Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 32nd cycle. Now cycle 33!

Hear that little bird twitter! Been thinking about doing this for a couple days, then this morning decided to just go for it. If you go there, find 'gleekathon' and there I'll be. There's also a video explaining everything... Yep... ;) Check it out!

"Keep It In The Heights"
Brittany/Santana

It was amazing sometimes, how fast word could travel around McKinley High. A whisper here, a text message there… In and out rushed the waves of information – no – of gossip. It was a miracle anyone had time to learn anything in this place.

Sometimes one story could fracture, warped by misinformation, or embellishment, or exaggeration, to the point where you could realize two things you'd heard were, somehow, somewhere, one and the same. This story though… It carried itself, unbroken, mostly unchanged, eventually passing by Brittany. When she heard it, she froze.

Santana was carried off to the nurse after a fight with Lauren.

Swinging her locker door shut, Brittany took off running, all the while hoping she was remembering the location of the nurse's office correctly, and wouldn't somehow end up in the gym, and…

"Santana!" she cried out despite herself, the moment she saw her through the large window walls. Her feet skidded to a stop and she nearly tripped before regaining her balance and sprinting into the office. "Santana…" she repeated, softly this time as she saw the girl lying there, holding an ice pack to her shoulder. She looked up at the sound of her name, doing something like a double take when she saw Brittany, then moved to sit up. Brittany hurried up to help.

"It's okay, I'm fine," she promised, though the way pain seeped into her voice, she didn't expect Brittany to believe her.

"So you don't have a…"

"Concussion? No, don't think so."

"I was going to say bald spot." Santana startled, feeling at her head. Nothing was missing, though it was still shown to be a bad move when her hand grazed a 'tenderized' section and she winced. Brittany sat at her side, grabbing the ice pack and laying it cautiously on the part of Santana's head that hurt. She still winced for a second, but then closed her eyes, feeling relief… the ice… the touch…

"That's going to be a bump…" she sighed, already envisioning a need for hats.

"San…" Brittany started.

"Don't, okay? I swear I'm alr…" she was silenced when Brittany just barely touched her shoulder and she cried out. "Foul play…" Santana frowned.

"What happened?" Brittany asked. Santana hesitated, looking into those great big blue eyes, already knowing how she'd react to this.

"I may have been feeling a bit gung ho when I ran into Lauren," she shrugged. Brittany blinked, staring at her.

"You didn't sleep with her, did you?" Santana frowned, looking at Brittany before scanning the room.

"I… What? No? Why would you…" She stopped, replaying what she'd just said – a valid exercise when talking to Brittany. "No, gung ho, I… Never mind…" she sighed.

She couldn't tell her the whole story, of course. The loneliness that led her to reward herself with a necklace she expected Puck to pay for, and then, filled with a sensation that she had nothing to lose, having no chance of being with the girl she loved on Valentine's Day… But now this happened, and there they were, or at least there she was, come to look out for her due to her injury… It should have made her feel better, deep down… It only made it worse to her. Nothing had changed; everything was still as it had been… and she was alone.

"You shouldn't have done that…" Brittany spoke up.

"I'm not scared of her," she scoffed. "I'm from Lima H…"

"Lima Heights Adjacent, I know," Brittany recited, and Santana was sufficiently chastised. "But you're at McKinley now, and Lauren is freakishly strong."

"The girl's got good rage, I have to hand it to her," Santana admitted.

"I'm serious," Brittany insisted, though hearing those words from her felt kind of odd. But looking at her, Santana had to see it… She was scared for her.

"Look, I'm sorry, I… I'll be good from now on…" she vowed, if maybe half-heartedly. It wasn't a complete fix, but it was something.

"Is your mom picking you up?" Brittany asked, and Santana gave as good of a shrug as she could, minding her shoulder.

"Haven't called her. I'm not going to bother her with this…"

"Why not? That's not right…" Brittany bowed her head, seeking to meet Santana's eye. The sore girl didn't reply, so Brittany took the lead. "I'll drive you home."

"Britt, I'm fine…" she insisted.

"Don't make me poke you again," Brittany threatened.

"Well I can't argue with that…" Santana tried and failed not to smile. "Alright…"

"Come on, I'll take care of you," Brittany beamed.

"I don't doubt that for a second…"

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!