Jake walks through the door looking skinny and pale as a ghost and sporting a cane. He's limping and that's the way he will be for the rest of his life. The army gave him an honorable discharge and a bunch of medals but he would give them back any day to be able to reverse what happened to him on that mountain.
"Daddy…" Brittany says wistfully pulling him into a hug.
Jake tenses at her touch and it doesn't go unnoticed as she backs away from him looking like he just said she couldn't have a cookie before dinner.
When they eat he barely says anything and only pushed the food around his plate. The only noise after a while is his chair scraping against the floor as he excuses himself from dinner and retires to his bedroom.
Lorraine sends a tight smile to her daughters and gets up after a few minutes to find Jake laying in the fetal position crying his heart out.
His wife cradles him and runs her hand through his hair trying to soothe the ache the desert has caused.
"It's time we took care of you instead of the other way around. You need to talk to someone honey." Lorraine whispers.
"I feel like a pussy."
Lorraine turns Jakes head towards her. "You are the strongest and bravest man I know not to mention the best Dad those girls could ever wish for. No way in hell you're a pussy Jake."
xxxx
Brittany, Santana, and Quinn are currently lugging camping gear to the special spot that San and Q have never showed anyone. Jake told them all to go have fun for the weekend because he wanted to spend time with Ky and he missed Dom as well.
Brittany is touched by the fact that these two closed off girls who are now her friends, are showing her their special spot.
She coasts on her dirt bike with the bulk of the items tied to it as Quinn gives her directions. Brittany can't wait to go swimming in the lake that's about a quarter mile away from the campsite but more so she wants to get her girl into a bikini.
After they've settled in and Quinn builds her tent far away from Brittany and Santana's, the brunette brings out the axe and begins chopping wood for the fire that will last the weekend.
Brittany watches her girlfriend in a bikini top and basketball shorts bringing up the axe and swinging it down with her strong muscles to split the wood in half. The blonde relishes in the sight of her arm muscles tensing and her abs on full display, the sweat trickling over her skin to top it all off.
Brittany is so turned on she can't even sit still.
She decides to turn the tables on the Latina and whips her shirt off to reveal her own bikini top and then un buttons and folds over her denim shorts making them fall dangerously low on her hips.
Then, since San enjoys it so much, she grabs her toolbox and starts tinkering with her bike while sticking her ass up in plain view of the brunette.
This distracts Santana and as she brings the axe down this time she hits it off center causing the log to fly away and into the side of Q's tent.
Quinn comes out of her tent looking distraught. "What the fuck S?" She looks over and notices Brittany giggling and her friends flushed face. "Really? Get it together bitch." She jokes with the brunette.
Santana coughs and lodges the axe into the tree stump before gathering twigs to fuel the fire so the larger logs catch. After the fire is working it's way into the wood she decides to go to the river and cool off. She feels like shit.
Quinn and Britt decide to pass a blunt between them as they roast hot dogs over the flames for dinner.
"How's your Dad doing?" Quinn questions as she rolls her stick to cook the other side of her hot dog.
"He seems ok but when I look into his eyes it's like he's somewhere else." Brittany says while looking down and kicking the rocks that rest beneath her feet.
"How are you with the whole Aiden thing?"
"Fine, but what did you do when you left the other day?" Quinn questions.
Brittany smirks. "It's a work in progress."
Quinn shakes her head and pulls out her stash box to retrieve a bag of coke.
"You know I meant that for weed only." Britt says.
"I know you don't like us doing this shit but it's gonna take time. I know San's really trying. She wasn't just sweating from chopping wood and she's probably in the river trying to shock her muscles into not feeling like shit."
"I know I have no right to come into your lives and change the way you live it." She hits the blunt. "I just care about you two so much."
Quinn puts her arm around Brittany. "We care about you too B. But it's like having a tattoo you regret getting. We need time to make it fade."
Britt puts her head down. "Do you think I'm a tattoo San regrets getting?"
Quinn takes a swig of her flask before passing it. "I know for a fact she would get that tattoo over and over again if she could."
"I think I…" Brittany takes a swig. "I think I love her Q. I know it hasn't been that long but I think love was created for me and her to fall into it."
"Somewhere under that armadillo shell she loves you too. She's just scared of losing you."
"What am I scared of?" Santana asks coming out of nowhere.
Brittany, shocked by her presence, falls backwards off the tree that serves as a bench.
"Spiders. Yea, spiders." Quinn tries to explain.
San chuckles. "How fucked up did you two get while I was gone?"
"Very." Brittany says while brushing herself off.
xxxx
"Never have I ever eaten pussy." Quinn slurs sufficiently drunk by this point.
Brittany and San drink.
"Never have I ever sucked dick." Santana counter.
She notices Brittany drink with Quinn and grimaces. "Gross Britt."
"What? I thought I was straight. But you're lucky cuz seeing a dick up close like that just pushed me into being a vagina lover."
Quinn laughs. "That sounds like a pizza. Oh Dominoes? I'll have the vagina lover's pizza. Yup extra vagina on that."
"No, no delivery won't be necessary I'd like to eat out." Santana counters.
They all crack up laughing in they're drunken state and Brittany falls off the tree again.
Santana hovers over her with her hand out to scoop her up but Britt just stares at her.
"You're prettier than the stars San." She slurs.
Santana smiles at her adorably drunk girlfriend and helps her back onto the overturned tree where she places an arm around the blonde's hip to quell her swaying. She then pulls out a knife from her pocket and hands it to Brittany.
"What's this for? You wanna knife fight or something?"
Santana chuckles. "No B." She points to her and Q's initials carved into the bark. "Carve yours."
Quinn nods agreeing she's earned that honor and Brittany can't contain her excitement that she's getting to do this.
Once she's done she sits next to San again. "Thanks guys."
"For what." Quinn questions.
"Yea for what?"
"For just being there." Brittany whispers.
The fire starts dying and Quinn bids them goodnight and retires to her tent.
About ten minutes later muffled sobs can be heard coming from the direction of the smaller blonde's tent. Brittany gets up much to Santana's disappointment and moves closer to Q's tent.
Santana follows and unzips the entrance. The two girls lay down on either side of Quinn and hold her tight.
"I really liked him." She sniffles.
"We know." Brittany says as she runs her fingers through her hair.
"I just wanna be happy."
"A man won't make you happy Q. You gotta get there on your own first." Brittany reasons.
Quinn huffs. "You made San happy."
"No I didn't she's still a miserable bitch." Brittany laughs causing Quinn to laugh with her.
"You know I'm here right?" Santana says.
"Yea I wouldn't be able to miss you with that smell you're giving off." Quinn cringes.
"I'm withdrawing you ass."
Brittany feels bad. "Babe go pop a pill if you need to I won't be mad. I don't want you to be sick all weekend."
Santana looks at her apprehensive. "Is this one of those tests where you say it's ok but it's really not?"
"It's never going to be ok. But I don't want you suffering all weekend. Just the fact that you would do that for me is a step."
Santana nods and grabs the stash bag in Quinn's tent and pops a painkiller and waits for relief to set in.
"Well that's cute but I'm suffocating in your lesbian sandwich." Q mutters.
"Shut up and go to sleep Q. We're having a slumber party." Brittany decides as she pulls her closer.
xxxx
Jake walks with his cane and slips on the tile floor of the kitchen. While he's on the ground her snaps the wooden cane over his knee and it splinters and breaks.
He looks up and Dom is staring at him wide eyed.
"Sorry bud."
Dom walks over and gives the man a hug where he sits on the floor. "It's ok to be upset Mr. P."
Jake nods. "I know buddy. Thank you."
"San says my Papa always told her it's not how many times you fall but how many times you get up that make you a great person. I wanna help you get up Mr. P."
Jake finds himself crying as the little boy hugs him and even though he towers over Dom, Jake's never felt so small in his life.
"Thanks Dommie." He sniffles.
"San tells me my hugs heal so I'm just gonna stay here a while."
xxxx
The next morning Quinn wakes up to moaning.
"Mm Britt."
"Whose whore are you?"
Quinn angrily throws her blanket off and unzips her tent to go yell at them.
"San's your whore, I get it. Now shut the fuck-"
Santana and Brittany are outside her tent giggling.
"Fuck you guys."
Santana sits down and pops open a can of beer. The blondes look at her like she's crazy.
"What I wanted beer for breakfast." San reasons.
They laugh at her and Brittany sits down to roll a blunt that's two blunts long.
"In Philly we called this an oowop." Brittany explains.
The three take at least an hour to finish the huge blunt and decide to go swimming.
Quinn glides into the cool water and she moans at the feeling. "Ughh. It feels so good."
"Don't cum in the water Q. I don't wanna be surrounded by your juices." Santana shouts.
"If you get to taint the bathtub then I get to taint the river." Quinn jokes.
She splashes Santana and that begins the water wrestling match. Brittany looks on at them with a smile until her phone rings at the edge of the water.
She swims over and walks across the gravel to answer it. "Hey."
"Hey Pierce. It's Boggs. We've found some information on that Locke guy."
"What you got?" Brittany asks speaking low.
"Apparently he's wanted in Michigan for armed robbery."
"Thanks Boggs. We're gonna have a little meeting with him."
She hangs up and turns around the see her beautiful girlfriend ascending out of the water.
"Who was that B?"
"Just my mom checking up on us." She lies. She knows if she told the truth Santana wouldn't let her go alone but she needs to do this to simmer her anger down a bit.
xxxx
Camping was fun but as Monday comes Brittany has other plans.
Trey Boggs picks her up at her house in a military issued truck and they both go in search of Aiden while wearing their Army fatigues.
Finally they find him outside the Motel 6 he took Quinn to when he ambushed her with her parents.
They tackle him to the ground when they see him and zip tie his hands behind his back.
She pushes him towards the car roughly with the help of Boggs.
"Get in the truck you piece of shit." She growls.
Aiden sits bitch in the truck as Boggs drives and Brittany plants weed and coke on him secretly that the private found while raiding a house with military police. She wants to make sure she adds to his sentence for what he did to her best friend.
She then elbows him in the face as they drive towards Michigan causing his lip to split open and bleed.
"Oops that must've happened during the struggle while I was making a citizen's arrest. Right Private Boggs?"
"Correct Pierce."
After several hours the three cross the border into Michigan and to the closest police station.
As they get out of the truck and walk into the station Brittany whispers in his ear.
"You fucked with the wrong bitch."
xxxx
Brittany comes home and Santana is waiting for her on the steps eyeing Trey warily.
"Where were you?"
Brittany smiles. "Taking care of something."
She then tells Santana what she did and the Latina is stunned.
"You did all that for Q?"
"Wouldn't you?"
Santana pulls her into her and crashes their lips together. "You're amazing." She says in awe of her girlfriend.
"Who's amazing?" Quinn asks coming out of the house with a bottle of water for Santana and Dom on her hip.
Brittany recounts the story yet again and Quinn has tears in her eyes completely enamored by her friend.
She tackles Brittany into a hug. "That is so badass."
Santana pulls them apart after a bit. "Hey that's my girl. Find your own."
"Maybe I will." She laughs. "My experience with men is enough to turn me into a vagina monster."
A crash comes from inside the house and the three of them run towards the noise.
They see a broken plate and Jake shaking and cowering under the kitchen table.
Santana knows what PTSD feels like she used to get like this after Alex died when a loud noise threw off the quiet.
She slowly crawls towards the man making sure he sees her and isn't surprised when she cautiously puts a hand on his shoulder. He immediately tenses at her touch but Santana expected as much.
"It's ok Jake. You're safe at home. You're alright."
Jake looks around coming back to earth and the grown man breaks down in the Latina's arms. He can't help but laugh at the fact that this is the second Lopez he's cried to within the week.
"You're a good person Santana." He says before retreating embarrassed into his room.
Brittany is stunned. Her Dad's been having episodes and reacts to no one when his mind goes to that dark place.
"How did you do that? He doesn't even react to my mom."
Santana shrugs so Quinn answers for her.
"She went through the same thing."
"I hope I'll be able to get through to you when the time comes." San says walking out while thinking about Brittany cowering under tables because she lost herself in the desert.
Brittany follows her into the front yard. "Hey, you have no right being mad at me for that. It's my duty everyone in my family enlists. And you can't be mad at me for that when you won't even quit shoving drugs up your nose for me."
Santana scoffs. "Oh yea? Because I haven't used since yesterday and the only reason I can find behind that is you."