CHAPTER ONE: UNDER THE STARS AND STRIPES
Unknown Location
February 18, 2013.
She hears the explosion before she feels it, but she feels it anyway. Her legs give up and she stumbles to the ground head first, the pain is so intense she cannot even scream, she reaches to her right leg only to be met with the wetness of her own blood. The shots keep being fired, the war around her doesn't stop, there's another explosion and through the ringing in her ears she can hear someone screaming her name, more shots and by the trembling of the ground she guesses there was another explosion nearby, her gun is trapped between her body and the ground, her finger still on the trigger. She feels the tears flowing out her eyes and through her cheeks, the pain has now reach the point where she can't feel it anymore and blue eyes flashes before her eyes. There is a different pain on her chest, nothing to do with the explosion and everything to do with the fact that she will never see those blue orbs again, or that she lost the chance to tell them how much she loves them or to fix her mistakes. But this is where it ends, the pain of seeing her with someone else, the agony that has been there is about to reach its end. This time is a different wound that will kill her, at least this one will be fast, at least with this one she just needs to close her eyes for everything to be over. Closing her eyes will end the pain of missing her, of losing her, because even though the explosion has numbed her body, losing her numbed her heart and soul. Dying didn't hurt as much when her heart was already shattered. So she does.
New York City, New York.
February 19, 2013.
The ring on her finger felt weird, like it didn't belong there. It's been two weeks and still she can't get used to it. She just turns it round and round. "Still can't believe it?" Kurt's voice brings her out of her thoughts. She looks up and leans her elbows on the kitchen counter. "I don't think I'll ever believe it". Kurt takes a sip of his coffee and hums. "Have you told Santana yet?" Brittany sighs and she knows she can't keep avoiding this conversation "No, I haven't. She hasn't called since Drew proposed". Kurt sets his cup on the counter and sits across Brittany "Britt, it's been two weeks, I don't want to tell you how to live your life, but if she finds out that you are engaged by someone else than you, she's gonna lose it… I mean, I'm sure she is gonna lose it anyway. Have you tried to send her an email telling her to call you or something?" Brittany covers her face with her hands. She didn't see this coming; she never thought her boyfriend would propose, let alone in front of all of their friends. Of course she said yes, not because she wanted to, but because she didn't want to humiliate him in front of the whole bar. Still, two weeks had passed and she was still engaged to him. "I am terrified of talking to her, Kurt. What am I gonna tell her? I don't even want to get married, this whole thing came out of nowhere and I just don't know how to break it off, she already told all of his family" "I have a theory" Rachel entered the kitchen. "And what is that?" Brittany asked "A few weeks before he proposed I ran into him at the auditorium, Santana had just called me and so I had this huge smile on my face, he asked me what was going on and I told him that Santana was coming home in ninety days… and cue to two weeks later… he is proposing" Rachel stands next to Kurt. "That is a very valid theory. Have you thought about that, Britt?" She just looked at Kurt through half closed eyes "She just told me her theory, I'm thinking about it" "No, yeah I know that. But I mean, have you thought about what is gonna happen when Santana comes back, I mean, where are you guys? Obviously you are not together, but are you guys on a break, are you gonna give it another try? Are you guys done for good?" Rachel huffs at Kurt's suggestion "Please, Kurt, these two are never done for good" Brittany smiled at Rachel's response. She hadn't thought about all of what Kurt had asked, she figured everything would fall into place when Santana got back, of course she didn't thought her boyfriend would propose. She was getting anxious, Santana didn't speak to her for months when she found out Brittany was dating Drew, who Santana blamed in the beginning for their breakup. It took Brittany a lot of tricking Santana into talking to her for Santana to finally give in and accept the fact that even though they were not a couple anymore, they still were best friends, they had always been. "To be honest Kurt, I don't know. Santana and I still have a lot to talk about; I just figured that now that we both will be living in the same place again, we could try again. The only problem is that now I have to talk to Drew first which is really complicated and ugh my head is getting all fuzzy just thinking about it" Brittany rested her face on the counter, feeling the cold stone on her skin. "Well, it's been two weeks, Brittany, two weeks. It's not gonna get easier with time. What are you waiting for, for Santana to crash your wedding?" Brittany looks up again and groans "Kurt, please stop. You are making my head hurt" Rachel speaks before Kurt can reply "Don't be ridiculous Kurt, Santana would never crash Brittany's wedding. Let's just face the fact that if she finds out, she'll just stop talking to Brittany, and us for keeping this from her, so Britt, please send her an email and tell her to call you already, I don't want to fight with her the moment she gets down from that airplane. Plus she has permission to handle firearms now, we all should be aware of that" "Permission to handle firearms, not license to kill. Don't be dramatic" "Kurt be realistic, she doesn't need a license to kill, she just will" Brittany just laughs at them, Santana might be feisty and she might be a soldier, but she had a soul of gold, Brittany had never met anyone with a heart as big as Santana's. The laughter dies down when there is a knock on the door, the three of them look at each other "Are you waiting for someone?" Kurt asks Rachel, who just shakes her head and then looks at Brittany. "Don't look at me, I don't even live here". There is another knock on the door and for some reason Brittany feels like throwing up. Kurt gets off the stool and goes to open the door "Is Ms. Rachel Berry home?" And right there and then Brittany knows, she doesn't need to see the uniformed men, she doesn't need to hear what they have to say.