I do not own Glee or any of the original characters, It all belongs to RIB and Fox. Any characters you don't recognise are my own creations.

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Chapter 10

Brittany sighs heavily as she slumps down on one of the kitchen chairs, her brow creased with confusion and frustration as she glances across the table at her wife. Hazel eyes filled with understanding stare back at her, neither blonde speaking due to the fact that Rachel is sitting next to Quinn, working on her homework. Brittany knows just by looking at her wife that Quinn had heard everything, she also knows that she is desperate to ask what had set Santana off. Rachel looks up at her with understanding eyes, she had heard Santana's little outburst too. The girl stands up, ready to go and speak to her older sister but Quinn catches her arm and shakes her head.

"Give her some time to calm down, honey," Quinn murmurs, knowing that Rachel wants to tell Santana off for losing her temper again and also knowing that it will only make the situation worse.

"Why don't you go finish your homework in your room," Brittany suggests, "but don't go into Santana's room." she adds. Rachel nods soberly and begins to gather her things up, silently leaving the room once she has done so. "One step forward and two steps back." Brittany sighs softly.

"What happened?" Quinn asks softly, her hazel eyes gentle and filled with concern as she gazes at her wife.

"I called her 'kid' and she freaked out," the dancer sighs, "She kept telling me she was an adult, not a child. Did I trigger something for her or something?" Brittany questions, guilt written all over her features.

"Don't look so guilty, babe. Santana had to be a grown up for a long time, to protect Rachel. She probably doesn't want to be seen as a kid, even though she is, because she doesn't want to feel vulnerable," Quinn murmurs. "She's trying to feel safe."

"She is safe!"

"Of course she is, I know that but she's not used to people actually giving a damn about her, she's not used to people being sincere when they tell her she's loved. Santana's had those walls built around her for a long time, it takes time to take them down," Quinn explains softly.

"What do we do? I know we need to be sensitive and give her time to completely adjust, but we can't just let her away with this behaviour," Brittany states quietly, her brows furrowed.

"I agree, we definitely can't and we'll punish her for her behaviour," Quinn nods. "We also just need to keep reminding her that we're in this forever and that we love her and Rachel. You tell someone something for long enough and they start to believe it, hopefully she will."

"Should we call her down?"

"I think we should leave her for a while and let her calm down. Santana always realises her mistakes and she apologises for it," Quinn replies.

"It's a good trait to have, to recognise when you're wrong and admit to it," Brittany says softly.

"It is," her wife nods. "She has a lot of good traits, and it's our job to help her realise that."

"She's convinced that she's a bad person, I wish she could see how truly great she is."

"She will, because we're going to remind her of them for the rest of our lives," Quinn murmurs. "She's already doing much better, she is really making an effort to stop smoking."

"Yeah, you're right, That's a huge step."

0-00-0

Santana groans loudly when she hears the quiet knock at her bedroom door. Why would she be sent to her room to calm down if they were just going to disturb her a few minutes later? She isn't even completely sure why she needs to calm down, she has no idea where her most recent outburst came from. Santana sighs when whoever is outside her bedroom knocks again and she buries her face in her pillow. Maybe they'll go away.

"Santana?" Maybe not. She ignores the muffled voice and closes her eyes, if she has to stay in here then she may as well get some extra sleep. "Stop ignoring me, I know you're in there."

"Jesus, what?!" Santana snaps, pushing herself up so that she's leaning against her headboard. She glares at the door as it opens, ready to chew out whoever it is. "Oh..sorry, Rach," she mumbles as her sister shuffles in. Santana can tell straight away that her apology is going to be disregarded, the grim look on Rachel's face tells her that. The younger girl is clearly not happy with Santana. At all. "What's up, baby girl? Everything okay?" Santana questions, watching Rachel with concerned eyes.

"No. Everything is NOT okay," Rachel replies coldly. "Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what? Sitting in here? Brittany told me to." Santana replies shortly.

"You know what I mean, San. Why are you acting like this? This is the only good thing that's happened since our parents died and you're ruining it! A lot of bad things happened to you, but you're punishing us for that," Rachel murmurs.

"I'm not punishing anyone for anything, Rachel. I have no reason to wanna punish anyone," Santana retorts.

"Yes you do."

"Why are you even in here? Don't Quinn and Brittany hate it when you come in here when they're trying to punish me?" Santana questions.

"They told me not to but I wanted to," Rachel shrugs. "What happened to you was..."

"You don't know what happened to me, you were safe in another room for most of it!" Santana interrupts, her voice suddenly acidic.

"But not all of the time," Rachel argues, "I saw some of it."

"But nothing happened to you. Don't you dare tell me you understand, because you don't. You were safe, Rachel," Santana murmurs.

"Because you looked out for me..protected me," the younger girl states softly.

"Yeah, of course I did, you're my little sister," Santana replies, unsure of where Rachel is going with this.

"More bad things happened to you because you protected me."

"Rach..."

"And you're bitter," Rachel whispers.

"What? No!" Santana exclaims.

"You resent me."

"Rachel, you're my baby sister. I don't resent you, I swear!" Santana tells her sincerely, her brown eyes wide as she stands up and moves across the room. She goes to wrap her arms around the smaller girl but she is stopped by Rachel raising her hand, signalling for Santana to stay back.

"But you will, one day, you will," Rachel whispers sadly. "When you remember something that happened or when you have a nightmare, you'll wish that we shared it!"

"No! Rachel, no! I will never resent you or wish that on you, I wouldn't wish it on anyone and I certainly would not wish it on you! Where is this coming from?!" Santana asks, terrified that the girl would feel like this.

"You're gonna hate me so I need you to not ruin this for us. Stop being horrible to Quinn and Brittany because I need them, I need them because you're gonna hate me," Rachel rambles, tears spilling from her eyes.

"Baby girl, I would never hate you," Santana swears. "Please, come here." Santana attempts to pull Rachel into her arms and she is shocked when Rachel pushes her hands away, her small frame shaking with the force of the sobs that rip through her body. "Rachel.."

"What's going on?" Santana looks up to find Quinn standing in the doorway. Hurt flows through her when Rachel throws herself into Quinn's arms, sobbing into the woman's chest. "Hey, you're alright, sweet girl. I've got you. What's the matter?" Quinn's voice is soft and maternal as she rubs Rachel's back. "C'mon, let's go to your room," she murmurs to the girl. Santana meets Quinn's gaze for a moment and the teenager is surprised not to see the anger and disappointed that she expected, only concern, love and curiosity. She feels as though her heart is breaking as she watches Quinn lead Rachel away, her little sister not even glancing back at her, just continuing to cry gut wrenching tears. Santana can feel her chest heaving and she gasps for air, slumping down on the edge of her bed and fisting the sheets tightly. All she can hear is her own loud, fast breathing and Rachel's pained sobs coming from down the hall.

"Rach, please stop crying," Santana pleads, "she's gonna up here." She curses herself when Rachel's sobs intensify, her tiny body heaving with the force of them. "Baby girl, it's okay, I promise. I'll protect you, nothing bad will happen to you, I swear. Just please stop crying!" Santana's desperation triples and her body fills with dread when she hears the living room door being thrown open. She's coming.

"San.."

"It's okay, babe, just please stop crying, please stop crying. She might not come in here." Santana knows her words are false, she's definitely coming in here now but she needs to quiet Rachel down before she does. The heavy and furious footsteps on the stairs grow closer and Santana's heart pounds in her chest. "You need to stop crying." Years from now, Santana will realise that asking someone to stop crying only causes them to panic and cry more but, in this moment, she's frustrated that Rachel is still crying.

"Will you shut her up!" Santana's jumps at the sound of her harsh voice and she turns to gaze at her apologetically, nodding furiously.

"Yeah, I will, I'm sorry," Santana frantically states. "She's just a little upset, I'll calm her down."

"You better, I'm trying to watch my fucking tv show. Calm her down right now, I'm not going all the way downstairs just to traipse back up in thirty seconds because that fucking brat is screaming again," she spits out.

"I'm trying, she's just a little girl, she's scared," Santana argues quietly and desperately. "Please, just give me five minutes. Please."

"No, make her shut up. NOW!" Santana flinches, automatically taking a step back and pushing Rachel behind her.

"Oh, you're being a smartass now, huh? Come here." The threatening tone to her voice sends chills down Santana's spine.

"No, I'm sorry, please! Please, just let me calm her down!" Santana begs as Rachel screams and grips onto her worn shirt, her fingernails scratching into her sister's skin.

"COME HERE!" she roars and Santana feels tears prickle in her eyes and she takes a step forward, knowing that if she refuses then Rachel will be targeted..she can't let that happen. The punch is harder than usual and the room spins, Santana's thin frame hits the floor. Hard.

"Santana." Rachel's small and terrified voice is the first thing Santana hears, the metallic taste of blood filling her mouth. "Santana...Santana!"

"Santana!" Santana jerks in suprise and gazes up at Brittany, her dark eyes unfocused and her head a mess. "Are you okay?" The teenager nods weakly and stands up, her legs shaky and feeling as though they won't be able to hold her weight up for much longer. "This needs to stop, honey. This behaviour."

"I know," Santana whispers. "I'm sorry."

"C'mere," Brittany sighs, pulling Santana into her arms and holding her tightly, frowning at how much the girl is shaking. "You're not going to chase us away so you can stop trying to now. We love you so much sweetheart," she whispers into jet black hair. Santana bursts into tears as she buries her face into Brittany's shoulder. She loves the woman so much that it hurts and she feels physically sick. Brittany loves her too, she knows that, but only as a family member. She's not in love with her.

"I'm sorry," Santana says again, her arms tightened around Brittany's athletic frame.

"I know, honey, I know. I forgive you, I always will. Whenever you misbehave we'll punish you, not abandon you. You need to get used to that. We're gonna be on your ass constantly," Brittany chuckles softly. Santana revels in the attention Brittany is giving her and knows that she'll regret it. It's only going to make her feel worse in the end but at the moment, it just feels too damn good in Brittany's comforting arms to move.

0-00-0

Quinn frowns as she watches Rachel move her chair away from Santana as she sits down with her bowl of cereal, her frown deepening when she notices the badly disguised hurt on Santana's face. She glances at Brittany and notices that her wife is watching Santana carefully, as if she's waiting for Santana to say something about the way Rachel is acting. It's pointless though, even now Santana wants to protect her little sister in every way; she'll never call Rachel out on her actions. Not now, not ever.

"Are you sure that's enough for you?" Brittany asks Santana, motioning towards the teenager's bowl of cereal which hardly has anything in it. Santana nods, forcing a weak, small smile to her face before looking back down at her breakfast and moving her spoon around, making no effort to actually eat anything. Quinn would be lying if she said she wasn't worried about Santana, she's actually more worried about her than she has ever been. Santana had hardly uttered a single word to them since the incident with Rachel. She would nod, shake her head or shrug when she or Brittany spoke to her or reply with one or two words but apart from that, nothing.

"I can make you something else," Quinn offers, "It doesn't look like you're enjoying that."

"It's fine," Santana shrugs.

"You really need to eat something," Brittany chastises gently.

"I'll eat at lunch," Santana retorts shortly, pushing her chair out and taking her bowl to the sink before walking out of the kitchen without another word.

"You should stop being so hard on her, Rachel," Quinn murmurs, watching the ten year old carefully. Rachel doesn't respond, merely sending Quinn a look that the woman can't quiet read. Quinn sighs softly and shares a concerned glance with Brittany, her wife giving her a nod of understanding as she chews on her bottom lip. "Why don't you go finish getting ready for school," Quinn suggests once Rachel is finished eating. Rachel nods, places her bowl in the sink and shuffles out of the room.

"You know, if it were any other set of siblings that weren't talking to each other then I would think it was normal but, with them, it's just weird. They're usually so close," Brittany states quietly.

"I don't think it's a case of them not speaking to each other, it's more of a case of Rachel not speaking to santana," Quinn sighs.

"I don't know, babe, Santana hasn't exactly been chatty Cathy this weekend," Brittany points out. "She was a total mess after the argument with Rachel but as soon as she calmed down she just went completely inside herself."

"I know. I don't like it," Quinn murmurs. "She's been polite and calm but she hasn't been Santana, I don't like it. At all."

"Neither do I. I just wish one of them would tell us what the argument was about, at least then we might be able to help." Brittany sighs in frustration as she stands up from the table, "I gotta get to the studio, are you gonna be okay to take them to school?"

"Yeah, absolutely," Quinn nods. "I don't need to be at work until eight so I'll just head straight there after dropping them off."

"Okay. I'll call you at lunch," Brittany says, dropping a sweet, chaste kiss to her wife's lips. "Love you, babe."

"Love you too." Quinn watches her wife leave and takes a sip of her coffee, wondering how the hell she's going to get through to Santana and Rachel and wondering if they will ever find out what was said during the argument that both of them refuse to talk about.

Shorter update than planned but something came up and I promised a lot of people that I would update today so here it is. Please leave a review to let me know what you think :)