Santana woke up before Brittany the next morning and she sat at the edge of the bed watching her sleep. The night before, she'd dreamed of Caderyna and Reyneva, of their last goodbye. Thinking about it, her hands found a place on her belly, imagining what it would have been like for Reyneva to carry the heir to their throne, to carry a child that belonged to her beloved. Though she was glad she hadn't encountered the memories of her own murder, she wondered what it was like to feel the life ripped from her, to fail to protect what was most important. The thought of it brought tears to her eyes, but she wiped them away quickly, not wanting Brittany to see that she was crying about the past.
"Time is it?" Brittany rolled over in bed and Santana couldn't help but smile at the pillow lines on her face and the hair that was messed on her head.
"Almost five."
"I'm surprised I slept."
"You needed it, Britt. I…I'm supposed to go to practice."
"I forgot about practice. You should go, we need to be as normal as possible."
"We need to meet with everyone." Santana protested. "We have to figure out what we're going to do with this new information. Terry and Bryan know that we know."
"A few more hours aren't going to make a difference. Just go to practice, please. I have to go home and deal with my parents before school anyway. My dad bailed Quinn out of jail last night, if I'm not home for breakfast…"
"There's just too much going on."
"She fucked this up. Had she not broken in there, we may have had a few more weeks to make a plan."
"I'm sorry." Santana kissed Brittany's lips gently.
"Why are you sorry?"
"I don't know, I guess because she's Reyneva's sister, I'm partially responsible for her."
"From the memories you've shared, it seems like you had no way of controlling her even when you weren't nearly a stranger to her. I've been responsible for her on this planet and couldn't stop her from doing this. Quinn does what she wants and there's nothing any of us can do to stop her."
"Are you scared, Brittany?"
"Santana, I'm terrified." Brittany confessed breathily, and Santana pulled her in for a tight hug. "I don't know what's going to happen if the Special Unit gets their hands on us. I don't know how I'll be able to bear being separated from you."
"I'm not going to let them get you. If we have to leave Roswell, we'll leave Roswell."
"I can't ask you to give up your whole life for me, you've done that once."
"You are my whole life."
"You want to go to college, you have all of these plans that you've waited forever to make happen."
"All of that happened before I knew who I was in another life. And just because we leave doesn't mean I can never go to college. Being safe is more important than any of this stupid stuff right now though."
"I don't want you to have to leave here. I'm going to try and figure out a way that it doesn't have to happen."
"No matter what you decide, wherever you are, I'm going to be with you."
Before Brittany climbed out the window, Santana kissed her goodbye like she might never see her again. The idea that someone was really, truly after her soulmate made her stomach ache and her necklace burn against her chest. It felt the fear in Brittany's heart and it resonated with the fear in her own. She could scarcely hold it together as she made her way to school and got in the locker room to change into her Cheerios uniform.
"Cool necklace." A girl Santana didn't recognize interrupted her changing, and she shuddered, hand quickly moving to cover her necklace. "Sorry, Asperger's, I don't know boundaries."
"Well you might want to start with learning you don't check people out while they're changing." Santana snapped, her fear making her tone nastier than she would have normally been as she pulled her cheerleading top over her head. "What are you doing in the locker room at this hour anyway?"
"I'm Sugar Motta, my daddy just got a transfer here for his super fancy job. I flashed some money at Roz Washington and she gave me a tryout for the cheerleading team. She said I'd find the captain in here."
"That's me." Santana rolled her eyes. "Santana Lopez. Where are you from, anyway?"
"Um…Milwaukee."
"Is there something you needed from me?" She slid into her skirt and tried to contain her annoyance with being interrupted by this bullshit after the night she had.
"Just to introduce myself and to tell you that I'm going to be the best cheerleader on your squad. I've won, like, state championships and everything."
"Great, cool. Do you mind giving me some privacy, so I can finish getting ready?"
"Yeah, sure, Cap, whatever you say!"
Irritated by her encounter with the new girl, Santana put her makeup on and tried not to think of the overwhelming amount of stress she was under. As much as she loved Brittany and was so grateful that her soul was finally whole again, part of her missed the simplicity of worrying about how her squad would do, of stressing about grades and graduation and college applications, not whether or not her cosmic star wife would be locked up in some government facility and dissected. As much as she thought it was hard to be essentially the princess of small town New Mexico, it was so much harder once she knew that she was the reincarnated queen of a fallen planet in another galaxy, bound eternally to a woman who crossed time and space to find her.
Because she had no other outlet for her stress, Santana took all of her frustrations out on the cheerleading squad. She was glad that Roz gave her free reign to give them their workouts and she had them running laps and doing burpees mostly because she needed the physical endurance challenge as much as she needed to make the rest of them suffer. When she was running, she didn't have to worry about how her life could be destroyed in a few hours, she didn't have to think about Brittany until a pang of fear hit her straight through the heart and she knew that Brittany was in trouble.
"Fuck." She gasped, doubling over in the midst of a lap. It was Kurt Hummel who ran to her side, and though she tried to push him away, her knees gave out and he held her up.
"Is it your ribs?" He asked her, and she nodded her head because she couldn't admit what was really happening. "I thought it was too soon for you to be back."
"Fine. I'm fine. Just need water." She fought through the pain of Brittany's fear and her own concern for the woman she loved.
"You don't look good, Santana."
"I'm fine!" She barked, though it was hard to have a leg to stand on when she couldn't actually stand.
"Whatsa matter, Cap?" Sugar Motta came up to her side, and Santana had to fight the animalistic urge to growl at her.
"I'm fine. Just give me some damn space."
"Leave her be." Kurt shook his head at Sugar. "She had an injury a few weeks ago. If you want to help, tell Roz I'm taking her home."
"I don't need to go home." Santana protested, and she knew that was true to some extent. She didn't need to go home, she needed to get to wherever Brittany was and fast.
"You can't stand up on your own." He shook his head.
"Wait. I need my phone, it's in my locker."
Santana couldn't even argue with Kurt about not taking her home and even though he was opposed to going into the girl's locker room, he helped her get her bag out before he walked her to his car. She tapped the home screen on her phone and she found sixteen missed calls from Brittany and a long series of text messages. Her chest hurt as she got into the passenger seat of Kurt's car and she opened up the thread. They decided not to waste any time. B and T were at the end of my block this morning. We couldn't wait for you to leave. I know I promised you that I wouldn't go anywhere without you, but we're at the pod chamber now hiding out and trying to figure out where to go from here. I love you.
"Kurt!" Santana shouted, knowing that she couldn't trust him, but also knowing that right now in the state she was in, she had no choice. "I need you to not take me home."
"Santana—"
"No, shut up. Just shut up. I need you to keep your mouth shut and do what I say right now, it's an emergency."
"If it's an emergency, I'll call my dad…"
"The last person I need you to call right now is your dad. I need you to start driving straight out of Roswell as fast as you can, and I need you to not stop until I tell you to."
"Is this a drug thing, because—"
"For the last time, I'm not on drugs. Someone is after me and my friends and all I need you to do is drop me off to them, and then you never have to be part of this again."
"If someone is after you, you need to call my dad. He can help you."
"No, you don't understand, there's no one who can help us right now. The only thing we can do is get out of Roswell. Please, Kurt, I wouldn't ask for your help if it wasn't an emergency. You can tell your dad whatever you want when we're gone, but right now, I just need you to do this for me. Please?"
"Okay." Kurt swallowed hard and hit the gas. "I know you don't do this, but I care about you, Santana, and I want you to be safe."
"I will be, I just need you to get me to Brittany."
Santana knew that Kurt could never possibly understand what was going on, so the ride was silent. She was grateful that he pushed the speed limit for her because the last thing she wanted was for them to have to go before she was there. She tried calling Brittany repeatedly, but her phone kept going to voicemail and Santana wanted to scream. She needed to know that Brittany was okay, she needed to know that Terri and Bryan hadn't gotten to her and did something terrible to her. Her stomach roiled, and her chest was on fire from the necklace and she was grateful for that because at least if nothing else, she knew that Brittany was still alive.
"Turn off here!" Santana yelled when they got to the cutaway that would take them to the pod chamber.
"You want me to drive out into the desert? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"
"You have no idea how dangerous any of this is right now. I swear, I'll never ask you for anything else again if you just do this. Please?"
"Why do I feel like I'm going to regret every second of this?"
Santana knew that he would…she knew that she was putting him in grave danger, but she couldn't prevent herself from asking him to do this. She needed to be with Brittany and he was her only opportunity. By the time he told his father what happened and where they went, they would be long gone. She yelled for him to stop when they got to the rock formation and though she didn't want him to follow her, she still couldn't walk, and she needed his help getting inside. She leaned on him as she made her way up the path and into the cave where Brittany, Sam, Mercedes, Quinn and Holly stood in the center.
"What is this place?" Kurt looked around, amazement on his face.
"Why the hell would you bring him?" Quinn snapped, but Santana whipped her head around before she could even get her hands on Brittany.
"You're not in charge of who does what. You seem to live with rules not applying to you, and I needed some damn help to get here, so you can shut your mouth."
"Excuse me?"
"Excuse you is right. It's your fault we're here to begin with. If you could have avoided breaking into Terri and Bryan's house, they wouldn't have been closing in on us."
"Santana." Brittany took over from Kurt in holding her up, and for just an instant, a calm washed over her being in Brittany's arms. "I'm so glad you're here."
"What is this place?" Kurt repeated, and Santana and Brittany shared a look.
"It's the place that we were born." Sam finally says, to the shock of everyone else.
"Sam! You moron!" Quinn shrieked, lunging for him until Mercedes held her back.
"What does it matter anymore?" He shook his head, despair written all over his face. "We're either going to end up in a science lab, or we're leaving Roswell and never coming back. By the time anyone else finds out, we'll be long gone."
"The two of you are just completely unable to keep a sacred pact. If you hadn't started telling people about us to begin with, we wouldn't be here."
"Shut up, Quinn." Brittany snapped. "You're not innocent either, so just shut up."
"What do you mean you were born here?" Kurt asked, body trembling with fear.
"Kurt…" Santana looked at Brittany, panic stricken. "I need you to not freak out."
"Not freak out? Santana, I don't know what you dragged me into, but I want out."
"You're not in any danger with them, they're the ones in danger right now. You know the 1947 crash?"
"No, I don't know the crash that this entire town is built on, that my grandfather died trying to prove was real, that my father has spent my whole life trying to build on that legacy. Of course, I know the '47 crash, I'm not an idiot. Wait…are you telling me…?"
"Your father and your grandfather weren't wrong." Brittany said slowly, ignoring the daggers that shot from Quinn's eyes. "These chambers housed us when we came to this planet. We're the ones your father has been trying to find, but there's a lot greater danger right now than your father even knows. The FBI is after us, and all we're trying to do is get out of here."
"You're the ones who killed those people?" His eyes were wide, and he leaned against the wall of the cave.
"Self-defense." Holly answered flippantly.
"Santana, Mercedes…we've known each other since kindergarten, and you're…"
"It's complicated." Santana shook her head. "But no, not really."
"We need to go. We need to get out of here, and we need to tell someone."
"Great fucking job, all of you." Quinn kicked a rock on the floor.
"Don't worry." A voice came from the entryway and every head snapped to look at where Terri DelMonico stood, gun drawn.
It all happened in an instant, when Sam lunged at Terri's legs to try to keep her from shooting. The gun went off and Santana was the first to scream. All the frozen in fear she was when she was shot in the diner was gone and she was in full on panic mode, ducking and shrieking and clinging as tightly as she could to Brittany as the sear of their combined panic ripped through her chest. She looked over every inch of Brittany as soon as she could lift her head again and was relieved to see that they were both unharmed. But then, she looked over to where Kurt had stood, and he was crumpled on the floor, blood spilling from his side. The gun lay beside Terri, but Brittany didn't make to grab it, instead, she ran for Kurt, grabbing his face and telling him to stay with her.
"I'm not going to hurt you, Kurt. I need you to look at me, okay?"
The room was silent as Brittany crouched over Kurt and forced him to look in her eyes as she lay her hands over Kurt's side and tried to heal him. Santana didn't breathe the whole time, anxious to see what would happen, anxious to see if it would be her fault that Kurt was killed in a cross fire he didn't belong in. She knew Brittany couldn't look at her, but she felt the healing energy in her chest. She felt Kurt's agony as Brittany connected with him and then she felt the quick repair of tissue as Brittany worked to fix it.
"Get off of him!" Sherriff Hummel screamed, having entered the cave in the chaos of everything else. "Get the hell off of my son!"
It was Mercedes who moved quickly, stepping in front of Hummel before he could do anything. In the midst of it, Terri found her gun again and Santana was blinded by the excruciating pain of a bullet ripping through Brittany's lower back. She was so crippled by the shared pain that she couldn't get to her side, she could only watch from her place on the floor while Holly lifted up her hand and Terri collapsed on the floor, gun clinking against the rock as she fell.
"Kurt!" Hummel screamed, the only one to make a sound as the rest of them were paralyzed watching Brittany collapse over his body. "Kurt!"
"Dad." Kurt mumbled, looking up at his father. "Dad, I'm okay."
"What was she doing to you, look at me?"
"Brittany." Santana crawled through the pain, gathering Brittany up in her arms and laying her hands over the wound on her back. Blood covered her, and she sobbed, looking for Sam or Quinn to do something, anything to save her. But she knew they couldn't. The healer, the warrior and the protector, and the healer was bleeding out in Santana's arms with nothing anyone could do. "Brittany, Brittany. Look at me."
"Hurts." She whimpered. "Help me."
"Like hell anyone is going to help you! You tried to kill my son you…bitch."
"Dad! She didn't! Nurse Terri shot me…I was bleeding, look—" He showed his father the blood on his shirt. "Brittany…saved me."
"She…saved you?"
"She saved me. I was so afraid when I found out what they were, but she saved me and then got shot because of it." He shook his head. "Someone help her!"
"They can't." Mercedes looked at Sam, tears streaming down her face. "She's the healer, no one else can heal her."
"We'll get her to a hospital." Hummel asserted, his tone toward Brittany and the others having changed since coming to the realization that she saved his son. "We'll put her in my car."
"Look at her blood." Sam wept. "We can't take her to a hospital, she won't be safe there."
"Brittany, Brittany please don't close your eyes." Santana begged, the light from her necklace dimming. "I'm right here, I need you to stay alive for me."
"Santana! Aunt Sara!" Mercedes shouted, looking over to where Terri lay dead on the floor. "Aunt Sara can help us!"
"It's too far…it's too far." Santana murmured, not looking away from Brittany's face.
"We'll put her in the police car." Hummel hugged Kurt to him and looked around at the scene in front of him.
"Oh fuck no." Quinn snapped. "If you think we're going to trust you after you brought the FBI here in the first place."
"She saved my son. Please, let me help her have a chance."
"We don't have a choice right now." Sam jumped to attention, wiping the tears from his face. "If we stay here, Brittany dies."
"And if we go, we might all die."
"That's a chance I'm willing to take…for my sister. Santana?"
"Just save her. Please…just save her."
Everyone was dead silent as Hummel and Sam carried Brittany out to the police car. Santana didn't leave her side, she held her hands even as they carried her and kept begging her to keep her eyes open. When she got into the back seat with her, she put her hands back on the bleeding wound and she sobbed over her fading form. Hummel closed the door and looked around at Sam, Quinn, Mercedes, Kurt and Holly.
"Miss Jones, you know the way?"
"Yeah…I can get you there."
"Then get in the front seat. Kurt…you'll go with them? Will that make you trust me?"
"No." Quinn spit.
"Yes." Sam said at the same time, shaking his head at Quinn.
"Don't speed, I'm going to get her there as fast as I can, but you speeding will only cause more trouble."
"There's not enough room for everyone in the car…" Sam muttered.
"I'm not coming." Holly shook her head. "They'll be expecting Agent DelMonico…"
"You're…" Sam questioned, and Holly simply nodded.
"The easiest way to keep them off your trail is to become one of them. I'll be in touch."
When Mercedes and Hummel got into the police car, Santana was still sobbing over Brittany's body in the back seat. She could feel the pain Brittany felt radiating through her lower back, but she couldn't let it overcome her. She needed to be strong for Brittany, she needed to keep her alive until they made it to her Aunt Sara's and she could do something to stop the bleeding. When Hummel handed her a rag from the glove compartment, she pressed it over Brittany's gaping wound and she leaned down, letting their necklaces touch, letting herself share some of her life force with Brittany.
Reyneva was sleeping when the doors to her chambers burst open. She was awoken by the noise and half expected to see her Cady standing in the entranceway. But what she saw struck her heart with fear. Standing where she'd last seen Caderyna were a group of armed soldiers, soldiers who she knew were not her own. She gasped, understanding what was to come, and she cradled her abdomen, silently letting her baby know that they were safe.
"The great queen of Uecridis." One of the soldiers snipped. "How foolish of you to trust who you've trusted and to leave yourself so vulnerable to our invasion."
"Please, I'll give you whatever it is you want." She begged. "Just leave me and your child."
"What we're here for is the throne, and such a thing cannot happen so long as you're alive."
"My guards will be here…"
"Your guards are dead, your highness. Your beloved is gone, you're left alone with us, and you have not the strength in your state to fight back."
"Please, please spare my child. Let me give birth to her, let me send her away with Caderyna, she'll never know she has royal blood. Kill me, but don't kill her."
"You're not in a position to bargain." The leader informed her, then two of the soldiers grabbed her roughly from the bed.
Clothed in only a soft wrap, Reyneva was dragged from the palace. As she begged and pleaded, the soldiers mocked her, and she sobbed, wishing that somehow, she could spare the life of the child she'd carried for so many months. When she arrived at a secondary location, her necklace was torn from her thoat and she was thrown into a room and locked behind a door too heavy for her to move. She had locked up prisoners in her time, those as dangerous to her kingdom as those who stole her from her home, but never had she imagined being locked away herself.
For a long while, she pounded on the door she was locked behind, screaming for help, hoping that perhaps another of the Faded Ones was born with a soul like her Cady and Oskari, but help never came. Finally, her body succumbed to the omnipresent exhaustion she felt at the end of her gestational period and she lay down on the hard floor, arms wrapped around her midsection. She knew she was to die, but what made it worse was that she had no idea when death would come.
"My baby, my baby." She hummed, rubbing the light within her. "You're near enough to birth that perhaps you'll survive this. Your mother will come, she'll save you, though I believe it's too late for her to save me. She'll tell you how I loved you so, she'll kiss the crown of your head, she'll keep you safe where I failed. I feel you fretting in there, but don't worry, everything will be just fine."
"How can I promise you that you'll be fine, when I've broken that promise before?" Santana cried over Brittany, shaken by the vision of the moments before Reyneva's death. "Had you left without waiting for me, Terri would never have found you. I was selfish to beg you not to leave me behind when leaving me behind could have saved your life."
"She's not dead, Santana." Mercedes whispered from the front seat.
"My baby was killed, my planet was destroyed, all because I trusted someone I shouldn't have trusted."
"Who did you trust?"
"I don't know." Santana wept. "The guard told her that, but never told her who."
"Are you talking about Reyneva?"
"I see her all the time, 'Cedes, I remember so much of the life I left behind and nothing in those memories can keep me from letting the ones I love get hurt."
"We're almost there. She's going to be okay."
"Santana." Brittany murmured, her voice wet and low. "I love you. Our souls will find each other again, they're joined."
"I'm going to save you, sweetheart. We're almost there." She kissed the top of Brittany's head and tears fell into matted blonde hair. "Aunt Sara is going to fix you, you're going to live. Please, you have to live for me. You've felt the memory of what it was to live without me, and I don't have the strength to do that. I just need you to stay alive for a few more minutes."
"Trying so hard." Brittany gasped for air. "For you."
Santana knew that the life force that passed between their necklaces was the only think keeping Brittany with her, but she was feeling her own beginning to drain as she put so much into Brittany to keep her from succumbing to the mortal wound. She didn't see when they pulled into Sara's driveway, all she saw was the fading light in Brittany's eyes as Hummel opened the door. He didn't betray them, he took them where they needed to be, and she thanked everything in the universe that Brittany had been given the opportunity to save Kurt before she was shot so he would trust them enough not to turn them in. So much went on in her head as she helped Hummel lift Brittany—so much lighter she seemed—from the back of the car as she continued to apply pressure to the heavily bleeding wound. Mercedes was at the door when they got there and when Sara answered, terror flashed across her face.
"Santana. What's happening?"
"Please, Aunt Sara, Brittany was shot. I need you to save her."
"She needs to go to a hospital! I'm not equipped to do this!"
"She can't go to a hospital. Please, please. I promise I'll explain everything if you just…don't let her die. I know you did a surgical residency. You can heal her. She saved my life and I need you to save hers."
"Bring her in." Sara nodded, and Santana was grateful that she was not the prying type that her father was. They would have to tell her everything, she would figure it out, of course, when she worked on Brittany, but she would do all she could to keep her alive before she demanded answers. "I don't know that I have the supplies."
"I'll get whatever you need." Hummel told her soberly. "She saved my son, I owe everything to her."
"Who is she, Santana?" Sara asked, clearly knowing something was amiss.
"She's just the love of my life. You've met her, you know she's good and pure and everything. Just please, tell me how I can help."
"We're going to lay her down on the table in my office. Whatever you do, don't stop applying pressure to the wound. I don't think we'll have time for you to go for supplies, Officer—"
"Hummel, Sherriff Burt Hummel."
"I'm going to make do with what I have, but it looks like she's lost a lot of blood."
"Her brother is on his way. You can do a blood transfusion, can't you?"
"Santana, I love you, but this isn't a hospital. I just don't have those kinds of machines here."
"Where's the nearest hospital?" Hummel asked. "Whether we have time or not, I'm going to try."
"It's about fifteen minutes west."
"I'll do it in five."
Once Brittany was settled face down on the table in Sara's office, and had lost consciousness, Hummel ran out the door and Mercedes watched as Santana continued to keep her hands pressing into Brittany's back. The pain still seared through her, but unlike in the morning, she managed to stay on her feet because the will to keep Brittany alive outweighed any and all else that she felt. Sara snapped on gloves and stepped up to the table, looking down at her hands puzzled when she first had Santana lift the rag that covered the wound and she saw the blood that came out.
"That's why she can't go to the hospital." Santana murmured. "She's in danger."
"Santana." Sara carefully cut into the bullet hole to remove the bullet. "Why does her blood look like this? I need to know everything that I'm working with if you want her to have a chance of surviving."
"You've…never treated a patient like her before." She began slowly. "She's not exactly human."
"I guess we're telling the entire world today then." Quinn, Sam and Kurt entered the room and for the first time she took her attention off of Brittany, Santana lunged for Quinn.
"I'm done with you!" She shouted. "If you hadn't broken into Terri and Bryan's house, they wouldn't have come after you today and she wouldn't have been shot. Sara needs to know what she's working with in order to save her life and I'm going to give her whatever information she needs. I'm not part of your little pact, and I'm going to do whatever I need to do to save my mate."
"If she hadn't saved you in the first place, we wouldn't be here." Quinn spit and the next thing everyone in the room heard was the smack of palm on cheek.
"Hey!" Mercedes yelled, pulling Santana away from Quinn "Enough is enough! Brittany's laying on the table dying and it doesn't matter how she got here, what matters is we do whatever we can to keep her alive."
"God it feels good not to always have to be the one who keeps the peace." Sam muttered, placing his hand on Mercedes' lower back. "Go talk to your aunt, Santana. Quinn, Sam, Kurt, let's leave them be."
"Like hell I'm leaving." Quinn shook her head.
"Then just shut your goddamned mouth."
"Santana, please continue." Sara asked desperately, and Santana was grateful that she didn't stop working on Brittany even when she found out she wasn't human.
"It's a really long story. She…they came here in 1947 and were incubating until about ten years ago. She's made from the combination of alien DNA and human DNA so…I just don't know what's the same or different about her body."
"Okay…that is…a lot." Sara said calmly. "Her blood seems to be…regenerating."
"I don't know if it's this." Santana held out her necklace, then felt so weak at the knees that she had to sit down. "I know that it's keeping her alive."
"This is way above my area of expertise, Santana. You're telling me that the necklace you're wearing is magic?"
"She's accessing my life force." Santana felt her lips begin to chap and the blood drain from her face. "And she's using a lot of it right now."
"What did she do to you?"
"She didn't do anything. Aunt Sara, I know this sounds insane—" She watched as Sara pulled out the bullet that was lodged in Brittany's back and Santana doubled over, howling in pain. "I…am…the reincarnated…"
"Stop talking, you're using too much of your energy and I don't think I can hear the rest while I'm trying to work on her."
The room was silent as Sara continued to work on Brittany and Santana longed to be able to stand and be at her side. She felt herself withering and it scared her to know that Brittany needed so much from within her in order to be able to stay alive. Part of her was afraid that they both might die, that perhaps what saved Caderyna when Reyneva died was that the necklace was ripped off of her in the dungeon she was kept in, but she refused to take it off, she refused to allow Brittany to be without what was keeping her there. Kurt brought her water and she accepted it, sipping it slowly though she felt every bit of repair that her Aunt Sara did on Brittany's body as real as if it were happening to her.
Hummel came back with an armload of supplies, but Sara told him just to leave them. It seemed as if the fact that Brittany's blood could regenerate would keep her with them, but Santana was pained by the contorted look on Brittany's face and she longed to be able to kiss her between the eyes and whisper to her. When she tried to stand, she sank back down again, and she doubled over, holding her back as Sara stitched up Brittany's skin.
"I've done all I can." Sara whispered. "Now we wait and see."
"You don't know if she'll make it?" Santana cried, throat cracking and voice hoarse.
"The bullet did a lot of damage, but if her cells regenerate like her blood…"
"They need to." Santana grasped the necklace at her throat, and found that it was cold as ice, even as a bright light emanated from it.
"She was shot saving my life." Kurt murmured, standing awkwardly in the corner. "I don't know how I'll ever repay her."
"Keep her secret." Quinn snapped.
"I think you all ought to clear the room, give her some space to recover. Make yourselves at home in my living room, and I'll give you updates as they come."
"I won't leave her." Santana shook her head. "The rest of you should go, but I need to be with her."
Even Quinn didn't argue as everyone sauntered out of the room. It seemed as if they were all in a bit of a daze, shocked by the unlikely turn of events that the day brought. When they were all gone, Sara sat down in a chair across from Santana and she looked her niece up and down. Santana knew that now that Brittany's surgery was over she would have to fully explain everything, but she wondered if Sara would ever believe her when she told her about Reyneva and Caderyna. Besides Mercedes, Sara was her most trusted confidante, but she was also a medical professional, less likely to believe in the supernatural than anyone else. But yet, she'd also seen Brittany's blood regenerate, she'd watched Santana be wracked with the pains of Brittany's own body and seem to fade right in front of her. Perhaps, even as a skeptic, she'd now be a believer.
"Who shot her, Santana? And why?"
"An FBI agent." Santana answered immediately. "She believed that Brittany and the others were a threat, and that they'd killed before."
"I know you love her, but are you in danger?"
"No, look, they're not dangerous, okay? Polerma…my mother in my other life killed some of the humans when she was trying to protect the incubating pods because they tried to kill her first."
"Okay, honey, you're going to have to back up like…a thousand miles. Your mother in another life? I was there the day you were born."
"I know this all sounds insane." Santana shook her head. "I didn't really believe it at first either, but I have all these memories of living on another planet. I was the queen of Uecridis, and Brittany was born to kill me."
"This sounds like you've been watching some really bad sci-fi."
"It sounds totally unreal, but seriously, did you ever expect to see blood regenerating before today?"
"No." Sara concedes, though Santana can see that she's still skeptical.
"Brittany, well, the Brittany in this other life, ended up falling in love with me, and then I was murdered by her people. We were bonded soulmates, and because of that, she came here to find me. When I was shot in the diner—"
"Honey, you weren't shot in the diner. I think you ought to lay down."
"Aunt Sara, I was shot in the diner. You can go inspect the place yourself, there's no bullet hole because the bullet hole was in me. Brittany healed me, and it opened up the connection that we'd had in our previous life. God, when I say this all out loud it sounds so insane, but I swear it's true. How else do you explain that the necklace I'm wearing was able to keep her alive?"
"I don't have an explanation for a lot of things that have gone on in this room today." Sara rubbed her forehead and Santana sank back in her chair.
"I wouldn't have involved you if I had another choice, but there are people after Brittany, Sam and Quinn and I couldn't have risked taking her to the hospital where someone I didn't trust would have seen what happened with her blood and the necklace."
"I've told you your whole life that you could always come to me no matter what, and I'm glad you did. I'm beyond freaked out by what you're saying and what I just witnessed, but you know that I love you, and if you're telling me this story, then I believe you."
"I can't lose her, Aunt Sara." Tears streamed down Santana's face. "In the memories I have of my past life, we were so in love, and now we're here, and we're just getting started."
"She should wake up soon and then we'll know." Sara offered her hand to Santana and she took it, squeezing tightly.
"And you won't tell anyone?"
"If I told anyone, they'd think I was crazy."
It felt like months for Santana, waiting for Brittany to come to, but she felt the pendant around her neck begin to warm and she took that as a good sign. She was glad to be sequestered from the rest of the group, though she assumed Sam was explaining everything to their unlikely allies. Quinn was probably sullen in the corner, still resenting all of them for bringing anyone else in and refusing to recognize her own part in this disaster of a day. Santana realized she hadn't called her parents to let them know where she was, but Sara offered to do it, leaving Santana alone in the room with Brittany's sleeping form.
"You're going to make it." Santana finally found herself able to stand again, and she crouched down at Brittany's side to their faces were level. "You're going to make it, and now that Holly is about to infiltrate the FBI, we're going to go back to Roswell. I'm going to kiss you at the prom when I win prom queen, I'm going to ask you to marry me, on this planet, after we graduate from high school. And maybe we'll go to New York together, start over in a place where no one has ever heard of Roswell, New Mexico. We can share a crappy little one-bedroom apartment where we're tripping over each other all the time, but we'll make love every night and kiss each other goodbye every morning. You can be so much bigger than the life you assumed you'd be forced to lead in this town. You're the most special person I've ever met, and when we get out of here, you'll get to be the normal you always wanted. I can't give you a lot of things, but I can give you that, I can give you a place where no one has to know you were found on the side of the road and adopted. I can give you a place where no one suspects there are aliens among us. But I need you to wake for me. Please, Britt. I love you."
Though Santana half expects Brittany to magically open her eyes after her speech, it doesn't come. Instead, she remains there, forehead pressed against Brittany's for a long while until she feels a deep burn against her chest and she waits, waits, waits until Brittany's eyes open. They're a murky blue, but they're open, and before Brittany can even say a word, Santana kisses Brittany's lips, making them both see that purple sky of the place where they came from.
"You're awake." Tears stream down Santana's face and Brittany kisses her again.
"Where are we?"
"We're at my Aunt Sara's house. She did surgery on you…I couldn't take you to the hospital."
"You saved my life."
"You saved mine too."
"I kept seeing flashes of your life before me when I was out. I swear, seeing little you was keeping me alive."
"I was so scared I was going to lose you. God, Brittany, I can't imagine the pain Caderyna felt after she lost Reyneva. I was completely crippled thinking I'd never see you open your eyes again."
"You'd have found me again…that's kind of our thing." Brittany laughed, though she winced at the pain in her lower back. "What happened to Terri? Is Kurt okay? Was Burt Hummel there?"
"Holly killed Terri." Santana shook her head. "And when we left her, she was going to shape shift and infiltrate the FBI to keep us safe. Kurt's fine, he's in the other room, and so is Hummel. We had to tell a lot of people your secret today, but…I think they're going to keep it safe."
"Is Quinn freaking out?"
"I…um…kind of slapped her."
"You did not." Brittany laughed again, then kissed Santana. "She probably deserved it."
"I can't believe you're alive. Look at me, I'm covered in your blood."
"Do I hear someone awake?" Sara peeked in the room, and a grin split Santana's face.
"She's awake. Do you want to see everyone?"
"I should. My brother must be worried sick."
"Aunt Sara, do you mind sending them in? I don't want to leave her." Santana squeezed Brittany's hands. "I seriously never want to leave your side again."
"It's going to be hard for you not to do that. I don't think your dad likes me very much."
"My dad doesn't like me very much either." She chuckled. "It's fine."
Santana kept a tight hold on Brittany as everyone else came in the room. Sam cried over Brittany as he was the first to see her, and even Quinn expressed a weird level of emotion as she saw Brittany alive and well. Hummel and Kurt hung back by the door, but eventually, they too came to Brittany's bedside. Santana was shocked to see Hummel begin to cry, and he carefully laid a hand atop Brittany's head.
"You saved my son." He said softly. "I've treated you unfairly, and I want you to know that I'm foirever indebted to you. Whatever you need, I'll be there to offer."
"Even if I ask you to stop tracking the '47 crash?"
"I've found my answer, I know that my father wasn't crazy. You can consider me on your side now. It wasn't you who tried to hurt Kurt, it was the ones who I thought were the good guys."
"Thank you." Brittany whispered. "Thank you for seeing that we're not here to hurt anyone."
"Kurt." Santana looked up at him. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this."
"Hey, it's no big deal. That's what friends are for, right?"
"I guess so, yeah."
Though Brittany was still weak, the room filled with conversation. Sam stood back, hugging Mercedes close to him as if he feared that he would have to go through what Santana just did, and Quinn kept touching Brittany as if to really believe that she was still alive. Santana couldn't keep herself from touching Brittany, and she knew that Brittany didn't want her to stop either. When the doorbell rang, no one thought much of it, but Sara went to answer, returning to the room with an unexpected presence.
"Santana, Brittany, this girl was looking for you both."
"Sugar?" Santana's eyes widened. "What are you doing here?"
"Perhaps I should introduce myself by my proper name. I'm Azakar, daughter of Queen Reyneva and Queen Caderyna, and I was named for the one who helped the Faded Ones take down my mother's regime."
