Girls On Film

by funnybutlonely

A series of one shots based on movies, TV shows and the occasional book.

See Bottom of the page for notes on this series.

Title: A Far Off Place (1993) - Part 1 of 2

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Adventure/Drama

Other Glee Characters or Ships: None

Warnings: Violence and character death

Beta: The awesome JJLives

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Summary: Brittany and Santana must put aside their differences to survive as they trek across the Kalahari Desert with poachers hot on their trail.

A/N: I use the word "Bushmen" in this story. Its outdated and sometimes considered offensive but the currently accepted word is "San" and I didnt want people to be confused since Santana is often called "San" in stories.

Africa 1993

The elephants never stood a chance. The watering hole was the only one for miles and the harsh African sun could be unforgiving, even for animals as hardy as them. All the poachers had to do was wait patiently under the cover of bush for the herd to arrive. What happened after that was always the same: corner the elephants, slaughter them with machine guns, remove their prized tusks with chainsaws, and leave their lifeless corpses for the desert's starving predators. It was a pattern that seemed to repeat every week. A pattern that the Lopez's, Mopani and the locals all wanted to stop.

Safely hidden in the brush near the edge of the Kalahari desert lived a tribe whose ancestors had lived in harmony with the surrounding nature. For centuries they moved freely, following their food and water supply, as the desert's edge changed throughout the years. But the distant sound of man-made violence caused an uneasy feeling to rise within the tribe. The fighting between the poachers and Mopani's men escalated quickly and the tribal elders were forced to make a decision. The choice wasn't an easy one and they argued for half a moon before a compromise could be reached to appease everyone.

At the next full moon the tribe would pack up and move east.

Xhabbo, the shaman's son, knew this was the best hope his tribe had to be able to continue to thrive and prosper. He would, however, be sad to leave behind the young Spanish girl whom he'd befriended. Santana had taught him to speak English and shared with him magical books full of the most beautiful images he had ever seen. She'd shown him there was a world outside of Africa that he could not even begin to fathom. A world that was full of bright colors, big buildings, strange clothing, people of all kinds of shapes and colors, and beautiful paintings unlike anything he had ever seen in Africa. In return, he had been her closest confidant. He had taught her about the ways of his people and how they lived at one with their surroundings.

Leaving her would be hard, even under normal circumstances. But these were not normal circumstances, and unlike the tribesman's hunting expeditions, this time they would not be returning. He knew how difficult it had been for Santana; how she had grown up feeling like an outcast amongst her own kind. It became more difficult as a weight settle on him, thinking of leaving her all alone. Xhabbo spent many nights pacing back and forth, keeping his wife and young child awake, worrying over the impending move. Finally, as the days of final preparation came upon them, Xhabbo's wife stepped in and suggested he use the teachings of his father. Performing a tapping would put his mind at ease. So, as the sun rose on another beautiful day he struck out, to the area just beyond the deserts edge, to follow the traditions of his people and tap into the unknown. He hoped that the visions of things to come would squelch his doubts and fears, and come morning he would set out again on the long trek to find Santana and say his goodbye.

The Lopez's, Jorge and Maribel, had moved to Africa when Santana was just six years old, leaving behind a world she could hardly remember, one she did not miss in the least. Life in Africa was more laid back than the one her family had left behind in New York. Being so far away meant she was able to grow up without all the pressures and expectations of her extended family. She had never really known that family, other than in the stories her parents would tell her and from what she heard during her parents whispered fights when another letter would come from either her abuela or aunt. The letters usually consisted of berating words against her parent's choice. Most requested Santana be sent back to America to be raised by her abuela and extended family in Ohio instead of 'savages'. But Jorge stood his ground, continuing the work that had brought him to Africa in the first place. He had left behind a thriving private medical practice in New York to pursue a life taking care of those less fortunate. He researched to find better ways of combating the common ailments in the region, from malnourishment to the spread of HIV. He just wished his mother could understand how significant his work really was, rather than constantly judging him and his choices

Meanwhile his wife Maribel, a celebrated zoologist with a degree in veterinary medicine, had taken up work with a local animal reserve. She helped to care for injured animals and tracked the growth and migration patterns of the local lions, birds and most importantly elephants. It was the elephants that had allowed her husband to convinced her to pack up their lives and move to Africa to begin with, knowing how much she had loved them as a child. Her fascination with them was something she passed on to her daughter, and Santana sometimes followed on scouting trips or helped to bathe and take care of wounded elephants that were brought into Maribel's care. Santana loved taking care of the animals and spent much of her free time volunteering on the reserve.

As a result of this work, Santana grew up with a strong respect for animals and nature, but had very little to show in terms of friends. At first her parents worried when she failed to make friends with the other children of English settlers in the area, but over time they had come to realize that Santana was not a child who could be expected to sit around in pink dresses playing with dolls and learning to be a future housewife to some stuffy, pretentious businessman. Santana was an independent thinker, one who needed to be allowed to roam free. That, however, did not stop the Lopez's from forcing her to attend the occasional social event with her peers, although they never were able to convince her to wear pink.

Now at seventeen she had grown up into quite the amazing young woman. Her parents couldn't have been more proud of the person she'd become, even if she sometimes needed to keep her passion, and accompanying temper, in check. The Lopez's knew that Santana's constant fights with the other English children were not healthy, but they didn't have it in them to protest too strongly when Santana was generally in the right. They just wished that Santana's delivery could be improved. But what teenager wasn't at least a little bit difficult? Disagreeing with parents was a common trait shared by all teenagers, no matter the location, so they never took it too personally. Although the topic of the arguments might be drastically different given the circumstances, the Lopez's often found themselves longing for the day when the arguments would be about wearing too much make up and sneaking out to parties with friends instead of wearing traditional African body paint and sneaking out with Xhabbo to learn how to track and hunt. Or worse yet sneaking off with Mopani to try to track and catch poachers.

Mopani had been a close friend of the families since their arrival in Africa, showing them around and helping them to get settled into their new lives. He also introduced them to the other English speaking people who lived in the area. Although they never really took to them the way they had to Mopani and found they preferred to work and socialize with the locals instead. Occasional parties, like the one they were hosting in connection with the Pierces arrival, were necessary to keep things copacetic according to Mopani. Because his opinion mattered a lot to the Lopez's they didn't question it, even if they did hate playing nice with the whiny housewives and their snooty husbands who spent more time off on 'work trips' with their mistresses than at home with their families.

Mopani had come to Africa in his twenties with the foreign aid group African Wildlife Foundation and had never left. He had spent years learning the land as well as its people and was well known and respected by many. When poachers had started moving into the region it had been Mopani and his men whom everyone had turned to in hopes of stopping them. But the problem had been larger than they had thought and every time they believed they were getting close to the source of the poaching their leads would slip through their fingers. Sometimes they would end up missing the poachers by mere minutes, if the hot coffee in the abandoned cups was anything to go by. No matter what they tried, it seemed, the elephants kept dying and everyone began to grow more and more frustrated with the situation.

XXXXXX

Things between Mopani and the poachers were quickly moving towards a disastrous end but neither side was willing to back down, not with much more than money at stake. The Lopez's, however, had other things on their mind despite the small war waging around them. This year they were renovating their house to add running water, which had been a dream of Maribel's since they'd moved to Africa more than a decade before. Other projects had always gotten in the way before, like the time a sink hole appeared out of nowhere on the south side of their land, taking part of their fence and road out, and there had never been enough time to get around to the water issue. Now with Santana getting closer and closer to her 18th birthday Maribel insisted they get the project done. She didn't want Santana to get any ideas in her head about going back to western civilization, or running away to join the circus, or marrying a tribesman or whatever else rebellious teenagers, without basic modern amenities such as running water, threatened to do when they turned eighteen. Not that Santana was in anyway your typical teenager, but she could tell that Santana was sometimes jealous of the luxuries the English families had on their large estates. Realistically Maribel knew it wouldn't be running water that would keep her daughter at home longer but it made for a great argument when trying to convince her reluctant husband it was time to stop putting the project off.

That was how on a cool day, by African standards, in early DecemberSantana and her father found themselves blasting holes in the ground on the backside of the house. Maribel was not thrilled when Santana insisted on being involved in the dangerous parts of the project, but her husband had convinced her that it was about time Santana learned how to handle explosives. If she was going to start helping out more with work once she turned eighteen and finished her schooling she would need to know it anyway.

XXXXXX

*Boom*

The ground shuddered underneath Maribel's feet as she stood watching the hired help set up for the dinner party. No matter how many sticks of dynamite her husband and crazy daughter set off she still would never get used to the noise and thrumming sensation. The hired help obviously felt the same way as their old maid, Koba, slowly shuffled over to Maribel on her way back into the house to get more plates.

"Missus Lopez, please tell him stop" Koba said in her thick African accent.

"I tell him to stop, Koba, and you have to keep carrying water every day."

"I walk. I carry. Just tell him stop."

"You'll love it, I promise. Just turn on the faucet and out comes water. No more carrying."

"Faucet. Bullshit." Koba said without missing a beat.

"Koba, who has been teaching you English?" Maribel questioned horrified at the words coming out of old sweet Koba's mouth.

"Miss Santana has." Koba said with pride in her voice and a big smile on her face. English had come hard for her and Miss Santana was not known for her patience so learning from her had been a big challenge. One she had felt she had completed successfully.

"I'll kill her," was all Maribel could mutter before another explosion went off causing Koba to roll her eyes and continue slowly heading inside.

XXXXXXX

"It's only three weeks. It won't kill you to be nice." Her father explained patiently.

"But Mopani said he would take me on patrol next week." Santana argued back.

"That's not happening." Jorge said shaking his head.

"Why? Just because I have to babysit some dumb American girl?"

"No, because it's dangerous."

"Mopani says I am ready." Santana tried again this time attempting to use her father's respect for Mopani against him.

"Mopani and I disagree."

"But you always listen to his advice and he's your friend." Santana tried one more time.

"You can disagree with your friends."

"But not your father?"

"Disagree, yes. Disobey, no." her father said trying to end this conversation before it turned into another argument.

"You know, Dad, people need to stand up and fight for what they believe in or nothing's ever going to change." She huffed, frustrated with not getting her way.

"People need to sit down and talk. Otherwise, people won't change." Mr. Lopez said effectively ending the conversation. "Hand me another stick of dynamite."

Xxxx

'Africa. First Impression: Bone dry and boring.' Brittany thought to herself as her father continued to carry on small talk with the man driving them from the airport, if you could even call that patch of cement and small shack of a building an airport. Brittany had her earphones on and tried her best to ignore what was going on around her. Who needed to pay attention to miles and miles of mostly flat dry brush and dirt anyways? Maybe if there had been a giraffe or something to distract her she would feel more excited, but the few sparse trees and miles of flat land were not doing anything to improve Brittany's mood.

"Haven's Point is a very famous place," the guide said turning towards Brittany trying to get her attention over the noise coming out of her over sized earphones. When she did not react her father turned around and pulled one of her earphones off.

"You should listen to our driver. He has been telling me some great stories about these parts."

"And?"

"I know you don't want to be here on your school break, but we are here, and you could try a little harder to enjoy yourself," her father said trying to sound stern.

Brittany really didn't want to hear it but decided she would humor her father in hopes of making the car ride go faster. Shrugging a little Brittany pulled off her earphones, without turning off her too loud music, and turned her attention to the driver.

"As I was saying, Haven's Point is very famous."

"Famous for what?" Brittany asked, her interest slightly piqued.

"Mrs. Lopez is first animal doctor to employ and train people from the local village. Mr. Lopez is first to open clinic where people pay with trade. That how you get me as driver today."

"Oh," was all Brittany managed to get out. She had really hoped that this place would at least have a shopping mall, or somewhere she could go and get away from her father for a while, and maybe get into a little trouble. The last six months had been really hard for them both, but he had been making it worse with his over protective nature and his constant hovering. Brittany had grown up without a care in the world and her father was going to do everything he could to protect her from ever having to grow up. But sometimes people need to be pushed a little to realize their full potential and Brittany was growing tired of always being protected from everything.

What Brittany really wanted was a real adventure; a trip to visit one of her parents old friends in the middle of the desert wasn't going to cut it, especially not when a group of her classmates was spending their senior winter break on a road trip from Lima to Orlando and back again, with no idea where they were stopping along the way. That was real adventure to Brittany: hitting the open road and having no plans, making your own decisions and dealing with the consequences, living for the moment and forgetting everything else. Those were the things Brittany wanted, and no matter how hard she tried to forget what she was missing back home she just couldn't, and spending three weeks with nothing to do but think about it was not going to help.

Internally panicking at the thought of three weeks without modern civilization, Brittany thought maybe a different question would get her a better answer.

"So what is there to do around here?"

"We grow food, take care of the reserve, and if there is sickness we help Mister Lopez..."

"No, I meant like what do the kids my age do around here? Where is the local hang out?"

"Hang out?"

"Brittany!"

'Three weeks, it's just three weeks.' That's what Brittany and her dad kept telling themselves. Jack just hoped that Brittany would get along with his friend's daughter so this trip could go as smoothly as possible. They both needed this distraction from the reminder of how their lives had been turned upside down, and they needed to get away from their every day routine more than either would admit.

Xxxxx

By the time they arrived at the Lopez's, Brittany had gone back to ignoring her dad and listening to her music, which was still way too loud. 'Thank God for Walkmans' was all she could think as the constantly flat and dry land had passed by her window.

Brittany was relieved when they pulled up to the Lopez's house to see that the place they were staying at was actually a very large house with other smaller buildings surrounding it. She was pleased it was not just a shack like some of the native's houses they had passed along the way. She was also thankfully it was surrounded by lots of green plants, flowers, grass and it even had trees to shade one side of the house.

"Thank God," Brittany mumbled as she stood next to her father by the car waiting for directions on what to do next.

"Jack, you haven't changed a bit." Maribel greeted, walking over toward them and pulling him into a tight hug before he had a chance to reply.

"You remember Brittany," Jack returned, gesturing towards his moody teenager wearing a bad attitude and earphones that covered half her head.

"I was a very good friend of your mothers once upon a time. It's nice to see you again." Maribel addressed Brittany. "You have grown up since I last saw you, running around in just your diaper chasing Santana with a worm." Maribel finished, a soft smile on her face.

Brittany just shrugged and mumbled something about not remembering that. An awkward silence filled the air as everyone stood waiting for someone else to say something.

Finally, Maribel broke the silence. "Would you like a drink or to freshen up?"

"No thanks." Brittany said trying to be polite. "Would it be okay if I wander around a bit instead?"

"I've known your mom since we were little kids and she always loved to wander too. Sometimes she would get lost and we would have to mount a search party just to find her. She really was in her own world sometimes." Maribel said trying to engage Brittany who just shrugged in reply. "She really loved animals, almost as much as I did when we were growing up. She was always bringing home stray pets she had found. Your grandmother would try to tell her not to, but she would just use her pout and get your grandfather to agree to anything. She had wounded birds, obese cats, frogs, bunnies and even an albino squirrel at one point." Maribel mused remembering her childhood friend fondly.

"We aren't allowed to have any pets in our apartment building." Brittany said trying to act as uninterested in the conversation as she could in hopes of it ending. "Can I go now?"

"Of course, Dear, just make sure to be back in an hour so you have time to get ready for the dinner party."

Brittany nodded before returning her over sized earphones to her head and turning to wander off towards the wooded area she had seen as they arrived.

Jack watched his daughter go before turning back to Maribel and apologizing. "Sorry. She's been having a really hard time with this. I think maybe it was a mistake to try to keep it from her but she was already having such a difficult time at school and we didn't want to make it worse."

Maribel just sighed. "There is never a good time to tell someone their mother is dying."

"I just wish I had handled it better. I feel like there is such a big disconnect between us these days. I know she is grieving in her own way, but it just feels like I am losing her," he barely got out. It was the first time he had admitted that aloud to anyone, and it did nothing to make him feel better about the situation.

"It just all seemed so sudden. She always spoke about how she couldn't wait to have time to come stay here for a while. The last letter I got from her had said she thought she was doing better." Maribel sighed.

"It all happened so quickly. One minute we were fighting this and the next minute she was gone. I know she really wanted to make it out here."

"Well I'm happy you finally made it." Maribel expressed shaking her head slightly and extended her hand out to rub up and down Jack's arm comfortingly.

"I'm happy we finally made it too. I wish we could've done it sooner, but time just got away from us, until there was no more left to waste." He said with a sad smile. "I'm just glad I can fulfill her last wishes now." He looked sadly at the box he hadn't let go of since they had left their small apartment in Lima two days earlier, when they started their long journey to the Lopez's reserve.

"She always did love the animals..." Maribel said, trailing off lost in thought about her best friend.

Xxxx

Brittany was sad. That woman should have just kept her mouth shut. Now here she was in the middle of nowhere in Africa thinking about her mother, which was the last thing she wanted to do, and the exact reason she had wanted to go on the road trip with her friends so badly. Brittany just wanted to forget.

But forgetting was harder than it sounded. Brittany had thought it would be easy since she was always forgetting everything else. She forgot her homework, her schedule, song lyrics, ingredients in recipes, watering the plants, her friends birthdays, almost everything her teachers said, lunch money and sometimes even her middle name. Considering how much Brittany forgot every day she was sure she would have no problem forgetting this. However, no matter how much she tried all she could think about was how much she missed her mother. It just wasn't fair.

Brittany slowly walked down the narrow dirt road with corn stalks on one side and the house's small back lawn on the other. She kept her head down deep in thought barely even noticing her blaring music coming from the headset. Suddenly, something moving caught Brittany's eye. Right in Brittany's path was a small green lizard. Lizards for some unknown reason had always fascinated Brittany. She suspected it was because some of them could change colors to hide who they really were from people who didn't understand them and might want to do them harm. Sometimes she wished she could do the same.

Oblivious to her surroundings Brittany started to follow the lizard as it made its way down the road before darting off towards an emptier area of land that touched the edge of the corn stalks. Brittany continued following it as it scurried along, not even bothering to look up as she moved an oddly placed rope out of her way. Brittany was completely focused on the lizard as her music continued to block out all outside sounds, making Brittany unaware to what was happening around her.

And what was happening around her was about to be an explosion.

Brittany was taken completely off guard as something large came crashing into her throwing her into the ditch she had been walking alongside. Brittany did not even have time to react before a large impact shook the ground and littered the surrounding area with loose earth. Recovering from the shock, Brittany became very aware of a warm body on top of her. Before she could form even one coherent thought the weight was gone and the ringing in her ears was being replaced by yelling.

"Are you crazy?" She heard as the words became clearer. "You could have been killed!"

Brittany was just barely able to focus on the girl in front of her, who she assumed was the Lopez's daughter, Santana, when a man came running over pulling a very dirty Santana into a hug and mumbling a "Thank God you're okay," in Santana's ear. He was obviously grateful that nothing bad had happened to her or their guest.

Santana, on the other hand, struggled to get free from her father's embrace so that she could continue to yell at the surprised girl.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She questioned loudly waving her dirty finger angrily at Brittany whom was still laying in the ditch. Santana hadn't even stopped yelling before she reluctantly offered her hand to help Brittany up. She rolled her eyes in a manner that suggested that she was being forced, for politeness sake, but she wouldn't be happy about it. "Can't you read?"

Brittany ignored Santana's outstretched hand and pushed herself up off the ground, stepping out of the ditch and up next to where Santana and her dad were standing.

"What are you talking about?" Brittany wondered how a stranger could possibly know she had a hard time reading.

"The sign, you idiot." Santana pointed towards the rope Brittany had ducked under with a dirty finger. From where they were standing Brittany could see a blank white sign facing them. No doubt the other side containing the warning Santana was talking about.

Brittany didn't have a chance to reply before Mr. Lopez stepped in between the two girls, slightly admonishing Santana, before turning to Brittany and offering her a hand.

"Hi, you must be Brittany."

Brittany looked at Mr. Lopez and then to a scowling Santana before turning her attention back to the out-stretched hand in front of her.

"Maybe we should skip the handshake," she said holding up her dirt-caked hands.

Mr. Lopez smiled and lowered his hand before replying. "I'm Jorge and this is Santana." He motioned towards his unimpressed daughter.

"Yeah we met." Brittany replied, eying the fuming girl.

Ignoring the tension between the girls Jorge just laughed slightly and, using a tone that even he wasn't sure was sarcastic or not, said "Welcome to Africa."

All Brittany could do was mutter "thank you" as she attempted to shake the dirt off her clothes and out of her hair without using her hands. No question about it, this was going to be a long three weeks.

XXXXX

That evening's dinner get together was one of the big social events of the season and no one would risk missing it. The guests started to file in and Santana was doing her best to avoid being social by helping the maids bring out the food and grabbing empty trays.

"Shoo" she said, using her leg to try to push the family's dog Digby away from the cat food that was meant for the local strays.

Seeing that her efforts were going without reward she decided the best course of action was: to set down what she was carrying, grab the dish and put it up on the nearest table and then come back to deal with it when she was finished with her delivery.

After successfully completing her task, and making small talk with some of the party guests she had no interest in conversing with, Santana was finally able to head back towards the table to retrieve the cat food.

Grabbing the dish Santana turned to wander back inside only to be stopped by her mother who was dragging a now clean Brittany along with her. As much as it pained Santana, she had to admit, Brittany cleaned up well. Brittany's outfit consisted of a well-fitted pair of dark jeans and a tight button-up shirt, a black vest completed the outfit. She looked far more comfortable than the other teenager girls wandering around in their Sunday best with no one to impress. Santana was jealous, her own parents had made her wear a dress to dinner too, although hers wasn't as fancy as the other girls.

"There you are, Santana," Maribel greeted. "Come sit and entertain our guest."

Grumbling Santana set the dish back down and sat down at the table. To stop herself from saying something she shouldn't, she quickly shoved some crackers into her mouth. She waited for her mother to go off to entertain someone else before turning back to face Brittany, who situated herself at the table only after Maribel had left. The expression Santana saw when she looked at the blonde was not one she expected or one she understood. Before Santana had a chance to decide what it meant Brittany spoke up.

"You know, back in America it's polite to wait for your guest before starting." Brittany said gesturing towards Santana and her mouth full of food.

Swallowing Santana felt her anger rising and spat back, "and out here it's polite to thank somebody for saving your butt."

"My butt thanks you," Brittany replied sarcastically.

"Is that how polite people say thank you in America?" Santana asked with a raised eyebrow, obviously unimpressed with Brittany's attempt at a thank you.

Still not over the yelling she got earlier in the day, Brittany decided to just drop it.

"Thank you," she said trying to sound as sincere as possible given the situation.

"You're welcome." Santana tried her best to reply in an uninterested tone, as if she wanted to be anywhere but here, but it came out sounding a lot more sincere than she'd wanted.

They sat in awkward silence for a moment, both feeling uncomfortable. Santana played with her bracelet and Brittany pretended to be very interested in a spot on the tablecloth.

Before either could speak again an older English gentleman, dressed in a grey casual suit, wandered towards them. His ice cubes rattled loudly in his empty glass of whiskey as he stopped, setting his free hand on Santana's chair to steady himself.

"Santana, who is this?" he asked, raising his glass and gesturing towards Brittany.

"My dad was looking for you," she said ignoring his question. She'd never had a problem with him before even though he could be a little much when he was drinking, but for some reason she felt this strange urge to protect Brittany from him despite her frustrations with the girl.

The man took his cue and tilted his hat towards the table before wandering off towards the house.

"Who was that?" Brittany asked as the smell of whiskey eventually followed the man.

"Just Ricketts. He's a friend of my dad's. He owns a business that sometimes helps my dad get supplies he needs for the clinic." Santana shrugged before turning her attention back to the plate of food in front of her.

"Pâté?" Brittany said holding up the cat food that Santana had not gotten a chance to deal with thanks to her mother interrupting her.

"Pâté?" Santana barley got out trying to keep a straight face. This opportunity was far too good to miss despite her trying really hard, for her mother's sake, to be nice to this girl. Or as nice as was possible for her to be.

"No," she shook her head and waited to see what Brittany would do.

"I thought this place was supposed to be a desert," Brittany questioned taking her knife and using it to cut a corner off the cat food sitting in front of them.

"No that's twenty miles west. It's called the Kalahari," Santana said staring intently at Brittany's knife as she used it to slowly spread the cat food on a cracker.

"It still looks pretty green to me for being so close to a desert." Brittany replied holding the now done cracker in her right hand just off the table but making no move to put it in her mouth.

"You are thinking of the Sahara. The Kalahari is different." Santana explained, her eyes momentarily leaving Brittany's hand to see Brittany cock her head sideways with a confused look on her face. A look Santana would almost describe as cute.

"Different how?"

"The Sahara is much bigger. It also has mountains and rocky areas and no rain." Santana started "The Kalahari is more sand dunes and gravel plains. And .. and … rain" Santana barley finished watching intently as Brittany slowly raised the cracker up to her mouth and took a bite.

Santana was hardly able to finish her sentence before having to clap her hand to her mouth to try to keep herself from giggling.

Before Brittany could even finish chewing her first bite, Koba came over and grabbed the cat food off the table.

"Santana, you know cat food is for floor not table," she chastised.

The look on Brittany's face turning from confusion to understanding was all it took for Santana to completely lose it. She laughed so hard that tears where coming out of her clenched eyes. After wiping them clean, she looked up to find Brittany staring at her intently. Before Santana knew what was happening Brittany gave her a look that said she was not so easily messed with and took another bite of her cracker chewing it with a smirk on her face. All Santana could do was sit and watch, all-the-while wondering why Brittany had not blown up at her or gone running off to her dad to tattle like the other kids always did. There was something different about her, and although Santana would never admit it, she was just a little bit impressed. No one had ever tried to stand up to her before and Santana wondered if hanging out with the blonde might end up being extremely eventful after all.

Brittany, for her part, just continued to sit there chewing and smirking. If Santana thought she would get to her, she had another thing coming. This certainly was not the first time someone had tricked her into eating cat food. And she wasn't going to let Santana get to her. She just had to tough it out for a few weeks and then she could go back to her life in Ohio. Not that she had much to go back to anyways, but it was all she knew.

XXXXXX

Santana was relieved when some other children came over to distract Brittany so she could wander off and find Mopani. She had seen him arrive earlier but had been unable to get away to talk to him until then. But she couldn't seem to find him anywhere now. Just as she was about to give up she heard Ricketts slur "twenty Poachers?" Turning the corner, she could see Ricketts with his back turned towards her facing someone. She knew it had to be Mopani.

"Yeah. We got lucky and caught them off guard." Mopani said with a shrug. He was never one to brag about his accomplishments.

"Lucky," Ricketts repeated quietly.

Before he could say anything else, Mopani caught sight of Santana spying on them and walked right past him to wrap Santana in a big hug, much to her chagrin.

"Hey Kiddo."

"Put me down!"

With one more squeeze Mopani let go. Santana straighten out her shirt before turning her attention back to Mopani. Now that she had found him, she needed to convince him to help her. Before he could even ask her how she was doing Santana launched into a ramble.

"Dad said he won't let me go with you. He said it's too dangerous. You need to talk to him. You have to tell him I'm ready. You said I was but he won't let me go anyways. You have to help me convince him." She practically pleaded.

"Slow down." Mopani said before Santana could start again after stopping to breathe. "I am sure your father has his reasons but I will talk to him. No promises though. You know how your father is."

"Fine." she grumbled. "So tell me about the poachers you caught today."

"Well…." Mopani started as they turned and headed back towards where the party was still going on, leaving Ricketts to trail slowly behind them.

XXXXX

Later that night after the party had ended, and the help had all gone home to their little villages nearby, Brittany sat awake in her bed trying to get situated for the night. The heat during the day had been uncomfortable and even though it had started to cool off when the sun went down the air still felt thick and heavy around her.

Brittany looked around at her surroundings in the guest room. The bed she was on was bigger than the one she had back home, although it was a bit lumpier than she was used to. It had a headboard and columns made of the most beautiful carved wood. Maribel had explained to her earlier that the locals, usually in trade for medical services, had made most of the furniture around the house. Brittany was impressed. She had been trying to find a cheap new hobby to take up. Maybe she could get the locals to teach her how to carve things. There were plenty of wooded areas near Lima where she could find something to practice on when she got home.

Aside from the beautifully carved wooden furniture in the room, there was also a lamp that looked more like a lantern than the lamps Brittany was used to back home, handmade quilts, and a weird net thing hanging from the ceiling near the end of the bed.

Brittany pulled on it to try to see what it was. It was obviously large enough to cover the whole bed and then some. However, it hardly looked thick enough to protect her from even a housefly. Brittany decided to just leave it be and turn the light off to try to get to sleep. It had been a long couple of days of traveling and rest would certainly be a welcomed change.

Once the lights were out, and she had arranged herself comfortably on the bed, Brittany started to notice how dark and quiet it really was in Africa at night. The only light was a pale glow coming from the moon shining softly through her matching windows facing the cornrows. And the quiet was only interrupted by the occasional faint rustling of the leaves from a light breeze and the distant sound of crickets. There were no streetlamps or headlights shining in Brittany's eyes. No passing cars, barking dogs, loud drunken neighbors or hyper children to keep Brittany up. Just silence.

A silence that was suddenly broken by a buzzing noise by Brittany's right ear. Brittany waved her hand in the air a couple times before she turned over and repositioned herself. A minute later the buzzing noise came back only this time louder. Brittany tried waving her arm around again in hopes it would make whatever it was stop, but the noise just kept coming back.

Finally deciding to deal with the problem in a more practical manner Brittany sat up in bed and reached for the net at the end. She wasn't sure how it worked but she was willing to try anything that might make the buzzing go away.

Brittany scooted down to the end of the bed and started pulling the net up until she got the bottom of it up onto the bed. It looked like long flowing hair cascading in different directions and hanging off the edge of the bed. It reminded Brittany of Rapunzel and her long elegant hair that she could wrap herself up in and hide from the world, or use to help someone who might have come to rescue her. Although Brittany was never sure why she couldn't just use it to rescue herself.

Brittany moved the net around until she found the bottom and started trying to open it. Brittany managed to get it open and over her head pretty quickly but It was all bunched up and tangled in places which made it hard to move once she was inside.

Brittany started groaning, frustrated at being unable to untangle the net and spread it out over the bed. The more frustrated she got the more tangled she became. Then without warning Brittany was on the floor tangled in a pile of net flailing around like a fish out of water.

XXXXX

Santana was sitting at her desk updating her journal with the new information Mopani had told her earlier about the poachers when she heard a muffled thump.

Her room had one wall shared with the outdoors and one shared with the guest room Brittany was staying in. Next to the guestroom was a bathroom, which was located directly at the top of the stairs. Beyond that was another guest room where Brittany's dad was staying and then her parent's room.

Across from the rooms was a railing that overlooked the open area that was all one big room. On one side of the room, across from her parents bed room, it had a family area that had 2 couches, chairs, a fire place with a beautifully carved mantel and a coffee table. The other end, across from her room, contained the entrance into the house from the front. It had a bench and area to leave your shoes as well as a table off to the side to for keys and mail. Closer to the bedrooms there was a large table were the family would eat dinner and bookshelves filled with a variety of books from the picture ones Santana would share with Xhabbo to her father's medical journals. The stairs to the upper level were off to the side leading up to the middle of the upper level with a door to Mr. Lopez's office and the kitchen under neither them.

Santana stopped writing and looked towards the wall. Knowing the sound she just heard might mean Brittany needed some help she begrudgingly got up and headed towards her room. She knocked quietly not wanting to wake anyone if she'd imagined the loud noise. Santana waited a minute and heard nothing. She thought the sound might have just been her imagination and was about to head back to her room when she heard someone moving around behind the door. Santana tried again this time calling "Brittany" through the door in a stage whisper.

Hearing a noise that sounded human, that Santana took to mean come in, she slowly opened the door and peaked into the room. After her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Santana realized the room looked empty. It took her a second to notice the twisted net hanging from the ceiling and the heavy breathing sounds coming from the other side of the bed.

It took everything Santana had in her not to burst into laughter when she came around the side of the bed and saw Brittany all wrapped up and tangled in the net.

"Brittany?" Santana said with a shaky voice, trying to stifle her laughter.

"Humph," was all the pile on the floor replied.

Trying again with a softer tone, that Santana didn't even know she was capable of, she asked "Are you okay?"

Brittany just laid there a minute longer in silence before softly replying "no."

"Here…." Santana tried to spare Brittany some embarrassment and gently picked the net up to start helping her sort out the mess she had made.

Brittany didn't reply at first, but watched as Santana's hands moved to untangling the net. Finding her voice and anger again Brittany replied stubbornly "I can do it myself."

Santana stopped what she was doing momentarily to watch Brittany struggle with getting part of the net out from under her.

"Let me help you." Santana huffed as Brittany started to get impatient and struggled again, only making it worse.

Brittany said nothing but made no move to stop her either, slowly helping Santana as she started being less caught up and regaining more range of motion.

When they were finally finished getting Brittany untangled, Santana quietly directed Brittany back onto the bed and showed her, with a huff, the proper way to set up the net over the bed. Brittany watched her actions with a blank expression and did not make any effort to help in the process.

When Santana was satisfied with the job she had done she turned to leave, not bothering to address Brittany. She was just shutting the door behind her when she thought she heard a quiet "thank you".

Santana just sighed as she headed back to her room and prayed, to whatever Gods the tribesman believed in, that the next three weeks would go quickly. Deciding her journal could wait, Santana set up her own mosquito net, said good night to the lovebirds her mother had given her, and turned out the lights.

In the dark of her room, safely under mosquito net, Brittany was finally starting to drift off when she was brought back to consciousness by a buzzing sound.

All she could do was roll her eyes and pull her pillow over her head. Three weeks, it was just three weeks.

XXXXX

The next morning breakfast was quiet as everyone was tired from the endless socializing they'd done the night before. They were trying to save what little reserve they had left for the festivities that would take place that night in the local village.

Every time the Lopez's would throw a lavish event for the English settlers they would always follow it up the next day with a big traditional get together around a fire pit with the locals, who made up most of their co-workers and friends. They would pay for the food and leave most of the leftovers with the villagers afterwards, as a way to say thank you for all their hard work. Everyone loved those big feasts and looked forward to them even if it meant more work for them.

Jack and Brittany, having only arrived the day before, had no idea what to do after breakfast but knew they didn't want to sit around doing nothing while waiting for that night's festivities to kick off. Maribel decided it would be a good idea to take Jack and Brittany on a tour of her facilities, even though she had already arranged to be missing for a couple days, while Jorge went with some others into the town thirty miles past the village to collect some of the supplies for later.

Santana was hoping she would be allowed to tag along with her dad to pick up the food and then stay behind in the village to help the women with preparing for that nights events. Sadly, her mother had other ideas forcing her to come with her and their guests to her work instead.

Normally Santana wouldn't mind because she loved checking in on the animals and getting to help out around the facility. She especially loved going there on Thursdays to help bathe the elephants even if she usually ended up just as wet as they were. What she did not love however was having to help play tour guide to their visitors.

So as soon as the chance presented itself Santana slipped away from the group and headed out back to where they kept the older elephants; the ones that could no longer survive in the wild. They were her favorites and she often would go out there to see them when she needed time to herself. Elephants made good listeners after all with their big ears and quiet demeanor.

The elephants here had been given an area to stay in with a large wooden fence surrounding it and there were some precautionary measures taken to try to ensure other animals would stay out. The area itself was much larger than any cage you would find in a zoo. One of the advantages of living on the edge of the dessert was lots of free land. The pen was built to incorporate what was already naturally there so one side of it contained a pile of four large rocks, that served as the fence. and there was a giant tree near the backside that provided lots of shade. In addition, the locals had helped dig out a small pool by the side nearest the buildings where the elephants could drink and cool off. Maribel kept telling Santana that being in there was what was best for the elephants but Santana couldn't help but think it was the animal version of an old folks home where you left unwanted elderly to wither away and die of boredom.

Santana smiled as she made her way into the pen and over to where her favorite elephant, who everyone referred to as Scar thanks to an injury he had gotten when poachers had attacked his herd, was standing in a small bit of shade provided by the rocks.

Santana approached carefully not wanting to spook the large animal. She softly ran her hand along his rough skin as she moved towards his front which was facing towards the rocks. Once Scar noticed a presence, he turned his head to see who was touching him and poked Santana with his trunk when he realized it was her. Santana walked in front of him and held up her hands to show she didn't have any food. She always brought Scar a banana when she would visit so when she had none Scar would start using his trunk to try to search Santana for any food she might be hiding. Today was no different with him using his trunk to try to sniff out anything she might be keeping from him. Finding nothing of interest Scar went back to standing motionless in the shade. Santana stood in the shade as well, taking comfort in a crevice between two of the large rocks, scratching the sensitive area behind Scar's ear.

"I told you I would help catch these poachers and I will, but it might take a little longer than I had hoped. But I promise I will find the men who did this to you and make them pay." She said lightly rubbing her hand over the scar on the right side of his face just above the tusk. Scar made no effort to move or reply but Santana knew he understood.

Santana was surprised to hear loud splashing noises all of a sudden. She peaked out from around the rock she was hiding behind to see that a few of the other elephants had wandered over to the water and were using their trunks to play and spray each other. Santana loved to see the elephants having a good time but knew it was best if she did not go join them. She didn't think get soaking wet before lunch was a good idea so instead she decided to just scratch Scar and just watch them play from her safe hiding spot.

Santana was so caught up in thought and unmindful of the world around her that she did not notice Brittany approaching the fence near where the other elephants were playing. She was surprised to hear what sounded like talking and she snapped back to reality to see Brittany trying to pet one of the elephants. Santana peaked out from her hiding place and strained her ears to try to hear what was being said, wondering what kind of conversation someone like Brittany might have with an elephant.

"Hello Miss Elephant. I'm Brittany, it's a pleasure to meet you." Brittany said taking the elephant's trunk into her hand and shaking it like it was a hand.

The elephant responded by allowing Brittany to shake her trunk before pulling away and using it to sniff around Brittany to see if it recognized the human or if she might have food on her. Brittany giggled as the grey appendage poked at her breasts and stomach before trying to lift up the bottom of her shirt to sniff under there.

"Hey" she said pushing its trunk away to no avail as it shifted her shirt a little exposing a part of her smooth stomach. "Buy a girl dinner first." She laughed.

Santana stifled her own laugh, finding the situation and Brittany's response very amusing. She was about to expose herself and come over and help Brittany when Brittany started talking again.

"They say that elephants never forget, not even the bad stuff. Is that true? Maybe I was an elephant in a past life." Brittany said thoughtfully, stroking the elephant's skin softly. "My mom died six months ago and I keep trying to forget that but I can't. I don't want to be sad anymore but I don't want to stop thinking and talking about her either, even though it seems like everyone else has, even my dad." She said with a sad sigh. "I think he thinks he is trying to protect me but he needs to realize I am growing up and don't always need to be protected from everything." She said in a frustrated tone.

Brittany stopped petting the elephant for a minute to think about what she wanted to say next. Her face switching from frustration to sadness as she started speaking again. "Talking about her makes me sad because it reminds me that she is gone, but I am afraid if I stop talking about her than I will forget all of the amazing things about her that I loved so much. I don't want to forget those things, but I don't want to be sad either." Brittany pouted.

The elephant just stood there looking at her with its big brown eyes before rubbing its trunk against Brittany's arm. Brittany wasn't sure if it understood her but she liked to believe that the gentle giant had and was offering her comfort. It felt nice to be able to talk to someone about it, someone who wouldn't just tell her she was being silly or to get over it like her friends had.

Brittany's friends had been growing tired of her melancholy disposition and missed the old carefree friend they had known before. The Florida trip was supposed to be the last chance for Brittany to prove she could still be fun and relaxed before her friends started distancing themselves from her so that her sullen mood wouldn't drag down their senior year. Even though they hadn't said anything to her Brittany knew what was happening. She knew they were frustrated with her. She had really wanted to go on that trip to prove to them she was still the same, and to prove to herself that she could move on and get back to normal. But now here she was in Africa with a couple of old friends of her mothers and their maddening daughter.

Before either girl could do anything else, there was a shout in the distance that sounded like "Brittany, come over here."

Brittany turned back to see her dad and Maribel standing over by the building waiting for her. She pat the elephant one last time before whispering "thank you for listening" and heading over to where her Father and Santana's mother were standing.

Santana stood still, in-between the rocks, thinking about what she had heard and tried to not give away her position. She didn't think Brittany would be too happy if she realized she had been listening in on her talking to the elephant. After Santana was sure the coast was clear she said goodbye to Scar and the other elephants and headed towards where the others had gone, hurrying to meet up with them to head back to the house for lunch.

The whole ride back Santana kept thinking about what Brittany had said and sneaking glances at her. If Brittany noticed her she made no effort to show it instead she mostly looked out the window, seemingly deep in thought.

XXXXXX

The rest of the day passed quickly for Santana. She was, thankfully, excused to her room after lunch to work on her homework. Although, she was really using the time to update her journal with what Mopani had told her the day before. And when no one was looking, Santana had snuck into her father's study to 'borrow' some of his files to copy the information down into her notes as well. If they weren't going to let her help directly she was at least going to try to help indirectly by looking over all the information they had collected. She was trying to find the common denominator or a pattern they could use to catch the poachers.

While Santana worked on her notes, Maribel showed their guests around the house and land, giving them a proper tour of everything now that they had had a chance to settle in a bit. They were shown the large kitchen with its pastel blue fridge that, to Brittany, looked like it had come straight out of the 50's. They were shown Mr. Lopez's office which housed his desk and cabinets piled high with files on the poachers and medical books. And they were given a tour of the area on the side of the house where trees littered the space randomly, providing shade, There was a hammock tied between two of the trees and Maribel made sure to point out it was her husband's favorite place to rest, and that he had to sometimes fight Santana for the spot.

Maribel also showed them the various animals that called their property home, as well as her prize garden and their cornfields. The cornfields were the only ones nearby and the Lopez's were very proud of them, even if they always ended up giving their crop away to friends and patients. Somehow, despite the weather conditions the crop always flourished thanks to Jorge's ingenious ideas.

Jorge had figured out and rigged an inventive way to keep the crops watered, even during times of drought. He had gutters running along the top roof of the house and some that ran lower and to the backside of the house under the bedrooms. These all caught the water running off the ledge of the roofs and funneled the water into a large pipe attached to the side of the house. The used bathing water was all collected by the pipes and ran to the edge of the cornfield where it drained into a ditch that branched off to water the whole field. The water collected from the house helped to make sure the crops stayed watered and that they weren't wasting any resources.

The bathroom was a small room with an old-fashioned tub, a countertop and mirror, and a small basin for acting as a sink. The actually toilet was in a small wooden shack outside but Maribel hoped that once they had running water in the house they would be able to upgrade the bathroom as well. Although she did appreciate the resourceful way their bathroom currently worked and the way their resources were recycled, there was nothing worse than having to bundle up and go outside just to pee in the middle of the night.

Jack was impressed with their whole set up and had a million questions to ask Jorge about it later. Brittany, on the other hand, just did not care as Maribel continued to talk with her dad about how the system within the household worked. She couldn't wait for the tour to be over so she could go back to her room and relax before being forced to be social with strangers again later that night.

The last stop on the tour was a small tool shed off to the side of the house, where Jorge kept his tools and other equipment including the dynamite. Brittany took one look at the pile of dynamite sitting there and started to blush thinking about the explosion the day before and how Santana threw herself on top of her. Luckily, the adults were too busy discussing Jorge's many projects to notice Brittany's blush or her discomfort.

When Maribel finally excused Brittany, she quickly headed inside and up the stairs towards her room. As she was getting ready to open her door she noticed some humming coming from the direction of Santana's room. Brittany turned and quietly tiptoed down the hallway stopping just outside the cracked door. She peeked inside, hoping to see a glimpse of Santana up to something embarrassing. What she saw instead was Santana humming and swaying as she wiped down her shelf. She rearranged the books as she went, setting them on her desk as she wiped down a shelf before putting them back on again when she was done. Brittany didn't recognize the tune but she liked what she heard.

All of a sudden something large rubbed against Brittany's leg causing her to gasp loudly. The noise alerted Santana to her presence and Brittany froze in place waiting to see what Santana would do while internally cursing the Lopez's dog for giving her away.

"Are you just going to stand there like a creeper?" Santana questioned without even turning around to confirm who had made the sound.

"I-I-I w-wasn't..." was all Brittany was able to stammer.

Santana held her free hand up to stop Brittany from continuing as she placed the last book back on the shelf before she turned to face her. She leaned back against her desk with her arms crossed in front of her.

"What do you want?" She asked coldly, obviously unhappy with the intrusion.

"I-I just wanted to ask you what I should wear tonight." Brittany said trying to come up with some plausible excuse for standing outside Santana's door.

"Oh," Santana replied, her voice softening. "Well, there will be lots of eating, sitting and dancing around a big bonfire, so you should probably wear something lighter, and comfortable."

"Like what?" Brittany boldly took a step into Santana's room.

Santana just shrugged and picked up her journal from where it was lying next to her on her desk. "Do you have a sundress or something like that?" She suggested trying to sound indifferent.

"I only packed one but it's not very fancy. I don't usually wear dresses. Skirts sometimes, but not really dresses, and never skorts, whatever a skort is. I prefer tee shirts and jeans if I get the choice, but they aren't exactly proper party wear back in America. Not that I attend a lot of parties. I mean, I sometimes go to parties but not formal ones. Not that this one is formal." Brittany stopped her rambling. She wasn't sure why she was nervous but this was the first time she had been alone with Santana since she had helped her out of the net the night before and she was still embarrassed. She also thought she might have noticed Santana watching her earlier too. She wondered why Santana would be paying unnecessary attention to her and worried that if she actually was watching her it might be because Santana was thinking of new ways to torment her.

Santana rolled her eyes at Brittany's disjointed speech, trying to seem annoyed when in reality she found her rambling kind of cute. Santana shook her head quickly to clear that thought away and refocused on the task at hand: getting Brittany out of her room.

"This isn't a fancy party, Brittany. Just wear your sundress. It'll be fine." She replied, pulling Brittany out of her internal freak out. Santana was trying to end the discussion so that she could get back to going over her notes. She had finally found some older files she had hidden in one of her books. It had taken her longer than she thought to find them since she couldn't remember which book she'd put them in originally, and in the process of searching for them she had decided to clean the whole bookshelf.

"What will you be wearing?" Brittany asked trying to prolong the conversation. She wasn't sure she really wanted to spend more time with Santana, especially given their rocky start, but the alternative of sitting alone in her room killing time seemed even less appealing. She had already written in her journal earlier in the day and didn't have anything new to add other than meeting the elephant.

"I have traditional outfits some of the women in the village made me, I usually wear one of those." Santana answered nonchalantly trying to give off the impression that she hadn't really thought about it and would just throw something on last minute.

The truth was Santana had been thinking about it on and off all afternoon since they had come back from the reserve. She knew her ongoing back and forth battle with Brittany was getting out of hand but she really wanted to show Brittany up tonight. Also somewhere in the back of her mind it registered to her that she also wanted to impress Brittany with how integrated she was into African culture. Although the reason for this desire remained mostly hidden in her subconscious. She thought in the forefront of her mind that the reason was because Brittany had no preconceived notions. She was like a blank canvas and Santana did not want to miss her opportunity to paint a positive picture, to at least one person about how amazing these 'savages' really were. She hoped to change at least one American's mind about her beloved Africa.

Before either girl could speak again they were both distracted by the loud clanging noise from the other side of Santana's room. They both turned their heads in sync to see what it was. Santana was not surprised at all to see one of her lovebirds using its beak to hit against the metal of its cage. The birds hated to be caged up when she was in the room. However, Santana hadn't wanted them to get in her way while she was doing her research so she had left them in there.

"Hey stop that, Fred," she said forcefully. The bird stopped momentarily before going back to banging his beak against the cage.

"He's cute. What type of bird is he?" Brittany asked.

"They are a Red-headed Lovebirds. My mom got them for me on a trip to Kenya for a veterinary conference. She said they were to keep me company when she couldn't be around and remind me how loved I was. The other one is hiding. Ginger always seems to do that when Fred starts making a ruckus to be let out."

"Fred and Ginger?"

"When I was younger sometimes I would go with the other children to the movies that would show in town thirty miles down the road. They were always showing old black and white films so the other children grew bored of them and stopped going, but I really enjoyed watching them." Santana said shifting her position so that she was sitting on her desk instead of leaning against it. "They were so interesting to me as a kid with such a small view of the world. People like Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire took me to a magical place with singing, dancing, and happy endings. I loved those films so I ended up naming the birds after them." Santana explained trying to not make it into a bigger deal in her head than it needed to be that she was just casually telling Brittany such personal things. Despite her trying to convince herself it wasn't a big deal, the evidence to say otherwise was still obvious on Santana's face as she could feel her cheeks starting to warm up.

"Top Hat is one of my favorite films," Brittany offered sensing that Santana was feeling a little self-conscious about what she had shared.

"Mine too." Santana smiled softly, her dimples making an appearance, thankful that Brittany seemed to understand. "I love how they meet. Ginger played a combination of angry and flustered so perfectly in that scene. Fred was funny, trying to win her over even though she kept turning him down." She said, sighing before she continued. "That film always gets to me. All he wanted to do was love her and have that love returned but she couldn't see past who she thought he was." Santana ended sadly, giving away more about herself than she had meant.

"But in the end she learns the truth and they dance off into the sunset together," Brittany added thoughtfully, trying to lighten the mood. She had noticed how Santana avoided the other kids the day before and how she seemed to be much closer with the hired help than anyone else around here. The way she was talking now made Brittany sad in a way she couldn't quiet grasp, but the feeling was just bubbling under the surface of her cognitive thoughts.

Suddenly the silence that followed Brittany's comment was interrupted by a loud car horn. Santana, happy for the distraction, walked to the window to find her father's truck outside with the back filled with supplies for that evening. Brittany could do nothing more than watch as Santana rushed out of her room and downstairs without so much as a second thought. Brittany took that as a sign that their conversation was over and returned to her room to try to rest a little before she had to start getting ready for the party.

Through her open window she could hear Santana laughing loudly with her father and wondered what it would be like to have Santana laughing with her someday, instead of at her. It's the last real thought she had before she slowly drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

Xxxx

The first real thought that Brittany had when she woke up was confusion, the second was panic. Her room was dark. Too dark. She was about to completely freak out when she heard a knocking sound followed by what sounded like Santana calling her name. It was only then that Brittany remembered she had put on her sleeping mask to block out the bright African sun. Relieved, although her heart still raced, Brittany got out of bed and opened the door.

"Sorry." Santana smiled not looking very sorry at all. "Did I wake you?"

Brittany rubbed her right eye with her fist and tried to come up with some witty reply but, between just waking up and taking notice of what Santana was wearing, all of her words got stuck in her throat.

Looking her over from head to toe Brittany could see that Santana's hair was wrapped up in a brightly multi-colored clothe. Her face was lightly painted with traditional African body paint in a beautiful pattern. She had a large necklace made of bright beads that covered part of her neck but left her collarbones and shoulders almost completely exposed. Covering her body was another multi-colored piece of fabric resembling a tightly fitted toga that slung over her left shoulder. Her feet bore beaded sandals that showed off her red painted toenails.

Brittany slowly rubbed her eyes again and yawned, attempting to try to fake disinterest in Santana, before asking in as casual tone as she could muster, "What time is it?"

"Around six. We leave in about thirty minutes so I figured you might want to start getting ready." Santana shrugged. She really had offered to wake Brittany up just so she could show off her outfit.

"Six!" Brittany replied her eyes going wide. "Why did you let me sleep so long?"

Santana gave her a questioning look that expressed nothing but annoyance before she answered "You looked like you needed it" in a tone that suggested she didn't understand why Brittany was even asking the question when the answer was so obvious.

Brittany huffed and was about to reply something snarky when her father and Maribel appeared at the top of the stairs and interrupted them.

"Oh good, you are up Brittany. Get ready we are leaving soon." Jack said completely unaware of what he had just interrupted.

Brittany just nodded her head to acknowledge that she had heard her dad and turned back into her room to start looking for her sundress. Santana followed her lead and moved off to her own bedroom without another word, leaving Jack and Maribel in the hallway confused as to what they had missed.

XXXX

Almost an hour later the four of them arrived at the village to find the party already started. The fire was being built up and the villagers were all already there mingling or helping with the food. Off to the far right side Brittany could see some men setting up what looked like drums near the fire pit.

There was a wild boar roasting over a smaller fire and a long row of tables set up with various foods adorning them. The Lopez's had taught the locals many new skills and ideas since moving to Africa, some went over better than others, but the idea of a buffet had been the most widely received and loved.

Brittany looked around wide-eyed at all the brightly colored outfits on the women and near nudity on some of the men. Face and body paint adorning many of the people she saw milling about. It was just like something out of an issue of National Geographic. Beautiful and so foreign from anything Brittany knew back in Ohio.

Suddenly Brittany felt woefully underdressed in just her old faded blue sundress and sandals. Her blonde hair was up in a loose ponytail, her face free from makeup and the small earrings her mother had given her the only accessory to her very plain look.

Brittany was in awe of everything and stuck close to her father, neither was sure what they were supposed to be doing. He, in turn, stuck close to Maribel who was off in search of her husband and completely unbothered by loosing Santana to the crowd of people. Brittany thought she heard people shouting Santana's name once or twice, as they made their way over to one of the tables where Jorge was helping serve drinks, but never caught a glimpse of her.

It wasn't until after they had been at the party for a while that Brittany found Santana again. After getting her fill of food and socializing Brittany made her way over to the logs they had set up around the fire pit. The night air had cooled down considerably and Brittany was in need of some warming up.

The band was playing and a group of people were dancing across from Brittany on the other side of the fire pit. Brittany did a double take when she noticed Santana amongst some women she recognized as servants from yesterdays party, moving to a rhythm that was completely foreign to Brittany's ears. Brittany was enthralled by the way Santana made her body move to the beat so effortlessly following along with the others around her as if she had been doing it her whole life. Brittany wondered if maybe she had been since she knew Santana had been very young when they had moved to Africa. Brittany was so engrossed in watching Santana and the others dance that she didn't even notice Maribel had approached and sat down next to her.

"You should go over there and join them," Maribel said, startling Brittany out of her trance.

"That's ok." Brittany replied shaking her head. "I think I'd better not."

"She's all bark and no bite, you know."

"What does that mean?" Brittany wondered aloud not sure why Maribel was telling her this.

"It means, give her a chance. You've both grown up so much, but I know somewhere, under all those layers, is still the little girl you chased around with a worm, and whom you made laugh uncontrollably with your crazy stories, and shared your piece of cake with when another big kid came and took hers." Maribel said without turning her head from where she was staring off across the fire at Santana's dancing form.

Brittany didn't reply, instead choosing to silently watch Santana from her vantage point on the log. She wanted to remember that, she really did, because it sounded like a much simpler time. A time when her mother was still alive and healthy and when anything was possible. But Brittany just couldn't remember any of it. Not the worm, the stories or the cake, and especially not a young Santana before the world seemingly jaded her.

Brittany felt a soft squeeze on her shoulder as Maribel got up to go join some of the other adults congregating near the drink table. She watched the people around her laughing and having a good time as the fire slowly burned down. A few times she felt like someone was watching her but she put that feeling down to the fact that she was the only pale blonde girl there and the locals probably weren't used to that. She hadn't even noticed how much time had passed until she realized the fire was dwindling and it had been a while since she had seen Santana.

Suddenly Santana appeared out of nowhere, as if Brittany just thinking about missing her presence was enough to conjure her up, like magic.

Santana stood in between Brittany and the dying flame, her skin shining from the thin layer of sweat still evident from her hours of dancing. She had a piece of clothe in her hand and was holding it out towards Brittany.

Brittany cocked her head to the side questioningly.

"You looked cold." Santana replied to the question Brittany hadn't really asked.

"Oh"

Santana had so many questions she wanted ask but was too afraid to ask the ones she really wanted answers to, like why Brittany hadn't joined her dancing or what America was like. She wanted to know who Brittany was, back in America. Was she popular? What did she do for fun? She wanted to ask the more personal ones about her mother and her death. But instead of asking the hard questions she started with something easier.

"Did you have a good time tonight?"

Brittany made a point to exaggerate her movements, stroking her chin thoughtfully. "Well..." she started quietly, making sure to draw out her response as long as possible. This caused Santana to take a small step forward and lean in hoping to hear better. "The food was pretty good, the music was enjoyable and I made a new friend."

"When? I didn't see you talk to anyone all night." Santana replied before her mind could catch up with her mouth.

Brittany pretended not to notice how embarrassed Santana looked after that accidental revelation and replied to the comment in an indifferent tone, patting the log she was sitting on, and replying "This is my new buddy, Stumpy."

"Oh" Santana managed to reply realizing Brittany had just been messing with her.

"I had a good time." Brittany said genuinely. "Thank you." She added as she took the multi colored clothe and wrapped it around her shoulders to fight off some of the cold.

Santana just smiled softly and offered a hand to help Brittany off the log. "Come on, it's time to go home."

XXXX

Santana was having trouble sleeping. Everyone had been exhausted after the festivities and wandered off to their own rooms to wind down and get ready for sleep to come take them away. Santana on the other hand had lain in bed for thirty minutes unable to slow down all the thoughts rushing through her head or the blood rushing through her veins. Nights like this always gave her a rush. She was sure it was a much greater than any high she could get from drugs or alcohol. But the side effects included inability to slow down enough to sleep.

Hearing familiar voices floating through her open window gave Santana an idea about how to kill time until her natural high wore off. Tip-toeing out of her room Santana made her way down the hallway and halfway down the stairs to a place where she could see into her father's office without being seen.

"And you think killing poachers is going to do it?" she heard her father question someone, unable to see the other occupant from her vantage point on the stairs.

"No, but it's a start." she heard Mopani answer. "I've lost more elephants in the last three months than I did in all of last year."

"I have paperwork and audits on every trade and exportation company in the country..." her father started to reply. Just as he had started talking Santana saw Ricketts come out of the kitchen with a bottle of something. Santana lay perfectly still hoping Ricketts wouldn't notice her eavesdropping. Luckily he was more interested in the bottle in his hand than he was in his surroundings.

"Paperwork. That's all you got. I bet men we know run half of those companies. Good men. You can't go around poking into their business affairs and expect them to be okay with it." Mopani replied, his British accent becoming more pronounced as he raised his voice in frustration.

"Am I interrupting anything?" Ricketts slightly slurred entering the room. Jorge just ignored Ricketts and continued on with his argument with Mopani.

"I know we have to be dealing with a corporation. They have got to be getting ready to make a shipment."

"What makes you say that?" Ricketts asked. Santana could see Mopani appear off in the corner quietly refilling his glass at the small bar.

"The petition we filed locked all of the boarders but the poaching didn't stop. All those tusks have got to be stored somewhere. And they have to have a way to get them out of the country without drawing too much attention," Jorge replied rubbing his face in frustration with his free hand while still clutching the paperwork with the other.

Mopani said nothing. He just stood there watching Jorge. Santana knew that when Mopani went silent it usually meant he was deep in thought trying to come up with a solution, but Santana knew thinking alone would not be enough to solve this problem.

"Can I see those?" Ricketts said pointing to the paperwork Jorge had been waving around.

"You can keep those," Jorge said handing over the papers. "I have other copies."

Santana could see Ricketts fold up the papers and slip them into the inside pocket of his suit jacket he always wore without even bothering to look at them.

"I am going to go to Karlstown after you get back to have the papers analyzed." Jorge continued turning to Mopani. "Then I am going to go see the minister of the interior."

"And what will he do, form a committee?" Mopani questioned angrily.

"And what would you suggest, shooting them all?" Jorge shot back.

"Yes, that is exactly what I would suggest."

"He who lives by the sword" Jorge started, only to be interrupted by Mopani.

"Stays alive a day longer." Mopani finished for him.

Jorge just shook his head and turned back towards his desk to pick up his drink. He knew there was no point in arguing with Mopani when he got like this. He was the most stubborn person Jorge had ever known, and Jorge was sure he was to blame for Santana's stubborn streak.

Mopani sensed the conversation was over so he packed up his bag and turned towards the kitchen. Santana held her breathe as he left the office, the shadows keeping her safe from discovery once more.

As soon as Mopani was safely out of earshot Ricketts spoke up. "He's right you know."

"Not you too" Jorge said, exasperated with the situation.

"I meant about staying alive." Ricketts supplied in between sips of his drink. "You're my friend Jorge, these men are very dangerous, and maybe you should just let it go. Let Mopani deal with it his way. I don't think you understand what kind of men you are dealing with." Ricketts warned.

"I understand they are butchering the soul of Africa." Jorge replied forcefully. "And this is the last country left with a soul. I'll be damned if I just sit back and let that happen." Ricketts said nothing in reply choosing instead to take more sips of his drink and mull over the dilemma at hand. Santana was concentrating so hard on trying to listen in that she didn't even notice Mopani had left the kitchen and was now standing behind her until he let out a warning cough.

"Holy Shit" Santana exclaimed clutching her shirt where her heart was racing beneath it.

"Learn anything?" Mopani asked in a whisper so not to alert the others to their position on the stairs.

"I... Umm..." Santana started and stopped again having no answer to give him.

"I got you a present," Mopani said changing the subject and holding out a small box for Santana to take. "I think it will match your bracelet nicely," he said looking at the keepsake hanging around Santana's arm as she reached for the box.

"Oh." was all Santana could reply with, opening the box and seeing an old silver compass inside.

"It belonged to my father. Now I want you to have it. It helped me many times in life when the right way wasn't clear. Hopefully it can be just as useful to you." Mopani said with a soft look and small smile. He thought of Santana like family and considered himself really lucky to have had the chance to watch her grow up and help her learn a little along the way.

"Thank you." Santana breathed out, trying to keep her voice from conveying how much this gift affected her.

"You're welcome. Now off to bed with you young lady." He said in a serious tone.

"Okay, okay." Santana said knowing better than to disagree with him.

"I'll see you when I get back in a couple days. Try to stay out of too much trouble until then." He joked before adding, almost as if it was an afterthought, "and don't be too hard on your guest. Lord knows you could use a friend your own age."

Santana did not get a chance to reply before Mopani turned and headed down the stairs and out the front door without even a goodbye to Jorge as he went.

Santana decided to take his advice and trudged upstairs where she was met with a dark silence as she was finally able to slip off to sleep.

XXXX

The next day Santana joined her parents in driving the Pierce's around to show them the best Africa had to offer in beauty and tranquility. The day went by fast as they drove from place to place. They stopped by a small secluded waterfall for a picnic lunch and enjoyed the cooling effect of its cascading water before heading to Tsodilo Hills for an afternoon hike.

Tsodilo Hills was made up of three main hills man, female and child and had been home to local tribes for hundreds of years. They were a sacred, mystical place where the tribes would perform rituals to ask for rain or assistance. The rock formations that helped make up the hills had some of the most breath taking views for hundreds of miles. It had been Brittany's mother's last wish to have her ashes scattered off the top into the wind.

Jack and Brittany both felt bittersweet as they started their climb to the top as the late afternoon sun moved across the sky. The Lopez's stayed behind, choosing to walk one of the paths around the bottom, to give father and daughter some time alone.

Brittany and Jack remained mostly quiet on the walk up, instead concentrating on the nature and beauty around them as they slowly ascended the massive hill known as 'female'. Jack clung tightly to the box he had carried from Lima, across the ocean, to its final resting place in Africa, not quite ready to let go just yet.

When they reached the top, the sun was just starting to set off in the distance. The view was like one from the discovery channel with the vast emptiness of Africa out before them. An odd tree dotted the plains as they watched the red ball touch the horizon. A light breeze floated by cooling them from their short hike.

Jack was the first to break the peaceful silence. "She would have loved it up here," he said taking in the view.

Brittany didn't respond, she was just letting everything sink in. This was it, this was the goodbye she wasn't sure she was ready to give. They both just sat there enjoying watching the sun set on another day in Africa. Off in the distance Brittany thought she could see a giraffe and some antelope moving around near some of the big trees. It made her really sad to think her mother would never get a chance to see any of this.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Brittany asked out of nowhere, breaking the silence.

Jack sat motionless looking out, his eyes glazed over and unfocused. He had been lost in a daydream and it took a few seconds for what Brittany said to sink in. Once it did Jack turned towards Brittany but didn't speak instantly, instead deciding to take his time and find the right words.

"I know things have been difficult between us and I know that you blame me for a lot of things." Jack said shooting Brittany a look that told her not to comment until he was finished. "Nothing I can say now can change what happened before, no matter how much I would love it to. So I am not going to try." He said with a sigh.

"I love you," he said continuing on "and I try to do what I think is best for you but I don't always get it right. I'm still learning and I don't know what I'm doing all the time." He said honestly.

"Dad..." Brittany started but didn't get to finish before Jack spoke again.

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you sooner. And I'm sorry that I always try to protect you from everything. I know that you're growing up and that you will graduate school soon and leave, but I just wanted to let you be a kid as long as you could. The world has its way of coming in and making kids grow up too soon and lose their innocence and I wanted to protect you from that for as long as possible."

"I'm not a little girl anymore, Dad. I don't need you to protect me from everything. I know Santa, leprechauns and unicorns aren't real. I know that parent's don't know everything. And I know that sometimes bad things happen to good people." She said in a frustrated tone. "I understand that you thought you were protecting me but I didn't need your protection. I'm not the little girl who needed you to check for monsters under my bed and in my closet anymore."

"I know. I just wanted to hold on to that little girl as long as I could. Now that you're older I feel like you don't need me anymore."

"I will always need you." Brittany said trying not to choke up. "The difference now is that we can fight the monsters together instead of you fighting them for me."

Jack could do nothing more than nod in agreement as he fought back his own tears. Without warning he reached forward and wrapped Brittany up in a crushing hug. After a couple minutes of holding each other they slowly pulled away and wiped their eyes dry. Jack reached down and picked up the box at his feet before he turned back to Brittany to speak.

"Are you ready?" He asked holding the box out in front of him.

Brittany nodded and took the box from him before they both turned to the edge of rocks. There on the side of a hill in Africa, on top of ancient spiritual rocks, as the sun set on another beautiful day, Brittany and her dad finally found the peace they had been searching for.

XXXXX

Later that night Santana was startled awake by something cold and wet pushing on her face. In her sleepy haze she couldn't comprehend what was happening at first. Once her mind became less fuzzy she realized that Digby was forcefully pressing her cheek with his nose. Santana turned over to face him and pushed his head away with her hand to stop him from hitting her again.

"Digby" she whispered angrily "stop that."

Digby continued trying to poke at her until she sat up in bed, turning so her legs were dangling off the side. She slowly pulled the mosquito net away to expose her and Digby. This wasn't the first time he had found a way to get under there, but usually he just crawled up into the foot of the bed to sleep and left Santana alone.

"What do you want? I made sure you had food in your bowl before I went to bed," she said talking to him as if she thought he might answer back. "I know you know where your doggie door is so you can go to the bathroom," she said patting his head.

Digby just looked at her as she talked before using his paw to start swatting at her leg and whimpering. "Can dogs have bad dreams?" She questioned out loud wondering if maybe Digby was acting like a toddler hoping to be comforted.

Digby didn't reply deciding instead to change tactics by grabbing Santana's shorts with his teeth and pulling. Despite Santana trying to get him to stop he kept pulling until she was standing. Once he had her up standing he barked once at her and then started to walk towards the bedroom door that was slightly ajar.

Santana rolled her eyes and shook her head. "No way Digby. I'm not going out there. If the cat stole your bed again you can deal with that yourself." She remembered the time she had made the mistake of following him outside only to be accidentally locked out in only short shorts and a small tank top. Koba had gotten a good laugh out of finding her outside the next morning. After that Santana had figured out a way to sneak in and out of the house using the drain pipe that watered the corn. But she knew it was better not to put herself in that position again if she could avoid it.

Digby trotted back over and barked again before grabbing at her shorts once more.

"Alright, alright. I'll go but you need to be quiet. You're going to wake everyone up." Santana said begrudgingly, throwing on her cargo pants and light jacket.

Digby whimpered and started to pace back and forth while he waited for Santana to finish dressing. It was odd behavior that she had never seen from him before and was the only reason she was agreeing to this madness in the first place. Santana followed Digby down the stairs trying to be as silent as possible. She watched as he disappeared through his doggie door and sighed before following him outside.

Santana was confused when Digby didn't take her to any of his usual spots and instead headed off down the road towards the woods. Santana knew Digby sometimes liked to wander in the woods and more than once had led her to an injured animal. She was not sure she was in the mood to go in search of anything right now but every time she hesitated Digby would grab at her clothes and try to drag her in the proper direction. Deciding she had no other choice Santana gave in and continued to follow Digby as he lead her further and further from the house and into the woods. Thankfully it was a clear night and the nearly full moon provided Santana with enough light to see by.

Santana had sleepily been following Digby for almost forty minutes and she had just about reached the end of her patience. She didn't know what time it was but she suspected it was past midnight. She had spent a lot of time wandering these woods growing up so she knew they were nearing a small clearing, and just a little past that was a small cave that Xhabbo had shown her. On the other side was a very dense wooded area that held more risk than anything interesting, especially as an unarmed young woman out with just a Rhodesian Ridgeback dog in the middle of the night.

When they got to the edge of where the clearing started Santana became worried to see Digby leading her away from the open area in the direction of the dense woods.

She stopped walking trying to take stock of what she had with her to see if she had anything that she might be able to use as a weapon. All she found was her keys, a pack of gum, a small notebook, pen, matches, Mopani's compass and some loose change. Seeing nothing useful she started looking around on the ground for something that might work. A little searching and some ingenuity later Santana was ready to follow again armed with a large rock in one hand and a slightly pointy stick in the other.

The moon light was barely visible through the trees as soon as she stepped into the denser area. Digby seemed undaunted by the change in visibility as he trotted along leading the way. About 100 yards in Santana nearly had a heart attack when she heard a branch creak loudly behind her. When she saw nothing suspicious she continued on slowly following Digby.

A couple minutes later Santana was sure whatever scare she had had moments earlier was nothing compared to what she came face to face with when she started to round a large rock.

There twenty feet in front of her was a leopard. Santana's rock and stick were of no use to her as every part of her body just stopped, paralyzed by fear. Her senses came back to her in a rush as she felt her left hand drop the stick it was clutching as it was shaking too hard to hold on any longer.

The sound of the stick hitting the ground beside her brought her back to reality and caused her body to react all at once throwing the rock at the leopard. As soon as the rock was released she bent down and rolled grabbing the stick as she went. She popped up in a half crouch with the stick pointed directly at the leopard.

After a few tense seconds Santana heard what sounded like laughter behind her. It slowly grew from a light giggle to full-blown laugh. Santana stayed in position watching the leopard that was showing no sign of movement until her curiosity got the best of her.

She turned her head around quickly to see the cause of the noise, holding her pose with her body ready to attack at any moment if needed. It wasn't until she saw the source of the laughing that her body relaxed. There behind her sitting up against the side of the big rock was Xhabbo, his spear on the ground next to him.

"Santana fight dead leopard very well. Very brave." He laughed out.

"Xhabbo," she hissed, both embarrassed and mad, as she tried to calm her racing heart.

Xhabbo tried to contain his amusement, slowly working himself down from full on laughter to the odd giggle here and there. Digby, who was pacing nearby, started barking joining in on the fun. Santana didn't think it was very funny at all. She was especially unamused when she noticed the large gash on Xhabbo's leg.

"Xhabbo!" She exclaimed pointing to his leg. "We have to move you. Can you walk?"

"Danger, Santana." Xhabbo got out as Santana tried to help pull him up from his sitting position.

"We have to get you back to the house." She said ignoring his warning.

"Cave." He suggested struggling to stand, leaning most of his weight against Santana as they tried to walk together.

"Xhabbo," she started trying to sound calm "we have to get you back to the house so my dad can..."

"No, cave!" He interrupted.

Sensing she was not going to win this argument Santana gave up fighting, she figured they could quarrel about it again in the morning when they both had clearer heads.

"Okay. We will go to the cave but I need your help." She said practically dragging Xhabbo towards the clearing.

Just then they heard a loud crunching sound. Santana nearly fell over trying to turn them to face the sound as Xhabbo quickly pulled his bow and arrow from its place strapped to his back and pointed at the darkness in front of them.

"Whoa, whoa don't shoot," Brittany said coming out from behind the tree she had been hiding behind.

"Brittany," Santana breathed out, relieved that it wasn't another predator coming to try to finish the job the leopard had started.

"What are you doing out here?" Santana questioned angrily, realizing Brittany must have followed her to spy on her.

"Walking off the pate" Brittany said trying to lighten the mood. "Who's he?"

"None of your business. You shouldn't be out here and now I am going to have to waste my time taking you back to the house." Santana said. Her patience with both Xhabbo and Brittany was wearing thin.

"No." Both Brittany and Xhabbo replied at the same time.

"Brittany must come with Xhabbo and Santana" Xhabbo said pointing in the direction of the cave.

"Let me help you carry him," Brittany added trying to keep Santana from forcing her to return to the house just when things were getting interesting. Santana was not happy but Xhabbo was getting heavy against her and she really didn't have the time or the energy to walk Brittany all the way back just to return to try to convince Xhabbo to come to the house to get treatment. In addition, Brittany would come in handy helping her carry him back to the house come morning once she convinced him.

"Fine" Santana huffed trying to sound more annoyed than she really was. Brittany smiled knowing she had won and walked over towards Santana and Xhabbo to help get him to the cave.

"So what happened to him?" Brittany asked letting her curiosity get the better of her. She had been trying to keep her distance from Santana earlier as she followed her from the house through the woods and had not seen the leopard. "Lion get him?" She joked. She took a second to shift the small book bag she had slung off her right shoulder so that both straps were on, leaving her arms free to help carry Xhabbo's weight.

"He has a name." Santana snapped, her patience nearly gone as they struggled to get to the cave "it's Xhabbo."

"Xhabbo" Brittany said testing it out but unable to get the pronunciation quite right being completely unfamiliar with the clicking sounds in Xhabbo's native language. "What happened to Xhabbo?" She said trying again.

"Leopard got him." Santana shrugged like it was no big deal to be attacked by a leopard in the woods in the middle of the night.

"Leopard?" Brittany repeated stuttering her way through it. Her whole body stopped causing Santana and Xhabbo to almost fall over from the sudden lack of movement. Xhabbo only managed to keep his balance thanks to Brittany's book bag strap that he had grabbed onto when Brittany had let go of him.

Santana could do nothing to contain her laughter as Brittany turned a shade of grey and looked like she might be sick. Even Xhabbo thought it was funny and joined Santana in laughter despite the pain he was feeling from loosing Brittany's support on his left side.

"Welcome to Africa." Santana said sarcastically once her laughter died down, echoing her father's words from three days ago.

Once the color had started to return to Brittany's face the trio continued on their way to the cave. The journey made easier as they traveled across the large clearing under the bright light of the moon, and once on the other side it was only a short walk into the woods before they could see the start of the rocks. The closer they got the slower Santana led them. Santana had spent years exploring the areas around and she knew as well as anyone that they might not be the only ones seeking shelter in the cave that night. She was grateful she had remembered to grab Xhabbo's spear from the ground as she thought of all the animals they might come across in there.

When they got to the mouth of the cave Santana motioned for Brittany and Xhabbo to wait outside while she went in to make sure the cave was empty. Feeling satisfied that she had successfully searched the cave Santana helped Brittany move Xhabbo inside and sit him down along the far wall. Before Brittany knew what was happening Santana had a fire up and running in the back of the cave. The light it provided mostly hidden from anyone or anything that might pass by as a result of a rock jutting out near the mouth of the cave. The glow given off by the fire exposed the walls of the cave to Brittany. She was shocked to see artwork crudely made on the carved out rock. She thought cave painting were something only seen in history books, small reminder of a time long past.

"These must be a million years old," Brittany said lightly tracing her finger along the edges of the faded artwork. "How did you find this place?"

Santana ignored Brittany's question and continued to search around for what she was looking for, not really in the mood to play tour guide right now. Not finding exactly what she wanted Santana took a small branch and lit it on fire before heading back outside of the cave. After a few minutes she returned with her hands full of plants and set them down to sort out by the fire.

"Do you have any liquid?" Santana inquired looking at Brittany across the fire.

"Just this" Brittany replied pulling out an almost full water bottle.

"Here, smash these," Santana said thrusting a handful of plants towards Brittany before taking the water bottle from her.

"He doesn't need bushman voodoo he needs medicine." Brittany said trying to push the roots and leaves away. However, all it took was one glare from Santana to change her mind. While Brittany worked on smashing up the plants Santana had given her, Xhabbo started telling her a story.

"Bushman have many stories. My father tell me story about a cave. He say that lion make it rain so that Bushman will come in cave and lion wait in cave so that he can eat the man. But lion was tired and fall asleep. Man find sleeping lion and run and get away from lion. Lion chased him but then he found other bushman by fire and he was safe. Fire keep lion away." Xhabbo said looking at the fire lost in thought.

Brittany was not sure she really understood that story but she thought maybe that had been Xhabbo's convoluted way of trying to make her feel safer sleeping in the cave. A few minutes later Santana had finished making her concoction and applied it to Xhabbo's leg. She used some leaves to cover the goop and tied some vines around his leg to keep them in place.

"Here" Santana said holding out a different paste to Xhabbo. "This should help you sleep."

"Promise stay in cave, Santana." Xhabbo said reaching out to take it from her.

Santana could tell Xhabbo had a reason behind his request. A reason she wasn't sure she would like.

"What is it? Did you do a tapping?" She questioned quietly crouched down besides Xhabbo not wanting to alert Brittany to their conversation. Xhabbo lifted his head slightly to confirm she was correct but said nothing.

"What did you see?" Santana asked in a slightly panicked, hushed tone. Xhabbo did not reply instead just stared directly into Santana's eyes willing her to understand how serious he was about them staying in the cave.

"Ok I promise" she sighed knowing that there were still so many things she did not understand about Bushman and their traditions, but she trusted that if Xhabbo had his reasons then they must be good ones.

"And her" Xhabbo said cocking his head slightly in Brittany's direction. Even though she knew she shouldn't be eavesdropping Brittany had been listening into the conversation. She did not really understand what was going on but she knew she was going to be stuck in the cave over night whether she liked it or not.

Brittany just shrugged so Santana answered for her leaving no room for argument. "Brittany too. We will both stay."

With that Xhabbo relaxed and put some of the paste in his mouth that Santana had handed him, he knew he would need all the rest he could get before morning came.

Taking that as a sign Brittany and Santana both found places near the fire to settle down and tried to get comfortable for the night. It was already pretty late and despite all the excitement the girls found themselves soon drifting off to sleep.

Xxxxxx

Santana was awoken suddenly. She looked around the cave and saw that Brittany and Xhabbo were still asleep. Santana could tell by the positions they were sleeping in that everyone was going to be sore that day. She stood up and stretched trying to fight off some of her own body aches. A yawn overtaking her face as she struggled to get the blood flowing again. A quick look at her watch told Santana it was now almost 7AM and they would have to start heading back soon or else their parents might worry. Santana was about to wake up the others when she heard a strange sound. The sound had startled Digby awake too and he started to pace back and forth in front of Santana making quiet whining noises. Santana took one more look around the cave before heading out to investigate, telling Digby to stay as she went. Santana walked towards where she thought she had heard the sound. When Santana got to the clearing she saw nothing out of place. She was about to turn back and get the others when she noticed off to her left, much further in the distance below, was smoke. It was low and almost looked like a cloud and Santana could swear it was coming from where her house was.

More smoke appeared as she was staring trying to make sense of what she was seeing and a few seconds later Santana could swear she heard loud noise echoing through the woods. Not wanting to be weighed down by an injured man and a tourist Santana took off running towards her house without a second thought given to the others sleeping in the cave.

The closer she got to her house the more worried she became. She thought she could hear loud sounds like men shouting and the occasional gunshot. She could smell the smoke before she could see it again. She slowly exited the wooded area and ran through the taller grass as she headed into the large cornrows keeping low as she moved along to keep herself hidden. When she got near the edge of the cornfield she stopped, hidden behind the stalks and surveyed the area.

She could hear men talking in the distance in an African dialect she was unfamiliar with. Santana looked around for a couple minutes before deciding it was safe to come out from where she was hidden and head to the pipe leading up to the house. Santana kept low as she crawled up the pipe slowly. Santana was about halfway up when she heard some men coming around the corner of the house. Santana ducked down staying perfectly still waiting for the men to pass. She carefully peaked over the edge to check that the men had gone before continuing up the pipe. When she got to the top she quickly climbed onto the small roof. Santana made it to her room, and after a quick check of the room for invaders, she opened the window and crawled in. She could see someone had been in there and thrown some of her things around. She got near her door and listened carefully to see if anyone else was still upstairs. She could hear the sound of things being broken somewhere below her and muffled voices but nothing to indicate someone was near her room.

Santana opened the door slowly and crawled out into the hallway staying against the wall so that she would be invisible from below. Santana continued crawling down the hallway passing the guest room Brittany had been staying in, which had things thrown all over the floor and the bathroom where she could see the cupboard had been ransacked. Santana paused there to make sure the coast was still clear before continuing to the guestroom where Jack was staying. She knew that things could only get worse but even with all of her mental preparation and psyching herself up Santana still wasn't prepared for what she saw when she peeked into Jack's room. The room had been tossed like the others, and there on the floor by the foot of the bed lay Jack, his throat had clearly been slit.

Santana gasped and slowly crawled away until she was in the hallway between the guestroom and her parent's room. She had seen death before and violence but never like this, never violence that caused the death of a man. She loved elephants almost as much as she loved people but there was something so different from seeing the carcass of a dead elephant and that of a man she had just shared dinner with the evening before.

Santana knew the moment she had seen Jack on the floor that the chances she would find her parents alive were slim, but there was still part of her holding out hope that maybe they had heard Jack being attacked and were able to escape.

After Santana took a moment to collect herself she slowly crawled towards her parents room stopping when she got to the slightly ajar door. She held her breath as she slowly pushed the door open, her heart nearly stopping as it let out a loud creaking sound. Once she had gotten the door open about half a foot she peaked inside, her eyes catching on the mirror. She could see her mother and father's reflection in it. They were lying on their bed looking like they were still peacefully asleep but the blood on the sheets told her otherwise.

Gasping, Santana stumbled backwards, glad that she was already so near to the ground because she was sure her legs would have given out otherwise. Just then Santana heard voices getting louder. The voices she could make out now were speaking English. Santana leaned against the wall her hand covering her mouth as she willed her nearly silent sobs to stop.

"Kitchen finish," a voice said thick with an African accent.

"And the office? Did you find the files?" A second voice asked that sounded decidedly more British.

"Not yet. We starting now" a third voice added. Santana thought she could hear gunshots outside before another man spoke.

"The animals are being taken care of and their supplies are destroyed," yet another voice added, sounding more proficient in English.

Santana's curiosity got the best of her and she crawled over to the edge of the landing and carefully peaked over the edge between two rails. Below she could see a group of African men standing around what looked like a white man who was facing away from her sitting in her favorite chair. She wasn't one hundred percent sure but she thought she recognized some of the men from village get togethers. They looked like men from the other local villages that were friends and relatives of people she thought she knew and trusted. Now she wasn't sure anymore. How could people who lived nearby come in and brutally kill her parents who had been nothing but helpful, kind and generous to everyone they encountered. She had to clamp her hand to her mouth tightly when a sob threatened to come out again as she thought of all the people who would suffer thanks to the loss of her parents. They were her parents but they were so much more than just that, and everyone who knew them would mourn such a great loss to the community.

The men were too engrossed in their conversation to notice the small noises coming from upstairs. They had started speaking back and forth quickly in the dialect Santana could not understand after the English man had asked a question Santana had not heard. After a minute of discussion a man who Santana did not recognize spoke up answering the question. "No children. Men look everywhere and no find."

"Two kids on foot. How far could they get?" The British man thought out loud. "Are you sure no one saw them when we first arrived?"

"Children nowhere. Beds cold." Another man replied.

"They must have left before we arrived. Let us finish up here and then we will spread out and search for them. The girl knows the area well but we know it better. There will be no where for them to hide." The British man said standing up slowly and looking for something from his pocket.

Santana couldn't see his face or what was on it but she could tell it was a piece of paper. He folded it up again and returned it to his pocket carefully. "Alright men. Do one more search of the area, then make sure the computer and files are taken to the truck. Take whatever else you want to and then light this place up. I want no traces left behind."

A chorus of okay's and yes's erupted from the men as they started to wander off again, no doubt to start looting. Santana knew her time was limited. She quickly crawled back to her room being careful to listen for footsteps on the creaky staircase.

Once inside she made quick work of grabbing her backpack and throwing in anything she could think of that might be useful. She grabbed her canteen, some clothes, a few small knifes she had collected, dogs treats and her journal. She also grabbed the nuts, jerky and granola she had in bags inside her desk, kept there for those days when she worked through a meal and just needed something to snack on.

She was just finishing up when she heard the stairs creak and voices start coming closer. Santana quickly looked out the window to make sure it was safe to exit before climbing out. She stayed low working her way back over to the pipe and slowly down it. When she was about halfway down she noticed the shed where they kept some of their supplies and got an idea.

Quickly making her way down the rest of the pipe Santana hid in the cornrow for a minute to survey the area. It seemed to her that most of the men were still inside going through the house and removing all the valuables. The trucks they were loading the loot into were located in the front of the house and between the side of house and the shed that was currently burning away and causing the smoke Santana had seen.

Santana quickly made her way across her backyard to the shed that held her father's tools. She was glad to see it looked like the men had not gone through it yet. She took a second to breathe closing her eyes trying to decide what her next move was. When she opened them again something caught her eye. There to the left of her was her father's hunting rifle. She hadn't had a lot of experience with it but he had taught her how to use it just in case there was ever a need. Even though they lived in an inhabited area it was still Africa and there was still always the threat of wild animals showing up at their front door.

A thought entered Santana's mind, a thought that scared her more than anything. It only took a couple seconds for her to shake that thought free from her mind and form a new plan. One that would kill her to execute but that had to be done. Santana was going to destroy the only home she had ever known. It was the only way. It was too late to save her parents but maybe she could keep the poachers from finding what they were looking for.

Santana quickly went to work gathering up the dynamite and winding extra fuse around some of them to give her more time after she lit them. Next she grabbed all the packs of matches they had and stuffed them in her pockets. Timing would be essential if she was going to pull this off.

Santana piled everything she needed by the door before slowly peaking out. Seeing no men Santana made her way out the door and hid her bag and riffle deep in the cornfield. After another wait to make sure it was safe she went back and retrieved the supplies.

Santana took the dynamite with the shorter fuses and set some over next to the trucks near the smoking shed. She used the trees and shadows to conceal herself as she went. Next she planted dynamite with longer strings next to the house along the side. She knew that she had to be careful with her spacing or one explosion might trigger the next too early. After she was satisfied she had everything in place Santana made her way a safe distance and lit all the fused before taking off towards the corn. Santana was almost safely back to the corn when the first poacher caught sight of her. His yelling caused the others to all come running out from the house, two men waving their guns and shooting wildly in Santana's direction.

Before they had a chance to aim properly, the first dynamite's fuse burnt down and with a massive fireball took out the supply shed on the other side of the house. The explosion sent the men diving for the ground as small pieces of wood and metal came raining down on them. Santana took advantage of the men's confusion as she ran through the cornrows, grabbing her bag as she went. A few seconds later the first of the sticks she had placed next to the house went off. The men who had slowly gotten up in hopes of chasing her were instead forced to the ground again. Santana wasn't sure but she thought she heard someone yelling "dynamite!" She didn't even bother to look back as the third and forth sticks went off. The last thing she heard as she ran into the woods was the sound of wood and stone cracking and collapsing as her childhood home fell into a fiery mess behind her.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

This is going to be a series of one and two shots based on movies, television shows, books and other forms of storytelling. Some will be more loosely based than others, with some following the story closely and others only really being in the same universe. I apologize in advance if I write a story based on your favorite fandom and don't do it justice.

This story does not contain other Glee characters, but stories in the future will to make things easier for people reading. I will post at the beginning of the story who the major characters and ships are in the story other than Brittany and Santana. I expect lots of crackships, both relationship and friendship, and random characters from earlier seasons. I didn't really watch season 4 or 5 so I don't know enough about the new characters to add them very often unless they are really needed. Also there will be no Quinntana or Bram. In fact there will be no Sam at all. As far as I am concerned he doesn't exist. I used to like Samcedes but he has no place in my stories. Not even as the villain. I have a couple stories in mind that would involve Sugar From The Future, but in general she will just be a random character like everyone else. Everything else important should be able to be found in the information at the beginning of each story.

Feel free to contact me here or on tumblr (same name) with any other questions or concerns.