A/N: I apologize for being MIA over the summer... I can only offer you my sincerest apologies and promise that updates will be more frequent, assuming there's anyone out there still interested in this story? I know I promised a little bit more Brittana interaction in this chapter, but I wanted to form a bit of a pace before rushing into things. So bear with me! :-)


Running as fast as my legs would carry me, I sprinted in the direction of Brittany's voice, I had never before been so grateful to Ms. Sylvester for her rigorous training regime which helped me to maintain a strong level of fitness.

Trees and rocks became nothing more than a blur in my quest to reach my destination. My heart contracted painfully in my chest at the mere thought that Brittany was in any kind of distress.

The few minutes it took to reach our base felt like an eternity. I came to a halt, crouched over slightly with my hands on my thighs, gasping deeply, trying to regain my breath.

"Brittany?" I called out through my ragged breaths.

I looked up to find Brittany caught in some type of netting suspended from the branch of a tree near the one we were using to guard our flag. Had it been anyone else in this position I would most definitely have laughed and couldn't deny my slight disappointment that it wasn't Rachel, if it were, I probably would have left her there. But this was Brittany, and the net she was trapped in didn't look very sturdy. I felt my blood boil in anger, watching her tangled in the contraption like a defenceless, hunted animal.

Turning my attention to Artie and Tina, I saw nothing but a punching bag for my fury.

"What are you two doing just standing there?" I hissed. "Do you think it's funny?"

I could see from the nervous fear in their eyes they knew they would have no answer that would satisfy me and so remained silent.

A few seconds later the rest of our fellow glee clubbers had caught up with us. All struggling to breath after their own sprints.

"What the hell-" Puck began, but stopped upon noticing Brittany's predicament and let out a roaring laugh. I marched towards him and punched him right in the nose, just as Mr. Shue, Ms. Sylvester and sanitizer Sally approached.

Mr. Shue ran towards me, grabbing my fist just as I was about to land another blow to Puckerman's nose, which was already gushing with blood.

"Ok. CALM DOWN!" He tried in his most authoritative voice, pushing me slightly backwards.

"Awh now William," Sue cut in, sounding rather amused by the sight before her, "why'd ya have to go and ruin everything just as it was starting to get interesting?"

Ignoring Ms. Sylvester's comment, I glanced around at my group in disbelief, why were they all still standing there when Brittany needed help?

They looked like a bunch of pathetic dears caught in headlights.

"Well… get her down!" I growled at no one and everyone.

Mr. Schuester moved closer to carefully examine it, sighing and turning back towards Artie and Tina.

"How did this happen?" His calm tone of voice pissed me off to no end.

"Britt and I were messing around and she ran over that way and it just…. Came out of nowhere." I wasn't sure what angered me more, how utterly useless Cripplepants was or that he had been 'messing around' with Brittany. Obviously I knew it was innocent, how could it have been otherwise with Tina around? But it still rubbed me up the wrong way.

I felt the urge to run and tackle him, hoping to inflict all kinds of pain, but became distracted by the sudden presence of another group of people.

We all unknowingly gathered closer together as the imposters drew nearer. There weren't many of them, six at most, four boys and two girls, all dressed in yellow polo shirts and khaki coloured shorts.

The boys sniggered quietly in the background but it didn't go unnoticed. Now more than ever, I struggled to remember how I had ever even allowed myself to let a boy touch me, the entire gender was abhorrent.

One of the girls, the shorter of the two, stepped forward, a genuine apologetic look on her face.

"I am so sorry." She addressed us all before looking up at Brittany.

I took a step forward also, brushing past Mr Schue, causing him to stagger slightly.

"Hold up." I started, raising one hand in the air, informing the stranger I did not want to be interrupted. "This is your doing?"

I felt the anger rise to the surface once again. She had about 10 seconds to explain herself before I went all Lima Heights."

She shook her head, noting the tone of my voice.

"W-well no, not-not exactly."

"W-W-Well," I mimicked her "You better esplain ya-self before I release that net and use to strangle each one of you to death." My voice was venomous and I was inwardly thrilled that I could inflict such fear, as that expressed on their cowardly little faces, with mere words.

The only other girl in their group moved next to her companion. She was taller, but not a lot, and much prettier, with light brown hair tied back in a loose ponytail and dazzlingly green eyes that sparkled in the sunlight. She carried an air of confidence that her comrade lacked.

"We're part of a youth combat training group." She stated plainly.

"A what?" Finn, of course, ever the simpleton, stepped up, dragging his big, hairy, frankenteen knuckles on the ground behind him (okay, perhaps that's a slight exaggeration).

"A youth combat training group." She stated again, louder and un-amused. Had I not taken an immediate disliking to this group as a whole, I could perhaps have liked her and her brass attitude. "It's not like a military stimulation group or anything… it's just camp, with extreme physical tasks. We're split up into groups to train for a week and then we compete against one another in a series of challenges. It's actually rather fun." Her tone of voice begged to differ, sounding bored, but I was unconcerned, I was still struggling to understand why no one had released Brittany from her tangled web.

"Your friend here seems to have stumbled across one of our booby traps… we set them up for the competition; we weren't expecting company."

I stepped even closer to this bold stranger. "Get her down from there…now!"

I noticed the sparkle of fear that invaded her features but she quickly composed herself, returning to her look of indifference. "Let her down guys." She called to the boys standing behind her who acquiesced to her order immediately, though she never broke eye contact with me. We glared at one another, as if daring each other to make another move.

Brittany landed on the ground with a low thud, and I no longer cared to engage in this staring match.

I rushed to Brittany's side, helping her up by her elbows and dusting her off.

"You can apologize now!" I barked at the yellow clad group.

The girl I had now decided to be more of an enemy than a potential friend, turned with a smug smirk on her face as if I had just said the most amusing thing she'd ever heard, but her expression changed completely once she set her eyes on us. Her stupid grin faltered into one of an awkward child, her lids drooped along with her gaze which shifted between Brittany and the floor.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled.

"I didn't quite hear you! Speak up!" I snapped, insisting on a decent apology for my friend.

The girl looked straight up and right at Brittany. "I'm sorry." She said more clearly.

Brittany simply shrugged and offered the girl a friendly smile. "S'ok. It was actually kind of fun… like being in a giant bird's nest."

An obvious blush crept onto the stranger's cheeks and I eyed her with curious confusion. He entire demeanour had changed within a matter of minutes.

She cleared her throat and addressed the rest of the group, throwing sneaky glances every so often in Brittany's direction. It made me uncomfortable.

"My name's Teddy." She announced. "And this is Sophie, Blake, Aaron, Toby and Max." She said, gesturing to the group behind her who all saluted in turn. "I'm very sorry about the misunderstanding. Perhaps you'll join us for a barbeque tonight to show there's no hard feelings?"

Mr. Schue extended his hand to Teddy. "I'm Will Schuester and we are the New Directions." His voice rose to an almost cheer when he announced our name. The group looked at him quizzically, urging him to explain. He laughed at the presumption that they would have heard of us and gave them one of, what he thought was, his charming smiles. "We're a high school Glee Club."

The strangers nodded although you could tell they found it slightly odd that a high school glee club and their teacher were out camping in the woods during summer vacation.

"Hold on there William, I don't wish to be included in your introduction of socially awkward and obscenely ugly gaggle of singing seagulls." Sue pushed up front, hands on hips.

Teddy looked at her, clearly amused. "And you are?"

Ms. Sylvester gave the girl an incredulous stare. "I don't need to introduce myself to a bunch of masculine, poorly dressed, tree huggers.."

"We're not-" Teddy began but Sue raised her hand in the air and silenced her.

"This conversation's over." She announced bluntly and with that, turned and headed back towards our campsite.

"Sorry about her." Will apologised. "We'd love to join you for a barbeque, but we're kind of trying to re-connect as a group. Thank you for the offer though."

I can't say I was disappointed with our choir master's declining of their offer. Something about the way this girl kept stealing glances at Brittany, made me uneasy and caused my fists to curl into balls, piercing my palms with my fingernails to avoid screaming for no reason at all, like a tempermental toddler.

"I understand." She nodded. "Once again, very sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused." She turned to Brittany, offering her hand to shake. Brittany didn't do handshakes. She hated formality. Instead, she stepped forward and pulled Teddy into a friendly embrace. I felt a lump form in my throat and my lips pursed together. I could physically feel the daggers I was shooting at the other girl as she buried her face briefly into Brittany's neck.

I couldn't help my reaction, I leaned forward and pulled them apart, dragging Brittany by the hand and setting off in the direction of camp. She stumbled slightly behind me and called goodbye to everyone we left in the clearing.

I decided to take a left just before camp, noticing some water which I assumed to be a lake in the distance.

"Don't wander too far." I heard Ms. Pillsbury call anxiously after us.

I found a flat rock situated under a large willow tree right at the side of the lake. It was a very beautiful spot, and for once since arriving, I didn't want to stick pins in my eyes (or in Rachel Berry).

It was a few minutes before Brittany broke the silence.

"I wasn't hurt, you know." I could tell by how she fidgeted with the hem of her t-shirt that she figured that's what had gotten me so hostile back at base.

"You could've been." I stated, but although my voice was a lot calmer than it had previously been, I refused to meet her gaze.

"Are you ok?" I looked up at her for the first time, her stunning blue eyes were filled with concern.

I wanted to smile at her, but the thought of Teddy wrapped in her arms; inhaling her scent, brought a bitter taste to my mouth. "Yeah, I'm fine… just didn't like the way that Teddy girl was all up in your business." I had hoped to make my tone sound indifferent but it came out a lot more hostile than I had intended.

"She wasn't up in my business…."

"Yes she was!" I said a little too quick and frantic, coming out as more of a squeal. Composing myself, I cleared my throat and continued. "I mean, she practically jizz-ed herself when you hugged her."

Brittany's face lit up, her smile slowly forming into a toothy grin. "Santana?"

"Hmmm?" I responded, pulling at the grass next to where we sat.

"Are you… jealous?" She asked the question with caution, knowing how defensive I could get over things like this, although it was less frequent I got like that since she had broken down my barriers and forced me to face my feelings head on.

I couldn't lie to her. I wanted her. More than anything. I wasn't ready to out myself or anything, but Brittany knew how I felt, she knew my secret and there was no point in hiding from her anymore.

Sighing in resolution, I shifted my body to face her, my face serious, I nodded solemnly, though my tone was lighter than my expression.

"Of course Britt. I'm jealous of anyone getting that close to you."

The smile that erupted across her face was enough to make me content for the rest of my life.

"Come on, let's get back to the others." I suggested, offering her my pinkie, which she happily took without hesitation and forcing me to skip back to camp.