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 52nd cycle. Now cycle 53!

THIRD ANNIVERSARY CYCLE: It's late October again, and within this cycle I will be completing my third year of daily gleekathon stories and commencing a fourth! As in previous years, this means special things happening. I've selected my favorite stories from throughout the year, and I'll be treating them to something special. In previous years this included Prequel, Sequel, and POV Swap, and then Additional Scenes and Alternate Endings. This year I'm adding two new treatments: Genre Swap (I think that's pretty straightforward) and Element Change (I change one thing in the story, see how it affects the rest). Note that in both these cases and some of the others, there may excerpts directly transferred from the story it references. Also, since this year saw the addition of 'shift days', and since I suck at picking, I have selected 42 stories, to be treated two per day! So here we go!

This story is a Sequel to Fight/Flight, a Santana & Karofsky friendship story, originally posted on April 7 & 9 2012.

This is a double shift day. There will be one more upload today: Like It Never Happened.

"Not Alone"
Santana & Karofsky

She would hold her promise, visiting him again throughout his stay at the hospital. Some days she could feel he was less talkative than others, but she respected that. He had a deck of cards his dad had brought him. It kept him entertained, so she humored him. After a while, she did get into it, and most days the moment he saw her coming through the door, he was reaching for the deck. One afternoon, she had arrived, and he was building a castle of cards.

"Didn't wait for me? I'm hurt," she closed the door, coming to sit with him.

"It's the hospital," he indicated.

"Oh, sure, I see it," she amused him.

"It's symbolic," he explained, before giving a puff of air that sent the cards tumbling down.

"You're… the big bad wolf?" she asked, confused, but he smiled.

"I'm getting out of here," he revealed, as she started to pick up the cards. She smiled back.

"About time. Not that I don't like our visits, but I mean…"

"No, I know, believe me," he told her.

"They gave you the all clear then?" she asked as she reorganized the cards before shuffling them.

"Yeah, my father's coming to pick me up later. I could have gotten on the bus, actually would have liked it, just… getting around without people looking at me all the time, but I know he needs to be here, so…" he shrugged.

"Well, it gives me one more chance to show you how it's done," she smirked, dealing out the cards.

"Is that right?" he laughed, taking his cards.

"Damn right," she gave a confident shrug. They got to playing, and as always it was without mercy from either of them, which was how they liked it. Maybe he could tell that she had things on her mind, because after their first game – which she won – while he shuffled the cards, he looked to her.

"If you've got anything to ask, now would be the time," he told her with a calm smile. She looked back to him, taking the cards as he dealt them out. They began their second game as they talked.

"Fine," she agreed. "I know we haven't really discussed any of this since the first day really, but I have to ask it now, seeing as you're about to head back out there." He nodded to himself, like he wasn't afraid of her asking him this; he had been anticipating it, thinking about it.

"They're not just going to stop, I know that. They're still going to call me names, send me messages… I'm not going to let it get to me, not anymore… not like this. I made changes in my life, I thought it would help, but all they did was lead me here. I was still just so afraid of… everything. Now I have to make changes again, but I'm not the same person I was before. I don't want to end up back here, or worse. I think… I can be happy, if I hold on to… possibilities," he thought to himself, recalling Kurt's visit, soon after he'd been admitted here, and his eyes showed how much that thought alone could sustain him more than he could say.

"Did you tell them all that?" she asked.

"Some, in some way… I didn't really like talking to them," he explained.

"Yeah, I wouldn't either," she promised, then after a beat. "I know you can do this, but no matter what, if you ever find yourself thinking…"

"I've got your number," he nodded to her.

"And it's good for a lot of things, not just that. Hanging out, chatting… inviting me to a rematch, in case you're looking for some more defeat, because oh look," she laid out her cards on the table with a proud smirk. "I'm two for two right now."

"Thought you didn't like cards," he recalled.

"Things change," she shrugged. "What can I say, I'm pretty good at this."

"Well I'm good, too," he assured her. "Deal again, this one's for honor," he told her and she gasped dramatically, shuffling the cards.

She never would have imagined herself being friends with the likes of Dave Karofsky. From the moment they had met, it seemed like his sole purpose in life was to destroy any sort of expectations she had on men – which she now guessed meant the joke was on her or something. He was obnoxious, and rude, and thought he was so much better because of his place in the social ranks, and maybe that was her as well, in some parts, for a while… But then they'd been brought together by something else they had in common, something ultimately much more important than where they got to sit in the cafeteria, or whether they were on the dealing or receiving end of a Slushie. And now with her visits to him, their talks… He was part of her universe, of the circle of people she would look after, no matter what. Very few people were in that circle, and she chose carefully.

He would beat her in the next three games. She would cry foul a couple of times, but he would just laugh. In the end she could soothe her 'burn' by looking at him, seeing that smile on his face. She was still going to get her revenge at one time or another, not on that day, because now he had to get ready.

He got changed, putting on clothes laid out for him. She would stay nearby, out in the hall, and when he opened the door again, she returned. He looked normal again, though he still wore the signs of his shift, his time here. The fact was he looked better, with a new confidence. There was still some fear in there, not that either of them would have expected there to be none, and she gave his arm a tap.

"Next time we see each other, you'll be a free man," she told him, and he breathed out. "Just take it easy," she nodded. "It'll get there."

"Thank you," he told her, a moment before hugging her. She was surprised for a second, but she smiled, hugging him back.

"Any time."

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!