Future Fic: Rachel works at Lima's Psychiatric Ward as a Music Therapist. Dealing with chaos and outbursts are part of her daily routine, but her world is turned upside down when she meets the new patient, Quinn. Also has: Santana, Brittany, Kurt, Puck, and more. WARNING INSIDE.
Rated M for drama, violence, swearing, bullying, and sexual content. ENJOY!
Chapter 1:
By the time my alarm went off at 6:30am, I was already showered, dressed, and eating my usual vegan omelette, while watching my usual early morning news channel, which was focusing on the biggest and most wild wind storm Lima has encountered in twenty-some years. After finishing my breakfast, I started to wash my dish, when I heard the wind make a loud noise, much like the sound of a whip cracking. The sudden disturbance caused me to drop my plate on the kitchen floor, breaking it into a several chunks of ceramic; and here I thought I was getting off to a good start. I sigh and carefully pick up the shards offending my clean tiled floor; and I dump the pieces in the trash, smiling at the fact that I didn't slice open my finger in the process. I wash my hands, turn off the television, grab my bag and my thickest coat, and head outside into the eerie darkness of the early morning.
Once I park in my usual spot in front of the hospital at 7:00am, I allow myself to breathe again. I seriously thought the wind was going to flip my car over and chuck me and the piece of metal in a cyclone, before I could get to work. Thank God, my first class started in another two hours; it was plenty of time for me to put together my music lesson for today, before I had to deal with anything else that might disrupt my daily routine. I looked out my driver's side window and at the trees bending over backwards for the wind and I gulped, audibly; I hate this type of weather…Nothing good ever comes from it. I gathered my bag and jumped out of my car, making a run for the hospital's front doors, but halfway there I see a white van pull into the parking lot. Great, it is just my luck to get caught in the howling wind; it is the hospital workers responsibility to unlock the hospital doors, during closed hours, for any important people…And looking at the Lima Psychiatric Ward Transportation van, I know I have to wait for the two men, dressed in white, to escort whoever was in the back of the van to the front of the hospital. No one told me we would be getting a new patient; otherwise I would have tried to avoid arriving at the same time. Don't get me wrong, I love being around them, it's just I always feel like new patients automatically hate the first hospital worker they meet because they think we are to blame for everything that lead up to them being forced to be here. Also, the first to greet a new patient is technically the first impression that the new patient gets; and I really do not feel chipper enough to make a good one, especially when the wind is slapping my face and pulling my hair.
The two men hop out of the van and jog to the back of it, where I can't see. I look at my watch; it's 7:15, which means the sun should be coming up…right about…NOW! I fix my vision on the hills in the distance and frown when the sun seems to remain hidden below the horizon. This wind storm is really taking a big ol' crap on my day. I shake my head in disappointment and move my eyes back to the van, which is still blocking her view of the two men, and whoever else in behind it. I furrow my brows, beginning to feel impatient; I mean, how long does it take to escort someone to the freaking hospi-. OH MY GOD! I gasp when I see one of the men fall back into view, and the van shaking before a tall skinny figure is running through the parking lot. I drop my bag and run to the fallen man, as the other chases after the escape artist. I am relieved when the man picks himself up and starts after the other two, while I stand by the van, nervously biting my nails.
The parking lot is fairly big, and not too many cars are occupying it, so there is a lot of running room; and considering it is still pretty dark outside, it makes for the perfect getaway. I try to get a good look at the patient, so when these two god awful runners fail in capturing the loose maniac, I could give a detailed description of the incident and the runaway. The figure stops under a parking lot lamp, egging of the two men, who are hesitant to jump in case the runner takes off again. This allows me to see the new patient for the first time. She is tall, lean, has short blonde hair, looks like she has colored eyes, and is smiling like a hyper child; she is rather stunning. The odd thing is that she could have easily run off…You know, like…away from the hospital, but instead she is prancing around the lot and laughing like she is playing tag on a school playground. The two men, finally, try to grab her, but she jumps back and laughs before taking off again; she runs behind my car and ducks behind it. I immediately stiffen, praying she doesn't go ballistic and starts beating my car up or jumping on top of it or breaking in and hot-wiring it, before running us all over and speeding off. I look back to the two men and they stare at me completely panicking, not knowing where the blonde went. I lift my finger to my lips in a hushing gesture and slowly make my way to my car. As I tiptoe over I am trying to figure out if I have lost my mind; why the hell am I purposely putting myself in danger.? How do I know she hasn't found a rock and is ready to bash out the brains of the first person who gets close enough? I try to keep myself from taking another step, but I know that I have seen and observed my fair share of patients, and I know when one is capable of being violent; and for some reason, I don't think this one is looking for a fight…at least not right now, anyway. I quietly make my way around the front of my car, where I know I will have an advantage, being that I saw the girl facing the other way when she ducked down. Sure enough, I see her hunched over, her shoulders lightly shaking as she giggles to herself. I look behind me and see the men with stun guns in hand; my eyes widen, while I wildly shake my head at them. I really see no need to electrify the girl, she is obviously a threat to our lives, although the way she is out-running these two, she might give them a heart-attack. I see them lower their guns, a little, and I turn back to the blonde hiding behind my car. I can hear her talking, but the wind is making it impossible for me to make out exactly what she is saying…so I lean in closer, lowering myself, as I inch my way over until I am breathing down her neck. I look over her shoulder and see that she is drawing random shapes on her palm with one of the fingers on her other hand and is whispering about different directions she can run in. I turn my head toward the men and give them a reassuring smile, before I quickly wrap my arms around the blonde, trapping her as she falls forward onto the asphalt, with me on top of her. I tighten my hold once we hit the ground because all the other times I had to subdue a patient they always bucked and screamed and tried to roll over, so I expected just that, but instead I was greeted with laughter.
I look down and see the blonde has one side of her face pressed against the ground, but her eyes are closed, as she laughs like someone is tickling her. I cannot help but smile at the blonde as she snorts and keeps laughing. I lower my mouth to her ear, "Are you okay?"
The girl nods and continues her fit of giggles.
"When I get off you, are you going to run away again?"
The girl tries to shake her head, but my weight pressing her down makes it impossible, so I take her word for it and slowly get off her and stand up, putting my hands up to stop the two men from jumping her.
The smiling blonde rolls over, on her back, and looks up at me with bright hazel eyes, as her chuckling slowly eases back down to a steady breathing. The girl stretches before getting up and shaking her hair out. "That was fun!" Her voice rings loud with the kind of excitement only a child could feel. "No one's ever caught me before!" Her eyes are sparkling and her smile is now fully open, she looks kind of dopey.
The rest of us share confused looks, before the two men grab her and lead her to the hospital entry. I quickly follow them and focus my attention on the happy blonde, as I unlock the doors.
Once inside the two men handcuff the girl to a chair, give me a folder, and say "She's all yours, now," before making a quick exit. I sigh and look at the folder in my hands and steal a glance at the girl as she examines the handcuffs with a pout. Forcing my eyes to drift back to the contents of the folder, I skim the profile and history of the new patient.
Name: Quinn Lucy Fabray…Gender: F…Age: 23…Hair: Blonde…Eyes: Hazel…Height: 5'6…Weight: 120lbs
Medical History: None….Diagnosis: Schizotypal Personality Disorder (SPD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Well, that is the shortest file I've ever read, usually there's pages of detailed incidents or at least notes taken by a therapist, but there is nothing. I look at her diagnosis, again, and I get a strange feeling in my gut; how can she have such conflicting disorders, maybe they misdiagnosed her; maybe she's just bipolar or something. I mean, I'm not a doctor, but she doesn't see like she has SPD, then again, I learned not to judge a book by its cover. I look up at the blonde and see that she has made a game of trying to make a beat out of tapping her foot, drumming her fingers, and shaking the metal handcuffs.
"That sounds good," I compliment. "Maybe, you can play that in my music class later?"
"You mean…I have to stay handcuffed to a chair all day?"
"Oh, no, of course not!" I laugh nervously, "But I make no promises if you start to run off again."
"If I do, you can just catch me!" Her smile is contagious.
"Um, I don't know. I think I just got lucky; you're really fas-," I stop and look at the blonde, who I noticed just tuned me out. Following her line of vision, I see her staring at the woman who walked into the lobby. I roll my eyes at brunette.
"Hey, Rach," the older woman says, not even bothering to look in my direction.
"Hello, Shelby. I'd like to introduce you to Qu-"
"Quinn! I've heard so much about you; it's not every day we get new patients, you know…Only the really special ones get to come here." She lowers herself in front of Quinn's chair and puts her hand on the blonde's knee. Quinn looks like she is about to piss herself or spontaneously combust, either one would leave a mess that I certainly do not want to clean up, so I intervene.
"Shelby…Quinn, here, hasn't gotten used to the place, so I think I'll show her around before the halls get too crowded," I say, throwing a nod at the clock, which shows it's almost 8:30am, the time when the other patients were forced to wake up for showers and breakfast.
"Alright, well, I will see you later today, Quinn; I believe I have you scheduled for a session at 4:30 sharp." She pats the girl's knee a few times and walks away.
Quinn's long sigh of relief distracts me from boring holes in the back of Shelby's head. "Are you okay, Quinn?"
"Yeah…She's really pretty."
My eyes shoot down to look at the blonde, who is leaning over to the side just to watch the older woman disappear down the hall. If she wasn't handcuffed to the chair, I'm positive she would have fallen out of the damn thing. I am shocked at how shameless the girl is being, so I clear my throat.
"Ahem, I think we should start the tour, now."
"What tour?" She snaps her head up and looks at me with confusion swirling around in her eyes.
I sigh, "You really were distracted by her, weren't you?"
"Yeah…She's really pretty." She makes that ridiculously dopey smile, again.
"Uh huh, you said that already," I comment and unlock the handcuffs, letting her free. "Maybe, you'll actually be able to form words when you see her later," I smirk, poking fun at the girl.
"What do you mean, later?"
"All new-comers have to go to a session with Dr. Corcoran, so she can see how you are adjusting to your new surroundings."
"Oh," she gulps and stares at her shoes.
"You okay?" I can't help but be a little concerned.
"I just uh…I don't know how to…" the girl trails off and starts to focus on the folder in my hands. "What's that?" She asks, pointing at her profile.
"This is just a paper that has some information about you, that's all."
"What kind of information? Can I see it?" She tries to grab it out of my hand, but I pull it behind my back.
"I'm sorry, Quinn, but only hospital workers can read it; but I can tell you that it doesn't have a lot of information on it."
The blonde squints and eyes me suspiciously, "Does it say what my favorite things are? And what my NOT favorite things are?"
I furrow my brows, in confusion. "Umm, no…No, it doesn't list anything like that. All it says is that you are very special, so there is no need to worry about anything, okay?"
"What do you mean special? Does it say anything about what I look like?" The girl is starting to visibly shake and I step back, praying I can subdue her again, if need be.
"Quinn…There is no need to yell, okay? It just says what color your hair and eyes are and your height and weight…Nothing else, I promise." I hope that knowing the information is very vague, is enough for to calm her down.
She seems to be pleased with the lack of details in her profile, so she looks back down at her shoes, "Sorry I yelled…"
"No, it's okay. I understand why you would be upset, but the next time you feel angry you can just tell me and I will help you calm down, deal?"
The blonde nods, causing her hair to fall over her eyes; she snorts, "Where'd you go? I can't see you!"
I smile and brush the hair out of her face, "Silly, let's go before everyone wakes up."
"Who is Everyone?"
I turn to look at the girl; she is serious about her question. "Everyone is everyone else who lives here, Quinn."
The blonde bites her bottom lip and shifts her eyes between all the closed doors, as we walk down the hall way.
"Don't worry; everyone will love you," I pat her shoulder to calm her nerves. "I will introduce you to everyone in your music class. Let's see, your profile says you're twenty-three, so that means you'll be placed in my second class of the day, with the rest of the twenty-some year olds." I try to sound excited, but truth be told, I am worried about Quinn. My second group of students are the absolute worst; they will probably eat her alive if she shows even a tiny bit of nervousness.
"Do you think they will like my song? Oo! You can handcuff me to a chair so I can play it for them!" I guess my pep talk worked, but I immediately regret suggesting she play the peculiar beat for the class because, if I'm being honest, it was kind of dorky…cute, but dorky; and dorks do not last long around here.
"Um, maybe you can play something else. We usually sing and dance; do you know any songs or dance moves?"
"I don't know a lot about music, I didn't get to listen to the radio that much when I grew up, but uhh…Oh! I do know one song!"
"Great! What is it?" I ask smiling at her like a proud parent.
"It's a surprise!" Her eyes are sparkling again and I am momentarily distracted by them. "I think everyone will like it; it's the best song ever!"
I have to force myself to respond in some kind of way, "Sounds good, then, Quinn." I just hope it's not something equally as dorky as her handcuff jingle.
After briefly showing Quinn the second floor, where the guys stayed, we finally make it to the top third floor, where the girl's rooms are. "Perfect, now I can show you where you will be staying; and maybe your roommate will be in here." I walk lead the way to Room 31B and quickly knock on the door, much to Quinn's dismay.
"Wait! I-I…"
I look at the stuttering girl, "It's okay, Quinn; Brittany is very nice." I knock on the door again, this time harder, and Quinn whimpers. "I promise that she will be nice to you, okay?" I knock once more, and after more silence, I turn the knob, expecting the room to be empty. I look back at Quinn and smile, as I open the door, unknowingly exposing two girls having sex in bed. If Quinn wasn't standing wide-eyed and jaw-dropped I wouldn't have turned back around to look inside the room, but when I did I screamed and quickly shut the door. "Oh my God! I didn't know, Quinn! I thought it was-"
"Hot!"
"What?" I stare at the blonde, who reaches for the knob again, "No!" I slap her hand, causing her to pull it back and pout. I turn back to face the closed door and don't dare open it, as I shout "Brittany, and Santana, you two are in big trouble! I'm going to open this door in ten seconds and you two better be wearing clo-"
I'm cut off when the door opens, revealing both girls in their regular hospital clothes. "I'm Sorry, Ms. Berry," Brittany says with a small frown.
"I'm not," Santana says with a smug look on her face. "Who's the weirdo?" She asks throwing a nod at Quinn, who is rubbing the back of her neck and staring at her shoes.
"Santana, that is very rude!"
"What? She's the one not even looking at me, when she was sure getting an eyeful of me when Britt was fuckin-"
"SANTANA! That is enough!" The Latina just smirks. "You two go take a shower," the two girls look at each other and hold hands as they skip away together, "…SEPERATELY!" I add, knowing I have to tell them or else they will continue their lovemaking in the shower room. I shake my head when they turn the corner and I look back to Quinn, who is practically rubbing the skin off her neck. "Hey, don't listen to Santana; she's just embarrassed she got caught." I lied; I know Santana had no shame, she didn't care if she had an audience, in fact, she preferred it…I mean, she wasn't diagnosed with a Histrionic personality disorder, for no reason.
"I don't understand."
"What don't you understand, Quinn?" I try to sound professional, but I think Quinn needs more of a friendly tone.
"I never saw…sex before," the girl is still staring at her shoes and she looks terribly confused.
"Um…" Shit, how do I respond to that? Should I even respond to that? "Um, it's okay, not everyone sees sex, Quinn. It doesn't make them any different."
"Who said I was different? You? You think I'm different?" She steps back until she is against the wall.
"What? No; no, Quinn. I don't think that, I promise."
"I'm angry," she says in a low voice, her eyes fixed on the floorboards, as her hands clench into fists.
Crap. Now, she's going to kick my ass, "Quinn? Quinn, calm down…You don't have to be angry, okay? Nobody thinks you're different; you're perfectly normal." I look at the blonde, who has her eyes closed, and I slowly walk towards her. When I am a step away from her, I lean in and hug the upset girl, successfully trapping her arms and preventing them any chance of expressing her anger. "I'm sorry, I upset you, Quinn." I feel her nod her head and I slowly let her go. We stare at each other for a few seconds, until low rumbling breaks our silence.
"I'm hungry," the blonde says, sheepishly.
"Good, because we have good food, here," I say smiling at her, as I lead her back down to the first floor for breakfast. I try not to, but I can't help trying to find a connection between her two angry outbursts. I also can't put my finger on her personality, yet. She is so lively, yet shy, but happy, and also angry and she switches back and forth so effortlessly. I have to ask Shelby, once she finishes her session with Quinn, later today. In the meantime, I have to get her through breakfast and music class, without Santana or anyone else attacking her.
Not even a minute after we walk into the busy cafeteria, I see Puck aka "the resident badass," lock his eyes on the blonde, before strutting over to her, as she examines the apples at the salad bar.
Great…this ought to be interesting.
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think! I want to know if I should continue…