No…
No no no NO!
This is bad. This can't be happening. This cannot be happening!
Pulling the phone from his ear, the sound of a slap still ringing in his ears, the 'call ended' on his screen confirms Mike's worst fears. This is really happening, Santana's mother knows. Oh god, SHE KNOWS! Mike starts to breathe heavily; he needs to get to her now. He needs to see with his own eyes that she's okay. Mike dashes around the room, where are his shoes? Where did he last see them? Why didn't he clean up earlier? He could've been on his way now! Instead, he's wasting precious time looking for his stupid shoes! He finally finds them peeking out from underneath his bed; quickly throwing them on, Mike grabs his jacket and barrels down the stairs. He just gets to the bottom, while struggling with the zipper, before giving up; it doesn't matter, he'll be in the car anyways. He grabs the car keys out of the bowl before turning and bumping into his father.
"Where do you think you're going dressed like that?"
"Dad, I gotta go. Santana…" Mike says frantically as he tries to move out of his father's grasp.
"You don't even have a shirt on. Slow down! What's going on with Santana?" Mr. Chang asks. By this point his mother has come out of the kitchen after hearing all the noise.
"We were on the phone, Artie showed up screaming and now her mother knows about her and Brittany. I don't think it's gonna end well. Dad please! I need to make sure she's okay!" Mike explains, trying once again to move around his father.
"I'm not letting you go alone; I'll drive." Mr. Chang replies, taking the keys from Mike before moving to the front closet to grab their coats. Mike rubs his face in worry before a hand touches his shoulder, looking over at his mother, she gives him a strained smile.
"We'll make sure she's okay." Mrs. Chang says as she takes her coat from her husband and they all head to the car.
The drive to Santana's house is painfully quiet and seems to take twice as long as he's used to. The silence is only broken when he has to give his father directions. Mike can't help but rock his leg nervously to try and get some of his energy out, if he doesn't do something he'll probably go insane with worry. Why did Artie have to do this today? Why at her house? How did he even find out where she lived? Questions circle around in his head endlessly before his vibrating phone makes him jump. Fishing his phone out of his pocket, Mike's shoulders drop, and he tries to ignore the disappointment when he sees that it's Tina calling instead of Santana. Right before guilt sets in; he completely forgot about their date! Crap!
"Uhh, hey Tina." Mike answers.
"Where are you? I thought you would be here by now?" She asks instead of a greeting.
"I'm so sorry. An emergency came up and I completely forgot to cancel. Dad, turn up here."
"Oh…" She sighs, sounding dejected, "Well, I hope everything is okay."
"I'm really sorry. I'll call you when I can." He hopes she doesn't think he's just making an excuse to cancel at the last minute.
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye." Mike hangs up with a sigh. At the rate they're going, they'll never have a chance at a proper date. Not that he has time to worry about that right now. One problem at a time; find Santana and make sure she's okay, then worry about this love life.
"Her house is the third one down, on the left." Mike directs and his father pulls into the driveway. Before he can even finish putting the car in park, Mike jumps out and runs to the front door. Ringing the doorbell, Mike busies himself with zipping up his jacket against the chill and shivers; the temperature dropped really quickly tonight. The door opens, pulling him from his thoughts, and a grim Mr. Lopez fills the doorway.
"Hi, uh… Mr. Lopez. I'm Mike, Santana's friend, we met at the hospital. I-is she home right now?" Mike asks, suddenly nervous after seeing the imposing man.
"She doesn't live here anymore. Now get off my property." Mr. Lopez replied coldly.
"Wha-?" Mike gasps as the door is rudely slammed in his face. Wait, what!? She doesn't? His eyes widen and Mike runs back to the car.
"What did they say?" Mrs. Chang asks.
"She's not here. They kicked her out." Mike replies. He can feel the bile rise up his throat and he swallows thickly.
"What!? It's freezing outside! We're in the middle of a cold snap and it's supposed to snow later!" Mrs. Chang snaps as they pull out of the driveway.
"We'll find her. Now, tell me, where would Santana try to go?" Mr. Chang asks.
"We live the closest, so maybe she would try to go there."
"But we didn't see her on the way here." Mrs. Chang interjects.
"Santana is horrible with directions and she's only been to our house a few times." Mike looks out of the window, trying to see if he can spot her on the street but it's started to snow, as if called down by his mother's words, and there's not a lot of light. His father slowly rolls down the street, trying his best to keep an eye out as well, before coming to a stop at an intersection.
"Hmm, if she's bad at directions…" Mr. Chang mutters before turning and heading in the direction opposite of their home.
Mike focuses all of his attention out the window, his breath slowly fogging up the window. The wind has started to howl and he can feel the tension rising as the minutes keep ticking along. How long has it been since they left the house? 30-40 minutes? How long has Santana been out here in the cold? She's all alone and now suddenly homeless; this entire evening has been garbage. A dog barking catches Mike's attention, and he glances in the direction of the sound. He sees movement before a body jumps back and falls to the ground, illuminated by the streetlight; it's Santana!
"Stop the car!" Mike cries out and his father slams down on the brakes. He jumps out of the car and his father does as well.
"Santana!" Mike runs over as she looks over in his direction from the ground.
As he gets closer, he sees that she's in nothing but a thin tank top, a pair of shorts, and socks. She gets up from the snow-covered ground, shivering violently and teeth chattering as tears stream down her face. Mike's heart clenches at the sight and he reaches out to her. Santana takes his hand, and he leads her back to the car, where his father has pulled an emergency blanket from the trunk and quickly wraps Santana in it. In no time he has Santana tightly wrapped, placed in the back seat, and her wet socks removed. The speed and efficiency of his father reminded Mike that the man works in a hospital with emergency situations every day. While he was impressed, he was equally worried that Santana hadn't made a peep and allowed herself to be manipulated like a doll. Mike hops into the car as well and they continue back home.
The trip is still tense, Mike can tell that his father is pissed as his jaw hasn't unclenched since they found Santana. His mother is trying to soothe him, but Mike can tell she's just as pissed, if not more so. The silence is starting to get to him, so instead he just focuses on trying to share as much body heat with Santana as he can. This time the ride home seems shorter; maybe because Santana is safe now and he's starting to calm down. She still hasn't stopped shivering and Mike starts to wonder if maybe it's not all from the cold. He shakes the thoughts from his head as they pull into the driveway.
"Take Santana in the house and get her into the shower so she can raise her body temperature. We don't need her getting sick." Mr. Chang says quietly.
"You're not coming in?" Mike asks.
"No, we've got a bit more to do." Mr. Chang replies dangerously. Mike knows that tone. It's the tone that says it's time to shut up and do as he's told. Mike gets out and quickly leads Santana into the house. In the light, now that he can truly see her, Santana looks worse than he thought. Her eyes are red and puffy from her crying and her face is red from the wind and the cold.
"The shower is upstairs, um… I can let you borrow some of my clothes so you can change." Mike says, trying to break the silence. Santana still hasn't said a word, hasn't looked at him, hasn't reacted since he first found her. That's… worrying, extremely worrying. He takes her hand and carefully leads her up the stairs to the bathroom.
"Here's fresh towels to use." Mike says awkwardly as he pulls down the towels from the linen closet. "I'll go get you a change of clothes."
Still, nothing. She's just standing blankly in the middle of the bathroom, wrapped in the blanket, still shivering. Mike hurries to his room, pulls out a t-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts before coming back to the bathroom. He places the clothes with the towels. He faces Santana and unwraps the blanket from around her, revealing her soaking wet clothes that are clinging to her like a second skin. She continues to stare blankly at the ground and is completely unresponsive.
"Santana, please. You need to get warm, or you'll get sick. I-I'll be right across the hall, that's my room, remember? If you need anything just tell me." He takes the blanket with him as he leaves the bathroom and closes the door.
Minutes pass and he stands there, in the silence, uncomfortable. There's been no movement, no sound from inside; not even a whimper. What is he gonna do if she doesn't move? What should he do? Just as he was about to knock on the door, the sound of running water comes from inside as the shower starts. Mike sighs; that's at least a start and he heads back to his room. He kicks off his shoes and lays on the bed. Mike doesn't know how long he's laid there, staring at the ceiling, before he notices a presence by his bed. Santana is there, freshly showered and changed. His clothes are so big on her it looks like she's drowning in them.
"Um…" What does one say at this moment? Are you hungry? Sorry your parents are shit? Do you wanna sleep? What? Plus, she still hasn't said anything!
Mike sits up trying to think of something and Santana continues to stand there quietly. No long shivering but seemingly not quite all there. Her eyes are distant, out of focus and it scares Mike down to his core. He's never seen someone look like this. Right as the moment starts to get even more awkward than it already is, he hears the front door open and nearly cries out in relief. He grabs Santana's hand and they both head downstairs to meet his parents. Mike can tell immediately from his parent's faces that things haven't gone how they wanted. His father's jaw is still tightly clenched, and his eyes look hard as steel. His mother looks downright livid, and her movements are sharp as she puts their coats away.
"Santana." Mr. Chang calls to her, his face apologetic, and Santana slowly turns to look at him; it's the strongest reaction she's had so far.
"I'm sorry, we couldn't even get them to speak to us let alone budge on the issue." Mr. Chang says sorrowfully.
The statement is like a blow to the gut; his throat tightens and his breath catches. It's enough to make him want to fall over and Mike's not even the one getting kicked out. He can't imagine how Santana is feeling right now. It's the sharp intake of breath that alerts him first before his mother dashes forward and catches Santana as her legs give out. Mike reaches out to stabilize them and help his mother move the both of them over to the couch as the first sobs begin to rack Santana's body. It doesn't take long before her sobs turn into wails as her grief slams into all of them. His heart tears to shreds for his friend and the injustice she has to go through; tears well up in his eyes before Mike forcibly blinks them away. Santana clings desperately at his mother as she hugs her tightly, silently crying herself.
Mike has to turn away, it's too much, it's too big. Her wails reminded him of his grandfather's funeral, his grandmother had cried like this then as well; her grief too massive to be contained. The image of his grandmother clinging desperately to his grandfather's body as the most inhuman sounds came from her, as if ripped from her very soul, has always stuck with him. This too is going to haunt him. He looks over to his father, who's fists are clenched tightly, and Mike watches as he looks up to the ceiling, closes his eyes and takes a deep breath; only a single tear giving away his feelings. When he's brought his head back down, his father has managed to collect himself and wipes the tear away before he leans over to kiss his mother on her head. Mike has seen his parents silently communicate before and his mother seems to have drawn some strength from the action. His father straightens back up and turns to him.
"Let's go get the guest room set up for her." Mike swallows thickly and nods before following his father. In the guest room it's a lot quieter and it's the first time Mike truly feels himself start to breathe. Looking around he notices that nothing really needs to be done; they haven't had any overnight guests in a while so the room is perfect.
"I thought you could use a break; it looked like you needed one." Mr. Chang said suddenly.
"I- yeah." Mike replies quietly, looking down in shame.
"It's normal, this has been hard on everyone so don't feel bad for needing a break to recharge."
Mike nods and blinks rapidly, trying to fight off the tears. He tries to take a deep breath, but he just can't seem to pull in enough air, he tries again, not even realizing he's starting to hyperventilate before his father pulls him into a hug. It's like something snaps; all the sadness, anger, and confusion come rushing out and his father just holds him as he falls apart. It's so unfair, no one deserves this, and he couldn't even do anything about it. Just remembering Santana's unresponsiveness from earlier makes the tears flow harder.
"It's okay. Let it all out now, so that when she needs you, you'll be able to stand strong." His father soothes and Mike can feel himself starting to calm down.
His dad is right; he can't feel down forever. Santana is gonna need all the help she can get, and he plans to be there for her in any way he can. Some time passes before Mike feels calm enough to return to Santana and his mother. By now, Santana has cried herself out and is still in his mother's arms, slightly dozing off.
"Let's get you to bed." Mrs. Chang says, her voice soft, barely above a whisper. Santana sniffs a few times but slowly nods. Her whole body is loose, like all her bones have disappeared and she struggles to get up; Mike rushes over to give her a hand.
Standing up, Santana leans on him heavily but Mike handles it without complaint and gently leads Santana to the guest room, or rather he guesses, her room now. His father helps his mother up and they both head to the kitchen. Mike highly doubts there will be anyone in that family who would take her in, and his parents most definitely aren't gonna kick her out. Walking into the room, Mike helps Santana over to the bed and watches as she gets under the covers and gets settled. When he moves to step away her hand shoots out and grabs his; she doesn't say anything, but he gets the message loud and clear. He sits on the bed next to her and stays with her until she can't keep her eyes open any longer. Once he feels that she's dozed off, Mike gets up and turns out the light on his way out. He was almost out of the room before the first fearful whimper reached his ears and Mike paused. He had completely forgotten; the light, Santana can't be in the dark.
"Sorry, sorry." Mike mumbles as he flips the light back on, revealing a frightened Santana with the cover pulled up to her eyes. He walks over to the closet and turns the light on there before heading back to Santana. He sits with her again and makes sure she's fully asleep before leaving the room. Mike then heads downstairs to the kitchen to check up on his parents.
"What a pair of ignorant, nasty, hateful people! They're lucky they didn't let us in, I would've hit that bitch in her mouth! 'If you want her you can take her'. Well I will take her! Rotten bitch … the nerve of some people. How can you say that about your own child?!" Mike hears his mother rant as he reaches the bottom of the stairs.
"I understand your rage dear, but we can't fully focus on Santana if I have to bail you out of jail." Mr. Chang replies as Mike walks into the kitchen and they both turn to him. His parents are sitting at the kitchen table, an open wine bottle between them and his mother's glass is half empty.
"How is she?" Mrs. Chang asks as Mike takes a seat at the table.
"She's finally fallen asleep. I would've been down here faster, but I forgot she's afraid of the dark, so she was frightened back awake when I turned out the light."
"She's afraid of the dark? At this age?" Mr. Chang asks and Mike nods.
"I see, that explains why the closet light was on the last time she spent the night." Mrs. Chang comments.
Mr. Chang sighs, "What we need to think about now is our immediate plan. Right now, she has no clothes to wear. So most definitely a shopping trip is needed."
"I'm also worried about how this has affected her. We might want to also bring up therapy. I can't imagine how traumatic being disowned is." Mrs. Chang says as she takes another sip of her wine.
"Hmm. We can throw the option to her tomorrow. Do you think she would be receptive to the idea?"
"I don't know." Mike answers honestly.
Mr. Chang hums in thought, "Well, we'll focus on getting the necessities for right now. We can worry about the rest when Santana is at least feeling a little more verbal. Head to bed, it's been a long night for all of us and we have a lot to do tomorrow."
Mike nods, gives his parents a hug and makes his way to bed. In the morning, he wakes feeling exhausted. Mike rolls over as the sun shines annoyingly in his face and he wishes that he could just get a few more minutes of rest before his brain fully wakes up. He starts to doze back off before the events from last night catch up with him; yesterday was real, it wasn't some horrible nightmare. Santana really was kicked out of her home and is now living with them. The thought causes Mike to hop out of bed and quickly make his way to the bedroom next to his. There, in the middle of the bed curled up into a ball, lies Santana who briefly glances at him before going back to blankly staring at the wall. Mike takes a breath before slowly approaching and sitting on the bed next to her. The silence is so thick and oppressive that it feels suffocating; it's so much worse than yesterday now that it's had time to fester.
"I kept hoping that it wasn't real." Santana says quietly, nearly making Mike jump. "I was just hoping it was some fucked up nightmare but no matter how many times I close my eyes, I'm still here."
"Santana…" Mike starts but is at a loss for words; at least now she's talking.
"I shouldn't be surprised. I guess now they don't have to have to argue over who gets 'stuck' with the kid." She continues and angrily wipes away a few more tears that have fallen. It's quick but Mike catches it; that look, and it terrifies him. If he wasn't already looking at her, he would've missed it. Santana closes her eyes and sighs deeply.
"I- I don't know if anything I say can truly make you feel better but… you're not alone, okay? You have people in your corner, and it may not feel like it right now, but it will get better." Mike says in an attempt to comfort her. It's enough to get a corner of Santana's mouth to twitch and, given the circumstances, Mike will take it as a win.
There's a knock on the door and Mike looks over to see his father standing there, "Breakfast is ready you two."
"Okay, we'll be down." Mike replies and Mr. Chang nods before leaving the room.
"I'm not hungry." Santana mumbles.
"That's…understandable but please try? Please? For me?" Mike doesn't truly expect Santana to eat anything, but he at least wants her to get out of bed. If he leaves her here, she might not ever leave the bed.
"Okay." Santana sighs and they both head downstairs together. His father is already at the table and has started on his plate. As he and Santana sit down, his mother comes over and places their plates down in front of them. Mike glances at Santana and she's staring at the plate as if a mountain of food was just placed in front of her.
"It's okay if you don't finish but please try to at least eat half of it. I just need to make sure you're eating." Mrs. Chang soothes while rubbing Santana's shoulders. She makes a show of eating a forkful of egg and his mother smiles.
Santana swallows, "I… wanted to say thank you… f-for taking me in. I'm sorry for the trouble."
"It's no trouble at all. We have more than enough space, so you'll always have a home here." Mrs. Chang replies. Santana tearfully smiles before continuing with her food.
(-)
Later that day, Mike sits on a bench outside of, yet another, clothing store and is surrounded by bags. It's been two hours and he's lost track of how many stores they've gone to. It's like his mother is determined to visit every shop in this mall; Santana herself hasn't been any help, as once she got into shopping, she was easily distracted from the reason why they needed to go shopping in the first place. He understands that this needs to be done because Santana needs clothes but there's a limit to his patience. Mike sighs and rubs his face in frustration.
"If you look any sadder, you'd look like a kicked puppy." Mike's eye's shoot open to see a smiling Kurt walking over with Mercedes following behind him.
"Kurt!" Mike jumps up and gives him a hug, "You're back!"
"Yeah, my dad needed some help around the shop." Kurt explained.
"Who'd you get stuck carrying bags for?" Mercedes asks, sipping on an iced coffee.
Mike sighs, "My mom, she's been here for about two hours now."
"Your mom's shopping at Forever 21?" Kurt asks, critically eyeing over the bags with a raised eyebrow. Mike's heart starts to race; trust Kurt to be super perceptive when it comes to fashion.
"I-It's for my cousin. She has a birthday coming up soon." Mike answers, a bit more shakily than he would've liked. He glances over to the store to see if his mother is done and catches sight of an anxious Santana looking his way.
"Speaking of which, it looks like she's finishing up. I should get going." Mike says as he starts to collect the bags.
"Oh, for sure, don't let us hold you up." Mercedes says.
"It was nice seeing you." Kurt adds. Mike waves farewell and wanders over to his mother, who's in the middle of finishing up her transaction. Santana walks over to him and grabs a few of the bags.
"What did those two want?" Santana asks, eyeing the duo as they continue further into the mall before disappearing in the crowd.
"Nothing, just saying hello."
"Alright you two, I don't know about you but I'm positively famished. Should we get some food from the food court?" Mrs. Chang asks. Mike's stomach answers for him before he gets the chance to and Santana laughs.
"Look, I am hungry, this is true, but can I stop off at a store myself?" Mike asks, nudging Santana who's still giggling.
"Sure, meet up at the food court? I know finding seating can be pretty hard at this time of day."
"Yeah, I should be pretty quick." Mike smiles before he runs off. He knows exactly where he wants to go and finds the closest toy store.
The money he had in his wallet was meant to be spent on his date but since that didn't happen, Mike's thought of another good use for it. It's upsetting that Santana lost all of her belongings, including the stuffed rabbit he'd gotten her for Christmas. Mike might not be able to fix any of the incredibly broken things in her life, but he can at least give her a new stuffed animal. Wandering down an aisle, he notices a lone brown teddy bear lying on a shelf alongside several action figures. It has a simple design with a large turquoise bow around its neck. Mike picks it up and the bear is a lot bigger than it seemed on the shelf; around 16 inches. This would be a perfect replacement for the one she lost. He hurries to purchase it and goes to meet his mother and Santana at the food court.
(-)
Later that night, after dinner, Mike digs out the bag with the stuffed bear he had hidden in his room. It's been enough time for everyone to have settled in their respective areas and Mike makes his way to Santana's room and knocks on the open door to get her attention. She's on the bed fiddling with the new phone she'd gotten today; it's an actual smartphone and he can't help but feel a little jealous.
"What's up?" She asks, finally putting the phone down.
"Nothing really." Mike says nonchalantly as he joins her on the bed opposite of her. He places the bag casually on his lap and smiles when she eyes the bag curiously.
"...What's that? You're being weird."
"Oh? I'm being weird? Maybe I won't show you." Mike sniffs and turns away playfully.
"Miiiikkee." Santana whines and nudges his shoulder. He laughs and turns back to her.
"Well… It's not exactly the rabbit you had before…" Mike starts and Santana's eyes light up. He pulls the teddy bear out of the bag and Santana gasps.
"You really didn't have to do that." Santana says.
"I wanted to. It's not much but I hope it can bring you some comfort." Mike replies as makes the bear dance in front of her. She giggles and reaches for it. He passes it along and she hugs it tightly.
"Thank you. Thank you so much, I love it."
(-)
The rest of the weekend flies by and before he knows it Monday has arrived. Mike groans as his alarm goes off and sluggishly goes through his morning routine. He's halfway done when he realizes; he's got more time now. Now that Santana is living with them, he doesn't have to get up early anymore. He can actually sleep in for another 20 minutes. Mike sits on his bed, slightly at a loss on what to do with the extra time he has now. He guesses he should at least adjust his alarm going forward. This is gonna take longer to adjust to than he originally thought.
"You wake up too early too?" Santana asks quietly, peeking in from the doorway.
"Yeah." Mike pats the spot on the bed next to him and she fully steps into the room to join him.
"Are you sure you wanna go in today? I'm pretty sure my parents will call you out if you want."
Santana sighs and fiddles with her hands, "They already offered but I turned them down. I just don't wanna be stuck here alone and in my head."
"I get it. If you need a break at any point today just tell me, I'll take you home." Santana gives him a small smile and nods.
"Kids! Breakfast!" Mrs. Chang calls from downstairs; breaking the moment. They both get up and head down to the kitchen. They're greeted by the sight of his mother rushing around the kitchen, their plates are already on the table and she's in the process of packing her lunch and work bag.
"Your father got called in for an emergency, so we're heading in early. Santana, are you sure you want to go in today?" Mrs. Chang asks, and she pauses to give Santana her full attention.
"Yeah…I-I'm sure." Santana says but she doesn't look very confident.
"If you want to take off, just let us know. I'll call you out for the week if needed. Do you have everything needed for school?"
"Yes, I have everything."
"Ok good. I have to get going, you two have a good day at school." Mrs. Chang gives Santana a hug and she's momentarily thrown off guard at the sudden affection before returning the hug. She hurries over to give Mike a hug before grabbing her back and rushing out the door.
(-)
The day has blessedly had mercy on them and passed fairly quickly, or maybe, it just feels that way after the absolute nightmare of the weekend. Things have been good so far and he hasn't received any SOS from Santana; hopefully it stays that way. Mike makes his way to his locker to put away his books before lunch only to find Tina there waiting for him. Crap! He'd totally forgotten all about her this weekend and he hasn't come up with an explanation that won't expose Santana. Mike takes a steadying breath and walks over.
"Hey Tina." Mike greets and leans over for a kiss. She offers her cheek instead but at least it shows that she's not mad.
"What happened Friday? You had me worried when I never heard back from you." Tina asks, getting straight to the point.
Of course she would, who wouldn't? Especially given the way that last phone call went. What does he say? He can't just blurt out that Santana was kicked out on the streets. That she could've froze to death because they couldn't even spare the decency to let her put a coat on. The memories make him tense as his mind flashes back to that night.
"I- ugh." Mike starts roughly. Jesus, was that his voice? He coughs to clear his throat.
"You don't have to talk about it if it's too much." Tina says quickly, her face full of concern, "Don't force it Mike, you can talk about it when you're ready."
Mike is extremely grateful for Tina's words and pulls her into a hug; he can feel how tense she's become. This is his fault, he made Tina this worried all because he couldn't keep it together. It didn't even happen to him, why is he getting choked up like this? Mike holds Tina for a little longer before letting go so she could go to class. Mike sighs again and puts his books away.
"You ready? I'm hungry." Santana pouts as she walks over.
"Yeah." Mike says as he closes up his locker and they start down the hall.
"Was Tina mad? I know you guys were supposed to have gone on a date…before… everything."
"She wasn't mad. I think I made it pretty obvious that serious stuff went down. I mean, she asked about it but didn't push for any answers." Mike explains.
"Oh. I… I think we should tell her."
"What?"
"I mean, it's gonna be pretty hard to hide this right? She's your girlfriend, she already knows something is up, and what if she comes over? Am I supposed to just hide away like some fugitive?" Santana sighs and crosses her arms.
"I could just not invite her over." Mike throws out.
"Mike." Santana glances at his hopeful face and rolls her eyes, "Just… give her the cliff notes version, okay?"
"Yeah, okay." Mike takes Santana's hand and gives it a supportive squeeze, "Thanks."
"Okay okay, enough being sad and emotional." Santana sniffs and Mike lets go of her hand. She shakes her arms out, trying to perk herself up; her forced smile is awkward and looks out of place. Mike doesn't point it out though since she's really giving it her all.
Santana glances behind him and does a double take, "The hobbit just dragged her lumbering giant into the choir room."
"Huh?"
"Shhh… let's go." Santana grabs him and creeps toward the open door to spy on Finn and Rachel inside.
Mike is happy that Santana found a distraction, but he would much rather be eating right now. They can't even really hear the conversation; it's probably not even important. Mike's attention starts to wane from boredom before Brad starts to play the piano. Oh, she's going to sing. Did they happen upon some weird romantic moment? He doesn't wanna see that. Mike doesn't immediately recognize the song and it takes a few seconds for him to realize that it's an original song. It only takes a few lines to understand that the song is absolutely terrible. He tries desperately to hold in his laughter before Finn mercifully stops her. He and Santana make a run for it before they lose the battle with their laughter. When they make it to the cafeteria they burst out in laughter.
"What the hell was that song? She can't think she's winning anything with that, let alone a competition." Santana laughs out while she wipes tears from her eyes. Mike just continues to laugh as they grab their trays and food before joining Sam at their usual table.
"What's so funny?" Sam asks.
"Rachel's attempt at an original song." Mike answers before taking a bite of his pizza.
"Absolutely priceless. She would've killed the entire audience from laughter." Santana laughs before turning to Mike, "Did you notice Quinn lurking around and watching them like some creepy stalker?"
"What? She was there?" Sam asks.
"Maybe she was there for the same reason we were." Mike says.
Santana scoffs, "Oh please, she only stalks those two when she's up to something."
Sam groans and draws both of their attention, "She's still focused on him? Maybe our plan worked out too well, she hasn't so much as even looked at me."
"I honestly don't understand what she sees in him. Maybe because he's so dull, she figures he'll be easy pickings?" Santana says with a shrug before continuing,
"We could always break up. She might look your way if you're a free agent again. I say leave trash where it is, but you can do what you want."
"I… I don't know. Do you think it'll work?" Sam asks hopefully.
"Do you really want a girl who's already cheated on you?" Mike asks, this is clearly a bad idea, but the heart wants what it wants, he guesses.
"We got off to a rocky start, but I really like her. I think we could make it work if Quinn wanted to give it a try." Sam says earnestly and Mike just sighs.
"So, are we doing this?" Santana asks, pushing the food around on her plate.
"Yeah, yeah… but how should we do it?"
"You just leave that to me. I'll even take a page out of Rachel's book and do it in a song, except it'll actually be good."
"Please don't." Sam sighs out before curiosity gets the better of him, "Was it really that bad?"
"Literally anyone could write a better song. Just you wait, I already have ideas."
"No, please no. No song." Sam pleads
"Too late. This is already happening." Sam gives up and sighs in defeat. Mike would've had pity for him, but he really did walk right into it.
(-)
Now's the time, the hardest part of the day and the real challenge: glee club. Everything's gone fine because Santana and Artie don't have any classes together; there's no real chance of them interacting with one another. Right now, though, anything can happen, and Mike finds himself becoming anxious. He can't help but remember Tina's warning about how petty and vindictive Artie can be when crossed, hell that was proven this past weekend when he went all the way to Santana's HOUSE just to scream at her for sleeping with his girlfriend. Mike wonders how those two have handled that situation; they clearly haven't broken up as he saw them walking in the halls together. Mike is pulled from his thoughts as he notices Santana further down the hall, hesitating not far from the choir room. He runs over and touches her shoulder, making her slightly jump.
"Sorry, you okay?" He asks, slowly removing his hand.
"Yeah… just…I-I didn't want to go in alone." She says quietly and if he wasn't right next to her, he probably wouldn't have heard her.
"Well, I'm here now so let's go in." They round the corner to make the last stretch to the choir room, only to notice Brittany and Artie near the door, several feet in front of them. Brittany is the first to notice them and runs over, Artie follows.
"Hey!" Brittany says joyfully, smiling brightly at the both of them. Her demeanor clashes against the general mood of the group and it's obvious that she doesn't know anything. Not that he expected Santana to tell her anything but it's still awkward. How can she just casually talk to the person she cheated on her boyfriend with, right in front of said boyfriend? Especially after telling him she cheated.
"Hey Brit." Mike greets after Santana stays silent. She makes no attempt to hide the fact that she doesn't want to speak with Brittany, and she eventually gets the hint. Brittany's smile falls as Santana continues to ignore her before she walks away like a kicked puppy. Artie watches her go silently before rolling over to them.
Santana bristles, "What the fuck do you want?"
"Oh nothing, I just hope you had a nice weekend." His tone is light and polite but the smirk on his face is downright poisonous. He doesn't even wait for a response before heading into the choir room.
The true meaning behind his words slams into Mike like a truck. He did it on purpose! He knows exactly what he did that night! Mike swallows thickly and a sick, rotten, heavy feeling fills his chest, it feels tight, like something is squeezing his lungs, trying to crush them. He clenches his fist tightly and his vision starts to go hazy as he tries to breathe past it. He… he wants to hit something. Images of breaking Artie's nose flash in his mind, his muscles contracting with the impulse. THAT MOTHERFUCKER!
Mike takes several deep breaths to try and calm himself before glancing over to Santana. She's completely frozen, eyes wide and rooted to the vacant spot where Artie was last. He notices immediately that she isn't breathing. Shit! He steps in front of her and grabs her shoulders.
"Santana!" Mike says urgently while shaking her, becoming more frantic when she doesn't immediately respond.
"Santana breathe!"
It takes a few more shakes before she snaps out of it and takes a sudden breath. She looks at him before shooting off in the opposite direction away from the choir room. Mike takes off after her, nearly knocking into a bewildered band member, before finally catching up to Santana around the corner. The halls have thankfully emptied out by this point so they're alone as Santana throws herself at him in tears. Mike wraps his arms around her as tightly as possible.
"We don't have to stay. We can just go; you don't have to be in there with him. Forget glee, we can just go home." Mike says into her hair as she continues to cry on his shoulder. He can feel his shirt starting to dampen from her tears and all it does is fuel the rage burning inside him. Santana cries a bit longer before she calms enough to pull away.
"Let's just go." Mike repeats.
"I…I don't… I don't want to go in there b-but what if…" Santana wipes away more tears, "What if I never go back? If I walk away now, I-I don't know if I could go back."
"But-"
"I don't want him to win! You know how much I love glee! …. I …he's already taken so much from me; I don't want him to take glee as well." Santana admits and Mike internally groans; he can't bring himself to argue with her. This is her choice and all he can do is support her through it.
"Okay, I'm with you." Santana smiles briefly at his words and, together, they walk back to the choir room to start glee. They're the last ones to show up and Mike does his best to ignore Artie's smirk as he and Santana take their seats.
"Alright, now that everyone is here, Quinn, you said you had something to say? The floor is yours." Mr. Shue says as he starts the meeting. Quinn rises up and stands in front of the group.
"Well, as I've had some more time to think about it. I think we should revisit the topic of doing original songs for regionals." Rachel immediately perks up with a gasp and there are a few groans from others.
"I knew she was up to something." Santana mumbles under her breath.
"Look, I know we voted but think about it. When has Coach Sylvester ever NOT betrayed us? Are you 100% comfortable with her knowing our top number for the competition? Plus, the other songs we're considering? Because I'm not. She's leaked our setlist before, who's to say she won't do it again?" Quinn finishes: taking the time to look around the room to set her point home.
"And who exactly is going to write these songs? Anybody here even know how to write a song? Let alone one good enough for a competition?" Santana snarks out; her poor mood evident in her demeanor.
Quinn frowns, "The judges aren't looking for songs of lyrical genius. They're judging our vocals, dancing and how well it fits the theme. As long as we do that, everything else should be easy."
"I agree with Quinn. If we all work together there's no way, we wouldn't be able to come up with something." Rachel speaks up.
"I've heard your attempts at songwriting Rachel and…" There's a long, obvious pause and Mike catches a peculiar look on Santana's face before she continues, "Never mind, I won't say anything."
"Somehow, you not saying anything hurts so much worse." Rachel grumbles.
"Anyways," Mr. Shue interjects, glossing over Rachel's comment, "What's everyone thinking? Do we give this a shot?"
"When you put it like that, you're right, I don't trust that woman. I'm in." Mercedes says and Quinn smiles. One by one more people agree to work on original songs for regionals; much to Rachel's joy.
"There you have it. We'll be doing original songs. I have a few pointers I can give, and we'll spend this week working on practice songs before attempting the real thing." Mr. Shue says, and they get down to work.
(-)
The ride home was quiet as Mike spent the time ruminating on events from earlier. He's really not happy with Artie; the boy's actions are completely disgusting. To purposely out someone as some sort of petty revenge is ridiculous. Mike shakes his head, did Artie even fully think about the potential consequences? What if Santana's parents hadn't kicked her out but did something worse. He doesn't even want to entertain the thought. Santana shifts in her seat and sighs.
"Can we just pretend today didn't happen?"
"If that's what you want. I still say we could always just skip glee this week." Mike replies.
"No… not after they decided to do this stupid original song thing. Reginals are in a month, we're gonna need all the time we can get to work on that, we can't suddenly be short two people. I wanna actually win this year."
"Okay….I seriously wanted to hit him though." Mike mumbles as he pulls into the driveway and Santana giggles. Walking through the door, they're greeted by his father who is sitting on the couch watching the news.
"Welcome home, how was school?" Mr. Chang asks.
"It was good." Santana replies quickly before Mike could answer. He blinks at her before nodding his head in agreement. She really was serious about forgetting the rocky start to glee.
"That's good to hear." Mr. Chang nods and turns to Mike, "Your mother is at the grocery store, she's making stir fry tonight."
"Yes." Mike celebrates happily.
"Does that work for you Santana?" Mr. Chang asks as Santana walks toward the stairs.
"Yeah. I've never had it before, but I don't have any allergies."
"Good to know. Also, if you need help with your homework just ask."
"Okay."
Santana heads upstairs and Mike heads to the kitchen to get some water and a small snack. He grabs a few apple slices and Nutella before joining his father in the living room. He watches the news in silence; just enjoying the atmosphere and being able to have some time with his father. About ten minutes later, Santana comes down carrying her textbook, notebook and a calculator. She's also changed her clothes into her loungewear.
Mr. Chang looks over, "Math?"
"I…I can't get it." Santana says quietly as she looks to the ground. Mike knows just how much of a sensitive topic this is to her.
"Ok, let's go through it together." Mr. Chang says calmly.
He stands from the couch and leads Santana to the dining room table. Mike can still see them from his position on the couch and he takes the chance to spread out and get comfortable. He doesn't have a lot of assignments today so he can get away with being a little lazy. He grabs the remote and turns on some action film and mindlessly watches it.
His mother comes home a few minutes later and Mike lazily waves in greeting. She walks over and light slaps his leg.
"Go do your homework. What does it look like with Santana working so hard while you laze away on the couch?" Mrs. Chang huffs.
Mike groans but he gets up and goes to grab his bookbag. Since all of his things are down here with him, Mike decides to join Santana and his father at the table. His father is patiently going over an equation, but Santana already looks frustrated and near her limit. His mother comes in and gives quick hugs, so as not to disrupt.
"Just take it one step at a time, there's no rush. Don't worry about forgetting a step, I have them written out right here." Mr. Chang says.
Santana silently works on her assigned problem. There are several starts and stops before there's more stops than starts as Santana becomes more frustrated.
"I can't! I don't get it!" Santana vents in frustration as she throws her pencil down and covers her face.
"You can, it just takes a little longer and that's okay. Look, you were right there. Everything is correct, just one last step needed." Mr. Chang points out. It takes Santana a moment to calm and after a few deep breaths, she pulls away her hands.
"Look, right here, what tripped you up? Let's work through it together."
"The fractions. I can't figure it out." Santana replies quietly.
"Okay. Multiplying fractions can be hard. I'll show you and write down each step so you can see it, okay?" Santana takes a shuddering breath before nodding.
They work through the problem together and Mike releases a breath he didn't know he was holding. He has to admit he was a little worried about how things would go. Seeing his father patiently walk Santana through the process and handle everything, warms his heart. Having an adult tell her that she can actually do the work is going to help immensely. Instead of before, when every mistake was used to tear her down. Santana gets through two more problems before his father gives her a break.
"I do wonder, what ever happened with the testing I helped you set up?" Mrs. Chang asks as she comes from the kitchen, passing Santana some water.
Santana gratefully accepts and takes a drink, "The doctor said I have something called… dys- uh… dyscalculia. I've never heard of it before."
Mike blinks: that was certainly a mouthful. He's also never heard of it.
"What's that?" he blurts out.
"Simply, it's a math learning disability. I'm oversimplifying it but it does impact one's ability with numbers and time." Mr. Chang answers.
"So, don't ever believe that you're stupid Santana. Your brain is just wired a little differently." Mrs. Chang says and Mike nods in understanding.
"Has the school given you any accommodations after your diagnosis?" Mr. Chang asks.
Santana frowns in confusion, "They do that?"
"Yes, did your parents not set that up for you?"
Santana winces, "No. They didn't even believe the test result. My mo- …she said I was going too far to make excuses."
Mike picks up immediately on how Santana tripped up on the word 'mom' and based on his parent's faces, they caught it as well. Something so small, showing just how deep her pain truly runs.
"But I don't have that paper anymore. Will I actually be able to get that? Would the school still help or or-" Santana panics.
"It's okay. You don't have to worry about that, just let us handle it okay." Mrs. Chang says. She sits in the chair next to Santana and pulls her into a hug. Santana immediately accepts the hug and clings tightly. Mike grips his pen tightly. Everything about this really is too unfair.
(-)
The next day comes a lot faster than Mike was ready for. Monday seemed like it would pass by in the blink of an eye, on the other hand, Tuesday is crawling painstakingly slowly. Embodying just how little he actually wants to be here today. All of yesterday's drama just compounding on top of everything else and Mike can feel the beginnings of a headache trying to take root. Mercifully, the bell rings signaling the end of class and the beginning of his lunch period. He packs up his things and quickly makes his way to his lockers, only to find Santana already there waiting.
"You look miserable." Santana notes as soon as Mike walks up.
"I just have a bit of a headache. Food should help, it's nothing serious." Mike throws out when he sees the look of concern on Santana's face.
"Poor thing, let's feed you and hope the school food doesn't finish you off." She quips as he puts his books away and they walk to the cafeteria. It doesn't take long to get food and sit at their usual table; Sam is already there and waiting.
"So, tell me you weren't serious yesterday." Sam says as soon as they sit.
"About us breaking up? Did you not want to?" Santana asks.
"No, about the song."
"Oh! Yeah no, that's most definitely a thing. I worked on it last night." She comments blithely and Sam groans. Mike raises an eyebrow. When did she manage that? She wasn't left alone until after dinner. Did she really make an entire song in that short of a time?
"Look, I'll sing it in glee today and just pretend to be unimpressed or something."
"...If you say so." Sam sighs, finally giving up and dropping the subject.
(-)
Glee comes around quickly, and Mike sits in the risers next to both Sam and Santana, the latter of which seems pretty giddy, as he glares holes in the back of Artie's head. Artie is chatting happily with Brittany and Mercedes like he didn't purposely destroy Santana's life. Mike's head throbs painfully and he closes his eyes; the headache is back and turning into a migraine. Just great. He sighs and rubs his brow. This day just needs to be over already; the pain is really starting to affect his mood. Mr. Shue comes in a few minutes later and starts the meeting.
"Alright guys, we're going to continue our songwriting bootcamp. If anyone has had any inspiration since yesterday, I would love to hear what you've come up with."
"Mr. Shue, is it okay if Quinn and I work on a song together? By ourselves?" Rachel asks and Mike's eyebrows shoot up. What an odd pairing; he highly doubts it'll work out for long.
"Okay, sure. I have no problem with that. I can't wait to see what you two come up with." Mr. Shue says with a smile after recovering from his own shock. Santana then raises her hand.
"I have a little something."
"Alright! Come on down!" Mr. Shue says excitedly. Santana hops up and makes her way to the front.
"The name of this song is called Trouty Mouth." Santana announces and Sam's face drops. Mike stares at her in disbelief, catching himself before his jaw could drop.
Santana turns to Brad and gives the signal for the music to start. Smooth jazz tones fill the room and Mike honestly didn't expect this genre. The arrangement doesn't sound bad, but the title has him on edge; he can guess just from the title what the song is about and if he'd known he would've stopped her. The song itself isn't bad, catchy even, but Sam's face is darkening more and more as the song goes on. Before Santana can finish, Sam jumps up and storms out of the room, causing everything to come to an abrupt end. The room is so silent you could hear a pin drop before it's broken by a quiet chuckle from Artie. Santana sneers at him before running after Sam.
"Woooow, who could've seen that reaction coming?" Artie says sarcastically and others start to laugh, "I mean, if that's how she treats her boyfriend who needs enemies, am I right?"
Mike takes a deep breath to control his irritation and turns to Tina, "Can you send me the notes later."
"Sure." Tina replies. She looks a bit confused, but Mike just kisses her on the cheek and doesn't explain. His migraine makes him feel like his head is in a vice grip and he's over everything. He grabs his and Santana's things and leaves the room. Outside, Mike sees that Sam and Santana have made it to the far end of the hall; it doesn't look too good, so he hurries over.
"I know you were trying to find a way for us to break up, well congratulations, you just made it really easy." Mike hears Sam snap as he comes within hearing distance.
"I'm sorry. It was just supposed to be a joke." Santana apologizes.
"WELL, IT WASN'T FUCKING FUNNY!" Sam yells, taking an aggressive step forward, getting into Santana's personal space. Santana flinches and takes a fearful step back, but Sam follows.
"Hey!" Mike warns and glares at Sam as he nears the two. Santana runs over to him and Mike steps in front of her. Sam looks at him and huffs. He runs his hand through his hair and looks away.
"Look, we're done. Don't talk to me for a while." He doesn't wait for a response and walks away.
"Sam, wait." Santana starts but he gives her a nasty glare and the words die in her throat. Sam continues back to the choir room, leaving the two of them in an awkward silence.
"Shit. I fucked up." Santana says quietly. Mike turns to her, and she's crossed her arms, trying to hold herself and blink away tears.
"...It was pretty mean." Even he can't bring himself to give Santana a pass this time. To make an entire song making fun of someone's appearance is pretty cruel by anyone's standards; especially if they didn't agree to it.
At his gentle rebuke, Santana loses the battle with her tears, "I didn't mean to hurt him like that. I wanted to apologize but…"
"Just give him some time to cool off. He's too heated right now to hear anything." Mike soothes.
"C-can we just go home? I can't-" Santana asks; her voice sounding small and the most broken it's been since that horrible night. Right now, she just looks defeated, and he can tell that she's done.
"Sure, let's go."
When they get home, Santana immediately runs upstairs and closes herself up in her room. Mike decides to give her some space, especially since his migraine is not letting up and has drained him of all his energy. He decides to take some painkillers and lay down; painkillers that aren't in their usual spot. Mike searches through the medicine cabinet one more time before giving up. He stands up too quickly and gets dizzy; he really needs to lay down. There's a part of him that's worried about not being able to find the pills but he can't jump to conclusions. Mike lays in his bed and holds his head. He'll just rest for a moment and hopefully the migraine will relent enough to search again.
(-)
The next morning, Mike awakens from a loud knocking on his door. Mike pops up and notices the sun shining brightly through the window. When did he fall asleep? On top of that he slept through the whole night. He sighs, at least his migraine is gone, so at least some good has come out of yesterday. Mike looks over at his phone and notices that it's dead. Crap. He plugs it in and hopes it has enough time to charge before they need to leave.
Santana knocks again, "Wake up! Did you sleep through your alarm?"
Mike runs over to the door. Opening it reveals Santana standing there with a different outfit from yesterday, confirming that it's a new day.
"I forgot to charge my phone." Mike says with a yawn.
"Well, we still have like an hour, but you need to hurry up."
Now that he's starting to wake up, Mike notices just how drained Santana actually looks; she clearly did not get a good night's sleep. Honestly, he probably looks the same. Despite sleeping for as long as he did, he doesn't feel the least bit energized.
"Not gonna lie, you look like you could use a break." Mike points out.
"I still felt bad about Sam so I couldn't sleep. I need to fix things with him. I… I don't want him to hate me." Santana replies quietly.
"I don't think he hates you. He just needs time."
Santana sighs, "I hope so. Anyways, go get ready. Unless you plan on going to school looking like that."
Mike looks down at his wrinkled clothes from yesterday and laughs, "Alright alright."
(-)
Mike spends the entire morning just going through the motions. He's exhausted and feels like he's dead on his feet. He thinks back to the missing painkillers and really hopes that the small voice in the back of his head is wrong. His mom just bought a new bottle so they shouldn't be missing, but the last thing he wants is to throw accusations without proof. It's a sensitive topic but if Santana truly is hiding the pills, then he'll make sure she gets the help she needs. The lunch bell rolls around quickly enough, and Mike hopes Santana was able to patch things up with Sam.
"Hey you." Tina says, catching him right outside of class.
"Hey back." He gives her a tired smile.
"Walk me to class." Tina asks; her smile dampens a little at his low mood.
Mike wants to kick himself for bringing her down. He musters up as much energy as he can and playfully links their arms together, "As you wish."
Tina giggles at his antics and they make a show of lovingly walking down the hallway together. It's a fun, goofy little moment and it helps to lighten his mood a bit. Mike really wishes the moment could last forever but alas; Tina's classroom comes into view. He noticeably slows down, trying to stretch the moment out as long as possible.
"This is the first time this week you've had a real smile." Tina says quietly. There's not a lot of people around, as the bell is going to ring soon, but it's obvious she doesn't want her voice to carry.
"It's been rough. I've been adjusting to some pretty big changes." Mike replies with a sigh. They come to a complete stop and Tina gives him a concerned look.
"Is everything okay at home?" Mike glances away from Tina and rubs his fingers through his hair. He just doesn't have the energy to even try to lie to her and he's tired of holding everything in.
"This… this stays between us, okay? Because i-it's pretty big." Mike starts, his serious tone causes Tina to sober up.
"Santana was kicked out last weekend because of Artie. My parents took her in and now she's living with us." Tina gasps and hands fly to her mouth, eyes wide in shock. Mike feels himself once again becoming bitter towards Artie.
"What did he do?"
"He came to her house and started screaming about her and Brittany." Mike spits out.
"But isn't her family…"
"Super homophobic? Yeah. He did it on purpose."
"Oh my god, poor Santana. That's horrible." The bell rings, nearly making Tina jump.
"So that was our Friday." Mike finishes lamely and Tina gives him a hug.
"I hate that you all are going through this. Just let me know if you need anything, okay?"
"Thanks." Mike gives her a kiss and watches as she runs off to class.
(-)
Finally, school is out, now all he has to do is make it through glee. This week has been nothing but one horrible event after another and even Mike can feel himself reaching his breaking point. He hasn't heard from Santana all day and didn't even see her at lunch. He checks his phone for any missed messages and finds none. Mike huffs and makes his way to Santana's locker. When he arrives, he finds Santana standing there all alone looking dejected.
"What happened?" Mike asks instead of a greeting.
"Sam wouldn't even look at me." Santana replies tearfully and Mike sighs.
"I broke us, now it's never going to be fixed. He hates me." She stares down at her feet and tries to blink back her tears.
"He doesn't hate you, he's just a bit hurt. Let's give him the rest of the week to cool off and then I'll talk to him. Try to feel things out for you." Mike internally groans; this fallout could not have come at a worse time. Santana is extremely rejection sensitive right now and it doesn't take a genius to see how being unable to make up with Sam is tearing her apart.
"Thanks Mike." Santana wipes the few tears that have fallen and tries to smile; it's a pitiful attempt but she manages a small one.
Mike helps Santana with her locker combo so she can get what she needs for home and the both of them head to the choir room. Thankfully, by the time they get there the room is still mostly empty, so it's an easy climb to the back and ignore people as they walk in. Tina joins them, offering a quiet greeting, and takes a seat next to Mike. He can tell she's still bothered by everything he revealed earlier today and catches her sneaking worried glances at Santana.
"Alright guys, day 3 of our writing bootcamp. We have two more song attempts today and then we'll split into groups. Puck you're up first and then Mercedes." Mr. Shue says after getting everyone to quiet down.
Mike can tell that he's having a blast seeing what types of songs people are coming up with. He does wonder what Quinn and Rachel have come up with; there's been complete silence on their end. Have they already performed, and he missed it because they skipped yesterday? Maybe things have already fallen apart, and they just don't know yet. Mike is pulled from his musings when the music begins, and Puck starts singing. It's yet another song for his girlfriend and he wonders if Puck ever notices how his song choices always reference Lauren's size in some way, shape, or form. The attempt is okay, but the song doesn't really pull him in. Next, is Mercedes with a fun little number that does get people dancing but Mike doesn't really think much of the lyrics. This is what he'd been worried about; there aren't really any promising songwriters in their group. Although, he probably shouldn't jump to that conclusion so quickly, as they're still learning, but Mike doesn't have high hopes. The song ends and Mr. Shue takes a few moments to get everyone to settle down again.
"Alright, I have a few printouts up here. Everyone, come up and get one of each then split off into groups. I think we have a solid base to start brainstorming what we want our song to be. Quinn, Rachel, I can't wait to see what you two come up with."
"You bet Mr. Shue." Rachel says confidently. People start to get up from their seats and walk over to the piano where the printouts are located. Brad doesn't look very happy with being surrounded by so many people. Mike gets up but Santana lags behind; probably to try and put a bit more space between her and Sam.
"Hey, I'll get a copy for all of us. You two go pick out a spot for us." Mike says, Tina and Santana both nod at him. The crowd around the piano has cleared a bit, so Mike walks over to get their handouts. Taking a brief glance, they look to contain information on common types of song structures and chord progressions.
"FUCK YOU ARTIE!" Santana screams: her voice ringing out loudly throughout the choir room followed by a loud crash.
Mike whips around at the scream to find Artie on the ground, Santana kicking away his wheelchair, before launching herself at him and raining down punches onto his head while screaming obscenities. Artie, rendered completely helpless, screams for help, jolting people out of their shock. Mike only hesitates for a second before he runs over and grabs Santana. The room descends into chaos full of yelling and screaming as people try to separate the two; Santana isn't making it easy as she blindly lashes out to anyone who gets close.
Mike, with the help of Puck, finally manages to get a good enough grip on Santana to lift her off of Artie. Instead of giving up, she screams in rage at being unable to punch, and instead starts to kick him. Puck jumps in between her and Artie, taking several kicks to the chest, as Mike uses every bit of his strength to drag Santana out of the room. This is bad, this is beyond bad. He thought they would be okay; that all they had to do was keep to themselves in the back and they could last the hour.
Santana continues to struggle in his arms and Mike drags her further down the hallway; his only thought is that it would be better if she couldn't immediately run back into the room if he lost his grip.
"Santana stop! Enough!" Mike yells, trying to get through to her.
Santana only continues to scream, the words intelligible and her voice hoarse by this point, and struggle in response; completely lost to her emotions, everything she held back coming out in one torrential flood of emotion. She kicks back, hitting his ankle, tripping him and nearly causing the both of them to go crashing to the ground. Mike lets her go so as to catch himself; thankfully, Santana doesn't run back into the choir room. Instead, she paces back and forth along the width of the hallway like a caged animal. She's stopped screaming but her breath is ragged, and her eyes are unfocused and wet with tears.
"Santana…" Mike probes gently, completely out of breath. She ignores him and continues to pace, shaking and taking large breaths as if struggling to breathe.
Mike's never seen anyone lose it like this before and the fact that she's gone nonverbal again has him worried. Especially with the way she's breathing, is she having a panic attack? Could something like this cause one? Can panic attacks be violent? He doesn't know what to do. Suddenly, Santana turns and starts kicking the lockers frantically. Mike rushes forward to stop her and, as soon as he grabs her, she turns her rage towards him. He has to grab her arms to stop her from hitting him and wrestles Santana to the ground. She grunts in frustration, unable to break his hold, as Mike maneuvers her so she's sitting in his lap. At least from this position she won't be able to hit him since he's behind her; he folds her arms in an x across her body and hugs her tightly.
"Shhh… it's okay. It's okay now." Mike repeats in her ear. He doesn't even know if she can hear him right now, but it slowly seems to be working as Santana begins to calm. He's thankful this happened after school so no one would see; he can't imagine the type of crowd this would've drawn otherwise. Speaking of a crowd, Mike glanced over and noticed several of the glee kids watching them; unfortunately, Santana noticed as well.
"STOP FUCKING LOOKING AT ME!" Santana bellows and her voice cracks, causing a coughing fit.
They jump in fear and scurry back into the choir room. Now riled back up, Santana tries once again to get free, screaming in frustration despite the damage to her now raw throat. It's slow, but Mike manages once again to get her back under control after she nearly breaks free. The echoing of footsteps alert Mike to Mr. Shue as he cautiously approaches them.
"Santana." Mr. Shue says softly, like he's approaching a dangerous animal. Santana only stares at him and says nothing; he continues to hold her tightly, not taking any chances. Mr. Shue sighs and runs his hand through his hair.
"I let it go the last time you got into a fight, but this time, I'm going to have to call your parents." Mr. Shue says. Santana flinches, hard, and buries her chin into her chest before letting out a pained groan; Mike gets it immediately. The topic of 'parents', obviously being a touchy subject, is not helping right now. Mike decides to intervene.
"Mr. Shue, can you call mine instead?" Mike asks: Santana's breathing has increased.
"What? No, I have to call whoever is on her emergency contact list. I have to call her parents." Santana's groan turns into a low whine and her body has started to shake. Why can't he ever pick up on the mood?
"Mr. Shue please! I can't get into it but please just call my parents instead." Mike begs.
"Has something happened at home? If there has then-"
"Stop talking about those fucking people!" Santana snaps before bursting into tears.
Mr. Shue takes a step back at the outburst, at a loss for words. Santana leans forward and just continues to cry. Mike tries to comfort her, and Mr. Shue quietly walks away towards the main office, occasionally throwing concerned glances their way. Santana turns to him for a hug and Mike obliges, letting go of her arms so she could fully turn to him and bury her face into his shoulder. He doesn't know how long they sit like that, but the next time Mike hears footsteps he looks up to see Mr. Shue, followed by his father. Mike sighs in relief, knowing his father could handle everything from here. He crouches down to their level and gently touches the back of Santana's head.
"Santana? You okay?" His voice is gentle, his thumb caressing the back of her head, as he tries to coax her into looking up. Santana hesitates before pulling her head up, her eyes red and puffy from the tears. She briefly shakes her head, her 'no' barely above a whisper.
"Let's go home, okay." Mr. Chang says, his voice still soft, as he helps Santana up. Mike gets up as well, ignoring the pins and needles in the leg that had fallen asleep.
His father turns to him, "Go pick up your mother. I'll take Santana home."
"Okay." Mike nods. He can see that Mr. Shue is curious about the whole exchange but since his father ignored the look, Mike will as well. He heads to the choir room to get their bags and notices the room is empty; apparently everyone else was dismissed. Not surprising, given everything that's just happened. He quickly gathers up what he needs and runs out the room before Mr. Shue tries to ask any questions.
(-)
Pulling up to the front of the hospital, Mike finds his mother already outside waiting for him. She looks as anxious as he feels and it is clear that she's already been made aware of the situation. She gestures for him to switch out and let her drive, which Mike is all too happy to let her do. As soon as she's in the car, she turns to give him a hug.
"Oh honey, are you okay? You look stressed. Was it that bad? How's Santana?" The questions fly from her mouth. Mike melts into the hug, holding on a little longer than usual, soaking up as much comfort as he can before pulling back. She settles into the driver seat and pulls off.
"I'm okay. It was a shock seeing Santana like that. She'd just… I don't know, she'd completely lost it." Mike sighs.
"I knew we should have called her out." She says with a frown.
"She wouldn't leave, no matter how many times I offered." Mike says. Mrs. Chang grips the wheel tightly and sighs.
The conversation lulls and Mike looks out the window; watching the scenery pass by. He thinks back to yesterday; Santana's tearful face and Artie's smug look. He also remembers about the missing pills; he should tell his mother. No, he needs to. Santana clearly isn't in a good place right now. Who knows what could happen.
"Mom, I… I have to tell you something." Mike starts. His mother glances at him, her face inquisitive, before focusing back on the road.
"Um… Santana has been s-suicidal in the past, a-and I noticed that the painkillers are missing." His mother gasps sharply at the implication and Mike fiddles with his hands, swallowing hard.
"Thank you for telling me." another sigh, "Your father and I brought up the topic of therapy before and she turned it down but I'll put my foot down this time. If Santana is feeling like that, then we need to make sure she gets some help."
"Yeah…"
"You've been so strong and I know things have been hard on you. Especially with something like this. I just want you to know that I'm so proud of you." Mike smiles at his mother's words and she takes his hand and gives it a squeeze.
(-)
After they get home, Mike is allowed to relax in his room and calm down; he's drained both emotionally and physically. His mother wanted to talk to his father before dinner and have a talk about what happened at school. He was grateful that they didn't just jump straight into it. Mike drops off his stuff at his bed before heading to Santana's room and knocking on the door. The conversation from earlier still has him upset and Mike can't deny the spike of fear when Santana doesn't immediately answer. He's about to knock again when the door opens to reveal a tired Santana.
"Hey." Santana yawns and rubs her eyes. Mike tries to hide the relief he feels when he sees her alive and well.
"Are you feeling better?" Mike asks. Santana nods and opens the door wider, inviting him in. She walks over to her bed and sits down; Mike follows. He notices the bear he bought her sitting on the bed between them and he mindlessly plays with the bow.
"A little bit. I'm sorry I hit you."
"Don't worry about it. I just needed to know you were okay. You really made me worried today." Mike replies.
"I'm sorry." Santana looks down and frowns.
"I know how you can make it up to me." Mike says and Santana looks over in confusion. He smiles and opens his arms, asking for a hug. She gives him a tiny smile and obliges. Mike gives her a tight hug and Santana sighs, relaxing into the hug. He has to admit, this has also made him feel a little better; he hopes it's the same for Santana.
The hug ends and Mike heads back to his room. He decides to do a bit of studying; with the way things have been going this past week, he hasn't been able to do any real prep for his acadec competition. For the next 20 minutes, he gets lost in the study materials and lets all his worries fall away. There's a knock on his door and Mike turns to find his father in the doorway.
"Dinner's here, we got takeout from your uncle's place."
"Okay, I'll be down." Mike replies and finishes up his last note. He takes a deep breath, trying to prepare himself for this talk, before heading down for dinner.
Dinner was pretty tense, Santana couldn't bring herself to look at anyone or participate in any attempts at conversation. Mike could clearly tell that she was nervous about the fallout of the fight. He finishes his plate pretty quickly, hoping the whole affair could finish quickly. Once dinner was over, they all relocated to the living room. Mike takes a seat on the couch with Santana while his parents each take an armchair so everyone could face each other.
"Santana, we wanted to talk about what happened today. We're not upset with you, we just want to hear your side of things." Mrs. Chang starts, breaking the silence. Santana tenses and shifts uncomfortably.
"Mr. Shue told you I got into a fight?" Santana asks quietly.
"He described it as pretty one-sided. As I understand it, the boy you fought was apparently wheelchair bound? How did the fight start?" Mr. Chang asks.
"Artie… he's been messing with me all week. Seeking me out between classes just to make passive aggressive comments." Santana reveals much to Mike's shock. That little creep! It's even worse, because he made sure Mike wasn't around when he did it. The realization makes his jaw clench.
"He would even get close to blurting out a-about me and… Brittany where people could hear… then laugh when I would panic."
"This is the boy who outed you?" Mr. Chang asks and Santana nods.
Mrs. Chang clicks her tongue, "What a little menace. Next time he says something to you, you tell us immediately. That boy clearly has a problem."
"That's harassment. You do not need to deal with something like this by yourself, especially since this has already escalated outside of school. I'll make sure to have more than a few choice words for his parents." Mr. Chang says, his voice taking a dangerous edge.
"What?" Mike asks.
"Your teacher called his parents as well. His mother got there slightly before I did and was livid. You did quite a number on him." Mike clears his throat to hide the chuckle at the little bit of pride in his father's voice.
"... I- I don't really remember." Santana admits.
"Broken glasses, busted lip and a black eye. His mother was hysterical as she demanded compensation. So we're going to have a meeting with them to discuss everything." Santana's jaw drops and Mike stares in shock. Everything was so chaotic in the moment that he didn't have a chance to see how much damage Santana had actually managed.
"Now, I did have something else I wanted to discuss with you." Mrs. Chang starts, bringing the attention to her, "I've been made aware of a few things, and I'm not accusing you of anything, but a bottle of painkillers is missing. Do you happen to know where they are?"
Santana's eyes widen at his mother's words and she glances at him. He knows that telling his mother was for her own good, but he can't help but feel like he's betrayed her confidence. Santana remains silent as she looks down at the ground in shame. The silence continues and becomes uncomfortable. His mother stands and walks over to Santana before crouching down in front of her, trying to catch her eye.
"You aren't in trouble but I need to know the truth." No response. The silence continues for a moment longer before Santana's lips tremble and a sob escapes. Santana covers her face and cries.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I took them. I didn't think anyone would miss me, I'm just garbage. No one misses garbage that's been thrown away. They're happier when it's gone and I just wanted everything to stop." She blurts out and her head snaps up, frozen, eyes wide as she realizes what she's said. Her wording concerns him; garbage? He's never heard Santana talk about herself like that before. Her eyes become fearful and she has a slight far away look in them.
"I'm sorry! Please don't throw me away!" Sananta says frantically and his mother jumps up and pulls Santana into a tight hug.
"We are not going to throw you away. Never! You have a home here and people who care about you. This is your home." Mrs. Chang says, her words seemingly not reaching as Santana becomes more hysterical. Mike just looks on, feeling completely helpless.
"I won't do it again! Please! Please don't throw me away! I'm sorry! I'll be good, I promise!" Santana continues to cry and Mike starts to get the feeling that this goes a lot deeper than just recent events. His heart clenches as her words.
Mr. Chang gets up and walks over to them as well and takes his wife's place. Mike makes space for him on the couch so he could be in a more comfortable position as he pulls Santana into his arms and holds her tightly. She buries her head into his shoulder and he gently starts to pat her back while humming. It's hard to hear at first over Santana's cries, but as she starts to settle down, Mike recognizes it as a lullaby from his childhood. His father's deep baritone continues louder and even Mike starts to feel himself calm. His mother puts her hand on his head and runs her fingers through his hair. He fully leans his head against her stomach and relaxes. They stay like that for several minutes before his father finishes. Santana has stopped crying and he wipes away her tears with his thumb.
"We won't throw you away, you will always have a home here. I'll repeat that as many times as you need to hear it." Mr. Chang says quietly.
"I know it's hard right now to believe that after everything you've been through but we mean it. And…" He glances at Mike and his mother, "If we need to formally adopt you into our family to prove it, we will."
Mike pulls back from his mother and stares at his father; is he serious? One look at his dad's face tells Mike that his father is dead serious. He knows he's not the type of man who would offer something like that lightly.
"...You're saying… you want to adopt me?" Santana asks.
"Yes. This isn't a decision you have to make now or any time soon. Even if you decide you don't want to, you will still have a home here. That's not going to change." Mrs. Chang adds.
Santana is quiet and looks down as she fiddles with her hands. Mike wonders what's going through her mind right now. How does she feel about something like this? Adoption! That's wild! He never thought his parents would actually throw that out there as an option, and… he would have a sister! Well, they're already living together so it's already like she's part of the family. The thought brings a small smile to his face. Still, this is pretty huge.
"W-what… What if I want that? Does that make me a bad person?" Santana asks quietly.
"No, no it doesn't. You aren't bad, just take some time to really think about it, okay?" Mr. Chang replies softly and Santana nods.
(-)
Mike doesn't know how long he's been laying in bed awake. He's changed positions for the umpteenth time but he just can't settle. Santana's words from earlier are haunting him. The pain in her voice as she said she wanted everything to stop. It plays on repeat, his brain unrelenting. He can't help it, the tiny voice that asks 'what if'. What if he was too late? The day he fell asleep instead of confronting her, what if that was the day she chose to end it? The thought grips his heart and freezes his lungs. He can't, he can't think like that. The images won't stop; walking into her room, empty pill bottle, looking for all the world as if she's asleep but knowing she's not. His heart pounds wildly in his chest and the burning in his lungs causes him to realize he hasn't been breathing.
Mike tries to take a breath but it won't come. The tightness worsens, he needs to breathe! Take a breath! Tears stream down his face and Mike can feel the panic start to rise. What if they didn't find all the pills? What if she's not sleeping right now but- NO! He can't. His throat feels tight like an invisible hand is pressing down on it. Breath! His hands start to shake and he starts to feel light headed. He wants to call out for his mom but he can't make a sound. Nothing is working! Why can't he breathe? Someone please… please make it stop. It's terrifying, make it stop.
Suddenly, as if nothing happened, Mike takes his first, shaky breath. The rush of much needed oxygen causes his body to feel loose and fall limp. He takes another breath, then another, almost afraid that it will stop again; that once again he'll feel that horrible tightness. After a few minutes he starts to feel normal again, but he can't just continue lying in bed. His brain is still going back to 'what if' and he needs to see with his own eyes that Santana is alright.
Mike gets out of bed and quietly walks past his parent's bedroom to Santana's. Cracking open the door, Mike is grateful for the closet light as it gives him enough light to see Santana. It's then that he realizes that she's staring right back at him; it seems he wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep. She waves him in and he enters the room before joining her on the bed. Seeing her awake, breathing, and moving is enough to cause the 'what ifs' to die down. Neither of them move to speak and, with a quick glance, Mike can tell Santana has a lot on her mind. She cuddles her bear tightly and continues to just stare into space. Her words play through his mind again and he can feel those cold hands try to grip his lungs again.
"I would die." The words slip out before he realizes he's even said them aloud. Even though they were said under his breath, the stillness of the room causes his voice to carry as clear as day. Santana sits up to face him, her face full of confusion.
"I wouldn't be happier…if you were gone, I would die." He clarifies.
"Mike-"
"No! The thought of it terrifies me! Like my heart has climbed in my throat and is choking me and I can't-" His words cut out; it feels like there's a fist in his throat. He struggles to even swallow; if only he could just take a breath but it won't come.
Mike turns to Santana, tears rolling down his face, looking for help. He can see the fear in her eyes and he's pretty sure his eyes reflect the same. Santana grabs onto his hand, squeezing tightly, and he starts to feel a little better; a little less alone. The fear recedes and his breath comes a little easier now. He's still shaking when he fully calms and takes a deep breath. Santana pulls him into a hug and holds him tightly.
"Please. Please don't think that you aren't wanted. You're not garbage, so please, please don't ever say that about yourself again." Mike mumbles against her chest.
Santana doesn't say anything but he feels her head nod against the top of his head and she squeezes just a little tighter. He doesn't know how long they stay like that but he doesn't care. Santana makes no move to let go and the comfort he feels saps Mike of any will to move himself. Eventually, they do shift to lay down and he feels himself slowly drift off to sleep.
(-)
Mike awakens in the morning to a gentle shake of his shoulder. He opens his bleary eyes to find his mother standing over him. Did he oversleep? A weight on his side tells him that he fell asleep in Santana's room and memories of last night flood his mind.
"Is it time for school?" He yawns.
"Don't worry about it. I've called you out for the rest of the week. You looked like you could use a break." Mrs. Chang informs. Mike yawns again and gives her a sleepy smile before succumbing to his drowsiness.
When he wakes again, Mike springs up and finds the room empty. He makes his way downstairs, looking to see where Santana has gone, and finds her sitting at the table eating breakfast. Despite the awkwardness, he's just happy that the events of yesterday haven't ruined her appetite.
"Morning" He greets.
"Hey. Your breakfast is in the oven." Santana replies and Mike reheats his food before joining her at the table.
"Are you okay? Y'know, from yesterday." Santana asks quietly.
"Yeah." He nods, "I'm feeling better. What about you?"
"I… I agreed to get help. Your parents were pretty gentle about it but they made it pretty clear 'no' was not an option." Santana looks down at her plate and pushes her food around.
Mike reaches over and places a hand on her arm, "That's a pretty big step. I'm proud of you."
Santana smiles and they go back to eating breakfast. When Mike finishes, he runs upstairs and cleans himself up for the day. He hadn't expected to suddenly have two free days and wondered how he should spend the time. His phone chimes and Mike walks over to see a text from Tina; they exchange a few texts before she has to go back to class.
"Gross. Can you make it any more obvious you're texting your girlfriend?" Santana says playfully from the doorway and Mike sticks out his tongue.
"She was asking why I wasn't in school today and offered to bring my homework by."
"Ew, homework? Can you please not be that stereotype right now?" Santana rolls her eyes, "I came up here to see if you wanted to watch a movie."
"Sure, sounds like fun, but you look like you wanted to ask about more than just a movie." Santana glances away and shrugs.
She makes her way into the room and takes a seat in his desk chair; the silence stretches for a moment before she speaks, "I never asked you about how you felt… about the adoption."
"Honestly? It's all kinda mixed up and I haven't really given it a lot of deep thought. I mean it was a shock for sure but I'm not against it or anything. I mean, aren't we like, already halfway there now? Living together and all?" He answers as confidently as he could manage. It is a big step but he's not opposed to it. Santana being his sister doesn't bother him at all but is it too fast? Is there a proper time limit for stuff like this? Is going down this road, this soon, appropriate? He doesn't know.
"I guess…"
"More importantly, are YOU okay with being a part of our family?" Mike asks.
"It's no secret that my family is horrible and not just with the whole kicking me out thing. Like, things before I met you…things I don't like to think about, and sometimes I think I don't deserve to have nice parents like yours. But, I want to." Santana shifts nervously in the chair,
"This is the first time I've ever felt like I had real parents. Ones that actually care about me a-and … make me feel safe. Who don't call me stupid when I make mistakes… or garbage face." The last part is mumbled but Mike is close enough to catch it; garbage face? What? Did they really call her that? The more he finds out about these people the closer he seriously comes to truly hating them.
"Is it really okay to want that? Real parents who love and accept me? To not hold on to people who clearly don't want me?"
Mike reaches over to grab her hand, "No one is going to judge you for wanting a loving family, Santana. If they do, then I'll thrash them for you, cuz that's what brothers do."
Santana looks at him and smiles brightly; a real, true smile, the brightest since this nightmare began, "Let's go pick a movie."
Well look at that. Hello, sorry I've been away so long, hope the length more than makes up for that. Now for a little behind the scenes: this chapter has gone through so many changes from it's original outline. Various rewrites, reworkings and that was before I even started putting pen to paper. Originally it was supposed to cover the entire month and regionals but once I saw the length, I decided to cut it in half (It's over 16k words and a whopping 36 pages). So this is technically part 1. Now, as we can see, I've finally actually named the LD I'd given Santana so there's that. There have also been little hints to her horrible childhood (that whole 'garbage face' rant from the show has stuck with me all this time) so that's gonna be a thing. But finally, FINALLY, we've gotten our girl into a healthy home enviroment!
Anyways, enough from me, did you like it? Yes? No? Tell me about it. Until next time.
