Brittany's day Tuesday had been as good as Tuesdays got.

She woke up at 7:30 as usual and was happy to find that Lord Tubbington hadn't stolen any more of her jewellery, which meant she could wear matching earrings for the first time in months. She had tried to ask the cat where he'd hidden the previously missing pairs, but he refused to talk about it, so she dropped the topic after giving him a knowing look. She knew that cat had her christening bracelet somewhere. Unless Rory had stolen it- she knew leprechauns liked gold.

She wolfed down a bowl of Lucky Charms, savouring the marshmallow ones- her favourite- before Quinn and Santana picked her up for school. The ride flew by, and the girls gossiped about the latest Glee dramas whilst Brittany tried to work out how to turn on Quinn's car radio on, until Santana laughed and gently pointed out she was messing with the Sat-Nav. Brittany liked this side of Santana, that wasn't so concerned about image, and made confusing bitchy comments- Brittany knew that this Santana was the real Santana.

The change in the girl as she walked through the doors of McKinley was immediate- her smile turned fake, and she called out to Artie, "Why not go drool over Chewbacca? In those sweater vests, he's the only piece of action you're going to get." Quinn burst out laughing, whilst Brittany simply stood confused, tilting her head slightly as if that would help her understand the insult. She couldn't process many words with more than 6 letters, and that sometimes included her name. She whispered in Santana's ear, and tried to follow as Santana explained the joke as clearly as possible. Her fake icy persona shifted for those few seconds, and Brittany smiled as she linked their pinkies, Quinn watching knowingly. That was until Rachel Berry walked past, and none of the trio could resist teasing her horrendous sequinned knee socks, Brittany included.

She had geography first period. She tried to pay attention, because what if a psycho kangaroo kidnapped her and smuggled her to Australia? She nodded seriously at the thought. Map reading could come in useful for planning her epic escape route.

Home economics, math and Spanish flew by in a mixture of eggshells, numbers and words that Brittany was pretty sure weren't English.

As the bell for lunch rang, Brittany did an internal squeal. She almost skipped to the choir room, bumping into Tina on the way, and the pair made their way to glee club. They branched off into different conversations as they entered, Tina launching herself at Mike and Brittany making her way over to Santana.

"Hey!" She greeted the Latina, perching on the chair. Opening her mouth in response, Santana was interrupted by Rachel, who walked in all forlorn and burst into spontaneous song. Brittany ignored the tiny brunette, who appeared oblivious to the fact the rest of the club was doing the same, used to Rachel's dramatic ways. Brittany knew there was no point focusing on the lesser talented- she was the star of the glee club. She focused on Santana instead. How she was turning a green-y white as Rachel sang, like Lord Tubbington did when he'd thrown up after Brittany had fed him normal cat food. How her eyes widened, like Bambi, or Miss Pillsbury, and her face hardened. She began fidgeting, and giving Brittany these looks that were so... she mentally sighed, frustrated at not being able to explain how she felt. She wished she was as smart as Rachel, or Quinn. Weird was the only word she could come up with. Maybe they were under a zombie attack; that would explain why Santana was off...And then the song ended, and Santana ran out, making Brittany jump slightly. She'd probably read the clock wrong- Brittany found that it helped to read the short hand first, and ignore the moving one. She tried to forget about Santana, and turned around to warn Kurt and Sam about the safety precautions in case zombies were attacking.

After lunch Brittany had a free period, and spent the time wandering around the hallways of McKinley. She couldn't help thinking about what had happened to Santana earlier. She puffed in annoyance and saw Rachel standing there- it was all Rachel's fault, she decided. Maybe sadness was infectious. She'd have to ask her doctor when she got the chance…

Finally the end of day bell rung out, and it was time for Cheerio's practice- apart from glee, that was the best bit of her day. She caught up with Becky in the hallway and the two made their way to the gym, and Brittany decided if Coach Sylvester decided to let her live then she'd ask Santana about it after practice ended.

It turned out practice had been cancelled, as Santana hadn't shown up. Brittany felt scared on her friend's behalf, as Santana was undoubtedly going to face the wrath of Sue Sylvester tomorrow, head cheerleader or not. Brittany probably hadn't helped the Coach's mood by pointing out she looked just like the dragon from Shrek, a realisation that had dawned on Brittany after watching the film with Quinn and Santana over the weekend.

She managed to get a ride home with Rory, and convinced him to do her homework for her too, a double win- at least she thought he'd agreed. Although accents were hot, sometimes she couldn't make out a word he said.

The rest of the evening passed by as normal, Brittany and Lord Tubbington curled in bed painting their nails- at least, Brittany painted hers- and watching whatever shows came on as the clock crawled by… 17:35, 19:43, 20:57... She saw One Tree Hill was about to start, and turned the volume up. Snuggled into the cat's fur contentedly, she stifled a yawn and slowly blinked, her eyes feeling heavy. So heavy…

It was at around two in the morning that Brittany heard the voices. Slow whispers, murmuring in familiar voices… she scrunched her nose, bewildered, and strained her eyes, trying to see in the dark. Where had the sun gone? She must have fallen asleep in One Tree Hill…

"Are you a murderer?" She called to the voices in a daze. "Because if you are my friend Kurt's a ninja, and Santana's from Lima Heights-"

"Britt?" Oh, she knew those voices. Wrapped in their dressing gowns and looking as bemused as Brittany herself stood her Mom, her Dad, Rory and… the fire alarm guy from Kurt's house?

"Are we having a party? Because I'm pretty sure my last birthday wasn't a year ago," She told her parents, bleary eyed.

"No, sweetie," her Mom said softly, exchanging cautious glances with the other adults, spare Rory, who looked dead on his feet. Brittany recognised that tone… the one her Mom used when her Nan had died last summer, and when she got back from school in 6th Grade to find that Charity, her old cat, had gone missing. The voice that meant there was something bad going on. Her stomach churned a little, and she sat bolt upright, her eyes alert and shining all of a sudden. "I'm really sorry to wake you up, honey, but we have something we need to tell you about, okay?" she spoke calmly enough, but even Brittany could see the panic behind her eyes. Brittany nodded vaguely in response, her head suddenly feeling heavy on her shoulders.

"What is it?" she half spoke, half whimpered, sounding childish all of a sudden. Please let everything be okay, please let me be on some prank show, what's happened, what's happened, what's happened-

"Listen kid," the protection guy spoke gruffly from the corner, awkwardly stepping forward, looking out of place in Brittany's room. "I'mma treat you real mature about this, okay? I'll tell you everything, but I know it's a lot to take in, but…." He trailed off, sighing and glancing at Brittany's parents. "I got a call from Kurt about twenty minutes ago. He's at the hospital, and told me to come here to pick you up too, because… he knows you care about Santana more than the, uh, other kids and you might want to know that… she's in the hospital at the moment." He stopped rambling when he saw the pain flash through Brittany's eyes. "She's in the hospital, and all Kurt's telling me is that... it's not all great and… the girl's gonna want you there."

-

She swallowed, once, twice, three times…

"Take me," she said shakily, her voice quavering as she tried to string together a full sentence. "I have to see her, I have to- I- I have to k-know she's o-o-k-kay," she pleaded her parents, the determination shining through the fear. "Please…" she looked broken, shaking fiercely on her bed, trying to pull herself together.

"Of course," her Dad spoke for the first time. "The girl's family. Mr Hummel was going anyway, he was kind enough to stop here and offer to take you too. You two need each other right now, so the only condition is you stay there as long as you have to and you call us as soon as you hear any news, okay?" he told his daughter reassuringly, fighting back tears of his own. The fiery, witty Latina had been a part of their home since her and Brittany had met in sophomore year.

"Thank you," Brittany said sincerely, wiping her eyes. Thankfully she'd fallen asleep in her clothes so she was ready to leave right away. She hugged her Mom, seeking some form of reassurance. "Thank you," she repeated, turning to Kurt's dad. "It means a lot you let me know and I-" she found herself stuck for words. Mr Hummel nodded understandingly.

"I know what it's like to be on your end of things," he told her. "Let's just get going, we're not doing anyone much good."

"Thank you," Brittany's parents both nodded at him, still both looking a little shell-shocked.

As they made their way to the blue truck parked outside, silence having fallen upon them, Brittany wanted nothing more than for Santana to be okay.

But what made her not okay in the first place?

The answer lay across the other side of Lima, watching ESPN, rejecting the seventeenth call from Lima Memorial. He had no daughter.

Santana lay rigid, oblivious in her sleeping state to the beeping machines around her, the various painkillers being pumped into her. She dreamt of life before 6 hours ago. Her childhood, her family, when they still loved her, the countless times she'd squeezed her father's hand three times. I. Love. You. Their secret code. She dreamt of a time when he would still have squeezed her hand in return.

Reality would just have to wait that tiny bit longer.

A/N: This is really bad. Like the Rebecca Black of Fanfictions. Sorry. I just felt guilty for not updating (the reason being my Big Bang Theory box set). For those of you who watch it, I hope you'll understand why I was distracted by Jim Parson's comic genius… If not, then go watch it! After you've reviewed, of course!

- Jess x x x