The next day is the night of Puck's party. Cheerios seem to have stopped asking Santana out directly but the likes of Brittany, Kitty and Bree are still prolonging their touches and offering subtle winks in passing.
Santana decides that although she's going to go to the party, she needs to be on her A game with all of this animosity in the air at the moment, so she's going to be the designated driver.
She has lunch with Quinn as usual and is surprised when nothing seems to have changed between them considering the conversations the night before.
"So please tell me that you're still going to the party tonight? The blonde asks.
"Yeah, I'll be there for a while but I'm driving. Mami's been on the day shift so I can have the car. I really aren't in the mood for any drunken brawls."
Quinn nods in response and decides that if she doesn't find out the answer to her next question soon, she might explode.
She takes one last deep breath before she says, "When are you going to ask me out Tana?"
To say Santana is surprised and taken off guard by the question is an understatement. She considers he options before she replies.
"Is that something that you would want?"
"Of course! Do you think I act like this with everyone?" I've been dropping hints for a while now but it doesn't look like you're picking up on them." She chuckles to herself.
"Q, I've liked you for a long time. I just didn't think you were into me, I thought you were straight. And then after what I told you last night, I thought I'd destroyed what chance I did have because you wouldn't want to be with a freak." She says as she looks down to the ground.
Before she can mope too long, Quinn raises her head, "Hey, stop that. You are not a freak Tana, none of it is your fault okay? And as for being straight, I know I had a boyfriend, but I never wanted him. Actually, it was you that was always in the back of mind."
Santana smiles brightly as she responds, "Okay then. Lucy Quinn Fabray, will you go on a date with me next Friday night?"
"I would love to." Quinn cheers as she settles herself into her usual position to cuddle Santana.
Santana and Blaine arrive at the party and it's already in full swing. The scene is very similar to that of the first party, in the fact that there are bodies on every surface possible.
They've barely moved through the hallway when Brittany grabs a hold of Santana's arm and drags her in the direction of the makeshift dance floor.
Santana decides that instead of instantly rejecting her blonde friend, she would entertain her for a couple of minutes and then make her way back to Blaine.
She can tell that Brittany has had a few drinks because she is extra handsy, she grinding on Santana and her hands are all over her body.
Thank god for compression shorts, otherwise in this proximity, she'd definitely know.
Brittany finishes her dance and leans into Santana's ear to whisper provocatively, "Let's go upstairs so we can talk."
Santana decides that although she knows what kind of of 'talking' Brittany is suggesting, that she could actually use this time to shut down whatever Brittany is thinking.
So she follows Brittany up the stairs into an empty bedroom.
When she turns around from closing the door, Brittany is instantly pressing their fronts together with Santana's back to the door.
She pushes the taller girl back gently and moves from beneath her in the direction of the window, sure to put enough space between them.
"Britt, I don't know what it is with you at the moment but I don't want to sleep with you. I'm really sorry."
"Come on Sanny, it's okay. I don't want to have sex with you for the money. You're just really hot and you're on the football team and I've slept with most of them, but I actually really like you, too."
"I'm sorry Britt, I really aren't interested in dating you or just having sex. I wouldn't want to ruin our friendship by complicating it like that."
Brittany is now approaching Santana in a manner that is not usual for Brittany. It's predatorial and has intention.
"Who says it has to be complicated?" She whispers seductively and she pins Santana to the back wall.
"Move away Britt, I don't want to hurt you." She replies trying to shift from beneath the taller girl slightly.
"You wouldn't hurt me San, don't worry, I can play rough too." She says whilst softly biting the Latina's earlobe.
Before Santana has chance to react, another voice breaks the tension, "I'm pretty sure she told you no Britt, now move it."
Brittany breaks her hold on Santana and laughs menacingly, "I should have known you'd be here to break up the fun soon enough, can't have one without the other, right?" She says as she pushes past the shorter blonde and re-enters the party downstairs.
Quinn looks over to Santana who is standing in a state of shock. She isn't sure whether to approach her or keep her distance. She decides that speaking softly might be the best way to control the situation.
"Santana, are you alright?" The Latina doesn't respond, she just slides down to the floor and pulls her knees into her chest.
Quinn takes a few steps forward and sits down infront of the girl on the floor.
"Tana? It's okay, she's gone now." She whispers softly.
Teary eyes look up and Santana nods her head slightly.
"Can I come and sit next to you?"
Quinn receives another slight nod and shifts her position so that she's sitting beside the brunette. As soon as she makes herself comfortable, Santana lays her head on her shoulder and links their fingers.
Quinn stays silent, still not sure how to deal with this situation but then she hears the words 'I'm sorry' in the smallest voice she's ever heard coming from the girl she cares so much about.
"You have nothing to be sorry for. You're okay now." She reassures with a gentle squeeze of her hand.
After a while, Quinn speaks up again, "Do you want me to get Blaine?"
Santana shakes her head in response and finally sits up from her position on Quinn's shoulder. "No it's okay, I think I'm going to go home though. Are you staying or do you want me to drop you off?"
The blonde smiles at the other girls thoughtfulness and decides that she no longer wants to be here either. "Could you take me home please?"
Santana nods, stands up and offers her hands to the other girl. They head downstairs to find Blaine, who also decides he's ready to go home and they all head out to the car. Blaine opens the front passenger door for Quinn and situates himself in the back.
They drive in comfortable silence with only the radio to fill the air.
Quinn sneaks occasional glances at Santana with a look of worry in her face. Blaine spots this and wonders what really happened earlier in the night, he'll be sure to ask his sister about it later.
They arrive at the Fabray house shortly after and can see that the downstairs lights are still on. Santana doesn't miss the panic that flashes across Quinn's face as she walks her to the front door.
As they say their good nights the door opens and reveals a large man with a relatively skinny build.
"And what would we have here?" He says.
Santana sees the unmissable fear in Quinn's eyes and decides that she needs to introduce herself.
"It's good to meet you Mr. Fabray. I'm Santana Lopez." She holds her hand out towards the man who looks at her with disgust, however, doesn't let it phase her.
He reluctantly shakes the offered hand, with an unreasonable grip and stares her down. He breaks eye contact and turns to Quinn, with a hand squeezing her shoulder, "Get inside Lucy."
She shuffles inside and makes eye contact with Santana once more. The Latina gives her a subtle nod in an attempt to ease some of the terror she can see flashing across the beautiful face of the blonde and turns back to the man infront of her.
"Well goodnight then Santana." He says with a stern tone.
"Goodnight, sir." She replies and starts to make her way back to the car.
Blaine has been watching the situation with curiosity from the car and can see the uncertainty on his sisters face as she re-approaches him.
She slides back into the drivers seat, but makes no move to restart the car and he knows that they're thinking the same thing. He decides to bring up the conversation first.
"You've seen the bruises on her arms haven't you?" He sees the rage burning in Santana's eyes as she nods, "I think we may have just found the cause."
Before he knows it, Santana is charging back up to the front door. He hastily gets out and follows her, he isn't sure what's going to happen but he isn't going to let her deal with this alone.
She bangs her fist repeatedly on the door until it's again swung open to reveal the stance of Russell Fabray.
The first thing that Blaine spots when she looks around the large man into the home, is the crying blonde with tears streaming down her cheeks and a red mark on her face, clutching her neck.
Before he has chance to assess the situation properly, Santana has forced her way through the door pushing Russell backwards with her arm across his neck. His back makes contact with the wall and he laughs in her face.
"What are you then? The knight in shining armour, come to rescue to damsel in distress? What did she tell you?" He spits.
"She didn't have to tell me anything you fucking pig. I can sense it on you, you hit your little girl? You're fucking scum."
He laughs in her face again, she pulls him towards her by the collar of his shirt and rams him backwards harshly against the wall again.
When she turns to check on Quinn, she sees her still on the floor with Blaine kneeling next to her.
"Blaine get her out of here." She shouts over to him as he tries to get Quinn to her feet.
"She isn't going anywhere. Especially not with a spic like you." This infuriates Santana and she cocks her left hand back and smashes him in the face.
He again chuckles menacingly, "That all you got? Come on, a dyke like you must be able to use the rage inside and at least make it hurt."
She throws him into the wall again and whips her head to where Blaine is standing with his arm around Quinn. "Blaine, go. NOW."
With that command he begins to drag Quinn from the house while she screams. "TANA. NO, LEAVE IT, PLEASE. PLEASE TANA."
Blaine fireman lifts Quinn over his shoulder and carries her back outside towards the car. Quinn is punching his back pleading with him to put her down but he doesn't let up until she's safely in the car.
He leans down next to her and says "I'm going to go back in there. Whatever you hear, do not leave this car, okay? I mean it Quinn, you stay here, she needs to know that you're safe."
"Blaine I can help her, let me out." She argues but Blaine knows he needs to be firm on this.
"Quinn, stay here please. I'm going to go back in there now, get her and we'll go home alright?"
With that he turns and sprints back through the front door. When he returns he sees that Russell's mouth is bleeding and so is Santana's nose. He's laughing in her face and calling her every racist slur in the book.
Blaine decides that it's his turn to get his hands dirty, he forces Russell's legs from beneath him and straddles his body. He throws a few punches into his face until Santana drags him off.
"We don't want to kill him, we need to get out of here." As they walk towards the door, they hear movement and as Santana turns to see where it's coming from, she feels a deep pain across her left cheek.
The brutal force knocks her to the ground and she feels an overwhelming dizziness. Things are starting to go black and the last thing she sees before she passes out, is her brother wrestling on the floor with a fully grown man.
The next thing that Santana hears is a constant beeping and when she raises her hands to wipe her eyes, can feel wires connecting to her fingers and in her arms.
She blinks her eyes a few times so that they can adjust to the light and they instantly fixate on a sad, tear stained, pale face.
"Hey gorgeous." She rasps. Quinn melts at the Latina's compliment and approaches her bed side table. She holds a cup of water to her mouth to allow Santana a drink. She places the cup back down and runs her hand through brunette hair. Fresh tears flowing down her cheeks.
"How are you feeling?"
"My head is pounding but other than that, I feel alright. Are you okay?"
Quinn laughs lightly.
"What are you laughing at?" Santana asks with a grin.
"You're currently lying in a hospital bed with a busted nose, a split cheek and concussion and you're concerned about me? I've never met anyone like you Santana Lopez." She says lovingly. "Are you ever going to stop putting yourself in danger to save me? I thought I told you I didn't want to see you do anything else stupid?" She finishes with a weak smile.
"I'll save you as many times as you need Lucy Q." She says whilst maintaining eye contact, trying to portray as much feeling as she can in one look.
Their moment is broken when Santana hears shouting from outside of her room. She looks to the left to see her Mami and Blaine in a heated argument.
"Is he okay?" She asks Quinn.
"He's physically okay, he was just worried. He's also very vocal on his thoughts about me going home." The blonde replies as she looks down to the floor shamefully.
"Hey, look at me." Santana waits for Quinn to look up before carrying on. "You're not going back there, okay? I won't let that happen, we'll work something out." Santana says sincerely.
"I should go and tell them you're awake." And with that Quinn leaves the room.
Within seconds, Blaine has his arms thrown around Santana's neck and is hugging her as though his life depends on it.
"I'm so glad you're okay sis, how's the head?"
"I've got a monster headache but I'm alright. How's your hand?" She looks down towards Blaine's right arm to see a black cast covering it.
"Apparently, I've got quite the right hook." They both laugh and the tension appeases.
"Mija, how many times are you going to get yourself into these situations?" He mother exclaims as she approaches her daughters bedside.
"I'm sorry Mami but I know you weren't expecting us to not do what we did when we realised Quinn was in danger."
"I know baby girl, I'm proud of you both." She replies as she kisses Santana's head. Blaine offers their mother the bedside chair, while he perches on the end of the hospital bed.
She notices Quinn keeping her distance by sitting in the corner of the room. Santana beckons her over and shifts slightly so that Quinn can also get on the bed. She pats the vacant spot at the side of her but Quinn looks hesitant.
"I don't want to hurt you Tana."
"Q, unless you plan on hitting me in the face, you aren't going to hurt me, come sit." And she lifts her arm as an invitation into her side.
Quinn gives in and burrows down into Santana's side. Mari can't help but notice that this is the first time tonight that the blonde looks completely comfortable and relaxed.
"So is anyone going to tell me what the hell happened after I apparently blacked out."
Quinn was sitting impatiently in the back of Santana's car waiting for the siblings to return. They'd been in there for so long the panic was rising to a state where she wasn't sure how much longer she could wait.
Within a couple more minutes, a police car siren could be heard and in the following moments it pulled up outside of her house.
Two officers left the vehicle and raced towards the house and straight through the open front door.
When Quinn was over the initial shock and she felt as though her legs could carry her. She exited the car and followed the officers into the house.
The panicking feeling that she had had moments before was nothing in comparison to how she felt when she observed the scene before her.
Her dad was lying unconsciously on the floor covered in blood and Blaine was being restrained by one of the officers.
But what caught her eye and caused the tears to come was the unresponsive Latina, lying on her back in the hallway, being hovered over by the second officer who was speaking quickly into the radio on his shoulder.
She rushed over and dropped to her knees beside the brunette and the sobs started. She took in her battered face and the large cut that was pouring of blood. The officer was trying to stop the bleed using gauze.
"Miss, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave the premises." He uttered whilst looking over at Quinn.
"No! I can't, this is my friend, I live here. That man over there is my father." She says without removing her eyes from Santana's chest, ensuring that it's still contracting, afraid that if she stops looking, so will her breathing.
By this point, the first officer has released Blaine and he's kneeling beside Quinn with a comforting hand on the small of her back and his other holding his sisters.
Blaine explains to the officer everything that's happened and then asks if he's okay to call their Mami. He steps away whilst he calls Maribel and the officer tries to speak to Quinn.
She's unresponsive and the officer decides that he will get her statement when she has recovered from the shock.
The familiar sound of sirens is heard and the paramedics rush in to remove Santana and a still unconscious Russell from the scene on a stretcher.
Quinn is removed from Santana's side by Blaine as she is refusing to let them leave without her but the paramedic is explaining that she can't go with them in the ambulance, and that they can meet them at the hospital.
The police officers offer Blaine and Quinn a ride to the hospital as he can see none of them would be fit to drive, even if they could.
When they arrive and meet with Maribel and she hugs both kids with all the love she has. She kisses them both on the head and leads them towards the waiting room, apprehensive for any news on her daughter.
"Mr. Fabray woke up before you and after the statements made by Blaine, Quinn and the neighbour that called the police, they've arrested him on multiple charges." Maribel finishes.
"So what happens now then? Will something happen to me? I mean I attacked him first." Santana asks and feels Quinn hold her a little tighter, also apprehensive of the answer.
"I think it'll be classed as self defence Mija. One of his charges is assault of a minor, I think after you give your statement, it will be clear that you and Blaine were only protecting Quinn and each other."
She breathes out a sigh of relief as Blaine and Maribel start to discuss something else.
Santana takes the moment to talk to Quinn, "You know this isn't your fault, right?"
"But it is Tana, I'm the reason you keep getting hurt." She sniffles.
"I would fight every person in this world if it meant you were safe Lucy Q. You don't deserve this, not from your father, not from Finn, not anyone. I'm sorry I couldn't stop it sooner, it's been happening a long time, hasn't it?" She replies shakily.
The look in Quinn's eyes tells her everything she needs to know. She pulls the blonde in closer to her side and places a soft kiss on the crown of her head.
"So Mami, what happens to Quinn now?"
"Well we aren't sure what's going to happen to Mrs. Fabray due to her knowing about what her husband was doing. So, until next month when she's officially sixteen, she still needs a guardian, so I spoke to the social workers and said that she could stay with us. As long as that's okay with Quinn, of course." She gives a small smile in the blondes direction which is reciprocated with an enthusiastic head nod.
Quinn jumps out of Santana's arms and quickly moves around the bed to embrace Mari. "Thank you Mrs. L, thank you so much."
Santana can't help that despite that shitty situation, how lucky she feels, her three favourite people under one roof. The pain was definitely worth it.
AN: I guess Santana just really loves a good fight, huh? But don't worry, she's a tough cookie.
I know I'm a sucker for the drama but we will get some fluff soon enough, I can promise that :)
Big thanks to Quinntanarivera and the guest for my first reviews! It's good to know someone is enjoying it!
As always, it's great to hear what you think! Thanks