Sorry about the massive delay, shameful I know. Lately my life has been turned completely upside down, both of my parents have just found out they have cancer so I've been pretty preoccupied but chapter should be flowing a little more consistently in the near future. Again I apologise for lack of inspiration during this chapter, my mind has been elsewhere.

Anyway! on with the story! thank you for reading as usual and sticking with me through out this dry spell.

Chapter 3

"I can hear them talking…" Brittany had been lost inside of her head as echoes of another world skittered on through her mind. The sound of crying and comforting, the lost and unnoticed beep of a machine and then suddenly soft humming filled her entire being; it warmed her heart and flooded her nerves. She couldn't recognise the tune or figure out who it was directed to but Brittany would have been able to pick out Santana's voice in the midst of a hurricane. "She's awake." The smile that pulled at the corners of her lips was almost instantaneous and the others that were seated around the fire didn't need clarification of who exactly 'she' was.

####

"Santana… did you hear me?" Rachel looked at the Latina with desperate eyes, she'd tried her best to explain the whole situation to Santana without breaking down but the brunette had sat in a complete state of shock, she hadn't muttered a word through the whole conversation, hell she hadn't even acknowledged Rachel's existence the whole hour the diva had sat holding her hand on top pf Kurt's head, she was just numb to all the pain she was feeling. The man on the floor hadn't moved from Santana's side either, he had just cried louder when Rachel had mentioned the death of his boyfriend.

Santana gave a curt nod in response but didn't offer up anything else and Rachel took that as her queue to leave positive that Santana had heard her and had understood the situation. Despite her being slightly hesitant about leaving her very fragile best friends curled up on the floor together, Rachel knew it would be best for Santana to take everything in, she left the room and the door swung shut behind her.

Minutes, hours, days could have passed in the time they were left in the hospital room. She'd been humming for a long time, too long to even remember how much time had passed, not that she cared. Ten minutes or so into her attempt to comfort Kurt after Rachel had left, she'd allowed herself to drift away from reality and found herself in that dark place she had once been in a little over a year ago when she'd found herself alone. And it had occurred to her, while her hand was laced tenderly with Brittany's and the other in Kurt's hair, that she was alone again. But this time, this time it was worse, a million times worse if that could have even been possible.

She'd willingly chosen to leave the last time and it had been entirely her fault but this time everything had been ripped out from beneath her feet and had her hurtling through the air at a terrifying speed. Not only hers but the people that had been taken from her. Their lives had been stolen from them and there wasn't any kind of law enforcement that could get them back. Brittany was stuck in some sort of coma; unresponsive to her begging and crying, the kisses she had placed along her face and the touches she had placed on her soft, oh so soft skin.

Her mother had left her, gotten into an accident and had her life taken from her but what hurt most about that was that she hadn't even gotten the chance to fix things between them.

Dylan would have to go through exceedingly painful rehabilitation if he ever wanted to walk again, his hip bones had been completely shattered and the doctors had rebuilt those using metal plates. The man would be lucky if he could ever walk by himself again.

Her father had been so close to making it, ten seconds would have been enough but the Lopez family was apparently destined for tragedy and Marco had in turn bled out in the ambulance, his life had whisked away from him ever so slowly and painfully.

And then there was Blaine, it could have been argued that he'd got it easy, he'd felt no pain, he probably wouldn't have even known what had been happening until the very last second, but even then, he wouldn't have had any time to process the situation, he wouldn't have felt the pain as he was crushed against the door.

Santana gasped as she allowed the information to finally sink in and suddenly the reality of the situation pummelled her with such a forced that she fell back against the back of the chair, her breath was pushed from her lungs and the pain she should have been feeling from the moment she'd woken up blasted through her veins and she screamed out in pain. Her ribs pounded, her broken wrist throbbed and the gash in the side of her head felt like it was scorching through her brain. But the physical pain was nothing compared to the emotional pain she felt of losing the last of her immediate family, the thought that Brittany might never wake up and she would be completely alone. Agony was the only word she could think of that came close to what she was feeling and even then it was the biggest understatement ever recorded in history.

She allowed the screams and sobs to wrack her body, red hot tears burned down her cheeks as her fists clamped into tight fists on the arms of her chair. Kurt had slid back across the floor, startled by the sudden change in Santana, his eyes were wide and shaken and he didn't hesitate in punching the call button on the side of Brittany's bed. A rush of nurses and doctors raced in all at once but Santana was too lost in the pain that she didn't notice them as one of the nurses pulled out a needle and sunk it into her drip not wanting to risk hurting the distraught Latina.

And that was when the world swam and whirled and before Santana knew what was happening, she drifted off into a warm, dreamless sleep.

####

"Something's wrong." Brittany muttered, her hands clapped tightly over her ears as if it could stop the screaming from inside her head. "Something's wrong." The screams only grew in their intensity, like a migraine that pounded in the forefront of her head, sparks and zigzags whirled in front of her eyes and then suddenly warmth tingled through her body and straight to her heart.

"What's happened?" someone called from beside her but it was too faint in comparison to the lull of her heart beat that sent her to a comforting sleep right where she sat up against a log with its soft lullaby. "Brittany?"

####

"Ugh, someone get me some coffee." There was a peaceful silence in the room, no thick tension that had surrounded the group of friends for the past couple of days, no crying or battling emotions, just a silent and light peacefulness that filled the room. "Or some whiskey, I could do with some of that right now." Santana muttered as she shuffled up in her bed where she had been taken to after the doctors had knocked her out. She felt groggy and exhausted but most of the pain had subsided, even her chest didn't feel so tight and stretched anymore, and she knew she would be able to go home soon. That thought was both exciting and terrifying.

"How about a glass of water and some fresh air?" Quinn chuckled from the bedside and handed the Latina a freezing glass of water that Santana gulped happily. It soothed her dry throat and she could feel the effects of the liquid immediately on her body as it hydrated her.

"Fresh air?" Santana looked over to the closed window that looked as if it hadn't been opened in a long time; the air conditioning had done its job at keeping the rooms cool and had rendered the window useless.

"I can wheel you outside if you like? It's a bit chilly put the suns out." Quinn stood and held her hand out to her best friend who took it eagerly and allowed herself to be helped into her chair.

"Where's Kurt and Rachel?" she asked after a second of silence and a wave of concern washed through her.

"Oh, Rach took him home to pack his things." Santana whipped her head around to face her. She wanted to ask why he was packing his things but the look on her face was confusion and for a second she thought that maybe she should have known the answer but after a couple of seconds of wracking her mind she came up with nothing. Quinn just shook her head, "We're all going to have to go back to Ohio for a while."

"What? No. I left that shit hole for a reason; I've been back once for my final goodbye and look where that got me. No. I will not go back there." Santana protested in that stubborn way of hers as she turned back to face the empty hallway.

"Blaine's body was taken back there this morning with his parents. His funeral is in two days." As those words were registered in Santana's head a thought formed there, something that she hadn't thought of in a long, long time. She'd sworn that she'd forgotten about it but strange circumstances always seem to bring up old memories.

"You know, when I was little, like maybe three or four," Santana's eyes glued to a flower bed not far from where the two were sitting, despite their purpose the plants didn't make the hospital look any more peaceful. "I always wanted to leave that town; I always wanted to run away with you and Britt."

Quinn found it odd; the sudden change in conversation had her wondering if Santana was maybe having a mental break down. She wouldn't have been surprised or even blamed the Latina. Santana had been through so much in the past three or so years that she was beginning to wonder when the time would actually come that her best friend would finally fall through the cracking ice beneath her feet and drown in everything life had thrown her way. "What are you talking about, didn't you hear me?"

Santana ignored the question like Quinn hadn't even asked it; she carried on as if she were alone talking to herself, her eyes were on Quinn but looking at the ghost straight through her. "Neither my mom or dad was around much, even then. But they were better at being my parents then they were as I got older." Brown orbs had glassed over; Santana lost herself in her memories. "I always remember them arguing a lot though; my dad would leave up to a week at a time once I even remember him being gone for a month, or maybe it just felt longer than that because I was little. That was for the first couple of years of my life, he could have been gone before I was born for all I know… time seems to be extended when you're young." Santana sighed in a sadly happy manner that caused Quinn's blood to trickle with icy knives. "Age really is just a number when you're that age, time flies by at a snail pace because even though you're surrounded by people that you love, you don't fully understand that the world keeps spinning, you don't have to beat a deadline, you don't have to ask everything, know everything or be with someone as much as you can before they die." Quinn was beginning to understand but Santana's words were all muddled and her thoughts were spilling out in a torrent of jumbled words, tumbling and tumbling from her lips like an avalanche.

"Santana-"

"I hated him for that," she jumped back to what her original thought had been. "I hated her for letting him go and I hated that house, the town the people that lived there, I'd felt like that for a long time after that." Her fists had clenched up as the old hatred pulsated through her veins once again. Quinn didn't know where Santana had disappeared to but she figured, just like a sleep walker, that she should try and pull the woman from wherever the hell she was. "I just wanted to leave and never go back." Suddenly as though a damn had been destroyed a tsunami of tears flooded from the Latinas eyes and poured down her cheeks. Quinn was quick to wipe her friend's tears away but even the comfort that the blonde radiated couldn't stop Santana's pain from breaking everything that she was. "And now they're gone and I don't know what's going to happen to me. Nineteen years of my life I could have been with them, it's such a long time to know someone, to love someone. Nineteen years were wasted, Q and now they're gone and I don't know how I'm supposed to be feeling. I hate that I couldn't say goodbye but I hate that they left without saying it either. I'm angry that there was nothing I could have done to stop it and I'm angry that it's left me feeling confused and lost." Santana paused in her lost world of hers, something cracked in her eyes, the ice behind them melted away and her subconscious returned to their little corner of the earth they had settled in on their walk to find fresh air. "But you know what's really hurting me? It's the feeling that I could have made those nineteen years drag on for longer. I could have spent time with them and been happy, we could have all been loved and lived happily and if that couldn't have happened, I would have changed that now, I'd change it all if I get the chance. And now-" Santana couldn't bring herself to voice the thought that had now taken over her mind, it felt like every cell in her being had just frozen over at the thought that she could lose those precious years with Brittany and the family that they could both share.

"Oh, San." Quinn sighed sadly as she pulled the mess of a woman into her arms finally understanding why she had told her what she had. "You still have us, we're never going to leave you, Dylan's going to be fine, Orlando and Anton aren't going anywhere any time soon either." There was a moment of silence that filled the air when Quinn realised that that may not be enough Santana. "Brittany is going to wake up."

"Even… if she does wake up-" Santana chocked on her own words not believing them for only a second as the tears carried on flowing down her cheeks silently. "Even if she does wake up, she won't be in any fit state to travel back to Ohio. I can't leave her."

"I know. I'm sure everyone will understand." Santana couldn't stand the sympathy in Quinn's voice but she couldn't say anything after all, the blonde was only trying to help.

"Santana?" it was a voice she'd wished she would never have to hear again, it sent chills down her spine, it caused her whole body to go rigged and turn to ice but a fire to form in the depths of her very soul. Her head snapped round as a burning anger, the pain she had felt building up within her finally exploding with such an intensity that she could almost feel her heart beat waver in her chest.

Two elderly blondes stood less than ten feet away from her and all she wanted to do was throw herself at them with clenched fists and bared teeth. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

####

The warmth proceeded to travel through Brittany's body; it was warmth she could swear she had felt before. It came with the light and loving kisses she had felt with each time Santana pressed her swollen lips to hers, it came with every touch of the Latina's skin against her own, each graze and each embrace, a hand hold and a stroke of her face. It was warmth that was everything that Santana gave to her, it was love.

"What is that?" Brittany looked over to the couple that were now grinning at her with beaming smiles, their whitened teeth shone brighter with the flames of the fire. "Can you feel that too?" an involuntary smile tugged at the corners of her mouth an automatic response that had always followed that feeling.

"No, dear it's just you." Maribel patted her thing softly before pulling away. Brittany looked down at her thigh where the edge of her dress lay softly against her skin but as she expected to see the faded red of the fabric her eyes bugged out of her head when the colour raced back into it. A deep blood red bled into her dress.

"It's time for you to see our little girl again." Marco whispered softly but Brittany could see the sadness in his eyes.

"I…" she couldn't find the words she wanted to speak so instead she asked, "Is there anything you would like me to say to her?"

They both shook their heads in unison, "She knows we love her now."

"She forgave me." Maribel sighed almost in relief.

"You have to go now." It was Blaine's voice this time as he tugged on her hand, he pulled her away from the fire but the warmth still stayed with her, and towards the crashing waves of the ocean.

####

"I was going to tell you…" it was Quinn's voice and not one of the Pierce's that broke the heavy tension that had formed between the four adults that stood awkwardly together. Santana slowly allowed her head to shift away from the two blondes.

"You were going to tell me what?" Quinn took a good step back from her friend already feeling her anger radiating off of her skin.

"The doctors asked me to call them, you were in surgery and she had no one else." The blonde tried to justify through a stutter of panic as Santana hobbled towards her with raging anger burning in her eyes.

"She had you." Santana spat though she wasn't angry at Quinn, not directly anyway but at the couple watching them interact with weary eyes. As that thought crossed Santana's mind her whole body spun on unsteady heels. She was still high on her meds but after a second or so she regained her balance and stormed towards the Pierce parents. "You." She growled at no one in particular but at both of them as a whole. "You, you weren't here at all." She japed Mr Pierce straight into his chest, hard and sharp even though her legs were struggling to hold her body weight without the help of her best friend. "You threw her out when she needed you, you abandoned her on her birthday." Her eyes lingered on the six foot something man and then switched to his equally tall wife. "You bastards left her." everything inside of her cracked, one by one as each word parted her lips with an icy force.

"Santana, you have to understand-"

"No. You don't get to talk. You've had three years to talk; you lost your right to make up excuses." Santana waved the two adults off like they were pieces of dirt on the bottom of high heeled shoes. "Where the hell have you been?" her face twisted into one of irritated confusion as a million different thoughts hurried to the forefront of her mind. "We've been here for almost a week!"

"Santana-"

Santana didn't hear their please, she'd gotten lost in her own anger to realise what she was saying was not only about Brittany's parents but maybe some of the guilt she was feeling about herself. "You left her alone!" and then she stopped. She fell silent without another word, frozen in place as her tears dripped and scorched her cooling skin.

"Santana," Mr Pierce sighed out through a relived breath. "We wanted to apologise to Brittany, and to you." His words fell on deaf ears but Quinn stood by, her shoulders squared defensively despite her calling the two blondes.

"We should maybe head inside," Quinn squinted up at the unusually clouded over sky and began to pull on Santana's chair. "We can get some coffee and head over to Brittany's room." At the mention of her girlfriend's name, Santana's head jumped to attention.

"No, I don't want them anywhere near her." the bitterness in the Latina's voice was something Quinn hadn't heard since high school, it reminded her so much of the closeted cheerleader everyone had grown to hate that it scared her, no one should have to feel that pain anymore, no one should have had to be scared of being who they were and now that pain was leaking through in a defensive form.

"S." Quinn warned but Mrs Pierce was quick to stop the blonde woman.

"It's okay, Quinn." The woman held up a calm hand, a kindness in her demeanour that neither of the two best friends had ever seen in Brittany's mother before. "Santana, we can't begin to understand what you must be feeling, but right now Brittany is alone in there too and we want to be there for her, she'd undergone a massive surgery and we need to be there when she wakes up."

Santana may have believed the woman's words of it hadn't been for the past couple of years. "Why now?" she snapped. "Why have you suddenly decided that you should be in her life after pushing her away?" for a second she thought it would have been easier to just give in, should could have rolled away and left the two parents to their own devices, she was too tired to argue anymore but her anger was still sizzling inside of her.

"We realised how stupid we were being." It was Mr Pierce who replied. "We were being so close minded, so conservative…" he trailed off unable to find a good enough example. "It took a tragedy to set us straight, to put us into the correct frame of mind." They were heading for the lift as they spoke, Quinn trying to keep out of the family feud but her hands gripped the handles of the chair with her anger.

"You're both ungrateful pigs." Santana snapped but her anger had simmered down to a light kindle.

"Yes, yes we are." Mrs Pierce agreed shamefully. "But we still love our daughter; we love her even though we don't quite understand the life choices she has chosen to make. We want to learn to understand. We want to learn to love her lifestyle like she and you do."

Santana looked up at the two blondes, she could see so much of sweet innocent Brittany in these two – what seemed to be heartless – people but not only that, she could see her own parents.

"We want to be there for her now, before it's too late. We want to be there for you, too… if you'll let us?"

what would you guys like to happen next? :) x