Sorry for the lateness that was the last chapter guys, I swear I had uploaded it but I guess I had a massive fail . Well here's the next one I hope you enjoy, thank you for the lovely reviews and enjoooooyy !lurve heart! Glee season 3 tomorrow! So keen!

Santana finally fell asleep with Brittany nestled snugly on her lap. Across the room Blaine and Kurt had also fallen asleep snuggled up while Dave had passed in an armchair. They had spent the night watching movies on Dave's large TV and laughing at silly things. It was a school night and they probably shouldn't have stayed up so late, but a bit of sleep could be sacrificed to make a friend feel needed.

Santana was awoken to the sound of raised voices. Her mind was foggy from sleep and she could only determine Dave's voice. The other was deeper and definitely the louder of the two. Brittany had shifted on her as she had also been woken up. Santana sat up a little more to try and see the source of the disturbance. She could see the outline of Dave and another person standing in the entrance of the lounge room. She could tell it was a man because the figure was just as tall and broad as Dave.

Their voices had been lowered a bit and Santana could only hear hushed whispers, once she could have sworn she heard the word 'faggot'. That's when it clicked. She looked over to where Brittany was almost straddling her and then over to where Kurt and Blaine were watching the arguing pair. They were in each other's arms and it was obvious to tell they were a couple. Damn it. Dave's dad chose the best night to come home early from his trip.

Santana gently moved Brittany off of her lap and stood up. Dave and his father noticed the movement and they both stopped talking. There was a moment of no speech. No movement. No blinking. And in Santana's case no breathing.

"I think your friends need to leave, David," Dave's father said. It was low and soft but it shook with clear rage that was barely hidden beneath the surface of his gruff exterior.

Dave shot a pleading look at Santana and she knew she had to take Britt and go. But how could she get David to go with them? Kurt and Blaine had jumped up and were already heading towards the door. They both shot Dave a look of pity before they exited. Dave's dad pressed himself against the wall as they passed, as if he was going to catch something from them. God, how could Dave survive this man? As the Latina passed she tugged on the elbow of Dave's shirt.

"Walk us out, Dave?" She said in a false happy voice.

Dave looked at his dad for permission and got it in the form of one slow, stiff nod. Dave quickly placed a hand on each of the girls' backs and guided them out of the house. Kurt and Blaine had been waiting in the car for the girls to get out safely. They both heaved a sigh of relief when Dave brought them out. He showed the girls to Santana's car and even opened the door for the brunette while Britt walked quickly to the other side of the vehicle. It was more out of urgency than politeness but San appreciated it anyway, her hands were shaking and she didn't know how good they would be at opening doors right now. She wasn't scared of Dave's dad. She'd dealt with big dumb assholes before. It was Dave she was scared for. When Dave tried to turn away San grabbed his wrist to stop him.

"Dave, get in the car. You can come stay at mine. Please," she stared up at him, begging him to just get in the car and be safe. For a moment he looked like he was going to take her offer and just get in the bloody car, but seeing as Jesus obviously hated the brunette, Dave looked back up the drive to his front door where San could faintly see the outline of Mr Karofsky watching them. Dave turned back to her and shook his big head sadly.

"I have to at least try to explain, San," he whispered. His voice broken voice scared her and almost broke her heart. She tried one last time to convince him to come with her but he refused. There was nothing else she could do. Not with Brittany here. Getting the blonde girl home safe was her top priority right now.

"Fine, if you have to stay then stay. But if anything happens call me. I'll be here with my baseball bat so quickly you won't see it coming."

Dave offered her a tiny smile. "Thanks Santana."

"Dave," Santana said before she let him go, "please call me."

David placed a hand over Santana's and he looked her in the eye. "I will. I promise."

…

Instead of dropping Britt off at her house San drove them both back to her place. She knew her parents wouldn't be home as usual and she really needed Brittany there with her. She would never admit it but she needed cuddles and soft words of love from the girl she loved. The brunette turned her key in the lock slowly and let them inside the big empty house.

The moment the door was closed and they were plunged into darkness Santana felt strong arms wrap comfortingly around her waist. She let out a deep shuddering breath that she didn't realize that she had been holding into the crook of Britt's neck. They stood like that for a minute until their eyes had adjusted to the darkness. Britt pulled away and looked the brunette in the eye. Santana was scared for Karofsky.

"He's going to be okay, San," the blonde whispered gently.

Santana desperately wanted to believe that but after seeing the bruise on Dave's eye and knowing that his dad had hit him before, she knew that something was going to go down. She had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that even a Brittany hug hadn't been able to diminish.

San pulled the blonde girl back in for another hug. She was trying so hard to wash her useless thoughts of what Dave was going through right now from her mind. Brittany softly stroking her hair was helping. Eventually, and unfortunately, the hug ended and Santana took the dancer by the hand and led her upstairs to her bedroom. They took their usual places on the Latina's bed, sitting beside each other leaning against the head board. Santana looked Brittany in her beautiful blue eyes.

"Have I told you how much I love you tonight, Britt-Britt?" She asked the blonde gently.

Brittany giggled and kissed the tip of San's nose. "Once or twice," the dancer replied, "but I never tire of hearing it."

"In that case," Santana replied, grinning now, "I love you Brittany S Peirce. I love you even more than Breadstix." Brittany gaped at that. Santana loved something more than Breadstix? Santana loved her more than Breadstix? Wow. She voiced her thought to her girlfriend and was met with stunned silence.

"Britt, of course I love you more than Breadstix. It's just a stupid restaurant. I love you more than anything in this world, baby," the brunette told the blonde softly before placing the most gentle kiss on her girlfriend's lips. Santana meant every word. It wasn't like she was close with her family so she couldn't love them anymore than she did the blonde and Britt was her best friend so she would never get in the 'bro's before ho's' situation. They spent the rest of the night like that, each telling the other how much she loved her. When they had gotten to San's house it had already been 1 o'clock in the morning so needless to say they were exhausted at school the following day.

…

Santana had her head down on the desk trying to catch up on the sleep she had missed the night before. Dave hadn't called her yet so her phone was in her hand and it wasn't on silent. Brittany was beside her having an animated discussion with Mike about something dance related. Gosh, that girl could sleep through anything and when she was awake no matter how little sleep she had gotten she was always full of energy. It was one of the things Santana loved about Britt. Her vibrant non-stop personality was incredibly endearing.

Just when the teacher's monotonous voice had almost put her to sleep her phone started to ring very loudly in her hand. 'Barbie Girl' rang out through the room and caught everyone's attention. Even the teacher had been distracted from his boring rant on pi. Santana spared a moment to look over at Brittany questioningly. Britt just shrugged, the Latina should have known better than to lend the blonde her phone and expect it back without an insane ringtone.

The teacher was saying something about confiscating her phone but Santana wasn't listening, she had checked the caller id and it was Dave ringing her. She quickly flipped the mobile open and pressed it to her ear much to the irritation of her now red-faced math teacher. Immediately Dave's voice filled her ear and she knew right away that something was wrong. The boy was crying.

"Santana?"

"Yeah, Dave, I'm here what's going on? Are you alright?"

"Argh, please, San, can you come pick me up?" Dave groaned. "I think I'm hurt bad. My chest really hurts."

"Jesus, Dave what happened?" Santana asked starting to pile her things swiftly into her bag. It was hard to do with one hand to her ear and she was struggling quite a bit until Brittany's steady hands took the books out of hers and started putting them quickly into the little bag Santana had brought to school. The brunette shot Britt and grateful smile before standing up and slinging her bag over her shoulder. She faintly heard the teacher hiss something along the lines of; "Where do you think you're going young lady?" She ignored him of course; she didn't listen to him on the best of days.

"It's my dad. He was fine last night, I mean he yelled b-but he didn't like hit me or anything. Then he left and I thought it was over." Dave's speech was momentarily cut off by a strangled sob before he continued, "he came home about an hour ago and he was drunk. Oh God San it was so much worse this time than it ever was, even when I told him about me."

"Where are you?"

"I'm at home. Can you hurry, please, I don't know when he's coming back," Dave was begging now.

"I'm going to be there in ten minutes, Dave, you hold in there," Santana said, urgency clear in her voice. Brittany had stood up beside her obviously wanting to come with, but Santana knew it would be too dangerous to take her Dave's house when his psycho father could return at any moment. She gently pushed Britt back into her seat and strode from the room.

…

When Santana pulled up at the Karofsky house-hold she didn't bother turning of the engine before she leapt from the car and ran up to the front door. She had burnt rubber getting there and had avoided getting a speeding ticket. Sometimes she could swear the cops would follow her and wait until she really had to get somewhere quickly.

The front door had been left slightly ajar which worried the Latina. She pushed it open and took a hesitant step into the eerily dark house.

"Dave?" She called. She waited for a moment and got no reply. Oh God, what if his dad had come back and had beaten his son to death? Santana realized she was letting her thoughts get the best of her and tried to call out to Dave again, "Karofsky?" She called louder this time, internally pleading for a reply. There was a few seconds of nothing. Then faintly she heard a cough and a husky voice call; "Here!" from somewhere further inside the house.

She ventured inward, dreading what she would find. The voice had come from the kitchen and when she got there it was pitch black and she couldn't see a thing. She blindly fondled the wall until she felt something that felt a little like a light switch. She flicked it and waited an anxious second before the overhead light flickered and came on.

Santana gasped in shock and had to stop herself from taking a repulsed step back. Dave was huddled in a corner with blood covering one side of his face. It seemed to be coming from a gash above his eye. He was clutching his side and unless Santana was mistaken his chest pains would probably be the result of broken ribs. The side of Karofsky's face that wasn't hidden by the blood that had poured from his wound was red and already starting to swell. The guy had been beaten. Hard.

"Christ!" Santana cried after a moment of shocked staring. She grabbed a tea towel off the bench on her over to him and crouched down beside him to press it against his wound. He winced and tried to pull away as she dabbed at his mostly dry cut. She just held his head against her hand and frowned at him. "I watch enough medical dramas to know that you need to keep pressure on that gash or it'll keep bleeding. You're pale enough as it is." That was only partly true. Sure she did watch a lot of Grey's Anatomy but her father was also a doctor.

"Can you move?" She asked a little more gently.

"I-I don't know. I tried to move before but…" Karofsky looked down to the side of his chest where he had his hand. "It really hurts, San."

"Okay, I'm going to lift your shirt and look at it," she warned before gingerly removing his hand. He grimaced at even the lightest movement against his side. She lifted his shirt slowly, trying to touch the sore area. She winced when she saw the damage. The area roughly the size of a large male's foot, oh God, had already begun to bruise. Through the light purple shading of Dave's injured side she saw the odd shape of his ribs. Bits sticking out where they shouldn't and other bits sticking in where they shouldn't. He definitely had broken ribs and Santana knew that she wouldn't be able to move him herself through fear of puncturing one of his lungs. Way too much Grey's Anatomy.

Santana took a deep breath before looking Dave in the eye. "David, I need to call an ambulance, okay?"

"Holy shit, is it really that bad?" Dave whimpered in a high, frightened voice.

"No, you're going to be fine," the Latina told him firmly, "but I think your ribs are broken and I wouldn't be surprised if you have a concussion. So I need you to stay still while I call 911."

End of chapterrrrrr 7! Hope you guys liked it, thought I'd chuck in a bit more drama to keep you on your toes ;) as usual reviews are greatly appreciated and I love you all! :3