A/N: This story is (finally!) winding down. The remaining chapters may seem a little disjointed but I'm hoping they still make sense. Feel free to PM me or leave a comment if something doesn't make sense. Thanks :)

Chapter 16

The second week she was at the facility she had one expected and two unexpected visitors: her attorney, Mr. Rigard, Officer Dunnigan, and two agents from the FBI.

Xoxoxoxoxo

Officer Dunnigan:

The knock at the door early on the Sunday after Brittany's party surprised the girls. They were lounging on the couch because they weren't expecting anyone to stop by today. They had seen everybody yesterday and Brittany had made sure everyone knew Santana needed a day to recuperate; she was completely wiped out from over-doing it the day and night before. Brittany was especially surprised to see young Officer Dunnigan at the door.

"Officer Dunnigan?" Brittany wasn't sure how she felt about the young officer. On the one hand, he had tried to argue with his superior; on the other, he hadn't really followed up after that night.

"Ms. Pierce," he looked a little uncomfortable.

"San, this is the one officer from the night of your attack," Brittany said carefully.

Santana looked up at him. "Hello." She wasn't exactly hostile but she wasn't very welcoming either.

Dunnigan nodded. "Ms. Lopez. I'm glad to see you're doing well."

"Why are you here?" Brittany cut to the chase.

"I came to see how Ms. Lopez was and to thank you, Ms. Pierce."

"Thank me?"

Dunnigan nodded and took that as permission to enter the room. "May I?" he asked, indicating one of the chairs.

Brittany nodded, still eyeing him warily.

Dunnigan sat down. "Yes. Thank you. You told the A.D.A. that I tried to do my job and that the Sergeant threatened me. I, um, didn't do what he told me to do. I went to Internal Affairs and gave them my report from that night and told them what the Sarge had said." He shook his head. "I didn't feel right about what he wanted me to do. I knew it could cost me my job if I didn't but, it just felt wrong, you know?" He shrugged. "I'm getting some shit for telling IA but all actions have consequences, you know? I prefer the ones I can live with. But, with what you told the A.D.A. and me filing the IA report, they cleared me earlier this week. So I wanted to thank you. Um," he cleared his throat, "I'm not on the case anymore because before I went to IA, I filed a report with the F.B.I.. After I typed up and re-read the report, I realized that, um, there was a case to be made for it being a hate crime. So, it got taken out of local hands. I'm assuming the F.B.I. Agents in charge of the case will be contacting you now that the IA investigation is closed."

Brittany stared at him. "You did all that? I thought …"

"Yeah. I thought I would, too. But … it kinda made me sick to my stomach to think of those guys getting away with it. I couldn't follow the Sarge's orders and live with myself." He stood up and offered a hand to Brittany and Santana. "Anyway, I just wanted to thank you and let you know what happened."

"Thanks, Officer Dunnigan."

He nodded again before leaving.

Brittany looked at Santana. "Well, that was really unexpected. I mean, like, on a list of a hundred things I'd have thought would happen today that wouldn't have been on it."

Santana giggled and kissed her nose before they snuggled back down and resumed watching their movie.

Xoxoxoxoxo

Mr. Rigard:

It was late Tuesday afternoon when there was a knock at the door and Santana and Brittany looked up from their homework.

"Thomas!" Santana smiled brightly at the lawyer. "Thank you for coming."

Thomas Rigard crossed the room and shook Santana's and Brittany's hands, settling into a seat next to Santana and placing his briefcase on the floor beside him.

"Santana," he returned her smile, "it's good to see you up and about. You look much better than the last time I saw you. Brittany, a pleasure to see you again, as well."

"I'm sorry we had to hold off on meeting. Last week was so busy getting my schedule set up and … ugh … just so much went on. Added to that, my stamina isn't up to par and I get tired so quickly with too many visitors. So, thank you for understanding and coming this week instead."

"Not a problem at all. I completely understand. I have some more news."

Santana nodded and looked at Brittany. "Brittany told me about the settlement offer."

"Well, I was right. When I talked to Mr. Salazar's people about your hospitalization, they couldn't scramble fast enough. Santana," the lawyer paused, "they've tripled their offer."

Brittany and Santana gaped at the lawyer.

"There is a condition, however. There is a gag order attached to it. Once you've agreed to the settlement you can't talk to the press, you can't comment on the amount of the settlement or the reasons for it. It's a lot of money. $15.6 million dollars, to be precise; after taxes you'll probably walk away with bit over $11 million dollars. I've already negotiated within the settlement for Mr. Salazar to cover your attorney's fees." Thomas regarded Santana thoughtfully. "I know part of the reason for this lawsuit was to embarrass Mr. Salazar and cause him the same type of pain he caused you. If you accept the settlement all of that gets swept under the rug."

Santana looked at Brittany. "Britt?"

"Santana, this is 100% your decision."

"I know but I value your opinion." Santana bit her lower lip and her forehead scrunched in thought. It was a lot of money. She'd be able to do whatever she wanted. Go wherever she wanted and not have to worry about her financial stability. But that asshole gets away with it. With using her.

Brittany leaned over and smoothed a thumb over Santana's forehead. "Okay. So, it's a lot of money. You'd be set, pretty much, for life. He gets away with what he did to you." Brittany paused and closed her eyes as if gathering her thoughts. "He's already gotten away with it though. It's not like you can put the genie back in the bottle. I mean," she frowned, "Robin Williams totally got back into the lamp and Barbara Eden went in and out of her bottle all the time so I'm not sure …"

"Britt …" Santana grinned.

"Right. Sorry. Irrelevant tangents are my specialty." She took a deep breath and started over. "You can't be un-outed. Your face will be all over the internet forever. That ad will exist for all time. Everyone already knows what he did. Nobody seems to really care, you know? If you don't take the money and you go to court to get him to admit capability,"

"She means culpability," Santana whispered to Thomas.

"you could end up with nothing at all. This is Mid-West Ohio. Conservative, narrow-minded, bigoted. A jury could just decide that the little brown gay girl doesn't deserve anything and should be ashamed of herself for trying to ruin the reputation of an upstanding citizen and businessman who provides jobs in his community." Brittany rolled her eyes. "So you end up with no money and he's not being held responsible anyway. If you take the money, everyone knows why he paid you even if you never utter a single word. The lawsuit is public knowledge. The video is out there. Everyone who's seen it knows you're a minor because, even though his ad didn't say so, a lot of the people who re-posted it made sure to mention it and lots of comments on the original ad talk about the 'exploitation of a minor'." Brittany shrugged. "I just think it's in your best interest to take the settlement. Secure your future. Screw him. Why go through the hassle and heartache of a trial if there's a chance, no matter how small, that he could come out looking good?"

Thomas Rigard looked at Brittany with a kind of awed respect. Santana hid a grin; she was betting Thomas thought Brittany was just another pretty, blonde, teenager without a thought in her head. Santana had always known better. Brittany had a different way of looking at the world; a way of seeing things from a different perspective. Santana carefully thought about everything Brittany had said and everything she'd said had made sense.

"I always knew you were a genius, Britt," Santana smiled at her brilliant girl as Brittany flushed a deep pink.

Santana turned to Thomas. "What do you think, Thomas?"

"I think," he shook his head, "that Brittany has articulated the salient points beautifully. I was going to recommend that you take the settlement. I know you want him to be held accountable but, as Brittany pointed out, this is Mid-West, Conservative Ohio and there's no guarantee that a jury of his peers would find him … culpable." Thomas grinned.

"Then let's take the money and run," Santana decided. Brittany was right. She'd known that even before Thomas confirmed it. Then she frowned. "I'm going to need financial help. Like, an advisor or something. I mean, it's a LOT of money and I don't know the first thing about taxes and how to make sure I don't blow through it in a year and stuff like that."

Thomas nodded and handed her a card. "Carmen Montez works in my firm and she's a financial advisor and consultant. She'll be able to help you figure all of that out and her services are actually covered by the attorney's fees we'll be collecting on this case."

Santana nodded. "Okay." She took a deep breath. "Let's do it." She nodded.

Thomas nodded and stood up, shaking both Santana's and Brittany's hands again. "I'll get it all written up and ready for your signature once he's signed it. I know it's not exactly what you wanted …" he trailed off.

Santana shook her head. "No, I really wanted him to be as embarrassed and humiliated as I was but you and Brittany both made good points. It's better to secure my future than to chase the 'moral victory' only to lose everything. I think this is the right decision." Santana wasn't nervous or uneasy about the decision. She felt good about it so she was sure she was making the right choice.

"I'll be in touch soon."

After he'd left Santana looked at Brittany. "Holy shit, Britt, we're rich." She said as a smile spread across her face.

"You're rich, Santana."

Santana shook her head. "No. We are." Her smiled dropped and she looked seriously at Brittany. "We're a team. Partners. When I meet with that financial lady I'm going to make sure that you have enough money to go wherever you want to study dance. We can move to New York City, buy an apartment, you can study at Julliard or NYU or … wherever you want and I can try and become a singer. We can chase our dreams. If you want to go to Los Angeles, we'll move there. Chicago? Miami? Whatever, wherever. Together. You and me." She took Brittany's left hand in hers. "That ring was my promise. This money just means I get to put a wedding band on it earlier than I'd planned. Which means, it's your money, too."

"Santana …"

"No, Britt. No pouting, no arguing. You're it for me. This money? Means that we can go wherever we want together. If you get into Julliard, I can go to New York and chase my singing dreams there. If you decide on someplace in LA or anywhere else … I can follow you and chase my singing career there. This means school won't separate us. I know we're young and we have a lot of growing up to do but I wanna do it with you. I wanna experience the ups and downs with you. I wanna live with you, love you, sleep next you and wake up with you; I wanna fight with you and make up with you, laugh and cry, share every triumph and tragedy. I can live without you and function without you if I have to. I don't want to. This money means there's no reason I have to. I know money doesn't solve everything. I mean, just look at my parents. But this money? Solves our current biggest problem – how do we stay together if we don't get into the same college or even in different colleges that are close to one another."

Brittany looked at Santana with an unreadable expression on her face. "What if people think I'm a gold-digger?" she whispered, looking at the floor. "I don't want people thinking I took advantage of you … or thinking badly about you because you got, I don't know, fooled by me or seduced by me or whatever."

Santana moved and knelt next to Brittany, cupping her cheek, and lifting her face to meet Santana's eye. "Since when do you care what people think?" She smiled softly. "That's my job, remember? And, in this particular instance? I don't care because I know your heart. I know you. I love you and I want to spend my life with you and this money means I can start spending my life with you right away instead of waiting four years and maybe trying to do long distance for four years." She leaned up and kissed Brittany softly. "I know this money doesn't mean anything to you. But … without you? This money doesn't mean anything to me."

Tears filled Brittany's eyes as she threw her arms around Santana's neck and hugged her tightly.

"I love you, Santana."

"I love you, too, Britt. To infinity …"

"And beyond." Brittany finished.

Xoxoxoxoxo

TW for this part of the chapter: Description of the attack on Santana from Santana's POV; violence/attempted rape, homophobic and racist slurs

The F.B.I. Agents: Reesler and Cobald

Santana and Brittany had just finished dinner and returned to the room on Thursday when two people in matching black suits entered the room. One was a tall, dark-haired man with dark eyes and cafe au lait skin; the other was a woman who was slightly taller than the man, had reddish blonde hair pulled back into a severe bun, cinnamon colored eyes and slightly tanned skin.

"Ms. Santana Lopez?" The woman asked.

"I'm Santana."

"I'm Special Agent Cobald. This is Special Agent Reesler of the F.B.I." The two of them flashed their badges. "We had a report several weeks ago of an possible hate crime perpetrated against you on January 6th of 2012. I apologize for the delay but there were some internal and external investigations surrounding the report that needed to be cleared before we could move on it."

"Okay. Um, have a seat."

Cobald moved to take a seat while Reesler stood quietly by the door.

"And you are," Cobald consulted her iPad, "Ms. Brittany S. Pierce. You're the one who made the 911 call?"

Brittany nodded.

"Ms. Lopez, I know this may be difficult, can you tell me what happened that night?"

Santana took a deep breath and Brittany took her hand, rubbing soothing circles over the back of it with her thumb, just letting Santana know she was there.

xoxoxoxoxo

flashback Santana POV

Santana walked out of the school intent on getting to Brittany's car. She was deep in thought about her American History paper as she walked, not really paying attention to the people around her. She was almost to the car when Kyle Danvers stepped up to her.

"So, Lopez," he leered at her, "heard you're all about the carpet-munching. Maybe you just need a real man to remind you of what you're missing."

Santana scoffed. "Tell you what, numbnuts, when you find a real man, send him my way." She tried to go around him to get into Britt's car but he shoved her against it.

"Now, that's not very friendly. You used to be a super hot whore but I'm guessing you just didn't fuck the right guy, huh? After I show you what you're missing, I'll go have a good time with blondie. She still swings both ways, right?" He moved toward her and grabbed her hips, pulling her toward him.

He was twice her size but she was officially pissed and ready to unleash Snixx on his sorry ass. Nobody threatens Brittany and lives. She hauled off and slapped him, hard, across the face, her blunt nails actually leaving scratches.

"You bitch!" He screamed, backhanding her.

The force of the blow would have sent her to the ground had Kyle not had her trapped against the car. He growled and bent his head, assaulting her lips with a bruising kiss. Her head was reeling from the blow but she still had the presence of mind to bite his lip hard enough to draw blood. He screamed again and pulled back far enough to hit her again but she was faster and kicked out; she didn't have enough room to get him in the balls but it did land on his shin and he stumbled back.

"Leave me the fuck alone," Santana yelled and began punching and kicking Kyle wherever she could reach.

"Fucking spic dyke! Kevin, grab her!"

Before Santana could move, two hands grabbed her biceps and held her fast as she flailed. She tried rearing her head back but only connected with Kevin's chest. She kept kicking out and struggling to get free but Kyle pulled back and, with his longer reach, punched her in the face. It felt like her eye was going to explode and she cried out. He punched her, several times, in the stomach until she thought she was going to throw up. He backhanded her face one more time and she went limp in Kevin's grasp, forcing him to drop her. She was up in a heartbeat, lashing out with feet and hands; she didn't care what happened to her, she just had to fight long enough for Brittany to see what was happening and call for help and, most importantly, stay away until help arrived. She felt another blow to the head and fell like a sack of potatoes to the ground. She couldn't get up again, could barely move, her eyes were so swollen she could barely see, and she was beginning to have trouble breathing.

"Get her spanx off, Kev. Let me show this carpet-munching spic what it feels like to be fucked by a man instead of some other dyke's fingers."

She felt Kevin's hands at her waist trying to get a grip on her spanx and pull them down.

"You shouldn't have fought us, bitch." She heard Kyle say from what seemed like really far away. "Just trying to straighten your spic dyke ass out.'"

"Yeah, and we'll be taking care of blondie next." Kevin added, still struggling with her spanx.

She heard Brittany yelling and the tugging on her spanx stopped, she tried to yell, tried to move, to warn Brittany, to protect her but everything was getting increasingly hazy and it was getting even harder to breathe.

Then, she felt soft hands and her head was lifted up and placed on a soft surface. She heard crying, heard Brittany calling for her but couldn't respond. She tried to tell Brittany to get away but she couldn't open her mouth, couldn't draw enough breath, and then everything went black.

end flashback

xoxoxoxoxo

"I don't remember anything after that until I woke up in the hospital six weeks later," Santana's voice was hoarse with un-shed tears. Brittany wrapped an arm around her and Santana leaned her head against Brittany's shoulder.

Special Agent Cobald nodded. "Thank you, Ms. Lopez, I know that must have been very difficult for you. We have a recording of the 911 call and one of the assailants can be heard saying," she consulted her notes, "'just trying to straighten your spic dyke ass out' … you said that was Kyle Danvers?"

Brittany and Santana both nodded.

Cobald nodded again. "We have the original police report but, Ms. Pierce, if you could just gives us your version of events?"

Brittany took a deep breath and gently dragged her fingers up and down Santana's arm to soothe her as she re-told her story.

"Is there anyone else who can corroborate these statements?"

Brittany nodded. "Kevin and Kyle came to school the next day bragging about how they showed that 'carpet-munching spic dyke' what it was like to have a real man' and how they couldn't wait to 'teach blondie the same lesson'." Brittany swallowed. "I don't know how many guys in the locker room would be willing to say they heard it but Quinn Fabray and Coach Beiste heard them say it."

Special Agent Cobald nodded and placed a card on the coffee table. "Thank you, ladies. That's all for now. If you think of anything else, please feel free to contact me. From what you've both told us, it sounds like this does fall under the purview of the hate crimes act. We'll be investigating further and we'll be in touch." She looked at them kindly. "I'm afraid it will probably mean you'll need to testify."

Santana nodded and took a deep breath. "Yeah. I figured."

Once both agents had gone, Brittany pulled Santana into her lap and they clung to each other as the tears they'd been holding at bay finally broke free.