It had been days since Santana had last seen him, yet she was constantly on edge. Mr. Shue had been out of the hospital for a few hours now and was refusing to talk to anyone.

Most of the kids had convinced their parents to let them stay until they could all leave together. However, Artie's dad had insisted that he return home immediately. His parents were on their way to New York to collect him.

Santana was sitting on the windowsill looking down on the busy street bellow.

"I'm real sorry San" she heard Artie's voice coming towards her and she spun around.

"Don't worry about it. I'm glad your going home" Artie raised his eyebrow at her.

"I mean you'll be safe with your parents, I'm glad you will be safe" she said smiling at him.

"I would rather be here with you guys, it will be terrible worrying about all of you…" he said sadly.

"Artie?" she interrupted "Could you do me a favor?"

"Of course…" he said apprehensively

"Can you convince Britt to go with you?"

"I've already asked she says she doesn't want to leave you…"

"How long till your parents get here?" she interrupted again.

"Bout' half an hour but…"

She smiled at him and walked away to find Brittany.

She found her in one of the bedrooms staring sadly at the wall.

"Hey Britt Britt" she said softy.

"Oh, hey San, are you ok? Is something wrong" she began to panic

Santana hated herself for what this situation had done to her friends, they were all paranoid and scared. She just wanted them all back to normal.

"Yeah, everything's fine…well…" she trailed off.

"Brittany, I need you to go with Artie…"

"What! San no! I love him but I love you too and you need me more right now"

"Brittany I have everyone else to lean on, Artie will have no one once he's gone! Just hear me out" she added before Brittany could interrupt.

"You guys will have each other and it will take a little worry away from everyone if we know that at least two of us are safe…and when we get back home it will be like nothing happened" she said smiling, even though she knew this wasn't true.

Brittany couldn't talk there were tears streaming down her face. Santana walked over and held her friend.

"I love you Britt, you have no idea what it will mean to know that you are safe. Please go, no one will think that your leaving us we all love you, I know we all want you to be safe"

Brittany considered this for a moment and nodded.

"Ok…ok Santana…you better come back" she said through the tears.

"I will. I promise" and she got up and helped Brittany pack.

Everyone watched from the window as Artie's parents helped him into the car. Brittany looked up and waved sadly at her friends as she got in and the car drove out of sight.

"I'm proud of you" Mercedes said making Santana jump. She hadn't been expecting anyone to talk. She just smiled and walked back to her room.