I don't know if any of you even remember this story. I first posted it shortly after "On My Way" aired. Back then I sort of rushed into writing it, which left the story with some flaws, so this is my attempt to re-write it and make it better this time around.

The story will be AU since I'm definitely taking another direction than the actual show did.

Major thanks goes to Jenn, for looking over everything and correcting my at times terrible grammar and spelling!

The silence in the car was deafening. Burt Hummel flexed his hands around the steering wheel tighter. His fingers itched to reach over and turn on the radio, but he knew that none of the teenagers that rode with him would appreciate music very much at the moment.

Next to him sat a completely distraught Rachel Berry. She was still in her wedding dress and her knees were pulled up to her body, some dark stains from what Burt guessed used to be her make up had ruined the white fabric.

In the row behind him Kurt, Blaine, Finn and Santana had squeezed in. None of them had spoken a word for the last thirty miles or so. Kurt had rested his head on Blaine's shoulder, both of them looking devastated, Finn seemed completely out of place as he nervously kept on tapping his feet on the floor and Santana just stared out the window with an emotionless face.

The news about Quinn Fabray's accident had hit the group just as half of the wedding party had been about to leave or already left the non-reception. A few hours before the wedding had been canceled and the few remaining people poked around in their rest of their food as they listened to Rachel one more time expressing her extreme discontent with the fact that the next available wedding date wasn't for another three months. That was when an apathetic Santana had found her way back into the city hall.

In halting words the girl recited what she had just heard on the phone from her mother. There had been an accident on Diller Road in the afternoon. That was the reason why Quinn hadn't shown up earlier and effectively stopped the wedding from happening.

Right then the whole previous scene came to halt. It took another five seconds or so before complete chaos spread amongst the teenagers. Almost at the same time everyone started talking. Rachel was in front of Santana in an instant demanding to hear what exactly the cheerleader knew. Pleading her to report every single thing she had been told.

The first coherent words after the initial shock of the news had set in came also from the bride. She implored) that they go to the hospital right away. The short brunette didn't seem to care that she was still in her wedding dress, that she didn't have a car or let alone knew which hospital to go to, she was already on her way to the door, the rest of her friends right behind her a moment later.

It took him, Carol and the Berry men quite some energy, but they managed to convince the worried crowd that it would be best if they all split into different cars and that one of the adults drove, after they had found out what hospital Quinn had been brought to of course. After all, one of the kids injured in an accident was already too much.

It took them a while to find out, but around 9:30 that night they were on the interstate towards Toledo. Right behind him there were two more cars bringing a bunch of teenagers to their friend in the hospital. Burt just hoped that they would receive some good news there.

Pulling off her surgical gloves and face mask Anne Weiss stepped out of the OR, where she immediately reached for the phone to call the number that had appeared on her pager several times for the past hour.

"I need you to talk to the poly-trauma's mother. She's waiting in the east wing conference room," was the curt instruction from the other end, by her least favorite ER nurse Paula.

The surgeon rubbed a hand over her face in an exhausted gesture, but confirmed and let Paula know that she would be there shortly.

She had only just finished the poly-trauma's – Quinn Fabray's – surgery. Or better yet, her part of the surgery. As soon as she was finished her orthopedic colleagues had taken over, tending to the girls several broken bones. She had only briefly seen the x-rays and scans that weren't in any way neurologically important, but from what she had seen the left side of the girl's body had suffered some really bad damage. From what she gathered from her colleagues talking, there was even a complete replacement of her hip joint considered; safe to say that the girl wouldn't be out of surgery any time soon.

Four hours had already passed since they had brought Quinn Fabray to the trauma center in Toledo via helicopter. The fighting between the different medical specialist had begun as soon as the first

MRI pictures were available, showing what injuries were of capital importance to be sub-served.

They finally came to the conclusion that the ruptured spleen was the biggest source of bleeding and had to be taken care of first. Dr. Weiss herself as a neurosurgeon had been second.

Anne brushed a hand through her hair before she entered the conference room. She held on to her clipboard tightly as she approached the woman who sat with her back facing towards her. "Mrs. Fabray?"

The blonde woman immediately got up and turned towards the surgeon. The doctor approached the blonde who was roughly her own age. "Hi, I'm Dr. Weiss."

"Judy Fabray." A tight smile and a handshake were returned. "Can you give me any news on my daughter?"

"She is still in surgery," Dr. Weiss answered and courteously pulled Mrs. Fabray's chair back. "Why don't we sit down and I will fill you in on her actual state."

Judy complied without any response, as she sat down and looked at her expectantly. Anne hated that look on family members. Like they were expecting her to tell that she was a good fairy who magically healed everything with a wave of her wrist.

"Quinn's condition is very serious," she began carefully once she had taken a seat on the large table as well. "Aside from several broken bones, including her upper arm, collar bone, femoral bone, several ribs and a ruptured spleen she also suffered a very severe trauma on her spine."

"What do you mean by severe trauma?" Her patients mother sat bolt upright in her chair, as she continuously ran the tip of her finger over the rim of her coffee mug.

"It took some time for the rescue workers to get to the crash scene and then get her out of the car."

Dr. Weiss rubbed her palms together in a nervous pattern, withholding the information that according to the paramedics, Quinn had been conscious for at least a short part of that. "Her second and third lumbar vertebrae were broken."

"That was what the surgery is for though isn't it?" Mrs. Fabray asked. "Fixing that."

Dr. Weiss leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table's surface. "Yes. Now, luckily the spinal cord wasn't cut through. However the nerves suffered from the pressure that the broken bones put on them. Right now there is no nerve impulse below her second lumbar vertebra and it looks like we're facing a permanent paraplegia."

"I see." The blonde's lips formed a thin line but, other than that the neutral expression on her face didn't slip for as long as a second.

Dr Weiss cursed internally. No sensitivity training in the world could prepare you to give news like this. "Mrs Fabray, we offer-" Her attempt to refer Judy Fabray to crisis counseling was cut short by the woman interrupting her.

"Is it possible to tell when Quinn will be out of surgery?"

"She might be in the OR until the early morning."

The blonde only gave her a forced smile and rose from her seat. "Thank you, doctor."

Dr. Weiss didn't even have a chance to escort the woman out of the room but simply looked after her feeling worn out as Judy Fabray rushed out of the room without one more word.

"Fabray, her name is Fabray! F as in Foxtrot, A as in Alpha, B as-"

The guy behind the information desk interrupted Rachel's demonstration of the phonetic alphabet rudely. "I got the name the first time, but like I already said, I can't give you any information if you're not a family member or a legal guardian."

With those words he shut the milky window to his desk, blocking the crazy teenager in the wedding dress out of his work space.

Feeling physically and emotionally drained with every minute that passed Rachel dragged herself back to the waiting area where the rest of what originally had been her wedding party was spread. It was eleven at night and most of them were either already sleeping or on the brink, but every single one of them had profusely refused to go home.

"It's ridiculous," Kurt remarked taking a seat next to her. "Obviously there is none of Quinn's family here and we are the next closest thing. They could at least tell us if she's okay."

While the brunette contemplated the words her best friend was saying, she couldn't make sense of them or even reply. Her mind kept going back and spinning around the last conversation she had had with Quinn. Analyzing every single one of her feelings during it. How happy she had been when the blonde had agreed to come to the wedding and be her bridesmaid. Right now Rachel wanted to throw up when she thought about what kind of righteous feeling of satisfaction that agreement had evoked within her. That she had gotten Quinn Fabray to change her mind.

"It is my fault," Rachel whispered only loud enough for her best friend to hear and tears welled up in her eyes.

"No!" Kurt shook his head urgently as he clasped Rachel's hand between his own. "Stop that right now."

A sob worked it's way up the girl's throat for what was probably the fiftieth time that day and her whole body began to shake. "But it is."

"Rachel-"

She didn't give him a chance to speak. She had to say it out loud or she was afraid it would choke her slowly. "It was me who talked her into coming to the wedding, she never approved of it in the first place. And when she wasn't on time I was the one who told her to hurry, probably causing her to speed or not pay attention and now we are here in this freaking waiting room and they won't even tell us if she is alive!"

Once again Rachel found herself in an almost hysterical fit of tears that wouldn't subside until she literally had to gasp for air. Kurt's helpless attempt to calm her by putting an arm around her only had her crying even harder.

When Quinn blinked her eyes open, the bright fluorescence light of the room hurt her eyes causing her to squeeze them shut again immediately. Consciousness and the memory of what happened only slowly re-appeared, just as she slowly came to notice the pain all over her body.

The relief that she apparently hadn't died like she had feared she would when she was losing consciousness in the wreck of her car only lasted a moment. When she moved her head to the side in attempts to not look directly into the synthetic light the next time she tried to open her eyes, a major wave of pain rolled over her.

She groaned in agony, forcing her eyes open anyway. When the sight on her left eye seemed restricted she first felt how the left side of her face throbbed with pain. The conclusion that it was probably swollen came to her mind shortly after.

Her sight was blurry, but she would have recognized a female blond, delicate figure sitting next to her. She opened her mouth to address her but found her mouth heavy and dry. It took two more attempts and clearing of her throat for a husky "Mom?" to leave her lips.

"No honey, she'll be here later." As her vision grew a little clearer she could see that a strange woman was at her bedside. The woman took her relatively uninjured right hand between her own two. "How are you feeling, Quinn? Are you in pain? Do you remember what happened?"

It was too many questions at once for Quinn's still slightly drugged brain to catch up on, so she settled on just answering the last one. "Truck hit me."

"Yes, that it was happened. It's good you are awake now and talking, that means there is no major damage to your brain."

"What time is it?" Quinn asked, trying to gather as much as information as possible while she was conscious, feeling that she would soon drift off again.

"It's Sunday morning 2:43. You just got out of surgery. I'll give you some more pain medication to help you sleep over the worst of it."

Again Quinn would have liked to answer, but didn't find herself able to yet. She mulled over the nurses last sentence one more time. Drugs and sleep sounded heavenly. She would have liked to ask what exactly she needed surgery for and how bad the damage was, but the exhaustion combined with the pain killer starting to set in had her eyes drifting shut again.

"You guy's friend's of Quinn?"

Rachel's head shot up immediately. She was disappointed not to see a doctor in front of her, but only a casually dressed guy wearing a Brown hoodie. She lowered her eyes again, since looking directly in the bright light of the room only intensified the headache she harbored from crying for the last couple of hours. Meanwhile someone in the room – was it Puck? Everything seemed so blurry to Rachel – affirmed the guys question.

"I'm her brother-in-law. Ben."

And with that statement the man had managed to catch Rachel's full attention.

She wanted nothing more than to ask him all the questions that had been torturing her ever since she had heard about the accident, but when another few seconds passed and she was still unable to form words, she realized that maybe she didn't want to know. Unsure if she could handle bad news. She didn't know if she could handle any news that wasn't good.

Her second try wasn't futile either. It was like she lost the ability to form words. Her lips were as dry as sandpaper and her tongue seemed to be stuck to the roof of her mouth.

Rachel was thankful when someone else got up the courage.

"How is Quinn? Is she gonna be okay?"

The second it took him to form an answer felt like the longest in Rachel's entire existence.

"She's alive."

Rachel slumped back against her seat, barely aware of the sigh of relief that went through the room and an sound mixed between a cry and sob. It was only then that she noticed a few worried looks into her direction that she realized that weird noise had escaped her lips.

To her left, Rachel was surprised to spot Santana in a nearly squatted position in the arms of her girlfriend. The cheerleader had been pacing the floor for the last few hours without even stopping once.

"How bad is it?"

Ben sighed. "All I know is that she's still in surgery." The man huffed in a frustrated way. "They are not really concerned with keeping me well informed either. Apparently with this hospital's policy you have to have the same last name to be considered close family."

Something dangerous flashed in Santana's eyes, only on a second look Rachel noticed that it was something like protectiveness. "Well where are they? Where exactly are Judy and Fran?"

Ben sighed. "When we got here a few hours ago, Judy was really upset. We only wanted to drop her off at the hotel room and come back here, but she refused to let Fran go. Judy was really … indisposed. Hence why I'm here. Waiting for news."

Rachel might have not been friends with Quinn for a long, but the few things she had picked up over time let her assume that indisposed probably meant that Mrs. Fabray was strongly intoxicated.

It was Sunday morning when Quinn woke for a longer period of time again. The expression 'feeling like she'd been hit by a train' still fit her current general state pretty well, even though it was 'just' a big truck that had hit her.

She opened and closed her eyes repeatedly and even drifted off again a few times, but in the end she succeeded to stay awake and found a dishwasher blond woman sitting next to her bed side. Judging by the scrubs and white coat her first guess was that this woman was a doctor.

"You're my doctor?" she asked, hating how croaked and weak her voice sounded.

The woman nodded. "One of them, yes. My name is Weiss. I was one of the surgeons that operated on you after your accident."

Hazel eyes fell onto the doctor's name tag, Neurosurgeon.

"You're here to explain to me why I can't feel or move my legs?" Quinn might have been groggy, in pain and drugged up to her hair line but even through all of that she hadn't failed to notice the lack of any ability to move her legs.

The doctor nodded and the soft smile from before vanished and in it's place was a serious expression. "You had two broken vertebrae. In the surgery I managed to fix the bones and release the pressure they put on your spinal cord, but the nerves have still suffered gravely."

"By the look on your face, I gather that this isn't something that will just sort itself out on it's own within two weeks," Quinn stated dryly.

It was hard not to, but she didn't allow herself to have anything but rational thoughts about the news. She couldn't. Allowing herself to think about the fact that she would be paralyzed from this day on, was too much.

"The nerves were squeezed for too long." Dr. Weiss tilted her head and sighed. "I wish I had better news for you, Quinn. I really do."

Quinn simply closed her eyes hoping she would slip back into the former drug induced, blurry state of mind. "Yeah, me too."

Rachel felt exhausted, her back hurt and she had come to the conclusion that there was no position left in which she would be somewhat comfortable on the chairs in the waiting area. Almost thirteen hours had passed now and there was only a hand full of people left. Alongside Rachel only Santana, Brittany, Sam and Puck had resisted trying to get home and rest.

Rachel was determined to not set a foot out of this hospital until she had valuable news on Quinn. In fact the only time Rachel had left the waiting area for longer than the usual five minute bathroom break was to switch from her wedding dress to a pair of sweatpants and shirt that her daddy had gotten her from the hospital's gift-shop.

For that she had been very thankful. As much as she had loved the wearing the dress prior to everything that had happened, Rachel was happy to get out of the thing. Apart from the fact that it was an entirely inappropriate thing to wear in a hospital, it had felt like the fabric had been suffocating her for some time now and the thought of seeing Quinn for the first time and still wearing it, also felt completely wrong.

She hadn't even bothered to treat it carefully or put it in the provided clothes bag. To be completely honest, Rachel felt the urge to burn the damn thing altogether. It was like everything connected to the wedding reminded her over and over again why they were here. That it was her fault that Quinn was in the hospital.

She had encouraged Finn to go home as well for that very same reason. He had left with a mumbled promise to be back as soon as possible and told her to call him in case anything happened. After all what to remind her more of the damn wedding than the man, who actually was supposed to be her husband right now.

The last bits of conversation had died down a few hours ago. Talking about trivial things seemed absolutely inappropriate given the current situation, but talking about Quinn and what had happened was emotionally straining on everyone as well, so they had settled for an according to circumstances comfortable silence.

Life only came back into the waiting group when seemingly out of nowhere Quinn's mom appeared in the waiting area. The woman looked as proper as ever, no signs of the complete breakdown Ben had hinted at. Only the bright blue lady's suit she wore was a bit wrinkled, other than that her appearance was flawless. Perfect make-up and not a single strand of hair out of place.

It was Rachel and Santana who were at the older woman's side immediately, assailing her with questions.

"Are you going to see Quinn?"

"How is Quinn?"

"What did the doctor's say?"

"Is she going to be alright?"

"Will you tell Quinn we've been waiting here all night?"

"When can we see Quinn?"

The blonde woman only eyed the girls slowly seemingly looking right through them, which left Rachel wondering briefly if maybe the reason why Quinn's mother seemed so calm was some kind of tranquillizer.

"We are on our way to see her right now," a younger blonde who Rachel assumed was Quinn's sister, cut in. She had caught up with her mother and hooked her arm under her mother's, leading her to the ICU entrance in a decisive way. "I'll fill you girls in on everything after we've seen her, alright?"

It wasn't an answer that satisfied any of the waiting teenagers, but they didn't have a chance but to comply. They had already waited over twelve hours, they would make it through a little more. Rachel got back to her seat and pulled her knees to herself. At least this time they wouldn't have to wait for a completely indefinite time.

The way Quinn kept on staring stubbornly ahead, scared the shit out of Fran. She had been at her sister's bedside for about forty minutes now and the earlier relief to see her sister alive had been replaced with dread. Quinn seemed completely apathetic and gave monosyllable answers at the most. When the doctor had explained to her the full extent of her baby sister's injuries, Fran had reached out with tears in her eyes to take Quinn's hand and offer her some sort of comfort, only to have her pull away and turn her head to the other side.

The silence in the room made Fran anxious. Technically she was the most emotionally stable in the room right now, but the previous night she had spent taking care of her mother didn't fail to leave its marks on her. Her mother had been wasted in a way that Fran had never experienced before. Furthermore Judy seemed to have a kind of anxiety attack where she didn't want to let Fran leave her side. Afraid that if she would let her go, something would happen to her oldest daughter as well.

It took a strong Valium and a shot of whiskey from the mini bar to get her mother out of the hotel room at all this morning.

Fran's eyes fell back on her sister. Her heart clenched when she thought about the delicate features of Quinn's face that had been replaced by dark, swollen brusies.

"Quinn, please talk to me," she pleaded one more time, almost giving up hope to get anything but yes-no answers out of her sister today. "Is there anything I can get you? Are you in pain? Do you need anything?"

The younger girl barely shook her head, still not the slightest hint of emotion on her face.

Fran reached for her sisters hand again, not giving her a chance to pull away this time. "It's okay to cry, you know?"

Quinn kept on staring ahead.

If her mother hadn't been so out of it Fran would have liked to scream at her. At which point during raising her had they screwed up to where Quinn would close down every time she was threatened to show the least bit of weakness. Fran gave her mother a firm look, silently encouraging her to say something and not just sit there, like the passion of Christ.

Judy cleared her throat briefly and a clearly forced but still genuine smile was on her lips. "You know Santana, Brittany and a bunch of other guys are outside waiting to see you, Quinnie. Would you like me to go and get them?"

Quinn's head snapped in her sister's direction so quickly, Fran almost flinched. Her eyes darted between Judy and Fran. "They are here? What did you tell them? Why are they here?"

Fran didn't know if Quinn's sudden panic was that much of a progress to her former indifference. It seemed like Quinn would start hyperventilating any second. In what she hoped was a soothing matter, Fran reached out and cupped the right – less injured side of Quinn's face. "Calm down, Quinn. They heard about your accident and want to know how you are. If you are okay."

"You have to make them leave!" Quinn insisted, looking at her sister with big teary eyes. "Please Frannie."

Under different circumstances Fran would have reprimanded her sister for the use of the nickname she despised. Moreover Quinn did seem terrified. She crooked her head and carefully started to run her fingers through Quinn's short hair. "They are worried about you, Quinn. And they have been here all night."

"I don't care. I don't want them to see me like this." Quinn's voice was firm, but her sister didn't fail to notice the desperate plea in it. "Please Fran, go out there and tell them to leave. They can't find out about this." She underlined the last word with an only too clear gesture towards her legs.

"What am I supposed to tell them? They are desperate to see you. They won't just leave because I tell them to," Fran tried to argue the best she could. She wasn't too keen on Quinn's idea. It was such a typical Fabray way of thinking. Not letting anybody see you in a weak state. Not allowing anybody to comfort you. If it was up to her, she would have sent the whole damn glee club in at once. Her sister needed distraction. What she didn't need was staring at the ceiling and thinking about her condition all day long.

"You haven't told anyone yet, have you?" Quinn looked like that prospect was enough to send her into a panic attack and so Fran shook her head instantly.

It wasn't like she didn't understand what stood behind her request. It was astonishing Quinn even allowed anyone in the room right now, considering her current vulnerability. Quinn wasn't someone who liked to be dependent on other people; the sisters had that pretty much in common. With parents who were emotionally unavailable to both of them, they had learned early on that it was better to not depend on other people.

So everything about her situation had to be unbearable for Quinn. Fran could see her sister's motivation clearly; she didn't want to be pitied. And it didn't really matter if it really was affection she mistook for compassion. It would all be the same in her eyes. She wouldn't be able to stand the attention telling anyone would bring along. Not until she had had some time to process the news for herself. Fran didn't like it, but she also couldn't deny her sister.

Rachel had kept on staring at the door leading to the intensive care unit for thirty minutes, readying herself to get to her feet every time the door opened. By the time the woman who looked so much like Quinn actually appeared in the doorframe Rachel needed a moment to realize it was actually the person she had been hoping for.

Again seemingly a thousand questions at once where thrown in Fran's direction as soon as the teenagers had spotted her.

"Is she awake?"

"How bad are her injuries?"

"Can we go in now?"

"Will she be okay?"

"When can we see her?"

Fran raised her hands in order to calm the upset group of highschoolers. "She's awake and as good as can be expected considering the circumstances."

Again a breath of relief went through the group. Rachel actually had to steady herself on the wall for a second. The knowledge that Quinn was alive and would apparently be okay felt like a really, really heavy burden was taken from her. "Can we go see her now?" Hearing that Quinn was okay, was one thing, but Rachel felt that she had to actually see and talk to her to believe it. Most of all she wanted to apologize for what happened.

Rachel frowned when Quinn's sister didn't immediately agree and lead them inside. She became downright irritated when she noticed the hesitant expression on the older woman's face.

"Maybe you guys should come back some other time," Fran suggested, obviously choosing her words carefully. "Quinn is still pretty weak and needs to rest."

Rachel could feel the color draining from her face. "Is it that bad? Is she hurt so bad that she can't have visitors?"

Fran immediately shook her head. "No. That's not it, I promise."

"I don't want to be disrespectful or anything, but we've been waiting here all night." Rachel crossed her arms defensively, before changing her strategy, figuring that Fran was probably just worried about Quinn's well-being. "I promise we won't over strain her or anything. We just want to see her for a moment."

"I know," the blonde sighed, running a hand through her long hair. "And I really appreciate you all being so supportive of Quinn-"

"Then let us fucking in!" Santana interrupted her harshly only to be met with the denying eyes of Quinn's sister. If Santana was intimidated it was only for a split second, before she straightened her shoulders. "This is ridiculous! I'm going in there and you won't stop me!"

"She doesn't want to see you," Fran declared unyielding, stepping into the cheerleader's way, before she looked around between the rest of Quinn's friends. "Any of you. I'm sorry."

Fran sighed and her eyes softened. "Give her some time guys, okay? She needs time to digest everything that happened."

Her emotions were all over the place as Rachel watched the tall blonde disappearing behind the door leading to the intensive care unit.

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