Santana woke up with an excruciatingly bad headache and a bit of a sore neck courtesy of the Jack Daniel's bottle that she had somehow mistaken for a pillow during the night.

"Fuck." She breathed out as she looked at her clock. She had about an hour until she had to meet with her sister. She just headed towards the bathroom and took a shower. She was ready in less than 30 minutes.

When Santana made her way downstairs, she noticed that Lauren and Puck weren't around so she figured they were still sleeping. She took out a piece of paper and scribbled a little note for them.

Went to meet up w/ Alexis…see you later. xx S

Santana decided to walk to the funeral home because it was in Lima after all and pretty much everything was in walking distance in this shitty town. Also, she figured the fresh air may help her with her hangover.

Twenty minutes and a slightly better headache later, she made it to the funeral.

She thought about how her grandparents, Quinn's grandmother, Brittany's father, Sue Sylvester's sister, the local barber…..everyone in Lima was waked here. She took a deep breath before walking inside.

She walked to the main office and looked inside. She immediately saw Maria and John's children: Karissa, 16; Adam, 14 and Madison, 8. Her heart broke at the sight of the three.

Madison immediately ran up and hugged her aunt tightly.

"Aunt S…..I've missed you so much." She said and Santana clearly saw that the little girl didn't understand the severity of the situation.

"I've missed you, too, honey." She said before releasing the hug and her focus went to the two older ones. "I um….." She started but she honestly didn't know what to say.

The two just nodded with some tears in their eyes as they approached Santana. They shared a hug.

"Where's Alexis?" Santana asked.

"I don't know. She and Uncle Derek um went into the back with that creepy guy who works here a couple of minutes ago." Karissa said as she sat back down.

"Oh." Santana said as she headed towards another seat. There was no way in hell she was going to find Alexis so she just grabbed Madison and placed the little girl on her lap as she tried to consul her nieces and nephew.

"God, Santana." She heard after a couple of minutes. She looked up to see Alexis clutching a tissue with Derek a few steps behind her.

Santana didn't say anything. She just picked McKenzie up and placed her on the seat before she went over to hug her other sister. Alexis cried silently into Santana's shoulder and the situation was starting to become a reality.

"You've gotten so skinny, San." Alexis finally with her typical mother like tone.

"Don't listen to her, San. You look fine." Derek said trying to sway the attention.

"She's just jealous." Santana teased and earned a light laugh from everyone as she went to hug her brother-in-law.

"I'm so sorry to see you again under these circumstances." He said into her ear.

"Me, too. It's uh…it's pretty surreal I guess." She said as they parted and the older gentleman who owned the funeral parlor came in.

At this point, Maria and John's three children left the room and went to get pizza at the pizzeria next door. The man went on to explain the procedures and it was revealed that the wakes would be held the following night. Santana really didn't listen because she knew that Alexis would just take over everything anyway so there wasn't really any point.

About an hour later, everything was done and Alexis invited Santana to go back to her home for dinner. Santana agreed since she really didn't want to be surrounding by Puck and Lauren's sympathetic eyes and it would give her a chance to catch up with her sister.

Alexis prepared a really great meal and Santana knew that what the girl lacked in tolerability she made up for in cooking. Afterwards, her children and Maria's went off upstairs and Derek cleaned up. Santana and Alexis took their coffees and went onto to deck in the back.

"This is crazy, isn't it?" Alexis said with a bitter laugh as the settled at the table on the deck.

"Yeah, I guess it hasn't really hit me yet." Santana said as she light a cigarette.

"Um I contacted as much of John's family as I could….you know, cousins and all that. It just pains me because his parents are gone and he had no siblings."

"Have you contacted Mom?" Santana asked.

"Yeah, she said she would fly in tomorrow but she probably won't. I mean she's lucky if she even knows what day it is." Alexis said and Santana just rolled her eyes knowing it was the truth. "So how are things in New York?" Alexis asked and Santana read her to see if she genuinely was interested or just desperately wanted a conversation change to distract her.

"Um, great. Everything's great there."

"Derek and I have read some of your articles online….so I can tell they are great career-wise."

"Yep. And how are things with you? I can't believe how big your kids have gotten….hell, how big all the kids have gotten."

"Well, it has been a long time since you've been here. And everything is good here."

They kept up a light conversation before Santana announced that she should probably go.

"I'll tell Noah to spread the word about the wake times and all that." She said sadly once more.

"Are you sure you want to stay there? I mean the door's always opened here for you."

"I appreciate that, Lex. I do. But you seem to have a full house." She said and Alexis nodded understandably.

Santana said her goodbyes to the kids and to Derek before she walked to Noah's which of course wasn't that far away.

She got to the house and saw a car in front of their house that definitely wasn't either of theirs. As soon as she opened the door, Santana heard some voices coming from the kitchen. It took her about 5 seconds to realize that those voices belonged to Quinn, Kurt and Blaine.

"Hey, guys." She said making her way into the room. The conversation that the three guests were having with Lauren and Puck immediately stopped as their attention went to Santana.

"San…." Puck started.

"Is Berry here?" Santana said looking around to see if there were any other guests. Mainly she was trying to subtly find out if Brittany was there.

"No, she's at with her dads." Blaine said with a light smile.

"Good. Long time no see you two." Santana said to Kurt and Blaine. She was clearly joking since she had just seen the couple less than 4 days before all of this happened.

"How are you doing, San? We are so….." Kurt started but Santana waved him off.

"I know, you are sorry. I'm okay, really." She said. She honestly had to keep it together for the sake of her nieces and nephew and for her other sister. "Since you all are here, I guess it's a good time to let you know that the wake's tomorrow from 3 to 5 and then from 7 to 9. If you could spread the word, that'd be great." She said.

"I'm on it." Kurt said sadly as he relayed the messaged to as many as he could through text.

"Thanks. I'm going to go change." Santana said in Puck and Lauren's direction as if to ask permission and the two nodded before she excused herself.

"God, I wish there was something we could do." Blaine said as the group felt their hearts breaking as they knew Santana was most likely suffering in silence.

"Remember Sue's sisters funeral?" The group nodded as Kurt continued. "Perhaps, we could all sing for this one, too."

"I'm not really sure that's a good idea." Puck said a little hesitantly. "I mean I get when we sang for Jean's because Sue was afraid that no one would come and we were an actual club back then but now I just think it'd bring back everything that Santana has been distancing herself from."

"She needs to know that we are here for her." Quinn finally said.

"She's right and it'll be good for the kids. And besides, we'll probably sound 100 times better than any church choir could." Kurt said once more as everyone just kind of shrugged.

"I'll mention it to her but don't get your hopes up." Puck said.

Kurt was satisfied with that and the 5 began a light conversation before Quinn went to excuse herself. It had been about 20 minutes since Santana went to go change so she was kind of curious as to whether she was avoiding everyone.

Quinn knocked lightly on the door and opened it to see Santana laying on the bed looking at a book.

"Hey." Quinn said quietly as Santana's attention shifted for just a moment.

"Alexis…she uh must of put this in my bag when I wasn't looking." Santana said as she showed Quinn the cover of the book. Quinn immediately recognized it. It was a book that Maria gave to Santana when she was about 8 or 9. Santana, Quinn and Brittany always used to read it together when they all first met each other.

"Wow, I remember this. Remember when Puck stole it from Brittany during one lunch period and you damn near castrated him on the spot." Quinn laughed lightly as Santana joined her nodding her head at the memory.

"I'm sorry about last night." Santana finally said.

"I know you are. But remember, I'm flattered but I'm not that into that." Quinn said with a wink as she repeated the words that she had said moments before Santana came out to her in their hotel room during Nationals. Santana laughed before her head dropped down and she focused on her hands.

"I just don't know how to deal with this right now, Quinn." She said in a whisper and Quinn nodded understandably. "I feel like I'm some sort of robot."

"Everyone deals with things differently, San. I know that you're feeling about a hundred different emotions right now and no one is going to look at you differently if you act out those emotions. And no, I don't mean by punching things or killing someone." Quinn said hoping that Santana would realize that drinking and anger aren't the most proper forms of grieving.

"I have to be strong for Maria's kids though. I mean Madison she doesn't even understand what is going on."

"So then explain it to her."

"No, not me. I'll let Alexis do it."

"San, we all know and have known for years that Maria's kids adore you way more than Alexis. Every tolerates her but you know no one really likes her. She's exactly like Rachel. So it should come from you." Quinn said and Santana started to laugh because Quinn was thinking exactly what she always does.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Oh, you didn't hear this from me, but Kurt wants the Glee clubbers to sing at the funeral. He mentioned it a few minutes ago and Puck said he'd ask you so I guess I'm just giving you a heads up."

"I don't see why not." Santana said with a shrug.

"Well again, you didn't hear from me." Quinn said before pulling Santana in for a hug. "You're going to get through this, okay? We are all here for you." She whispered into Santana's ear as the girl nodded in acknowledgment.

"Thanks, Q. But really, I'm fine." Quinn rolled her eyes before breaking the hug.

"Yeah, I know. Can you do me a favor though?" Quinn said causing Santana to look her in the eyes. "I know you have a lot going on but could you possibly hear Brittany out before you head back to New York?" Santana cringed at the name.

"I don't know if I can, Q. I just don't know." Santana said softly.

"Fair enough. But at least think about it, please. Worst case scenario you just head back to New York and never speak to her again which you've been doing a good job of these past 5 years." Santana shrugged yet again and Quinn decided to deem that action as progress from the night before. "Well, I better head back outside before they think I'm shitting or something." Quinn said as Santana started to laugh hysterically. "What? God, I don't want them to think that. Are you coming back out?"

"Um no, I think I'm just going to stay in here for a bit longer. Long day tomorrow and all." Quinn understood and hugged Santana once more.

"Stay away from the alcohol tonight, please?" Quinn said before she turned to leave. Santana just looked down at the book that she had been reading before Quinn came in. As she flipped through the pages, she noticed a picture was wedged in between two towards the end. She looked at the picture, which was that of Quinn, Brittany and Santana when they were just about 9. Santana smiled at the picture but then that smile faded as she realized that the three of them had virtually turned into strangers.

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Thanks to those who have read this. I've finally decided on it the pairing for this story. Hope everyone enjoys :]