A/N: Not sure how long it's been. Hopefully it hasn't been that long, but if it has I apologize. I'm still developing ideas for this story so I hope you all are still sticking to it.


Chapter Twelve: Run

Santana glanced up from bill paying when her daughter walked into the room with her cell phone permanently attached to her hand. For the last several days every time Santana had seen her daughter it was always with her cell phone.

"Pretty soon you are going to wear out that battery."

Amanda smiles at her momma.

"It's my form of communication."

Santana could understand that, but what she was worried about was the fact that she had done that herself when Brittany was still there. Santana wasn't always around and when she was she was usually on the phone doing one thing or another. She hated that, but she realized that once Brittany had left them.

"It used to be mine, too and I was never around. I wasn't around for you or your mom and I regret that. I don't want you to repeat my mistakes. Put your phone away and come talk to me."

Santana set her bills aside and watched as Amanda sent one last text message before shutting her phone off and putting it in her pocket. Amanda takes a seat next to her momma and sat there.

"I like someone," Amanda mentions.

"What do you mean by like because despite wishing that you weren't that kind of girl like I was in high school, I've heard the rumors. So what do you mean by like?"

"She makes me want to change who I am. I've only known her for a short amount of time, but I really like her momma and I don't know what to do. I've never had a relationship. I'm scared as hell and on top of that, the girl I like has a girlfriend who just happens to be one of my friends, well sort of."

Santana wraps her arm around her daughter. She was happy when Amanda seemed to snuggle into her side. They hadn't done this in a long time. Normally it was Amanda snuggling into Brittney.

"Well first, when I said rumors I meant about you being with guys. You don't have to put a name on it or anything but do you have a preference in gender?"

"I think I like girls more or rather I think if I wanted to be in a long term relationship then I'd want that with a girl. But I don't like labels."

"Fair enough," Santana says with a smirk. "Continue with what you were going to say though."

"I want this girl so badly, but I know that if I fought for her then it could screw up things in more than one way."

"I'm not so sure if this helps, but I think you have to ask yourself if this girl is worth fighting for. Can you see yourself with this person for more than just a month or two? Can you see yourself with them long term because if you can't then you have to let her go. But if there is a chance that you think this girl is worth losing a friendship over then I say go for it. Either way you look at it someone is going to get hurt. It sucks, but it's true. Decide your fate Mandy."

Amanda smiles at the nickname. She hadn't heard that name in a long time. A knock on the door brings their conversation to a halt.

"I'll get it," Amanda says as she gets up from the couch and walks over to the door. She opens it up and sees who is behind it and all her past hurt comes to the forefront of her mind. She slams the door shut and reaches for her sweater.

"Who is at the door?"

"Get it yourself," Amanda says before walking out the room. Santana assumes she is going out the back door.

Santana opens the front door and she sees her wife standing behind it.

"Hi," Brittany whispers to her.

Santana swallows the lump in her throat.

"What are you doing here?"

"I want to come home."

*Friend to a Stranger*

Quinn had been tidying up the living room after talking with Beth. She was free from the hospital except for emergencies and she was bored because her wife was working late on a new Glee concept. There was a knock on the door and when she opened it she was surprised at who she found behind it.

"Hey Quinn."

Quinn came face to face with Noah Puckerman.

"Why are you here?"

Noah shrugs his shoulders.

"I don't know, but I do know that I've made mistakes and I want to rectify them in some way."

"You can't," Quinn responds quickly.

Noah looks at Quinn in confusion.

"Can you at least let me in?"

Quinn knew she was going to regret this, but she couldn't just leave Noah standing out on the porch. Quinn invites him in and they move to the living room.

"You being here right now isn't going to work. You can't just waltz in when you want to. Things have changed in my life. You being here is just going to confuse everyone."

"What aren't you telling me?"

As if on cue, Beth comes down the stairs and walks into the room. She had left a book in the living room. Beth pauses in her actions and looks from Quinn to the man she doesn't know.

"What's going on?"

"Um, well," Quinn starts. "This is Noah Puckerman. He was a friend of mine in high school and this is so not how I wanted you two to meet, but what's done is done. Beth this is your father."

Noah looks at Beth in shock. He couldn't believe that Beth was standing in front of him. The little girl he held for 10 minutes was standing right in front of him. He had no words. Beth had a few choice ones though.

"You're kidding me right? I didn't want to meet him." Beth turns her attention to Noah. "I didn't want to meet you. I wasn't freaking ready and I just got settled and now everything is going to hell. I can't handle this right now!"

Beth pulls out her phone when she hears it beep. It was a text message from Amanda.

I need U - 3Amanda

Beth replies back and pockets her phone. She looks at Noah a minute longer before rushing out the front door. She wasn't going to get emotional about this. She just wasn't.

"I wasn't expecting that when I walked in this house."

Quinn looks at him and just shakes her head.

"This isn't about you. I told you this was a bad idea, you coming here."

"What was I supposed to do?"

"Most people call first," Quinn deadpans as she gets up from her couch. "Now I have to get a hold of Beth before her Puckerman genes gets her into trouble."

Noah watches Quinn walk out of the room. He grins and looks down at his tattoo. He just saw Beth.

*Friend to a Stranger*

Park 10 min-B3th

Amanda closes her phone and looks around. She had been at the park since she had run out of her house. She couldn't begin to describe all of her emotions right now. She just knew she needed to see Beth. Beth could help her with all this.

"I hate my life."

Amanda looks to her right. She had been so in thought she hadn't noticed Beth taking the swing next to her.

"I hate mine too. My mom came home today. I answered the door and there she was and I don't know how I feel about that."

"And your first instinct was to run. I get that. That's exactly what I do. If I don't like what's going on in my life. I run. I just pack a bag and grab the cash that I have and I just travel. Sometimes it's only for a day other times it's more than that. I think the longest I traveled was a month. Of course most of the time I was dodging the cops because people were looking for me, but that's part of the thrill."

Amanda grins and looks at Beth.

"Let's do it."

Beth looks at Amanda confused.

"Do what?"

"Let's pack a bag and get away. You said it yourself, the thrill keeps you going. I need to feel that Beth, but I want you there with me. Let's head home, pack a bag and just run."

"That's insane."

Amanda shakes her head.

"No it's not. I can tell by the look in your eyes that you want to do it. Stop thinking about it and just do it."

"We can get into trouble for this," Beth tries to say as she gets off of her swing.

Amanda shrugs her shoulders.

"The trouble doesn't scare me. I want to be able to breathe again. With my mom back I feel like everything is just building up and I don't want to be here when I explode. Please Beth, please do this with me. Run away with me."

The moment that Amanda had suggested running away Beth had already known her answer.

"Let's do it. We pack a bag and we get out of town. No looking back."

Amanda grins, gets off the swing and grabs a hold of Beth's hand.

"No looking back."