The Choices We Make Chapter 31, a glee fanfic

Standard Disclaimer, I do not own Glee or any of its characters.

Author's note. I know, I know, I'm an awful person. It's been forever since I've updated. I used to have a new update every week and now it's months in between. No real excuses, just a combination of lack of motivation and that this is a hard story to write at times.

Trigger Warning

At the end of this chapter there are some things that might be triggering for some readers. No one dies, but it does deal with an attempted suicide by use of a firearm. It isn't one of the main characters, but I still understand that this is a sensitive topic. So fair warning.

Chapter 31

Knock

"No Rachel." Quinn called out in a light and airy voice.

She begins to giggle when she hears the stomp of a foot and an annoyed huff before Rachel walks away from her door. All weekend Rachel had been coming to her to try and get tips for what song she should sing to be chosen for the solo. Quinn had told her that she had to remain impartial for this and so Rachel would just have to choose one that she felt would showcase her talent the best.

Rachel had accepted what Quinn had told her… for all of two hours, which Quinn would admit was two hours longer than she had expected. However Quinn had remained firm in her efforts to remain fair, but it was harder than it sounded, and Rachel wasn't above playing dirty. Yesterday she had baked Quinn brownies, and cookies… and bread… and a cake, Quinn was pretty much set on baked goods for the rest of the year. Then this morning for breakfast she had served Quinn breakfast in bed, pancakes with a side of bacon, which was her favorite breakfast in the world… well bacon.

She might have broken at that but Rachel had used some kind of vegan bacon substitute that tasted like rubber and had brought Quinn back to her senses. She didn't tell the girl to stop, instead she decided to have some fun with it, and as Rachel left she started to hum to herself a song so that Rachel would hear it and sure enough, not even ten minutes later, she could hear Rachel practicing that song.

When she finished her breakfast, she knocked on Rachel's door and thanked her for the meal, and as she was leaving she began to sing a completely different song to herself. Rachel switched immediately. Quinn was able to pull it off three more times before Rachel realized that Quinn was messing with her.

At that point Rachel switched tactics. Bugging Quinn incessantly to tell her what she needed to do to get picked. Finally Quinn had retreated to her room and locked the door, just needing to escape. Still about twice an hour now, the other girl would come knocking on her door.

Knock

Quinn let's out a sigh, it was time to have a sit down with Rachel and explain to her that this was not how each competition was going to go. She put up with it before because she knew how important this was to Rachel and just how passionate the other girl could be about this kind of stuff but it hadn't even been five minutes and she was already back.

Quinn hops off her bed and goes to her door, unlocking and opening it. "Alright Rachel, I get that you're - oh! Hey Finn, what are you doing here?"

Finn scratches the back of his head sheepishly and chuckles. "Hey Quinn, I take it Rachel is pretty excited for Monday?"

Quinn rolls her eyes and smiles, "You have no idea, but what are you doing here?"

"Can I come in, I'd really like to talk to you for a second."

"Yeah sure." Quinn steps aside let to him enter and closes the door. "What's up?"

"We're friends right?"

"Yes…?" Quinn nods her head, confused by where this is going. Of course they were friends.

"I mean, even better friends now that we've broken up and stuff, better than when we were together? I mean… you know, is that a fair assessment?"

Quinn shrugs her shoulders as she takes a seat on the edge of her bed. "Yeah I would say so, which is kind of weird when you think about it, but yeah, I'd say that's a fair assessment."

Finn looks at her a little nervously. "I… You are one of my best friends Quinn. Seriously, and I like that. I like that we can still be friends and hang out and still be a part of each other's lives, you know? I think that's cool, not every break up ends that way, especially not one that was as… intense as ours had been."

Quinn nods her head in agreement. "You're one of my best friends too Finn, but what's going on, what did you want to talk about?"

"I really care about you Quinn and I wouldn't want to hurt you for anything but… I really like Rachel, I mean… I think about her all of the time and I really want to ask her out, but I don't feel like I can until I know that you'd be okay with it… and if you aren't then, I don't know what to do, because I really like her but I don't want to hurt you, you know?"

Quinn gives him an understanding smile and motions for him to take a seat next to her. Which he does and after a couple of seconds and as they're looking at each other Quinn speaks. "Thank you for thinking about me, I'm glad that I'm still so important to you but when we broke up I always figured you and Rachel would go out. I'm okay with that, really-"

"Are you sure?"

"I won't lie and say I'm not a little jealous, but that's just because I know what a great guy you are." Here she nudges him playfully and he smiles and blushes. "But you know what, Rachel is one of the most wonderful people that I have ever met, and I can see why you like her, why you fell for her. Ultimately though, this is about you and her, my feelings don't matter in this. If you like her ask her out, I think you guys will be great together."

"But your feelings do matter in this Quinn, you're my friend and hers. You're important to both of us, so-"

"So ask her out," Quinn interrupts, "If you want my blessing or something like that then you have it. We've broken up and we're friends now, I want my friends to be happy. I want you both to be happy, and if I'm the reason it's taken you so long to do it then I am really sorry and I should have said something earlier."

"Are you sure?" Finn asks hesitantly.

"Absolutely."

Finn smiles at her warmly. "Thanks Quinn."

Quinn wraps an arm around him for a hug which he returns. When they pull apart Quinn asks him, "So, when are you going to ask her out?"

"I was thinking Monday, I know we're having the auditions on Monday but I figured I could use my audition to ask her out by singing to her."

"Oh my god, she will love that!" Quinn says excitedly, maybe a little more excitedly than she felt, but she wanted him to know that it was okay. She was a little sad, he was finally moving on and she hadn't yet, but she knew that romantically they were completely through and that this was a good thing, not just for him but for the both of them.

"I hope she does?"

"Trust me, she will. Do you know what you want to sing?"

"Uh… that's where it's a little bit trickier, I'm not quite sure what to sing. I know she likes musical stuff but I don't know any of those songs and when I tried to look some up I thought they were all kind of weird, or too dramatic. I know she likes them, but none of them are really me, so I'm not quite sure what to do."

Quinn shrugs sympathetically at him. She would offer to help him pick a song, but helping him serenade his next girlfriend, and Quinn didn't doubt for a moment that Rachel wouldn't say yes to going out with Finn once asked, but helping him to ask her out was about at her limit. "I'm sorry, I wish I could help."

"It's cool, don't worry about it."

"Well maybe… never mind."

"No, what is it?"

"Well, I guess I would say that rather than trying to pick a song you think she'll like, maybe you should focus on you instead. Pick a song that describes how you feel rather than worrying about whether she will like it or not. It's Rachel, I think the gesture will mean more than the actual song choice… as long as you don't pick something way out there." Quinn finishes as an afterthought.

"Well, what would be a good choice?" Finn asks curiously.

"I… think you had better go to Santana or Brittany with that one."

Finn's eyes widen, finally feeling the awkwardness of the situation. "Oh, crap… I'm sorry Quinn-"

"No, it's okay, really… but I think I've offered up about as much help as I can."

Finn reaches over and hugs her one last time, "Thanks." He says before pulling away and standing up. "I better head out, I don't have a lot of time and I need to practice."

"No problem," Quinn says as Finn walks out, "and good luck."

Once the door closes behind him and Quinn is left alone in her room she lays back on her bed and closes her eyes. She was happy for Finn, he was finally moving on like she knew they both would but it was affecting her more than she had thought it would. Her heart ached and for a moment she felt a sense of hopelessness. That she would never find someone to care about her and love her in that way, in the way that Finn cared about Rachel or the way that Santana and Brittany cared for one another.

She quickly sits up and shakes her head. She had more important concerns right now than whether or not she was dating, there was nothing wrong with being single and considering her situation she would concede that being single was probably for the best right now anyway. She would find someone someday, but for now she needed to focus on herself and the life that was growing inside of her.

xXx-Scene Break-xXx

Quinn cheered with everyone else when Finn finally finished singing to Rachel. He had decided to go with Elton John's "Your Song" and he had slayed it. When he had told Quinn that he was more concerned about singing to Rachel then auditioning Quinn hadn't expected that great of an audition from him, but not only did he get Rachel's attention, who was beaming as if she had just won her first Tony Award, but it had definitely put him in the running for the solo.

Finn then got down on one knee in front of Rachel and asked her to go out with him, Rachel answers with a rather enthusiastic kiss, which causes another round of applause to echo through the choir room, after which everyone goes over to congratulate the new couple. It takes a loud whistle from Mr. Schuester to finally get everyone's attention again.

"Great job Finn, and congratulations you two but we still have a few more people to hear so let's keep things moving."

Everyone takes their seats, with Rachel and Finn holding hands. Santana leans forward in her seat behind them and asks. "You two aren't going to get all disgusting now are you?"

"Only when you're around." Rachel answers with a grin. This gets a laugh from everyone and Santana leans back in her seat rolling her eyes. Everyone faces forward as Mercedes gets up to perform, except for Quinn, who catches Brittany nudging Santana playfully, and Santana staring back in complete adoration.

It was like a kick to the chest and so Quinn quickly adverts her eyes and focuses on Mercedes who has already kicked her performance into high gear, hitting those power notes in a way that only she was capable of. Rachel, overall, was a more well-rounded singer and Quinn thought Tina had the prettiest voice in New Directions, but nobody could hit those notes like Mercedes could, and Mercedes knew that and used it to her advantage.

After Mercedes sang, it was Kurt who got up next, followed by Brittany, Artie, and surprisingly Matt, who was usually more of a background kind of guy but actually had a very nice voice as well. Santana, herself, Mike, and obviously Karofsky who looked more bored than anything, all chose not to audition.

When Matt, who was the last person to perform sits down, Mr. Schuester steps forward to address the group. "Fantastic job everyone, seriously. I knew we had some talented singers in here, but you guys blew me out of the water. Choosing one of you is going to be next to impossible."

"No kidding." Quinn throws in.

"So I just want you all to know that if you don't get chosen this time it is absolutely nothing against you and that there is definitely the next competition. So if there's nothing else, I'll let all of you go early today and Quinn and I will get to work on picking our soloist."

As everyone starts to gather their things, Santana and Brittany head over to Quinn, the three of them watching Finn and Rachel stare into each other's eyes and hold hands, whispering quietly to each other. "You doing okay Quinn?" Brittany asks.

"I'm fine B." Brittany nods her head in acceptance.

"You know I'm happy for the two of them but I swear to god if them serenading each other becomes a daily thing, and with those two it's entirely possible, I might just strangle them in their sleep." Santana quips, causing Quinn to laugh and roll her eyes and Brittany to giggle.

"So Querida, how long do you think you'll be, me and B can wait for you." Santana offers.

"Nah, you guys head home, everyone did such a fantastic job, I don't know how long it's going to take us to figure things out."

"You sure Quinn, we don't mind waiting." Brittany says.

"I'm good, I'll text you guys when I'm done though, maybe we can hang out then."

"Sounds good, see you later. C'mon B, you sounded great today-" Santana's voice trails off as the two of them leave.

"Are you ready Quinn?" Mr. Schuester asks when it's just the two of them left in the choir room.

"Let's get started."

xXx-Scene Break-xXx

Maribel and Aiden exchanged an amused if not somewhat melancholy glance. Their daughter and Brittany were obviously playing footsie under the dinner table. Both parents were well aware of the feelings the two girls had for each other and had been for a while now. They had spent what felt like countless hours talking about it with each other, deciding on how they wanted to handle it.

They both wanted so much to take Santana aside and tell her that they loved her and that her feelings for Brittany were okay, that there was nothing wrong or immoral about them and that it was okay with them that they were together. But they also didn't want to take the decision to tell them away from her. Santana just might not be ready for them to know and confronting her about it might hurt her.

She seemed to be doing okay now, though for a while they knew that she had been really hurting. They had finally decided to talk to her about it when Santana had come home as happy as they had ever seen her, and then they started to notice her and Brittany being a little more openly affectionate than they normally were so they figured that whatever was wrong between them had been resolved. They weren't sure if they were doing the right thing by waiting for her to come to them but they were doing the best they could.

Ben and Phoebe were in a similar if not a little more open situation with Brittany. Brittany had all but told them that she and Santana were dating but that Santana still wasn't ready to tell anyone yet and both Maribel and Phoebe knew that this was still causing a bit of friction between the two girls. Brittany lived her life out in the open while Santana had always been a bit more reserved.

They figured Quinn knew what was going on between them, they would be genuinely shocked if she didn't and that was a bit of a comfort to both sets of parents, at least they had someone that they could open up to if they needed, and with how close the three girls had gotten to Rachel and Finn lately those two were probably more aware of what was going on than any of the parents were. They just wanted their kids to be safe and happy, more than anything in the world they wanted those two things for them. And part of that being possible was having good friends and they were both very grateful that their daughters had that.

"So, mija, how's school been going?" Aiden asks

Santana shrugs, noncommittally, "Not bad, I guess."

Aiden rolls his eyes with a laugh, "That's it, "not bad," you don't have anything more to offer your old man?"

Santana smiles and scoffs, while Brittany giggles.

"Oh woe is me!" Aiden sighs dramatically, "To think that my only daughter, the light of my life would cut me from hers so easily, the very child that I helped to deliver, now grown into a beautiful young woman, has cast me aside-"

"Daddy it's-" Santana starts to say, but is interrupted.

"Not now, I'm lamenting the fact that my own daughter, my flesh and blood, the very being for whom I work and slave for every day at the hospital, day and night, to provide for so that she may have all this world has to offer, could cast me aside so easily, could outgrow her own father. The very father who used to lift her up on his shoulders so that she might see, who tucked her in at night and braved the closet for monsters, who-"

"Daddy!" Santana exclaims, part of her amused at her father's antics and part of her horrified.

"Yes, oh daughter who has forsaken her father?" Aiden asks, politely inquisitive, but there is a laughter in his eyes that he can't hide.

"Things have been going great, I'm currently in the running for the head cheerio position, and we're prepping for our first glee competition."

"See that wasn't so hard was it? And that's fantastic, are you going to sing mija?"

Santana rolls her eyes and then shakes her head no, "No, not this time, I'm a little more focused on cheerios right now instead of glee. With Quinn gone it's created a bit of a power vacuum in the group, and while I am the most likely to be made captain, I'm also just a sophomore and that doesn't sit well with a couple of the older girls."

"Yeah, I'd like to push that bi- B-word… Annie into oncoming traffic." Brittany amends, knowing that the Lopez's were a little more strict about swearing in their home than her own.

"Is she giving you trouble?" Aiden asks, concerned.

"No, nothing I can't handle, Annie's a poser, she has couple of people behind her because she's a senior and they're seniors too, but the majority of the squad is backing me, she's more of an annoyance than any real trouble. But yeah, until Sylvester makes it official I'll be a little more focused on cheerios over glee. So that means I'll be swaying in the background this time, but who knows, maybe our next competition. Brittany here auditioned for a solo though, didn't you Ba- um… B?" Santana trails off a little awkwardly hoping no one noticed, they did, but they also didn't remark on it.

"She sounded amazing." Santana says, her voice going slightly dreamy.

"That's wonderful Brittany, do you think you'll get it?" Aiden asks.

"I hope so, but-"

Brittany is interrupted by the phone ringing.

"You go ahead and keep talking, I'll get it." Maribel says getting up.

Brittany nods, "Right, well I hope so, but like I was saying there are a lot of talented people, but I'll have a fair shot at it. Quinn's helping to choose, she's the captain, so she'll keep Mr. Schuester from being unfair."

"Unfair?" Aiden asks puzzled.

Santana scoffs, "That guy has some issues, I mean seriously. Don't get me wrong, there are times he's like the coolest teacher in the world, and you can tell that he really cares about us, but other times..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he's kind of fixated on Finn and Rachel and so he tends to favor them, and it's caused some tension in the past. It's kind of like he's torn between really wanting to help us and reliving his glory days through them. It's been a little awkward at times, but it has gotten a lot better. Especially once Quinn was made captain, things have run a lot smoother since then, but yeah for a while I hated his guts." Santana finishes with a shrug.

Just then Maribel comes back into the dining room, a frown on her face. "What's wrong?" Aiden asks his wife.

"That was Hiram, he just called me from the police station."

Both Santana and Brittany stiffen in agitation at that. They both adored Hiram and there were only a couple of reasons they could think of that he would call Maribel from a police station and none them were good.

"Is everyone okay?" Brittany asks nervously, while grasping Santana's hand with her one of her own, and Santana is so worried that she doesn't care if her parents notice.

Maribel lets out a sigh, "Apparently Quinn was in some kind of altercation at the school-"

"Quinn got into a fight!" Santana shouts, jumping to her feet. "Is she okay, is the baby okay, who hurt her!?"

"Calm down mija," Maribel says soothingly, while Brittany runs her hand up and down Santana's back. "Hiram says she's a little roughed up, but okay. I'm not sure what happened but I'm heading down to the station right now to find out."

"I'm coming with you." Santana says already heading for the door to Maribel's car.

"Me too." Brittany says following her.

Maribel and Aiden exchange looks, "I don't suppose it would do any good to tell them to wait here would it?" Maribel asks.

Aiden shakes his head, "Those three have been inseparable since the day they met, if you don't take them, they'll just go themselves."

xXx-Scene Break-xXx

Quinn sighs as she gingerly holds the icepack up to her left eye, trying to quell what was going to be one heck of a shiner once it was all said and done. She looked a little worse for the wear, but the paramedics who had arrived on the scene said it was all superficial but she had already set up an appointment with her doctor tomorrow to be sure the baby was fine just to be safe. She just wanted to give her statement and then go home, but neither Ben nor Hiram, who were both hovering over her protectively, were going to let her speak until Maribel arrived. She hadn't done anything wrong, but they weren't going to take any chances. Quinn was actually beginning to wonder if someone up there was just messing with her, that everything that had happened to her so far was somebody's idea of a cosmic joke.

Her attention is drawn to the door as Maribel comes storming in, she then goes straight over to Quinn. "Oh mija, what kind of trouble are you getting into now?" She tisks, moving the icepack away to examine Quinn's black eye, gently cupping Quinn's face in her hands.

"It wasn't my fault."

Maribel just waves her explanation away. "What happened, who did this to you?"

"Well…" Quinn hedges, "The black eye is kind of my own fault, it was an accident..." To be fair the black eye was an accident, but she was covered in scratches as well and those weren't.

Maribel huffs and rolls her eyes. "Quinn sweetheart, what happened?" She asks a little more firmly this time.

Quinn glances behind Maribel at Santana and Brittany who are both looking at her intently, she can almost see the tension radiating off of the both of them. She lets out a sigh before finally talking.

Quinn leaned back in her seat and looked up at the ceiling as she waited for Mr. Schuester to get back, he was heading to the vending machine to get them some snacks. This was turning out to be tougher than she had imagined it would be, everyone had done such a fantastic job that it felt cruel to only give one solo to one person, but they had finally narrowed it down to either Tina or Mercedes, but they couldn't quite decide.

Rachel and Finn were going to be given the duet, their voices worked well together and they had some practice singing together. Brittany, Artie, Matt, and either Mercedes or Tina, whichever one didn't get the solo would join the other three in leading the group number. The trouble really was, they just couldn't decide between the two.

"Oh, I didn't know you would be here." A voice calls out in a strange mix of sweet and nervous.

Quinn jumps startled before turning and scowling at the new comer. Standing in the doorway, with a pleasant smile on her face and a slightly crazed look in her eye was Terri Schuester.

Quinn eyes her warily as the older woman enters the choir room. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm just bringing Will some dinner, he said he was going to be staying late and what kind of wife would I be if I didn't support my husband." She holds up some Tupper where for her to see and pauses for a second before looking at Quinn pointedly. "I'll be that kind of mother too."

"Right, whatever. Mr. Schue went to go get some food, he should be back any minute." Quinn says with a shrug, trying to pretend that the woman's presence didn't make her feel extremely uncomfortable.

"So Quinn have you given any thought to-"

"Listen, I've got to go, tell Mr. Schuester that the final decision is up to him, either Mercedes or Tina will be great." Quinn interrupts the older woman, grabbing her backpack as she stands up to leave. She didn't want to have any kind of conversation whatsoever with the woman.

As she walks to the door Mrs. Schuester grabs her by the arm. "Wait!" She calls, and Quinn almost winces at how hard the woman is grabbing her. However the similarities to this and how her father used to grab her are too great and so any pain is masked by anger.

"Let go." Quinn's voice is ice cold, and anyone who knew her knew that if she talked to you like that you had better do what she says, if only for your own safety.

However Terri Schuester seemed to either miss it or not care. "I need that baby, you have to give it to me, you have to, you don't understand!" Her eyes are wild with fear, and Quinn notices for the first time that the woman appears to have a slight baby bump of her own.

Quinn tears her arm away. "Get away from me, seriously!" Quinn snaps, stepping back.

"I'll be a good mother, I swear, and… and Will, he'll be, he'll be a fantastic father." Her voice has a bit of a hysterical edge to it.

Quinn stares at her in disbelief. "What is wrong with you, you're having your own kid, why the hell are you so set on mine? Is Mr. Schuester apart of this too-" Quinn is interrupted as she rapidly steps back into a wall. Mrs. Schuester stepping right into her space and clutching at her desperately.

"NO! No you can't tell him, you can't! NO, I won't let you, no, he doesn't know, he can't know! I'm losing him, I'm losing him and that baby is the only thing that can save us! You have to give me the baby!" Terri cries, her voice cracking. The look in her eyes going from slightly off to full on crazy.

At this point Quinn has officially gone from uncomfortable to scared. She needs to get the hell away from this woman. "No, I would never, ever, give you my child. Ever. I don't know what's wrong with you and I don't know what kind of game you and he are playing but I'm done. If you come near me again, I'll call the police."

Quinn goes to leave when she feels a force knock into her. "NO YOU HAVE TO GIVE IT TO ME, YOU HAVE TO!" Terri screams as she tackles Quinn, knocking them both to the floor.

Quinn snaps at this point, her fight or flight instinct kicking in like never before. Eons of motherly instincts, honed through billions and billions of years of evolution come roaring to life. This psychotic bitch had just attacked her and was endangering her baby. Quinn only had one mode at this point.

Destroy.

Quinn found her arm and bit down as hard as she could. She hears the other woman shriek in pain and that just makes Quinn angrier. She rolls them over and begins to scratch and claw at this thing shrieking underneath her, and when that's not enough anymore she balls her hands into fists and begins to punch as hard as she can. Terri tries to fight back, scratching and clawing but it's no good, Quinn just ignores the pain and continues to fight.

She feels someone try to pull her off, but she fights it, and so does Terri who continues to claw at her. Finally the newcomer pulls them apart and separates them at arm's length. She sees it's a horrified looking Mr. Schuester.

"What the hell is going on here!?" He asks, looking between them, confused as his mind tries to process what it had just seen. His pregnant wife and his pregnant student going at it like they were fighting to the death

"I don't know what kind of sick game you and your wife are playing but I've had enough!" Quinn snarls, "You and your wife are already having a kid, I don't know why the fuck you want mind and I don't care, you both stay the hell away from me or I swear to god-"

"Wait, what? Quinn we don't want your baby, like you said, we're having our own. Where are you getting this idea from?" Will interrupts, dumbfounded.

"Her!" Quinn shrieks, "This is the second time she's come to me about this, and this time she attacked me!"

"Terr?" Will asks turning to his wife.

She's crying, rivers of tears are already streaming down her face. "I… I… No, Will it's not what you think… I…" she looks around, her eyes searching for something, anything, that might hold some kind of magical answer to make this all go away, but her eyes settle on Quinn. "You! This is your fault!" She shrieks before trying to leap at Quinn.

Will is able to intercept her, grabbing her and holding her back, however Quinn reacted to the attack and went in for her own…

"Well Mr. Schuester was bringing his other hand up to stop me and well I kind of walked right into his elbow, and someone obviously heard the commotion and called 911 because it was at that point the police arrived…" Quinn trails off.

Everyone in the room is staring at her in a kind of stunned silence. Taking a moment to process everything they had just heard. "She's attacked you before?" Ben asks, breaking the silence.

Quinn shakes her head no. "No, that was the first time she's ever attacked me, but we have met before." Quinn says quietly.

"Quinn, why didn't you tell someone about it?" Hiram asks, his voice filled with fatherly concern.

Quinn shrugs, "It… it happened while I was deciding on what to do with the baby… I don't know… I just, it didn't seem important in comparison and I kind of… well forgot about it until today."

"Alright, well the woman is obviously unstable but-" Whatever Maribel was about to say is interrupted by a commotion outside. Suddenly a single gunshot goes off.

Ben, Hiram, and Maribel all grab the three girls and pull them down to the ground. Maribel and Hiram shielding them with their own bodies. Meanwhile, Ben is pulling his own firearm.

A young officer sticks his head inside. "Sir, it's Terri Schuester, come quick!" Ben is up like a flash and rushing to the scene. Maribel and Hiram stay down with the kids, holding them protectively in their arms.

xXx-Scene Break-xXx

Will Schuester hesitates outside his wife's hospital door. It had been two days since the incident and he had just finished his meeting with his lawyer, the D.A., and Maribel Lopez. No charges were being pressed by Miss Fabray or Mrs. Lopez, and he had tentatively accepted a deal on Terri's behalf from the D.A. Once everything had come to light no one wanted a trial and everyone involved agreed that she needed some serious help. And for that he was grateful.

He had to wonder how it had all gone so wrong. One moment things seemed to be going great and the next the entire world seemed to be falling apart.

Terri had been lying about the pregnancy from the beginning and he couldn't understand why… no that wasn't true. Before the pregnancy their marriage had been on the rocks. They were fighting more often than not and it seemed that no matter what he did she would always criticize him. Their relationship just felt so crushing and hopeless at times and so his eyes had begun to wander and he started to hang out more and more with Emma.

He may not have been physically unfaithful but it was heading in that direction and it seemed like the end of their marriage was a sure thing. And then suddenly she had announced that she was having a baby and suddenly they clicked again. It was like how they were back when they had first gotten married. They were happy and in love and life seemed to be perfect. And then Terri started to pull away again, she said it was because she was worried about the baby and so he had trusted her judgment on the issue and then did his best to allay her fears. And she hadn't lied about the pregnancy initially. Apparently it was called a hysterical pregnancy where the body mimicked the symptoms of pregnancy or something like that… he had never even heard of it until now.

But when Terri had learned the truth, that she wasn't really pregnant, she had been devastated. In her mind the pregnancy was the only thing that was saving their marriage, and maybe it was… what had happened to them? They had been so in love, so happy, she had been everything he had ever wanted and they had worked so well together. Was it just life, the constant drudgery of it all that had caused their relationship to decay? No, it wasn't that simple, their relationship hadn't just fallen apart by some random chance, they had let it. They may have been married but relationships took effort and for a long time now neither of them had put in the effort to make it work.

The stress of keeping up the lie, her fear of him finding out the truth, his own failings to her, as well as her suffering from severe depression and a previously undiagnosed bipolar disorder had all led up to this final point, and had pushed her over the edge. He could remember it so clearly, she was crying in a way he had never seen her cry before, desperate to catch his eye, to glean some kind of comfort from her husband, but he had just been so angry at her that he couldn't even do that. She was being led by one of the officer's from the interrogation room to a holding cell when she had stopped and turned to him.

"Will… please…"

She had begged him, looking him desperately in the eye. But he had turned away. She had lied about being pregnant, attacked a student, he was probably going to lose his job after this… he was so mad that he just couldn't look at her.

The next thing he knew she had thrown herself against the officer, surprising him and somehow she had managed to grab his gun. She then pointed it at herself, she then looked at him, their eyes locking onto each other, seconds passing in a tense silence until she uttered a broken "I'm sorry." She was alive today because she had been so distracted by him that she hadn't noticed the officer coming up behind her. They struggled for the gun, but she managed to pull the trigger, luckily it had only grazed her instead of killing her. She had been dazed long enough for the gun to be taken away from her but when she had realized that she hadn't died, she had a complete mental breakdown. Screaming and crying and thrashing about like she was possessed. It had taken three officers to subdue her.

He gathers his courage and steps into the room. She's laying on the bed, her arms and legs are strapped down, the Psychiatrist having felt that even two days later she was still a danger to herself. A large gauze bandage is over her right temple and her face is still bruised from the fight but it looked like it was healing. When she turns her head to look at him her expression goes from confused and forlorn to terrified. It's a look that he is ashamed to know he has given her cause to have. He never wanted anyone to look at him with that kind of fear, especially not her. So he puts on his warmest, gentlest smile and goes over to her.

"Hey." He says softly.

"I'm sorry, I'm so, so, sorry." Her voice is tiny and broken.

"I know, it's going to be okay." He tries to reassure her.

"Please don't leave me." She whimpers.

"I'm not going anywhere. I promise, for better or for worse, remember?" He tries to reassure her. Because he meant it. His actions didn't excuse some of what she had done, but they had been a huge contributing factor. But looking at her, and realizing how close he had come to losing her made him realize just how much he loved her. It was wrong, so wrong that it took this to make him remember it, but as long as she would have him he would be there for her. He would help her work through this. He loved her, he loved his wife, and she needed to know that. "I love you."

Terri however didn't seem to hear him because she just repeated it again, this time crying, "Please don't leave me."

So he reassures her once again that he isn't going anywhere, repeating it over and over again, every time she asked and as many times as she needed to hear it. She was in for a long hard road to recovery but she wouldn't be alone.