Well, this is it. I'm kind of in disbelief that this story is finally complete. A huge thank you to everyone who has supported this story over the generous slice of forever it has taken me to write it. Thank you for all the reviews, PMs and tumblr asks. I wrote this chapter (and one or two earlier ones) to the Dubstep Remix of Für Elise.

Chapter 26: At All Costs

Brittany had heard Santana's I love yous the way she had heard her mother's wake up calls as a child. They crossed the line, working their way into her dreams like a song she knew by heart. Dancing on the periphery, on the contour between asleep and awake, she had suddenly felt herself drifting between the states too freely. It felt like being trapped. The beeping noises of the equipment around her mixed with memories of gunshots and the sounds of screaming. This was nothing like the usual unravelling from sleep she had always known. It was street sweepers and garbage trucks and she was motionless on the curb, afraid she'd be crushed the moment she opened her eyes.

The only sounds she didn't have to be afraid of were Santana's words which wrapped themselves around the others like a blanket, smothering them, and soothing her. Santana's voice stopped her from panicking.

"You're safe now, Brittany." The nurse with the high voice and kind eyes held her hand as she came to, pulled from the waves of sleep she'd been barraged by for so long. Brittany's mouth was dry and her mind blurred as she searched the room for Santana, trying to pull the bright white picture before her into focus.

"Was she here?" A hoarse whisper made its way from a place beyond her throat and the nurse leaned in close, Brittany's eyes finally beginning to focus as the woman's ear hovered inches above Brittany's mouth.

"Was she here? Santana?" Brittany pushed the words forward, forcing them towards the woman, the sound barely causing her to flinch. The nurse turned, her smile warming Brittany's body. She had felt cold inside her bones until then.

"She was." The nurse smiled again and reached over to pull Brittany's hands together in her own. "She was here a short while ago, honey. You're a lucky girl. She loves you very much."

Brittany felt the warm tears spill down the side of her face and her vision clouded. Nodding her head, she felt moisture pooling on the pillow either side of it and she let the nurse's words continue to warm her as the woman's smile had done moments before.

Brittany didn't see the nurse again after she was moved to the ward. She asked after her several times that first morning, but none of the other nurses seemed to know who she was. When Brittany fell into a heavy sleep again, her dreams were plagued by memories of being in the back of the van. She could feel the cold floor against her face. She could hear Eva's pleas for Martinez to stop. And then she heard Santana again.

Although she was just out of reach, Brittany heard that voice which had worked its way into her dreams the day before, when her body didn't have the strength to wake her. She listened again, feeling a smile stretch across her face, and tried to pull herself from her sleep.

First day.

Simone.

Phone call.

My dad.

Head injury.

Freaked out.

Quinn.

Hospital.

Brittany.

I love her. I love her. I love her.

Brittany let out a groan as she woke up. She was warmer than she'd been in the ICU, but everything ached. Her entire body felt like someone was pressing down on a giant bruise, and she didn't know how to get it to stop. She tried to call out, but the sound was much like her previous groan. It reverberated in her ears and she turned her head, blinking against the white light in the room, hoping to find somebody who could help.

She groaned once more and felt the air change around her as people rushed towards her, one from either side. She felt their hands on her skin and wanted to tell them not to touch her. She wanted to tell them that it hurt everywhere, but her throat felt as though it were made of sand paper, the grain scratching with every swallow, and she couldn't make her voice co-operate.

"Brittany!" There was a voice she didn't recognize.

"Britt!" And then there was Santana.

She felt herself smile as her eyes found the source of the sound she had been searching for in her sleep.

"Santana." She choked on the name, coughing and trying desperately to take shallow breaths through the sharp pains across her body. Brittany's hands gripped the covers over the bed, scrunching them inside her fists as best she could with the little strength she had. She saw Santana reaching for the call button before racing back to her side.

When Santana's lips met her forehead, her breathing suddenly felt easier. The tears which rolled into her ears before pooling on the pillow, as they had the night before, mixed with Santana's. Santana rested her head against Brittany's shoulder and stroked her thumb across Brittany's cheek, and when a nurse entered the room, he steered Santana away, insisting he needed to assess Brittany's condition. The time without Santana's touch felt like an eternity, and the nurse's hands were cold and calloused, putting her skin further on edge.

Santana's eyes didn't leave Brittany for a second as the nurse checked Brittany over and increased her medication. The moment he left the room, Santana pulled her chair up against the bed and hovered for a moment, clearly undecided about whether to sit or stand. Quinn made the decision for her. The blonde officer moved into Brittany's line of sight and placed a hand on Santana's right shoulder. It was then that Brittany noticed the bandaging and the sling like wrap which was keeping Santana's other arm elevated.

"You can breathe now, San. She's going to be okay. I'm going to leave you both for a little while, but I'll stick around in case you need anything, okay? And Tina should be here soon." Quinn's words were faint, barely imposing on their space.

"And you." Quinn leaned closer to Brittany. "It's great to have you back with us. Your girl right here has been a mess."

Quinn placed her hand on Santana's shoulder again and smiled at them both before leaving the room.

"Hi."

"Hi. I'm so sorry I left like I did." Santana gripped Brittany's hand as a new wave of tears rolled down her cheeks, and Brittany's heart broke at the way Santana's shoulders were rounded and her skin a shade of pale she'd never seen before.

"I understand." Brittany forced each syllable into the space they occupied together and watched Santana's features begin to soften.

"There's so much I need to tell you, and I'm so sorry I didn't tell you before but it hurts to talk about, you know, but thinking I'd lost you, without you knowing how I really felt, it hurt just as much as-"

Brittany lifted an arm off the bed and reached forward. She held a finger to Santana's lips, stilling them, wanting her to take a breath amidst the ramble she must have had prepared for days.

"I understand. I heard you talking with Quinn." Brittany knew Santana would fill in some of the gaps for her eventually.

"I'm in love with you." Those words were steady now. They were stated as facts and not part of an explanation. They were the truth.

"I know." Brittany had seen those words pass through Santana's mind the morning she had left.

"I love you."

Brittany unlocked the studio and reached around the doorway to feel for the light switch while still standing outside. She hated feeling nervous about entering a space which was once be her sanctuary. Ever since the incident, she'd felt apprehension every time she turned her key in the lock. She watched as fluorescent light danced across the ceiling, appearing like a Mexican wave throughout the studio. When she was satisfied she could see the whole space lit up, she walked in, the new bell on the door jingling obnoxiously as she did so.

The door hadn't even had time to close properly when Sugar reversed in, back against the door holding two caramel macchiatos. The bell jingled again causing Brittany to cringe. Sugar's keys and purse were each linked over one of her pinkies, and the bag she held between her teeth was threatening to tear. Grunting at Brittany, she nodded her head indicating Brittany take the bag containing blueberry bagels, and exhaled a sigh of relief to be able to speak.

Sugar placed their drinks on the bench and, after dumping her bag and keys on a chair, she pulled a book from under her arm.

"I didn't plan that too well, did I? Next time you're coming with me."

"Well I did offer to help, but you insisted I open up first."

"I thought it was going to take longer. It does say we open at 9 on that new sign."

"The sign you ordered incorrectly?"

"Oh shut up, drink your coffee." Sugar flapped her hand at Brittany in a dismissive gesture despite the grin on her face.

"Hey, I bought you this, too. I figured since you're going to need a distraction this morning you could at least make something pretty." Sugar pushed the book across the bench towards Brittany and she saw it was a coloring book. She smiled.

"I did want to get some accounts printed up and sent out, but this is a much better idea, thank you."

Eyeing the time, Brittany took a glance at the clock overhead. Martinez's trial was to start at 9:30am. She knew Santana and the rest of her crew would be positioned at the courthouse already and she tried not to let her concern show. She had spoken to her the evening before, surprised Santana was still at work late on the night before such a huge day. Not wanting to get emotional over the phone, Brittany kept the call brief and had opted only to text Santana when she awoke in the morning.

Part of her wished Santana was a gym instructor or had her own landscaping company, it would have to be something physical, but she also knew Santana wouldn't be who she was without being a cop. The fear which pirouetted in the back of her mind was constant, but certain events exacerbated the feeling and on this particular day, the knots inside her stomach had wound themselves tighter than usual.

The bagels had no taste, and Brittany spent her morning alternating between coloring geometric patterns in the book Sugar had bought her, and filing paperwork. She could only manage mindless tasks, she was certain anything requiring more thought would have needed to be redone the following day.

The radio played in the background, enough volume to cause Brittany to tap her foot to the beat, but not enough to make her want to get up and dance. Since the incident she had only been working part time and Sugar had picked up extra classes, their roles having essentially been swapped. Brittany preferred the balance.

The enormity of the past few months hadn't hit her until almost a month after the incident. As more information came out about Martinez's past, Brittany found herself battling with how such a person could come to exist. She spent hours wandering the house in a daze trying to reason with the methods of someone who had spent years infatuated by Eva and then spent twice as long thinking of ways to eliminate every person she cared for from her life.

Brittany had nightmares about Cheryl DeMart. Fitful sleep would give way to screaming when a faceless Martinez grabbed at a blonde girl, throwing her against a wall. The face Brittany would see in her dream belonged to Cheryl, but when Cheryl turned, catching her own reflection, it would be Brittany's face staring back at her. Countless nights had seen Santana, Becky or Sugar trying to wake Brittany from her restless state or calm her cries in the night.

Brittany was startled when the music on the radio was interrupted by the 10 o'clock news update, the introductory tune breaking her from her daydream.

Her heart leaped into her throat when the reporter spoke of a shooting at the courthouse. She hadn't expected to hear from Santana for a few hours, but still the static interruption of her thoughts sent a wave of nausea through her. Steadying herself on her desk, she stood up and knocked on the glass of the teaching room where Sugar was preparing for a class. Sugar continued stretching, the music from the speakers clearly too loud for her to hear the tapping. Picking up her phone, Brittany stared at the screen, not knowing who to call.

She reached for the TV remote and aimed it towards the television which was mounted on a movable bracket in the corner of her office. Flicking through channels, Brittany searched for any news or interrupted telecasts to see if someone could shed any light on the events at the courthouse. Her hand shook as she lowered it slowly, a red banner running along the bottom of the screen as a newsreader stared down the camera and right into her.

"At approximately 9:25 this morning, shortly before the Martinez hearing was due to start, the ex-undercover police officer who was facing a decade of charges was gunned down on the steps of the courthouse. It is unclear at this time whether any other persons were injured in the attack, however all surrounding streets have been closed to traffic and several buildings around the courthouse have apparently been evacuated. The city's Strategic Response Squad were assisting police –"

"Britt."

Brittany's jaw was clenched and her breathing had become rapid. Exhaling short breaths in and out through her nose, she turned to see Sugar leaning against doorway, her friend's face falling as she looked at Brittany.

"What is it, Britt?" Sugar crossed the floor of the office in three long strides and gripped Brittany's arms, turning her to sit of the edge of the desk.

Brittany pointed towards the TV, bold font still scrolling right to left in the red banner at the bottom of the screen. Sugar's eyes followed Brittany's finger and her face grew pale.

"There's been a shooting at the courthouse. I don't know who to call." Brittany's voice wavered and Sugar gripped her by the shoulders, dipping her head to look her friend in the eye.

"It just says Martinez was gunned down, there's no reports of any other people being hurt, are there?"

Brittany shook her head. She looked at the clock again and then out at the teaching room. Her eyes widened and she pushed herself up from the desk, almost knocking Sugar over in the process.

"What are you doing?"

"Your class isn't here, they're never late." Brittany spoke mostly to herself, trying desperately to control her breathing, her eyes not meeting Sugar's.

"I know that, but what are you doing?"

"Jane Addams Academy is two blocks from the courthouse." Brittany wracked her brain for other buildings she knew of which were nearby.

Sugar's eyebrows knitted together as Brittany picked up her bag and threw in her phone and drink bottle before slamming the lid of her laptop and slipping it inside the bag.

"I'm going to the warehouse. Even if they don't let me in, I can wait outside, it's the quickest way for me to find out what's going on."

Sugar made an attempt to counter Brittany's decisions but was silenced by her friend pushing past her again. Brittany slung her bag over her shoulder and searched the pockets of her bag for her keys as she strode towards the front door of the studio.

The jingling of the door chime startled her as she connected with Eva Hernandez who had walked into the studio at a similar speed to which Brittany had been trying to leave.

"Eva!" Brittany frowned and paused for a moment to allow her brain to catch up. "What are you-" She shook her head. "Have you heard what happened this morning?"

Eva nodded and the look on her face created a lump in Brittany's throat which rivaled the knot in her stomach.

"What do you know? Is Santana all right? Have they sent you to tell me-"

Eva shook her head and glanced over Brittany's shoulder to acknowledge Sugar, raising her hand in a feeble attempt at a wave.

"I haven't been sent here Brittany. I've come to say goodbye. I'm quite sure nobody else has been hurt. This is over now." Brittany's mind was twirling with information, and the unmistakable look of sadness across Eva's face was unnerving.

"What do you know?" Brittany heard the desperation in her own voice and felt sick at the alarm which passed through Eva's eyes at her question.

"I heard the news, that's all. I suppose I'm relieved. For me at least. For both of us, really. Now we know that man is no longer able to touch any of us. Even from prison he would have tried something. He was obsessed." The woman's lips formed a thin line and her jaw was clenched. Brittany felt something dragging against her heart at the sight of how much the woman had aged in the few short years since they had known each other.

"I just came to say goodbye, Brittany. You'll never know what our time together meant to me and I'm so sorry you were dragged into this, I never meant-"

"Hey-" Brittany interrupted, "-none of this was your fault. None of it. I just wish that I'd known the extent of it. I wish I could have done something to help you." Brittany watched tears sliding down Eva's cheeks and felt her own eyes burning as she tried to hold in the array of emotions she had cycled through in a matter of minutes.

"You did so much. Trust me. You and Rory and Feli, being with the three of you was the only time I ever felt safe." Eva sighed and glanced out the studio window. "I really need to go, Brittany. You take care, okay?"

Eva wrapped her arms around Brittany's neck and placed a kiss to her cheek. Despite the tears, Brittany saw a smile grace Eva's features in the moment before she left. Watching through the window she saw Eva run across the street and get into the passenger side of a car which was parked past the intersection. The car pulled away from the curb, and Brittany watched until she could no longer make out the vehicle among the rest of the traffic.

"Britt!" Sugar startled Brittany and she felt her friend's hand circle her wrist and drag her back into the office. Banging her arm on the door frame, Brittany cursed, but covered her mouth when Sugar shushed her and pointed to the TV.

"Police have released a photograph of this women who is believed to be connected to the shooting of ex- undercover police officer David Martinez just over an hour ago. They are appealing to the public to come forward immediately with any information on this woman's whereabouts. She is of slight build, around 5' 4" and is believed to be Emma Pillsbury, wife of shamed SRS officer William Schuester who is awaiting trial in connection to several charges relating to those of the deceased David Mart-"

"She looks familiar." Sugar squinted at the screen, cocking her head to one side as she stared at the redheaded woman with the kind eyes. "I think I saw her at the-"

"Hospital." Brittany felt sick and slumped into a chair on the other side of her desk.

"Yeah, do you remember seeing her as well? I'm sure she was the nurse who bought you up from the ICU." Sugar's faced cycled through a range of emotions before she settled on fear. "Britt. What the fuck is going on?"

The crunch of blue metal underneath Brittany's tires was familiar as she pulled into the SRS car park. Certain Santana was okay, despite her phone going to straight to voicemail, Sugar and Brittany had cancelled the rest of their clients for the day. While Sugar headed home to be with Becky, Brittany headed straight to the warehouse hoping Susie would be there, increasing her chances of being let in. Abrams wouldn't have a bar of it on a day like that.

Locking her car, Brittany slipped her bag over her shoulder and began walking towards the entrance. Raising her hand to press the button on the intercom at the bottom of the stairs, Brittany jumped at the sound of the parking garage to her left opening up. A tall woman in her late fifties emerged from under the door. She wore a black suit with a grey pinstripe shirt, her short blonde hair parted in the middle.

Brittany didn't recognize her from any of her previous visits to the warehouse over the past few months, but the gold badge on the breast pocket of the woman's jacket told her she was important.

"Excuse me, Ma'am, I was-"

"Well if it isn't Brittany Pierce herself." The woman interrupted Brittany who was caught off guard by her familiarity. "I'd ask to what do we owe the pleasure, but I imagine you're here to check up on your gal pal, aren't you now."

Brittany fought the urge to cringe at the woman's word choice and opted for a nod in lieu of a verbal response.

"By gosh you remind me of a young Sue Sylvester. I was a hell of a dancer in my day Miss Pierce, a hell of a dancer. People told me I could go far, but the war put an end to that."

Brittany stared at the woman, dumbfounded and tried to do some quick maths in her head before responding.

"Do you mean Vietnam?" Brittany looked past the woman to see several other officers piling into an unmarked vehicle behind her. The woman chuckled.

"No, I'm far too young for Vietnam, the war on drugs, of course. I knew law enforcement was my calling, and while this was a disappointment to my many fans I later went on to make an appearance on Dancing with the Stars. I felt complete." She closed her eyes, nodding her head and Brittany was concerned the strange woman was going to become emotional.

"So, you're Sue Sylvester? The Superintendent?" The relief Brittany had felt at the jovial mentioning of her girlfriend disappeared with the horror that the department was potentially being headed by the woman before her.

"As you live and breathe." When the woman saluted her, Brittany was tempted to look around and check if she was being filmed for some kind of reality show. The car of officers pulled out of the garage and drove by them slowly. A shift two officer Brittany recognized, rolled down the window and addressed the superintendent.

"We're headed to the hospital to check up on Lopez's potential lead." He rolled up his window as Sylvester saluted him, and the vehicle crunched along the same path Brittany had just taken.

"So are you gonna hang out in the car park, girly, or do you want to go up and hang out in the meeting room and wait for Lopez?" Sylvester attempted a pirouette on the gravel and Brittany caught her mid stumble. Wordlessly, the two walked through the parking garage and up to the meeting room via the other entrance to wait for Shift One to make their way back.

Brittany sat by herself in the meeting room, the glass partition to Abrams' lair darkened for her benefit, and scanned news websites for any updates on Emma Pillsbury or the shooting. She read countless articles about the car accident in which Pillsbury had supposedly been killed several years before. She was aware she was no detective, but the details all appeared to be completely plausible. The more she read, the more she became concerned that the SRS has followed a dud lead and the woman they were looking for wasn't actually the same person who had held her hand and reassured her at the hospital all those months ago.

It was well after lunch time before Santana's crew arrived back and Brittany heard heavy footsteps on the stairwell. Her chair scraped across the linoleum floor, catching and nearly causing her to trip as she leaped up to listen for the familiar voice. She craned her neck to see a group of officers filing past and heading in the direction of Holly's office, while others walked straight past her and into the lair. When she didn't see Santana, she tried to shake the heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach and sighed. She stood in the middle of the room wringing her hands and shifting from one foot to another, wanting to race out and find her girlfriend, but not wanting to get caught walking in areas which were off limits. The whole place should have been off limits, it was courtesy and necessity which had allowed her inside the building on a few occasions. Making her way back to the table, she sat back down at her laptop and continued scrolling. A few minutes later a knock on the open door broke her concentration.

"Well hey there, honey-" Holly stood at the door clad in full SRS uniform, a sight Brittany had never seen before, "-your girl will be by in a minute, can I get you anything?"

Brittany smiled and shook her head at Holly's offer, amazed that the woman could still sound so upbeat under such disturbing and confusing circumstances. She tried to picture the superintendent again, sure that there was a high possibility the two were related.

Holly threw Brittany and wink and made to turn, but bumped into someone as she did so.

"Shall we dance, sweet cheeks?" Brittany heard the sound of familiar laughter and felt her own face break into a grin of both relief and amusement as Holly waltzed Santana into the room. Santana scowled despite the grin on her face and Brittany rose to her feet, running her hands down her jeans before maneuvering herself away from her chair more carefully.

"May I cut in?" Brittany approached the two women and Holly offered Brittany Santana's hand, bowing dramatically before winking at them both and heading for the door.

"You've got half hour, sweet cheeks, then we need this room for briefing. This room needs to be presentable, so make it quick." With another wink she made a show of closing the door behind her and locking it. Santana rolled her eyes at the door before turning back to Brittany.

"I'm sorry if we scared you this morning, babe. Things didn't go to plan." She ran her hands down Brittany's sides, pulling their bodies together and leaning her forehead against Brittany's. "I don't know how we managed to be so far of course these past few months." She shook her head and Brittany breathed her in. "These guys have all been on the wrong track for years."

Brittany couldn't change Santana's despair with words. There was nothing to say which would bring back Martinez and have him pay for his crimes, and there was not a word which could erase the damage he had done to so many lives over the years.

Ducking her head, she caught Santana's lips in a kiss. Santana sighed against her and moved her hands upward to cup Brittany's face. All morning, Brittany had been trying to stop her heart from exploding from her chest, the erratic beat bringing back memories of a different type of fear. With Santana's lips against her own, she felt invincible, the space around her was light once again. Walking backwards, she didn't lose contact with Santana's lips once, but sat on the edge of the desk, making them the same height. Brittany slowed their kisses to a lazy pace before pulling away with a sigh which held none of the tension of the many which had been expelled earlier in the day.

"Will it always be like this?" She searched Santana's eyes for doubt even though she expected confirmation.

"Like this? The Hernandez/Flanagan case has been the biggest one this SRS has had to deal with, mostly it's the odd chase and a bunch of us standing around looking threatening while the regs do the hard work." Santana smiled in an effort to keep their talk light.

Brittany nodded her head and reached a hand forward to cup Santana's chin. Her other hand wound around Santana'a back and pulled them closer. She stroked Santana's cheek before letting her fingers glide down the side of her girlfriend's neck and continued towards her chest. She hooked her fingers over the front of Santana's duty vest and looked up into her girlfriend's eyes.

"I love you, and I'm always going to be a little afraid of you doing this job, you know?" Brittany took a deep breath and watched Santana nod her head, an apology darkening her eyes.

"So, I was thinking, maybe if I'm going to be spending all my days worrying about you, the least you could do is spend all the rest of your time with me when you're not here." Brittany was surprised by how clammy her palms had become and her throat felt dry as she waited for a response from Santana.

"I'm not sure I follow." Santana's confusion was adorable. She smiled through a furrowed brow, much the way she did in the early mornings they'd shared together when an alarm would signal the end to their peace and quiet. Brittany wanted more of those mornings. She wanted to spend all of them with Santana in the hopes that she would continue to wake shortly before the alarm and watch her face change as she slipped from her dreams and back into the real world. The look on Santana's face before her cemented Brittany's idea firmly in her mind.

Brittany leaned back across the desk to where her bag sat beside her laptop and fished around for her keys, cursing for the second time at how easily they became lost in there. Locating them, she flipped each one over on the ring until she came to her house key. Twisting it around the key ring until it was released from the rest, the grinned at Santana before slipping around beside her girlfriend and getting down on one knee.

Santana threw her head back and laughed, the sound wrapping around Brittany and making it impossible for her to keep her own face neutral. Grinning up at her girlfriend, she reached for her hand and turned it palm up in her own.

"Santana Lopez, if you're going to insist on spending all your days running about this city with a gun strapped to your leg, will you please do me the honor of allowing me to wake up to you each morning?" Brittany placed the key in Santana's hand and closed her fingers over it.

Santana leaned down and placed a single kiss on Brittany's lips.

"Yes." Santana pocketed the key and pulled Brittany up allowing them to kiss properly.

They were interrupted by Holly unlocking the door and barging in with most of Santana's crew in tow.

"Jesus, Lopez, haven't you girls finished yet?"

Brittany giggled and Santana folded her arms across her chest and glared at Holly, the smallest hint of red tinging her cheeks. Brittany knew she'd be the only one to notice. Leaning past Santana, Brittany reached for her laptop and put it into her bag along with the rest of the keys.

"I better disappear." Santana nodded and the two held each other's gaze for a long moment before Brittany headed towards the door. The rest of the members of the SRS filed past her and took their seats, and Brittany grabbed the door, ready to close it behind her on her way out.

"Hold on there, honey. You can stay for this. It's not exactly procedure, but what around here really is?" Holly gestured for Brittany to take the seat next to Santana, who appeared just as surprised as she was. Holly waited for Brittany to sit down before addressing the officers before her.

"Righty-ho, folks. What a day. What. A. Day." Holly paused and Brittany wondered for a moment if the SRS briefing was going to be only Holly's personal reflections of their morning.

"None of us could have predicted that it would all end like this. The investigation of this morning's dramatic events has now been handed over to the Feds. The ghost I saw outside the Connolly building was most certainly the perpetrator, and an hour ago Abrams received a video sent from Emma Pillsbury herself, confessing to the crime she was about to commit."

Brittany felt her eyes widen and looked at the faces of the officers around her seeing that they too were surprised and shocked by the news. Brittany's research made the news all the more baffling. Faking your own death was something of crime novels and blockbuster films, and not something which she would have ever considered could occur in a small town like her own.

Holly pointed a remote controller towards the projector at the front of the room, and a white screen quickly descended from the ceiling. While they were waiting for the equipment to connect to Artie's computer system, Holly addressed Brittany directly once again.

"Now, honey, the official word will be that you never saw this and know nothing of it, but I believe it will quickly become clear as to why I've suggested you stay."

Brittany nodded, suddenly aware that her presence in the room was a significant violation and Holly could be in a great deal of trouble if anyone ever found out about it. She then thought back to her obscure interaction with the Superintendent earlier in the day and could not imagine that woman being particularly concerned about protocol either.

Emma Pillsbury's face filled the screen before them. Those eyes had been the first she'd seen when she woke up. How could the same woman have killed someone in such a disturbingly calculated way?

My name is Emma Pillsbury.

Brittany stared at the screen, her eyes trained on the eyes of the woman who had offered her assurance. There was no light in her eyes there. There was nothing to fill Brittany with warmth.

The man who shook my husband's hand that evening was David Martinez.

A chill ran down Brittany's spine at the first mention of the man's name. She heard it as if from Eva's lips and felt the same lump forming in the back of her throat as she had when forced to say goodbye to the woman earlier that morning.

Two years prior to my marriage to Will Schuester, I began working at a summer camp for teens with special needs.

Brittany felt her mouth drop open and Holly caught her eye, nodding as the pieces started to come together for Brittany. When she had known Eva, when she believed her to be Sofia, she knew her girlfriend had worked at the camps. It was one of the first connections they had discovered. Brittany had spoken of Becky and Sofia had shared stories about her work. The fact that all of this business had been going on since then made Brittany feel physically sick.

Eva was at the Jane Addams Academy under the name of Sofia Ramos…

Tears prickled at the backs of Brittany's eyeballs at the sound of the woman using both of Eva's names. Her memory of meeting Sofia after her choir performed at McKinley was still fresh in her mind. She had been completely captivated by the girl during their performance and, at its conclusion, Sofia made eye contact with her as they walked off stage. While McKinley performed for the Jane Addams girls, Brittany had tried not to search for Sofia's face in the audience, failing to maintain her concentration at least twice during their song. When the groups mingled later on, her first question to the girl was to ask what she had done. Brittany slapped a hand over her mouth as the question slipped out and Sofia's body shook with a wave of laughter.

Her attention was suddenly drawn back to Pillsbury as her own name was mentioned. It hung, suspended in the room and when each of the officers turned to look at her, she felt bile rising in the back of her throat. Santana shifted closer to her, wrapping and arm around her shoulders as she slumped in her seat.

…the news coverage showed the house which had been the subject of a raid the night before…

Brittany leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and placed her head in her hands. She didn't want the others in the room to see her cry. The fear in Sofia's eyes the night of the party would be something which would haunt her forever.

When Eva arrived home … David Martinez was there. He beat her … wanted Brittany's name and … he insisted … his fingers around her throat, she choked out the name Cheryl DeMart.

Brittany made a conscious effort to still her breathing, the tears burned her cheeks and she was completely unable to look at the woman on the screen as she spoke now.

… Rory had made the connection that Brittany was his half-sister. When Flanagan found out, I was then tasked with keeping Brittany safe at all costs.

At all costs.

Despite the key in the pocket of Santana's work pants, that evening Brittany stayed with Santana at her apartment not wanting her to be alone with Tina working. The nature of Pillsbury's crime, her involvement with the Irish, her surveillance activities, and her murder of an ex-officer, made her a person of interest for the FBI and the investigation was now closed for the SRS. The nightly news detailed the killing, and pictures of Pillsbury and Eva Hernandez were placed side by side in the top right hand corner of the screen as the newsreader spoke.

Brittany didn't watch it. She didn't ever watch the news if she could help it, and if even if she'd wanted to, every ounce of her ached with the intensity of their day.

Without her uniform on, Santana looked so much smaller. There was a vulnerability present when it was just the two of them, and Brittany didn't let Santana move out of her reach the entire night. Brittany hoped that Santana knew that the key she had offered her was merely holding a place for something else, and when their lives settled down, when Eva's goodbye and Emma Pillsbury's eyes were just a memory, Brittany had other questions she wanted to ask.

Laying in Santana's bed, Brittany fought the necessity of sleep and pulled Santana into her. Their kisses were just as lazy as they had been at the warehouse, but they meant something different now. Brittany felt her eyes close as Santana's hands trailed over her body. There was no urgency in Santana's touch. It was a composition, something they'd worked on together for months.

The thing about spending time getting to know someone else's body on purpose, is that the way they close their eyes, and the patterns of their breathing tell you they feel safe. That Brittany knew Santana's fingers were lingering at her hip, moving slowly towards her navel, on purpose, turned her one even more than the sensation it caused. The intention behind Santana's choices now, made Brittany curse under her breath. It wasn't about chance. It wasn't about the time they had both spent with other people. It was about the two of them, together, and Brittany let herself get lost in the arrangement.

When Santana's breathing fell into a different pattern hours later, signalling she had finally succumbed to sleep, Brittany draped her arm over Santana's stomach and narrowed the space between them. Her own exhaustion wasn't as powerful as the truths she had discovered while listening to Emma Pillsbury's confession. Truths about her past, and truths about herself.

As she had waited for Santana, scanning endless articles about the ghost of a woman who had reappeared, she had looked for reason in the woman's choices. She had been trying to understand her. When the video had ended, Holly led the crew out of the room, leaving Santana to console Brittany. Santana had held her for the longest time, and when their eyes met as she reached to hold Santana's hands she knew why Emma Pillsbury had made the choices she had.

Santana had never been good at first days and, laying with her in bed, their bodies flush against each other, Brittany vowed to make the following day the best first day of Santana's life. They were starting a new part of their journey together, and wrapped inside all of the I love yous she'd shared with Santana that night, she made a silent vow to protect her forever.

At all costs.