Chapter 2

"I think it would be best if Santana stayed here for a while." Quinn suggested, her and Rachel talking quietly in the kitchen the next morning.

Rachel nodded as she softly fiddled with the kettle, pulling two mugs down so she could make Quinn and her some tea, "Oh absolutely. It's not even a second thought."

Quinn sighed and leaned back against the counter, her eyes on Rachel's bedroom door where Santana was finally sleeping. It was weird for her to see Santana like this, usually so tough and outspoken, reduced to tears and heartache caused by one of the sweetest people she had ever known...or so she thought.

"I'm going to spend the weekend." Quinn decided

Rachel nodded as she handed Quinn her mug of tea, watching the blonde carefully as the wheels in her head began to turn. Rachel wondered what she was thinking about. She sat front row to the Unholy Trinity friendship, during all their ups and downs. Quinn and Santana always butted heads in high school, Brittany always being the one to keep them together, but after high school things changed and soon Santana and Quinn didn't need Brittany to keep the peace anymore, the two had somehow worked passed their frenemies phase and finally became the best friends they should have been back at McKinley.

"I'm going to go talk to Brittany."

Rachel snapped out of her daze, quickly placing her hot tea on the counter, only so she could jut out a hand and place it on Quinn's shoulder. Brittany may have been in the wrong in the reason for the split, but she was still the sweet little innocent Brittany from high school. That was part of the problem though, while everyone grew up and charged into adulthood, Brittany didn't seem to change at all and Quinn definitely outgrew that and Rachel knew she wouldn't let her off the hook so easily. Not that she deserved to be let off the hook, but coming from Quinn she figured would be too much for Brittany to handle.

"No!"

Quinn's eyebrows creased by the sudden objection, slowly turning to face the shorter girl, "I want to know why she hurt Santana."

"Kurt's is already there." Rachel said, her hand sliding to Quinn's forearm to give it a reassuring squeeze, "I know during these past few years, some of our friendships haven't been the same..." Rachel began, "You and Brittany don't exactly have a lot in common anymore, other than the fact that she was married to Santana." She quickly said, "I just think Brittany is probably hurting too and you favouring Santana over her could cause more harm."

Quinn took a sip of the hot beverage, pondering over what Rachel had just said. It was true she had grown closer to Santana ever since they all graduated high school, which surprised even her since she didn't even live in the same city. She thanked Mr. Schue's wedding for that, if it wasn't for that night her and Santana shared, she wondered if a bond would have ever happened, and of course for Rachel always being persistent on everyone always making time for each other, no matter how great the distance. She couldn't help but smirk to herself, the blonde and raven haired beauty once thrived on making each other miserable and now Quinn couldn't stand to see Santana hurt in anyway, especially right now. Maybe Rachel was right, going to confront Brittany would probably end badly.

"Stay here until Kurt calls." Rachel pleaded.

Quinn sighed, but then nodded, letting the tea scolded her anger down, it flaming out for the time being. "Okay." She whispered, her attention moving back to the bedroom door when it slowly creaked open.

Santana made her way over to the kitchen, definitely feeling two sets of eyes watching her, but she didn't care. She had a headache and was still tired, so she silently went about her business searching the cupboards for ibuprofen.

"What do you need, Santana?" Rachel asked, watching as the other girl rummaged through her kitchen.

"I have a headache." Santana mumbled.

"I have some Advil in the bathroom." Rachel answered heading in that direction, leaving her and Quinn alone.

"How are you feeling?" Quinn quietly asked as she watched Santana grab water from the fridge, "I can make you breakfast."

Santana shook her head as she leaned against the counter, letting out a slow breath, "I'm not really hungry." She stated pushing off the counter as Rachel entered the kitchen holding up the bottle of pills. She grabbed them straight away, heading to the bathroom as she replied, "I'm going to take a shower, take these pills to fight this fucking headache and try and sleep my stupid life away."

"Not the entire bottle right?" Rachel quickly asked taking a step forward to try and grab Santana's arm, but she was too quick and already half way across the apartment, "Santana?"

Santana turned around once she reached the bathroom, her puffy eyes sending Rachel a look of annoyance, "I'm not stupid, Rachel. Plus there's only like three Advil left in here. And I plan on drowning my sadness the old fashion way... with alcohol." And with that she slammed the bathroom door shut.

Rachel sighed as she turned to Quinn, "Please stay longer than the weekend."

Quinn finished the rest of her tea as she headed to the sink to rinse her mug out, letting out a slow breath, "I'll see what I can do."

Rachel nodded about to give her thanks, but her phone buzzed letting her know she had received a text message. "It's Kurt." She informed Quinn, "He said he's coming over."

Quinn turned around a pursed her lips, "I guess we'll see what happens next."

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Rachel welcomed Kurt inside when he arrived. Shrugging his coat off and making his way into the living room to find a pouty Santana sitting closely to Quinn, taking a seat on the coffee table in front of the two of them.

"Make it quick, Hummel. These weak ass pills Rachel gave me aren't doing shit and my head is pounding."

Kurt let out a slow breath, but nodded, after all these years of friendship he was used to Santana's moods and really with what she was going through he couldn't blame the poor girl.

"She's moving back to Lima." Kurt began, pausing to give Santana time to process the information, watching as Quinn reached out to take her hand, the blonde the one to signal Kurt to go on, "She wants you to come and take whatever you want."

Santana shook her head, falling back against the couch, "Not while she's there."

Kurt cleared his throat, watching as Rachel joined the conversation, taking a supportive seat next to Santana, cueing him to carry on, "I'm going to take her to the airport tomorrow. I said we'd ship the rest of her things to her. She said she didn't want a ship... I still don't think she understands the process..." he paused and shook his head, "You can go and retrieve your things once she's gone."

"Did she say anything else?" Santana quietly asked.

"That she's sorry." Kurt began, "She never meant to hurt you and didn't want you two to end up this way. She doesn't understand why you two couldn't be together, but also be with other people."

"She wanted an open relationship." Rachel mused out loud.

Santana leaned forward, dropping her head in her hands, feeling Rachel's hand run soothingly up and down her back, wondering if this was karma for the way she was back in high school.

"I told her you didn't want to talk right now, but she hopes you two can be friends again one day." Kurt said, reaching out to place a hand on Santana's knee, "Best friends that lock pinkies and go on adventures together."

Santana abruptly stood up angrily shaking her head, "She can lock pinkies with someone the fuck else."

And with that she stormed into Rachel's bedroom and slammed the door shut.

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It was the next afternoon and even though Quinn had made her concerns known that it was too early for Santana to be going back to the apartment she used to share with Brittany, everyone else disagreed, and so Blaine, Rachel, Tina, Quinn and Santana were on their way, finally arriving inside the building.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Tina asked as she walked closely next to Santana, the five of them piling into the elevator of Santana's soon to be old apartment building.

"Let's just get this over with." Santana muttered, leaning back against the wall as she watched the numbers change with each floor they hit, her stomach growing queasy when it dinged on her floor. She took in a deep breath, looping arms with Tina, thankful she had made the move to the city after she graduated high school. It was an unexpected friendship, but Santana found herself grateful for it, the same thing could be said for the other Glee members she was currently with too.

Blaine was the one who unlocked the apartment door and as soon as Santana breached the threshold she pulled away from Tina and was hit with a sudden wave of rage. She stormed into the bedroom, her eyes dark and glossy as they zeroed in on an item of clothing that didn't belong to her. She bent over, snatching the bra in her hand, turning to shake it in front of her friends, tears once again streaming down her face.

"Do you want to know the stupid thing about all of this!?" Santana asked, but left no room for anyone to answer, "I can't even bring myself to be mad at her!"

"She was your first true love, Santana. I couldn't even imagine..." Rachel softly began, taking a cautious step closer, "I mean it's Brittany..."

"I don't think it's in her to be with just one person. She just always wants to make everyone happy, ya know." Blaine quietly said. "And she became close friends with this girl."

Santana sniffled with a shake of her head, "I should have asked her about it. I didn't ask... I didn't-"

Quinn carefully walked over, placing a hand on Santana's shoulder, while she reached out to retrieve the bra from her fingers, tossing it out of sight. "We're not here to make excuses for why Brittany hurt you."

Tina had to agree with Quinn and simply nodded along, "I think we should grab your stuff and go."

Blaine checked his phone, clearing his throat as he looked up at everyone, most importantly Santana who had pulled away to start rummaging through her things, "Kurt said she made it on the plane. He's going to come back and help."

Santana nodded, her hands shaking as she reached the dresser, "She's officially gone then."

"I think Santana should go back to Rachel's with someone." Tina suggested, watching as another round of sobs trembled through her body. "There's not a lot left, four of us can move everything over to Rachel's."

Rachel walked over, resting a hand on Santana's bicep, "Santana?"

Santana wiped her eyes, wishing she had listened to Quinn's earlier protests about her coming here. She leaned into Rachel and nodded, "Yeah, let's go." She whispered allowing Rachel to guide her out of the small apartment.

Quinn watched the two exit the room and when she was sure they had left, she began to angrily start packing things in boxes, "I love Brittany, but her innocence is no excuse for how she hurt Santana. They were married, they were contracted together, till death do them part."

"Contracted together?" Blaine scoffed, "That's so romantic. And we're not giving Brittany an excuse. We're just saying..."

"She is a free spirit." Tina cut in, but backed up a little when Quinn shot her one of her famous HIBC glares, "I'm not saying what she did was right. I'm just saying I think she's meant to spread happiness without the being tied down part."

"Well she fucking threw Santana's happiness in the fire with a whole bunch of gasoline." Quinn said grabbing the mistress' bra and throwing it in the trashcan, "It was cute and sweet in high school, but I'm honestly shocked."

Blaine sighed with defeat, "It's done and over with now. Let's just grab what we can and go. Kurt and I will come back on the weekend to finish the rest and send whatever is left back to Brittany."

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Rachel quickly stood up from the couch when Quinn entered the apartment, Tina, Blaine and Kurt following behind her, setting boxes on the ground.

"She's been sitting on the fire escape for hours." Rachel said with fret, "She must be freezing..." she sighed wishing there was more she could do for Santana, other than just always offering her hugs.

"I'll go talk to her." Quinn quietly murmured heading for the window, gracefully climbing over the ledge finding Santana sitting with her back against the wall. "Hey."

Santana looked over, mascara smearing down her cheeks, giving Quinn a simple nod of recognition and then brought a bottle of Jack Daniels up to her lips, taking a healthy drink, not even wincing as it burned down into her stomach.

"Aren't you freezing?" Quinn asked as she slowly walked the short distance over to her friend, pulling her coat more tightly around herself before finally sinking down to sit next to Santana, "They're calling for snow later tonight."

"Plenty of warmth right here." Santana answered holding the bottle of liquor up for Quinn to see, offering her some.

Quinn contemplated the offer for a few quick seconds, finally caving in and grabbing the bottle from Santana's hand, taking a small sip, cringing as soon as it hit her tongue, "I can't remember the last time I had a drink."

"It's because you're a workaholic." Santana stated but was delighted to see that Quinn had drank some more and then handed it back to her.

"I love my job." Quinn defended although she had to admit she couldn't remember the last time she had a vacation, other than taking a few sick days this week to be here with Santana. "It's fulfilling."

Santana bitterly laughed with a shake of her head, "Is that the only thing we can hope for anymore? Having a fulfilling career since love seems to be bullshit?"

Quinn began to protest the comment, her mouth opening and shutting, but the more she thought about it and her own love life, she had to admit Santana made a good point. "Give me that." Quinn said reaching over to swipe the bottle of alcohol from Santana's grip, taking a bigger drink this time, wincing slightly as it pooled into her mouth setting ablaze a path all the way to her stomach.

Santana leaned her head back, staring up at the sky, remembering a time back in Lima when she could see the stars on a clear night, but here in New York City it was just black and empty, very much how she was feeling right now. "Do you think love is just some made up shit spewed out from Hollywood? Because I'm starting to call bullshit."

Quinn took a quick glance at Santana through the corner of her eye. Her intentions when she climbed out here were to provide Santana with some sort of comfort, some kind of speech about looking on the bright side and how things would get better. The only problem was, Quinn's own love life was empty, and anything she said would surely label her as nothing but a hypocrite. She often pictured her future and saw herself with a fantastic career, but when she came home at night she wasn't greeted with the affection of another human, but instead the love came in the appearance of lots cats.

Quinn sighed, the next mouthful of Jack Daniels going down much smoother than the previous one. She wished she could have offered Santana some comforting words, but all she could do was hand Santana the bottle back while offering an, "I'm calling bullshit too, San."

Santana finally smiled, although it was a sour one, Quinn's revelation was refreshing compared to everyone else's caring, but annoying positive attitudes. Her heart was completely broken; the stay positive thing just wasn't cutting it. She wanted to cry and sulk and scream, so to no surprise to her, Quinn's negative views on love at this moment were oddly comforting.

Quinn let out a slow breath, shifting closer to Santana when a gust of wind swooped in through the buildings, hitting them straight on, but neither one of them attempted to stand up. The only movement Quinn made was laying her head on Santana's shoulder.

Santana gently rested her head against Quinn's, the cold wind a welcomed pain that momentarily helped her forget about the emotional distress she was currently feeling. "Thank you for being here." She whispered, and in return Quinn sought out Santana's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

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The next morning Quinn came out of the bedroom, finding Santana zoned out on the couch. She pursed her lips, before finally walking over to disturb her.

"Santana?" Quinn quietly said, sitting on the edge of the couch where Santana laid, "I'm heading back to Boston now."

Santana pulled her gaze from the television, looking up at her friend, "You're leaving?"

Quinn nodded, reaching out to brush her fingers through her hair, "I have to go back to work."

Santana sighed, not wanting the blonde to go so soon, but she couldn't expect everyone to put their life on hold just because she was currently going through a rough time. Plus she was living with Rachel now, so it wasn't like she was going to be completely alone.

"Okay." Santana finally said as she slowly sat up, loosely wrapping her arms around her. "Thanks for coming."

"Always." Quinn whispered, keeping her arms around Santana for as long as she needed, "Call me, okay? I'll try and visit next weekend."

Santana simply nodded, squeezing her close before finally letting go. "Text me when you make it home."

Quinn gave her a small smile, "I will." She gave her hand one last squeeze before getting up to go find Rachel in the kitchen.

"It's weird seeing her like this." Rachel admitted as soon as Quinn appeared.

"One day at a time." Quinn said, pulling Rachel into a hug, "Keep me updated."

"I will." Rachel promised, pulling back after a few minutes and then walked Quinn to the door. After Quinn was gone, Rachel headed into the living room where Santana laid. Rachel grabbed her script, watching as Santana lowered the volume of the television letting Rachel know that she wanted her nearby, so she took a seat at the end of the couch. Rachel finally figured out that Santana wasn't ready to talk yet, but she knew just by her being close by, her presence was all Santana needed and while she memorized her lines, Santana was able to fall into a somewhat restful sleep.

Thoughts? Like it so far? I promise after chapter 3 things will start to get lighthearted and fun. :)