Time Will Tell

Chapter 19 - The Picture

Santana's POV

"Hey B?" I mindlessly spoke.

We were sitting in her room just relaxing when she got up to use the bathroom. On her way back to me, she stopped and looked at the picture of her on the man's shoulders that she had sitting on her desk.

I often find her looking over at pictures of him, especially as of late.

"Yeah babe?" She looked over at me from her spot in front of the desk.

I was sitting against the foot of her bed but got up, walking over to her.

"You don't have to answer, but I've been wondering about something..." I stood nervously, a couple steps away from her, hands behind me. I'm sure she wouldn't be upset or anything at me for asking but who knows?

"What's wrong?" She asked concerned at seeing my sudden timidness.

"Nothing, I was just curious to know... is that your father?" I pointed to the picture of them.

She let out a sigh, looked back at the picture with a hint of sadness and pulled the rolling chair back from under the desk to sit down.

"Nevermind, I shouldn't have asked. We haven't been dating all that long and yeah you're my best friend but Quinn is yours and maybe she-"

"Calm down." She moved over to me and pulled my arms from behind me, effectively resulting in her holding my hands.

She looked up at me from her seat and just stared, caressing the backs of my hands.

"Yes that is my dad and yes I miss him like crazy no matter how long it's been."

She pulled me down so I was sitting on her legs and her arms were around my waist, I took the opportunity to hug her. I kissed her forehead and just held her against me for a moment.

She pulled her head back a little and looked up at me. "I never want you to feel like you can't talk to or ask me about something. We've been dating for almost two months now, which may not be long to some people but it's long to me and yes Quinn is my best friend but you're mine too. So don't try to use either of those as an excuse again."

"Can I ask what happened?"

"He was a firefighter..." she went back to resting her head against my chest as she spoke.

Oh damn

"This was almost 8 years ago, he was at work and it was early Monday morning, maybe around 4am. I remember I had a bad dream so I went to find my mom and when I made it to her room"

*Flashback*

"No no no no no no no no, you're lying, he's okay, Brett's okay" She whimpered.

"I sat outside the door at hearing my dad's name, trying to listen."

"Just...stop, wait a minute... I-I need a minute I- oh god I can't do this without him. We have a daughter how- how did this happen?"

"I could hear her sobbing but quietly, I assume as to not wake me up, not realizing I wasn't asleep. What happened to my dad didn't click yet, so I sat there listening, hoping someone would tell me."

"Okay, okay okay..."

She drew in a steadying breath before continuing.

"Okay... thank you. Yeah. Yes, okay. Bye."

"After that I remember sitting there.. waiting to see if something else came but no. Just her muffled crying. So I went back to my room. After what felt like a little bit I heard my mom walk into my room, I tried my best to fake sleep when she sat next to me."