Title: Just A Girl (2/10?)
Author: Race122VE (Coll)
Pairing: Santana/Brittany
Rating: R (mostly language, then violence and some semi sexiness as the fic goes on)
Summary: "But…you're just a girl." Glee AU fic.
Word Count: Under 4k
Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.

Chapter 2

Santana was hoping that she would at least get an hour or something to shower and change out of her uniform, but that's obviously an unreasonable request because her mother is, like, fucking waiting for her as soon as she enters the house. She's on the couch, arms crossed over her chest, and next to her is her uniform from the dry cleaners, now clean and wrapped in plastic.

"Thanks for taking that in," she says after a beat.

"Sure. What were you doing last night that required me to take it in?" her mom fires back, reminding Santana where she got her attitude from in the process.

"I was at Quinn's," she lies, but she knows her mom sees right through her.

"OK, so...Mr. Fabray somehow managed to not see you the whole night?" Santana opens her mouth to say something but gets cut off. "Yes, I called him…and I called Brittany's parents and they said she was out on a date so…I'm going to ask again. What were you doing last night?"

The whole day, she could only come up with one excuse that she did not want to use; but her mother was waiting and getting angrier by the second. She could either tell the truth and risk her mom's safety, or say the only excuse Santana could make up.

"I was with Puck."

The name alone was enough to send her mother into a rage, but that excuse along with the dirty uniform was just going to make this thing so much worse.

The whole situation was just lose/lose.

The sex thing with Puck hadn't happened when he first met her mom. They were outside of school and Puck was starting his shit and Santana threw him a bone and decided making out with him a little wasn't the worst thing in the world.

He had her pushed up against a tree with his hands roaming everywhere, and that's when her mom pulled up. Since then, anytime Puck's name ever got mentioned, Santana's mom made herself clear that she does not approve of him or his reputation (apparently she had talked to some of the other mothers who had hired Puck and his 'pool cleaning' services). Santana would tell her, over and over again, that she had no interest in Puck what so ever.

So much for that argument.

"You know how I feel about that boy."

"Mom-"

"So…you're out with that boy and…what? Rolling around in the dirt?"

Santana clams up. Her mom appears to be in a rage right now and anything she says will just fuel the fire. Plus, if she doesn't say anything else it's technically not lying. Her eyes are on the ground, kicking the floor and just waiting for whatever else her mom has…but it doesn't come.

When she looks back up, her mom's still looking at her but there's no more anger. She's shaking her head and trying to hold back tears but failing. "I thought you were smarter than this, Santana. Than sleeping around with a boy like that-"

"It's not like that, mom," she says, going back on her excuse but not able to take seeing her mother like this.

"We're barely getting by right now," her mom tells her quietly, but still very much upset. "I'm picking up extra shifts at the diner now and…I'm going to be away more. If you get yourself pregnant-"

"Ma…"

"I need to be able to trust you…and I don't think I do."

The disappointment nearly kills her. She feels the words on her mouth, the truth about what she is, but that wouldn't make things better. Ever since her parents divorced and her dad moved away and started a new family, she and her mom became a team. They didn't really have a choice. Her mom had started working at the diner to help with cash right around when school started back up and Santana had to take care of the house, dinner, and other chores.

She didn't mind too much, though. Her mom being absent gave her a lot of freedom to do whatever, when she actually had a normal, social life and not the shit she had now. She always made an effort, though, to never abuse it. She maybe a bitch at school and have the reputation of a slutty cheerleader, but her mother did teach her well and she always carried that around with her.

Now, because of how dangerous her life really is, it was better to have her mom look at her like some kind of irresponsible whore.

"Just…go to your room, Santana, and don't even think about leaving the house anytime soon." Her mom pushes herself off the couch, grabbing the uniform and handing it to Santana before turning and heading towards the kitchen.

There's no use in arguing, and she doesn't have to go out and patrol until later when, hopefully, her mom will be fast asleep. When she gets to her room and looks at the time and sees that she still has hours before she has to sneak out, she flops on the bed. She grabs her phone and can't help but sigh when there are no messages or calls to display and, because she's a fan of torture, she looks at the texts Brittany left her last night. All ten of them ranging from worried to mad, and each one punching her in the stomach for being such an idiot and forgetting about her friend.

She pushes herself further on to her bed, grabs a pillow, and pushes it against her face as she lets out a frustrated scream. Normally, she would punch something but she didn't want to add structural damage to her room on the lists of things her mom has to be mad about.

Her hands drop to her side, still balled into tight fists, and she lays there with the pillow resting on her face. Santana is still and quiet for the first time since…she can't even remember when. The toll that her new life has taken hits her suddenly, and Santana's never really appreciated how amazingly comfortable her bed feels. She takes the pillow and puts it behind her head, staring up at the ceiling as the blades on her fan swish by hypnotically.

It's not long before her eyes close and she passes out.

Only to be woken up by her cell phone and…Santana officially hates the song, Don't Stop Believing.

Well, she hates hearing it over and over and over again and, right now, it's playing over and over again. Her eyes open and she's still in her room, but everything is pitch black. Obviously, quite some time has passed since she, more or less, passed out earlier. Her eyes adjust quickly and she grabs her phone just as the ring tone stops and gets a glimpse at the time.

"Fuck me," she mutters when she sees that it's 4AM…and that she has twenty nine missed calls.

Apparently, Santana had really needed sleep. How the hell had she slept that whole time?

She hears the door slam shut down stairs and scrambles out of bed to look out her window and see her mom get in the car and drive off to one of her jobs. Her phone rings again, for a thirtieth time, and Santana throws it against the wall. It shatters into pieces and she smiles in satisfaction. Even though she slept for a crazy amount of hours, she still feels completely exhausted and her bed looks way too comfortable.

The frustration, anger, and sadness she feels is just too overwhelming. Santana thinks about what lies ahead of her today. She thinks of Cheerios practice and how she'll be abused there before getting called into Coach's office and being handed her ass for missing patrol. She thinks of seeing Brittany the whole time and, most likely, being ignored by her. She thinks of her classes and having to listen to her teachers drone on and on about nothing because she basically has no future anymore. She thinks about Glee Club and how it used to make her happy but, after yesterday, it just doesn't seem the same anymore.

Most of all she just thinks about how out of control her life is. How she could go through such a shift in power over her actions so quickly over the course of a few months. She hates it so fucking much.

So, because she needs to take control of her life now that it seems like everything is falling apart, she climbs back into bed and doesn't plan on waking up for a very long time.

xxxxx

Ditching school was a lot easier than she thought it was going to be, even with her mom in her business more so than usual. She usually beat her mom home anyway, so she didn't even have to sneak out of the house only to sneak back in. Also, the school usually called with an automated message saying that the student was absent, but that was easy enough to erase.

That Friday and the whole weekend, Santana just marinated in the quiet normalcy of being grounded like any other teenager out there. Yeah, she blew off everything: Cheerios, Glee, training, patrol, all of it. The twinge of guilt was easy to ignore locked away in her room watching trashy realty shows all weekend while she shoved the contents of the fridge in her mouth, Sue Sylvester's master cleanse be damned.

Her mother was, of course, thrilled that Santana wasn't even arguing the punishment, but didn't take too kindly to the destruction of her phone. She didn't say too much about it, though. In fact, the two hardly spoke. Anything Santana said would be a lie and her mother was too wracked with worry and frustration to form any kind of coherent thought.

So, the weekend went by in silence.

Santana returned to school on Monday with a new mindset. A new plan.

"This is unacceptable."

The first thing she did was march into Sue Sylvester's office, Cheerio's uniform in hand and resignation from the team on her tongue. "I'm sorry, Coach, but-"

"There's no buts here, Santana," Coach cuts in. "I'm not even talking about the Cheerios right now. Honestly, you've been slacking during practice and I was thinking of kicking you off the team anyway. What's unacceptable is you ignoring your calling for three nights. That's when people turn up missing."

"You're the one that told me vampires have been around for a long time, Coach, and that there haven't always been slayers around," Santana points out, well rested and with a clear mind to argue her point. "I'm one girl. Bad things happen all the time and…I'm not always going to be able to fix it."

"Well, not with that attitude," Sue mumbles.

"This…thing is ruining my life," Santana says, her voice cracking with emotion. "And on Friday it was just…it all became too much and I needed a break."

"It pains me to say this, Santana, but this calling of yours, being the Slayer, it's bigger than us, and it's out of my control," Sue winces when she says that last part, but continues. "After your behavior this past weekend I would trade you if I could. It's not going to happen though. You can quit the Cheerios, try to fix things with your friends, but it won't change what you are."

"I know I can't change what I am," Santana admits quietly. "It pains me to say that, and I don't plan on going under the radar like I did these past few days. It's just been nonstop for months and I needed some time to think about what else had to change in my life."

Sue nods along. "Well, like I said, I was going to throw you off the Cheerios anyway…and it's probably a good thing you quit the Glee Club once and for all."

Santana's brow furrows. "I'm not quitting Glee Club."

Coach blinks a couple times before shaking her head. "I'm sorry…I don't think my ears functioned there, for a second."

"I'm not quitting Glee Club. My plan was to just quit the Cheerios," Santana says slowly, making sure to speak clearly.

Sue narrows her eyes and Santana would normally be quivering in fear right now, but she doesn't care. She may not be free from her destiny, but neither was Sue Sylvester which meant that neither of them had any power. She could do things like quit the Cheerios and stay in Glee Club because that's what she really wanted to do now. Not to mention that her calling had, more or less, turned her into a freak of nature anyway. Might as well embrace it.

Coach dismisses her with the promise of pain and suffering later on during training, and Santana can't help but smile at the idea of besting Sue Sylvester. Even in a totally fucked up way.

Since she's no longer on the Cheerios, her first period is now wide open. She heads to her locker feeling free in just a pair of jeans and a normal, black T shirt while her hair hangs loose around her shoulders. She's not surprised at the glances she receives on her way, but does notice a general somberness that is filling up the hallways. She shrugs it off and opens her locker when Puck's sliding up next to her almost instantly.

"Where the fuck have you been?" he asks in a serious tone. It gets her attention right away and she looks over to see actual concern etched all over his face, but then he takes in her outfit and she can see the confusion. "And where the fuck is your uniform?"

"I've been around and I quit the Cheerios. What's it to you?" she shoots back, annoyed. Christ, can't she check out for a couple of days without every single person jumping down her throat?

Puck leans in and says in a low, serious tone, "You ditched on Friday, you don't answer your fucking phone all weekend, and now you quit the Cheerios…I'm fucking worried here. That's what it is to me."

"If you must know…my phone is in pieces right now, I was grounded, I can't deal with being on the team right now, and I ditched because…well, I do what I want," she tells him as her memory kicks in. She knows her mom hates Puck, but she's got to get her alibi straight. "Oh…hey, so…if for some reason my mom were to talk to your parents or…you, we were together on Wednesday night."

All previous emotions of Puck's are dropped and replaced by his familiar leer. "Oh really?" Santana rolls her eyes as she finishes up at her locker and walks off, not waiting for Puck but expecting him to follow. "Are you going to tell me what I'm helping you cover up?"

She ignores him, debating on whether to grab just a coffee before class or go for a full on breakfast.

"OK, fine…don't tell me, but you have to promise me that whatever the hell it is that you're doing, you're being careful."

That stops her in her tracks.

Yeah, they had this weird friendship, and Puck was a great guy, and blah, blah, blah…but him being this overprotective of her was not usual behavior for the Puckasaurus. "What is with you today?"

"Didn't you catch the news?" he asks. "Interact with any human being in this town? People are missing."

"Who?" Karofsky, she thinks automatically and hopes she sounds convincing enough even though the image of his face turning to dust begins to replay over and over again.

"Matt, Jew Fro…one of the other AV kids," Puck lists off the names and Santana's jaw drops in shock because she totally didn't hear Puck say 'people.' "And Karofsky."

The guilt over powers her and she grabs Puck's arm to steady herself. Her legs feel like jelly and she kind of stumbles to a stop with her mind racing a mile a minute. She had meant everything she said in Coach's office, bad things were going to happen with or without her around, but now Matt was missing. Matt was someone she saw every day, someone she's talked to, someone she hooked up with at a party a long time ago, and someone who she considered…

He was her friend.

How could she have been so selfish?

"OK, seriously, what is going on with you?" Puck steadies her and once she can trust her legs she pushes away from his grasp and walks quickly down the hall. "Santana!"

"Leave me alone," she calls over her shoulder.

The weight of the situation is heavy on her shoulders and the tears threatening to fall at the reality of everything cause her vision to blur. So, when she smacks into someone she's not that surprised and has some kind of rude comment on her lips and ready to rip.

But then she becomes aware of how warm, soft, and familiar this body feels.

It's Brittany. The girl has this citrus smell that no other person possesses and her strong hands move from out in front of her own body to gently hold Santana's arms. Her own arms slide around the blonde's waist as she hangs her head, closes her eyes, and lets herself enjoy being this close to her best friend again. Brittany, however, pushes her away, just a little bit, and dips her head to peer down.

"It's true," she says simply.

Santana looks up and can't help but glance at Brittany's lips because they are just inches away. She steps away a little (not loosening her grip and pleased when Brittany's gets slightly tighter), tosses her head back to clear the hair from her face, and looks into clear, blue, and worried eyes.

"About the disappearances…I just heard…"

Brittany shakes her head, "About you quitting the team." Right, that. It's amazing how she could already forget about that, but her mind was just everywhere at the moment and she hadn't even gotten to thinking about how Brittany was going to take the news of her quitting. Mostly because she wasn't sure if her and Brittany were going to be on good terms anymore, but now that they were standing there in the hall with their arms around each other and the blonde looking back at her with confusion and sadness all over her face Santana can't help but think maybe she jumped the gun on the quitting thing.

"You should be at practice, B," she points out.

"You should be at practice," Brittany shoots back. "Why did you quit? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Oh…so, we're talking again?" she can't help but snap. Suddenly, everything feels too normal so Santana goes into defensive mode because she's going to fuck this up again and she might as well do it on her own terms. However, she instantly hates herself when Brittany pulls away and looks like Santana just kicked a puppy or something equally terrible.

"Do you think I like this? That it's easy for me?" Brittany asks quietly as she crosses her arms over her chest, almost hugging herself. "You're keeping something from me, Santana. We've never had secrets before."

That, of course, makes her feel even more awful because she's secretly in love with Brittany. That secret she's been keeping longer than this new one. Telling her now though…telling her ever would just be selfish. Just like her being chosen, it was something she knew she could ever say.

"I'm not allowed to have something that's just mine?" she shrugs, trying to choose her words carefully. She's not even sure what she's saying, really.

Brittany tilts her head to the side, considering the question. "Whatever you're keeping from me is hurting you, I know it is. Don't you want help?"

She wanted it more than anything. The only person she had to talk to was Sue Sylvester, and that obviously didn't count. Brittany's still watching her, looking open and inviting and not telling her is becoming the hardest thing she's ever had to do. Luckily, the blonde speaks again, "I did try calling you over the weekend. A bunch of times, actually. Especially since you weren't at school on Friday."

"My phone broke."

"How did it break?"

Santana feels her patience slipping away, plus she can't stop thinking about Matt and the other missing kids and if they were lying in the dirt somewhere waiting to wake up to their new life. She was probably going to have to stake them later tonight, something she could have avoided if she didn't shirk her responsibilities.

"What the fuck is with the twenty questions?" she snaps. "You should get back to practice before Coach rips you a new one." Then she turns and practically runs the other way.

It's the second time in less than ten minutes that someone she cares about calls after her and she's ignored them.

xxxxx

The whole day she has to endure not only her thoughts, but the stares from just about every single person in the school. Didn't they have anything better to do? It was pathetic and it made her want to go on a rampage because there were more important things going on. She'd heard more whispers about why she wasn't wearing her uniform than the disappearances of the student.

As soon as she walks into the choir room she gets the same reaction: curious and suspicious glances of disbelief, even though they'd all seen her at some point that day.

Everyone except Matt.

She ignores them, and the bitter guilt she still feels, but debates on her walk over to the risers whether she should sit in the front and not have to look at anyone but tolerate the stares that her back is sure to receive, or sit in the back where she can stare longingly at Brittany the whole time.

Mr. Schuester makes her decision for her. "Hey guys…I'm just gonna send you to the auditorium today to rehearse the choreography."

Everyone gets up and heads for the exit, walking wide to avoid getting within any kind of radius of Santana. She goes to turn but Mr. Schue is watching her and she doesn't need super powers to know that he's going to hold her back, so she stays. He motions to his office when the room clears out and she follows, but catches the tail end of Brittany watching her as she disappears into the hall.

"Where were you on Friday?" he asks, jumping right in before she can even sit down.

"Sick." She says immediately. She knows just as well as Mr. Schue that they're in an interrogation scenario, might as well act like it.

He nods and gestures to her attire, "Sue told me you quit the Cheerios but decided to stay with Glee Club…"

She rolls her eyes because, honestly, what else is she supposed to do? "Is this the part where you applaud me for being true to myself?"

"No," he replies, throwing Santana off. "If you were being true to yourself, Santana, you'd quit the Glee Club too."

That wasn't what she expected. "What?"

"Santana…I know what you are," he whispers, leaning forward. "I know that you're the vampire Slayer."