Yes or no - Book 2 - S.E.

Nationals

A/N: It's Nationals time, baby! Can't believe we are that close to the finale already. It's been a blast, thank you for everyone who's been voting and commenting, this is all for you!

Emily was sat by Mercedes, placing a wet cloth over her forehead as the girl groaned in her bed, clearly in pain. When the door was pushed open and in walked Mr. Schue, Emily didn't even bother looking up as she decided to let the rest of the girls deal with the situation.

"What's going on?" He asked, as she took a quick glance at Mercedes. "How bad is it?"

"Her temperature's 101 degrees." Coach Sylvester said, as she looked at the thermometer she had just pulled out from the girl's mouth. "Given the fact that Weezy's complaining about an upset stomach, it's either Amazonian dengue fever or the H1N1 super virus."

"Or I have food poisoning." Mercedes groaned.

"We all wanted burritos for lunch, so we went to Chipotle, but Mercedes tried some dive called Señora Salsation." Santana explained.

"Will, word, please." Coach Sylvester said as she walked closer to Mr. Schue as they started talking in hushed whispers as the girls crowded around Mercedes, trying to offer her any help or comfort they could.

"So here's what's gonna happen..." Mr. Schue said after a minute or so, as everyone turned to look at him. "Mercedes, you're on bed rest, Quinn, you're stepping in."

"No, no, no, I can't dance that number." Quinn shook her head quickly. "I can't sing it, either, not like..."

"The Trouble Tones need you." Mr. Schue interrupted her as Emily smiled a bit and grabbed Quinn's hand in hers.

"And you're a lot better than you think you are." She said.

"Mr. Shue, this is my last competition. I don't want to miss it." Mercedes complained, trying to sit up only to have Emily push her back down.

"Amen, to that, sister." Coach Sylvester said. "That's why I'm putting you on a vitamin B-12 drip. We're flushing your system with Pedialyte, and I'm gonna fill that bathtub with ice and see if we can't get your ambient body temperature back down to normal. Worked in Jacob's Ladder."

Mr. Schue nodded then, as the girls started to move away from Mercedes to leave to the other room to practice now that coach Sylvester had her.

"All right, we all have our marching orders." The teacher said, as the girls wished the best to their friends before walking out. "Let's do it."

***

Rehearsal was going relatively fine. Mike was helping the boys with choreography as Emily ran the Trouble Tones through Edge of Glory, keeping a careful eye on Quinn to make sure she was picking up the steps and not stumbling too much. So focused on her best friend, though, she didn't notice a fight ensuing with the boys until Sam and Puck were literally exchanging punches as the other boys tried to pull them away from each other.

"Sam!" Emily called, only to have Mike pull her back before she could approach him properly.

"Let them handle this one, Em." The older boy said, as the girl struggled a bit to try and get to her boyfriend. "We don't need you getting caught in the middle of that crossfire."

She went to protest, but before she could, Mr. Schue stormed into the room with coach Beiste as the two of them put themselves in between the two boys.

"Hey, calm down!" Mr. Schue called. "Hey, hey, calm down! Calm down!"

"Hey, cool out!" Coach Beiste said, upon managing to push Puck away a bit.