The Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Chapter 3

Year: 2012

Hope everyone had an awesome New Years!

Thank you all for the awesome reviews! I'm glad you guys are already enjoying the story!

Santana wakes from her deep slumber with a start; sweat dripping down her face, heart hammering against her chest. She feels tears prickling her eyes, and wipes furiously at them with the backs of her hands. She lets out a frustrated groan, burying her head in her hands, before looking over at the clock on the bedside table.

3:04 a.m

Santana throws herself back down onto the bed with a sigh, and stares up at the ceiling. She knew there was no way she was getting back to sleep anytime soon; nor did she really want to. She hated sleeping, and wished she didn't actually need it.

With a loud sigh, she throws the blankets off of her body, and gets out of bed. She slowly opens the door, and tiptoes down the hallway trying her best not to make any sounds as she passed Ashley, and Brittany's room and made her way down the stairs. She walks into the kitchen, and turns the light on, before walking over to the fridge.

She opens the door and looks inside deciding on what she wanted for a few seconds before just deciding on a bottle of water. She closes the fridge door and turns around almost colliding with someone, making her almost jump out of her skin, "Shit!" She exclaims, placing her hand over her chest. She looks up to meet Susan's blue eyes, looking down at her amused, "You scared me." She admits, trying to calm her heavy breathing.

"Language." The older woman scolds, pointing a finger in the Latina's face, although the woman looked far from threatening, "and I'm sorry, I just heard someone in here, and came to check it out." Susan says offering Santana a heartwarming smile, much like Brittany's. Santana could definitely see where Brittany got her looks from. Her mother was absolutely gorgeous, and Brittany was a younger version of her. "Why are you up anyway?" Susan asks, raising an eyebrow at the young Latina.

Santana averts her eyes away from Susan quickly, and looks down at her water bottle. She begins picking at the label wrapped around the clear plastic, hesitating on what to say next. "I just couldn't sleep." She finally says vaguely, with a shrug. She knew the older woman was wise, and could see right through her answer, but she was hoping she wouldn't pry.

After a few seconds of silence, Santana looks back up to see if Susan was going to reply, but sees her opening the refrigerator door, digging for something. She sits herself down on one of the stools at the bar and silently watches her while sipping on her water. She knew Susan had many questions, and many concerns, but she was thankful that the older woman wasn't voicing any of them…yet. She knew it was only a matter of time before she started demanding some answers. She didn't blame her, she'd want answers if she was in Susan's position, but that didn't make her feel any more at ease.

"So are you going to turn me in?" Santana finally asks after a brief silence of watching the older woman rummage through the fridge. The silence was killing her, and this was a thought that had been running through her mind since she first walked in the door yesterday.

Susan stands up straight and turns around towards the darker girl, and watches Santana for a few moments before turning back to the fridge, pulling out what she was looking for. With a smile she shuts the door and places a cake on the table as Santana continues to stare at her, awaiting an answer.

"No." The older woman finally says, meeting Santana's dark eyes. The Latina quickly lets out a breath of relief, letting her shoulders slump down as she relaxes her entire body. "You're 17 years old now, almost an adult, you can make your own decisions." The woman tells her and Santana just nods in agreement. "Want some cake?" She asks completely steering the conversation subject in a different direction. She smiles warmly at the brunette, who still had looked slightly uncomfortable with the previous conversation.

A giant grin appears on Santana's face and she just nods her head enthusiastically, making the older woman laugh. Susan places a giant slice on a plate, and hands it to the impatient Latina across from her, who takes it, licking her lips in anticipation. Santana quickly digs her fork into the cake, and stuffs into her mouth, letting out a moan as her eyes close at the sensation. "German chocolate." She states, after swallowing, making Susan nod her head in confirmation. "Brittany's favorite." Santana notes, before taking another bite.

An impressive smile appears on Susan's face as she watches in amusement at the Latina inhaling her desert. "You remember her favorite desert?" The woman asks, leaning on the counter with her elbows, looking across at Santana who was now blushing.

"Yeah." Santana says simply with a shrug, trying to pass if off as something that wasn't that big of a deal. Truth was she remembered everything about Brittany down to where each freckle on her face was located. Although now, she'd developed even more freckles, but whatever.

Susan just smiles at the younger girl before standing back up off the counter. She cuts herself a piece of cake, and puts it on a plate before pulling a stool over, sitting across from Santana as the two girls fall into a silence. It wasn't necessarily a comfortable one, for Santana anyways, but it in some way she still felt at peace.

The woman clears her throat after a few minutes, making Santana glance over at her to see the woman chewing the last of some cake and staring at her. Santana's eyes flicker down to her plate, and she shifts uncomfortably as she Susan's eyes continue staring holes into her head, "What?" The brunette asks timidly, her eyes still set down on her plate.

"You didn't get hit in the eye with a baseball did you?" Susan asks knowingly, making Santana look up at her surprised. She gives Santana a stern, yet warm look, letting her know she didn't want to be lied to, and that she wasn't going to judge her.

Santana lets out a sigh, and drops her fork onto her plate, "No." She says softly, resting her head in her hands on top of the counter. She glances over at Susan who was silent and just sees the woman nod her head, before inhaling and looking down at her plate like she was debating on what to say next. "I don't want to talk about." Santana cuts in quickly, before the older woman had a chance to even attempt speaking once again.

A deep sigh escapes the older blonde's lips, but she nods nevertheless. She knew not to push Santana. She wanted to know what happened to her, but she'd learned in the past pushing her only made things worse. She would talk, but it had to be when she was ready. "Okay." She says, voicing her understanding on the subject.

Santana watches the older woman warily for a few moments, not believing it was dropped that easily. But when she sees her smile and eat another bite of her cake, she thinks maybe it was. Santana simply moves her eyes down to her cake as she scoops another piece into her fork.

SXB

Teeth brushed, and hair pulled back in a pony tail, Brittany lazily makes her way out of her room, and down the hallway. She approaches her older sisters bedroom, and places her hand on the doorknob before pausing, debating on wether or not she should open it.

Deciding on not just barging in on Santana, she lets go of the doorknob and knocks a few times on the wooden door. After a few seconds, she receives no answer and once again places her hand on the doorknob. She inhales deeply, before twisting it around, and opening the door slowly.

She peaks her head inside the door, and looks inside the room, but doesn't see Santana anywhere. "Santana?" She calls out, stepping more into the room, looking around, but the Latina was nowhere to be found. The bed had definitely been slept in so she figured Santana had already waken up and made her way downstairs.

Brittany steps back out of her sisters room, and shuts the door behind her before walking back down the hallway, and down the stairs. Once she gets downstairs, she sees her mother sitting on the couch, and walks up behind her, wrapping her arms around her neck. "Morning mommy." The blonde says in a baby voice, squeezing her mother tight.

Susan lets out a giggle and grabs Brittany's arms with her hands, squeezing them slightly. "Morning baby." She whispers, turning her head to the side.

Brittany was confused as to why she was whispering but soon follows her mothers gaze to the couch where she sees Santana lying on the other end, curled up in a ball fast asleep. "She slept down here?" Brittany asks, her eyebrows scrunching up in confusion.

Susan shakes her head silently, and stands up from the couch. She points to the kitchen and Brittany nods, following her mother inside the other room. "She started out in Emily's room, but she didn't get much sleep. I found her in here around 3 this morning." Her mother informs her.

Brittany just nods her head in acknowledgement before turning her head to catch a glance at Santana's still sleeping form on the couch. "Was she okay?" She asks carefully, looking down at the ground.

Susan lets a sigh escape her lips, and leans against the kitchen counter. "She said she couldn't sleep." She replies with a shrug. "I could tell she didn't want to talk about it, so we shared some cake, then went into the living room and watched Tv. She fell asleep around 6." Her mother adds, her gaze falling on Santana.

"I have so many things I want to ask her." Brittany admits after a brief silence. She averts her gaze away from Santana to look back at her mother who was nodding her head in agreement. They all wanted to ask Santana, where she had been and what had happened, but they knew they'd have to give it time, and that they couldn't just bombard her with questions.

"Well, if she is going to talk to anyone, it's going to be you honey." Susan says placing a comforting hand on her daughters shoulder. "She trusts you." She adds with a small smile.

Brittany smiles back at her mother; her heart fluttering at the admission. She liked the thought of Santana being able to open up to her and trust her. She wanted that so much from the Latina, but she knew she had to be patient with her.

Before Brittany could reply to her mother, they both hear a whimper, making them snap their heads around in Santana's direction. The Latina was lying on the couch, tossing and turning, mumbling in her sleep, desperately trying to cling to something.

Brittany quickly makes her way into the living room followed by her mother, and leans down in front of the couch, "Santana." She says softly, placing a gentle hand on Santana's arm, not wanting to startle her, anymore than she already was. "San, wake up. You're okay." Brittany says, a little bit louder this time. She grabs one of Santana's hands that was opening and closing desperately trying to find something to hold onto, and clasps it tightly with her own.

With a start Santana wakes up, sitting up quickly, bringing Brittany up with her, causing her to almost fall over in the process. "Brittany?" Santana chokes out, as she tries to swallow a sob.

"Yeah, I'm here." Brittany says, running her free hand soothingly through Santana's dark locks. "You're okay." She says, moving to sit on the couch next to Santana, who collapses in her arms. Brittany holds the Latina close to her as she whispers soothing words into her ear, trying to get her to calm down. "I've got you." She whispers, before looking up at her mother who was watching the two with sad eyes.

The two Pierce women seem to have a conversation with their eyes, and once Susan had confirmed Brittany had everything under control, she turned to walk out of the room, leaving the girls alone.

A few minutes later, and a few calming words later, Santana had visibly settled down. Her sobs were reduced to sniffles and her grasp on Brittany had loosened slightly, although she was showing no sign of letting go any time soon. "I'm sorry." Santana whispers, picking her head up off the blonde's shoulder.

"Don't be sorry." Brittany replies, shaking her head. She looks down at Santana, meeting her big brown orbs, that looked more vulnerable than she had ever seen them. "Do you want to talk about it?" Brittany asks hesitantly. She didn't want to seem as if she was forcing Santana to talk, but she wanted her to know that she was there for her if she did want to talk.

Santana averts her eyes down to the floor, away from Brittany's ocean blue eyes. "No." She says quietly, playing with the hem of Brittany's shirt with her fingers, trying to give herself something to do other than talk to or look at Brittany.

Brittany tries her best to hold back a sigh that wanted so badly to escape her lips. She really wanted Santana to talk to her, and to know what was torturing her while she slept, but she knew pushing the girl would only make things worse. "It's okay, you don't have to." Brittany assures her, making Santana look back up at her. The blonde offers her a small smile, and Santana returns it with the best smile she could muster up. "Just know that I am here, if you do want to talk." She adds, and Santana nods her head.

"You girls hungry?" They hear Susan's voice ask, making them both look over at her. "Made some breakfast." She adds with a warm smile.

Santana quickly pulls herself away from Brittany's grasp, clearing her throat awkwardly, and stands up from the couch. "I'm not hungry." The brunette states, before slipping past the older woman, and making her way up the stairs.

Susan looks over at Brittany with a confused look, "What happened?" She asks with concern.

Brittany's eyes were still trained on the stairs that Santana had just descended, and she shrugs her shoulders mutely, "I'm not sure." she finally says, turning her attention to her mother. "She didn't want to talk about it." She adds, and Susan simply nods her head with a sigh. She knew they didn't need to push Santana, but she also knew the brunette needed to talk about what she'd been through with someone. It would eat her alive, if she didn't.

"Come on, let's go eat. You have school." Susan says, placing her hand on Brittany's back, leading her into the kitchen.

Brittany sighs and brings her eyes back over to look at her mother, "I don't want to go to school." She says matter for fact with a sigh. She gives the older woman her best puppy dog face, although she knew it was probably hopeless.

"She'll be fine." Susan tells her gently. She caresses the blonde's back with her hand and smiles warmly at her, letting her know she'd be safe with her, while she was at school. "You have to go." Her mother adds firmly. She knew she was worried about the Latina, and that even if she did go to school she probably wouldn't concentrate, but she still had to go.

The younger blonde frowns at her mother, but nods her head, and walks into the kitchen.

o0o0o0o0o

After getting ready, Brittany walks out of her bedroom, grabbing her cheerio's bag and her backpack, before closing the door behind her. She glances down the hallway at her oldest sisters closed bedroom door, and pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, contemplating on walking down there. She wanted to tell Santana she was leaving, and she also wanted to check on her, but she didn't want to bother the girl.

Taking in a deep breath she makes her way down the hallway, stopping in front of the door. She let's her bags fall down onto the floor, and brings her hand up to knock on the door. After a few seconds she hears the faint sound of Santana's voice telling her she could come in.

"Hey, you alright?" Brittany asks carefully, walking fully into the bedroom.

Santana was sitting on her sisters window seat with her legs pulled up to her chest, looking outside. She gives Brittany a weak smile, and nods her head, mutely answering Brittany's question.

The blonde slowly makes her way over to the window seat, and sits next to Santana, a good enough distance so that she wouldn't make Santana feel uncomfortable. Her eyes follow Santana's gaze out the window, but nothing was going on. It was simply her empty street. "Okay well I'm about to go to school." The blonde finally says, looking back over at the Latina. "I just wanted to tell you bye, and make sure you were okay." She adds sincerely.

"I'm fine." Santana says, finally voicing her answer, although her eyes never moved from whatever they were looking at out the window.

Brittany leans over to the side, tilting her head to get a better look at the brunette who side eyes her, "You look exhausted." She states quietly.

Santana finally turns her head slightly, looking at the blonde. "A little." She says with a shrug, before her eyes move back over to the street below them. That was an understatement. Brittany could clearly see dark circles and deep bags under the brunette's eyes.

They sit in a silence for a few minutes, and Brittany decides that she should probably go, before she was late. "Okay, well maybe try taking a nap." The blonde suggests as she stands up from the seat. She stares at the Latina for another few seconds before deciding that Santana wasn't going to look at her, so she turns and heads for the door. "Mom made breakfast, it's downstairs still if you get hungry." She adds, and she can see Santana nod her head slightly. "I'll see you after school." The blonde says, before walking out of the room, closing the door behind her.

SXB

Brittany walks over to her locker that morning, and quickly puts in her locker combo. She was slightly late for school, but honestly she didn't care. She didn't even want to be there. She'd been gone for like 20 minutes, and she already was way too worried about Santana. Her mother was home, and she knew Santana would be fine, but she still felt the need to be there for her.

She sees movement out of the corner of her eye, and almost jumps out of her skin when she turns her head slightly and sees Quinn standing only inches away from her, "Didn't mean to scare you." The other blonde says, with a smirk.

The dancer gives her best friend a smile, and shakes her head, "I'm sorry, I'm just a little out of it." She admits, as she begins grabbing books out of her locker, and placing them into her backpack for her first couple of classes.

"What's up?" Quinn asks her brows furrowing, "Problems with Artie?" She asks, her worried expression turning into a smirk. She was just waiting for the moment the two of them would break up. She loved Brittany, and she wanted her to be happy, but she also didn't want the girls reputation going down. Because if her best friend was a loser, then she was a loser. And it wasn't just that he was in a wheel chair. He would be a loser even if he wasn't, and also, he's kind of a douche bag, Brittany just doesn't see it, or she doesn't want to see it.

"No." Brittany says lowly, rolling her eyes at her best friend. "Santana is staying at our house again." She says quietly, glancing briefly over at the other blonde, who's eye brows shoot up in surprise.

A smile appears on the shorter blonde's face, "No way!" She exclaims quietly. She had multiple questions she wanted to ask Brittany about Santana, but she decided to keep it brief instead or rambling, "How did that happen?" she asks, completely shocked to hear about the Latina once again. She hadn't seen her in what? 7 years?

The two of them had never really gotten along. But honestly it was a love/hate relationship. They bickered and challenged each other daily, but deep down, and although they'd never admit it, they loved each other. Santana claimed she only put up with the blonde, without kicking her ass because of Brittany. Although she did kick Quinn's ass a couple times; or Quinn kicked Santana's ass. It depends on who you ask.

Brittany inhales deeply, her eyes moving up to meet Hazel's, "She was sleeping in the park again. The same place I found her the first time." Brittany explains with a somber expression.

Quinn's brows shoot up to her hairline, and her mouth hangs open slightly, "Seriously?" She asks, not believing it. "What happened? Did she run away from her family?" The shorter blonde asks, still trying to process everything Brittany was telling her.

Brittany simply shrugs, her eyes moving down to the ground beneath her, "I don't know." She says quietly with a shrug. "She won't talk to me." She adds in a low voice.

Quinn picked up on her tone, and could tell that Brittany was hurting. She cared deeply for Santana, and she always had, and it was killing her that Santana wouldn't open up to her. "Hey," Quinn says, placing a comforting hand on the taller girl's shoulder making Brittany look up at her, "She's probably been through a lot Britt. She just needs some time to sort things out." She explains, "Besides you know Santana. She's never been good at talking about feelings." Quinn adds with a slight eye roll as her mind drifted back to previous situations like these, where Santana had been to stubborn to talk about what she was feeling.

"I know." Brittany agrees. "I just wish she would talk to me. I know she's been through a lot, and she's hurting, I can tell." Brittany explains as tears began prickling her eyes. She didn't want to get worked up over all of this, especially at school, but she couldn't hold them back, "I just want her to trust me, and know that I'm here for her. I want to help her." Brittany adds, and Quinn nods her head solemnly.

The shorter cheerio smiles softly at Brittany, "She will Britt. Give her time. You know as well as I do, that you are like the only person in this world she trusts." Quinn reassures her. The shorter blonde never knew what it was, but the two girls had some kind of freaky connection between them. Santana was basically a bitch to everyone, except Brittany, and she had no clue why. Even as kids Santana was mean to everyone, until Brittany came along. Why had she been nice to her? Why had she decided this girl was different, and befriended her?

"I know she used to. But what if she doesn't anymore. I haven't seen her in 7 years Quinn. She's changed, I've changed." Brittany explains and out of her control, her lip begins to quiver as the emotions begin hitting her hard. "She was 10 when we last saw her. Things are different." The dancer reminds Quinn.

"Hey, don't get so worked up Britt." Quinn says, soothingly, placing an arm around her best friend. "You guys may have changed personally, but I guarantee nothing has changed between the two of you." She says, matter of fact, "You guys have some freaky bond, that can't be broken, no matter how long you're apart." The blonde says, ducking her head to meet Brittany's downcast eyes, giving her a warm smile. "Okay?" She asks, after getting no response out of Brittany.

Brittany picks her head up, and searches Quinn's eyes as the shorter girl stares back at her with sincerity, "Okay." Brittany finally replies, with a firm head nod. The thought of her and Santana having a bond that strong, made her body feel all tingly. It was something she'd noticed, that she'd only felt a couple of times, each time with Santana, but something she wanted to feel all of the time.

o0o0o0o

Santana quietly makes her way down the stairs and into the kitchen, hoping that Ashley and Susan were no where to be found. She peaks her head around the corner and lets out a sigh of relief seeing neither of them in sight, and walks over to the refrigerator. Her stomach lets out a loud rumble as she digs through the drawers looking for something quick and easy to eat.

She spots some hot pockets in the freezer and pulls one out of the box before tossing the box back in it's place and closing the door. She makes her way over to the microwave, unwrapping the snack from the plastic and grabs a plate form the cabinet over the microwave.

"Honey, I can make you something if you're hungry." She hears the voice of Susan Pierce, making her tense up.

Santana simply shakes her head, and continues preparing her hot pocket, not turning to look at the older woman, "This is fine." She says quietly, opening the microwave door and placing the food inside. She feels the woman getting closer to her, she can hear the footsteps and see the movement out of the corner of her eye.

"Santana." The woman says softly, but sternly, trying to get the Latina to look at her. "Can I talk to you?" She asks, still getting no response from the shorter brunette. She places a gentle hand on Santana's shoulder and can feel the girl's entire body go rigid at the contact, but she keeps her hand there. She wasn't going to hurt Santana, and she wanted the brunette to know that.

Santana clears her throat awkwardly, and steps aside, making Susan's hand fall off of her shoulder. She leans back against the cabinet, and side glances the older woman, with her head bowed down. She swallows thickly and nods her head, letting Susan know she had her attention, and that she was listening.

Brittany's mother watches as Santana creates a distance between them, and instead of making it smaller, like she really wanted, she respects the girl, and stays in her place, just watching her. "I want you to know that you are now apart of this family Santana." The woman says, making Santana slowly pick her head up and look at her warily. "I care about you, just like I do my own kids, and if you need anything please let me know. None of us are here to judge you honey. We see how much you are hurting and we just want to help you." She tells the Latina, looking at her with sincere eyes.

Santana's eyes had dropped back down to the ground, and she had her lip tugged in between her teeth. She was trying her best to hold back tears as she listened to the woman, but fails as a couple run down her cheek. She nods her head simply, not trusting her voice to speak.

Susan watches Santana and all she wants to do is walk over to her and wrap her up in her arms, but she knows better than that. Santana likes her distance, and isn't one for physical contact with others, and she respects that. She waits for a response out of the girl, but when she sees her nod her head, and let out a sniffle followed by silence, she knows that is all she's getting.

Even though Santana wasn't looking at her she gives the girl a meaningful smile, before turning to walk out of the kitchen, wanting to leave the girl alone.

"Thank you." Comes the soft response, making Susan stop in her tracks. She turns around and sees Santana staring back at her; eyes filled with tears. She nods and gives the girl a soft smile before turning around and walking out of the room.

Santana watches Susan walk out of the room and lets out a breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding. Even though she hadn't seen her in years, she was still a mom to Santana; the closet she's ever had to one anyways. She hated not being able to open up to her completely, and especially Brittany, but it was just too hard. She knew it hurt them, and they felt she didn't trust them, but it wasn't that at all. She trusted the Pierce's with her life. She cared about them, which was why she wasn't going to burden them with her problems.

She gets pulled out of her thoughts when she microwave beeps, making her just about jump out of her skin. "Fuck," She mumbles, turning towards the device, and pushing the button for the door to open.

"Language." She hears Ashley's smug voice say from behind her.

With a soft sigh, Santana turns around to look at Brittany's older sister, only to find her smirking at her. Santana simply rolls her eyes and turns back to her hot pocket, retrieving it from the microwave. She wouldn't say she hated Ashley, but the two of them had never gotten along. They were actually a lot alike, which is probably why they didn't. Ashley was loud, outspoken and just a straight up bitch sometimes. But she was a part of Brittany, and Santana could never actually hate anything that was a part of the blonde.

She didn't even know why Ashley was still living with them. She was probably 21 by now, and Santana figured she'd be off at college somewhere, or in her own apartment with a job. Maybe she flunked out. Wouldn't surprise Santana.

Santana grabs a bottle of water out of the fridge and glances over at Ashley who was digging through the pantry for something. She quickly makes her way out of the kitchen before the girl could start up a conversation with her, and carries her food upstairs with her. The good thing about the Pierce's home is that there weren't too many rules, which was good, because she wanted her privacy.

o0o0o0o

Brittany quickly makes her way into her house after school, and tosses her bag down on the floor by the doorway. Her mother would get onto her for that later, but whatever, she was in a hurry. She'd been worried about Santana all day today at school, and just wanted to see her. She'd called her mother during lunch but the woman had simply said she was fine, and told her to go and eat lunch.

The blonde rounds the corner into the living room and sees her mom and sister sitting on the couch, but no signs of the Latina, "Is she in her room?" She asks, already headed for the stairs. She's already half way up them when she hears her mother hum out a response, confirming the question.

She knocks quietly on the door to her older sisters room, and waits patiently for a response. When she hears the soft it's open, she turns the door handle and walks inside, but sees no sign of the darker haired girl. "Santana?" She asks curiously, looking around the room.

Brittany hears movement from the other side of the bed, and walks around to the other side, and sees Santana sitting on the floor; her back propped up against the bed, and her legs pressed to her chest.

"What are you doing?" The blonde asks confused. She sits down on the floor next to Santana, gazing over at her in concern. The girl wasn't crying which was at least a good sign, but Brittany could tell she was somewhere else with her thoughts. The blonde reaches out, and places a hand on Santana's arm, feeling the girl tense, and jump slightly.

Santana looks over at Brittany, the touch snapping her out of wherever she'd been with her thoughts. She sees the concern on her face and then notices the hand that was on her arm, but doesn't brush it off. The touch didn't cause fear to rise within her like most touches did. She felt something else floating within her body, and it felt good.

Brittany frowns at Santana who looked completely lost, and she tilts her head to the side, "Are you okay?" She asks, scooting closer to the girl. She lets her hand fall from Santana's arm, but doesn't miss the almost longing glance Santana gives the blonde's fallen hand.

"I'm fine." Santana finally says, her voice even lower and more raspy than normal. She hadn't spoken since early this morning, and it almost hurt her throat to do so. "I was just thinking." Santana adds with a small shrug.

Brittany wanted so badly to ask what she was thinking about, but she bit her tongue knowing Santana wasn't going to answer her anyway. Instead she picks her arm up, and gently lies it on top of Santana's shoulders. The brunette doesn't tense at the action, which makes a smile tug on Brittany's lips. Although Santana didn't move into the touch, at least she wasn't pulling away.

"How was school?" Santana asks, after the girls had fallen into a brief silence. Her head was still pointed towards the window across from them as well as her eyes. and her hands were resting on the tops of her knees that were still pulled up to her chest.

Brittany simply shrugs her shoulders at the question, "School." She returns vaguely, "Boring and pointless." She says with a smirk, keeping her eyes on the Latina.

Santana licks her lips, and rests her chin on top of her hands, "School isn't pointless." She replies softly.

"What? You're telling me you aren't happy, you don't have to go?" She asks Santana with a slight chuckle. She knew school wasn't pointless because without it, well she'd be even dumber than she already was, but still, that didn't mean she didn't hate it any less. It was just too hard. She was failing almost everything.

"I like school." Santana says honestly. Her eyes move down to her feet and she pulls her lip in to her mouth, chewing on it. She can feel Brittany's curious eyes on her, but she doesn't look at the blonde, "I like learning, and I guess it's a good distraction." She explains simply. "I would always just wrap myself up in school and for a moment forget everything that was happening in my life." She adds.

Brittany's eyes stay focused on the Latina next to her, but she doesn't dare speak. This was the most she'd ever gotten out of Santana, and she didn't want to say anything that would make the girl stop talking. She wanted her to open up to her, and to trust her. She wanted to know what all had happened in Santana's life.

Santana sniffles, and takes in a deep breath, "I used to think that if I did well in school, then I could go to college somewhere far away from here, and actually make something of myself." Santana says, letting out a bitter chuckle as she shakes her head at herself. "It's stupid." She adds quietly.

"It's not stupid." Brittany retorts quickly, making Santana look over at her. The brunette's eyes dart back and forth between ocean blues, for a few seconds, before turning back to the hardwood floor. "You can still do all of that." Brittany tells her encouragingly.

Santana inhales deeply, and shakes her head. She lets her head fall back onto the side of the bed, and wipes her eyes with the back of her hand, "I can't afford college, and anyways, how can I get into college if I don't even finish high school?" She asks, her voice filled with defeat.

Brittany chews on her bottom lip, and lets the tips of her fingers softly caress at Santana's shoulder, "We'll figure something out." She finally says, nodding her head firmly, "But I can promise you that you will go to college, and you will be successful. I'll make sure it happens." Brittany promises her with a warm smile.

Swallowing hard, Santana glances at Brittany, before turning her whole head to look at the blonde that was smiling at her. She licks her lips, "Promise?" She asks lowly.

It was the most vulnerable and fearful that Brittany felt she'd ever seen Santana. It took her back to the time years ago when they were 5, and Santana was upset about her mommy and daddy leaving. "I promise." Brittany confirms, holding her pinkie out to the Latina.

Santana's eyes move down to Brittany's little finger and can't help a smile from tugging on her lips. She reaches out and wraps her pinkie around the blonde's, who giggles and squeezes Santana with the arm that was still around her shoulders.

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