Disclaimer: I am just borrowing them for the fun of writing, BUT I do own the plot, ideas and original characters.
A/N: I edited this chapter, so all mistakes are mine.
A/N2: This story is mostly AU after Mash-up (1x08), but with some of the topics discussed in the later episodes and music used, I may sneak in a conversation, cover the same topic, or use the same song, but I will put my own twist on it and may use some of the music.
...
A/N3: I'm using the experience I have in our local hospital's ER for this. Every hospital is different, so things may not be set up the same, so just letting you know. Also, I'm not in the medical field, so I'm keeping the medical explanation to a minimum, but I still hope you get the general idea.
...
"All available units in the area of the Market Street and Spring Street intersection. There is a two car injury accident. The intersection is completely blocked in all directions. Fire and EMS (emergency medical services) are en-route, but traffic control is needed to get them through. Specific injuries unknown at this time."
"We're not to far from there," Officer Lynn Ortiz commented to Ethan, reaching to flip on the lights and sirens.
Ethan nodded, grabbing the radio, "unit two-nine-five responding to Market and Spring crash. ETA two minutes," he replied as Lynn blared past cars that pulled out of her way and took a few side streets to reach Spring Street and it was easy to find the direction of the accident, with the huge back-up already several blocks long.
"Ten-four, unit two-nine-five."
"Damn," Ethan couldn't see the accident itself, but glanced around and spoke into the radio, "back-up on Spring is already three blocks long, we're going to need as many units as possible," he turned to Lynn, "jump into the turn lane and go as far as you can, but watch yourself."
She nodded and pulled onto the street, following the center lane as far as she could, "there it is," she motioned ahead to the intersection where cars were stopped, some with doors open, as if the driver's had jumped out to help in a hurry.
"Shit! What are they doing?" He exclaimed, seeing a ton of people around a pick-up truck, but with so many cars around, he couldn't see the other car involved.
"That's as far as I can go, sir," Lynn said, stopping a good distance away because cars were turning around and blocking the road.
"That's fine, we'll have to walk from here. Start directing these cars out of the back-up and I'll get the first aid kit and go see what's going on," he said adjusting his radio on his shoulder.
"Got it," she nodded.
The two officers slid out of their SUV and Ethan grabbed the first aid kit from the back end and slid some blue rubber gloves onto his hands, unsure what he'd find. With the bag over his shoulder he headed towards the accident, seeing the mass of people moving the truck, "Lieutenant Ballard-Puckerman on scene. There's a pick-up pinning a silver car to the light pole. Driver of truck looks to be stable. Condition of second vehicle's passengers unknown at this time. A lot of drivers have stopped to help move the truck off the second car," Ethan froze once he got a better view of the car, the license plate now visible and the Toyota Corolla's plate's characters burning into his head, "Rachel!" He gasped, double timing it to her car, just as the large group of people got the truck moved away, so someone could get to her. "You gotta push your feelings aside and focus on taking care of her," he thought, as he reached the car, "what happened?" He asked, thankful to hear the sounds of sirens getting closer.
"The light changed green, she went and then this truck came out of nowhere and just plowed her into the light pole," one guy said.
Taking a deep breath, Ethan nodded, "let's get this door open, so I can check on her," he said calmly, seeing all of her windows were shattered. Shining a pen light inside, he found her lifeless body: her arms and face covered in cuts and scrapes from the glass, with blood all over, "oh Rachel," he murmured, holding back several emotions.
"You know her?" Someone asked, hearing him say her name.
"Yeah," he commented as he and two other guys managed to pull the destroyed door open enough so he could crawl into the passenger seat, "Rachel," he used his light to shine down towards her legs to see if she had any visible fractures, but at the moment all he could see were cuts from the glass, "come on, Rachel, wake up for me," he rested a gentle hand on her shoulder as he ran his hand along her sides and pressed two fingers to her neck, relieved to feel a weak pulse there, "she's alive," he called out, "come on, Rachel, open your eyes," he begged and he heard a faint groan from her, "hey, Rach, come on," he coxed.
Rachel felt like her body was being held down by a ton of weights, but hearing a familiar voice saying her name, she forced herself to focus, pushing her eyes open, and coughed, causing her to clench her eyes shut in pain, "owe," she groaned.
"Rach," Ethan said softly, seeing her eyes briefly, "I know it hurts, but I need you to focus on me."
She let her eyes open again and aside from seeing Ethan, she heard all the voices and sirens and then the pain over took her, "what happened?" She gasped, feeling tears in her eyes.
Ethan rested his hand on her cheek in comfort and crawled in a little further so he could look at her, "you've been in a car accident. Do you know what day it is?" He asked.
"Saturday, October twenty-third," she choked out trying not to move because it hurt to much.
"That's great," he closed his eyes briefly to relax himself, "okay, Rachel, I need you to stay calm for me. Help's on the way, but I'm gonna check a few things," he told her.
She nodded and whimpered as her neck and head hurt, "everything hurts," she choked out.
"I know and I wish I could take the pain away, but it'll go away soon, I promise. I'm gonna rest my hand on a few places on your body and I need you to tell me of you can feel it," he said, "okay?"
"M'kay," she whispered.
He laid his hand on her right thigh, just enough so she could notice it, and when she said she could fell it, he continued, checking her other leg, and her arms and when he was content that she had feeling in all of her extremities, he gently started feeling around for any broken bones, doing his best to avoid any places where there were cuts or scrapes; especially the ones with glass still in them.
"Boss, is there anything I can help with?" Lynn asked appearing behind him.
"Yeah, get me some of the gauze," he said, motioning to the first aid kit.
Lynn dug out a package and handed it to him and as she did, she gasped, "isn't that your son's girlfriend?"
Ethan nodded, "yes, it's Rachel," he replied calmly.
Hearing 'son' Rachel's eyes widened, "Noah! We had a fight last night... You've... you've gotta tell him I love him, please," she begged, "and my dads! They're going to be worried sick! And Abby!"
Ethan leaned over and looked at her, "right now, I'm concerned about taking care of you. You can tell Noah and your dads that later and you'll see Abby soon enough," he promised, "there's gonna be some pressure, but I gotta put some gauze on your head to help get the bleeding to stop," he told her and leaned over and gently laid the the soft gauze against her head, causing her to scream out in pain, "I'm so sorry Rachel," he told her, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from getting emotional at the moment.
"The EMTs are here," Lynn said.
Ethan shifted and went to move, but Rachel's hand latched on to his, "don't leave me," she begged.
"I'm not gonna leave you," he promised her, squeezing her hand gently, "but I gotta let the EMTs get in here and do their job," he assured her.
"Can't you do it?"
Ethan turned to look at Lynn and one of the EMTs, "she doesn't want me to leave," he said.
"If you can stay and keep her calm, that will help us a lot," the man admitted
Though Ethan was reluctant to stay because he was afraid he'd be in the way, he remained right there, holding onto her hand as an EMT climbed into the car from the back and started checking her out. "Hey, I'm Chris, what's your name?" He asked her.
"Rachel," she replied, her voice light as if she was tired.
Chris nodded, "Rachel, do you know who he is?" He asked, already knowing from Lynn what her and Ethan's relationship was.
"He's my boyfriend's dad," she said, "but he's my dad, too."
"Awesome," Chris smiled, content that she was with it and there wasn't any severe head trauma they had to look for.
Ethan turned to Chris, "she doesn't seem to have anything digging into her and she has feeling in her arms and legs."
"Good," he nodded, looking at Rachel's position, "how strong are you?" He asked Ethan.
Ethan raised a curious eyebrow out him, "enough, why?"
"We may be able to use the car seat as a backboard. If she can hold onto you so she doesn't move, we can lay the seat down and then we can lay her back and maybe try and get her out the back window if you help us lift her, since you're right here."
"Yeah, I'll help anyway I can," he told them with a nod.
Between Ethan and the EMTs they were able to get a brace wrapped around her neck and once they were sure that if they moved the seat no metal pieces would dig into her, Ethan shifted so he could lay across her with the steering wheel against his back, "okay, Rachel, wrap your arms around me so we can move the seat," Ethan told her.
"But I'm gonna get blood all over you," she replied.
He stared at her, "I don't care."
Rachel gave in and lifted her stiff arms up, slipping them around him the best she could and Ethan put his left arm around her back and once he was sure that he had her, he nodded at the other guys.
When the seat fell back, Rachel gasped and clung to Ethan, trying not to start crying again.
"Hey, it's okay," Ethan murmured, gently rubbing her back, "I've got you, you're gonna be fine," he promised.
"But it hurts," she sobbed.
"I know," he sighed, "and I wish I could take the pain away, but I can't. Once we get you to the hospital and checked out, they'll patch you up and you'll be as good as new," he assured her.
"Hospital? What one?" She gasped as they slowly laid her back on the seat, now almost flat.
"St. Rita's," Chris said, "Dr. Stevens is there today," he told her.
Rachel relaxed at that, "good, he's my boyfriend's doctor."
Chris nodded, "Rachel, Ethan and I are going to lift you up, so try and keep as still as possible, so we can pass you to the guys outside and get you on a backboard, alright? I need you to stay still because we don't want you to jostle anything around in case you have internal injuries we can't see," he explained.
"Okay," Rachel nodded as best she could, but her head was pounding, "my head hurts," she murmured.
"You've got a pretty nasty gash up there, but we've got you bandaged up enough to get you to the hospital," he told her.
"Kay," she clenched her eyes shut for a second and then grabbed Ethan's hand.
"You're gonna be fine, Rach," Ethan assured her.
She took a deep breath and nodded, trying to calm herself down as Chris and Ethan carefully slipped their arms under her and on a count of three they lifted her up.
As Rachel felt her body move, pain shot through her and she gasped in shock, her world going black once more.
...
When Rachel woke again, she saw blue and gray and as she focused more, she realized it was the blue sky with gray clouds and when she went to move, she felt stiff and held down, which scared her, causing her whimper.
"Ethan!" Chris called out, "stay calm Rachel, you're gonna be okay."
"What happened?" She gasped, recognizing him.
"You passed out when we moved you out of the car," he explained.
"Hey Rach," Ethan said, when he reached her, "welcome back."
"It really hurt when you moved me," she admitted.
"Sorry about that, but we won't move you again, well we will, but it won't be as bad," Chris assured her.
"Okay," she whispered, letting her eyes turn towards Ethan, biting her lip as the pain coursed through her and she felt tears falling, "will you come to the hospital with me?"
"Of course I will," he found her hand and squeezed it gently as he reached up and wiped her eyes with his other hand, "I know you're hurting, but you're okay, I promise you," he assured her.
She took a deep breath and squeezed his hand, "I... I know, I'm... scared."
"You have every right to be," he replied, "and I'm right here. I got your bag from the car and didn't see anything important, other than the papers in the glove box, so I grabbed them and put them in your bag. Is there anything else you'd like me to get before we leave?"
"Um," she relaxed, "just my keys and my cell phone."
"Already got those," he smiled.
"Okay," she whispered.
"I'm gonna go talk to the officer I was on patrol with today, Lynn, and I'll meet you at the ambulance," he promised, squeezing her hand once more before looking at Chris, across from her, "I'll be back in a few."
Chris nodded, "okay. She's stable enough, but we do need to get her to the hospital soon, so make it quick."
Ethan nodded and moved away from them as they started wheeling Rachel over to the ambulance and after speaking to Lynn briefly, he removed the gloves he'd had on and dug out his cell phone, staring at it before pulling up the Berry's house number and hitting the call button. On the second ring, David answered, "hey Ethan!"
"Hi David," Ethan said softly, taking a deep breath and rubbing his forehead.
"Are you alright?" David quickly noticed Ethan didn't seem like himself.
"Where's Alan?" He replied, just as soft.
"In the den. What's going on?" David asked, getting slightly worried at his tone.
"Could you get him and put me on speaker phone?" He requested.
"Um, sure," David moved from the kitchen into the den and hit the button on the phone to turn the speaker on and Alan turned to him, with a 'what's up?' expression.
"Shit," Ethan hissed, "guys there's no easy way to say this, but could you two come down to St. Rita's emergency room and meet me?"
"Are you alright? Did you get hurt at work?" Alan asked quickly, knowing he was supposed to be working that weekend.
"Me? Oh, no... Um... It's Rachel," he bit his lip, "she was... I was a first responder to a car accident a bit ago and she was involved and I wanted you guys to hear it from me."
The fathers gasped and shared looks of panic and worry, "our Rachel?" David gasped.
"Yes," Ethan nodded, "I'm sorry, guys. This isn't a call I wanted to make, but I wanted to be the one to tell you and let you guys meet us there."
"What happened?" Alan asked, slipping his arm around David.
"From what I heard, she went on a green light and a truck from another way plowed through a red light and smashed her into a stop light pole," Ethan said, "she's... I'm not a doctor, but she doesn't seem to have any broken bones, but hurts everywhere and has a lot of cuts and scrapes from the broken glass and a pretty nasty gash on her head from hitting the door... She passed out when we moved her out of the car, but she knows me and is talking, which are good signs and I can't talk long because they want to leave, but we're going to St. Rita's and Brad is the doctor working today," he explained quickly.
"We're on our way," David said wiping his eyes, "have you told Noah or Deborah yet?"
"No," Ethan shook his head as he walked towards the ambulance, "I was going to call Deb when we got to the hospital and have her tell Noah," he explained, "I wanted to call you guys first."
"I'll go tell them and meet you at the hospital. She shouldn't be hearing it from a phone call," Alan said, "nor should Noah."
"But you should be here with Rachel," Ethan replied quickly, "I can call..."
"David will be up there, and I'll tell Deborah and Noah and then we'll all be up there; she'll want him to know," Alan explained, getting a nod of agreement from David.
"Okay... As long as you're willing," Ethan admitted. "I... You're her dads, officially, even if she's another daughter to me."
"We know, but right now she needs someone familiar and we know she feels you're another dad, so you're right where you need to be. We'll be up there, soon, and Alan will go tell Noah and Deborah," David said, "and though we don't need to say this, we really appreciate you taking care of our little girl," he added with a smile.
"You're welcome," Ethan smiled, "see you guys soon."
Hanging up the phone, David and Alan shared a long hug, both trying to think positively, "are you sure you're going to be okay to drive?" Alan asked David.
"Yeah, I will be," David nodded. "You sure you don't want me to go with you to school?"
"I'll be okay. I'll tell Deborah first and then we can go tell Noah," Alan explained.
The two men grabbed their keys and wallets and after another long hug, they parted and got into their cars, David heading in the direction of the hospital, while Alan made his way to McKinley, the entire time trying to figure out just what he'd say to Deborah and then to Puck. Parking as close as he could to the school, off to one side he saw the football field where the boys were practicing and took a deep breath, knowing that would be a hard conversation to have with him.
Making his way towards the gym, he slipped into the one open door and glanced around and saw Deborah standing by the bleachers while the team did a routine, so he walked over towards her. She saw him, with a look that didn't seem happy, "Alan? What's going on?" She asked, knowing there was no reason why Rachel's dad would be there on Saturday.
"Ethan called, um," he scratched his head and at the panic he saw in her eyes he quickly went on, "no, no, he's fine!" He assured her, "he responded to an accident earlier," he took a deep breath and exhaled, "it's Rachel," he said shakily.
"Oh no!" She gasped, "is she alright? How is she? What hospital is she being taken to? What happened? Why are you here? Why are you not going to the hospital?" She spewed a million questions from her mouth from shock.
Alan rested his hands on her shoulders, "they were getting ready to leave the accident scene when he called, which was maybe twenty minutes ago. She's going to St. Rita's and David is on his way there now and I wanted to come and tell you, and hoped that we could tell Noah," he bit his lip, "you didn't need to hear it over the phone, nor does Noah."
She took a deep breath and nodded, just as Quinn came over, "hi Alan! What's going on? Is everything alright?" She asked, noticing both adults looked upset.
Alan looked at Quinn, "um, Rachel's been in a car accident," he said softly.
Quinn gasped, her hand flying to her mouth in shock, "is she okay?"
"Ethan says she was conscious and talking, but is in a lot of pain; he was a first responder and they were just getting ready to go to the hospital when he called," he explained.
Deborah took another deep breath and rested her hand on Quinn's shoulder, "would you make sure everyone gets out of the gym? I'll lock the door, so once you leave, you won't be able to get back in. We are going to go tell Noah," she said, grabbing her purse and clipboard.
She nodded, "of course. I hope she's okay. As soon as I'm done here, Finn and I will come up to the hospital. What one?"
"St. Rita's. Brittany's dad is there, so she's in good hands," Alan said, unsure if he was telling her to let her know, or to assure himself.
Quinn nodded, and silently jogged towards the rest of the team and told them practice was over for the day.
Deborah and Alan left the gym and as she had said, she locked the doors, but the team was still able to leave through them and once they were in the hall, she looked at Alan, "how are you doing?" She asked softly.
Alan took a deep breath and exhaled, rubbing his forehead, "I'm a mess; I'm trying to stay strong for everyone, but I just wanna cry. This is my baby girl, my Rachel. This shouldn't be happening to her or our families. I just want to take some time for myself, but I can't right now, so I'm not okay, but I will be once we tell Noah and can get to the hospital," he said honestly, taking another deep breath to calm himself down, holding back the tears that were close to falling.
She put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently as they walked outside and over towards the football field, "I was there last year," she told him, "I know how you feel," she explained softly. "She's going to be alright," she added as they made it to the field and saw several guys practicing passes while others worked on plays, which was what Deborah could tell Noah and Finn were doing, by their practice jerseys, "Ben," she said trying to get her brother's attention.
Ben turned around and looked at her, "hey sis, Alan. What's up?" He asked curiously.
"Um, we need to talk to Noah, and you might as well call Finn, Mike, Matt and Kurt in, too. They're gonna want to hear this," she said softly.
"What's wrong?" He looked at her and then Alan.
Alan cleared his throat and sighed, "Rachel was in a car accident a little while ago."
Ben's eyes widened and turned around, "Puckerman, Hudson, Rutherford, Chang, Hummel, front and center!" He called out and turned back to them, "is she okay?"
Alan nodded, "last I heard. Ethan was the responding officer and called us just as they were leaving the scene to take her to the hospital," he explained.
"Hey mom, hey dad, what's going on?" Puck asked as he and the guys came over.
The three adults exchanged glances and Alan stepped forward, resting his hands on Noah's shoulders, "Noah, I have... I have some bad news," he said softly.
Puck's face fell, "no... please don't... Is it... Did... What is it?" He asked quickly, a million thoughts running through his mind.
"Rachel's been in a car accident," he replied.
"No," Puck shook his head, "no, you can't be serious!" He exclaimed, staring at him, but the tears in his mom's eyes and the sad look on Alan and Ben's faces were enough to tell him he wasn't joking, "is she... where is she?"
"By now, she's at St. Rita's, your dad's with her and David should be there by now, too," he explained.
"Dad? How did he get there?" Puck asked, fighting back tears.
"He responded to the accident and went with Rachel to the hospital," he told him.
"Fuck! This is all my fault!" He exclaimed, scuffing his foot on the track.
"How can you possibly think it's your fault? You weren't even there," Alan asked in shock.
"If I hadn't blown my top last night about something so stupid, she wouldn't have gotten pissed and taken off to your place for the night and then been out at this time of day!" Puck sighed and ran his hands over his face, "damn it!" He snapped. "She shouldn't have... I can't... I never even got to apologize to her," he cracked, tears falling from his eyes.
Deborah rushed forward, needing the comfort of her son just as much as he needed her at the moment and threw her arms around him, pulling him close, "Noah, she's gonna be alright," she rubbed his back, "you've got plenty of time to talk to her."
"I should have let her explain last night. I was a fucking asshole to her!" He murmured.
Finn rested his hand on Puck's shoulder, "hey bro, she's gonna be alright," he said, looking at Alan, who nodded in agreement.
"I've gotta... I need to..." He pulled back from Deborah, "I've gotta see her."
Deborah nodded, "go change and we'll go to the hospital," she said.
He didn't wait for any more than that; he took off as fast as he could to the locker room to change, having his shirt off before he even got in the doors. Fumbling with the lock on his locker, he finally got it open and in record time had changed clothes, skipping socks, and just putting on his shoes, not caring at the moment. He only had one thing on his mind and that was getting to Rachel. "I'm so sorry, baby. I love you so much," he thought, wiping his eyes as he stuffed his things into his bag and looked up to see Finn at his locker, his clothes changed, too.
"She's gonna be okay," Finn told him, resting a hand on his shoulder.
Puck closed his eyes and nodded trying to tell himself the same thing, "that doesn't make me feel any better about how I treated her last night. I feel like this is all my fault," he said with a sigh, throwing his bag over his shoulder.
The two guys remained silent and walked out of the locker room together, finding Quinn waiting with Deborah and Alan, who had moved his SUV closer. Quinn knew Puck wouldn't be in a good mood, so she just gave him a quick hug and told him she was thinking of them and promised they'd come up to the hospital soon.
Puck nodded his thanks and slid into the backseat of Alan's SUV, while his mom and Alan got into the front and soon the three were driving towards the hospital, all hoping and praying that Rachel was okay.
...
When David arrived at St. Rita's, he found a parking spot near the emergency room and saw a single ambulance parked by the doors, so he knew that they were there already. Speed-walking towards the automatic doors, he walked in and looked around, seeing Ethan turning a corner, "Ethan!" He called out.
Hearing his name, Ethan stepped back and looked down the hall, seeing David and motioned for him to follow, "they're just taking her into a room," he said.
David caught up to him and the two walked towards the room they'd wheeled Rachel into and Brad and some nurses were helping the EMTs get her onto the hospital bed and Brad immediately began checking her over from head-to-toe, giving nurses orders as they grabbed some supplies supplies. Dr. Stevens kept talking to Rachel to keep her from getting upset or scared, "do you have any medication allergies, Rachel?" He asked gently.
"No, not that I know of, but I've never taken any strong pain medications before," she replied.
Brad nodded, "I won't give you too much, but I can't give it to you right now until I know where exactly you're injured, if at all," he said sadly, "you don't seem to have any broken bones, but I need to be sure, okay?"
"Okay," she bit her lip, "I hurt everywhere," she told him.
"I know and I'm sorry I can't give you anything right now, but I will soon. You're doing great, Rachel, just stay calm," he assured her.
"I'll try," she told him, blinking away tears in her eyes.
Seeing her tears, he reached up and wiped her eyes, then rested his hand on her shoulder gently, "I know you're scared, but you're going to be good as new in no time, I promise."
She smiled at him, "thanks."
He nodded and glanced up to see Ethan and David standing in the doorway, "your daddy and Ethan are here. You want them in here?" He asked.
"Yes please," she nodded.
Brad motioned for the two of them to come into the room, "I'm waiting on them to get the CT scan and X-Ray ready, so they'll come up to get her as soon as possible. Keep her still. I'm going to have the lab come get some blood work, so we can get some pain meds going," he said, "when we have the X-Rays back, I'll start removing the glass, but I don't want to do that until I know it's not too deep or into veins or nerves, and so she can have some pain meds because it's going to hurt. Keep her talking, keep her alert," he added, "I'll be back in a few minutes; call me or a nurse if anything changes, okay?"
The men nodded, "thanks Brad," David said.
"Anytime," the doctor replied with a smile and stepped out of the room, pulling the curtain back to give them some privacy.
David walked towards her and leaned over so she could see him, taking her hand in his, "Rachel, sweetie," he smiled at her.
"Daddy," she squeezed his hand back, "I'm so sorry," she sobbed.
"Oh sweetie, don't apologize for anything," he told her, squeezing her hand back and pressing a kiss to her cheek, "you're the only thing that matters."
She looked at him, "but my car..."
"Can be replaced, sweetheart, you can't be. I'm just thankful you're alive; we can worry about everything else later," he told her.
Rachel nodded carefully and clenched her eyes shut, "I'm just glad dad was there; I don't think I'd have been able to make it without being a mess if he hadn't been there," she said looking at Ethan.
Ethan smiled at her, "I'm glad I was there, too," he said, taking her other hand in his, "and you were a model patient," he added with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.
"How's that?" She asked.
He smirked, "you didn't try to punch anyone, scream hysterically or panic. This wasn't the first accident I've responded to and I've seen my share of them, but this was the first one I actually assisted in," he explained.
She blushed, "like I said, if you hadn't been there, I probably wouldn't have been so calm."
...
Brad stepped out into the hallway and went down to one of the nurses stations, calling to have a lab tech come up and when he hung up the phone, one of the nurses handed Rachel's chart and an ID bracelet to him, so he started his way back towards her room when he saw Deborah, Alan and Puck, "hey guys. Room six," he motioned to follow him.
"I know my way around," Puck said slipping past the doctor and quickly moved towards the room, pausing outside the pulled curtain.
Brad stepped around him and the curtain, "Deborah, Noah and Alan are here," he said, motioning for the three arrivals to come around.
Puck was the first to step into the room and his eyes immediately went to his girlfriend, laying flat on her back on the hospital bed, covered with a sheet from her waist down. He quickly noticed her hair was a mess, her face and arms were covered in bloody cuts, "oh baby," he gasped, choking back a sob as he rushed forward, grabbing her hand once he was close enough, "I'm so sorry," he whispered to her, leaning over to press a kiss to her dry lips.
She brought her other arm up carefully to rest against his back as they kissed and when they broke apart, she shook her head, "not now; we can deal with it later," she told him, "I love you so much," she sobbed.
"I love you, too. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you. When dad said you were in a car accident, I thought the worst..." He trailed off.
She wiped his eyes and nodded, "I'm so glad dad showed up when he did. He helped me a lot," she admitted.
Puck looked at his dad, seeing her blood spotting his uniform, "oh shit," he gasped, "what happened?" He asked, looking between Ethan and Rachel.
Ethan bit his lip, "from what I remember hearing she went on a green light and a truck ran a red light and plowed her into the stop light pole," he explained, "when I got there a bunch of people had moved the truck off the car, so we could pry the passenger door open and I crawled in and started checking her out."
"I remember hearing a lot of horns honking, and feeling the truck hit me and then feeling my head hit the window, which I think is when I passed out the first time, the second time was when they moved me," she explained, seeing her dad coming over to her other side of the bed, "hey dad," she said reaching out to him.
"I'm so glad you're alright, sweetheart," Alan whispered.
She nodded, "me too, but my car isn't."
"I don't care about the car," he told her, "I care about you," he said.
"I said the same thing," David commented.
"We all agree with that," Deborah added, moving to stand next to Puck.
"Hey mom," she smiled, "I'm so glad you all are here," she said happy to have her parents and boyfriend there.
A tech came in briefly to get some blood samples and just after that the CT scan and X-Ray tech came up and got her. David went along, since she was under eighteen and the tech was a male and as soon as they were down the hall, Puck plopped down onto the stool by the wall and rubbed his hands over his face, groaning lightly as he took a moment to soak in what had happened.
Deborah walked over to him and slipped her arm around him, "it's okay, Noah, just take a few deep breaths and relax. This is all routine," she assured him, rubbing circles around his back.
He took a few deep breaths and nodded, "I know... but she looks... and... I... I can't..." He clenched his eyes shut and begged himself to calm down, "I know," he said again, "I just didn't know what we'd find when we got here, and now that I know, I'm so relieved," he said, "but I can't stop thinking about how I could have lost her," he admitted. "Can we skip over October twenty-third next year?" He asked hopeful.
The adults in the room laughed lightly, "no, I'm afraid we can't," Alan said, "nice try, though."
"Worth a shot," Puck replied, "how come she still has glass in her cuts?"
"I'm waiting for the X-Rays and CT scan to come back before we start taking some of them out. I don't know how deep they are, and they could be near nerves or arteries," Brad explained, "that's why those were important," he replied. "I also need to know how bad her head is, because I want to give her some pain meds before we start digging around in those cuts; she'll really be hurting then," he added.
Puck nodded and took a deep breath, hating to see her in pain, but knowing the doctor knew what he was doing. "Is she... Will she have to stay over night?"
"At least a night," Brad nodded.
The people in the room tried to relax, but as the eerie silence fell over them, Puck was getting mildly claustrophobic in the small room they were in, "I'll be back," he muttered, slipping out of the room and began walking down the hallway, ignoring his mom calling after him.
Taking a deep breath, he slipped outside and moved towards one side of the hospital, where he could stand out of the way of the passing cars, but still could be found if someone came looking for him. He needed a few minutes to himself and as he leaned against the wall and slowly slid down it, so his knees were bent and was almost sitting on the ground, he rubbed his hands across his face and felt wetness that hadn't been there, and that's when the dam broke as he chocked back a sob, burying his head in his hands as his shoulders shook, trying not to think about how close he was to losing her. "She's gonna be okay. Brad's awesome. I trust him," he thought, taking a few deep breaths and continued his positive mantra for a few minutes until he felt someone's hand on his shoulder and he looked up to see his dad standing there, "hi," he murmured, pushing himself up and leaned against the wall with his eyes closed.
Ethan didn't say anything, he just stepped closer to his son and pulled him into a tight hug, feeling Puck shaking as he continued to sob. Closing his own eyes, he relaxed in relief, positive Rachel would be alright.
Puck's sobs got lighter and slowly he relaxed in his dad's arms enough to breathe normally and after a few moments, pulled back a little, "thanks dad," he said softly, wiping his eyes with his shirt sleeve.
"No thanks needed," Ethan replied honestly.
"Still, thanks. I'm... I'm so many emotions right now," he sighed. "I just had to get out of there and breathe."
"Totally understandable," Ethan agreed, "take all the time you need, though Brad did say Rachel shouldn't be gone too long and she'll probably want you there when she gets back," he said softly.
"Uh, yeah," Puck nodded in agreement and wiped his eyes, "do I look okay?" He asked, hoping he didn't have bright red eyes.
"You look fine," Ethan commented, as the two started walking back towards the hospital entrance.
"Um, you should really change," Puck noted, still seeing the darkened red spots all over his shirt.
"We'll figure something out later," he told him, "once Rachel gets settled."
"Okay," Puck nodded, walking back towards the ER room that Rachel was being treated in and found them just bringing her back, coming from down the opposite end of the hall. He and Ethan waited to the side as the orderly wheeled Rachel's gurney back into the room and he, David and Ethan followed them in and Puck moved right to the free side of Rachel's bed, took her hand and leaned over, kissing her gently, "hey baby," he whispered softly.
Her eyes were closed, but she smiled weakly at his voice and slowly let her eyes drift open, "hi. Noah, are you okay?" She asked, seeing his red face.
"Yeah, I am now," he nodded, carefully brushing his hand over her cheek, "I love you so much and I'm so sorry about last night," he told her.
"I love you, too," she replied, "we both made some bad choices last night that we should talk about soon, but it can wait. You're here and I'm alive, so let's just be thankful for that and talk about the rest later," she suggested.
Puck nodded, wiping his eyes with his free hand and looked at her, "you're right. That's a good idea," he agreed, kissing her again, "you took care of me when I was hurt, now I get to take care of you," he smiled at her.
She smiled, "you better."
...
A/N4: WTG VuhNessUhh! She was the first one to mention she picked up on Ethan's involvement in the crash from the last chapter when it was mentioned he had to work. I wondered if anyone would catch on. Did anyone else?
A/N5: Here's the new chapter and I really hope you all enjoyed! Please let me know. I had intended for a lot more to happen in this chapter, but I'm gonna push it until the next one, I wanted to get it posted for all of you to read; since I did leave it as a nice cliffhanger and I didn't want you guys to wait any longer.
A/N6: I have updated 'Returning Home' and 'Broken Road' in the past week or so and I hope to update 'Starlight' soon, too... It's been a little crazy for me... With mom's appointments in Seattle, my schedule has been thrown off, but the last 5 days I've been off work for an ankle injury and have a few more days off before I have to go to work, so writing as much as I can. It's just a bad sprain that needs time to heal, so spending a lot of time icing it.
A/N7: Speaking of mom... As of December 7th, her doctor said she is 'technically cancer free'! She has to go a few years with being tested every few months and have a clean blood test before they can say she's in remission or cured, but the last CT scan they did showed no cancer cells, so the doctor is quite sure that it is gone. The tumor is gone now to a point he can't even see where it was! This is an awesome Christmas present and he's even saying that he doesn't think she should have a hysterectomy at all, because it could do more harm, because that area of her body has already gone through a lot with all the radiation they did. I really appreciate all of your thoughts, prayers and kind messages! They mean so much and I couldn't have gotten through all of this without you guys, so THANK YOU! Hugs to everyone!
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