Ominous silence hung heavily in the air, skulking through the night sky like the sinister turmoil of clouds that swirled above. The darkness jeered and taunted her, twisting its moonlit lips into a mocking sneer as it watched her every move through callously narrowed eyes. There was a bitter chill to the air that gnawed violently at the exposed flesh of her face, begging to savage the rest of her body with its icy teeth. Detachedly, one small tanned hand reached out to pull the black jacket that engulfed her slight frame tighter, its woollen body caressing her skin in a false affection that set her teeth on edge. There was no comfort to be found in the darkness and at this very moment in time, it appeared the very air that she breathed was against her.

One boot-clad foot stepped forward from the safety of the shadows, the other following with a fierce determination. Time was chasing at her heels like a raging bull as Santana all but ran along the cobbled street. Brittany graduated the following morning and word around the block was that Sam fucking Evans intended to force his over-sized trout pout upon her woman for the rest of his meaningless, tedious life, which, in lamens terms, bottled down to a god damn marriage proposal. If anyone was going to propose to Brittany after graduation, it was Santana and no one on earth had the right to take that privilege away from her – least of all a man with a mouth the size of a bowling ball and the brain capacity of a pea.

The route to Brittany's house sat mapped out perfectly in her head from years of visiting the building on a regular basis. Someone could have blindfolded her, span her round in circles ninety six times and Santana still wouldn't have had much difficulty in locating the blonde's home. Rounding the corner, she was greeted by a scene of blacked out windows and an empty driveway. Oh hell know. She hadn't come all the back to Lima on a moment's notice to spend the night sat outside Brittany's empty house. In true Santana style, she made a beeline for the garden fence. Tanned fingers hooked over the edge of the wooden panel and clenched tightly to grip the hard surface. In the same breath her feet came up, pushing against the lower half of the fence to force her body weight higher. Then, as effortlessly as she had climbed up, she swung herself over the top and landed on the grass below with a soft thud. Silently she prayed that the Pierce's still kept their spare key in the same spot.

Fingers fumbled through damp leaves as dark eyes searched through the inky blackness of the night. Her sigh of relief was barely audible as her fingers came into contact with cold metal. Bingo. With all the haste of a woman on a mission, Santana straightened up and hurried over to the back entrance to the house. Her fingers shook lightly from the harsh chill of the night air and, although she'd never admit to it, a tinge of nervousness at the thought of seeing Brittany again. It wasn't that the thought of being in the blonde's presence again bothered her in itself, but rather the acknowledgement of the possibility that the other girl might reject her attempted to save her from her guppy-lipped boyfriend. Several seconds later, the lock gave way with a satisfying click and one leg raised to step across the threshold. The warmth of the Pierce household was a welcome contrast to the surprisingly bitter night air and she allowed her body several moments to adjust to the change in temperature as she quietly closed the door behind her.

Silence descended upon the kitchen, enveloping the room in its eerie embrace as Santana blinked into the darkness. It was typical really. The one night she chose to return to Lima and surprise Brittany was the one night the other girl chose to be out of the house. For all she knew the blonde could be gone all night. It was thus with a stubborn determination that Santana made her way out of the kitchen and into the hallway towards the stairs. She'd wait in Brittany's room until the girl finally decided to show up, whenever that may be. It was only once out of the confines of the kitchen did Santana hear it. The sound was faint, distant and quiet as though it were coming from the first floor of the house, but it was audible downstairs in the hallway. Curiosity drew her closer to the stairs and the familiarity of the intermittent sounds had her taking the first step upwards. She was halfway up when she really heard it. Frozen to the spot, Santana's eyes widened as a moan reached her ears that was distinctly Brittany.