Title: When You Have to Let Go
Rating: K+
Word Count: about 1100
Spoliers: Up to S1 Ep10
Summary: A quick glance into B, Q and S's friendship, set the day after Quinn's parents kick her out.
Disclaimer: Yeah, cuz if I owned Glee Santana and Brit would really still only be supporting characters.
A/N: Thanks to my beta, and remember, comments make Brittany (and me) very happy!
When Quinn's parents had thrown her out the night before, Quinn had been devastated, but this morning, after waking up in a strange place and being made late for school by Finn, devastation and pain morphed into a white hot rage.
Even the social elite who would normally stop and chat with her skirted away as Quinn walked down the hallway. She blindly made her way to her first class, not even noticing that students were giving her a wider berth than usual, her mind consumed with thoughts of how parents, who should support their child no matter what, could throw their her out on the street like garbage.
Both Santana and Brittany exchanged a glance as they watched their best friend toss her bag down before slumping into her chair. Something was seriously off for Quinn to be this riled. A moment later when Ms Green poked her head into the room to inform them that their teacher would not be able to make it in today, giving them a free period.. Quinn stood the second the word free period was out of the woman's mouth and, grabbing her bag, strode out of the room.
Quinn headed down the hall, paying no attention to where she was going. She just knew it would be almost physically impossible for her to sit still in the library for the next hour. She soon found herself walking the familiar hallway to the gym, and entered to find it completely deserted. Dumping her bag at the side of the room she picked up a nearby basketball and began dribbling it towards the hoop. She had never been particularly good at basketball, but she enjoyed the movement of dribbling the ball around the court and it kept her hands busy and gave her something to channel her anger into.
She was so intently focused on her own thoughts she didn't notice the other two Cheerios leaning against the doorframe with their arms crossed. She wasn't surprised, though, when Santana's voice echoed through the room a moment later.
"So, are you going to tell us what happened?" Santana said, feigning boredom.
"Contrary to popular belief, I don't have to tell you two everything that's going on in my life," Quinn snapped, bouncing the ball away from her and turning towards them. Neither of the girls seemed even remotely affected by Quinn's biting tone, though Santana did raise an eyebrow.
"It's only when you think there may be some potential gain from the information that you two even think to ask what's going on." She added, trying to change tactic when staring them down failed to produce the desired results. "You're just hoping to get more dirt on me to report back to Coach Sylvester."
"Oh yes, because we always relay everything to Sylvester."Santana retorted sarcastically – just because Quinn was blowing off steam didn't mean she was just going to stand there and take it. "We spend our days trying to find dirt on you, because we just have nothing better to do."
The words struck a nerve and Quinn blinked back angry tears that were threatening to spill forth – not from Santana's comment though, but from the sheer frustration of knowing she was at rock bottom and, even worse, nothing she could do would change that. She was no longer in control of her own life, and if there was one thing that Quinn Fabray hated more than anything else, it was not being in control.
Brittany watched as the emotions of the last few days built up inside of her friend and immediately pushed herself away from the doorframe she was leaning on and crossed the space between them in four strides.
Quinn, too busy trying to push down the emotions that threatened to consume her, did not even notice the blonde had moved until strong arms encircled her. She began to fight, already feeling the chains that held back the floodgates begin to weaken.
Santana moved closer, watching as Quinn tried with everything she had to escape the taller blonde's grasp, noticing how Brittany winced when Quinn's nails dug into her skin.
"Just let go." Santana recommended, her tone now gentle and concerned as silent tears began to run down Quinns cheeks. Quinn continued to fight for a few more moments, as though escaping B's hug would also mean escaping the pain she was desperately trying not to feel. It was fruitless though, and when she could not hold it off any longer she finally gave up and just allowed waves of hurt and betrayal to wash over her as she sobbed into the other girls shoulder. Santana began to rub calming circles on Quinn's back.
After a while, Quinn seemed to have cried herself out and this time, when she tried to pull away, Brittany let her, instead taking a hold of her hand and leading her over to the bleachers. Santana followed silently behind.
"So what's going on?" Brittany prompted quietly once they were all seated, giving Quinn's hand a supportive squeeze.
"My father kicked me out." Quinn admitted quietly, feeling tired and worn out from all her crying.
"Bastard," Santana muttered while Brittany, seeing her dejected look, just pulled Quinn in for another hug, though this time letting go after a couple of seconds
"Do you want me to slash his tires?" Santana suggested, half serious, smiling when that elicited the desired chuckle from her best friends.
"No, but thanks," Quinn replied.
"So where did you sleep last night?" Santana wondered.
"At Finn's – he's the one who told my parents, in song no less."
"I could slash his tires." Santana pointed out.
"No," Quinn shook her head sadly, "they deserved to know."
"But he should have let you be the one to tell them." S was about to say more when the bell rang to signal the end of the period.
The three sighed and rose to collect their bags.
"We'll talk more about this later." Brittany confirmed, pulling on her backpack and Quinn nodded in response, trying to tidy herself up a bit.
They headed out the door and Brittany and Santana turned to head to American History, murmuring goodbye to Quinn who had had class in the other direction.
"Thank you." She called quietly after them, and both turned to give her friendly smiles, before linking pinkies and continuing on their way.