AN: Hiya! So sorry for the long wait but I think I just lost sight of this story for a while!
For anyone who's still there, just ride out the next couple of chapters because I don't feel they're the best but hopefully we'll be back on track soon!
I'm thinking that I try and portray Santana's job through flashbacks so we get to see the girls together more, because that's what we really love!!
The rides home from the airport were gloomily silent, apart from the occasional sniffles from all five of them.
Quinn and Maribel cling tightly to each other in the back seat of one taxi, as Blaine sat between Kurt and Mercedes, trying to hold himself together in between consoling them both.
As soon as they reentered the apartment, Quinn went straight into hers and Santana's bedroom, while the others tried to keep themselves busy with making lunch.
The first thing that Quinn spotted when entering the bedroom was the neatly folded t-shirt on her pillow. She approached it and noticed a piece of paper sitting atop, reading, 'I love you x'. Quinn recognised it instantly as the t-shirt her girlfriend had worn the night before. She buried her head in it and was instantly overcome with the smell of the Latina, causing a wail to erupt from her throat.
She cried relentlessly for what felt like hours but was more like minutes. When she sat back up, she noticed a blue box on their shared dresser, with a beautiful silver bow adorning the top.
She retrieved it carefully and sat on the edge of the bed, box in her lap. She gingerly untied the bow and removed the lid, a white envelope prominently placed above another wrapped box.
There was an elegant 'Q' scrawled in Santana's distinctive handwriting and she eagerly opened the flap.
Hey pretty girl.
I take it if you're reading this that I've been deployed now. I want you to know that I know what I'm doing, I've been trained and I'm one of the most prepared people out there.
It's all going to be okay and I'll be home soon. Just remember that you'll soon be back in my arms.
There's a present in here, one I want you to use, when we're older, we'll have this to look back on, to remember how strong you were. Something to show our children, so they can be as proud of you as I am.
I don't have much more to say, except, never forget how much I love you baby.
Always and forever,
Your Tana x
Ps. Press play first.
Quinn folded the note back up and safely placed it back in its envelope. She put the envelope on their bedside table and lifted the smaller box from the bigger one.
The blonde unwrapped the paper to discover a box for a video camera. She confusedly extracted the device from its container and inspected it. She knew enough about cameras that this was a top of the line, but had no idea why Santana would buy her this.
Quickly remembering that the letter said 'Press play', which now made a lot more sense, she flipped the screen outwards so that she could see and pressed play.
An image of Santana soon appeared and she was seen making herself comfortable, in near enough the exact spot that Quinn was sitting.
"Hey Q." The Latina spoke. The sound of her voice feeling like daggers to Quinn's heart. It felt as though her most important organ was being torn apart at the sound of a voice she already missed so much.
"How are you doing? I know, well I hope, that you've already read the letter so you know half of what I'm already going to say." Santana looked down towards the floor and was twiddling her thumbs nervously.
The sight made Quinn's breath hitch and the tears spring to her eyes.
"I want you to remember all the training I've been through for this job. Me and Blaine, because I know he's going to be leaving in a couple days too.
The two of us, we're going to be okay. Our main worries are that you, Kurt, Cedes and Mami are going to be okay. I want you to make sure you look after yourself.
You make sure you eat and that you don't spend days on end in bed. I want you to be happy and healthy when I come home. When I come home to you, baby.
I left you my t-shirt from last night, so I'm more than sure you've found that already, I wanted to leave you something that smelt like me, even though I'm more than sure you'll raid my wardrobe at some point." Quinn let out a small chuckle, simultaneously at the same time as Santana did on the small screen.
"Now I know the video camera is a weird gift but I promise it'll make sense when I explain.
I couldn't sleep about a week ago and I was laying next to you, watching you sleep, I hope that doesn't sound too creepy, and I was thinking of ways for us to stay connected whilst we're apart.
You know I can't call every day and I can write as many letters as I want but it'll never truly capture the feelings we have in the moment so I came up with the idea of a video diary.
I want you to make a video every time something happens that you would usually want to tell me about. I dont care if it's good or bad, I want everything, just like if I was there.
I don't want to miss out on anything in your life Q. So, when I'm home, I can sit and watch the videos, I can laugh with you or cry with you and we can talk about it.
I know this sounds cheesy and you might hate the idea but it'd mean everything to me if you could do it. I mean, you'll always have this video of me now, if you miss my voice or my face, you could play it. And don't worry I won't find it creepy." The Latina then giggled at herself which caused a slow smile to creep onto the blonde's face. "If you aren't sure, at least think about it. Also, there's a tripod to it in the wardrobe, I have no idea if it's any good but it's what the woman at the store told me I should get and if I've managed to set it up, I'm more than sure you will."
Just then you could hear a crash and some mumbling which sounded like Maribel in the background. That's when Quinn finally realised what Santana was wearing, fatigues. She'd filmed the video earlier this morning, whilst she was getting ready.
"Well, it sounds like everyone's getting ready to leave in there so I better wrap this up. Look after yourself Lucy Q, I mean that. I'll tell you what I'll tell Cedes at the airport, do not walk around alone at night, the three of you stick together and they are going to need you as much as you need them so don't shut them out.
I already miss you and I love you. You're my everything. When you get lonely, think of our future together, our house in the suburbs, with our little rugrats running around and maybe a dog. We'll have that baby love, someday. I promise you.
I love you mi princesa."
She finished the video, kissing the tips of her fingers and pressing them to her left breast pocket, Quinn knowing full well the photo of the two of them was in there.
Quinn shed a few more tears before locating the tripod and setting it up, deciding to make a video for Santana now before taking a nap.
She went on to explain they'd just gotten home and that she felt broken, like a piece of her was missing. She thanked Santana over and over again for the camera and for being thoughtful enough to wear a t-shirt and then leave it for her.
It was a short video as there wasn't much to tell between the time she'd last seen her girlfriend and now, but being sure to profess her love multiple times at the end before shutting the camera off and lying down on Santana's side of the bed.
She cried for a while, pulling Santana's t-shirt close under her nose, wrapped in her scent. Quinn was so distracted, she didn't hear the door open and close, she only felt the bed dip.
Soon, fingers were running soothingly through her hair, feeling too much like someone she was longing for, instantly identifying the intruder.
"She's gone mama." The blonde choked out.
"I know baby girl. Get some sleep. I'll be right here when you wake up." Maribel hushed, continuing her ministrations, doing exactly what she used to do to soothe Santana when she was a child.
Exhausted from the emotional day, it didn't take long for Quinn to drift off into a dreamless sleep.
Santana arrived at base after a long day of travelling and quickly settled herself in the first available female bunk with a free bed. It was in the far right corner of the tent, which she didn't mind as it would give her more privacy when she called Quinn.
She had been deployed to Afghanistan and it was rumoured she would be out here for around three months before this mission would be complete.
The Latina hustled through the occupants of the tent, who all seemed to be already familiar with each other, and slung her bags on to the empty cot.
There was five women already situated around the tent and they all seemed older than her, with more experience under their belts. She was half way through unpacking her essentials before one of them addressed her.
They approached Santana's bed before raising a hand for her to shake, "Hey. I'm Sargeant Scott." Scott was a relatively tall lady with rusty brown hair. She had a narrow face with a pointy nose and a scar across her forehead, it looked like a knife wound.
Santana took her hand and shook it swiftly, "Private Lopez."
"Well Lopez, it's nice to meet you. Let me introduce you quickly. I'm bunking here, opposite you." Scott quickly pointed towards the bed facing Santana's. "To the left of you is Zizes. I know she looks intimidating, but don't let that put you off." Scott was right, this girl was intimidating. She was huge in comparison to Santana but she must be able to move if she was in the army, but she did note not to get on the wrong side of the girl. "To the left of her is Hayward. Jane is pretty quiet but is lethal on the battlefield." 'Jane' as Scott had called her was lying on her bunk, reading, not taking in any of the noise that was being produced from the other girls.
"In the bottom right corner making all the noise is Motta. She is extremely loud and extremely annoying at times, but don't worry, she'll grow on you." Both chuckling simultaneously. "And last but not least, in the middle is Stokes. I don't know too much about her yet, she seems nice enough but has only been here a couple weeks."
Santana noticed that Stokes seemed to just be taking in her surroundings, maybe a little overwhelmed, much like herself.
"We've not done too much yet, just a little patrolling but I think that now the rest of you have come in, we're going to be shipped out soon. There's a briefing tonight at 18:00 hours. We're all going down to get some grub soon, if you want to join us, we can show you around." Scott smiled and Santana decided that she was friendly enough to help her start in the right direction.
"Yeah. That would be great. Thanks."
Scott went back over to her bunk while Santana unpacked what she needed, she didn't unpack everything as Scott had mentioned them moving out soon.
In the next ten minutes, the six of them shuffled out towards the mess hall. They all settled around a table, while Jane, Motta and Zizes all went to get their food first, leaving Santana with Scott and Stokes.
"So, I assume this isn't your first tour?" Santana said, direct at Scott.
"It's not. This is my third, second in Afghanistan, I did a year out in Iraq too."
The Latina listened intently as Scott relayed some stories from her previous tours. When she glanced over to Stokes, she seemed to not be listening, but Santana could tell from her body language that she was.
The other three arrived soon after and so they switched positions so that everyone could get their meals. By the time they'd all eaten, they only had 20 minutes before briefing and so they all headed in the direction of the tent they needed to be in.
Santana was advised she'd be on patrol tonight, her team leader was Sargeant Scott (which she was grateful for), Private Porter, who was a bald boy with a strong athletic build, but wasn't much older than her, Private First Class Rutherford who was a tall black boy that looked like the strong silent type, Specialist Smythe, who to Santana, looked like a meerkat, something about him was off with her and she'd be sure to keep a close eye on him and last but not least Private Stokes.
Scott gathered the five of them together and had them all introduce themselves. Santana noted that this was the first time she'd heard Stokes speak and what shocked her the most was that her voice reminded her of a certain blonde back home she was trying to keep her mind off.
Once introductions were over with, Scott dismissed them after arranging a meeting point, to gather what they needed ready for their patrol.
Well this is it, army life starts now.
Santana returned to her barracks and quickly wrote her first letter to Quinn that she would post in the morning. She packed up the rest of what she would need and after waiting a couple of minutes for Scott and Stokes, the three of them picked up their gear and trudged towards the meeting point.
"It's about time you ladies got here. We've been waiting for what seems like hours." Smythe quipped, the other boys rolled their eyes, knowing he was trying to get a reaction from Scott.
"Shut it Preppy. We're right on time so move your ass so we can get going." Scott commanded back, instantly shutting the boy up. Santana smirked from her side as Scott turned to her and winked.
Yeah, she was sure she didn't like this boy.
They all clambered into the directed convoy with Rutherford in the driving seat. Porter claimed the passenger seat, leaving Stokes, Scott, Smythe and Santana in the back. Scott shouted the directions and it seemed Rutherford already knew where to go.
The trip was short and they all clambered quickly from the convoy to the positions they were needed. Scott put them into pairs so that if anything went wrong, no one was alone. She paired up Rutherford and Porter (as it seemed them two already knew each other on a personal level) and Santana with Stokes (which she appreciated, she'd take anyone over Smythe), which meant she was taking on the obnoxious boy.
Santana and Stokes were sent off in their own direction and Santana saw this as a great time to get to know the girl further.
"So, is this your first tour?" She asked in the most friendly manner she has.
"It is." Stokes replied shortly.
"It's mine too." The Latina replied, which received a slight head nod.
It appeared that getting this woman to talk to her would take a lot more than one simple question.
"So, tell me, what made you join the army?"
"I'd rather not discuss that." Stokes replied, keeping her eyes off Santana at all times.
"Okayyyy" Santana dragged out before replying again, "Where are you from?"
"What's with the 20 questions? Is it not clear that I'm not really up to talking to you?" She snapped.
Santana was a little taken back but she knows how to handle people like this. Hell, this is how Quinn is when they got into an argument.
"Sorry. I just figured, you know, we're patrolling together, we're bunking together, we're going to be around each other all the time, we could at least get to know each other a little, otherwise it's going to be pretty fucking lonely out here." Santana explained.
Stokes stopped walking and let out a deep breath. "I'm sorry. You're right. It'd be nice to know I have a friend out here."
"Too right it would." Santana replied, before trying to dissolve some of the tension. "I'm not usually this friendly you know." She finished with a quick laugh.
Stokes smiled before turning around and holding out her hand, "I'm Alex. Alex Stokes."
"Nice to meet you Alex. Alex Stokes. I'm Santana, Santana Lopez." The Latina replied with a grin. Stokes laughed again.
"I think we're gonna get along just fine Lopez."
The girls continued their rounds of patrol before heading back to the convoy, that had been set up in front of a ditch, where Rutherford and Porter seemed to be sleeping and Scott and Smythe seemed to be sitting in some broken, old chairs bickering among themselves.
"Everything clear?" Scott asked, when she saw the girls approaching.
They both just nodded their heads.
"Okay, you two get some sleep. Me and Posh Boy here will take first watch, then we'll get them two up first considering they've been asleep longer and they'll get you two up for your watch, okay?"
They both nodded and agreed before sliding into the ditch. Santana watched as Alex tossed and turned to try and get comfortable and eventually settled in a fetal position. The Latina rested her head on her backpack, her gun beside her as she slipped the photo of her and Quinn out of her pocket. She looked at it for a minute before whispering, "I love you baby. Sweet dreams." She kissed the blonde in the photo before placing it back in her pocket and trying to get some rest so that she'd be ready and alert for their shift.
Quinn woke from her sleep around three hours later and found Mari asleep next to her, just as she'd promised. Her eyes felt heavy and they were irritated from the crying but she felt a little better after she'd managed to get some rest. When she sat up, she saw the video camera set up in the corner of the room and smiled, knowing that she'll be watching that video of Santana at least five more times today.
She felt Maribel move slightly beside her as her stomach growled. Maribel's face twisted somewhat as her eyes began to flicker, exactly the same way that Santana's did when she was waking up.
Soon, tired brown eyes reflected back at her and she smiled. "Hey mama. How did you sleep?"
"I had a pretty good nap, this is a comfy bed." The older woman chuckled. "How about you Mija? You look a little better."
"Yeah. I slept okay. I'm hungry, do you want to go get some food? I could make pancakes?"
"That sounds great." Maribel smiled as Quinn manoeuvred from the bed, gathering one of Santana's hoodies on the way to wear and bustled towards the kitchen.
Maribel followed soon after and found the main apartment to be empty, deciding the others must be in their respective rooms.
"Shall I wake everyone and we can all have something to eat?" Maribel asked the blonde.
"Yeah, that sounds good. This shouldn't be long anyway."
Maribel headed towards Blaine and Kurt's room first. She knocked but received no answer, she opened the door slightly to see Blaine propped up against the headboard asleep with Kurt draped across him. She approached her son carefully as not to startle him and ran her hands through his naturally curly hair. He rose from his slumber pretty quickly and she told him Quinn was cooking for them all.
"Okay, I'll wake Kurt and we'll be in soon."
She then moved out of the room and knocked on next door where she was greeted with a 'Come in.' She found Mercedes sitting in a similar position to Blaine but with her headphones on. The black girl removed her headphones completely before focusing her attention on Maribel.
"Quinn is up and cooking pancakes for everyone if you would like to join us."
"That sounds great." Mercedes replied with a smile before taking a good look at the woman in front of her. "Mari?" She called gently as the woman turned to leave. "Are you okay?" She asked as their eyes made contact. Maribel sighed as Cedes gestured for her to sit on the bed beside her.
"I'm not sure how to feel yet Sweetie. Santana is gone but I'm not sure it's quite sunk in. I know that right now, I need to be strong for Blaine and for Quinn but once he goes in a couple days, I'm not sure how I'm going to cope, especially when I go back home. I'm worried about all three of you." Maribel vented, knowing she needed to get some of this off of her chest.
"I will help as much as I can. As soon as we start school next week and are into a routine, hopefully these two will begin to feel much better. I know it's hard on you all and I want to do everything I can."
"Oh Mercedes. You are already doing enough." Maribel said pulling the other girl in for a side hug. "There is something I want to talk to you about though."
"Of course, what is it?"
"Well, now my two are gone, Quinn is all the family I have left really. There is nothing for me in Lima and when Santana and Blaine return, I assume they will be residing here, so I was thinking about maybe moving here too? I have spoken with the hospital and they have some openings so.." She finished trailing off.
"Mari, are you asking me for some kind of permission to move here? You know you don't need to do that, right?"
"I suppose not so much asking permission but just seeing if you and Kurt would be okay with it? I don't want you kids to feel as though I'm following you and stepping on your toes?"
Mercedes let out a small chuckle, she really did admire Maribel's courage and personality to bounce back from every situation. She is so caring of other people's feelings that she would sacrifice her wants to make other people happy, reminding her very much of a certain younger Latina.
"Mari, we would love to have you near. I think it would be great for all three of us."
Mercedes watched the relief flood the mother at her words.
"Then I'll start house hunting whilst I'm here. Come on, we better move. Quinn's slaving away and I can bet the boys aren't up yet."
The two of them made their way to the kitchen with grins on their faces.