Hey everyone, thanks the reviews. It's going to be at least three weeks before I post the next chapter as I have a huge paper due next week, finals in three weeks and my dog just had knee surgery. Hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Somehow Brett manages not to crash his car when he hears this. How could any man ever put their hands on a woman let alone a woman they supposedly love. Well he assumes Santana and her ex where in love since they have a daughter together. When he pulls up to the apartment, he quickly gets out and helps Sofie out of the car.

"You saw your dad hurt your mom?" Brett asks looking the little girl in the eyes.

"Yes, he hit mami. Grandpa and uncle Antony were mad." Sofie says unsure if she should say anymore.

"If that ever happens again come tell me and I'll protect you and your mom." Brett says hugging her to him.

"They no together anymore. Daddy mean to mami. I no go with daddy." Sofie says shaking her head.

Brett bites his lip, but doesn't say anything else instead he leads her up to Antonio's apartment. Once they're in the apartment Brett is not sure what he should do. Should he talk to her about what she told him or just ignore it and play with her.

"No tell mami about daddy." Sofie says to Brett, tugging on his pant leg.

"I won't tell her or your uncle okay." Brett says holding out his pinky. "I pinky promise."

"Pinky promise," Sofie says wrapping her pinky around his. "We play princess now?"

"Of course," Brett says just happy that she's smiling again.

Before they can even get around to playing the door is flung open and Santana rushes in. She engulfs her daughter in a hug.

"Are you okay baby?" Santana asks holding her daughter out to look at her.

"Yes, I play with Brett." Sofie says running out of the living room to go find her princess dress.

Santana watches her daughter run out before she falls back onto the couch.

Brett wants to ask her about her ex and what Sofie told him, but doesn't since he promised the little girl. "I thought you still had some training to do." he says figuring it's safer to stick with fighting unless she wants to open up.

"My brother's taking over for me for the rest of the day." Santana says smiling when her daughter comes back in.

"Here Big B, you're the prince." Sofie says handing him a crown. "And mami you can be a princess too."

Santana manages to relax a bit playing pretend with her daughter and Brett. She mostly sat back and watched her daughter and Brett play together. The fact that Brett comes up with just as many ideas as her daughter surprises her. Never has she seen a grown man so happy to play princess even her brother who often has to play with her daughter. After several hours of play Sofie starts yawning and Santana ends up putting her to bed in the spare room. When she comes out Brett is in the kitchen cleaning up the snack tray they had made for dinner.

"You don't have to do that." Santana says leaning in the doorway.

"I want to." Brett says used to having to clean up.

"Did my brother tell you anything?" Santana asks wanting to know if he knows everything.

"No, but he did say Sofie is his daughter and the reaction your brother had I figured he's your ex and it didn't end well." Brett says hoping he'll find out more.

He wants to get to know her better, she intrigues him.

"It did end badly about a year and half ago and Sofie hasn't seen him except for today since. He's a mess and I have full custody." Santana says ashamed she was ever with him.

"He seemed pretty drunk and I'm pretty sure I saw some track marks on his arm." Brett says. "Though Sofie didn't notice it at all." he adds in case she's worried about that.

"He didn't drink or do drugs when we first got together." Santana tries to explain.

"I'm not judging you at all. I just want you to know that I'm here if you need me." Brett says looking into her eyes.

"Why? Why do you care?" Santana asks.

"Because I care about you and want to get to know you." Brett says shrugging.

He truly does want to get to know her. Having three sisters and being raised mostly by a single mom, he's always been very protected of women. The need to insure that this woman and her adorable daughter are okay is strong. All he wants to do is gather her up in his arms.

She is confused. She has no idea why this man cares so much. Sure they've had a connection when they've been training but she didn't think he cared this much. For some reason she trusts this man and snuggles into his muscular body laying her head on his shoulder. She gasps a little when he wraps an arm around her.

"He hurt me." Santana whispers softly.

She whispers it so softly that he doesn't catch it.

"What?" Brett asks looking down at her.

"My ex, he hurt me. He started out fine, I've known him since we were kids and our parents are friends. When I got pregnant it was unexpected and after he started to get abusive." Santana weakly says not even sure why she is telling him this.

Brett for his part holds his tongue even though he has so much he'd like to say to her. Instead he just gives her a gentle squeeze.

"He never hurt Sofie or me when she was around. It started small, grabbing my wrists hard when he was angry, shoving me and degrading me. I put up with it for two years until he hits me so fucking hard that he fractured my jaw. I had to have it surgically fixed and my jaw was wired shut for two months." Santana says tears starting to fall.

"It's okay," Brett softly says wiping the tears away with his thumbs.

"Obviously my dad wanted to know what happened and when he found out he was pissed. My brother wanted to kill him while my dad wanted to get him lawyers involved." Santana continues.

"Honey," Brett says pulling her more into him.

"I didn't press charges, his dad's a cop and his mom comes from money. I didn't want to deal with all the drama or put my daughter through that, I do have a restraining order and he has to ask before he can see Sofie." Santana finishes crying into Brett's shoulder.

Brett doesn't know what to say to make things better for her. It happened so long ago that he's not sure what to do. So he just continues to hold her and let her cry. All he can think about is how he'll beat the shit out of her ex if he ever sees him and Sofie's not around. He doesn't know how Antonio managed not to kill her ex cause if any man had done that to his sister, they wouldn't still be breathing. Needless to say he's very protective of women.

"Sofie mentioned she hasn't seen her dad in a long time." Brett finally says causing her to lift her head off of his shoulder.

"Every time he's asked to see her, she starts crying and won't stop until I say she doesn't have to see him." Santana admits. "I have no idea why."

Brett debates wither he should tell her what Sofie told him or not. It feels like something he should tell her, but he doesn't want to lose the trust of Sofie. Ultimately he decides she needs to know.

"Sofie told me earlier something that she made me promise not to tell you. So you have to promise not to say anything." Brett says looking deep into her eyes.

"Is it bad?" Santana asks now worried.

"I need you to promise. I don't want to start anything with you and hold something back I know about your daughter." Brett says holding her hands in his.

"I promise," Santana says frowning.

"Well…Sofie told me that she saw your ex hit you which is why she doesn't want to see him." Brett calmly says knowing that one of them has to stay calm.

"Fuck, I have to-"

Brett holds her tightly so she can't leave. "She doesn't want you to know so you can't tell her or she'll know I told you."

"Then why the fuck did you tell me. I need to go comfort her." Santana says trying to get up.

"I told you because I want to take you out on a date and don't want to keep this kind of secret from you." Brett softly says.

"You want to date me?" Santana says shocked completely forgetting for the moment about her daughter.

They end up talking into the early hours of the morning. Santana agrees not to say anything to her daughter for a few weeks while Brett tries to get Sofie to tell her mom. She really respects this man for telling her and for still trying to keep the trust with her daughter. He's so much more sensitive and yet still very manly than any other guy she's ever met.

"I should head home and try to get a little sleep before we have training tomorrow at eight." Brett says standing up.

"Please stay, my brother's at his girlfriend's house and I don't want to be alone." Santana quietly asks.

"Okay, I'll sleep on the couch." Brett says.

Santana takes his hand and pulls him with her to Antonio's room. She doesn't want to sleep alone and he makes her feel safe. He thinks about trying to go back into the living room but decides to just go with what she wants. She crawls under the blankets and waits for him to lay down before snuggling into his body.

"Thanks for staying." Santana yawns.

"Go to sleep, I'll be here when you wake up." Brett whispers kissing her forehead, lying down over the covers.

The following morning Brett is woken up when a little body lands on his.

"Umpf," Brett groans.

"Sofie," Santana scolds looking over to make sure that Brett is okay.

"I'm fine," Brett groans glad she missed his semi hard on.

"I'm hungry mami." Sofie says climbing over onto her mom.

"Go wait in the kitchen, we'll be in, in a few minutes." Santana says wincing for Brett when Sofie's foot hits him in the groin as she scampers off.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Brett groans cupping his wounded junk.

"Are you okay? Do you need something like ice?" Santana asks sitting up and looking over at him.

"Go get Sofie some food. I'll be out when I can." Brett says wincing.

"I'll have some ice for you when you come out." Santana says carefully leaning over and giving him a peck on the cheek.

Brett grins as he winces, his junk still very sore. He looks over at the clock and sees that it's seven-thirty; they have to be at the gym by eight.

"Shit," Brett groans slowly getting up.

He still needs to head back to his apartment to grab a change of clothes.

"I'm going to head home." Brett says waddling into the kitchen.

"Maybe you should take a few hours to rest up before you come in like at noon." Santana says helping him over to a chair.

"Are you okay Big B?" Sofie asks looking over at Brett.

"I'll be fine." Brett says giving her a smile. "And I think I'll take you up on that offer." he says to Santana.

"I'd stay with you, but I can't miss any more training time." Santana tells him putting a plate of pancakes in front of him.

"I get it, you need to be there to insure you're building the best team. I'll be there as soon as I can." Brett says.

"I'm sorry about junior." Santana whispers kissing his cheek. "Maybe I can cook you dinner at my place tonight as an apology?" Santana softly says.

"I think I'd be cool with that." Brett says before he starts eating.

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Brett ends up showing up to training at noon and jumping in. Santana tries not to favor him, but her brother notices something is up with the two of them. Especially when Santana trips and Brett nearly takes out Nicky to catch her. Thankfully he's the only one who notices and at his first chance he pulls Brett away from everyone.

"What is up with you and my sister?" Antonio asks.

"Nothing is up, why do you ask?" Brett asks trying not to seem nervous.

"Because my sister can't take her eyes off of you and you're just as bad as her." Antonio says giving him a knowing look.

Brett gulps hoping that he won't be pissed. God knows he'd be pissed if one of his best friends got together or was planning to without telling him.

"We talked last night after Sofie went to bed and she told me about her ex. We have what I think is a date tonight." Brett says leaving out the part that he spent the night, he doesn't need to know about that.

"She told you about Greg, all about him." Antonio says shocked.

"Yes, it took her a while, but she told me everything and if I ever see him again I'll pound his head in." Brett growls.

"I'm glad that she has you." Antonio says patting his back.

"Are you sure you're okay with me dating your sister. You're my best friend and I'd hate to lose that friendship." Brett says glancing over towards Santana whose helping Dani.

"I don't mind man, so long as you treat my sister right." Antonio says giving Brett a stern look. "And if you hurt her I get to beat you to a pulp."

"Deal," Brett agrees.

The two men head back to training without anyone noticing that they were even gone. Santana finally calls training over at six, feeling like everyone needs so much needed rest.

"Great day of training everyone." Santana says as her group of fighters gather around her. "You all have been working so hard for the last three that instead of starting at seven we'll start at nine tomorrow. I think you all deserve to get a little extra sleep." she says and the seven fighters cheer. "But we will stay two hours later."

All the fighters groan even though they all are looking forward to getting to sleep in a little.

"What time should I come over?" Brett asks sliding next to Santana.

"Does an hour work for you?" Santana asks, handing him her address.

"Yep, I'll be over at seven sharp." Brett says bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Okay, I'll see you then." Santana says, smiling when he kisses her cheek before leaving.

She watches him leave before she goes back to writing her notes and waiting for the last of the female fighters to come out. Their always the last ones to leave cause they actually shower unlike the guys who just leave all smelly. She'll never understand guys. Ten minutes later Nicky leaves, Santana locks the door and heads home quickly to start cooking.

"Honey!" Maria shouts using her key to open Santana's door.

"In the kitchen mom!" Santana shouts, smiling when her daughter comes flying in.

"Mami, mami look what gamma got me!" Sofie shouts holding up a stuffed dolphin.

"Did you have fun at the aquarium and zoo with grandma?" Santana asks her bending down.

"Yesth, we saw a whale." Sofie excitedly says.

"Wow a whale," Santana gasps. "It must have been huge."

"It was," Sofie says nodding before she takes off to her room.

Maria who has moved to the stove to see what her daughter is making for dinner is shocked by the amount.

"Why are you making so much food?" Maria asks. "I know you and Sofie won't even eat half of that spaghetti."

"If you must know mami, I'm having a guest over." Santana says hoping her mom will drop it.

"Oh who is it?" Maria asks thinking she might know him.

"Mami, it's just a friend." Santana stresses.

"Honey I'm just interested to know if it's a guy." Maria softly says. "You haven't dated since Greg."

"Mami drop it." Santana says giving her mom a look of fucking stop.

Maria keeps her mouth shut even though she wants to say something. She wants to apologize to her daughter for pushing her to stay with Greg, she didn't know he was hurting her. He had always been so nice and sweet plus his parents are good people and her friends. Since Greg broke Santana's jaw she's found it hard to really connect with her daughter. She honestly believes the only reason that she's still in her daughter's life is her granddaughter. It makes her happy to help out any way especially since she gets to spend so much time with her granddaughter.

"Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Maria says hoping that her daughter might tell her something more.

"Yeah see ya," Santana says waving as she goes back to cooking.

Maria smiles sadly at her daughter wishing they had more of a relationship. Opening the door, she stops dead in her tracks; standing there in the doorway is a tall, handsome man. She just stares at him, he's wearing a nice sea green dress shirt and black dress pants. It sure as hell looks like he's planning on this being a date.

"Um….is this Santana's house?" Brett asks nervous he has the wrong house.

Before Maria can answer Santana comes in. "Mami would you close…oh Brett." she says blushing as she's wearing an apron and isn't even dressed yet.

"Hi, I know I'm early but I couldn't just stay in the apartment any longer without going crazy." Brett says smiling sheepishly.

"That's fine my mom was just leaving." Santana says giving her mom a look as she pulls Brett in.

"It was nice to meet you!" Brett shouts as Maria leaves completely stunned by what just happened. He turns back to Santana. "You look very pretty."

"I'm not even dressed yet." Santana says blushing even harder.

"You look perfect." Brett says cupping her face and kissing her.

"I have to go get dressed, sit here." Santana says pushing him onto the couch.

He takes his time to look around and honestly it's really bland almost like she just picked it out of a catalog. It's not what he expected at all. The room is all white and gray, very modern and formal. He thinks that maybe this is the formal living room and the rest of the house is more homey.

"Big B!" Sofie shouts running in. "Why here?" she asks.

"I'm here to have dinner with your mom and you." Brett says.

"Cool, come see my room." Sofie says grabbing his hand.

He follows her, allowing himself to be dragged through the kitchen which was way more homey and up the stairs. At the top of the stairs stands Santana, looking completely gorgeous. She's wearing a black knee length dress, with diamond stud earrings and a silver necklace. He stops dead in his tracks and can't not stare at her.

"Wow," Brett says still staring at her.

Santana bites her lip, blushing. The way he's looking at her, it's amazing like she's the only woman in the world. No one has ever looked at her like this before. He slowly closes the gap between them and stares deep into her eyes.

"Big B come on," Sofie says stamping her foot impatiently.

"Honey calm down, where are you taking Brett?" Santana asks giving her daughter a look of don't mess with me.

"To my room, we play." Sofie says grabbing Brett's hand and trying to pull him with her.

"Honey it's time for dinner, you can show Brett your room later." Santana says moving her daughter to head downstairs.

She huffs and heads downstairs, knowing she gets to set the table.

"You look amazing." Brett whispers cupping her face.

"You don't look bad yourself." Santana says brushing her fingers over his stubble. "I like when you have a short beard." she softly tells him.

"Your daughter doesn't." Brett says removing his hands from her face.

"Speaking of her, we'd better head down before she gets angry at us for taking too long." Santana says running her fingers again over his stubble. "Who are you going to listen to me or my daughter?" she asks brushing pass him, heading down the stairs.

He gulps before hurrying after her.