Santana cried in the girl's bathroom. She looked at her reflection in the mirror; she noticed just how lacking of life her eyes were. She noticed how gaunt her face was. She noticed how desperate she looked. It killed her.

"Santana!" Suddenly the heavy door of the bathroom swung open and a tall blonde raced in with a worried look etched upon her face.

"Please don't, Britt." Santana whispered as she turned her head to look at the floor.

"That song, do you really feel like that?"

Brittany's question was answered by a simple sob that escaped Santana's mouth. Brittany immediately lunged forward and wrapped Santana in a warm hug. The blonde girl gently soothed Santana by softly rubbing her hair and doing what they always did when they needed each other; she linked their pinkies.

"You could've talked to me, San. You could've talked to anyone!" Brittany told her. The feel of Brittany's breath on her neck made Santana stiffen.

"No, Britt. I really can't." Santana shrugged. Brittany's heart sank; she slowly let the grip loosen on Santana's pinkie.

"I'm your best friend, Santana." Brittany whispered through shining eyes that were brimming with unshed tears.

"I know." Santana said dejectedly as she stared at her shoes again.

"What happened to us, San?" Brittany asked before looking sadly at Santana and walking out of the girls bathrooms.

"Love." Santana whispered to herself.

What did happen to the girls? What happened to the girls that were inseparable? Santana and Brittany. Brittany and Santana. They came as a package; they always had, ever since they met all those years ago in school. Santana was eight, Brittany was eight. Santana was in the duck group; Brittany was in the duck group. From then on in, the two girls were joined. Connected. Soul mates, so to speak.

So what happened? Santana fell in love. All those years ago when Brittany handed Santana her favorite eraser; Santana had loved her. And when all of Santana's feelings made sense to her; she got scared.

"Brittany, meet Santana, Santana; meet Brittany." A young woman introduced the two young girls as she sat them down at their new seats.

"Hello." The dark haired girl said shyly.

"Hey." The considerably taller blonde girl said.

That was the first words spoken between the two. The first of many. The girls played together at recess, they played together at weekends; they whispered during school work and even cried when the teacher tried to separate them. Time flew by for the girls, and before they knew it, it was the summer before they started high school.

The two teenagers lay on Brittany's lawn, staring up at the sky.

"San?"

"Yeah, Britt-Britt?" Santana replied.

"You're my best friend."Brittany said.

"And you're mine, Brit. But, did you not already know that?" Santana pondered.

"Yeah, I knew, but we've never said it." Brittany shrugged, "I'm going to keep you forever." Brittany giggled.

"I'm not going anywhere!" Santana sighed contently as she shuffled closer to Brittany.

"Promise?" Brittany giggled sweetly, the sound warmed Santana to her core.

"Promise!" Santana confirmed.

"Pinky-promise?"

Santana smiled sweetly and gently entwined her pinky finger with Brittany's and squeezed gently.

"Brittany, why'd you run off?" Artie snapped as Brittany entered the choir room.

"Santana.." Brittany trailed.

"No!" Artie shouted, "I was goi-"

"Hey! Don't speak to her like that!" A pissed Quinn cut him off raising her voice as the blood inside her boiled with rage.

"She's my girlfriend!" Artie replied.

"Hey, Artie! Stop shouting at all the girls! Brittany's upset and if you ever speak to her like that ever again, I will not be held responsible for my actions!" Puck threatened as he stood from his chair and hovered over Artie.

"Whatever! She's my girlfriend, deal with it!"

"No, you know what, Artie, I'm not. We're done." Brittany sighed as she wiped away a few stray tears from her eyes as she sat next to a sympathetic Quinn.

"You can't break up with me!" Artie shouted.

"Well, she just did!" The Glee kids looked round in shock as the normally reserved, Mike stood from his chair and shouted over at Artie, "Brittany is our girl and nobody treats her like that!"

The entire Glee club chorused an agreement at Mike's statement. Mr. Schue just looked on amazed, slightly glad at what was happening in front of him, he even let a small smile play on his lips as Artie slowly wheeled himself out of the choir room, into the deserted halls of McKinley High. But that smile was soon wiped away and replaced with a concerned look as Santana entered the room again, mascara marks clear for all to see.

"Santana.." Mr. Schue began.

"I'm fine." Santana sighed, taking her seat. The whole room tensed as nobody knew what to say.

"I'm proud of you." Mr. Schue said to Santana sincerely as he broke the silence. Santana looked over to Brittany who was looking at Santana. She smiled sadly before shaking her head and looking away, as if to say, "Why can't you trust me?"

"Mr. Schue, I have a song." Brittany spoke up.

"Wow, really?" Mr. Schue asked. The whole Glee classroom was stunned. Brittany never sang.

"Really." Brittany confirmed as she handed guitar tab to a confused Puck and some piano music to the pianist.

Brittany let out a shaky breath as the opening chords began to play. Santana's head shot up as she recognized the song and realized that this was a time when she had to sit up and listen to Brittany; something she hadn't been doing lately.

You took my hand, you showed me how.

You promised me you'd be around

Uh huh

That's right.

I took your words

And I believed in everything

You said to me,

Yeah huh

That's right.

Everybody was looking at Brittany, but Santana could feel people focusing on her. It was no secret that Santana and Brittany did everything together, but now, it was no secret that there was something rocking the boat.

If someone said three years from now,

You'd be long gone

I'd stand up and punch them out,

Cause they're all wrong.

I know better,

Cause you said forever

And ever.

A few stray looks from Kurt and Mercedes made their way to Santana as she struggled to contain her tears. Brittany noticed that Santana was a mess, this only spurred her on further as she belted out the song with much more power and soul, determined to get a message across.

Remember when we were such fools?

And so convinced and just too cool?

Oh no, no, no.

I wish I could touch you again,

I wish I could still call you friend,

I'd give anything.

That one line, I wish I could still call you friend, made everybody's heart jump. Even Brittany. Tears feel freely down Santana's face. Quinn looked between the two girls sympathetically. She'd known for years that what the girls had would eventually bloom into so much more than friendship, the last thing she wanted to see was the girls that mean the most to her, crumble. Brittany continued.

When someone said count your blessings now,

For they're long gone,

I guess I just didn't know how,

I was all wrong.

But they knew better,

Still you said forever,

And ever,

Yeah, yeah.

Memories flooded Santana's mind of her and Brittany as children running, crying, laughing. It broke her heart to know that she couldn't tell the girl she'd known for so many years, how she felt. Brittany thought about Santana as she sang the song, tears were threatening to fall from her eyes too, but she was determined not to let her mask slip, unaware that it was no longer there.

I'll keep you locked up in my head

Until we meet again

Until we, until we meet again

And I won't forget you, my friend,

What happened?

If someone said three years from now,

You'd be long gone,

I'd stand up and punch them out,

Cause they're all wrong.

And that last kiss, I'll cherish.

Until we meet again,

And time makes it harder

I wish I could remember.

Santana's face fell pale at the mention of the last kiss. She and Brittany had made out before. It was no secret. Brittany made it clear that she sort of enjoyed it when she and Santana were paired together during spin the bottle or when Santana accidently kissed Brittany whilst drunk. In Santana's mind, these kisses meant nothing more to Brittany than drunken frolics, but to Santana, they meant so much more. They were Santana secretly displaying her true love for Brittany without her knowing it.

But I keep your memory,

You visit me in my sleep,

My darling, who knew

My darling,

My darling, who knew?

My darling, I miss you,

My querido, who know?

Glee club went entirely silent at the lyric change in the song that Brittany made to make it painfully clear who the song was aimed at. Brittany smiled sadly and continued as she tried to fight back to tears.

"Wow!" Mr. Schue clapped as Brittany finished, "That was, um, heartfelt to say the least!"

An awkward silence fell over the choir room and Brittany took her place next to Quinn. Santana sat alone at the edge of the row as she quietly watched Brittany at the side of her eye. She could feel Quinn's sympathetic look bore into her and she could feel Kurt and Mercedes steal glances at her and Brittany. Thankfully, the bell rang.

Santana grabbed her school back and slung it over her shoulder, as did Brittany. They were the last to get up.

"Brittany, Santana, come here!" Mr. Schue summoned both girls over from their seats, "Girls, I think I have a fair idea what's going on. I'm not going to lie, it's just an assumption, but you two are going to figure things about one way or another. You two have the strongest friendship I've ever laid eyes on and I am not going to let you two give that away. You have an hour." He shrugged before leaving the choir room, leaving Brittany and Santana alone.

An extremely awkward silence fell over the girls, causing Brittany to speak up.

"Things never used to be awkward." She whispered to Santana.

"Things never used to be complicated." Santana replied, meeting Brittany's gaze.

"Complicated?" Brittany asked.

"Me, my issues, you and Art-"

"I broke up with him." Brittany murmured, Santana didn't say anything, "He never spoke to me like we used to speak, and when I saw you today in the bathroom; I realized that I care about, and all I'll ever care about, is you. You're my best friend." Brittany shrugged.

"You don't know how a stab in the heart feels like, do you?" Santana sighed. Brittany just shook her head, "Every time you call me your best friend, it really, really hurts."

"Why?" Brittany asked, confused.

"I can't tell you." Santana sobbed.

"But, I sang that song to you!" Brittany said as she let a lonesome tear fall.

"I know." Santana whimpered, remembering a few select lyrics from the song.

Santana took a seat at the opposite end of the choir room and watched Brittany. Each tear that fell from the perfect blonde's eye was like a stab to the heart. Each sob that escaped the dancer's mouth, was like a slap in the face.

Santana looked at her face in a nearby mirror. Her hair was a mess, her eyes were bleak, her face was gaunt and her lips were cracked.

Santana was broken.

She was broken on the inside as her inner demons ate away at her. Santana was being stripped away from the inside. Day by day; Santana was fading.