The next thirty minutes had passed in somewhat of a whirlwind. The bus driver had been forced to drive nearly twenty miles over the speed limit (which was quite a feat seeing that he was driving such a large vehicle) and had somehow managed to avoid being pulled over by the police. It had only taken ten minutes to arrive at the nearest hospital and soon the entire group of fourteen had burst through the ER doors. The hospital staff seemed surprisingly calm to see what looked like a field trip arriving in the emergency room at nearly four in the morning, everyone in their pajamas with wild hair, some still appearing to be half asleep, and one of the teens in labor.
In a matter of minutes, Quinn and Puck had been taken to a hospital room while the rest of the group had been somewhat hesitantly directed to a waiting room on the fourth floor.
"So what are we supposed to do now?" Brittany asked as she glanced around. The room was fairly large with pale blue walls and a few windows on the far side. Four vending machines lined up next to the door and numerous white chairs and tables were scattered about. At the moment, the kids and chaperones of New Directions appeared to be the only inhabitants.
"Now we wait." Rachel answered. "I would suggest that everyone get comfortable, because these things usually take quite a while."
Finn frowned. "Like, how long are you talking about?"
"I've heard numerous people say that it can take over twenty-four hours. But usually it's less than that. Somewhere around eighteen or twenty is the average, I believe."
"Eighteen hours?" Mercedes frowned. "This is gonna be a long ass day."
"You could call your parents to come get you." Emma suggested. "Or we could send you all home on the bus."
"No way. We're staying." Santana said firmly. "Quinn needs us."
"We're her friends, we can't just bail." Finn added.
"We have to be here for support." Tina agreed.
Kurt, who had finally managed to calm his tears and was now wearing a glittery purple toboggan Mercedes had leant him, looked at the others. "This is just like that Secret Teens Life show on TV."
"Secret Life of the American Teenager." Mercedes corrected him. "But yeah, kind of. Except the girl on that didn't have a boyfriend when she got pregnant. I love that show."
"Me too!" Tina nodded excitedly. "This new season is supposed to be really good."
"Okay, new topic." Rachel said loudly, steering everyone away from what was sure to be a bad conversation. "Mr. Schuester, are you alright?"
Will looked up from his chair where he had been resting his head in his hands. "What? Yeah, I'm fine Rachel."
"Are you sure? I know this must be hard for you, considering everything that's happened."
"I'm fine." He said firmly. "I just.. everything back at the hotel was so sudden, I kind of lost control for a minute."
"That's very understandable." Emma said comfortingly, making him feel less like a wimp. She reached out to pat his shoulder comfortingly, only to draw it back when he glanced at her.
"Hey, you seemed pretty calm back there Ms. P," Artie spoke up.
Emma shrugged. "My sister has had three children, so I've done this a few times before."
"That's cool." Finn nodded. "Hey, I wonder what they'll name it."
"YOU BASTARD! I HATE YOU!" Quinn screamed. She gasped as the contraction raced through her body, causing more yelling to surface.
"Well it's not my fault that labor hurts!" Puck responded.
The nurses in the room glanced at each other sadly. That was not the right thing to say.
-GLEE-
A few hours later, Puck appeared in the waiting room, causing all of his friends to rush over.'
"Did she have the baby yet?"
"That was really fast."
"How is she?"
"Is something wrong?"
"Woah! Hold on!" Puck held up his hands and gestured for quiet. "Quinn is fine, no she hasn't had the kid yet. She just needed a minute alone so I came out to get some air. Jeez, you guys could suffocate someone."
"Sorry." The group slowly made their way back over to their seats until only Emma remained.
"Are you okay?"
Puck sighed. "I don't even know, to be honest."
Emma smiled sadly. "What happened, Puck?"
"She was having one of those contraction things and she was yelling at me. I told her it wasn't my fault-" Emma let out a small groan and Puck nodded. "And apparently that was the wrong thing to tell her."
"Puck, listen to me. Quinn is not in her right state of mind right now and she won't be for the next while. Having a baby messes with a girl's hormones a lot, so everything is off balance." Emma explained gently. "She's going to yell at you a lot before this is all over, but she doesn't mean it. She needs someone to take it out on and you're right there. So just… take it and do what she asks. Encourage her, and cheer her on, and be there for her. I promise you once you have that baby in your arms she won't even be able to so much as frown at you."
Puck nodded. "Thanks Ms. P."
"Good luck, and tell Quinn that we're all out here waiting for the newest Glee member."
"Go get 'em champ!" Matt yelled from across the room.
With one last glance at his team, Puck headed back to the hospital room.
"There you are!" Quinn let out a cry of relief at the sight of him, a few tears falling down her face. "Where did you go?"
"Just checking in with everyone else." He reported, still a bit unsure of how to act. "They're all out there waiting."
"Are they mad at me?" Quinn's pretty face frowned with worry. "I don't want them to be stuck here because of me and I woke them up-"
"Babe, they're fine." Puck moved over to the side of the bed and took one of her hands in his. "They're just excited to meet this kid. Trust me, they were given the option to leave and they nearly bit Ms. P's head off when she suggested it."
"Okay, good." Her breathing began to speed up a bit and she winced. "Oh no, here comes another one."
"I'm here Q, it's all good." He grasped her hands as the girl's face scrunched up in pain.
"Owww!"
"It's okay baby, you're doing great."
"Puck make it stop!" she cried.
Puck nodded, "It'll be over soon baby, I promise. You're doing so good."
-GLEE-
"I'm so bored."
Rachel rolled her eyes. "Gee Santana, none of us had figured that out. You've only said it about ten times in the last fifteen minutes."
"Well excuse me for stating the obvious! It's not my fault this waiting room is lame. Besides, it's been hours and so far nothing has happened."
"Let's take a walk, find a change of scenery." Matt suggested, pulling Santana up and putting his arm around her. The rest of the group looked bored as well and clearly people were getting grumpy.
Tina's eyes lit up. "Let's go see the babies!"
Artie nodded. "Yeah, nobody can argue around a bunch of babies, right? Let's go see them."
A few of the other kids shrugged. When no one else offered a better suggestion the ten kids headed out the doors and down the hall, leaving Emma to read her book in peace with Will fast asleep in a chair nearby.
"Oh my gosh, they're so cute!" Kurt exclaimed as the group finally stopped in front of the window of the nursery.
"They're also very upset." Mercedes observed. It appeared that nearly every child in the room was in tears, and the three nurses inside looked to be at the end of their wits. Each purple-scrubbed woman held a baby in her arms, trying to calm several more around her at the same time.
Rachel frowned. "Come on."
"Wait, we can't go in there." Finn held out an arm to stop her. "We're not allowed in."
The brunette shook her head determinedly. "I have an idea. Now come on."
With reluctant glances at each other the rest of the Glee kids soon followed her inside.
Rachel stopped abruptly at the front of the room, looking out at all of the screaming children. The three nurses looked up and shrugged, clearly too occupied to bother asking if they were related to any of the babies.
"Follow my lead." Rachel said to her peers.
"Welcome to the planet
Welcome to existence
Everyone's here
Everyone's here
Everybody's watching you now
Everybody waits for you now
What happens next
What happens next…."
The sweet sound of Rachel's voice was almost breathtaking, and soon the other kids jumped in and joined her.
"I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened before…."
The nurses watched in awe as the kids continued to sing. Slowly but surely, the crying babies were beginning to calm.
"Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here
Tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be…
Maybe redemption has stories to tell
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where you gonna go?
Where you gonna go?
Salvation is here…
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened
Today never happened
Today never happened before…"
As the song came to an end, the members of New Directions looked out to a room of silent newborn babies.
The nurses stared at them in awe.
"How did you… You all just… Who are you people?" one of them stuttered.
Rachel smiled. "We're McKinley High School's Glee Club, ma'am. Well, minus two members." She answered quietly. "We're here waiting for them. They're having a baby too."
"We also just won Regionals," Kurt couldn't help but add.
"Thank you." The older woman smiled gratefully. "Thank you all so much."
Finn grinned. "No problem."
"I am impressed." Will and Emma grinned proudly as the teenagers exited the now peaceful nursery to find their two teachers standing against the wall. "That was an amazing thing you guys did in there."
"It was all Rachel, Mr. Schue." Mike told him. "She came up with the idea. We just followed her lead."
"Well, you all deserve praise for it." Emma agreed. (Yes… they certainly do.)
Will nodded. "See guys, this is what Glee is really about. It's not about winning trophies or being the best. It's about making a difference."
"Excuse me, I'm assuming that you would be the kids from McKinley High School?" a nurse wearing yellow butterfly patterned scrubs approached the group.
Everyone's eyes immediately went to the small woman standing before them as Emma spoke.
"Yes, we're the McKinley group." She answered.
The young nurse nodded, her facial expression giving no hints about the news she was about to deliver. "I have some information about your friends."
-GLEE-
Weee! Cliffhangers are fun! By the way, the song used above was Dare You To Move by Switchfoot; I make no claim to it. And don't forget to review, review, review!!!