She didn't even flinch as she spread a thick layer of concealer over the darkening bruise across her left cheekbone. There was no point, she'd been doing this for years already. Tugging on her Cheerios uniform, Santana pulls the laces tight on her shoes and grabs her bag before leaving the room. As she's leaving the house, she plasters on her signature "bitch face" to sway anyone who might suspect something is wrong.
She's at school before she has time to figure out what set her father off this time.
Walking down the hall, Santana hissed almost silently when Brittany's elbow brushed against the darkening bruise on her rib cage and reached into her bag to pull out the thick stack of paper as she saw Puck further down the hall.
The confrontation went as expected, even if they both knew the reasoning behind the breakup was bullshit. Puck was clueless as the the actual reason, which was why he called her a bitch, and only San knew that it was because of the question in his eyes as he found another bruise on her the day before while they spent some 'quality time' in his truck.
The Latina knew that the football player wasn't stupid. Cheerleading was a plausible excuse for a lot, but she had been pushing it. But she was too stubborn to tell him, and he wouldn't let her know that he gave enough of a damn to ask, so they had to end. She didn't need anyone anyway.
It had been just Santana for as long as she could remember and that was fine by her.
Joining Glee ruined everything. Even if the choreography did and another layer to her cover about the bruises and sprains she constantly suffered from, suddenly there were twelve people that actually genuinely cared about her and she cared about them in return.
It was when just after Sectionals when she learned how much they cared about her, how much these people knew about her.
They were in the auditorium, and Brittany asked her to go sit with Mr. Schuester in the seats while the rest of the team performed something they had been working on. Santana was suspicious but she agreed and sat almost timidly at the Director's table.
Puck and Rachel pulled the microphones to the center to the stage, adjusting he heights so that Rachel and Quinn could use one and Brittany and Puck, the other.
Music started that the dark haired Cheerio recognized but couldn't place and the two blondes sang the opening lines of the song.
"This world, this world is cold. But you, you don't have to go."
The tiny brunette joined Quinn and the two continued, "You're feeling sad, you're feeling lonely, and no one seems to care."
The seemingly unfeeling girl had tears in her eyes and Puck sang out, "You're mother's gone and your father hits you. This pain you cannot bear."
The whole group joined together for the chorus, none of them moving, just gripping tightly to each other's hands.
"But we all bleed the same way as you do."
Puck rang out, just a little louder than the rest on the next line, descending the stairs to walk toward the crying girl, "And we all have the same things to go through."
"Hold on, if you feel like letting go. Hold on, it gets better than you know."
Wrapping her arms tight around her ex's torso, Santana let herself be led onto the stage to join her friends, her new family.
"Days, you say they're way too long. And your nights, you can't sleep at all. And you're not sure what you're waiting for. But you don't want to no more. And you're not sure what you looking for, but you don't want to no more."
Looking up shyly, she found eleven pairs of watery eyes staring back at her as they surrounded their teammate, their friend, their sister, in a tight embrace.
They stopped singing because they had gotten their point across and Santana was glad as they all sank quietly to the floor, trying to reign in their emotions and catch their breath.
Not surprisingly, Rachel was the first to speak. "I know you hate me, that I'm still just 'RuPaul' or 'Man Hands,'" she spat the words out, "but I have a lovely spare bedroom and a lawyer for a Daddy if you need it. We're teammates and I want to help you. You have a family here, and we just wanted you to know." The words came out in a quiet rush, almost trailing off at the end.
Her life was a whirlwind from there. She vaguely remembered piling into Kurt's Navigator with the diva himself, as well as Finn, Matt, and Mike and was clinging tightly to Rachel's hand with Puck's warm arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders. Before she knew it they had pulled up in front of her white clapboard house, and the boys were circled loosely around her and the tiny brunette attached to her arm. The group made their way into the house, the girls quickly moving in the direction of her room as the football players formed a wall between the obviously pissed off Latino and his broken daughter.
Santana's important belongings were shoved into bags and boxes haphazardly and shuffled out of the house with the help of Mike and Matt and then they were out the door again, ignoring the blackening around her father's eye and the split knuckles of Puck's right hand.
The whole team descended on the Berry household and helped set the spare room up for the exhausted girl and before the entire team was passed out on any and all available flat surface.
Hours later, Santana was surprised to find herself awake and feeling at home for the first time she could ever remember. As she snuggled deeper into the warm embraces of her ex-boyfriend and her new roommate (and savior) the dark cheerleader really smiled for the first time in months, years maybe and fell into a near blissful sleep.