Again, I don't own Glee or its characters.

I apolozize for the long wait, but finally here is the next chapter. (It's kinda difficult writing two stories at once...)

Sole: Thank you so much for the great exchanges, the beta-reading and the fun discussions we're having!

Thank you for your reviews and favorites!


Heartbreaks and Sobs – Chapter 2

Quinn almost stumbled backwards as Santana lurched herself into her arms. Rachel threw her girlfriend an apologetic smile while she closed the door, as if saying what was I supposed to do?

Before Quinn could say anything Santana started some incoherent rambling from which the blonde picked up only a few words, trying to piece together what had actually caused this rare state of dissolve in her friend.

Santana was usually not known to bawl like a child, so whatever happend, it must have been big!

"Okaaaaay, Santana, let's sit down, come on," Quinn suggested at some point and led her friend into the living room. Rachel mouthed behind her back that she was going to make some tea and disappeared into the kitchen.

The other two women settled on the couch. Handing the Latina a box of tissues, Quinn watched her noisily blow her nose.

"Uh, sorry," Santana sniffed. "Guess I lost it a bit."

"What happened? Is everything ok with your family? With Brittany?" The last mention sent another stream of tears down Santana's face.

Jesus, what was up with her, she had never - never –acted like that before. The former cheerio captain felt a bit helpless as to how to console her friend. Seeing her so deranged was just new for Quinn and she and Santana already went back a looooong way.

"San, come on, talk to me. What happened? Did something happen to Brittany? Is she sick, did she have an accident? What?" Quinn was starting to get really worried now until the Latina shook her head.

"No, she's fine. I mean, more or less. It's just…" she sniffed and blew her nose again, "… I saw her with another woman, they hugged. And she whispered something into the other woman's ear."

More sniffing.

"I think…. I think… she is betraying me!" This revelation sent Santana over the edge again, falling against Quinn who hugged her.

Rachel came out of the kitchen with two cups of tea and placed them in front of her friends on the couch table. She sat down next to Santana and laid a hand soothingly on her back.

"Santana, I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding, I don't think Brittany would ever do that! Have you talked to her? Have you asked her who that woman was?" Rachel then inquired, catching Quinn's pleading look.

The Latina sat up, playing with the used tissue in her hand, her shoulders slumped and her eyes trained at her lap.

"No. I saw her and just stared for a moment. Then I turned and left." She was silent for a moment in which Quinn threw another look at Rachel, begging her to support her in this, clearly a bit overwhelmed with this kind of Santana behavior.

"Did Brittany see you? Didn't she explain who the person was?" Rachel continued trying to pull the details out of the distressed friend.

The other woman sighed. "I don't know. No. Yes, I mean, I think she called my name. But I was too shocked, I couldn't turn back."

Brittany surely had turned the Latina into a tame little puppy, Quinn was convinced. Where was the Santana she knew, the one who faced whatever and whomever, butting heads with everyone?

Santana sat up a bit straighter as if having read Quinn's thoughts.

"God, I the hell have no idea what turned me into such a mushy! I never break down like that!" She cast her eyes down at her hands. "Eeew, that is disgusting, another reason why I hate crying," she added with a look at the used tissues she still held and dropped them on the coffee table, wiping her hands on her jeans.

Rachel followed the tissues projection and pulled the corners of her mouth down in slight disapproval. Quinn used this to stand up and discard the objects of offense into the bin, careful to touch as little of the wet surface as possible. This earned her a grateful smile from her girlfriend.

Sitting back down she handed Santana a tea cup. "Here, drink something that will help to clear your head a little."

Santana sniffed at the tea with the slight cinnamon aroma and took a cautious sip of the hot beverage.

"Guess it would go down better with a shot of Tequila. That is what my aunt always drinks after she has a nervous breakdown. Somehow that always seems to calm her." She sighed and put the cup back down, at a loss of words.

"Do you know where Brittany is now? Maybe you should call her and talk to her," Rachel suggested after a moment of silence in which neither woman said anything.

"I know my phone was ringing a couple of times, but I didn't feel like answering." Santana dug into her backpack and fished out her phone, gasping when she saw that she had twelve missed calls from Brittany.

"Well, don't you wanna call her back now?" Rachel asked softly.

Slowly Santana moved her head from left to right. "No. What if she is going to tell me that it's over? That she doesn't love me anymore?"

"What if she is going to tell you the exact opposite? That there was nothing, that she still loves you and ever will?" Quinn chimed in.

"And maybe she is just worried and wondering what has happened to you and why you don't answer your phone…" Rachel added.

Santana stood up, rubbing her forehead, exhaling slowly. "I need some fresh air. I can't think." She strode towards the door, leaving the other two women in her wake.

Quinn held her hands up, a confused expression on her face. "What…?" She did not finish the question, clearly wondering what the hell was going on and how to get out of this whole mess.

Rachel indicated with her head that she should follow Santana.

Realizing that her girlfriend was right, Quinn's shoulders sagged a bit. Please let this be a dream and please let me wake up. Now. Let me wake up in my bed with Rachel in my arms and the whole day before us. Please. Now!

When nothing happened and even a pinch in her arm did not help, she sighed. It was not that she did not want to help her friend or did not understand how she must feel. It was just that this day was the only day she and Rachel would have in the near future all to themselves. Or so in theory.

A tender kiss from Rachel and a whispered: "Later baby, we'll make up for the lost time later," was supposed to give her some encouragement, but Quinn had a perfect counter-argument.

"What if I get run over by a bus while chasing after Santana? Then there won't be any later!" Quinn replied, but Rachel would not hear any of it.

"Quinn, honey. I promise, you will not be run over by a bus nor by any other kind of vehicle. But I will not make love to you any time soon if you don't run after your friend!" Rachel simply stated.

With one last grupmy look at the brown eyes that told her that her girlfriend would not budge, Quinn jumped up, grabbed her jacket and strode out after Santana.

Muttering under her breath she trailed her Latin friend. "I'd rather catch up sooner than later. Later could mean anything between now and never." And she tried to push the images of her girlfriend's lush lips of out of her mind, otherwise she would have started moaning and that would not do, least of all in public.

Then speeding up she called: "Hey, Santana, wait up!" And she ran after her friend.

When she caught up with her they walked next to each other without talking for a while. They silently took the direction via a small park, sitting down on a bench.

Finally Quinn could not take it any longer. She was worried about her friend, but she also saw her day slipping though her fingers and even though she felt guilty about it, she selfishly wanted to get back to her own girlfriend. She took a deep breath and tried to focus on her friend. It would be unfair to not support her in this situation, especially since Santana had explicitly turned to her for help.

"Santana, you haven't said anything for the past ten minutes. Talk to me! I have never seen you like that and I have to admit this worries me a bit. So let me know what is going on in that head of yours." Her tone was gentle and probing.

Santana answered after thinking a moment. "I'm so … I don't know. I feel stupid for overreacting, I feel hopeless and hopeful at the same time. I'm just confused."

"Well, I am just surprised you didn't whack that other woman over the head for laying hands on your girlfriend," Quinn chuckled and the comment made her friend smile. "What made you run? That did not seem like the Santana I knew."

"Yeah, crying like that is definitely not me! I don't know. I guess I love Brittany more than I thought, so seeing her with that other woman, imagining that she might leave me for her…" She let her voice trail off before she came up with another retort.

"I shoulda whacked her, you're right! Shoulda shown her who she's messing with! Besides, why would Brit trade me for some other woman, huh? I mean, look at me!" And she wiggled her eyebrows, moving her hands down in front of her body in a show-off gesture.

"That's my girl!" Quinn patted her friend on the shoulder and laughed. "At least you could have asked who she was and what she wanted with your girl."

"Nah, you know me, it's all or nothing. Though I guess I drew the "nothing" card this time. Really. I still don't know why I reacted so wimpy. Gaaawd, Quinn, Brittany turned me into a little tame whimsical damsel," she then whined with mock desperation that made Quinn chuckle.

"Well, I had a similar thought a little earlier. But, knowing you, I think this won't happen again. Next time you'll just show off the real Santana, no matter who stands in front of you. Come on, call Brittany back!"

Quinn demonstratively placed Santana's backpack on her lap, bumping her slightly with her shoulder.

Santana managed a weak smile, slowly reached inside her knapsack and took her phone out, dialing Brittany's number after a short hesitation. She was still a bit worried about what Brittany would tell her.

When her girlfriend picked up after the first ring, she stood up and started pacing back and forth.

"Hey Brit, it's me. I, uhm, I'm sorry I overreacted a bit today." Santana managed to apologize and listened to what her girlfriend answered.

"Where are you?" She then wanted to know.

Again there was an explanation on the other side.

Finally the Latina managed to pose the important question. "And who was that woman you hugged?"

Quinn tried to piece together the conversation from what she heard at her end. As Santana was not saying much more that the occasional "Unhn, hm" and" yeah", it was quite a difficult task. Finally she gave up as her curiosity took over.

She stood next to Santana, leaning her ear against the phone.

"How is it going?" She whispered, only wanting to be heard by Santana.

However, the phone seemed to have a good microphone as after another "yeah" and "she is" Santana handed Quinn the phone. "Brit wants to talk to you."

Quinn furrowed her eyebrows in question, but Santana just kept holding the phone in her direction. Finally she took it and pressed it against her ear.

"Brit?"

"Quinn?"

"Yes. What is going on? I thought you had died in a car crash judging from the state Santana was in when she fell over our doorstep!" Quinn explained.

"What, Santana fell? Is she hurt?" Brittany sounded worried.

"No B. It is just a saying. But she was crying…" This caused Santana to vehemently wave her hands, shake her head, mouth nononono and make a movement with her finger across her throat when she heard Quinn describe the state she had been in to Brittany. However Quinn seemed unfazed by the whole action that went on in front of her and continued: "… because she thought you had betrayed her. Who was that woman you hugged?"She repeated Santana's earlier question.

"How do you know that I hugged someone?"

"Your girlfriend told me. She saw you." Quinn explained patiently.

"Oh. Yeah. That was the daughter of a friend of my mom's cousin. We were kinda best friends in elementary school before her family moved away. I haven't seen her in years, even though we stayed in contact. Anyway, we were just happy to see each other, that's why we hugged. Can you please tell Santana this? I'm not sure she believes me," Brittany explained a little disappointed.

"Ok, I'll see what I can do. I think it'd be best if you talked face to face. Why don't you come over to our apartment, meet her there and you can sort it all out?"

This comment earned Quinn a scowling look from the Latina, but Brittany seemed to be relieved to clarify the whole matter in person.

"Please tell San that I love her and that I would never betray her, ok? And that little kiss didn't mean anything; we used to do that all the time when we were little."

Quinn's eyes widened. "That ki…?!" and she managed to bit off the rest of the word in order to not alert Santana. She doubted she had seen them kiss, otherwise she would have mentioned it already.

"It was only on the cheek," Brittany clarified, for once realizing that this might have been a little awkward indeed. "You think Santana saw that?"

"No. I think not." Quinn replied shortly, not wanting to alert her friend even more.

"Tell her I love her, ok?" Brit asked again.

Quinn nodded and looked at her friend. "Yeah, I will tell her. See you at our place, bye!"

"See you there Quinn! Thanks and bye!" Brittany chirped through the phone.

"Bye." Quinn ended the call and handed the phone back to her friend who wearily looked at her.

"So, what'd she say?"

"Guess the same she told you." Quinn cleared her throat after having delivered that half lie. "Some old friend of her mom's cousin's daughter…. whatever. Forgot the relation. That was just an old elementary school friend she had not seen in years."

"Yeah, that's what she told me, too." Santana still had a sullen look on her face as she kicked a small pebble with her foot to make it skid across the path.

"You know, Santana, honestly, the coincidence would be very high if that friend was gay as well."

"But who says that old friends can't become gay or that she may have always been gay?" Santana asked back with a knowing look at Quinn.

"Well, point taken, however, Santana, we are talking about Brit. She loves you! She would not just cheat on you. Remember when Artie thought she had cheated on him? It turned out she had just lost his magic comb. Really, I think that you have nothing to fear. She is telling the truth. Come on, let's get going and sort this out." Quinn coaxed the still slightly unwilling Latina.

Finally she let herself be dragged along in the direction of Quinn's home. The blond let out a silent prayer of thanks and a long sigh, when all of a sudden Santana stopped and pulled her around. "Wait."

Oh no, what now? Quinn braced herself for another discussion. At least they had managed to get twenty feet closer to home. She had to be thankful for small favors. With an inquiring look she met Santana's eyes who immediately poured out the question as she noted she had Quinn's attention.

"Did she say a name?"

"What?" Quinn could not follow.

"The woman Brit hugged, did she say what her name was?" Santana explained impatiently.

"No." Quinn shook her head. "Why?"

"Hm. 'Cause Brit once told me about an old school friend who … Oh no! Oh my god! If that was her…And to think I…" Despite the half-finished sentences Santana looked a little relieved. However, Quinn could not follow.

"Hello? Can you speak in whole sentences please and let me know what is now going now? And if whatever you're just figuring out is a good or a bad thing?" The blonde demanded, but Santana was still lost in her thoughts, continuing to talk to herself.

"Of course, that must be her. God, I am so stupid!" Then she slapped herself with the flat hand on the forehead.

What was it with people today? Could they not just act normally? Quinn raised an eyebrow, looking sternly at her friend. "Santana! Focus!"

The Latina focused back on her friend as if recognizing only now that she still stood there.

"Sorry. I just realized how stupid I acted. Especially because I think this woman Brittany met is the old friend from elementary school who became an actress."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "So, why does this make a difference? It's not like you don't know any actresses in your vicinity," she added, pointing at herself with both index fingers.

"Yeah, but that is different. You and Berry are old friends," Santana stated flatly. "Besides this actress is married and has two kids. Had I looked a little closer, I might have even recognized her. That would have saved me quite some tears."

Quinn rolled her eyes again, thinking if she kept on doing that she would have sore eyeballs the next day. Nevertheless she was glad that her friend seemed a little closer to normal now.

"Well, whoever it was, I think we should go home now and you and Brit talk about what happened. As for me, I the hell don't care if the other woman was Megan Fox, Hilary Clinton or Tinker Bell!" I just wanna go home, get everybody out of our apartment and enjoy the peace and quiet with my girlfriend, she thought with a little sigh. Good Lord, is it too much to ask?

Santana looked at Quinn. "Uh, thanks for the compassion, Q. Anyway, you're right, let's go back." And she tugged at Quinn's sleeve, pulling her with her. "Come on, don't stall," she then reprimanded her former Cheerio captain.

Quinn shook her head and trotted after her friend.

This was really one of the strangest days she had ever experienced. And it was not even half way over. The blond dreaded a bit what the rest of the day would bring, but was at least glad that the Santana drama seemed to head off into a positive direction. And then there was still that "later"-promise from Rachel. So maybe the day would end nicely in between the sheets, Quinn hoped.

In front of their apartment building Quinn pulled out her key and as she inserted it into the door, she heard her friend with a little smirk in the typical Santana fashion ask:

"Tinker Bell. Really Quinn?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, just makes me wonder how you came up with that one. Have you been engaged in some little role plays with Miss Berry, maybe?"

While ascending the stairs Quinn began to wonder if she did not like the whiny Santana more than her old self as she gave her the only fitting answer.

"Shut the fuck up!"