Freaks and Gleeks

by Witknee

Santana is bursting through to the center of the circle just in time to see Brittany's head whipping back to bang hard against the locker behind her, clutching her nose, blood rushing in a torrent through her fingers. S/B

Title: Freaks and Gleeks

Pairing: Britanna

Rating: Pg-13 for language

Word Count: 2800+

Disclaimer: Not mine, do not own.

Spoilers: Wheels- Becky's a Cheerio. And S/B just kind of... are. So maybe through Sectionals. Nothing big.

Synopsis: Santana is bursting through to the center of the circle just in time to see Brittany's head whipping back to bang hard against the locker behind her, clutching her nose, blood rushing in a torrent through her fingers...

There's a crowd already gathered in the hallway when Santana walks into the double doors of the school, later than she normally would. She'd gotten up late, looked at the clock, panicked, and had haphazardly thrown on her Cheerio uniform (thank GOD for game days) and gotten there just before the bell had rung. But now she registers yelling in the hallway in front of the glee room and the sound of a crowd oohing and awing and her interest is piqued because it sounds like a fight's about to happen and hell, a fight's a fight and she would not be Santana Lopez if she didn't enjoy a little violence now and then.

She makes her way to the outside fringe of the circle gathered and asks a random kid what's going on. He doesn't answer so she just shoulders her way further into the crowd and stands up on her tiptoes to get a better look. There is a jab of panic in her stomach when she sees three girls in Cheerio uniforms in the clearing in the center of the circle. One is tall and auburn and honestly, Santana really can't remember her name. She thinks she may be a senior, she can't be sure, but the two remaining girls she is very familiar with.

In the center of the circle facing off against the very cocky-looking red head stands a frightened looking Becky Johnson, tears in her eyes, and in front of her, looking stricken and confused and angry is Brittany, hands clenched at her sides with an uncommon air of protectiveness and anger radiating from her. She's shielding Becky from the harsh words of the red head, Santana realizes upon seeing Becky's hands over her ears, looking at the offending Cheerio with disgust and desperation and confusion, but making sure that Becky won't be hurt anymore than she already has been.

"Keep your hands over your ears, Becky!" She hears Brittany yell over the roar of the crowd. She has to strain her ears to get all of it but she does.

A swell of pride and love rises up in Santana's chest as she fully realizes what is going on but she's having a hard time understanding all of what is being said so she shoulders her way into the crowd further, trying to get to her best friend. Santana's always been the best at getting her point across- true, her methods weren't always the the most serene and peaceful, but still- they were most effective and she felt in that moment that the red head was very much in need of one of her problem solving sessions.

Santana is still fighting her way through when the conversation starts to become really heated. The red head starts yelling about how Becky was a 'retard' and how she was going to have her final year as a Cheerio tainted by such a person on the squad- someone who was on the squad out of pity, who only ruined their pristine reputation.

Brittany finally speaks, the corners of her mouth set downward, sadness clearly in her eyes at the girl's words.

"Hey," she speaks with an edge to her voice, "She's not... don't call her that! She's really smart at math and cool and really nice! She's always nice to you, too! What's wrong with you?"

There's a pause as Brittany tries to figure the other girl out. When she speaks again, there is no edge to her voice, just sympathy and actual concern for the girl that was attacking her. She takes a step toward the other Cheerio, reaching out for her elbow.

"Mel," she says softly, "Really... why are you angry? I mean, oh! Are you cranky cause you got your period... because I have Midol if you want it! I always feel better after I have some Midol."

There's a snicker in the crowd as Brittany's innocent concern is taken by many as a sarcastic remark and the girl who Santana has now recognized as Melanie Stewart is looking at the crowd, becoming angrier with every laugh at her expense.

Santana pushes harder into the throng of students as she sees the girl's fists clench. At that point, though, Brittany is on one of her friendly tangents, off in her own world, talking about Melanie and symptoms of PMS and how she should probably talk to someone about her hormonal imbalance because no one deserves to be that unhappy just because they're a girl, and Brittany looks down, searching in her bag for her trusty bottle of Midol only to look up to see Melanie's angry face and then her fist flying toward her face.

Santana panics as Becky screams, there is a sickening crunching sound and then a pained cry. The crowd oohs further and with a burst of strength, Santana is bursting through to the center of the circle just in time to see Brittany's head whipping back to bang hard against the locker behind her, clutching her nose, blood rushing in a torrent through her fingers as she slides down the locker door to the floor.

Melanie is already laughing and spewing words of hate and speaking about how she's not surprised that Brittany's made friends with the other retarded girl on the squad considering how stupid she is and then she does the unthinkable and actually spits on Brittany's pain-engulfed form, calling her a freak.

Then there is a loud almost guttural growl emitting from Santana's throat and a booming "OH FUCK NO" and Melanie only has time for her eyes to widen before the Latina has her by the throat, pinned against the red metal of the locker doors.

And she's squeezing as hard as she can, barely registers Melanie kicking and clawing at her, only sees the blood, the form of her best friend crumpled on the ground holding her face and it fuels her anger. Santana is seething, she's indignant, she's so angry that there are tears forming in her eyes.

It takes three people to peel her off- Puck and Finn and Mr. Schuester- and even when Finn is holding her around the waist and lifting her off the ground, her legs are kicking and she's spitting she's so angry and her arms are still reaching for the red headed bitch.

Melanie is lead off by another administrator toward the principal's office, weakly clutching her throat as Santana is still yelling after her.

"This isn't over, bitch!" she yells, "I'm going to make it my mission to see that your life is a living HELL! This is only the beginning, you whore!"

Finn's eyes widen and his grip on her tightens but Puck finds himself having to suppress a laugh at the fireball in Finn's arms.

At that point, the first classes had already started and the crowd in the hall has disbanded.

Mr. Shuester has sent a visibly shaken Becky to Figgins' office so she can fill out an incident report and is now crouched next to a softly crying Brittany.

At the sound of the soft sobs, the fight goes out of Santana, and she squirms her way out of Finn's arms to go rushing over to the blonde.

Mercedes and Tina are running down the hallway with towels and a bag of ice in their hands that they've stolen from the home economics room and handing them off to Mr. Schuester whenever Santana crouches beside her, a soothing hand reaching out to brush blood spattered bangs out of the way. She yanks one of the towels out of Tina's hand, finds it already wet and begins dabbing at the girl's forehead as Mr. Schuester begins to wrap the ice in another towel.

Once the girl's forehead is clean, Santana presses a kiss to it, and as Mr. Shuester is finishing up with the bag of ice, Santana is already tipping the blonde's head back, softly telling her to remove her bloody hands so she can have a look.

With a whimper she does and the Latina assesses the girl's nose which seems to have taken the brunt of the punch. The bleeding hasn't stopped and her eyes are already beginning to blacken and there is another outrageous surge of anger within Santana but she bites it back trying to figure out if her nose is broken. She's pretty sure it's not but continues to examine the other girl.

The tears are streaming from the blonde's eyes and Santana shushes her, wiping the tears away gently with her thumb. Mr. Shue finally finishes with the ice and begins to hand it off to Brittany but Santana wordlessly takes it into her own hands, pressing it as softly as possible to the girl's wound.

She cries out and Santana apologizes, soothes her as best she can.

With the ice in one hand, she strokes the other girl's hair with the other, speaking softly to her and again kissing her, this time on her temple.

"It's alright, Brit," she says quietly, "I've got you. You've got to have this, though, okay? It'll stop the bleeding, okay, baby?"

The other girl nods and the tears seems to be easing up, only one or two escaping before finally coming to and end.

A few more moments pass and Schuester has sent the rest of the kids off to their respective classes before telling Santana that they need to move Brittany into the rehearsal hall and out of the hallway before classes switched over.

Eyes still on the blonde, Santana agrees, asking Brittany if she's okay with moving. She nods and Schuester takes an arm as does Santana and hoists her up onto her feet gently before leading her into the classroom onto one the of the chairs in the first row.

Santana sits across from her and continues to hold the ice as Brittany balls her hands up in her lap trying not to focus on the fact that they are caked in blood. The brunette checks after a few moments to see if the blood has stopped and, satisfied to see that it has, removes the ice and sits it beside her.

Mr. Schuester slips away to go over to the principal's office to check on Becky and leaves the two girls alone. At that point, Santana begins to check Brittany's eyes and pupils, concerned about the possibility of a concussion. The blonde finally just looks down, quietly telling her that it's okay, that she's okay.

There is silence as Santana drops her hand from its place on her face and simply looks at the other girl, not knowing what to say, until tears once again start to drop from Brittany's cheeks.

"Hey, hey, hey," Santana says softly, tipping the girl's chin up and looking into her eyes and catching the salty tears with her fingers, "What's the matter?"

Her heart clenches as Brittany's breath hitches and she lays down on the chair, laying the side of her head down onto Santana's lap and sobbing in earnest. She's speaking and it's hard to understand but she catches it.

"She was so mean," she cries, "She called Becky 'retarded' and she's so nice and it hurt her so much and I just wanted to keep her from hurting but then she called me retarded and a freak and-"

Her voice catches on a sob and Santana is swallowing her own tears down harshly, and the brunette strokes her hair and just lets her speak.

"I don't want to be stupid," she cries, "I don't want to be dumb or a freak, San. And I know I'm not smart- I just don't understand anything but I just wanted to help Becky because she's my friend."

She cries in earnest until the brunette can't take it anymore and forces her up, her hands on either side of Brittany's face trying to talk some sense into her.

"Hey," she says firmly but not unkindly, "You are not stupid, you are not dumb or a freak. Don't let that bitch tell you otherwise. She just- she's a bad person, Brit and I'm sorry that she picked you to do this to but she's not going to get away with it"

She still sniffling, still unbelieving so she continues.

"Brittany, you're a beautiful, kind person, you know that? You stood up for someone who can't stand up for herself and even tried to help the person coming at you in the process... you're just... Brit, you're good and I'm proud of you for standing up to Melanie for Becky, okay. I love you for who you are, everyone does."

She speaks with conviction and barely recognizes her voice in the process- sincerity is not something that is often prevalent in her speech.

Brittany finally nods and a ghost of a smile appears on her lips. She looks at the Latina with pure adoration in her eyes and leans her forehead against the other girl's and sighs. The brunette closes her eyes for a moment before moving her head to kiss the blonde softly on the lips, being careful to avoid her damaged nose. It only lasts for a few minutes but Santana feels something warm build in her chest.

Mr. Shuester walks in during that moment and pauses for a second, his eyes going wide at the sight before feeling his lips twitch upward in a smile. He takes one more look and then slips out of the room un-noticed shaking his head and laughing a little to himself before heading in the direction of Emma's office to fill her in on his unusual day.

After, Santana finally gets up and ushers her to the bathroom to wash the remaining blood from her body. She goes to Brittany's locker to find different clothes and then returns to the bathroom to give them to the girl before taking her bloody Cheerio uniform to the locker in a plastic bag while the blonde finishes up in the bathroom.

She's passing by Coach Sylvester's office whenever something catches her eye- Melanie Stewart in the coach's office being screamed at by a very angry Sue Sylvester and literally being stripped of her uniform. A smug look of satisfaction forms on her face and she thinks seriously for a moment about waiting until she leaves to jump her but decides against it.

It will be fun to see Melanie in fear of the imminent attack for a while before it actually happens and besides, she was needed back in the bathroom.

By the time she returns, Brittany is dressed in jeans and a ratty old band t-shirt, her hair newly washed and blow-dried and down, framing her face. Her face it free of make up due to the tenderness of her bruised features and her nose is inflamed and her eyes are black and puffy but as Santana smiles and wraps her arms around the blonde's waist, she knows she's never seen anything more beautiful.

She feels Brittany's arms come around her neck and she kisses her for the second time that day, softly. Brittany deepens the kiss, however, and soon she's gasping for breath as the blonde's tongue is darting out to lick her pulse point. They've moved positions, too- the brunette's back is flat against the side of a stall and she's closing her eyes and-

They jump apart as the bell rings. They're alarmed at first but they laugh once everything settles in and the daze is gone.

There's one more soft kiss shared before their hands intertwine and their fingers lock and they join in with the crowd. They catch a few looks- Brittany does look a little worse for the wear and this might just cement people's suspicions about them- but they ignore them.

The only interruption comes when they happen to pass by Melanie Stewart being escorted off school grounds by a resource officer. Santana takes one look at Brittany's wide eyes and takes a menacing step toward the older girl, feeling satisfied when the red head literally jumps back, stumbling. There's a look shared between the two for a moment before the officer tugs on the girl's arm and then she's walking away, looking over her shoulder every few moments to make sure she wasn't going to get jumped by the angry girl.

Santana feels a tug on her hand and then she's moving back down the hallway with the blonde, hands once again clasped.

And, of course, she's plotting another girl's doom, and sure, she'd almost choked the life out of someone that day and now has to wash blood out of her uniform (seltzer water is good for that, right?) but with everything that had happened that day, Santana couldn't find one thing that she would've done differently. She looks at the girl beside her and squeezes her hand reassuringly and as the blonde turns to offer her a genuine smile, she decides that no matter what happened, she would do anything for her.

Even if that meant death.

Because really, no one fucked with Brittany and lived to tell about it.

End