A/N

Thank you so much for all amazing reviews and alerts, I'm flattered to say the least :) I thought I should let you know that this story is coming to and end very soon, there's three more chapters left after this one. I do have an idea for a sequel of some sort that I would like to do when school settles down. Right now it's pretty swamped and will be for the next month but hopefully when summer knocks on the door I'll find some time :)

Rating and disclaimer from the first chapter apply.

Chapter 22

"Brittany, are you okay? What happened?" Nathan asked worriedly as he knelt down beside the blonde and shook her gently.

He had heard a muffled sound coming from the guestroom and when Brittany hadn't answered when called out her name he slowly opened the door and found the blonde on the floor.

Brittany had no idea what had happened. She heard Nathan's voice and slowly opened her eyes to find his concerned blue ones looking back at her.

"Hey, are you okay? I heard a sound so I came to look and you were lying on the floor. What happened?" Nathan asked.

Brittany got up from the floor with Nathan's help and sat down on the edge of the bed. She spotted her phone on the floor.

"Oh my God Santana…" she whispered and bent down to grab her phone.

The second she picked it up she put it back to her ear.

"Anita?" she waited for a response but quickly understood that the call must have been disconnected when she dropped her phone.

"What's going on Britt?" Nathan asked worried.

Brittany didn't answer, she was too busy trying to redial Anita to hear him. She put her phone back to her ear and waited for Anita to answer.

"Brittany? What happened? The call got disconnected." Anita said as soon as she answered.

"Anita, what about Santana. What happened?" Brittany asked as she felt a lump in her throat which she desperately tried to swallow.

"I-I don't know any details j-just that her team was doing a raid against a suspected terrorist group and that something went terribly wrong…" Anita said with a strained voice, obviously trying to keep it together.

"She's in surgery now… they… they said it didn't look good…" Anita's voice broke at that last sentence.

Brittany closed her eyes and tears slowly trickled down her cheeks.

"Where is she?" she asked.

"Northwestern Memorial Hospital." Anita answered.

"I'm on my way." Brittany said and hung up.

She slumped down on the bed clutching the phone tightly with both her hands. Nathan looked at her and had no idea what was going on but realized whatever it was it involved Santana and it wasn't good.

"Brittany? What's going on?" He asked and took a seat by his former girlfriend.

He noticed that tears were running down her face but she was silent.

"Hey?" he put his hand on her arm gently.

"Just talk to me Brittany." He pleaded.

Brittany kept staring at her phone. It was like she was in some sort of a bad dream and she was praying that she would wake up soon. She closed her eyes for a second and another flood of tears started to run down her face.

"Uhm…San-Santana… It's Santana… She's… oh God… She's been shot Nathan…" Brittany started crying when she uttered those last words.

"What? Oh my God, is she okay?" Nathan asked and instinctively pulled the blonde close and held her.

Brittany let Nathan hold her and she buried her face against his chest.

"They said it doesn't look good…" she cried against his chest.

She forced herself to pull herself together, she had to go to Chicago and she had to go now.

"I have to go there Nathan. I have to go to her…" she said as she pulled away and got up from the bed.

"What? Are you gonna drive there now?" Nathan asked. She really shouldn't be driving.

"I have to be there so yes, I'm driving there now." Brittany said and walked out of the room.

Nathan went after her.

"You can't drive there in your state, you're really upset. It's not safe." Nathan argued.

"I'm going Nathan." Brittany said firmly.

"Let me drive." Nathan offered.

"I can't deal with you being there Nathan, I can't. I don't want you there." Brittany said.

Nathan felt a sting is his heart by her words but he couldn't let her drive to Chicago in the state she was in, an accident was bound to happen and he couldn't live with himself is something happened to her.

"I won't stay, I'll just drive you. Britt please, you shouldn't drive when you're this upset. I'll drive you there and then I'll leave, okay?" he said sincerely.

"Okay…" the blonde said and nodded.

Brittany wanted to go instantly but Nathan convinced her to at least bring a bag with some extra clothes, which she did. She packed in a hurry and then they left.

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Nathan thought the car ride was excruciatingly silent. Brittany hadn't said a word since they left Green Bay. She was looking out the window with a forlorn expression on her face. Her hands were folded in her lap and she tried to keep it together but inside she was falling apart.

Nathan glanced at her every now and then and he desperately wanted to say something but couldn't think of something. She obviously didn't want to small talk so he just sat in silence as he drove as fast as the speed limit allowed him to go.

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When they drove through Milwaukee Brittany called Anita again. She was afraid to call her but she just needed to hear something about Santana's condition. Anita answered immediately.

"Brittany, are you on your way?"

"Yes, we just left Milwaukee." Brittany answered.

"We?" Anita asked.

"Yeah, Nathan is driving me… he wouldn't let me drive so he's driving me there and then he'll go back to Green Bay."

Nathan looked at the blonde for a second when he heard his name being mentioned. Something about the way she said his name and just her whole body language told him that he wouldn't get her back. It wasn't just because of the situation with Santana, well in a way it was, but he realized that she wasn't coming back to him. He swallowed hard, not wanting to get emotional in front of Brittany, she had enough to deal with but this realization really hurt. Maybe he had been naive but he had really believed that Brittany would come to her senses and realize what she was throwing away and come back to him. Now he knew that wouldn't happen.

"Have you heard anything?" Brittany asked and she was absolutely terrified of hearing the answer.

"No, she's still in surgery. They said it would take a while but they would let us know how it was proceeding but we still haven't heard anything." Anita answered and Brittany didn't really feel any calmer by that answer.

Why hasn't anyone informed them about how the surgery is going? That can't be a good sign right? She shook her head to try and shake those negative thoughts away, thinking negatively wouldn't help Santana. No, just positive thinking. Positive… She has to make it… she has to…

"I call as soon as we reach the hospital." Brittany said and hung up.

Again she turned her head away from Nathan's direction and looked out the window, her phone tightly clutched in her hands. Nathan glanced at her again.

"Any news?" he asked gently.

"No." was the only reply he got, she didn't even look at him.

He nodded slowly and returned his focus on the road.

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Just over two hours later Nathan pulled into the parking lot outside the hospital. Brittany had talked to Anita who would meet her by the hospital reception.

"Do you want me to walk you to the entrance?" Nathan asked.

"No, it's fine. Thank you for driving me here Nate, I appreciate it." She answered and picked up her bag from the floor and opened the car door.

"Will you let me know how the surgery went?"

"Do you even care?" Brittany spat out before she even registered what she'd said.

Nathan looked at her, surprised by her harsh words.

"W-what?" he just stuttered out not really knowing how to respond to that.

"I'm sorry but do you really care what happens? And frankly, calling you to let you know how Santana's surgery went isn't on the top of my priority list. Thank you for driving me here but I would really appreciate it if you just left now. I have to go inside." Brittany said and closed the door on a rather shocked Nathan.

She really hadn't meant to sound so harsh and she took some of her frustration out on him and it wasn't fair, but she really didn't care about that right now. All she cared about was getting inside that hospital and see if Santana was out of surgery.

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Anita had been pacing back and forth in the hospital foyer waiting for the blonde to show up. Every time the entrance door opened she turned her head to see if Brittany would walk through the doors and suddenly she spotted a blonde head moving quickly past some people who were also on their way inside. She quickly walked towards her and called out her name when she came closer.

When Brittany heard someone call out her name and met Anita's eyes she couldn't hold it all in any longer. She stepped forward and into Anita's open arms and just broke down.

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Anita held the crying woman in her arms and just let her get it all out. She stroked her hair tenderly and though her own tears were running down her face she held it together. Brittany needed her to be strong right now and she could do that.

It was like a dam had broken when Brittany had spotted the older woman. Everything suddenly became so real, Santana was somewhere inside this hospital, on an operating table fighting for her life.

When Anita felt that Brittany was calming down a bit she slowly pulled back and wiped the tears from the blonde's face as well as her own.

"Have… have you heard anything? How is she doing?" Brittany asked with a very teary voice.

"A nurse came to talk to us about 30 minutes ago and they'd manage to get the bleeding under control and had started to repair the damage the bullet caused." Anita answered. It sounded surreal to hear those words leave her mouth.

Brittany just nodded. Anita picked up Brittany's bag from the floor and put one arm around her shoulder.

"Let's go to the waiting room, your father is there." Anita said and the blonde only nodded.

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Anita opened the door to the waiting room area and guided Brittany inside. The blonde instantly saw her father who was standing up and he came towards them and pulled his daughter into his arms.

"I'm so sorry sweetheart." He whispered and kissed her hair.

Brittany started crying again and tightened her hold around her father.

"She's going to be okay. She's going to come back to us. To you…" he said and kissed her hair again.

Brittany buried her face in his chest and just let her father hold her.

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The time passed painfully slow. Santana had been in surgery a little over eight hours and they hadn't been given any more information. However, Santana's unit chief had stopped by to see how Santana's surgery was going and to inform her family of what had happened.

Santana's team was doing a raid against a suspected terrorist group but there had been a leak and the suspects knew the FBI was coming and had started shooting against them as soon as they entered the building. Two of the team members had been shot and Santana was injured worst. She got hit in the chest and the bullet penetrated her safety west and went into her body, causing severe damage.

He had only stayed briefly to inform them about the events but he would return later. Two of Santana's team members had also been waiting in the waiting room but had been ordered back to headquarters about an hour ago. They had informed Santana's family that they would come back.

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Eight hours turned into ten hours and Brittany was beside herself with worry, as was Anita. Jack had gone down to the cafeteria to bring back something to eat but neither Brittany nor Anita had even touched the food.

"I can't take it anymore, someone must know something. Why aren't they telling us, why?" Brittany said upset.

"I don't know sweetheart." Jack said and walked up to his pacing daughter and put a hand on her shoulder.

The sound of a door opening made everyone turn their attention in that direction and a man in scrubs walked into the waiting room.

"How is she? Is she okay?" Anita asked with a trembling voice.

"She's in recovery, the operation went well considering the circumstances. We were able to extract the bullet from Santana's chest and repair the damage it caused her lung. However, she'd already lost a severe amount of blood when she got here and she went into cardiorespiratory arrest during surgery." the doctor said.

Brittany's heart stopped when she heard the doctor speak. She may not know much about medical stuff but she knew what that meant. Santana's heart had stopped, she'd died on the table. The doctor's voice brought her back from her thoughts.

"The resuscitation attempt was successful and we manage to-" the doctor was interrupted.

"She died?" Brittany asked with a trembling voice.

Anita put her arm around her.

"They brought her back sweetie." she said with a soothing voice trying to calm both the young woman and herself.

"But her heart stopped, so technically she died?" Brittany said, the question directed to the doctor.

"Yes, her heart stop but we managed to resuscitate her and stabilize her and the rest of the surgery proceeded without any complications. She's in recovery now and though the surgery was successful, her condition is still critical. The next 48 hours will be crucial." the doctor said.

"Can… can we see her?" Brittany asked.

"Yes you can see her but one at the time and only for a little while. She needs rest."

"Thank you doctor." Anita said.

"A nurse will be in shortly to show you to the ICU unit where Santana is." the doctor said and left.

Brittany wanted to run to the ICU unit but she realized she should let Anita see her first. It was her daughter and Brittany could only imagine how worried she must be. A minute later a nurse came and said she would show them to Santana. Anita looked at Brittany and met the blonde's eyes. She could see how badly she wanted to go see Santana but at the same time she saw how she was hesitant and Anita knew it was because the blonde was thinking that she, as Santana's mother, should be the first one to see her.

"You go first Brittany." Anita said and gave the blonde a small smile.

"But… it's your daughter, you should see her first." Brittany replied.

Anita walked up to her and put her hand on Brittany's arm.

"I know and I want to see her so badly but I know Santana will ask for you the second she wakes up so you go and see her first sweetie. She wants you there." Anita said and smiled to reassure the blonde that it was okay.

Brittany only nodded and swallowed hard. Anita squeezed her arm gently before letting go.

"If you follow me miss." the nurse said.

Brittany nodded again and followed the nurse as she led her towards the ICU unit. The closer they came the faster her heart started to beat and she thought she was going to have some sort of panic attack and collapse before she would get to see Santana. The nurse looked at the blonde and noticed her somewhat panicked appearance.

"Are you okay?" the nurse asked gently.

"I don't know… I don't think so…" Brittany answered.

"Here, come and sit down for a while." The nurse said and led her towards a bench in the hallway.

"Just take a couple of deep breaths okay? You'll be okay. When we get there your friend will have different kinds of tubes connected to her body and it can look a little scary but it's only there to help her get better, okay?" the nurse said very gently.

"Okay."

"Are you ready to go see her now?" the nurse asked.

Brittany nodded and the nurse helped her up from the bench and continued to lead her towards the room where Santana was.

"Okay, we're here. Do you want me to follow you inside?" the nurse asked as they stopped outside a room.

"No, it's okay. Thank you." Brittany said.

"Okay. I'll just be down the hall, come find me when you're ready if you need me to show you the way back to the waiting room." The nurse said and gave her arm a reassuring squeeze.

"Thank you."

Brittany took a deep breath and then slowly pushed the door opened.