hello... chapter 4 is here for you peeps. now the 'ghost' may totally come from left field but it felt right for several reasons. but i will not bore you with those reason and just let you read on:)
i hope you enjoy it so let me know what you think of the 'ghost(s)' that visit in here. :) after this will be one more final chapter.
review:):)
The sound of the grandfather clock in her house echoes in her room and she groans at the sound. She rolls over taking her chances at looking at the clock dreading to read it already having a feeling of what time it is going to tell her it is.
"12:00am of course."
Santana groans and rather than try and rid her of the notion that this night has been all a dream she rolls on her back staring at her ceiling through the darkness. She contemplates waiting for the loser of Christmas future to come storming into her room in a very Berry and Kurt fashion or even randomly plop on her bed as April Rhodes had done. But maybe this is her chance to change something. Her eyes flicker from side to side as the silence takes over and the dark room allows her to sink deeper into her thoughts.
It takes one thought to shoot her up from her bed and heading out of her bedroom running through the hall to her front door. The snow is slightly slippery under her sneakers but she manages to get down the walkway without falling and begins to sprint down the street. Her destination being that blonde haired girl that's lived only 2 seconds away if running at full speed, she needed to fix things and set them right. She isn't about to have to go through another agonizing eternity, as it had felt, of seeing Brittany as a mere spectator.
She rounds the house to the side where Brittany's bedroom window is and as she is about to put her hands to the glass and lift it up she stops. Her eyes are locked on two figures in the bedroom, on the bed, one of them blonde. She would be jealous if the other person in the room hadn't been Kurt. They are sitting on Brittany's bed clearly in a heated conversation about something and the blonde looks upset. Santana didn't know that Brittany even talked to Kurt after she tried to seduce him that one time when he tried to be straight for his dad.
Regardless of the obvious intimate friendship situation going on Santana taps on the window not wanting to interrupt any conversation, or maybe wanting to. But her tapping goes ignored. She scrunches her eyebrows together and taps again. Still nothing, the two people inside continue on their conversation. So she knocks with her full fist on the glass.
"She can't hear you." A soft voice from out of nowhere comes from behind her making her turn around.
"Ms. Pillsbury?" Santana asks clearly confused staring at the woman bundled up in a white coat with matching hat scarf and gloves. She turns her body fully to the woman who nods offering a tentative smile.
"Welcome to your future Santana." Emma tells her and takes a small step towards the Cheerio.
"Wait, let me get this straight? You're my ghost of Christmas future?" She inquires quirking an eyebrow and crossing her arms. The guidance counselor smiles confidently this time shoving her hands into her coat pockets.
"It was either me or Sue Sylvester but Kurt and Rachel adamantly requested you get someone with more patience and a working heart." Emma explains and then looks to the side clearly in thought. "And also someone who did not have a substance abuse problem." She finishes shrugging her shoulders at that last part, because let's face it, Emma Pillsbury might not have substance abuse problems but she had problems.
"Right." Santana draws out tearing her gaze away from the woman. "Okay show me the 'horrible' future I'm going to have." Santana rolls her eyes and brushes past Emma.
"Now what makes you think it's going to be horrible?" Ms. Pillsbury asks in a hurried kind of way catching up to Santana's quick pace. She stumbles back slightly when the Latina comes to a halt and turns to her.
"Look pine-sol lady, we're not in school and I'm not in the guidance office so stop trying to psychoanalyze me." Santana spits out and Emma looks away from her stare taken a bit back by the harshness of her voice. "Kurt and Rachel of Christmas present were not the least bit subtle with the hints they dropped. I chose not to go to Brittany's and I know that she doesn't come looking to find out why." She huffs and goes back to storming off into the falling snow that is clouding their street.
Emma stands in the middle of the road watching the young girl walk away from her with a metaphorical cloud over her head. She reaches deeper into her pocket, her glove clad hand gripping onto the cell phone perfectly stowed away in there. But instead of pulling it out and making the call she takes a deep breath and loosens her grip and begins walking in the same direction Santana is heading.
Santana gets into her room and it is only then that she realizes that she is in her Cheerio's uniform. She sighs and chuckles in a not so amused manner at the fact that she hadn't even noticed her outfit prior to her trip to Brittany's. She closes her bedroom door and when she turns around she finds the guidance counselor standing in the middle of her bedroom in her normal dorky school wear. For a moment Santana questions whether Ms. Pillsbury and Berry are related considering their atrocious sense of fashion.
"We haven't got much time here Santana there is much I need to show you." Emma says and Santana shakes her head rolling her eyes and falls onto her bed.
"Just give me the cliffs notes version Ms. P." She muffles into the pillow. After a few seconds of silence Santana hears some strange noises and lifts her head to investigate. "What the hell are you doing?" She asks while watching Ms. Pillsbury cleaning her desk with spray and some paper towels suddenly now sporting some yellow rubber gloves.
"Oh I figured I'd keep myself busy." The woman answers simply still cleaning away. "I find your stubbornness exhausting Santana and am more than prepared to wait for you to…"
"What is it that you are going to show me anyway? Brittany and Artie getting married and having a million kids? Me alone and fat because I was mean in high school?" Santana says in monotone obviously not really all that interested. Emma straightens up and puts the bottle down along with the paper towel roll and removes her gloves.
"That is not only unrealistic but also very depressing." Emma points out shaking her head. "I will show you what could happen if you don't fix it." She motions for Santana to follow her to the bedroom door from which she had only come through minutes ago.
Emma takes out a small to-go Lysol bottle and sprays the door knob before reaching out and turning it making Santana snicker. When they walk through they are standing in the hallway at McKinley, the hallway crowded with a steady flow of traffic and in front of them Santana and Brittany at their lockers.
"This is a few days after you get back from Christmas break." Emma breaks their silence and Santana turns to look at her just in time to catch her squirting anti-bacterial liquid into her hand.
Future Santana and Brittany are standing beside each other in a very awkward and tense silence. Both are going through the motions of exchanging their books for their next class obviously avoiding any form of contact from the other. Now Santana watches herself carefully hesitate at her locker after zipping up her back pack and slinging it over her shoulder. Her hand goes to the locker door and it lingers there not yet ready to close it because it is shielding her from the blonde's piercing blue eyes.
But the blue eyes aren't noticing her. They are fixed on the task at hand shoving random books into her bag. Brittany mirrors Santana's position with her hand on her locker and present Santana can sense a little hesitation in her friend. Its short lived but its there. Brittany closes her locker and stands there, as if giving Santana a moment to do something, anything even.
Santana looks as though she is about to turn to face the blonde but Brittany has already started walking away. Santana jerks her body in the opposite direction and as she is slamming her locker shut and in the midst of the start of a storm off the blonde girl pauses and turns back around. But she is only in time to watch Santana walk down the hallway leaving Brittany standing there watching her longingly.
"This doesn't make sense." Santana turns to face Ms. Pillsbury. "Me and Brittany have had random fights here and there and we always make up. There's no way we would stop talking all together." Santana points out and Emma twists her lips bouncing from heel to toe.
"Santana, this is not comparable to the time you accidently drowned Brittany's imaginary friend in the shower or the time you melted her crayons to make a candle. It's not even close to the time when you wouldn't sing a duet with her." Emma tries to explain to the Latina and perhaps it is working because Santana now looks off and it seems that she is trying to gage this situation. "You broke a 9 year tradition."
"Because Brittany is with Artie and it's not the same as it used to be." Santana hisses.
"You are only half right." Ms. Pillsbury informs her making Santana think about which one she got right and as she is about to ask the counselor walks off and disappears in the sea of students.
The lights flicker in the hallway and when she looks down from them she sees that the hallways is now completely empty leaving her all by herself. She isn't sure if she is supposed to go and find the guidance counselor or stay put but her thoughts are interrupted by the bell ringing and with a flash of white light blinding her, her body experiences that motion that lets her know she's about to see something else. As everything comes back into focus they are standing back in the hallway of McKinley.
"This is your senior year." Emma whispers and points to the end of the hallway where Brittany is walking towards them, alone.
"She looks lost." Santana acknowledges.
Brittany is not paying attention to the people around clearly in her own head. She spots Quinn walking the opposite way and as they pass each other Quinn merely glances at the other blonde while Brittany is oblivious. Quinn continues to walk down the hall without the slightest bit of hesitation.
"What the hell? I thought they were friends." Santana questions looking over at Ms. Pillsbury who bites her lower lip to avoid answering.
"Just watch Santana."
"Hey moron." Karofsky yells as he and Azimio toss slushies at Brittany covering her from head to toe. Santana's eyes widen and her mouth drops but no matter how hard she tries to run over to Brittany her body won't move. The blonde stands there as still as can be her books still firmly clutched to her chest and her head hangs as the boys continue to spit out degrading words.
"Since when does Brittany get slushied?" Santana whips her head back to Emma and the woman shrugs her shoulders.
"Since you weren't around to protect her." Ms. Pillsbury informs her shaking her head.
"Well what about Quinn?" The Latina hisses pointing to the end of the hallway where the other blonde had disappeared at the end of the hallway. "Kurt and Rachel told me that Quinn and Brittany still speak and that they are still close and… well, why isn't she there for Britt?"
"Let's find out together." Emma suggests and turns to walk away from the slushy clad Brittany. Santana takes one last sad look at her best friend before turning around to follow the guidance counselor down the hallway.
When they round the corner Santana picks up quickly that they are no longer at school they are at a house party. Not just any house party but Puck's house party. Some people are dancing, others in the corner leaning against the walls trying not to fall on the floor and the music almost drowns out the voices. Santana wonders why in the world a party at Puck's can give her the answer to the Quinn/Brittany fallout. She glances over to Emma who she had felt stay beside her and notices the woman in a clear raincoat with the hood over her head and plastic gloves on. Santana rolls her eyes and smirks completely not at all surprised.
What she is surprised by is the quickly forming circle in the living room. The crowd pushes in on them cheering on whatever is going on. Santana pushes her way through the flying elbows and moving arms until she finally makes it to the center and her eyes widen. It appears as though she and Quinn are in a very physical altercation and spewing out harsh words, she can only assume the words are nasty due to the reactions of both girls.
"Oh wait." Emma suddenly appears beside her in the blink of an eye. She reaches into the pocket of her rain coat and whips out the same remote control that April had. She rewinds it a little bit to where the fight actually begins and when she pauses it turn the remote to the other kids at the house and presses mute. "Okay now listen carefully Santana because I can only show you this once." Emma presses play and Santana can only hear her and Quinn's voices.
"Sam told me what you tried to do." Quinn yells over the music which is currently inaudible so her voice is louder than necessary and makes present Santana wince. She darts her eyes to her future self who shows no remorse for whatever it is she did.
"Oh yeah he didn't seem to be complaining." Santana hisses back taking a step towards the blonde opening her arms as if in challenge.
"Does the fact that he pushed you away from him escape your memory?" Quinn wonders incredulously.
"That's what you think. I'm pretty sure I still have his paw prints all over me." Santana spits out looking down at her chest and crossing her arms glaring at the blonde.
"You're a liar." The blonde shouts.
"Maybe I am maybe I'm not."
"What is your problem?"
"Umm, gee Quinn maybe the post partum is still affecting your memory. I still haven't forgotten about you spilling my summer surgery to Coach." Santana takes another step forward.
"Get over yourself Santana, this isn't about your boob job. You just can't stand to see anyone else happy. So you're going to ruin it for everyone else first Finn and Rachel and now me and Sam… who's next?" Quinn screams taking a step towards the angry Latina and puts her hands on her hips in standoff position. And then with a quieter voice Quinn says something that sends the other girl into a frenzy. "Who's next S? Artie and Brittany?" The blonde arches an eyebrow and in the same nanosecond Santana's hands reach up to her blonde hair and they start wrestling for dominance.
"Get off of me you stupid whore." Santana yells thrashing Quinn's head back and forth.
"You don't care about anyone but yourself." Quinn shrieks as one of the Latina's hands move from her hair and to her Cheerio's top pulling at it.
"You're one to talk." Santana spits in a grunt. "Throwing me under the bus so you get head cheerleader back." The girls tumble to the floor with Santana on top of Quinn trying to push her arms down and pin them with her knees but is finding it difficult.
"You throw everyone under the bus Santana." Quinn manages to free a hand and slap the Latina across the face only making her angrier. "That's why you don't have any friends left." The blonde screams at the top of her lungs flipping them over so she is now on top of Santana. She grabs Santana by her wrists pinning them to the side of her head. "You had two but you pushed us out of the way so you could be Coach Sylvester's favorite." She shouts while Santana tries to fight her off.
"Get off of me." Santana groans.
"Nobody likes you Santana." Quinn lowers her face to lock eyes with Santana as she tells her the unbearable truth Santana already knew. "And you know it and that's why you are such a bitch."
"I don't really care if you like me teen mom." The Latina tries to use her legs to kick the blonde off of her.
Finally someone comes in and breaks up the fight and the other flash of blonde catches present Santana's eye. It's Brittany and she's helping Quinn to her feet trying not to look at future Santana. After she gets up Quinn rips her arms from Brittany's grasp and her eyes flicker between both girls as she back's up from the middle of the circle. Before she turns to leave she looks Santana dead in the eye.
"By the way," Quinn says and her voice is laced with venom and she is out of breath. "I never told Coach about your 'summer surgery'." She uses air quotes. "I wouldn't do that to you." She turns to look at the other blonde who is looking at the floor now. "Why don't you ask Brittany?" And with that Quinn turns around and walks through the circle that is now slowly breaking away.
Future Santana stares at Brittany who sighs, shakes her head and then pushes her way through the sea of people. Present Santana watches as Brittany leaves the party slamming the door behind her and when she turns back around she sees that she is back in her own bedroom sitting on her bed.
Santana sits there and stares at the wall and Emma stands at the foot of her bed nervously watching her. She sees the girl's mouth open to speak but only a sound from her throat comes out and she quickly closes it along with her eyes.
"That was what the end of this year will be like." Emma chances breaking the silence and Santana slowly turns her head to the woman and glares at her.
"Brittany told?" Santana asks sounding exhausted and on the verge of tears. Emma takes in a deep breath.
"No." She responds and Santana quirks an eyebrow. "Well technically no." Ms. Pillsbury corrects herself only making Santana stare at her more strangely. The girl mouths 'what' not being able to find her voice. "Long story short, Brittany and Quinn were discussing it in the locker room and Sue happened to over hear them." She simply explains and Santana hands her head in her hands. "Completely unintentional." The Latina sighs and nods. She was over the spilling of her surgery apparently her future self uses it as ammo to start fights.
"Is that why Quinn and Brittany stop talking?" She inquires and Emma nods again.
"Because of you." Ms. Pillsbury tells her further. "Quinn was right when she said you push everyone away. You don't let anyone get close to you because, well, you know why." Her voice trails off and she neatly clasps her hands at her waist.
"I let Brittany close to me." Santana says looking down at her own hands.
"Only so close." Emma takes a step towards the bed only to bend down and fix the comforter so it looked neater.
"So what?" Santana shouts jumping up from the bed startling the other person in the room. "I keep people at arm's length because no one can ever live up to expectations."
"When was it that Quinn let you down?" Ms. Pillsbury asks her locking her doe eyes into those brown ones. "And when was it that Brittany let you down?"
"That's different. Brittany has Artie." Santana exhales and slumps her shoulders. "Brittany has Artie and she's happy with him."
"Once again Santana, you are only half right. Now let's go for another glimpse into the what could be." Emma offers gesturing to the door.
This time Santana opens the door not wanting to have the Lysol taste in her mouth this time. When they step through the door she and Ms. Pillsbury are standing in the aisle of a moving greyhound bus. She looks over her shoulder to the counselor who nods for her to continue forward and take a seat. There are only two open seats which Santana let's Emma take the window seat. So much for avoiding the Lysol, before she knows it the ginger haired woman is spraying the seat practically coating it in a light mist. She reaches in her pocket pulling out a large piece of plastic covering up the seat before sitting down.
The sound of the bathroom door in the back shutting catches Santana's attention on a rather quiet bus. She takes a look and spots a slightly older and very sad looking Quinn Fabray. Her eyebrows knit together as she watches the girl walk down the aisle and takes a seat on the other side of the aisle next to hers and Emma's.
Santana observes the blonde's fidgety behavior quirking an eyebrow as Quinn's fingers making long red marks on her arm as she scratches.
"Umm, what's Quinn's deal? What year is this?" Santana asks turning to look at Ms. Pillsbury who has a face mask on. The woman lowers it so that Santana can hear her speak.
"This would be two years after High School." She points out.
"So what is Quinn on her way home from college or something?" The Latina inquires further and glances back at the blonde.
"Quinn went to college for a semester before she dropped out." Ms. Pillsbury breaks the extremely awkward silence and she senses the Latina beside her tense up in question. "She had a breakdown at school and was sent to a hospital."
"A breakdown?"
"Santana, Quinn never got over the fact that she had given up her baby back in high school." Emma says softly catching Santana's eyes on hers again. "Sure she had Brittany for a while to talk to, but Brittany could only comfort her so much. You know Brittany, sometimes in serious situations she doesn't really know what to say." She exclaims nervously and Santana nods in agreement.
"Great, so I ruined Quinn's life." Santana mocks with sadness in her eyes.
"Ruined is such a harsh word but if I'm being honest, you not being around didn't help very much." Ms. Pillsbury tells her. "For some reason or another, regardless of your fights and bickering Quinn always hoped and thought you two would become friends again." Emma looks up as the bus comes to a stop and turns to Santana. "This is our stop come on." They leave the bus and when they step out they are in a night club.
They walk through the small crowd and it only takes Santana a few moments to realize that this is a gentleman's club. When she looks to her side she sees Emma in the same clear rain coat she had been wearing when they went to Puck's party earlier tonight. The guidance counselor stops catching Santana off guard and halts too.
"Go through there." Ms. Pillsbury points to a room that is just beyond a small entrance covered with a red curtain.
Santana stares at it for a few moments before she swallows and heads over. She squints as the blinking bright lights dare to blind her and brushes past drunken business men slapping the ass of some waitress. Her hand reaches out to push the curtain aside and she is met with heavy smoke clouding the room and crowding her sense of smell as well. This room is a little darker than the bigger one and with less colorful lights, instead it is lit up with a dim white light and soft, slowly beating blue and green lights.
To her left is a long couch with 2 businessmen sitting on them getting lap dances from what Santana can only assume are strippers seeing as the men are slipping money in their g-strings. To her right is a small bar with more businessmen types talking to girls who have their hands on the guy's laps rubbing inappropriately in public. In the corner by the bar is a big guy standing with a stone cold look on his face. He must be the bouncer, Santana thinks as her attention is brought to the other side of the room when she hears a familiar voice.
She unglues herself from the spot and follows the voice down a small hallway. This hallway is decorated with several doors on both sides and she furrows her eyebrows in wonder as she realizes where exactly she is. Santana stumbles back a little when a door flies open and an older man in a nice suit comes flying out. He seems to be in a rush, probably to get back to the office but before he fully walks out the door he turns back around pulling his hand out of his pocket tossing some money on the ground.
"Thanks." He mumbles and finally leaves.
Santana pokes her head into the room to find Brittany sitting on a very messy bed with the covers up to her waist and her knees to her chest. Santana's jaw falls at the sight of her normally perfectly groomed Brittany finding the blonde in complete disarray. She watches as those blue eyes that used to be so full of light and promise now look so sad and void of anything remotely close to happiness or optimism.
Brittany takes a breath in and walks over to the door shutting it and making a point to lock it. She leans her back against the door and shuts her eyes tightly letting herself slide down the door and to the ground. The blonde breaks down into sobs as she reaches the ground pulling her knees up to her chest again and hugging them close to her body.
Santana closes her eyes and covers her ears with her hands.
"I want to leave I want to leave." She shouts. "I need to get out of here." She yells louder and she can feel tears falling down her cheeks.
Relief comes over her when that feeling of her body moving freely through space and time comes. Though this calms her nerves it does not keep her tears at bay. She feels herself on her bed finally as the motions of free space stops and her head is on her pillow and she is sobbing into it soaking it up with her tears. She can hear Emma clearing her throat in obvious discomfort of the situation she is witnessing.
"I am aware that that was very hard to see but you had to see it in order to understand." Emma softly explains to the girl.
"Just stop it already." Santana whines into the pillow. "Stop please just tell me that I'm dead in that future." Her voice cracks as she tries to speak but she doesn't care at this point.
"Brittany needed you. She needs you just as much as Quinn." Santana can feel a dip in the bed and can sense her uncomfortable posture. "They need you more than you need them." Santana lifts her body up and stares at the guidance counselor.
"What happens to me? What happens to me without Brittany?" Santana asks but Emma shakes her head.
"That's not why we came." Ms. Pillsbury tells her and Santana arches her eyebrow. Before she can speak she hears a beeping go off and Emma reaches into her pocket. "Hello?" She answers kindly. "Yes. She's ready." She shuts her phone off and looks to Santana. "It's time for me to go now."
"But you need to let me know, if, do I fix everything? Do I change it?" Santana whines trying to grab for the teacher but she is already at the door. Emma shrugs her shoulders and goes to turn the door knob and Santana throws herself on her stomach and her face back into her pillow. She can hear the door open but doesn't hear it close.
"What's going on?" Emma asks in wonderment.
"April kind of did something." Kurt says nonchalantly and Santana can hear the blonde giggle.
"Hey it was Rachel's idea." April blurts out walking into the room her shoes clicking on the wooden floor.
"Rachel, you know that we can't do that. I know you think it's a good idea but we're really not supposed to." Emma tries to explain but the sound of other shoes hitting her floor tells Santana that no one is going to listen to the guidance counselor.
"She looks exhausted." Kurt states softly and even when he pokes her with his foot Santana can't bring herself to open her eyes.
"She looks sad." Emma adds.
"She looks hung over." Rachel says in an accusing tone.
"Hey don't look at me." April defends herself and in the background Santana can hear ice clinking in a glass. "Okay fine but I only gave her one tiny drink but that's it I swear."
"April." The diva whines.
"What?" The older blonde shakes it off as though it's not that big of a deal. "You know how the first trip is always a doozy I was trying to avoid the puking part."
"And alcohol is the cure to an upset stomach?" Ms. Pillsbury counters.
"Only the good kind." April replies and the smile can be heard in her voice.
"How long are we supposed to wait?" Rachel inquires.
"We really shouldn't be doing this." Emma says again.
"Oh look, she moved." Kurt gets their attention back to Santana.
"Where is she?" The Latina can hear Rachel whisper to the other two.
I'm right here thinks Santana but her mouth won't open.
"I told you she will be here soon." April explains to them and suddenly the sound of a door catches Santana's ear. "See I told you. Hey honey, you look so pretty." The older blonde's voice goes a little higher than normal and it sounds softer.
"Hi." Santana's head jerks back on her pillow when she hears a kid's voice in her room but her eyes remain shut.
"Hello." Emma greets.
"Wow your dress is exquisite." Rachel says admiringly.
"Thank you Rachel." The child replies and then Santana can feel a small dip in the bed and then a tiny hand pressing on her back. "Is she sleeping?" The little fingers continue to poke her body and the little girl's voice hums away. "She needs to get up or she's going to be late."
"It's starting soon so we should probably go." Kurt interjects and there's shuffling of feet on the wooden floor of her bedroom.
"Ugh you're right it's almost time." Rachel agrees. "Come on April we have to go get changed."
"Alright party dress time." The older blonde cheers adding a 'woohoo' to finish it off.
The 4 of them continue conversation amongst each other but the voices fade away until there is silence. Santana can still feel the weight of the child beside her and the little hand shakes her slightly.
"Come on S get up or you're going to miss it." Santana quirks an eyebrow and finally opens her eyes looking over her shoulder to see a blonde girl no older than 6 smiling at her giggling. "You look funny when you do that." The girl tells her pointing to her eyebrow arching a little higher than the other.
"I know you." The Latina whispers and the blonde girl laughs once more shaking her head.
"Of course you know me silly I'm your best friend." She explains simply and pats her back before hopping off of the bed. "Now let's go Brittany's waiting for you."
Santana sits up in bed places her feet on the ground and eyes up the little blonde girl before her wearing a light blue dress.
"Quinn?" She inquires slowly.
"Duh who else?" 6 year old Quinn softly jokes back at her friend stepping to her and grabbing her hand. Santana looks down at the tiny hand taking hers and pulling her to try and get her to her feet.
"Where are we going?" Santana asks letting the girl lead her out of her bedroom rather quickly. Quinn turns around and gives her a confused look.
"To get your Christmas present from Brittany." The blonde states matter of factly and Santana follows her lead hesitantly.
"My Christmas present?"
"It's the best one yet." Quinn assures her as they reach the front door of Santana's house.
"Is this another what could be?" Santana muses dreading to have to see another horrible future that she has demolished. Quinn pauses for a moment and looks up at her friends brown eyes and she shakes her head.
"No San, this is what is 'sposed to be." Little Quinn answers her simply.
The little girl opens the door and Santana shields her eyes as the brightness from beyond the door nearly blinds her. She covers her eyes with her forearm closing them just for good measure trusting Quinn to lead her carefully. When they fully step outside she hears light wind, some voices in mixed conversation and the warmth of the sun beating down on her skin. With Quinn's hand still in hers she feels them come to a halt and her arm shakes from movement of the other girl. Cautiously she opens her eyes, her arm still over her head to block the light.
When her eyes open her vision is greeted by a sea of people sitting before her in chairs in perfect formation. Her eyebrows furrow in trying to figure out where they are and why they are there. She turns to Quinn who she knows is still beside her due to their hands still being clasped. Her mouth drops when she lowers her arm and looks to her side.
"Quinn?" Santana's eyes practically pop out as she sees that though Quinn is in fact still standing next to her, she is no longer her 6 year old version but rather somewhere in her mid to late 20's.
"You ready S?" Quinn asks and her smile hints to Santana that there is something to be excited about.
She raises her eyebrows to Santana and nods her head in the direction in front of them. The Latina shakes her head slightly wondering what hell is going on but she follows Quinn's eyes fixed on something.
Santana catches a glimpse of blonde a few feet away down a semi long white path. She notices the people in the chairs standing up and turning their attention to where Santana and Quinn are staring. As the blonde figure down the path gets closer she realizes that it's Brittany walking towards her. Blue eyes lock into brown and Brittany grins from ear to ear and mouths 'hey' to Santana.
"Can she see me?" Santana asks Quinn but doesn't take her eyes off of Brittany.
"Of course she can see you S." Quinn spits out under her breath at the ludicrous question.
Santana's mouth nearly drops as she pieces together where she is and what is going on. The blonde slowly making her way towards the dark haired girl is biting her lower lip and staring deep into brown eyes. Santana's breath catches in her throat and she finally mouths back 'hi' to the blonde who she can see giggles and her cheeks turn a tint of pink. 'I love you' Brittany mouths back this time as she is about 5 feet away from her best friend. Santana can feel her heart leap and she steps to Brittany taking her hand in her own.
"Merry Christmas Santana." Brittany whispers rubbing her thumb along the back of Santana's hand in her own. The Latina grins and looks at their clasped hands then to Brittany's white dress then to the side where she sees Kurt, Rachel and April clapping before meeting Brittany's eyes.
"Merry Christmas Brittany."
As her eyes get lost in a sea of blue everything starts to shift and instead of calm quiet her ears are filled with a strange noise. She blinks just once and her body is moving through the blackness and the fuzz and suddenly her body is dropped back onto what she can only assume is her mattress. Okay, so she's in her bed but there is still that sound and a rush of energy is almost pulled from her and she jolts up from bed. Her eyes focus and she sees that she is in fact back in her room and the sound is coming from her nightstand. It is the alarm clock going off but it's on the radio instead of that incessant buzzing that is always so delightful to wake up to.
okay so here's my thing. i realllly just liked the idea of havin Emma be her final ghost. i'm sure everyone assumed it was going to be Sue, and believe me when i started this story i had thought about it but it seemed to obvious to me. Emma is afterall a guidance counselor so it seemed fitting in that aspect. Pluss he's honest in a non mocking way as Rachel and Kurt. And she's aware of flaws because A- she has them and B- due to her obvious illness, can point out others. i felt we needed a responsible adult to show Santana some things. anyway, i just rambled im sorry. but i really hoped you liked this part