A/N I have been writing a lot of stories and decided to upload this one.

I hope you enjoy this. Read and Review.

warning: the story will contain some violence and bad language

Chapter 1

Britt's pov

I look around me at the numbers on the doors of the apartments. Number 428, where are you?

I walk further into the hallway and let out a deep sigh, thank god I found it. I step towards the door and knock softly on it before I can change my mind. I hear some rustling and two voices talking before the door slowly opens.

A blonde head pops out and a confused look flashes over their eyes before a small smile breaks out when they notice who I am.

"Brittany?" the girl asks and I slowly nod my head. I see the smile leave her face again as she takes in my appearance.

"What are you doing here? Oh my god, what happened to your face?" she asks in concern before noticing the little blonde girl standing next to me.

"I… uh…" I stutter out and a tear falls down my face, "Quinn, I n-need help."

Quinn stands there looking a little in shock at me and my little girl for a few seconds before she opens her door wide and lets me inside.

I drop my bags and she pulls me into a tight hug, I let myself fall into her arms and hold her tightly. More tears start to fall but I try to stop them, I don't wanna startle and scare my daughter even more than I already have these past few days.

"Quinn? Who is there?" a deep voice yells from what I guess must be the living room. Quinn steps back a little but keeps her arms around my body and replies back.

"We got some visitors, San." She says and looks at me. She wipes away a few of my tears before looking down at the little blonde that is hugging my leg very tightly.

"I'm not the best around kids but if you need a place to stay, you are welcome here. Let's go into the living room and so you can just… I don't know… maybe we can just talk." She says a little shocked still and I softly nod at her.

I pick up my daughter after Quinn lets me go and leave my bags in the little hallway. We walk into the living room and I see a tan guy sitting on the couch drinking a beer. I look down to hide part of my face as I slowly walk to sit on the other couch with my daughter.

The guy looks up and sends me a small smile and I see it grow a little when he sees the little blonde girl in my lap. He looks up at Quinn and it seems like they have a silent conversation before he looks back in my direction again.

"Do you two want something to drink?" he asks and slides a little forward on the couch. I slowly nod my head before I look down at my daughter.

"Sweetie, do you want a drink?" I ask her very softly and she hesitantly nods her head. I look up at the guy and see him smiling warmly at me before looking at Quinn who is already making her way to their kitchen.

"I will get the drinks." She says and we hear her open up some cupboards.

The guy looks back at me and my little girl before he slowly stands up and kneels down in front of me, the movement causes my daughter to look up at him. She gives him a scared look and curls more into me.

"Hi, there. Wow, can I just say that you look like a very pretty princess?" the guy says in a soft voice and I see my little girl smile a little and trying to hide her blush by pressing her face against my chest.

I look at the guy trying to make conversation with my 3yr old and I smile softly at him. He smiles back at me before focusing back on my daughter.

"My name is Santiago, can you tell me yours?" he asks as Quinn puts two glasses of hot chocolate on the coffee table before sitting down on the couch Santiago, his name apparently, sat a few minutes before.

After a few seconds of no response we softly hear a her soft shy voice mumble something. Santiago ducks his head a little to get a better look at her.

"Grace." She softly says again.

"Grace? That's a beautiful name. Do you like doggies?" he asks her and she nods her head before looking up at Santiago with a smile. Even though it's a small smile, it's the first real smile I have seen from her in a few days.

"You do? Well… I have two doggies but see that lady over there?" he says and points over to Quinn who sends a small smile at all of us as Grace looks over at her. Grace nods and looks back at Santiago.

"She doesn't allow me to have them here in the living room when we eat, so I had to put them in my bedroom. Would you like to meet them?" he asks and I see Grace making a face that clearly indicates that she is thinking her options over.

A smile forms on her face before she looks at me with a questioning look. I softly nod my head to her, saying that it's okay with me. Her smile grows and she hesitantly takes Santiago's hand when he holds it out to her.

They walk together to one of the doors connecting to the living room and he opens it. Immediately two dogs run out of the room and Grace moves a little closer to Santiago, he gets the hint and picks her up before sitting down on the ground with Grace in his lap.

I look a little shocked at the scene in front of me because never in the 3yrs of her short life has she ever allowed anyone to do that, not even other friends and family members. She is a very shy girl and she would only allow me to hold her. I smile and wipe a silent tear that rolled down my face away.

Santiago tells the two dogs to sit and Grace claps when they do it.

"Good boys." Santiago exclaims and tells them to lay down. They do as they are told and I see the smile on my daughter's face grow.

Just like me she loves animals, she is really fascinated with dogs though instead of cats like I am. She loves when dogs can do tricks and when they listen immediately.

"Now this is Disel," he says and points to the black Labrador, he then points at the black and white Border Collie, "and that's Thunder."

"They are very cute and fluffy but very playful so I will make sure they are nice when they play with you." he adds and moves closer towards the dogs with Grace still on his lap.

"I, I like doggies." Grace says as she slowly and shakily sticks her hand out towards Thunder's face. The dog moves his head up and sniffles her hand before licking it, making my girl let out a giggle.

I keep watching my daughter interact with two dogs and a guy, who is practically still a stranger to the both of us and I can't help but smile as I see how relaxed my little girl looks. This is soo surreal to me, Grace has never looked so relaxed and happy with somebody else but me.

A hand on my knee pulls me out of my thoughts and I turn my head towards Quinn, who moved to sit next to me. She smiles softly at me and keeps her hand on my knee. I slowly put my hand on hers and squeeze her hand.

"You don't have to say anything right now, you can explain everything tomorrow," Quinn starts off but I interrupt her and shake my head.

"I need to explain, Q. I just don't know how. I need to apologize first for just coming over unannounced," I say and this time its me who gets interrupted.

"Britt, please don't apologize. Sorry to say this but your face and even just you look like a mess. You obviously needed to leave whatever that was going on and I'm glad that you came here. I will help you in any way I can."

Quinn smiles softly at me and I just smile gratefully back at her. This means so much to me, just hearing these words. I know I need to explain why I'm here but I can't right now. I let out a long yawn and only now I realize how truly exhausted I am.

"Thank you, Quinn. I will explain everything tomorrow, I just… I can't right now. These last few days have been really hard on me, on both of us." I say as I look towards my little girl, who is now snuggled into Santiago's chest, letting her sleep catch up on her too.

"That's okay, sweetie. You look exhausted. Oh… I don't know about our sleeping arrangements though. I mean we have a guest bedroom but it's kinda full with stuff." She says and I see her start to think of a solution.

"I can just sleep on the couch, I mean… Grace and I did that a lot so..." I tell her and I jump a little when I suddenly hear Santiago's voice next to me. I didn't even notice him walking over towards us.

"Nonsense, you two aren't sleeping on the couch." He says and I look up to see him cradling my sleeping daughter and swaying a little to keep her asleep.

"You two can sleep in my room, I will sleep on the couch. Tomorrow I will make sure that the guest room is cleaned out so you two can stay in there for as long as you need." He continues and I just shake my head at the things he is saying.

"I, I can't do that." I start but he interrupts me.

"You can and you are. I'm not gonna let you two sleep on the couch. You look exhausted and a couch wont get you the rest you can get in a real bed." he states and I can tell by his face that he is not taking 'no' for an answer.

I turn my head towards Quinn and see her shake her head before she opens her mouth.

"Don't even try, Britt." She simply says and I let out a small sigh.

"Thank you, Santiago." I say with a very grateful smile at him and he smiles back at me.

"No problem. Do you need help with this little cutie?" he asks as he looks down with a smile at my daughter who is still in his arms and it looks like she is holding him tightly.

"If you don't mind? Just put her in bed, I can change her." I answer while both Quinn and I stand up.

Santiago walks towards his bedroom while Quinn and I go grab my bags from the hallway.

"Thank you for letting us stay here." I tell her again as we walk through the living room towards Santiago's bedroom.

Quinn just shakes her head at me, she knows I will probably be saying this a lot more often. We walk into the bedroom and we put the bags in the corner of the room. I look towards the bed to see Santiago struggle with my little girl.

"Sweetie. Hey, little princess?" I hear him softly talk to my daughter.

Quinn and I just stand in the doorway watching them interact with each other.

"Mmm, yea?" Grace sleepily mumbles out and Santiago chuckles quietly.

"You need to let me go so you can sleep in my nice big bed with your mommy." He whispers and my daughter relaxes her arms enough for Santiago to pull them away from around his neck. She immediately curls into the blankets even though she is still laying on top of them.

He leans down and kisses her head, "Sweet dreams, princess."

He stands up and his eyes widen while a little blush makes his way onto his face when he spots us standing there. He scratches his neck awkwardly before quickly walking out of the bedroom.

Quinn and I share a look before we start to giggle softly. I say another thanks to her and we hug goodnight. I grab my bag and quickly change in the joined bathroom that Quinn told me about before she also left the room.

When I'm done, I walk into the bedroom and quickly and carefully change my daughter into a Scooby Doo onesie. I lay her under the blankets and crawl into the bed myself.

I feel my daughter snuggle into me the second I lay down and wrap her up in my arms. I kiss her head and tell her 'goodnight.' I let a sigh leave my mouth as I close my eyes and relax into the soft mattress.

It feels like I'm laying on a cloud, I relax even more and start to drift off to dreamland. I know that this is gonna be one of the first nights I will actually get some rest.