"Santana?" Will asked as if he had no idea who she was. His eyes scanned the worried faces on the bus. And sure enough, Santana Lopez was not on the bus. Immediately, Will had a minor panic attack. They were miles and miles away from their home and Santana was lost. Who knew where she was or what happened to her?

"We need to find her!" Mercedes said, breaking the silence. Everyone was too in shock to respond.

"I agree" Shelby said, the only one not freaking out on the inside.

Will snapped back into reality.

"Santana is lost!" Brittany wailed and started crying.

Sugar started awkwardly comforting her. "Shush...we'll find her!" Sugar said, patting Brittany's arm.

"She has a phone, right?" Will said, reaching into his pocket to pull out his own. "I'll call her..."

He had all the teens' numbers in his phone for this trip specifically, but he never thought he'd have to call.

Will found Santana's contact number and hit call. The bus was silent and scared. Will waited as he heard the rings in his ear. Suddenly, muffled and soft music was heard. It was a Britney Spears song.

"What's that?" Emma asked quietly. Brittany unzipped her purse and the music got louder. Brittany picked up the music-maker.

"It's Santana's phone" Brittany said.

"Why do you have it?" Mercedes asked.

Will clapped his phone shut in frustration.

"She gave it to me in the mall" Brittany said sadly.

"Now how are we suppose to reach her?" Tina asked.

"Listen up" Shelby said, interrupting the many questions and concerns that the teens were asking loudly. "Providing that nothing horrible has happened to her..."

"God forbid" Emma said sadly.

"...she is probably still in the mall. So let's split up and find her" Shelby suggested.

"Okay. Where was the last place you saw her?" Will asked the teens.

"I don't remember" Rachel said. "We weren't together in the mall..."

"Santana came with us" Puck said. "But I don't know where we lost her."

"So work backwards" Blaine said. "Did she leave the mall with us?"

"I thought I saw her..." Quinn said carefully. "Maybe not..."

"I don't think so" Artie said.

"I think she was with us" Rachel said.

"Was she with us in the music store?" Kurt asked.

"Yes, I believe so" Sam nodded.

"Um, I don't think so..." Finn said.

"What about as we walked across the mall to the music store?" Blaine asked.

"Maybe?" Rachel said, very unsure.

"Guys! Guys!" Will said loudly. "This isn't going to work because there are so many of you who all remember different things."

"We split up in the mall and didn't meet back up until about fifteen minutes ago, so most of us weren't with Santana for most of the time" Mercedes explained to Will.

"But she defiantly was there when we met up" Kurt said firmly. "That is for sure."

Will sighed. "I'd suggest that we just go back to that store, but she probably is looking for us too, so we may not find her."

"We have to try!" Brittany exclaimed, tears still coming out.

"Oh, of course, of course" Will nodded. "We just have to do it strategically."

"Okay. Here's how we're going to do it" Beiste said loudly and firmly. "Finn, Puck, Brittany, Sam, Blaine, Quinn, Mr. Schuester, Ms. Pilsbury and Sugar: you search the left side of the mall. Kurt, Mike, Tina, Mercedes, Rachel, Rory, Ms. Corcoran and I will search the right side. Stay together, alright?"

Artie raised his hand. "Uh, Coach, what about me?"

"Right. I didn't forget about you, Artie" Beiste said. "Santana may be looking for us, too. So the logical thing to do is to have someone wait here in the bus, in case she comes here looking for us. Artie, do you mind waiting here?"

"No problem. I'll do it" Artie said.

"You have a phone, right?" Will asked.

"Yes" Artie held up his phone.

"Okay. Call or text me or an adult if you get any news" Will said.

"Let's go groups!" Shelby said, standing up, as did all the others.

They all got out of the bus, lowered Artie out, gave him an umbrella and walked away.

Artie held the umbrella over him, his eyes watching the groups leave. And also watching to see if Santana comes running out of the building.

Santana was mad. No, beyond mad. She was pissed off. But it wasn't really at someone, as much as herself, so really, she was just really annoyed. It had been ten minutes. Sure, that seems like a short period of time, but when you are trapped in a small and dimly lit change room stall, time goes really slowly.

Santana gave up her struggle and sat on the floor. Ew, it was disgusting, too. How is it that in less than 24 hours she has been trapped in two small places? Unbelievable.

"Help" Santana said, loudly enough that is someone walked by, they would hear. When she had realized that the door was stuck, she had pounded on the door and yelled for help. But no luck. She was still trapped. Thank goodness she wasn't claustrophobic like Quinn. It was incredibly annoying that the store they were in was probably the emptiest store in the entire mall. No one to hear her calls and pounds. Where were the employees? Suddenly, a horrid idea hit her. Maybe the employees couldn't help her because they had already left. Maybe the mall had closed and she was alone. Maybe New Directions and the adults never realized that she was missing and they were already back at the condos. She could be trapped there forever. A tear rolled down Santana's cheek. Wait...was she crying? Santana sighed. Plus, to make matters even worse, Brittany had her phone so she couldn't call for help. She was alone.

"Stay together. I'm serious" Will sternly told his group. "I don't wanna be looking for more of you."

"No worries. We will. Now let's go find Santana!" Puck said. They hurriedly ran down their designated side of the mall, their eyes wide and on the lookout for the Latina girl.

"Santana!" Quinn called as they barged into one clothing store. Some of the shoppers gave the teens dirty glares as she ran though the stores calling her name.

"Santana?" Finn called, his voice booming through the store.

No response.

"W-we are g-gonna find her, r-right?" Brittany asked, still sobbing.

"Of course" Blaine said, trying to portray as much confidence as possible.

"Where could she be?" Sam asked, jogging up to them from the back of the store.

"Let's move on. She is not here" Emma called loudly. They nodded and left the store, moving next door to the next one.

"Santana!" Finn called through the store again. And again, no response.

Quinn sighed and looked around. "Where the heck is she?"

Kurt and Tina and their group walked into a bright store. People swarmed all around them. But they still couldn't see Santana.

Rachel and Mercedes walked up to the cashier in the store.

"Hello. Have you seen a thin Latina girl with black hair? She is wearing shorts and a yellow shirt" Rachel asked the mousey cashier.

"No, sorry" she replied, a bit intimidated.

Mercedes sighed. "Thanks anyways."

The two girls walked away and back to the others.

"Well?" Rory asked them.

"Nope" Rachel said.

"She's not in this store" Shelby said. "Moving on..."

They left the store and we to the one across the hall. Rachel and Mercedes asked the cashier in there too, but got the same response. They went to three other stores, and only got the same. Nothing.

"Excuse me" A thick voice asked from behind them.

They turned to see a bulky security guard standing there, a slight frown on his face.

"Yes?" Rachel asked flatly.

"I've had some complaints, well, maybe complaints isn't the best word...I've been alerted to the fact that you lot are running through stores looking for someone, am I correct?" The man asked slowly.

"Yes, we are" Rachel nodded, as did the rest of them.

"Have you seen her?" Mike asked hopefully.

The man shook his head. "No, but I'm a mall cop. I know this mall like my own finger. I'll help you out" He gave a smile and took out a ratty notebook and a pen. "I'll need some info on you missing person."

"Her name is Santana Lopez. She is a Latina. Black hair. She's wearing shorts and a yellow t-shirt" Rachel said as the mall cop's pen flew across the page.

"Okay..." He nodded and looked up. "Well, I'm gonna make a mall-wide announcement. If she's in the mall, she'll hear it."

"Thank you so much!" Kurt said with a smile.

"It's my job" The man smiled. "I'll see you soon. Good luck."

"Thank you!" Mercedes and Tina smiled as the mall-cop walked off.

"Who was that?" Shelby asked as she and Beiste approached.

"A mall-cop" Rory said. "He's gonna make an announcement so everyone in the mall can hear."

Shelby smiled. "Brilliant."

"Let's move on" Beiste said, as they walked to the next store.

"If Santana Lopez is in the building, would she please come to the north entrance or alert a mall employee, Santana Lopez. Thank you."

"I'm right here!" Santana moaned, still sitting in the small stall. The store was still quiet. No one has heard her shout. The announcement ended and it returned to its original silence. On the bright side, at least Santana knew that her friends were actually looking for her. Yay. It was only a matter of time before they found her...right?

"Did you hear that?" Puck asked.

"Yes!" Blaine said. "How'd the mall know?"

"The other group must have done something!" Quinn said.

"Rachel's probably got them all singing a song about finding Santana" Finn chuckled.

"I can actually picture that" Sam laughed.

"Let's move on and see if we can find her" Will said.

"The next store is the music store we were in. Maybe she is in there?" Quinn said.

"Maybe" Emma said in a positive tone. They hurried to the music store. And yet, no Santana.

"Not here" Blaine concluded sadly.

"Is Santana in another dimension?" Brittany asked.

"At this rate, maybe" Sam sighed as they walked to the next store.

"Oh good, I found you!"

They all turned at the sound of the mall-cop's voice.

"I made the announcement."

"We heard. Thank you so much" Shelby smiled at him.

"Not a problem. Any luck finding her?" He asked, scratching his mustache.

"Not yet" Shelby answered sadly.

"Really?" The man mused. "Usually, announcements work. I have my radio on to hear from an employee, but so far none" he motioned to the big black walkie-talkie clipped to his belt.

"Are you saying that Santana may not be in the mall?" Rachel asked.

"It's a possibility. Or she didn't hear the announcement" The mall-cop said, not trying to crush their hopes.

"We should keep looking" Mercedes said.

"I'm not gonna quit until we've searched the whole mall!" Tina said. Kurt, Mike and the other nodded firmly.

"Good spirit" Beiste said to them.

"Well, I'll look around too. Good luck!" The mall-cop walked off.

"We should too" Mercedes said. They walked out of the store.

"Next store!" Will called and they walked out of a small shop.

They walked into another store. This one familiar to them.

"This is the store that we all met up in" Finn said to Will.

"It's empty" Sugar said. "Still."

"Is there even a worker here?" Puck asked, looking around.

"Yeah, over there" Emma pointed to a young women, sitting on a stool behind the cash. She was reading a thick book and had head phones in her ears, probably blocking out all outer sounds. She didn't even glance up when they all came in.

Santana heard the voices. It was the best thing she'd ever heard. They had come. Santana heard Puck's voice and then she heard Quinn call: "Santana!"

Santana stood up and pounded her fist into the cool metal door.

"Here! I'm here! Hello!" Santana shouted excitedly.

"Shhh" Blaine said, shushing the group.

"I'm here! Guys, help!" Santana continued to call, banging on the door.

"Do you hear that too?" Sam asked.

"Yes. It's Santana!" Blaine said.

Finn, who was already at the back of the store, ran to the change rooms where he more clearly heard Santana's frantic calls and pounds.

"Santana?" Finn asked, running down the small hallway of change room stalls.

"Yes! Yes, I'm here!" Santana said.

Finn got to the door that was firmly shut. He heard Santana's movement behind it. Finn grabbed the cool metal handle and tugged on it. With some effort, the door flew open, almost sending Finn flying back. Santana stumbled out of the small change room and threw her arms around Finn's neck, pulling him into a super tight hug.

"I never thought I'd be so happy to see you!" Santana said, hugging him.

Finn awkwardly hugged her back as the others stared clapping and cheering.

Santana let go of Finn and smiled at her friends.

"We were soooooo worried!" Brittany said, running up and hugging the Latina

"Thanks so much for saving me" Santana said, smiling at them. "I honestly thought you had forgotten about me!"

"Are you kidding? Do you even know us?" Sam said with a small chuckle. "We'd never forget you!"

"Thanks!" Santana said with a large smile. Everyone jumped in a group hug, with Santana getting crushed in the middle.

"Santana!" Tina, Mercedes and Rachel screamed as they met in the entrance of the mall. They ran up to her and hugged her.

"Oh my gosh, where were you?" Mercedes asked

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked.

"What happened?" Tina asked.

"Woah, woah, hold up" Santana said, pulling out of he hug, with her hands up as if to signal their silence.

"That's so many questions. My head hurts" Brittany said, holding her head in her hands.

"I'll tell you all on the bus" Santana said.

"Fair enough" Tina nodded.

"Have you found her yet?" The mall-cop asked the large and chatty group.

"Yes we did!" Rachel smiled. They moved apart to show Santana.

"Hello!" The man smiled at her.

"Uh, hi..." Santana said.

"Good to see you're safe and sound. You large group of friends practiacally tore the mall apart looking for you."

They all laughed.

"Thanks for helping us look" Shelby said to him.

"All in a day's work" The mall-cop said and smiled. He waved and walked away, leaving the group waving and shouting out their thanks.

"Okay. Is everyone here?" Will asked in a loud voice.

"And we do mean everyone!" Beiste said, causing a laugh.

Shelby did a quick head count. "All present and accounted for!"

"Okay. Too the bus. Artie is still waiting for us!" Will said.

Artie sat outside. The minutes ticked on. And no sign of them, yet. Hopefully Santana was okay. He wasn't totally fond of the girl, but she could be nice when she wanted to be. Plus she was part of New Directions, so that made her practically family.

He got a lot of funny looks as shoppers walked by, which was excepted. After all, he was a nerdy-looking boy in a wheelchair holding a gigantic bright blue umbrella outside a large shiny bus. Either way, he gave the onlookers a bright grin, almost in a mocking way.

Finally, he saw eighteen people running out of the mall. Right away, Artie recognized them as his friends. No one else would leave the mall in such a dramatic fashion. They came closer, and Artie could see the smiles on their faces. And sure enough, Santana was with them. Artie smiled. They found her.

"Hello!" Artie greeted them. "I see you found her. Where was she?"

"She hasn't told is yet. She said she'd tell us on the bus" Kurt informed Artie.

"Oh, okay" Artie said, nodding.

They all got into the bus and Artie was raised in slowly.

Once they were all seated and Will started the bus, Santana began to speak.

"Well, I was in the store where we all met up again. I went to try on a dress. And you all left. Then I tried to open the door. It was stuck. And so I screamed and banged on the door but I was conveniently trapped in the emptiest store of life. So I sat there. Then I heard the announcement for me. And then you guys found me" Santana said, recalling the events.

"Why did you go in a broken change room?" Blaine asked.

"I didn't know it was broken!" Santana said, with a frown. Questions like that made her sound dumb. And she was NOT dumb.

"Well, I found this on the floor outside the door" Blaine said, passing Santana a wrinkly piece of paper.

It got passed down the bus and to Santana. Santana looked at it.

Don't use change room, door broken

"I didn't see this" Santana said curtly.

"Clearly" Puck said. Santana glared at him.

Mercedes noticed this and stepped in, to prevent a huge fight.

"We're just really glad you're okay" Mercedes said sweetly.

Santana's hard expression softened. "Thanks."

"Well, quite an eventful day we have had" Rachel said with a smile.

"I'll say" Quinn nodded.

"You'll say what?" Brittany asked with a chipper smile.

"That we had an eventful day?" Quinn said, her statement sounding like a question.

"Rachel already said that!" Brittany said.

"I-I know" Quinn said, unsure of what Brittany meant.

"Okay" Brittany said. She rested her head on Santana's shoulder.

"You should have seen Brit. When we realized you were gone, she was in tears" Sugar said to Santana.

Santana's heart swelled a bit. She looked at Brittany. "Really?"

"Yeah, totally" Brittany said. "You're my best friend. I love you, and if you were lost, I'd be lost too."

"Aww" Santana said with a smile.

"No, really. She needs help getting from the kitchen to her bedroom sometimes" Rory mumbled.

"I love you too" Santana whispered to Brittany.

A/N

Heey! :)

Hope you liked this, and if you do or of you have any other suggestions/comments/ideas lemmie know. I love reading what you have to say!

P.S. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! I'm alone...again, but no worries, I'll amuse my lonely heart by writting ff because I know you readers love me...right? Looool Byee!