Title-The Darkest Night Brings The Brightest Dawn 1/7

Characters-Finn/Rachel

Summary-Post Sectionals an accident changes everthing

Disclaimers-No, I do not own Glee. Also I am not a doctor so please cut me a little slack on the medical stuff;)

Rachel sat with the rest of glee club in the McKinley High auditorium waiting for rehearsal to begin. The rest of glee club minus Finn Hudson that is. Rachel had hoped, hell they had all hoped that their rendition of 'My Life Would Suck Without You' for Mr Schuester would signal the reintegration of Glee. That it would perhaps lead to some sort of reconciliation between Puck, Quinn and Finn. However they were all to be disappointed. In the two weeks since sectionals glee was the same but not the same. Finn had been present and involved but an indefinable something was missing. The spark was gone. He seemed happy to take a lower profile, rarely putting himself forward for solos.

She looked up as Mr Schuester appeared his eyes dancing from side to side nervously looking somewhat distressed.

"Hey guys settle down!" He said forcefully and the tone of his voice brought a stop to all the conversations previously taking place.

"I'm afraid I've got some bad news. I err ...I've just had a phone call from Finn's mom. Apparently there was an accident last night. A car accident."

Shocked gasps filled the room. Rachel felt her heart sink into her toes and could already feel the onset of tears. Please let him be okay, please let him be okay she repeated over and over in her head.

Kurt was the first to speak.

"He's okay though right" he said in a panicked voice "Finn's okay Mr Schue?"

Mr Schuester looked devastated as he said,

"It's ..it's pretty bad guys. He's in the hospital...but from what his mom said it's pretty serious."

"But he's going to be okay. It's serious but he's going to be okay!" Puck shouted as if his conviction could somehow hold the power of truth. Rachel looked across at him and could see that next to him Quinn had turned a deathly white. She looked like Rachel felt. Like her world had just crumbled around her.

"Let's hope so. Mrs Hudson said that Finn's in intensive care and isn't really aware of visitors." Mr Schue was forced to admit.

"What do you mean he isn't aware?" asked Kurt.

"He's still unconscious Kurt. He has been since the accident. The doctors don't know when he'll wake up." The 'if he'll wake up' part of that sentence was left unsaid but Rachel was willing to bet that everyone in the room heard it nonetheless.

"Is it okay to go and see him?" Quinn asked in a barely audible tone.

"I think that would be good. I'm sure Mrs Hudson would be glad of the support." Mr Schuester said trying to remain upbeat before he paused and frowned. "But I'm not sure we should all go. We don't want to overwhelm her. Maybe just a couple of us." He sent a questioning look towards Quinn.

Quinn seemed to consider, then realize, what Mr Schue was too thoughtful to say but was hinting at.

"I'm not sure that Finn would want to see me at the moment. Or his mom." With this admission she finally let the tears she had been holding in fall. Turning into the comfort of Puck's chest to sob loudly. Puck put his arms around her to offer what support he could but looked completely lost himself.

"I guess the same applies to me too." He reluctantly confessed.

With this he turned to Rachel. In fact, Rachel realized, seemingly everyone was looking to her. It appeared as if they had all assigned her the role of hospital visitor. While only hours ago it would have delighted her to find that she was considered by the others to be 'close' to Finn, now it only terrified her. What could she say to Finn's mom? Could she really bear to see Finn all broken and bruised? What if he didn't wake up?

The questions were in danger of overwhelming her. No she told herself. Stop thinking so negatively. Finn was going to come through this, and when he did he and Mrs Hudson would need a great deal of support, and she was just the person to provide it. Rachel Berry did not deal in failure and she wasn't about to start now. Holding her head high she announced her plan of action.

"I'll go and let Mrs Hudson know we are all thinking about Finn and will do anything we can to help. Could you give me a ride to the hospital please Mr Schue?" Rachel said mindful of the fact that she didn't consider herself to be any fit state to be taking charge of an automobile at this time.

Mr Schuester agreed with a nod of his head. He looked around the room to see if anyone else had anything else to add.

Quinn caught his eye and hesitantly said, "Tell him....tell him..." before words failed her and she again turned to Puck.

With shining eyes Puck tried to continue for her. "If he...when he.. tell him..tell him that we're ..y'know. I dunno..just.." Before he finished defeated.

Rachel nodded and made for the exit with Mr Schuester on her trail. Neither seemed to know what to say as they walked down the hallway, through the doors and into the faculty parking lot.

Once in the car the silence was beginning to reach deafening point. Rachel had managed to hold herself together so far, deciding that strength was required from her now more than ever. But the reality of the situation was starting to engulf her. The reality of what was facing Finn, and the reality of the fact that she was a 16 year old girl with only one true friend. One who at this moment was, and yes it sounded melodramatic in her head, fighting for his life. Actually fighting for his life! How could this be?

If her mind continued to go down these avenues then Rachel knew she would be no good to anyone. Certainly no good to Mrs Hudson. And Rachel was sure that at the moment that was the one thing she could do for Finn. Try to be there for his mom. Finn had enough on his plate right now and so did his mom. God what must the woman be thinking? What must she be feeling? Rachel was barely holding it together and she had only known Finn a few months. For Mrs Hudson this was her only child. She'd already lost a husband, to lose a child as well would be unimaginable. Rachel needed to regain her focus.

"What exactly did Mrs Hudson say again? I mean what happened and what is happening?" She asked, seeking some sort of clarity, some explanation.

If Mr Schuester was annoyed at having to repeat himself he didn't show it. If anything he seemed to welcome the opportunity to go over what he knew, such as it was, again. Maybe, like Rachel, he needed to get something so unbelievable straight in his mind.

"Last night Finn was picking up something at the store for his mom. He called and told her he was going to swing by the bowling alley for an hour or so. But he must not have got there because about 45 minutes later the police stopped by his house to tell his mom that there had been an accident."

Rachel's mind couldn't help flashing back to her bowling alley 'date' with Finn. What should have been a magical night had quickly been sullied by subsequent revelations and realizations. Now the venue itself was further tarnished by association with the accident that had befallen Finn. Snapping back into the present Rachel found herself confused.

"He's such a cautious driver though Mr Schue. I've never even seen him go even one mile an hour over the speed limit. I just wouldn't have thought he'd get into an accident."

"No, well there's some talk of charges for the other driver. Apparently he was trying to overtake Finn, a car was coming in the opposite direction so he swerved back into Finn's lane and Finn swerved off the road."

"Was anyone else hurt?" Rachel asked.

Mr Schuester seemed surprised by the question. "Um..I don't know."

"Finn will want to know." Rachel whispered to herself. Even if the accident wasn't his fault Finn would still want to know if anyone else was hurt. Rachel was sure of that.

"Yeah", Mr Schue sighed, "I expect he will. Anyway his mom didn't go into too much detail. I know that Finn's got a broken arm."

"Which one?" Rachel asked thinking about his quarterbacking prospects.

"Not sure." Mr Schue replied. Sensing that Rachel wasn't going to illuminate him as to why this was important he continued, "Also some damage to his ankle but probably not a break. A couple of busted ribs." Rachel winced. Broken arm, possibly fractured ankle, broken ribs. Oh what had he done to himself? She was brought out of her reverie by Mr Schue's next words.

"What has the doctors most concerned though is that he hasn't regained consciousness. There appears to be some swelling of the brain."

Rachel gasped. "You didn't say that earlier! You just said that he wasn't awake yet."

"I know, but I didn't want to worry everyone more than I already had." He reluctantly explained.

Rachel nodded. That made sense.

"So what are they going to do about Finn's brain? The swelling I mean."

"I think first they're going to determine the extent and then decide whether they need to take any measures to alleviate the pressure."

"Like brain surgery you mean." Rachel stated flatly. "Finn might need brain surgery. He might be..."

Rachel couldn't bring herself to say that Finn might have suffered brain damage, that he might be brain damaged. Why had she thought she could handle this? Why did she feel the need to volunteer to be glee's representative at the hospital? She was always so sure of herself. But this? This was too much for her. She wasn't up to this. She wasn't even sure she wanted to be up to this.

Her friend was battered and bruised and broken and he might not wake up. Ever!

Suddenly she realized that she didn't want to go to the hospital anymore. She just wanted to go home. Go home, curl up in her dads arms, and cry her heart out.

Help Mrs Hudson? Who was she kidding? How could she help her? What could she possibly say? This wasn't some singing competition where a rousing motivational speech could help inspire the team to victory. This was Finn's life. She wasn't some all conquering star, she was a scared girl. Help Mrs Hudson? Rachel wasn't sure she would even be able to look at the woman.

Sensing her panic Mr Schue reached across with his right hand and rested it on Rachel's shoulder.

"Hey now Rachel. We don't know yet how bad the swelling is, or what the options are. I know you're scared. I'm scared too. But lets not get ahead of ourselves. Lets have a little faith." He did his best to reassure her.

The words seemed to temporarily have the desired effect. Rachel managed to dial back the mini panic attack that she had been on the verge of. It still felt too close for comfort though so she decided to change the subject.

"He really looks up to you, you know." She said looking straight ahead. "Finn, I mean, he really looks up to you."

"Really?" Mr Schuester inquired glancing at Rachel in time to see her answering nod.

"Well. I think highly of him too." He admitted.

"He's your favourite isn't he?" Rachel couldn't help adding. Not because she was jealous or annoyed by it. In fact she'd always thought it was rather sweet how the two men had always looked out for each other. She just wanted to see if Mr Schuester would acknowledge it. She wanted him to agree that Finn was special for some reason. She really needed to hear it.

"You know I don't have favourites Rachel." Mr Schue answered automatically causing Rachel to roll her eyes.

"Come on Mr Schue." Rachel argued. "It's obvious, and completely understandable, you were the one who recruited him to start with and set this whole glee juggernaut into motion. He was like, what do they call it, oh oh he was your first time pick, or first round pick or something. I don't really understand sports but you definitely drafted him top." Rachel glanced at Mr Schuester and was alarmed to see a pained and stormy expression on the teachers face. He looked angry and ashamed.

"Mr Schue I didn't mean anything bad about it I swear. I just meant that it was nice that you saw something special in Finn and persuaded him to take a chance on glee."

Way to go Rachel. How are you going to be of any use to Mrs Hudson when you're already upsetting Mr Schue who was usually pretty laid back? If anything too laid back in Rachel's opinion.

"Persuaded?" He scoffed. "Oh I persuaded him alright" Mr Schuester said mockingly confusing Rachel. He seemed angry at himself not her.

"Do you really want to know how I persuaded Finn to join glee? I'll tell you. I persuaded him by planting drugs in his locker and telling him that it was the end of any dreams of a football scholarship. That the only way of avoiding the transgression appearing on his permanent record was to serve out his punishment by taking part in glee."

Rachel was shocked into speechlessness. Mr Schuester would never do something so dishonest, would he? Finn was only in glee club because of blackmail! This couldn't be true. Rachel wasn't sure she could deal with this on top of everything else. Couldn't Finn ever catch a break?

"So Rachel do you really think Finn would look up to me if he knew that? It's the worst thing I've ever done and it's was to someone who in no way deserved it and its ended up here, with him in hospital and two of his best friends too scared to visit him."

Rachel could see the whites of the mans knuckles as he gripped the steering wheel. Her mind was in a spin. Blackmail? That was why Finn was in glee? Because Mr Schuester had set him up then blackmailed him? She looked across at Mr Schuester and he seemed like a broken man.

"Look what you did was...reprehensible and not befitting your duty as teacher in locus parentis. But Finn loves glee. No matter how it started the end result is that he loves glee. He came through for us at sectionals not because of blackmail, or permanent records, or scholarships, he came through because he loves glee. You gave that to him. And it may have been motivated in part by selfishness, but you know Finn Mr Schue, and I think even then that you knew that he would love glee. You could see it in him Mr Schue just like the first time he sang I could see it in him and it's only grown from there." Rachel said passionately, desperate for the teacher to understand.

"Quinn and Puck happened before glee. Everything that happened still would have happened only at least now he's got other things he loves in his life. It might be selfish but I'm not sorry you got him into glee. And its got nothing to do with sectionals or regionals or nationals. It's because of Finn. I got to meet Finn. And spend time with him and talk to him and laugh with him and sing with him and dance with him. And kiss him. And I don't regret that happening one little bit. I'll never regret it. Its one of the best things that ever happened to me. So there. Finn will recover from this and he'll need all our help to do it. He doesn't need your guilt he just needs you to look out for him like you've always done. And... and... and I still say he's your favourite so there." She finished.

Mr Schue's eyes were still shining but he looked determined and relieved rather that ashamed or angry.

"Thank you Rachel." He quietly said.

Relieved Rachel settled back into her seat. Perhaps she could do this after all. One crisis had been averted but the next one was the big one. They were pulling up to the hospital.