A/N: Hey all! I'm gettin' my update on tonight, if you couldn't tell.
Major trigger warning though! Lots of abuse and insinuation of violence in this chapter.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Brittany picked up her phone halfway through the first ring.
"Santana?" All eyes in the room were on her immediately.
"Br…Britt? C-can.. I need… I need you," her voice was strained; weak enough to send a shiver down Brittany's spine.
"San, honey, what's going on?" her voice was filling with panic. Rachel and Quinn looked from one another and back to Brittany, ready to jump out of their skin.
"P-p-park, Britt… Please…"
The line went dead.
But Brittany was already on her feet and sprinting out the door with Quinn on her heels. The handful of people remaining in the choir room watched in confusion before the commercial started blaring on Schue's TV all over again.
XxXxXxX
"Brittany, let me drive," Quinn protested as she caught the other girl's wrist and pulled her back towards the red bug that they'd passed two rows ago. Brittany was as white as a ghost as she climbed in to the car shakily. Quinn started the engine and they were pulling out in no time.
"Where are we going?"
"P-park behind Santana's house."
"What did she say?"
"She didn't… she sounded… I don't know…" Brittany stammered, unable to process what was happening; her beautiful, sweet, strong Santana had sounded so…
"Broken."
Quinn drove as fast as she could safely, blazing through a few stop signs when no one else was around. Santana hadn't been answering her phone in hours, not since Sue had pulled her from rehearsal. They had finished running through their set list before the entire club walked into the choir room to see Santana and a rainbow on Mr. Schue's television; the entire club watched, helpless, as Santana's darkest secret came unraveled.
Brittany had just stared in disbelief, unable to comprehend the pure evil in people. How could they target sweet Santana for some stupid political ad? The whole club was just silent, suspicions confirmed, as they watched Brittany begin to fume. They asked why the girls hadn't told them, Artie turned beet red, Finn still looked constipated. Then Quinn and Rachel had begun trying to comfort Brittany as Kurt tried and tried to get ahold of Santana. And now this.
It had been hours since school had ended, leaving Lima to darkness as the girls pulled up to the park. Brittany's feet were on the pavement before the car had completely stopped and Quinn followed as quickly as should could, not even taking her keys out of the ignition.
"Oh my God," Quinn gasped as she caught sight of Santana's bruised and bloodied face, but Brittany had the unconscious girl in her arms too fast for her to get a good look. "Car, Quinn. My house, please."
The shorter girl complied without a second thought, helping Brittany into the back with Santana so she could hold her all the way home.
Brittany studied the girl's broken face; from what she could see (as minimal as the light was), she had two black eyes forming, the right already more swollen than the other, her lip was split open and her nose and mouth were covered in blood. Blood was also dripping from somewhere in the girl's hair line, but Brittany couldn't really tell where. Santana's jeans were torn, revealing a long gash below her knee that was soaking her jeans in crimson.
Every few minutes, Santana's eyes would start to flutter without quite opening; her mouth would twitch and Brittany would just watch with loving, fearful eyes. What if she's not okay?
"B-Britt? What's…" Santana's voice was barely at a whisper, strained and empty. Broken, Brittany thought yet again with a shudder.
"Shh, Sanny baby, we're going to my house. We're gonna be okay," the blonde cooed, tightening her hold comfortably around the Latina. Santana hummed her consent and buried herself even further into Brittany's warm body. God, she looks so sweet, the blonde thought as tears filled her eyes. How could anyone have hurt such a wonderful, beautiful girl?
Quinn listened to the short exchange in silence, both proud and impressed with how strong Brittany had sounded when soothing the broken girl in the back seat. The other girl had sounded so fragile in only a few words. Who am I kidding? She thought to herself, She's not fragile. She's already shattered.
They pulled into the Pierce driveway and were out of the car immediately. Quinn helped Brittany with Santana until the latter scooped her into her arms once again and they were off to the front door. Quinn held it open, and Brittany was calling for her mother before she was in the house.
"Mom! First aid kit please! Hurry!" Panic had finally invaded the girl's voice as they sprinted into the living room. Brittany was setting Santana gently on the sofa when Susan Pierce entered the room and gasped at the sight of the usually immaculate teen.
In the light there was more blood and more bruises. Santana had on a silky black button up, so Mrs. Pierce began unbuttoning it as she called, "Todd! Bring the first aid kit! Quickly!"
While the house filled with sounds of Brittany's father tearing through drawers and cabinets, she realized how lucky she was to have such loving and accepting parents, who loved and accepted Santana just as much.
And how lucky they were that Susan Pierce was an emergency nurse.
XxXxXxX
An hour later when Santana was stitched up, cleaned up and tucked safely into Brittany's bed, the Pierce family (minus Courtney, Brittany's 9 year old sister), Rory and Quinn were seated around the kitchen table. Rory had arrived to a makeshift emergency room, half an hour into the operation process, and had been both surprised and disturbed by the condition of the feisty girl. However, he had kept relatively quiet and watched with the girls as the Pierce parents worked, gaining a few brownie points in everyone's opinion. But now, as Todd and Susan looked from each other, to the two girls, Rory had had enough of silence.
"What in God's name 'appened to 'er?"
Brittany swallowed, staring at the table and Quinn squeezed her eyes shut, worry and frustration and panic taking over. The Pierce's looked at one another once more, before Susan spoke.
"Her father saw the commercial, didn't he?"
"We don't know," Quinn breathed, "that's what it seems like. But she just took off during rehearsal because Sue called her in, then she called Brittany and told her to come to the park. She's been like that since we found her."
Brittany nodded slowly, tears spilling down her cheeks, "She just said 'park'. Then she was passed out… "
"Well," Todd sighed, "She's welcome to stay here, Brittany, I know you know that. I guess we'll just have to see when she wakes up." The others nodded their understanding, knowing that nothing could be done until the Latina told them what had really happened.
Quinn's phone started ringing, the buzzing amplified on the hard wood table; she picked it up to see Rachel's name, one of her headshots from last year flashing on the screen. Quinn excused herself silently and walked back into the other room.
"Hey Rachel," she sighed, suddenly exhausted.
"Quinn, what's going on?" the girl's voice was panicked, probably having been worrying for hours.
"Rach… It's bad… She's… I'll talk to you about it at school tomorrow, okay? It's really bad," Quinn sighed, rubbing her face with one hand. Rachel was quiet for a moment before humming her resentful consent.
"Okay Quinn. Just… Let me know if you need anything?"
"Of course. Thanks Rachel… Goodnight."
"Goodnight Quinn."
