Setting: In my mind, after Finn left for the army and Kurt for New York, Sam feels weird about staying alone at the Hudson-Hummel. Brittany realizes and tells him that since Rory is gone, the guest bedroom is available and her parents would be very happy to have him here. Plus he could be like her brother, since they're both blonde. He knows she feels lonely since Santana is gone, so he says yes.
Take Care Of My Girlfriend
He can hear it from the other side of the wall, from the guest bedroom where he's been living for a few days already. He can hear it, and he doesn't like it one bit.
Brittany is crying.
It's a heartbreaking sound, really. Mostly because in his almost two years at McKinley, Sam can't remember ever seeing – or hearing, for that matter – Brittany cry. It sounds like tiny, tiny sobs, and like she's trying to muffle them in her hand, or in her bedcover, or in her pillow. But the wall between their bedrooms is very thin – after all, there's a reason why Sam always puts his earphones on when Brittany is "Scissor-Skyping" with Santana – and well, no matter how much she tries to be quiet now, he can't deny that the sounds he hears are crying sounds. It makes him want to cry too, and he doesn't like it.
He sits on his bed for a little while, trying to figure out what to do. He's not very good at that kind of things, and the fact that he's new to this house makes it difficult for him to know the boundaries and limits to respect yet. This is Brittany's house, not McKinley's hallways or the choir room, and he's not as confident as he would be back there. On one side, he doesn't really want to intrude in Brittany's personal space; but on the other side, he can't just let her cry like this and not do anything about it.
Santana would know what to do though.
He grabs his phone and searches for her number, calling her right away. The crying hasn't stopped on the other side of the wall.
He waits as the tone rings, praying that Santana will pick up on the other side of the line; but there's a click, and Santana's voicemail message starts.
"Hi, you're calling Santana Lopez and I can't answer now. I'm probably at cheerleading practice or passed out in my bed. If you're Brittany, I love you. If you're not, leave a voicemail and maybe I'll call you back. Unless it's you, Berry."
He sighs and hangs up without leaving a message. He still doesn't know what to do, and Brittany is still crying.
His eyes fall on his bag a few feet away from him.
Should I?
Brittany crying calls for intervention, and he's pretty sure the only intervention that could work at this point is Santana's; and since she's not there, there's only one other solution.
He fishes in his bag on the floor for the little DVD that he received in the mail just a few days ago. It's in a small envelope, on which a sharp handwriting just says "In case of emergency. Use wisely."
He's not totally sure, but he figures this situation qualifies as what Santana must have meant by "Emergency".
He takes the DVD out of the envelope and gets out of his bedroom, quietly walking towards Brittany's room. There, he takes a deep breath and slowly opens the door, peaking his head inside.
Brittany's laying on the bed, her laptop open, crying in front of an empty Skype window that only says "Santana Lopez – Unavailable". Sam has never seen her so broken, and it breaks his heart.
He makes his way towards her and sits next to her, the DVD still in hand. Brittany doesn't even react; she's too far gone already. Sam moves the computer just a tiny bit so that he's facing it as well, and inserts the DVD in the player. There's a click, and a few seconds later, a player opens and the video starts.
"Hi Britt Britt, it's me."
Brittany's head shots up at the sound of Santana's voice, and she stares at the screen in disbelief, at the moving image of Santana wearing her Lebanese shirt and a pair of glasses. She looks tired, exhausted even, but somehow a soft smile lights up her face and it's the calmest Sam has ever seen her. Brittany's mouth opens but she doesn't say anything. In the video, Santana keeps going.
"If Sam is showing you this video, and if he followed my instructions, I guess that you're not feeling that great right now and I'm probably not available. I know that this year isn't easy for you, and I'm sorry that I'm not able to be there for you as much as I would like to. It sucks being away from you, Britt. I miss you so much, and I hope you know that."
Santana looks around her with a sight before smiling sadly at the camera.
"I'm in the bathrooms right now because my roommate only has a certain level of tolerance. It's 2am, and you don't know how much I would give in order to be with you right now, instead of in these stinky toilets… It sucks B."
She pouts, and she looks so adorable in that moment that Sam wishes he could hug her. He sees Brittany straighten up and sit next to him, her hand touching the screen, as if she could brush Santana's cheek through it. She takes a deep, shaky breath and Sam realizes she's on the verge of tears again; but when he looks at her, he sees the smile on her face and realizes they're happy tears. He turns his attention back to the screen.
"Since I'm unable to sing to you live, and when we're on Skype there's always something interrupting us, I decided to record myself singing. That way, you can always put this video on when you're sad and I can't be there, and it'll be as if I were right here singing to you. I love you, Brittany."
Brittany's body shivers and she emits a little sob sound, and Sam wraps an arm around her shoulders; she sinks into his embrace and curls into his side, her eyes never leaving her computer screen.
In the video, Santana fishes for her I-Pod and puts the speakers on. As soon as she does so, a soft music fills in the room. The quality is far from perfect, but it's already something, and soon Santana starts singing along.
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am home again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am whole again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am young again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am fun again
However far away, I will always love you
However long I stay, I will always love you
Whatever words I say, I will always love you,
I will always love you
Santana's voice is as beautiful as ever, but there's something new in it, something Sam had never been able to witness before. The raw emotion, the love carried in each word and each note. The way she closes her eyes to hit the highest notes, the way her hands go up and closer to her heart when she says "I will always love you." He had never seen Santana like that, even in her most vulnerable moments. He almost feels like an intruder, Brittany curled in his arms, listening to Santana singing her love and exposing her feelings to her girlfriend.
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am free again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am clean again
In Sam's arms, Brittany doesn't move. He wonders if she's even breathing. It seems like time has stopped, like anything outside of this small computer screen doesn't exist anymore for her.
However far away, I will always love you
However long I stay, I will always love you
Whatever words I say, I will always love you,
I'll always love you, I'll always love you,
'Cause I love you
Santana gives a last smile and blows a kiss to the camera, and the screen turns dark. Sam looks down at Brittany, still wrapped in his arms, waiting for her reaction.
She only says one word, her eyes fixated on the screen.
"Again."
He's too happy to comply, pressing play and allowing Santana's face to appear again on the screen. The light is back in Brittany's eyes, and he's way too relieved about that not to do as she asks.
They're in the middle of their third time watching the video when a little Skype sound indicates that Santana just got online, immediately followed by the ringing of a Skype call.
Sam closes the video player, unwraps his arms from Brittany's body and starts getting on his feet, but she grabs his arm and forces him to sit back next to her.
She clicks on the "Answer with video" button, and Santana appears on the screen, still in her Cards uniform, a worried look on her face.
"Britt! I'm so, so, so sorry, the coach wanted to talk to me at the end of practice and it took so long, I thought I'd never make it here in time and… Oh hi Sam!"
"Hi Santana."
He still feels a little bit like an intruder, but Santana seems genuinely happy to see him.
"It's ok San, Sam was keeping me company. I thought you would like to say Hi."
"I'm glad he stayed with you. How are you doing Trouty? You like living with the Pierce? Have you swallowed Lord Tubbington yet?"
Sam laughs, and Brittany pouts.
"San, that's not funny. You know Sam doesn't eat cats."
"I'm joking, baby."
They talk for a little while, joking around and giving each other news about Lima and Louisville. Santana talks about her classes, her coach and how she's almost worst than Sylvester; Brittany and Sam talk about Glee Club, Mercedes and the Britney week, purposely ignoring the train wreck Brittany has been for the past few days, not wanting to worry Santana. The only mention of it comes when Santana notices Brittany's red eyes through the shitty webcam.
"Britt, did you cry?"
"No, no, I'm good."
"Are you sure? I know that I'm not as available as I wish I could be, but you can talk to me…"
Brittany and Sam exchange a look, and Sam takes over.
"It's been kind of a rough week." He says. "But everything's coming back into order now."
Santana looks like she wants to add something, but Brittany jumps to another topic, telling Santana about how Mr Schue and Mrs Pillsbury started tutoring her a few times a week.
Brittany's more animated than Sam has seen her since Santana left, and he thinks the video might be the reason why. He's glad he showed it to her tonight, and seeing her interacting with Santana, he decides that for now she doesn't need him anymore.
He gets on his feet and waves at Santana through the webcam.
"I'll leave you girls alone. It was nice to see you, Santana."
"It was nice to see you too, Trouty. Take care of my girlfriend, and tell Mercedes I'll call when I have more time!"
He hugs Brittany, waves at Santana one last time, and leaves the room, closing the door behind him.
He comes back to his bedroom and directly slips into bed, putting his headphones to give Brittany some kind of intimacy despite the very thin wall separating them.
A little bit later, as he's about to fall asleep, his phone buzzes next to his head with a text from Santana. It only has two words in it.
Thank you.