"From The Ashes"
3. What She Loves
After she had told Santana that her parents were on their way in from Lima, she had picked up her bag, started emptying it by taking the things inside and placing them around the apartment. "Brittany, what are you doing?" Santana asked, following after her.
"Moving in," she spoke, sniffled. "I only have some of my things, but this is my apartment too now, right? So if I put my things here, then I'm moved in, and then… then they can't make me go," she had convinced herself, and she nodded along as she went, placing a photo album here, book there…
"Brittany…" she tried again, and the girl looked back at her, hesitant.
"Do you… I can still stay, right?" Santana took the bag from her, put it down, then put her arms around her, rubbing her back.
"We've been through this, the apartment is both of ours. If you want, I'll go to the landlord right now and tell him to add your name to the lease, okay? It's ours. I'll make you pay rent if that convinces you."
"But I don't have any money…" Brittany frowned, and Santana chuckled. "It's not funny."
"It's not, but you are," Santana promised her. "What I'm saying is that I don't want you to go either, and if you tell me you don't want to go, I will back you up. I'm not scared of your mom," she pulled back to look her in the eye, and hearing her laugh was as much of a relief as she could get right now. It didn't last long, as the truth of what was about to happen came back to her.
"If I don't go back though…"
"They'll be upset," Santana agreed. "We can't change that. But this is your chance, to make them see that this is what you need right now. You've been through hell, and going back to Lima right now, going back to McKinley and sitting in those class rooms right now, that'd be the worst thing for you right now. I really believe it, not just saying it because I want you to stay. Okay?" Brittany nodded, mouthing 'okay.' "Okay," Santana repeated.
They had waited hours, not knowing how long it would take before they all showed up, when they would arrive… They had ordered pizza when they got hungry and neither was ready or willing to make anything, and even as they ate, they couldn't help but keep wondering when the bell would ring and they'd have jump into action. When the delivery guy had come, Brittany had nearly lost it.
But then finally the buzzer was heard, and they looked back to each other – this was it. Santana went to open the door, finding Sue Sylvester, Joe Pierce, and his father Joseph. "She's over there," she let them in. Sue was the first through, and when she saw her daughter, standing from the kitchen table, she moved to her, pausing for a moment. Despite how they had left things on the phone, she had started by hugging her. Brittany had been going from dry to tearful eyes again and again throughout the hours, and now she had veered to tears once more.
She had only spoken to her mother before, and she didn't know what to expect from the rest of them. She guessed Charlotte had stayed home with Cat and Izzy, but it was so good to see her father and her grandfather. Their faces were so different in that moment. Her grandfather just looked happy to see her, and like he was feeling conflicted against his son and his granddaughter's mother. And her father… She had never seen him upset, not like this, and it left her unsettled. After letting go of her mother, she had moved up to him, hesitating.
"Do you realize how worried we were?" he asked, staring at her.
"I know, I…"
"No, you don't know. You're…"
"Joe," his father spoke, and seeing his daughter's tear streaked face, Joe sighed and brought her into his arms. "You're coming with us this time, we made a deal, remember?"
"I know, but… I couldn't do it," she looked at him. "And I can't. I told Mom, I'm staying."
"Brittany, we sent you out here because you were going to that school, and when they kicked you out, we let you stay so you could try and land back on your feet, but…" Sue had started to say, and as much as Santana had tried to stay out of it, she had to speak up.
"That's what she's trying to do, don't you get it? You weren't here, you didn't see what getting kicked out of there did to her. I was here, I helped her," she stood tall, just barely not shouting.
"Santana, this isn't your fight, you stay out of it," Sue warned her.
"Let her talk," Brittany cut in, and Sue looked back, surprised.
"Brittany…" she started, but the blonde shook her head.
"I'm going to go to class with Santana," she stated, reining in her tears. "I'm going to get my diploma. And I'm going to get a job. And I'm going to live here, so this is my home, too, and if you don't like it, I'm sorry…"
"We can't just let you…" her father tried again.
"Joe, enough," his father had interrupted, and they all looked to him. "You need to let her stay." The quiet was even heavier now.
"Dad…" Joe shook his head.
"What are you going to do? Drag her back to Ohio? You do that, and what's to say she won't run? You'll lose her, in more ways than one. If you let her stay here, at least you'll know where she is." The argument was solid in the parents' eyes, they could see, and Brittany had never been happier to know that her grandfather had her back.
Neither Joe nor Sue liked the idea of leaving their daughter behind, and having their hand forced by the possibility of things getting worse than they had didn't mean that they had to like it, not even a little. When they had left the apartment, they had barely said one more word to Brittany. She had gotten one more hug, from her grandfather, and then they were gone, leaving only the two girls.
In the silence once again, it had taken a moment for them to adjust, but Santana could see Brittany was stuck somewhere between relief and a worse pain than before. They had let her stay, but at what cost?
TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)
