Hello, hello! Hope you're all having a good week. This chapter was initially longer, but I've ended up splitting it into two to give you something to go off now, since it's been a few days since my last update. I'm still working on the other part, as it's a pivotal part of the story, so needs to be good! I'll post the next part tomorrow, but I hope you enjoy a little something for now!

I also posted a 10-part Brittana canon compliant story yesterday, titled "Mine" if any of you wanted to check it out (completely unrelated to this, it's a work in it's own right). I love this story, and I'm excited to bring my readers on the journey of it, but I understand it can get incredibly angsty and these past couple of chapters have been sad in particular. I felt the need to write something fluffy, with a more instantaneous sense of happiness, and "Mine" was born. It's up now fully complete for anyone interested!

But now back to Invisible String...

The next few days were the hardest of Brittany's life so far. She felt completely pained inside, and was extremely tearful.

"I just feel so empty San" she had said the day after they had returned from the hospital, when Santana had found her sitting on the bed crying.

Santana felt helpless. All she could do was reassure, comfort and love Brittany and offer herself as a pillar of support. It was so hard for her to see her best friend like this, but she needed to be strong for Brittany.

There were moments when they would talk lots and Santana would soothe Brittany with her words. There were moments when Brittany would talk, and Santana would just listen, and there were moments when there would be no talking about it at all. It would just be the physical comfort, that Brittany drew from Santana's presence.

One of the worst things about it all, had been telling people that the baby was gone. It made Brittany feel regretful, about the fact she had told people about her pregnancy so early on. The circumstances with Denver cheating had meant that she'd needed to tell people earlier than she would have under normal circumstances.

She probably would have waited on telling her parents, but because she had spontaneously arrived back in Lima, she couldn't not tell them what was going on.

Then she had ended up telling Santana's parents, and Mila had been told too to stop her worrying. If Denver hadn't cheated, she would have just stayed in New York and told them all after the 12-week mark, together as a couple.

All these people that knew, were now people she had to tell the sad news too. She had to watch their sympathetic looks and the awkwardness of them not knowing what to say, and relive those words over, and over again.

The day after they had received the news of the miscarriage, Santana had lightly encouraged Brittany that she should at least let her parents know. The rest could be dealt with later, but Santana knew that Brittany's parents would be a great source of support for her and deserved to know.

They had gone around that afternoon, Santana of course going with Brittany, to offer her support. She thought at one point, the words were going to have to come from her, but Brittany had managed to do it. What came next was lots of tears and cuddles, as expected. The Pierce's wanted Brittany to come home so they could take care of her, but Brittany had shaken her head.

"Santana is looking after me amazingly, and I love you mom and dad but…I really need her right now" she had explained.

"Of course, sweetheart. Whatever you need around you to get through this, you go ahead and do it" Whitney smiled.

Naturally, as Brittany's parents they wanted to take care of her, but it was up to Brittany to make her own choices, and they knew Santana was more than capable of taking care of their daughter.

"I'll look after her for you, I promise" Santana had whispered to Whitney as they readied themselves to leave, embracing her in a hug.

Afterall, Santana was a mother herself, and she knew what it was like to have concern for your child's wellbeing. She knew Whitney would be worrying if Brittany was going to be okay, so she felt the need to promise her that she would take good care of their daughter, before she left that night.

That was half the hard bit done. There was no issue with Brittany having to tell Santana's parents, because George already knew and had told Maribel. Even so, Santana would have done that for her anyway. One person they need to tell, was Denver. As they sat in Santana's room that evening, Brittany began to cry, and Santana instinctively dashed forward to wrap her up in her arms.

"I don't think I can do it San" she whimpered "I can't tell Denver…I just can't"

"Shh, shh. It's okay Brit, It's okay. I know this is really hard for you" Santana soothed, rocking Brittany back and forth in a bid to ease her sobs.

"No San, I mean it. I really can't. I can't…say those words again" she wept; her voice thick with emotion.

Santana swallowed in an attempt to rid herself of her own emotions. It was becoming increasingly hard not to break down, seeing Brittany in such a vulnerable position. She just wanted to do something to take away her pain, but she knew she couldn't.

"Babe…" she said softly, reaching out to caress Brittany's cheek and softly wipe away the tears "would it help you if I told Denver?"

Brittany sniffed; her face perplexed as she looked at Santana.

"You would do that?"

And Santana nodded ferociously. Of course, she would do that. She would do anything for Brittany, especially in this moment.

"Of course, I would honey. I'll do anything possible to make this a little easier for you, and I know it's just a case of taking things slow and grieving, but if things like this are stressing you out, I want to alleviate that" Santana said softly "but I need you to be sure you actually want it to come from me. Because if you think you might feel stronger in the next few days, you know, we can wait. There's no rush Brit"

But Brittany shook her head.

"No, I really don't want to do it. It's too much for me. I'm angry at him right now and feeling all sorts of emotions towards him. But I also don't want to hear the emotion in his voice when he finds out our baby is…" Brittany looked down and another sob escaped her lips. She couldn't finish the sentence.

"It's okay baby girl, It's okay. You don't have to say any more." Santana hushed once more, as she embraced Brittany.

When she had managed to calm her and she felt that Brittany was strong enough for her to pull away, she did so, keeping hold of Brittany's hand as she picked up her phone.

"I'll go do it now, so that it's done. Then we can shift our focus onto grieving properly for the baby" Santana said softly. She placed a gentle kiss on Brittany's cheek before leaving the room to go downstairs out of earshot, where Brittany wouldn't have to hear the words being said.

The appreciative look Santana received from the blonde didn't go unnoticed, and although she was truly dreading this, it made her feel a little less heavy knowing she was at least doing something to help her best friend.

She took a shaky breath and pressed her head against the wall as she composed herself, ready to dial the number. She was still so seething angry at Denver for what he had done to Brittany, but she knew she needed to push that aside in order to inject some compassion into the tough conversation this was going to be. Regardless of her ill-feelings towards him, the guy had lost his baby, and nobody deserved that.

As expected, the call to Denver was difficult. He had cried a lot, and he had lots of questions that Santana didn't have the answers to. When he'd said out loud how it was his fault that their baby had died, Santana had flatly told him it was nobody's fault. But inside her head she couldn't help but think he may have had a point. He had caused such stress to Brittany, and it was sure to do no good for the baby. As soon as the thought entered her head, she had felt guilty and scalded herself. She didn't want to be harsh towards Denver in such a heartbreaking situation, but she was just so angry at him.

Nevertheless, it was another person told, and she hoped it would make Brittany feel a little lighter knowing that such a hard task was done.

Brittany had told Santana she should let Quinn know, because Quinn had been looking after Mila for the past couple of days, and Brittany thought she had a right to know what had been going on, because she was bound to be worried. So, Santana had called her and explained everything, and when she had come around to drop Mila back home the next day, after two nights away from home, Quinn had brought flowers.

"I'm so sorry Brittany, this must be incredibly hard for you, but I'm holding you in my heart and I know you'll have the strength to get through this" she had said simply, pulling Brittany into a hug.

It was a touching gesture, and one that Brittany really appreciated. Quinn didn't have to do that, the two of them only knew each other through Santana, but after this Brittany thought she could now consider Quinn as a friend.

Then came another hard part.

Telling Mila.

The little girl was so excited, and her new baby cousin had been all she had gone on about since she found out, so this was going to be especially crushing.

When Mila had started pre-school and taken a huge liking to the class pet, she had begged Santana for a hamster. Despite Mila's pleas, Santana had always resisted, because the thought of having to explain to her little girl all about death when the hamster died, was an awful thought.

Now, she was beginning to wish she had got her a pet, or at least talked to her about death before, because her first encounter of it was now going to be so raw. And Santana wasn't sure what Mila's full grasp of death was.

The words needed to come from her, because Brittany certainly wasn't strong enough, but Brittany had insisted she sit with Santana as she told Mila, knowing how hard it was going to be for Santana to crush some part of her daughter's innocence like this.

"I really missed you Mama" Mila said, giving Santana a warm hug as soon as Quinn had left. Santana closed her eyes, as she held Mila tight, for a little longer than usual.

"I missed you too Aunty Brit-Brit" said Mila, running over to give Brittany a hug. Brittany let out a smile, because despite the extreme sadness she felt inside of her, she felt great comfort from the little girl in her arms. She placed a soft kiss on Mila's head, before Santana came over to take Mila's hand.

She led Mila over to the table, and sat down alongside Brittany, who's eyes were already watering. Brittany held her hand to her mouth in anticipation, as Santana began to tell Mila the news.

"Sweetheart, I'm afraid we have some very sad news to tell you" Santana said softly, her hand squeezed Mila's as she watched the little girls face turn to one of concern "You know the baby in Aunty Brit-Brit's tummy?"

Mila nodded

"My new baby cousin" she smiled, and Santana felt her breath hitch in her throat.

"Unfortunately, darling, your little baby cousin wasn't quite as strong as we thought, and they're no longer with us anymore. You know what heaven is Meels, don't you?" Santana asked gently.

As much as she had avoided talking about hard topics like this with Mila, she was grateful that she had at least talked about the vague concept of heaven.

As Mila nodded, Santana continued on her explanation.

"Well that's where your baby cousin is now. And we are going to miss them so much and we are feeling very sad. But it's okay to feel sad about it, and it's okay to cry. Sometimes sad things like this happen and it's all just a part of life. And we don't always know the reasons why, but we know that your baby cousin is very loved, and always will be loved"

At this point, Santana reached out with her other hand comfort Brittany, and shot her a tender glance, because her face was now streaming with silent tears.

Mila of course had lots of questions, as five-year-olds would, and Santana had done her best to explain everything to her. When she had felt strong enough, Brittany had jumped in with helping to answer some of Mila's questions too.

At the end of the conversation, Mila leaped forward to hug Brittany, her small hands trying to comfort her. It was so typical of Mila, she was always so smart, and aware of other people's emotions.

"Don't worry Aunty Brit-Brit. It's okay to be sad" she said, echoing Santana's earlier words "You can be my mommy if you want? I only have one parent, and she's a mama, so I have space for a mommy"

And as Brittany let out a choked sob, Santana worried that Mila's words had upset her, but she relaxed a bit when she saw Brittany kiss Mila's hair and squeeze her tighter.

"I love you so much little Moo. You're so smart" she whispered, touched by Mila's words.

And of course, she wasn't going to really be Mila's mother, but just hearing Mila say that had warmed her heart in a time where it felt impossible to feel any emotion but sadness.

She was just happy to have this special little girl in her life, to dull the ache of losing her own little one and wondering what could have been.

With the high emotions surrounding the past 3 days, Santana had momentarily forgotten about her girlfriend, who she had been sitting in limbo with, until she knocked on the door that day. It was the middle of the day when she called, Mila was at school and Brittany was sleeping, the toll of the last few days inevitably taking its toll on her. Santana had taken two weeks off work to look after Brittany, the same amount of time that Brittany had been granted compassionate leave for, from her job that was sitting back in New York. Santana wasn't expecting anyone, and when the mystery visitor knocked again, she found herself getting annoyed, scared they would wake Brittany.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming!" she sighed, flinging the door open to see Dani standing there with a huge bouquet of flowers.

"I think you've given me enough of the silent treatment" Dani said with a raised eyebrow, as she boldly walked into the apartment, leaving Santana speechless.

"Dani, I'm sorry, but this isn't a good time…" she started

"Look babe, I know what I said upset you the other night, but I came here to apologise. Please just hear me out?"

Santana glanced upstairs, listening for movement. When she concluded that Brittany was still asleep, she turned back to Dani.

"You can have five minutes"

So, she listened as Dani poured her heart out. Telling her how sorry she was, and how she'd made a huge mistake saying those things. That she was just jealous and scared to lose her, because she had been hurt before, but she'd never do it again.

And Santana nodded absentmindedly, but the irony was she hadn't thought about Dani all in the past three days. Her focus had solely been on Brittany, and rightly so.

"So, can you stop giving me the silent treatment now and just…forgive me?" Dani sighed pleadingly, as she finished with her apologies and excuses monologue.

"I wasn't giving you the silent treatment…" Santana said, and Dani laughed lightly.

"Well…my call log and unanswered messages say otherwise babe" she said, holding up her phone.

"I wasn't ignoring you Dani. It's just been an extremely difficult couple of days" she said firmly, as Dani looked at her questioningly, she let out a sigh. She knew she was going to have to tell her, since she did know Brittany was pregnant now.

She glanced back upstairs once more to check for signs of Brittany, before turning back to Dani with a sad frown.

"Brittany lost the baby"

After telling Dani everything, the two of them sat on the sofa together. Dani had her arms wrapped around Santana, stroking her arm soothingly. Santana guessed this meant they must be back together then.

As she heard footsteps coming down the stairs, she quickly sprang apart from Dani, for reasons she was unsure of. Probably so that she could stand up and greet Brittany.

"Hey beautiful, how did you sleep? Can I get you anything?" Santana said softly, rushing over to the girl and clucking over her.

Brittany shook her head simply, her eyes falling onto Dani who was still sitting on the sofa.

"Sorry am I interrupting something…because I can go back upstairs" Brittany fumbled.

"No of course not! Go and sit down and I'll make you a cup of tea" Santana urged, pushing Brittany gently towards the sofa "Dani was just leaving now"

She flashed an apologetic smile to her girlfriend, but she knew Dani would understand. Brittany wouldn't exactly want to be around people she barely knew at this time. Taking the cue, Dani stood up abruptly.

"Yeah I'll be out of your hair now. Just a flying visit to surprise my girl with some flowers" she smiled, staking her claim over Santana once more. She walked over to Brittany and gave her an apologetic smile.

"I'm so sorry for your loss Brittany. Santana told me everything. If there's anything I can do…" Dani trailed off, unsure on what else to say.

Brittany smiled weakly, appreciative of the gesture from Dani, until she heard the next line.

"Hey, at least your lucky it was so early on" she smiled lightly, offering Brittany a gentle pat on the arm.

Brittany's eyes watered, as Santana scrunched up her face, raising her hand up to her forehead as she cringed at Dani's statement.

It was clear that Dani hadn't meant to hurt Brittany with her words, she was just saying something that she thought might be of comfort. She probably hadn't even realised that she had used the world lucky. A word that shouldn't even be in the same sentence as a line of comfort towards a mother who'd just lost her baby.

The words made Brittany feel awful, like she didn't deserve to feel the sadness and emptiness she was feeling inside. Like she should be counting her blessings, not grieving from this unexpected heartache.

As accidental as it was, Santana saw instantly, the flash of hurt in Brittany's eyes at Dani's words. It was so tactless of her.

And as Santana kissed Dani goodbye; she couldn't help but feel angry with her girlfriend all over again.