A/N: I do not own Glee or any of its characters. Glee belongs to FOX and its creators.

Chapter 4

In the movies coma patients wake up and start talking in full sentences immediately. They want to know where their loved ones are, they ask about the big game that was coming up before they were hurt, they leave the hospital within a few days able to walk, no residual damage. This is not true in real life.

The first time she opens her eyes it is for less than a minute. Her hazel eyes are glazed over and fleetingly make contact with each person in the room before shutting again.

The second time consciousness comes knocking she manages to stay awake for a few minutes. She makes a strangled noise that sounds like "hey", this takes most of her time awake to accomplish, and she is asleep as soon as she gets a response.

The third and forth times her loved ones get a glimpse of her wakefulness it is for about 10 minutes each. She says hi again, this time quicker. She asks if there is any more bacon in the fridge, clearly not aware she is in the hospital. Her words are slightly slurred and seem to take more effort to produce than doing a triple backhand spring into a layout.

It's the fifth time she awakens, three days after first opening her eyes, that her brain seems to have caught up with her mouth. She starts asking about bacon again before looking around and starting right at her mom, "Am I in the hospital?" This time it is only her 's' and 'l' that sound off. Judy smiles and replies "yes". Looking confused for a moment Quinn shrugs before going to sleep again. Consciousness was achieved for a whole twenty minutes this time.

Puck is the only one with her the sixth time she awakens. He smiles at her as her hazel eyes connect with his brown ones. She gives him a dopey smile, which of course would be dopey as she is hopped up on so many pain killers at the moment.

"Hey."

He beams at her, this is the most alert and coherent anyone has seen her. "Hey to you sleepyhead."

She doesn't respond right away instead her knowing eyes take in her surrounding before looking back at him. There is an obvious pain in them as she speaks, "I'm really hurt aren't I?"

His heart breaks as he takes her good hand and squeezes it. "Yes."

She just nods, "I thought so, I feel like I've been awake before but I don't really remember."

"You've woken up a few times." He doesn't really know what to say to her. Clearly this is the Quinn they have been waiting for. He loves that he is the first to speak to her like this, but he fears it. He wishes her mom was here, so she could be the one to tell Quinn that she is litterly broken all over.

"Where's my mom?"

"With Dr. Forest and Mercedes going over some of your recent test results."

She frowns at his words, "tests? What kind of tests?"

"Um, well I.." He is looking down avoiding her gaze when he feels her squeeze his hand. He looks up. Her eyes have always been the place to look when you really wanted to know how she was feeling. Quinn was the master of masks, but her expressive gorgeous eyes always gave her away, if you knew how to read them. Right now he sees pain, confusion, vulnerability, but a need to know the truth.

"Please Noah, be honest with me."

"They took an MRI of your brain, some lung functioning test, and some nervous system tests."

He waits for her to ask more but she doesn't, instead he sees her look down at her legs. She stares at them for a long time before sighing. A single tear rolls down her cheek. "I think I am going to go to sleep now."

He responds by kissing her hand lightly. She hasn't said it, but he knows she knows, Quinn was a brilliant and bright woman, she knew what the nervous system test was for. Physical pain shot through Noah, it wasn't fair, none of this should be happening to her. Leaning forward he whispers into her small ear, "No matte what I am here for you."

A quick squeeze of his hand tells him she heard him. Smiling he sits back and waits for her to wake a seventh time.

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