Being away from Brittany was probably the worst thing that has ever happened to Santana Lopez. It was worse than falling in love with her best friend when she was too scared to admit it, worse than being pushed out of the closet by Finn 'douchebag' Hudson, and it was even worse than being shunned by her Abuela for something she couldn't control.

Santana hated not being able to play footsie with Brittany underneath their shared table in Bio, and not being able to run her fingers through Brittany's long blonde ponytail as she sat in the desk behind her. She hated not getting random texts to meet in the bathroom for a quick make-out session, and most of all she hated not seeing those warm blue eyes light up from the back row of the choir room anytime she walked into glee club late.

This time around with her not using every excuse she could come up with in order to not think about it, it hurt even worse. Getting through this day so she could drive more hours than she would actually be able to spend with Brittany was all Santana could think about.

They had been on the phone basically all night and all morning talking about how much they missed each other, about how upset Sam was when Brittany made him leave after their impromptu phone sex, and about exactly what they planned on doing with their few precious moments together that night.

Santana was sitting in her second class of the day when Rebecca, a fellow Cardinal, sat next to her and gave her the worst possible news she could have gotten that day.

"You hear about the mandatory bonding slumber party we have tonight?" Rebecca asked monotonously.

Santana stiffened before turning towards the other girl with narrowed eyes and asked, "Mandatory what?"

"After practice this afternoon there's a lock-in in the gym and we all have to stay the night. Apparently coach thinks we need to do some bonding. It's not even going to be co-ed." Rebecca rolled her eyes.

"Well fuck that. I'm skipping." Santana shrugged and looked back to the front of the class where the teacher was going over a powerpoint.

"Can't. Hence the mandatory part. Unless you're trying to get kicked off the squad... I mean are you? Some of the girls are placing bets."

Santana let out an exaggerated huff and started texting Brittany with the news. Rebecca took the hint and went back to taking notes, and probably putting in a fresh bet that Santana wouldn't make it through the night.

'I'M SO SORRY BUT I WON'T BE ABLE TO MAKE IT UP THERE TONIGHT. MY COACH IS A CRAZY KUMBAYA BITCH AND LOCKING US IN THE GYM TONIGHT SO WE CAN GET TO KNOW EACHOTHER.'

A few minutes later Santana's phone buzzed with Brittany's response.

':('

Santana made sure to call Brittany right after class to try and make things better, even though she knew there was nothing that could make not seeing each other any better.

"Brittany, I'm sorry. You know how much I wanna drive up there. I want to see you more than anything." Santana said, a little whine evident in her tone.

"I know that. I just got my hopes up and now I'm an extra sad panda."

"Look, I'll find away to sneak away from the group so we can facetime or something until you fall asleep. Okay?"

"Can't you just sneak out of a window and come see me? Or is your coaching locking those too?"

Santana chuckled into the phone, even though she knew Brittany was being serious.

"I can't baby. You know I would if I could. But I'll see you this weekend. We'll have all weekend together. How is your leg feeling?" Santana asked, trying to change the subject to anything other than Brittany's disappointment in her.

"It hurts... like my heart." Brittany pouted into the phone and Santana could feel her heart hurt just as much.

"Mine too, Britt-Britt. Make sure you take your medicine. I have to go now. I'll call you in a couple hours before practice." Santana waited for Brittany to say goodbye before she hung up the phone and dropped her head into her hands. How were they going to get through the rest of this year if they couldn't even get through a couple of days?

After Santana dragged through her classes for the day she threw herself onto her bed and braced herself for practice and the gymnasium campout. She knew she had to call Brittany, but she didn't know if her heart could taking hearing Brittany so upset again. She didn't even know what they would talk about that wasn't depressing. Between Brittany's leg and this distance it seemed like all of their conversations were just so damn sad all of the time...when they weren't having phone sex, that is.

Santana suddenly shot up and went to her dresser. She pulled out a few things from there and a couple of things she had hidden away in her closet before she texted Brittany to get onto Skype. She had about an hour before she had to be at practice and she wasn't going to waste it sulking about tonight.

She changed into a new outfit and waited in front of her computer until she saw that Brittany was online. When Brittany's face popped onto her screen, Santana gave her a wave and wink before standing up and leaning against her desk.

Brittany's eyes nearly bugged out of her head when she saw Santana's exposed cleavage hovering in front of her face and she almost choked on the soda she was drinking.

Santana ducked back down so she was looking at the screen when she heard Brittany splutter. She giggled when she saw her girlfriend's eyes were still wide and her mouth was hanging open.

"I need some help picking out some pajamas for tonight." Santana said cooly as she stood back to reveal a red, lacy two piece that barely left anything to the imagination. It was actually something Brittany had gotten her for a Valentine's day present last year. Santana played with the frill on the bottoms as she twirled around, ending with a sultry look, sticking her finger between her teeth.

"Well, you're not wearing that!" Brittany finally said when she found her words.

"Hmm? You don't think so?" Santana asked, feigning innocence.

"Definitely not." Brittany confirmed with a shake of her head and a knowing smirk.

Santana smiled and told Brittany to hold on before she twirled back around and out of the camera's view.

She came back wearing a pink bathrobe, an oversized bright blue shirt with Star Wars characters on it, her Cheerio's skirt, and a pair of fluffy duck slippers that Brittany had been looking for for weeks.

"What about this?" Santana asked.

"First of all, you're a thief and I want my slippers back. Lord Tubbington has been crying about Clarence and Stevie for the past week and I'm over the whining. Second of all, Yes. I think that outfit is perfect." Brittany replied with a giant grin. She hadn't realized how much she needed goofy Santana until that moment.

Santana rolled her eyes and told Brittany that the slippers were staying as she tried on a few more outrageous outfits for Brittany to judge. She tried on a few more pieces of lingerie and another mismatching outfit before showing Brittany the real outfit she planned on wearing that night: sweats and a tank top. They laughed and talked about nothing for almost 45 minutes before Santana had to get ready for practice. She leaned into her laptop and gave the screen/Brittany a kiss.

"I love you, Brittany, and I will do anything to remind you of that no matter how far apart we are. Okay? I don't want you to ever feel like it's going to be like it was last time. And if I didn't have this test and a game coming up I would totally be driving up there before the weekend."

"I know that, San, and I love you too. We'll see each other this weekend." Brittany gave her girlfriend a sad smile and nod.

After one last exchange of smiles and air kisses they said goodbye and Santana went of to practice feeling happy, but numb. Everything seemed less when she wasn't with Brittany or when Brittany's voice wasn't filling her ears. It felt like she was in another world having Brittany so far away and she wasn't sure how much longer she could take it.

Santana was sitting on the bleachers, ready for this slumber party, and checking her email on her phone when she felt someone standing in front of her.

"If you're envisioning lingerie pillow fights and experimental kissing tonight, you're out of luck."

Santana looked up to see Mallory and a couple of the other girls looking down at her with smug looks on their faces and their arms folded across their chests. Santana knew that look all to well, she practically invented that look with Quinn back in middle school.

"Excuse me? Did I just land back in the fifth grade or am I still in college? The fuck kind of sleepover you having?" Santana sneered at the girls as she stood to match their posture. There was no way she was backing down from this.

"Whatever Lopez, we heard about you being an uber-dyke and I know I saw you oogling my goodies in the showers earlier." Mallory, the one seeming to lead the pack, shot back at her.

"Oh please, Uber-dyke? Oogling your goodies? Someone needs a Bring It On intervention STAT. And, trust me there are no 'goodies'..." Santana air quoted the word, "...for me to be looking at. Between those mosquito bites you call a chest and that second chin you're sporting these days I think I'm good." Santana sat back down when she saw the horrified look on Mallory's face and added, "Besides gingers don't really do it for me."

Mallory looked like she was about to pounce before their coach spoke up and called them all to the center of the gymnasium.

"Okay, ladies. Now I'm sure most of you would rather be anywhere but stuck here with all of us, but we've been a squad for over a couple of months now and I don't think half of you even know each other's names. So expect to do a few 'getting to know you' exercises tonight followed by an early lights out. We all need our beauty sleep...especially you, Gretchen."

"What?" A girl from the back row squealed, who Santana could only guess was Gretchen.

The next day, it wasn't until lunch that Santana heard from Brittany. It was a phone call that Santana was eager to take after being worried all morning when she hadn't heard back from her.

"Hey, baby." Santana answered the phone with a smile.

"Coach Sylvester stopped by this morning." Brittany said in lieu of a hello.

Shit. Santana totally forgot about that note and about telling Brittany about her being cut from the Cheerios.

"Y-yeah? What did she want?" Santana asked, even though she knew already.

"She took my uniform and told me I was off the Cheerios. Then she started going on about a letter and how my uniform wasn't clean enough." Brittany said blankly with a lump forming in the back of her throat.

"Brittany, I am so sorry. Fucking Becky dropped off a note and I was going to tell you but I didn't want to upset you and then I completely forgot and I'm such an asshole. I'm so, so sorry." Santana answered in one breath.

"You knew?"

"Yeah and I was going to tell you. I swear. I just..."

Brittany cut Santana off.

"I-I'm not a ch-cheerleader anymore. I c-can't use my leg. I have to pee so b-bad and m-my girlfriend is a million miles away. I-I-I just don't know wh-what to do-o-o." Brittany cried into the phone.

"Oh baby. Shh. It's okay. Everything is going to be okay." Santana could feel her own tears welling up in her eyes as her heart broke into a hundred peices hearing Brittany cry like that. She couldn't remember the last time she heard her THIS sad.

"No. It's not okay. I can't believe y-you didn't even tell me." There was a pause and Santana didn't know what to say; she felt like shit. "I have to go." Brittany finally said.

"Brittany, please. I'm-"

"I just need some time. I'm sad and I don't want to cry on the phone because it hurts my cheeks. I'll talk to you later, San."

"O-okay. I love you." There really was no arguing with Brittany right then, Santana knew that.

There was no 'I love you' back, just a click and then nothing. Silence and it was the loudest thing in the world to Santana. It was an alarm and Santana only knew one way to shut it off.

She had to go back to Lima. Nothing was worth this. She would figure something out, but first she was going to see Brittany and make everything better.

It wasn't until the sun had already set and the birds had already gone to sleep that Santana had finally packed a few things and driven to Lima. She got stuck in some of the rush hour traffic and by the time she arrived at the Pierce residence all the lights were already out.

She used the key Brittany had secretly made for her when they were freshman and quietly opened the front door and made her way to Brittany's bedroom. She creaked the door open and as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she saw a lump in Brittany's bed.

As she walked closer she saw the steady rise and fall of Brittany's chest and knew she was fast asleep. Santana really wanted to talk to her about everything but decided to let her sleep instead. She slipped into some shorts and as carefully as she could, slipped into Brittany's bed. Just as she was bringing the covers up to her she heard Brittany take in a breath of air. Santana turned to see Brittany opening her eyes and looking at Santana with confusion etched into her face.

"Santana?" Brittany croaked out, her voice thick with sleep.

"Yeah, baby. It's me." Santana reassured her with a soft smile.

"Are you real?"

"Mhm."

Santana didn't even have a chance to blink before Brittany was leaning towards her, pulling onto her shirt simultaneously and crashing their lips together.

OMG, I updated! lol. Okay I know I've sucked lately and I'm sorry. But I got some time, being on my spring break during the winter and all, and found some time to write this chapter. Again, I have no idea when the next one will be, but hopefully it won't take too long. And sorry if this chapter feels weird. I've been writing a few other things and was trying to find my groove in this story again and probably failed. Eh.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed it.