AN: Please note that this fiction will be for the majority quite uplifting but this chapter is quite sad in my opinion.

Prologue-

Some people call them guardian angels; others call them white lighters, some people call them ghosts and a few people call them miracles.

But the truth is they are just old souls who are bounded too earth, sworn to protect their charge until they can be united with them again.

Because sometimes our love is so strong that even the physics of the universe can't keep us away from our loved ones, sometimes the love we share with one another is strong enough for us to choose a life time silently by that person's side until they too are ready to cross over into the light.

I personally would rather stand by her side watching her live for the both of us than wait for her in Heaven.

I personally would rather guide her through the darkness and share in the joy and laughter that she will slowly learn to embrace again.

I know she can feel me sometimes. And for those few moments I get too speak to her whilst she dreams it makes the prospect of watching her grow older without me bearable.

My name is Santana Lopez, I died on an uneventful spring evening. The wind blew through the trees and the birds sang, Dashboard Confessional blared from my speakers before a truck came out of nowhere and ended my short seventeen years of life.

My parents switched off the machines that were keeping me alive exactly two weeks later, I don't remember a lot from when I was laying in that hospital bed. But I do remember the familiar delicate hand that never left my own.

I remember the smell of the blonde hair that would splay across my shoulder at night whilst my Brittany begged for me to come home and I remember the last breathe I took after they turned my ventilator off.

I remember the pinky finger that entwined with my own and my mother's broken whispers telling me from the other side of the room that it was okay, that I could go.

But then I heard that familiar voice of my love tell me how much she loved me.

That was the exact moment I knew I would rather spend a silent life time by her side, protecting her and waiting for the day that we would cross over together than step into the light that always seems to be in my peripheral vision.

A handful of people came to my funeral, people cried. My grandmother laid a rose on my casket and told me how sorry she was, I wiped away the single tear that fell from her eye and placed my hand on her shoulder. It didn't take away the pain but I know she felt my touch.

Brittany sat next to my mom and they leaned on each other as the man who stood before the crowded church talked about how I was at a better place, how my pain was gone and I was watching over my loved ones now. Never has a sentence been uttered that was so wrong and right at the same time.

I always thought that if I died young, the world would die with me.

But after they buried me in the ground the birds carried on singing, the wind continued to blow through the blossom trees that I used to chase my Britt around, Dashboard Confessional continued to make music and my mom stopped setting my place at the dining room table.

Everyone went back to the thing that was so close yet so far out of my grip. Living. Except for one.

I laid on my side of her bed whilst she spent the subsequent weeks sobbing at my absence. I'd stroke my hands down her back and for a split second she'd feel my presence. For a split second she'd feel my love.

Brittany closed her eyes and went to sleep. It was the first time she'd actually fell into a deep sleep since my passing, I lay curled around her body stroking the blonde mass of hair that stuck to her cheeks from the tears. But then her soul drifted up from her body and looked at me, the blue eyes growing wider as she looked on at herself being held tight by my tanned arms.

"Santana is this a dream?" I moved to her side before placing my lips on her own. The familiar taste of cherry chapstick and the gently flesh of her lips still the same.

"I don't know what this is Britt, every time this has happened you've startled yourself and woken up I don't know If we have much time."

I watched as the first few tears began to trickle down her cheeks "why did you leave me San? I can't live without you. I can't do this."

I sensed the panic rising in her, knowing that I needed to speak quickly before she woke herself up. "Brittany I haven't left you, I don't know if you will remember this when you wake up and if you do then it will just be a dream. But I love you Brittany and I will never abandon you. But you need to start living again, for the both of us."

I felt the pale hands reach out and grasp my own "I can't San, I don't want to live if it means being without you."

I gently cupped her cheeks, pressing my lips against her own before passing as much of the light that glows around me into her soul.

"I'm not asking you to live without me, I'm asking you to live for me. I know it's hard but we're going to do this together, tomorrow you're going to go back to school and I am going to be right by your side and if you get scared you just hold out your hand and you will know that I'm linking your pinky"

The sobs still continued to escape her lips "San, this isn't how its supposed to be, we're supposed to be curled up right now, we're supposed to be young and In love"

The first tear since it all happened made a trail down my cheek before I climbed back on the bed and next to her sleeping body, placing my pinky finger entwined with hers "we are baby, we are young and in love, and I will be curled up next to you every night you need me.

I felt her sleeping body stir before I looked up at her, "you're going to wake up in a second, and when you do even though you won't be able to see me. I'll still be right here where I am now"

The vision of Brittany who stood in the centre of the room began to blur before I felt her body stir next to my own as she sat bolt right up clutching her head as tears fell freely from her eyes. She looked in my direction and broke a sob as she searched for me.

I sat up and moved forward so my arms embraced her "I'm right here B, I'm here and I'm not leaving you"

I don't know whether she knew she was feeling my presence but I felt her body relax a little against my arms, she lay back down on her side of the bed facing away from my own as the constant reminder of my absence chipped away at her heart.

But after placing a tender kiss to her temple and absorbing some of the pain that was flooding her chest she fell back into a light slumber and I continued to wrap my arms round her, guarding over her dreams and willing away the nightmares.