Chapter 12

"A part of me actual missed fighting with you, good to have you back."

Santana tossed her hair back and grinned at the British woman standing in front of her. "You obviously weren't that good since I don't remember you at all." Her comment made the other woman smile and she wasn't quite sure as to why.

Being stuck in a cavern in South Africa wasn't the most romantic setting but being able to be this close to Santana without the girl knowing was enough for Brittany. "Maybe not but you seem to like meeting me in caves, ruining my assignments, or at least trying to ruin my assignments." As much as Brittany didn't want to hurt Santana she had no choice but to complete her assignment in order to keep MI-6 off her back. She leapt forward and started on the offensive but sure enough Santana was quick enough to block her attack. She managed to land a roundhouse kick to the woman's stomach causing her to stumble backwards. Knowing that was the only opportunity Santana would give her, Brittany ran down the narrow cavern path, eventually finding what she as looking for. A purple amethyst crystal that was no bigger than her palm.

She went to pick it up and just as she did she heard Santana yell from behind. "It's on a trip wire." Laughing she put the crystal in her backpack, preparing to engage with Santana one more time. "Yeah, like I'm going to believe you."

"You British are so arrogant sometimes."

"And you Americans are awfully conceited." She attempted to get by Santana but the girl threw her to the ground. Before she knew it she was on the ground again just after standing up, the blast knocking Santana on top of her. Both women watched as the rubble covered the entrance they had both just walked through.

"So much for being conceited, next time maybe you'll listen."

Brittany huffed, she should have known Santana wasn't joking. The brunette pushed Brittany off of her and moved over to the now wall of rubble. "Why does this seem like déjà vu?"

"I don't know maybe because this is the second time we've been caught in a cave." Santana's face remained blank. "Guess our time together wasn't that good after all."

Santana moved over into a corner and sat down, there was no point in exerting more energy than she needed, they were going to need all their energy to get out of there. Santana was sure they'd find a way, just not the way that they had come in.

"I guess we could call this our first date." Brittany said in her British accent as she sat against the opposite wall from Santana.

Santana couldn't help but laugh, she had to admit the girl was good looking but she wasn't into it. "Sorry, got my eye on someone else." With that said she reached into her bag and pulled out her small ipod shuffle before putting the ear buds into her ears.
Brittany watched as the girl closed her eyes and as soon as she did she couldn't help but let a small smile dance across her lips. Somehow she'd find a way to get Santana back, after they got out of the stupid cavern.

An hour passed and that's when it set in to both girls that no one was looking for them, they were on their own. "How much air do you think we have down here, I've tried to calculate and my guess is about 12 hours."

"I got about 13 but we'll go with 12 to be on the safe side." Brittany answered as she watched Santana pull the ear buds out. "I'm sorry but you really brought an ipod with you?"

Santana nodded. "Yeah, helps pass the time, in case inexperienced little girls trip an explosion, trapping us in a hole, 300 feet below ground, or whatever it is." She watched as the other woman shivered, the temperature had definitely dropped in the last hour. They couldn't start a fire, not unless they wanted to cut their airtime in half. As much as she wanted to leave the girl to rot in the hell she had created for them, something in Santana told her that wasn't the solution. "Come here."

"Yeah right, so you can kill me and have all the air to yourself." Brittany was getting increasingly tired and dealing with Santana's attitude was not something she wanted to deal with.

"So that we can both stay warm so we have a chance of getting out of here alive." There it was, that look, the softer side of Santana, the caring side. Taking that as her sign Brittany got up and sat down next to the brunette. Reaching into her backpack Santana grabbed a small blanket and wrapped it around the woman sitting next to her.

"If we're going to get out of here, we're going to need all our strength, you should rest."

Brittany let out a weak smile and for the first time in months she locked eyes with Santana. She hoped that it would maybe trigger something in the other girl but all she got was a blank stare. On the other side of the look Santana couldn't quite figure out what exactly it was that she was feeling. Giving up she broke the eye contact and leaned her head against the rock wall, closing her eyes once again.

Later that night Santana woke up to a sleep talking Brittany. "Kylie, hey Kylie, wake up." The girl didn't budge and her words were muffled, hard to make out but Santana was pretty sure she had just heard what the girl said, 'Santana' and she said it without a British accent. Figuring she was hallucinating Santana drifted back to sleep.

Her dream played like jumbled memories and even as she dreamt she found it odd. There she was in a prison cell, freezing cold, and then warm arms around her. In her dream she opened her eyes and took a good look around and saw Kylie lying next to her as they shared a small blanket. Before she knew it the two were running down a hall and hopping onto a snow mobile before driving off. Looking back she saw a building that looked oddly familiar, but she couldn't place it just yet. Then she woke up. Looking around Kylie wasn't there. Jumping into action Santana grabbed her backpack and started to analyze the situation before the girl reappeared.

"Where the hell did you go?"

"I found us a way out of here. See I got to thinking while you slept and it dawned on me that the crystal was meant for someone and that that someone would know the way out. Then I found it." Santana watched as the girl moved stand the crystal had been on. "Everything in here is rock, except for the crystal and this. It's a good thing we're both skinny, come on, let's get out here so I can have a nice warm shower."

Surprised Santana followed the girl down the tunnel that led them around and back up again. With a hard push Brittany pushed a metal door open causing both girls to shield their eyes as sunlight streamed in. That's when realization set in for Santana, the other girl still had the crystal. Brittany had a feeling it was coming and in a moment of weakness she lost her grip on the ladder. The brunette watched as the other woman fell, she attempted to catch her but all she got was her backpack. She heard the girl grab a hold of the ladder again but she couldn't maintain a grip and then before she knew it Santana saw the woman on the ground, unconscious. She wasn't sure why but that voice inside her was screaming again, telling her to help the woman but as she looked at her watch she saw that it was her scheduled extraction time. That's when she heard the helicopter so she swung the girls backpack over her shoulder and finished climbing. When she did she saw the helicopter land and a familiar face get out of it, Karpov.

She looked down one last time and saw long blonde hair, "Brittany," she mumbled to herself. Doing the only thing she could at this point she closed the opening with her foot so that Karpov didn't see the girl lying on the ground. She knew that he wouldn't hesitate to shoot the girl and that was a risk Santana wasn't going to take. At least not until she figured out what her dream was about last night and how Kylie's short hair turned into long hair, long hair that resembled Brittany's. For now she had Karpov to deal with.

"Did you get it?" He said as he reached where Santana stood. Nodding she handed him both backpacks. First he pulled out the crystal and smiled, then he grabbed Santana's water bottle. "You didn't drink your orange juice."

Santana looked at the bottle of liquid Karpov was holding, she had totally forgotten about it and had stuck to drinking water. "I completely forgot."

"You know what the doctor said, you must maintain your vitamin C level, you must finish it now."

The brunette nodded and took the bottle back from Karpov. She took a sip as they got onto the helicopter and once she sat down she chugged the rest of the bottle. The last thing she wanted to deal with right now was Karpov's temper.

"Where are we headed?" She asked as she looked down at where she knew the door was and secretly hoped Kylie would be alright.

"Siberia."

"How'd you get this place, its in the middle of nowhere?" Santana asked, shivering as they entered the large snow covered building.

Karpov smiled. "I acquired it." The man had no idea that Santana had ever stepped foot in the building he was about to bring her into.

Something felt familiar about it to the girl, something she couldn't quite place. "I feel like I've been here before."

They both laughed it off as Karpov sent Santana off to rest. He snapped his fingers and a moment later he was on his cell phone. "Are you sure? She said it felt familiar, I will take no chances here." Even in his broken English he managed to sound menacing.

Hours later Karpov sent Santana down to the cells to make sure everything was in working order. Which meant Santana had to make sure they weren't easy to get out of. One by one, she checked the doors and windows to make sure that once someone was put in, they stayed that way.

Fifteen minutes later one of Karpov's guards found Santana face down on the floor, curled up into a ball, both hands clutching the sides of her head. Immediately he called for Karpov and backup as he picked her up and carried her upstairs. Five minutes after that Santana found herself lying on a bed and a doctor flashing a light in her eyes despite the pain it caused.

He set her up with an intravenous and soon after that she felt the pounding in her head start to decrease slightly. It was enough for her to be able to think again. "What's going on?" She asked as she looked at Karpov, hoping he had the answers.

"Shh, it will be okay, just relax." There was no way he was going to let his biggest asset suffer in pain. She was too valuable and he needed her healthy, so he looked at the doctor with a nod.

Minutes after that Santana was fast asleep. "That should keep her under long enough for the medicine to start working." The grey haired, short man answered as he put his small flashlight back into his jacket pocket. He had the guard's wheel over machines and hooked Santana up to them one by one. "See here?" He pointed to a screen that showed Santana's brain waves. "Her mind is very strong, it's fighting itself, if she goes without the medication long enough it may start leaking out information. However, I highly doubt that her mind would be able to put together the pieces of a very disorganized puzzle."

Karpov nodded. "You said that this wouldn't be a problem."

The man looked down, noticeably scared. "I did not know how strong her mind was. You must also try and avoid any place that she has vivid memories of. The more recent the memories, the stronger they are in her mind."

"That won't be a problem, we have a detailed list of the places she's been in the past year and a half."

- - - - -

"How am I supposed to do that? I've never won against her, I can't even outsmart her, did her parents have her in kick boxing when she was a toddler?" Brittany asked across the table from Holly.

Her words had made the blonde laugh. "No, but I'm sure they wish they had, she was always bouncing off the walls. From the research I've done involving the treatments they gave her it seems as though the medication doesn't fully get rid of memories, it buries them."

Quinn finally chirped in. "So what you're saying is that we have to somehow manage to bring those memories to the surface? But how?"

Holly nodded and let Lucy fill the girls in. "We need to get her alone, we need to show her some recent memories, recreate them if we have too."

"How are we going to do that, we can't get close to her." Artie asked, looking up from his computer screen.

"That's not entirely true, there is someone who can get close to her without anyone being the wiser." Holly along with everyone else looked at Brittany. "You said Santana noticed that you were a model, that's our in."

- - - - - -

"Tonight, we go out!" Karpov said as he led Santana into what was now her bedroom. A red dress laid sprawled out on her bed. "For you."

She walked over to it and picked it up. "It's beautiful, what's the occasion?"

"You've been working hard and I have some business to attend to so it will be win, win." He smiled as she looked the dressed over. "Hurry now, our flight leaves in one hour."

She nodded as he went to walk out of the room. "Wait, where are we going?"

"A fashion show, perfect place for a meeting and a night out, always after parties."

- - - - - - - -

The lights went low and instead of worrying about not falling all Brittany could think about was when she was going to get the chance to see Santana again. Taking a deep breath she started walking in her five-inch heels.

At first she thought she was dreaming as she continued to walk down the catwalk. Once she was at the end she blinked a few times, trying to stay in character, but all she could do was stare at the gorgeous brunette in the red dress sitting right in front of her. Then there it was, that smile, the smile she missed getting to see more than anything else in this world.

As she stopped and posed at the end of the catwalk their gazes met. It felt like the world stopped, there she was, right in front of her but she couldn't have her because of the goon sitting next to her. Another beat. It was a struggle for her to turn but just as she did she saw that sparkle in Santana's eye and she knew she maybe had an in.

- - - - - -

The only downside to modeling was the after parties, when all you wanted to do was go home and curl up in bed. Any other night and that would be exactly how Brittany felt, she wasn't much of the party type, at least not anymore. Rachel was right though, tonight maybe Santana would be there and even if she wasn't Brittany needed to let loose.

She didn't want to seem obvious so at first she didn't look for a while as she walked around, talking to photographers and other media, champagne in hand. She took compliments and took feedback with the poise and grace any top model should. But that was about to be hard to keep up.

"Miss. Pierce?"

She turned around with a smile and it was hard to keep it when she realized who had spoken to her. "Hi." She hoped the smile seemed genuine enough.

"Nikolai Karpov." He extended his hand and without hesitating Brittany shook it.

"Brittany Pierce." She beamed and watched his face for any trace that he might know who she really was. Nothing.

He smiled and she made note of how creepy it was. He exuded the persona of being someone that didn't grow up on the right side of the tracks. "You are a dazzling beauty." He was definitely trying to lay it on thick.

"Thank you very much. I hope you enjoyed the show tonight." It was her normal routine of playing nice.

"I did very much so, ah there she is, I have someone I'd love for you to meet." His gaze fell on Santana who was making her way across the room.

Santana smiled as she got closer and noticed whom Karpov was speaking too. Brittany instantly looked around the room trying to spot Rachel who she knew was never too far behind her. She found her standing on the far side of the room talking to an old gray haired man that looked to be in his late forties. If Rachel was good at one thing, it was mingling, the girl could talk anyone's ear off. She stared at the girl as Santana approached Karpov hoping to the get the girls attention. Finally just as she was turning her attention back to Santana and Karpov she saw Rachel look her way. The girl must have realized who she was talking to because Brittany faintly saw her excuse herself and start making her way over.

"Brittany this is Santana, Santana, Miss. Pierce."

Santana extended her hand, which Brittany gladly accepted. "Please call me Brittany."

"Santana." She smiled at Brittany before giving Karpov a slight smile as she started to blush. "I'm a big fan and may I just say you are absolutely beautiful." Without knowing why Santana didn't mention their meeting in Venice. For whatever reason she felt as though there were some things that Karpov shouldn't know.

It was Brittany's turn to blush. "You are quite pleasant to look at yourself and American?"

Santana nodded. "Originally, Nikolai adopted me when I was small, he was friends of my parents." It disgusted Brittany that the words fell so easily off Santana's lips as if that was the truth but she had to keep it together.

"You two should dance, be young." Karpov insisted looking between the two girls. He really had no clue who Brittany was or that Brittany and Santana had met before. It was sloppy on his part but it just meant that they had done a good job of being discreet.

"Ahem." Rachel cleared her throat, catching the attention of Karpov and Santana.

"Hello." Karpov said as he took her hand and kissed it, Rachel was always a charmer. "Nikolai Karpov, Santana Lopez." He introduced them.

Rachel smiled. "Rachel Berry." She shook Santana's hand. "Lovely to meet you both."

"Rachel is my best friend." Brittany explained as she noticed Karpov looking between the two girls.

"Lovely people always seem to stick together, yes?" They both looked at each other, slightly nodding and continuing to smile. "I was just explaining that Brittany and Santana should enjoy some dancing."

Rachel nodded enthusiastically. "That sounds like a great idea, I was just telling Britt that she needs to let loose and have some fun. How about you and I go and get another drink?"

Karpov seemed to like this idea. He gave Santana a look with a small smile before following Rachel across the room to the bar.

"Come on, I love this song." Brittany grabbed a hold of Santana's hand as she led her into the adjacent room where the DJ was playing Afrojack's Take Over Control.

Santana took Brittany's hand and spun her around before placing her hands softly on the girls hips. The blonde put her hands over the brunette's as they swayed to the music before turning around in her arms so she could look at her. She needed to take in as many mental pictures as she could. Work could wait, right now all she could think of was having Santana in her arms.

They stayed dancing for a while before Santana said she needed to use the restroom. Brittany went with her and was surprised to find it completely empty. "Are you alright? You look a little pale?" Brittany noticed that she had never seen Santana look quite so white in complexion.

"Yeah I'm okay, it was just getting hot out there. Thank you for dancing…" She was cut off by the pain in her head which made her kneel to the ground in pain. The doctor said if it happened to take deep breaths and try to let it pass, easier said than done.

Before either girl knew it Brittany was at Santana's side. She tried to look at the girls eyes and noted that her eyes were dilated. "Is there anything I can do? What's wrong?"

"It'll pass." Santana said through clenched teeth, she at least hoped it would pass.

A few minutes later and the pain was clearly getting worse and Brittany realized that this was their chance. She sent Artie a text message, calling was too risky especially if Santana regained her composure and the pain passed. A minute later two men barged into the room and grabbed Santana, Brittany acted as though she wasn't sure what was going on, they couldn't be too careful. Once Brittany knew her colleagues were gone she ran out of the washroom, already crying, acting classes do wonders. Finally she tracked down Karpov and explained to him what had happened, Rachel attempting to comfort her friend.

"I don't know what happened, they just came in and took her and there was nothing I could do. We only went to the washroom because she wasn't feeling well and then it all happened so fast."

No sooner had she finished regaling the details to Karpov, he excused himself hurriedly.

The two best friends continued their act until they managed to get back to the hotel. Brittany instantly changed into more comfortable clothing, a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. "So she just went down in pain?" Rachel asked as she too changed out of her formal attire.

"She went pale and then she was on the ground, the look of pain on her face nearly killed me. I have never seen her like that and we've been in some pretty rough situations."

"I just hope she stays in pain long enough for us to get her somewhere safe."

Brittany nodded. "Yeah, otherwise I feel sorry for leaving her with Mark and Troy."

"She'll be okay Britt, for now we just have to sit still, make sure Karpov doesn't realize what happened."

To be continued…