Fireflies and Midnights ch 3

A/N: just a small little nothing really

Disclaimer: As always I don't own them

Santana walked out of the school towards her car, Brittany's words repeating in her head. She hadn't been able to stop thinking about them all day.

" Lopez, wait up"

She heard Puck call from behind her, rolling her eyes, not really in the mood for whatever crude thing the boy had to say. She stopped anyway, waiting for him to catch up. He was still in his football uniform from practice and she grimaced at a rather nasty looking bruise that was beginning to form over his right eye.

" What happened? someone throw the ball at your face?"

" Actually, yeah," He said, " Karofsky"

Even though the usual " Puck" smirk was in place, there was something in his stance and in his eyes that told her this was Noah talking to her.

" What's up?" She asked him.

" Are you serious about trying to help Berry?"

Santana sighed, as much as she understood why her sincerity deserved to be questioned, it was starting to become exhausting defending herself to everybody. He stared at her with curious eyes.

She stared back hoping that like her with him, He could find something in her eyes that told him this wasn't the Santana of freshman year, that the person standing in front of him was the girl who used to camp out in his backyard tent with him catching fireflies. The girl who used to help him build ramps out of whatever they could find so they could jump their bikes and see who could get the highest.

Damn the glee club for making her remember what it was like to be an actual person rather than just another soldier in Sue's army.

" You've seen her Puck, that's not Rachel"

Puck nodded, still staring at her.

" I was serious earlier when I said I didn't want to be the reason she isn't here anymore.. What if she killed herself?"

" You really think she would do something like that?"

" I think I don't want to find out," She said truthfully. She didn't have the answers or know if Rachel was at that point but what she did know was she didn't want to attend the funeral of someone she could have done something to help.

" that's not the only reason, is it?"

Santana shrugged weakly unsure of what Puck was expecting her to say. She was glad when he let the topic drop. She may have been trying to get better with the whole emotions thing but she thought what he was asking ,without really saying the words, had deeper meaning than she was willing to delve into, and those kind of emotions still scared the shit out of her.

That night Santana couldn't sleep. She sat out on her back porch with one of her fathers beers she snuck from the refrigerator (not that anyone was home to catch her). Even after it had grown dark, the air cooling around her and the bottle was empty she couldn't make herself go back inside. She could just make out the embankment beyond the fence. Rachels's house was just on the other side of the creek.

It was strange how someone could be so close and yet feel so far away. Although, She knew more than just the creek separated them. There was a lot of bad between them, things Santana thought she might never be forgiven for, but She also knew that glee club had brought them together again and maybe on the strength of the bond the club seemed to be building she could take a few steps towards trying to be.

Her phone going off made her jump slightly, bringing her out of her thoughts. It was a text from Puck.

Puckerman: can't sleep either?

She looked up from her phone. Puck was looking down at her from his bedroom window. The room around him was dark, the cigarette he smoked glowing a bright orange.

She nodded knowing he could see her but didn't reply back.

Puckerman: We'll get her back

Santana hoped he was right.

TBC