Santana wakes up the next morning to an incessant buzzing. She leans over quickly to grab her phone, so as not to wake the sleeping blonde on her chest.
"Hello." She whispers into the phone gruffly.
"Sis, are you two alright? Mami was panicking this morning when she realised you two hadn't come home but I told her you'd be fine."
"Yeah, we're good man. We're in the treehouse and must have fell asleep. Quinn's still sleeping though, I don't want to wake her yet." She replies, whilst gently running her fingers through blonde hair.
"That's cool. I'll tell Mami you're fine, just make sure you're home and ready for when we leave for court, we're leaving at 11:30."
"We'll be there bro. See ya in a bit."
"Bye." Blaine finishes as they both put the phone down.
Santana just lies there for a while, still brushing through Quinn's hair until she feels her begin to stir.
The awakening girl places a kiss to Santana's exposed collar bone and hears, "Good morning mi princesa."
"Morning baby, did you sleep okay? This can't be comfortable for you?" She says trying to sit up, only to be pulled back down by her girlfriend.
"I'm more than comfortable, I slept the best I have in weeks. Did you sleep okay?"
Quinn smiles hearing that Santana slept through the night, she's been extremely worried about her lately, as her sleeping habits have been worse than ever.
"I slept the best I have in a while too."
Santana places a soft kiss to the crown of her head, "I'm happy to hear that."
They sit in silence for a while before Quinn asks something she's been thinking about since her chat with Maribel yesterday, "Tana?"
"Hmmm"
"Do you ever want to get married?" She feels Santana stiffen below her and decides to add more in a panic, "I don't mean like right now, obviously. But at some point, do you want to?"
Santana is quiet for a while as she decides the best way to approach this situation.
"You know when I was telling you some of the thoughts that keep me up at night?" She says and feels the blonde nod her head against her chest.
"This was one of them."
"What do you mean?" Quinn asks, bringing her hand up on to the Latina's bare torso and traces her abs.
"I mean, I would love nothing more than for us to get married and for you to be my wife." She pauses, "But I don't think that I would be a good wife if I'm in the army."
Quinn sits up as she feels as though this may be make or break for them, again, if she's unable to rid of Santana's insecurities.
"I feel like marrying you would be selfish because it will be easier for me to be married if I'm away, if you get what I mean? You'll be here or wherever we live, getting on with your life, meeting new people, out with your friends, with a job or at college and I- I won't be here and I don't want to take any of that away from you."
"Tana.." The blonde coos, sitting forward so she can cup tanned cheeks, "I love you, with everything I have and am. Whether you're here or not, I am going to still love you. If I'm meeting new people, I don't care because they're not you. If I'm out with my friends, they will all be completely platonic because they're not you. If I'm at college or have a job and I meet people there, they'll be nothing more than a friend because I'm never going to want anyone that isn't you." She finishes as tears slip her eyes. "You won't be taking anything from me, because you've given me everything."
"But what if you meet someone and you have a connection or an attraction and I'm thousands of miles away? You have needs Quinn, I understand that and there's no telling how long I'll be gone."
"If I have an attraction to someone, that will be it, a physical attraction and we have them now, so it'll be no different. And I can't ever imagine that I would, but if I had a connection with someone, it wouldn't matter in the slightest, because it wouldn't be as strong as ours. As for my 'needs', I'm sure I can take care of myself. I don't want anyone near me that isn't you lovebug." She ends, leaning their foreheads together.
"I was also worried about getting married, in case I died. I wouldn't want you being a young widow and I-" Shes cut off with a firm finger to her lips and when she looks up, tears are flooding from Quinn's eyes.
"Don't talk like that. I can't hear it because if I do, I'll never let you go. Nothing is going to happen to you because if you go, I go too. We are going to have a life together. I want to marry you and I want children, I want your babies Santana, please tell me that's something you want too?" She looks into Santana's eyes as she nods.
"Then we're going to do this, together. Because I don't want anyone else and I don't care how long you're away, well I do but you know what I mean, I will always be waiting here for you. I'm yours, you have my heart, forever Santana Lopez. Please don't break it." She chokes.
Santana places her hands over Quinn's that are still resting on her cheeks, "Never. It's my most prized possession." She replies, pulling Quinn into her lap.
The blonde buries her head in Santana's neck until her cries turn into whimpers. The Latinas curiosity gets the better of her, "Why did you ask if I wanted to get married?"
"When I went with Mama yesterday we were talking about ways to stay away from my parents. She mentioned that she could foster me, until I'm eighteen but thought that someone else wouldn't be too fond of that idea because she thought they would want to make me a Lopez."
"Mami has never been more right." Santana says, leaning in for a passionate kiss, which results in Quinn shifting her position so that she's straddling Santana.
The brunette reluctantly pulls away, "As much as I would love to make love to my future bride right now, we need to get home so we can get to court and get this shit over with."
Quinn blushes at her girlfriends choice of words and moves off of her. They both get dressed and head back to the car.
They get home, shower and change before they're heading back to the courthouse.
When they arrive, Santana, again, let's Quinn out of the car and pulls her close. There are double the amount of reporters here today and they're all trying to get to Quinn.
Between Maribel, Blaine and Santana, they seem to have them staying at a distance.
When they enter through the doors, Kurt and Mercedes are there and Santana loosens her hold on Quinn's waist. The blonde hugs her friends tightly.
"Why are you guys here?"
"We just wanted to support you, I'm so sorry this was happening and nobody knew." Kurt speaks up.
"Yeah girl, I'm sorry I never questioned your bruises, it makes me feel pretty guilty actually." Mercedes adds, to which Quinn pulls her into another embrace.
"Don't feel like that. Even if you did question it, I would have lied so.." She replies, stepping back and immediately lacing her hands with Santana's.
"Well we're here for you now." Kurt adds with a smile.
Just then it's announced for them to make their way into the court room.
Santana gives Quinn a quick kiss, which the blonde appreciates, before going off to sit with the others.
Quinn makes her way to Mr. Handle and they take their seats.
Santana spots Judy again and hopes that she doesn't approach Quinn today. "Mami, I thought you warned that bitch off?" She whispers.
Maribel rolls her eyes, "I thought I did. I'd like to see her try something today."
Santana and Blaine just laugh at their Mami's antics.
Russell takes the stand and lies about everything. From when he first attacked Quinn, to any alleged attack really.
He says he would never lay a hand on his little girl and that he loves her more than anything.
He lied about the night with Santana and Blaine and says she just attacked him, in his own home.
When questioned about Quinn's injuries from that night, he says he noticed them as soon as Santana dropped her off at the door and assumed she had done them.
Russell states that when Santana charged into his home, he only fought back and defended him and his child and that he was unsure how the Latina ended up with concussion as he was 'beaten to near death' by Blaine and was unable to do anything else.
Santana is seething and her body is shaking with anger, Blaine, Maribel, Kurt and Mercedes all try to calm her down but it isn't working.
"Don't you dare say anything because it will only hurt Quinn's case." Maribel says firmly.
At that moment, Quinn turns slightly to seek out her girlfriend and seeing the state she's in, really isn't helping the way she feels.
Santana tries to give her a reassuring and comforting smile but her blonde sees straight through it.
This is bad.
A recess is called and Santana storms from the building and around the corner. She punches the wall in anger but only realises that this can be used against them, essentially, if they notice the scratches up her fingers, it doesn't really plead 'I can control my temper'.
Instead, she slides down the wall and drops her head into her hands and tries to compose herself.
Quinn leaves the court room and sees everyone standing outside, other than the person whose comfort she seeks right now.
"Where's Santana?" She asks to no one in particular.
"She left quickly but she'll be back soon, I think she really needed to calm down. Come here Mija." Maribel beckons and pulls Quinn tightly to her chest, placing a kiss at the top of her head.
"I know this isn't looking great but I have faith that the jury will see through it and he will slip up."
Quinn just squeezes Maribel tighter as she feels the HBIC facade, she currently has in place, begin to slip.
She manages to regain composure before looking up and into the face of Judy.
Maribel pulls Quinn behind her and steps towards the older blonde, "I thought I made it very clear that you stay away from her. She doesn't want to see you."
"Please. That's my daughter, of course she wants to see me. Without me, she has no one now. If my husband goes to prison, I'm all she has left." Judy spits.
"You see, that's where you're wrong. It's been nearly a year since she's seen you, so where have you been? Do you think that she needed you? It's been me. I've given her shelter and fed her and loved her because now, I see her as one of my own. So she doesn't need you at all if she doesn't want to see you." Maribel argues.
Blaine has taken to upon himself to move closer to Quinn at this point and wrap his arm around her shoulders as comfort, considering no one has any idea where his sister has gone, and the blonde only moves closer to him.
Judy looks around Mari to her daughter, "Quinnie, these people aren't your family. They don't love you like I do, they will never. They apparently take kids in from all over the place." She says gesturing towards Blaine, who grits his teeth.
"I dont care whether they are biologically my children or not! These two behind me are my babies and I love them more than anything! Now, me, along with Quinn I'm sure, would appreciate it if you disappeared again because she was just starting to get back to herself! Now walk away Judy, I won't ask you again." Maribel shouts, now beginning to lose her temper.
Judy laughs in her face and stays put. Maribel moves forward but before she can do anything, a tender hand is placed on her arm and she looks around to see her daughter standing there.
"She's not worth it Mami. I don't want to go through all this again, let's move out of the way, we don't want to give them any more ammunition." Santana speaks lowly.
Maribel glares at Judy one more time before turning and whisking Quinn away down the hall, leaving a furious Blaine and a confused Kurt and Mercedes.
"Where have you been?" He questions.
"I was outside, trying to calm and pull myself together before I saw Quinn. These two came and found me when Judy appeared." Santana replies gesturing towards Kurt and Cedes.
Blaine just nods, "Come on, she probably wants to see you before it starts again." He says leading them in the direction of Maribel and Quinn.
When they enter the room, the blonde flies into the arms of Santana, knocking her back slightly.
"It's alright baby love. You're okay." She's soothes into a pale neck.
When Quinn lifts her head, she looks straight into dark, brown orbs. "Where were you? Are you okay?"
"I was outside and I'm fine, I was just thinking. Nothing for you to worry about pretty girl." She replies, leaning in for a chaste kiss.
"This isn't going well for me, is it?" Quinn murmurs.
"Have faith." Is all that Santana can conjure in this moment. Soon after, they are called back into the court room.
They soon re-adjourn in the courtroom and Russell continues his questioning, albeit, he is not half as convincing as he was previously in the day and has backtracked a few times.
Eventually the closing statements are made and the jury are dismissed to discuss their verdict.
The Lopez family, Quinn, Kurt and Mercedes are all ushered into a small room together while they wait.
Santana and Quinn are cuddled up on a small couch, "Do you think I can win this?"
"I do but I don't want you to worry about it okay? Whatever happens, the people in this room, we are 100% behind you. You're going to be okay and I'm not going to let anything happen to you."
"What if when all this is over, Judy tries to make me go back?"
"Let her try. If you don't want to go, then you won't. Over my dead body are you going anywhere with her, she didn't protect you then but I definitely will now."
Quinn squeezes Santana's sides, leans up to place a series of quick pecks to plump lips and then lies down on her chest.
The blonde falls asleep and Santana sits around listening to everyone else conversations, thinking about what she will do if this doesn't go their way.
She doesn't have much longer to think before there's a knock on the door and Mr. Handle announces that a decision has been made.
With that, Santana gently wakes Quinn and they all make their way back to the courtroom to hear the fate of a man, they have all grown to despise.