Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, sadly Ryan Murphy does.

Thank you to my wonderful reviewers, I love getting feedback. I appreciate every one of you, I really do. Tell me what you like, what you don't, what you'd like to see, what you hope not to see. Talk to me, I encourage constructive criticism.

I'm sorry about the wait but life is a little hectic so once a week might be the best I can do but i'm hoping that's alright with you guys. And I hope this chapter was worth the wait. - J

Chapter 2

She was running through empty halls. Voices everywhere calling out to her. But there was one, that stood out above the rest. A voice she would know for the rest of her life. The voice she wanted to wake up to for as long as she lived. The voice she wanted to hear cry out her name in the throes of passion. It was the voice. She ran to it, she had to find it. But she couldn't. It was everywhere and it was nowhere. Then suddenly the voices stopped. All of them at once. Then that voice. That delicately beautiful voice spoke her name and she followed it to its source. When she reached the owner of the voice she halted in her tracks. No. No, no, no, this wasn't happening. Her angel was in his arms, her hands in his hair, her legs around his waist. No. She looked away but that voice called her back.

"Santana..." Her eyes were forced upwards to meet those eyes that filled her greatest dreams and memories. "...look what you did." Her angel said to her. She fell to the floor in agony. No, this wasn't happening. It couldn't.

Shooting up out of bed, Santana stifled a yell. She threw the blankets off and jumped off of the mattress. She stumbled around in the dark of her room for a moment before she got her bearings. It was just a dream. Just a dream, nothing more. But damn did it hurt like it was real. She didn't realize it but she had shot up holding her hand above her heart. She had to calm her erratic breathing and try to relax her muscles that were uncomfortably tense. Santana let her eyes adjust to the darkness before she moved back to her bed and sat at the edge of it.

How did everything end up this way? It wasn't supposed to. They were supposed to be together forever just the two of them. And now she was with Trouty Mouth. That part added to the sting too. She didn't understand how Brittany could be with Sam of all people. Not that Sam wasn't a good guy. She just never thought he'd be that guy. Shaking herself out of that train of thought she got up and walked out of her room. She couldn't sit in there anymore. There was no point in doing so either since she wouldn't be falling asleep again tonight. She never could fall asleep again after those kind of nightmares.

Santana slowly made her way downstairs, trying to keep her footsteps light, avoiding all those spots on the floor she knew creaked. Sneaking around her own house was something she'd mastered her sophomore and junior years of high school, but it was for a much different reason back then. She walked into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water, trying to cool herself down from the inside out. The glass was empty before the tears started falling again, almost as if her eyes were waiting to be re-hydrated. She tried to keep herself quiet, tried to keep the sniffles and whimpers to a minimum. But it was of no use. The harder she fought, the harder it was to keep all of her pieces together. She curled in on herself, wrapping her arms around her body, as if that would be enough to hold it all in. As trapped in her head as she was, she didn't see the shadow fall over the doorway, nor the figure moving towards her.

Santana hadn't even noticed the presence behind her until arms were wrapped around her. Stiffening in the grip she let herself be surrounded by strong arms and the faint smell of sanitizer mixed in with cologne. Once she realized exactly who was holding her, she let her guard crumble. Turning around she buried her face into the chest of Dr. Ramón Lopez, her Papi. Ramón held his baby girl tight in his arms and hummed soothing lullabies trying to calm her. He ran his fingers through her hair until finally she quieted down and her body stopped quaking. He placed his finger under her chin and lifted her face out of his chest, his shirt now drenched with her tears. He wiped her tear streaks and stared down at his little girl. He was heartbroken to see her like this, it was completely unlike her. He'd never seen his daughter look so vulnerable before. Even when the advertisement came out the year before or when his mother disowned her granddaughter, there still wasn't this much sadness in the brown eyes that matched his.

Santana kept her eyes away from her father's face. She didn't want to look at him and see her own weakness mirrored in his eyes. But he wouldn't have any of that. He nudged under her chin again and forced her to look up at him.

"Don't be ashamed for feeling, Mija." He told her softly. Santana was a perfect mix of her parents, physically and emotionally. Some of her best and worst traits could be traced back to Ramón and Maribel. But he knew her ability to express emotions (or lack of ability rather) was entirely his doing. He knew how she felt about showing pain or fear, because it was how he felt about it. But he wouldn't watch it happen any longer. It had to stop somewhere. Grabbing his daughter by the hand, Ramón walked them both into the living room. He sat down on their sofa, and pulled her down next to him.

"Habla conmigo Nena." He said as gently as possible.

Santana stayed quiet for a moment. She wasn't sure what there was to say. How do you explain to someone that you made the biggest mistake of your life and now you can't go back and fix it because someone else already did? How do you tell them that you haven't slept well for months? How do you tell them that you have recurring nightmares about your mistake? How do you explain to them that you can't put your iPod on shuffle anymore because if and when certain songs come on, you break down and bawl your eyes out? Answer, it's fucking difficult. So Santana just went with the simplest answer.

"I screwed up Papi." She said quietly. Her voice was hoarse from crying, but that wasn't new to her either.

Ramón observed her, noting the slump in her shoulders and how tired she looked. "Screw-ups happen Santana." He told her. "That's part of growing up. You learn how to deal with them and you learn how to avoid them next time. And they help you learn something about yourself."

She scoffed and mumbled "Yeah that I'm a fucking moron."

Ramón grabbed her hand and held it tightly in his own. "Santana no daughter of mine is a fucking moron, so don't call yourself that. You did what you thought was best at the time. And at the time anybody could have been telling you that it was a mistake but you wouldn't have listened. Now you see your error. You have learned something."

Santana just rolled her eyes and shook her head at her dad. "Yeah well a lot of good that lesson does me now Papi. She's with Guppy Face now and I'm sure him and their fish babies are going to make her very happy. Anything I've learned is irrelevant."

Taking a deep breath Ramón moved himself closer to Santana. With her last comment, he got a pretty good grip on what was happening. "Maybe you're right. Maybe it doesn't do you any good right now, at this moment. But there is something very valuable that you have learned. And I promise you that it is more important to shaping your future than you think. Would you like me to tell you what that is?"

Santana was skeptical. What could her father tell her that was going to make this seem any better? She was sure there was nothing. But she would let him speak, it's not like he would give her much of a choice anyway. "Fine…go ahead."

Ramón tightened his grip even more and didn't waste a moment. He wasn't sure if he would ever get another chance to speak to Santana this way." Through this experience Mija, you have learned this simple truth…" He tensed as his next words left his knew she wasn't going to take this well. "…You can live without Brittany." He didn't to get to say anymore because the second she heard those words come out of his mouth, Santana stood up and tried to leave the room. But Ramón stood up with her and kept her hand tightly in his. He rushed to continue. "Nenita, Por favor, let me finish."

She interjected and yanked her hand away from his. "No, I don't wanna hear it! I'm not going to listen to another person tell me I need to just move on already. Trust me Papi, I know! And if it were that simple, believe me I would have. But it doesn't work like that. I can't just…" Her jaw was clenched and her shoulders squared. She was clearly ready for a fight, but it wasn't going to come to one.

Ramón help up his hand to get her attention and cut her off mid-sentence. "That's not what I was going to say. Now let me finish Santana." He spoke with the voice he always used when he was being stern. It was the same voice he used when he was commanding his team at the hospital. The same voice Santana had grown up being disciplined with. And even though she was no longer a child, it still demanded the same respect as it always had, and she knew better than to argue.

Santana crossed her arms and Ramón knew she was feeling the need to put her guard up. She would her him, but he knew that she wouldn't really be listening as long as that guard was there. So he hoped that what he said next would make her drop her walls and really listen to him. Placing his hands on her shoulders he made sure to catch her eye. It was something he always made sure to do when he was being serious, eye contact was very important. "Santana, through this all you have learned that you can live without Brittany..." He felt her tense more underneath his hands. "...But..." He took a pause to help emphasize his point. "...The most important thing you've learned is you don't want to."

Santana looked back at her father with confusion all over her face. She didn't understand, surely this conversation was heading somewhere different. It always went somewhere different. Her father couldn't actually be on her side about this, could he?

Ramón chuckled at the look on her face. "Now, think of it this way. You know that a relationship in which the people are dependent on each other or it's a one-sided dependence is not healthy. If someone cannot under any circumstances function without the other, it's not healthy. Correct?" Santana wasn't sure where he was going with this but she knew the kind of relationships he was talking about. The kind you saw on tv, on those insane mid-morning dramatic talk shows. But she nodded anyway, interested in where he was going to take this.

Ramón continued, "Right. Well now you know for sure that your relationship with Brittany was not and is not one of those. You can function without her. Your life carries on if she's not in it." At that, her walls came flying back up. He could see she was ready to leave again so he was quick to finish. "But now you know that even though you very much can carry on without her there, you don't want to. You want to be there with her, and you want her with you. And Santana trust me, wanting to be with her, is worth so much more than needing to be with her."

Santana had been ready to flee once again. Anytime somebody tried to tell her how much she didn't need Brittany in her life that was her response. But she had actually listened to what her father had said, and she was surprised to see that his last words were so different from anyone else that she had tried to talk to about this. She didn't expect him to actually say something she would agree with. And she definitely did agree with him. She didn't need Brittany in her life for any other reason that she wanted her with every fiber of her being. Brittany and her just made sense, everything about them was just designed to fit. From their hands to their personalities, they were a perfect match. And yeah she could go out and pretend that anybody else would stand a chance, but there was no point. Her future, their future, was all she saw when she let her mind go there.

She wanted to wake up 5 years from now with Brittany in her arms, excited for them both to go have another successful day at jobs they both love. She wanted to be woken up ten years from now next to Brittany by their kids, a blonde little boy with his Momma's eyes but his Mami's big mouth and a raven haired little girl with her Mami's smile but her Momma's bubbly attitude. She wanted every holiday, every birthday, every day with her dancer. She wanted that future more than she'd ever wanted anything in her life.

Santana was unaware but she'd gotten quiet as her mind started to wander. A smile had grown on her face as she went on her little journey into the future. Ramón stood there and smiled along with her because he could practically see the wheels spinning in her brain. He knew exactly what she was imagining and to see the pain in her eyes be replaced with hope, was beautiful. He gently snapped her out of her daydream and brought her back to this world. He wasn't done just yet. "Santana, you know what you want."

She came back to the present and nodded, a small smile still on her face. The images she'd just created still lingering in her head. But her father's voice once again grounded her.

"Well you're a Lopez, Mija. And we work for what we want." Santana looked up at her father and her smiled grew. "So go get it." He winked at her and pulled her into his arms. But this embrace was so much different from the last.

Once again letting herself be wrapped in his embrace, Santana hugged him tightly. All of the darkness that had been surrounding her earlier was replaced by this warm bright light. She felt a sort of electricity flowing through her, and she was ready to go. She was ready to go after that future she saw. She would fight harder for that future than she had ever fought for anything before. And considering the things she'd done in high school that was certainly saying something.

"Gracias Papi." She said into his chest.

"De nada mi princesa." Letting her go Ramón spun her around and started walking her back to the stairs. "Now go get some rest. You'll need it for all the planning you'll be on doing tomorrow." He chuckled.

Santana laughed at how well her dad actually knew her and climbed the steps two at a time. She felt better now that she had for the last few months and she was grateful. She yelled goodnight to her father who was still downstairs and closed her bedroom door. As she laid back in bed she let her imagination run wild again. Tomorrow she would begin planning how to correct the biggest mistake she's ever made.