A/N: TW homophobic slurs, physical violence
*tortillera is Spanish for dyke.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Chapter 71
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Daniel's POV
"Santana, this is your father! Open this door right now!"
Mike and Daniel made their way up the stairs, talking "baseball". When they were about halfway up, Daniel paused.
"Can I help you?"
The swarthy looking man who was pounding on Santana's door paused.
"Not unless you can unlock this door and let me in," he snapped, "my daughter is inside and she is unwell. I've come to take her home and get her the help she needs." His English was accented, something Daniel hadn't expected.
"Who's your daughter?" Daniel feigned ignorance.
"Santana Lopez."
Daniel turned to Mike. "Santana doesn't have a father, right? I mean, not that she's ever mentioned?"
Mike frowned. "I remember her saying something about a sperm donor and a … son-of-THE-bitch? I think?"
Daniel wanted to grin; Mike picked up the game immediately. Daniel kept watch out of the corner of his eye; Julio was becoming angry.
"Oh, you know what? I remember … my favorite is 'spawn of the she-devil'. How does she say it in Spanish?" He thought about it for a moment before speaking. "Engendro de la diablesa?" He knew his pronunciation was atrocious, but that wasn't really the point.
"I am Dr. Julio Lopez," the man spat out, "and I am Santana's father. As I said, she is unwell and I'm here to take her home and get her help." There was a vein throbbing in his forehead and his eyes were dark with anger.
Daniel shrugged. "I saw her less than an hour ago. Seemed fine to me."
Julio's eyes narrowed. "You were here earlier? Are you her boyfriend?"
Mike snorted and Daniel barked a laugh. "Are you an idiot?"
The man rose to his full height, which was still several inches shorter than both Daniel and Mike. Daniel also couldn't help but notice that the man wasn't exactly fit; he had a slight paunch starting to strain the buttons on his obviously expensive shirt.
"I am a doctor!"
"Doesn't actually answer my question. No, I'm not her boyfriend. She does have a really sweet girlfriend, though." He glanced at Mike, who nodded in agreement. He turned back to the Hispanic man. "Santana is gay. As her father, I'd think you'd know that."
"MY DAUGHTER IS NOT A TORTILLERA!" Julio roared as his face became suffused with rage and he took a swing at Daniel.
Daniel had been expecting it, however, and blocked it easily, capturing the man's wrist and twisting his arm behind his back, arm extended. He pushed the man's face against the wall across from the door, making sure to scrape it against the exposed brick.
He leaned in and growled quietly into the man's ear. "You're a doctor so you know that it wouldn't take much force to dislocate your shoulder or elbow in this position. I would love to just throw you down the back stairs, beat you unconscious, and throw your body in the dumpster but I'll take trashing your arm as a consolation prize." He added a little pressure to the arm, eliciting a yelp from the good doctor.
Daniel held him there for a moment before pushing him violently, then letting him go. "Behave yourself." He ground out.
The man spun and shot daggers at Daniel; for his part, Daniel maintained his composure as best he could, but he was ready to intervene if the man tried something else.
He shot a quick glance to the side as the three women started up the stairs.
"Daniel, are you okay?" Quinn's voiced sounded worried.
"I'm fine honey. The good doctor and I had a bit of a disagreement."
Julio snarled. "You!"
"Hello, Julio." Quinn replied coolly.
"That's Dr. Lopez to you," he sneered.
"Pfft. As if." Quinn rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Daniel. "Lily called the police, they're on their way."
Daniel nodded, still keeping watch over Julio.
"Yeah, I'm outside the door, baby." He heard Brittany's soft voice.
A moment later, the door opened and Brittany slipped her phone into her back pocket as Santana melted into her arms.
"Santana!"
Santana ignored him and simply let Brittany hold her.
"Let go of her you filthy whore! Santana, get away from that fucking dyke! We are …"
Before Daniel could react, Santana flew out of Brittany's arms and struck Julio in the throat with the webbing between her thumb and forefinger; as he gasped for air, she punched him square in the face. Daniel was sure, by the fact that it was lying flat against his face, that she'd broken his nose.
"You don't talk about her like that! You don't talk about her at all! Don't talk to her either!"
"I AM YOUR FATHER! You will obey me and get away from that carpet-munching bitch! We are going HOME and you will marry the nice boy I have chosen for you!" Julio roared at Santana, blood spraying from his lips as it dripped from his nose.
Daniel watched as Santana started to shake at the words 'nice boy'; he started to step forward when Brittany wrapped her arms around the Latina from behind. Quinn stepped into her line of vision, effectively blocking her from Julio.
"I'm here. I've got you. You're safe. He can't hurt you anymore, baby." Brittany spoke so softly into Santana's ear that Daniel almost didn't hear it. The small brunette relaxed into the embrace. She nodded at Quinn, who moved aside.
"You're nothing to me. You've been nothing to me for three years. This is my home.Just because you're a pathetic excuse for a man who lets his mommy dictate his life doesn't mean you can dictate mine. I'm almost twenty. I'm an adult and you have no say in my life. Go back to Lima and tell the she-devil you failed. Oh, wait," she paused as two uniformed officers walked up the stairs, "you can't go back to Lima. You're about to become a guest of the State of New York." Santana's voice dripped venom.
"Officer Barron? I didn't know you worked nights." Santana seemed surprised.
"Yeah. Guy's wife had a baby so he's on paternity leave, we're all taking turns on night-shift. So, you two again, huh?" He shook his head. "You can't seem to catch a break." He glanced over at Dr. Lopez.
"Who are we here to arrest? The guy that's beat up or the guy that beat him up?"
"Officer! I demand you arrest that boy! Santana, if you agree to come home, I will drop the charges against him and won't press charges against you." Julio's eyes gleamed in malicious victory.
Santana grinned sheepishly. "Actually, I'm the 'guy' that beat him up. You're here for him." She glared at Julio. "The Ring will show that Daniel acted in self-defense. I didn't and if he wants to press charges," she shrugged, "I'll take jail over going back to Lima with him."
Officer Barron frowned. "Who is he?"
"Oh, sorry, Officer Barron, meet Dr. Julio Lopez. The man who impregnated my mother."
Julio snarled at that description. "You will show me respect!"
Santana just shook her head and leaned back into Brittany.
Officer Barron grinned and pulled out his handcuffs as he approached Dr. Lopez. He cuffed one wrist then twisted his arm behind his back and cuffed the other one as he read Julio his Miranda Rights.
"This is an outrage! I was attacked! Why am I being shackled? Those two did this to me!"
Officer Barron handed Julio off to his partner. "Officer Carmody, Dr. Lopez is wanted for conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Please take him to the car while I get some preliminary witness statements."
Carmody nodded and grabbed Julio by the elbow, trying to carefully maneuver him down the stairs. Julio jerked his arm away and both he and the young officer lost their footing. Fortunately, Carmody was able to re-catch her balance; she tried to reach for Julio but wasn't able to catch him. Everyone watched as Julio Lopez tumbled down the stairs, stopping only when he hit the concrete bottom.
Carmody hurried down the stairs, calling for an ambulance.
Xoxoxoxoxoxo
Santana's POV
Santana watched in fascination as Julio fell down the stairs. She could hear him groaning, could see the blood, but felt oddly disconnected; she honestly didn't care what happened to him.
"Sir, I'm sorry," she heard Carmody talking to Barron as he hurried down the stairs, "I …"
He placed a reassuring hand on the young officer's shoulder. "It wasn't your fault. The suspect tried to resist, or flee, not sure what his plan was." He glanced back up the stairs. "You said you have a Ring?"
Quinn nodded. "Yes, we do. We'll have it all captured."
"The video will bear out that you did nothing wrong. Don't worry about it, Pam."
"Thanks, Gregg."
"Why don't you all go get comfortable, I'll be up as soon as the ambulance gets here and takes him to the hospital."
The group didn't need to be told twice as they filtered into the apartment and into the living room.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Quinn's POV
They were sitting in the living room, waiting for Officer Barron to come take their statements.
"Mike, Lily … why don't you guys stay here tonight? The couch is pretty comfortable; Brittany and Santana sleep on it all the time. We're probably going to have to go down to the police station tomorrow."
Mike glanced and Lily and she nodded.
"Thanks, Quinn, it's kind of late and it's been kind of a long night."
Quinn nodded and got up, leaving the living room. She returned a few moments later with a bed sheet. "You guys can put this on the couch, the blanket on the back of it is pretty warm but, if you need another one, the top of the coffee table lifts up and out on hinges," she demonstrated it for them, showing them that there were more blankets stored inside of it.
Santana was curled up in Brittany's lap; she looked exhausted. Quinn could only imagine what this night had cost her.
A siren wailed and red, blue, and white light circled the room.
Santana let out a sight. "Thank you all again. I could never have faced him alone."
Brittany kissed the top of her head as the others expressed "no problem" and "you're welcome".
The was a knock on the door and Daniel let Officer Barron in.
"Hey, folks, gonna make this quick tonight; you'll just have to come down tomorrow and make full statements. Can I get all your names and how you know the suspect, please?"
"Daniel Lockhardt. I don't know him. I'm Quinn's boyfriend."
"Quinn Fabray. I'm Santana's best friend. I've known Julio Lopez since I was six or seven."
"Mike Chang. I don't know him. Just a friend who wanted to help out."
"Lily Ashcroft. Same here."
The officer nodded as he jotted down their names and relationships.
"Santana … I know he's your father."
"Barely." She snorted.
He tried to stifle a grin.
"Brittany?"
"Saw him for the first time tonight. I just know he's the guy who contributed DNA to my amazing girlfriend."
Santana giggled. "That's a nice way to put it."
The officer shook his head and got brief statements about what happened earlier. He had Quinn e-mail the video footage to the department.
"Okay, this is enough for now. Get some rest; just stop by sometime early tomorrow and talk to Detective Peterman, he's the one in charge of the kidnapping investigation."
They all nodded and Quinn showed Officer Barron to the door.
"Okay, I think I'm gonna put Santana to bed." Brittany used her powerful dancer's legs to stand up, holding the sleeping beauty bridal style. Santana murmured but didn't wake up. "Thanks you guys. Really."
They smiled as Britt made her way into the bedroom, closing the door with her foot.
Quinn made sure Lily and Mike had everything they needed before going to her own room with Daniel.
"Hey, babe?" Daniel was hesitant to open this conversation but he didn't think he was going to get much sleep anyway.
"Yeah?" Quinn changed into her pajamas and slipped into bed next to him.
"I know about the conversion camp … but there's more, isn't there? They really did a number on her."
Quinn sighed. "Yeah. All because she's not a boy." She turned in his arms so she could meet his gaze. "Not even sure where to start …"
They spent the rest of the night talking, Quinn filling Daniel in on the hellscape that was Santana's life.
