CHAPTER 21: I LOVE YOU, GOOBYE.

Santana and Quinn rushed a flight to Lima the next morning, when Quinn got the message from her cousin Marley. Her parents got into a serious accident. Quinn tried to ask her cousin regarding her parents' condition, but she won't tell.  All she heard from the girl was "Everything is going to be fine."

Quinn told Santana that she can fly alone and she doesn't have to worry.  Still, the Latina insisted to go. It was 11:37 am when the plane lands in Lima and almost 1 in the afternoon when they got to the Lima Hospital and still, they haven't eaten anything.

Quinn first saw his uncle Ben, her father's brother.

"Quinnie!" Ben opens his arms for a hug that Quinn immediately falls into.

"What happened?" She asked.

"They're still investigating where the fire came from. But they're still sticking to their first conclusion that there was a foul play."

Quinn gasped. "Fire? Who would have done that?"

"I don't know too, honey. They said that it was night time when it all happened. Whoever did this to your parents made sure that they were both sleeping."

"They said, the doors were locked from the outside. We're glad your parents have a phone in their room. They called 911, but it was too late though," a red head girl added.

Santana thinks that maybe it is Quinn's cousin Marley.

"How serious is their condition?" Quinn asked in flooded tears.

"Both of them are in coma." the girl says.

Santana hugged Quinn to prevent her from falling to her knees.

"Do we have any suspect?" Santana asked.

"The Lopez's" Ben told them.

Santana knitted her brows. Are they talking about her parents?

Quinn turned around at the said last name. "Who??" Quinn asked as she looked at Santana.

"Maribel and Alberto Lopez." Marley interrupted.

"Whaa- why would my parents be involved in this?!" Santana asked loudly that the people in the hallway looked at her.

"You're their daughter?" Ben asked.

"Murderer!" An average tall blonde guy got up from his seat. Anger was showing in his face.

"Uncle Scott, Santana has nothing to do with this!" Quinn defended her girlfriend.

Scott is her mother's brother.

"My parents won't do anything to harm anyone." Sternly, Santana said.

"Take her out of here Quinn." Scott commands.

"Uncle, please..." Quinn looked up to Ben for help.

"Get her out!" He shouted.

"Quinn, I'm sorry." Her uncle Ben whispered while Santana shakes her head in disbelief.

Quinn takes Santana's hand and they both got out from the scene.

 ______________________________________________

Santana was hurt...

To think that before Quinn can even introduce her as a girlfriend, she and her parents were being accused as murderers.

"I can't believe your uncle! How can he say those words to me? He doesn't even know anything about my parents!"

"Santana, you know our parents have a horrible past." Quinn responds.

"But that doesn't mean that one of my parents did that to your parents!" Santana shouted.

"I don't know. Maybe you should ask them." Quinn says and shrugged.

Santana was snapped out of what she'd just heard "Ask them? What do you mean Quinn? You don't believe them, do you?"

"I'm not sure but I don't mean anything Santana."

"No. It's like you're telling to my face that you're with that Scott!"

"Santana, he's my uncle."

"I'm your girlfriend!" Santana snarky says aloud.

"Why are you shouting!?" Quinn burst into anger.

"You're pissing me off! Your family is pissing me off!"

"Who told you to come with me? No one!" Quinn asked and answered for herself.

"Well I'm glad I did! 'Cause if not, I wouldn't even know that your clan was saying stupid rumors about my parents."

"Stop being rude, Santana!"

"I'm rude? What about him, huh?"

Quinn in her bitchy tone says "You know what? I think we should separate from here."

"Okay fine, whatever you want. Call me when you realize that they are just making this up. That everything that happened was just an accident and they're just looking for someone to blame!" Santana's eyes are trying to betray her.

"Will you just shut up?! I'm so fucking tired of you, Santana!"

Santana was shocked.

Did she mean it?

"Wow." She says in her weak voice. "Yeah, I guess you don't need me this time." Santana playfully nods, her lips were quivering.

Quinn tries to calm Santana by taking her hand but Santana grasped away. "Don't" Santana choked. She can't continue with her words.

She walked out and left Quinn from where she stands.

"San, come back! I'm sorry!" Quinn shouted but the Latina is now too far to hear her.

 ______________________________________________

Santana chose to stay with her parents since she doesn't have enough money to get a room in a hotel. When she got into her parents' house, her parents were surprised. Santana didn't tell them that she was going to come home.

Santana was also surprised that her parents already know that they are the suspects in the Fabray's fire accident, but they assured Santana that none of them are involved in the crime.

Santana doesn't know how to fix this.

She's torn...

She knows deep inside that her parents wouldn't do such things. And now she can't show up in the hospital to look for Quinn because of the rumor.

Santana was all alone in the living room looking at the television, but her mind was set off somewhere. Her phone keeps on ringing, showing Quinn's name, but she still don't have the guts to answer the phone after their fight.

She's upset...

"Mija, why won't you answer that call?" Her mom asked.

"It's Quinn" Santana answered like a zombie.

"I know." her mom says.

"I thought you don't like her?" She answered sarcastically.

Maribel sighed. "I don't like her because she is Judy's daughter and I know it's unfair to say that to you."

Santana nods.

Maribel sat on the couch next to Santana. She cupped her daughter's hand.

"Mija, quaeso dimitte me (Mija, please forgiveme)." Teary eyed, she said.

"I've already forgiven you, mami," Santana said. "I'm sorry too. I know I shouldn't have said hurtful things to you too." Santana hugged her mom.

"I love you, baby." Maribel says to her daughter. "Please fix your relationship with Quinn. She has a good heart... I saw it in you and in her eyes how much you adore each other."

"She said, she's tired of me."

"She's upset mija. Her parents are in a bad condition."

"Urgh! I'm stupid. I should've not walked away." she put her hands up to cover her face.

"Fix yourself, go back to her, she needs you." Maribel advised.

 ______________________________________________

Santana woke up the next morning feeling grumpy. Her body must have forgotten that she once live in there. She felt uncomfortable in her own bed. Maybe the mattress is too bouncy than the one she has in New York? She doesn't know.

"Mija, what would you like to eat?" Her father asked, still on his apron "I cooked hotdogs, eggs and bacons. Eat anything you want"

"Can I have all of them?" Santana says squeezing her eyes.

"Sure, San." her father teasingly jumbled her hair.

"Urgh, Dad!" Santana groaned.

"I just missed you." He smiled at her daughter and kissed Santana on her forehead.

"I missed you too." Santana slightly smiled. She's not that used to being sweet to her father. When Santana was little until she in graduated high school, never in her life she have seen her father stayed in their house. He was always in the hospital saving people's lives. He's one of the best doctors in Lima so that his job demands his presence every single day and like every single hour.

She would ask her mom "Mom, where's daddy?" Or "Mom, do I have a daddy?"

Though he was always absent in Santana's special days, she knows that her father is a hero and saves many lives and families.

She feels sorry for her dad, she's aware that her mom still have feelings for Russell but Quinn's dad chose to stay with them to be family again. She is also aware that her father still has feelings for her mom but her mom only stays with her father just for companionship, until they get old, until one of them dies.

She doesn't want that to happen with her and Quinn.

Urgh! Quinn! She remembers.

She looks at her phone waiting for it to ring. It did, but another face of blonde shows up on the screen.

Santana groaned and didn't answer it.

It rings again and this time Santana did answer.

"What is it, Amy?"

"Santana, where are you? I've been to your apartment and your friend Rachel says that you're in Lima with Quinn?"

Santana snorted "Umm, the fuck? You said it already, I'm in Lima." Santana rolls her eyes.

"Yah, but what are you doing there? Mr. O'Connell was asking for you and if you don't show up by tomorrow you're out of the class."

"Tell him I was sick or something!" Santana said like "Hello, are you dumb? You can't think of any reason?'

"Santana, you cannot just say that to him. Do you have a medical certificate?"

"Okay fine, I will just drop out!"

"What? Are you insane?-" Amy whined but before she can continue, Santana ended the call.

"Girls." She muttered.

"You are not going to drop out, Santana." Santana was startled when she heard a very familiar voice. Her heart starts to beat faster.

She turns around to see. "Quinn!" She got up and hugged her.

"How did you?" Santana confusely asked how the blonde got in.

"Your mom let me in."

"Gosh, I missed you. I'm so sorry about yesterday. I know I was an ass-" she hugged her even tighter and pulls out after a sec or two.

"It's fine." Quinn slightly smiled.

"Santana, you need to go home."

"But I'm-"

"In New York." Quinn says, to be specific.

Santana looked at Quinn's eyes but the blonde looked down.

She doesn't like the brunette to see how badly she wants her to stay right now.

"Quinn, I can't leave you alone." Santana protested.

"I'm with my uncles and aunts."

"But when are you going back?" Santana's face turns into worrying again.

"Santana, my father died yesterday." Quinn heartbreakingly announced. "I was trying to call you but you didn't pick up your phone," she says balling her fist.

Santana felt guilty.

"Quinn, I'm sorry" Santana's voice was not even audible by how sorry she feels for Quinn.

"Where were you, Santana? I called you like hundred times but you didn't answer one of my calls and you didn't even called back!" Quinn says feeling a lump in her throat.

"I'm sorry. You know how stubborn I am and we just got into a fight." Santana explained but she knows how unfair her explanation was.

"Santana, I'm sorry too. I'm here to break up with you." Quinn says in her cold tone.

Santana felt like someone showered her a bucket of ice cold water.

"Quinn." Santana feels a lump in her throat "But why?" Her vision is getting blurry. "I said, I was sorry."

"I just can't be with you." She almost regret what she just said.

"Quinn you can't break up with me." Santana shakes her head in disbelief.

"Santana, I'm breaking up with you." Quinn sternly says.

"Why?"

"Because..."

"Because what?

"Because...." Quinn tries again.

Maybe right, maybe she can't really break up with Santana because she doesn't even want to, but she have to...

"I don't-"

Santana was still waiting for Quinn's explanation.

"I can't love you anymore." Quinn looks down. She can't look into those chocolate eyes. It will break her.

"Bullshit!" Santana cursed. "Like yesterday before we got here, you said you love me and now you don't?"

"Santana, please..."

"Did your uncle push you to do it, to break up with me?" Santana cries. "You're a coward, Quinn! You can't fight for me, for us?"

Quinn begins to break down. "San, I'm sorry but I can't-" She cupped Santana's face and caressed it with her thumb, "I can't be with you."

Santana takes Quinn's hand from her cheek and she kissed it with her quivering lips.

"Why now? Now that I love you even more." Santana's heart sank. "Now that everything is doing great for the both of us."

"Santana, you have to be with someone who deserve you even more."

"Quinn, you deserve me! I'm yours, I'm all yours!" Loudly, Santana says. Maybe Quinn could hear her this time.

Quinn shakes her head.

"Quinn you said you can't love me but you didn't say you don't love me."

Quinn ignored what she said and ran out.

Santana followed Quinn outside.

"Quinn! Quinn!"

"Santana, please stop..." Quinn pleads.

"Quinn, Wait... Please... We both know that it's easy for people to just give up, but it's not us and you're not like that, Quinn!" Santana was desperate this time.

"I need this Santana and you need this."

Santana tried to stop Quinn by grabbing her arms, "But all I need is you..."

Quinn was about to give in but she forced not to.

"Why are you so frustrating, Santana!?" She throws her hands up in the air, "Why can't you fucking understand that I don't need you anymore!"

Santana was taken aback... That's it. It did sting. It hurts.

Quinn noticed Maribel and Alberto's presence. They look shocked and hurt too for their daughter. She wants to take back what she said but she can't.

"Goodbye is not forever, okay?" She kissed Santana on the lips for the last time before she walks out in fast pace and never looked back.

Santana can't understand what she meant with those words.

"Quinn!"

Quinn wanted to stop when she heard Santana breaks and tries to call her name but if she turns around, she knows she'll run back for Santana.

 ______________________________________________

Santana cried all day in her bed. Her father tries to ask her to eat something but she feels so weak. She can't get up, she can't move, she can't talk, she can't even think properly.

"Why, Quinn? Why?" She muttered repeatedly.

She cries again, she covered her face with her pillow and muffled cried.

She doesn't want anyone to hear her crying.

She punched the pillow that covers her face repeatedly and screamed under it.

"Fuck!" She screamed.

"I hate you! I fucking hate you!"

She wants to get mad at Quinn by saying those words but she can't. She knows she's just fooling herself. She cannot be mad at Quinn.

But she's mad at the world.

She got up and head towards her bathroom.

She looks at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were covered with mascara that she forgot to remove before she fell asleep last night.

She pulls up the faucet and just looked into the running water for awhile.

She shakes her head and decided to wash her face.

Though she keeps removing the scattered mascara on her face, her tears won't stop from falling and her eyes are getting pricklier.

Santana looked at herself into the mirror for the second time.

She balls her fist and was about to punch the mirror but she was stopped when she heard her mother came in to her room.

"Santana?" Her mother called.

"I'm in the bathroom." she managed to answer with a hiccup. "Shit." she muttered and came out.

Her mother easily noticed her bawling eyes.

"Mom." Santana cried like a 7-year old child as if someone bullied her from school and wanted to tell her mother to protect her.

Maribel hugged Santana for support.

"I'm sorry, I look like crap." Santana says.

"No, you're not. It's okay to cry."

"You told me once that I shouldn't cry for a girl when Brittany chose Artie."

"That's when you just came out, admitting that you're a lesbian. I can't see you falling in love with a girl at that moment."

"But when Brittany and I got together, and you started to like her, you didn't took back what you said."

"I know. I'm sorry. But for what it's worth, I want to take back what I said. That it is now okay to cry for a girl... Cry for Quinn."

"Should I?

"If you want to." Her mother plainly answered.

"Okay." Santana nods, her mom smiled and that's when Santana laughed for the first time after she cried.

Maribel rubs her daughter's back until Santana calmed down.

"Mija, I think that you should go back to New York."

Santana pulled out from her mother's hug "I can't. Not without Quinn."

"But you have to. You have to start chasing your own dream."

"But Quinn is-"

"Santana, don't you want to be better?"

Santana looks down.

"If you get better, you can show Quinn that you can decide something for yourself without her." Maribel says. "I'm sorry but I think Quinn just want you to aim higher, move forward without her." Santana knitted her brows "I think you made your world revolve around for Quinn that you forget about yours."

"I don't know if I can do it by myself," she thinks and says hesitantly.

"Yes, you can." Maribel told her.

 "She said that 'goodbye is not forever.'"

"Santana, maybe she'll come back. But I don't think that it'll be sooner. I just want you to cry and forget about her. If she comes back, I will not intervene. I will let you decide if you want to come back to her or not." Maribel hugs her daughter "Just don't forget about yourself, Santana."

Santana slightly smiled and wiped away her tears. "I will think about it, okay?"

Maribel got up and said, "Okay, I will leave you for now." She smiled.

 ______________________________________________

Quinn cries at the same day. Thinking of what she did to her Santana. Hers? Santana is not hers anymore...

"I hurt her." she cries.

She's looking at her phone, hesitating to call Santana and tell her that it was all lies. But if she did, she knows Santana's family will be in a big trouble.

"You're a coward, Quinn! You can't fight for me, for us?" Those words were echoing in Quinn's mind.

"But I'm just protecting you from being hurt." Quinn answered to no one.

*flashback*

"Mom." Quinn said as she enters the room.

Quinn just came from home to get some of her clothes so she can stay at the hospital to look after her parents.

Earlier that night, while on the road, she received a message from her uncle Ben that her mom had woken up from her coma. So she drove faster.

"Quinn." her mom has teary eyes.

"How do you feel?" Quinn asked her mom.

"I'm in pain." Her mother told her.

Her mother got a fourth degree burn on her arms and legs. Quinn was trying not to cry in front of her mother.

Her mother just looked at her.

"What is it, mom?" Quinn concerned asks.

"What are you doing here?" Her mom asked, not that she don't want to see her daughter.

"Marley called and told me about what happened." Quinn can't hold her tears anymore.

"Don't cry honey. I will be okay." Judy smiled.

"I thought I was going to lose you." Quinn wanted to hug her mom but Judy looks fragile. Quinn doesn't want to touch the burnt skin, and make it even worst.

"Don't worry honey, I will make sure the Lopez's will pay for what they've done." Quinn was a bit shocked. How her mother knew that they're the suspect? Did one of her uncle told her mother?

"Mom, I don't think they can do something like this."

"Maribel and I talked a few days ago. She promised that she will leave your father to us. She wants to make things right."

"Then why are you suspecting them?"

"Quinn, Maribel has said that many times but she always breaks her promise and keeps on meeting your father secretly. You can't blame me for suspecting her and her husband."

"If Maribel still loves dad then why would she let him be in danger?"

"I will still file a case in court against them."

"Please mom, don't do this. You don't have enough evidence." Quinn pleads. "Why are you even including Mr. Lopez?"

"Maybe he's mad because her wife is cheating with your father."

"Yeah, right?" Quinn doesn't want to get mad seeing her mom's situation but she have to protect Santana. "Why do you always assume?"

"Quinn, if you love this family, you will never take their side."

"Mom, this is a big accusation!" Quinn can't control herself.

"Then leave her, we will all move on and forget that this happened." She said meeting her daughter's eyes.

"Santana? No." Quinn firmly says.

"Then I have no choice." Judy's final words.

"I hope you get well soon." Quinn felt a lump in her throat.

She walked out of the room and as she was about to get to see her father in the other room, she saw her uncle Ben running towards her way.

"Uncle Ben, what happened?" She nervously asked.

"Quinn, it's your dad." He begins as he shakes his head. "He's gone".

*end of flashback*

Quinn breaks up with Santana to protect her. If she didn't, Santana will hate her and her family even more. Santana's parents will be in prison and pay for the death of her father she believed they didn't do.

She just did the only option she have to save Santana from all the pain. 

The lights are on and off again for Quinn. She knows what is right for her but she can't have it right now.

Right now.