BumbaMumbaJimJams: I'm glad you enjoy the quick updates :) Always more Brittana :P
M: First kiss awesomeness. Soon enough?
Zorayah: Happy you liked it! You're welcome, thank you for reading :)
Ronniee .xo: I like writing Santana's POV, glad you like it! Of course she is (probably next chapter) I know you don't get much of them, but I try to throw them in here and there... glad you like them :)
Do vd Graaf: I'm glad you liked seeing both sides. Yeah, I thought about that because you'd be re-reading a lot. Probably won't do it again for awhile, we'll see.
BritanaAddict: Happy to hear you like it!
kml2355: Haha very nice. Glad "Favorites" is your favorite :P
azwildcats: I know, I'm sorry. Don't hate him too much, he's not a bad guy.
Thank you for your reviews and/or adding to alerts/favorites!
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee nor do I own The Darkest Powers Trilogy.
Santana's POV
I wake up slowly, feeling her body pressed against mine and my arm around her. I stay motionless, letting the feeling take over. But then I notice the slightly heavy breathing. It's not hers. I remember we're not alone in this room. I squeeze my eyes tighter, and tighten my grip. I don't want to leave. I don't really know what I want, but I know I want to stay here. Maybe forever. All I need is for the person sleeping behind me to be gone and her eyes to be looking back into mine. I don't know. It's too confusing. I want it. I want her eyes. I want this. But I have to leave. I can't stay here. Mercedes can wake up at any moment. And the nurses will come. People can't see us like this.
I pull my arm away from her and slowly guide myself out of the bed.
"Santana?" Her voice is low, laced with sleep.
I look down at her, her eyes immediately finding mine. I lean down a little.
"Hey..." I say quietly. I glance behind me to the other sleeping girl for a moment. "I'm going, okay?"
Brittany frowns. I want to make it go away. I want her smile back. I want to be the reason she smiles. Not frowns. But I can't stay.
"I'll see you later." I tell her. "I promise."
She smiles sleepily.
"Go back to sleep, okay?" I say. "It's not time to get up yet."
She nods against the mattress but her eyes stay on me. I nod, too, for some reason, and turn to walk out of the room. I stop myself from looking back and close the door behind me.
Brittany's POV
I haven't seen Santana since this morning because she wasn't at breakfast again and she isn't in class with the rest of us, because she never is.
That doesn't stop my thoughts, though. Instead of focusing on my work, I'm thinking about her. Since she's not here, I picture her face – which isn't hard, because it seems to be stuck there, but I don't mind.
I hear something hit the ground so I look down to see a pen rolling towards me. I glance up to Mercedes and I'm about to reach for it when it starts rolling away, towards her. She reaches down and picks it up and I look up at her curiously. She notices me and quickly looks away. I decide not to worry about it and return to my paper that's not my work.
When people doodle, they usual draw pictures. Sometimes really awesome ones. But me, I just make lines and patterns and color them in. so that's what I'm doing. Somehow, I ended up writing Santana's name on my paper among the rest of the doodles. So I continue my squiggles beside her name. I think it looks good.
Before I know it, it's time for lunch. I follow the others to the kitchen and when we get there, Santana is already there again. Before I can get swept away to the table, I make my way over to her at the sink. She's washing the plate from last night. I smile and she glances up at me.
"Hey." I greet.
"Hey." She says.
I stand there and continue to smile at her, watching her soapy hands glide over the plate. She looks down and rinses off the plate. She glances back up at me.
"Uhm.. can I.." She pauses. "Can I talk to you?"
"We are talking." I point out.
She looks back to the sink and turns off the water.
"No.. I mean, like, in the other room?" Her voice is lower.
"Sure." I say.
I glance at the others as they sit at the table with food and Santana dries the plate. When I feel a tap at my hand I look back to her. I glance at our hands and when I look back up she nods to the doorway. We sneak past the table and into the media room.
We're standing in the middle of the room. She's looking at her feet. I'm about to ask her what she wanted to talk about when she speaks.
"I.. I want to give you something."
I can't help but smile.
Her hand digs into the pocket of her sweats.
"It was my mothers..." She says, pulling a small chain from her pocket.
When she pulls it all the way out and holds it up, my eyes travel down to see the silver heart attached to the chain. It's so beautiful. She hands it to me.
"Are you sure?" I almost whisper, resting the heart in my palm.
She nods and drops the chain. It swings up and brushes against my arm.
"I want you to have it." She says.
I smile even wider. I want to put it on, but I know I can't without possibly getting it taken away. So I slip it into my pocket and rest my hand over it.
"Thank you." I say.
She smiles a little. She doesn't seem upset that I didn't put it on, so I figure she knows why I didn't.
"Oh!" I say.
Without giving an explanation, I turn and fast walk to the stairs.
"Brittany?" Mrs. Van Dop calls. "Where are you going?"
I turn around to see her standing there, hand on her hip.
"I wanted to get something from my room real quick." I explain.
Her face remains hard. "Do you need it for class?"
"No.." I say slowly.
"Then you can get it later. You need to go join the others for lunch."
I nod with a slight frown and she walks away. I walk back over to Santana.
"Sorry." I tell her. "I have something for you, too. But it's in my room."
She shakes her head. "You don't have to give me anything."
"I want to." I say. And before she can argue, I ask, "Will you eat at the table with me?"
"Okay." She says.
We walk back to the kitchen and grab our plates waiting on the counter. Puck smiles and calls me over. I lead Santana to the table. I take the seat next to Puck and Santana sits next to me.
"Look who decided to join us." Quinn says.
I smile at Santana.
"Hey, Q." Santana mumbles.
"How are you today, Santana?" Tina questions.
Before Santana can answer, Puck interrupts.
"What made you decide to sit at the table?"
Santana shrugs. "Chair looked comfortable."
I giggle at her and everyone continues talking.
Santana's POV
Dinner is in a few minutes and Puck and I are sitting around his room.
"I'm gonna do it tonight." Puck says suddenly.
I look up. "What?"
"Since it's already movie night, I'll do special movie night too."
"Oh." I say. All I can think about is him sitting there with Brittany. "Cool."
"Yeah." He says with a smirk. "I've got the perfect plan. It'll be awesome."
I just nod.
He sighs. "Okay. What's up? Do you not think she'll like it?"
"What?" I say, even though I heard what he said. "No, I think it'll be fine."
"Santana." He says. "I like her. Why aren't you excited for me?"
I stiffen. He likes her. All his movie planning and everything. I hadn't realized until he said it. Puck likes Brittany. My stomach knots.
"No," I say. "Yeah.. I mean, I am. Good luck."
He narrows his eyes and looks at me questioningly.
"Dinner!" Mrs. Talbot calls.
I don't even notice Puck has moved until he says something.
"You coming?"
I turn and get out of the desk chair awkwardly. Silently, I follow him downstairs. The knots are still there. They won't go away. When we get into the kitchen, the others are already at the table. Brittany sees us walk in and smiles. I notice her wearing the necklace. The knots get tighter and I put a hand on my stomach as if it will help. It, of course, doesn't. I notice Brittany frown slightly and watch me as I take a seat at the counter. I look to my food and start eating so I can leave.
Brittany's POV
"Hey, Brittany." Puck says.
I turn and give him a small smile. "Hi."
He smiles at me and then digs into his food. I glance back at Santana and lift my hand to the necklace. I know I shouldn't be wearing it. I'd feel horrible if I got it taken away, but I can't help it. I continue to play with it as I finally start eating. Not too much time passes before I notice Santana stand up. She puts her plate in the sink and doesn't even look my way before she exits the room. My eyebrow furrows in confusion. Is she mad that I have the necklace on?
When classes are finally done for the day, I head to the media room because tonight is movie night.
"Feels good being a rebel, huh?"
I spin around to see Puck walking up to me with a smirk. I flatten my hand against my chest to cover the necklace. He chuckles. I smile reluctantly and start playing with the necklace again. He looks down at it and narrows his eyes for a moment. He looks back up.
"So tonight is movie night." He states. "I thought we could compare."
"Compare what?" I question.
"Our favorite movies."
"Oh." I say. "Okay."
"We'll watch yours now and then tonight we'll watch mine."
"Will we have enough time to watch two?"
He smirks. "Well... we'll watch mine after the nurses are asleep."
"Awesome." I say. I think about the last two nights with Santana which causes a huge grin on my face. I'm sure it'll still be fun with the others around. "Did you tell the others already?"
"What?" He says.
"Did you tell the others we're gonna watch another movie tonight?" I ask. "Will Santana come get me?"
"You want the others to come?"
I just assumed he was talking about everybody. Was he not? Now I'm confused.
"Don't you?"
He smiles. "Yeah, that's fine."
I smile again, too. "So we're watching Beauty and The Beast now?"
He nods. "Yeah."
I turn around and Puck comes to my side as we walk towards the media room. I stop when I see Santana heading up the stairs. Puck keeps going.
I tilt my head slightly. "You're not watching the movie?"
She stops and glances back. "I don't usually join movie night."
I frown. "Will you come now?" I question.
She turns to face me and steps down. Our eyes lock. She doesn't say anything, just looks at me.
I bite my lip. "For me?"
There's silence for a moment before she starts walking back down the stairs.
"Okay." She says.
I smile widely and when she steps off the last step we walk into the media room together.
"Hey." Puck says. "I was wondering where you went."
"I was getting Santana." I inform.
The others glance back at us as I lead Santana to the couch. Puck scoots over to make room and I sit next to him and Santana sits next to me.
Santana's POV
I don't know why I agreed. I shouldn't have. I should have just went up to my room like I was planning to do. But her eyes. That frown. "For me?" She said. I couldn't say no. But I should have. Because I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what this is. I don't know what these feeling are. I don't know why she's making me feel the way she does. I don't get the feeling I get when Puck talks about her, when I think about him liking her. I don't like it. I don't like the thought of him with her. But I should. I should be happy for him. Because Brittany is sweet and amazing and he deserves someone. But not her. I mean – yes, he should be with her. If she wants.
The movies already ten minutes in. I was too busy thinking about everything to notice. I glance over at Brittany, up to her face. She's grinning at the screen. I glance to her leg next to mine. We're touching, but just barely. I glance back to the side of her face. Her scent flood my nostrils. God, she smells amazing. And back to our legs. I relax my leg next to hers, allowing my leg to push into it. She doesn't look away from the screen. I notice a movement on her other side. I watch as Puck's hand slips into hers. She still doesn't look away from the screen. The knot returns, pulling tight, and I pull my leg away from hers. I look forward to the screen. From the corner of my eye I see her glancing at me, but her eyes return to the screen.
The movie comes to and end and everyone gets up to head to their rooms. Puck tells Brittany a quick goodbye and then pulls his hand away from hers, making his way to the stairs with Mike. I stand up and wait as Quinn and Rachel, along with Tina, Kurt, and Mercedes, exit the room. Brittany stands up next to me. She smiles.
"Did you like it?" She asks.
I give a weak smile. "Yeah. It's an awesome movie."
Her fingers are playing with the necklace against her chest. I should probably be worried she's going to get it taken away, but I'm not. It looks good on her, so I can't bring myself to care.
"That's why it's my favorite." She says.
She catches my eyes for a moment before she looks down to the ground. She bites her lip. I can't take my eyes away from her lips. She rolls on her feet.
"Do you wanna come to my room until we come to watch the movie later?" She asks.
"I can't." I say a little too quickly. "Quinn will probably just stay awake. And I'm sure Mercedes isn't asleep already." I explain. "And the nurses will be by for lights out soon."
She glances up at me and nods. I can see the disappointment on her face. I can't do anything right. Fuck. I run a hand through my hair.
"I'll come by when it's time for the movie." I tell her quietly.
She nods again. We walk silently up the stairs together and she brushes her fingers against my wrist as we part. I watch her walk down the hall for a moment before going to my own room.
"What took you so long?" Quinn asks.
"I got something to eat." I lie.
Without bothering to change, I slip into my bed.
"Then where is it?"
"I ate it." I say. "That's what you do with food."
I hear Quinn shuffle in her bed.
"So what are we gonna do until it's time?"
"Do whatever you want."
"I can't do what I want right now." Quinn mumbles. "So I hear Puck likes Brittany." She says, louder.
"Yeah." I mutter, turning on my side to face the wall and pull the cover over my head.
She doesn't say anything else.
I planned on going to sleep until it was time to go down, but it's not working. Instead, I lay in the darkness. Waiting. I'm pretty sure Quinn is still awake, but I don't feel like talking. Mrs. Talbot came and went to check on us for lights out. I can hear whispers from down the hall. I don't care to concentrate enough to understand what is being said. I really just want to sleep. To escape my thoughts for just a moment. But instead my body decides to remain wide awake.
Time finally comes to get up for the movie. Quinn and I get out of our beds and Quinn goes to Rachel and Tina's room while I continue to Brittany's room. I knock lightly and the door opens. My eyes meet blue.
"We couldn't sleep." Brittany says.
Mercedes steps up to the door beside Brittany.
"Me either." I tell her.
They slip out of the room and I close the door and we head downstairs. The boys are already in the media room when we get there and Puck smiles at Brittany. We sit in the same spots as we did earlier and Puck starts the movie. The others don't know, but Puck did a spell to make the room soundproof, which is why he isn't worried about getting caught. We can still hear if someone is coming, but they won't be able to hear us or the tv.
"Really?" I scoff as the movie starts. "This is your favorite movie?"
"What do you mean?" Puck says. "It's an awesome movie."
"You only like it because you get to look at the girls." I say.
Brittany giggles.
"Whatever." Puck says. "They're hot and you know it."
Maybe. But he's got the most gorgeous girl in the world sitting next to him.
The others join in with Brittany's laughter. Like earlier, Puck slides his hand into Brittany's as we focus back on the movie. The same horrible feeling doesn't fail to torture me.
I don't know how long it's been, because I've made myself just focus on the movie, but now I feel something against my shoulder. I turn my head slightly to be met with blonde hair. Her left hand is lightly holding onto the bottom of my hoodie as her weight pushes into me. I glance around to see everyone paying attention to the movie. Her warm breath hits my neck. My body stiffens as I listen to her calm breaths. She's asleep. Her other hand is still connected to Puck's. Why didn't she lean the other way? She probably fell asleep sitting straight and just fell this way. Did he even notice she fell asleep? He's too busy drooling over the girls in the movie. Should I wake her up, or try to push her the other way? I feel her grip on my hoodie tighten. And before I know it, the music starts and the credits are rolling. How long have I been watching her sleep? I quickly look up to the others who are standing up. Quinn looks at me and I quickly look away.
"Damn, she fell asleep?" Puck says.
"Looks like your movie choice isn't so great." Quinn laughs.
Puck removes his hand from Brittany's and stands up.
"Better luck next time, man." Mike says, patting his back.
Rachel turns off the tv as everyone begins to exit the room.
"Looks like your favorite movie lost." I say, trying not to focus on the fact the Brittany is sleeping against me.
"Should we wake her up?" Puck asks.
I glance up to see everyone else already gone.
"Uh... I can carry her up." I say.
He looks at her for a moment.
"Alright." He says. "I'll see you later. Gotta go find another movie."
"Later."
He leaves the room leaving me alone with Brittany. I stand up, careful to not let her fall, and then slip an arm under her legs and behind her back. I lift her from the couch and her arm reaches around my neck. I pause to see if she's awake, but she doesn't open her eyes so I continue to the stairs.
When I reach her door I try to support her with one arm and twist the door knob with the other. I successfully get the door open and return my arm to her and push the door closed with my foot. I sit her on the bed and move the covers down before laying her on the bed gently. I pull the covers over her body and watch her a minute, still sitting on my knees on the edge of the bed.
When I finally push off the bed, her hand reaches out and grabs mine. I stay frozen, unsure of what to say. Her eyes open, meeting mine. She doesn't let go of my hand. I know what she wants. She wants me to stay. But I can't. But I also can't just leave her. I don't want to leave.
"If you need anything just say my name, okay?" I tell her quietly. "I'll come back if you need anything, but I'm gonna go to my room now."
She doesn't move. Her hand slowly drops from mine, hitting the bed. She pulls it to her chest. Neither of us say anything and I turn and walk out of the room.
Brittany's POV
I feel in a dip in my bed and I almost think Santana is back. But then I open my eyes to see the same cat from before. It meows, then speaks.
"Come."
I stare at it through the darkness. Why is this happening? I can feel my heartbeat quickening already.
"Santana?" I whisper.
"...show..." The cat says.
A moment later, my door opens slowly. I get scared, thinking maybe it's Mrs. Talbot again, but then I see Santana.
"What's wrong?" She asks, now next to my bed.
I point to the cat. It meows.
"Follow." It says.
I crawl out of my bed to stand next to Santana.
"It wants me to follow." I say.
She glances at Mercedes.
"Should we?" She asks.
"I.. I don't know." I say.
"Important." The cat says, walking to the door.
"Let's go?" Santana says hesitantly.
I look at her. I nod slowly.
We follow the cat out of the room, down the hall, and to a door.
"It leads to the attic." Santana tells me.
She opens the door and the cat rushes in, up the ladder.
"I'll go first." Santana tells me.
I follow her up until we are in the attic. We see the cat across the room so I follow Santana over. Suddenly, she stops.
"Shit."
"What?" I question.
She squints her eyes. "There's something here."
I follow her eyes but don't see anything besides the cat to the side and the dusty floor. I open my mouth to ask, but she reaches forward and half of her hand disappears. My eyes widen.
"I'm okay." She reassures, pulling her hand back.
"What...?"
The cat meows.
She shakes her head. "I'm not sure."
"In." The cat says.
I tell Santana.
She stays silent, staring at.. whatever it is. Can I just not see it? I have no what's going on. Something made half her arm disappear!
"Are you okay?" She asks.
"Yeah." I answer. "Are you?" She's the one who had something happen to her arm.
"Important." The cat says.
"Fine." She says, then pauses. "We're gonna step forward together."
I glance at the cat, Santana, in front of her, and back to Santana. I nod. So we step forward. I feel like I'm being swallowed and then all I see is black.
"S-Santana?" I squeak, instantly reaching out.
My pinkie catches hers and I squeeze. I think she does, too.
"I'm right here." She says.
A flash of white. Santana pulls me closer. Another flash. I reach my other hand over to her hand. Before I can process what's happening, there's another flash. But it's not white this time. It's dirt and it's bodies and a flash of white and ghosts. Black again. A flash of white. A flash of bodies. A flash of ghosts. Right in front of me, coming at me. I squeal and jump back. Santana leads me behind her and I squeeze my eyes shut and press my head against her back.
"What's going on?" I ask in a shaky voice.
Can she see what I see?
"I-I'm not sure." She says.
I cling to her pinkie with one hand and the back of her hoodie with the other.
"Back." She says.
She reaches a hand back to hold me against her and pushes me back. I walk backwards until I feel the attic board under my feet again. I almost fall back, but Santana holds me up. My hands fall from her as she turns around, but quickly make their way around her waist as my head falls against her chest. I still haven't opened my eyes.
"C'mon." She says, leading me back again carefully.
We stop.
"If you can get down the ladder I'll carry you the rest of the way." She says.
I finally open my eyes and pull away from her. I glance behind her to still see nothing. I shakily make my way down the ladder with Santana following me. As soon as she's down I'm back against her.
"I'm sorry." I say.
"Don't be." She says. She puts a hand on the back of each of my legs. "Jump"
I jump up and she leads my legs around her. I move my arms around her neck and bury my head in her chest. She starts walking and the door closes. She walks a little further and removes one hand from me. I hear the door open, she steps in, and it shuts. Her hand returns to me until we reach my bed. She starts lowering me to the bed and I hold onto her tighter.
"I won't leave." She whispers.
So I let her lay me down. As soon as she's laying next to me, I'm against her once again. She pulls the cover up to our shoulders and rests her arm over my side.
"It's okay." She says.
Yay for a longer chapter finally! Of course I hope you liked it. It's weird that it feels like it's been awhile since I've posted even though I posted yesterday. I dunno, I'm weird. Anyways, what did you think?
