Brittany was back in full force the following week, desperate to hear about what Lucy and Santana got up to and what she'd missed.
Lucy explained that she'd not missed much and that they'd just talked, however was vague on the details as she felt special that Santana had trusted her with this new information.
As they reached Santana on the sunniest of Saturday mornings, Brittany had a question that had been stirring inside of her since the beginning of the week, since her and her mother had been out buying new supplies for school.
"Hey San, it's the last week of summer. What school are you going to?"
Santana's face dropped and she had an uneasy look as she glanced at Lucy, who as the conversation had been brought up, was actually quite interested herself.
"Well as we move around quite a lot, Miss Tina, she homeschools me because we never know when we're going to move again." She blushes and nervously looks down to the ground and scuffs the tip of her shoe across the floor.
She's shocked when she feels a hand gently grab her own but is even more astounded when she looks up to find it isn't the bubbly taller blonde that reached out.
Lucy had an unreadable expression on her face but Santana's suspicions are confirmed when the question is spoken aloud, "You aren't moving again soon though, right?"
Disappointment and sadness, that's what she reads from them mesmerising hazel eyes.
The only response she can come up with is a quick shrug of her shoulders.
Brittany seems satisfied with this response and takes herself off to play on the climbing frame. Santana turns to follow but is surprised when she realises Lucy still had a hold of her hand and has tugged her back slightly so they're face to face.
"It's okay Santana. I understand. You don't need to be sad about it. I'm sure you won't be moving soon if your mom has a job at the hospital now." She finishes with a bright smile.
If only she knew what I heard a few nights ago.
Whilst watching Brittany attempt the monkey bars, Santana turns to Lucy, "Luce, I just noticed that you're the only one who calls me by my full name. Britt and Miss Tina, they call me San, you can call me that too if you wanted to, you know?"
Lucy seems to ponder her thoughts a second before replying with, "How about Tana?"
The brunette breaks into a wide smile, "Tana? I like it. I'll be your Tana."
My Tana, I like that too.
Its now a couple of weeks into the new school year and Lucy is having issues with the bullies. She can't keep them away but at the moment they only seem to be calling her names, fat, ugly, chubby. Any name you can think of that a 7 year old would know in regards to someone's weight, she's been named it.
The highlight of her week is always her Saturday mornings. She gets to spend them with her two best friends in a place where she feels protected. She always feels safe when Santana is around.
But unfortunately, we all know that good things must come to an end.
As Lucy and Judy leave the house, the sky turns a dark grey and it looks as though rain is coming. If Lucy only knew that that was going to be the least of her problems today.
They arrive at the gates and Brittany and Whitney are standing there in their bright yellow rain coats and wellies, ready for any potential downpour. Brittany chats to Lucy happily on their way to the sandbox but the shorter blonde has an off feeling in her stomach and when she sees the look on the Latina's face when they approach her, she suddenly understands why.
Brittany isn't always the best at reading situations and jumps on Santana to give her a hug and is mindlessly chattering about something that happened at school this week. It isn't until she pulls away and notices the tear tracks on both girls faces that she realises somethings wrong.
Lucy hasn't realised that she's crying until Santana steps forward to wipe her cheeks, she knows what's coming.
"You're leaving aren't you?" Lucy mumbles as she tries to regain composure.
All Santana can do at this point is nod, her heart breaking. She looks up into hazel eyes, the eyes that she's grown to love and sees the scared little girl from that first day she met. Lucy has come out of her shell so much since that first day and now she's destroying it all. Well no. Her father is destroying it all by having them move. Again.
As the rain begins to fall, she pulls both girls towards their hiding spot to shelter from the rain. Santana finally looks up to Brittany and sees the confusion still swirling around her face.
"Britt, my dad, he's in the army. They sometimes move us around on the bases so that when he comes home, we can be close to him. He's coming home but we have to move to Dallas. I'm not going to be around here any more."
The tears start to gather in the blondes eyes and she looks over at Lucy, who hasn't stopped the tears since she set eyes on the brunettes face.
She pulls Santana into another hug and can only mumble out a "I'm going to miss you."
"I'll miss you too Britt."
Santana pulls away from the hug just in time to catch Lucy who falls to the floor. Lucy clings around Santana's neck and she tightens her hold around her waist and Lucy begins to mumble into her neck. "You can't go, you're my Tana. I need you here, who's going to protect me if you aren't here? You're my Tana."
Santana is finding it hard to control her sobs as the other girl breaks down in her arms. She looks up into frightened blue eyes and sees Brittany silently crying. She nods her head as an invitation for her to join them and Brittany does. She wraps her arms around Lucy's back and holds her tight.
Santana isn't sure how long they've sat there but begins to pull away as she's noticed Lucy's cries have subsided. She wipes her eyes and says "I have something for both of you."
She pulls three matching bracelets from her pocket and holds them out in the palm of her hand. "It's a friendship bracelet. As long as you're wearing this, I'll always be with you."
Lucy begins to cry and and Santana wipes her cheeks with her thumb.
"H-how long u-un-til you ha-ve to g-go?" She manages to stutter out.
"We leave tomorrow, so this is the last time I'll see you." She doesn't look up from the floor as she can't bare the thought of looking into either girls eyes.
She feels two bracelets disappear from her palm and briefly looks up to see Brittany put one on herself and then wrestle one onto Lucy's shaking hand. She puts the last one on her own wrist and smiles gloomily at the three matching bracelets, two on her new best friends.
The rain is hammering onto the structure now and suddenly they hear Brittany's mom calling for her. She hugs Santana one last time, with no more words to say. As she pulls away, she kisses her cheek, gives her one last half smile before going to find her mom.
When Santana looks back over towards Lucy, she sees that silent tears are still running down her cheeks and takes the forefinger and her thumb and slowly lifts her head from her staring contest with the ground.
"I have one more special gift for you."
Santana reaches into her pocket and pulls out a necklace with a small pendant in the shape of a heart dangling.
She lays the pendant in the palm of her hand and Lucy takes a closer inspection, engraved are the initials 'S' and 'L'.
Lucy looks up through tear filled eyes and Santana sees her bottom lip begin to wobble again. Before she can lose all composure she says "Turn it over."
Lucy delicately turns the pendant to find the words "I'll always protect you" written on the other side. Santana shuffles around Lucy's back to be able to secure the necklace to her neck and as she claps it, Lucy jumps on her at full force, wrapping her arms tightly around her own neck and her legs around her waist as Santana makes herself comfortable on the floor.
"I'll never take it off Tana, I swear. Thank you. I'll never take it off."
As if out of nowhere, Judy ducks her head beneath the shelter, to find her daughter sobbing into the shoulder of her new friend.
"Lucy, it's time to go. We need to get out of this rain now."
"No, no, we can't go! My Tana, my Tana." She sobs over and over into the Latina's shoulder.
Judy gives Santana a pitiful look and she nods back. Judy then removed Lucy from Santana's lap and let's her give one last hug, the finals words from Lucy being "I'll miss you so much my Tana."
To which Santana can only reply "I know, I'll miss you too. But I'll always be with you now."
And just like that, Judy picks Lucy up and Santana watches as she tries to fight her way back. Soon they're gone and she's left to find Miss Tina and go home so she can start her new life in Dallas.