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 39th cycle. Now cycle 40!

INTRODUCING "CHEAT SHEET" - If you want to know ahead of time when a certain series will be updated next, just reassemble the link below and check out the list, save it, print it, bookmark it, whatever you need!
Go to: gleekathon [dot] tumblr [dot] com [slash] cheatsheet

** UPDATED WITH CYCLE 40 CHEAT SHEET ** Check it out to find out about shift days, starting in cycle 40!

This is a shift day [see above]. There will be another upload this afternoon: The Ties That Bind, chapter 5.

"In Good Hands"
Santana/Brittany
Additional scenes to "Keep It In The Heights"
(leftover favorites from cycle 35 (715-735))

Brittany had remained by her side, holding the ice pack to her shoulder until the nurse had agreed to let her go home. They had remained silent since Santana had accepted Brittany's offer to drive her home. It was clear they had issues at the moment, between them, but that didn't change who they were to one another, underneath it all.

"What if she comes after you again?" Brittany looked around as she walked Santana down the hall toward the exit. "I don't want to get thrown like a rag doll…"

"Relax, she's probably off licking her wounds somewhere, if she wants round two though…"

"No," Brittany interrupted her. "Don't you dare," she spoke seriously.

"I know, I won't, I'm sorry," she realized how Brittany had been frightened. "It really means a lot to me that you're here," she smiled and the blonde relaxed.

They went on to the car and Santana let Brittany help her into the passenger seat before getting in the driver's seat herself. The ride consisted of silence once the radio's onslaught of love songs that anticipated Valentine's Day played on Santana's mood and she twisted the dial to 'off.'

Once they'd arrived at Santana's, Brittany had walked her up to her room and gotten her to lie down before going to get ice for her shoulder and head and knees, to cover all bases.

"I'm going to be frozen, you realize that?" Santana frowned, seeing her approach, carrying all the ice. "And you, too," she smirked.

"Not for long," Brittany promised. "I'm supposed to do both, right, hot and cold? So, you know, ice is cold and I'm hot," she shrugged, hoping to get a laugh out of her. She did, as well as some winces. "Oh, here," she came up to place the ice, observed her for a moment. "Wait, no, pants off."

"Did I pass out at some point? I know I've had this dream before," Santana propped herself on her good arm. Brittany looked to her with a frown.

"It's for the ice," she reminded.

"You had excuses in the dream, too," she got up and got the pants off as ordered and then lay down again. A moment later there was ice on her knees and she startled but then relaxed as it soothed the ache. Already relieved of her jacket, her shoulder got its ice, too, along with her head. Brittany remained sat there to make sure everything held in place.

"Are you okay? Need more ice?"

"I'm kind of covered as it is, where would you put it?" she smirked. Brittany thought and looked down at her. "Hey, hey, I'm not putting ice on…"

"No, I meant your back," Brittany frowned, then laughed, seeing the look on Santana's face as she understood.

"Oh… right… Yeah, actually," she blinked. "Just… be careful," she reminded as he watched Brittany take another wrapped ice pack.

"I'm always careful," the blonde reminded right back. "Lift?" she directed and she slid the pack in the space between Santana's back and the mattress once her 'patient' had done as told. Again she startled at the cold, then resettled.

"When are we switching to hot?" Santana asked innocently.

"Not yet," Brittany smirked. "What are you going to tell your mother?"

"Rough day in Cheerios p… gym class," she corrected, remembering they weren't Cheerios anymore.

"But we didn't have gym today…"

"Glee Club then, whatever," Santana shrugged. Brittany frowned, resettling the ice.

"Just tell her what happened."

"Why, so she can go down to school and make a big deal? No, I got this."

"You said you weren't going to do that," Brittany's face closed up again.

"I won't, nothing like that," she promised. "I still prefer to settle this on my own, just me and… She-Hulk…" There was a moment of silence, and Santana saw Brittany was staring at her throat.

"Someone gave you a necklace?" she sounded almost wounded, and for a split second Santana had wanted to lie and tell her some guy had gotten it for her, but she couldn't go through with it.

"Present to myself," she cut to the chase without the details.

"It's pretty…" Brittany spoke after a beat.

"It's going back, probably," Santana sighed.

"Too bad… Guess we're not doing like last year's Valentine's Day either…"

"You mean dining and dashing on a couple unsuspecting guys and coming back here while the house was empty to…" she paused, both of them filling in the rest in their heads. They breathed deep. "Well I don't think your… boyfriend will see it the same way…" She would have added 'not that I care,' but Brittany was already upset over her fight with Lauren, and she was helping… She didn't want to chase her away. So at least this time, she held her tongue.

"Right…" The disappointment in her voice was almost too much for Santana to handle.

"But that's just one day," she pointed out. "Just because someone decided that was a special one, then that's not our problem…" Brittany gave a silent, smiling nod. Santana couldn't feel the cold anymore. "Time to switch?" Brittany pulled the ice from her head, her shoulder, her knees, and then her back.

"Heat…" Brittany spoke to herself. She got up, grabbing the blanket at the foot of Santana's bed and looked at the girl, lying there with a sleeveless shirt and no pants. She decided what she had to do, climbing on the opposite side of the bed, so not to rub at Santana's bad shoulder as she laid down at her side and tossed the blanket to fall over them both, tenting both their bodies' heat within. "How's that?" she asked. Santana, for once, was as close to 'speechless' as possible.

"I… Warm, it's warm," she confirmed, her face one breath away from the smiling blonde's face.

"Good," Brittany was pleased. "Think you'll feel better tomorrow?"

"No doubt in my mind. I have the best nurse." Brittany's face read 'who?' Santana smiled, leaning in to close the very small distance and place a kiss on her lips. Sure, she had a 'boyfriend,' but there was no harm as far as she was concerned, and if Brittany didn't want to respond then she didn't have to.

But the blonde's lips clung to hers, so she didn't pull away, only brought herself nearer. Most of her body ached, but she wasn't feeling it now, even less as she felt an arm drape over her, carefully tending to her hurts as the kiss deepened. The ice had been helping, but it was heat that would save her and damn her all at once. Who needed Valentine's Day anyway?

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!