the football team. As the two girls walked through the empty halls they talked about the game. Rachel told Quinn about Tina's run, they analyzed the performance and celebrated the win laughing together. "Quinn…" Rachel said when a restful silence had settled.

"Yes."

"Thank you for coming back. I know we are not really friends, but I'm really glad you and Brittany and Santana came back." Rachel continued.

"It's like Finn said: we love Glee." Quinn said, more explanation was not necessary. Rachel nodded. A moment later they walked in the locker room, the other girls were all in different stages of getting ready. Santana had already showered and dressed, but still needed to do her make-up. Quinn knew this took the most time with Santana. Brittany was busy hanging her costume. Lauren was in the shower, Mercedes was drying her hair. "Girls, the gym looks great!" Rachel said.

"we know, Rachel. We are the best at impromptu parties." Santana said, bored and self-assured. Rachel shut up immediately, walking to her locker, she just wanted to give a compliment.

"Where is Tina?" Everyone turned to Quinn, then started looking around. "She wasn't in the shower, I was the last one." Lauren said, walking to Quinn. "I'm here girls." Tina softly said from her seat on the bench, she was leaning against the wall, tucked away in a corner like a wounded little fury kitten. "Are you all right?" Quinn asked, kneeling in front of her. She could see the tears glistening in Tina's eyes. Tina shook her head: "No." Brittany came to sit next to her and softly put her hand on Tina's shoulder, Tina pulled it away. "What is wrong?" Brittany asked confused, Tina was not one to shy away from her touching of hugging her, but now it seems she couldn't stand it. 'It hurts." Tina whispered through her tears.

"What hurts?"

"Everything, my back, my shoulders, my arms…everything." Tina looked at Brittany. "I'm sorry, but it hurts even when you just touch me." Everyone was surprised to hear Lauren gently say: "I know it hurts, Tina. It's because all the adrenaline is gone, now you're feeling the pain of the tackle. Do you know what helps?"

"Not moving." Tina said decidedly. "No, taking a nice hot shower." Lauren said, moving in to help Tina get up. "No, don't touch me. It hurts." Tina tried to back away, but she was already in a corner. Lauren grabbed one of her hands. "Come on Tina, a nice shower will help, trust me."

"No, I can't even move my arms without them hurting. Go away." The girls saw she was serious and the pain was written on her face. "Maybe she did break something." Brittany said. "If she can't move her arms, maybe she broke them."

"No the medics checked her out, they said she didn't have any breaks." Rachel said, coming to sit next to Tina.

"Maybe we should ask one of them to check her again?" Mercedes suggested.

"Yes let's do that, Mercedes. I'll go and find John, he checked her earlier." Lauren said quickly finishing getting dressed and then she left the room.

After just a few minutes she was back with John. The other girls were huddled around Tina, Rachel patiently tried to get her own make-up of with some wipes. Santana on occasion took one and helped her clean the parts she couldn't see. Quinn was being helped by Mercedes to get her make-up of. "He Tina, did the adrenaline and painkillers wear off?" John asked as he kneeled before her. Tina nodded and stubbornly said: "It hurts a lot."

"I'll bet, But you didn't break anything."

"I still can't move." Tina said petulantly, why couldn't everybody understand that everything hurt and she couldn't move. Why couldn't they just leave her in peace and let her sit here? "Of course you can. Come on lift your arms as far as you can." Slowly Tina raised her arms. "It hurts, John."

"I know Tina and I told you before that you would get stiff. You've been sitting here about twenty minutes?" Tina nodded, tear-filled eyes watching John. "Your muscles are cooling down, you're starting to get stiff. The best thing you can do is take a shower, move a bit. That way your blood can wash the muscles, flush out the bad fluids, that are now building up."

"I told her she needed a nice hot shower, but she didn't want to be touched." Lauren explained.

"It hurts when you touch me. I just want…" Tina sighed, she hated feeling so needy, but her body hurt so much. Just lifting her arms hurt and she had just a limited space of movement. John looked at her and when she said no more he prodded: "What do you want Tina?"

"I want Mike." Tina said, John smiled. He could hear the relieved laughter around him. "I'll get Mike for you." He said.

"Thank you."

"It's okay Tina, just wait here. You did amazing out there." John got up and turned to the others: "Did any of you get a post-match massage?" the girls watched him, confused. "A post-match massage? No."

"Just to get the blood flowing after the match. It reduces the stiffness for tomorrow." John explained. "Oh I see. No, we didn't get a massage." Mercedes responded. "But we didn't do that much, so it's not necessary." The rest shook their heads, except for Lauren: "I would like a massage, I have a wrestling match next week. I don't want to call miss Johnson, she usually gives me a massage." John nodded: "When I returns with Mike I'll give you a massage." Then he turned to find Mike.