AN: Angst. Apparently, I'm in an angst writing kick. :( I don't know how I feel about it, but I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think. Reviews are a wonderful, wonderful thing.
She needs a minute.
In less than six months, she has had more life changing situations than the first eighteen years of her life combined. First, she broke up with her soul mate and best friend. Next, she quit college and cheerleading. Then she moved to New York City and in with Kurt and Rachel. She is even more unsure about her future now than previously. She started dancing again. She is working a dead end job as a singing waitress at a diner with an ass of a boss. Finally, she met Dani and they started dating Dani soon after.
She just needs a minute. Her life has been going at warp speed, but her brain seems to be just catching up.
She's showering after a long day at work and dance. This is about the only me time she can catch lately. She's taking her time in the shower, trying just to breathe and calm the fuck down. Her hand covers her mouth, she tries to take a deep slow breath, but her breathing comes too fast and too short. She hyperventilating, a panic attack, and she doesn't know how to stop it, how to control it.
She drops to her knees then sits in the tub, water still raining down from the showerhead. Her elbow hit the side of the shower a few times on the way down, but she doesn't notice. All she can focus on is her quick breathing, her racing mind, and her lack of control.
Dani, who was mulling around the apartment waiting for her girlfriend to finish her shower, heard the thumps come from the bathroom. She almost shrugs it off as Santana just dropping some bottle – shampoo or something, but she had to make sure.
She knocked on the bathroom door, but there was no answer. She opened the door slowly so she didn't startle the girl in the shower. Once she saw her girlfriend on the floor of the tub, she rushed over to figure out what's wrong, what happened.
"Tana?" Dani says quietly, but loud enough for Santana to hear her over the noise of the shower. Still receiving no answer, she carefully made her way into the shower, fully clothed, and sat in down in the tub in front of the naked, heavily breathing girl. She brought one of her hands up to Santana's cheek and guided her face up so they could be eye to eye.
"Tana?" Dani says again, still no answer. Dani takes in her girlfriend. The short, quick breathing. The wild eyes. The non-responsiveness. She knows the signs of a panic attack.
"Tana, can you hear me? I need you to breathe with me, okay? Deep breath in." She coaches but Santana doesn't respond, so she grabs one of the darker hands and brings it to her diaphragm. "Follow me. Breathe in. Breathe out. In. Out. In. Out." She soothes and finally Santana starts responding.
"That's good baby. Keep going. In. Out." Still breathing with Santana, Dani mentally sighs with relief that the brunette is responding. "Okay. Let's get out of here." Dani instructs, standing up then helping her girlfriend up. She wraps one arm around the tan, naked waist as she uses her other hand to turn off the shower.
Dani opens the shower door, grabs a towel, wrapping it around her girlfriend before sitting her on the toilet. She strips out of her clothes and grabs another towel for herself. She quickly dries herself then turns her attention to the other girl. She stands her up before helping her dry off.
Dani leads them to Santana's room, guides Santana to the bed, and grabs them both a t-shirt. She drops her towel and pulls the shirt over her head. She drops Santana's towel to the floor and helps her into her own shirt. She lays them on the bed, Santana's head on her chest, and runs her fingers through Santana's hair and up and down her back.
"What happened baby?" Dani asks after a few minutes of lying in the bed in silence.
Santana takes a deep, shuddering breath. "I…I don't know. I think…I think these past few months just finally caught up with me." She tries to explain. "Everything…it's all just been going so fast. I think…my brain just caught up and…" She trails off shaking her head.
"It's okay." Dani soothes. "It's okay." She breathes. "Let's try to sleep and, if you want, we can talk more when we wake up. If not, we'll watch a movie or something, okay?" She tells her more than asks.
Santana nods her head, burrowing further into the shorter girls neck and chest. "Thank you." She says quietly.
Dani doesn't say anything more, her fingers still running through the darker hair and up and down her back. She waited until Santana was asleep before drifting off herself.