A/N: Brittany! I don't know much about transplants and blindness, so… forgive me for anything that is not quite correct. I'm having trouble writing Brittany because she so… out of it. I'll probably end up making her smarter or have to find some excuse for her behavior.

Special Thanks to oOScrabblesOo who came up with a brilliant idea for Britt's dad's position (he's mentioned but isn't really relevant yet), you made me write another chapter that I completely didn't plan (actually I should be killing you but meh =P). No really I appreciate the input, it was a great idea and I'm going to run with it.

And thank you always to those who review.

Chapter 4 - The Ghost

To tell you the truth Santana wasn't quite sure how she ended up in the janitor's closet with "The Ghost" who refused to move from the small space because "she hiding from the wolves". What was weirder is that the odd girl somehow latched onto Santana and wouldn't let her leave either because the girl didn't want her to be eaten. Santana had raised a quizzical look at explanation before wondering exactly how she had stumbled into this situation. Which is worrying considering her reputation was originally built on lies, needful and convenient circumstances, and deceit. Maybe that using her head the hard head of Karofsky did more damage than she thought. Santana had long ago made a point to always keep track of how she got somewhere so she would never have problems with holes in her lies. As she racked her brain on how to get "The Ghost" out of closet, another part of her mind was examining exactly how she got here.

It had begun earlier that week when she stopped by the designated "child recreation and support" area. No sooner had she stepped foot into the space, the children had mobbed her, each wanting to tell her about their newest friend. They called her "The Ghost". They said she appeared out of nowhere and played with them when they were bored or lonely. The person, who had chosen the name, was a Carol, a girl about the age of seven. She was convinced that the visitor was a ghost, and claimed that the ghost floated above the floor and was cold to the touch. Another kid, Brett said that he never heard her come or leave.

"She's not like you, 'tana," he had said. "She don't make sound when she comes, I can always hear you when you visit."

"She wears a piece of… of…" started to add Megan before she had to stop to search for the word.

"She wears a blindfold," interrupted Tod. "I asked her to take it off, and when she did her eyes... were," Tod turned to Megan for help.

"Murky?" Megan said questioningly. Tod nodded in agreement.

The rest of the children added in their two cents before a nurse asked Santana to come help find a person that the staff had been looking for.

"We've been looking for the past hour," explained the nurse hurriedly. "She wanders around but she gave her caregiver the slip. Her name's Brittany. She's the person the kids have been telling you about. I was told she was last seen heading in that direction. I wouldn't usually ask but we're about to receive critical patients from the nearby traffic accident so we can't spare the people to look for her." Giving Santana a copy of Brittany's picture, the nurse left to prepare for the incoming patients as quickly as possible.

Santana sat down on a nearby bench and examined the picture. No wonder the kids thought she was a ghost, from the paleness of her skin, she could be. According to the picture her eyes where blue, she had blonde hair.

'Damn,' thought Santana. 'That girl's hot.' As soon as the thought finished, Santana fought the urge to bang her head against the nearest wall, that would only cause more pain than was currently necessary for such a thought. Puck, of course it was all Puck's fault. All those years where she sat with him in the park pretending to be his girlfriend, when he was really checking out all the "hot ladies" in the area must have rubbed off on her. She made a mental note to hit him tomorrow.

Pressure on her arm brought her out of her thoughts. That's right, Ghost, girl, janitor's closet, fix. Forcing the girl's hands off of her and trapping them within her own. She told Brittany the first idea that came to her mind.

"Don't worry. I'll protect you from the wolves."

"What about the bears, and the ducks," Brittany asked seriously.

Santana responded without missing a beat. "If something does attack I'll beat it up."

"Promise?" said the other girl with uncertainty.

"Promise," swore Santana solemnly taking Brittany's right hand into her left.

"Ok," was all Brittany said as Santana led her out to the hallway.

"What number is your room?" Santana asked quietly.

"Number?" Brittany sounded puzzled.

"Where is it?" Santana was grasping for some indication.

"Oh. Uh. It's twenty-five steps that way, fifty two this way, two pings, eight and a half forward, and two steps this way," Brittany stated as though it was the most obvious fact in the world. Santana paused, thought about it, and came up with a simple solution.

"I'll lead to protect you from the mean nasty things, ok." Brittany nodded in response. "Just squeeze my hand if I start going the wrong way." Brittany nodded again.

Thirty minutes and a few hand squeezes later, they had made it safely to Brittany's room. Brittany asked her to stay and talk for a while. Santana not really having any other duties assigned to her for the day agreed. Brittany was constantly in contact with her body even though she was on the bed and Santana was in a chair. Brittany talked, from what Santana gleaned from the confusing and odd phrasing is that Brittany suffered damage to her eyes and was here because there was a doctor here who was good at eye surgery. When Brittany got to how she had tried to get around on her first days here and mentioned "eek-ho location" as one of them, Santana did something she hadn't done in years, she laughed. Santana felt like she had regained something that she had lost, found something that she couldn't name but wanted to hold and not let go of. Unfortunately, she noticed it was getting dark as the shadows grew longer on the hard floor. Exactly how much time had passed since they had come into this room?

"It's time for me to go," said Santana regretfully as she got up off the chair by the bed. "I'll see you around," she said starting towards the door.

"Are you an Angel?" Brittany asked. "I think you're an Angel."

"What? No, no. I'm not. My name's Santana."

"I think I'll call you Angel," Brittany said more to herself than anyone, ignoring Santana's introduction. "You'll visit me, won't you?" Brittany asked hopefully.

"No, I…" Santana was going to say that she couldn't visit, she had duties two floors down to attend to and that kept her busy until visiting hours were over. She probably could have finished that sentence if she had not turned around to address the girl on the bed. Brittany's expression had visibly fallen and Santana felt that she might have just kicked a puppy.

Relenting she walked back over to the bed and said, "I'll come by when I can." Brittany snaked her arm out, found Santana's shoulder and maneuvered her into a surprise hug.

"I'll come by tomorrow," promised Santana returning the given hug awkwardly. Bidding a final farewell to Brittany, Santana left the hospital. She shivered as she got to her bike. It was only November, so why did she feel so cold?

A/N: Thanks again oOScrabblesOo. I'll see you in the next round (hopefully I don't mess up this AU). The reason why Brittany insists on calling Santana "Angel" is sort of explained in the next chapter (subtly at the moment, the way I have it written).

Best line I wrote... last line. That's how I feel at least about it.