It's Not Your Fault

Storming out of the hotel doors, Quinn desperately searched in all directions. Santana could only have gone left or right so Quinn needed to split them up. 'Okay, Lauren. You come with me. Tina, Mercedes go right.' They nodded. 'Go to the end of the road and turn back, I don't think Santana would go that far.'

'Okay,' Tina agreed for the both of them.

'We'll meet you back here in a little while then.' Mercedes smiled, Quinn sending an uncertain one back before nodding, pulling Lauren hastily off to the left.

'Oh, and text me if you find her.' Quinn called back. And then all four girls were on their way.

Lauren was getting increasingly worried by the look on Quinn's face, also struggling to keep up with the smaller girl's frantic pace as they searched the street. 'Quinn, can you hang on a second.' Lauren called from behind her.

'No, I cant Lauren.' Quinn replied hurriedly, her head shooting from left to right as the traffic sped past them.

'Q, it'll be okay. We're gonna find her.' Lauren grabbed her arm, Quinn spinning around to face her.

'Laure, stop talking.' She almost screamed at her. 'I have to find her, I need to find her.' Tears were threatening to spill down her face as she looked up at the larger girl.

'Quinn, relax.' Lauren smiled. 'I know you want to find her, we all do.' She reminded her.

'I just, I don't like her being alone.' Lauren nodded. Quinn ran her hands through her hair and let out a breath. 'I'm sorry. Can we keep go now?'

'Sure. Come on.' Lauren rubbed her friend's arm as they continued down the street.

'Have you seen anyone who looks like Santana yet?' Mercedes asked Tina as they were walking in the opposite direction. Turning their heads to look down every small alley and checking the face of every girl with brown hair.

'No, I don't know where she could be.' Tina admitted.

'Well we need to find her. And soon.' Mercedes looked to her left, a car headlight shining down an alleyway. 'Wait.' She stopped Tina and directed her to the alley.

'What is it Mercedes?'

'I think I saw something.' They walked over to the alley tentatively. Not wanting to run into a homeless person or a mugger.

'Do you hear that?' Tina strained her ears as she listened, Mercedes in front of her as they walked down the small walkway. There was a row of metal trash cans next to a small dumpster, smoke coming out of a manhole on the floor. They stepped towards them, the odd noise getting louder.

'Santana?' Mercedes asked, peering around the trash cans as the noise got louder. 'San?' And sure enough, as they both stepped further towards the dumpster, was Santana. She was curled up to the wall and looking down at the floor, tears marking her face. She was sobbing uncontrollably as the two girls tried to get closer to her.

'Santana?' Tina said gently, leaning down and crouching in front of their distraught friend.

'San are you okay?' Mercedes asked, Santana not responding to Tina.

'I think you need to text Quinn, she's probably the only one Santana will talk to.' Tina looked up to the girl above her. Mercedes nodded and sent the message as Santana managed to look up.

'Q..Quinn?' She said croakily.

'Yeah,' Mercedes smiled. 'Quinn is coming okay.' Santana nodded. And as they looked her over they could see she was shaking. Their eyes widened at the sight of her tiny frame vibrating uncontrollably and then their attention was drawn to her right hand. It was settled between her stomach and her knees as they were pulled up to her chest, and it was covered in blood.

'Santana what happened?' Tina tried to reach out to her, the brunette only pulled back and ignored the question. She shook her head rapidly as she looked into Tina's eyes. 'Hey, it's okay.' She smiled, clearly Santana wasn't opening up to her or Mercedes. They simply sat with her and watched, knowing that there was nothing they could do to help her. However they didn't have to wait long, Quinn and Lauren bursting round the corner a few minutes later.

'Santana.' Quinn called, the two girls noticing Santana's body language change. Her head flew up and she seemed to relax as the blonde took Tina's place in front of her.

'Hey, it's me. I'm here.' Santana reached out for her with her good left hand, Quinn clearly noticing the blood on her other one but deciding to leave it alone for now. She took Santana's hand in both of hers as she edged closer. All she had to do was get Santana back inside where she could take care of her.

'I'm sorry,' Santana sobbed. 'I'm so, so sorry Q.'

'It's okay San.' Quinn smiled, bringing a hand up to stroke the hair out of her friend's eyes.

'It's not okay, I promised you and I.. I didn't mean to..' She sobbed, choking on various words as they rambled out of her mouth. 'I didn't mean to make you mad… or upset you or anything… I just….'

'Santana.' Quinn laughed. 'Hold up okay. I'm not mad. I'm just glad you're okay.'

'But I'm not, Q. I'm so no okay.' She looked into Quinn's eyes. The tears making her vision blur and her cheeks burn as she stared on.

'I know. But I want to help you.' Quinn went to stand up, trying to take Santana with her but the smaller girl was almost paralysed with fear. 'Come on.' Quinn reassured her.

'I.. I just, I cant move.' More tears over took her as she released the blonde's hand, Quinn looking down at her before turning to the other girls.

'What do we do?' Lauren asked, but Quinn already had a plan.

'Here, take this.' She handed Mercedes her room key. 'Go into the pocket of Santana's bag and get me her pills. They're in a small orange container.' She smiled at them.

'Sure. How will they help?' Mercedes wondered.

'Well, hopefully I can get her to take one and it will knock her out. Then maybe we can carry her back ourselves.'

'I can do that.' Lauren confirmed, as she and Mercedes hurried off back to the hotel. Tina insisted on staying with Quinn, not wanting to leave her and Santana alone out in the dark, but she stayed standing well back to give Quinn time to talk to the Latina.

'Hey San.' Quinn sat next to her, back against the wall.

'Hey.' She whispered back, facing forwards as Quinn looked at her sideways.

'How did you hurt your hand?' Quinn asked, reaching over and gently picking it up, holding it in her own.

'Erm, I flipped out. I.. I though someone was behind me and I..' She sniffed, wiping at her face with her other hand. 'I punched the wall.' She smiled.

'Does it hurt?'

'Yeah, it does.' She confessed, Quinn placing a gentle kiss on it as Tina looked at them suspiciously. Quinn shot her a glance causing her to avert her gaze as the blonde went back to focus on Santana. 'I'm sorry.' She was going to cry again.

'Santana stop that. It's not your fault.' Quinn stroked the side of her face, leaning her own head on the wall as they stared at each other.

'I'm such a pain in the ass.' She said, smiling slightly.

'Yeah, you are.' Quinn agreed. 'But you're the pain in my ass, which is fine by me.' Santana punched her playfully on the knee, and then without thinking of who was watching, she leaned in and kissed Quinn on the lips. Quinn fully embraced it, gently rubbing her cheek as her eyes closed. Then after a few moments they pulled back, Quinn immediately looking to Tina who was watching them. She smiled. Quinn took this as a good sign and turned back to Santana. 'I sent the guys to get your meds, okay?'

'Yeah, I thought you might.' Santana grinned. 'Dope me up.'

'San it's not like that. We just…..'

'I know Q, like I said I'm a pain I the ass. So just do whatever you need to do.'

'So will you take one?' Quinn pushed away from the wall and knelt painfully on her knees.

'If it gets me of this concrete I'll down the bottle.'

'Not funny.' Quinn informed her, Mercedes and Lauren coming back round the corner. They saw the two girls smiling at each other and then went to Tina.

'Everything okay?' Mercedes asked.

'Better, I think.' Tina said with a sly smile on her face. The other two exchanging suspicious looks, but they could grill Tina for the info later.

'Here.' Lauren walked over to them slowly and handed Quinn the pills.

'Thanks.' Quinn smiled up at her as she popped the lid. She reached in and pulled out another large white pill, Giving it to the Latina who took it from her without a fuss.

'You wont leave me?' Santana said sadly, studying the medication in her hand.

'Never. I promise we will all be by your side when you wake up. I'll even drag B and Rachel up to the room as well.' Santana smiled.

'Thanks Quinn.' She said, before slipping the pill into her mouth and swallowing it difficultly. It eventually went down and the girls waited only moments before the effects kicked in. Santana was out. Quinn motioning for Lauren to help her with the stranded glee clubber, and then they all slowly made their way back to the room.