I'm sorry this took a little longer; the chapters are starting to get trickier to write. Thank you for still reading this/giving me attention. I'm an only child and I love it : )

Also I apologize to any reporters reading this. I probably exaggerated some stuff for dramatic purposes.

Brittany was lying under a tree in the backyard when a flash of brown streaked across the yard. She sat up quickly to try to see what it was, and she spotted it slinking along the hedges that she was sure that there was something there. She lifted her head up to get a good look at it and it soon as it saw her move it ran under a bush. The tip of its tail was sticking out and whipping fiercely back and forth, and she its yellow eyes glared at her from between the leaves. She inched closer and it hissed and bared its sharp shiny teeth. The sound sent her scrambling back before she remembered that it was just a little cat, and she moved back and carefully stroked its tail with a finger.

It didn't like that, she saw, as a thin paw flashed out and scraped at her hand. She waited until it settled down and she touched its tail again, gently, until it stopped rasping and growling at her. She sat as still as she could and scratched at its tail, and when it finally slipped out she had to stop herself from gasping and scaring it away because it was probably the ugliest thing she had seen ever. It had a horrible squashed face and only one ear, but its eyes had lost their fierce anger, and it was batting at her knee with one of its paws. She ran a hesitant hand down its back and pulled away when her fingers snagged on the snarls in its fur and it yowled.

'Sorry,' she murmured. The cat looked at her. It's okay, but don't do it again, it looked like it was saying, and she nodded and ran a hand down its side, carefully. It didn't move, so she ran a hand over its head and jumped when she felt a low humming vibrating through its body. She pulled her hand away again but it nosed her palm until she stroked its head again and it started rumbling again. It wouldn't let her pull it closer, so she contented herself with running a hand down its side and watching its eyes close in contentment.

They stayed where they were until the cat got up and started to nose around her again.

'What is it?' It didn't do anything except let out a tiny meow and look up at her expectantly. 'You have to tell me what's wrong or I can't help you,' she said gently, and the cat pawed at the ground and meowed a couple more times before she understood what it was wanted.

'Oh! You're hungry!' The cat only stared at her and batted at her palm, so she got up and ran back into the house to find something to feed it.

The kitchen was Brittany's favourite room in the house, because it was bright and cool and airy, and she liked the cool feeling of the tile under her feet. Today the sun was shining through the windows and reflecting off the taps, and she was staring transfixed at the pretty light of it when she heard someone walk into the kitchen behind her and she jumped and dropped the apple she had grabbed from the fruit bowl.

'Sorry,' Nora said, holding her hands up. 'I didn't mean to scare you.'

'I was just-' she gestured at the door that led to the back yard.

'Oh. Okay. Or, I was just coming in to make some dessert for tonight. You could help me.' Her mother's eyes were hopeful and nervous and Brittany cast a longing glance at the open door before she moved nearer the counter. It was quiet for a minute as her mother opened the cupboards, pulled out different packages and containers and set them on the counter.

'What are you making?' She snuck a finger into one of the packets and licked the white powder that stuck to her finger. She quickly pulled her finger out of her mouth and wiped it on the front of her shirt as Nora turned around to face.

'No, that's not it's for, sweetie,' she said, walking forward and wiping Brittany's face. 'I was going to make some brownies.' She bustled around the kitchen, flipping switches and filling stuff with water and Brittany stood by the counter and tried to keep out of her way.

'So, where were you going?' Brittany was distracted by thoughts of the little cat waiting for her outside and it took her a second to realise she was being talked to.

'I was just going outside. It's a little cramped in here,' Nora nodded understandingly.

'You need some space.' Brittany let out a breath, glad that she wasn't asking more questions, and she inched closer to the stove. Whatever was in the pot had started to let off a rich, delicious smell that made her mouth water.

'Can I help?'

'Sure. We just have to wait a little longer for the chocolate to finish melting.' They both fell silent, and Brittany soaked up the wonderful smell that was wafting in the all around her.

'Where's Santana?' Nora asked finally, when what felt like half an hour had gone by and Brittany was still seemingly staring into space.

'She's upstairs. She doesn't feel very well.' Nora raised her eyebrow at that, but she left it alone.

'Well, tell her I hope she feels better soon.'

'I will. Can I ask you something?'

'Sure.' She took the melted chocolate and butter off the pan of hot water and began to carefully measure out the flour and cocoa powder.

'What do I call you?' Nora's hands stilled, and the flour continued to pour into the measuring bowl. Brittany felt her face heat up again, but she had started talking already and it seemed silly to stop now.

'It's just, you're my mom. But I haven't seen you in forever, and I don't know if you like, still want me to, and stuff.' She turned to look at Brittany, who had grown more and more nervous as she had kept on rambling. Her teeth were clamped down hard on her lip and Nora reached out a hand to touch her shoulder. She stopped moving when Brittany flinched.

'You can call me whatever you want,' she said, careful to keep her voice steady, 'but if you wanted to call me mom I definitely wouldn't mind.' Brittany let out the big breath she had been holding and released her lip. 'Now here, hold this,' she gave Brittany the bowl full of chocolate to hold and quickly measured the flour again. 'Mix this in.' She watched as Brittany moved the mixing spoon around the bowl in jerky movements and spilled some of the flour on herself. Brittany looked up at her with tragic eyes.

'I don't think I'm doing it right.'

'No, you're doing fine.' She motioned for the mixing spoon and stirred it gently.

It didn't take long until Nora had whisked out most of the lumps and put the brownie mixture in the oven to bake. Brittany kept herself busy licking the bowl while Nora stacked the dishwasher and when she started to feel like she was going to be sick she put it into the sink.

'How long until they're ready?'

'About twenty-five minutes.' She elaborated when she saw Brittany frown. 'When the oven makes a ringing noise then we can take them out.'

'Okay.' She took a seat at the kitchen island and laid her cheek down on the cool tile to wait, and Nora resisted the urge to stroke her hair off her face and sat down next to her instead.

'Santana's not really sick,' Brittany said suddenly. 'She just doesn't like being around lots of people.'

'She's probably just having a hard time being back.'

'I know. But if she had come down then she could have helped us make the brownies.'

'Maybe you can take one up to her later.' Brittany's eyes were still the same startling blue they had been when she was a baby, and the twisting disappointment of everything she had missed while they hadn't been looking for their children wound its way around her chest,. She took a second to blink back the tears that had been hovering at the backs of her eyes for the past two weeks and plastered a smile on her face.

'Really?'

'You can take mine. I'm not supposed to be eating too much sugar anyway.' She took a risk and laid her hand gently on Brittany's arm, and she let the muscles in her arms relax when she didn't twitch away. Her skin was warm and smooth and there, because she was real, and here, finally.

'Why?'

'I might be semi retired, but I'm still a model and I have to keep fit.'

'I remember that.' Her smile dimmed and she looked nervously at Nora. 'Do I have to keep fit too?'

'No,' she said quickly. 'You're just fine.'

In the two weeks they had been back all the adults had worked hard to figure out what they could feed the girls without having a repeat of the first dinner, and in the end they had all given up to trying to adjust the meals they already knew how to cook and they settled for grilling almost everything. It also hadn't taken them long to notice that Brittany in particular had trouble relaxing when she had to sit inside for too long, and they ate most of their meals under the gazebo in the back yard.

The sun had set a little while ago and Brittany was just scraping the last of the food off the plate with her finger when her mother, who was sitting next to her, gave her a nudge.

'Why don't you go and get the brownies you made, Brittany?' She shook her head slightly and her mother smiled. They were whispering, and she had to lean her head in close to hear what she was saying. 'Go on. I left them on the counter.' She shot her an encouraging smile and Brittany pushed her chair back so she could stand up.

'Where are you going?' Santana asked. She had been listening to Brittany's conversation with her mother with great interest, and her foot brushed against Brittany's under the table as she spoke.

'I'm going to get dessert. I'll be right back.' She untangled their ankles and went to get the brownies. When she got back to the table everyone was waiting for her, and she blushed.

'Um, I –we made brownies today. For you. For dessert.'

She hadn't really helped make them, but she'd helped to mix the icing together and spread it onto the top of the brownies, and she figured that counted. She carefully set the plate onto the table and sat back down next to Santana.

'Well, I'm definitely having one,' her dad announced, and he reached over the table and plucked one off the plate.

'Dad, you can't just lunge across the table,' Katie said, but he only waggled his eyebrows at her and she sighed and reached for one herself.

'These are really good, Brittany,' Katie said.

'Yup, they are,' her dad announced.

'Thanks.' She shot up a quick smile and when they all smiled back she felt herself glow even redder. She didn't know where to look, so she settled for looking at Santana, who was busy licking the icing off her fingers and grinning at her with brown-stained teeth.

'Do you think it's weird?'

'What?' Santana asked lazily. She was almost asleep and Brittany pressed her fingers into Santana's stomach to wake he up a bit.

'I didn't know what you were doing today. That's weird.' Santana yawned and turned so that her face was tucked into the crook of Brittany's neck.

'I didn't really do anything.'

'I saw a cat. And made brownies. Kind of.'

'They were really good, Britt.' Santana's lips brushed across her lips every time she spoke, and she could feel goose bumps skimming up and down her skin. 'I didn't really not do anything,' Santana said, and Brittany was still trying to figure out what Santana had meant when she continued. 'My mom came in for a little bit.' Then she felt silent, and Brittany had to resist the urge to get her to talk.

'She quit for me.'

'Quit what?'

'Her job. When we crashed she said she stopped working so she could look for me. Can you believe that?'

Yes I can, she wanted to say. Who wouldn't look for you, if they lost you? But Santana was still talking and she didn't want to interrupt.

'And she showed me some pictures and stuff of my family. It was pretty boring.' Brittany tightened her hold around her waist and buried her face in her fair. The heady smell of her hair surrounded her and she breathed in deep.

'I'm glad you talked.' Santana shrugged and Brittany could feel her dragging her fingertips down her back. 'Does this mean we don't have to hide from her anymore?' Santana shrugged again and Brittany breathed a sigh of relief. Her house was pretty big, but it had been hard trying to find new places to avoid Santana's mom every day.

Brittany had never been good with rules, even back before they landed on the island. They always seemed to slip from her head the second they got in the way of what she wanted to do, and they were even harder to follow now that her parents couldn't really explain half the rules they wanted her to follow. Some made sense, like flush the toilet when you're done and remember to put pants on before you leave your room. Most of them didn't. It wasn't any good to try to write a list, so she ran them through her head as much a she could and trusted Santana to help her when she forgot.

She opened a big wooden door at the end of the hallway and peered in to see what was in it, and she nearly jumped out of her skin when she realized someone was already in the room.

She waited until she heard him call from inside before she let herself in, and he beamed when he saw who had just walked in.

'Brittany!' Her father was sitting behind a desk scribbling something in a notebook, but he stood up when he saw her.

'I'm sorry,' she blurted out, because she had forgotten another rule (knock before you open a door) and she wasn't sure what happened exactly if you broke one.

'Don't worry about it.' He was still smiling kindly and standing behind his desk, so she took a tiny step closer into the centre of the room. He didn't move from where he was, so she inched forward until she was within arm's reach of the giant bookcases that lined almost every wall in the room. He appeared next to her suddenly, and she bit down on the impulse to jump away.

'These are mine,' he said, running his hand across at least fifteen books. They were all thick and dull looking, and she raised a hand so she could trace the raised letters with her finger.

'All of these?'

'Yes, all of them.

'You wrote them?'

'I did.' He pulled the thickest one out and flipped through its pages. 'The critics like to call me a writing machine.'

'I don't remember the ones you read to me being so thick.' He chuckled.

'They weren't. But I kind of stopped writing children's books… and I switched to different stuff.'

'Why?'

'I don't know. I wasn't really feeling the kids' books anymore.' He gave a funny shrug and put the book back on its place on the shelf.

'What kind of stuff did you switch to?'

'Oh, it's a long story,' he said, but she leant against the book shelf and stared at him expectantly. He sighed. 'It's about a man. A painter. He's very good and very rich, and his wife dies right in the beginning of the first book.'

'That sounds really sad. Why did you write such a sad story?'

'It gets better,' he said quickly. 'I said he was a painter, didn't I? Well he keeps on painting and one night he paints his wife because he misses her so much, and the next day it comes to life and walks right out of the picture and it's his wife, right there.'

'So it's happy?' She asked doubtfully.

'Not quite. She disappears the next day and he has to keep on trying to paint her so that she'll come back to him.' Brittany shivered at the image of a woman pulling itself out a painting.

'I don't think I like that story very much. Sorry,' she added hastily. He chuckled.

'It's okay. I don't think I liked it too much either.'

'I think he should have just asked her where she was, so he could be with her.'

'I think he wanted to, but he had a little daughter he had to take care of.' He smiled again, but he looked sadder than if he had been crying.

'Maybe he should have made a paint swimming pool so he could jump in and visit her.' She made a diving motion with her head to demonstrate. The sad left his face and he laughed a big belly laugh like she remembered from when she was little. He slung a heavy arm over her shoulder and she staggered a little under the weight.

'Oh, baby girl. This is why you were always my favourite.' He winked at her. 'Don't tell your sisters I said that.'

She woke up in the middle of the night because Santana was thrashing around next to her.

'San, wake up.' She pressed down on Santana's arm gently, but all she did was whimper in response. She held her hand and started when Santana cried out and pulled her hand away. 'Santana. You need to wake up.'

'NO!'

'San-'

'Go away!'

Santana cried out again and hit her fist against the headboard. Light from the hallway filtered through the bottom of the door as the hallway light was switched on, and Brittany shielded her eyes as the door to their room flung open and what seemed like twenty people ran into the room. Santana bolted upright and froze, her face fixed and blank.

'What's going on?' Someone asked, and Brittany tried to answer, she really did, but having so many people barge into their room (which really wasn't that big when she thought about it) sucked all of the air out of her lungs and left her as frozen as Santana.

'What's going on?' The someone asked again, and Brittany had just managed to unfreeze her throat enough to ask them to please move back a little, they were okay, when Santana spoke next to her.

'Brittany?' Her voice was weak and shaky and more than a little scared, and Brittany automatically wrapped an arm around her waist.

'We're okay,' she said to the circle of people huddled around their bed. She felt Santana stiffen as she realized how hemmed in they were and she felt a flash of irritation. Couldn't they see that she needed space?

'We heard screaming,' Santana's mom said, sounding unsure.

'It was just a nightmare. We're fine,' she said, and she breathed a sigh of relief when they all backed off a little. Santana had started to tremble slightly and she didn't know how long she would be able to hold her together if they stayed in the room.

'Are you sure you're okay?' Santana's mom asked.

'Yes, I'm sure. I just really want to go back to sleep, please.' The adults looked at each other and seemed to come to some sort of agreement, and they moved backwards at the same time.

'If you're sure...'

'Yes,' she said firmly, and she kept her face calm until they were almost all out of the door.

'If you need anything we're just down the hall,' her dad said, and she nodded fervently until she heard the door click shut. The hand she had around Santana's waist was damp with sweat and she turned her gently so she could see her face.

'San?' She leaned forward and kissed the tear tracks on her face. Santana's face crumpled.

'Oh, Brittany.'

Santana had another nightmare the next night, and the one after that, and it went on until they were both exhausted; Santana more than Brittany because she began to fight falling asleep after the second night. As a consequence she spent a lot of the day lethargic and snappish, lying in bed trying to catch up on lost sleep while the sun was still up. Brittany decided that she would stay with Santana and keep her company while she tried to sleep.

It was great at first, because she spent the whole day cuddled up to her and kissing her to stop her from getting too grumpy, but every time someone walked in the room would change from fun and soft and warm to awkward and uncomfortable. Their eyes would drop and they would stammer and blush and close the door behind them even when they had clearly come up with something for them. Brittany would have to climb off Santana because it was hard to concentrate on kissing her and touching her when your mother had just walked in and dropped a stack of books on her foot.

It was lucky that her dad had finally got around to picking up the paint he had promised, because planning her project was turning out to be a great distraction.

Santana was asleep on the bed and she was mixing two different types of blue in a little pot trying to get the colour she needed. When it looked like it was getting close she picked up a paintbrush and carefully tested it out on the wall in front of her.

She grinned when she saw that it was the exact shade she needed, and she picked up another pot and started to blend blue and white together.

The problem with some of the rules was that some of what she was sure were the most important ones were never actually said out loud, and she had to try to figure out what people wanted from her by paying attention to if they were upset when she did things. The longer she struggled to figure out what she was supposed to be doing the more it dawned on her that lots of the rules were more about keeping other people happy than keeping her safe like they had told her, and it got even harder to make herself pay attention to what she was supposed to be doing.

There. She swiped some down the wall to make sure and mixed more in. The walls she wanted to paint were pretty big.

Hard, but not impossible, because it was clear that her family loved her

You were always my favourite

A lot

Call me whatever you want

And she didn't want them to stop, because having them still care about her and want her after all this time was more than she had hoped for. So if that meant she had to do stuff that didn't make sense then she figured she could handle that for a little while, except what was she supposed to do if it meant she couldn't love Santana and hold Santana the way she wanted?

There was a noise behind her and she turned around to see that Santana had sat up.

'Hi,' she said, and Santana only grunted at her in response. Brittany could see that she was breathing hard and her fists had curled up into balls. She waited until her breathing had evened out before she put the paintbrush down and walked over to the bed. She sat next to Santana and took her hand.

'They've never been this bad before,' she said, playing with Santana's fingers. She raised her head so they could make eye contact and Santana flinched away. She held her other hand.

'It wasn't so bad this time,' Santana muttered, and Brittany didn't bother to address the blatant lie.

'I think we should go outside. We shouldn't be stuck inside all day. And,' she continued, seeing Santana open her mouth to object, 'I could really use the fresh air. The paint smells weird.' Santana sighed and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

'Whoa, Britt, what's that?' She followed Santana's gaze to the wall where she had been testing the paint out. From where she was sitting the area she had been painting- which was about the size of a door- was covered in tiny vertical brush strokes, all squeezed together and all a different shade of blue. She shrugged.

'I was bored. Let's go.'

There wasn't anyone down in the yard and she took the opportunity to pull Santana under her favourite tree and kiss her until she felt the tension start to bleed from her muscles.

Later on her dad and Santana's mom came out into the garden with a plate full of food, and they spread an old tablecloth onto the grass and had a makeshift picnic. Her dad was making funny faces at her over the plate and Santana was talking and even smiling at her mom, and Brittany let herself drift off as the sun warmed her skin.

Dinner was loud and lovely, and Brittany started to think that maybe it wouldn't be so hard, if she could just figure out how to keep everyone this happy.

She woke up because she could feel Santana stirring and before she could turn around to face her Santana was screaming like she was on fire and Brittany was so shocked she rolled herself out of the bed.

She scrambled up as quickly as she could and ran around to Santana's side of the bed. She was thrashing around in the covers but Brittany could see that she was still asleep and she grabbed onto her arm to try to get her to wake up. It didn't work, and the screaming went on and on until it felt like someone was scraping at her ears with sharp fingernails.

The door to her room flung open and Santana's mother rushed in.

'Wake up!' Brittany shook her again, but it didn't do any good. Santana's mother dropped to her knees beside her.

'She's not waking up,' Brittany said, and she gripped Santana's hand tighter. Her mom leaned over and gripped Santana's shoulders gently.

'Santana, you have to wake up. It isn't real, okay? Wake up.' She touched a hand to her cheek and pulled her closer-

'No- don't-' Brittany said quickly-

Santana twisted away violently and flailed away from her mother, and one of her hands connected with her face with a loud crack.

Her mother fell away from her and landed on the carpet, her hands over her face. Brittany stared as blood began to seep from between her fingers. Her parents ran into the room –how long had they been standing at the doorway? - and her mom put a hand under Santana's mom's elbow and helped her up.

'Come on,' she said, and they were gone. Brittany heard the door to the bathroom open and close.

Santana had woken up, and she was tugging on Brittany's hand. Her face was sleepy and confused and Brittany pulled herself back into the bed next to her.

'What just happened?' She asked, and Brittany realized that she must have woken up in time to see her mom being led out. 'Brittany?'

'You had another nightmare.'

'Yeah, I know,' Santana said impatiently. 'What happened?' Brittany realized that not saying anything was making her even more panicky and she stroked a hand over her clammy face.

'Your mom tried to wake you up and you hit her in the mouth. It was an accident,' she added quickly, as Santana's eyes widened in horror.

'Is she okay?'

'I think so. She's in the bathroom-' Santana was up and off the bed before she could finish her sentence, and Brittany got up quickly so she could follow her out of the door. She got to the bathroom right behind her and she watched as Santana shrank against the bathroom door at the sight of the bloodied towel pressed against her mother's face.

'I'm sorry,' she said quietly, and she cringed as Maria took the towel away and they got a look at her already swelling face.

'It's okay,' she said, and tried to smile. 'It's just a little bruise.'

'Can I help?' Santana asked. She was playing with the hem of her sleep shirt and she looked like she was going to cry. Her mother hesitated, and nodded.

'Sure.' Santana stepped forward and her mom let her hold the wet towel against her face. Brittany backed out of the room, but not before she heard Santana whisper 'I'm really sorry.'

She had just stepped back into her room when her mother followed her in and shut the door behind her. 'Are you okay? She didn't hit you too, did she?' She shook her head quickly.

'It was just an accident.'

'I know it was, honey,' her mom said, and Brittany carefully searched her face to make sure she really did.

'It was an accident,' she said again, just in case. 'Is her mom going to be okay?'

'She'll be fine.' The next thing she knew she was lying down in bed and the covers were being pulled up to her neck. 'Do you know why she's having all these dreams?' She shrugged and her mother sighed. 'Brittany, if you know what's bothering her you should tell us, so we can help. Do you know anything?'

'No.'

'Does it have anything to do with that Will man you talked about before?' Brittany kept silent, and Nora took a deep breath. 'Brittany, did he ever hurt you?' Brittany finally looked at her, confused.

'What? No, Will never hurt us. He took care of us.'

'Are you sure? Because you can tell me, if he did.' Her mother was looking at her very seriously and earnestly, and she thought carefully because she felt like she was being asked something very important.

'Yes, I'm sure.' Nora's face relaxed for the first time since they had been woken up and she squeezed her hand.

'Can you tell me about what happened when he... went away?' Brittany felt her face smooth into a mask and she shook her head.

'No. I don't remember anything.'

'Brittany...'

'I don't.' She rolled onto her side, away from her mother. 'I'm really tired.' She closed her eyes and didn't open them until she felt a weight lift from the bed and the door opened.

'Goodnight,' her mother said, and Brittany mouthed the words back before she remembered she was facing the wall and she couldn't see her. She closed her eyes tight and curled up in a ball to until she was sure that she wasn't going to remember.

She woke up still curled in a ball and Santana pressed against her back. She turned around so she could cuddle before they had to get up for breakfast and she jumped a little when she saw that Santana was already awake and staring at her.

'You scared me,' she said, and her voice came out hoarse with sleep.

'Sorry,' Santana said softly. She trailed her hand down Brittany's face and smiled. Brittany pulled back so she could see her and she frowned when she got a good look at her face. Her eyes were bloodshot and slightly glazed, and she had huge bags under her eyes.

'You look terrible.' Santana snorted.

'Thanks.'

'Did you sleep?' Santana only rolled her eyes and shrugged.

'San...'

'I have to go to the doctor today.'

'We went already.' They had a list of tablets and things they had to take every day. More rules.

'My mom said they can give me something to help me sleep.'

'But you hated going to the doctor.' It had taken her fifteen minutes to convince Santana get out of the car the last time they had to go.

'I know.'

'So why do you want to go now?' Santana cupped her face in her hands.

'Last night I hit my mom,' she said.'

'That was an accident,' Brittany replied almost immediately.

'I know. But what if I had hit you?'

'I would have been okay.' Santana sighed.

'But it wouldn't have been okay. It would have been less okay than hitting my mom-which was pretty bad. And Britt, I'm so tired.' She said it like it was almost too much effort to get the words out and Brittany brought her hand up to cover Santana's.

'When are we leaving?'

The car was cool and dark and Brittany closed her eyes and pretended she was in a cave. They were speeding along a long and twisty road and her stomach seemed to be twisting and turning with every movement that the car made.

'Are we there yet?'

'No. Soon,' her mom replied. She was sitting in the back seat with Santana, who was slumped against the door, and both their mothers were sitting in the front of a car. The outside was somehow even more interesting and dizzying than it had been the last time they had been out, and the sheer everything of all the things she had to look at filled her head so much she could hardly hear what everyone was saying. It was just like the day when they went out to the park; she couldn't concentrate on one thing because there was just so much begging to be looked at and thought about. In the end she closed her eyes until she felt the car stop because she could feel a headache creeping up on her.

The doctor's office was decorated in cool greens and blues and Brittany followed her mom's lead and sat on the squeaky plastic chairs as Santana and her mom went up to talk to the lady behind the desk. They were led in almost immediately and Brittany watched Santana's retreating back.

'She'll be okay,' her mom said, patting her knee, and she nodded absently. There was a TV on in the corner of the room that had some sort of animal show on. She let the calm voice of the narrator distract her while her mom read one of the magazines that were lying around on the table, and he had just pointed out the lioness that was hiding under a bush and watching a baby deer play with a butterfly when Santana finally came out. She stood up.

'How was it?' Santana sighed.

'I have to go to like... some other kind of doctor.'

'Why?'

'I don't know. They want to ask me about why they're happening, and stuff.' She looked miserable and Brittany gave her a quick hug.

'We have some time before we have to go to the next appointment, so why don't we go for lunch?' Santana's mom suggested. Her mom agreed, and they found a small restaurant near where the other doctor's office was.

Lunch was good, except for the white stuff she had to scrape off her salad before she could eat it and the same tickling uncomfortable feeling she had at the park.

'People are staring,' she whispered.

'It's okay, just ignore them.' Her mom looked calm, but Brittany could see the strain in her face.

'We should go,' Santana's mom said. 'We'll be late.' Brittany stood up to go with them, but her mom stopped her.

'It's okay. They'll be just across the street. You can watch her from here.' She wanted to argue, but her mom's face looked pretty set and arguing with her when she was like this never really ended well. She sat down again and watched as Santana disappeared into the building.

'-some dessert?'

'What?'

'I was asking if you would like some dessert. The cheesecake looks good.'

'Um. Yeah. Okay.'

The cake was so sweet it made her mouth tingle, but she was paying much more attention to the building across the street. There was a quick flash of light and she blinked.

'-Let's go.'

'What?' But her mom had thrown some paper on the table and she was pulling her to her feet.

'We need to get to the car.' She was pulling Brittany along and calling someone at the same time, on the phone she could keep in her pocket.

'-You need to leave now, Maria, -' She looked and saw that a couple of people were standing outside the building Santana was in. Most of them were holding what looked like cameras.

'Get in the car, Brittany.' She got in automatically before she realized what she was doing, and she heard a click as the doors locked behind her.

'What are we doing?'

'They're leaving now.' Nora replied tersely. 'I told Maria to meet us at the car.' Just as she finished speaking she saw Santana leave the building right behind her mom, and they instantly disappeared into the crowd of people. Brittany tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.

'Don't, Brittany.'

'Let me out!' She hit the door with a palm and hissed at the pain. There still wasn't of Santana at all and she could the shouting from inside the car. 'We have to help them!' They were all trying to push into the middle of the circle, and Brittany's chest constricted when she imagined Santana being squashed in the middle of the crush. 'She hates people being so close, you have to let me go,' she pleaded.

'I'm not having you go out there too, Brittany. Look, they're coming.' They had pushed out of the middle of the circle and Santana's mom was tugging her along as fast as she could. The people with the cameras followed right behind them and Brittany was reminded of the nature show she had been watching. As they got closer she saw that Santana was crying and her throat seized up.

'Mom, please,' she said, and she watched Nora stare at her in shock.

'Stay here,' Nora said. Before she knew what was happening the front door was open and shut and Nora was hurrying towards Santana and her mom. She tried to open the door and follow her, but Nora pressed something o the keys she was holding, the car flashed and the doors stopped working again. She kicked the door and watched as Nora hurried up to them and wrapped an arm around Santana, shielding her and pulling them towards the car.

The back door was flung open, Santana was shoved unceremoniously into the seat next to her, the adults got into the front seat and Nora drove the car off as quickly as she could without hitting any of the reporters who were trying to take pictures through the window.

Santana was quiet. The whole car was quiet, and before she knew it they were pulling into her house and they were walking inside. Then they were inside their room and Santana was pushing her over to make her sit down. She could hear that she was talking, but it was hard to concentrate on what she was saying through the haze that had settled over her brain.

'Brittany? Are you listening?' She tried to snap out of it and pay attention to what Santana was saying. 'You need to calm down,' she said, and Brittany realized that the heavy fog that had settled over her brain was anger, hot and heavy and so strong it was sending chills down her neck every time she thought about what happened in town. 'I'm okay,' she continued.

'No you're not,' Brittany said, because she remembered Santana telling her that she found it hard to breathe when just her mother was hugging her, and she couldn't imagine what it was like to have so many people trying to get close.

'I'm okay now,' Santana said, and she shot her a small smile. There was a knock on the door and Santana's mother walked in with a glass of water. She set it on the table and handed Santana something small that was in the palm of her hand.

'Take it,' she encouraged,' and Brittany watched as Santana hesitated before she put whatever it was in her mouth and swallowed.

'What's that?'

'A sleeping pill,' Maria answered. 'We managed to fill the prescription before we had to leave.' She turned to address Santana. 'You can have a little nap now and be up in time for dinner, okay?' She nodded, and they kept silent and stared until Maria stood up and left.

Santana lay down and Brittany automatically lay down next to her. 'Stay with me until I sleep, okay?'

'Of course.' She scooted closer so she could rest her head on Santana's chest and let the steady beating of her heart calm her down a little. It wasn't long before Santana's breath evened out, and Brittany lifted her head to make sure she was really asleep. She was, and she looked more peaceful than she had in a while. Brittany kissed her on forehead gently, and got up and left the room, closing the door behind her.

She found her mother in the kitchen with all the other adults. They were whispering heatedly and when they saw her they broke apart and smiled uneasily.

'Brittany-' She cut across whatever her dad was about to say and faced her mother.

'Why did you do that?'

'What?'

'You didn't let me out of the car.' Her mother looked a little guilty, and Brittany was glad.

'I was protecting you, Brittany.'

'You had no right.'

'I'm your mother. I have every right to protect you.' The haze started to turn red.

'I don't need you to protect me! I've been doing it without you for years! I don't need you to tell me what's safe!'

'Brittany.'

'You made me leave her alone.' She anger was slipping from her and the desire to cry was very quickly replacing it. Her father reached for her arm and she batted it away. Everyone in the room was staring at her in shock and she swallowed hard. She was out of words to say and the about to cry feeling was getting stronger and stronger, so she stalked out of the kitchen and threw herself onto one of the chairs in the living room.

The TV was on, and the people on the screen were loud, but not so loud that she couldn't hear that they were arguing in the kitchen. She slid down further in the seat and tried to block them out.

'I didn't mean to hurt her. I just wanted to keep her safe.' Even though she was trying to keep her voice quiet she recognized her mother's voice. She glanced at the TV and blinked when a picture of her and Santana at the park popped up. She felt a jolt in her stomach when the serious-looking man on the screen mentioned their names.

More reports have come in that one of the 'Crusoe girls' as they have been dubbed, were spotted in the city earlier today.

The screen flickered and she was looking at shaky footage of Santana in what she had been wearing today. Brittany could see that her hands were trembling and she bit her lip to stop her hands from curling into fists. The man on screen was back.

We have an expert in child psychology and development on call to tell us a little more about what we're seeing here.

'They can't keep going out like this.' Her father's low rumble was distracting, and she wished that someone would be quiet so she could concentrate.

'I know, but they can't handle the house. It's too cramped for them. I can see it.'

'I'm sorry. I really didn't think we would be here this long.'

'That's not what I meant, Maria.'

'At least no one got hit this time.' She could hear a slight smile in Santana's mom's voice.

….we can assume that they have both been severely affected by their lack of other human contact.

Santana was punching and picking at someone onscreen. It looked a lot worse than she remembered.

At least one of them does not have the ability to communicate clearly, which calls in question their language development.

Do you think it is possible for them to regain the ability to interact with society again?'

Certainly. I am sure that with the right expert care and attention it will be possible to at least partially rehabilitate them. I think it is a wonder that they are being allowed to wander free.

Could we roll the footage from the park?

Santana was kissing her by the lake and she stared. She didn't know that was what it looked like.

'…suggested that they could both probably use some help. He gave me the number of a therapist we can use.'

'Can we get them to come here?'

'They can't sit around and be trapped for the rest of their lives, Frank.'

'Just for now. Until we figure out what we are doing. We just need to get control of the situation.'

'Do we want to start thinking about getting them some sort of teacher?'

Teacher. She didn't like the sound of that.

Do you have any thought about the very intimate behaviour that has been continually observed?

It's difficult to say. It may just be a reaction to the loneliness they must have felt only having each other for companionship for over twelve years. It may be more than that.

And could you give us insight into the on-going debate that their relationship has caused?

Can you elaborate on that?

Some people are claiming that their relationship is proof that being gay is, in fact not a choice, while conservative media maintains that their unusual upbringing means that it can't be used as evidence either way.

I can't really comment on that. We have to remember that we are talking about a pair of possibly traumatised and developmentally challenged children who are bound to be struggling

She couldn't shut it out. She tried, but she couldn't stop the stream of information from flooding her brain. There was so much.

'Hey.' She opened her eyes and Louise was standing over her. 'You look like you're about to explode.'

'I don't think I am,' she muttered.

'Well, good.' She stretched and perched on the armrest farthest from Brittany. 'What's going on? There's some seriously bad vibes coming from the kitchen.' She shrugged. 'Do you want to talk about it?' Brittany didn't answer and Louise sighed.

'Listen, I have to go meet a friend across town. Do you want to come?'

'I don't think I should leave,' she muttered.

'It'll only be for a little while; I just have to pick something up. And I think we could use a break from this pressure cooker. Come on.' Louise was smiling at her, and it probably would feel good to leave just for a bit. And Santana's mom said she would be asleep until dinner…

'You'll bring me right back?'

'Of course. I thought you would have wanted to go out. Aren't some kind of nature child now?' She bit her lip.

'I don't think they're going to let me leave.' Louise smiled a slightly predatory smile.

'Just leave that to me.' She stalked off into the kitchen and came out a little while later, looking frazzled but triumphant.

'Let's go, Thelma. Never mind,' she added, as Brittany shot her a puzzled look.

Louise drove like she was fighting with the car, and Brittany kept a tight hold on the armrest as they swerved around corners and accelerated to catch up to green lights.

'I didn't think she'd let you take me.' Louise shot her an amused glance.

'Is that why you agreed to come?' She kept talking before Brittany could answer. 'We're going right to the edge of town. The press definitely aren't going to be there.'

'The press?'

'The people with cameras. That's what I call them when I'm in polite company.' Brittany smiled back tentatively. She had no idea what her sister was saying half the time, but she was interesting, and relaxed, so she tried to look like she knew what was happening.

'Let me tell you, it's no fun being walked to school with people running after you and asking what you think of your mom's fashion choices. I was just glad she wasn't wearing her Victoria's Secret wings.'

'She wore wings?'

'Only a couple of times. She stopped all the international travelling when you went missing. I think she was afraid the rest of us would run on a plane and disappear too. I couldn't go to a sleepover until I was thirteen.'

'Oh,' was all she could think to say.

'We're here,' Louise said, and she swerved them into a parking space. 'You'd better come in with me. I promised mom I wouldn't let you out of my sight.'

They got out of the car and walked into a squat, ugly building.

'I just need to give this back,' she said, pulling a small white triangle from her pocket, and they walked through a narrow dark hallway until she pushed a door open. A tall man looked up and smiled when he saw who it was.

'Hey, Lou. Who's that?'

'Brittany. My sister.'

'But... that's not…'

'Don't,' she warned, and he stopped talking. The room he was I was dark and musty, like the hallway, and almost every available space was filled with racks of colourful clothes that Brittany was reasonably sure was the cause of the smell. She reached out and touched a shirt with feathers sewn on it as Louise began to talk to the man.

'Don't go too far, Brittany,' Louise called, and she nodded absently before running her fingers up and across a rack and walking around the corner to pick up some fake books and swords that had been stashed at the back.

There was a door set flush against the wall and she dropped what she was holding so she could reach the handle. She pulled, and she had to blink because light from the other room flooded into the dark place she was standing in. She waited for her eyes to adjust and when she could see clearly she dropped the other book she was holding to stare.

The whole room had mirrors instead of walls and the floors were bare wood, and right in the middle there was a boy spinning and twirling in time to the music that was pumping through the room. The boy began to do flips and turns, faster, while still moving with the music, somehow, and it was the most beautiful and confusing thing she had ever seen in her life.

The music stopped and she realized that she had been inching forward into the room. She flinched as he turned and saw her.

'Sorry,' she blurted out. 'I was just…' The boy smiled. He was tall, and he had black spiky hair and black eyes.

'It's okay. I was done anyway. Are you here to meet someone?'

'No, I'm just here. What were you doing?'

'Just some contemporary dance. Do you dance?'

'No. I don't know how.'

'It's easy. See?' He stepped away and glided across the room, making quick steps and throwing in the occasional turn.

'How did you do that?' He shrugged.

'Just do it. Really,' he said when she looked at him sceptically. 'I bet you can. Just copy me.' He took off across the floor again. She took a deep breath, and as she did he felt her body grow lighter and lighter until she felt like she was floating on the tips of her toes.

Just copy me

The first step felt like magic.

Ahhh, now I need a nap :S