Brittany is in full-on panic mode. She shakes Santana's shoulders, hard, and the Latina mumbles something incoherently in response. Encouraged, she keeps at it, and the more she tries to keep Santana awake and talking, the more coherent she becomes. Brittany starts to hear things that make sense, like that Santana feels cold and tired. While this certainly isn't good news, it's enough to snap Brittany out of blind panic and into action. Jumping out of bed, she runs over to the desk and grabs Santana's wallet and keys. Then, she throws on the first clothes her hands touch and a pair of flip-flops before dressing Santana in basketball shorts and a tank top. She wipes the hair off of her sweaty forehead before kissing it. "I'll be right back, baby."

She runs outside, starts Santana's car, and leaves the passenger door open before sprinting back inside and picking Santana up bridal style, blanket and all, and walking outside with her. Santana curls slightly into her body, which only makes it harder to put her down, because all she really wants to do is comfort her right now. However, Brittany knows she needs to get her to a doctor as soon as possible.

While driving to the hospital, she can't stop herself from feeling like the worst girlfriend ever for not making Santana do something sooner. They should have gone to the doctor two weeks ago. She tries to push the thoughts out of her mind. When they arrive, Brittany pulls into emergency parking. She's not sure if she's allowed, but whatever, this feels like an emergency. After getting out of the car, she once again collects Santana into her arms and pulls her out of the car, trying to make sure she doesn't hit her head on anything. It is much more difficult than putting her into the car.

As soon as the nurses notice that she is carrying an unconscious Santana, someone comes to help her right away. They take Santana from her and into a room. While she takes Santana's vitals, the nurse asks Brittany a lot of questions, and the guilt about letting Santana be this sick for so long comes back in full force. Her temperature is 106 degrees, which is dangerously high. The doctor immediately orders that she be hooked up to an IV, and other nurses start placing ice packs around her and on top of her.

After a few minutes, Santana starts shaking, but the nurse tells Brittany that it is okay. It doesn't look okay. At that moment, Brittany is unable to hold back her tears anymore. Seeing Santana look so small, shaking in that bed, and being unable to hold or comfort her is torture.

Slowly, Santana starts to come back around. "I don't like this, Britt" is the first full sentence she says. Brittany immediately calls the nurse, needing someone to come fix whatever it is that Santana doesn't like. The doctor is happy with how much they've lowered her temperature, so they remove the ice packs. That helps Santana's discomfort a little, but she is still miserable.

After getting the results of her blood test, the doctor comes back in and tells them that he would like to have an x-ray done to check for pneumonia, because the blood tests aren't showing anything specific. Santana agrees, but as soon as they start to wheel her away, and she realizes that Brittany can't come with her, she starts to get upset. "Shhh, baby. I'll be right here when you're done. They'll bring you right back to me," Brittany coos into her messy dark hair. "I love you. I promise, I'll see you in a few minutes." Santana nods, trying to hold back more tears as they take her away.

It really does only take a few minutes, but when they see each other again, it's like it has been weeks. Brittany can't explain it, but she needs to be with Santana, needs to have her in her sight at all times to make sure she's okay. After about half an hour of Santana laying on her side, holding Brittany's hand to her chest and falling in and out of sleep, the doctor returns. "Okay, girls. It's a pretty obvious case of pneumonia. Thankfully, you are young and otherwise healthy, so with some medicine and rest, you're going to be just fine. I'm going to prescribe you some antibiotics, as well as two different inhalers and a cough suppressant. Take everything exactly how it tells you to on the package, except for the suppressant. That you can just take as needed. Understood? I'll have a nurse come in and work on getting you discharged, and she can also answer any other questions you ladies might have. Feel better, Santana."

When the nurse comes in, Brittany is ready with all of her questions. "How can I help her sleep more easily?"

"If she's calm and not coughing, she shouldn't have too hard of a time sleeping. Now that her fever has broken, the symptoms might keep her up a little more, but the medicine should help. If the coughing proves to be a problem, have her sleep sitting up a little."

"Okay. How long is it going to take her to get better?"

"She should start feeling better pretty soon. The medicine works fast. Still, she probably won't be completely over it for another two weeks, maybe more. If it's more, we're going to want you to come back."

"Are there any other reasons we should come back? Like any signs I should look out for?"

"If her temperature goes back up, give us a call. Other than that, unless she's feeling a lot worse, I think it's going to be okay."

"I need to get a thermometer," Brittany mumbles to herself.

"I've got one you can have." The nurse can tell how anxious Brittany is and finds it kind of cute.

"Really? Thank you so much!"

"Is it contagious?" They both hear Santana mumble from the bed. Brittany thought she was sleeping.

"No, honey," the nurse answers. "Some kinds are, but if you two have been together since you started getting sick, and you've been around others, it's safe to say you're probably not contagious." After nodding a few times, Santana closes her eyes and leans her head back. "Don't fall asleep, Santana. I need you to sign this, and then we're going to get you out of here."

Opening her eyes again, Santana struggles to pull herself up. Brittany rushes over and helps pull her into a sitting position. As soon as Santana finishes signing the papers, she slumps into Brittany, who holds her upright sitting on the bed. Soon, Santana is sitting in a wheelchair, despite her protests, and they wheel her out the door to the car.

On the way home, Santana is fast asleep within a few seconds. The hospital gave them enough medicine to last until morning, when Brittany will go pick up her prescriptions. Parking the car as close to the apartment as possible, Brittany opens the passenger door, prepared to carry Santana in again. However, as soon as she slips her arm under Santana's leg, the Latina wakes up. "I can walk, B," she mumbles sleepily. Although Brittany tries to argue, Santana insists, then very slowly climbs out of the car, Brittany supporting most of her weight. After a very slow trip inside, they get into bed, Brittany holding Santana in her arms.

As Santana falls asleep again, Brittany holds her tight, trying to will her own brain to shut off. It's impossible. Even with Santana's warm and breathing body pressed against hers, she can't stop her mind from running at all of the horrible ways tonight could have ended. After an hour and a half of laying there, Brittany hears the birds starting to chirp, signaling that it is officially morning. She knows that there is no way she will fall asleep. At least, if she gets out of bed and tries to be productive, then maybe she'll be able to stop thinking for a little bit.

Santana is sleeping heavily, so maneuvering their tangled limbs apart isn't terribly difficult. After kissing Santana's forehead, lingering to gauge the temperature there, Brittany pads into the kitchen. She knows that there is one thing she definitely needs to do, but does not want to, so instead, she cleans the kitchen, living room, and bathroom, and does a load of laundry that includes all of Santana's favorite pajamas (which happen to consist primarily of Brittany's clothes). Every few minutes, she checks on Santana to make sure she is still okay. Once she has finished all of her options to procrastinate, she grabs her phone. Taking a deep breath, she calls a number.

"Brittany!"

"Maribel, hey." She tries to sound as enthusiastic as possible.

"How are my girls?"

"We're, uh...you know. How's vacation?" She can tell by the two seconds of dead silence that follow that her attempts at making this conversation casual are futile.

"Brittany, what's wrong?" Maribel's voice is instantly more serious. "Are you okay? Is Santana okay? Brittany?"

"We're okay," Brittany answers quickly before Maribel can full-on panic. "Santana is just...she's sick."

"Sick with what?" The panic is definitely not out of her voice. "Like the cold she's had?"

"Yeah, but it got worse. Um, last night, she had a really high fever, so I took her to the emergency room, and they said she has pneumonia."

"Pneumonia?!"

"She's...yeah. They gave her medicine and sent her home. I'm going to go pick up her prescriptions soon."

"We'll get the next flight home. Immediately." Brittany can now hear Antonio in the background getting steadily more upset.

"No, no, it's fine. If you leave your vacation, she'll be really upset. It's okay, really. Other than when I'm getting things for her, I can be here 24/7. I already texted someone to cover my dance classes this weekend."

"Antonio wants to speak to you," Maribel answers a little shakily.

A few seconds later, she hears Antonio's voice. "Brittany, tell me everything the doctor said."

She recounts every single detail to him from the time they stepped into the hospital. He seems satisfied with the diagnosis and what they prescribed to Santana to make her feel better. "I'm really sorry to call and ruin your vacation," Brittany says quietly. She knew that would likely happen; they are both very protective parents.

"No, dear, we're glad you called. I trust you and the doctor. We'll stay where we are, but if she gets worse, you need to call me. As soon as she is up and awake, I want her to give us a call, okay? We'll keep checking on the both of you."

Although they can't see her, Brittany nods vigorously. "Absolutely."

"Okay. Go take care of her, Brittany. Thank you for calling. We'll talk soon."

After hanging up the phone, Brittany breathes a sigh of relief. She notices the time and remembers that Santana needs her next round of medicine in less than an hour, so she calls the prescription into the pharmacy and returns to the bedroom. Once dressed, she walks over to the bed and kneels down, kissing Santana's head before shaking her lightly. "Mmmm," Santana protests.

"You don't have to get up, S. I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to get your medicine. I'll be back soon. Okay?"

"Don't go," Santana whines.

"I have to, baby. You need the medicine. Go back to sleep. I'll be back before you even know it."

Santana shakes her head in a vague way that could mean either yes or no, but Brittany can't tell. It doesn't matter. Either way, she has to get the medicine. She presses her lips to Santana's cheek, then leaves. While waiting for the medicine, she quickly stops at the grocery store across the street to buy anything and everything Santana might want over the next few days. Brittany has no intentions of leaving her side again, not until she is healthy. With the groceries and medicine in hand, Brittany drives home as fast as she legally (or maybe a little illegally) can.

When she gets back, she doesn't even put the groceries away before running into the bedroom to check on Santana, who is still asleep in the same position. Now, however, she looks a little flushed. Brittany gently puts her hand on Santana's cheek, which is definitely warm. She grabs the thermometer they gave her at the hospital, then gently shakes Santana. "San, sweetie, wake up. I need to take your temperature."

After a few seconds, Santana stirs and looks up at Brittany with watery eyes. "Why?" she pouts.

"You feel a little warm, and the doctor told me to monitor your temperature. Just open your mouth a little. That's all you have to do." After sliding the thermometer under Santana's tongue, Brittany gently presses her chin to close her mouth. While waiting, she strokes her fingers over Santana's exhausted features, hoping to soothe her in some way. When the thermometer beeps, she reads that Santana's temperature is 102. She's running a fever again, though not as high as earlier, thank goodness. "I'm going to go wash this off. Do you want anything? You should try to drink some of the water I have here." Santana lifts her arm to grab the bottle of water, but she is weak and can't quite reach it. "Let me get it for you," Brittany whispers. Taking the water bottle, she holds the straw up to Santana's dry lips. Santana takes a few sips before the exertion of keeping her head up gets to be too much. "Good job, baby. I'm going to go wash this and put away the groceries."

"Do I have to go back to the doctor?" Santana mumbles.

"I'm just going to call and see what they say, okay?" Brittany takes the thermometer and her phone into the kitchen, where the first thing she does is dial the number she programmed into her phone last night. "Hello. I need to speak to Dr. Jameson, please."

"He actually left a few hours ago. Can I direct you to another doctor?"

Frustrated, Brittany rolls her eyes. "I guess so?" While on hold, she disinfects the thermometer and puts the groceries away.

Luckily, she doesn't have to wait too long. "Hello, this is Dr. Lutzer. How can I help you?"

"Hi, my name is Brittany. I brought my girlfriend to the emergency room last night." She tells him the entire story, then ends with Santana's most recent temperature reading.

"Have you given her another dose of medicine?"

"She's not due for another half hour."

"Go ahead and give it to her now. If the fever doesn't fade pretty quick, make her take a lukewarm bath. Make sure the water is pretty low though, and if in two hours the fever persists, bring her back in, okay? Some people burn through medicine faster than others, so that might solve the problem very quickly."

After thanking him and hanging up, Brittany gathers everything she needs and heads back into Santana's room. In just the few short minutes it took her to call the doctor, Santana already fell back asleep. Brittany hates that she has to keep waking her, but the alternative is scary. Once she gently wakes Santana again, she helps her sit up just a little bit. "What did he say?" Santana's voice is so weak.

"Medicine now, and then a cool bath if that doesn't work. He said to bring you in if nothing happens in two hours, but he thinks the medicine should fix it."

"Hope so. I don't want to go back."

"Me neither, baby. Swallow these." She holds the pills up to Santana's lips and follows quickly with the water. Following the instructions on the packaging, she shakes the inhaler before holdng it up to Santana's mouth. "Here you go, love. As deep of a breath as you can manage, okay? On three."

Santana takes both of her inhalers before settling back down on the bed. "I wish I could take a bath though. I feel so gross."

"You can if you want. I washed all your favorite boxers and pajama pants." Brittany runs her fingers through Santana's limp hair.

"Can't, B. I can barely stand. I couldn't even reach the water bottle." Santana starts to tear up.

It's no secret to Brittany that Santana gets like this when sick or scared. She can't blame her. "I'll carry you."

"You will?"

"Anywhere you want to go." She sees Santana crack a tiny smile. "Let me go run the water first, though." She runs into the bathroom and, remembering the doctor's recommendation, keeps the water at a low height. Returning to the bedroom, she helps Santana sit up, then pulls her t-shirt off over her head and her boxers down her tiny legs. It breaks Brittany's heart how the simple task of someone else undressing her makes Santana look even more tired and pale. She picks up the Latina, carries her to the bathroom, and slowly lowers her into the tub, her muscles straining.

"S'cold."

"I know, baby. The doctor said it's good for you." Brittany waits for a moment, but it seems that Santana is asleep again. Grabbing the washcloth and lathering it with Santana's favorite body wash, Brittany cleans every visible inch as gently as she can, starting with Santana's neck. Then, she cleans her breasts and her sides before moving up and getting both of her arms.

As she lifts one arm to wash her armpit, Santana wakes up slightly. "Thanks, Britt." The blonde finishes cleaning and rinsing her armpits before moving down to her feet and up both legs. The only reachable spot left is Santana's penis and the surrounding area. Without even thinking about it, she gently lifts and washes it with the utmost care. Santana jerks awake. "You don't have t'do that," she mumbles, weakly raising her arm.

"Why? You're sick, and I want to take care of you. This is part of that." After a pause, Brittany adds as an afterthought, "Is it weird for you?"

Santana shakes her head back and forth. "Not really. Feels good to be taken care of. Feels good to be clean. S'long as it's not weird for you."

"It's not at all. This isn't a sexual situation. Let me take care of you, San."

Santana nods, and Brittany continues her reverent washing of her girlfriend's body before washing and rinsing her hair. After drying Santana off, carrying her back into the bedroom, and brushing her hair, she asks, "Feel any better?"

"A little." Her voice definitely sounds a little stronger.

"How about I make you some soup, and if you're feeling up to it, we can sit on the couch? I want to wash your bedding, and you need to eat and get some more fluids down." With a weak smile, Santana agrees, and Brittany helps move her to the couch.

That's how Santana spends the majority of the next few days, shuffling back and forth between the bed and the couch. Maribel, of course, makes good on her promise to call and check on them several times a day.

Brittany silently cheers and knows Santana is starting to feel better when she asks if Brittany will go lay out by the pool with her. Knowing that Santana hasn't seen sunlight in several days and desperately needs sunshine, Brittany immediately agrees. They grab their things and head out to get some much-needed vitamin D.