OH! DARLING | joey tribbiani

thirty seven

It was the middle of the night, somewhere around two in the morning, when the sound of her bedroom phone ringing pulled Quinn out of her sleep. She rubbed her eyes to wake herself up as she felt Joey stir in his sleep, groaning in annoyance by the disturbance and holding her body closer to his.

"I'm sorry pet, I've got to take this," she murmured an apology and kissed his nose before answering the phone. "Hello?" She groggily said.

"Quinn? It's Rory," the tone of her older brother's voice was urgent and worried, and the fact he was calling her in the middle of the night wasn't helping the anxiety that was growing in her chest by the second after picking up the phone.

"Rory? Why are you calling at this hour? Did something happen?" She unloaded the series of questions that weighed on her mind as she sat up in her bed. Joey, who was now awake, tried to calm her down by soothingly rubbing her thigh next to his face.

"It's Da, he had heart attack," Rory announced and for the first time in a very long time, Quinn could distinctly hear the tremor in his voice as he tried to keep himself collected.

"Oh my God," the redhead's free hand flew to her mouth, her eyes flooding with tears in mere seconds. "Is he alright? Is he at the hospital?"

"He's at the hospital with Ma and Finley," Rory informed her. "I'm on my way to join them, but I had to call you and let you know first."

"But Rory, is he alright?" Quinn repeated, her own emotions taking control of her. She could taste her salty tears on her lips and her hands had started shaking. She couldn't see him but Joey was looking at her in horror because of how powerless he felt, wondering what could get her upset like that.

"I hope so, I don't know," her brother answered in frustration, not at her but at the lack of information. "He was barely alive when the ambulance took him."

"Oh my God," she sobbed. Joey had sat up and was holding her against his chest, petting her hair as he tried to comfort her. "I- I'll be there as soon as possible, I'm taking the next plane or, or the next train, whatever gets me-e home the fastest," she choked out to her brother.

"Alright, he's at the General Hospital, call us before you leave," Rory told her then ended the call.

The phone fell out of Quinn's hand, she was too distressed to bother putting it back on the receiver on her nightstand. Her entire body shook with sobs and now that she wasn't on call anymore, Joey pulled her in his lap and soothingly tried to shush her and calm her down. "What happened?" He asked after a moment.

"It's my dad," she answered in between sobs. "He had, he, he had a heart attack."

Joey felt his whole body flood with a feeling of dread and horror but didn't let it show, he had to be strong for Quinn, be the anchor she needed as she tried not to drown in her panic. "Oh darling, I'm so sorry," he sincerely told her as he kissed her hair.

"I-I have to go back to, to Montreal."

"Yeah, yeah, of course. Do you want me to come with you?" He suggested, lowering his head to be levelled with her eyes.

"You'd do that for me?" She asked him in all her vulnerability.

"Of course I would amorina, I'm here for you. Always," Joey told her.

"I'd like that please," she cried and hooked her arms behind his neck as she hid in the crook of his neck.

"Alright," he held her close and rubbed his hand up and down her back. "We should pack then if we wanna get on the next plane or train, can you do that or do you need some more time?"

"I can do it," Quinn said, pulling away and wiping the tears from her face. "I can do it," she repeated, this time more convincing as she got up, tugged her big suitcase from under her bed and started running around her room, picking up any clothes she could find as she rambled out everything that crossed her mind in an attempt to keep herself from breaking down again. "I don't even know how long I'll be packing for, should it be two weeks? A month? Can I even get that much time off work?"