A/N: Dear Readers - big, sloppy, possibly wet kisses to all of you. The stats for this fic are off the charts. Glad my head canon is resonating with so many of you. Bless your precious unicorn hearts. Mwah!

Brittany and Santana were lying side by side on Brittany's bed. Their legs intertwined, as Santana's fingertips grazed up and down Brittany's arm. Santana watched Brittany's eyelashes flutter up and down as she blinked. Brittany chewed on her bottom lip and hooked her thumb back and forth, in and out of Santana's belt loop.

"You lied to me about your GPA," Santana started quietly. "And about being in class. I sat next to you in half your classes, so this whole 'I never went to class' thing is…well…bullshit."

Brittany looked into Santana's sad, yet soft eyes and returned them to her thumb on Santana's waist. Brittany nodded.

"Why?"

Brittany let a small breath out between her lips and shrugged. "It's the first thing that came to mind. It seemed better if I was miles away from graduating, rather than kind of close to graduating. Then maybe, you wouldn't be so upset. Kind of like, it's worse when you lose by a little bit than losing by a lot and knowing you never had a chance," Brittany explained.

Santana cuddled up closer and steeled herself as she hugged Brittany tightly. The warmth of Brittany's cheek against hers, red with shame and embarrassment cooled Santana's anger and disappointment that Brittany didn't feel she could be honest with her.

"How close?" Santana asked.

"I failed two classes. I didn't really know for sure until I got the grades on my final tests. But, I was…I was afraid it was true. But I was hoping I could skate by. Just under the wire. Like I did with the OGT. But I didn't. I was just under passing," Brittany pouted.

"God I hate those standardized tests," Santana complained. "I almost didn't pass that damn thing. I could've had straight A's, failed that, and not graduated."

Brittany let a little smile of pride cross her lips. "I think I did better on that than you."

Santana smirked, "It's because you're smart Britt. Just different smart. And anyone who does well on standardized tests is 'different smart' to me. I hate them."

Brittany pressed a kiss to Santana's forehead. "But you did pass, and that's all that matters," Brittany comforted.

Santana sighed, and ran her hand over Brittany's hair and across her cheek. She held Brittany's face in her hand and coaxed her eyes to meet her own.

"Which classes did you fail?" Santana quietly asked.

"English Lit…"

Santana let out a breath of relief. She was good at literature. She could totally help her with that.

"...and Chemistry," Brittany finished.

Santana let out a groan she meant to keep in her head, but the thought of helping Brittany with Chemistry was just too painful to be contained.

Brittany sat up, "It's hopeless."

Santana immediately sat up and grabbed Brittany's hand. "No!" Santana yelled. She took a moment to compose herself. "No," she said calmly. "It's not hopeless. You're not hopeless. I can help you with English," Santana assured.

"And Chemistry?" Brittany dejectedly asked.

"We'll get Mike. Mike's like, scary smart with science," Santana nodded and grinned.

"He's a counselor again at Asian Camp with Tina. They're gone most of the summer," Brittany pouted.

Santana bit her lip and looked down. "Crap." She looked up at the ceiling, thinking. Looking for answers. Finn and Puck barely passed. Sam and Joe hadn't taken it yet. Sugar…absolutely not…

"Blaine," Santana suggested.

"Five shows a week at Cedar Point," Brittany replied.

"Kurt?"

"Working full-time at the tire shop in the day and figuring out how to get to New York at night," Brittany explained.

"Artie. He's almost as good at science as Mike," Santana suggested.

"He's doing a summer film program at OSU."

"Mercedes?" Santana hesitated. She wasn't too sure how she'd done in that class.

"Already practicing songs for her job and looking for places in L.A." Brittany replied.

"That leaves Quinn and Berry," Santana concluded.

"I can't spend that much time with Rachel," Brittany stated with a finality that made Santana smile.

"No one can, Britt. Well Finnocence can, but that's not saying much," she sighed.

"He can eat a bag of dicks for all I care," Brittany spat.

"Still not over that, eh?" Santana smirked.

"Never. Moving on," Brittany stared sharply back at Santana, clenching her jaw.

Santana looked down at her phone, nodded and smiled to herself. Santana started scrolling through her contacts. "Let's hope Quinn hasn't run off to New Haven yet."

Santana dropped off her car keys inside the front door and heard her mother hanging up the phone in the kitchen.

"Santana? Is that you?" her mother called out. "I thought you were staying at Brittany's for dinner?"

"Me too Mama," Santana replied, meeting her mother in the kitchen. "But her parents came home and they're having some kind of 'family meeting'. I'm not sure what it's about. But, anyway, I'm here. She's there," Santana smiled through her worry.

Maribel gave her daughter a sympathetic smile and picked up the phone and hit redial.

"Hi, yes, yes, I'd like to add to my order? Great. Add an order of Pad Thai and those fresh veggie rolls. Thanks. Yes, that'll be all. Thank you. Bye." Mrs. Lopez hung up and looked over at her daughter. "I didn't plan anything for dinner since I thought it was just me tonight."

"Thanks Mama," Santana moved and gave her a quick hug.

"Sooooo…how did it go with Brittany?"

"A lot better than I thought," Santana sighed, leaning her elbows on the kitchen island counter top.

"You mean a lot better than you feared," Mrs. Lopez corrected her.

Santana breathed out a laugh and nodded. "Yes, yes, you were right. And before you say I told you so, thanks for the good advice. Keeping my eyes on the solution stopped me from going all…"

"You?" Maribel smiled at her knowingly.

Santana gave her mother an exasperated look and nodded.

"Anyway," Santana continued. "We have a good plan. "

"Enlighten me," Mrs. Lopez said, as she pulled out plates and chopsticks for dinner.

"Summer school. Brittany failed English and Chemistry, so she has to retake those. Those are the only two she fell short on getting enough unit requirements to graduate. If she passes those, she can get her diploma," Santana explained.

"And the rest of her classes?"

"Two Cs and a D. She passed the state graduation exam. Actually, she scored higher than me on it," Santana admitted.

"You always did hate standardized tests," Maribel added.

"Don't remind me. Studying for the OGT and SATs was a nightmare," Santana grumbled.

"No GED?" Maribel continued.

"Nope. You can't be enrolled in school and you have to be 19 in Ohio. Britt's parents won't let her drop out and she won't be 19 for another nine months."

Her mother nodded with understanding. "So, you're helping her with English? Who's your Chemistry wiz, because I know that was a C you were happy and surprised you got," her mother teased.

"Quinn," Santana replied, perking up. "Nothing like getting the class valedictorian to help you pass, right?"

Mrs. Lopez smiled and nodded. "How's her plans for Yale coming?"

"Good," Santana replied.

The doorbell rang and Mrs. Lopez gathered her cash and greeted the delivery girl. Santana quickly took the Thai take-out from her mother and started dishing out the food onto their plates.

"Quinn's pretty set. Freshman orientation and move-in isn't until the second week of August. She's working part-time over at the bookstore, but she said she has plenty of time for Britt," Santana explained between bites of noodles.

"Don't' talk with your mouth full Santana," Maribel corrected.

Santana sucked up a noodle into her mouth and quietly chewed.

"How's her back? Is she done with physical therapy?"

"Yeah, well, she was done, but she over did it at Nationals. You know Quinn, she's as stubborn as I am. She didn't hold back at all in Chicago," Santana smiled and shook her head. "So she's going back once a week and doing some exercises and stretching at home."

"You girls…" Maribel shook her head and sighed.

Santana's cell phone vibrated on her nightstand, and stirred her awake. She looked over at the clock. 1:00am. Santana reached for the phone blindly and knocked it on the floor.

"Fuck," she grumbled and swung her body over the side of the bed, hanging her torso off the bed and feeling blindly in the darkness for her phone that was somewhere on the floor. Her fingers grazed against cool plastic.

"Aha!" she sleepily congratulated herself for finding her phone. She opened her text messages and read.

Hey, can I come over?

-B

Santana smiled, then frowned, remembering Britt's "family meeting". Was she ready for the results? She quickly texted back "Yes" then added, "Back yard".

Santana pulled herself back up into bed, then untangled her legs from the sheets and got up. She slipped on some sweats and a hoodie and crept downstairs. The TV was on and her mother was asleep on the couch. Santana smiled down on her and gently draped a throw over her mother. Santana tip toed to the hall closet and pulled out a checkered blanket her family used for picnics and trips to the lake.

Santana walked through the kitchen and out the back door, careful to softly close it. She walked out to the double hammock under the maple tree and lay down, pulling the blanket up to her chin to wait.

It wasn't 10 minutes, before Santana heard Brittany's car pull up to the curb in front of her house. Santana smiled and sat up as much as she could and saw Brittany's shadowed figure, make her way to her.

Brittany silently slipped under the blanket and nuzzled her head into Santana's neck. Santana hugged her tightly to her body and rubbed her hand down her back.

"Hey," Santana whispered.

Brittany sniffed, "Hey."

"What's wrong Britt?"

"My parents have to go to Santa Fe this week."

Santana had visions of a parentless house and its endless possibilities. "For how long"? she grinned into Brittany's hair.

"Most of the summer," she pouted.

"What?" Santana pushed Brittany away just enough to meet her face to face. "Why? What about your sister? And…and…why?"

"Grandma's sick and they need to take care of her. She broke her hip and there were some…complications…infection I think. The Medicare or whatever insurance she has doesn't cover home health care that good. So, Mom and Dad are going to drive out and stay with her and help her get better. They're taking my sister with them."

"What are they doing about work?"

"Dad's telecommuting. He does all his work on his computer anyway, and Mom's taking family leave."

Santana wrapped her arm and a leg around Brittany and held her close. "So, they're just leaving you here. By yourself? Will they be back for the end of summer school? To see you off to New York?" Santana whispered in her ear.

Brittany shrugged. "They don't know. Too early to tell, I guess."

Santana gave Brittany a squeeze, for comfort, for sympathy, for the words she didn't have for her. Brittany sighed into Santana's hug and kissed the nape of her neck. Then Brittany yawned.

Santana chuckled at her sleepy girlfriend. "Don't start something you don't intend to finish," she smirked and kissed Brittany's temple.

Brittany gave her a tired smile, "Sorry. Couldn't help it."

"It's okay Britt Britt. Do you have to go back home, or are we sleeping out under the stars tonight?"

"Hmmmph, I don't wanna move," Brittany grumbled and yawned again, trying to curl closer into Santana.

"Did you at least leave your parents a note?"

"They know I'm here. They were still up when I texted you."

"OK. Sleep then," Santana cooed in Brittany's ear and gave her a soft kiss goodnight.