It was a cold winter's day when Jon Rosen brought Sunfire to the Sleeping Fox Ranch. The chestnut stallion was known for being high-strung, but when he came out of the back of Rosen's trailer in a rush, he was all but panicked. Rosen fought to hold him down with the lead attached to his bridle, but the big horse just lifted him off the ground.

Quinn ran over when she heard Cindy yell, carrying another rope to help her aunt get a line on the big horse so they could hold him long enough to sedate him so they could find out what was wrong. She came around the side of the barn and spotted the way the end of Rosen's lead had tangled around one of Sunfire's legs, pulling every time he swung his head. She didn't even think about what she was doing before reaching for the end of the lead to pull it free.

She was so focused on her task, that she never saw the hoof coming towards her. All she felt was a shock of pain and a flash of whiteness in front of her eyes as she staggered back in a daze. She didn't know what had happened or why she was so dizzy for a moment. She blinked rapidly, shaking her head to clear it as a trembling hand came up to the side of her head and the warm stickiness trickling down the side of her face.

She stumbled backwards, tripping over one of the old railroad ties that marked the edge of the drive and sitting down hard on the snow covered grass. She breathed shallowly from the almost blinding pain in her head and tried to focus through it as she watched Cindy manage to get a sedative shot into the horse to calm him down. She didn't even realize she was swaying as she sat on the cold, snow covered ground, the white glove on her hand slowly turning red as the cut from the hoof strike to her temple kept bleeding.

Santana was watching from the barn when she saw Quinn get kicked. "CINDY!" she screamed as she saw Quinn stumble back into the snow bank, blood starting to trickle down the side of her face. She raced over to her girlfriend, flinging herself down behind her and pulling her back to rest against her.

"Quinn? Quinn, can you hear me?" she asked, her voice trembling. "Please, Quinn."

"What?" Quinn shook her head, trying to clear it enough to focus, her ears ringing dully. "Of course I can hear you, San." She reached up and rubbed at her eyes with her other hand. "God, my head hurts... what happened?"

Santana cradled Quinn against her chest. "You're okay," she whispered thankfully. "Just keep your head still, okay?" she said as she brought her own gloved hand up to Quinn's bloodied one and covered it. "Just breathe slowly," she said.

"What happened?" Quinn whispered, blinking slowly. "I don't know what happened." She was feeling woozy, a vague sense of nausea sweeping over her. "Ugh, I don't feel so good, San."

"Just breathe, baby," she whispered. "Just keep talking to me." She looked up at Cindy rushing over as she tried to not cry. "Cindy, she got hurt!"

"I know, sweetheart, just calm down," Cindy murmured, dropping to her knees in front of Quinn and glancing up to the house to see Rebecca running outside with unfastened boots and pulling a jacket on as she ran. "Quinn, look at me okay?"

Quinn tried to focus her eyes on Cindy but it was hard. "Why do I feel so dizzy?"

"Rosen's damn horse kicked you," Cindy explained, holding up a finger and passing it back and forth in front of her eyes. "Follow my finger." She sighed with relief as Quinn managed to track it back and forth, then held up two fingers. "Okay, now how many fingers am I holding up?"

Quinn stared determinedly for a moment. "Um... three? No... two. Three? Stop moving!"

Santana bit her lip as she tangled her fingers with Quinn's other hand she kept her hand on the blonde's head over the wound and tried so hard to not break down and start crying. "Please call the doctor. Please, Cindy, she's still bleeding."

"Calm down, Santana." Cindy spoke as calmly and soothingly as she could. "I'm sure you had to deal with concussions in your cheerleading camps. She's awake and talking to us. We'll get her the help she needs. I just want Becca here before I call because we'll have to take her ourselves. As far out as we are, it'll take too long for an ambulance to get here."

"Oh my gosh, what happened?" Rebecca asked, skidding the rest of the way down the slope to kneel beside the girls and take one of Quinn's hands. "Quinn, tell me how you feel."

"Sick," Quinn whispered, "and I have the most god awful headache." She winced, closing her eyes. "I think I'm bleeding too."

"You are." Rebecca hissed softly, scooping up a handful of clean snow and pushing Santana's hand away so she could press it to the side of Quinn's head as Cindy moved off to call in to the hospital and get the truck running.

"That's cold!" Quinn hissed at the feeling of cold pressure against the side of her head, trying to push her away only for Rebecca to grab her wrist and stop her.

"It's supposed to be." She grabbed another handful as the first started melting, pressing it firmly against the wound and breathing a sigh of relief as the bleeding started to slow.

Santana just watched, holding Quinn and whispering in her ear that she'll be okay. That it was nothing worse than Coach Sylvester's pain in the ass practices. She picked her up carefully when Cindy motioned for them to come to the truck. "It's my turn to carry you," Santana whispered softly to Quinn as they headed to the truck.

Quinn clung to Santana, burying her face in the girl's shoulder as best she could with Rebecca still pressing snow to her head with freezing fingers. "I don't like this," she whispered, trembling with a mixture of cold, pain, and adrenaline in Santana's arms.

"Hey! What about my horse!" Rosen yelled, coming out of the barn where Mary had just finished getting Sunfire secure in a stall.

"You're lucky I don't press charges against you for animal abuse and assault and battery on my niece, you stupid ass! Your damn horse will still be here when I get back from making sure this child isn't seriously injured because you're too damn stupid to keep your lead in check!" Cindy growled angrily, making the man cower back from the truck he'd rushed towards. "Now you can wait in the damn clinic or you can go home, I don't give a fuck, but I am not dealing with him now!"

Santana sat in the back of the cab and wrapped the blanket around the girl in her lap. "We'll get you taken care of then I can dote on you all afternoon okay?" she whispered as she cuddled her closer. She wiped some of the blood away with her glove as they started driving to the hospital. "Quinn, you gotta keep talking to me okay? How about you tell me what you wanna do for your birthday? Or what you wanna do this weekend?" she pleaded, trying to keep her awake.

"I just," she yawned, fighting to keep her eyes open, "I want to spend it with you. That's it. This weekend, my birthday, whenever. I don't need to do anything special. It's just a day."

"Come on... we can go swimming this weekend if you want. Or... you said you wanted to try skiing someday?" she smiled and smoothed out Quinn's hair. "Baby, we can do anything you want."

"Sure, San," Quinn whispered, smiling vaguely up at Santana, her head aching so much she just wanted to take something and try to sleep off the pain. "Whatever you want to do."

Santana kissed Quinn's lips softly. "I know it hurts but remember how you made me tell you a whole story about us meeting when you drove me to the hospital last year? We gotta do that okay? You gotta tell me the story," she pleaded, trying to keep her lover awake.

"I don't know," Quinn ground out as a particularly hard jounce sent a shock of pain through her head. "I seriously can't focus enough to remember, San. It really hurts," she whimpered, her hand clutching one of Santana's. "Please don't make me try to think. I know I gotta stay awake. I just don't wanna think."

"Okay," she whispered, clutching Quinn's hand. "I love you and you love me, okay?" She sniffled before looking up to Rebecca, shaking visibly. "Can we drive faster?" she asked softly. "Please?"

"We're driving as fast as we can without taking dangerous risks when the roads are like this, Santana." Cindy glanced at her daughter in the rear-view mirror. "I promise you, I'm going as fast as I can."

"Hey," Quinn whispered, reaching up to brush Santana's cheek. "I'll be okay. I've had way worse happen before. Like remember when I got dumped off the pyramid and Britt had to hold me still until the ambulance arrived? This is so not like that. Promise."

Santana nodded, hating that she had to be reassured by her injured girlfriend. "Don't worry about me just... I just want you to get to the hospital okay?" she explained as she sighed and took off her blood dampened gloves.

"I know you do," Quinn whispered, taking one of Santana's hands, "but I love you, okay? Worrying about you comes naturally to me." She smiled up at Santana. "And besides, it distracts me from how god awful my head feels."

Santana laughed softly, smiling weakly down at her. "They'll give you painkillers at the hospital," she said. "Then you'll feel better okay?"

Quinn raised an eyebrow with a tiny smirk. "And then you'll really kiss me and make sure I feel better, you mean, right? At least, you better. I'm putting up with these scared little kisses because I know you're worried, but once I'm checked out you'd best be sure I'm expecting a real kiss."

"What kinda kiss, Quinn? A take your breath away kind of away kiss? A tingly in the pants or a romantic sweep you off your feet kind of kiss?" she asked, biting her lip shyly.

"The kind of kiss only you can give me," Quinn murmured, focusing on Santana to help ignore the throbbing in her head. "The kind where I feel so completely loved and wanted that I know I'll never have to look anywhere else for either."

"Oh, so the super combo kiss." She smiled softly and ran her fingers over Quinn's lips. "You'll be okay, I promise."

"Of course I will," Quinn gently squeezed Santana's hand, keeping her eyes on Santana's dark ones, "because I have to be okay to get my kiss. And I am getting my kiss."


A few hours later Santana was sitting in the chair next to Quinn's hospital bed clutching onto the girl's hand as she watched her girlfriend slip in and out of a medicated sleep. The doctor had given her medication and said they were going to send her for an MRI and CAT scan as soon as the machines were open, but that was over an hour ago. Santana watched nervously as she looked at her caregivers came back into the room.

"What did the doctor say?" she whispered.

"A little longer, sweetheart. There was an accident on the highway and Quinn's considered stable enough to wait while the poor family in the crash are treated." Cindy looked troubled for a moment. "I saw one of them, a little girl. I hope they're all okay."

"I'm sure the doctors here will do their best, Cindy." Rebecca patted her shoulder before going over to crouch down beside Santana's chair and gently squeeze her knee. "How are you doing?"

"I don't like hospitals," she whispered, like saying that she was scared and anxious would make her weak or like she wasn't helping her girlfriend enough. "I... I just don't like them."

"Mmhmm." Rebecca nodded knowingly, rubbing the girl's knee. "It's okay to be scared, sweetheart. You're not going to be doing Quinn any harm by being scared. She's been scared every time you've been in the hospital too, you know."

"Seriously," Cindy pointed out, leaning back against the wall across from the foot of Quinn's bed, "I had to go find her in the chapel when we found out you were sick. She was so scared for you. It's part of being in love, San. I'm about sick whenever something bad happens to Becca. Even when it's totally dumb like a smashed finger or something. It's totally okay."

"I just want her to be okay. I want her to never feel hurt or pain ever again." She sniffled wiping her eyes. "You have... you have to promise me that if something ever happens to me and I start bleeding all over the place like she was that you'll hold her back. Okay?" She looked at them, locking eyes with each of them. "I... I was stupid touching her blood when she had an open wound. It's a fuck ton more dangerous if she does it to me."

Cindy's lips thinned unhappily. "Santana, let me make something very clear to you while she's sleeping. Getting kicked like she did? That has killed plenty of people out right. Now our Quinn has a hard head and more than her fair share of luck, so everything looks like it's going to be okay, but there is no way in hell I'm going to stop her from going to you if you get kicked in the head. Yes, there's a risk, but I will not be the one to take that final comfort away from either of you because of a stupid promise. Understand?"

"Cindy," Rebecca began, looking over at her partner worriedly.

"No, Becca," Cindy cut her off, her eyes never leaving Santana's. "If it's something stupid like you cut yourself on a hoof knife or something, then yeah, I'll hold her back until she's got gloves or whatever on to be safe with you. But if it's life or death - if there is a chance you could die... I'm not going to be the one who kept her from being with you. Understand me, Santana?"

Santana just scuffed her feet and nodded not knowing what to say.

"It's more important you're together during something like that than worrying about whether or not she'll get sick. Because you are more than your illness. And besides," she tried to smile, "if my little girl is bleeding all over, I'm going to be too busy trying to help her to worry about if her girlfriend has gloves on or not. Quinn's not the only one in this room who loves you, Santana."

"I'd just like her to...I just don't like her to be hurt and I couldn't live if she ever got hurt because of me..." She sighed and looked up. "She's my world and it scares me to see her here. It scares me to know something hurt her and I can't do a fucking thing to make her better and not be in pain anymore."

"We all feel that way, sweetheart," Rebecca murmured, taking one of Santana's hands and squeezing gently.

"Becca's right, Santana. We all love Quinn and it kills us to see her hurt." Cindy pushed off the wall and came over to run her fingers through Santana's hair. "Just like it kills us when you're in such a state. We hate it when either of you girls are hurt."

She nodded. "Can I go lay with Quinn?" she whispered as she looked up at her parents. "She did it for me when I was in the hospital... It made me feel better. Maybe it will make her feel better too."

Rebecca looked like she wanted to protest, but Cindy nodded at the bed. "Knock yourself out, kid, but careful of the IV tubes and stuff. I'll run interference if anything comes up."

Santana simply nodded and got up, she moved over to the bed and carefully crawled next to Quinn and rested her hand on Quinn's stomach and scooted as close as she could. "Te amo," she whispered, holding a handful of Quinn's hospital gown in her hand and pulled the blanket over her girlfriend.

"Love you too," Quinn whispered, mostly asleep from the medications but awake enough to move her arm to hold her love against her.

Santana silently sobbed as she hugged Quinn. She was beyond scared, always being on the other side of the situation being the one in the bed rather than the one who's trying to comfort her hurt girlfriend. "She is so brave," Santana whispered as she watched Quinn rest.

"She's got you," Cindy whispered, reaching over to squeeze Santana's shoulder reassuringly. "She doesn't have to be brave when she knows you're here."

Santana nodded and held her tightly.


Several hours later, Santana sat on the couch back at home with Quinn's head cradled in her lap. They had the television on low and Santana had her hand intertwined with Quinn's. "Tell me if you need anything okay?" she whispered.

Quinn lazily pulled Santana's hand to her lips and brushed a kiss over her knuckles. "This is all I need for now." She smiled up at Santana, the shaved spot where she'd had to get stitches painfully obvious from the gauze plastered to it. She noticed Santana looking at it and shyly prodded the white bandage. "Think I should shave the other side to match?" she joked, trying to make light of her injury.

"Shave the whole thing," she teased, smiling back. "You have gorgeous hair but it distracts from your face," she added, running her fingers over Quinn's face. "Head still hurt?"

"These meds are pretty good. I don't feel a thing." She giggled softly, raking her hair up into a pseudo-hawk. "What do you think? Can I rock a 'hawk better than Puck or what?"

"Think you'd look sexy as hell." Santana smiled, she patted the girl's hand away. "You'll hit your stitches. Be careful okay?"

"Aww." Quinn pouted for a moment before a thought hit her. "Hey! I didn't get my kiss!"

"I was waiting till you felt better and you could properly enjoy that kiss." She smiled. "You need to be lucid for these kisses."

Quinn peered up at Santana suspiciously. "You'd better not be trying to gyp me out of any kisses, Lopez. I freaking earned those kisses."

"Please, getting kicked in the head gets you kisses?" She rolled her eyes and kissed Quinn's forehead. "Woman, I almost iand didn't get anything but you bouncing out of town." She smiled and kept her voice light. "By my count, you only get, like, butterfly kisses."

Quinn tried to growl but it sounded more kittenish than the leonine menace she was going for. "I had to see you climb in my window half dead and had to get you to a hospital. Then you show up here half dead and jump off the handle at me cause I'm getting flirted at and try running off and scare the hell outta me. A-and I love you." She pouted. "Just butterfly kisses? Really?"

"How about," she countered, as she slid her hand down to Quinn's stomach, "when your head is better I can do anything you want." She smiled and kissed her temple. "And I love you too and I'll give you lots of kisses, okay?"

"I don't like how it always seems like you're implying I want something you don't." Quinn poured up at Santana. "I'm not just about sex, San. It's not any fun and just hurts anyways. I don't get what the big deal is." She shrugged. "I just wanna make you happy."

"I agree... Your aunt looked at me like I was crazy when I told her it hurt and I didn't like it." She pouted back and kissed Quinn's lips lightly. "I think maybe we can try what we did last time that made us both feel really good?" she whispered shyly as she watched Quinn's face. "Or we can just like... go in the hot tub or like, um... take a both together and hold each other."

Quinn started to shake her head then thought better of it. "I don't wanna do anything you aren't comfortable with." Her brow furrowed as her drug fogged mind tried to reason through what Santana said. "And I don't think you can take a bath with your swim suit on. It'd be really weird."

"I'd be comfortable with it," she said softly. "I... I think maybe we could do the bath thing without swimsuits. You... you mentioned it a few weeks back when you were showering and I've been thinking about it. It's not... it's not like we haven't seen each other before, right?"

"You're uncomfortable now," Quinn pointed out, "and you're just thinking about it. You'd be totally uncomfortable if it was actually happening." She smiled lopsidedly up at Santana. "It's cool though, cause I get you all the time anyway. I don't need you to get all naked with me right away. We can definitely wait until you're ready for that stuff."

"I'll never not be uncomfortable with it if you don't help me learn to be okay." She sighed and slid down to lie face to face with her girlfriend. "I want to be okay and I want you to help me. I want to take a bath with you and you're turning me down."

Quinn peered at Santana. "Are we ready for that? It's like a really big step, San. I don't wanna break us cause we try stuff we're not ready for, you know?"

"Can we just try? I wanna try," Santana stated as she looked at her girlfriend. "I just wanna try and then we can stop if it's bad or scary."

Quinn smiled shyly. "If you really wanna try, we can try." She squeezed Santana's hand, watching her for any adverse reactions. "When would you like to try?"

'Whenever... I can wash your hair out if you want. Get all that gross blood off when you can wash it." She shrugged. "I just wanna hold you okay?"

"Maybe now then? I'm still all dirty from mucking the stables before this," she gestured vaguely at her head, "but I was told I can't shower or bathe alone for a couple days and I really don't want my aunts helping me. I love them but that'd be way too weird."

Santana nodded and stood up, silently wishing she was bigger so she could carry Quinn up the stairs. She helped her up and looked at her softly and smiled. "Come on then, let's get you clean." She quickly poked her head into the kitchen to tell Rebecca that she was gonna help Quinn take a bath before aiding the blonde up to the bathroom. She carefully sat Quinn on the tub and went to start the tub. "Let's get you out of these gross clothes, okay?"

Quinn nodded and carefully stood up, bracing herself against the counter as she started undoing her shirt. Her hands were trembling so much from sheer nervousness that she kept having trouble getting the buttons to do what she wanted. She couldn't stop her drug clouded mind from focusing on the fact that this would be the first time they would not only really see each other completely unclothed, but there would be physical contact as well. She knew it wasn't sexual, but she couldn't help but feel incredibly nervous, wondering if she would measure up since she knew she'd gained weight since she had moved here. She didn't even know what she was being measured against, she just felt that she would be found wanting in some way.

Santana moved over and took over on unbuttoning Quinn's shirt. She kept eye contact with Quinn and kept a shy smile on her face. "We can add bubbles, if you want," she said softly, smiling as Quinn nodded and pulled her top off and put it in the hamper. She moved over and put some vanilla scented bubbles in the water before pulling her own sweatshirt over her head. They both stood there in just their bras and Santana let her shaking fingers unhook the front clasp of the bra covering Quinn's chest and pushed the straps down the paler girl's shoulders. Santana pulled away and took down her hair and took off her own sports bra and looked down when her hair covered her breasts.

"I know they're not much," she said nervously as she looked up to her girlfriend.

Quinn reached forward with trembling hands to carefully slide Santana's hair back. "You're beautiful," she whispered, her voice shaking slightly. She offered a lopsided smile. "More beautiful than me." Her eyes dropped as a blush stained her cheeks and she began fiddling with the button of her jeans to avoid staring at her girlfriend's nude upper body like some kind of teenaged boy.

"You are one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen," she whispered, leaning in to kiss Quinn's exposed collar bone. She pulled away and pushed off her own pants and even more nervously the tight boxers that she had taken to wearing to cover her body more. She looked up at Quinn. "I... I don't know what we do now." She giggled nervously, her hands covering her core out of nerves.

Quinn blushed even harder after Santana kissed her, the redness spreading down her neck and over her chest in a wave. "G-get in the tub, I guess," she whispered nervously, finally managing to push her jeans and panties down over her hips and off her body.

Her breath came in quick, nervous pants as she realized she was completely exposed to her girlfriend's eyes. She stood awkwardly, afraid to look at Santana and see disgust for the way her body had changed as she'd gained weight over the last year. She knew she wouldn't be able to bear it if she saw that same unhappy look she used to see in her parents' eyes when they looked at her and the drugs swimming through her blood to manage her pain were making it hard to pretend otherwise.

"Wow." Santana gasped, unable to help herself from staring at Quinn's exposed body. "You... you are so beautiful." She smiled as she looked at the obvious changes to Quinn's pale body, where she'd gained just the right amount of padding to cover the once bony juts of her hips and ribs. She was perfect, shapely, and stunning. "I love you so much, Quinn."

"I love you too," Quinn whispered, feeling terribly self-conscious as she climbed into the tub. Once safely in the warm water, she managed to glance up at Santana with a shy smile. "You're the beautiful one. I wish I could look like you instead of me." She drew her legs up, wrapping her arms around them and looking down at the water with an embarrassed blush.

The darker girl got into the tub behind Quinn and nervously stretched her legs out on either side of the other girl's body. "I've always thought you were the most stunning person ever." She smiled and rested her forehead on Quinn's back as she slid her arms around her waist under the warm water. "You're beautiful and I want to make sure you know that you're beautiful and I want you to feel just as beautiful as you are to me."

Quinn shivered when she felt the warmth of Santana's skin against hers. "I'm not though. I weigh way too much now. I haven't been eating the right way and I'm all big now..."

"Quinn, the difference now is that you, for the first time in like... ever, are eating healthy and you are beautiful. I think you're more lovely now than when we were in Lima because you're happy and healthy," She pointed out as she held her. She took a deep breath before she slid her body slightly closer and pressed her small chest against Quinn's back.

Quinn shivered and let out a soft whimper at feeling Santana's body pressed up against her back. "Please don't call me that," she finally breathed. "My da...Russell... He always used to say that. That I was his beautiful girl... I don't want to be beautiful, San," she glanced back over her shoulder slightly, "I don't want to be his anything."

"How about you be my lovely, sexy girlfriend?" Santana suggested. "How about you just be mine and mine only and you can learn to love yourself using new words. Like, I find you sexy? And lovely, and pretty and smart and funny..." She smiled as she put her chin on Quinn's shoulder. "By the way, Q, I like bath time."

Quinn smiled tentatively, trying not to pay attention to the fact that her beautiful girlfriend was naked and pressed up against her equally naked back. "I think I like that," she whispered, blushing. "R-really?" Her voice cracked slightly and she quickly swallowed to try and get it under control again. "I...I mean, me too."

"It's warm and comforting," she whispered as she pulled Quinn carefully back so the other girl could rest against her. "Can we just lay here for a bit then I'll get the blood out of your hair?"

Quinn trembled and licked her lips, trying to think of anything but lying nude on top of her girlfriend's naked body. "Um, Y-yeah, s-sure, we, um, we can do that..." She blushed scarlet, sending a grateful prayer to the heavens that she wasn't born a guy.

Santana nodded and carefully held Quinn. She was still trying to convince herself that she was okay, that she was safe and loved and that Quinn hadn't run away when she saw her body. "Thank you, for letting me try to get over my fear."

Quinn was doing her best to breathe as carefully as possible. She swallowed hard. "To be honest, I'm trying really hard to get over the fact that I think knowing you're naked behind me is really turning me on right now." Her eyes went wide and she clapped a hand over her mouth. "I didn't mean to say that!"

Santana's brow furrowed. "But... I'm not doing anything sexy," she asked softly. "I'm just.. sitting here? I'm confused." She was naive that just her presence could turn someone on.

Quinn turned as best she could to look at Santana. "San, you're incredibly sexy just as you are. Believe me. This is incredibly awkward for me since I've never had it happen before, but just knowing you're naked and touching me...even like this, is a major turn on for me apparently." She blushed and looked down shyly. "To be honest, you've made my body feel like it was on fire just by looking at me. I have no idea why, but...you do that to me..."

"That's... that's a good thing, right?" she whispered her question. "It's... you like that right? I'm sorry I just don't understand," she said quickly, not wanting to hurt Quinn's feelings.

Blinking at the reaction, Quinn shrugged and settled back against Santana again. "I guess so. I don't really know." She laughed softly, only vaguely tinged with self-depreciation. "I guess I'm just that attracted to you. Don't worry though, I won't ever act on it unless you ask me to." She sighed softly, trying desperately to focus on something else as her arousal started making her head throb uncomfortably even though her meds.

Santana nodded and stayed quiet. "Stop talking so much you'll make your headache worse," she whispered. Santana had a lot of practice with head injuries and she knew Quinn must be in pain. "Just relax okay?"

Quinn chuckled softly, pinching the bridge of her nose lightly. "I don't think talking is what's raising my blood pressure actually." She did her best to lie in the water with Santana for a little while, but the quiet made it all but impossible to think of anything but Santana's body pressing against her and all of the internal berating in the world about how awful and creepy she was being couldn't stop her from feeling turned on. "Can we just... get this done? No offense, San, but I'm getting a little cold up here."

"Oh... okay, yeah," she said softly, sitting up and grabbing the cup off the ledge and filling it with water. She carefully saturated one side of Quinn's head and rinsed out the blood then she moved over and carefully drizzled water near the stitches careful to never get them wet.

Quinn grabbed the scrubby and used some gel to wash herself as Santana worked on her hair. "I'm sorry to be a bother," she whispered. "I'll be more careful around the animals in the future. I'm sorry I made you worry."

"Not a bother," she whispered as she washed Quinn's back. "I just got scared... you were bleeding a lot."

"I was pretty scared myself." She chuckled softly, scrubbing her arms. "You were freaking out and there was a lot of blood and I couldn't remember what happened...honestly for a moment I thought I'd been shot!"

"Yes, because gun violence is at an all time high here," Santana said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She focused on cleaning her girlfriend, her body all but completely wrapped around the other girl's. Where Quinn had been vocal about her arousal, Santana hadn't. She didn't even notice the fact her nipples were tightly puckered against Quinn's back. The smaller girl didn't know how to comprehend her body after years of sexual abuse. She had automatically shut down when she even kind of felt what Rebecca had once explained to her as arousal for so long that now she just didn't know what was happening.

"Well, hunting season... It's possible, right?" Quinn offered weakly, her head not really up to finding a better reason. She sighed softly, deciding to focus on getting herself clean and out of the tub so they could get dressed. She desperately kept trying to get her body to shut up about how Santana's tightening nipples felt against her back or wondering just what the other girl would do if she shifted just so and rubbed back against her smooth shaven core. But it was hard when all she could think was how much she wanted to touch her. She scowled at herself, angry for being just like a teenaged boy with Santana. With being just like the people who hurt her. When that thought splashed across her mind, it was like a bucket of water from the frozen lake being thrown over her. She froze slightly, her ardor cooling rapidly. She didn't ever want to be like them. Not with Santana. Not ever.

"I guess," Santana stated before she moved to finish rinsing Quinn off before she got out and grabbed a towel. "Need help standing up?" she whispered as she held out a fluffy towel for Quinn.

Quinn started to get up on her own, only to stop as a mini wave of vertigo hit. She looked up at Santana and the hesitance in her face and made a decision before reaching for her. "Please," she whispered, hoping Santana could see how much she trusted her with this gesture, "but... without the towel. I... I think I want you to see me." She was afraid that she'd explode if Santana's bare body touched her again, but she wanted to show her that trust.

Santana put the towel that covered her bare body down and she reached down and pushed Quinn's hair back. "Come on," she whispered as she reached down and helped her stand up with her arms under her arms. She picked her up and helped her out of the tub. She kept her arms around Quinn and rested her hands against her back. "I love you." She smiled, resting her head against Quinn's. "Are you okay? Still dizzy?"

Quinn kept her hands lightly resting on Santana's slim hips and hoped the other girl couldn't feel how fast and hard her heart was beating from the slight brush of their breasts against each other. She blushed. "A little, but," she ducked her head slightly, shy, "I think that's more from being around you than my head right now."

"I'm kinda dizzy too," she whispered. "I... like being with you like this. It's scary and it makes my heart beat like it's gonna jump out of my chest and my whole body feel weird, but... I like it."

Quinn smiled shyly. "I'm oddly grateful for being kicked now," she leaned down and kissed Santana softly, "because if I was completely healthy, I don't know how easily I could resist touching you in a way I don't think we're ready yet."

Santana kissed her back softly and pulled away. "I know," she whispered and pushed Quinn's hair back. "I'm sorry I'm not ready yet."

Quinn reached up and gently brushed the backs of her fingers over Santana's cheek, smiling softly. "Honestly? Neither am I. Not yet. I want to be with you, San, but I'm happy to wait until you're ready."

Santana shivered slightly. "Baby, I'm freezing can... can we get dressed?" she pleaded as she grabbed the towels.

Quinn laughed, grabbing a towel and chafing it over Santana's body to warm her up. "Definitely, and then maybe," she smiled shyly, "we can get in bed and I can warm you up?"

"Yes, please," she said as she moved into the bedroom and pulled a couple pairs of sweatpants out of the drawer for her and Quinn and two shirts and set them on the bed. She quickly got dressed and waited for Quinn to get dressed as well before she carefully dried Quinn's hair and put a new bandage onto the girl's head. "Lay down."

Quinn adjusted her clothes and pushed the blankets back before stretching out in the bed and opening her arms for Santana. "Come here so I can hold you. I wanna sleep and I sleep better holding you. You're like an awesome teddy bear, San."

Santana crawled into the other girl's arms and smiled. She cuddled into her kissed the side of her neck. "I love you," she said softly. "I'm so happy you're okay," she added as she cuddled her and rested her head over the other girl's heart. "I was scared and I'm now very happy that you're okay. Just never, ever scare me like that again."

"I'll try," Quinn whispered with a yawn, her cheek resting on the top of Santana's head and arms wrapped securely around her as she drifted off to sleep. "Love you," was the last blurry mumble before she slid off completely.