Chapter 38: Save Me (Nicki Minaj)

"Why are you here?" I growled out as I stood just inside the kitchen.

"Quinn gave me her spare key and since I know you better than anyone, I knew that you would leave school and come home."

"It's not like I had a fucking choice and I highly doubt you know me as well as you think that you do." I muttered, feeling way too tired to yell at her. I was just trying to breathe.

I felt my hands ball into fists and then promptly stormed past her. I filled up the tea kettle and then put it on the stove, hoping that a hot cup of tea would help with the cold that was seeping into my bones. I was trying to breathe and not think about the powder that was hidden all over my car.

"There's always a choice." She said in that fucking bubblegum way of hers. I scoffed with my back to her. I thought about my so called "choices" and just shook my head wanting to stay quiet but not able to resist.

I stood there dripping onto my kitchen floor with tears in my eyes that I was trying so hard to hold in, but it was useless.

"Maybe for you but never for me, B." I turned away from her again busying myself with squirting honey into my empty mug.

Marco had given me the choice of letting him rape my body and my wallet for him not to kill my son. Those are the kind of choices that I was faced with. How immature could she be?

"Always for you, too." I whipped around and glared at her, clenching and releasing my fists...trying to stop the tremors. My son rolled in my stomach, reminding me not to give in to the anger and cravings. "You really want to hit me, don't you? Is that what you want to do, Ana?"

"No...yes...I don't fucking know!" I said as I stood continuing to drip the blue liquid onto my kitchen floor. "It wouldn't solve anything. I just hate that you make assumptions about my life instead of just asking what I need. This whole thing you did today was the exact opposite of what I needed. It wasn't funny or cute, you may have just set me back in more ways than one."

I was visibly shaking now, and I wasn't sure anymore whether it was the cold, the anger, or the craving of something to soothe the stress that would probably kill my son better than Marco ever could. Unless this was his plan all along.

The kettle whistles and I poured the hot water over the diffuser and watched the water change colors. It's soothed me but then she opened her mouth and I had to turn to her again...feeling defeated.

"Are you ready to let me take care of you yet?" She said, snapping me from my worries over this addiction and how premeditated it was by Marco. I was letting him win and I couldn't do that.

My son was too important.

"You're kidding?" She looked serious and I was just too tired to fight. There were countless ways for her to get down to the root of her fucking problem. She wanted to be in control and what she doesn't realize is that I would submit to her any day...all she had to do was ask. Humiliating me was not the way. "Is that what this shit is about? Is that why you humiliated me in front of the whole school?"

I started off soft but was shrieking by the end and I didn't fucking care.

"Please...you don't get humiliated."

She just kept looking at me with that fucking smirk on her face and I decided to bring her fucking high horse crashing back to Earth.

"Maybe before but right now I'm so broken, Brittany! Do you realize the hell these last six months have been? Everything didn't return to normal after summer. My father was murdered, I was raped over Thanksgiving break by my husband, he practically shoved cocaine up my nose and I have been fighting that addiction for weeks. I spent days not eating or moving from that bed in there...I snorted two grand worth of cocaine in four weeks. I've been clean for four days. You have no idea what it took for me to even get out of bed today. So, there you go...you want to find a way to contain me and keep me from breaking, try not stealing my motherfucking joy, Brittany Susan!"

"Why..." She looked at me with tears in her eyes as I stood there shaking and then she pulled me into a hug despite how wet and cold I was. I beat my fists against her back and she absorbed my weak punches until I was clenching her shirt. "I wish you had told me...I wish that I had been better to you, so you felt you could tell me."

"I tried just after...I called you and you were at Finn's."

A sharp intake of breath and a tighter hug followed as she remembered that I'd called.

"I was lying, I was home...I just wanted to hurt you."

"Well you succeeded. You were all I wanted, and you wanted to play games instead help me stay sane. I didn't call Q or anyone else but you."

"I'm sorry, baby. Can I help you now, will you let me?"

"I'm too broken, B."

"Let me fix it."

"I'm not a thing to fix."

"No...you're right. I think what I meant is..." She took a step back from me and looked me over. Her hands shook a little but then she left me there for a second, running to my room and then coming right back with my robe on over her clothes. "May I?" She asked as she went to push my jacket off me.

"What are you doing? What's your point in all of this, B?"

"You texted me and said that you needed an adult. You were right I was being a brat and I want to show you that I can be the wife you need. When I say fix it...I mean, let me fix us...let me show you that I can be what you need."

I sighed, too exhausted to fight the one person that I wanted to be with above all else. I'd laid my cards out and she hadn't gone running scared. If she wanted to prove it to me, I wasn't going to stand in her way.

Marco could NOT win.

"Fuck it! Go ahead Britt Britt...since you went through all this damn trouble, be my guest and take care of me. Just know that this whole time all I've wanted was to get high. All I've wanted was to feed my craving and crawl in bed and die."

"I'm so sorry that I pushed you when you were happy. I thought it would be cute, but I was way off."

I stood there still dripping onto the floor, waiting to see if she would jump to the challenge and she didn't disappoint. As she stepped into my personal space and peeled off my jacket, she hummed to herself and I tried to not let it get to me. It felt like she was making a mockery out of me, but I wasn't going to put up a fuss...sometimes...I just get too tired to fight.

She tossed my jacket onto the middle of the kitchen floor that Q had just cleaned the day before, followed by my shoes and pants, then grabbed my hand and led me through my bedroom and into my bathroom.

I stood there with my eyes shut tight, ignoring the voices in my head telling me to fight this and kept my chin in the air trying to keep in the tears.

I didn't move as she made quick work of taking off the rest of my clothes. I was so upset and depressed about everything that I was really letting go of my walls. This is what she and Marco both wanted from me, for me to drop my walls and be amenable to their whims. The difference is that I didn't love Marco the way I did Brittany.

Q had been pushing me towards a reconciliation with Britt even when it didn't make sense to me anymore. I was a completely different person than I was last June. My desires had changed and so had my tolerance for Britt's inability to see past her own privilege. It was hard to protect her from people always coming for her intelligence when I was too busy trying to protect myself from actual hurts.

"If I let my guard down and you hurt me...I won't forgive you." I whispered to her as she pulled the cast cover over my arm. She looked guilty as blue liquid still dripped out of my cast and into the cast cover.

For an eternity, I had to lift myself and hold myself together and here was Brittany, offering to shoulder the load. It terrified me but what did I have to lose?

I had prayed for a better mother for my son...maybe Britt was it.

If I just allowed Britt to direct me for a little while I would be able to keep moving.

Maybe I would even manage to be healthy because I was at the end of my rope and now she knew it. Her touch was gentle as she slowly ran her soapy hands over my body. She kept humming and being gentle with me as I sobbed against the wall. This shower was different than the one I had with Quinn.

Britt was apologizing with every movement and I couldn't stop shaking as she touched me. My memory flashed back to that clinical shower we had shared way back after I had gotten drunk and knocked up.

I watched her as she stepped under the water and then reached out her hand for me.

I hissed as the heat soaked into my skin, rinsing the soapy blue dye from my skin which was starting to burn from the cold.

"I'm sorry, Ana. I thought I had to do this. I was mad, and I honestly didn't think that you would get so angry. It's just that..you kind of deserved it after this," She pointed to a pink scar above her eyebrow. "Or so I thought."

I reached up a shaky hand and brushed my fingers along the side of her face and then I pulled her head down and placed a gentle but firm kiss to the scar.

"I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you, B. I'm no better than Marco, am I?"

I dropped my chin to my chest, too ashamed to look her in the eyes.

She ran her hand under my chin and raised my face up.

"Don't you dare beat yourself up. I'm fine. I know that you didn't mean it and besides, knowing what he did to you this scar is nothing."

"Let's just be better to each other."

I stood under the water as she kept running her hands over my stomach and kissing the side of my face.

I was so safe in that moment, I felt like nothing could touch me.

Nothing could ruin this moment.

After our shower she toweled me dry and then led me to my bedroom. Everything had changed since she'd seen it last and that was probably for the best. When I went to grab my lotion, she took it from me.

"Britt I can do it."

"I know but I want to do it, so hush and let me."

I didn't put up a fight as she took her time rubbing me down.

This was the first time that she was seeing my stomach in almost two months and she was even more fascinated this time around.

She hovered over my belly, paying special attention to the baby.

"Hey there, my love, you have sure grown since Mama was last here. I missed you. I need you to be good for Mami she's having a bit of a hard time lately."

I chuckled as my stomach jumped.

Britt looked up at me and smiled.

"How is the pregnancy coming? What does your doctor say?"

I shook my head.

I was too embarrassed to tell her that I had missed all my appointments and that I hadn't been back to the doctor, but I had to be honest.

Depression had made me act like a complete brat and I realized that.

Making an appointment had been on my radar since I was back on my feet.

I just hadn't had the chance.

"I have missed my appointments, I kind of neglected myself there for a while."

"I noticed, Rachel and Quinn kept me up to date on how you haven't been taking good care of yourself. I also noticed that you haven't opened a single piece of mail."

"Yea well, laying curled up in my bed getting high was more of a priority to me but Q stepped in. She helped me get rid of the last of it and has been by my side ever since."

"I'm glad. Just know that all of that self-pity and hurting yourself is going to change now that I'm back."

"Is that right?" I put my hand on my hip and cocked my eyebrow.

She hummed to herself and nodded.

"Yep."

Britt sat on my bed, watching me move around my room. I could feel her eyes on me as I slowly pulled on my clothes, keeping my back to her.

We couldn't go from zero to 100 in one shot. I had been through too much to allow that.

"So, have you talked to Marco since that night?"

I turned towards her as I ran a brush through my hair and looked in her eyes for clarification. Was she being nosy, or did she really care?

She was watching me intently, but I couldn't really read her. She was different now too, I could sense that this wasn't the same girl who tried to check on me that day. This woman in front of me would probably have left me to have my tantrum instead of stepping into my space.

I hated to be underestimated, I couldn't turn around and make assumptions about B.

"After he...you know...raped me and threatened my baby, I put a gun to his head and had him write that. Then I took the rest of my coke I left in that house." I pulled out the yellow paper from my nightstand drawer and handed it to her.

She was looking me over and then patted the bed beside her. I wasn't sure I wanted to be this close to her, but I sat down anyway, not really trusting my instincts at the moment.

Not since all my instincts were telling me to get blitzed.

I needed to rely on a sober mind in that moment and I couldn't put my shit on Quinn anymore. She wasn't whole either, but Britt was.

She read over the note and then stared at our signatures.

I'd signed Lopez-Vega and then she handed it back to me.

"Nothing else from him?"

"No." She seemed hung up on Marco again and I didn't like it. "Thankfully."

"Yeah, if this is real and he's finally done chasing you it will be easier to restart your life."

"I don't think I know how to do that again. I got this place with the hope that I could separate my life from his, but it hasn't. I'm still legally his wife."

She flinched, and I tucked that reaction away.

"I don't like it. NO me gusta."

"Same, B...same."

There was a knock on the door as we came back out into the kitchen. I was past the point of really bending over, so I walked past my clothes on the floor and went to the door.

"Don't worry, I'll clean this up." She said, sounding dangerously close to sarcastic.

I didn't respond, instead I pulled the door open to a pizza guy.

He smiled and handed me the pizza.

"Have a good night."

"Wait, don't you want your money?"

"It's already paid for. Thanks for the nice tip." He saluted me and walked back down the hallway.

I closed the door behind me and walked into the kitchen.

Britt had shoved my clothes into the washer and was preparing the mop bucket.

"Sorry for this mess...oh yay, the pizza is here!"

I nodded and put it on the stove top.

We sat together at the table and had our first meal together in an eternity. She'd warmed up my tea and was watching me silently as I began to relax.

"You don't actually have to do this, just so you know. We aren't together, neither me or this baby are your responsibility."

"I know I don't have to, but I want to. I was serious about being a mom to the baby and a wife to you." My first instinct was to argue but instead, I just ate my pizza silently. "It's good to see you eating. After this, you can sit and look through that big box of mail you have sitting there while I do my homework."

"Okay, B."

I had told Britt a couple years ago how much I enjoyed getting mail, how me and Q would check every day just waiting for something as kids, but nothing ever came. So now as an adult I still get a little excited when there is an envelope with my name on it which to Britt it was a pretty big indicator of how I was treating myself, that I had such a huge stack that I had left untouched.

She sat across the table from me and cracked open her text book while I made three piles.

Junk, School, Open immediately.

There was a lot in the junk pile, so I dumped that back into the box to be recycled. Just that action felt like a huge load was lifted off me. I sighed, and Britt winked at me, I smiled back and went right back to work. I forgot how therapeutic it was to do something so mundane.

As I was sifting through it all, I saw that I had a letter about my SAT scores, Packets from Harvard, Yale, University of Puerto Rico, NYU, and another one from Columbia which I tossed in the school pile.

I would go through that as soon as I could.

My heart was already set on the school of my dreams, so I turned to the open immediately pile that only had three things in it.

I saw two big packets from two different law firms then there was a letter at the bottom, it was from Marco but was addressed from a prison.

No wonder he had seemingly disappeared!

"You have got to be kidding me!" I said aloud in actual shock when I saw it.

Britt's head popped up and she looked at me curiously as I sat staring at the unopened letter in my hands.

"What's that?" she asked.

I handed her the envelope over to her and sat back on the cushion, closing my eyes and happily imagined Marco being propositioned in prison.

Karma really was a bitch.

I opened an eye and peaked over at Britt who had gotten way too quiet.

She sat there staring wide eyed at the envelope and then handed it back to me looking pale and almost sick to her stomach.

"Open it." she said in a strained voice.

Why did she seem worried? This was a good thing.

I ripped open the envelope and then pulled out a letter, ironically written on legal paper like the one I had him write, how ironic.

Dear Santana,

As you can see I have a new address. I lost my job and was disbarred after I was caught with my hand in the proverbial cookie jar with that whole escort business. Did you spill the beans, Princesa?

When you arrive at Columbia you will be greeted with a new dean, since dear Mr. Evans is also out of a job as well. I also had the unfortunate luck of having my medicine on me when I got picked up. So, it looks like I'll be here for a while unless I can work my magic. ;)

You are probably gloating, and I don't blame you after everything. You are my only real family and I don't want to be lost here and forgotten. So, I'm going to put your name on my visitors list.

Please visit?

You should have received your divorce papers by now, if you agree to the terms you can go back to being Santana m-f-ing Lopez once I sign my copy. I'm sorry for the pain I caused you, past and present.

Good luck with the baby and school I know you will make an amazing attorney!

Love always,

Marco Vega

"I'm free!"

I handed the letter to Brittany and then went back to my mail, anxious to open the big Manila envelopes.

The first one was the final papers that I had drawn up agreeing to handing money over to my sisters and the family trust before the rest was to be deposited in my account.

5 million dollars.

"Is that your inheritance?" Britt asked wide eyed, I hadn't realized she had come around the table and was standing over my shoulder now. I nodded, looked up at her and smiled.

Her jaw was stuck open.

I wrinkled my nose and slid the paper off to the side like it was no big deal because to me...it really wasn't.

"This is what's left. I gave the rest to my sisters and opened a family trust fund."

"Wow."

"Yea that's what they said."

I opened the second envelope and saw two sets of divorce papers.

Before I could even ask, Britt handed me a pen and I sloppily signed both sets and then placed them back in the envelope for Marco's lawyer to have him sign and file.

I yawned loudly, and Britt smiled.

"Sleepy?" I nodded my head and smiled back at her. As the day wore on she was slowly chipping away at the wall that I had built. "I noticed all the clothes in your hamper, do you mind if I wash them?"

"Yeah, that's fine." I yawned again, she nodded looking me over and realizing how exhausted I was.

"Why don't you head to bed while I clean, okay?"

Brittany tucked me in bed for a much-needed nap while she got ready to do my laundry and then she promised me that after my nap I would have food from Breadstix waiting for me.

It was amazingly easy to fall right to sleep feeling some of the weight lifted from my shoulders, I knocked out almost immediately.

My son settled as I slept, and we had the best dreams together, me holding him and singing.

I felt so much peace return to me but then I was being shaken awake, which was the absolute worst thing in the world.

"Ana? Sweetheart? You need to wake up."

"Five more minutes." I grumbled as I hugged my pregnancy pillow.

"No, you have been asleep way too long already. Come on up, up!"

After trying to convince her that I didn't need to get up and failing, I gave in. I cracked open my eyes and could see that it was dark outside.

Britt stood above me with her hand out. My body felt really heavy and my throat felt raw. I didn't want to eat but I had promised to give up control to Britt for a while so that I could get better because obviously my own judgment had been a bit off lately.

When I sat up Britt put a pair of thick socks on my feet which had previously felt like blocks of ice.

She then pulled me to my feet and helped me to the bathroom. I sat there for a while, wiping at my face and trying to accept that I wasn't allowed to go back to sleep.

Tears came but I wiped them away. My stomach rumbled, and I took the hint and remembered that being awake meant Breadstix.

Britt held on tightly to my hand as she brought me out to my dining room and immediately, I was rolling my eyes when I saw that Rachel and Quinn sat there waiting for me.

"Great, company."

"Good to see you too, San."

"I thought you two broke up?" I asked, and Quinn shrugged, taking Rachel's hand in her own.

"Couldn't stay away."

"Gross."

"Be nice, Ana." B said as she pulled my chair out for me, but I didn't want to sit across from Q.

Even though Q had literally pulled me out of this rut, she'd given Britt the key to my apartment instead of just telling me herself that she couldn't hold me up anymore and Rachel, she was just in the crossfire. I sighed dramatically and then took a seat across from Rachel instead of the one that Britt had pulled out because it was the furthest from Q that I could get at the moment.

Traitor.

We ate dinner in silence after Quinn insisted that we pray first which I appreciated, despite it meaning I had to wait a little while longer to eat. No matter how much I tried to reason with myself, I was just tremendously annoyed with Q, even though I had forgiven Britt.

"If you're pissed then be pissed but stop glaring at me." She said as she looked at me with concern.

"Fine." I looked back at my plate and focused on my food.

"Please, Ana?" Britt asked as she rubbed my back. I sighed, and I tried not to be annoyed for Britt's sake but of course, the combo of my hormones and her forced laughter made me want to gag.

I swallowed my pasta instead and just continuously stuffed my mouth with Breadstix, any time the conversation turned towards me but of course Rachel always gets her way.

She had been there for me, I couldn't be a bitch to her if I tried.

"So how was your first day back Santana?"

"Miserable Rachel…you know a slushy shower does that to you, an egg facial would have been a step up."

"Tell me about it…what color was it?"

"Blue Raspberry."

"Ugh…that burns the most! Are your eyes alright?"

How endearing...bonding with the hobbit! I couldn't hold back my small smile when I looked at her.

"Yes. I'm fine thanks!"

"I brought you more cookies, just so you know."

My mood turned almost immediately.

"Really?" I asked excitedly and then she killed my mood.

"So are you coming back to Glee tomorrow, we could really use you."

"I don't know, I don't really want to...are the cookies a bribe?" I mumbled as I finished off the food on my plate and showed it to Britt.

She smiled and leaned in to kiss my lips.

"That is disgustingly cute!" Quinn muttered as she pushed her food around on her plate. "I'm glad that you two talked and figured things out."

She looked at Britt and raised an eyebrow.

Britt looked away from her and Quinn's face went red with anger but then I kicked her under the table and her glare turned to me.

"Can you finish eating so we can eat cookies?"

Something was bothering her, and I had a feeling that I didn't want to know about it. I could tell that she was so over holding onto whatever it was and somehow Britt had something to do with it.

There were so many red flags today, but I just didn't have the mental or emotional capacity for the nonsense.

It had been months since I had attended the glee club and I had apparently missed a lot.

Like Puck's new girlfriend joining or that Rachel and Quinn were now openly dating. They were sitting up front together holding hands and being all cute.

We had apparently won sectionals and were hosting regionals for the first time since the 60's or something but the biggest shocker for me though, was the Amy Winehouse tribute that we would be doing and as every old glee clubber knew, Amy was my thing like Rachel with her show tunes.

It made me smile that, even in my absence an idea that I had thrown into a hat last May on a whim, was now coming to fruition.

I hadn't planned on coming back to the club, but I had extra time in my day now since being signed out of AP Chemistry because of the chemical hazards.

Maybe being back in glee wasn't so bad, especially since they were doing Amy, what could it hurt to devote myself to the group again.

When I walked into the meeting a few minutes late because of my overactive bladder, everyone seemed excited to see me, even Q since I hadn't even told her that I would be back.

They were in the middle of an insane argument about me when I walked in. I cleared my throat, instantly halting the argument with a smile on my face and my hand resting on my belly.

"Hey...guys...Mr. Schue is it alright if I come back?"

"Of course, Santana, we are your family."

I screwed up my face and nodded, resisting the urge to turn around and leave because I didn't miss his dumb assertions, but I could just ignore that for Amy...right?

None of these people showed up when my dad died...some family they were.

I took a seat in the front next to Q, not really wanting to be next to B and her new BFF Olivia.

"As I was saying, I think that Santana would be great to sing the lead vocal, as she has already shown that she has mastered Amy Winehouse's range." Rachel said standing next to Mr. Schue. "And now that she's back...we don't have to convince her to do it."

I smiled at Rachel and blushed a bit but of course my shining moment was interrupted by an obnoxious voice somewhere behind me.

"And I still stand by the fact that she abandoned us and should just sing in the background so that no one can see what a disgrace she is!"

Who the fuck?

I bit down on my lip and calmly turned around towards Olivia.

When I looked up at her and saw her roll her eyes at me, I lunged from my chair straight at her stupid fucking face.

I was grabbed by about six people but still managed to land a slap right across her face.

Take that, bitch!

"You don't know me, I will go all Lima Heights up in here!"

"Yea okay, richy rich! Try Lima Heights Adjacent! Stop fronting! You are just a slut who doesn't even know who her baby's father is!"

Everyone stood around waiting for me to lunge again but I turned to Puck with teary eyes.

"Fuck you, Noah Puckerman. You were the last fucking guy that I trusted, when you called and asked if the baby was yours, I was honest with you. With just YOU!"

"TT?"

"No! Fuck you!"

I hadn't told many people that I wasn't sure about the paternity of the baby. It was a sore spot for me and the fact that he thought he could share that with his demon girlfriend was uncalled for. I didn't storm out of the room after that because I was pregnant and tired.

Storm outs are for when I was a size two and working out every day.

So, pregnant Santana, just turned back around, ignoring the stunned silence and looked over at Rachel.

"You were saying, Berry?" I said trying to turn the attention back to Rachel.

"Wait, is no one going to do anything? She just slapped me." Olivia said as she stood to her feet coming all the way in front of me and started wagging a finger in my face.

"Get your finger out my face pop mark!" I said in a growl.

Everyone turned towards Rachel including Mr. Schue.

It made me smile to see that they kind of did have my back.

Olivia let out a frustrated scream and stormed out the room not even half as good as I could have done and Puck like the whipped puppy he is, went running after her.

I rolled my eyes and looked back at Rachel.

She smiled back at me and then launched into her argument.

"What I was saying, Santana was..."

I was amazed at just how many classes I was down because of the baby.

Apparently, everything is a hazard.

I was out of Chem, Gym, and AP Physics.

So, I was left with three open blocks in my day. I was expected to use the time as independent study and was looking forward to just using the time to sleep in the library but then Holly Holiday was hired , I wasn't the only pregnant teen walking around after break, so Figgins added an extra health course for us.

So much for sleep.

It was supposed to be listed as just general health to keep up with confidentiality, but I mean it's not like it was a shocker.

The bonus to it all was that they were also pulling in teen mothers, so while she had given Beth up for adoption, Quinn was still forced into the course and I couldn't help gloating just a little.

"This is really fucked up San."

"It may be informative to you."

"I don't plan on popping any kids out until well after med school."

"So, then you are the class beacon!" I said dramatically giving a good show of spirit fingers. "Embrace your light, Lucy Q!"

"Screw you, San."

"Ugh. While I admit that would be hot...It would be almost incestuous! Like when you dated Sam...the resemblance was insanely creepy!"

"I can see that now that I am on the other side. I think brunettes are just hotter." I flicked my hair and nodded with a smirk. She rolled her eyes, "Anyway, so you think that I can convince Holly to send me back to study hall?"

Before I could answer that with another smart-ass remark, Ms. Holiday came strolling into the room.

She smiled at us and put her fists on her hips just like an ex-cheerleader would do.

I wouldn't doubt it.

"No Quinn you can't! In fact, I specifically requested your presence." Holly said as she strolled to the front of the room.

Quinn looked appalled.

"With all due respect Ms. Holiday, it was hard enough getting to a point where I can even mention Beth without crying. I really don't want to go through that again. Please?"

"Well if you seriously feel that you have no advice to share or nothing to learn, then please feel free to go."

That's it Holly, stroke her ego!

"I mean there is plenty of advice that I could give but I doubt that I have much to learn."

This argument was getting tedious and although I saw Quinn's point, I also knew that her help had already been a saving grace for me.

So, I leaned across the aisle and rubbed her hand and smiled genuinely.

"Q, come on give it a shot. This will totally look good on your med school resume!" I whispered.

She nodded in realization and then turned back to the front.

"Okay. I'm in."

By the end of the class it seemed that Quinn was glad that she stayed and so was I.

There was no way that I could be in a room with these losers without her.

As we stepped out of the classroom we were immediately frozen as a bullhorn sounded.

Sue had trained us so well that the very sound of that thing could stop me, even if I were in labor.

"Q! Preggers the sequel! My office now!" she growled.

This couldn't be good.

She hadn't insulted my pregnancy to date and so she must be angry with me in some way.

Quinn and I looked at each other and then quickly followed behind Sue, not wanting to anger her any further.

I had long quit managing the Cheerios and Q was apparently doing a bang-up job as captain, better than the first time.

So why was Sue so pissed off?

One word.

Brittany.