Hey guys!
Sorry for the seriously slow update, I had to wait for inspiration to strike for this one! But it finally struck, hence Chapter 6 :D
Enjoy! And thank you so much to those who already read and reviewed, it really does mean the world to me :')
As the girls stepped into a much smaller corridor, they almost walked smack into the small nurse that Santana had so tastefully verbally abused just a few minutes earlier. The Latina averted her eyes a little sheepishly as Brittany explained to the woman (in much greater depth than necessary) how they had been voted by their friends to see Quinn first.
The nurse listened attentively as Brittany rambled sweetly and Santana chewed on her lip, growing more anxious by the second. She wasn't sure if it was because she was about to go and see her critically injured friend for what could possibly be the last time or because the woman whom she had insulted so crudely was now making an effort to listen politely to her girlfriend. Maybe it was both.
By the time she drifted back from her own thoughts, the girls found themselves being led around a corner before coming to a stop outside a room with a door that was slightly ajar and a large window. The blind was down.
"Go in quietly, be careful of the wires." The nurse instructed kindly before smiling and disappearing back around the corner, leaving the girls alone.
Brittany pushed the door open and took Santana's hand. The brunette didn't move, she couldn't seem to get her brain to communicate with her legs. Her heart beat hard in her chest. Brittany turned to look at her.
"Come on." She smiled softly at the Latina, tugging on her hand a little.
Santana shook her head quickly.
"Britt, I don't think I can." She admitted in a barely audible whisper.
Brittany's brow creased a little as she took Santana's other hand in hers.
"It's okay, San." She whispered. "It's just Quinn, it's okay."
They stared at each other for a minute, blue to brown, and Santana tried to pull herself together. She took a few deep breaths and felt her hammering heart relax a little.
"Ready?" Brittany asked.
Santana nodded and with that they entered the room together, fingers locked tightly.
The first thing Santana noticed was the machines. Holy shit, there were a lot of machines in here. All beeping and buzzing at different times, flashing lights twinkled in every corner of the room and wires were draped across the floor and tangled around the sides of the bed.
And in the middle of it all, all the chaos, was Quinn. Lying still, she looked the same as she always did, blonde hair splayed out on the white pillow beneath her head, pink lips set in an almost pout. Santana let out a little gasp and Brittany squeezed her hand a little tighter.
"Can she hear us?" Santana asked quietly, turning towards the nurse who still hovering in the doorway.
The nurse stared at the brunette standing before her, assessing the worry in her dark eyes. She could see that she was being deeply affected by the events unfolding around her, but she could also see that she was not the kind of girl who would appreciate being lied to.
"We don't know, honey." The nurse said honestly.
Santana dropped her eyes to the floor, blinking back tears that were threatening to spill over once again.
"But if she can," The nurse continued "I'm sure she'd love for you to talk to her."
Santana glanced back towards Quinn's still body and nodded. She heard the nurse leave.
The two girls stood in silence for a few seconds, hand in hand, trying to figure out how to manage the horrific situation they had suddenly found themselves thrown into. Neither of them had any experience with these types of things, they'd never had to comprehend losing someone this close to them. Brittany had never even set foot in a hospital before.
"Hi Quinn." Brittany said in a smooth, soft voice that Santana knew she wouldn't be able to replicate, even if she wanted to. If she opened her mouth, the quiver in her tone would betray the tough exterior she was trying so hard to keep intact. She'd cried enough today already.
"Say hi to Quinn, Santana." Brittany said brightly, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
For a second, the Latina couldn't quite comprehend the request. Didn't Brittany get it? It wasn't like Quinn was gonna answer back, or be offended because she hadn't greeted her. She'd almost made up her mind to remain silent when she made the mistake of looking up at Brittany through her lashes. The blonde's blue eyes held hers, whispering a silent plea for her to go along with it. She knew what Brittany was trying to say;
Don't make this harder than it already is.
With this in mind, she cleared her throat and took a deep breath.
"Hey Q." It was barely audible above the noise from the machines but she'd said it and Brittany was happy. That's all that mattered.
With the ice broken, Brittany launched into a one sided conversation with the other blonde cheerleader about Lord Tubbington and cigarettes and something about hot melted cheese. Her light hearted chatter lifted the mood of the strange room, and for a few moments Santana found herself smiling at her friend's incredible ability to make people happy with nothing more than a few badly told stories.
But as the nurse re-entered the little room and began fiddling with various wires attached to Quinn's body, the reality of the situation hit home once again and the Latina's momentarily lightened heart sank back into a place so dark she was scared she wouldn't be able to get it back again.
Her legs felt heavy beneath her and as the nurse left the room once again, Santana found herself perched on the edge of Quinn's bed, the blonde girl's cold hand wrapped tightly in her own. She cleared her throat once again, suddenly all too aware of the dwindling time she might have left to speak to her friend. Brittany stopped her chatter and stood behind her. That was another thing about Brittany, she always knew when to stop. And right now she knew it was Santana's turn to talk.
Taking a deep breath, Santana lent forward and brushed a stray strand of blonde from Quinn's cheek.
"Hey Q, it's me. San." She paused, waiting for the response that she knew would never come.
She looked back to Brittany for help, but the blonde just nodded encouragingly at her, kindness and a knowing sympathy in her eyes. She knew how hard this was for Santana, she and Quinn had been best friends for as long as she could remember.
"Why don't you tell the story about you and Quinn?" Brittany offered.
"Huh?"
"The story! The one about how you and Quinn became friends!" Brittany exclaimed.
The request caught Santana by surprise, she really wasn't very good at telling stories…but she couldn't think of anything else to say so…
"Well…you remember the first day of school, right Britt?"
Brittany nodded enthusiastically, she liked this story.
A six year old Santana Lopez stood with her arms folded and a scowl firmly set on her face. It was her first day and she already didn't like school, there were too many people telling her what she could and couldn't do and she didn't like it.
The fact that she knew absolutely no-one was not helping matters. Everyone else had already been to Kindergarten together and here she was, stood alone with no one to even share her new set of colouring pencils with.
She glanced around the room full of children. Everyone was playing happily, some at the painting area, others over at the building block station. She sighed as her gaze settled on the only girl at the colouring table. She was pretty, Santana thought. Her blonde hair fell just past her shoulders, and a white ribbon was tied neatly at the back, matching her dress. Maybe she'd want to share her colouring pencils.
Santana wondered slowly in the direction of the girl, whose tongue was now poked out in a moment of intense concentration for whatever it was she was working on.
Upon arriving at the table, Santana pulled out and climbed onto the seat opposite the blonde girl with the pretty hair.
"Watcha drawing?" Santana asked, he voice loud with confidence. Despite only being six years old, shyness had never been a problem for the little Latina. Talking was what she did best.
The blonde girl looked up from her page, a slight curious frown on her face. The two girls were quiet for a few seconds, studying each other, figuring one another out.
Santana watched as the blonde girl's hazel eyes relaxed and a small smile twitched at the corners of her lips.
"A princess." The blonde girl said with a slight lisp which Santana quickly realised had been caused by the absence of her two front teeth.
"Oh." Santana said. She didn't really like princesses and all that girly stuff. "Wanna use my colours?"
The blonde girl blinked again, looking a little surprised before politely accepting the offer. Santana dug the pencils out of her bag and emptied the pack onto the table between them. The blonde girl picked up a pretty shade of pink and the two girls beamed at each other, both glad of someone to talk to.
"What's your name?" Santana asked, picking up her own sheet of paper and getting to work on some awesome patterns.
"Quinn." The blonde girl said in her pretty, girly voice.
"That's weird." Santana said nonchalantly, she'd never heard the name Quinn before.
Quinn pouted a little, a crease forming between her eyebrows.
"Well, what's your name then?" She demanded with more force than Santana had first thought her capable of.
"Santana." The Latina said, replicating Quinn's frown on her own pretty features.
"That's weird too." Quinn said, poking out her tongue at the brunette.
Santana shrugged, she didn't care what people thought. But she liked this girl, she liked her pretty dress and her blonde hair. She liked that she wasn't too stuck up to stick her tongue out. Maybe they could be friends.
"Wanna be weird together?" Santana asked, watching the blonde girl carefully shading in the princesses dress with the pink pencil.
Quinn glanced up, her pencil still on the page, and eyed the Latina suspiciously for a second. Could they be friends? She liked the girl with the dark hair. She was pretty and loud and had good colours.
"Okay." Quinn shrugged with a toothless smile.
"Cool." Santana returned the smile before going back to her colouring.
From then on, the two girls coloured together every day. Santana would bring her pencils and Quinn would tell silly stories and hum silly songs while they worked on whatever it was they felt like drawing that day. They didn't speak much, they didn't need to. They just liked being in each others company. Yes, sometimes they'd argue but they'd always make up in the end.
Always.
Santana sighed and lent her head against Brittany's who'd managed to squish onto the bed beside her.
"Are you happy now, Britt?" Santana smiled and she felt Brittany's head nod against her.
She turned her attention back to Quinn.
"You got all that right, Q?" She squeezed the unconscious blonde's hand a little tighter. "You know we've gotta be friends forever, right? And that means you can't leave us, okay? It's against the rules. You can't break up the unholy trinity, you understand?"
She felt her eyes fill up again as her voice cracked on the last part of the sentence. She blinked hard to prevent the moisture from spilling over again.
Brittany wrapped her arms around the Latina's waist and held her close.
Just then there was a knock at the door and both girls turned, a little startled, to see the nurse entering the room again, this time with another nurse and a man whom they presumed was some sort of doctor.
"Sorry girls," The nurse said kindly "We need to run a few tests on Miss Fabray-"
Santana stood up, cutting her off.
"It's okay, we were just leaving anyway." She said quickly, grabbing Brittany's hand and pulling her to her feet.
The nurse nodded with a sad smile.
The two girls turned back to Quinn, taking in their friend for what they knew might be the last time.
"Bye Quinn," Brittany said softly. "We'll see you later."
Santana winced at the false promise, but she didn't say anything for the fear of ruining Brittany's optimism.
"Stay strong, Q." Santana whispered as a lone tear escaped despite her efforts and made a sad decent down her cheek. She brushed it away with the back of her hand before turning from Quinn for the last time and leading Brittany out of the room.
This was it, Santana thought as the door closed behind them. No matter how she and everyone else tried to convince her otherwise, she couldn't bring herself to believe that things would be okay when she was almost certain they wouldn't.
They were done, the unholy trinity, the three best friends, whatever they were.
It was over.
Okay, so what did y'all think? Love, hate? Let me know!
And also, a few of you have said that you don't want Quinn to die so what do you think about me writing an alternate ending where Quinn lives after I'm done with this version?
Let me know and if you have any other ideas about what you'd like to see happen, either review and let me know or send me a PM
Much love x