Quinn's vision was blurred as she tried to open her heavy eyes which seemed to sting in protest. The first thing she noticed was that now, it was completely dark. Fear whelped in her stomach and an overwhelming need to escape pressured her to try and stand up. She tried to shift her limbs but hot, searing pain exploded in every nerve ending and her head pounded so furiously that she thought she was going to pass out again. She lifted a hand to the back of her head, feeling a swollen lump and matted blood entangled in her short locks. After a few dizzy attempts, she managed to clamber to her feet, swaying unsteadily as she hoped she wouldn't fall back down. What had happened to her? What had hit her on the head? Surely it wouldn't have been Rachel but that left a terrifying conclusion: it had been the other spirit captivated within the house. She cursed herself for being so arrogant in thinking she'd be okay because it wasn't that dark when she first entered.
A loud clang sounded to the left of her, dragging her from her thoughts. Quinn's heart drummed against her rib cage as adrenaline began to surge through her blood and her breathing quickened as it echoed around the still of the house. Quinn quickly covered her mouth with a shaky hand as she nervously tried to see anything within the dark abyss around her.
"Quinn?" a voice called from somewhere in the dark. Instantly, she recognised the voice to be Rachel's and opened her mouth to speak, ignoring the metallic taste of blood and the fiery ache that throbbed in the back of her throat.
"R-Rachel?" She managed to choke out.
"Quinn…can't…properly," Rachel's message came out broken and Quinn suddenly remembered the difficulty she had trying to talk to the ghost earlier. "Medication," Rachel said next and a light bulb flashed in Quinn's disorientated mind, clearing it if only a little. Could it be that the new medication she had been taking for the past week was somehow blocking Rachel from communicating properly? Despite her fear, she silently rolled her eyes at just another reason to dislike Dr Shepard.
Quinn nearly screamed as she felt a cold hand ensnare her own but a soft reassuring squeeze confirmed that it was Rachel. She could now hear her better but still couldn't see the ghost and she wondered if the meds were starting to wear off. The last time she had swallowed one of the little pills had been this morning and it was now dark.
Quinn stumbled as she felt Rachel drag her down the stairs and towards the door which was wide open, revealing a starlit sky; she was metres away from safety. In addition to Rachel's hand, the blonde felt another pair aggressively push her, causing her to tear free of Rachel's grip and tumble down the marble stairs, landing at the bottom with a thud- igniting her pain all over again. She heard a scream and wasn't quite sure if it had come from Rachel or her own mouth.
Drearily, she tried to focus her gaze on the open door, summoning whatever energy she still held within her beaten body so that she could crawl to the door. She knew if she didn't get out now, she was done for.
"Quinn! Get up! Get out now!" She heard Rachel's distraught voice clearly this time and the message wasn't broken meaning that the medication must be wearing off faster than she had anticipated. She felt small urgent hands try to help her to her feet. Rachel didn't need to tell her twice. The blonde was on her hands and knees, fighting the persistent pain in her body and willing herself to stand up as she slowly and desperately made her way towards the only possible escape route. Rachel managed to tug the taller girl to her feet and Quinn felt her arm being slung around Rachel's invisible shoulders as the brunette tried to sustain her and help her to the door.
"Rachel," Quinn whispered with a raspy breath. "I'm sorry for running, I-" she was cut short by Rachel shushing her.
"Not now Quinn, all I care about now is getting you out of here!" Rachel hissed and Quinn could hear the unmistakable panic quiver in the brunette's voice. Quinn painfully nodded, not sure if Rachel could see her but she remained quiet.
Just as they neared the door, it shut on its own with a hefty slam- causing Quinn to bite back a squeal. Her heart was beating faster than ever and she couldn't hear what Rachel was trying to say as blood ferociously pounded in her ears. She felt faint all over again and began to fall but Rachel hauled her back up and began to pull her towards the stairs as fast as she could. Quinn knew that Rachel was trying to get them to the safe room and Quinn also knew that the spirit was toying with them.
Just then, Quinn felt Rachel's presence disappear and the blonde was shoved to the floor. She cried out in anguish as she felt something sharp dig deep into her forearm. With her free hand she fingered the piercing object and to her horror, realised that she had a piece of jagged glass buried halfway into her arm. She stopped struggling when she heard it. A menacing, cruel laugh seemed to reverberate around the entire house, bouncing off of the walls and invaded her ears, causing them to hurt from the amplified sound.
Quinn felt hot tears roll down her cheek and the fear subsided long enough to let her be angry at herself for acting so weak in a time like this. She needed to be strong- she needed to live. "Rachel?" Quinn called out as loud as she dared and her call was immediately answered by a cold breath that snaked across her ear. "Rachel what-"
"She's left you little girl. You're all alone and now you're mine," a deep, sinister voice whispered into her ear, causing the hairs to rise on the back of Quinn's neck whilst icy shivers ran the length of her spine. Quinn's eyes were wide, her mouth had turned dry and she felt paralysed to the spot with unbearable fear. Quinn screamed as she felt her arm being pushed further into the glass and heard that dark cackle surround her once more. It was a sadistic laugh that derived from causing pain and torture, as though that was the only reason this entity existed.
She didn't know what had happened to Rachel and she found herself terrified for the ghost. What had the spirit done to her? She felt a knot in her throat. She couldn't lose Rachel, she just couldn't. Suddenly, a surge of inspiration hit her and using her free hand, she brushed her fingers along the bulge of her jean's pocket. Hope flared within her as she tugged her phone free and quickly hit 'dial' over Santana's contact.
The phone rang loudly and the blonde cursed, knowing that if the spirit knew what she was up to then he'd probably kill her without dragging it out. The phone clicked as someone answered on the other end and relief overwhelmed Quinn.
"Bitch, it's one in the morning. You better be dying or I swear to god I'll-"
"Santana! I need your help! I'm trapped in the house! He's going to kill me!" Quinn blurted out, hoping that the Latina would be able to distinguish the message in her jumble of words.
"Holy shit you really are dying! Okay, give me ten minutes- no five minutes and I'll be there! Just hang on Quinn; it's going to be O-"
The phone was torn from her grasp and Quinn heard a roar of anger as it was thrown across the room- shattering off as it hit the wall. She then felt herself being pried from the floor, her arm slowly sliding off of the glass and she bit down on her bottom lip hard to stop herself screaming again. With tremendous force, she was thrown in the same direction as her phone and couldn't help but release an agonising scream as she hit the rugged brick wall and crumpled to the floor in a broken heap.
She heard heavy footsteps trudge their way towards her and she knew she was about to die. A terrifying thought rang through her mind and she wished more than anything that she hadn't called Santana because she knew she would meet the same fate that Quinn was about to endure.
The footsteps stopped directly in front of her and a heavy air filled with malice shrouded the space around her. There was nothing left to do. She couldn't even stand up and she had no way of fighting back. Hands gripped her arms and she thought for sure that was it.
"Get up Blondie!" a familiar voice commanded. "Get the hell up and let's go!" Santana's voice urgently boomed.
"I-I can't," Quinn spluttered, causing Santana to haul her up and wrap Quinn's arms around her neck as she shifted the blonde's legs around her back, picking them up under her arms. Quinn was surprised at how strong the girl was, considering she was shorter than Quinn was.
"Hold on," she instructed as she began to make haste towards the door. "Shit!" she cursed when it slammed shut yet again. Santana screamed and began to yell in Spanish when she felt someone push her towards the stairs. "Get the hell off of me before I exorcise your ass!" Santana threatened but the tremor in her words betrayed her bravado.
"Quinn it's me!" Rachel's voice said irately in front of the girls. "Tell her it's me! You both need to get to my room now! I've distracted him but not for long so tell Santana to hurry!"
Quinn relayed the message, causing Santana to give up thrashing and swearing and move as fast as she could with the blonde teenager on her back as she ran up the stairs. As they neared the room, the girls heard a loud thunderous roar filled with anger as the spirit realised what had happened. Rachel shoved them both in, causing Santana to trip and let go of Quinn who toppled to the floor and yelped.
The door shut behind them and all three girls stayed silent and waited tentatively in the blackness of the room as they heard the angry howls of the spirit as he furiously began to tear up the house. He was enraged that they had escaped and Quinn just knew that he would be more determined than ever to eventually kill her.
"No freaking way! What the hell was that thing?" Santana exclaimed as she caught her breath and blindly helped Quinn sit up against a wall. "Was that the other ghost you warned us about?"
"Yeah," Quinn confirmed.
"Okay, so do you want to tell me why the hell you were here after dark? Damn it woman are you stupid?"
Quinn laughed lightly and she could feel Santana glare at her through the darkness. "I came to talk to Rachel and then I noticed it was going dark. The next thing I knew I was hit with something and then I woke up in the dark. I couldn't get through to Rachel because of the meds and-"
"Meds?" Santana quirked.
Quinn sighed. "My family sent me to see a shrink and they gave me medication for schizophrenia because apparently seeing ghosts and talking to people that aren't there are massive symptoms."
Santana at first began to laugh, causing Quinn to frown but soon she stopped. "Why am I only just hearing about these crazy pills?" Santana asked, her voice slightly tinged with hurt.
"I guess I was embarrassed," Quinn truthfully told her. "I'm not crazy."
Santana scoffed. "So you keep saying but look where we are. Besides," she continued, adopting a more serious tone, "you don't need to feel embarrassed Quinn, I'm your friend and I know you're not in Lala Land. You can tell me anything and you know I won't judge…much. And look, I just saved your sorry ass didn't I?" The Latina joked, causing Quinn to giggle.
"Thank you," Quinn breathed.
"Don't think I'm not gonna call this one in. You owe me big. Someone's gotta' tell Brittany that the Toothfairy isn't real and after the Easter-bunny ordeal, it isn't going to be me," Santana sternly told Quinn who began to laugh again.
"Deal," the blonde smiled into the darkness as she nursed her injured arm. Warm blood covered her skin and she felt nauseous.
"So what do we do now?" Questioned Santana, "Wait for Casper the unfriendly ghost to bust in and stuff our bodies under the floorboards?"
"No, Rachel said that this is the one room that he has no control over, he can't get in here," Quinn clarified as she heard an exhale of relief from the cheerleader.
Quinn's thoughts suddenly redirected to Rachel as she remembered about the ghost. "Rach?"
"Yeah?" a quiet voice popped up next to her, causing Quinn to flinch with surprise.
"Thank you too," Quinn said blushing and her words were returned with cold lips being pressed to her cheek, causing her face to redden even more.
"You're welcome," Rachel giggled, obviously noticing Quinn's flushed complexion.
"What's going on over there?" Santana asked sceptically as she saw the outline of Quinn squirming in the dark.
"Nothing!" Quinn squeaked, causing Rachel to giggle again.
"My ass," retorted Santana. "I don't know about you but seeing as though we're stuck here until the sun comes up I'm going to try and get some sleep. At least if we're brutally murdered, I can die happily in my sleep," Santana grunted as she rolled over and wrapped her jacket tight around her body- resting her head on her arms.
"Is she always so cheerful?" Rachel asked as she gently leant her head against Quinn's shoulder. Quinn snickered and the room fell into silence.
After what had seemed like an hour passed and Quinn could hear the faint snoring coming from Santana she whispered, "Rachel?" Quinn glanced in Santana's direction, squinting in the dark room as she tried to make sure the sleeping cheerleader was still undisturbed.
"Hmm?"
"About yesterday," Quinn started.
"I know, it was stupid and thoughtless. I guess I just got caught up in the moment. I promise it won't happen again Quinn. I'm sorry," Rachel said sadly.
"No! I uh," she paused and looked at the still sleeping Santana. "It was nice," she finally said as quietly as possible, feeling her blush return. Quinn felt the brunette shift against her and the blonde's eyes grew wide when she realised she could see Rachel again, despite the lack of light in the room.
"Then why did you run?" The ghost asked, looking slightly hurt.
Quinn felt a pang of guilt as she looked into Rachel's velvety eyes for the first time in a week. The ghost was patiently waiting for an answer but Quinn didn't really know what to say. "I don't know, I guess I was the stupid one." She was still looking at Rachel and Quinn's face grew serious. "I like you Rachel, I really do. But that's what frightens me. You're a ghost, it'd be pointless," Quinn said downheartedly, breaking her stare and shifting her eyes towards the ground.
The blonde felt a cold hand press against her cheek, turning her head back up and towards Rachel and before she could say anything, Rachel's lips once more pressed against Quinn's, only this time, Quinn didn't run or break the kiss. The kiss was soft and gentle and Quinn let herself melt into it as she pushed the nagging worries about Rachel being a ghost to one side, realising that she couldn't ignore the feelings she harboured for the ghost. Their lips moved perfectly together, creating a delicious passion between the two girls as Rachel redirected her hands to Quinn's hair, bunching up in the short tangles and effectively pulling her closer and Quinn swore in that moment, she forgot everything else in the world but this one girl that had her at hello.
Rachel was the one who broke the kiss and rested her forehead against Quinn's whilst looking into her lustful, hazel eyes. "Was that pointless?" Rachel asked softly as she tentatively removed her fisted hands from Quinn's hair.
Quinn's mouth hung open as she stared at the incredibly talented lips that had just been attached to her own. She suddenly registered the question and closed her mouth, shaking her head as she was unable to form coherent words. Rachel smirked and patted the blonde's cheek. "Don't leave me again like that. I was worried you weren't going to come back," Rachel said gently with slight authority to her tone. "And for Christ's sake, will you listen to me when I tell you to keep well away from this place after dark?"
"I wanted to talk to you," Quinn explained, feeling a blush haze her cheeks.
"You could have done that during the day," Rachel scolded and Quinn looked away, knowing Rachel was right. It was stupid and reckless to have gone to the house at the time she had, but she just wanted to see Rachel, to explain to her why she ran away- just so the ghost didn't think that she hated her- after all she hadn't visited the house for a week.
"I'm sorry," Quinn finally offered then looked at Rachel once more. "So where does this leave us?" She asked hesitantly.
Rachel smiled warmly but something brief flickered in her eyes that Quinn couldn't quite place. Doubt? Uncertainty? The flicker vanished before Quinn had time to figure it out and Rachel took hold of her hand. "Wherever we want it to, now please Quinn get some rest. We can talk about this tomorrow," the brunette said as she allowed the blonde to rest against her shoulder. Quinn's eyes flashed towards the door and Rachel noticed the slight panic within them. "Don't worry, you'll be safe. I'm here, I'll protect you," the ghost said reassuringly as she kissed Quinn's forehead and pulled her further into her. Quinn felt relief bud within her and she allowed her eyes to start drifting, the last thing she saw was Rachel looking adorningly at her, making it easier than ever to fall asleep with a smile on her face.
When Quinn's eyes fluttered open, she realised that she was no longer leaning on Rachel's shoulder; rather her head was in Rachel's lap. Quinn quickly scuffled upright, feeling her face heat up. She heard Rachel chuckle. "Good morning Quinn," Rachel said with glittering eyes as she leaned across and landed a kiss on Quinn's cheek. "You're adorable when you're flustered," Rachel said, grinning childishly. Quinn glared at her unconvincingly as the smile twitching on her lips refused to fade.
"Oh great, you're awake," Santana's voice sounded out from across the room, startling Quinn. "And would you look at this, we're not dead!" She enthused sarcastically. "Though a certain ghost was throwing bits of wood at me the entire night," she scowled at the space next to Quinn and Rachel smirked with amusement. "It's okay though, I'll just bring holy water with me next time."
Quinn looked to Rachel. "Does that actually work?" Rachel rolled her eyes and shook her head, proceeding to throw another small piece of debris at the Latina- causing her to yell angrily at the air as Quinn and Rachel both laughed. Santana crossed her arms and grumbled to herself and Quinn hoisted herself up, ignoring the now dull aches and pains.
"Shit Quinn!" Santana hissed alarmingly and Quinn followed the Latina's gaze to her arm. The blonde inhaled sharply at the gory sight. There was a deep, angry red gash covering nearly the length of her forearm- which was covered in dried blood. The wound itself was inflamed and still moist with fresh blood from her recent movement. It hurt like hell when she moved her arm and her fingers felt numb, refusing to respond accordingly. The rest of her clothes were covered with the crimson blood and she was sure she looked like a victim from a slasher movie. "You need to get that looked at! It's probably infected," Santana urged as genuine concern darted across her face.
Rachel lightly touched the injury, causing Quinn to flinch. She looked at Quinn apologetically. "Santana's right, it's bad Quinn," Rachel added. "You'll probably need stiches." Panic erupted in Quinn's head. How on earth was she going to explain that to her parents? What was she even going to tell them when they asked why she'd stayed out all night without a phone call or even a text to tell them that she was okay or where she was?
Santana noticed Quinn's pained expression, realising what was racing through her mind. "My dad's a doctor, if you come back to my place, I can ask him to take a look at it?" She offered and Quinn nodded a thank you, not sure if she could speak without vomiting.
"My poor Quinn," Rachel whispered, causing the blonde to smile at Rachel's possessiveness.
Santana regarded the way that Quinn was staring at the space next to her which she presumed was Rachel and realised that the blonde may appreciate being left alone with the brunette for a while. "I'm going to go outside and get some air," she looked at Quinn, "I'll be out there when you're ready," she said simply before getting up towards the door. She stopped in front of the door, hesitating as she reached for the dusty handle. "I'm not going to die if I step out of this door am I?" She asked nervously without turning around.
"No. He's not strong enough to do anything during daylight hours," Quinn reassured and Santana nodded before leaving the room. A smile ghosted Quinn's lips as she heard something in the house clang, causing a freaked out Santana to swear and sprint down the stairs and out of the door into the safety of the overgrown garden.
She turned her attention to Rachel and noticed that the ghost was staring at her angrily. Quinn looked away guiltily. "You have no idea how scared I was Quinn," Rachel seethed as she ran a hand through her wavy brown locks. "I thought he was going to kill you and trap you here just like me. I couldn't think of a worse fate for anyone and the thought of it happening to you was enough to kill me all over again."
Quinn glanced at Rachel and noted that her anger had turned to sadness as sparkly tears pricked in the corner of the shorter girl's eyes. Quinn couldn't help herself as she slowly lifted her good arm up to Rachel's face, wiping away icy tears with her thumb. Without warning, Rachel gently put her arms around Quinn's neck and breathed in deep. "You smell like blood," Rachel informed her casually as though it was a normal occurrence but she didn't pull away. Quinn grimaced at the thought and leant into the girl's embrace.
Quinn let out a hefty sigh into the girl's hair. "I want to stay here with you Rachel. I don't think I've ever felt the way I feel about you with anyone else. I can't even begin to explain it. When you first kissed me, it was like I realised everything at once. You made me accept the feelings for you that I'd been oblivious to from the first time we met. You were the first person that I felt genuinely cared about me and it's crazy because I've known you the whole of a month but I just know that leaving you would be torture. I'm so scared because I know that the only time we can be together is in this damned house." Quinn fell silent, realising she'd probably said too much but Rachel pulled away and stared gravely at her as she intently listened to everything Quinn was saying. Now Rachel was the one brushing tears away that Quinn didn't even realise were streaming down her face.
"From the first time I met you, I knew you were going to be special. I knew I'd end up falling for the mysterious girl that could see ghosts and as much as it hurt me to realise, I knew it'd be the hardest, most painful thing I could possibly endure," she looked at Quinn seriously. "For your sake Quinn, we can't be together. You have a life to live and you have so much ahead of you. You're going to get out of this town and make something big of yourself and to do it, you're going to have to leave me behind and forget about me," Rachel said shakily, trying to hold back strangled whimpers as tears dotted the corners of her glistening brown eyes.
"No!" Quinn cried, startled at the ghost's words. "I can't! I won't I-"
"I should have never revealed myself to you. It's not fair to anyone and as much as I wish I could change the fact that I'm dead, I can't. You can't spend your life alone, waiting for someone who can never give you what you want," Rachel said, shaking her head as salty tears dripped to the floor.
"You have though Rachel; you gave me everything I could want. You gave me a friend, someone who for the first time in my life, cared about me. It's not that easy to let someone like that go when all you've known for eighteen years is loneliness and endless, emotional torture," Quinn sobbed as she pulled away from Rachel.
"You'll find someone else, someone better who can give you all that and more! A family, a warm embrace when things get tough and a beating heart that'll care for you as much as I do."
"I don't want anyone else!" Quinn snapped, startling Rachel. "I want you," she pleaded whilst looking into Rachel's eyes intensely. Rachel sighed and shook her head, mulling over a thousand thoughts that circled her brain. Her eyes darted to the cross necklace hanging from Quinn's neck and she reached out, gently fingering the metal symbol.
"Do you believe in God?"
"I used to but now I'm not so sure," Quinn said bitterly.
"Why?"
"Because I find it hard to believe that he'd let someone like you receive this fate," Quinn said through tears as she looked at Rachel determinedly.
"You're going to have to let me go someday Quinn," Rachel said sadly as she let the cross drop back against Quinn's rising chest. Quinn sighed as she knew Rachel was right.
"I know, but it won't be like that. I'm not going to just leave you here. I'm going to free you from this damned place and you're going to finally be able to get your overdue afterlife if it's the last thing you do."
Rachel smiled sweetly at the blonde and searched her face. "That's impossible Quinn."
"Yeah? Well I once thought that talking to ghosts was impossible but here we are," she said stubbornly. "I'm not giving up on you Rach. I'm going to find a way. You deserve to be happy."
"Without you, now that will be impossible," the ghost mused solemnly.
"So wait for me," Quinn blurted out before she had time to process what she was actually saying. Rachel didn't reply, only regarded the blonde with a calm look before nodding.
"I honestly don't know how else I'd spend my afterlife," she finally answered, causing Quinn to gush and break out into fresh tears as she felt Rachel's cold hand lightly caress her cheek. "You should go Quinn. I bet Santana's freaking out," she said with a half-smile. She helped Quinn to her feet, careful to avoid her injuries.
Quinn stepped closer to her until they were just a few inches away from each other. She took hold of Rachel's hands and looked at her with piercing gold flecked eyes. "I'll be back tomorrow. I promise, and we're going to work out how to get you out of here," she told the brunette before leaning in and brushing her lips against Rachel's. Rachel deepened the kiss, tasting Quinn's salty tears mixed in with the faint taste of cherry lip balm. She breathed into the kiss along with Quinn's sweet perfume which sent waves of nostalgia rolling over her as she desperately missed the little things in a human life. Feeling her chest heave with sadness- she pulled away, knowing that she probably shouldn't be encouraging their feelings for each other.
"I'll see you tomorrow Quinn," she nodded sadly. Quinn kissed her briefly once more before letting go of Rachel's shaking hands and left the musky room, closing the door softly behind her.
Rachel crumpled to the floor and buried her face in her hands as she cried. She hated herself for dragging Quinn into this. If she had just never let Quinn see her in the first place, they wouldn't be in this situation. Quinn could have come and gone, not knowing about Rachel and she could have moved on with her life instead of dwelling on a house filled with torturous regret and a ghost that could never be hers for as long as she lived.
As Quinn walked into the front garden, she brushed away the last of her tears and noticed Santana leaning against a tall tree as she smiled warmly at her. "You okay Q?"
"Yeah, I will be," Quinn breathed. Santana didn't question her any further, knowing that Quinn would open up in her own time.
"I guess we should get that looked at then," the Latina gestured at Quinn's mangled arm and Quinn nodded.
As they left the house Quinn glanced back up at the window that belonged to Rachel's room and her breath caught in the back of her throat when she saw the ghost staring at her from behind the glass with a face full of remorse. Santana followed her gaze but obviously couldn't see what Quinn saw but she had a pretty good idea what had happened between the two.
"Dad?" Santana yelled as she opened the front door to her spacious house. Quinn's eyes darted around the modern furnished home in awe. Rachel had been right. The bad-ass image Santana displayed was most definitely a front as the house before her was anything but on the wrong side of town; it was even in a little gated community that was filled with similarly large houses. Santana's house was huge and it must have taken some time to decorate it as perfectly as it was. As they walked into the living room, Quinn noticed the family pictures that hung from the wall and felt a tinge of jealousy as the faces of a happy, supportive family stared back at her. All of her own family pictures looked false and staged compared to this. The Fabrays were all about appearances, even if it meant sweeping problems like Quinn and her ghosts under the rug, refusing to deal with them rationally at the chance of seeming anything but perfect to the rest of the world.
Quinn's attention snapped to an older man sitting in a chair, reading a newspaper. He had dark hair like his daughter and his features were just as Hispanic. Though his kind eyes were an olive green and Quinn realised that it was a gene that the brown-eyed Santana hadn't received. He ruffled the paper before laying it down on the glass coffee table in front of him. "Santana, where have you been?" He asked with more worry in his voice than anger.
Santana shifted uncomfortably, trying to think up a plausible excuse. "I left early this morning," she lied. "I went to the mall with Brittany and then met up with Quinn," she jerked her thumb at the blonde. "I should have left a note but I forgot," Santana said demurely. Her father's face softened.
"Don't let it happen again San, your mother and I were worried you know." Santana nodded and smiled at her father who lovingly returned the expression.
His attention turned to Quinn and his eyes clouded with alarm as he regarded the bloody teenager standing in his living room. "What on earth?" He began but Santana was quick to come up with a lie.
"I went with Quinn so she could take some photos in that abandoned house but she fell and cut her arm on some glass. You think you could take a look at it for her daddy?" Santana asked as sweetly as she could, shocking Quinn as she didn't think the cheerleader was capable of acting so innocent.
Her father rubbed his chin as she strode over to the blonde and began to inspect her arm. "It'll need disinfecting and stitches, it won't take me long but it might hurt. There's also some shards of glass stuck in there so I'm going to have to pull them out which is probably going to hurt the most, but I'll try and be as gentle as possible," he told Quinn who began to envy that Santana had such a caring father. Her own was always distant and cold and she could never talk to him the way she could tell Santana talked to hers.
"Thank you Mr Lopez," Quinn said, feeling slightly woozy at the thought of all the pain she was about to endure.
"Please, call me Diego. Mr Lopez makes me feel like an old man," he told Quinn light heartedly whilst chuckling to himself, causing Quinn to grin and nod in agreement.
"You are old dad," Santana quipped before disappearing into the kitchen, though she soon came back with a bottle of water for Quinn and some alcohol- which Quinn presumed was to disinfect her injury and not for the underaged girl to down as a result of the previous night. Diego rolled his eyes but smiled at his daughter as she handed him the bottle of vodka.
"I don't have anything other than this," he waved the vodka around before placing it down. "But it'll do the trick, luckily I do have some needles and surgical string lying around though," he laughed. "So it doesn't look like we'll be breaking into Maribel's sowing kit any time soon!"
The next half an hour was filled with even more excruciating pain for Quinn as the remainder of the glass was dug out of her arm with long, metal tweezers and was then doused in alcohol which seemed to set Quinn's arm on fire. She squirmed and yelped uncomfortably but Santana rubbed her shoulder reassuringly as her father made neat work of the angry gash on her arm. Eventually he had cleaned and stitched up the cut, wrapping a white bandage around it. Quinn breathed a sigh of relief that she had seemed to be holding forever as she looked down at her fixed arm. Feeling was already coming back into her hand but she suspected that it would take a couple of days to return to normal.
"There, good as new!" Diego said, admiring his handiwork. He handed Quinn a roll of fresh bandage and surgical tape. "Make sure to let the wound air; change the dressing frequently and keep it clean," he told the blonde who nodded attentively.
"Thank you so much Mr Lo- Diego," Quinn said shyly. Diego waved her off and told her not to worry about it, she was a friend of Santana's and that was good enough for him. "I really should get going though, I bet my parents are totally stressing about where I've been," she said.
"I'll walk you back," Santana offered and Quinn nodded.
"Goodbye Diego," Quinn smiled, giving the older man a wave.
"Nice meeting you Quinn, I hope to see you again just not when you're bleeding in my living room," he joked and both Quinn and Santana laughed.
Half way along their walk, Santana spoke up, dragging Quinn from her daydream about Rachel and how sad she looked through the window- trapped as Quinn was able to leave without her. "So how're we going to beat that thing and free your ghost?" Santana addressed, turning her gaze towards Quinn.
"That's exactly what I want to know," Quinn mumbled as she stared at her moving feet with glazed eyes.
Santana squeezed Quinn's hand sympathetically. "Don't worry, we'll find a way. There has to be something we could do. I'll be damned if that punk-ass ghost thinks he can get away with scaring the shit out of the Queen of Lima Heights," Santana grumbled flippantly. It caused Quinn to laugh, brightening her mood if only a little and she found herself more grateful than ever at what this town had finally given her that everywhere else had failed to do so- friends that genuinely loved and cared for her. Quinn knew this was the first place she could comfortably call home and she knew it was a place that had just changed her life forever- for better or for worse.
A/N: Hopefully you found this a better ending than the one last time ;D Thank you for reading!