Fic: "The Kissing Disease" [PG-13] Lots of pairings
Title: The Kissing Disease
Author: x0_aquarius_x0
Rating: PG-13 for this chapter
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of its characters.
Pairing: Um, everyone with…everyone in this chapter. Nothing more than PG-13, though.
Summary: Out of all the hurdles Mr. Schuester expected to have to jump before regionals, this was certainly not one of them.
A/N: See, I told you it would be a quick update! Thank you for reading the intro, and I hope you enjoy this section! More to come soon…
Intro
Later that evening
After Will spent a solid hour making phone calls to glee club parents, an emergency meeting had been called for 6:00 at the doctor’s office where Finn had been diagnosed. The receptionist had taken one look at the sick teens and their concerned parents before transforming a doctors’ conference room into a holding area.
Will scanned the room. Most of the kids were in sweats or pajamas, hair a mess, with flushed cheeks and too-bright eyes. He’d gone from angry to confused to concerned and sympathetic as the evening progressed. Artie was sound asleep in his wheelchair and hadn’t opened his eyes since his dad brought him in a few minutes ago. Tina’s throat was so sore and swollen that she couldn’t respond when Will said hello to her. Even big, strong Puck looked wiped out, slouched in his chair with his chin resting on his chest. The glands in Mike’s throat were so swollen that Will could see them across the room.
The kids had yet to say much of anything, but the parents were chatting amongst themselves, discussing high fevers and swollen glands and the terrible sore throats. Will absently wondered how he would feel if he were in any of those parents’ shoes.
The door opened and a doctor entered. The room went silent as he set a high stack of charts on a counter. “Good evening, everyone,” he said, far too enthusiastically. “I’m Dr. Jackson. I understand we’ve got an epidemic of sorts on our hands.” A few murmured “yeahs” spread around the room. “Does someone want to tell me what’s going on?”
Most of the parents looked directly to Will as the natural leader of the group. He wiped his hands on his jeans and cleared his throat. “Yeah. Okay. I guess I will.”
“And you are…?” Dr. Jackson asked. Will could tell he wasn’t being impolite, just trying to get a grasp on this strange situation.
“I’m Will Schuster. The kids’ glee club director. At practice after school today, 9 out of 12 of our members were absent. We did a little research and found that they had all been out sick. We also found out that Finn,” Will paused, nodding in his direction, “was diagnosed with mono. Since so many of the kids are sick, the parents and I decided that it would be a good idea to bring all of them in.”
Dr. Jackson nodded slowly, looking around the room. “Everybody has a sore throat?”
Just about all of the kids nodded.
“Fever?”
At that, the parents started rattling off some unnaturally high numbers.
“Abnormal exhaustion?”
The kids piped in at that one. “I can’t even keep my eyes open,” Kurt said.
“All I can do is sleep,” Santana agreed.
“Okay,” Dr. Jackson, holding up a hand to quiet everyone back down. “We’ll do blood tests and exams on all of the kids to be sure, but it sounds like your suspicions are correct. Sounds like mono. The question is how did all of you catch it? Mononucleosis is only spread through contact with saliva. Do you all share water bottles?”
A few of the kids exchanged corner-eyed glances and shifted in their seats. Will felt his own eyes narrow. He’d seen those looks too many times and knew that something was up.
“No, not exactly,” Quinn answered, her voice hoarse. More glances and cleared throats.
Dr. Jackson spoke up again. “We really need to figure out how this happened. We need to know who patient zero, or the person who got this whole thing started, is so that we can warn others who may have been exposed.”
When there was more silence, Will said, “Don’t everyone speak at once.”
“Whatever it is, you’re not going to get in trouble,” Dr. Jackson added. “We just need to know what happened.
“Fine,” Finn said. “I’ll do it. It’s just kind of awkward.” He winced, though Will couldn’t tell if it was because of his sore throat or from whatever he was about to explain. “See, we think it happened a couple of weeks ago, after we were assigned to sing those ballads.”
Will nodded, remembering how the kids had joined together to sing “Lean on Me” for Quinn and Finn. So much had changed since then.
Finn continued. “We were all getting along really well, probably the best we’ve gotten along since New Directions started. Brittany’s parents were out of town, so she decided to have all of us over.”
Across the room, Brittany’s mom rolled her eyes as if she was annoyed but not quite surprised at this revelation.
Finn continued. “There was some alcohol involved and…”
“Finn, shut up,” Mercedes hissed, smacking him on the shoulder. “You don’t need to tell that part of the story.”
“I told you guys you shouldn’t be drinking,” Rachel added, pride visible on her face. That comment earned her a smack from Kurt.
“You shut up, too,” he whined.
“Please continue, Finn,” Dr. Jackson said, obviously less worried about the drinking than the illness. Looking around the room, Will wasn’t so sure the parents shared his sentiments.
“Anyways, we decided to play spin the bottle.”
A few uncomfortable groans went up around the room from both parents and kids.
“So we kissed, we infected each other, and now we’re all sick. Can’t you just give us some good drugs and let us go home?” Puck asked, sounding a little bit like his normal self.
“I’m afraid I need to know who was kissing whom and how it spread. Like I said, we need to warn anyone else who might have been exposed.”
Everyone looked back to Finn. He sighed and shrugged. “Okay. What happened was…”
At the party
“Let’s play spin the bottle,” Brittany said, setting an empty beer bottle in the middle of the group.
Quinn snickered. “How old are we, five?”
“It’ll be fun,” Brittany pouted, twirling a string of hair around her finger. “Come on. Who wants to go first?”
“I’m not playing,” Rachel said, standing up and delicately removing herself from the circle.
“I’ll play,” Puck said. “But first we have to lay down some ground rules.”
“Like what?” Mike asked.
“Like no dudes kissing other dudes.”
“Why not?” Santana teased.
“Oh, come on. If guys have to kiss guys, then girls have to kiss girls, and we know the girls won’t agree to that,” Finn said.
“Really?” Brittany asked. She stood and put a hand on her hip. “So, you’re saying we wouldn’t do this?” With her head held high, Brittany crossed the circle to Santana. She crouched down so she was sitting on her friend’s outstretched legs. Santana took the hint and pulled Brittany’s face towards her own. They kissed long and hard, playing it up for the boys’ sake. When they broke apart, Brittany giggled and licked at Santana’s ear lobe. Then she stood and walked calmly back to her seat.
The guys in the circle were staring with eyes wide, mouths open. Even Kurt looked a little bit impressed. Quinn reached over and smacked Matt.
“Ouch,” he said in response. “I didn’t say anything. Why do I get hit?”
“Because you’re the only guy I can reach,” Quinn explained.
“All right,” Puck said, snapping out of his trance. “Let’s do this, then.” Everyone in the room could tell where he was hoping the bottle would land.
“Sure you don’t want to play, Rachel?” Finn asked.
“No thanks. I’m good right here,” she said, crossing her legs and taking a sip from her water bottle.
“I’ll sit out, too,” Kurt said, going to join Rachel. “We’ll let you guys be the fools.”
“Suit yourselves.” Puck spun the bottle and everyone whooped and cheered while it slowed to a stop. “Looks like Artie and Santana,” Puck said.
Everyone joined in a mature chorus of “oohhhh’s.”
Santana grinned and bounced out of her seat. “Ready for this, stud?” she asked, balancing carefully on his lap. They kissed easily, which got more whooping out of the audience.
When they pulled apart, Artie adjusted his glasses and licked his lips. “Cherry lip gloss. My favorite,” he said, which made everyone laugh.
“I get to spin next, right?” Santana asked, flicking the bottle on her way back to her seat.
“Mike and Brittany,” Puck said, winking in Mike’s direction. Brittany got up and kissed Mike with just about as much energy and enthusiasm as she had with Santana.
“Aw, man,” Matt whined, obviously jealous. “Why can’t the bottle land on me?”
“No reason to be jealous,” Brittany said, pausing to plant a kiss on Matt’s mouth, too. Everyone laughed and cheered.
Brittany gave the bottle a good spin and air-kissed at Artie before sitting down.
“Don’t get too comfortable, Brit,” Puck said. “You and Finn. Man, why can’t I get some of this action?”
“I don’t know if I want to kiss a girl who’s such a player,” Finn teased, wide grin on his face as Brittany approached.
“Oh, you do. Trust me,” Brittany said as she straddled his lap.
“Geeze, come up for air, Brit,” Santana said when the kiss had gone on a little too long.
“You’re just jealous she’s not kissing you again,” Mike teased.
When they pulled apart, Brittany leaned close to Finn’s ear. “Well? Was I right?”
“Oh, you are way too good at this game,” Finn laughed.
“All right,” Puck said. “Enough out of you two. I’m spinning the damn bottle this time. My turn.”
The group made an imitation drum roll by banging on their legs until the bottle came to a stop. Stopped on Puck, nonetheless. And…Matt. The girls started cracking up and high-fiving each other, while the guys wrinkled their noses and Puck tried to get away.
“Never mind,” Puck said loudly, hopping over a couch. “Game over. We don’t need to play anymore.”
“Oh no, dude,” Finn said, grabbing Puck before he could get away. The game can end after this, but fair is fair. Everyone else played along. Now you have to, too.”
“Yeah,” Mercedes and several others chimed in. “Fair is fair.”
“Here,” Brittany said, handing him a shot of something. “Liquid courage. Just get it over with.”
Puck sighed and Finn let go o he could down the shot. “All right, Rutherford.”
“Fine,” Matt groaned, obviously dreading this as much as Puck. He looked around the room and wagged a finger in warning. “But if any of you even think about breaking out a camera phone, I will be forced to break it along with one of your bones.”
Puck stood so that he was about a foot away from Matt. “Yeah. Good call on that one.”
Matt shrugged. “I thought so. You know, Brittany did just kiss me, so you can picture her if that makes it any…”
“Aw, man,” Puck winced. “I’m not picturing anything when I kiss you. Let’s just do this.” And with that, he leaned forward. They kissed stiff and awkward, with nothing touching besides their mouths.
Matt pulled away first, coughing and spitting dramatically. “Dude, get your tongue out of my mouth.”
That got even more laughing and cheering out of everyone. Even Puck had to laugh because it was so obviously not true. “Don’t mess with me like that, man,” he said, pulling Matt into a headlock. “I’ll beat your ass.” He gave Matt a noogie then pushed him jokingly away.
“So,” Rachel said smugly as Puck leaned up against the couch next to her. “Is Matt a good kisser?”
Puck rolled his eyes. “You were right. I should’ve just sat out with you.”
Rachel smiled haughtily. “Yes, you should have.”
“Come on, guys! Let’s play flippy cup!” someone shouted.
With that, the spin the bottle incidents were forgotten. Well, mostly…
Present
Finn finished the story and shrugged again. “So…that’s what happened.” Most of the kids were staring at the floor, and most of the adults looked like they wanted to kill their children.
Dr. Jackson cleared his throat. “Okay. Thank you, Finn. So…it sounds like most of you who were playing either kissed Brittany or kissed someone who had just kissed Brittany. Is that correct?”
The guilty parties shrugged or nodded.
“Brittany,” Dr. Jackson continued, “have you been in contact with anyone else who has been sick lately?”
“Well,” Brittany said, twirling her hair around her finger as she thought. “I did go out with this guy a while ago, and he said he had mono. But he told me it wasn’t contagious and I wouldn’t catch it.”
There was a chorus of groans and rolling of eyes.
“God, Brittany, why do you have to be such an idiot?” Quinn asked bitterly. Several others echoed the question.
“I’m sorry,” Brittany whined. “Come on guys, I didn’t know, and I really don’t feel good. Can’t you just let it go?”
“At least we’ve found our patient zero,” Dr. Jackson said, as if it was a good thing.
After a few more complaints in Brittany’s direction, Will quieted everyone down again. “All right,” he said, scanning the room and counting students off on his fingers. “So that accounts for Brittany, Santana, Artie, Finn, Mike, Matt, and Puck. What about the rest of you? Quinn?”
All eyes in the room fell on Quinn, and her cheeks blushed even redder than they were before. “I kissed Puck.” She shrugged. “I guess it’s no secret anymore that he and I have been…together.”
“Okay,” Will interrupted, not needing her to go any further. “Okay. Mercedes?”
Mercedes cleared her throat. When she spoke, it was with attitude and a hand on her hip. “Puck? You want to explain that one?”
All attention slid back in Puck’s direction. He sighed. “Yeah, okay, let’s just face the fact that there aren’t many people in this room that I haven’t kissed. Mercedes is my fault, too.”
Will didn’t miss the way Quinn’s head snapped in his direction, her eyes like daggers, but they still had a few more mysteries to solve.
“I didn’t kiss Kurt, though,” Puck said suddenly, realizing that he was one of the few left. “No offense, man.”
Kurt shrugged. “None taken. I probably got it from Mercedes. I kiss her all the time.”
Mercedes squeezed Kurt’s hand and kissed his cheek, as if in demonstration of this fact. “Love me some Kurt,” she said, which got a few chuckles.
Will turned to Tina. “What about you?” he asked, then winced, remembering how painful her voice (or lack thereof) had been when he first greeted her.
Everyone was surprised when Mike spoke up on her behalf. “Um, I guess now would be a good time to tell you guys that Tina and I are…we’re kind of…dating.”
That got a few “aw”s from the girls as Mike smiled in Tina’s direction and she smiled back.
“Is that everyone?” Dr. Jackson asked, looking around the room.
“What about Rachel?” Kurt asked.
Rachel shifted in her seat. “Oh, I feel fine. I’m not sick. I didn’t play spin the bottle and my immune system is so solid that it would have been impossible…”
“We should probably test you anyways, just to be safe,” Dr. Jackson interrupted, and Rachel closed her mouth with a look of annoyance.
“That’s everyone, then,” Will confirmed. “All 12 of them.”
Dr. Jackson nodded. “I’ll have a few nurses draw some blood and run the tests, then I’ll be back to give all of you some instructions. Any questions before I go?”
“Dr. Jackson,” Quinn spoke up, “what about me?” All eyes fell on Quinn’s baby bump. Her voice was soft and scared. “What about my baby?”
The doctor smiled gently. “Why don’t you come with me? We’ll get an ultrasound just to make sure everything’s okay.”
Quinn nodded and stood slowly, looking absolutely terrified.
“Don’t worry,” Dr. Jackson said, putting a gentle hand on Quinn’s shoulder. “If anyone’s spleen seems enlarged, they’ll have to have ultrasounds, too. It’ll be fun.”
When Quinn and Dr. Jackson left, the room was eerily quiet. It seemed that no one had really thought about the implications this might have for Quinn’s baby.
“Did he say something about drawing blood?” Puck asked, breaking the silence. “Because I really hate needles.”
It figured, Will thought. The toughest guys always were the biggest babies.
Author: x0_aquarius_x0
Rating: PG-13 for this chapter
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of its characters.
Pairing: Um, everyone with…everyone in this chapter. Nothing more than PG-13, though.
Summary: Out of all the hurdles Mr. Schuester expected to have to jump before regionals, this was certainly not one of them.
A/N: See, I told you it would be a quick update! Thank you for reading the intro, and I hope you enjoy this section! More to come soon…
Intro
Later that evening
After Will spent a solid hour making phone calls to glee club parents, an emergency meeting had been called for 6:00 at the doctor’s office where Finn had been diagnosed. The receptionist had taken one look at the sick teens and their concerned parents before transforming a doctors’ conference room into a holding area.
Will scanned the room. Most of the kids were in sweats or pajamas, hair a mess, with flushed cheeks and too-bright eyes. He’d gone from angry to confused to concerned and sympathetic as the evening progressed. Artie was sound asleep in his wheelchair and hadn’t opened his eyes since his dad brought him in a few minutes ago. Tina’s throat was so sore and swollen that she couldn’t respond when Will said hello to her. Even big, strong Puck looked wiped out, slouched in his chair with his chin resting on his chest. The glands in Mike’s throat were so swollen that Will could see them across the room.
The kids had yet to say much of anything, but the parents were chatting amongst themselves, discussing high fevers and swollen glands and the terrible sore throats. Will absently wondered how he would feel if he were in any of those parents’ shoes.
The door opened and a doctor entered. The room went silent as he set a high stack of charts on a counter. “Good evening, everyone,” he said, far too enthusiastically. “I’m Dr. Jackson. I understand we’ve got an epidemic of sorts on our hands.” A few murmured “yeahs” spread around the room. “Does someone want to tell me what’s going on?”
Most of the parents looked directly to Will as the natural leader of the group. He wiped his hands on his jeans and cleared his throat. “Yeah. Okay. I guess I will.”
“And you are…?” Dr. Jackson asked. Will could tell he wasn’t being impolite, just trying to get a grasp on this strange situation.
“I’m Will Schuster. The kids’ glee club director. At practice after school today, 9 out of 12 of our members were absent. We did a little research and found that they had all been out sick. We also found out that Finn,” Will paused, nodding in his direction, “was diagnosed with mono. Since so many of the kids are sick, the parents and I decided that it would be a good idea to bring all of them in.”
Dr. Jackson nodded slowly, looking around the room. “Everybody has a sore throat?”
Just about all of the kids nodded.
“Fever?”
At that, the parents started rattling off some unnaturally high numbers.
“Abnormal exhaustion?”
The kids piped in at that one. “I can’t even keep my eyes open,” Kurt said.
“All I can do is sleep,” Santana agreed.
“Okay,” Dr. Jackson, holding up a hand to quiet everyone back down. “We’ll do blood tests and exams on all of the kids to be sure, but it sounds like your suspicions are correct. Sounds like mono. The question is how did all of you catch it? Mononucleosis is only spread through contact with saliva. Do you all share water bottles?”
A few of the kids exchanged corner-eyed glances and shifted in their seats. Will felt his own eyes narrow. He’d seen those looks too many times and knew that something was up.
“No, not exactly,” Quinn answered, her voice hoarse. More glances and cleared throats.
Dr. Jackson spoke up again. “We really need to figure out how this happened. We need to know who patient zero, or the person who got this whole thing started, is so that we can warn others who may have been exposed.”
When there was more silence, Will said, “Don’t everyone speak at once.”
“Whatever it is, you’re not going to get in trouble,” Dr. Jackson added. “We just need to know what happened.
“Fine,” Finn said. “I’ll do it. It’s just kind of awkward.” He winced, though Will couldn’t tell if it was because of his sore throat or from whatever he was about to explain. “See, we think it happened a couple of weeks ago, after we were assigned to sing those ballads.”
Will nodded, remembering how the kids had joined together to sing “Lean on Me” for Quinn and Finn. So much had changed since then.
Finn continued. “We were all getting along really well, probably the best we’ve gotten along since New Directions started. Brittany’s parents were out of town, so she decided to have all of us over.”
Across the room, Brittany’s mom rolled her eyes as if she was annoyed but not quite surprised at this revelation.
Finn continued. “There was some alcohol involved and…”
“Finn, shut up,” Mercedes hissed, smacking him on the shoulder. “You don’t need to tell that part of the story.”
“I told you guys you shouldn’t be drinking,” Rachel added, pride visible on her face. That comment earned her a smack from Kurt.
“You shut up, too,” he whined.
“Please continue, Finn,” Dr. Jackson said, obviously less worried about the drinking than the illness. Looking around the room, Will wasn’t so sure the parents shared his sentiments.
“Anyways, we decided to play spin the bottle.”
A few uncomfortable groans went up around the room from both parents and kids.
“So we kissed, we infected each other, and now we’re all sick. Can’t you just give us some good drugs and let us go home?” Puck asked, sounding a little bit like his normal self.
“I’m afraid I need to know who was kissing whom and how it spread. Like I said, we need to warn anyone else who might have been exposed.”
Everyone looked back to Finn. He sighed and shrugged. “Okay. What happened was…”
At the party
“Let’s play spin the bottle,” Brittany said, setting an empty beer bottle in the middle of the group.
Quinn snickered. “How old are we, five?”
“It’ll be fun,” Brittany pouted, twirling a string of hair around her finger. “Come on. Who wants to go first?”
“I’m not playing,” Rachel said, standing up and delicately removing herself from the circle.
“I’ll play,” Puck said. “But first we have to lay down some ground rules.”
“Like what?” Mike asked.
“Like no dudes kissing other dudes.”
“Why not?” Santana teased.
“Oh, come on. If guys have to kiss guys, then girls have to kiss girls, and we know the girls won’t agree to that,” Finn said.
“Really?” Brittany asked. She stood and put a hand on her hip. “So, you’re saying we wouldn’t do this?” With her head held high, Brittany crossed the circle to Santana. She crouched down so she was sitting on her friend’s outstretched legs. Santana took the hint and pulled Brittany’s face towards her own. They kissed long and hard, playing it up for the boys’ sake. When they broke apart, Brittany giggled and licked at Santana’s ear lobe. Then she stood and walked calmly back to her seat.
The guys in the circle were staring with eyes wide, mouths open. Even Kurt looked a little bit impressed. Quinn reached over and smacked Matt.
“Ouch,” he said in response. “I didn’t say anything. Why do I get hit?”
“Because you’re the only guy I can reach,” Quinn explained.
“All right,” Puck said, snapping out of his trance. “Let’s do this, then.” Everyone in the room could tell where he was hoping the bottle would land.
“Sure you don’t want to play, Rachel?” Finn asked.
“No thanks. I’m good right here,” she said, crossing her legs and taking a sip from her water bottle.
“I’ll sit out, too,” Kurt said, going to join Rachel. “We’ll let you guys be the fools.”
“Suit yourselves.” Puck spun the bottle and everyone whooped and cheered while it slowed to a stop. “Looks like Artie and Santana,” Puck said.
Everyone joined in a mature chorus of “oohhhh’s.”
Santana grinned and bounced out of her seat. “Ready for this, stud?” she asked, balancing carefully on his lap. They kissed easily, which got more whooping out of the audience.
When they pulled apart, Artie adjusted his glasses and licked his lips. “Cherry lip gloss. My favorite,” he said, which made everyone laugh.
“I get to spin next, right?” Santana asked, flicking the bottle on her way back to her seat.
“Mike and Brittany,” Puck said, winking in Mike’s direction. Brittany got up and kissed Mike with just about as much energy and enthusiasm as she had with Santana.
“Aw, man,” Matt whined, obviously jealous. “Why can’t the bottle land on me?”
“No reason to be jealous,” Brittany said, pausing to plant a kiss on Matt’s mouth, too. Everyone laughed and cheered.
Brittany gave the bottle a good spin and air-kissed at Artie before sitting down.
“Don’t get too comfortable, Brit,” Puck said. “You and Finn. Man, why can’t I get some of this action?”
“I don’t know if I want to kiss a girl who’s such a player,” Finn teased, wide grin on his face as Brittany approached.
“Oh, you do. Trust me,” Brittany said as she straddled his lap.
“Geeze, come up for air, Brit,” Santana said when the kiss had gone on a little too long.
“You’re just jealous she’s not kissing you again,” Mike teased.
When they pulled apart, Brittany leaned close to Finn’s ear. “Well? Was I right?”
“Oh, you are way too good at this game,” Finn laughed.
“All right,” Puck said. “Enough out of you two. I’m spinning the damn bottle this time. My turn.”
The group made an imitation drum roll by banging on their legs until the bottle came to a stop. Stopped on Puck, nonetheless. And…Matt. The girls started cracking up and high-fiving each other, while the guys wrinkled their noses and Puck tried to get away.
“Never mind,” Puck said loudly, hopping over a couch. “Game over. We don’t need to play anymore.”
“Oh no, dude,” Finn said, grabbing Puck before he could get away. The game can end after this, but fair is fair. Everyone else played along. Now you have to, too.”
“Yeah,” Mercedes and several others chimed in. “Fair is fair.”
“Here,” Brittany said, handing him a shot of something. “Liquid courage. Just get it over with.”
Puck sighed and Finn let go o he could down the shot. “All right, Rutherford.”
“Fine,” Matt groaned, obviously dreading this as much as Puck. He looked around the room and wagged a finger in warning. “But if any of you even think about breaking out a camera phone, I will be forced to break it along with one of your bones.”
Puck stood so that he was about a foot away from Matt. “Yeah. Good call on that one.”
Matt shrugged. “I thought so. You know, Brittany did just kiss me, so you can picture her if that makes it any…”
“Aw, man,” Puck winced. “I’m not picturing anything when I kiss you. Let’s just do this.” And with that, he leaned forward. They kissed stiff and awkward, with nothing touching besides their mouths.
Matt pulled away first, coughing and spitting dramatically. “Dude, get your tongue out of my mouth.”
That got even more laughing and cheering out of everyone. Even Puck had to laugh because it was so obviously not true. “Don’t mess with me like that, man,” he said, pulling Matt into a headlock. “I’ll beat your ass.” He gave Matt a noogie then pushed him jokingly away.
“So,” Rachel said smugly as Puck leaned up against the couch next to her. “Is Matt a good kisser?”
Puck rolled his eyes. “You were right. I should’ve just sat out with you.”
Rachel smiled haughtily. “Yes, you should have.”
“Come on, guys! Let’s play flippy cup!” someone shouted.
With that, the spin the bottle incidents were forgotten. Well, mostly…
Present
Finn finished the story and shrugged again. “So…that’s what happened.” Most of the kids were staring at the floor, and most of the adults looked like they wanted to kill their children.
Dr. Jackson cleared his throat. “Okay. Thank you, Finn. So…it sounds like most of you who were playing either kissed Brittany or kissed someone who had just kissed Brittany. Is that correct?”
The guilty parties shrugged or nodded.
“Brittany,” Dr. Jackson continued, “have you been in contact with anyone else who has been sick lately?”
“Well,” Brittany said, twirling her hair around her finger as she thought. “I did go out with this guy a while ago, and he said he had mono. But he told me it wasn’t contagious and I wouldn’t catch it.”
There was a chorus of groans and rolling of eyes.
“God, Brittany, why do you have to be such an idiot?” Quinn asked bitterly. Several others echoed the question.
“I’m sorry,” Brittany whined. “Come on guys, I didn’t know, and I really don’t feel good. Can’t you just let it go?”
“At least we’ve found our patient zero,” Dr. Jackson said, as if it was a good thing.
After a few more complaints in Brittany’s direction, Will quieted everyone down again. “All right,” he said, scanning the room and counting students off on his fingers. “So that accounts for Brittany, Santana, Artie, Finn, Mike, Matt, and Puck. What about the rest of you? Quinn?”
All eyes in the room fell on Quinn, and her cheeks blushed even redder than they were before. “I kissed Puck.” She shrugged. “I guess it’s no secret anymore that he and I have been…together.”
“Okay,” Will interrupted, not needing her to go any further. “Okay. Mercedes?”
Mercedes cleared her throat. When she spoke, it was with attitude and a hand on her hip. “Puck? You want to explain that one?”
All attention slid back in Puck’s direction. He sighed. “Yeah, okay, let’s just face the fact that there aren’t many people in this room that I haven’t kissed. Mercedes is my fault, too.”
Will didn’t miss the way Quinn’s head snapped in his direction, her eyes like daggers, but they still had a few more mysteries to solve.
“I didn’t kiss Kurt, though,” Puck said suddenly, realizing that he was one of the few left. “No offense, man.”
Kurt shrugged. “None taken. I probably got it from Mercedes. I kiss her all the time.”
Mercedes squeezed Kurt’s hand and kissed his cheek, as if in demonstration of this fact. “Love me some Kurt,” she said, which got a few chuckles.
Will turned to Tina. “What about you?” he asked, then winced, remembering how painful her voice (or lack thereof) had been when he first greeted her.
Everyone was surprised when Mike spoke up on her behalf. “Um, I guess now would be a good time to tell you guys that Tina and I are…we’re kind of…dating.”
That got a few “aw”s from the girls as Mike smiled in Tina’s direction and she smiled back.
“Is that everyone?” Dr. Jackson asked, looking around the room.
“What about Rachel?” Kurt asked.
Rachel shifted in her seat. “Oh, I feel fine. I’m not sick. I didn’t play spin the bottle and my immune system is so solid that it would have been impossible…”
“We should probably test you anyways, just to be safe,” Dr. Jackson interrupted, and Rachel closed her mouth with a look of annoyance.
“That’s everyone, then,” Will confirmed. “All 12 of them.”
Dr. Jackson nodded. “I’ll have a few nurses draw some blood and run the tests, then I’ll be back to give all of you some instructions. Any questions before I go?”
“Dr. Jackson,” Quinn spoke up, “what about me?” All eyes fell on Quinn’s baby bump. Her voice was soft and scared. “What about my baby?”
The doctor smiled gently. “Why don’t you come with me? We’ll get an ultrasound just to make sure everything’s okay.”
Quinn nodded and stood slowly, looking absolutely terrified.
“Don’t worry,” Dr. Jackson said, putting a gentle hand on Quinn’s shoulder. “If anyone’s spleen seems enlarged, they’ll have to have ultrasounds, too. It’ll be fun.”
When Quinn and Dr. Jackson left, the room was eerily quiet. It seemed that no one had really thought about the implications this might have for Quinn’s baby.
“Did he say something about drawing blood?” Puck asked, breaking the silence. “Because I really hate needles.”
It figured, Will thought. The toughest guys always were the biggest babies.