Santana was surprised at how easy it was to avoid ridicule. Brittany had gone above and beyond normal girlfriend duty by getting the girls from Cheerio's to dress down for the day. Every member of the squad was dressed like Paul Bunyan and Santana couldn't have been happier. Well, almost all of them. Two girls hadn't bothered to participate and Santana watched with restrained excitement as Quinn ripped them a new one.

Say what you wanted about Quinn Fabray but she ruled with an iron fist. Santana watched in awe as the girl went down the line finding at least one fault with every girl. She'd skipped her and Brittany of course and after the verbal tongue lashing she turned to Santana with an annoyed glare that Santana wasn't sure wasn't meant for her.

"It's all yours captain." She said finding her way to Santana's right side.

Santana didn't have the heart to ridicule the girls today. After the verbal beating she'd taken from her mother yesterday she was mentally drained. Her bitchy reserves were dangerously low.

"Just go to class." Was all she had the heart to say.

"We do this again tomorrow until we learn to do it right. Now the rest of you can thank Jessica and Ashley for another day of this." Quinn said as the girls began to disperse and head off to class. Santana heard moans and groans as they began to walk away and decided to rub it in further.

"Since you want to complain about it, make it two days." She said as the girls quickly disappeared around the corner. Once the girls had gone Santana took the opportunity to thank Quinn for her support. They'd made a deal to rejoin Cheerio's with Santana as Captain and Quinn as her number two. Quinn also promised to stand by her side and support her through any of the backlash coming out at school would cause her. In return Quinn had the right to refuse any rule Santana issued. Seeing her dressed up this way this morning was a total shock. Quinn was nothing if not Ms. Perfect. She hated having even a single hair out of place. After three years Santana had never even seen the girl without makeup on until today.

"Thanks for this Quinn. I appreciate it. It means a lot."

Quinn didn't blink, her face was stone cold and emotionless. "Don't mention it." She said before walking away.

Santana fought back the urge to say something bitchy. Quinn had done her a huge solid and the last thing she needed was a break in the chain. The girl could stage a mutiny at any time. And with all the crap her mother was putting her through Santana didn't have the juice these days to exercise total control. Hell, she couldn't even leave home without her mothers permission. She felt like a six year old.

When she felt Brittany's soft hands link in her own she finally took the time to give the girl a proper thank you.

"Britt I just want to say thanks for this. It means the world to me."

Brittany flashed the thousand watt smile that still sent shivers down Santana's spine and pulled her hands up to her lips and kissed it gently.

"I thought you were going to be mad at me for leaving last night. But I had to leave. I had to do something to help you."

Santana gave her a quick look over. Brittany was still the sexiest girl in school even with flannel and no makeup. "I can never be mad at you. I'm just trying to think of ways to make this up to you. You totally saved my butt today."

Brittany's smile fell away and Santana found herself wondering if she'd said something wrong. "San you always look out for me and I've never felt safer than when I'm with you. But you need to know that I'll keep you safe too. Everything you tell me, everything we share together, your heart, your soul, it's all safe with me."

Santana ignored the few students straggling down the hallway and leaned into Brittany and gave her quick peck on the lips. Butterflies erupted in her stomach, the same butterflies she'd felt when they kissed for the first time years ago.

"We better get to class." Brittany said pulling away quickly.

Santana nodded, knowing that she wanted nothing more than to skip class today and hang out with Britt. Unfortunately so close to the end of the school year she couldn't afford to ditch. With finals coming up she had to go to class. Failing out of the eleventh grade was not an option.

Terror ran through her mind. Finals. Failing. Britt needs help studying for finals. Santana made a point of spending a few hours with Brittany everyday during finals week getting the girl ready for her exams. Brittany would never bring it up with everything Santana had going on these past few days. She'd want to avoid sounding selfish and self centered. Britt was totally sweet and giving, too giving. She was risking failing her classes to keep Santana's stress level down. Santana had to figure out a way to help her. Her mother wouldn't let her help Britt. She wouldn't care if Britt failed out of school or not. If Santana was going to help her she'd have to do it on her own. She was going to have to do this the hard way.

In Glee club…..

Rachel Berry grabbed Santana by the arm and pulled her quickly to the corner of the room. "Are you okay? You've had me worried sick." The diva proclaimed.

Under normal circumstances Santana would make a comment about the girls man-hands or call her something witty. Today however was an exception, Rachel had been instrumental in her accomplishing her goals these past few weeks. True she'd taken pictures of her and Brittany at the prom and given them to her mother, effectively outing her to her parents. Even still, that was Santana's idea, Berry had been totally against it from the beginning. She'd done it as a favor and Santana knew she owed the girl one. Humiliating her in front of the glee club wasn't a cool move. Still she didn't want her getting too comfortable with their new 'sort of' friendship.

"Aw, were you worried about me? How about you come over later and hang out. Since my mother won't let Brittany come by maybe you and me can have a sleep over."

Rachel frowned. "Santana that isn't funny. None of this is funny."

Before Santana had a chance to calm her down Puck stepped into the room grinning from ear to ear.

"Santana Lopez as I live and breathe. I heard it but I didn't believe it. When I heard all the Cheerio's had gone all butch today I immediately thought of you. Not even you can make that look hot."

Finn joined in grinning like the giant idiot he was sending a wave of anger through Santana. "Yeah, you should get used to dressing like that. Maybe buy yourself a motorcycle. You'd look good on a Harley." Leave it to Finn to screw up a perfectly good chance to kick somebody while they were down.

"Shut up. Stop making fun of her." Santana heard from the doorway. The voice was familiar, extremely familiar, but she'd never heard the tone. At least not in public. Brittany never showed her fangs in public. There were times, plenty of times actually, that she'd given Santana a private chewing out but she'd never seen her do it where anyone could see or hear.

"Don't you dare make fun of her." She continued. Santana could practically hear the fury in her voice and so did everyone else. The room went deadly silent. Puck's jaw was practically on the floor and Finn's face was beet red.

Santana shook loose from Rachel's grip and met Brittany in the doorway. She looked like she was about to shoot laser beams from her eyeballs.

"Britt, it's okay. It's not a big deal."

"No." Brittany said, her voice carrying. "No, it's not okay. They can't make fun of you. Not today."

She grabbed the blonde's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Britt it's okay, they don't know."

Santana watched as the girl's anger began to fade. "I'm not going to let anybody be mean to you. Not today. If I have to punch somebody in the kneecaps I will."

"The kneecaps. That sounds like it'll hurt Britt." Santana said with a bit of smile that caused Brittany to return the gesture.

"I can kick butt too. I was a purple belt in Karate before I became a pacifist."

Santana nodded. "I remember. But you don't have to kick anybody's butt. We made a deal back in eight grade that I'd do all our ass kicking remember?"

"Brittany knows Karate?" Puck asked from his spot in the back of the class. He seemed surprised. When were these idiots gonna learn Santana asked herself. Britt rocked.

"Of course she does. Just because she doesn't fight doesn't mean she doesn't know how." Quinn said with a smirk.

"What's going on Santana? What don't we know?" Mr. Schue asked from his perch at the piano. Great. She didn't even see him there. Now 'Gel Vesterson' was gonna get all touchy feely.

"Nothing." She answered quickly. What was this Oprah?

"Her mother took all her clothes, and her makeup, and her car, and her computer." Quinn said calmly. She was sitting in her usual seat filing her fingernails. Tattle tale.

Mr. Schue's face went white. "What? Why?"

"For being a lesbian." Quinn stated as if they should have already known this.

"Seriously? She did that. Who would do something like that to their own kid?" Finn asked with skepticism.

"Uh, have you meet her mother? She would do this and worse if she could." Puck answered.

Quinn laughed. "Apparently he hasn't." She looked up from her nails and spoke directly to Mr. Schue. "Picture Santana twenty years older, twice as beautiful and ten times as evil. She's far and away the meanest person I've ever met. And that includes my dad who threw me out of the house for getting pregnant."

Santana watched Mr. Schue's face morph with pity.

"She really took all your clothes and your makeup?" Rachel asked.

Great, Santana thought to herself, now she was going to have to deal with Rachel's guilty conscience.

"Is that why you're wearing this get-up?" Finn asked.

"Her mother's making her wear it. So she'll look like a lesbian." Quinn added her attention back on her nails. "These are the only clothes she has now. Flannel shirts and combat boots."

"Damn. And I thought you were a bitch." Mercedes said.

Brittany got angry again. "Don't say stuff like that. Not today. Everybody be nice to Santana."

Mr. Schue rose from his seat at the piano and nodded his head. "Everybody Brittany's right. Santana needs a day off from our judgment and ridicule."

"And don't tell anybody. Nobody knows but us. She has to find a way to fix it." Brittany added. Her confidence in Santana's ability to handle anything always gave her a swell of pride. Brittany treated her like she could move mountains. That confidence was infectious. It gave Santana motivation to not let her down. She'd have to come up with something to end this thing with her mother. But first things first. She had to get Brittany ready for finals.

I struggled with this for a while but I hope it's not too bad. My confidence in this story is all screwed up but the the reviews and the alerts push me past any doubts I may have. And I promise next chapter more Brittany and Santana not to mention Britt's face off with Ms. Lopez.