Summer Vaca
Day 5
Quinn left the Berry house about an hour after "the moment." Breaking out of it was a little awkward. I wasn't letting go of Rachel until I was done crying and I didn't want Quinn to see my face. I know, how vain. Hey, you know me. I think that Rachel was also holding onto Quinn, so she wasn't going anywhere either. I finally stopped crying and lifted my face out of Rachel's neck. As soon as I did that, Quinn backed away from us.
Rachel put her hands on my cheeks and rubbed under my eyes with her thumbs, "Feel better beautiful?"
I nodded, gave her kiss and then turned around to Quinn, "I'm sorry you had to witness that."
"Don't be. You must have needed it if it happened," she said back to me.
"I'm not really in the mood for swimming anymore," I said and then waded my way to the stairs.
We all got out of the pool and went into the house where we all changed into normal clothes. I was suddenly really tired and wanted to go to bed but Rachel isn't one for kicking people out so we watched some TV for like forty-five minutes before Quinn finally decided it was too awkward for her to stay any longer. I also think that I might have been falling asleep in the corner of the sectional. Luckily, Quinn's good at taking hints.
Yesterday, I was supposed to spend some time with Papá, but he got called into the hospital. It's cool, people need their brains and stuff. Instead I spent the day lounging around the pool with Rach. Yep, a boring Sunday.
Today is Monday.
It's 10AM and an elliptical hasn't woken me up.
Actually, Rachel is still in bed with me, which is weird. Not much stops her from ellipticaling it up every morning.
"Ow."
That usually doesn't come out of her mouth very often either.
"Hey, babe, are you okay? You're never in bed this late," I ask and kiss her shoulder. She's in the fetal position facing away from me.
"I just have a stomach ache, San, it'll go away," she says still clutching at her stomach.
"Do you want some, like, Peptobismol or something... or can you not have that... I don't know what's in that stuff, but I can go get you some," I start rubbing her back a little bit and place another kiss on her shoulder.
"You're so sweet... ow," she turns a little bit to look at me, "it'll pass though... ow."
I can barely see her face, but she doesn't look so good and I think she's shivering. I reach my hand out and feel her forehead, "Babe, you're burning up!"
"No I'm not. I'm freezing-"
"Which means you have a fever. Rach, you have to take the blanket off."
"But I'm cold... ooowww... stop it!" she whines as I try to pull the blanket off of her.
"I know you are babe, but the blanket is gonna make your fever worse-"
"Fine!"
Hmmm... something isn't right here. Now, I'm no doctor or anything, but my parents are and I've heard enough and they've taught me enough for me to know that there is definitely something wrong with Rachel right now.
She's going to downplay it though because, god forbid, she's anything but brave for two seconds. I'm going to ask her a bunch of questions and she's gong to lie to me. Well, here we go:
"Rach, where's the pain?"
She turns onto her back, wincing and says, "Here," putting her hand over where her belly button is.
I hate this question, but my parents always asked me it and it actually makes sense, "Okay, on a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst pain you've ever experienced, how bad is this pain?"
"I'm fine, San! Ow... it just feels like a regular stomach ache, okay... just a little worse... a four."
I don't think she's telling the truth. It clearly hurts when she moves. "Are you sure it's just a four?"
"Yes! Ow."
Ugh!
"You know, babe, you don't have to act like this with me..."
"Act like what?" she scowls and winces at the same time.
Okay, say this like you care and not like you're angry... even though you are a little angry, you do care... you care more than you're angry.
"Like nothing bothers you. Rach, you're in pain and I can tell. Right now your brave face is only going to make things worse. Babe, I love you, no matter what, okay? I know you're strong and even if you tell me you're in the worst pain you've ever felt, I'm not going to think you're weak. I will never think that you're weak."
Tears start forming in her eyes and she says, "It hurts a lot, San, and it's lower now." She's kind of clutching above her right hip.
Wait, what's there? Or maybe she just has to go to the bathroom...?
"Babe, do you think you might just have to... you know... go?"
"It kinda feels like that but, I don't think so... San, I don't know what's wrong... owww," she rolls over onto her side so that she's facing me, but she's still holding onto her stomach. She's also still shivering... because she has a fever... OH MY GOD!
Flashback to that time I broke my wrist:
There were a lot of people in the ER that day and I was stuck in the hallway because my vitals didn't need to be monitored and they could keep my clothes on me. There was a kid in the room across from my gurney who had stomach pains. He said that they started in his belly button and eventually moved down to near his hip. He said that it was making his back hurt, too. He had appendicitis...
What if she has appendicitis?
"Babe I have to take you to the hospital-"
"What? No!"
"Yes! I'm calling your dads and I'm taking you to the ER. I think you have a appendicitis-"
"No! No, hospital! I have my Triple Threat Camp tomorrow-"
Oh my god!
"If you don't go to the hospital today you'll probably miss more than just tomorrow. I'm taking you to the hospital!"
"But the ER... your moth-"
I grabbed her burning cheeks and kissed her. When I take my lips back I say, "Please. Please let me take you. You're sick and I need you to be better. Please."
She looks at me for a little bit and then says, "Okay. Call Papa first. He'll probably spare you from calling Daddy... hhhmmmph." She's trying to sit up.
I roll off the bed and as I'm getting up I grab my phone off the little table next to Rachel's bed. I go into my contacts and type H into it knowing full well that Hiram is the first number to show up, "Cell or work?"
"Cell."
Send.
As it rings in my ear I ask Rachel, "What do you want to wear to the ER?"
"Your sweatpants, they're in my bottom drawer," she groans out.
"Hey, Santana. What's up?"
"Hi, H... ummm... Rachel... ummm... she isn't feeling very well... I uuuummmm... Ithinkshehasappendicitis!"
Yup, that was five separate words said as one. Well, how do you tell you girlfriend's dad that you think his daughter needs to have a useless organ removed?
"Uuuuh... are you sure?"
"Yeah. She says that her stomach hurts on her lower right side and it kinda feels like she has to... you know..."
"Okay... okay... ummm..."
"I'm going to take her to the ER, but you or Leroy has to come because neither one of us are eighteen..."
"I'll call Leroy. Can I talk to her?"
"Yeah," I walk over to Rachel's side of the bed and hold out the phone to her, "He wants to talk to you."
She takes my phone and says, "Hi Papa."
I hear Hiram say, "Hey sweetie pie. Santana tells me that your tummy hurts?"
"Uh huh."
I walk away so that I can start getting things together for our trip to the hospital. All I hear are Rachel's answers to H.
"Santana said that I do... okay, I'll tell her that's where it is... I know, Papa... I will... I love you, too... see you a little later... bye Papa."
"Can you put these on or do you think you need my help?" I ask her as I get back to her side of the bed with my black WMHS sweatpants that I let her borrow quite some time ago.
"I can do it. I know you want to be dressed in regular clothes for this. Go ahead, beautiful," she says as she takes the pants from me.
I kneel down next to the bed and kiss her forehead... I think it might be even more hot than it was before! "Babe, call for me if you need help, okay?"
"Okay."
"Promise?"
"I promise!"
I kiss her forehead again and then jog to my room. Okay, I showered last night so it isn't entirely necessary for me to do so again. Jeans and a t-shirt. I don't even care. We need to get out of here. Besides, who's going to be in the Emergency Room, anyways?
I shouldn't say that. My life is full of the unexpected.
"San?"
"One minute, babe!"
Okay all dressed in quasi-clean clothes. I'm not really sure when these jeans were washed last, but that's literally the least important thing right now.
I get into Rachel's room and see that she's gotten as far as sitting up and getting her feet onto the floor. Until she sees me and then she let's herself back down onto the bed and groans, "I need your help."
"Okay, babe," I say and walk over to her.
"I want to shower."
"What? No, Rach. They aren't going to care that you haven't showered in twelve hours, at all."
"But-"
"No shower!"
"Fine! At least get me some clean underwear!" she huffs and then starts to try to sit back up. I can't watch her be in pain so I grab her hands and pull her up, "I could have done it myself."
"Without any pain?" I ask. It kind of came out in a patronizing tone. I didn't mean for it to sound like that.
"No, but if you're going to treat me like that I don't want your help at all!" she scoffs and crosses her arms, "Ow."
"I'm sorry, please let me help you. I'm gonna get you some underwear, okay?"
She nods and I head for her closet where she has one of those plastic drawer things filled with underwear. She separates them by style... are you really surprised? I mean mine are just thrown into one drawer in my dresser... not important right now. I'm thinking some normal cotton ones are fine for the occasion in which a nurse is just going to tell her to take all of her clothes off so she can where an adorably embarrassing johnny. I'll give her a few options so she feels like she still has some control of the situation.
"Kay, babe, pick a pair and then you're gonna have to stand up for me to help you with this stuff," I say as I walk back over to my ailing girlfriend.
"The yellow ones," she groans as she tries to get herself up.
I bend down and say, "Put your arm on my shoulder." She sighs, but complies. I wrap my arm around her ribs and lift her up as gently as I can. I'm trying to avoid her lower half as best I can. When she's standing I tell her, "Hold onto me and don't bend down, I'll do the work." She scrunches her face at me and in response I just start pulling her underwear down. One of her hands goes down to cover herself... "Are you serious?"
"Time and place," is all she says to me.
"Whatever! Step out of those... and into these." She isn't moving her hand, "You have to move your hand. I'll close my eyes."
"I can do this without bending," she says to me. She's pretty adamant about this.
"Fine," I say, standing up and backing away a little. As she's putting her underwear on, I grab the sweatpants off the bed and bring them to the floor. I crunch the legs up so that she can step into them and I can pull them up easily. "Ready for your pants?"
"Yes! Stop acting like I'm completely helpless!"
Breathe.
She's just being Rachel.
I don't tell her to step into the legs of the pants, I just hold them out for her to do so. I only lift them up to the base of her butt and shrug for her to take them from me. After she takes them I walk away and go into her closet to find her a bra.
"Oh, now you aren't going to talk to me?"
I don't respond. I just go into the plastic drawer that her bras are in and grab a yellow one so that she matches when has to take all of these clothes off.
"Really mature, Santana."
Once again: Breathe.
I go back over to her and grab the hem of her t-shirt.
"I'll do it. You go be a child somewhere else."
Okay that's it.
"What are you doing?" I finally say to her.
"What are you doing?"
"Helping my sick, stubborn girlfriend put a bunch of clothes on that are just going to come off when she gets into the hospital. You know the longer it takes us to get out of here the worse you're getting. Rach, you're like, on fire! I don't even need a thermometer to know that you're at a dangerous temperature. Just let me help you and get us out of here!"
I didn't yell at her. It was more of a stern tone... with some tears for emphasis.
She grabs my hands and puts them back on the hem of her shirt. "I'm sorry," she says, "help me. You're right, this is bad."
"Thank you," I say and then pull her shirt up over her head. I grab the bra off the bed, stretch it around her and hook it. I let her do the rest and don't even look at her, assuming she wants her privacy for that, too. I grab her t-shirt, roll it up and put it over her head. When she's done putting that on I ask her, "Ready?"
"As I'll ever be."
I crouch down with my back to her and say, "Hop on."
How does one actually get appendicitis? I feel like it just happens. I mean, it's not like Rachel eats terrible... she's a freakin' vegan! Maybe that's why! Nah, I'm sticking with "it just happens" theory.
There weren't a lot of people in the ER on this Monday morning. You know, just the usual idiot kids that fall out of trees... like Little One! Rach and I walk in and I hear "OH MY GOD! What are you guys doing here?" I knew it was Brittany at "OH." Turns out Lily climbed the big tree in the Pierce's backyard. Luckily she wasn't very high up in the tree when she fell and she's probably only walking away with a sprained ankle. I'm not sure though because they took Rachel in before her.
A nurse took down all of Rachel's information. She took her vitals and asked all the questions. I tried really hard not to laugh when the nurse asked if there was any chance that Rachel could be pregnant. Rachel's temperature was 103.4°! Hold on, let me spell that HER TEMPERATURE WAS ONE HUNDRED AND THREE POINT FOUR DEGREES FAHRENHEIT!
Now, we're sitting in a room in the ER. I'm in a chair that I pulled up next to the gurney that Rachel is in. They haven't made her change her clothes yet and we haven't seen a doctor yet. We aren't really talking, I'm just holding her hand while she lies on her side clutching her stomach.
"Okay. Thanks Susan."
Rachel's eyes pop open and meet mine instantly. We both know that voice and it's right outside the doorway. I must look terrified and I feel like Rach is terrified for me. Her mouth opens as if she's going to say something but it's interrupted by footsteps coming into the room. We both turn our heads to look at person whose voice we know all too well.
Without looking up from the chart, "Good morning Miss... Be... rry..."
My mother looks at Rachel first, then at me, then at our hands interlocked. I squeeze Rachel's hand even harder than I was before. She looks back up at me and then turns around to walk out of the room.
"Mamá!"
"¿Que quiere?" she turns around and spits at me.
"I want you to help her! It's your job!" I say back to her, biting back my urge to scream.
"I-"
"Please, Mamá. Está en mucho dolor. ¡Miras!" I say standing up. I don't let go of Rachel's hand though.
She doesn't say anything, but she does look at Rachel, who isn't looking up at her anymore.
"At least get someone who will help her," I say quietly but with anger, "You're wasting her time."
After a few seconds she finally asks, "What was her temperature when they brought her in?"
Despite the fact that I know the chart says it, I tell her, "One-oh-three point four."
"Okay."
I see her take a deep breath and then she takes a few steps forward. She stops at the foot of the bed and looks down at the chart that's been in her hands. When she's done she hangs it on the foot of the bed and stands there looking at Rachel for a few seconds.
I haven't let go of Rachel's hand this entire time and I haven't taken my eyes off of my mother.
"San, I'm really cold."
I instantly bring my attention to Rachel. I sit down and brush some stray hairs our of her face, "I know, babe. I'm gonna get you some real help soon."
"R-Rachel?" my mother stutters out.
We both direct our attention to my mother.
"I'm... going to do a preliminary exam, but I can't be your doctor-"
"What? Why?" I ask not really thinking and just assuming she doesn't want to.
"It's a conflict of interest, Santana. I actually can't be her doctor," she says, shooting a glance at me.
Oh.
Because I'm her daughter.
And Rachel is my girlfriend.
Is she acknowledging us...?
I'm gonna shut up now.
"Rachel?"
"Yes," Rachel says turning a little bit.
"Can you roll over onto your back for me?"
"I think so," Rachel answers and lets go of my hand so that she can turn over.
"Okay, I'm just going to put a little pressure on the area where the pain is located. Tell me if the pain gets to be too much," my mother says as she hovers her hands over Rachel's stomach. Rachel nods and my mother puts her hands down onto Rachel and starts pushing on her stomach. "Where did the pain start?"
"Near my belly button," Rachel answers through a wince.
"At about what time?"
"Umm... I think around five... thirty... last night..."
"WHAT?" I couldn't stop it!
"I thought it was just a movement! Ow."
My mother's done doing whatever she was doing and she says looking at me, "How did you know that this was appendicitis?"
"I was right?"
"Yes. She still needs to go through all the tests but I'm positive it's going to come back as appendicitis. How did you that's what this was?" she presses on me.
"There was a kid that had it when I was here for my wrist when I broke it," I say like it's nothing and that it wasn't seven years ago.
"¡Ay dios mio! That was seven years ago, Míja..."
What?
"Umm... are your... umm... parents on their way Rachel?" my mother asks, avoiding my eyes that are on her.
I answer, "They should be here soon."
"O-okay. I'm going to get you a new doctor," my mother says and then turns away from the bed and out of the room.
I make eye-contact with Rachel and without even having to say anything to her, she says, "Go. I'm not going anywhere."
"I love you."
"I love you, too, now go before she leaves that station," she says nodding in the direction of the nurses station outside the door.
I look out the door, get up and walk to the doorway, "Mamá?"
She turns around and simply looks at me.
What am I gonna say? Oh god. My brain is a mess.
"Thank you."
"Es mi trabajo," she says flatly.
"Pero podrías haber salido y no lo hizo," I say taking a few steps closer to her.
"Ella está enferma y tú... y tú... cuidas sobre ella," she shakes her head a little and then turns around.
What's happening?
Whatever it is, I'm not gonna push it. Besides, Rach needs me. And there's Leroy.
"Santana! Where's my babygirl?"
I point to the door behind me and watch him power walk his way into the room.
"Babygirl!"
"Hi Daddy."
I turn around and catch my mother's eye, my mother's judgmental eye. One step forward and two steps back.
Okay, so, clearly Rachel was admitted into the hospital. Because she's under eighteen, she's in the pedes unit. They're pumping antibiotics into her because her blood test came back with high white blood cell count and the sonogram told them that her appendix needs to be out of her body.
Britt, her mom and a hobbling Little One came to visit. Lily was hilarious, as usual. She had Leroy and Hiram cracking up. It's because she's a kid and gets to say almost anything she wants. Brittany was excited to meet Rachel's dad's for the first time because she was convinced they were always on that gay cruise. Okay, so sometimes she isn't the brightest crayon in the box... wait, that isn't a good one for Britts, because of course she's the brightest crayon! Let's say that she isn't the sharpest... no... ummm... she isn't always... the... smartest.
Oh! And when she left she sent everyone in Glee Club including Finn and Mr. Schuester a text saying that Rachel was in the hospital with "appendixitis." At least she got the word almost right.
How do I know this, you ask?
Because she also sent the text to me... and Rachel. I sent her a reply text asking her what she was doing and she said:
From Britt Britt:
Making sure that my bff's gf gets all the get well cards and flowers and candy that she should have bc shes sick!
From Britt Britt:
Wait she cant have candy can she...?
From Britt Britt:
Whatevs! I'll make sure that she has A LOT of visitors!
I'm a little nervous about how she's gonna go about doing this...
I also know that she did this because Kurt, Mercedes and Blaine are already here. I'm positive that there are too many visitors in here right now. Good thing my Dad is like the best doctor in the hospital or this wouldn't be happening.
There aren't enough chairs for everyone, so people are standing around. I'm in the bed with Rach, Leroy and Hiram are in the chairs provided and Klaincedes are just up against the wall parallel to the foot of the bed. AND Rachel isn't even the only person in this room. Her roommate is a seven year-old with a broken femur. Luckily her parents are super cool and aren't upset about all of Rachel's visitors.
"How does a vegan get appendicitis?" Mercedes asks with her tude.
"I think anyone can get appendicitis, Wheeze," I respond and get a little tap from Rachel.
"I think it's all the roughage I consume on a daily basis, Mercedes," Rachel says and gives me a little pinch on my thigh. It's a flirty pinch.
I'm glad that even when she's sick as a dog, she's still flirting with me. It's cute. Like, really cute, actually. I'd kiss her if her dads weren't in the room.
"So, when's the operation?" Blaine asks from the corner of the room.
"Tomorrow morning," Rachel answers, "they have the antibiotics going so I should be okay until then."
"But she can't eat or drink anything until after the operation," I add.
"WHAT?" Mercedes shouts, then she looks at Kurt and goes, "I'm never getting appendicitis."
"I don't think you get a choice when it happens," a voice from outside the room says. I know exactly who's voice that is. Within seconds a sun dress clad Quinn tip toes into the room to join the crowd. "Hey Rachel, hey... everyone."
"Hi, Quinn," Rachel says with her million dollar smile. She looks genuinely happy to see her. I think I might be, too.
"I got a text from Brittany saying that you were here. How are you feeling?" Quinn asks and awkwardly tries to find a place to stand within the crowd.
"Well, since they started administering antibiotics, I feel much better. I'm starting to get slightly peckish, however, and as Santana said before, I can't eat anything," Rachel wordily answers.
"Can you chew gum?" Kurt asks.
"What?" I ask. Like, who thinks of that?
"You know what? I'm gonna go ask a nurse," Hiram says jumping up from his seat.
"I'm going to come with you!" Leroy adds and stands up as well.
We all watch them walk out and then Rachel says, "They aren't used to this many teenagers in one place." She kind of ducks her head down and shakes it a little bit. I think that was a subtle way of saying that they aren't used to her having friends. The arm that I've had around her shoulders this whole time is squeezing her a little tighter. I even throw in a kiss to the top of her head for good measure.
"Have I ever told you two how adorably gross you are?" Mercedes asks and then gets a text message or something... yeah it's a text message.
I bet it's from a certain Trouty Mouth!
Weird.
"Hey, Rach, I think we're gonna get going," Kurt says as he grabs Blaine's hand, "We promised my Dad that we'd have dinner with him tonight."
Rachel smiles and says, "Thank you so much for coming. I wasn't really expecting anyone to visit me, it's a pretty common ailment."
"Oh come on, Rachel, we love you... even if you are a little selfish sometimes and do crazy things to people... not the time..." she fades out when she catches a glimpse of the death glare I'm giving her, "I'm going to head out, too."
"We'll be back tomorrow, okay hun?" Kurt says as hugs Rachel.
"Yeah, after your surgery," Blaine says from the foot of the bed.
"Okay," Rachel says with a big beautiful smile.
"Break a leg," Mercedes says when she gets her turn to hug Rachel, "I know you'd be all pissed if I had said good luck."
Through a tiny laugh, Rachel returns, "This is a little different than a stage performance, Mercedes, but I graciously accept your wish."
"Even when you're sick you have a lot to say," Wheezy says as she heads for the door.
"Bye guys!" I say waving to them as they back out of the door.
"So, how long did it take you get her to come here?" Quinn asks when she's sure that Klainecedes is gone.
"Well, we woke up at about 10 and we didn't get here until about 11:30," I say to Quinn but I'm looking at Rachel by the time I'm done saying it.
"Are they gone?" I hear Hiram say from the door. Quinn nods and then he and Leroy walk back into the room.
"We got you every flavor of gum the gift shop had, babygirl," Leroy says producing a bag full of packs of gum from behind his back, "I personally want to the try the apple pie flavored one."
Rachel giggles as she takes the bag from L, "Thanks Daddy. Thanks Papa. Gum anyone?"
"Got any watermelon flavored?" I ask peeking into the bag.
"Spearmint?" Quinn asks.
"Hmmm... check and check," Rachel says she pulls out a lime green pack and a regular green pack, "And here's the apple pie gum Daddy wanted."
"Thanks, babygirl."
"You know, I think we should be thanking Santana. If she wasn't so darn smart and pushy, our little girl would probably still be at home clutching her belly in pain," Hiram says and I can feel my face getting pink.
"I just have a good memory," I say ducking my head down a little.
"Oh please, don't act like you aren't a secret genius!" Quinn jumps in, "I saw your SAT scores! You got a 1980 without even studying!"
"It needs to be higher," I mumble.
"And we're gonna study together, right, beautiful? NYU isn't going to know what hit them," Rachel says nudging into me, "Ow."
"Be careful, babe."
"Mercedes is right, adorably gross," Quinn says and then looks at the clock on the wall, "Wow, it's quarter to eight already?"
"I guess so," Hiram says also looking down at his watch.
"You two don't have to go you know, it's pedes, parents get to stay all night," I say to them.
"We know, but..." Leroy starts with hesitation, "we figured that you might want to stay here with her tonight."
I cannot believe that Leroy was the one to say that to me. Leroy. He's the one who's always like "hands off my babygirl!" or "you two better be three cushions away from each other!"
"So, we're going to go home, knowing that our daughter is with someone that cares about her," H says as he gets up from the chair he's been sitting in. He kisses me on the top of my head and then circles around the bed and kisses Rachel's cheek, "We'll be here bright and early tomorrow, okay darling?"
"Okay, Papa."
Leroy walks over to Rachel and kisses her on the cheek as well. He looks up at me and says, "No funny business," and walks away from the bed. Hiram takes his hand when Leroy gets to him and he says, "Bright and early, babygirl."
"Okay, Daddy."
"Thank you for visiting her, Quinn. It was wonderful seeing you," Hiram says and after Quinn smiles and blushes he and Leroy wave one more time to all of us and walk out of the room.
"I should probably head out, too," Quinn says standing up off of the wall she's been leaning on, "Could I come and visit tomorrow?"
Why is she asking?
"Of course you can, Quinn! Why would you even feel like you had to ask?" Rachel says with a little laugh, "We're friends."
I don't think Quinn expected that come out of Rachel's mouth.
I didn't expect that to come out of Rachel's mouth.
"Oh... okay... ummm... I'll be here tomorrow, then," Quinn says through her blush.
"Come here!"
Quinn doesn't move.
"I'm going to hug you, but I'm not really allowed to leave this bed, so you need to come to me," Rachel says after she rolls her eyes. She's spending too much time with me.
"Oh..." Quinn utters and then pretty much tip toes her way over to Rachel. I watch as Rachel grabs Quinn's hand and yanks her down to her. Sneaky.
When the hug is over Rachel says, "See, now that wasn't so bad was it?"
Quinn just laughs and shakes her head.
"See you tomorrow, Q," I say.
"See you tomorrow."
I can't sleep. Exhaustion finally smacked Rachel in the face and she's snuggled up to me sound asleep. I have the TV on and she's here snoring away. She doesn't snore very loud. It's little and cute. I wouldn't be able to fall asleep without it. I mean, granted I can't fall asleep right now, anyways, but still.
Hmm... is that the door opening? Do nurses check in during the night. It isn't really that late, maybe they just assume Rach is awake because she's sixteen and sixteen year-olds don't fall asleep at 9:30. Even when they're sick.
"Hola," I hear a quiet familiar voice.
What is she doing here? What should I do? Should I pretend I'm asleep? Should I talk to her? Aaah! I have like, a millisecond!
Ummm...
"Hi, Mamá," looks like I made my decision.
"Is she...?"
"Sí. It's been a long day."
I can barely see her because the room is dark and the TV is shining in my face, but I know that she's looking at us up and down. Rachel is asleep and I'm holding her.
"¿Su padre viene abajo?" she asks fiddling with the chart at the foot of Rachel's bed.
"Sí. Que realmente le gusta Rachel...y él lo admite," I whisper through my pounding heart. That might wake Rachel up.
"Yo sé."
That's it. She knows. Well no shit she knows! If I wasn't holding Rachel right now, I'd be right in her face.
"Sé que te apoya, Mija y yo... y estoy tratando."
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
I think my heart just stopped beating.
"Tienes que entender que esto es difícil para mí, Míja. Toda mi vida me ha enseñado que esto," she gestures to Rachel and me, "es un pecado, pero tú eres mi hija y te amo. Y esto es lo que eres..."
I can't even breathe. Where is this coming from? I... I... I don't even know.
"Yo no quiero perderte para siempre."
I can't respond. I don't even know if I have control of my lungs, never mind trying to say something to her.
"Dile que le deseo buena suerte en su operación de mañana," she says to me and then turns around, walking out of the room.
Suddenly, I feel the arm that Rachel has had around my waist, tighten and I hear a tired, raspy voice say, "Breathe."
"She..." I start but the tears building in my throat stop it.
"I know, beautiful," Rachel says looking up at me and kissing my cheek.
"You heard it all?" I sniffle out.
"And I understood most of it," she says with a smile and with the light from the TV flashing on her face, I can see a couple tears falling down her cheeks.
"I love you so much, Rachel," I say wiping her tears away with my thumbs.
"Y te amo, Santana. Mucho mucho," she says with a giggle.
I laugh a little with her, but I let it die. I think of something that kills my laughter, "I still think there's a long way to go with her..."
"She's headed in the right direction, though. Look at it that way. She wants to understand, it's just difficult for her and she knows it. Time. That's what she needs," she says to me and adjusts her arm so that her hand is now resting on my bare stomach. She yawns really big and says, "I think I need to go back to sleep, though."
"Okay, babe. You have a big day tomorrow, you should sleep," I say and then kiss her forehead.
"Good night, beautiful."
"I love you."
"I love you, too," she says back and I can't help but kiss her.
Well, whenever she speaks it's like her lips are just asking for mine to touch them! I can't turn them down. Ever!
¿Que quiere? - What do you want?
Está en mucho dolor. ¡Miras! - She's in a lot of pain. Look!
Es mi trabajo - It's my job
Pero podrías haber salido y no lo hizo- But you could have left and you didn't
Ella está enferma y tú... y tú... cuidas sobre ella - She's sick and you... and you... care about her
¿Su padre viene abajo? - Did your father come down?
Sí. Que realmente le gusta Rachel... y él lo admite - Yes. He really likes Rachel... and he supports this.
Sé que te apoya, Míja y yo... y estoy tratando. - I know he supports you and I... and I'm trying.
Tienes que entender que esto es difícil para mí, Míja. Toda mi vida me ha enseñado que esto - You have to understand that this is difficult for me, Míja. My whole life I have been taught that this
es un pecado, pero tú eres mi hija y te amo. Y esto es lo que eres... - is a sin, but you are my daughter and I love you. And this is who you are...
Yo no quiero perder te para siempre - I don't want to lose you forever.
Dile que le deseo buena suerte en su operación de mañana. - Tell her I wished her good luck in her surgery tomorrow
A/N: Look at this! Less than week has passed and here's an update. It's happening! I'm also utilizing my time better. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you think!