Chapter 4

Quinn's POV

Quinn watched as Brittany moved to Santana's bedside. Her heart was breaking for her best friend. Santana looked so small and pale and fragile lying in that bed.

Pamela cleared her throat and Quinn shifted her attention to the woman, ready to go off on her if she was going to say anything about Brittany and Santana.

"I just wanted to point a few things out," Pamela said softly, apparently not wanting to intrude on Brittany's moment with Santana. She pointed to the far corner where a cot was sitting neatly made up. "Mr. Motta seemed to think Ms. Pierce wouldn't want to leave so we had a cot set up so she can rest. There's also a small cooler with ice – which a nurse's aide will refill upon request – and a small refrigerator."

Pamela pointed to various things around the room. The cooler and a basket of fruit were set on top of the small refrigerator. "There are bottles of water and juice in there; if she wants anything else, she just needs to let me know and I'll take care of it."

She pointed to a small table with several comfortable looking desk chairs next to it. "Mr. Motta said Ms. Pierce will be doing her school work here so I had that brought in. The bathroom has a shower stall in it and the laundry staff will make sure she has fresh towels and washcloths daily. I've tried to put in whatever she might need but if there's anything else," Pamela handed her a business card, "my direct extension is on there and I've put my cell phone on the back. I'm usually in the hospital from 9am until 7pm but Mr. Motta made it clear that I'm to be available 24/7 to you ladies so don't hesitate if there's a problem or concern."

"Thank you, Ms. Curwall," Quinn said, taking the card.

"You're welcome Ms. Fabray. As I said, if you ladies need anything, just let me know."

"Call me Quinn. She's Brittany and that's Santana. If we're going to be relying on you, I think you should be able to use our first names." Quinn smiled.

"I'm Pam," the woman smiled back a Quinn. "She really loves her, doesn't she?"

Quinn sighed. "You have no idea. Dr. Lopez' nose was the fourth one she's broken today. She's completely anti-violence but I think this attack on Santana has awakened a very angry mamma bear. Oh, speaking of which, can you have someone come in and check her hand? She's hit four pretty hard heads today with enough force to break noses. Hopefully, she didn't injure herself in the process."

Pam nodded, "Of course. I know Santana's parents aren't allowed in to see her. Is there anyone in her family who should be notified? Or other friends? Anyone you think should be allowed in?"

Quinn shook her head sadly. "Her parents threw her out; her grandmother disowned her. Her brother's in California and nobody knows how to get hold of him because no one has his number. The rest of her extended family," Quinn shrugged, "we don't know if they're even speaking to her because her parents kept her phone and she doesn't have phone numbers for anyone. So, no, for now … it's just me, Mercedes, and the Pierce family; Whitney, Pierce, Brittany, and Courtney. Although I doubt they'll bring Court here while Santana's all wired up and looking like someone put her face through a meat grinder."

Pam nodded again. "Okay. I'm going to go see about getting someone to check her hand, then I'll be in my office for awhile if you need anything. Oh, and on the table is a menu for tonight's meal. I'll have someone pick it up in a few minutes. Just fill it out with however much you want. They'll drop off a breakfast menu when they bring dinner and they'll pick it up when they gather the dishes. Same thing tomorrow."

Quinn nodded her understanding. "Thanks, again, Pam." Quinn smiled as the woman made her way out of the door.

Pam stopped at the door and turned back to Quinn. "I almost forgot," she handed Quinn a laminated access card, "Mr. Motta said Brittany was a dancer; we don't have a dance studio but the employee gym has a yoga studio that would probably suffice. I mean, if she ever needs to move around. I know she doesn't want to leave Santana right now but …"

Quinn accepted the card. "She may not use it right away but I have no doubt that she'll be grateful for it soon. Thank you."

With a nod, Pamela exited the room.

Fifteen minutes later a nurse came in. "Hi, I hear someone's been doing some bare-knuckle brawling and needs some help?" She chuckled lightly.

Quinn pointed her at Brittany who hadn't moved from standing by Santana's bed.

"Britt, let the nurse check your hand," Quinn's voice was soft but firm.

Brittany looked up as though she'd forgotten anyone else was in the room.

"Oh. Okay." She moved away from Santana's bed and sat in one of the visitor chairs, holding out her right hand.

"Oooh, honey, you did some damage to someone," the nurse said looking at the hand. She took it lightly and gently probed and manipulated. "Well, it doesn't look like it's broken but we should get you to X-ray to make sure."

Brittany shook her head. "I'm not leaving her."

Quinn knelt down next to Brittany. "Hey, I'm gonna stay here, okay? Go get your hand checked because if it's broken, you don't want it to set wrong and then you could end up losing some use of it. I promise, I'll stay right here until you get back."

Brittany looked at Quinn. "You won't leave her?"

Quinn shook her head. "Promise."

Brittany nodded and left the room with the nurse as Quinn moved one of the chairs closer to the bed and took Santana's hand in hers. "Okay, you need to get better because Brittany is scary right now. She's also scared. And sad. And worried. And I don't like any of those Brittanies. So, you need to come back to us, Santana." Quinn's voice broke and she finally lost the battle to control her tears as she laid her head on her forearm and let out all of the emotions she had bottled up over the past 24 hours.

Xoxoxoxoxo

Pamela Curwall was, for the most part, a rule follower. She had, however, been known to bend them when necessary. She convinced herself that this was one of those times as she perused Dr. Lopez' personnel file. It listed his wife, Maribel; son, Gabriel; daughter, Santana. It also had all their phone numbers. She jotted down Gabriel's number and contemplated what she should do. She couldn't call him; she could, however, give the number to someone who could call him.

She nodded to herself and stood up, heading back to room 314 and Quinn Fabray.

Xoxoxoxoxo

Quinn had finished crying and had washed her face by the time Brittany came back.

"Nothing broken," Brittany chirped, "just bruised and a few cuts and it's swollen." She held up her hand and showed Quinn the wrap around her hand. "There's an ice pack in there; twenty minutes on, stick it in the freezer, twenty minutes off, put it back on for another twenty minutes for the next 24 hours to keep the swelling down." She smiled ruefully. "I still don't know how Santana does it." She moved over to the chair Quinn just vacated and sat down, taking Santana's hand.

"Quinn?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay? I mean, the last day has to have been tough for you, too, right? And you haven't, like, broken down or anything." Brittany looked at Quinn with concern.

"I'm good, Britt. I pretty much melted down when you left to get your hand X-rayed. You're right, it's been a tough 24 hours and I'm a little tired and angry and sad and a whole slew of other emotions but I let them out. I just … I wanted to stay strong for you and deal with everything, so you could melt down."

Brittany nodded. "I appreciate that. I think I'm finally good. I mean. I got to hit Finn, Kevin, Kyle, and Dr. Lopez. That took a lot of my rage away. Now I'm mostly tired, you know? Just all those emotions, all the anger, the hitting, not being able to see her or be with her but now, I'm good. I let a lot of it out and a lot more of it resolved when I saw her. Thanks, Quinn. You came to my rescue again and I'm so grateful."

Quinn smiled. "You're welcome, Britt. I'm really glad I was able to help."

The door opened and Quinn turned to see Pam walking in.

"Ah, good, you got your hand checked out. Everything okay?"

"Swollen, bruised, cut, not broken so, yeah, it's good. Thanks for sending someone in." Brittany smiled at the woman. It wasn't quite the normal mega-watt Brittany smile but it did manage to reach her eyes.

"You're very welcome." She smiled at Brittany then turned to Quinn. "Do you think I could steal you away for a moment?"

Quinn looked at Brittany who just shrugged and nodded so Quinn followed Pamela out into the hall and a little bit away from the security guards.

"I didn't do this. You found this and you have no idea where it came from because legally, I can't give you this."

Quinn frowned but nodded, unsure where the woman was going with this until she handed Quinn a scrap of paper. Quinn looked at it, her eyes going wide as she saw what was written on it. She looked back at Pam. She nodded in understanding and mouthed 'thank you' before heading back into Santana's room.

Brittany looked up as Quinn re-entered the room. "What was that about?"

"She didn't do something that would get her in a lot of trouble."

Brittany frowned. "So," she puzzled out, "what she didn't do is something that could help us?"

Quinn nodded and crossed the room. "Exactly." She handed Britt the scrap of paper.

Brittany took it and gaped at it. "Quinn …"

"Do you think we should …"

"She'd want us to. She's been wanting to call him but had no way to reach him and he had no way of reaching her so she has no idea if he even knows anything."

Quinn nodded. "I'll call him. I'm not sure how much to tell him, though. I mean … do I out her to him? Or do I tell him she's in the hospital but not why? Do I mention her parents threw her out? I …"

"Tell him she's in the hospital because she's gay," Brittany interrupted her, "then he has all the information he needs to decide if he wants to come here and we can tell him the rest if he decides to come."

Quinn nodded and went to make the phone call.