AN: Sorry it's been so long. Grad school is really my only excuse. But it's summer and I'm less busy so I'll try and update more/faster.
Does anyone else find it really hard to write when the caliber of some of the other stuff on here is so unbelievably amazing and you feel like you'll never match up? Yeahhhh.
According to the clock glowing red (seriously who still uses real alarm clocks anyway?) Santana has been laying awake for about three hours. For the most part she's just thinking and trying desperately not to move to much and wake the woman clinging to her even in sleep, or the baby that lay next to her spread out taking up at least half the bed. She's thinking about what's happened, and how she feels about it, how she's scared but resolved, and how she's really glad that her and Brittany can nearly feel what the other is feeling and so she doesn't have to explain what she's feeling very much, because it'd be difficult. And right now, she doesn't have the energy for difficult. She's also thinking about logistics, the kinds of things that she really will need to work out with Brittany in the morning.
She's also worried about Ella, she's still flushed and her temperature is still running high best Santana can tell. She doesn't dare take her actual temperature, but every so often she lightly rests her hand on Ellas forehead, and she's pretty sure she's running at least a bit of a fever.
She thinks she falls asleep about an hour and a half before Ella wakes up and starts crying. Brittany opens her arms, and upon instinct, because Brittany is pretty sure Ella has never been shown this kind of affection at home, Ella crawls to her chest. She grips the fabric of Brittany's tank top and rubs her face on it lightly while still whimpering. She whispers soft words to her and notices that Santana, who had been holding her very tightly just moments before, has loosened her hold and is also in the process of waking up. Although, Brittany notices, she doesn't look like she's slept at all.
Santana tells Brittany that they need to talk some things out, and that maybe they could do it while Ella eats her breakfast. Brittany gets her some juice and gives her some dry cereal and fruit and puts on some children's program on the television. While she doesn't think TV should watch your children, she also doesn't really want Ella to pay attention to the conversation they're having. Sure, she's not even two, but there's no reason risking her getting worked up over the, inevitably, stressed tones of their voices.
They sit at a table just a few feet away from where Ella is currently focused on the television.
"San you look so tired."
"Yeah I didn't sleep a lot last night. But I did do a lot of thinking, so maybe I'll be able to sleep tonight. We've got some details we need to figure out. I'm worried about the daycare."
"Because it's in our name?"
"Yeah. I'm worried that whoever they are, won't leave the daycare alone because they'll be convinced we're coming back. Which we obviously can't do, not right now at least. But I have no idea how much they think we know, or how stupid they think we are. So maybe… it'd be easier to at least give them the hint we're not coming back, and transfer the daycare to someone else's name."
"Yeah. I guess… you're probably right. I think maybe Tina? I don't know who else is responsible enough. I know Mercedes is dedicated, and will help. But paperwork wise, Tina helps with a lot of it already."
"I completely agree Britt-Britt. I'm sorry we have to do this, I know it must be really hard and I wish I could think of any other way."
"No. I get it. Maybe someday we can come back." Brittany states with what Santana recognizes as very little confidence.
"How do we get the paperwork transferred over?"
"I'll call my cousin Alex. He'll do it without asking questions, the less anyone knows the better. But I think we need to call Tina and warn her, obviously as little detail, or true detail as possible. But she'd probably like to know before just getting a call from my lawyer cousin."
"Good point. We should wait to call till right before we leave." Brittany wonders if it's possible that they've found them here, she doesn't know what these people are capable of and she just desperately hopes they leave their friends and family alone.
"Mhmm. Agreed. Ok, so next we really need to clean out our personal bank account today. We'll leave the daycare's alone because that'll transfer to Tina's name with the rest of the accounts when the daycare does, but we should empty and close our account today." Brittany nods while playing with Santana's fingers hoping that it will help calm and ground both of them a little bit. "The last thing I can think of right now is, Britt…where are we going?"
Brittany looks up at Santana. The question had occurred to her as well just not really as a priority. She was so busy making sure that Ella and Santana were calm and safe, and trying to remember anything that might help them that where they were going became something that didn't feel all that important. But she guesses that it might actually be important since it is really hard to just drive to no where. She thinks for a moment and has an idea. Or it's more like a half idea but it's better than nothing, which feels like what they have right now. "Well, we have to make that call on Thursday. And it's Tuesday. But we can't stay here, and I think it's best if we keep going far away. California seems like an obvious choice, but it's big there and…what about Quinn? We still keep in contact with her but only over the phone really so unless they dig really deep there's not a lot of record. And if they were looking for people that we'd go running to there are probably a lot more obvious options. And I know she'd be able to help us, at least for a bit. Even if it's just a stop. Because honestly S I have no other ideas."
Santana takes a minute to think about this. She weighs the pros and cons as best she can in just a few short moments. And then she nods "I think you're right B. But I think maybe we shouldn't call and warn her. She'll ask to many questions and that is too dangerous to deal with in an over the phone capacity. So maybe your right, maybe that could be the plan for now, but let's keep an open mind because we have no idea what's going to happen on Thursday." Brittany nods and they decide it's time to pack up and leave. They notice that Ella has barely eaten anything and she's acting slightly lethargic. Brittany takes her temperature and she is in fact running a fever. They give her some fever reducer and hope that it's enough.
They pack up the car and then sit down on the bed to call Tina. Ella has her arms wrapped tightly around Brittany's neck and is falling in and out of sleep. Brittany can only hear Santana's side of the conversation but she's impressed with Tina's innate ability to understand that right now is not at all the time for questions.
Santana tells her that something has come up, and that they are ok. But that for now, and for an indeterminable amount of time, she needs to switch ownership of the daycare from her and Brittany to Tina. That she trusts Tina with all manners of decision making, and that they will touch base as often as they can but that it may not be for a while.
Santana gets off the phone and takes a minute to collect herself. They get into the car and search the GPS for a nearby branch of their bank. They find one just a few miles away and head there. Santana goes in and empties the bank account hoping that it's not suspicious and that the amount isn't high enough that there'd be any reason to alert anyone. She can't deal with that right now. She gets back to the car to find Brittany rechecking Ella's temperature and notices that Ella's hair is now sticking to her head with sweat. Her temperature has taken a turn for the worse. They decide to drive for an hour since she's currently sleeping and see if there is any improvement.
An hour later Ella is awake and screaming. She is clearly very uncomfortable and Brittany decides that they need to take her into a doctor. Santana agrees but wishes they were further away from Lima. For the amount of time that's passed since they woke up in they daycare, she feels as though they should be further away than just six hours. But there's been a lot of stopping, and she can't justify letting the baby suffer because she's afraid. They follow the signs to the nearest hospital.
When they arrive they approach the front desk and it becomes immediately clear that they did not think this through. Having figured that out however, they're not sure that thinking it through would have fixed anything. They have absolutely no records for Ella. No cards, no certificates, no social security cards. No way to prove that this is in fact they're child. On top of that they don't even have a checkbook or bank cards, all they have is cash. The nurse gets up under the pretense of checking something, but goes to tell the doctor about the suspicious behavior.
Unfortunately, Santana's fears about not being far enough from Lima are completely justified. The doctor, upon hearing the description of the situation looks into the waiting area and sees the people in question. The two women match the description he was given not even one day ago, and the baby matches the picture almost perfectly. Yesterday he'd received a call from some "friends" a few hours away in Lima, and received vague details about the situation. The call ended with instructions that if the baby was dropped off by these two women, to call immediately. The doctor has dealt with these people for years now, and while the pay off is really good, some of the things he's asked to deal with and keep secret weigh on him. But he doubts he can get out now even if he wanted to, and he assumes if they are after these women, there is probably a good reason. He hopes there is a good reason. He probably just shouldn't think to much about the reasons.
He's inclined to let them go. To just not put the call into Lima, but he wouldn't want it to get back that he'd let them slip through his hospital. Their lives mean very little to him, in the grand scheme of, you know, losing his instead. Because even though he tries to pretend he has no idea, he knows exactly who the men are that he deals with, and what they're capable of. So ultimately, the decision comes down to putting in the call.
The doctor isn't careful enough though. He doesn't account for very observant nurses like Nurse Pillsbury. Emma Pillsbury has known for a very long time that the doctor was involved with something possibly illegal. She also has known for some time that he has a certain disregard for life. He's not a very good doctor, she thinks. But after seeing how scared those young girls look, and hearing the doctor make a "personal call" after one of the other nurses told him about them, she decides that this time she's going to step in. Because if something happens to them or that baby, as she suspects it might, she'd never be able to live with herself. And that's just not how she wants today to end.
She walks out into the emergency room waiting room and asks Brittany and Santana to go back with her. She takes them into a small room that is almost never used and locks the door. After getting a run down of Baby Ella's symptoms, she checks her over. She quickly realizes that Ella is far to small for her age, and after a thorough check she's fairly certain of the problem.
"She has an ear infection and a fever. I suspect that it's from her immune system being compromised due to long term malnourishment, dehydration, and neglect. I can have someone run tests if you'd like, but I'm pretty sure some medicine, and regular care is going to fix this. And I know she's not really yours, and that you need to leave here as soon as possible." Santana freezes and she's pretty sure her heart stopped. How does she know? Is someone following them? Brittany is the first to speak.
"Thank you nurse, please give us the medicine and we appreciate what you're doing." Because Brittany has always been the level headed one of both of them. But she's shaking, Santana can see that, she's not sure if it's from fear, or just from everything. But she's grateful that they're leaving quickly.
Emma leaves and comes back with medicine and a bottle of pedialite in the hopes of helping rehydrate little Ella. Ideally they'd keep her here, but that's obviously not an option for reasons she's not going to think about right now. She looks out of the door and sees the doctor talking to a man, and she catches a few words. The doctor storms off and the man is standing there looking around. She heard enough to know that he can't see Santana and Brittany so she tells them that she's going to distract him, and that they are to leave as quickly as possible. Her ability to stay calm is slightly alarming to Santana but she trusts her, because she didn't have to help.
Emma goes out and asks the man if she might be able to help him. She notices he has a lot of dirt under his fingernails as he continues to bite them and stare at her. After a tense moment he asks if she's seen two women and a baby that fit the exact description of the women that are currently sneaking behind him. In a split second decision that she'll later never bring herself to fully regret she says "I think the doctor you were just talking to made them leave just a bit ago actually." The man stalked off to find the doctor, whom Emma never sees again.
Santana quickly puts Ella in her car seat and jumps into the passenger side door and Brittany peels out of the parking lot. They're driving fast. Not suspiciously fast, but fast enough. Adrenaline is running high. "I don't know how but we have to be more careful. We have to get further away." Brittany says. Santana nods in agreement noticing that Brittany's knuckles are white on the steering wheel and her entire body is shaking slightly. Not even five minutes later Santana notices the tears running down Brittany's face.
"I know Brit. It's ok. I'm scared to. We're ok." She says in a soothing voice.
"It's not that San. It's just…Ella. How did I not know? It's my job to know how bad she was hurting and I didn't know. She suffered and everyday we could have stopped it. It's my job." She's sobbing now and Santana isn't sure how she can still see the road. Tears are pooling in her own eyes as well.
"We can't blame ourselves. She never had a mark on her, we just thought she was a little slow to develop. Nobody wants to believe that parents who can afford to pay for day care, and expensive clothes would ever neglect their children that way. It's just… we never wanted to see it. But we have her now. And she's going to be ok. Once we get further away, I just….I promise you we're all going to be ok." Brittany is taking great heaving breaths now, and the car is starting to speed up. "Brit baby, pull over."
"NO! We need to get further" She cries out. Santana puts her hand on her back and starts rubbing small circles at the base of her neck.
"Britt we need to give Ella her medicine, and I think you should let me drive. Just for a bit."
Brittany nods her head, trying desperately to control her breathing, and pulls over. They get out and get into the back seat together where Ella is laying quietly playing with a toy half asleep. They give her her medicine and fill a sippy cup with the pedialite. They both kiss her cheeks and then switch sides so that Santana is driving. Brittany is strong for her all the time, she can be strong right now. Brittany continues to cry quietly but is gaining more control while maintaining a strong grip on Santana's non driving hand.
Santana drives as far as she possibly can. Her eyes are drooping before she says that she thinks maybe they ought to stop. They've been driving since they left the hospital save for a few bathroom stops and some drive through food. They all need to sleep. No matter how scared they are they can't just keep driving. They both need to sleep, and Ella probably needs it most of all. So she starts the task of finding a hotel. Brittany and Ella are both drifting in and out of sleep while she drives through yet another small town and comes upon a bed and breakfast. She thinks it's probably a little more expensive then they'd like but it looks clean, and nice, and they need nice right now. So she pulls in and gets out of the car. In a stroke of self preservation, or maybe it won't help anyway but it makes her feel better, she checks in under a fake name. She goes back out to the car and wakes Brittany who, while still nervous, is glad to be out of the car. It's then that she looks at Santana and realizes how exhausted she looks and remembers that Santana hasn't really slept in days.
"You go inside baby, I will bring everything in. No arguments. I love you." Santana nods weakly at Brittany's request and heads inside, carrying a few bags with her and propping the door open. Brittany grabs the rest of the essentials, plus Ella who wakes up and is clinging to her neck nervous about yet another new place. She walks in the room and is happy that this is the place Santana picked. It feels calming.
The next thing she notices is that Santana is already passed out on the bed. She smiles, and goes to her, brushing her hair out of her face. She presses a kiss to her forehead and then gently removes her shoes and pants. Next she dresses Ella for bed who is so tired she can barely help get her arms in the arm holes. She changes herself and then lays Ella down next to Santana who has migrated towards the middle of the bed. Ella immediately curls into Santana who, in her sleep, puts her arm protectively around her and pulls the baby tight to her chest. Brittany's heart swells. She lays down behind Santana and puts her arm around both of them and pulls them in as tight as she can. Despite the fear, she is so full of love she thinks it might be the bigger feeling right now. Which, of course, because it's Santana, and Ella and this is her family. And maybe it's not the most normal of ways to go about completing their family, but it happened, and she will do anything to protect it.