As much as I would like to own them, all the characters of Glee belong to Fox – I own nothing. All the characters of The Fast and the Furious belong to Universal Studios, I'm just borrowing some of them. All writing belongs to me.
Hi guys! I'm back! To everybody still here, thank you and I hope this year is going to be a good one. I know this really should have been posted much sooner after the last chapter but life got in the way and kicked my ass. But, I hope you enjoy this update and hopefully our Brittana babies being back on screen, and I will see you next week.
Also, there's now story cover art (YAY!) and a new summary so if you're interested check that out and I just wanted to reply to a guest reviewer from way back in December last year. I should have made this much clearer but I didn't think to do it at the time. I know there probably isn't a dock in Lima but I don't live in America and I have never actually been to Lima, Ohio. That being said, when I planned this story and wrote it out with my brother we both agreed to base it off of a map online. This map will be linked on my Tumblr (Shinodafan94) and it is a Need For Speed mash-up of game maps (I have played all of the games so it's not just taken randomly), so my Lima is not based on real Lima. Anyway I hope this clears things up but I'm sorry for not linking it at the start of the story. To anybody still reading this, I'm sorry I had to make this note so long, I really do apologize.
Lastly, I would like to yet again thank my reviewers, favers and followers etc. as you have given me the motivation to continue this story. Enjoy and I will see you soon!
Lima General Hospital Parking Lot, 15:25pm, 4 days earlier...
"Dani come on!"
"No, fuck her!"
"But-"
"No, Letty! I've heard enough! I know you're my crew leader but I'm fucking out of here!"
Before Letty could respond, her and the rest of the group were watching as Dani peeled away and out of the parking lot onto the main street. Sighing, Letty turned back to the group.
"What do we do now?" Rachel asked.
Her adoptive sister shrugged in response. "I don't know"
"I'm out of here too"
Everybody watched as Marley got in her Camaro, following Dani's path out of the parking lot and onto the street. Before Letty could even stop them, not that she would have, everybody else was getting in their cars and driving off in various directions with no clue as to where they were going.
Once the last person had left she looked over at Mia, her girlfriend uncharacteristically void of any emotion as she stood next to her. Not knowing what else to do she walked over to her car and fished the keys out before getting in. Mia followed her lead and slid into the car and buckled herself up not long before Letty pulled out of the lot in the direction of the house.
Dani's hands gripped at the steering wheel a little bit tighter as she rounded another corner, yet again not really knowing where she was going. Sure, she had been mad before but today was different. Right now she was so mad she was sure if she squeezed any tighter on the steering wheel it would break in her hands from the pure rage she was feeling. It was threatening to break out at any moment and if you saw her right now in her current state, somewhat of a rarity even though she had a short temper every day and was annoyed easily, you would just be able to catch the tell that signalled she was pretty close to losing it all together.
The tell was nothing short of simple but if you were smart enough to notice it and take the hint to leave her alone you were sure to avoid having your face bashed in. However, it wasn't just normal people who would be stood in front of her that had to be worried, it was everybody on the road. Now she was much more lethal than she would have been with her fists, instead having a fully tuned street racing car as her weapon. That meant that pedestrians and other motorists alike were in danger of feeling her wrath, or at least the cold punch of the carbon fibre front bumper if they didn't get out of her way fast enough.
The rage bubbled underneath her skin like an angry cauldron of emotions. As cheesy as it sounded in her head she had no other way to describe what she was feeling. She had trusted someone and in return they had stabbed her in the back like she never even meant anything to them. To Dani it was even worse when the simple fact of the matter was that she hardly trusted anybody in the first place and when she had been betrayed for putting that well earned trust into her and Santana's friendship she couldn't help but growl and lash out. It almost felt as if she was an animal locked in a small cage, a pissed off tiger with a sore head that was just waiting for that moment when the cage door was opened to unleash it's unholy hell upon the world. And that was the perfect explanation of what she was feeling like, every passing second growing just that little bit more tense.
She growled lowly from her chest as a minivan pulled out in front of her, cursing out loud as she followed behind. Her hands gripped the wheel even tighter, if at all possible, as she came to a stop behind it, using up every last bit of her willpower to not get out of her car and confront the driver in a violent manner. She knew it wasn't a good idea, she knew it wasn't a practical idea in the long run but God did she want to go and rip their throat out. She wanted to take revenge on the first available person so badly it almost hurt but she knew that wasn't fair to them. They didn't know her current situation, couldn't possibly understand what she was going through right now, the myriad of emotions enough to make her want to break down and cry at the pure frustration that was coursing through her body.
Luckily she was saved from herself when the light overhead turned green, the minivan turning right and allowing her to continue going forward. It was then that she wondered about what she was going to do next. Usually in her current state of mind, angry and feeling fucked up, she would drive and drive and drive until she was too tired and headed back to the house to crash out, or she would go and drown her sorrows in alcohol. It was then, as she thought of the very appealing offer of drinking herself into forgetting this day even happened in the first place, that she was reminded of the woman she loved.
She had left Kitty along with the others and it was in that moment that her heart sank to the pit of her stomach. She had been there too, had heard Santana spill the truth about what she had done, and she had left it and stormed off without a single reassuring word that she would at least try to be safe. She felt like a terrible girlfriend.
It was that that spurred her into motion, momentarily actually checking where she was before adjusting her course in the direction of the bar. She didn't know what Kitty had been feeling, or least didn't have an inkling as she hadn't looked back as she had stormed out, shouting at her crew leader before peeling off and out onto the road. She hadn't looked back and now she regretted it. She regretted it because now she had someone to share these kinds of things with. They had both been through this and she knew that she had to get to her girlfriend and be with her before she really did do something stupid, whether it be running someone over, crashing her car, or putting herself into the hospital, and that last option was definitely not on her to-do list. She didn't want to be anywhere near her, not even a foot, after what she had done to her and the rest of the crew.
It was this determination that made her drive carefully, or at least what Dani considered 'normal' in her own unique way. She was slightly over the speed limit but if there was one thing she knew she had to do, it was make sure that her girlfriend was ok and to be there for her. If she was going to make it through this without putting herself in harms way, Kitty was the only person who could understand exactly what she was going through in her head.
When she pulled up in front of the bar ten minutes later, it didn't take her long to have hopped out and stormed inside. The bar was closed, as she knew it would be, and she dashed towards the back door, stomping up the stairs two at a time as fast as she could before all but pulling the front door to kitty's apartment off it's hinges in an attempt to get in. Luckily for her it was unlocked and as soon as it was open she could see her blonde girlfriend sat in the middle of her bed emotionless. Dani hadn't expected her to cry but she was pretty sure that this wasn't normal.
When Kitty heard her door slam open she didn't have much time to react before Dani was striding over to her bed and pulling her in for a bone crushing hug. She didn't let it phase her though, instead welcoming the support of the one person she needed the most and returning it by wrapping her arms around her neck with equal tightness. She had half expected her not to come to her at all.
"I thought you were gone" She whispered, her broken voice forcing Dani to pull away.
The older blonde shook her head, her hand coming up to brush a few stray strands of hair out of her girlfriend's face. "No" She whispered, her voice hoarse from having growled the entire time she had been in her car, and placed a soft kiss to the other woman's forehead. "I needed you"
In that moment Kitty could see just how serious Dani was, her jaw clenched shut tightly as she looked down at her. Nothing but the truth poured from Dani's eyes and it was then that Kitty knew she wasn't alone in her feelings. Santana had screwed all of them over, even her, and even if she wasn't as important as all of the others, it still hurt to find a woman she had come to know as a good friend had stabbed her in the back all because some rogue FBI agent wanted to bring down Puckerman or some other fucking thing that she really couldn't give a crap about right now. It hurt, oh boy did it hurt, but the way Dani held her as she sobbed into her chest, tears of her own rolling down her cheeks and melting into Kitty's hair, it was just that little bit more ok.
It wasn't the best but as the two women held each other it would have to do. At least it was better than nothing.
The punching bag swung heavily back and fourth, the chains hanging it up from the ceiling creaking loudly in protest as it was repeatedly hit. No break was given to the worn red leather as it's aggressor continued minute after minute without showing any signs of stopping. Saying the reason it was being made was being put to the test was an understatement. This was more than a simple 'test', the person punching it was punching the shit out of it like it was a real person, a very real person that had good reason to be the focus of the aggressor's anger.
Marley's forehead was covered in sweat, beads rolling down her reddened cheeks as she panted from exertion. She had been at this for a good hour, only having taken one water break before getting right back into it, using the punching bag as an outlet for the true rage she was feeling. She had never felt so betrayed in her entire life.
Sure, she had been hurt before, people saying hurtful things back in high school about her weight etc. but nothing ever mounted up to this. Santana had lied from day one about who she truly was and what she was doing here in Lima but what made it worse, more than the backstabbing itself, was that Marley had put her own life on the line to protect her. She had put both her body and car on the line to make sure that Santana didn't get caught by cops and she had turned around and spat in her face as if that loyalty and trust with one another that they had built meant nothing.
Sure, she hadn't really known her all that well, but the two of them had been getting along well as of late sharing little moments with each other where they would pretend to box with one another in the garage in between working and making suggestions on how to improve her Camaro and the rest of the teams cars so that they could handle more collisions whilst racing and escaping the law. But today that all changed. Their growing friendship had gone out the window in the space of a few minutes, the short time the only time needed to prove why Letty should have never have invited an outsider into their crew in the first place. They were family and the risk Letty had taken had backfired in their faces like they had feared it would the moment they decided they needed an extra member for race wars. A bulk of the crew had known each other since high school, even longer in some cases, and Santana had been new, a mystery that turned out to be a poisoned apple.
Call it cheesy but it was the best and only way she could describe it whilst she continued to punch the shit out of the heavy bag in front of her. It wasn't hard to imagine the focus of her rage standing in front of her and as much as she knew it was wrong, the fact being that she was laying in a hospital bed after being shot at point blank range, she couldn't help but imagine it was Santana she was actually punching.
Her hands bled from the knuckles, blood soaking through the lightly bandaged hands she had bound in hopes of providing a little protection. She had wanted to punch it and feel her hands hitting the bag without the limitations of gloves and as much as she knew Tina wouldn't be happy with her disregard for the safety of her hands and the condition they would be in later on after she was finished she was far from caring. She loved her girlfriend more than life and driving itself but right now she needed to alleviate some of the emotions she was feeling or she was scared that she might do something she would regret. It was better to get this out now and cry later. Rage had clearly won out long before her true emotions even had a chance.
Meanwhile across town Tina let out a loud scream into the empty garage as she slammed her hands down on the keyboard. She was getting nowhere. She had spent the better part of two hours trying to find a way to fix this, trying to find a shred of hope that she knew was and probably had slipped out of her hands long before she was even remotely aware of it. She took one last look at her computer screen, seeing no trace of the GPS that Shelby had convinced her was installed in the car. For all she knew that bitch Cassandra had probably taken it out by now, not for one second doubting that she had the skill and the common sense to check every inch of that car for any bugs or trackers Shelby may have installed.
But despite the fruits of her labour, even her advanced computer skills couldn't find what had been taken from them. Cassandra had slipped through their hands like fine sand and she knew that she was probably long gone by now, the car hidden and out of sight until eventually they stopped looking. But she was determined not to let that happen. There just had to be something, there just had to be. She knew that as soon as she gave up, as much as she wanted to right in this very moment, that Cassandra would win. She would get her way.
After years of being in this crew Tina wasn't about to let that happen.
She wasn't quite sure what it was that was biting and clawing inside her, but she felt a need, a hunger, to carry on and not stop looking. Even if the rest of her crew broke down around her, she knew it only took one person to change the tide and if she had to be that person then so be it. Never in her life had she felt the need to step up and be the strong one, having always been quiet and one of the followers up until now, but now it was the time to put her feelings aside and be the one person who stayed on top of this.
No matter how angry she was at Santana for betraying them and handing over the car in the first place, unknowing of Cassandra's true intentions or not, she could grieve later. She had time to let her tears fall when she was alone in her bedroom, but right now she had a powerful GPS tracking system sitting right in front of her ready and waiting to be tested to it's true limits. She knew she had the skills to do so and she knew that it was waiting for her. It was why the crew loved her. She had a knack for doing the impossible computer-wise just as much as she was good behind the wheel. She was damned if she was going to let them down now. Tears came later, focus came now.
So, taking off her computer glasses she rubbed at her eyes a few times before taking in a few deep and calming breaths. She was angry, there was no denying that, and it was eating slowly at her the longer she went without a sign, but right now that didn't matter. She had to put it aside. Taking one last breath she slipped on her glasses, took a long gulp of her energy drink, and primed her fingers over the keyboard sitting in front of her. That car had to be somewhere.
I breathe in and it fills my lungs
Let it burn in a vacant sun
Cold blood just let it run, let it run
Miles between us, but now I'm here
Music pumped loudly in her ears, heavy beats and guitar riffs pounding at her brain. It wasn't good for her hearing or her head but she couldn't care less. Right now she needed a release that only she knew she could attain. But it wasn't like that, at least not the way she was thinking. She just needed a way to vent to herself, not needing a release in a sexual way like most people would have assumed with that wording. Quinn wasn't anywhere to be found but Rachel knew that her girlfriend wouldn't do anything stupid.
Even if they had only been dating for a short period of time she knew that Quinn wasn't the type to go out and get herself in trouble. It was part of the reason why she was here, her door locked as she lay in the middle of the bed they shared, heavy rock music pumping through her ears and allowing her that release she knew she needed. She knew the others had their own unique ways of venting but to her this was the best way she knew how to do it without injuring herself or otherwise. Music to her was a way to escape, a way to discharge all of her emotions in a familiar and comforting way. It always had been ever since she could remember.
Sure, she knew the others would have expected her to listen to some of her usual show tunes (her guilty pleasures), to make her feel better, but right now the way the heavy guitar riffs and beating drums melded together in alongside each other were calming her down. She felt rage, hence the music selection, and she felt sadness, but she was pretty sure that she wasn't the only one who's anger was winning out in their current predicament.
They had opened their homes to this woman, trusted them with their most prized possessions, their cars, and what had she done? Lied and stabbed them in the back like they had been nothing but pawns in her twisted little game. Ok, so she had a handler, but she still agreed to continue to lie. Anyone who had half a heart would have told them. It seemed logical in her mind that Santana could have actually told them her true intentions from day one and Cassandra wouldn't have been any the wiser but she had lived with them for months in an unforgivable lie. They could have maybe still been friends if she had come clean early on but now she was paying for her wrongs in a hospital bed with two gunshot wounds.
But Rachel wasn't about to let her anger win out. She liked to think that most of the time she was a level headed person who could always stay calm no matter what was going on around her and it's the reason why right now she was weighing out the reasons why Santana had done what she had done. She had reason to keep it from them, maybe for their own safety, but it didn't mean that it didn't hurt because it did. It stung Rachel right to the very core of her heart knowing that she had trusted her with things personal to her, called her a friend, drove with her as if she were a sister like Marley or Tina. It hurt, it burned, and it was confusing. Although weighing out the reasons why Santana did what she did she couldn't say that she wasn't still confused over the whole thing but she reason to be. She'd only found out a few hours before but she knew that she'd probably still be confused even days and weeks later.
Confused as to why a woman who came across as caring and loyal turned out to be a backstabbing traitor who didn't have the heart to come clean when she knew she should have. The only good thing she could deduce from her time spent with their family was that she helped give life to her and Quinn's relationship, a relationship that should have happened so long before that was long overdue. She loved Quinn, she knew that now, but now knowing that the woman who had finally made them see their feelings for each other in their true light was a phoney and a liar only made it hurt more.
But she wasn't going to let that break her, not by a long shot. She was going to stay strong. She had Quinn now, that's all she needed, other than her adoptive sister Letty that is. She had someone who's shoulder she could cry on when the time came but for now she knew that they all needed their space away from one another. It was a given and she understood that they all had their own way of venting. That's why, as she continued to listen to heavy rock from her iPod, she wasn't about to just let her anger go. It wasn't like she could. It was simmering beneath the surface and she knew she needed just a little longer to let it fizzle down until it was a quiet hum at the back of her mind. Instead, she just let a silent tear roll down one cheek, eyes taking one last look up at the ceiling before they both softly closed and she drowned in the melodic lyrics and aggressive melodies of her music.
Tires squealed loudly and smoke bellowed from the burning rubber as the car slid and swerved around tight corners at an insanely high speed. It had been like this for an hour, moving from one side of the city from the other until they finally arrived at the docks, never once stopping or caring for anybody around them. It had earned a few annoyed honks of car horns but the woman behind the wheel didn't much care. She wanted to forget, she wanted to erase everything she had learned in the past hour and go back to the way it was before they all awoke this morning.
But she knew this couldn't happen. You couldn't turn back time no matter how much you wanted to, no matter how long after it had happened.
Pain radiated from her chest, her heart hurting as she sped up, her foot mashing the pedal as she swerved around yet another corner. After another she ran out of viable road, instead taking the smarter line of thought that it was probably a good time to stop before she hurt herself or someone else. As a result she didn't do it quietly though, or in the least bit calmed down. In fact she suddenly slammed her foot down on the brake ceasing all acceleration and moments later she was battling to control her car. Pulling down on the handbrake she suddenly came to a stop, smoke still bellowing from her burning tires and curling over the uniquely crafted fenders of the Skyline's rear body.
Quinn's heart pounded in her chest and in her ears and she used everything she had to make the most of the feeling of adrenaline pumping through her veins and giving her that rush she knew she could only ever get from driving. It was something she lived for and right now it was a very welcome change from what she had been feeling moments before, sadness gripping at her heart and squeezing tightly in what felt like a death-lock.
And that's when she felt it again. Gripping, tightening and making it hard for her to breathe.
As soon as it was there it was over, the adrenaline not having lasted long, probably due to the fact that it knew her emotions. She didn't expect anything less though. Her head wasn't in it. If she had been invested in the actual driving like she was on a regular basis it would have lasted much longer but right now, on a once in a blue moon occasion, she was overwhelmed with the urge to just crawl up in a ball and cry until she passed out.
She had only ever felt this way once in her entire life, when she had lost Finn. Losing her best friend had almost killed her. They had been friends since they were kids in daycare and like brother and sister right up until he was killed. It was more than hard. Hard was an understatement. It had felt like her heart had been ripped out of her chest and mauled by a rabid animal before being shoved back in with utter disregard, and if she had to admit it right now she was feeling something that was pretty damn similar.
Her breathing picked up as she gripped the wheel tightly, the last of the adrenaline finally wearing off as a bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face. She was despondent for a few minutes before she finally snapped back into reality, the truth of the situation hitting her all at once. Sadness crashed down upon her as she unwillingly let her emotions and memories get the better of her.
She'd lost another best friend. Nearly in the same way but this time they were alive and she didn't know right now if that was a good or a bad thing. Santana had lied to her, spun a tale of being part of their family only to turn around and tell them that it had all been false. To her she had seen the Latina's potential from day one, had watched her carefully to make sure she was good enough to drive with them and she had fallen for Santana's ruse every single time. Granted she may be a good driver but her true intentions were the thing that got to Quinn the most.
As the first tear rolled down her face she questioned whether the things she had told her were actually true. Was that story she told her about bottling up her feelings and not being who she really was the actual truth or was it another tale she had weaved to get her way? Was bringing her and Rachel together just a ploy that served a greater purpose? She'd never know, and that's what made her angry.
That anger burned through the hot tears that were now streaming down her face and onto her cheeks, Quinn unable to hold back her emotions any longer. She was usually extremely good at compartmentalizing her feelings in front of others but sat here in her car, hands gripping the steering wheel tightly as grey clouds loomed overhead in the place where they had solidified their so-called 'friendship' she just couldn't hold it. She just had to let it all come out, not that she had any choice anyway.
The pain of losing another best friend won out, the blonde cursing herself and asking why she could be so stupid to let herself trust someone enough to call them best friend. It only now served to cement in her mind that Finn was probably the only person she was supposed to be best friends with, a little part of her knowing deep down inside of her that he could never truly be replaced. Now she'd lost another one and she didn't know what to do.
She knew she could go to Rachel, the brunette was in a similar situation, but she also knew that everybody needed to calm down away from each other just like she had to now. It wasn't a choice, it was just the way it was between all of them. That didn't make it that much easier though. It still hurt like a son of a bitch.
For so long Quinn hadn't cried, hadn't let herself feel true sadness but now the floodgates were winning and as she gripped at the steering wheel of her Skyline even tighter than before she let them, her head hitting the center of the wheel as she sobbed and feeling the pain in her heart dig even deeper roots.
"Shelby, sweetie, sit down you're making me dizzy"
The woman in question immediately spun on her heel to face her lover, a frown immediately taking it's place on her face. "Don't you 'sweetie' me, I'm not in the mood!"
"Then at least sit down. I don't think I can take much more of you pacing"
"I can't! I don't know what to do with myself!"
Seeing the distress clear on the other woman's face Holly knew the pain she was feeling. She was going through the same thing but she knew Shelby blamed herself. If she had never have chosen Santana none of this would have happened but here they were. That's why she sighed and stood up, taking those few steps before grabbing Shelby's arm and pulling her into an embrace. At first Shelby resisted, using all of her strength to try and break free but she knew it was useless. If there was one consistent thing that had been there since they had started dating so many years before it was that she could never escape from Holly. The blonde woman seemed to always know just how to stop her from going, emotionally and physically. It's why she knew it was a futile effort right now. She had nowhere else to go and if there was one person she could be with Holly was the best and only option.
In return Holly felt her lover relax in her arms, her grip loosening when she felt the tell tale signs of Shelby's arms moving around her waist. That's when she knew she could release her a little, Shelby wrapping her arms around her in return, that she didn't plan on going anywhere, telling her that she had yet again won.
Instead of her usual playful smirk Holly decided to save it for later, instead letting her head rest on top of the others as her arms moved to wrap around her shoulder's. Pulling the other woman in so that her head was resting on her chest she pressed a kiss to the top of her hair feeling her sigh sadly in her arms. It was then that she slowly started moving them back towards the bed. When the backs of her knees hit something she let herself fall back whilst taking Shelby with her onto the bed. She happily situated herself back against the pillows and held her arms open for the other woman. Shelby obliged without question and snuggled into the taller woman's embrace as she felt her arms wrap around her.
With another kiss to the top of her head she sighed quietly. No words needed to be said, at least not out loud. She knew Holly could tell that she blamed herself but how couldn't she? She had bought Santana's lies and defended her just like she would any other person in their family but in return all she was got was a whole lot of nothing. There was no car, no sign of Cassandra and the woman that had betrayed them was laying in a hospital bed lucky to have her life. She would give her that, she wouldn't wish death upon anyone, but she couldn't help but berate herself for being as stupid as to trust her with such a precious task. The logical decision was to choose Letty and one of her other drivers, someone Shelby had known for much much longer, but no matter how hard she had tried to mull over the viable and smart options at the time her gut had kept telling her that Santana was right for this job, she could do it. Now she doubted that feeling. Her gut had never been wrong before, it's why she was such a good driver, why she was respected amongst the local scene. She was considered wise and now when the truth about Santana got out to everybody across the city how was she supposed to deal with that? People trusted her, with their cars and their lives.
Reputation didn't matter to her, she could deal with the aftermath, but this was eating at her. Surely a mistake like this could be forgiven, right? It wasn't as if she hadn't made mistakes before. It was a part of being a human being but this knocked it out of the ball park for the first time in a very long time. The only other time she felt this worried was when she had given up Rachel when she was born. Yes, she had been a surrogate but that didn't matter, it still hurt to know that she would never see that baby girl again. Yet, here she was eleven years of taking care of her later and that's what gave her hope. It cut through the regret like a knife through soft butter, no matter how small the sliver was, and it gave her hope that maybe, just maybe, her gut had been right when she made the decision to bring Santana into the fold with Letty. That this might just pan out in the future. She couldn't tell you how, or even when, but what her gut told her in that moment was that there was something that was going to happen, she just didn't know exactly what it was.
Feeling the arm Shelby had around her waist tighten Holly looked down at her lover, leaning forward to place a kiss to the top of her head once more. The way her breathing became less strained told her that she was at least not as angry as she had been and they could relax in silence. She had time to be angry but right now all the blonde could think about was how confused she was. She knew it probably wouldn't last long but all she could do was question if this day had actually happened or if this was a dream. Whatever it was it wasn't pleasant and she was sure by the end of it she would realise just how much of a nightmare it really was.
Mia sighed heavily as she threw the dish rag down into the sink with a little more force than necessary. She was angry and the result had been her spending all afternoon cleaning the house from top to bottom and three times over. When she was upset she cleaned and she had worked all of her emotions out to the best of her ability but there were still residual pockets of anger and sadness that she knew would take much longer to work out. Those were the emotions that wouldn't be erased by just one afternoon of cleaning, probably not after several, but they would in time eventually.
In the meantime though they were fresh, now her mind not having anything to keep it distracted images of her friends taking up root in her mind. She didn't know where any of them were, save for Rachel who was still upstairs with the bedroom door locked, and it didn't worry her enough to the point where she was rushing to get out and drive around to locate them. She knew they could all handle themselves and right now she knew it was more important for her to focus on herself.
She wasn't usually one to express her emotions in front of other people unless it was serious but right now was different. Cleaning may have helped her work her emotions out but she knew, even as she was doing it, that it was only a temporary fix where the desired effects would quickly rub off as soon as her mind was free. Right now she had the right to let loose what she had been so desperately holding in and it wasn't long before her hands were gripping the granite counter tightly as her breathing became harder.
Anger poured into her body and coursed through her veins like poison. It was such a foreign concept for her but given her current position and the events of the day she wasn't going to fight it any more. She growled uncharacteristically as her breathing then quickened, not quite knowing what to do with herself. She had never felt like this before and unlike her girlfriend who had a very short temper she didn't have an outlet. Her only way of dealing with it hadn't worked and now all she could think of was the images of Santana telling them the truth about who she was.
She cursed herself inwardly for even having faith in her. She had suggested to Letty that they should try and recruit her over Puck and what had it gotten them? A dead racer, two trips to the hospital, a set of useless and rushed modded cars and a traitor who had walked away with her life after losing their prize, the one thing that Race Wars depended on. She had lost it for all of them, had ripped apart the trust she thought they had built and now she didn't even know what to do with herself. The anger was growing by the second, more and more uncharacteristically, and it was getting painful for her trying to figure out how to stop it.
Now she knew how Letty felt whenever Puck was around. It was consuming and despite Santana's current state, recovering from two gunshot wounds, all Mia wanted to do was punch her. And she swung, she growled loudly and before she knew it she was punching her hand through the drywall of the kitchen. Her heart sank into her chest as she pulled back the limb now covered in dust and cracked paint, now realising just what she had done. She definitely knew how Letty had felt now. When Finn had died she had done something very similar, having put her fist through the wall before really thinking through what she was doing. And now it was too late. Mia looked up from her fist to the hole then back down again, blood already starting to seep out through the cuts on her knuckles.
Pulling it back and stretching out her fingers they started to sting at the movement. She couldn't believe that he had been so angry that she had actually done it, never having comprehended that she could ever be capable of such strong emotion. Sure, she had slapped Letty a few times since they had got together but nothing of this level. And it freaked her out for a second. Her breathing picked up in fear as she turned her hand over and examined her palm before the real reason why she had done it surfaced once more. When she remembered why she had been so angry the actual anger made to surface again but in true Toretto fashion she pushed it down beneath the surface, knowing that if she let herself go again she could possibly put another hole in the wall and injure her hand further, even do something worse.
Instead she breathed in deeply and made her way back over to the sink, running her hand under the water. When she was cleaned up she grabbed the first aid kit, covering the small cuts with a few band-aids before putting it away again, seeing that the damage wasn't too bad. At least not too bad that it didn't warrant a visit to the ER and countless suspicious questions of whether she was assaulting her girlfriend or someone else. Now calmed down enough she made her way to the door and exited in search of the only other crew member that she knew was actually here at the house.
As she expected she saw a pair of familiar legs sticking out from under the Plymouth that was parked in the middle of the driveway behind her Silvia. She had been out here all afternoon, Mia was sure of that, and she would probably be here the rest of the night. It was a well-known fact to her that whenever Letty's mind was restless she would be tinkering with her car. Having spent a whole afternoon out here just tinkering meant that Letty had a lot on her mind but she didn't blame her. She understood, considering that she had just punched a clean hole through the kitchen drywall as a result of the days earlier events.
Instead Mia just took a few steps forward, pulling her hoodie tighter around her as the cold night air started setting in. Normally she would have just left her girlfriend but right now she knew it was better to be with her and have her inside instead of out here catching a cold or something worse. Now stood on the edge of the grass she took a deep breath smelling rain in the air.
"Letty?"
Her voice sounded so small, even to her, but she didn't let it phase her, instead focusing on the legs underneath the Plymouth. Moments later and Letty was rolling out from underneath and looking up at her, grease and oil marring the tanned skin of her face.
"Mia? Precioso? Are you ok? What happened to your hand?"
The younger woman subconsciously looked down at said limb which now adorned six or seven brightly coloured band-aids. She looked back over at her girlfriend sheepishly and blushed. "I hit the drywall?"
Letty frowned as she sat up on her board, wiping her hands on an already dirty rag before pulling herself up to her feet and making her way over to her girlfriend. "The drywall?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow and tucking the rag into the back of her jeans.
"Yes"
"But how?"
"I got really angry"
"You stopped cleaning didn't you?"
She knew she was caught. Letty knew her better than anybody and that's why she had already predicted the moment she had started cleaning that once she had stopped the true emotions would come pouring in. She was just surprised that she had been at it this long.
"Maybe..."
"Mia, you know you can tell me anything, it's what I'm here for. I know what happened today, I was there. I don't blame you for getting angry"
"I know" The shorter brunette replied, reaching behind her girlfriend to pull the rag out of Letty's back pocket. "But I shouldn't have done that"
Letty reached up and gripped the wrist, stopping Mia from cleaning more of the grease off her face. She moved her head those few inches and pressed kisses to the accessible band-aids, revelling in the content sigh it drew from her girlfriend. "Mia, amar, it's ok. If you punched the drywall, you punched the drywall. Do you at least feel better?"
Mia blushed and averted her eyes before meeting those of her lover's once more. "Maybe a little"
Letty let out a light chuckle in response, temporarily forgetting that she too was angry at a certain Latina. That was, until Mia called her out on it. "Let, you know you can tell me anything too right?"
"I know, but right now I don't wanna talk about it. I spent an entire afternoon blaming myself for making the wrong decision so right now all I wanna do is just forget it and besides, we have a drywall to fix, don't we?"
Mia knew she was brushing her off but she didn't take it personally. She had known Letty long enough to know that she was speaking the truth. She knew that she would rather bottle it up and she was fine with that but it wasn't like you would expect. Everybody says that bottling up your emotions isn't good for you but what they didn't know that Mia did was that Letty would eventually speak, you just had to give her the right amount of time. Usually Mia could gauge when she was ready to talk and the woman standing before her was far from loosening her lips on the subject matter that had been on their minds for most of the day. That being said she took it in stride and gave the Latina what she wanted, plastering on a smile that they both knew was fake and grabbing the other woman's hand to lead her inside.
"Well, if you're so eager to fix it..."
Letty followed her smirk and pretended to play along, smiling back as she let the other woman pull her inside. There was time for her to talk but right now she would rather fix an angry hole in the drywall instead.
She couldn't do this. She didn't think she had the strength. Rain started spitting from the night sky above her but the arriving pounding of the droplets on her car roof did little to distract her from her mind and herself. She had been sat here, parked up on a random street in a part of the city she had never visited before, void of all emotion. She didn't know what to do with herself. Her hands were gripping the steering wheel despite the fact that she was parked and had been for hours, but they were loose, almost falling off at the lack of strength she had right now. Blonde hair framed her face as she stared dead ahead, not a soul in sight as the rain started to come down in heavy sheets. It only grew worse the more the seconds ticked by, each beat of her heart and each new sheet of rain quickening her breathing.
She'd been there for too long, she knew that, and there was only one other person who knew where she was. Having dropped Rachel back at the house she had told her that she was going for a drive, possibly back to her parents house, but she had yet to gain the courage to actually start up the car and drive over there. Not when she didn't know what she was doing. In fact, she didn't even know if she felt real right now.
The pain emanating from her chest told her that her heart was definitely not whole like it had been that morning when she had woken up, when she had kissed the woman she had thought she loved and who she thought loved her back. Now she didn't know what was true and what wasn't. Her feelings were a mess that she couldn't untangle, at least not without help. She had once thought Santana to be that person, but she was the very reason her heart was hurting in the first place and as Brittany finally gripped the steering wheel in her hands for what seemed like the first time in nearly five hours, or what ever time she had been there for, she remembered the only other person who could possibly help her.
Her mom.
They were close despite what the other members of the crew thought. She may not talk to her on the phone every day or come home for dinner on a Sunday as often as she should but she could depend on her parents to make her feel better. It was this motivation that pushed her to start the car for the first time in hours, pulling out onto the street. Her mom and dad were the best parents she could have asked for and she couldn't help but feel a little guilty as she started driving in the direction of their house.
Driving into more familiar neighbourhoods she started thinking about what she was going to say, trying to conjure up an explanation as to why she had red eyes and probably looked like hell. She checked her face in the sun visor before flipping it back up again.
Yep. Definitely look like shit Britt.
What could she say?
"Hi, mom. Could you possibly hug me and never let go?"
"Hi, can you please hide me away from the world and let me crawl up into a ball and die from the pain I'm feeling in my chest?"
"Hey mom, dad, could you possibly tell me why the woman I thought I loved lied to me and broke my heart into pieces without even thinking to tell me the truth before we started dating?"
It was painful to think about, tears now running down her face and blurring her vision slightly as she turned onto another street. But yet she had so many questions that she knew she would probably never have answered. Why couldn't Santana have just come to her and been straight up? It's not like she would have told anyone. Even after they said 'I love you' Santana had continued to lie and lie and lie until the very end. It made Brittany wonder if what she had ever said to her was true. Did she really love her or was that I love you really just a fake to placate her feelings and make the story more convincing to the others around them? She had doubts on both sides. She doubted that Santana truly loved her but when she thought about that day, just the two of them on their bed, having a heart to heart, it had just felt so natural, so right. Was she wrong to feel these things or were they just for other people's amusement? Was she even interested in her in the first place?
She wondered why on so many things, especially that last question. Did Santana truly ever feel for her or did Cassandra tell her to pursue her in the hopes of getting closer to finding the R8? And why was she so stupid to even fall for her ploy in the first place? Whatever it was, Brittany knew she would never stop asking herself these questions, these silent questions where she would have no one who answered back. She breathed a sigh of relief though when she pulled onto a familiar street, seeing her dads car parked in the driveway and the lights on in her childhood home. This was her escape. Those questions could swirl later when she was alone and hugging onto her pillow wishing today had never happened, but right now she had a chance to forget and she was going to take it. Anger would hit her later but right now her heart was in so much pain all she could do was cry.
And she did.
Tears continued to pour down her face but were instantly invisible as soon as she got out of her car. Rain poured heavily down upon her and the rest of Lima as the night air set in and caused her breath to come out in curling white puffs despite the current weather. She didn't care though. She didn't care for the shiver that ran down her spine as she walked across the road, didn't care about the rain soaking her clothes to the bone as she moved slowly, didn't care that she was openly crying as she walked up the front path to the porch of her parents house.
A press of the doorbell and a few moments later she was being confronted by the beaming face of her mother which soon did a complete opposite rotation into a concerned frown.
"Brittany?"
She looked up, rain dripping off the end of her nose and her eyes red as she sniffled. "Mom...I didn't know where else to go"
Before she knew it she was being scooped into warm arms even though she was completely soaking wet, enough comfort to give her at least a little room to breathe despite her heart having completely crashed down and broken into a million pieces all around her.
Garage Somewhere Just Outside Of Lima, 22:05pm, present day...
Perfectly manicured five inch heels clicked loudly on the concrete as Cassandra waltzed into the garage, a briefcase in one hand and a bottle of expensive champagne in the other. She continued to strut over to the office at the back of the garage and knocked on the open door.
Puck looked up from where he had his booted feet resting up on the desk and smiled at the sight of the blonde woman.
"I was wondering what took you so long"
"I'm sorry about that. I had a problem tying up some loose ends"
"They taken care of?"
"What do you think"
"Good" He smirked, standing up. "What's in the briefcase?"
"Take a look" She purred, turning the case around so that it was facing him. He took one last glance at her before clicking open the catches and opening it. When he saw what was inside he grinned. "You like what you see?"
"Most definitely. You got the information off of it?"
"Yes"
"What about the keys in here?"
"The cars all yours"
Smiling sadistically he closed the briefcase and looked back at her. "What's the champagne for?"
"I thought we could celebrate"
"Oh, you did now?"
"Hmm, care to join me?"
"Yeah, but I think I wanna do a lot more than join you"
Cassandra grinned as he rounded the desk and backed her up against the wall, their faces inches apart. "Then why don't you just take it?"
His hand trailing up her thigh and hooking the bottom of her pencil skirt he smirked against her neck. "Oh, I'm gonna do a lot more than just take it..."
Song used: Emphatic - Do I
TBC