Having the apartment to themselves is a blessing. Santana loves her parents, and she loves Quinn, but being alone with Brittany is amazing. They spend most of Sunday cuddled together in bed or on the couch watching movies. Monday is mostly the same, except for a visit from Sam and Mercedes. It is clear that Sam filled her in on what had happened and that she doesn't want to bring it up but is distressed about it. She brings them about a million different baked goods, and when Mercedes can't handle her feelings, she bakes.

The phone call to Rachel is tough for Brittany. She knows how much Rachel cares about her, and even before she calls, she knows that Rachel will offer to come back, or offer for her to go stay with her and her dads. Although she's grateful, Brittany really just wants the quiet comfort of laying in bed with Santana, alone, kissing gently for hours. Nothing makes her feel better, mentally or physically, than that. Of course, Rachel understands. Brittany gives her permission to explain the situation to her fathers, which results in the largest fruit and chocolate basket she has ever seen getting delivered to their door the next day.

Maribel calls every single day. Santana's brothers call too. Diego and Miguel ask a million questions about the way the police handled it, wanting to make sure nothing is missed or messed up. Gabe is just angry. He wants to help them, but it's obvious that he doesn't know how or what to do. Luis is logical. He knows Santana the best, knows what Brittany means to her, knows that witnessing the incident likely did a lot of harm to her. He suggests that they talk to someone, a professional. However, Santana doesn't like the idea, so he tells her to remember that being careful is always a good thing but that there aren't people waiting around every corner to attack them. This was an isolated event. He doesn't want her to unintentionally shut herself off from other people. Brittany is glad for Luis's advice, because she can feel Santana's trepidation when Brittany offers to answer the door, or when Brittany asks if they can go for a walk to stretch their legs.

It is almost exactly 8 AM on Tuesday when they get a call from the Police Department, saying that they arrested two men on Monday night and asking if Brittany and Santana can go to the station today to meet with a lawyer and a victims' advocate. They both agree, and as soon as they get off the phone, they call Maribel to ask her what to expect.

After getting dressed and a half attempt at eating breakfast (they are both too nervous), they head to the provided address. When they arrive, the first person they meet is a victims' advocate, Annie. She looks like she could be someone's grandma. Her only job, she says, is to help them with whatever they need—explanations of terms, someone to talk to if they get overwhelmed, someone to make sure that nobody treats them in a way they shouldn't be. Also, she informs them, she gives wonderful hugs, should the need arise. While the comment almost makes Santana roll her eyes, she's grateful, because it's the first time that Brittany's shoulders loosen a little.

Next, they talk to the lawyer, who tells them that this shouldn't be a very difficult case. They have surveillance footage, plus both of their statements, as well as Sam's. If the men plead guilty, which they probably will do in the face of such overwhelming evidence, Santana and Brittany might not even have to testify. They do, however, have to pick the men out of a lineup. When he says this, Santana feels Brittany squeeze her hand harder and tense next to her. "You just have to point them out, Britt. They can't see you. You don't have to talk to them at all." Santana tries to play it down, tries to make it seem like she herself is fine with seeing their faces again.

"What if I mess up? What if I can't remember? What if that makes them get away with it, and then they don't go to jail?" Brittany starts to panic, and Santana quickly hugs her.

"Shh Britt. That's not going to happen. If you don't remember, then you don't remember. They will still have my statement and the videos. It's going to be fine."

"Okay. When do we have to go?"

"They are ready for you now, but you can only go one at a time."

"Why don't I go first, Britt? You can get some hot chocolate with Annie, and then by the time you get back, it will be your turn. Okay?" Brittany nods, but Santana can see the pout reforming.

"We do have some pretty fancy hot chocolate in the break room, honey. Let's go get some."

Santana tries to pour every ounce of calming energy she can into her hug with Brittany before pulling apart, giving her a quick kiss, and allowing Annie to pull her out of the room. "Let's make this quick, please," she says to the lawyer.

Annie is right; the hot chocolate is fancy. There is white chocolate raspberry, mint, and dark chocolate. Brittany makes herself a white chocolate raspberry and Santana a mint hot chocolate. While they wait, she and Annie discuss their love of cats, and Annie shows her pictures of her two orange cats. Brittany loves them. She wants a cat so badly and hopes that maybe someday, even though Santana doesn't seem crazy about the idea, they can get one.

When they get back to the room, the lawyer is outside waiting for them. Surprisingly, the identification process goes by quickly. She and Annie walk to a room with a big window. There are a few other people in the room, but the lawyer and Annie just nod to them, so she doesn't ask who they are. "All they can see is a mirror, Brittany. We'll have two sets of people walk in, and you just tell me the numbers of the men who attacked you. Okay?" After Brittany nods, the first set of men walk in.

While it is scary to see him again, Brittany immediately lets out a sigh of relief, knowing that she recognizes him right away. "Number 4."

"Good. Next." All of those guys shuffle out, and the next batch shuffles in. This group includes the man that physically hurt her.

Brittany must react in some way, indicating that she is afraid, because Annie puts her arm around Brittany's shoulders. It comforts her slightly, but she wishes it were Santana. Taking a deep breath, she speaks. "Number 2." She is positive. She will never forget his face.

As soon as the lawyer lets them go and they return to the room where Santana is, the Latina jumps up and runs over to Brittany, looking like she is going to tackle hug her. At the last second, she stops herself, remembering how sore Brittany is, and gently takes her into her arms. "Are you okay?" Brittany mumbles something that sounds like "yeah" into her neck, and after a few more seconds, they pull apart. The lawyer thanks them and tells them he'll be in touch, then leaves.

"There is one more thing. Because it is in the police report that these men made homophobic comments towards you, I can't promise that it won't come up in court. Even if it doesn't, we can't control what the media says. So if I were you, and you haven't mentioned your relationship to anyone, now might be a good time to do so, for your own sake," Annie tells them.

Brittany is shifting in her seat, and Santana knows that this is the most she's done since getting hurt. She knows Brittany must be uncomfortable and wants to get her home as soon as possible. "Thank you. Can we go now?"

Annie gestures towards the door. As Brittany and Santana walk to the car, they are both quiet for a few minutes before Brittany breaks the silence. "I want to tell them."

"What?"

"I want to tell my parents."

Santana takes a minute to process that thought, then shakes her head. "I don't know, Britt. You don't really need to. They live far enough away that I don't think they're going to hear about this."

While Brittany understands Santana's hesitation, this is something she has been thinking about for some time. "No, I want to tell them. I don't want to feel like I'm hiding the most important part of my life. I'm not afraid. What's the worst that can happen? I don't even live with them anymore. As long as I'm not embarrassing them, they don't really care what I do." The car is quiet for a few seconds, but she feels Santana's hand tightening around her own.

"Fine. But if you're going, I'm coming too. I love you, Britt, and I am under no circumstances okay with you being alone with those people. If they touch you again—"

"Okay. That's okay. We can do it together. I don't want to go without you either."

When they get home, Brittany lays down on the couch, and Santana calls her mother, as promised, to let her know how things went. She puts her mom on speakerphone and sits down next to Brittany. Her mother says that everything sounds like it was pretty straightforward and handled well. Santana hesitates before telling her, "The only other thing is that Brittany wants to tell her parents about us."

"Oh...that makes me nervous," Maribel answers.

"Me too."

"At worst, they get mad...or they'll probably just continue to ignore me." Brittany tries to reason with them both. She really wants to do this. Once it's done, there will be no more Tommy or hiding or anything.

"Well, if you're decided, then you're decided. I'm buying you both plane tickets right now." Brittany wants to tell her that she doesn't have to, that it's too much. "Don't argue with me, Brittany. You can't sit in a car for that long with your injuries, and I don't want Santana driving that long with her shoulder. You can fly out early tomorrow morning, then fly back on Thursday. I will pick you up from the airport. Santana, I'll put enough money in your account for a rental car and a hotel. Do not let her go into that house alone, you hear me?" Brittany can't help but be touched by the amount of concern in Maribel's voice.

"Way ahead of you, Mami."

"If things get even the least out of hand—"

"Call the police," Santana interrupts. "I know."

"I know you know, but it's my job to worry about both of you. Call me and let me know how everything goes, okay?"

"Promise. And we'll text you when we land and everything," Brittany interjects.

After a few more warnings and a quick check to make sure they are eating the food she made (of course they are), they get off the phone. Santana packs them a bag to share, and they go to bed early so they aren't a mess for their early flight in the morning.


The next morning, Brittany is more quiet than usual, which was understandable. She's both in pain and about to do something that Santana is very nervous about, so she can't even begin to understand how Brittany feels. They get to the airport early enough and walk to their gate. "Do you want or need anything, B?"

"Maybe hot tea? Can we get that anywhere near here?"

"I saw a Starbucks. Stay here with the bags, okay?" Santana gives her a quick peck, then walks off. When Santana returns, she has Brittany's tea, exactly the way she likes it without having to ask. This makes Brittany feel just a little bit better. Soon, they're on board, waiting for takeoff. Planes make Brittany nervous, but Santana distracts her with stupid jokes until the plane starts to accelerate, and then Brittany closes her eyes and squeezes Santana's hand. "We're in the air, Britt," Santana whispers into her ear. Brittany eases her eyes open and leans her head against Santana's.

It's a short flight, so before they know it, they are descending. Brittany is too nervous to be scared. Maybe she should have called first? Her mother is rarely home. Once they're sitting in the car that Santana's mother rented for them in advance, the Latina glances sideways at Brittany, who is looking down at her knees. "You ready, Britt? We can check in first if you aren't."

Brittany shakes her head. "No, let's go. It's going to be okay."

Santana hopes so, but she would be lying if she said she is optimistic. She plugs Brittany's address into her phone and starts to follow the GPS. Honestly, she doesn't need the destination time on the GPS to know how close they are; she can tell from Brittany's body language. She hates that she can't take this stress away from her. When she recognizes the house, she pulls over and kills the engine. "Are you ready?"

"I don't even know if anybody is home."

"Do you have a key?"

"No, but I know the garage code."

When Brittany makes no move to get out of the car, Santana gets out first and walks to the passenger side. She opens the door and crouches in front of Brittany's seat. "We can turn around. It's not too late. Or we can go inside and do this. I am right next to you either way, baby. Okay?"

Brittany takes a deep breath, and Santana helps her out of the car. She wraps her arms around her before she even shuts the car door. Brittany hugs back tight, trying to draw all the comfort she can from the familiar feel of Santana's arms. "Okay. I'm ready." Brittany nods once resolutely, as if to reaffirm this to herself, and starts walking towards the house. She punches in the garage code and pulls Santana in behind her before hitting the button to shut it. Seeing both of her parents' cars, she mumbles, "They're both home." Taking another deep breath, she pushes the door open and steps in, Santana following closely behind. Every protective instinct she has ever had is on high alert right now.

"Jen?!" She hears her Mom call from the other room.

"N-no Mom. It's me," Brittany calls back. Her voice is so small that Santana doesn't know if Brittany's mother even heard her. Brittany's eyes are downcast, and she's wringing her hands. Santana hates seeing her like this. She wants to comfort Brittany, do anything to make this a little easier.

However, before she can, a stern-looking woman comes around the corner. "Hello Brittany." She turns to Santana. "And you are?"

"Santana." She thinks that, maybe at one point, Mrs. Pierce might have looked like Brittany, but she's had so much work done that is has nearly changed her appearance completely.

"Nice to meet you," she responds coldly. Santana doesn't care how she treats her; all she can focus on is how defeated Brittany looks. "Why are you here, Brittany? This is quite out of the way for you, I think." Who the hell is this woman?

"Is Dad here?"

"You should know that he is. His car in the garage. Take a minute and think before you speak, Brittany."

Brittany feels Santana tense beside her and summons all her courage. "I need to talk to both of you." They need to get this done. With any luck, her mother will be frustrated that Brittany wasted their time, and then she and Santana can leave.

Pulling out her phone, her mother calls her father to come down. Then, her mother walks to the dining room. Brittany assumes that means she and Santana are supposed to follow. They sit down, and a few minutes of dead silence later, her dad enters the room. "Brittany."

"Dad. This is Santana." He nods once in her direction.

To best honest, Santana hadn't expected this; she had at least expected fake nice. They aren't even that. The way they treat Brittany, even in her presence, makes her so angry. She can't imagine how they would act if she weren't here. Would they even agree to talk to her at all?

"Well, go on, then. We don't have all day, Brittany. You really should have called."

Brittany bows her head again. Santana is absolutely furious. She wants to grab Brittany, make out with her, flip off her parents, and leave. They don't deserve to know. They don't deserve to know her at all. "Sorry." Brittany takes a deep breath. "As you heard, I was in the hospital."

"Oh, right. Obviously, you're okay. Go on."

Brittany looks like she wants to tell her father that she isn't okay, that she has trouble sleeping because she is so sore, that deep breathing is difficult and coughing is the most painful thing ever. At least, that's what Santana knows and wants to scream at them. "Uh...yeah. Well...we were, we got attacked. By some guys." As Brittany speaks, Santana watches her parents, looking for any reaction. There's pretty much nothing; they almost look bored. "We have to go to court. They said that it might get media attention...so I w-wanted you to...to hear it from me. Santana and I are dating. We're together."

Dead silence.

Then, they both turn towards Santana, who watches Mrs. Pierce's face turn from passive annoyance to furious. When Brittany's mother opens her mouth to say something, Santana is prepared for anything to come out of that mouth.

Before anyone say anything, though, Brittany cuts her mother off. "No. You do not get to say mean things to her. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me. You can say whatever you want to me, but not to her." Santana turns to Brittany, feeling a mixture of pride and sorrow that she is standing up to them for her, but not for herself. Brittany tries not to fold under her mother's glare.

"Get out. Now. We will no longer be financially supporting you. Leave, Brittany. We never want to speak to you again."