"Now, Santana, I do realize that this is hard for you, but your parents cannot stay in the hospital morgue forever."

Ms. Chase's voice rang throughout the small kitchen and although she was no more than a few feet away from Santana, her voice sounded distant to the younger girl.

"Look, I know that there needs to be a funeral for my parents, but I...I wouldn't even know where to start," Santana answered. Her throat felt unusually dry, almost too dry.

"Santana, you know I'm going to help with this," Ms. Chase told her soothingly. "I'll even pay for all of the expenses."

At that, Santana shook her head. "No, you, uh, you don't have to do that. I could use some of the money my parents left me." Ms. Chase had already taken the brunette into her home and willingly took the role of her legal guardian. Santana didn't want to push it by making the woman spend her money on her.

"Don't worry about it, Santana," Ms. Chase replied. "I'll pay for it all because I want to do this for your mother and father. My friends."

Santana didn't respond. She instead looked down at the kitchen floor and hugged herself so that her hands were resting on her upper arms. She knew she had to do this. She'd be a terrible daughter if she didn't take responsibility and help send her parents off into their final resting place.

"What do we have to do?" Santana finally asked weakly. For a split second, Ms. Chase seemed to have a relieved look on her face, like she was glad Santana hadn't chosen to bail.

"Well, I've already put some thought into this," the woman answered. "I've already contacted a funeral home and spoken to a funeral director. His name is Richard O'Leary and he will assist us with some of the decisions and help with planning and all we have to do is meet up with him and...participate."

Santana could tell that Ms. Chase was trying to ease her into the situation and make it seem to be not completely stressful.

"Okay," Santana said. "Okay. So, um, when do we meet up with the Richard guy?"

Ms. Chase pondered that for a second. "I could give him a call and find out when he's free to see us."

"Alright," Santana replied. Neither of the two said anything after. There was a somewhat comfortable silence in the room. Although Santana wasn't nearly as comfortable as she let on, she didn't want Ms. Chase to think otherwise.

Finally, Ms. Chase stood up from the chair she had been sitting in. "Why don't I go make that call now and then I'll get started on dinner, okay?"

Santana gave her a small head bob in response. With a sympathetic smile, Ms. Chase left the kitchen. It was only after the woman was gone that Santana's entire stature seemed to deflate. She reached behind her and grabbed the kitchen counter in order to support her weight because her legs weren't doing such a good job.

Santana discarded the half-eaten apple onto the counter. She had forgotten she was even holding it. She let out a raggedy breath and brought a hand up to run it through her hair.

She was going to plan a funeral. Her parents' funeral. The whole thing didn't sit too well with her. In a matter of days, she would have to see her parents again. Only the difference was that she was going to have to see them getting buried six feet underground.

The thought made the dry feeling in her throat return. Santana tried swallowing, but her throat continued to feel like sandpaper. Not knowing what else to do, she crossed the short distance over to the kitchen sink. She turned the knob, letting the water run. She then cupped her hands under the faucet, gathered water in palms, then brought her hands up to her lips.

Santana quickly drank the water, wiped her hands on her pants, then turned the sink handle so that the water was no longer running. She had to admit that the water helped a bit, but she could still feel the dryness in her throat.

Just then, Santana heard the muffled sound of Ms. Chase's footsteps walking towards the kitchen. She moved away from the sink and grabbed the forgotten apple off of the counter, then threw it away in the nearby trashcan. After that, she leaned against the kitchen counter so that she was basically in the same position she had been in when Ms. Chase had left.

Not too long later, the older woman reentered the kitchen. "So, Richard said that we could see him anytime this evening or tomorrow," she said.

"Oh, okay," Santana replied. "When are we going?"

"Whatever time suits you best, hon." Ms. Chase gave Santana a grin and waited for her to answer.

"Alright, well...how about tomorrow," Santana told her. "I'm a bit tired right now, anyway."

Ms. Chase nodded. "Okay. We'll go tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll start on dinner, like I said. Why don't you go rest some since you said you were tired? I'll get you when I'm finished in here."

"Okay...I'll see you later, then." Santana turned on her heel and made her way out of the kitchen. She walked down the hallway to her room and went inside. She quietly closed the door behind her and went to go sit on the edge of the bed.

Santana laid back on the mattress and stared up at the ceiling. She exhaled noisily and rested her arms on her torso. She actually wasn't tired at all. If she was being honest, she doubted that she would get any sleep at all with the thought of burying her parents on her mind.

Of course thinking about it made her sad, but if anything, Santana was more scared than upset. She didn't know why she felt that way, she just did.

Santana scooted up the bed until her head was laying on a pillow. She rolled over onto her side and brought her arm up to rest her head upon. Her eyes raked over the bareness of the wall she was facing. Her thoughts drifted back to her room, her old room, back in her house. The walls there were covered head to toe with posters, pictures, ribbons, and whatever else she could fit onto it.

Santana sighed. She really did miss her old room. Hopefully she could go back one day without the feeling of dread. Hopefully one day soon.

Santana's gaze continued to trail along the wall, until something caught her eye. It was her duffel bag on the floor in the corner near the bed. She didn't know why she hadn't bothered to put the clothes in the bag inside the dresser on the other side of the room.

Suddenly feeling the need to do something productive, Santana got out of the bed and took her duffel bag in hand. She sat it on the mattress and opened it. She took the clothes out, one by one, folding them neatly.

After she had folded about half of the clothing items that were in the bag, Santana reached in to grab another one, but stopped when her hand bumped against the edge of something hard. She peered into the bag and moved some of the clothes out of the way to see what it was.

Santana froze when she saw it. It was a picture frame. The very picture frame that she had clutched to her chest as she fell asleep in her parents' bed not even a few days ago. It was the picture of her on her bicycle when she was younger with her parents smiling in the background.

But...how did it get in there? The answer came into Santana's head almost immediately. Obviously, Ms. Chase had put it in there when she had gone to get Santana's clothes. But another question was forming in the brunette's head. Why? Why had Ms. Chase gotten it for her?

Santana looked down at the picture and felt a new wave of emotion take over her. When she had seen the picture a couple of days ago on her parents' bedside table, the only thing she felt was grief. Now, however, something was different. She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but what she felt now, it was almost...comforting.

Santana took the frame out of the duffel bag, then walked across the room to place it on top of the dresser. She stared at it for a moment then caressed the glass with her thumb. She let her hand drop not too long afterwards and went back to the bed to continue folding the rest of her clothes.

Little did Santana know, seeing that picture was exactly what she had needed at that moment.

"Brittany! New customers at table three!"

Brittany jumped slightly at Leslie's voice coming from behind her. She got up from the chair she was sitting in and started to make her way out of the employee break room.

"Right, I'm on it," she replied. Brittany took her notepad and pen out from her pocket and held them in hand. She walked into the dining area and looked towards table 3. Thankfully, it wasn't inhabited by anyone from McKinley, instead there were two adult women who were dressed somewhat professionally.

One woman had curly, brown hair hanging loosely around her shoulders and the other had strawberry blonde hair, tied back into a pony tail. Brittany noticed a folder filled with papers on the table and concluded that they were on some sort of a business dinner. Funny. Brittany didn't think a pizzeria was the most appropriate place to talk business. Knowing that the two women were strangers who looked nice enough to not judge her, Brittany put on her best customer friendly smile and went over to them.

"Hello," Brittany said when she arrived at the table. "I'm Brittany and I'll be your server for this evening. Are you ready to start ordering?"

"Oh, hi," the woman with the brown hair greeted with a smile similar to Brittany's. "Yes, we are ready to order. A small cheese pizza will be all."

"No drinks?" Brittany asked as she wrote down the order.

"Oh, right. I forgot about that," the brunette laughed lightly. "I'll have a lemonade and she'll have..." The woman trailed off, seeming to be thinking about something.

"I'll just have -" the other woman started to speak, but was cut off by the brunette.

"No, no, wait! Let me guess," she said. The strawberry blonde giggled and gestured for her friend to continue. "She'll have a...an iced tea!" The brunette said proudly.

The other woman playfully applauded her and smiled. "You got it," she said.

Brittany couldn't help but grin at their little interaction as she wrote down their drink orders. "Will that be all?"

"Yes," both women said simultaneously.

"Okay, I'll be back with your food in a bit," Brittany told them. She left the table and went to give the order to the kitchen.

Instead of going back inside the break room, Brittany chose to wait at the front counter. Her eyes found the two women she had just served. For whatever reason, she really liked them even though she didn't know them.

Brittany knew that staring was rude and creepy, but she couldn't bring herself to look away from the two. She watched as the woman with the strawberry blonde hair laughed at something the brunette had said. They both seemed so happy that Brittany felt a slight rush of jealousy go through her body. She wished she could have that much fun with someone.

Brittany finally turned away from the women, letting them have their privacy. She stood at the counter, simply doodling in her notepad for a few more minutes until someone from inside the kitchen spoke out.

"Hey, Pierce, your order's ready."

Brittany turned around and saw a fellow coworker walking towards her with a tray in hand. She took it from him and made sure everything was right. A small cheese pizza, one lemonade, and one iced tea. Everything was there, so Brittany made her way back over to the expecting table.

"Here you go," Brittany placed the proper drinks in front of the correct women then set the pizza onto the table. "Enjoy your meal, and if there's anything else you want, just ask."

"Thank you," the brunette woman said. "But I think that we're good."

Brittany gave them a small smile before walking away from their table, leaving them to their food. Since no one else occupied any of the other tables she was in charge of, she headed back to the break room.

Brittany sat down in one of the chairs and picked up a magazine that had been left on the table and flipped through it. After about fifteen minutes, she was notified that there was a new customer at table 5 that she needed to serve. She left the break room and went over to the table where there sat a single man and made to take his order.

A few minutes afterwards, she brought the man his food and drink. She noticed that the two women at table 3 seemed to be finishing up with everything, so she told the man to have a good meal and went over to the women.

"Are you two finding everything alright?" Brittany asked.

"Yes, everything was great," said the strawberry blonde. "In fact, I do believe we're ready for the check."

"Okay, I'll be back in a minute with it," Brittany said. She left to go get a checkbook then hurried back to the table. "Here you go."

Brittany set the checkbook down on the table and the brunette woman snatched it before the other could. The strawberry blonde looked as if she was going to complain, but the brunette spoke before she could.

"I already told you that I'm paying. It was my idea to come here, anyway." The brunette took her purse in hand and opened it.

"Fine," said the other woman. "But I'm paying for the next one."

"Oh, so you'd want to do this again sometime soon?" The brunette said slyly, her lips formed in a cheeky smile.

The strawberry blonde grinned and rolled her eyes. "Just pay the check and we'll see."

Brittany would have found their entire interaction funny to witness had she been paying attention, but something had caught her eye. She noticed that the folder she saw earlier on the table was now open and on one of the papers inside the folder, in printed bold, were the words:

The Lima Youth Care Center

Brittany stared at the paper with increased curiosity. A youth care center? She had heard of those before, but she had never seen one in Lima.

"Um, hello? Are you...alright?"

Brittany heard the voice of the woman and snapped her head up. "Oh, um, I- I'm fine. Sorry."

The brunette woman looked down at the paper Brittany had previously been staring at. "Uh, did you find something interesting about this?"

Brittany looked down at the ground sheepishly, then glanced back up at the woman. "Sorry. I, um, didn't mean to stare at your stuff. I was just wondering about, uh...has there always been a youth care center in Lima? It's just that I've never seen one here before."

"Oh," the brunette grinned. "Actually, the building just opened about a little less than a month ago."

Brittany didn't know why she found herself so interested in the place. Her level of curiosity was higher than she thought it would normally be. Nonetheless, she was somewhat intrigued by both the youth care center and the women in front of her.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly goes on at a youth care center?" Brittany asked.

"Well, it's kind of what it sounds like," the brunette stated. "We give therapeutic help and advice to children and teenagers alike, who have had rather tough lives. You know, kids who have dealt with stuff like abuse, mistreatment, and bullying."

"Yeah, I know the feeling," Brittany murmured quietly to herself.

"Sorry?" The woman asked, her brow furrowed.

Brittany's eyes slightly widened when she realized she had spoken aloud. "Oh, uh, nothing," she said quickly.

The two women exchanged a look that Brittany couldn't comprehend. They seemed to be having a silent conversation with each other. Brittany couldn't tell whether or not they were going to say anything else, so she considered just taking the check and leaving them be.

"Listen," the strawberry blonde spoke up. "You said your name was...Brittany, was it?"

"Mhm," Brittany hummed.

"Well, I'm Marissa and that's Victoria," she pointed to the brunette who Brittany now knew was named Victoria. "You seem to be interested in our care center, so tell you what..."

The woman named Marissa reached inside her purse, dug around for a bit, then pulled out a light blue card. She handed it to Brittany, who took it somewhat timidly.

"Why don't you come check it out sometime?" Marissa requested casually. "The address is on the card, I don't think the building would be too hard to find."

"And if you do decide to come, ask for one of us at the front desk," said Victoria with a smile. "We'll be happy to show you around."

"Okay, um, thanks, I guess," Brittany said as she pocketed the card.

"Well, we really should get going," Marissa commented, checking her watch.

"Alright. Here's the check," Victoria handed it to Brittany. "It was nice meeting you."

"Yeah, nice meeting you two, also," Brittany replied. Marissa grinned in response while Victoria gave her a little wave. Brittany then left their table and went over to the front counter and leaned her back against it.

She watched as the two women gathered their things, stood up from the table, then started to make their way out of the building. Brittany reached inside her pocket and pulled out the card she was given just a minute ago. Going to a youth care center just to check it out didn't seem too bad. In fact, she was kind of interested.

Brittany looked up from the card just in time to see Marissa and Victoria leave out of the building and towards the parking lot, huddled together with their arms linked. Actually, she was more than interested.

Brittany stuffed the little blue card back in her pocket once more and was about to go check on how the other customer she was serving was doing, when suddenly she saw a familiar figure enter through the door. It was Jonathan.

Her boss casually made his way through the maze of tables and walked up to her at the counter. "Hey, Britt," he greeted. His voice sounded tired as if he was about to go take a nap or like he had just woken up from one.

"Hi, Jonathan. What are you doing here?" Brittany asked.

"Well, I do own the place," he replied with a light shrug.

"Well, yeah, but Leslie said you had a doctor's appointment," Brittany clarified. "That's why I'm asking."

"Oh," Jonathan waved his non-broken hand. "It, uh, it got...cancelled."

Brittany looked closely at Jonathan and noticed that his face looked almost pale. "Whoa, are you okay? You look kinda sick." She said.

"Yeah," Jonathan sighed. "I'm all good. I just heard some pretty shocking news while I was at the hospital."

"Oh, what was it? Wait..." Brittany paused. "You don't have some serious disease, do you?"

If Jonathan wasn't so out of it, he might have laughed, instead he simply shook his head. "No, Britt, it's got nothing to do with me. You remember when my doctor came here for dinner with her husband?"

"Yeah." Brittany nodded.

"Well, it, uh, it turns out that after they left here the other day, they got into a really bad car accident. They were hurt seriously bad and taken to the hospital they work at, but there wasn't anything anyone could do and well...they didn't make it."

Brittany froze. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Those two doctors...a car accident. But...no. "Wha- what?"

"Yeah, it's crazy, right?" Jonathan ran a hand through his hair. "Apparently, it was on the news, but I overslept that morning and didn't catch it. I just found out when I showed up at the hospital for my appointment. It's just insane how this stuff happens, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Brittany wheezed out. "Insane."

"Well...I guess I should go check on everyone. See if things are going smoothly around here." Jonathan gently patted Brittany on the shoulder then walked past her to go into the break room.

It wasn't until her boss was completely out of sight that Brittany let out the harshest of breaths. "Oh my g- god," she gasped out. A man and a woman in a car accident. Both doctors...both dead. That was no coincidence.

Brittany turned around towards the counter so that her back was facing everyone else in the restaurant. She rested her elbows on the smooth surface, then buried her face in her hands. Why didn't she see it before? No wonder they both looked so familiar.

Suddenly, Brittany felt sick to her stomach. She had seen Santana Lopez's parents that day. She had seen them right before they...

"Oh my god," Brittany muttered to herself once more. Jonathan was right. This was completely insane.

As always, thank you all for reading and please tell me what you think!