Hey guys!

Here's chapter 4, enjoy!

45 minutes earlier.

Cheerio's practice had finished half an hour early because Coach Sylvester had some sort of meeting she couldn't miss. This rarely happened, practice usually ran late if anything and normally Santana, Brittany and Quinn would have taken advantage of this luxury and gone on a speedy shopping spree but unfortunately all three of them were relying on the guys who were on the football team to give them a ride home. Looked like a trip to the mall was out of the question.

"Okay." Santana said as she threw her pompom up in the air and caught it for the tenth time in a row. "This sucks. We NEED to do something other than sit in this damn locker room and wait around for the guys."

It was true, they'd been sat on the bench in the girl's locker room for the past ten minutes, doing nothing but staring blankly at the wall before them. Brittany was humming mindlessly to herself and Quinn had taken to counting the clothes pegs attached to the wall in front of her. There were 24. Pegs that is.

"We could play a game?" Brittany suggested, staring up at the ceiling.

Quinn and Santana rolled their eyes simultaneously at the childish mind of their ditzy friend.

"Or, we could just go to the Lima Bean." Quinn said, suddenly all too aware of her need for caffeine. "We should have time to get there and back before the boys finish, if we hurry."

The well-known coffee shop was just around the corner and across the main road. It would take them 15 minutes to get there and back, 10 if the shop was quiet.

"Fabray, that's the best idea I've heard all day." Santana smiled deviously at her more intelligent blonde friend.

"Hey! What about my game idea?" Brittany said, looking offended.

The other girls ignored her comment and got to their feet.

"Come on Britt." Quinn said pulling her up from her position on her bench. "Let's go get us some coffee."

It was cold out. Colder than Quinn remembered it being that morning and the three girls huddled together as they walked, trying their best to keep warm, all though the short length of their little skirts made it quite difficult to do so and by the time they were half way there Quinn's teeth were chattering so loud Santana and Brittany laughed at her.

"Q, it's really not that cold." Santana said to her dithering friend.

"Yes it is. I swear it's gonna snow."

"It's not Quinn." Brittany said. "It only snows at Christmas, and as far as I know, it's not Christmas yet."

"Bee has a point." Santana said "It's October, just. The leaves haven't even fallen off of the trees yet so somehow I seriously doubt it's gonna snow."

"Whatever." Quinn replied, picking up her pace a little as they turned the corner. In her opinion, the quicker they got into their inside and out of the cold, the better.

As they neared the main road the girls broke into a soft jog because the walk had taken them longer than they'd thought and they were worried that the boys might think they'd made their own ways home and leave without them.

"I swear if Puck goes without me, there's going to be serious trouble." Quinn said breathlessly as their jog turned into a proper run.

They reached the main road and Quinn smiled at the sight of the welcoming looking coffee shop on the other side. Brittany and Santana were a few steps behind her but she didn't care. She stepped out into the empty road.

"Wait," Brittany called "I dropped my purse!"

Quinn looked over her shoulder at them. Brittany was scrabbling around on the floor, collecting the few coins that had dropped out onto the sidewalk. Santana was watching her, hand on her hips and foot tapping impatiently.

A car hidden by the bend in the road honked it's horn and Quinn watched as Santana's gaze switched to look at the road. Quinn saw the Latina's eyes widen and she knew what was about to happen but she stood still, frozen to the ground as the car honked again and the squeal of breaks filled the air.

"Oh my God! Quinn! Move!" Santana screamed, leaving Brittany and sprinting towards Quinn, but it was too late.

The large car, still travelling at 40mph despite its desperate attempts to break, ploughed into the small blonde, throwing her into the air. Quinn screamed as she hit the bonnet, the sound ripping through Santana who stood watching, holding her breath, unable to do anything else. The car spun and skidded a little way down the road and Quinn's body lay lifelessly on the ground.

"Oh my God." Santana said again, only this time more to herself than anyone else. Brittany stood up beside her, her expression blank apart from the flash of fear in her eyes. The two girls stayed that way for what seemed like forever but couldn't have been more than a few seconds and then Santana's brain began to work again and she sprinted towards her friend, closely followed by Brittany.

A few pedestrians had stopped and were stood staring, whispering worriedly to one another as Santana dropped to her knees beside Quinn. Her face was pale and her eyes were closed, like she was sleeping. Her tight pony had come loose and her golden hair fell around her shoulders and onto the grey road beneath her head.

"Quinn?" Santana said shakily, not noticing until then that she was crying. "Quinn?" She touched Quinn's shoulder but the blonde stayed still. No flicker in her eyes, no twitch in her lips. Nothing.

She grabbed her cold wrist and felt for her pulse like her dad had taught her when she was young. She panicked when she couldn't find one, pressing desperately into Quinn's smooth skin. She switched wrists and sighed with relief when she felt the steady beat of blood thrumming through Quinn's body. It was faint, not as strong as it should be, but it was there.

Brittany knelt down beside her.

"Is she dead?" The other blonde asked tentatively, like she was afraid of the answer.

Santana shook her head, unable to speak, not once moving her eyes from Quinn's serene face. There wasn't a scratch on her, no blood, not even any dirt or mud. If Santana hadn't just witnessed what had happened she would have argued that the beautiful girl who lay before her was just sleeping, that she'd wake up any minute, right as rain. But she didn't.

She didn't stir when people started crowding around them, eager to see what was causing such a fuss. She didn't bat an eyelid when Santana brushed some blonde curls back from her face. She didn't move when the sound of sirens screamed down the road towards them and she didn't flinch when the paramedics shoved needles in her arms and bustled her on to a stretcher and into the ambulance.

By now, Santana and Brittany were stood back, watching helplessly with the rest of the onlookers as the paramedics collected up their things and prepared to take Quinn to the hospital. Brittany slipped her hand into Santana's and they stood in silence, neither of them able to speak until a dark haired paramedic approached them.

"Would you like to go with her in the ambulance?" the petite woman asked, obviously realizing that the two girls were friends of Quinn's.

They nodded together.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Santana asked, though her voice was barely a whisper.

The paramedic avoided her eyes as she spoke.

"We're doing everything we can to help her." was all she said before she ushered the two shell shocked Cheerio's into the ambulance and seated them opposite the stretcher that held Quinn.

The journey was silent, aside from the constant, high pitched beeping coming from the machine that was linked up to Quinn's heart. Santana held the unconscious blonde's cold hand in her own, but it was limp and weak and the tears continued to roll silently down the Latina's cheeks. Brittany stared straight ahead of her, unable to look at Quinn, scared that if she did, the situation would become all the more difficult to deal with than it already was.

"And when we got to the hospital, they rushed her straight into surgery and told us to wait here. And then I called you, and now here we are." Santana finished as she wiped her eyes groggily. She was exhausted.

"Here we are." Puck said flatly. He was numb. He couldn't cry. He wouldn't. Not yet. Not while there was still a chance that she might still be...okay.

He stroked Beth's soft curls. Her screams had turned to soft sniffles and she rested her head sleepily against her father's chest.

"But Quinn's strong." Santana said, determination in her voice. "She's Quinn fucking Fabray for God's sake. She can handle anything, right Puck?" She turned to him, looking for some sort of reassurance, but he didn't even blink.

She reached out to touch his leg but he pulled himself away from her and stood up hastily. He began moving slowly up and down the hallway, rocking a still miserable Beth gently in his arms, singing soft lullabies in an attempt to comfort her.

He could feel his heart breaking and thinking back on it now, he felt like he'd already lost her. There was a huge hole forming inside of him and no matter how many people told him she was gonna be okay, he could never quite bring himself to believe it.

Beth must have felt it too because she continued to cry and fuss, never once stopping to take a nap like she usually did.

Half an hour later, word had gotten round about Quinn and the whole Glee club had turned up at the hospital. Puck was touched that they all cared so much about Quinn but at the time he couldn't even recall saying a single word to any one of them. He didn't have anything to say.

For the next hour everyone sat anxiously in the hallway, waiting. Santana had fallen asleep on Brittany and she stroked the brunette's hair comfortingly. Despite her bitchiness, Puck somehow managed to feel sorry for the Latina. If he'd have seen what she did, he doubted he'd still be able to function at all. He was coping, for now, though not knowing anything was driving him crazy but he admired Santana for being so strong. But he'd never tell her that.

Rachel and Finn were wrapped up in a deep, whispered conversation a few seats away from where Puck was sat. Every now and then he'd catch one of them giving him a worried look but he'd ignored each one, concentrating on trying to keep Beth calm. She was growing tired and she fidgeted miserably in his arms, fighting the sleep he could see was slowly pulling her under. Her little nose was red from sniffling so much and her golden eyelashes were still wet from her most recent bout of tears.

Puck stroked her cheek, wishing he could make her feel better. Wishing he could make everything better, but they still hadn't heard anything. In fact they hadn't even seen anybody else. No nurses, no doctors, nobody.

Artie, Sam, Kurt, Mike, Tina and Mercedes had gone on a coffee run and the hallway seemed empty without them. Puck was left alone with his thoughts. A dangerous place to be. What exactly would he do without her? He'd be left alone with their child, with only 11 months experience to his name. It had taken him two of those months to learn how to put a diaper on properly! What if Beth got sick? What should he do? Quinn would know, she always knew. And then there was school and homework and sleepovers and birthday parties. He didn't know anything about that sort of stuff. And what about Beth's first boyfriend? How would he cope with that without Quinn being there to guide him through it?

As his mind raced he could feel himself teetering on the edge of hysteria and he looked desperately around the dull corridor, searching for something he could think about. Anything other than Quinn and the horrible nightmare he was trapped in.

He read a poster.

"Avoid STD's. Use protection."

Huh. Before he'd got together with Quinn he was well aware of pretty much every STD out there. Saying he slept around was an understatement.

How times had changed.

Okay, so what did you think about the accident? And more importantly, what do you want to see happen next? I'd love to incorporate some of your ideas into the next few chapters!

Reviews would be really helpful!

Much love! x