Firehouse 51

Live

Brittany shot up in her bed in a cold sweat. She must've fallen asleep without realizing it.

It was dark now, a couple of the guys were sleeping. She looked down at her watch, 1:30 am. She glanced over at Santana's bed, which was empty. It had looked like she was sleeping at one point but got up. Brittany walked out to the kitchen to get something to eat when she saw that Santana and Quinn were both passed out on the couch with the TV watching them. Quietly, she got a banana from the bunch that was sitting on the counter then walked outside.

The cold air was nice, she could feel herself starting to calm down. She heard the door open behind her, but she didn't bother to look back.

"Hey." It was Quinn. "You alright?"

"I'm good. Just trying to calm down." Brittany sat down on the bench right outside the garage, and Quinn did the same.

"You saw it, didn't you." Quinn reached into her pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. "Do you mind?"

"No go ahead. Actually, could I bum one?" She grabbed a cigarette from the open pack that Quinn was holding out to her. "Thanks."

They lit up and took a deep breath in. They both knew what was coming, and they both knew they had to talk about it.

"Pierce.."

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to.. Seriously. You know, thank you. For what you did." Brittany looked down at the ground, then back at up Quinn who had tears in her eyes. "What you did for me. I thought I was gonna die. After the bomb went off, I crawled to cover. And when I got there, I honestly thought that I was gonna bleed out right there."

The wind started to blow a little. Quinn wiped her eyes before the tears had the chance to fall.

"I was never gonna let you die. When I saw you there, laying on the ground." She took another puff of her cigarette. When Brittany blew the smoke out, she started her sentence again. "When I saw you there, I knew that I was going to save you. There was no way I was gonna let you go home in a body bag."

Quinn went into her wallet and pulled out a piece of paper.

"Is that.."

"Yeah. I've kept it. And I read it everyday. When I wake up in the morning, I take it out and look at it. Then I put it in my wallet and start my day." She handed it to Brittany. "It was the last thing I had from you. We never exchanged numbers, or anything. And by the time I got back to Bragg, you had already PCS'd."

Brittany held the paper in her hands.

"I don't know why I didn't leave my number when I wrote the note. I should've."

"It's alright. It was in destiny's plan for us to cross paths again." Quinn put her cigarette out and stood up. "You're welcome to join me and Santana in the common room if you'd like."

Brittany nodded, and Quinn turned and walked back into the building. She looked down at the piece of paper that was nearly four years old. It was worn out, and thin but still held itself together. She opened it, looking down at what she had written to Quinn before she headed back out to join the rest of her company.

'LIVE'