It's been a few days and Santana is still in the hospital, she hasn't quite spoken yet, that tube did a number on her throat for the amount of time it was in there. But today, that's all about to change.
Quinn has been staying at the hospital, Santana convinced her to go to cheer camp in the day because she did miss a day and Coach Sue went ballistic at her, but then she comes back at night.
She's started to have nightmares again, ones where Santana never wakes up, so she has to stay in the hospital so that when she wakes up throughout the night, she can see her girlfriend is okay for herself, not that she's told her this though.
Santana opens her eyes and she can't feel the burning sensation she's had in her throat constantly since the tube was removed, it has been lessening over the days but today, it's not there.
She takes a sip of water and looks over to the still sleeping blonde on the cot beside her. She has been waking up to Quinn in her bed the past two nights, so she knows something is going on but thinks she'll tell her when she's ready.
It isn't long before the girl starts to stir and her eyes flutter open, instantly snapping over to Santana, as if to check she's there. She smiles softly and stretches, Santana sees this as her shot, there's no harm in trying, right?
"Good morning mi princesa." She rasps out extremely gruffly.
Quinn's eyes immediately flood and she flings herself into Santana's arms, "I've missed your voice so much." She murmurs into a tanned neck, the Latina's body quickly returned to its normal colour in the first two days, relieving the Lopez family massively.
"It's okay baby." She manages to say again, wrestling Quinn onto the bed completely, laying between her legs, resting her head on Santana's chest, whilst tears still fall.
A gentle hand massages her blonde head lovingly. "It's okay." She continues to chant, trying to calm her girlfriend down. When the cries subside, she speaks again, "You need to get ready."
By this time, her throat is beginning to hurt and so she sips some more water, causing Quinn to shift so that they are face to face.
"Are you okay? Does it still hurt?"
Santana nods, deciding not to speak when she doesn't have to, so that she can save her voice and for it to get stronger.
"I don't need to go to Cheerios today, I want to stay here, I don't want to go." Quinn says, making herself comfortable again.
Santana grabs her whiteboard from her bedside writing, 'We talked about this' and showing it to the girl lying on her chest.
"Tana, I want to be here with you. It's Friday, she'll be extra mean and they're going on that retreat next week so I don't need to be there today."
"You're going too." Santana rasps out.
"Santana, there is no chance I am going away for five days, not while you're in here." Quinn huffs out with finality in her voice.
'You are' The Latina writes on the whiteboard, to which Quinn, again, argues that she's not.
"Q, I'm fine here, you need to go." She stumbles out over time as her voice is becoming extremely hoarse now.
"I can't leave you here, okay? I need to see that you're okay because four days ago, I saw you near enough dead, I just need to be close for now. Please stop talking, I can tell it's hurting you." Quinn pleads while looking into tired brown eyes, caressing her cheek.
Quinn leans in for a soft kiss before lying back down on Santana's chest.
It isn't long before Blaine and Mari arrive with some decent breakfast and they sit around and chat, with Santana mumbling the odd sentence, something that makes Quinn smile brightly every time.
"Mija, why aren't you at practise today?" Maribel asks.
"There's more important things than cheerleading right now mama." Quinn smiles back, to which Maribel just rolls her eyes good-naturedly.
When Quinn leaves the room to go and get coffee with Maribel, Santana sees this as her chance to recruit Blaine for help.
"I need your help." She rasps, which grabs his attention from the TV they had been mindlessly watching.
He nods and passes her the whiteboard, she holds up the words, 'Convince Q to go next week'.
"She's saying she won't go?" Blaine asks in confusion and Santana nods.
"Why?"
And Santana just points to herself and begins to write again, 'Tell her I'll be fine' she shows him and then turns it over to write more, 'Use Mami'.
"I'll try," he says genuinely, "rub it off quick, they're coming back."
Santana quickly rubs off the words as her two favourite girls re-enter the room and the blonde cautiously places herself beside her girlfriend, she leans down to ask, "Are you okay?" And Santana just nods, hoping that Blaine will convince Quinn to go.
The next day Santana wakes up feeling exhausted and worse than she's felt in a while, she's shaking and feels sick, but she doesn't want to let Quinn know, so as the blonde stirs awake, she greets her usually and just invites her to lay down, this way they don't have to talk and hopefully Quinn won't know anything is wrong.
They lie for around 10 minutes before Santana feels the overwhelming sensation of her stomach turning, she's going to be sick.
She rushes from the bed to the bathroom, which is hard considering she still has one IV and is unsteady on her legs, and throws herself to the floor, heaving into the toilet bowl.
The Latina feels a presence behind her and then her hair being pulled back.
She heaves once more and empties the contents of her stomach, gasping for breath once she's finished.
When Santana first came around into consciousness, she was sick for the first two days and they were advised that this was normal and it was good, a sign that her body was removing the toxins, but she hasn't been sick since and this worries Quinn that it's happening again.
The blonde decides to sit behind her girlfriend and rubs her back until she finishes heaving. When Santana sits back, Quinn can feel her shaking slightly but when she touches her forehead, it is warm.
"Come on baby, I need to get you back into bed, you need the doctor." She huffs out trying to lift the other girl.
"I'm fine Q.." she pauses, "just leave me here a minute." She says as her breathing labours slightly.
Quinn doesn't wait any longer before rushing to the door and shouting for a doctor, whilst keeping an eye on Santana at all times.
Luckily, Dr. Leigh was in hearing distance and comes sprinting into the bathroom.
"Santana, make sure you take long breaths, okay? I need you to calm down. Everything's going to be okay." He speaks calmly. "I'm going to lift you up, we need to get you back into the bed and I need to assess you."
Santana just nods in response, still not able to breathe properly.
Just then, two more nurses rush into the room and one of them tries to remove Quinn.
"I need to be in there! I need to see she's okay." She shouts.
"Miss. Fabray, we're going to do our best for her but I really need you to wait outside so that we can work." The nurse says, gently guiding the blonde from the room and into the hall.
Quinn rushes to the window, only to see Santana struggling to breathe and looking as though she's hyperventilating.
She watches closely until the second nurse closes the blinds, she just slides down the wall and hugs her legs.
The blonde has cried so much recently, she's pretty sure her tear ducts have dried up. She isn't sitting long before Maribel and Blaine arrive. They are extremely confused when they find the blonde sitting on the floor outside of Santana's room.
They both kneel down either side of her and Maribel runs her fingers through short blonde locks, "What's wrong Mija?"
"Somethings happening to her." She mumbles, almost incoherently.
Blaine and Mari shared a confused but worried look, "What do you mean?" Blaine says, and Quinn goes on to explain all about the past 20 minutes.
All three are quiet for a moment before they hear sounds from inside the room behind them, "CLEAR!" And they look each other wide eyed, surely not..
"CLEAR!" They hear again and all jump to their feet, is it possible for three people to simultaneously hear something incorrect?
Blaine and Quinn cling to Maribel, until Dr. Leigh enters the hallway.
"She's alive, it's okay." He reveals and all three begin with the tears.
"Originally, she was suffering with asphyxiation I think, I didn't get time to check properly before she went into cardiac arrest. I am really confused right now though, because up until this morning, everything was looking more than normal, so I really need to run tests to find the issue. I'm really sorry." He finishes sadly.
Maribel lets go of the kids and pulls Dr. Leigh into a hug, "Thank you." She whispers and he squeezes her in response.
They pull apart and he speaks again, "She really needs to rest right now and I would definitely strongly recommend you don't go in there, she's currently asleep. Go home and rest yourselves, I will call you with any updates." He says before turning his back and walking away.
"He's right, I've been in this situation a million times, the best thing we can do right now is be rested for when she's up. We can't do anything for her right now." The older Latina says, teary eyed.
"I can't leave her Mama. What if she's scared when she wakes up, we need to be here?" Quinn whimpers.
"Baby girl.." Mari pauses, composing herself, "Trust me on this. She's going to be fine, she won't be scared when she wakes up, Santana has been here enough times, Dr. Leigh will look after her, I wouldn't trust anyone else."
Blaine puts his arm around Quinn's waist and nods along, he knows his Mami trusts this doctor more than anyone.
The two Lopez's get Quinn to move and they all head home.
When they arrive, the three of them snuggle on the couch, just needing to be close, to appreciate each other.
"Mama, is this going to affect her long term?" Quinn asks out of the blue.
"Hopefully not Mija. I'm hoping we can get this under control before it spirals." Maribel answers honestly.
"It will kill her if she can't pass her medical for the army." Quinn mumbles, and for the first time, Blaine and Maribel realise that this could be what stops Santana's career before it even starts.
It isn't until the next morning that Maribel receives a call to advise Santana is awake and the three of them make their way to the hospital.
It's now Sunday and Quinn was supposed to have been leaving for cheer camp tomorrow for five days. She had spoken with Coach Sue, who had been surprisingly understanding, and the older lady had advised that if Monday morning, Quinn wanted to attend, just to arrive at the bus.
Quinn had politely declined and said she doubted she'd be leaving the hospital, she was too scared to let Santana out of her sight at all after this.
When the three of them arrived, they made it to Santana's room as Dr. Leigh was leaving.
"Morning everyone." He greeted as everyone replied.
"So, I ran the tests and it's showing that Santana had an irregular heartbeat."
"Had?" Blaine says.
"Yeah, I think it may have been stress induced. Last night she did go through a cardio version and everything seems to be back to normal. I still need to keep a close eye on her but it's looking good." He smiles.
Maribel, Blaine and Quinn all breathe a sigh of relief and Mari and Quinn both wipe tears from their eyes.
The blonde decides she needs a moment to compose herself before seeing her girlfriend, so she ushers the other two into the room ahead of her and makes her way towards the cafeteria to get coffee.
"Hey Mija." Mari coos, wandering into the private room holding her daughter. She rushes to the bed and pulls Santana into a long hug. "I wish you'd stop scaring me!" She says light heartedly, laughing.
"I'm so sorry Mami! I'm honestly considering being a hermit and never leaving the safety of home again." She grins.
Maribel and Blaine laugh, as the latter approaches his sister and squeezes her.
As they pull back, she realises that someone is missing.
"Where's my blondie?"
"She got a little upset outside when we were talking to Dr. Leigh, I think she just wanted to time to herself for a minute." Mari explains sympathetically.
"She's had a rough time with all of this, huh?" Santana replies gloomily.
"Sis, you have no idea. If she's not here, she's clinging to one of us. I didn't know a person could cry so much, bearing in mind she thought it was her fault because you'd argued and you'd broke up with her. It's been hard on all of us but she's really struggled."
"I know, I need to talk to her. She needs to go tomorrow, she needs a break, anything away from all this." Santana states.
"Mija, there is no chance she's going to go away for five days whilst you're still in the hospital. You all go back to school next week, she's never going to go for it, she wants to see you're okay for herself."
"I know Mami. But if I tell her we can FaceTime and if anything happens either one of you will call her and pick her up immediately, I think I might be able to sway her." Santana explains.
"You can try but I doubt it." Blaine states, just then, said blonde makes herself known in the doorway and again, the gorgeous hazel eyes flood, but the tears don't fall.
Mari and Blaine decide to go and get coffee so that the two can talk privately.
Santana struggles, but manages to shuffle herself so that she's sitting on the side of the bed and then forces herself to stand.
When she looks up, concern is swirling in Quinn's eyes and she rushes forward to embrace her girlfriend. She buries her head in a tanned neck as their arms wrap tightly around one another.
"Can you just be okay now please Tana? I need you. I need you with me. I need you at home. I need you in my bed. I need you to sleep. I just need you to be okay." She whimpers and it breaks Santana's heart to hear the blonde so broken.
"I'm so sorry baby love. I wish I could take it all away from you, I'm sorry." And for the first time since she's been in the hospital, she cries.
She cries so hard that her knees are beginning to buckle and Quinn rests her on the bed. The blonde climbs on first and then pulls the Latina onto her lap. "It's okay lovebug. It's all gonna be okay. I love you so much." She coos as Santana clings to her more.
"I'm just so sorry. I'm sorry I screamed at you, you don't deserve to be spoken to like that, I shouldn't have done it and I hate myself for treating you that way. I shouldn't have stormed off, that was so childish. I'm sorry I went to Pucks and did what I did. I'm even sorry that I don't remember what happened to me afterwards. You don't deserve this."
"Santana Lopez, look at me." Quinn orders, both still having free falling tears. "I love you, more than anything. We are going to be there through good and bad, this is the worst right now but it doesn't change how I feel about you."
Santana just nods and pulls herself together, she knows she needs to talk to Quinn about cheer camp before the others get back.
"Quinn, I want you to go tomorrow-"
The blonde cuts her off before she can continue, "There is no chance I am going anywhere while you're in here because you died yesterday."
"Please just listen to me." Santana pleads using her puppy dog eyes.
"You need to go. You need a break from all of this, I am okay here now, Dr. Leigh even told you so. We can FaceTime and text the whole time you're there and if anything goes wrong and I mean anything, down to me spraining a toe or something, Mami or Blaine will come and get you to bring you here.
I want you to keep living your life baby, sitting in a hospital, doing nothing, isn't living when you don't need to be. I'm okay here and if I feel anything remotely wrong, I'll let someone know immediately and you will know soon after, I promise.
Please, just go. Have fun and spend some time with Britt before we go back to school next week." She finishes her monologue and Quinn just stares at her.
"I'm scared." She eventually says.
"Of what darling?" The Latina says softly in reply.
"Tana, you've died twice on me now in the space of a week, what happens if next time, they can't save you?" She says getting teary again.
"There won't be a next time."
"How do you know?"
"I have too much to live for." Santana states knowingly shrugging her shoulders.
"This is really what you want?" Quinn asks skeptically.
"Yeah, I really do. I don't want you to miss anything."
"And you promise we can call and text the whole time?"
"Anytime you want baby."
"Okay." Quinn sighs. "But I need to hold you today, actually, I like when you hold me." She says shifting their positions.
"Anything you want Lucy Q. I love you so much."
"I love you too. There's one thing I need to ask you though." Quinn asks shyly.
"Anything."
"You- you didn't sleep with anyone else did you? When you broke up with me?"
"Quinn, no. I was upset and I didn't mean it. I couldn't do that to you. You believe me, don't you?"
Quinn just nods and settles herself in Santana's chest, the Latina winces slightly, due to the bruising from the defibrillator, which upset the blonde a little but they shifted so that they were comfortable just in time for Mari and Blaine to return.
They lay like that for the whole day.
Quinn stayed over night because she knew that Santana was going to be stubborn and make her go to cheer camp the next morning.
She still really didn't want to go and definitely didn't feel comfortable leaving Santana when she was still so vulnerable for something to go wrong, but she knew her girlfriend had her best interests at heart and at least wanted some normality for her.
She slept in the Latina's bed last night so that she could cherish the feeling of them being close, Santana lay flat, whilst the blonde lay on her side, snuggled in with Santana's arm around her waist. She slept with her head on the brunette's chest, over her heart, so that she was definitely sure the other girls heart was pumping and that she could hear anything out of the ordinary.
Santana woke first and gently ran her fingers through Quinn's hair. She knew that she would need to get her up soon if Quinn was going to make the bus. She also knew that her girlfriend would try as hard as possible to prolong time, to miss the bus.
Therefore, Santana had already thought this through and Blaine should be on his way to collect the girl, so that he could drop her off at the school, this way, Santana would know that Quinn didn't sneak off.
The pale girl buried into her further and the Latina knew this was a sign that she was waking up, but trying her hardest to remain asleep.
She bent down slightly to press a kiss to Quinn's forehead, slowly trying to summon her from her slumber.
It's when Quinn wrapped her arms tighter around Santana's waist, did the girl know she'd been successful.
"5 more minutes.." The blonde mumbled, only making Santana chuckle.
"Good morning mi princesa." She stated softly, with another kiss to her girlfriends forehead.
This caused Quinn to lift her head and pucker her lips adorably.
Santana obliged quickly and closed the distance, a series of soft pecks shared between them.
"Good morning baby..." she paused and lay back down, slowly sliding her fingers under the t-shirt of the girl beneath her and drawing random patterns on her defined stomach, "Do you feel okay?" She asked warily.
"I feel fine my darling." Santana replies with a soft smile.
"Are you sure? You're not lying to get me to leave, are you?"
"Not at all. I promise, I feel okay today. I wouldn't lie to you about this Q. You have nothing to worry about." She said, tenderly caressing Quinn's cheek.
"I have everything to worry about Tana. I don't want to leave you right now, not for this long."
"Listen Lucy Q. Right now, I feel normal, nothing at this moment in time feels remotely wrong. I swear, if anything starts to feel out of place, I'll let someone know and you will be contacted immediately and Blaine will be on his way to pick you up faster than lightning, okay? Everything's going to be okay. Hopefully, I'll be out of here soon." She finishes with a reassuring smile.
"I hope you're home soon. I don't think you should go back to school straight away though, maybe take a week?" Quinn stresses.
"Don't you worry about that yet pretty girl. I'll talk to Mami and the doctors and I'll let you know. Now you really need to get up because Blaine will be here soon to take you to the bus."
"You seriously got your brother to chaperone me?" She rolls her eyes but laughs slightly. "Do you not trust me Miss Lopez?"
"I don't trust you to get on that bus because I know what a wonderful girlfriend you are. But I know that you need this, so please, just have fun? Forget about all this for a while and just enjoy it."
"I know you're not asking me to forget about you right now? You're always on my mind."
"Well if I have to be there, think of something good. Just forget about this situation for a while and do what every other 16 year old out there is doing when they're on school trips!" Santana laughs.
"You mean sleeping around and getting drunk?" Quinn says raising her eyebrow.
"Now I think about it, maybe be in your bunk by 8pm and asleep by 8:15pm. ALONE." She emphasises the last word.
"8pm might be a bit ambitious lovebug, but don't worry, I'll definitely be alone." She smiles before giving Santana a kiss and getting up.
"I know, I'm just playing." Santana finishes, watching her gorgeous blonde get ready.
Soon after Blaine arrives and they're saying their last goodbyes.
"You promise to call me if-"
Quinn is cut off by Santana, "Yes baby love. I promise to let you know if anything is wrong. Yes, we can text any time you're free and yes I will be here to answer if you call."
"When I call." Quinn corrects.
"Exactly, when you call. Now go. Be careful and I love you." Santana finishes.
"Of course, I love you too, so much."
They share a few quick kisses and then just like that, Santana is alone again.
AN: Hi everyone!
I am conscious this may be lacking in something I can't put my finger on due to the lack of interest! For now, this was all written before I starting uploading this story!
Any suggestions anyone may have, let me know.