My light in my dark world (Brittana)

Chapter 20

...broken her wrist, chipped a bone in her spine and split her lip. She has sustained internal and external bruising to her ribs and has had some stitches to a cut on her eyebrow. She's very lucky to be conscious and that she will have no long term damage aside from the arm fracture" informed the nurse to Finn. "I'll let you know when you can see her. She's on IV fluids right now to flush out the alcohol and re hydrate her".

Finn tried to compute what he was hearing. "Thank you" he said through a shaky breath. The nurse rested her hand on his shoulder, sympathetically smiled and walked back into Santana's room. A couple hours later, he was finally allowed in to see her.

Santana looked up at him as he walked in the door. Her facial expressions were blank, and so were her eyes. There was just nothing there, it felt like she was just a shell. Finn sat down next to her bed and held her hand, trying to be careful of all the wires sticking out of her. "I'm so sorry" he cried with his head down. Santana hardly had an ounce of energy but managed to slowly talk. "Don't be" she whispered. "I'm ok".

After an hour or two, her pain medication started to kick in and the alcohol was beginning to leave her system. "Have they found her?" Santana asked. "Dani, I mean. Have they got her?". Finn looked up. "I'm not sure, San. But they're working on it. They know where she works, lives and what she looks like. She isn't getting away with this" reassured Finn. "Britt and Quinn are on their way" he said.

Santana darted her eyes to Finn's. "Britt can't see me like this. Not again. I can't keep putting her through this" she whimpered as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Santana. She has waited 5 years for you, she was with you all the way through when this happened last time and she will be this time. I genuinely don't think there is anything you can do that'll put her off. She's so in love with you" said Finn. "Thank you for being here. I wouldn't want to be here alone" said Santana as she stroked her thumb over Finn's hand. "Through thick and Finn" he said, purposely trying to make her laugh, which it did. Santana soon drifted off to sleep as the morphine kicked in, so Finn laid down on the guest couch and fell asleep too.

- 3 hours later -

Finn woke up to the sound of Santana vomiting. He bolted up and ushered the bucket under her chin, trying to help. "It's okay, you're okay" he said, holding her hair and stroking her back. "God this is embarrassing. It's the whole alcohol withdrawal thing. It never agreed with me, hence why I never withdrew from it" she said. "It's not embarrassing. You'll get there, you just need time. I'm not going anywhere" reassured Finn. Santana soon fell back asleep as Finn sat by her side, refusing to take his eyes off of her for even a second.

An hour later, Quinn and Brittany finally arrived. Quinn bolted into the room and ran straight over to Santana, even though she was asleep. Brittany stopped in the doorway, not being able to process how hurt Santana had been. The sight of the bruises, the arm cast, the stitches...it was all too much. Finn walked over, gave her a hug and walked her over to the chair next to the bed. "I know it looks bad, but she's okay Britt. She'll want to know you're here" said Finn.

Brittany sat down and held Santana's hand, lightly stroking it. The smell of alcohol filled the room. "She drank, didn't she" she said to Finn. "Yeah. But we don't know what the situation was, she could have been forced for all we know" he replied. A few minutes later, Santana slowly woke up, groaning in pain. Everything was blurry and she was disorientated. "Where-what is-why am I" she muttered. Then she saw Brittany. Santana instantly cried and so did Brittany, not long followed by Quinn. Brittany stood up and kissed her forehead, stroking her hair at the same time. "I'm so sorry I didn't come with you. I should have known it was too soon" cried Brittany, the guilt taking over her. Santana tried to sit up a little, wiping her tears in the meantime. She cleared her throat. "Look. I don't want any one of you apologising. You and Quinn weren't able to come here, I knew that, and I still went on my own. That's on me. Same with you, Finn. I refused to let you come with me. None of you are to blame. Only myself and that evil bitch Dani" said Santana. "No, just Dani" corrected Quinn.

"Thank you all for being here" Santana said, just as she got a knock on the door. It was the police. "Hello, Miss Lopez. I'm Officer Tanner and this is my partner Officer Perry. We're here to take a statement from you, but we will do it at another time if you are not ready" he said softly. "Hi, it's ok you can come in. I'll do it" she said, looking at Brittany for reassurance. "We'll give you a few minutes, San. We'll be right outside" said Finn. "Wait, no" Santana said looking at the officers. "Can they stay with me, please?" she asked. The officers agreed as they got their pen and notebook out, and sat down.

"Talk us through what happened, as detailed as possible. But please stop at any time you need to. There is no pressure to do this right now. It's still very raw" said Officer Tanner. Santana explained how she went to the apartment, was greeted by Emily as she packed her things and then Dani arrived.

"At first she was calm and just shocked to see me. I instantly was frightened though, just seeing her makes my heart rate rise through the roof. Emily left, to give us some space. I noticed she had bruising on her wrists, so I asked about it and she denied any abuse. But that's how I was just a few months ago" she said. The officers wrote down what Santana was saying and agreed they needed to find Emily and question her.

She continued. "I continued packing my things and told Dani I would be out of her way in a minute. She walked to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine, and offered me one which I refused. I refused because I was sober for the first time in a while. Anyway, a few moments later she started getting soft with me and said how she was sorry she hurt me in the past and that she still wanted me. She said she didn't want Emily, she just wanted me. She walked over to me and placed her head on mine, wiped my tears away and then she kissed me." she said, not making eye contact with Brittany.

Brittany felt sick to her stomach. Not because they kissed, but because Dani felt like she had the right to do that when she did not, at all.

"Okay, and then what happened?" asked Officer Perry.

"I pushed her away and said that I shouldn't have even come here and that I needed to leave. She then manipulated me into getting drunk so we could have a calm chat as our worst fights were when she was drunk and I was sober. The only time we ever successfully communicated was when we were both intoxicated on the same level. This time I was wrong. As soon as I was on her level, she just unleashed" said Santana, trying her hardest to piece together what had happened.

Brittany got up and walked out the room. She couldn't sit there and listen to this any more.