Chapter Text
It was the day. After weeks of playing against other teams, the Titans were going to face off against the Cobras again. They were still undefeated and Rachel had no intentions of letting their winning streak end anytime soon. Aside from her typical competitive attitude, she also had a score to settle. Rachel was never a vengeful person, but what Jesse had done was more than just an attack upon her; it was also an attack upon Quinn. She wouldn't let him get away with that.
After a nice, hearty breakfast she was out the door where her girlfriend had just arrived to pick her up. Quinn got out of the car to greet her and gave Rachel a quick peck on the lips. "Hey," she murmured as she pulled back. "You ready for the game later tonight?"
"Jesse St. Jerkface isn't going to know what hit him. Actually, he will know. He'll know that it was me that knocked him flat on his butt." She earned a laugh out of Quinn, but then she let out a small groan and placed a hand on her stomach. "What is it? What's wrong?" Rachel asked worriedly. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Quinn assured. "It's just a bit of an upset stomach. Nothing to worry about, okay?"
"Okay, but if you need anything-"
"I'll come find you," Quinn finished for her. "I will." She led Rachel to her car and drove them to school. Once there she walked Rachel to class and gave her another kiss before going to her own first period. It would be an easy going day. After talking with her teammates Rachel came to the conclusion that most, if not all, of the faculty had come to an agreement to not put any additional pressure on the football team during their classes for the day. None of them had any tests, assignments due, or anything else of the sort.
While a win wasn't vital from them to advance to the playoffs, beating the best team in the district a second time was a goal that all of McKinley was aiming for. Rachel didn't necessarily approve of such an action; she would have preferred to do some actually learning during school, but she appreciated the opportunity to relax. The lack of work also gave Rachel the chance to keep a close eye on her girlfriend.
Despite her insistence that it was just a bit of an upset stomach, Rachel worried about her. She knew that she had to focus on the game but Quinn's wellbeing was far more important to her. Quinn seemed fine. But once or twice, when she thought her girlfriend wasn't looking, Rachel saw her groaning and clutching her stomach. And later on towards the end of the day she had to go to the nurse. Once she had a chance, Rachel went to see her.
Upon seeing her girlfriend, Rachel rushed to her side. "Oh Quinn, are you okay?" She sat down on the bed that Quinn was lying down on and leaned in to give her a big hug. "What is it? What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.
"It's nothing Rach. Really, you don't-"
"Don't even think about telling me not to worry," Rachel interrupted. "I already am worrying. Now tell me what's wrong," she pleaded.
Quinn averted her eyes away out of shame. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I was just trying to do something for you."
"By getting sick?"
"No. No, that's not it," Quinn answered, quickly shaking her head. "For the past few days I've been changing up my diet," she explained. "No meat. At first I felt fine, but today… well, I guess I don't have to explain about today."
"Oh, Quinn. You should have been more careful, taken things more slowly," Rachel chastised worriedly. She hugged her girlfriend again.
"I know, I know. I guess I just got a little ahead of myself."
Rachel nodded her understanding as she brushed some of Quinn's hair and tucked it behind her ear. "I appreciate what you were trying to do. It was really sweet, but you don't have to change for me. You know that, right? I love you just the way you are."
"I know you do. I wanted to try," she assured.
"Okay. Let's get you home, all right?" Rachel said as she tried to help Quinn to her feet.
"What? No!" Quinn tugged back to keep Rachel sitting on the bed. "Don't be silly Rachel, you have a game to get ready for," she reminded. "You can't risk ruining your perfect season. And remember, you promised my dad that you'd crush them. Besides, I feel a lot better now after I threw up." Quinn's reasoning was solid, but still Rachel wanted to make sure that she was okay. She cupped her cheek and examined her closely. "I'm fine Rachel," Quinn insisted. "I won't even get in trouble with Sue since she's away on some of business that she won't tell us about. So get ready for the game, okay? I'll be out in a bit."
"If you're sure," Rachel replied to give Quinn one last out.
"I am. Now go." Rachel leaned in for a kiss but Quinn stopped her and pushed her back. "Rachel, don't. I threw up earlier." Rachel frowned but backed away. "We can kiss later; I keep a share toothbrush in my Cheerios duffle." Rachel settled for a hug and planted a kiss on Quinn's cheek before heading out towards the field and into the locker room. She quickly got changed before jogging outside to meet up with her team.
Right outside the door Noah was waiting for her. Their eyes met. No words were said. All he did was nod and then give her a big hug. After he pulled back, Noah made sure that Rachel's helmet was on securely before giving her a light headbutt. He would often headbutt their teammates after scoring a touchdown, albeit with more strength. Rachel decided to headbutt him back a little harder. She recoiled a bit and he lightly laughed at her.
Rachel readjusted her helmet and Noah led her into the boys' locker room. Rachel felt odd as she entered but Coach Beiste wanted to give the team a little pep talk. She looked them all over before speaking. "When we started this year, I hate to say it but… we sucked. That's not to say that any of you do, because you don't. The problem was that you stopped working as a team; you lost faith in each other, and after the losses that we've had I can't blame you if you did lose faith. But then this year Rachel here decided to try out for the team, and I gotta be honest with you, I was absolutely terrified for her. But she proved me wrong. Hell, she proved everybody wrong!" The team gave off a collective shout. "And just like that you all started to believe, not only in each other but yourselves too. And where did that lead us?"
"To an undefeated season Coach!" The team yelled again.
"And now were facing the Cobras again. Are you going to let them end your streak?"
"No way!"
"What was that?!"
"We're gonna crush them Coach!"
"We'll pulverize them!"
"Hands in!" Coach Beiste ordered. "Titans on three. One. Two. Three."
"Titans!"
They ran out to the field. Across the way Rachel could see Jesse. He didn't look too happy, but given the fact that his plan had completely backfired it made sense that he was at least a little bit upset. She glared at him, but as far as Rachel could tell, he was ignoring her. That was fine though. If Rachel had her way then he wouldn't be able to ignore her for long. The team captains for each team met in the middle for the coin toss. The Cobras won and chose to receive. Jesse was saved, at least for a while.
After a deep kick the Cobras signaled for a fair catch, much to the distaste of the fans in the stands. At the twenty the started off with a run, gaining only three yards. A failed pass on third down and a completed one on third gained them a first down. And a few plays later they managed to get past the fifty yard line. But that's were the Cobra offense was stopped, being forced to punt the ball at fourth and four. A decent return gave the Titans some yardage.
Their offense hit the field. Rachel wanted the ball but they knew that the Cobras would be expecting that and thus went for a short pass to Mike. As the ball was snapped one of the Cobra linebackers went in on a blitz, which could have been awful if the Titans had decided to go on the ground, but instead Mike ended up being wide open. What should have been a short gain ended up getting them a first down.
Sadly, the Titans weren't so lucky on their second play. Finn went for a pass in the other direction, but it went slightly high. Noah was forced to jump for it and while he was in mid-air he tackled hard. He was okay but he couldn't keep his grip on the ball. Aside from their initial mistake the Cobra defense was going strong. They halted the Titans just short of field goal distance. Halfway through the first quarter and the scoreboard was still empty. But it wouldn't be that way for long. Using all their weapons the Cobras slowly, but steadily made their way down the field. The Titans managed to slow their advance, but quickly enough.
With less than three minutes left on the clock the Cobras scored their first points of the night with a field goal. It was only three points though, and there were still three full quarters left. Rachel was fully determined to score once she got back on the field. After a one passing play she was given her chance. The offensive line broke open a hole for her to run through. On the other side of it was Jesse. Rachel probably could have gotten around him. It wasn't very likely, but it was possible.
But Rachel didn't want to. Anger surged through her body. She was going to make him pay. Rachel ran straight forward, bracing herself for the hit. She wasn't strong enough to run right through him. She knew that much, but if she was going down then she was going to take him down with her. And Rachel did just that, knocking Jesse flat on his butt. She could hear him groan as her teammates yelled and helped her back up. She wanted to rub it in, but they had a game to win and it clear that he was embarrassed about being taken down by a girl.
Rachel had to smirk. She felt pretty proud of herself. Her next run came two plays later, where she helped move the chains. The first quarter ended before they could score. The Titans had good position though and unless they gave up a turnover they were guaranteed at least a field goal. But on a play-action pass Finn managed to get the ball into the end zone. Rachel had to take a hit for that one, but look on the defender's face when he realized that she didn't have the ball was totally worth the pain.
And so, early on in the second quarter the Titans took the lead. Their defense held strong and once more gave the Cobras nothing more than a field goal during their next drive, and as such they still trailed the Titans by one point. Unfortunately, the Cobras did manage to run down the clock thus preventing the Titans from scoring once more before the end of the half. If the Titans had scored they would have had the chance to make the game a two score game since they were getting procession back at the start of the second half.
Although they were winning they would have liked the extra breathing room. At the start of the second the Cobras kicked the ball off. Mike received it at the far end of the field. After a decent run it looked as though he would be taken down near the twenty, but somehow he miraculously was able to stay on his feet and kept running. The Titans on the sidelines and the crowd got on their feet and cheered him on. Mike kept running, swearing left and spinning right. He got far but was stopped soon after passing the fifty.
But the momentum he built up stayed with the entire Titan team. They seemingly mowed down the Cobra defense. And at first and ten at the sixteen a pass went flying straight towards the end zone. Rachel wrapped her hands around the ball. The ref called the touchdown, but not a second later she felt the hit. She was being flipped through the air. Her sense went numb. She could just barely make out the sound of Quinn's voice calling out her name. "Rachel!" Quinn ran towards her girlfriend. She still felt a bit ill, but that discomfort was nothing compared to the pain she felt upon seeing Rachel getting hurt. She raced towards him but then felt someone wrap their arms around her. She looked at who it was and then punched him. "Let me go Puck! She needs me! Rachel!"
"Quinn you don't want to see this!" Noah tried to reason as Quinn fought out of his grasp.
"She needs me!" she insisted. "Let go!" Quinn stomped on his foot causing him to let go and thus give her the chance to check up on Rachel. She was clutching onto her side, tears streaming down her face despite how much she tried to fight them. "Hey baby, it's okay. It's okay, all right? I'm here now."
"It hurts."
"I know, I know. But everything is going to be okay now. Okay baby? Everything's going to be okay. I love you, baby. I love you so much. Everything's going to be fine. I'm here now. You're safe now, Rachel. Nothing can hurt you."