Chapter 2

A/N: HOLA! Here's the second chapter (probs figured), ended up that I had written a fair amount out anyway? Next chapter I think might take longer to upload (I don't love posting a day apart either) but again... not sure how much I have written!

It was after school so the corridors were quiet, barely anybody around, but she knew that there were a load of extra curriculars currently on, so she couldn't go to the locker rooms or anywhere really. There would be people there, and she wanted nothing more right now than to just be alone. She ignored the first bathroom, turning up the steps to the second bathroom she could find by the modern languages classrooms. They were much in need of an update and were kind of grotty, hence why most people tended to just go to the ones downstairs, but in that situation she didn't even care, so long as nobody else found her in her hiding place.

She slumped down against the wall opposite the door, her whole body shaking as she tried to calm herself but she soon figured that she couldn't calm herself. Her breathing was heavy, and she couldn't control it whatever she tried to do. She felt dizzy and light-headed and her throat and chest felt so hard, and she began to panic more than she had been initially.

She began to regret hiding so far away.

It wasn't the first time she'd had a panic attack like this, but still, they weren't fun and this was probably the worst she'd had in a while. This time, it was so bad that she couldn't even tell if it were a panic attack or a heart attack or a seizure or something.

She gripped at her chest and tried to suck in air but it didn't work. Frustrated, she closed her eyes, hit her head back against the grubby cracked tiles on the wall, and the only thing she could do was sob forcefully into her hands, her whole body throbbing, her hands staining with smeared eye makeup. She could only imagine what she looked up if she could stand up and look at herself in the mirror.

"Santana-"

She was sobbing so hard that she barely heard the footsteps approaching, the creak of the door to the bathroom opening. She could barely register the blur of blonde and pale skin and black clothes rushing to her side in an instant. Her whole body was numb. She could barely even register the hands gently tugging at her arm to pry her hands away from her face. She knew that the other girl was telling her something but everything sounded like she was underwater.

"Santana, it's okay-"

She tried to take a deep, shaky breath that rattled her ribcage, but it hurt. She tried to speak, but she couldn't get the words out. It felt like her throat was blocked. Eventually she managed to croak out a sentence but it barely came out as a whisper.

"Britt, I- I can't breathe-"

Brittany put her hand on the other girl's shoulder and tried again to pull her hands away from her face again, but it came to no avail.

"Honey-"

Santana shook her head frantically this time. "I can't- I can't breathe, Brittany. Something's wrong."

At this point, Brittany finally began to understand. She hesitated, biting at the inside of her lip, before giving a small shake of her head and settling on the floor in front of her girlfriend and pulling her close to her chest. Her heart broke as she felt just how badly the other girl was shaking against her.

"Shh. Try and relax. I'm here."

She felt the latina shake her head against her. "I can't-"

"Yeah, you can. You can, just try and go slowly. Don't talk, just focus on your breathing. I'm right here, Sanny. I'm here and I'm not leaving."

At first, it only made Santana cry out harder, but eventually the girl's violent shivers alleviated to become a subtle tremble, but at this point the sobbing took over as the depth of the issue suddenly began to step in. One thing was done, but this wasn't even gonna be the worst of it, Brittany knew that. She had never seen Santana cry this much. She didn't really express her emotions, or talk about them or anything. And it was scary. Especially when she had no idea how much the brunette had kept bottled up for so long, nor the extent of it.

"What happened?"

Santana took a deep, shuddering breath.

"Everyone knows. About me."

Brittany's heart dropped in an instant. Santana had only told her earlier that she was worried about things being too obvious, that people were questioning it, with a look of panic on her face. If she'd been that worried earlier then what had happened between then and now?

"How?"

"Finn said it in the hallway yesterday," she was trembling again. Brittany made a point about trying to pull her closer to her body. "I went to apologise but-" she trailed off. "And someone heard, someone heard, and now it's gonna be all over the TV. Everyone's gonna know… they're gonna see it… my parents-"

The latina's heart rate was rising again, Brittany trying to hush her again. They stayed like that for several minutes, the blonde girl quietly talking to her and Santana calming down a little, and then breaking out into more sobs just as they thought the storm was over.

This was bad… this was bad.

"Santana?"

Brittany's head flicked up quickly at the sound of a familiar voice, turning around to see Quinn stood in the doorway with a confused but pitiful expression on her face. She let a breathe go. She was less close to Quinn now than in the past, but she supposed they were still friends, and she kind of knew that the blonde was going through shit right now so she forgave her, since she knew Quinn was actually a good person at heart who just made a lot of bad decisions. Kind of like Santana. Everyone thought she was a bad person when she was the opposite of it.

She forced a smile.

"Hey Quinn."

Brittany nodded her over, she the blonde nervously walked over towards Santana, kneeling at her side and wrapping her arms around her neck without saying a word as Brittany got up to grab some tissues from the dispenser. Santana sobbed and leaned into her, and Quinn took that as a go to held her tighter.

"Mr Schue told us about what happened. Kind of. I'm so sorry… I- I figured you weren't wanting to go back in there, though, so I brought you your bags."

Brittany nodded, knowing that the latina probably wasn't going to say anything. "Thanks, Q."

"You're welcome," Quinn nodded, rubbing the brunette's shoulder gently and turning her attention towards her. "Hey, I don't really know what else to say right now… but had a feeling… the way you were around each other when nobody else was paying attention. And I'm glad you're happy."

Santana shook her head and cried more. The two blondes exchanged concerned glances, but stayed silent for another little while before Santana had finally calmed her breathing a bit, it still a bit rocky but calmer nonetheless.

She pulled away. Her makeup was smudged and her hair was frizzy. Brittany quickly grabbed her water bottle from her bad and gave it to her.

"I'm so tired, Brit. I'm so tired."

"You can come stay at mine tonight, if you want. So that you don't have to face your parents."

The latina glanced down at the floor, knowing that if she made eye contact right now then she would probably break down again. Still, she nodded. Brittany stood up, offering her a hand as she tried to get back on her feet. Her knees were shaking and she kind of looked like she could collapse again at any given moment, so she moved her hands to her waist instead. She heard the door go but she figured Quinn had gone to get it again.

She forced a smile.

"You're gonna be okay."

Or at least, she hoped.

A/N: Yay to keeping the Glee fandom alive.