"Britt, where the hell are you?" Santana said nervously into her phone. She was pacing back and forth, biting her nails. "I'm sorry for biting your head off earlier about the flowers-" they were getting married in four months, and there had been a minor disagreement earlier that afternoon- "but it's getting late…you said you'd be home forty-five minutes ago. Give me a call? Please?"
She hung up the phone and glanced at the alarm clock on her side of the bed. It was almost ten. Brittany had stayed late at her studio to work on a couple new pieces for an upcoming competition after classes had finished for the day, that Santana knew, but it wasn't like her to not even send a text saying she would be late.
Santana gave up on her pacing after another several minutes and shut off most of the downstairs lights save the one in the living room, for when Brittany got home. She went upstairs to their bedroom, crawled into bed and pulled the blankets up around her. Snuggling into the down comforter's warmth, she turned on the TV. Fifteen minutes into some late-night, mid-90's sitcom, Santana realized she wasn't paying any attention. She turned the TV off and rolled over so she was facing Brittany's side of the bed.
"Come on, Britt…" She murmured to the pillows next to her. She listened hard to see if she could hear any movement downstairs or outside. She tried to let herself give in to sleep, but there was a nagging feeling in her stomach she couldn't ignore.
"She'll be home soon," Santana said to their dog, Daisy, who had curled up into a ball and made herself comfortable on Brittany's side of the bed. She reached out and scratched the golden retriever's side, prompting her to roll right over, hoping for a belly rub. "Right?" The dog looked at her, still upside-down, with soulful brown eyes and Santana sighed.
XXXXXXXX
Brittany shivered as she opened the heavy door and hurried to her car, pulling on a hat as she went. She turned the car on as quickly as possible, her gloved fingers fumbling with the keys, so she could get the heat going full blast. A quick glance at her phone told her she was running late, per usual.
"Sorry," she groaned to no one in particular as she pulled out of the parking lot. Hopefully, Santana could forgive her for not only the lateness, but for the argument they had gotten into before she left for work. It had been stupid- a stress-induced, wedding planning-related fight that was sure to be resolved in no time. Still, they didn't fight very often and she didn't like it when they did. A few apologies, a few sweet lady kisses, and hopefully everything would be okay.
Brittany merged onto the highway heading home, maybe a little faster than she should have been. The road looked pretty clear- after all, it was a Thursday night.
She was barely up to speed on the highway when something slammed into her side of the car. Brittany barely had time to register what had happened before she realized she had no control over the car. A split second later, the world seemed to flip and everything went black.
XXXXXXXX
Santana was about to let herself drift off to sleep when her phone rang. She jumped about a foot in the air and fumbled for the device. When she saw the name on the caller ID, she sighed in relief.
"Britt?!" She answered frantically. "Where are you?"
"Is this…Santana?" The voice on the other end wasn't Brittany's.
"Y-yeah…who's this?" There was a lot of noise in the background and Santana could barely hear what the guy on the other end was saying. He introduced himself and told Santana there had been an accident.
"What…?" Santana sat up and pulled her knees into her chest, hoping she had heard wrong. "An accident…what kind of accident?"
The man on the other end continued to talk, but Santana couldn't hear anything he said over the roar that seemed to have taken up residence in her ears. All that processed was that the accident had taken place on the highway not even ten minutes away from the studio, but that it had been serious enough that Brittany was going to be transported to Boston instead of a closer hospital.
"Are you a family member?" He asked finally, after offering directions Santana didn't need- her office was three blocks away from the hospital.
"S-she's my fiancé," Santana said, her mouth dry. "We're getting married in a few months…"
That seemed to be acceptable, because he continued talking, saying something about forms she would have to fill out at the hospital. Frankly, Santana didn't care.
Santana sat up in bed after she hung up. She pulled her knees closer to her chest and rested her forehead against them. She took deep breaths, trying to take the information that had just been thrown at her. She rolled her head from side to side and took a deep breath, maintaining her composure to try and keep herself from having a panic attack. She couldn't show up hysterical; it would do no one any good.
Five minutes later, Santana threw on some sweatpants and a jacket and headed out for the hospital. She stopped at the door when she saw Daisy, who had followed Santana downstairs, lying on the rug in the living room, tail wagging, looking hopeful that maybe Santana would take her along.
"I wish I could take you," She said to the dog. Daisy just cocked her head hopefully as Santana grabbed her keys and headed out the front door.
XXXXXXXX
"What do we got?"
"Female, twenty-four, pretty extensive injuries." The paramedic spoke briskly as they tried to get her in the back of the ambulance as quickly as possible. Her long blonde hair was a mess around her face as they stabilized her neck and spine.
"Were you able to contact someone, let them know what happened?"
"Yeah."
She was loaded into the back of the vehicle and the paramedics worked quickly, starting an IV and hooking her up to monitors.
About ten minutes in, something went wrong.
"Her pulse is dropping…we're losing her!"
"Start chest compressions, push epi, how much longer?"
"ETA is about twenty minutes," came a voice from the front of the vehicle. "I'm going as fast as I can."
The monitors were going crazy as the paramedics worked to try and keep the woman on the stretcher alive.
"C'mon…" One of the paramedics leaned down and whispered to her as she fought to stay awake. "Come on, you're strong…I can see it. Stay awake for us, okay? You're gonna be fine, but you just have to stay with us." She saw the woman's eyes flutter open just a little. They were a beautiful, clear shade of blue.
"See? You're doing better already."
Everything looked hazy. Brittany tried to clear her blurred vision enough to try and make out what was going on around her.
"Whahappened?" Her words were slurred, and it hurt to simply speak. Brittany tried to move, but found she was strapped tight to a stretcher.
"Don't try to move." A male voice came from somewhere above her. "Can you tell us your name?"
"B…Brittany…" Every shallow breath sent sharp pain shooting through her whole body.
"Good. Brittany, you were in an accident. It'll all be okay, we're taking you to the hospital. We just need you to lay still and stay with us, okay?"
Brittany nodded feebly. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't have said anything else. It hurt too much. Even as she tried to comprehend what was happening around her, Brittany could feel her body start to become heavier.
"Stay with us!" The voice said again. Brittany tried to follow his commands, but darkness was starting to creep in around the edges of her vision. She felt herself slip back into unconsciousness as the noise level around her seemed to skyrocket.
"She's coding again! Restart CPR!"
